Piercing Ecstasy

by Setta Jay

  Her head snapped up.

  A memory hit. “Shit! I might have an idea of who Elizabeth’s going after!” Ileana cursed the frenzy for distracting her so much that she hadn’t thought about it before. “The Kairos said they were looking for a key and he said he knew of an Immortal that could help.” She was sure her idea was right. “We need to go to the wilds outside of Ouranos.”

  “Who’s in Ouranos?”

  “A Lykos male.”

  *****

  “How do you know this male?” The rumbling roll of the words weren’t missed by his female. Her eyes flashed back and forth to her cat. He loved how her beast thrilled at his possessive streak. One that was still new to him. Jax liked that she was affected by the jealousy only she ignited within him, but he needed answers. He pinned her body to the railing at her back.

  “A Lykos who lives in the wilds. I overheard his brothers talking once. They didn’t know I was there. They said something about the youngest. That nothing could prevent him from getting into something if he wanted in… Not a key, but close enough that it’s worth checking. The male will know where to find his brother.” She seemed to be thinking as she pushed against his hold. His kitten was impatient to be freed from his hold and that just made more growls vibrate through his chest.

  “We need to get moving,” she demanded when he didn’t automatically release her. “Set me down and get dressed.”

  She was right, but the female was a damned menace to his cat.

  “Kitten.” He growled.

  She made some ridiculously adorable puffing noise before her face lit with a fake sunny smile. “Please back off my ass so we can get moving.”

  He released her, but not without difficulty, and his eyes tracked her ass as she darted through the balcony doors.

  She threw open his closet door and started rummaging through his shit again. He followed close, just far enough to watch her. She grabbed one of his tee shirts and slid it over her head before looking at the few pairs of boots on the ground. “None of these will work, so I’ll need shoes at the least.”

  “Fuck yes, you do. And you’re not walking around in a tee shirt. No one sees you that naked but me,” he snapped as he crowded her into the back of the closet and felt and scented her reaction to his closeness. He quickly grabbed some leather fighting pants and slid them up and over his aching dick. They needed to get moving, but the frenzy was already driving him. He wanted to rip the shirt from her body and lift her, impale her hot cunt with his painfully hard dick.

  Her eyes tracked his hands as he pushed his erection into the confining material. He caught sight of her pink tongue darting out to wet her pouty lower lip. His kitten wanted him. Good. He wanted her to crave everything that only he could give her, but she was right, they needed to get moving.

  He grinned to himself when he heard her harsh intake of breath as he slipped the shirt on. A zip to the side secured it before he moved to the weapons organized neatly against the wall. He reached around her body and felt her lean in before he allowed her to slide her hot little body past him and out the door.

  “Hurry up,” she growled.

  “How do you ‘overhear’ so much?”

  She eyed him and shook her head, impatience bleeding from her in waves. “I deal in information. That’s where I make my money.”

  “What information?” he growled, not liking just what that likely meant. He’d had an idea that she was dealing in something, but he wasn’t thrilled with the confirmation. His fucking mate was a mercenary, and he didn’t like the idea that there was a chance she’d sell out Guardian secrets for a fee. He ground his teeth hard while thinking about all she’d learn as his mate.

  He slipped socks and boots on and slipped into a weapons harness, eying her while sliding blades into the back sheaths.

  “Mostly Mageia spying on each other and not wanting it known that the information had been taken. That’s the work that serves me best,” she said impatiently as he sheathed the last of his blades. “If you’re worried I’ll sell out your Guardian secrets, don’t. I don’t need the money.”

  “You’re saying I should trust you because you don’t need the coin, kitten?” he growled as he took hold of her arm and ushered her out the balcony door.

  “I’m saying believe what you want. I don’t care about any secrets you have from the masses. The only information I want is what pertains to my getting my hands on Elizabeth, and that’s personal and very much in line with your own goals, if I’m not mistaken.”

  Maybe her desire to hold off completing the bond was for the best for now. At least until he knew what the hell else she was hiding.

  Drake, my mate thinks Elizabeth might be going after a Lykos in the wilds outside of Ouranos. We’re going to check it out. She stilled next to him, hearing his conversation. She was still getting used to the links.

  Who is it? his leader bellowed through the link.

  A male she thinks might have a special ability with spells.

  Find him, Drake sent back. Take Bastian.

  Okay. Backup.

  “Send me an image of where I’m going,” Jax commanded and she didn’t hesitate to send him a visual. Seeing the place she called home was enough to give him more insight into his fiery little mate.

  Chapter 17

  Tetartos Realm

  Drake sliced through the clouds, his wings barely lifting or tilting in the air. Allowing his beast freedom relaxed some of the tension in his muscles. He felt his body ease in a way that only taking to the skies ever gave him. He let out wafts of smoke as he cut through the cooling air. The currents caressed his scaled body, not penetrating the tough exterior, just sliding over it.

  The message from Jax was good. Drake still needed to get more information from the male about his female, and wanted Sirena to do the tests, but for now he’d allow them to work through some of the frenzy. A lead on who Elizabeth was looking for would be a bonus.

  He had his fucking hands full with the search, checking the remaining Gods’ hiding places every five damned minutes, and hoping to fuck Brianne came back whole and ready to work. He still wasn’t convinced Brianne and Vane were in the clear. Sirena was optimistic, but he wouldn’t be satisfied until he spoke to them.

  He could damned well use another winged Guardian, because for now he and P were the only two able to search for Elizabeth’s location from the skies.

  He craned his neck, his eyes detecting even the smallest of creatures in the trees below as he leashed his rage that Apollo had been taken. His temper had always been volatile, but losing a God had ignited his beast in a way he hadn’t fully been able to rein in. After a month he still had no sign of Elizabeth in the furthest reaches of the Realm.

  They’d taken down four of Cyril’s compounds in the last century, three alone in the last few months. Each had been away from the cities, which occupied a fairly small geographical area in what would be European countries. Something that had always made sense, since populations were a tiny fraction of the number in Earth Realm, but the space was the same. For trade and those that preferred not to port it was easier to be in fairly close proximity to one another. He’d never cared what the Immortals in the cities did, but had to admit their ideas had been logical.

  With them all in one place, that still left a lot of damned territory unoccupied. Too much. So far Cyril’s compounds had been scattered, the first would have been Australia; the second, South America; the third, Canada; the fourth in Greenland. The last had been a hidden Mageia breeding lab, where they’d rescued the children the bastard had been raising as possible breeding stock for when he perfected his experiments to get around the mating curse. The spell was created by Charybdis in Apollo’s labs millennia ago to stop the bastard Gods from using the Immortals as breeders for their army. The female had used a portion of her own life force to stop the suffering, losing her mind in the process.

  He’d taken to searching the skies over Africa. P was currently flying over most of Asia. He growl
ed in frustration. There was too damned much area to cover. All the compounds had been in cave systems, which made it likely that would be the case again. It’s not like they would build shit that could be seen from the sky; they’d always been too cautious for that. That meant the searching was slow as they tried to detect anomalies or Immortals in the areas. Something to say that someone had been there.

  He let lose a stream of fire as he inched to the sea. The flames licked at his belly as he roared his fury. He needed release of a different kind, but his temper had been too volatile. He’d never been gentle, and now he was likely to do damage to even those females who enjoyed his rough fucking.

  He’d spent every second of his time searching for Elizabeth and where she’d taken Apollo. Nothing had worked to find the bitch.

  Drake, hell-beast attacks in all five cities, Uri growled through his mind.

  Fuck! Drake let another stream of fire lick at the waves as he swooped low. His fire didn’t work on hell creatures.

  Jax, stay with your female. Sirena is your backup now. Conn and Bastian in Limni. Uri, Alex and Erik to Lofodes. Sander and P, Thalassa. Gregoire and Dorian in Efcharistisi, and Sacha meet me in Ouranos. Immortal warriors would be in thinner numbers than normal around the cities because the Emfanisi was still in full force in the city of Efcharistisi. They would have been taking turns at the event in hopes of finding mates. That meant one area would have extra protection, but the other cities wouldn’t have reserves. What was the bitch doing now?

  He roared his fury as he teleported to the city high in the mountains.

  Chapter 18

  Ileana’s Home, Tetartos Realm

  Jax beat back the arousal making his dick pulse. Teleporting Ileana was a damned nightmare when they had shit to do, leaving no time to get any relief. He nearly groaned at the sweet scent of her pussy, barely keeping his hands off her. Fuck, he wanted to eat up every last drop, make her come all over his tongue.

  Drake’s command about the hell-beast attacks had snapped him out of it, as much as anything could at the moment. He had a bad feeling about the new attacks. It had been quiet, and when hordes of hell beasts were about, shit was going down. Elizabeth was trying to distract them again, which meant she probably had her information. He hoped Ileana was right and the Lykos had a location for his brother. Jax wasn’t looking forward to meeting a male his mate seemed familiar with.

  He watched her rush inside a rustic door after taking down protection spells.

  She lived in a fucking tree. Yes, that was what he was looking at. One room built very open and obviously meant for function with little thought to creature comforts. He nearly knocked his head into the fucking doorframe as he followed her in. She’d run to what must be a closet. He looked around. The bed looked comfortable. For a fucking human or a child. It was so filled with mounds of blankets and pillows he wasn’t sure how she slept in all of that, but he knew the nightmares made her body freeze. That thought made anger slither back in his gut. He hated everything about her place. It was remote, lonely and had very little other than the weapons in the closet she was quickly whipping on over her black clothes and knee-length boots.

  He shook his head at the surroundings. The only good thing about the tiny place was her scent. There was a roof and a kind of shower in the corner with a pump to pull water from the stream below. Some skylights above and as many windows as would fit.

  At least he didn’t need to tell her to hurry; she was almost done donning her weapons.

  “Let’s go,” she said as she strapped an extra blade to her boot sheath. It matched the other side and the two at her thighs. Two short swords were already in the harness on her back, a smaller version of his. Nice sharp blades from the looks of them. His dick pulsed in the leather; she looked hot as shit. He wanted to rip the seam on those tight fucking pants and bend her over so he could sink deep. He’d cover her back with his chest and own her cunt.

  He ran a hand over his face and tried to get his beast under control. The urges were getting more and more demanding, stronger and more intense with each encounter. She was right about that.

  “We need to go,” she said, rushing out the door.

  He followed, shaking his head. “Kitten, you’re really making me feel like pulling out my dick so you can see it’s bigger than what you’ve got going on under those tight-assed pants.”

  She actually rolled her eyes and sent him a visual of a cottage in the woods. Their next destination. “And Raff won’t remember me, we should keep it that way. He thought I was a Mageia and that was decades ago,” she spouted off as she quickly reset her protection spells. He growled at her near confirmation that she’d slept with the male they were about to see. His muscles tensed and he wanted the male’s blood already. He didn’t care how long it had been. Her eyes flashed at him and he stifled the urge to remind her who she belonged to.

  “Brace for it,” he snarled and clenched his jaw tight as he pulled her to his chest and ported them away.

  Right into a horde of fucking hell beasts.

  Chapter 19

  Tetartos Realm

  The second they reformed the sulfurous stench of hell beast burned Ileana’s nose. Hellhounds had descended on the woods. In a split second she saw Raff’s cottage and heard the Lykos’ battle cries roar through the air as he cut through the animals.

  Slick black snouts arrowed to the sky before crimson eyes shot to them, and then the beasts charged.

  She pushed aside the sexual need still sizzling in her system, gritted her teeth and whirled into action. She freed the blades at her back and spun as the closest beast launched. She cleaved a head before feeling the heat of flames at her side. She launched back as Jax sliced through the other hound’s neck, the fire cutting off as the beast’s head lay in a pile at the Guardian’s feet.

  Sirena, we’ve got hellhounds, he snarled in one of the Guardian links and added the visual of where they were.

  Sirena, take Dacia’s brothers with you, Drake growled.

  On my way, Sirena replied.

  Ileana heard more voices but not what they were saying, the distraction was too strong. Ileana cut right and sliced into another thick neck, the head falling to the dirt at her feet. The beast’s acidic blood burned her exposed arms. Her clothes protected the rest of her, mostly, but areas would soon be eaten away from the corrosive gore. She heard Jax growl loud as he ported and thinned the pack around them, leaving her only a fraction of the kills. She frowned, annoyed that he thought she needed his protection.

  She caught reports from the Guardians on the fighting outside of the cities. She needed to cut off that added noise somehow; it made her hesitate each time another voice filled her mind. She managed to cut down another creature bounding in her direction, dodging right and then left, narrowly avoiding venomous teeth and flames.

  It didn’t take long for her to settle into a sort of rhythm with Jax, as he stayed close. He anticipated her movements and avoided her blades. If she was fast, he was nearly invisible when he fought. She thought he was magnificent before, but it was nothing to seeing the male in battle mode. He moved through the launching beasts with a grace and speed that she’d never seen in her life. She forced her eyes away from the sight of his muscular biceps flexing with each swing.

  Sirena appeared to their right, four males with her. They immediately fanned out, their bellowing and excited battle cries echoing off the trees.

  She felt Jax’s eyes on her as she worked to erect a shield against the voices in her head. She flipped and arched in the air when another animal attacked, landing gracefully on her feet and slamming her blade deep into a skull, ripping it free and cleaving the head. She felt the shield snap in to place; it had been more complex to create than she imagined to only prevent the voices in one general link, not ones coming to or from her and Jax. She darted right, glad that her mind was free of the background noise. Grinning, she launched more aggressively into the fray. She felt powerful, so much more than she’d been days
ago. She barely felt the burning of her skin. It didn’t matter, it would heal.

  Ileana, get the fuck back. Your damned clothes aren’t spelled against the fucking blood.

  She spun, kicking one hound into a tree, hearing the sharp yelp and growl as another took its place. She ignored Jax’s command because it was ridiculous. Instead she launched in the air and back down, her blade connecting with muscle and bone. The blood wasn’t deadly; it was an annoyance she barely felt.

  Slick black bodies littered the ground, the sea of sightless red eyes growing exponentially. Ileana twisted, sliced and spun to avoid more attacks while lightly balancing within the carnage. Jax ported in and around the beasts at her side. The hound she’d been spinning for ended up dead at her feet before she got to it. She glared at the Guardian and snarled through the link, Do not take my kills.

  A glance back to the cabin said their presence had deflected a section of the horde from Raff, but he was pushing through toward another cabin where even more hellhounds awaited. Sirena and the other Lykos were still fighting their way through snapping jaws and flames, getting nearer to Raff.

  Is that the Lykos we’re looking for? Jax asked and she noted he was looking in the same direction.

  Yes, Raff. It’s his brother we need to find. He may be at that house. She sent an image of the home that Raff seemed to be heading toward, one with added hounds snarling outside.

  Jax glanced in that direction and then appeared at her side.

  Sirena, get the wolf out. We’re going to the cabin. Jax sent an image of Raff and another of the home as he grabbed Ileana’s arm.

  They broke apart and were gone, reforming outside one of the windows. The beasts scented them and started to descend as she panted through the arousal. She groaned. How could she even feel it in the middle of a damned battle?