by C. R. Jane
It was always a treat with him. After having defeated Death, and Hades finally admitting he loved me, life was now beyond bliss… a dream and fantasy.
“Lie on your stomach,” he growled, pulling out.
I moaned in protest and did as he asked so he could get the fuck back in. When I was on my stomach, he ran his hands down my back, pressing with his fingers, getting to the tension I harbored there. I groaned as he kneaded the stiff muscles.
Saving the world made for a lot more aches and pains than my normal training did.
I was just getting lost in how good it felt with Hades’s hands all over my body when his dick found my entrance like a homing missile—yes, it was as cliché as that—and he speared into me. I cried out as he buried himself deep into my sex, my legs closed and the full weight of his body suddenly on me pushing buttons I hadn’t even known I had.
He’d never been this forceful before. Hades never ceased to surprise, both in sex and as one of the men I was in love with.
“Let go,” Hades growled in my ear, as if I had some kind of inclination to hold on to something at this point. But when he said it—whether it was his gravelly voice in my ear, the command, or the way he was fucking me—I let go.
And I orgasmed, screaming, convulsing, adoring every single second, holding on to the pleasure thrumming through me.
Hades pumped into me harder and faster and this time, it was for him. I could tell when he focused on himself rather than me. We’d done this so many times, I knew him inside out.
His strokes shortened and he seemed to thrust deeper and deeper.
And then he twitched and jerked inside of me and he was there, groaning loudly, his body stilling from his own orgasm, shuddering on top of me.
“You’re my undoing.” He gasped, his head against my neck, his breath hot against my ear.
It was good to know there was something out there that could still get to Hades. He was invincible at his very worst. Even when he’d been in the shittiest place emotionally, he had been a tough nut to crack.
And he was far from in that place now. Now everything was okay between him and his brothers—at least, as okay as it was ever going to get—and we were together because he’d accepted that he loved me after all. And I loved him, and I had for a long time too.
Hades rolled off, his dick slipping out of me even though he was still hard. I swear, the gods could really carry on forever. Ha! Eternity had so many definitions, both literally and figuratively.
When he collapsed next to me, he pulled me against his strong body. He had the deepest dark eyes I could fall into and escape, sharp cheekbones, raven hair, and the kind of look that had me swooning. Our skins were slick with sweat, but I didn’t care. This was the part I couldn’t get used to. Hades and I had been together for almost a year now, since he’d decided to give in and love me as much as he wanted to, and I still wasn’t used to the way he held me after sex instead of disappearing on me, the way he cared about how I felt or asked about my day. I loved it, but I was always a little unsure, worried that it would disappear again or that it was too good to be true.
“Better?” he asked.
I nodded against his chest. “Much.”
I’d been so stressed when he’d come over. Since I’d been dubbed the Goddess of Sanctuary because I was a descendant of Zeus himself, had his blood in my veins, I’d been taking the whole saving-mankind thing seriously. As a goddess, I couldn’t exactly take a vacay, especially since I lived among the humans.
Besides, I liked being a hero. At least I had the first couple of months when I’d felt like I was finally fulfilling some purpose. But it was a little bit like cleaning up a house full of kids. Every time I took care of something, another thing popped up. Sometimes I just wanted the world to stay saved for a little while instead of having to jump from one crisis to the next.
But that was why the humans needed a hero, right? If they were fine on their own, my entire bloodline wouldn’t have been needed.
Hades had come to find me freaked out and stressed and he’d distracted me in exactly the best way he knew how.
He ran his hand over my back, tracing invisible patterns with his strong fingers.
Something fell in the living room and someone cursed in a voice I didn’t recognize. Hades and I both stiffened.
“Stay here.” Hades shot out of bed like lightning. The only people who appeared in my apartment were the gods I was dating, Heracles when he was back from his world tours, Persephone when she wanted to gossip, and Zeus when he was being full of crap.
And none of them sounded like that or pushed shit over. I sat up in bed and reached for a shirt, finding Hades’s. I pulled it over my head and dragged it down my body. The fabric fell mid-thigh.
A moment later, Hades stomped into the room looking pissed off. I knew his scowl so well and it was still attractive as fuck.
“It’s for you,” he said as if it were a phone call. Behind him, another god entered the room. I could tell he was a god because of the way he walked and the dull glow that radiated from him. My guys didn’t have that unless they’d recently spent a lot of time on Mount Olympus.
Which meant Hades never had it.
“Who are you?” I asked, sitting on the bed and pulling a pillow to my chest.
“Hermes,” he said in a deep voice, his chin high, proud. He wore a white tunic and leather sandals. His hair was blond and a little curly, and his face had the air of someone who might be full of shit, but he was not altogether unattractive.
Right, the messenger of the gods. Those sandals were supposed to have wings he could fly with—did they just appear when needed or were they metaphorical?
“Why are you in my house?” I asked.
Hermes glanced at Hades. “Not very respectful, is she?”
“You’re on her turf, buddy, not the other way around. Spit it out so you can piss off.” He stiffened, wearing a gruff expression.
Hermes raised his eyebrows and held up his hands. “I forget what a grouch you are, seeing that there are never messages to deliver in your neck of the woods.”
Ouch. Hades’s temper flared, his brow furrowing, his eyes narrowing, but he bit his tongue, not saying a word, and looked at me with eyes that were filled with dark thoughts.
Hermes went on, seemingly oblivious. “You are hereby invited by Divine Decree to join the gods and goddesses for dinner.”
“What?” I asked at the precise time Hades spat out, “Bullshit.”
Hermes looked annoyed more than anything. “She’s a goddess. They want to see her. Trust me, I wouldn’t be down here unless I had a reason.”
“On Mount Olympus?” I asked.
“The gods don’t go to Earth unless there’s a reason, either,” Hermes said, as if that were supposed to be an answer to my question. I supposed it was.
“When?”
“Tomorrow night,” he said.
“That it?” Hades asked almost immediately.
Hermes nodded.
“So get the fuck out of town.”
Hermes rolled his eyes at Hades, then disappeared into a puff of air.
“Was that necessary?” I asked Hades.
He shrugged. “The guy’s a dick. Take my word for it.”
I didn’t argue because I couldn’t. Hades could be a real dick too, but it didn’t seem like the right time to bring it up. Besides, I had bigger things to worry about. A dinner? On Mount Olympus?
“Why would they want to see me?” I asked.
“You’re a goddess now.” Hades raked his hand through his dark hair.
“Do I have to be worried?”
Hades hesitated just a moment. “Of course not.”
But I wasn’t sure I believed him.
Chapter 2
I was so nervous, I couldn’t eat. I wasn’t sure I could get a single thing past my throat all night. And then the gods were going to be pissed I wasn’t eating, thinking I wasn’t taking care of myself. They were inviting me for… s
omething. I had no idea what. When it came to the gods, nothing was straightforward. They all came with complications and hidden agendas. So, if I was invited to Mount Olympus, I struggled to believe it was for a simple meet and greet.
It felt like I was going to throw up.
“Calm down, sweetheart.” Ares moved to my side, tall and powerful. His shaved hair had started to grow, and I liked his new look. I stood in my apartment with Heracles behind me, tying a white tunic to my body with a rope that crisscrossed over my torso to eventually hang down my side. It was sexy and sultry and just the right amount of everything else that I needed to look like a real goddess.
My hair and makeup had already been done. Persephone had helped with that—my dark hair was pulled back and tied up in a high ponytail so that it spilled down my back. My makeup made my face look fierce and feminine at the same time.
If I didn’t know I was just a human, I would have believed that the Grecian beauty staring back at me in the floor-length mirror really was a goddess.
“What do they want me there for?” I asked yet again to the gods in the room.
“They want to get to know you,” Apollo said. He leaned against the wall behind me, his arms folded across his huge chest, long golden hair falling past his shoulders, and his blue eyes trailing up and down my body as if he were imagining untying all the rope Heracles had just gotten around me. I would have loved for him to do that, just to take my mind off things. Anything to avoid going to Mount Olympus.
I wasn’t going to ask “why” another time. They had all told me it was because of my newfound status and apparently it was also overdue. I wasn’t sure I agreed.
Finally, it was time to go. And I wasn’t nearly ready for it. I trembled, and my stomach hurt.
“Come on. It’ll be fine.” Apollo stepped up behind me, and I watched him, adoring the way he stared at me so sexily. Poseidon stood proud, oozed sex appeal, and appeared at my right and took a hand.
“We’ll be right here with you,” he said, kissing my knuckles.
Ares did the same on my other side. And suddenly, we weren’t at my home anymore.
I recognized Mount Olympus because of the dream state Apollo had once taken me to his place. He’d whisked me away to fuck me at his place.
But I’d been distracted then.
Now, instead of moving down a winding path to one of the palaces that were dotted in the distance as if this were some fairytale land, we moved down the wide cobbled road that led slowly toward the top of a hill. As we approached, a large roof held up by thick pillars came into view. It wasn’t dark, but it wasn’t light, either. It created a hell of a lot of mood, but I could still see everything.
I realized the pillars and the entire roof were made of marble. White with gray veins.
A table stood in the middle with chairs all around it and it was piled with food—from meats prepared in all different ways to vegetables and grains as well as fresh fruit.
And wine. A shit ton of wine.
Around the table, the gods and goddesses appeared. As we approached, more and more of them popped in, but they were talking and laughing and eating as if they had been there all along. The moment I stepped onto the floor of the structure—marble, too—they all stopped talking and turned to look at me.
The silence was deafening and I felt them scrutinize me. Were they sizing me up? Did I make the cut?
Hades entered the room from my right, looking grumpy, but damn he looked delicious polished and dressed like the rest of the gods.
“The Goddess of Sanctuary,” Heracles announced and they all nodded at me, smiling.
“Come on,” Apollo whispered in my ear.
Poseidon and Hades walked away from us toward the other end of the table and Zeus stood. His white hair seemed to flutter as if an invisible breeze blew past. He was broad and carried himself like a leader.
“Brothers,” they all said to my men, clapping hands as if they were one big, happy family, which was partially true at least. But I could feel the undercurrents all the way from where I stood.
A goddess rose from her seat next to Zeus and walked to me.
“Please sit down.” She gestured to an empty chair.
“This is Hera,” Heracles explained.
The bitch who had cursed Hades. Plus, his sister and sister-in-law. Though making sense of who was related to who in amid the gods only left me spinning.
“We are very pleased to have you, my darling.” Hera’s voice sounded syrupy sweet. It made me want to like her. She had hair like spun gold that draped over a voluptuous figure that would make any man forget his own name, and she moved like she knew it.
“Thank you for inviting me,” I said in a voice that sounded pathetically small.
Hera smiled at me. “This is your home now, child.”
I wasn’t sure I agreed with that, but I wasn’t going to challenge the goddess of… I wasn’t sure what she was the goddess of. I’d hit a blank.
She shimmied back to her seat like she was walking on pinpoints and sat down next to Zeus. Heracles ushered us to our chairs and poured me wine, which I gladly took. I gulped half of it down before I came up for air.
Hermes sat close to me, but he ignored me as if I didn’t exist. Maybe Hades’s warm welcome the other day had tainted him.
“So I hear you’ve been very kind to Persephone,” a goddess said to me from a few seats down. “I am so very grateful.”
“It’s Demeter,” Ares whispered to me.
She had long, dark hair and now that I knew that she was Persephone’s mother, I could see the resemblance.
“She can get very lonely, you know, being down in the Underworld for so long.” Demeter glanced at Hades, who shuffled in his chair. I realized he was more uncomfortable here than I was. I couldn’t imagine what it had to be like.
“It’s really the opposite,” I said. “Persephone has been a great help. I’m glad to have her as a friend.”
“Friend,” Demeter said with a smile. “What a beautiful thought.”
Right? She was weird.
“She’ll miss you when you come to live here,” Demeter added.
Say what now? Had I heard right? So, she was under some illusion that I’d relocate to Mount Olympus… Except this wasn’t my home.
“I don’t know how you held out so long down there,” a goddess who couldn’t be anyone other than Athena said. There was something about her that just screamed it at me and I had seen a lot of paintings of her. They were scarily accurate because physically she was perfection. “I wouldn’t have lasted a day. And you’re still staying there, helping the rats preserve their short lives before they die anyway. Noble, to be sure.”
Was that sarcasm?
“It’s what I was called to do.” I was defending myself to Athena. I tried not to think what that could mean.
“Yes, that’s very sweet, my dear.” She waved it off. “But you’ll thank us, you just wait and see.”
“What’s going on here?” I asked, turning to Hades. I had the feeling everyone was in on some joke I didn’t understand.
“I’ve learned to nod and smile and when I’m done, I go back to the home I understand. Even if it is a dump, it’s better than this place,” Hades said.
“Don’t be an ass,” Poseidon said.
“Fuck you,” Hades bit.
“Boys, no fighting at the table.” It was Hera, calling from the other side of the table as if she were their mother instead of their sister.
“I’ll fight wherever I fucking want,” Hades muttered, tossing a grape into his mouth.
I put food in my mouth, too, forcing myself to eat. The gods were different than I’d expected them to be. They weren’t all nice. Or even living up to what they were supposed to be. Somehow, I had expected them to be so above anything I could ever want to be that I would pale next to them. But they were just like some humans I knew—loud, overbearing, downright rude. Add a dash of entitlement and that described more than half of them here
.
And superficial… God. They were so bad. I understood why Heracles and Persephone had insisted on dressing me up the way they had. If I had come in my training clothes or my jeans—the two outfits I wore all the time—the gods might have kicked me out again. It was like a formal dinner, except you had to believe you were the shit to even attend at all.
How had I ended up with the good ones?
“Wow, you’re not eating much are you?” Hermes sat close to me across the table, but he’d been ignoring me all night.
I’d been trying the different food from fruit to tiny shortbread pies filled with custard and an array of cheeses on offer. Having my mouth full seemed like the best way not to get in trouble for not saying anything, but what was Hermes expecting? To gorge.
“She’s not a glut,” Apollo snapped. So, Hades wasn’t the only one who disliked Hermes. “Back the fuck off.”
Hermes shrugged as if he were used to being treated this way. Maybe he really was an asshole and no one let him show his true colors before they snapped.
“Well, when you come to stay here,” said Hermes, “you’ll have to ramp it up. Not eating what we give you is rude.”
“Why is everyone saying I’m going to live here?” I asked, loud enough for the closest gods to hear me. “And I’m eating plenty.”
Demeter laughed as if I’d said something funny. “Oh, darling, we’re going to have so much fun once you’ve moved in permanently.”
Really? Were we?
Chapter 3
“Are you ready?” Apollo came to stand by me where I waited a few feet away from the pavilion where we’d been served dinner. Overhead, the ceiling was a tapestry of the night sky speckled with stars. Gold candelabras hung on the walls, their candles throwing light across the elaborate room made entirely of marble. A grand, long table swallowed most of the space in the room. Crystal glasses along with gold cutlery and plates adorned the spread, glass bowls overflowing with a rainbow of fruit bringing color to the room. Light harp music played nearby, and the sweetest floral smell wafted through the air.
