by Meg Xuemei X
To his credit, Alaric didn’t bark back to prove his alpha dominance.
A moment later, I could sense Reys storm off, my mating bond to him stretching, yet it still pulsed strongly on the other end.
Out of all my mates, I’d only told Reys that I loved him when he ran with me on the training field as I carried Noah/Apollo’s magical bomb. It wasn’t that I loved my other mates any less. It was just always easier to talk to Reys about my feelings.
I quickly took in the surroundings.
The cave was well-equipped—a bed, a desk, cushioned chairs. Magical light radiated from the smooth stone walls, illuminating the cave’s interior in moody light. Orange fire leapt in the fireplace, embers sparking from burned wood.
Even punishing himself, Alaric didn’t forget to find comfort.
I’d expected the cave to be all rough rocks, dark dirt, and green moss, and imagined finding Alaric kneeling on a rock, bare torso with loose trousers hanging low on his hips. Then there was a whip he would use to lash at his back now and then in repentance. Not that I wanted him to inflict pain on himself, since I knew guilt, shame, and angst already beat down on him.
As if perceiving my thoughts, which he was always good at, he murmured, “Being away from you is already the worst form of punishment.”
“Then why did you stay away?” I demanded as I scanned the grave cast of his sensual mouth. I wanted to kiss it. I didn’t want it to be in such a sad shape.
He was looking at my lips, too.
By sheer will, I pulled my gaze up and studied his disheveled appearance. He hadn’t combed his hair. It was longer than when I had last seen him, and wilder. His honey-brown eyes were still bloodshot. I knew my mates barely slept after I was taken, and it had taken a toll on all of them.
I’d command them to sleep after I got a bit skin-to-skin time with each of them. We all needed to reconnect, and the best way to do that was to reacquaint our bodies.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he said softly. “I have my reasons.”
“Your reasons are bullshit, if it’s that same stupid thought you’re still brooding over,” I said. “You did not fail me. You found me and brought me back. It’s not your fault that asshole took me in the first place. I ventured out of the Academy and right into his ambush, but even then, it wasn’t my fault, either. Sooner or later, he was going to get to me, no matter how tightly you guarded me. He’d been planning it for months! And it isn’t all bad. We’ve learned the gods’ endgame and their fallout. We now know that there’s a certain way to truly kick their asses. And now I’m back, standing right in front of you, and you’re just going to sit on your fat ass?”
“Fat ass?” he repeated, his eyes sparkling. “No one has ever called me that. Only my mate can insult me.” The next moment, I was wrapped in his arms. “This fat ass will make it up to you and be worthy of you.”
I narrowed my eyes, but I clasped my hands behind his neck. “By brooding more?”
“You made quite a speech, sweetheart,” he said, studying my face, as if he was trying to compare every line on my face to the ones he remembered.
Alaric was the firmest with me among my mates, but he was never too hard on me. He could always make me bend to his ways if I became too difficult. Pyrder was the softest with me and let me walk all over him most of the time. Reys often resorted to reason and negotiated with me. Lorcan chided me, then explained things to me.
“I can’t afford for you to break,” I said, not gently. “I can’t afford for any of you to lose it.”
“I won’t,” he said, “as long as I have you in my arms. I’ve designed a new rune that can detect the gods’ presence. They can no longer fool us and infiltrate our inner circle.”
While we lounged in bed after our reconnection, Reys mentioned that Alaric had spent endless hours finding the perfect rune while searching for me in every corner of the planes.
I pressed a palm against his ruggedly handsome face. He was all male, harsh and menacing, but he was mine. “That’s good, but you need to remember to eat and sleep. You promised not to crack up.” Then I glared at him. “If you don’t know how to take care of yourself, how can you take care of me?”
“I’ll gain strength for you in no time,” he said. “And I won’t allow anyone—gods, mortals, or immortals—to take you away from me again.” With that, he crushed his mouth over mine.
I parted my lips for him, and his tongue invaded through them and swept over my hard palate. I shivered as a tingling sensation rippled in me.
Pleasure buzzed on my skin, and lust burned in my veins.
I closed my eyes, thinking of how Goddess Demeter had dressed me in Apollo’s realm, then I pictured undressing Alaric and myself.
I blinked open my eyes.
Both Alaric and I were naked, with me pressing against him.
Alaric gasped on my lips and laughed. “You learned a new trick, sweetheart.”
I grinned. “I’m a quick study.”
His large, powerful hand took advantage of the convenience of my nudity and cupped my breast. His massive erection pricked against my belly.
“I need to fuck you now, demigod,” I said.
Alaric gazed down at me, his honey-brown eyes darkening, unbridled desire riding him. The male had such intense passion! My heart pounded, and the roar in my ears wouldn’t stop until he sated me.
Alaric lifted me up. His skilled hands spread my legs, then in one swift move, his hard shaft pushed through my plump folds and glided into me with ease, despite his size, all the way to my aching center.
I gasped at the erotic sensation. Skin to skin. Flesh inside flesh.
He started to move, thrusting slowly, giving me time to adjust to his size. His cock was so large it stretched me to my muscles’ limits.
But I loved every minute of being filled like this. The weight of his length in my passage was both intoxicating and comforting.
Lust became tangible fire, lighting my every cell, and burning the demigod.
Alaric abandoned his slow burn torture, snarling and thrusting deep and hard into me while maneuvering my hips to let me ride his massive cock.
I moaned as he kept pumping into me, faster and faster, until his movements blurred.
“Fuck me just like that!” I cried amid my breathless, shameless moans.
“I’ll fuck your pretty pussy so hard until you scream hoarse,” he growled, driving into me with menacing, yet sweet force.
It unmade me while the demigod poured his bountiful, pure energy into me.
I started feeding on Alaric through our fucking, taking all he had to offer, and he gave it all to me without reservation. Then I gave him back some of mine.
His immense power was the purest I’d tasted. It was nectar. My demigod was very special. Maybe that was why his father favored him over his full-blooded god children.
Alaric whispered my name again and again, but he didn’t slow down his wild, merciless thrusts. I cried and screamed at the onslaught of pleasure that sent me flying high to the seventh heavens and then bought me down to the pit of the hell, only to toss me up again.
It was fortunate that Alaric had put the concealment spell around the cave, or my screams and his growls would have woken up the entire camp.
At his next sequence of brutal thrusts, I was pushed to the edge. My fingernails raked through his muscled back, drawing blood.
He hissed in approval.
“It’s my turn to fuck you, Alaric!”
“Be my guest, my horny little goddess,” he chuckled in dark lust and slowed down his thrusts to lazy strides.
I grabbed his shoulders to anchor myself as I started to ride along his cock. Earth, his shaft was so hard, long, and massive, I felt its every delicious inch of hardness inside me. I did a little twirl, and he snarled in response and tried to move in me vehemently again.
“I said it’s my turn to fuck you!” I snapped, picking up speed until I rode him in bruising rhythm.
He gritted hi
s teeth. “Fuck yes, sweetheart. Fuck me!”
My goddess strength poured into him, and his demigod’s power surged up to meet mine in equal measure.
Alaric could not hold back and simply let me dominate. He pumped into me as we fucked each other with such raw, brutal force that no mortals could take.
It was a place not everyone could go and survive.
I exploded, raining down liquid fire on his cock, and he roared, pumping his hot seed into the depth of my womb.
I cried out with him before I dipped my head down on the hollow space between his neck and shoulder. My fangs emerged, and then I was biting him, bleeding him, and leaving my mark.
We collapsed onto his bed, nearly toppling it, with me still riding him and him calling my name.
When he carried me, fully dressed, back to the main cabin, he stayed with us. He was no longer brooding but grinned like a school boy who’d just touched his first boob.
“The shit-eating grin,” Pyrder grunted.
Lorcan gave me a look. He’d come to the common room to wait for me. I sent him back a sly smile.
“Listen,” I commanded, my hands on my hips. “All of you go to sleep and make up for the sleepless nights while I was gone. You’ll need your strength to protect me, so I won’t be taken again. You know that Ares and Apollo will return to try soon.”
The gods weren’t like any other races. They never gave up their hunt. I could easily picture how pissed the sun and war gods were right now.
“And to be honest, guys,” I continued. “You all look like shit, and that’s no way to attract your mate.”
They didn’t look like shit, but I had to lie to get them to take me seriously.
“Do you have any additional words, dulcis?” Lorcan arched an eyebrow and stretched a hand toward me. “If not, then come.”
He could wait no longer. Hunger, lust, and impatience swirled in his eyes, turning them a stormy grey. I’d satisfied all of my mates except him.
“Our mate has become so bossy since she returned,” Alaric said. “In my long immortal years, no one else has dared to give me orders.”
“Get used to it,” I said.
Lorcan flung me over his shoulder and stalked out of the room.
Reys chuckled. “We’ll stay up, waiting for you to have cakes, and then we can all go to sleep together.”
I squirmed in Lorcan’s arms. “Cakes? How could I forget that?”
But the High Lord of Night’s long strides had already carried us into his room, where he shut the door firmly.
I raised my head from the upside down position, my eyes blinking once, then twice.
Fresh dandelions paved on the floor and the bed, illuminated by the candle light. I’d once collected the flowers from a field every morning for him, hoping the dandelions’ loveliness and strength could knock some sense into him and wake him the hell up from a coma.
He’d remembered, and now he was romancing me with dandelions.
My light and fire blazed for the High Lord of Night. When he placed me in the center of the bed, above the dandelions, I saw the same light and fire ignited in his strongly beating heart.
Our lust merged. Our bodies joined. And our bond glowed.
14
__________________
Everyone—my mates, their warriors, and Amber— gathered in the main cabin, sharing breakfast and cakes with me to celebrate my return.
The gods would retaliate. They must be hunting me now, but at this moment, it was all joy.
I talked non-stop and laughed at my friends’ and family’s jokes, even when some of their jokes were pretty bad.
Boone placed a big cake on a porcelain plate in front of me.
“You sure you can finish it all, Cass?” Hector taunted, arching both eyebrows. “You need some help?”
I pulled the cake closer to me in a defensive position, and the warriors chortled.
“Don’t make my mate panic,” Pyrder said. “We just got her back.”
I debated for a second, and then cut my cake in half and put the other half on a spare plate. “That’s for all of you to share, for this occasion only. Don’t expect me to give up my cake every time. And don’t forget to save a piece for Amber.”
The seer looked at me gratefully from across the table. The cake Boone made for me was always the best. He didn’t just use his special recipe; he poured his friendship and affection for me into making that special cake.
The warriors all knew that. While they eagerly divided the half cake among themselves, I told them about the gods’ endgame.
“We’re the collateral damage,” Alaric concluded, “just like last time. But this time, they have no intention of sparing Earth. They don’t care if we go up in flames when they leave.”
“They don’t want to damage their own world.” Pyrder sucked in a breath. “So they picked Earth as their next battlefield. We’ll show them where we stand. If we go down, we’ll drag them down with us.”
“It’s better we don’t go down,” Lorcan said, sending me a doting glance. “We must plan our next steps carefully and strategically. Now that we know their true intentions and what they’ve planned for us—thanks to our mate—we have a better chance to deliver our blows to their very heart.”
“A few goddesses are on our side,” I said. “They have their own scores to settle against the male gods.” My eyes burned. “We can turn all the goddesses against the male pigs! We can start a revolution from there. I’ll do it.” I waved my fists at the warriors after I inserted a spoonful of cake into my mouth. It melted on my tongue. “All the sexists, misogynists, male chauvinists, and supremacists will go the fuck down!”
I scanned the warriors in the dining room, waiting for a challenge.
Pyrder chuckled and raised both hands in surrender. “Sorry to disappoint you, Cass baby. There aren’t any male pigs here. Let’s focus on killing the gods and winning the war.”
“They’re the god race,” Alaric said. “They don’t think like us. They never will. No matter how hard some gods and goddesses try to be your friends, we can’t trust any of them, but we will use them.”
Lorcan nodded. “They’re more fickle than humans.”
“First step, we need to locate the elemental shifter who led Cass into the trap,” Reys said. “He also left a clue as to where to find the ancient scroll that reveals how to kill the gods.”
I stuffed my face with another piece of cake. “Who the fuck knows where the rabbit hole is? There must be thousands of holes dug by rabbits, and we can’t go check every hole, can we? We don’t have enough manpower to do just that. Finding the shifter dude isn’t easy, either. He’s damn fast, and he can turn into to smoke. Puff, and he disappears.”
“I can help you with the puff part,” a voice sounded from the open kitchen. Celeb, Alaric’s half-demon warrior, leaned on the counter.
All heads turned to Celeb.
“I caught a glimpse of the fucker when you chased him,” Celeb said. He hadn’t slept much, either, judging from the dark circles under the hollow of his haunted eyes. “I tracked him after you were taken. It took me awhile to piece it together, but I finally figured out that he’s a messenger from the Underworld.”
The room sank into complete silence before someone murmured grimly, “We’re fucked.”
If the elemental shifter had been sent by Hades, my quite possible biological father, then what did that mean? I darted a wary glance between my mates.
Had Hades also learned about me through Phobos’s betrayal? But the terror god had sold me out only to Apollo and his dad Ares.
Hades was one of the cruelest gods. He hungered for power more than anything.
Phobos’s mocking voice rang in my ear. “Hades will come for you, and when he does, he’ll take your power and cage you. The God of Death doesn’t show mercy, even to his own blood, and he hasn’t had any for eons.”
I swallowed the bile in the back of my throat. I was thankful that at least I had finished the cak
e before we came to this part. Reys, who sat beside me, took my cold hand in his large warm one and kissed my temple. “We won’t let any of them get to you again.”
Rage and determination formed on my other mates’ faces. Alaric wrapped an arm around my waist on my other side and kissed the crown of my head. And just like that, defiance surged in my veins and expelled the fear. My mates would protect me, and this time they were prepared.
“You can’t know for sure that shifter is Hades’ messenger, Celeb,” Pyrder said.
“I didn’t say he was Hade’s messenger,” Celeb said. “But he’s from the Underworld. Cass said he changed to smoke. No other shifters can do that in any mortal or immortal realm on Earth’s surface. Only those from the Underworld can do such a thing.” Celeb snarled in distaste. He hated that half of his heritage. “I’m a half-demon, and I came from Hell. So I know. A lot of you may not know that the Underworld used to have another lord before Hades swept in. When all the Olympian gods returned to Earth, Hades took the reins from Pluto. We don’t know the messenger’s alliance, but he could have been sent by Pluto. I’m sure the former Lord of the Underworld wants to see the gods dead as much as us.”
“Then why didn’t Pluto reach out to us?” Ambrosia questioned.
Ambrosia was brave in the battlefield, but she always had tunnel vision.
“The Underworld doesn’t work like the surface.” Celeb shrugged. “The former lord ruled his dark worlds for eons without any contest until the Olympian gods returned. No one stood a chance against the gods, no one until Lady Cass Saélihn showed up. News and rumors spread like wildfire. How Cass killed two gods and then captured the God of Terror in the Misery Twist club reached every corner of the Earth.”
“I didn’t kill Enyalius and Ichnaea,” I protested, remembering the minor God of War, his red cape billowing around him, and the Goddess of Track and Trace, a tall brunette dressed in armored bra and skirt down to her thighs. The bitch had shot an arrow of lighting and fire at me. If Lorcan hadn’t shielded us, Reys and I would have been dead. Lorcan had nearly died from the arrow impaling his chest.
