His skin slick with sweat glided along hers, their bodies in perfect harmony as they climbed high to their heavenly destination. She had no control, no consciousness in her actions. She moved purely by instinct, her body recognizing his as its other half. He was the missing piece to her existence. Nothing could ever feel so right as it did at this moment. He was the man that completed her.
“You make me whole,” he moaned with another thrust, as though reading her mind.
“Oui, oui, mon chere.” She wanted to shout her love, a sudden wash of emotion she had never known. But, she held it back as her body quaked and rattled with another orgasm.
“Oh, by Zeus!” he cried, spilling into her his heated essence. Jism sprayed deep within her womb, locking them together in a moment of passion and unexpected love.
* * *
Ares pulled her close to him as they lay in the glow of their lovemaking. He realized this was no ordinary woman right from the beginning. She was beyond what he expected. What was it he thought would come of coupling with a human? Not just any human, but one with the face of a muse and the courage of a warrior. His entire being was drained by the innocent loving of this woman.
He stroked her long dark hair, wondering in the silky softness, listening to the calming of her breathing from excitement to contentment.
He closed his eyes and inhaled the scent of their union—sweat and musk. It filled him, wrapped about him, embracing him like he never had felt before.
Holding her tight, he realized the great god of war was indeed falling in love with a human. How could he survive without Belle in his bed, her courageous strength to guide his temper when the battle was lost, or have her beautiful face light up with a smile, easing his ire? He had only known her for a few hours, and already, he couldn’t imagine his existence without her.
The problem at hand was she was mortal. He could love her for a short while, but would she want him when she aged and he didn’t? Resentment would replace any tenderness of feeling. His heart ached at the prospect of losing her to Hades and his death grip.
“What is the matter, Ares? You’re so tense, mon chere.”
She obviously felt his body straining against his sad thoughts. How could he dwell upon such negativity when she was here within his arms, soft, willing, and well loved?
“I’m sorry, love. My thoughts got the better of me.”
“What was it you were thinking about?”
“That…that you must be hungry.”
She propped up on an elbow looking down at him. “I don’t believe you.”
She was smart. A smile curled his lips. “Perceptive little female aren’t you?”
“I know when something is wrong.”
“I don’t want to worry you, love. Forget about it.”
“Just tell me,” she persisted.
He sighed. “I’m thinking on how I don’t want to lose you.”
She sat and thought on this for a moment, then said, “I’m here with you now. Let’s enjoy the few moments we have.” She gasped, “The train!”
Struggling up out of the bed, she began to scurry about the room. Gloriously naked, he chuckled to himself.
“What is the problem, my sweet?”
“I have to get dressed. You have to take me back.”
He bolted up in bed, no longer amused. “You’re not leaving here.”
She stopped and stood glaring at him. Even nude, she was a commanding figure of a woman.
By Zeus, he loved her.
And he didn’t know how to tell her. But one thing was for sure, he was not going to let her return to earth. As long as she remained at Mount Olympus, she was safe and ageless. And his.
* * *
“You have to take me back. You have to.”
“No, I don’t. You’re my prisoner, remember?”
“I’m not joking, Ares. My men, they need me.”
“Time on earth is of no consequence here with the gods.”
She couldn’t believe this conversation. Everything she fought for, all the years she waited to rid her country of the Nazis, and she wasn’t there to complete her mission. “I have to go back.”
He rose from the bed, his body naked and muscular. Her mouth went dry watching his sinew glide under his perfect skin as he strode to her.
“I can’t let you go back, Belle. I just found you after waiting centuries. Battle and war filled my days. Death, destruction, pain, fear. I never felt such a connection to a human without some sort of weapon in my hand.”
Was he so deprived of all love and tenderness? “You mean to say you haven’t known…” Love? Could she say it? Would he laugh at the thought of loving her? A god involved emotionally with a human woman. “…known tenderness, pleasant feelings toward another?”
“The gods use the humans for their play things.” He laid his hands upon her shoulders. “I’m no different. I used them as a way to feed my desires to fight. The others use them to sate their own needs—Aphrodite uses men as her lovers; Dionysus quenches his thirsts with their wines and sex; and even Zeus uses the humans to ease his sexual lusts. I can’t even count how many brothers and sisters I have anymore.”
“Just because the other gods use the humans for their own means doesn’t give you the right to use me.”
He touched her face and she shivered. Why did she have to be so sensitive to his touch?
“My sweet Belle, I want to you stay with me. Exist here with me in my world. Here, you will never age nor die. In my realm, you will become as I, immortal.”
“You mean just staying here I will become immortal?”
“Well, after I feed you the Ambrosia. It is the food of the gods. A taste of its nectar and you will become impervious to injury or mortal weaknesses.”
He moved close, nuzzling her neck. “Stay with me, Belle. Be my mate. Remain by my side as my goddess of war. Your strength and courage will be an inspiration to the humans. You will balance my anger with reason and the touch of your hand against mine.”
Her mind was clouded by his kisses. She sighed, tilting her head to allow him better access to her neck. His naked warmth pressed against her body, and she was lost. He was seducing her, and she allowed it. There was no reason in her thinking. Only desire—and love.
“Ares,” she whispered, holding his head to her neck. His black hair threaded between her fingers, she was falling under his spell—cast by his naked body and talented lips. Her insides danced at his touch, her center oozing the cream of ecstasy, readying for more passionate acts by her lover.
When his lips caressed hers, she moaned and opened to his demands. He deepened the kiss, and her toes curled under such expertise. How can any woman resist such a man so talented in kissing? Her tongue danced with his, mingling in wetness, mimicking the act of love. She clung to his body, powerful and dominating, she surrendered the momentary thoughts of returning to the war for his silent promises of sexual pleasures.
“Mon chere, make love to me.”
Perhaps she could finally find peace within his world. And in his arms.
Chapter Five
He kissed her deeply, and she surrendered within a heartbeat to her body’s demands. Getting closer was all she wanted. As he fed upon her mouth, all thoughts of the outside world dissolved.
Then he scooped her up into his arms and walked to the pool on the other side of the chamber. The lotus flowers floated upon the surface where she could see a misty heat rising into the air. A heated pool.
Ares stepped down into the water still holding her aloft. He kissed her with a fierce passion she returned with equal intensity.
When her skin touched the warm waters, she moaned. He lowered her and the pool’s water embraced her body. Was it truly only water or some sort of magical essence? She was unsure because the sensation was simply heavenly.
“You’re mine,” he moaned against her lips as he lowered her legs to stand. “You’re mine for eternity.”
Emotions flooded over her like the tide in th
e ocean, she was overwhelmed by its strength and unexpected pull.
“Ares, I need you inside me.” She hardly recognized the urgency in her voice. Husky and low, she sounded like a sexually deprived nymph.
Her core ached for him to fill it as he had before.
He lifted her body, gliding it along his, water sluicing over their skin, and he lowered her onto his erection. She gasped as his cock impaled her to the hilt.
“I can’t get enough of you, Belle. Tell me you will stay with me. Tell me who you belong to.” His voice was forced; control lost in the passion of the moment as he lifted her gently then pulled her down once again.
“Oh yes,” she groaned with delight. Wrapping her legs to secure their connection, she shuddered.
“Tell me, love. I need to hear you say you belong to me. Say you will fuck only me. I will be your lord. Tell me I am the master of your body.”
“Ares, darling, you’re the only one. Fuck me. I only want you to fill me.”
His movements became urgent, quicker, searching for the height of ecstasy as he moved in and out of her sheath.
“So tight, so precious. Dear Belle, I love you.”
He exploded into her core as she met him over the edge of an orgasm. Her body shook with the intensity, and she screamed his name as the spasms squeezed his penis deeper and deeper.
She collapsed against his shoulder, drained of strength to even hold herself up. Even though her body still quaked with the aftershocks of such a climax, she relished the man holding her tightly within his arms.
He said he loved me. Was it something brought on by a moment of passion? Or was there more to his declaration? He’d pleaded to hear her pledge her body to him. What about her heart? He’d claimed he had no need for love. As he held her, his skin slippery from the water, and his body heat warming her, she wondered if offering Ares her body was enough—for her.
She wanted to give her heart. But would he accept it?
Exhausted, she relaxed into his embrace and closed her eyes.
“You’ll be forever mine, my warrior lover,” he whispered.
* * *
“Ares, you can’t keep her like a pet.” Aphrodite appeared by the edge of the pool after he had tucked Belle into his bed to rest.
“I’m keeping her here. She’ll become my goddess.” He walked over to his former lover who sat at the edge of the pool, her delicately painted toes dipped into the water. Dressed in a gossamer bodysuit, he wondered why she even bothered to wear anything. It was completely see-through.
“You can’t. It is fine to take her as a temporary playmate. I do that all the time. But to keep her here… You are changing human history.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighed. “I mean if you keep her here, you are affecting the lives of hundreds.”
He glanced back to Belle within his bed, asleep and dreaming—hopefully of him. “But I may lose her if I let her go.”
“And she will resent you for it. She cares for you, Ares. But, she wants more than a sexual fling. You need more than that. If she stays here, those men die and the course of the war changes, she will resent you. Any hope for her to love you will disappear.”
“I thought love is blind.” He really hated the course of this conversation. He wanted Belle and was not going to risk losing her.
“It is blind, but not stupid. How can she love you if you destroy all she has fought for? You keep her from her mission; any love growing in her heart will turn to hatred.” She turned and gazed down into the water watching the soft ripples created by her toes. “Love and hate are such powerful emotions that one can easily turn into the other.”
“Zeus send you here?” he demanded, suspicious of his father butting his nose into his son’s affairs. As if Zeus was a pillar of sexual monogamy.
“No, though this is a major topic of discussion in court. Your father is concerned over the results of this war. It was never supposed to happen. He dislikes the man who set himself up as a god, judging which humans are worthy of procreation. He has taken quite an interest in this war, and your interference will prolong this leader Hitler’s rule. I believe your mother, Hera, has stopped Zeus at least once, to let the humans paint their own history rather than his sending down a bolt of lightening.”
He chuckled as he strode the length of the pool opposite of Aphrodite. “I will not risk Belle dying at the hands of a Nazi. I would think Father would understand this.”
“But at what price?” She stood and brushed her body with her hands. That outfit was really see-through.
“Hephy like you walking around, dressed like that? Seems to me he was the jealous sort.”
Once again, she sighed. “Hephy and I are no longer together. I roved around too much for him to tolerate. I can’t help it. I’m the goddess of love. I was born to love lots of men.”
He snorted. Figures. “And you are here out of the goodness of your heart to help me in my affair?” Something was just not adding up.
She lifted her eyes to him. She was beautiful beyond description. If she had come to him before he met Belle, he may have wanted to seduce her.
“Ares, I loved you. You were special to me. And I only want to help. I know how love and desire can cloud one’s better judgment. I came to offer advice. That’s all.” She paused and a tear ran down her cheek. “Seeing you loving the human has hurt me. It really has. But I know I hurt you in the past. Regardless of what happened, I always loved you. If you weren’t with the human, I may have tried to entice you into my life again.”
“But you won’t now? Yet you want me to send her away.”
“Only to ensure she will continue to have love grow in her heart instead of it turning to resentment. I came out of fear you’d be hurt, Ares.”
He really wasn’t sure if he should believe his former lover. Aphrodite had a history of deceit. He remembered her lying to Hephaestus of her love for him while she lay trapped within the golden net, naked next to Ares. It was a mortifying moment he longed to sponge away from his memory.
“Please leave, ‘Dite. No god or goddess can convince me to let Belle go. She will stay with me.”
She faded into the air, her flowered scent of roses left behind. On the breeze she whispered, “If you love her, set her free. If she loves you, she will return to your side.”
* * *
Belle stirred as Ares caressed her cheek with his fingertips. Misty dreams of sex and sensuous pleasure danced across her memory. Never had she dreamt such passions, and with Ares, she was finally finding out the glories of sexual gratification.
Stretching like a contented cat, she groaned, “I think I may sleep for the next five years before getting up.”
“Sleep? I have much more planned than wasting our time with sleep.”
She laughed softly. “Oh, better yet. As long as I get to stay in this bed. It feels divine. I never felt such a pleasure to rest in.” Truly, the bed was luxurious and a treat. It beat the hard pallet back in the underground bunker.
The bunker. Cries in the dark. The smell of dirt, blood and gunpowder. Her mind reeled with memories and a horrid realization. She had forgotten her comrades. They were fighting without her.
She bolted upright in bed. “Jean-Luis…Jacque…Elise…they all need me.” Heedless of her nakedness, she sprang from the bed. “I can’t stay here.”
Ares sighed and took her by the shoulders. “I can’t let you go.”
“I have to.”
His face was grim as he asked, “You rather fight than stay here with me and make love?”
“Ares, it isn’t that. I love being here with you. But, I can’t turn my back on everything I’ve cared for now. Tonight is the night everything changes. I know it. I can feel it.”
He sighed. “’Dite was right. I can’t keep you from your destiny.” Pausing, he pulled her against his body. “I’ll let you go back to fight. Only the woman I…only a woman worthy of me would choose to return to the battle.”
For a spl
it second, she thought he’d mention love. He had said it during a moment of ecstasy, so could that be trusted? But then she realized, he could never fall in love. It was probably for the best. She wasn’t sure she could return any degree of the emotion to him. Even she was incapable of love in the romantic sense. It just didn’t exist.
Chapter Six
In a few moments, Belle was home, surrounded by darkness in the woods by the guardhouse. She glanced down at herself noting her clothes, mended from the tears of the struggle with the guard. Ares was crouched by her side, looking the part of the grizzled soldier once again. Only the smile upon his face told her, the entire experience in his arms was not a dream.
He leaned in and kissed her. When his lips met hers, her entire body heated in response. It recognized the passion they’d shared, and longed to taste once again.
“I brought us back to only moments from the precise time we left,” he whispered. “We have to go, the train will be at the bridge in a few minutes.”
She nodded, trying to clear her head from the confusion swirling around. She grasped her rifle from its hiding place in the bushes, and she raced off through the trees, hoping the action would clarify her purpose. She asked to return. She pleaded to come back and finish her mission. But then, why was she sick to her stomach with disappointment?
They stopped at the edge of the trees overlooking the bridge. Off in the distance, she heard the train rumble down the tracks. Then she spotted Jean-Luis, running toward them. Sounds of gunfire burst into the air.
“Damn it,” muttered Ares. “Nazis discovered the team.”
She almost sprinted forward, but he caught her arm. “We have to draw their fire,” she said.
“Wait, you rush in like that, you’ll be shot right off.” He scanned the area, noting the Germans were in the woods on the opposite end of the bridge. “If we create another diversion, they may have better a chance of getting out alive.”
Acting before she fully worked out the diversion, Belle snatched a grenade from Ares’ waist, pulled the pin, and tossed the explosive towards the tracks, away from the bridge.
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