by J J King
How had he managed to get so close to her without her alarms going off?
Cate breathed in deeply, willing her pulse to slow. She’d acted the fool the first time they’d met and was determined to stay composed this time. Not that her reaction to him in the dreamscape had been her fault, she reasoned as her thoughts began to race. He’d manipulated her mind and body somehow and she didn’t like it one bit.
She didn’t like him one bit.
Cate casually turned her head toward the god of dreams as if she’d been aware of his presence all along. She moved slowly, giving herself time to contemplate the proper reaction to such a forward breach of her privacy.
Dear goddess, he’s gorgeous.
Her first thought upon seeing him again, standing hipshot against an outcropping of stone, was that he was too perfect to be real. Under thick eyebrows and a head of pitch-black waves, his eyes pierced the night and perhaps, she worried, her pretensions. Like the playboy he so obviously was, he stared, seemingly unconcerned with her powers or by the fact that he’d intruded on her most sacred space.
Distracted by the way his stare made her skin tingle and hating herself for it, Cate latched onto the annoyance she felt that he’d come to her home uninvited. Endymion lay unconscious mere feet away from where they stood, protected by her strongest spell and about a thousand wards, but still, this was her fortress of solitude. Her’s and Selene’s.
“How did you find me?” she asked simply, as she pushed off the lounge and stood. With her pulse back to normal, she couldn’t help but notice the flash of interest that brightened Morpheus’ eyes when her kimono first parted, then skimmed her naked thighs before falling straight. She took note of the subtle flare of his nostrils and the way he shifted slightly to relieve the pressure in his pants. She let her lips tilt up. He wanted her. Good, that was simple. She was well versed in sexual attraction and could play the game with the best of them.
Hell, she was the best of them. It was time for payback.
She tilted her head to the side and eyed him, running her eyes over the length of him and, gods, was that length delicious! Cate bit down on the tender flesh inside her mouth to refocus. The subtle move pouted her lips, drawing Morpheus’ attention.
Good. She arched a single brow at him.
“Selene told me,” he said, never taking his gaze from her lips.
Between the shock and confusion that Selene would have shared such intimate knowledge with someone she barely knew, Cate felt a swell of betrayal. For the last few millennia, it had been just the two of them, talking everything over, deciding how to best protect Endymion together. Always together. Now, here she was making decisions of consequence without so much as a whisper. Cate’s heart twisted painfully. She turned away, taking a moment to swallow down the hurt.
“I’m not a bad guy, you know,” Morpheus murmured from so close she felt the hair at the nape of her neck rise as his breath tickled her skin. She bit back a shiver of awareness and wondered how much longer she could resist the pull. Cate closed her eyes and forced herself to refocus on her dislike.
“No?” She stepped back as she whirled around to face him, embracing every ounce of indignation she could scrounge. “So, then why the smoke and mirrors in your dreamscape? Afraid your appeal,” she said the word in the most dismissive tone she could manage, “would fall flat without a little extra?”
Morpheus frowned and scrubbed a hand over his beard, which just served to draw her attention to his jawline, which was impossibly square beneath that sheath of dark hair. Her fingers twitched to touch.
“What are you talking about?” he grumbled, scowling down at her. His hands shifted toward her, then stopped short and were shoved into his pants pockets. “I didn’t do anything weird in the dreamscape. All I did was make a table and chairs. That’s not “smoke and mirrors.” What extra do you mean?”
Cate’s heart skipped a full beat then went on as if nothing had happened but, in her mind, she was panicking. She’d jumped down his neck in the dreamscape and made herself look foolish but that had been his fault. His fault because he’d done something to her to set her pulse racing. She’d just been protecting herself.
But what if he’d done nothing?
Oh, gods! She narrowed her gaze and stared up at him intently, trying to find the hole in his story. Surely, he had to be lying. There was no way she’d responded to him like a schoolgirl experiencing her first crush.
Her skin hummed at his proximity, a side effect, she’d thought, of her annoyance with him and a left-over reaction from the dreamscape. But they weren’t in his realm anymore. He didn’t have the power to manipulate her emotions here, especially here where her magic was so focused. Mortification spread through her in an instant and she fought like hell to hold her own against it.
He didn’t blink or look away from her gaze, a rare feat for most men who were almost always intimidated by her intensity. Cate gritted her teeth and let power seep from her heated blood into her eyes. If she had to be embarrassed, she’d do so in style.
His breathing hitched, filling Cate with primitive female pride. She drew herself up to full height and raised her chin, unwilling to concede that she’d been wrong. Her pride was unbreakable.
Morpheus closed the small distance between them in an instant and thrust his hand into her hair, pulling her forward and up until his lips branded her with fire. Cate gasped at the first contact and her mind reeled from the heat that exploded where their bodies touched.
Gone were the accusations she’d had against him. Gone were the questions she’d wanted to demand he answer. Gone was everything but his lips against hers and his hand moving, sensually, through her thick hair, tugging at it, bringing her even closer.
His other hand explored her body, sliding over the silky fabric covering her, getting close to skin but never delving deeper than her kimono.
Cate arched into him and moaned, completely overcome by the intensity of the need he created in her. It wasn’t like anything she’d felt before, with human, god, demigod, or monster, and she’d been with all over the years. This was like being swept up in a tornado, being pummelled by the winds and the speed, and liking it. She clung to his shoulders, demanding as much as she gave and still wanting more.
Static electricity sparked all around them, summoned by the trickle of power that flowed out of her without her permission, encircling them until they were alive with it. Morpheus lowered his head to her neck and licked the sensitive flesh above her collarbone at the same moment his hand slipped beneath the silk. The feeling of his large hands moving with urgency and need over her skin made her gasp and writhe in his arms. She pressed her hips against him and sobbed out a request for “More!”
He lifted her and turned, crossing the distance in a second then pressed her up against the rock face as gently as he would lay a baby down. Cate blinked in confusion at the move, then cried out when he slid his fingers inside her at the same moment his teeth closed over her shoulder.
She shuddered from the onslaught and slid into the timeless pace of sex, riding his fingers as if her sanity depended on it. At her neck, his teeth grazed her flesh, biting then soothing as she sobbed his name over and over, needing release, wanting too much, too soon.
Cate’s mind recognized the thought for a split second and tried to hold onto it, to figure it out, but it was too late. Morpheus closed his thumb over her clitoris, moving expertly around it… and she was flying over the edge of the cliff, watching stars burst into a million colors behind her closed eyelids while the world spun around them.
She sagged, devoid of energy but filled with power. It twitched with her as she came down from the orgasm, shooting tiny bolts of electricity along her skin and onto his. Cate gasped for breath and let her body take its time recovering. Slowly, as she found her balance and the ability to think, she remembered the intensity of her need and frowned. She’d spent millennia taking care of herself, Selene, and Endymion. It didn’t feel safe to need anyone lik
e that. She stiffened in his arms.
Morpheus stilled and pulled back instantly, not saying a thing as they both regained their control. The air around them smoothed out as her power dissipated, releasing the energy they’d created into the brightening sky. Cate wondered if Selene had noticed their little peep show.
She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked up into his blue eyes. They were so beautiful. He was so beautiful. Before she could stop herself, Cate lifted her hand to his forehead and smoothed away a lock of his dark hair. She smiled wistfully and murmured, “I guess there’s something between us after all.”
The flash of amusement, followed by lust, that shot through Morpheus’ eyes relaxed her. Lust she could handle. Lust she understood and appreciated. It was the other L word that didn’t sit well with her. She’d seen too often what that kind of vulnerability could do to a person.
So, she’d fuck him until she was tired of him, then she’d move on, like she always did. Easy.
“Seems like an understatement, but I’ll take it,” he murmured, dipping his head back down for a long, slow kiss that got her engines all fired up again.
She wanted to give into the sensation and fuck him up against the rock wall but the approaching dawn sent tingles of awareness over her skin that reminded her of her reality. Her body would no longer be her body in mere moments. In all their time together, she had never once put Selene in the position of waking up to a lover she hadn’t taken. That would be despicable.
So, she pulled away from the kiss with a sigh and patted his chest lightly. “Sorry, but my time here is about to end and I’d rather not embarrass Selene with all this.” She motioned to his body, wishing she had the time to take her fill of it.
He grinned crookedly, looking boyishly charming, a look that threw Cate off balance for a moment. “Maybe next time, then.” He winked, stepped back, and disappeared.
Cate stared into the distance and watched the sun start to rise above the horizon. Her time was ending, she would slip away soon, but first she’d get to spend five minutes with her best friend.
The moment she felt Selene in her mind, Cate grinned and started to tell her about Morpheus. But before she could say a word, Selene made a squealing sound that went right through Cate’s cerebellum and announced, “I got him! I got Apollo to agree to meet with us.”
Cate tried to respond, tried to ask Selene how she’d run into Apollo in the night sky when he was the sun god, but Selene just kept on talking. “I know we agreed that Poseidon would talk to him but I saw him and had a few moments before dawn, so I asked and he said yes. He said yes!” Selene laughed and the sound of it made Cate smile. She’d missed Selene’s laughter so much.
“You did a great job.” Cate grinned and wished she could hug her friend. She reminded herself that she could do just that soon, thanks to the god that made her insides melt. Just the thought of him had her stomach twisting in anticipation of their next tryst.
The dawn pulled at her, drawing her down into the darkness that was her home half the time. Cate fought against it for a moment, wishing she could have a little longer. “Remember to let Poseidon know,” she reminded Selene, a split second before she let herself slide away with the taste of Morpheus’ lips in her memory.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Holy shit, man,” Poseidon barked sharply as he hid his face with his forearm. “Dim it down or something, you’re blinding us.”
Apollo grinned irreverently at his uncle and inclined his head ever so slightly, then turned down the brilliance that surrounded him like a wave of pure sunshine, which, of course, it was. “Sorry,” he apologized without looking the least bit sorry. “I sometimes forget.” He turned slowly, taking in the inhabitants of the room and let out a sharp whistle. “Now what in the name of Zeus brings this motley crew of monsters and gods together?” Apollo’s eyes glittered with interest.
Cate shook her head. Gods, she thought. What a bunch of dick heads. But he posed a fair question. Anyone from the outside looking in at their group would see nothing more than a disarray of monsters and gods. She stepped forward and motioned for everyone to take a seat at the table.
“Thank you for coming, Apollo,” she began, getting his immediate attention. The fact that his attention came with a crooked smile that was meant to light up her southern regions was annoying, but she’d dealt with worse.
Morpheus for one.
“Before we tell you why we’re all here,” she chewed on her lower lip a moment, hoping to the gods they’d been right in their assumptions about him, “tell us, what do you think of Zeus?”
Apollo’s eyebrow arched up in surprise then his eyes narrowed. She couldn’t blame him, he was significantly outnumbered and in an uncomfortable position. If it were a trap, he’d be fucked. Realizing this, she closed her eyes a split second then put herself on the line.
“I hate the bastard myself.” She blurted the words out, still half expecting to be smitten even though they were safely in Morpheus’ dreamscape, away from prying eyes and too-keen ears. “He’s fucked up too much for the sake of his own greed and lust, and we’re done waiting for miracles to bring back those we love.” Cate glanced at Selene, who watched her with devotion swimming in her gaze. “So, we’re planning on doing something about it and we need you and your sister to help.”
There it was. Laid out bare for the sun god to either accept or reject. Cate crossed her fingers like a mortal teenager and hoped he’d accept.
Eyebrow still arched, Apollo let his gaze wander the table. One after the other they nodded their agreement; Medusa, Poseidon, Selene, Morpheus, and Cate.
He was silent for a moment, but Cate saw intrigue in his bright blue eyes just as she’d seen it in Poseidon’s when they’d brought him and Medusa on board. When his face split in a wide grin and he leaned forward with a chuckle, Cate’s heart skipped a beat then thundered on.
“Tell me more,” Apollo said, giving her a nod that carried hope.
Cate sat back, giving the floor to Selene, whose story it was to tell. It was her beloved Endymion they were attempting to rescue, after all. She licked her dry lips and wished for something to quell her thirst.
“Perhaps,” Morpheus interrupted, lifting his hands, “this tale would be best told with full bellies and wet throats.” He gestured toward the center of the table, which was instantly covered in platters of charcuterie and hors d'oeuvres, crystal goblets of fine wine and steins of beer.
Apollo picked up a pint of beer and took a long, greedy draught, then clapped a hand on Morpheus’ back. “Now, it’s a party!”
Cate reached for the glass of white wine in front of her and took a cautious sip. It was chilled and crisp, with hints of apple and pear. She smiled as it slid like silk across her tongue and took another sip, stopping with the glass at her lips when she saw Morpheus watching her.
His look wasn’t lewd or even forward, but it made her feel like there was a fire inside her that suddenly took that moment to flare up and scorch her. Cate tried to swallow but found that her throat was dry.
Maybe it was the look of knowing in his gaze, but Cate’s spite pushed to the forefront of her mind and took over. He didn’t know her. She hadn’t given him the right to know her… yet. She slowly arched a single brow and let the delicious wine wet her lips.
Morpheus’ gaze wavered, slipping away from her eyes to focus on her lips. Amused now herself, Cate flicked out the tip of her tongue to lick away a drop of wine that balanced on the edge of her full bottom lip. His chest stopped, she noticed. For a few long, dragged out moments, he neither inhaled nor exhaled as he watched her lips. Slowly, not wanting to break the spell, she lowered the glass to the table, lifted a plump grape to her mouth, and bit it neatly in half with a snap of her teeth.
Morpheus winced and sucked in a lung full of oxygen. He took a mouthful from his own glass of wine to calm the cough that shook him, then shot her a crooked grin that made her stomach tighten.
Cate tore her gaze away from Mor
pheus and realized that Selene had been recounting their story to Apollo while she’d been playing at some kind of dangerous sexual foreplay, which she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to be part of in the first place. Selene was looking at her now, waiting for her to respond with something perfectly designed to ensure Apollo’s cooperation but she had nothing.
“Sorry,” Cate muttered, feeling the rise of blood to her pale cheeks. “What was that?”
“I was just explaining to Apollo that it’s not just me and Endymion in this.” Selene spoke softly but there was a distinctive sharpness in her gaze that told Cate she wouldn’t get away without a reprimand. “Cate gave up everything to help me save Endymion and I owe her the world.”
Cate sucked the inside of her cheek between two of her teeth and bit down sharply to stop herself from tearing up. Gods, she was emotional today. Must be all the hope floating around. She tasted the coppery tang of blood before she was able to speak.
