“You’re it for me, Eden. I don’t want anyone else but you. I wouldn’t die for anyone else. Let me be yours.” He stops talking, gazing down at me and waiting.
I want him so badly, in every way. He means what he’s saying. Everything inside of me sings out yes.
“Promise me you won’t try to hurt Asher, Nick or Eli.” I need to hear it to be sure, even if it’s already a done deal.
“I won’t hurt them. I won’t do anything that might hurt you, Eden. I promise.”
Then it’s done. He’s my fourth. And there’s just one thing I need to do to seal this deal. “Rip my panties, Logan. I need you inside me.”
Chapter Forty
Logan
The car stops as I reach under Eden’s skirt and tear her thin lacy panties off. I don’t look up when the door opens. On some level I know, we’re being left alone to consummate our joining. There’s ritual involved in becoming Eden’s lover. I know from thoughts I saw when she sent her light into me. She needed me to accept her completely, to promise I don’t care that she has other men, then she needs me to claim her physically.
I pull the rigid shaft from my jeans and she parts her legs for me. I run my knuckles down her soaked pussy, feeling how ready she is for me to fill her. I was gentle our first time, but there’s an urgency now that won’t allow for the same care. She’s not as breakable as I thought she was. She gasps out a sharp breath as I plunge inside.
“You’re so fucking big,” she breathes, gazing up at me.
Bigger than the others. I know without asking. She pulls me in close and I hear every passion-filled moan as I thrust inside her hot sheath, giving it harder and faster with every stroke. Her groans become frenzied as the pace picks up. I can feel her body tensing under mine when she starts to come.
“Oh, Logan,” she moans.
It all feels right, every second of it. I come inside of her as she recovers from her own climax. She’s trembling as I kiss her lips softly.
A feeling of euphoria hits as I gaze down at her gorgeous face. She’s mine. This Goddess belongs to me, she loves me. We’ll never need to be apart again. The pact we made that was sealed by our joining is forever. She can’t push me away. I’ll never let her go.
I move back, pulling my waning dick from her tight pussy and pushing it into my jeans.
“That was intense,” she whispers, as I help her up and pass over her jeans.
“I love you, Eden.”
“I love you too.”
She dresses and the afterglow begins to wear off. Her expression becomes clouded. I realise it at the same time that she does. We were given a push to do this. I know now that it would have happened anyway, if I survived Catherine. But that could have been months down the line. Years.
Lawson tipped us onto this path early. She scowls and reaches for the door handle.
“Eden, wait.”
She turns back to me, guilt in her eyes. “You didn’t want this.”
I shake my head. “I did. I just didn’t want you to do it if you weren’t sure. It didn’t seem like you were.”
“I’m going to kill Lawson.” She sounds pissed as she pulls away from me and gets out of the car.
I know she loves me, regardless. It still hurts that she isn’t happy about what just happened, but I know there isn’t time to talk about it. Eden has a Dark Forces Goddess to take down. Now that she’s armed to do it. I get out of the car in time to see her smack Lawson in the chest with her fist.
She winces and shakes out her hand. He opens the door to Diana’s house and smiles.
“We can place blame later. Right now, there’s a bitch of a Goddess to turn mortal.”
Eden blows out a breath. I can see the anger in her gaze, in her taut stance as she glowers at him.
“Lead the way.” Her words are clipped, she’s not going to be done being pissed at him anytime soon.
I follow behind them, realising now that Catherine can’t use me against her. I’m one of her men. She can’t get into my head. The thought makes me smile. I’m going to kill the bitch once Eden takes her power.
Chapter Forty-One
Eden
The house is dark inside, all the shades are drawn. I feel a little squirmy as I follow Lawson into the gloom. My emotions are raging inside. I’ve had a power surge in taking Logan as my fourth. My body trembles with energy. I feel indestructible, full of anger and ready to explode.
Lawson turns as he leads us to what seems to be a basement door.
Follow my lead, he thinks at me. You’ll know what to do when we get to her.
Whatever, I think back, still incredibly pissed at him. He used his God powers to get me together with Logan. Maybe it would be cute if it wasn’t so fucked up. Neither of us were sure about it. Even though I know Logan’s feelings now, it doesn’t make this right. He didn’t really want this. He wasn’t ready for it. Neither was I, not really.
It’s too soon, after everything.
Lawson walks down the basement stairs, causing them to creak. It’s pitch black down here but that changes when we’re halfway down. I see Catherine smiling up at as when the lights go on. She has a superior expression on her face, as if she’s already won. We’ll see about that.
“Welcome, my enemies. I see you brought my weapon back to me, but I don’t have any use for him now so you won’t mind if I—” She trails off, frowning as we make it down to her. She knows something has changed. I see the spark of fear in her eyes before she recovers from the realisation.
For a second, I expect her to run. She does the opposite, sealing her fate. Oh, she’s arrogant, but I knew that already. She looks me over. Supposedly unimpressed, but I know better.
“Someone’s grown into her power,” she remarks, smirking. “I assume that means you’ve switched sides.”
Switched sides? Is that what she thinks happened? I glance at Lawson.
He looks like he’s ready to explode just from being in the same room as her. He’s so damn tense. I reach out to help him and he pulls back, not looking at me. He’s angry. He has a right to be. This bitch really fucked with him.
Lawson snaps, grabbing her by the arms and pushing her hard against the nearest wall.
She gasps, but her smirk only seems to widen. “I knew I’d crack you, Lawson. I didn’t think you’d infect Eden quite so quickly but I can’t say I’m disappointed.”
I don’t know what she means, but I know it’s bullshit. Lawson might be pissed, but he hasn’t turned dark, if that’s even possible. I have to admit, I’m kind of freaked out at the concept.
Catherine glances Logan over, as if she’s wondering what he’s doing with us. Then she opens her mouth. “Logan, sweetheart, go kill yourself.”
Anger wells up in me as I see the pain she just brought him with those words. She’s taunting him over what she did to her daughter. He covers the visible hurt quickly, but his tensed jaw tells me it’s still working on him.
“Fuck that,” he spits back at her, standing his ground.
Her expression slackens. Logan ignored her command; now she knows why he can be here. She’s in shock, but it doesn’t last. Her smile becomes amused, her eyes glittering darkly.
“Oh, I see what happened here. The whore took another lover.” She turns her unflinching gaze on me. “How many will you stop at, slut? How many will it take to keep that craven cunt of yours happy?”
That does it. She’s crossing too many lines and I’m done listening to her. I smack her in the jaw, with one fast flung right hook. It does nothing to sate this need blossoming through me to get payback for everything she’s done to us. I’m going to fill with rage and I don’t know what will happen when I do. Right now, I don’t even care.
She laughs, and doesn’t stop. She knows I’m going dark. She’s won.
Lawson frowns at me, and I can feel his light reaching out to course over me. The influence begins to douse my bitter emotions.
Don’t let her rile you. It’s a crack in your armour e
very time she forces you to strike her in anger. There are...
Many paths to destruction, I know. I blow out a breath. I need to get my anger under control. I need to touch her, to take her power. Logan’s light touch on my back reminds me he’s there, he’s with me. He loves me. Even if this happened in the most fucked up way possible, he’s mine and he wants to be with me. He changed his whole way of thinking to get to this point. To be able to love me the way I need to be loved.
I place my hand on Catherine’s throat, struggling to stay focused to avoid my anger flooding back. I’m a Goddess of Love. I need to show compassion. Even for this evil bitch of a woman. “Catherine Milner, you destroyed your own daughter and her unborn child. You’re not fit to wear the title of a Goddess.”
She laughs as if I just told the funniest joke ever.
“I’m glad you find this amusing,” I tell her, seeking to connect to my light. It’s brighter than before and it soars through me to bleed into her. Her dark soul has no light within, as I expected. That doesn’t matter. I know what I need to do now. “You’re going to need a sense of humor where you’re going.”
Lawson keeps her pinned to the wall as I fill her with my light. She does little more than scowl at me. As if this is a just a mild irritation. She doesn’t believe I can make her mortal. That’s why she’s just letting me do this. That’s why she isn’t trying to get away.
“I don’t know what you think you’re doing but it won’t work. I can’t be broken. There are no cracks for your love to seep into.” She sounds so confident, almost as if she’s bragging.
I smile slowly. “There are many paths to destruction, Catherine. You should know that.”
She still doesn’t seem afraid, yet she should be. I gaze upwards, opening my mouth and letting deep buried instincts take me over. The words that flow from my lips are not English. I speak them so quietly I can’t remember them once they’ve been spoken. The light that fills the room is blinding when I’m done, and I feel it in my soul when she becomes mortal.
She ages when the light recedes. Apparently her immortal status kept her looking young.
“What have you done?” She gasps as she holds her wrinkled hands out in front of her.
“You broke the rules when you killed Diana’s unborn child. She had potential. Every Goddess must be allowed choice. You took that from her. So I took your power from you.”
It was dangerous, and I know it. But the higher power I invoked made the judgement when I presented them with the fact. I don’t know how this was any different than Cupid doing the same, but maybe it wasn’t questioned because I was powerful enough to do this myself.
“You bitch!” Catherine curses at me, struggling against Lawson’s grasp now. She’s realising she should have run while she had the chance.
I know Logan has a weapon in his hand before he swings his arm toward her, and I move swiftly to block the strike. The piece of spiked metal hits the ground and he frowns at me.
“She doesn’t deserve to live.” His fury is justified, but that doesn’t mean I can let him do this.
“Someone needs to take responsibility for the murders she had you commit, Logan.” My voice shakes, wondering if he’ll understand why I can’t just let him kill her.
Right now, his expression is as cold as ice. The snarling way he moves his mouth when he speaks only reinforces how angry he still is. “She killed Diana.”
“I know. And we can’t get real justice for that. But we can make her pay for the men she had you kill.” I take in a deep breath and check that Lawson still has a firm grip of her as I move back to put my full attention on Logan. “She doesn’t look like she’ll handle prison well. Surely that torture is better than allowing her a quick death?” I hope to appeal to him on this, because while I understand why he hates her, I can’t stand the thought of him killing in cold blood. I know he’s killed before, but I’m hoping it’s never going to be necessary for him to do so again.
“I can’t be around her.” He shakes his head and leaves the room, running his hand through his hair. He’s tense, but he’s dealing with it better than I would have expected.
I turn back to Catherine who seems to have gone into a state of silent shock. “Listen carefully.”
I fill her with my light and give her my commands. Then I nod to Lawson and we head upstairs. Logan’s waiting in the hall when we get there, wearing a clean T-shirt. He glances past us.
“She’s been given commands she won’t be able to break.” I tell him.
“Seriously? This feels risky. Can’t we drive her back to Eli, have him take her to the station?” Logan asks with a grimace.
“She can’t go back to being a Goddess. She’s human. And she can’t disobey Eden’s order,” Lawson tells him.
I take a breath and smile at my fourth. “I’m calling Eli to come get her. She’s going to wait for him. We need to go get Asher.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Logan
Everything feels off kilter. I know Eden made Catherine mortal. Something supernatural happened in that basement, and the bitch looked like a shell of the woman she’d been once it was done. I can’t dispute that. Still, something isn’t right and I can’t shake the feeling.
I walk out of the house with Eden and Lawson, getting into the driver’s seat before Lawson can claim it again. I don’t want to sit in the back. I don’t want to remember what happened there. Thinking about it makes my hands tighten on the steering wheel. I shake it off as Lawson gets in the passenger seat.
Get Asher. Leave town.
That’s it. That’s the rest of this plan. I can’t stick around now. Not for the funeral, not for anything. I gun the engine and take off. Everything from that point on happens in a blur.
Eden and Lawson talk but I can barely hear a word. They may as well be on another planet. I stop the car and we all get out. They follow me to the house, and down into the basement. I point to the box and keep back while they work out how to open it.
Lawson drags Asher out, unconscious. Eden fusses over him even though he isn’t moving and we get him out of there. She fusses over him more in the backseat of the car. He doesn’t wake up, but he’s alive.
I drive back to Eden’s place and stay in my seat. The first part of the plan is done. Lawson carries Asher out of the car and Eden rushes after him. I’m forgotten about, naturally. This makes it easier to complete the second part of the plan. I take off without a word. Time to go home.
Diana’s place is a detour. Catherine’s already gone which I guessed as much considering Eli’s car wasn’t outside Eden’s mansion when I pulled up there. I grab my bag. I call my employers and take an earful for not keeping in touch. Then they ask when I come back to work.
I vaguely remember telling them ‘tomorrow’. They’ll be in touch. I’m all set.
One last glance around the house and I’m gone. This place never got the chance to be my home. Now it never will.
Chapter Forty-Three
Nick
I wake up to Skyler’s rendition of Eden’s first single. Lovestruck is the title and Sky never made any bones about how damn saccharine some of the lyrics were. Hearing it now makes me smile. It’s about a woman who won’t settle for less than love. There were hints to Eden’s desire to taking multiple lovers even back then. I sit up and Sky stops singing. She keeps plucking the strings to Eden’s prized guitar though. I clear my throat. It doesn’t feel mangled like I’d half expected after being choked out.
“Why’d you stop?”
She snorts. “Because the chorus is damned awful. And I was only doing it to wake your lazy ass up. Mission accomplished.”
She doesn’t put down the guitar though. In fact, she seems to be tuning it.
“I don’t think Eden will be pleased at you messing with her strings.”
She rolls her eyes. “Eden won’t even notice. I have a better ear than she does.”
That’s doubtful, but considering how difficult it is to dissuade this girl
from anything she decides she’s doing, I quit trying to make her put the guitar away. I look around, wondering why the two of us are here alone. “Where’s Eden and everyone else anyway?”
She shrugs. “They went out to find that Goddess who’s been trying to hurt her.”
“What?” I must be hearing things, because Sky isn’t in the loop on the Goddess stuff. Wait. Why does it feel like I’m missing something else? Something important.
“Oh yeah, you were out cold for ages.” She puts the guitar down on the seat next to her and grins. “You missed me coming back from the dead.”
Holy shit. It floods back to me. She shot herself, then Logan attacked me. I saw her pull the trigger. I looked away before I could see anything else, but I knew she was dead. How is that even possible? Oh, wait, I think I can see how that connects to her knowing about Goddesses now. “Lawson brought you back?” How the hell did he manage that? I mean, I know it’s possible or Asher would be long dead, but actually seeing it happen makes it doubly freaky.
“Ugh, spoil my story why don’t you?” She pulls a face at me.
“So, what...”
The front door opens and I’m distracted instantly, holding my breath until I see it’s Lawson carrying Asher, with Eden right on their heels. I jump to my feet and move out of the way while Lawson lays Asher down on the couch. He’s out of it, dirty and his head and shirt are smeared with blood.
He died then. Again.
“Holy shit,” Sky exclaims, moving over to run her gaze over his body. “Is he dead?”
“He’s regenerating incredibly slowly,” Lawson says, shaking his head. “So it might appear as if he’s dead for now. In the morning he’ll awaken healed.”
Eden goes to the kitchen, while I wonder how morbid it would be to watch him until he comes back. He’s not breathing right now. His skin seems even paler than usual.
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