by Meg Xuemei X
His lips, no longer cold but hot as fire, had burned a trace over my skin before he sank his fangs into my inner thigh and took several mouthfuls of my potent blood. I’d sucked in a sharp breath of air at the sensation. I’d almost come just from that alone. But Lorcan hadn’t let me come easily, even though I’d been hot, wet, and in a terrible hurry.
He’d only withdrawn his fangs, then spread my legs and thrust into my heated slickness.
“You’ll come only when I allow your tight little pussy to have release,” he’d promised.
“You all say the same thing,” I’d taunted and arched my back to receive him deeper.
He’d gone wild after that, propelling his hips forward, his every thrust into me frantic.
And I’d heaved my hips higher to meet his brutal plunges.
Pleasure had drowned me, and ecstasy had twisted his handsome face.
He’d thrust in and out, faster and harder, with bruising force.
The pressure building in me had crested, and my pussy had gripped his cock possessively.
“You’re so fucking tight, dulcis,” he’d whispered, his voice diminished in the midst of his scorching lust.
“Don’t you know that already, vampire?” I’d purred.
He’d flipped me over at the challenge. “Bend over, woman. I need to fuck your tight pussy from behind. You’ll beg. You’ll beg me to bury my cock so deep inside you that you’ll think about it all day long when I’m not inside you. Now beg me to fuck you until you’re sore and hoarse.”
But we shall see who was going to beg.
My vampire was dominant, but I was no less than an alpha female.
However, I’d half-heartedly obliged him and lifted my ass for him to fuck me from behind, as hard as he wanted.
He’d thrust into me with abandon, pounding into my molten core. The feel of the hard length of his cock in me had been like finally coming home.
All of my mates’ gazes swirled to me while Hephaestus tirelessly continued lecturing the team about Hell’s history, their nostrils flaring. The sexual tension in the air suddenly became thick and palpable. Their eyes were bright and dark at the same time, as they evidently wanted to have another go with me before we headed out.
My face flamed.
A knock on the door broke the spell.
Alaric tensed, as did Hephaestus.
I sensed massive power beyond the Heavens and Earth rippling through the warded brick, steel, and wood. My heart pounded, and my mouth went dry.
The power signature felt close to Hades’s, but it wasn’t his.
We had an original god right outside our door.
“Zeus,” my demigod said, but he didn’t draw his flaming sword.
Hephaestus nodded and hissed. “It’s the old bastard.”
Lorcan, Pyrder, and the others hadn’t hesitated to brandish their weapons.
Everyone started yelling at once and tried to whisk me away. When I stood my ground, they formed a solid wall of flesh in front of me. Their over-protectiveness was endearing and annoying in equal measures.
“May I come in?” a deep, bright voice asked, filled with great power. “I come in peace, and I brought Cass a cake.”
Great! Even the almighty God of Thunder and Lightning tried to tempt me with my weakness for cakes. Yet I was very curious what kind of cake the King of Gods would bring me.
“We can’t stop him from coming in anyway,” I shrieked. “He’s too powerful. But before we open the door, let’s get him to vow that he truly means us no harm and that he didn’t poison the cake!”
Zeus chuckled outside the door. He was showing his son, no, his sons, courtesy by knocking first.
“I’d never poison the cake for my daughter-in-law,” he said.
“Don’t let him in,” Hephaestus said. “He isn’t good news.”
Now the smith god was just being ridiculous. No door or ward could stop the King of Gods anyway.
“How did he even find us?” I demanded.
“He’s my father,” Alaric said in defeat. “We have the blood link. I thought I blocked him.”
“We’ll try to fix it when he leaves,” I said, “like jamming the connection with white noise or something.”
Alaric tossed his lightning at the door, and it flew open.
A giant male lowered his head and stepped into the room, his olive-colored robe flowing around him. His every godly pore emitted the catastrophic power of storm and thunder.
I didn’t crouch while I peeked at him from between the warriors’ legs. Instead, I unleashed my air magic and levitated into the air.
I’d thought that Ares and Apollo were splendid, but now I needed to re-define the word. If my biological father was the glorious shadow, then this original god was the glorious light.
And light could bring harm just like the shadow of death.
The immortal King of Gods looked in his mid-thirties, only a little older than his demigod son. Alaric resembled his father, except that my mate’s eyes were honey-brown, and Zeus’s were silver-blue, flashing with faint lightning that wasn’t for show.
My mate carried a vibe of ruthlessness and menace any time of the day. His sweetness came out only when he was around me, but Zeus looked like the most benevolent, compassionate, and regal being I’d ever met.
The whole room brightened at his potent presence.
The warriors sucked in a breath, and I could feel their knees going weak, even as they struggled against his power. They were brave-hearted immortals, but they were no gods.
Just as I was about to call Zeus to tone down his headlights, he waved a hand, and a veil of light separated us from our team. In the circle were only the original god, my three mates, and me around our dining table.
“They aren’t powerful enough to see my form,” Zeus explained. “My presence would damage them.”
I gave him a wary look. He didn’t carry his famous scepter that could shoot out thunderbolts. In his hand, there was only a gold box.
And I knew what was inside.
“You can put the cake on the table,” I instructed him and swallowed the words “don’t try any monkey business,” knowing it wasn’t in my best interest to piss him off at the moment.
Hephaestus pushed through the veil of light and loomed behind us.
“Trying to exclude me again, Father?” he hissed.
Zeus arched an eyebrow. “And yet, as always, you found a way in, didn’t you, son?”
There was a feud between them. After the Queen of Gods tossed baby Hephaestus out of Mount Olympus, he had somehow managed to return to the city of gods and had become one of the thirteen major gods. His unparalleled skills in making weapons had earned him that status.
“You’ve always tried to include Alaric in everything, even though he wants nothing to do with you,” Hephaestus said as he towered over me a few yards away.
I turned and gave Hephaestus a glare. I wanted him to stop bitching and let me open the gold box to inspect the cake. It’d better be spectacular, or Zeus’s reputation was going down.
“You even bought his mate a cake, which you’ve never done for anyone else,” Hephaestus said, bitterness lacing his every word. “You want your demigod bastard son in your life, but you’ve never invited me to any of your events. Why is that, Father? Just because Alaric is good-looking? Because between all your sons, he takes after you in looks? But who gave me this face? Isn’t this the gift from you and my mother Her Majesty?”
“Not everything is about you, Hephaestus,” Zeus said, his benign vibe gone in an instant, and a horrible power seeped from him. “Alaric still holds a grudge against me because I failed to save his mother, but unlike any of my other sons, he doesn’t constantly seek out every opportunity to overthrow me and gain more powers. You’re included in that rank, Hephaestus, though you don’t have the guts to challenge me. You aren’t a warrior god.”
“I am a warrior god now,” Hephaestus said, moving closer to me. “Cass made me one, and I’ll ac
company her to the Underworld and protect her from the most vicious death god!”
“Be quiet, Hephaestus,” Zeus said, his voice thundering, “if you still wish to stand within the circle. I need to talk to my son Alaric before they head toward my despicable brother’s realm.”
Rage flitted across the smith god’s face, but he clamped up his mouth.
Anxiety spiked in me. How had Zeus known that we were going to the Underworld?
He’d found us easily. He’d known our plans.
We weren’t safe anywhere.
As the god king’s thundering power rocked the ground and nearly shattered the room, my mates remained unfazed as they stood between Zeus and me, still acting as a shield.
The King of Gods slanted a curious glance at Lorcan and Pyrder. “You two aren’t gods, but you can withstand my power. I bet it’s the benefit of mating with the most powerful goddess in existence.” He switched his attention to me. “Yes, I can feel your powers, Cassandra Saélihn, the newest Olympian member.”
“Hey, slow down, god dude,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “I’m not applying for membership, even if it’s free. Is it free?”
“Think of the good you can do to the Olympians if you join our race,” Zeus said. “You’ll change things. You can make our kind better. You’ll be the new wonder in our world.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Alaric ground out.
“I’d give you everything, my son,” Zeus said, “should you and your mate join me.”
“Not interested,” Alaric said. “Cass’s position is here with us, with all of her mates.”
I glared at him. “Where my position should be is for me to say.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Well, where is it then, sweetheart?”
“Here, with all of you,” I said.
“That’s what I said,” he said, looking a bit confused and a bit amused.
“It’s not for you to state it, my bonded brother,” Lorcan said. “It’s for our mate to state it, and you don’t steal her thunder. Often you mock me for lacking the skill of understanding and pleasing females with honey-sweet words. You yourself seem to need some improvement in that department.”
Alaric growled.
Pyrder grinned. “I agree with the vampire. My twin and I are the only ones who understand our Cass baby to her every atom.”
I blinked. That should be for me to judge, right? And I didn’t think the panther fae understood me to my every atom. It was impossible for anyone to understand anyone’s atoms, which had too many details.
The King of Gods studied us with interest.
“Why are you here exactly, Zeus?” Alaric said, his face dark and menacing again. “And if you want to make your race better, why don’t you call off your top dogs, who burned two-thirds of the cities, and get all of your people the hell out of Earth?”
“It wasn’t my idea to return to Earth,” Zeus said, “though I was eager to see my son whom I left behind for eons. Our kind has entered stasis, and the second-generation gods all wanted a new power structure to break the dead silence that invades our minds more and more often. My own brothers, the God of Sea and the God of Death, wanted to overthrow me as well. None of them have the slightest amount of loyalty in their bones. They now say that I represent the ways of the past and stand in the way of the future of our kind. I’ve been carrying such burdens. I’ve been carrying the whole race, yet none of them appreciate it.”
“So you just let them slaughter the earthlings and destroy our civilization?” Alaric said, white-hot rage burning in his voice.
“I’ve been weakened by time. Time affects gods, too, though it doesn’t erase our existence,” Zeus said, his bright, deep voice taking a weary, darker tone. “Even as the King of Gods, one of the most powerful beings in the universe, I also wear out. I feel much older than you can ever imagine. So, I vowed to let my fellow gods, my children, and my subjects try their way for once and let things play out instead of interfering. I was forced into the background to watch. My hands are tied. I can’t break my own vow. I also want to use this opportunity to let them see things from a new perspective. They’ll see that I’m the ultimate, unshakable power. They need to see that, so order and law will return.”
“They turned our planet into a hunting ground,” Pyrder accused with fury.
“Your kind came to Earth to play a new, dangerous game,” Alaric said softly, yet with all the menace he could carry, “just like an eon ago, in order to find your new balance, but this time, the Olympians won’t win. You will all pay. Your race won’t thrive at our expense. You will rot in the corner of a forgotten universe.”
“Well said, bastard brother.” Hephaestus applauded with his large hands. “Now, what’s your excuse, Father?”
“I’d have struck all of you down for your insolence in the past,” Zeus said, his eyes sparking with lightning. “I don’t always get what I want. The Olympians’ history is changing, and fate has lured us here. Even I, the King of Gods, will have to let it turn its wheel till it stops at the starting point. Till we see what the end will be.”
“Then I’ll meet you on the battlefield,” Alaric said flatly. “You can leave now.”
“And you can take your cake with you,” Hephaestus said. “Cass won’t eat it!”
I wanted to slap Hephaestus senseless.
“Why does everyone always try to speak for me?” I barked and pointed at my lips. “I do possess a mouth here, too!”
I tore my gaze from the cake to Zeus as I put on a good, defensive look. The cake was mine now, as was the gold.
Zeus still focused on Alaric. “I didn’t come here to have another fight with you, my son.” He sighed. “Hades is the most devious being. He’s the absolute master of manipulation and deception. He’ll try to use Cass to fight me. He tried nine times to overthrow me and failed, and now he’ll use his daughter to do his dirty work. Do not bargain with him. Do not trust him. I won’t kill Cass, because she’s my son’s beloved mate, but Hades will sacrifice his own daughter without a blink to get what he wants.”
“That’s all you have to say, Father?” Hephaestus demanded. He was still bitter that Zeus had come to see Alaric instead of him.
Zeus ignored the smith god, and a transparent vial with liquid inside appeared in his hand.
“This is the Elixir of Memory,” he said. “Have a drop on your tongue, and you won’t forget who you are when you pass over to the other side of the Styx river. It’s enough for all of your companions.”
Oh, that. It was said that after the deceased crossed the Styx river, they’d forget their past. Hephaestus had confirmed it. But he hadn’t revealed the secret of how he had regained his memory. I believed that the God of Blacksmiths wasn’t as all in with us as he’d claimed. He had his own agenda. If we all lost our memories, he might steal all of my mates’ flaming swords.
Right now, he eyed the bottle of elixir in Zeus’s hand unhappily.
“We cannot trust the King of Gods,” he said.
Alaric nodded at Zeus and took the vial of the drug.
“Be good to my son, Cass. In the end, it’s all about family,” Zeus said, and then he was just gone, no longer in the room.
A roar of thunder struck across the sky. A slipstream with a giant god appeared under a web of red lightning before they all vanished.
The veil of light dropped, and the warriors charged into the room, wanting answers.
But I was busy opening the gold lid and peeking inside the box.
The cake seemed to be made of rainbows.
And it fucking sparkled.
The delicious scent, better than any cake I’d tried, wafted toward my nostrils.
“What if it’s poisoned?” Boone asked. He was territorial. He didn’t want me to like anyone’s cakes more than his. I felt a bit guilty now.
“Zeus won’t poison my mate,” Alaric said, and he peeled off a piece of cake and placed it into his mouth, serving as my personal taster.
I g
ave him a look and inserted a spoonful of the cake into my own mouth.
A rush of pure energy shot into me, as if I had rainbows in my body. Instantly I knew that the cake had the ingredients of the gods’ essence.
The King of Gods was trying to get me addicted.
Alaric and I traded a look. He knew it, too.
“Have a slice, you two,” he said to Lorcan and Pyrder, then he turned to the warriors in the room. “After Cass has her fill, Hector, Rainer, and Ambrosia will have a small piece, too.”
The warriors looked between me and the cake with a puzzled expression.
“My father sent Cass the energy drink that you’ll need before you enter Hell,” Hephaestus said quietly and grudgingly. “The fucker has never taken care of me like this.”
“Why did he do this for us?” I asked, going for another spoonful of cake. “Why did he even help us? We’re fighting the war against him.”
“Zeus is complicated,” Alaric said. “That’s all I can say.”
“That old bastard is never complicated toward me.” Hephaestus pouted, eyes burning with cold, jealous rage. “It’s all about family.” He mimicked Zeus in mockery. “Am I not family?”
I felt sorry for him, but damn, the journey to Hell was going to be tough with the talkative, bitter God of Blacksmiths leading the way.
“Well, you can have a piece of cake, too, Hephaestus,” I said, “only if you really want it.”
Hephaestus was in tears instantly. “They say you would never give up even a portion of your cake without a fight. And yet you offer it to me?”
I would rather see him curse, calling his momma a cunt, than see him cry.
CHAPTER 7
According to Hephaestus, the first Hell Gate was hidden beneath Bethesda Terrace in the Central Park Conservancy in New York City.
When we stepped through Alaric’s shimmering portal onto the platform of the terrace constructed of sandstone and brick, my eyes went so wide and round that my eyeballs almost popped out. I staggered back, and Lorcan held my waist to stabilize me.
