A Court of Ice and Wind (War of the Gods Book 3)

by Meg Xuemei X

  “Call me little,” I hissed amid my breathless moans. “Call me horny. And let’s see how merciless I can be!”

  The inner walls of my narrow passage clamped down on every inch of his cock, but his hardness pushed through, impaling me over and over.

  Rapid, hard, and deep.

  Waves of pleasure shocked me, shattered me, unmade me, and re-forged me again. When I reached the peak, Reys roared and emptied his hot seed in me with more powerful pumps.

  Pyrder groaned, and he, too, quickened his rhythm. With a shudder, he found his release in my mouth, his hand fisted in my lush, curly as he thrust down my throat.

  Spent and content, I sprawled on the twin fae princes, my head on Reys’s chest and my feet on Pyrder’s legs. We wanted another go, but then we would never stop if we started again.

  Lorcan was still waiting for me. No matter how patient and restrained he was, he wasn’t going to wait forever. And soon he would come to fetch me. I also needed to check on Alaric.

  They wanted me to treat them equally. Just as Alaric had once said, “We’re all your mates. You need to learn to balance us if you don’t want big fights to break out among us.”

  But I could stay a little longer with Reys and Pyrder, and they both grinned like rogues when I decided to do so. Then Reys told me stories about the four of them that were unknown to me as my fingers traced the inked panther on his twin’s chest, and Pyrder groaned at my touch, only occasionally adding some detail to Reys’s narration.

  I knew that my mates were ancient, powerful, and battle-hardened. They all bore scars from the long march of time. My decade of caged life was nothing compared to some of the hardships they’d endured, yet none of them could stand to watch me suffer.

  The gods brutalizing me had wounded them more than it did me. I had a lot of work to do to iron out the tense knots in them and get them to relax again. Otherwise, they might try to hide me in a tower and throw away the key.

  Through Reys, I was given a peek into the demigod’s past.

  Alaric had watched as his high priestess queen-mother was cut down in front of him when he had been a child. His mother had received a vision of the assassination and hidden him. She’d also bound him with her last power to prevent him from coming out to rescue her and getting himself killed.

  He’d watched the gang, sent by Zeus’s jealous wife, torture his mother before her death. For years, he’d had to hide from Hera and scavenge on the streets to survive before his demigod power came to its full strength. Since then, he had been relentless in finding a way to get his revenge on the Queen of Gods.

  He hadn’t been able to get to her. She was too powerful, and even a major god couldn’t kill their equal. Alaric, however, had managed to slay the pawns who murdered his mother.

  Though Zeus played a role in finding him and helping him come into his demigod power, Alaric hated him, for the King of Gods, Thunder, and Lightning hadn’t protected his mother.

  The gods had been the bane of his existence for most of his life. Alaric had calmed down after the gods first left Earth, but now they’d all returned.

  My heart went out to my demigod mate, and then it bled for the High Lord of Night.

  Lorcan didn’t have a severe childhood trauma, but he was the only natural-born vampire, the only of his kind. He’d also lost his parents to the war, after which he endured an eon of loneliness and desolation, which became so unbearable that he entered stasis and let Selena and her half-sister, Jade, run his Court of Blood and Void unchecked.

  Jade had attempted to murder me in ShadesStar, and she would have succeeded if Reysalor hadn’t reached me in time. It wasn’t Lorcan’s fault, though guilt burdened him anyway.

  He wasn’t alone anymore. I was with him now, as were his bonded brothers.

  Yet I had more to be thankful for than any of them.

  I was lacking in so many ways, due to a decade of life in captivity, but my mates made me feel complete, lacking for nothing. They taught me whatever they could, carried me through the world, and brought me happiness I couldn’t have dreamed of before. Even though I was so flawed, they considered me perfect, and wouldn’t want me to change a damn thing about myself.

  Reys and Pyrder ended the tales and decided to tell me their own personal stories another time. I didn’t push for more. When they were ready, they knew where to find me. I wasn’t going anywhere without them. However, through our mating bond, I could sense their bone-deep ache and sorrow. My fae mates had also lost someone dear to them.

  Lorcan cleared his throat, though he remained in another room. As supernaturals, we all had superior hearing. He must have heard our chatting and wondered why I hadn’t come to him. I concealed a grin. The High Lord of Night was losing patience.

  I wondered how he positioned himself while he was waiting for me. Did he sit on a sofa, pretending to be reading? Or did he lean against the rail at the balcony with a glass of wine in his hand in order to play cool? But in my mind, I was seeing him naked under the blanket, his erection taut as a bowstring. Was he stroking himself?

  My face flushed.

  “I’m going to check on Lorcan,” I said, rolling off the twin fae’s beautiful, muscled torsos. “He must be hungry if he keeps coughing.”

  An amused smile tugged at the corner of Reys’s lips.

  “After that, you can come back here,” Pyrder said. “This is the biggest room. If you want the vampire to come over too, it’s fine.”

  “I might,” I said. “I like us all sleeping in the same bed. But before I feed Lorcan, I think I should go see Alaric to make sure he’s okay.”

  “He isn’t in the cabin,” Pyrder said. “Let him brood for a few days and he’ll return to normal.”

  “I can’t bear to see him like that,” I said. “I can’t bear to see any of you suffer alone.”

  “I’ll accompany you and find him for you,” Pyrder said.

  “I know where he is,” I said. “I need to do this alone.” At the twins’ look, I said softly, “I’ll be safe. Our guards are everywhere, and they’re vigilant. I know that you’ve just gotten me back. But you still need to give me some space. Don’t treat me like a fragile glass.”

  “We’ll try,” Reys said. “But I’m walking you to where Alaric is.”

  I wanted to protest again, but one look at their stubborn, worried expressions, and I stopped. No matter what, they wouldn’t let me wander alone. Pain still throbbed deep in them at my being taken and tortured.

  “If you don’t like Reys for company, I volunteer,” Pyrder said.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “Either one is fine.”

  Pyrder helped me dress warmly while Reys pulled up his pants and waited for me at the door.

  The frigid ocean wind whipped my face as soon as Reys and I stepped outside. Reys pulled me closer to him to shield me with his towering frame. But the cold didn’t bother me. I found that my body temperature could adjust to fit the climate.

  The bonfire at the other end of my mating bond to Alaric flared. I’d learned to distinguish the four ends that each led to a different mate, and the four bonds also merged in the middle. That was their brotherhood bond.

  My thread to the demigod snapped tightly as I closed the distance. Alaric had sensed me nearing him. I smiled. He taught me tracking, and now here I was, hunting one of the best trackers.

  Hadn’t he found me? Hadn’t all of them found me, helped by my seer and Goddess Demeter?

  The guards in the shadows didn’t disturb us but watched, even as I walked toward the cliff.

  Alaric was inside a cave nearly thirty feet down. As my magic flowed ahead to spy for me, it told me about the ward at the entrance of the cave. I had no fear of the demigod’s ward. He would never harm me. His power and spells would never hurt me.

  I turned to the Reys. Under the moonlight, he was as beautiful as any fairy dream. He pressed his palms to my face and kissed me, feather light. When he pulled away, I smiled at him.

  Reys opened his mouth
to shout for Alaric to come to pick me up, but I didn’t want to be the girl that waited for her lover.

  I was way more aggressive. Plus, I had a flair for drama.

  So, I twirled and jumped off the cliff.

  “Cass!” Reys called in alarm. Just when he was about to leap after me, which wasn’t wise, I tossed my air current down and floated in mid air, right at the mouth of the cave.

  “You forgot that I can levitate, Reys,” I said with a laugh.

  “Next time, give me a warning, baby!” he hissed, both relieved and irritated, and then he shouted coarsely, “Alaric, get the fuck out of there!”

  “Cass!” Now Alaric called in alarm and poked his head out of the cave’s mouth.

  “Aren’t you going to invite me—” Before I could finish my demand, Alaric wrapped his thick arms around my waist and pulled me into his lair.

  “I got her!” He shouted toward the cliff.

  “After you’re done with brooding and talking, bring our mate to the main house!” Reys barked.

  I slanted a guilty glance at Alaric. I’d given them both a scare, especially Reys, so my level-headed fae mate was taking it out on the demigod. Usually it was Pyrder and Alaric who got into arguments. After what the gods had done to me, all my mates were now constantly on edge, full of fear for my life, fear that I may be taken from them again.

  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 with
out 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 his 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.