Fate's Fools Box Set

by Bell, Ophelia

  Summoning the power from within my soul, I found even more than I needed and readied myself to throw. But just as Ouranos aligned his cockhead between my double’s spread thighs, a deafening screech echoed through the void.

  Out of the darkness above, an enormous falcon descended and raked its talons right across Ouranos’ face.

  He stumbled backward with a roar, swiping his arm through the air, but the bird dodged, swept around, and dove again with another ear-splitting cry. Blood sprayed this time and Ouranos bellowed in pain, clutching his face as the bird flew away.

  Steadying himself, he raised both hands, the veins within glowing and emitting a sizzling hum. Lightning arced from his fingertips straight at the bird’s swooping shape. The bird screamed in pain and tumbled, feathers erupting from its wings as it fell.

  And as the shape descended, it changed into a naked, unconscious man. A man I knew all too well.

  Abandoning my plan, I shot after Ozzie, coalescing into a physical form as I flew downward, struggling to catch up to gravity. I hadn’t seen the bottom of this shaft, but as we fell, it loomed closer and closer. My blood turned to ice at the sight of a forest of steel spikes rising up from the floor.

  I flapped huge wings I was only dimly aware I’d manifested, frantic to reach Ozzie before he met his death. Cold wind slapped my face, but my body was numb to all sensation. I let out a cry of alarm that came out as half-roar, half-screech and echoed through the column of nothingness above.

  With a final surge of power, I reached Ozzie’s falling body. I stretched out my talons and snatched him from the air, then arched upward again, but my belly scraped across the pointed prongs as I swept past. Pain lanced through me, but I kept flying, taking us away from the deadly pit.

  I ascended in a spiral, my wingspan wider than I remembered from my dragon form, forcing me to fly the entire circumference of the huge space to move higher. As I climbed, I exhaled a steady breath of magic, seeking out the locks on all the cages and springing them open. Many of the women screamed and shrank back as I passed, but their cries of fear were soon replaced by excited murmurs when they discovered they were being liberated.

  I just hoped I wasn’t too late to finish what I’d started with Ouranos.

  As I drew closer to the top of the platform, I spied Fate standing within the confines of the lower tier, my four hounds at its side. Fate was in its familiar androgynous form, garbed in a flowing gown surrounded by a nimbus of filmy threads. It nodded as I passed, eyes widening.

  I didn’t have time to wonder what it saw. All I knew was that this shape felt ten times more powerful than I had in my dragon form, and a potent rage boiled within me that I couldn’t wait to set free.

  I reached the top of the platform and crouched behind Ouranos, releasing Ozzie from my grasp as gently as I could. But the god didn’t register my presence—he was too busy picking up where he’d left off.

  I was just in time to witness his buttocks clench as he slammed into my double, spouting foul obscenities at her and my mates.

  “I’ll show you all what it means to be a god. Worthless little cunts like her are only good for one thing, and weak fucks like you don’t deserve the honor of fucking a goddess. She’ll be mine to use like this for eternity!”

  Keagan gnashed his monstrous teeth and blood dripped off Llyr’s body from his struggles against his bindings. Bodhi had fallen to his knees and sobbed as he watched, but he stilled and grew silent when he caught sight of me rising up behind the god. His eyes went wide and he flinched, horrified.

  I shifted my perception momentarily to the link I had with his mind and looked through his eyes. What I saw shocked me.

  I was standing on fleece-covered legs, at the bottom of which were shining black cloven hooves. The fur spanned over my torso, aside from the bare spot where a bloody gash sundered my belly. My head was also covered in fur, but the bear-shape stretched into a long, scaled dragon’s snout, and my arms resembled dragon’s legs, ending in razor-sharp talons.

  From my back stretched immense wings, their undersides covered in iridescent scales, but the backs blanketed in variegated feathers. Enormous coiled horns sprouted from my temples, glowing with inner fire.

  “Deva?” Bodhi whispered.

  Within his mind, I answered. “Yes. Please don’t fear me.”

  He gave a single nod and stood, eyes blazing with determination. Through our link, I sensed him open up his soul to our bond, and without any effort on my part, my power began to equalize, flowing into him.

  Gradually the others caught on to his acceptance of this new monster who had arrived with one of their kin in her grasp.

  “Let her in,” Bodhi rasped.

  Llyr darted a confused look between me and my double, who had gone limp while Ouranos fucked her. Then he fixed his gaze fully on me and I felt him open as well. At length Keagan’s huge, furry form shifted back to his human shape, and he followed suit.

  That left Rohan, whose mind was still tormented by the atmosphere of despair. But the cages were all open now, and while Ouranos’ captives hadn’t discovered happiness, they were on the cusp of freedom. That change provided the tipping point for my beloved empathic dragon to regain control. He squared his shoulders and sat back on his heels, then nodded at me.

  Sensing the shift, Ouranos grunted and started to turn his head, his hips still rhythmically ramming into my double, whose whimpers were starting to sound a little repetitive.

  Before he could release her and fully turn, I leaped, launching my considerable weight onto his back. I dug my claws into his shoulders and pushed him down on top of her, commanding my body into a slightly different configuration, just enough for him to recognize who had bested him. My head and torso returned to my human shape, but I kept my sharp talons buried in his back.

  I grabbed the back of his head and slammed his face against the body beneath him. At the same moment, I took hold of the magic binding my double into her current shape and let it flow into a new one, gathering the material of his torture device as it moved and mixing it with her essence. Ouranos was still buried inside her, but what had been warm, feminine heat transformed into molten steel, imbued with the magic granted by my divinity.

  My doppelgänger melded with the material of Ouranos’ torture table to become a different device entirely, one infused with enough conscious hatred of him to possess a single desire: to cause him pain equal to that which he’d inflicted on all the women within these walls.

  What had been a female shape flowed around his hips, solidifying into a cage that locked around his ass and groin. The metal clamped down around his erection, and Ouranos screamed in pure agony. A pitiful plea for mercy soon followed as he slumped to the floor, scrabbling ineffectually at his groin.

  “What’s the matter, Ouranos?” I purred. “I thought you wanted to fuck me for eternity. Now you have that chance.”

  He cast his pleading gaze up to me. “You will never be granted the power I promised!”

  “You’re a little late for that,” I said, shrinking into my human shape and clothing myself.

  I stood over him and bent down, grabbing him by the hair and yanking his head back. I turned him to face the figure who had appeared just behind him.

  “Tell him,” I said to Fate.

  Fate gave him a humorless grin. “I promised you I would find a way to make you pay. You didn’t realize all the gods were still on my side, did you? They have been watching Deva too, and have already made her one of them. You see, they’re a lot more cautious about who claims control of the chimera, and she has proven to them today that she’s strong enough to be the master of her own fate . . . which is more than I can say for you.”

  It stood and spread its arms. A woven blanket of light filled the air between its hands and I stood back, watching as it settled over Ouranos’ curled body, pinning him to the floor.

  “As the gods have decreed, your fate is to endure this punishment until the end of time. You will be stripped of al
l your possessions, including your power. It is not enough to make amends for what you have done, but it’s a pretty good start, don’t you think? You see, as much as the gods might complain about me, they know I serve a purpose. You, on the other hand, are no more than a menace.”

  Ouranos blubbered inarticulate objections and Fate stood back, gesturing to me. “Are you ready to finish this?” it asked.

  “In a moment,” I said, approaching Ozzie’s slumped form.

  I crouched and touched him on the forehead, brushing my fingers lightly along his hairline, singed from Ouranos’ lightning strike. The burnt skin healed and his eyes fluttered open. Frowning, he sat up and raked shaky fingers through his hair.

  “Deva,” he croaked. He gave me an incredulous look, then glanced over his shoulder at the mound of trembling god still simpering at Fate’s feet.

  Ozzie’s lips twisted in a satisfied smirk. Then he turned back to me and pulled me into his arms with a groan of relief.

  “By the Winds, are you all right?” he asked, squeezing me so tight I couldn’t breathe. I hugged him back, eyes clenched tight, my heart aching with love for this man.

  When I opened my eyes, four other figures had surrounded us. My mates looked haggard and weary, but awaited my instruction. I stood with Ozzie at my side.

  “Let’s tear this place down.”

  30

  Ozzie

  It was difficult not to constantly reach out and touch her every chance I got, but we’d had too much to do after taking down Ouranos before we could find any peace.

  I was still having trouble shaking that moment of pure panic I’d suffered when I’d believed I’d failed her in the worst possible way. After drifting into the core of Ouranos’ fortress, I’d been greeted with my worst nightmare: He was raping her. Right in front of the others, the worthless piece of shit was raping the woman I loved.

  Of course I’d attacked. I knew it would probably mean my death, but if I could take out Ouranos’ eyes in the process . . .

  I shook off the thought, looking around the field for Deva amid the rubble of the fortress that had once been Ouranos’ castle in the clouds. I marveled at her very existence. It hadn’t been her I’d seen strapped down on that table, but the image would take a long time to fade, and so would this constant need to reassure myself that she was okay.

  Given how the other four men hovered nearby, their gazes glued to her, I knew I wasn’t the only one of us who felt that way.

  Deva was only a few feet away, surrounded by a group of the women we had rescued and who Fate was helping return to their homes. But many of them had been Ouranos’ captive for too long to still be able to function in the human world, much less have homes there anymore. Those women would be taken to an estate within the realm of the gods and allowed to live out the remainder of their lives in a bubble of illusion, pampered back to sanity if possible, or permitted to drift quietly into death, free from the burdens of their pain.

  The only thing left of Ouranos’ fortress was an enormous stone disc floating at the top of a huge chain. He remained up there, wailing from the pain of the torture device Deva had melded to him, so we’d pushed him high enough into the sky that his cries blended in with the howl of the wind.

  At the base of that chain was what remained of the castle itself. It was no more than a pile of stones now, torn to pieces when the guys and I joined our voices with Deva’s. The power of our song had been enough to dismantle the entire structure.

  Deva said farewell to the last group of women, and Fate gestured a silent command to its hounds. The beasts were gentler than I remembered, nudging their heads beneath each woman’s hand and disappearing, taking each charge back where she belonged.

  Deva’s hounds were tight on her heels, apparently just as clingy as the rest of us. It would be a long time before I let her out of my sight, that was for sure.

  My heart skittered as she turned toward me, her bright smile settling my nerves more than the strongest drug. She was my drug now, and one I had no qualms about remaining addicted to for the rest of my life.

  When I didn’t smile back, her brows scrunched in concern. She came to me and slipped her arms around me without a word. I sighed and returned the embrace, squeezing her as tight as I dared and nuzzling the top of her head.

  “It’s done,” she said softly. “We can finally go home.”

  “Don’t forget you still have a job to do,” Fate said from several feet away.

  Deva tensed and glanced up at me, rolling her eyes. I snorted in amusement. She looked over her shoulder and said, “I haven’t forgotten, but I’m taking a vacation before we go back on the road, all right? You’re not going to send your hounds after anyone if I take a break, are you?”

  The divine entity who had been my worst enemy for so long narrowed its eyes at her, then shook its head. “My hounds seem to like you a little too much to obey certain commands I give them. So no—your bloodline is safe from me, but you will hear from me if I learn you’re falling down on the job.”

  When it turned away, I muttered, “I still don’t trust the bastard. I probably never will.”

  Deva gave me an understanding look and patted my chest. “Understandable. But it’s on our side now, and I intend to make sure that never changes.”

  I touched her chin to make her look at me. “Deva, you are the only divine creature we need on our side. Your very existence ensures the protection of the ones you love. Don’t discount the power you have.”

  She bit her lip, and I nearly laughed out loud at her oh-so human mannerism that I loved so much, which was the most un-goddess-like expression in the world.

  “I keep forgetting,” she said. “You know all I want is to just go home and have a life.”

  “Then let’s do that,” I said. I glanced up and gestured to the others. They immediately gravitated to us, more than eager for her attention.

  “You ready to blow this joint, princess?” Keagan asked.

  Deva reached out with both hands for Keagan and Rohan while nodding at Bodhi. “Get cozy, guys,” she said. “I’m your only way out of this place, unless you’re hitching a ride with Fate.”

  Llyr snorted and edged in beside me at Deva’s back. He slipped one arm around her stomach and hooked the other around my waist so we both bracketed her rear. “If I never see that fucker again, it’ll be too soon,” he muttered.

  Keagan fit in on my other side, bending to bury his nose against Deva’s neck and inhaling like she was his sole source of air in all the realms. Rohan and Bodhi completed the circle around her in the front, our bodies linked more closely than a chorus line, and likely even more in sync as we all bent our heads to rest them against hers.

  She took a long, slow breath, and somehow managed to pull us in even tighter. “I love you guys so much,” she whispered.

  My throat was too tight to respond with more than a low rumble, but somehow Bodhi managed to start singing. He met my eyes over Deva’s head and I joined in, finding my voice more easily now than I had when trying to speak. It wasn’t a song I’d ever heard before, but somehow I felt the lyrics deep inside, and I was absolutely certain the others felt it too, given how readily their voices joined ours.

  We were finally one with each other, with the music, with her at our core, and I knew without a doubt that nothing in the universe could ever tear us apart.

  31

  Deva

  It was hard to believe that only a year ago, I’d been lucky to get five minutes alone. My family meant well, but were perhaps overly cautious with me. I wasn’t sure whether it was because I was such a wildcard where my powers were concerned, or because I was so young. Maybe it was a combination of the two.

  I used to fantasize on a regular basis about running away. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel loved—on the contrary, I had been blessed with an overabundance of amazing, caring parent-figures. I wanted for literally nothing, except time to myself to understand where I belonged in the world.

  But th
e root of that fantasy always involved running to someone. Ozzie West had been at the core of it, but it wasn’t until now that I understood why. We’d been soul-bound for an entire year before I lost him, then found him again. And in that time, or at least at the very end of it, I’d discovered an even greater capacity for love—and not just familial love, but the kind of love I’d always longed for, and that I’d observed between the mated members of my family.

  That romantic love helped me understand why my family all seemed utterly oblivious to my desire for time to myself. They didn’t have that same desire because they pretty much always craved their soul mates, something I craved too, even though I hadn’t realized it at the time. I’d decided that if I couldn’t be with Ozzie, I didn’t want to be around anyone.

  Now that I’d found him, along with the memories of what we’d shared, and now that I’d made new memories with four other men I adored, I understood this desire to always be near them.

  I still couldn’t get five minutes to myself, but now I didn’t care. The five of them were never very far from me. Even when we were separated by miles, they were part of me. Yet sometimes, even when I was in their arms, they felt way too distant.

  It had been a week since we got home, and we’d fallen into a beautiful rhythm, yet the guys were still irritatingly solicitous of me. They were also way too gun-shy about sex, and it was starting to piss me off. I was turning into the clingy one, and I hated it, because I didn’t have the excuse of my nymphaea fever to compel them to take care of me anymore. I was perfectly sane and stronger than I’d ever been, yet still at a complete loss about how to reach my lovers and help them understand that I wasn’t as fragile as they thought.

  I rolled over at sunrise on a Saturday morning to an empty bed and blinked at the indentation in the pillow beside me. We still needed to settle on a contractor for the addition, and since none of the guys owned king-size beds, I was effectively bed-hopping.