by Jaymin Eve
“If he tries, just turn him back into a mudhog,” Rome drawled, looking amused from his perch against a nearby wall.
He must have moved there to get a better view of the commotion. Either that, or he had been afraid that I would ask him to wrestle the mudhogs apart. His tone suggested that while he was amused, he would also crush the Bestiary God if he tried to touch me. Happiness clutched at the emotions in my chest, breaking through some of the panic. I wasn’t alone, and that meant we could deal with anything that was thrown at us.
I focussed on the screeching mudhogs, all of whom now appeared to be best friends. They’d finished kicking Donald—who was crawling across the floor after them, her eyes narrowed—and were now hightailing it toward the front door. Terrance—I assumed—was now leading the group instead of running from it.
What in the worlds …
Turn into a god. Turn into a god. Turn into a god.
The heat rose up in me with force, and I squeezed my eyes shut for an instant. Not because it was painful, but the sensation was mildly unpleasant. Foreign. I wondered if I would ever get used to having this sort of energy swirling inside of me, or the way it could rise and fall in such huge waves of power.
Had it always been there? Hidden away underneath my dweller mortality? Shouldn’t it have felt more … normal then?
“Uh, Will …”
Siret trailed off and my eyes jerked open. I recognised that tone of his and it usually meant I’d done something that completely shocked them. It took me more than a moment to focus on the new scene I’d created. Then the tangle of naked limbs started to move and three figures rose to their feet.
Without thought, I reached out and covered Yael’s and Aros’s eyes.
Three naked, beautiful, perfect specimens now stood in the centre of the room. One was recognisable as Terrance, only … I was seeing a lot more of him than I had before. The other two were female. Long waves of silky dark hair trailed across their breasts. They looked confused, their heads darting around, until they settled their gazes on Terrance. The moment they saw him, a calmness descended over the panic.
Terrance wasn’t looking at them though, he was staring at me—his expression unreadable.
In unison, all of the Abcurses stepped forward, crowding into me so that the Bestiary God couldn’t quite see me. As much as I wanted to stay hidden in their mass, I knew I needed to face the consequences. I would never earn the loyalty of the gods by cowering behind my boys. They knew that as well, but they couldn’t seem to quell their instincts to protect me.
I pushed through them, managing to squirm my way to the front. Terrance still stood in the same spot, but his expression had recovered somewhat, back into the semi-arrogant look gods did so well.
“The storm,” he breathed, before taking a step closer to me. He then shocked the hell out of me when he dropped to his knees. “I pledge my support to you. If it is a battle you want, I will fight. If it is leadership, I will follow, and I will not falter. If death is my path, then I will take this as well.”
I no doubt looked completely unhinged in that moment, my mouth open, my eyes wide, and my limbs frozen.
“W-what?” I finally stuttered. “I don’t want to be a leader, and if I can avoid a battle, I will. I just want to stop Staviti, and the more people who will support me in that, the smaller the chance that he will kill me for trying.”
A smile spread so broadly across his face that he looked completely transformed. Younger even. He got to his feet and shook his head a few jerky times. “I have created so many creatures in my time: shaping them and loving them as I would my own children. But I have never run with them. Not once did I get to experience life through their eyes. You gave me a gift. A gift that Staviti has never given me in the many centuries that I have followed him.” He then seemed to finally notice the two naked women huddled close by the door. “And now you have done the same for them,” he murmured.
I turned to look at the others behind me. “What are they? What have I turned them into? Are they gods?” I asked softly.
I highly doubted that I had created two more gods, especially since transforming Emmy had put me into a comatose state for many sun-cycles, and though I was definitely feeling depleted of energy, I certainly wasn’t anywhere near comatose. The Abcurses didn’t answer, but I could see that they were examining the girls, trying to figure it out.
“I think …” Aros drew my attention. “I think you just transformed them. From mudhog into ... person.” He pointed. “Something between a mudhog and a dweller—or possibly just a dweller. I sense no heightened energy from them.”
The female on Terrance’s right let out a low squeaking sound and I jumped. She did it again and I realised that she was trying to speak.
“I should turn them back,” I rushed to say, but before I could even speak again, Terrance shook his head.
“No, please don’t.” He held his arms out, blocking both of them as though I would try to snatch them away. “I would like to time to learn about what you’ve done here. To explore this new species of creature. Perhaps I might even be able to help them with my own gifts.”
He had already taken them under his wing as though they were a new form of beast that he had crafted himself. Somehow, I knew that I would be fighting a losing battle if I pushed to get them back.
“If you need me to turn them back at any point …” I allowed the offer to trail off.
He gave me a simple nod before he turned to usher his new “friends” toward our front door. “I will see you at the party tonight,” he called over his shoulder, before disappearing completely.
The silence in the room lasted for many moments as all of us processed what had just happened.
“I have power like Siret,” I said, turning so that I could face them. “He can disguise things and transform them.”
“You have power like all of us,” Siret corrected. “I wonder if there’s anything you can’t do, when you set your mind to it.”
Was that true? Could I be as strong as Rome if I wanted?
I rushed toward him and he shook his head again. “I’m not going to fight you just so that you can prove you’re as strong as me, Rocks. I already gave you my strength—I think we’ve done enough negotiating for one sun-cycle.”
I’d have to work on him another time, because it was important to test the full boundaries of my powers, but he was right. I had asked him to not hold back from me, and he had done what I asked—after a significant amount of coercion. If I pushed for more this sun-cycle, it wouldn’t be fair on them. With a quick change of subject, I brought us back to the party.
“I might have to demonstrate my power at the party the next sun-cycle, and unlike Terrance and his obsession with creatures, I doubt everyone else will be as happy about becoming a mudhog. What should I do?”
Siret opened his mouth and I shot him a hard look. “If the words penis or face leave your mouth, I’m going to turn you into a mudhog.”
His grin just widened, but he didn’t say anything.
“We can feel your power,” Aros told me as he stepped closer to me. My legs went a little weak as his gift wrapped around me and sent tingles through my centre. “You won’t have to demonstrate anything. The simple fact that Emmy is a god will be enough.”
“Are we sure that it’s a good idea just to announce that to everyone?” I asked, looking between all of them to gauge their reactions. “Neutral seemed pretty against it.” He’d only caved because Emmy had put her foot down and told him that he wasn’t the boss of her.
No one in the room looked concerned, and yet that didn’t lessen mine at all. They didn’t worry about much, thinking themselves invincible, and Emmy was only important to them because she was important to me. If something happened to her because I inadvertently put a target on her back, none of them would lose sleep over it.
“Neutral will keep her safe,” Yael reminded me. “There aren’t many, outside of Staviti, who could challenge Cyrus. And he wo
n’t attack again until he’s sure he can win.”
I agreed with him on that point, and yet the nerves wouldn’t leave me be. I had a feeling that the next sun-cycle would be the cusp of our battle, and the odds of survival hinged heavily on my performance. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t summon the confidence needed to convince a bunch of gods that they should turn against their creator and support my ideas.
“You just did it with Terrance,” Aros reminded me. “Don’t overthink it; you do your best work when you go off instinct.”
I nodded. “You’re right. I’ve never been one to plan ahead. We’ll just wing it.”
What could possibly go wrong?
Several rotations later, we still hadn’t figured out our problems, but at least we had managed to clean up the mess left behind by the mudhogs and Terrance. Donald had been sent back to her dormire for the night, and the Abcurses had all taken turns in the bathing chamber, leaving Aros to follow me in as I claimed the room after Coen.
“You’re my helper for tonight?” I asked, spotting him in the reflective glass.
I thought I had heard them arguing earlier while I had been picking up cushions in the living room. I should have realised that it would be about who would share this time with me. I swallowed hard as he stalked closer to me. I had already started filling the bath, so there was nothing for me to busy myself with. Aros didn’t speak as he stopped right in front of me. His eyes were a burning, almost liquid gold as they caressed me. I was wearing only a towel at this point—it was pink with silver tassels on the ends, because all towels needed character, according to Pica.
“You’re glowing,” I whispered, reaching up to rub my hand along the skin at the base of his throat.
The moment I touched him, it was as if a hundred suns had burst to life inside the room. His glow increased, and the heat swirling inside of me went to molten levels. The grip I’d had on my towel loosened, and the pink material fell to the ground.
I pushed up and closer to him, desperate, greedily drinking in every ounce of his power. Rational thought was lost completely as his arms wrapped around me.
“Willa!”
It took me a moment to realise he had been talking to me. The snap of my name at the end broke through the cloud that had descended over my mind.
Blinking, I tilted my head back to see him.
“I need to know that you won’t be rolled by my power,” he said slowly. “Because I don’t want to hold back with you, but I also don’t want to lose you to the lust.”
As if responding to that, my energy burst up through me, bringing with it more clarity. “You don’t have to worry,” I promised. “I’m here now. I just … didn’t realise it was happening. But now I’ll know.”
Aros shook his head, looking pained. “How do you know?”
With a laugh, I went up on my toes and pressed every inch of my naked body against him. “Because I love you. The reason I respond so strongly to your power, despite being a god myself, is only because I want you so badly. Your power isn’t rolling me at all … I just love you that much. You’re perfect to me.”
I wasn’t sure which part of my speech convinced him, but the slight edge of darkness that had been inching across his golden eyes faded away. His stance relaxed, although his grip on me didn’t. If anything, for the first time, he was actively pulling my body into his.
The heat and light from him increased, but instead of letting it completely take over me, I called on some of my own power, allowing it to swirl within me in the hope that it would help to keep the balance.
“Are you going to help me bathe?” I whispered. “That’s what you’re here for, right?”
Aros grinned. It spread across his face, lifting his cheeks and bringing a sparkle to his eyes. “You never say what I expect, even after hearing your thoughts for all of this time.”
His lips were on mine before I could reply, and then I was nothing more than light and energy. Whatever balance I maintained was smashed to pieces, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t lose myself to his power, I grew with it. It lifted me higher and filled me with life. It completed me instead of causing me to lose myself.
“We’re the only ones who haven’t had sex,” Aros reminded me as his lips lifted from mine.
“Each time I’ve felt stronger,” I realised. “The bond felt more complete.”
He was the final piece to our bond.
He nodded before lifting me higher with the one arm that was wrapped around my back. We were kissing again, and I jumped when warm water splashed across my skin. Aros had swung me around into the large round bath, the water still pouring down from the ceiling. It was full, but somehow it never overflowed. The water was going somewhere, and I really didn’t care in that moment where that somewhere was.
“You better get your ass in here,” I demanded, staring at him while I tried to suck in enough air to fill my lungs. Kissing Aros had literally stolen my breath away.
His response was to lift his arms, grabbing on to the sides of his shirt as he went, pulling it off his body. Oh yes, that’s exactly what I wanted. I’d seen Aros without his shirt before. Had touched his bare chest, running my hands across all of that golden skin, but we hadn’t been alone at the time, and now there was no distraction. My eyes drank in every carved line, all of the smooth skin. The colour was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. His brothers were all bronze-skinned, with darker tones, but Aros’s skin looked like a ray of sunlight, littered with flecks of the golden rock mined in Minatsol.
And if that rock was melted down, you’d have his eyes.
My golden god.
His pants were next and then he was standing before me in his naked godly glory. Before I could speak, or lick him, because I really wanted to see if he tasted as good as he looked, he stepped into the water with me. I had been standing right in the centre of the full bath, and logic would suggest I move back to make room for the much larger god. But I was so not about logic. That shit was for Emmy.
I was about making no room for him, so that he had to crowd into me.
The moment his bare skin pressed against mine, I moaned. My eyes fluttered closed as the tingles of Seduction ran up and down my body, and my legs turned to jelly. Aros wrapped both arms around me, pulling me up and into him. The water continued to rain down on us as we kissed. And then suddenly we weren’t just kissing, but intensely devouring each other. This moment had been a long time coming, and nothing short of a god war was going to stop us now.
Aros lowered me back to my feet before he spun me around, his hands cupping my breasts as he leaned down and pressed his lips to my right shoulder. I gasped, pushing my butt back into him, feeling the rock-hard length of him pressing along my body. I almost cried when he moved away from me, before I realised that he had just leaned out of the bath to grab a small step that had been placed there earlier in the sun-cycle by Donald. For me to reach the top shelf.
Aros dropped the solid piece into the bath, pushing it down through the water. When it was secure on the base, he lifted me up and I suddenly found myself elevated by almost a foot. It took me a moment to click on to what he was doing—until I pressed back into him again and realised exactly where that hardness was now positioned. My moan was loud, slipping out from between my lips.
His hands moved back to my breasts again, his thumbs scraping across my nipples. “Still here with me, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice a low rumble.
“Y-yes,” I returned. “But I’m going to need you to stop talking,” I finished breathlessly.
I couldn’t see his grin, because my back was to him, but I knew he was smiling. I felt the lift in his mood and energy. A firm hand landed on my spine and I arched immediately, pushing back, seeking his heat. I couldn’t move much because I was on the stand and balancing wasn’t my strongest suit, but he got the point. That hand slid down my spine, even hotter than the water splashing us. His touch remained firm but somehow still light, sliding and scraping across my skin. His othe
r hand was wrapped around my body, and it tightened then, lifting me higher. My feet almost left the box and then his hardness was sliding inside of me. I’d expected more foreplay from the God of Seduction, so that was a pleasant surprise. Not that I disliked the build-up, it was one of my favourite things, but I was too far gone for that. I just needed Aros.
“I already knew that,” he murmured, answering my thoughts. “I’ve got you, Willa.”
I would have answered, but he started to move then, sensing that my body had adjusted to his size, and all I could do was moan.
It turned out that sex with Aros was a little different than it was with the other Abcurses. His warmth was a physical thing, and as we moved together, it spread inside of me, through my body, before settling in my chest. The pleasure that followed his warmth was almost unbearable. In the best way. In my experience with sex, it always felt amazing, the pleasure building and building until that exquisite moment right before my world exploded. With Aros, there was less build-up before I was basically at the exquisite part.
“Don’t stop,” I all but begged, and he let out a low, deep sound.
The heat increased and my legs started to fail me. His strong arms were there though, holding me up while he smoothly slid inside. My head went fuzzy like my legs and I lost track of everything but Aros and his heat.
“I’m close,” I murmured, unsure how I was even managing to speak.
He slowed a little then, and I wondered what he was doing, and then my feet left the stand completely. I let out a low exclamation before finding myself spun around so that I was straddling him. He stepped out of the bath, moving toward the closest wall, and I groaned as my back landed against it. He was inside of me in the next moment and from this angle I could see his face clearly. I’d never seen him look the way he did: glowing, happy, his eyes shining like the sun.
“I wanted to see your face,” he admitted as his hips surged up and I let out a breathy sigh. There was no more time for talking after that. He held me with ease, his body sliding into mine until I was hovering on the edge again.
