Harvest of the Gods

by Sumida, Amy

  “That was the intended result,” he grinned and pulled me forward.

  Then there was a mad dash to remove each other's clothing with a lot of kissing and biting involved. Trevor took my hands and lifted them to a metal crossbar above my head, squeezing them so I knew to keep them there. It left me in a lifted position on my knees. A position he took great advantage of and I wondered just how much thought he'd put into the making of this little love den, as he called it.

  I felt his face against the back of my neck, a warm huff on my skin as he rubbed his scent into me. I inhaled, smelling the shift of my scent as it melded with his, wolf musk sweetening into something a little more delicate. His front was placed firmly to my back and his desire was achingly evident but he wasn't about to satisfy any of my hungers yet. His need to mark his mate was too strong, I'd have to wait but sometimes waiting could be fun.

  He kissed his way down my back, covering every inch of skin in tingling delight before coming back up and covering my arms with werewolf musk. He nipped and growled as he went, sending little shivers through me that had my inner wolf sitting up for attention. I let out a small whimper as he switched his attention to my front, starting with my breasts, which were already sensitized and waiting.

  His hands were everywhere; my face, my hair, my back, everywhere but where I really wanted them to be and I groaned with frustration. He chuckled throatily, rubbing his face down my belly and kissing that little bulge I hated. I almost let go when he did that but he gave me a look that said clearly, he knew what I was thinking and I'd do better to just hold on.

  So I did and was rewarded by him placing a pillow between my legs, which he then placed his head upon and proceeded to lick me senseless. I nearly screamed when the first wave of passion hit me and then suddenly the lust magic rose up, starting to fill me from feet to crown, and I remembered that I had a little surprise for my wolf as well.

  When he finally withdrew both his attentions and the pillow, I was shaking and about ready to let go of that bar despite any incentive he may offer. He knelt in front of me and gently brought my hands to his shoulders, saving me from doing it myself. I leaned forward and put my lips to his. The magic rushed through my fragile skin and into his mouth, a pulsing heartbeat of desire which pulled a grunting sound of surprise from him. I smiled against his lips and kept kissing him, pulling his thickly muscled chest against mine.

  “What the hell is that?” He gasped when I finally leaned back.

  “Lust,” I grinned. “Do you like it?”

  “Give me more,” he growled and tossed me down onto the mattress.

  I laughed as he lifted my legs, still intent on marking every inch of my skin even with the lust distraction. That's how strong the werewolf instincts were. So I let him run his face over my thighs, nibble my calves, and even place his cheek to my insoles gently. Everywhere he touched Lust rose up to meet him, glowing red beneath my skin and turning his own skin a rosy color. He was startled at first but then he got into it, trailing his hands over me to watch the pattern it made on my body. Oh, and let's not forget the lovely tingles it left in its wake.

  This was only my second try at the lust magic, so I wanted to experiment a little. When he was done, and I was completely covered in eau de Trevor, I sent a stream of Lust into him, so strong that he fell over me, catching himself at the last second. I actually saw the red haze of it enter him and swirl through his body before coming back into me.

  “Minn Elska,” he growled. “be careful with that.”

  “I have no intention of being careful with you tonight, Werewolf Prince,” I grinned and pulled him down so he was fully against me. “You think you can handle it?”

  “I'm not sure,” he grinned, “but I'm gonna try my damnedest.”

  Then he was inside me, the Binding rising up between us to rival the Lust, and the magics swirled together like they were also lovers, two pieces that fit perfectly. I cried out with the ecstasy of it, the incomplete Binding feeling more real with the addition of my lust magic.

  Trevor went a little wild with it, slamming into me and biting into my shoulder. I felt the Lust seep through my skin and into him through his bite, then down to where we joined, creating a circuit like it had with Azrael. I could see it this time, even when I closed my eyes, a red pulse gaining speed as it ran along a circle connecting Trevor and me.

  Then he was cresting with me, riding the wave of werewolf Binding and Lust into a whirlpool of howling, screaming, scratching delight. I barely just remembered to rein in the lust magic so it wouldn't spread out to the rest of the palace. I really didn't need a whole pride of randy lions running for the tracing point in the middle of the night.

  Even reined in though, the lust magic shattered with us, exploding through my skin to hover above us in a sparkling cloud before raining down on us. The glittering pieces of passion fell, hitting our skin with millions of tiny ecstasy points until Trevor tensed and we both reached our pleasure again.

  Trevor fell over me and rolled to the side, his face slack and satisfied. His arm snaked beneath my head and pulled me into his chest while his other hand came up to stroke my tangled hair. I sighed and nestled into him, breathing deep of werewolf musk and sex, but he took a deep breath and then lifted me up, positioning me in front of him on all fours.

  “Oh no, Lady Lust,” he laughed. “We haven't even begun.”

  The Lust magic practically purred its agreement.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Hours later when the sun was beginning to rise, we settled into each other's arms satisfied at last. We were all warm and snugly in our bower and as I drifted to sleep I wondered what Aphrodite had done with the lust magic. Seeing what she'd done with the Love, I couldn't imagine that she'd done anything good with it. Then, as if the magic was sentient, which I believe it is in a way, it showed me a glimpse of what she'd used it for.

  I knew Aphrodite was an awful bitch. I knew she was a sadist and enjoyed using the darker side of Love instead of using it to help and heal. That being said, I'd had no idea she could be so depraved.

  The vision was of her walking through a room, intent on something at the end of it. I'm not sure what exactly it was that she was after, the vision didn't show me that, but it did show me the greed in Aphrodite's eyes. She wanted something and she wanted it bad enough to not care how she got it. Unfortunately, the room was full of a lot of people who weren't going to allow her to have it.

  They stared at her with open defiance and I wondered briefly who they were. Not soldiers, they weren't wearing armor though they were armed with swords. What they were wearing seemed uniform, the same color and style of dress. Their clothes were deep blue and cut simply. Judging by the tunics and long gowns, I'd date them somewhere in the Middle Ages. Whoever they were, Aphrodite knew them and knew they would do anything to prevent her from acquiring her desire. So as she walked among them, her magic rushed out and possessed them.

  They fell on each other with desperate need. Young or old, male or female, it didn't matter, whoever was closest would do. Swords clanged to the floor and Aphrodite laughed as the entire room became one rampant orgy but not in the way you might think orgies should be. There was no laughter and soft sexy sounds. This was not about hedonism or pleasure. This was as greedy as the Goddess had been, a sexual theft, a type of warfare that would no doubt haunt the victims for the rest of their lives.

  She walked through them, unmolested, kicking crazed couples out of her way so she could get to her prize, and even pausing here and there to enjoy the damage she was inflicting. She was a rapist, reveling in the power of the act, the dominance, not the sexual pleasure.

  I gasped a breath and pulled out of the horrible scene but not without first being told by the magic that Aphrodite had indeed used it in war, on the battlefield, where men would fall upon each other, often killing one another in their desperation to fulfill their lusts. These battles never made it into the history books, the men involved were all too horrified to ever
speak of it again, or in some cases, ever speak at all again. I'd always thought Love was the most powerful magic but after that vision I wasn't so sure anymore.

  Thankfully, Lust didn't want to be used like that, and the information I'd received had been intended to comfort me, to show me that it was happier being wielded by me than by her. I silently thanked it but honestly I could have done without that kind of reassurance. That vision was going to be hard to forget.

  I shivered and snuggled deeper into Trevor's side, taking one last look around the romantic bower he'd created, to try and still my thoughts before I went to sleep. Then I closed my eyes, knowing that no matter what happened in the god war, I'd never be able to use Lust like Aphrodite had. The thought actually brought a great peace to my mind and I fell off to sleep quickly, my dreams filled with a randy werewolf instead of a dead goddess.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Fenrir was at Pride Palace bright and early the next morning. He actually came striding into our bedroom to wake us up and then had the nerve to make horrified sounds over finding Kirill, Trevor, and me all snuggled together.

  I screamed at him to get out and that he deserved the eyeful he got. How dare he come into my bedroom unannounced and how would he like it if I did the same to him and then remarked over how odd it was that he only had one mate. Trevor just groaned and Kirill laughed as Fenrir backpedaled, red in the face.

  Fenrir was waiting in the dining room with an embarrassed expression when we came in. He immediately apologized and I immediately forgave him but it was still a little awkward. No one likes their parents finding them in an intimate situation. Especially an unusual intimate situation and as much as I've gotten used to my romantic life, I knew it was unusual. Fenrir's disapproval was an unwelcome prodding at a recently scabbed over cut.

  “We've come by so early because I need some action,” Fenrir began.

  “I may have needed some action myself,” I interrupted, smirking at him, “but that's not going to happen now, thanks to you. At least I know to lock my door in the future though.”

  “Vervain,” Fenrir leaned his head back and sighed. “Please desist, the sight of you three together was traumatizing enough to prevent me from ever walking in on you unannounced again.”

  “Well she has every right to be angry,” Emma smirked at him. “You would have drawn blood if someone entered your bedroom and caught us together.”

  “I did not catch them together together,” Fenrir rolled his eyes. “Just sleeping together. Not sleeping together, just sleeping.”

  “Was that sleeping together or sleeping together together?” I laughed at him. “Oh, wait, you meant sleeping together.”

  “The funny thing is; I understood that,” Emma gave me a secret approving look.

  “No,” I corrected, “the funny thing is; you just announced to the entire table that you and Fenrir are doing the nasty and Dad didn't bat an eye.”

  “Vervain,” Fenrir groaned while Emma giggled. “Nothing I do with this woman is nasty.”

  “What about when we-” Emma started to say but was cut off by Fenrir's horrified gaze. “Okay, I guess that wasn't nasty,” she shrugged at me. “I guess we're going to have to work on that.”

  “Well done, Dad,” Trevor grinned at Fenrir, who was starting to turn red again.

  “Da,” Kirill nodded, giving Fenrir an assessing look. “I didn't zink you had it in you.”

  “I have plenty of it, thank you,” Fenrir growled. “As evidenced by all of my many children.”

  “Yes, you do, baby,” Emma sat back with a satisfied smirk.

  “Thank you,” he said again, this time to Emma, and with his own secret smile.

  “Great, so things are going well,” I nodded, “glad to hear it. We had to take part in a faerie lynching yesterday, so we're a little tired but you guys just continue giving each goo goo eyes and we'll just sit here and take a nap.”

  “I go make coffee,” Kirill stood up before Fenrir could say anything.

  “I actually have a plan,” I said the magic words that got me the attention of the entire room. “We know that Demeter's in her territory.”

  “We searched the entire place-” Fenrir started but I held up a hand.

  “Sorry, Dad, but bear with me here,” I put Demeter's braid on the table, the braid I'd cut from her and given to Kirill as a sort of memento. It silenced everyone, seeing that shining golden link to our enemy. “The fey she was working with told us that she's tricky. To me, that means that she's got some kind of a panic room, or even a panic palace if you will, hidden someplace in her territory and I can make a tracking spell.”

  “Holy shit,” Trevor breathed out and looked over at me with his duh face.

  “I know, right?” I laughed. “We've been so caught up in tracking her by scent or with magical tools that we forgot about my talent for witchcraft. It wouldn't have worked before because I need to be in a certain proximity to whatever I'm tracking, but now? If she really is in her territory, I'll find her.”

  “How long will it take you to make?” Fenrir had an excited glint to his eyes.

  “Give me half an hour,” I grinned and he grinned back. “After I've had my coffee that is.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  We were back at Demeter's Greek playground, or Demeterland as I enjoyed calling it, in under an hour. However, it took us over two hours to roam the entire surface of her territory with her braid in my outstretched hand. I'd ended up just using the entire braid to make the tracking spell instead of taking a few strands from it because I figured it would be more powerful that way. Well, powerful or not, it wasn't picking up anything on the surface of Dementor's world of boring Greekness.

  So we took the gilded cage down into the underworld, well not really the underworld but literally an under world. We walked the path through the garden unmolested by foliage and when I still didn't pick up any pings, I started to head toward the outer walls. About a third of the way down the right wall, the braid surged in my hand. I gripped it tighter and watched as it stretched out in front of me like a tightrope.

  “Final-fucking-ly,” Trevor growled.

  “Everyone get ready,” I called back and there was an excited murmuring. Not only were the Froekn with us but the Intare had come along as well as Odin and our sons. Everyone wanted in on this action. It had been a long time coming.

  I let the braid lead me forward until it practically lodged itself into the wall. Then I frowned at the seamless surface. No wonder we hadn't found her, I knew where she was and I still couldn't find her.

  “Shit,” I slapped the wall, “now what?”

  “Now you step aside,” Odin grinned at me and waved everyone back. A spear appeared in his hands with a shining gold tip and silky wooden shaft. He threw it into the wall and it stuck fast at about shoulder height for me. Then the whole thing trembled, making a sound similar to when you stroked a finger over the rim of a crystal glass. The wall exploded, raining dust and rocks over the lot of us and propelling the spear back into Odin's waiting hands. Odin just stood there, grinning ear to ear while wiping dust off his face. “I love doing that.”

  “Jeesh,” I waved the cloud of dust away from my face. “That was impressive.”

  “Thank you,” Odin leaned on his spear in a casual hero stance. “Gungnir never fails to impress.”

  “That's the spear that changes the outcome of a battle, right?” I stared at it, feeling a fist of unease suddenly grip my belly.

  “Yes but we're not in battle,” Odin shrugged. “Don't worry about it, Vervain. I know my own weapons.”

  “Okay,” I went to move forward but Fenrir had already beat me to the punch and was making his way through the opening. “Hey,” I called as I followed him, the others close on my heels.

  We didn't have long to walk before the tunnel we were in opened into a control room. The walls were covered in monitors, showing us clear colored images of the gardens we'd just come through, as well as shots of the land above. Ther
e was a desk in front of the screens with a computer on it and a chair in front of the desk, whose seat was still warm.”

  “She's here,” I said as the braid lurched in my hands again.

  I ran off with it like a little girl walking a rottweiler. It was really walking me. It pulled me through several rooms which were very decadently appointed with furniture covered in rich upholstery and numerous pieces of artwork. There were thick carpets on the ground and antique chandeliers on the ceiling, filled with candles. I passed through a large dining room, a kitchen, and then ended up in an open room with bottles of wine stored against two walls. The third wall was packed dirt and the braid pulled me right to it.

  “Damn it,” I cursed and put the braid away. “It's probably another secret exit. Looks like we're going to need you again, Odin.” He started toward me with a chuckle and I laughed back at him. “Kind of anti-climatic huh?”

  Then Odin was leaping for me, his face drawn in shocked lines, and I frowned, wondering what I'd said wrong. A quick glance around showed that everyone else had similar expressions, all focused on a spot behind my back as they began to move forward as well. I turned, as if through deep water, which I was definitely in because there behind me was Demeter, pieces of earth falling away from her as she pulled a Rambo and came right out of the dirt wall.

  She was dressed in her Atlantean golden armor, sword and all, and that sword was already descending in a beautiful arc toward my unprotected neck. It was too fast, I saw it all in the blink of an eye, and even as I lifted my hand to protect myself, I knew I wasn't going to be able to react in time. She was going to win after all.

  I could hear shouting around me, in a sort of fear-muffled way, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Fenrir running, his hand reaching for me, but I knew he wouldn't make it either. So it was with great surprise that I felt myself shoved aside, my head still miraculously attached to my body. I fell hard, my impact rattling the rack of wine near me, and my vision became disjointed.