War of the Gods Complete Series Boxed Set

by Meg Xuemei X

  They also altered Amber’s classes without consulting her and made her schedule fit mine. She didn’t complain, so I shrugged it off.

  Poor Amber was still trying to wrap her mind around the fact that I had the four hottest, most powerful males as my mates. I couldn’t contain my smirk just thinking of them. That was the biggest jackpot I’d ever hit. I not only landed one. I landed four.

  I whistled a marching tune as I jogged toward the training field, Amber falling in step beside me. We had a weapons class. Amber appeared more nervous than I. Whenever the classes had something to do with reading and knowledge, she scored the highest. But when it came to the physical, she wasn’t that confident.

  “Don’t worry, pip,” I said. “I’ll do all the fighting for us.”

  “I don’t think the instructor will allow it,” she said, biting her lower lip.

  “Who the hell is the instructor anyway?”

  “Sir Louis.”

  “As long as he doesn’t use a whip, we’ll get along with him.”

  “He’s a demi-fae, and he’s strict about training.”

  “Damn, so he’ll work our asses off.”

  The outdoor training field was four times the size of a stadium I’d once dream-visited in the mortal realm. I saw many different groups in the field, doing all sorts of cool shit. My gaze followed each group and their gear, until I found the archery range at the left end of the field.

  “That’s our class!” I pointed at a small gathering at the range. “C’mon, we don’t want to give the impression we’re tardy.”

  I broke into a run, and Amber sprang behind me, panting hard. I had to stop a few times for her to catch up. “Hurry up, soldier!”

  “I’m not your kind of soldier,” she said. “Not in a million years could I run as fast as you.”

  “We don’t want to be late!”

  “You go,” Amber said. “I need my own pace. I can barely breathe.”

  “Fine, let’s teleport, because I really don’t want to be late and give the instructor an excuse to yell at me.”

  I grabbed her.

  “No!” She tried to struggle free. “You aren’t trained in sifting. I don’t want to end up in the high sky again. And this time, who knows where you’ll dump me?”

  I didn’t let her go, and since I was stronger—I was as strong as my mates, and they were stronger than any mortals and immortals—I overpowered her.

  “I won’t drop you into icy water or horse manure, I promise,” I said. “Now, close your eyes.”

  I shut mine anyway and pictured the archery range. Nothing happened. There was no wind whirling in my ear.

  I peeled open an eye. “Up now.”

  Still, nothing happened.

  “Why did it not work this time?” I asked.

  Amber broke free from me and ran as fast as her feet could carry her while I stood puzzled over my failure to teleport.

  I jogged after her, and we reached the training field by our hurrying feet.

  The students who’d arrived before us had lined up. I found an empty space and squeezed in.

  No one smiled at me, and everyone looked like a veteran. I dropped my smirk and tried to look like I belonged. My heart pounded in my throat. These military peeps evidently knew their shit, and I would probably make a fool of myself again.

  But at least I could stand as straight as them with my chin raised high. Amber snuck in at the end of the line, as far away from me as possible. The chick was afraid I’d sabotage her and dump her in the midst of my next chaotic path.

  The instructor paused before us. He was tan to his ears. The man must have spent all his waking hours in the sun, and that’s why he had deep lines around his tough, gray eyes.

  His gray was different from my Lorcan’s gray eyes. Lorcan’s was so piercing that it looked like the clearest sky before dawn. And when he held me in his arms and thrust his cock into me, his gray eyes turned—

  “Pay attention, rookie!” the instructor yelled, his sharp eyes homing in on me.

  Damn! I thought I was invisible to him. He hadn’t paid any attention to me when I joined the group. He hadn’t even acknowledged my existence. How did he know I was daydreaming?

  “Yes, Saint Louis!” I shouted and gave a salute that I’d learned from watching a war movie the day before yesterday.

  Saint Louis narrowed his eyes at me. “What did you just call me?”

  “Uh, are you not Saint Louis?” I said, stabbing my head out of the line to find Amber, and seeing her try to shrink from my eyes. Had she said Saint Louis or Sir Louis? If this dude wasn’t pleased with saint, then it must be sir.

  The students all tried to keep their faces straight, but one of them, who had less discipline, let out a short, coughed laugh.

  “Sir Louis, then,” I said, glad that I suddenly remembered.

  “Where was your mind wandering?” he asked sternly.

  My eyes went wild as embarrassment decorated my cheeks. There was no way I would tell him I was thinking how good it was to have Lorcan’s cock inside me.

  “My mind stayed with you, sir,” I lied. It came easily.

  “Really?” he said. “What did I say then before I called you out?”

  “You asked, ‘What did you just call me?’”

  A vein popped on his jaw. That wasn’t a good sign. I immediately put on a puppy look, which usually worked with a tough guy who had a soft heart. I was now testing whether Sir Louis had a gentler side.

  But I also sighed inwardly. I might really not be good at this school thing. I wasn’t cut out for nice education.

  “Before that line, what did I say?”

  I eyed him warily. “If I answer incorrectly, will I be punished?”

  “Yes, you’ll run twenty laps and then five rounds of stairs,” he said.

  Running was easy for me and I loved it, but I didn’t want to be made to run as a punishment. I wouldn’t look good if my mates found out about it. I failed in my first day and I was determined to make up for it.

  “You spoke about control and strength and hitting the target with accuracy, all the shi—nice stuff.”

  See, I could multitask.

  “And you know how to hit the target?” Sir Louis asked without any expression.

  The students shuffled nervously. That meant it would be bad for me if I didn’t. “I guess so, sir,” I said.

  “Then why don’t you show the class how good you are,” Sir Louis said, and it wasn’t a request. It was an order.

  “Uh, with what to hit the target?” I asked.

  “Any weapon you pick,” Sir Louis said, gesturing at the weaponry lined up on the side wall.

  My gaze slid from the crossbows to machine bows to daggers. I had never used bows before, and it didn’t seem to be the best time to fumble with one with so many eyes fixed on me, and all expecting me to shoot my own foot.

  My eyes landed on a spear. Phobos had a silver spear. If he could use it, so could I. I stalked toward the wall, pulled out the spear, and ran toward the shooting station without a break.

  “Be careful, Cass,” Amber called from behind, sounding really worried. She thought I was as clumsy as her just because that one time I had dropped us in the pool.

  Flinging my arm backward then propelling it forward, I threw the spear at the wooden target nearly fifty yards away. The iron spearhead pierced the bull’s-eye, buried deep in the wood.

  No one cheered. Not a single voice uttered a word. I turned and saw everyone’s jaw dropped in shocked silence.

  Sir Louis kept his unreadable, natural-harsh look.

  I decided to cheer for myself. “Wahoo, Amber, Saint Louis—” Shit, I shouldn’t have called him that again. “—Not a saint, Sir Louis, and everyone, did you see what I just did? I hit the mark!”

  “Beginner’s luck?” someone in the row murmured.

  No matter, with my confidence boosted, I was itching to get my hands on the real bow. I flip-flapped in the air in an incredible mood, landed in a
crouch by the wall, and grabbed a crossbow with a quiver of arrows.

  Nocking an arrow on the crossbow, I strode toward the shooting station. On second thought, I figured, why not shoot five arrows at once, just for fun?

  It was as if I’d just found my natural talent from a genetic memory.

  I nocked five arrows, pulled the string, and let them fly. They all landed in the bull’s-eye of the wooden target, evenly spaced in a circle around the spear I’d thrown earlier.

  I laughed amid complete silence. Let them say beginner’s luck.

  “Shit, I was born for this!” I cried.

  As soon as I said it, I shut up, realizing a fact—I was a natural at anything related to fighting and killing. I was born to be a weapon. I thought of the time that I’d killed the vampires who had waylaid me. I’d matched their speed and fighting styles though I had never fought a day and they were all well-trained warriors.

  That was why my four mates had sought me out in the first place.

  “So, you’ve been practicing without telling anyone, rookie?” Sir Louis asked severely, as if he’d just caught out a liar.

  “Cass never touched a bow or a spear in her life,” said a voice with amusement.

  My heart stopped a beat.

  Pyrder strode toward us. Where did he come from? What was he doing here?

  “We aren’t going to train her like the others,” Pyrder continued. “We are to bring out her true potential. The others will adjust to her training and learn to fight at her side.”

  What?

  This was outrageous. Why did my mates always blindside me?

  I tossed the crossbow aside and strode toward Pyrder, and he smiled at me, all nice and doting and hot. And he knew the effect of his smile on me.

  I tugged his sleeve and pulled him to the side. He dipped his head, ready for a kiss.

  I willed my stupid heart not to flutter. “Pyrder, you can’t be here,” I said in a hushed voice. “This is a serious training field for soldiers. You must leave.”

  Sir Louis stalked toward us, and I stepped before Pyrder, wary and alarmed.

  “Instinctively, you want to protect me, Cass baby,” Pyrder whispered in my ear with a low chuckle.

  “Maybe I should let him have you.” I huffed.

  “Sorry to interrupt, Your Highness,” Sir Louis said, bowing to Pyrder before sliding a glance at me, then back at Pyrder. “Should I know the rules of this special training?”

  “Just carry on as usual, Louis,” Pyrder said. “I’ll improvise as I see fit. Right now I’ll just observe. I might remove my charge from the field early. She won’t be limited to one class. She’ll train in all the fields, in all sorts of skills.”

  Sir Louis nodded, sparing me another unreadable glance. He collected his trainees to practice shooting, adjusting their postures with yells, punches, and kicks.

  I winced and turned back to my mate, and a light sliced through my thoughts.

  When Sir Louis asked Pyrder about the rules, the prince said he’d be improvising. He didn’t exactly know how to train me. None of my mates knew, yet they didn’t want me to know that they didn’t know.

  They didn’t exactly know how to kill the gods either, but they were confident that I could do it. All they needed was to call out that unknown, latent power in me. So they put me on the training field, let me run wild, and see what clicked.

  They were trying to find the trigger in me.

  By now, we all agreed that I had the blood of the Olympian gods—mostly from the God of Death. It was the other half of my heritage that baffled them. They could find no clue. They’d been doing a lot of research and tests to figure me out. It frustrated them to no end that they hadn’t made any progress while time was running out.

  My males tried to hide their frustration from me, but it didn’t work, because I was their mate.

  I didn’t blame them. If we didn’t figure out my power soon, I’d be in a world of hurt when the gods got their hands on me. My mates’ and my survival might just depend on whether I could reach my potential in time.

  So I went along with their program, but still I didn’t roll over easily since it wasn’t in my nature.

  I glared at Pyrder. “Now you singled me out, professor? Do you know what that will do to me?”

  He grinned. “I love it when you’re fierce, Cass baby.”

  Maybe I should kick him in the balls one day and see if he truly loved me fierce, even though he was my mate. Then I realized that he was the only one I hadn’t had intimacy with.

  What would he do when we came to that? Would he be like Reys? My face flamed at the thought, and I gave him another slanted glance.

  He was dashingly beautiful. Even though he was much older than me, he still had a boyish charm, especially when his turquoise eyes smiled with wicked delight and his sensual lips tugged up. He knew he had a killer smile, but now might not be the best time to dwell on it, because I couldn’t help myself and had already dipped my gaze to his well-defined cut chest covered by his black T-shirt. I really wanted to remove his clothes and run my hands over his taut muscles.

  My eyes roved over the tattoo of the golden panther on his corded upper arm. It turned me on. The other half of the panther was inked on his chest. He promised to show me one day, and we hadn’t gotten to it.

  Heat burned my skin, tracing a path up my thighs.

  A pull tugged me toward him.

  It didn’t matter that we were in public. The mating call had risen.

  Pyrder felt it too, because he sucked in a breath.

  We gazed at each other, wanting to have our hands all over each other’s body, wanting to mate right here right now. We were losing the battle.

  I shouldn’t have started all this by ogling him like he was the only delicious male on Earth.

  “Run, Cass baby,” he purred hoarsely, his eyes burning molten gold.

  I turned and bolted.

  Pyrder chased.

  Okay, so this was another tryout then, probably to test my speed, strength, and stamina.

  The military was into all that shit.

  Then I realized that Pyrder had just turned me into prey when I ran. I completely forgot that he was also a panther.

  But running was my forte. The hunter was so going to lose.

  The students and instructors blurred as I passed by them. Stunned faces loomed as they watched me, but soon fell behind.

  I heard a roar behind me and chanced a look over my shoulder.

  Shit, Pyrder had shifted to a golden panther, and it was nearly on my ass. My butt could almost feel its hot breath.

  I sped up, sprinting straight.

  The panther roared again.

  I turned my head to scold him, only to realize that I’d bumped into the most dangerous field—the magical practice ground. All other groups gave it a wide berth.

  At my speed, it was too late for me to change course.

  Fire blasted my face as the wielder pushed it with the wind. Great! I had no time to talk to Earth to let me eat the fire element. I tore through the rings of fire and wind, hearing the panther’s warning growl ten yards behind.

  Heat fanned my face, and I expected my hair to blaze up.

  I would hate to go bald like Mellissa but, once again, Earth fire didn’t harm me. Huh? I didn’t even need to give Earth a heads-up?

  I should just trust that none of the Earth elements would go against me, unless the magical practitioner added nasty spells into the Earth magic like those Jezebel had used on me.

  I tossed out my icy wind and snuffed out the fire behind me, just to show the wind wielders how it should be done.

  I heard surprised and awed gasps and more roars before I zoomed past the edge of the training court.

  I’m that fast. I thought in glee and kept running.

  I went up a trail that seemed seldom traveled in this lonely part of the Academy’s town. The bushes and trees on each side blurred as I raced by and reached a clearing. A sparkling, lilac lake bl
ocked my path ahead.

  Where was the panther?

  I halted and looked around.

  He quit. He hadn’t followed me up the trail. When I returned, I’d shame him to no end.

  Just as I was jogging toward the pond, I glimpsed a blur of gold.

  Fuck!

  Before I turned and burst into a run, the golden panther leapt at me, faster than the wind, and pinned me down.

  Stealthy bastard!

  I rolled, but his weight had me. He realized that he could either squash me to death or shift, so he shifted.

  Pyrder gazed down at me with a grin and liquid fire in his pure, golden eyes.

  “Hello, baby,” he purred.

  I struggled beneath him, but his big powerful body pressed tightly against me, trapping me. I was obviously at a disadvantage.

  “Wait,” I whimpered. “My belly hurts.”

  “You’re hurt, baby?” He immediately lifted his weight off me, concern in his eyes.

  I bent my knee swiftly and drove it toward his groin.

  He groaned and rolled off. I jumped on him astraddle, with a grin. “Got you, bad boy!”

  “You got me, baby,” he said, thrusting his hips up, his huge bulge hard against my butt.

  But I just knelt on his nuts.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed, my face flaming. “Stop!”

  Maybe I didn’t want him to stop. He’d just caught me by surprise.

  “Too late to stop now,” he said, and flipped me over before I could see how he moved.

  I bet all of my mates had trained long and arduously in wrestling. So, naturally, I was underneath his weight again.

  “Don’t tell me any part of you hurts again,” Pyrder warned. “It won’t work the second time.”

  I thrust my groin toward him and rocked against his hard body. “Here hurts.”

  He cursed, and his molten gold eyes burned with unbridled lust. The heat scorched me all over, and my panties were soaked the next instant.

  I writhed beneath him, my lady bits rubbing his erection.

  “If you don’t stop, Cass, I’ll have to fuck you right here.”

  I rubbed against him harder. “You sure you want me to stop?”

  His large hand rubbed my pussy roughly through the wet spot on the fabric. “I want to fuck you this instant, but I have to control my beast. I won’t chance anyone seeing my mate bare, and I must punish you before I fuck you.”