by Meg Xuemei X
“You’ve fucked me before, Alaric. So many times,” I said.
“Maybe so. You’re my destined mate, my equal whom I’ve been looking for my whole life.”
His arm wrapped around my breasts as he pounded between my thighs.
The demigod’s power was great, yet it only fed my energy, lighting a fire in my every cell.
“Your little, tight pussy is milking me,” he groaned. “So aggressive. Fuck, woman, it’s claiming me.”
“Because you’re mine, demigod,” I hissed amid my moans.
His pace turned blindingly fast, every inch of his cock filling me, rubbing and fucking and claiming. I cried out and exploded around him.
Our mating bond snapped tight, burning brightly.
“Cass, sweetheart!” he called.
He’d finally remembered.
“Baby, I’m claiming you again!” He began pounding into me with renewed vigor. “I’ll never stop claiming you.”
With a few more ferocious, powerful pumps, he emptied in me with a roar.
“Don’t move, fucker!” A voice, full of rage, sounded beside us.
Pyrder had found us.
The curtain was torn open, and I looked over my shoulder at my fae mate with Alaric’s cock still embedded deep inside me, hard as steel. Pyrder’s face twisted in fury, and such pain shone in his dark turquoise eyes that my heart constricted at the thought I’d hurt him.
Alaric snarled in pain. Then I noticed Pyrder’s flaming sword pressed against Alaric’s back. The sword’s flame was burning a patch in my demigod mate’s leather jacket, its tip having punctured his skin.
“Remove the blade, panther,” Alaric commanded. “Cass is yours, too. We all share the same mate.”
“I don’t think so,” Pyrder said. “You took what’s mine, and now you’ll pay.”
He twisted the hilt of the sword, ready to drive it into Alaric’s heart.
“No, Pyrder!” I cried in horror. “Stop!”
But I couldn’t halt his progression, since my power wouldn’t work on any of my mates. Alaric couldn’t do anything, either, still seated deep inside me, his back toward my fae mate.
Another flaming sword rose in the air, crashing down on Pyrder’s.
The two blades crossed and locked.
“Pyrder Iliathorr, remember now,” Lorcan shouted. “She’s your mate, too. Her feelings toward you are just as strong as hers toward us. We came to Hell to rescue your twin. We’re bonded brothers by blood oath. We fought shoulder-to-shoulder in several wars millennia ago. We made a pact, and we’ve found our mate—the only woman for all of us. Cass is our one true mate.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Pyrder growled, anger warring with confusion. But he dismissed the flaming sword, and it vanished into the mist.
“What is the last thing you remember?” Lorcan pressed.
The fae prince narrowed his eyes. “A dark river?”
“The river of Styx,” Alaric said, and we slowly disconnected from each other. “Lorcan was the only one who drank the Elixir of Memory, so he remembered everything. The rest of us all lost our memories, though I’ve just regained mine, thanks to our mate’s loving attention.”
Pyrder’s eyes darkened. The demigod had just reminded him of our coupling, the bitter source of his rage.
I straightened myself and strode to my fae mate.
He handed me the golden apple with a sigh. “Even though you aren’t true to me, I’ll still offer this apple to the most beautiful woman in the universe.”
Tears welled up in my eyes. My fae mate was true to the end, and not even the Goddess of Beauty, Lust, Love, Seduction, and Pleasure could alter his steady, loyal heart. She might be every male’s living fantasy, but she wasn’t my males’.
I heard an outraged shriek.
Aphrodite lunged toward me, her long nails outstretched like talons, about to leave a trail of blood on my face.
My mates cut in between us, ready to fend her off, but Hephaestus wrapped his bulky arm around the goddess’s slender waist and pulled her back.
“Really?” I barked at her. “Now you want to get into a catfight? Hair- pulling isn’t my style. I have an image to maintain in front of my mates.”
“You don’t want to pick a fight with Cass, Aphrodite,” Hephaestus cautioned. “She’ll always come out on top. Once provoked, she can get quite nasty, though extremely effective. I’m doing this to protect you. No matter what, you were once my wife.”
Aphrodite sobbed.
I didn’t care about her tears when she’d intended to steal my mates and only cried because she lost the bet. All I cared about now was making my fae mate remember us.
I stood on my tiptoes, my palms pressing against Pyrder’s face, and I kissed him raw, hot, and hard. He opened his mouth for me, and my tongue accepted his invitation, sweeping his teeth and mating with his tongue.
A deep rumble vibrated from his chest, his panther purring in desire.
Our mating bond lit like starlight.
Pyrder inhaled, and I broke the kiss.
He gazed at me with love and shame. “Cass, my baby.”
“You’re my moon, my love, my heart, my breath, my fire, and my existence, Pyrder Iliathorr,” I said, and then I turned to Lorcan and Alaric. “You all are.”
Tears glinted in the fae prince’s beautiful, thick eyelashes, and my other mates swallowed back emotion, their throats moving up and down.
Pyrder scooped me into his arms, looking around with wild, lust-filled eyes. He was searching for a room so he, too, could mate with me. The panther in him demanded it, and I could hear it convincing Pyrder to stake his claim on me once again.
I wouldn’t turn him down, since the fire twirling between my thighs needed to be quenched, even though my demigod mate had just sated me and given me such a memorable orgasm.
“We don’t have time for another mating,” Lorcan said firmly. “We must get out of here.” His piercing gray eyes fixed on the Goddess of Love and Beauty, and there wasn’t the slightest bit of adoration in his gaze toward her. Her beauty had never affected him.
“You need to let us leave, Aphrodite,” he said. “Our quarrel isn’t with you at the moment, but if you stay in our way, we will kill you without a second thought.”
“It’s her looks, isn’t it?” Aphrodite said and transformed the next instant.
The Goddess of Lust and Fantasy became me—a refined me, actually, without all my rough edges, ridiculous domination, and bad attitude.
“See,” she said. “I can be her, a better her. I can be whomever and whatever you want and give you more than she can ever hope to offer you. All you need to do is choose me and return the golden apple to me.”
Rage vibrated within me.
“Stop trying to steal my men, Aphrodite,” I said. “They’ll never be yours or anyone else’s. They’re mine, always and forever. If you don’t fuck off, I’ll ruin your face and boobs!”
“You don’t speak for the men who adore me, little savage whore,” she insisted. “They can decide whom they’ll go to bed with tonight without your foul mouth telling them so.”
“The thing is, I like how my mate is,” Alaric said. “Rude and outrageous.” Then, at my glare, he added, “And loyal, brave, and cunning. No one can ever be as fun as she is.” He turned to the goddess with a disdainful look. “Call my mate whore again and you’ll soon gain the title of Goddess of Whores and Thieves.”
“No force in the universe can ever separate us,” Pyrder said. “You can try, but you will fail.”
Lorcan nodded. “If our mate wants the golden apple, it’s hers to keep. We won’t allow anyone to take it from her. We’ll give her the world, anything she desires, not just an apple.” His gray gaze fixed on me dotingly. “Dulcis, you realize you’re officially the richest woman on Earth with all of your mates’ combined treasure at your disposal, right?”
I bounced on my heels. “Really? I know I’m rich, since all that’s yours is mine, and you’re all load
ed, but I didn’t know exactly how rich!” I beamed at him, feeling light radiating from my skin. “Will you open a bank account for me when we return home? What’s the safest bank to put my money in?”
“We’re in Hell,” Pyrder chuckled, “and our mate is worried about her bank account.”
“Dragons love gold,” Lorcan said. “So it’s only natural dulcis loves money.”
Pyrder laughed more. “She does love gold. She took that big gold coin for herself before we crossed the river of Styx.”
How had our conversation turned in this direction?
My face flamed. “You all misunderstood me. It’s not like I’m some gold-digger.” But my hand fumbled in my inner pocket, and my heart settled when I found the gold coin.
“It’s perfect that you love gold, sweetheart,” Alaric said. “You’ll be the biggest, meanest she-dragon who guards our treasure, your treasure.”
“And all of you are my treasure, too,” I said slyly.
They laughed in satisfaction.
They poked fun at me because they were so happy we didn’t get separated.
“I hate to break up the family reunion,” Hephaestus chimed in, “but I need to point out a few practical things.” He winked at me, and that nearly set me off again, because he didn’t know how to wink properly!
Just when I was about to demand he pay gold to Pyrder for weekly lessons to learn how to wink, quirk an eyebrow, and flirt correctly, shame slammed into me.
When had I become one of those who judged people by their looks? The God of Blacksmiths had done a great deal for us, though he liked to complain and brag. He’d proved to be loyal.
Even though he was a member of the godly race, I should have treated him better, as he deserved, and done right by him.
But when Hephaestus opened his mouth again and spoke, my guilt and embarrassment cut in half.
“I thought those two idiots were goners for sure when they started worshiping at my ex-wife’s feet,” he said. He would find any chance to humiliate his half-brother Alaric.
Alaric and Pyrder stole a glance at me, shame and remorse shrouding their hard faces. They had indeed lounged at the feet of the goddess’s throne like lost puppies before they saw me, before Hephaestus fanned our scent toward them.
“Yet they passed the trial like no other men could have,” I said. In my gut, I knew that Hades brought Aphrodite here to break up my mates and me, so he could seize the opportunity to take advantage of my heartbreak. “No male has ever resisted the Goddess of Beauty, Lust, and Temptation, yet all of my mates came out as champions and walked away from the goddess of every man’s fantasy.”
My voice dripped with pride. “Love is a weapon, and lust even more so as it is capable of enslaving a man’s body and soul, but my mates remained true to me and dulled the enemy’s blade. They’ve never let me down since the day I met them. They make me so proud.”
Bright tears filled my eyes as I gazed upon Lorcan. My vampire mate, who had remembered all, had never averted his eyes from me in favor of the most beautiful female in the whole universe. He was blind to her beauty and immune to her charm and seduction, so she’d resorted to locking him in an enchanted coffin, yet he’d still broken out to come to me, to come to his bonded brothers’ rescue.
As if perceiving my thought, Lorcan said quietly, “There’s only one woman for me. I recognized you as my mate the second I laid eyes on you in that cage.” And my future had settled with him, with them, when they’d chosen me while I was a filthy, crude savage. “I mate for life, dulcis.”
“Every piece of my heart, body, and soul belongs to all of you,” I said to my mates. “And we’re going to get back my lost mate.” I turned to the God of Blacksmiths with a slight bow, paying respect toward him as no other had ever done for him. “And I call you my friend, Hephaestus, for you’ve proven to be loyal and worthy. Thank you for helping my mates and me find a way toward each other.”
“We’ll always find our way toward you, even without him,” Alaric grunted in displeasure.
Lorcan and Pyrder also made noises of disagreement.
All my alpha males!
But Hephaestus ignored them, and two big tears dripped from the corners of his dirty-green eyes. He dabbed at them with his sleeve.
With my power in place, my memory returned, I recognized the illusion the Goddess of Fancy and Fantasy had cast to trap us.
I turned to her, my hands on my hips. “It’s over, sugar doll. You know you can’t steal my mates. So, remove yourself and the illusion, if you don’t want to suffer any more humiliation.”
Aphrodite let loose an animalistic snarl, which was quite out of character for the Goddess of Love. Even fuming, she still looked the part of the most gorgeous woman of any race, from any time or space, though not in my mates’ eyes.
In their eyes, I was the only woman for them.
I grinned like an idiot at the realization.
“Finish them off and there will be rewards for you,” Aphrodite screamed, waving for her followers to attack us. She pointed four elegant fingers at me, which was a bit overdone. “Kill that filthy, savage whore first!”
Her fans charged at us with shouts, Hector, Rainer, and Ambrosia leading the way despite orders from my mates to back down. The three hadn’t gotten their memories back yet, and they still worshipped the Goddess of Love faithfully.
Well, when they regained their memories, they’d weep and beg for my mates’ forgiveness and mine as well. I’d use that as leverage if I ever needed them to do my bidding in the future, even though I knew we shouldn’t blame them for their actions under the spell of a powerful goddess.
My mates were immune to her beauty and power, not only because they were the most powerful immortals walking the Earth, but also because their hearts remained true to me. Our bond could break any goddess’s spell in this alternate reality.
Swords rose and fell, and the harsh clang of steel on steel filled the corridor. My mates knocked out warrior after warrior, trying to avoid killing them.
Ambrosia finally blinked back to her awareness, recognition returning to her green eyes. I didn’t know why she had come to her senses earlier than her peers, since she was less powerful than Hector. But then again, she was a female, and she wasn’t exactly a lesbian. Hector and Rainer still hissed while fighting hard to get to me in order to get the reward promised by the Goddess of Beauty. I bet the reward was to let them kiss the bottom of her feet.
Ambrosia yelled at her comrades, demanding they wake the fuck up and remember.
The Goddess of Love started to glow, enhancing her beauty and seductive influence, and her power slammed into my mates like a tidal wave, trying to distract or crush them.
My mates weren’t weak. No one could bring them to their knees.
My eyes burned and blood boiled with rage. “Bitch, stop trying already!” I shouted. “No one touches my men!”
My tri-colored fire hit her, sending her flying backwards. She crashed onto the ground, a stunned expression freezing on her lovely face. A dark beam flew out from me, pinning her in place like a living vine.
And then I started drinking from her.
Fuck! The Goddess of Love and Lust was the most delicious energy drink among the gods. Her pure, supreme energy was intoxicating. I latched on tighter.
She turned to me, her blue eyes widening in terror. She writhed, fighting back, trying to break free from my binding, but this savage was incredibly strong.
Now she knew what I was best at—siphoning the gods’ powers and pumping terror into them. She could never become me, but I could become her.
I watched the golden hair of the Goddess of Beauty begin to dull and her eyes dim. Her face no longer shone but started to sag.
I inhaled and drank in her essence, sighing in bliss. The Goddess of Love, Lust, and Beauty was no longer that desirable, but it was a temporary effect. Her power would replenish in time, that is, if I didn’t keep draining her.
Aphrodite stared at her
wrinkled hands and sallow skin, crying her heart out. Well, for eons, she’d always gotten what she wanted because of her looks. It was time for her to learn that a woman should never rely on her looks alone.
Looks faded, even for the Goddess of Beauty.
After I drained her, her illusion would shatter, and this alternate reality would no longer hold us captive.
Just then, Demeter materialized in a mist of light.
“Cass, stop, please,” the Goddess of Plants and Fertility pleaded. “Let her go.”
It was hard to let go. The Goddess of Love and Beauty was too yummy.
Demeter tried to lay her fingers on my arm to get my attention but jerked back just as quickly. “Cass, please. Aphrodite is also a victim of the abusive gods and their bigoted regime.”
“Yet the victims often turn to abusers,” I said.
“She chose the wrong side,” Demeter sighed. “But she’s still my friend.”
I did owe Demeter a debt.
I reined in my power and regarded the beauty queen ruefully. Maybe I should take one more sip?
Demeter shook her head.
I smacked my lips.
“How did you get here, Goddess Demeter?” I asked. “Do you have a lot of gold coins?”
She gave me a half-smile. “Though not by choice, I’m still the mother-in-law to Hades. I can come to Hell any time I wish.” She turned to the Goddess of Love. “Come with me, Aphrodite, before you make a complete fool of yourself. You should never have entangled with Hades and allowed yourself to become his pawn. We need to leave the Underworld and wait out this war, as we always have.”
“She killed my son, bewitched the immortal warriors who should be mine, and took away my title and power,” Aphrodite wailed.
“Don’t feel too bad, ex-wife,” Hephaestus said. He’d cheered when he learned that my mates killed the God of Fear, the son of Ares and Aphrodite.
Whenever we battled, he stood by, since he wasn’t a fighter, according to him. Now that the battle was over, he came alive again. “You aren’t alone, A. Every god who has faced off with Cass has suffered humiliation or worse at her hands. She’s the bane of existence to the Olympians.”
“They know that,” Demeter said darkly as she turned to me. “Ares and his supporters are preparing to go to war against you, Cass. They’re torching Earth. It won’t be long before the full war comes to your door.”