He heaved a sigh and turned to face her.
Every second with Megan was precious and he wasn’t going to waste a single one.
Starting right now, with making love to her.
CHAPTER 20
Ares slid the door to the balcony open and stepped out onto the tiles. He thought about moving behind Megan and holding her just as he had wanted to during his meeting with his brothers, but moved to stand beside her instead.
She didn’t look up at him.
Her gaze remained dead ahead, locked on the misty park. It was raining again, light drizzle that stole the far end of the park and the tall buildings there from view.
“They didn’t mean to shout at you.” He leaned his forearms on the railing and sighed.
How many times had he stood here on a rainy day, hating how the droplets fizzed and evaporated before touching him? It was still strange to be without his power. Would it feel weird when he got it back?
He looked across at Megan, studying her profile. Would she leave him?
He didn’t want to contemplate the answer to that question so he firmly pushed it out of his mind and focused on her and the present.
“The whole thing with daemons... it’s complicated,” he said and her gaze finally left the city and came to rest on him.
Her rich brown eyes held his and she remained mute, waiting. He wasn’t sure where to start. Keras was right and she needed to know, but it was hard to explain some things about his world and what had happened there, especially to someone who was still becoming accustomed to being part of that world.
He turned his back on the city and leaned at an angle with his elbows on the railing. He tipped his head back and stared up at the sky. Water spotted his face, fine and light, a refreshing mist. He brought his head down again and ran his fingers over his damp hair, combing it from his face.
Megan had moved closer, standing only a few inches from him now. Her expression had softened too, turning expectant and curious. He wanted to kiss her when she looked like that.
“Centuries before I was born, there was an uprising by corrupted souls of the dead in the Underworld. My father went to war with them with the aid of some of the other gods who reside in his realm.” He edged closer to her, until his leg brushed hers. The small contact between them was enough to assuage his hunger to touch her. He wanted to forget talking about history and explaining things, and skip straight to the kissing and the making love. He wanted to finish what they had started back in her apartment, and should anything interrupt this time, he was going to ignore it. The world could end and he wouldn’t care. He just wanted to make love with her. “The souls caused widespread destruction, killing anyone in their path, even each other sometimes.”
“What happened to them?”
“My father defeated them, but not before they had killed thousands. The Underworld is a place where all souls go, the good and the bad. There are different areas for each but the dead all go there to live on eternally.” He closed his eyes and tried to picture his home and the different realms. His memory of the world he loved was growing foggy now, centuries of time passed in the mortal world distorting it. He opened his eyes and looked into Megan’s. “The corrupted souls killed others from all the different realms, good and bad.”
“Can you kill a soul?” she said with a small frown and he nodded. “What happens when a soul dies?”
“Endless darkness. It ceases to exist in the Underworld and passes on to another place, a darker place.”
“That’s terrible.”
“It is. The acts of the corrupted souls enraged my father, who cares for all in his realm equally. He banished the daemons, as we came to call them, from the Underworld and forbade them to ever enter it again.”
“But the daemons born in this world aren’t the same daemons who originally attacked everyone in the Underworld...”
He knew where she was going with this one. “No, but my father’s orders still stand. The daemons are still dangerous, even more so now that they have form. Time passed and the daemons grew in number in the mortal world and spread their black blood to the mortals, breeding with them and bringing about a new species of daemon. They gained human appearances, made of flesh and bone, able to hide amongst the mortals. Father considered them living creatures after that, and all living creatures need his permission to enter the Underworld.”
“All because of a war?”
“Not a war. Two wars.” He lifted his left hand, reached out to her and smoothed his palm across her pale cheek. She needed more rest. There were dark crescents under her beautiful eyes. “When Keras was born, my father was distracted. Three days after his birth, the daemons launched an attack, severely injuring Cerberus, my father’s beloved protector, and killing thousands of Hellspawn soldiers. Blood ran in rivers across the Underworld. The daemons reached the gates of the palace where my mother and Keras were, and Father was so enraged that he destroyed them all. Thanatos and Hypnos fought at his side again but neither were able to match him.”
“That’s terrible. Were your mother and Keras alright?” Her eyes searched his and he smiled at her, thanking her for being so concerned about his family.
“Father would never allow anything to happen to them, but it had been close. He created the first gate and vowed that from then on, only the Key of Hades would be able to grant someone passage between the mortal world and the Underworld.”
“And you’re the keys.” She frowned and glanced back out at the rain. “I didn’t realise the daemons had caused so much bloodshed and violence. I never would have said what I did if I had.”
“I know... my brothers know. You have to understand, Sweetheart, if the daemons can open a gate, they will seek to keep it open. An oracle foresaw that a daemon uprising would happen again, and they would breach the gates we protect, destroying them so they remained always open.”
She shivered. “But if they did that—”
“All of the dead souls in the Underworld would be free to come and go. This world would merge with the Underworld. Both would be destroyed and a new world built in their place.” He despised that thought, and that hatred had kept him going for two centuries, burning in his heart, fuelling his fight.
He looked over his shoulder at the city, catching a flicker of the otherworld, flaming red and filled with the death cries of millions.
“You really need to get that amulet back, and your power too.” She forced a smile that he saw right through. This was the reason he hadn’t wanted to tell her everything about the daemons and the gates. He hadn’t wanted to scare her, not when he had no intention of letting what the oracles had seen come to pass.
He wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close to him, so her front pressed against his. She settled her hands against his chest and then pressed her cheek to it, fitting perfectly in his embrace.
“I’ll get my power and the amulet back, don’t worry about that,” he whispered and lowered his head and pressed his lips to her dark hair. He breathed her in, her scent of evening sunshine and jasmine warming him and chasing away the chill in the damp air, and held her closer, needing to feel her against him, needing to touch her as he thought about what would come after he regained his power. “Whatever happens then... nothing will change how I feel about you, Megan.”
She drew back and looked up at him, her beautiful brown eyes soft with affection and a smile curving the corners of her lips. “Nothing will change how I feel about you, either, Ares.”
Music to his ears.
He dipped his head and captured her lips in a soft kiss, trying to keep it gentle, like the ones she had given to him before. The feather-light caress of her lips teased him and stirred his emotions, warming him inside and making him feel a little giddy. Not that he would ever admit that aloud.
She leaned into the kiss, pressing him back into the balcony railing, her body against his. Delicious. He slid his arms downwards, palms following the graceful curve of her back, and settled his hands over her bottom.
>
She moaned when he squeezed, her tongue coming out to play along the seam of his lips.
He opened to her and tasted her, deepening the kiss and losing himself in the whirlwind of emotions spinning out of control inside him. Everything he needed was right here in his arms and he kept thinking it, kept telling himself that this was happening so he believed that it was real. He had found a beautiful woman and he felt sure now that no matter what happened, she would try to make things work once he got his power back.
She cared about him.
She pressed her palms against his chest, heating it through his black shirt, and pushed away from him. He tugged her closer, tightening his grip on her backside, wanting to continue the kiss. There was a sparkle in her eyes, not mischief but wickedness. He groaned, head spinning at the thought of her taking the lead.
He had fallen in love with that take-charge attitude she had when it came to their relationship and him.
Her hands grazed his arms, slowly edging downwards towards his, her eyes darkening with desire as her fingers traced the shape of his muscles through his shirt. She swirled her fingertips around his elbows and then along the underside of his forearms and eventually the backs of his hands, her eyes holding his the whole time.
He burned for her, hotter than an inferno, hotter than he had ever been with his power.
Her hands caught his and she eased them away from her bottom and stepped away from him. She took another step backwards and then another, leading him towards the bedroom.
He swallowed his nerves, refusing to let them get the better of him this time. They had been intimate once already. A second time was no reason for his knees to weaken and his limbs to tremble again. He could do this. He would take her into his bedroom and kiss her, touch her and make love with her.
He just hoped he didn’t get too rough with her.
His hard length throbbed against the confines of his black jeans and he grimaced as he walked, following her into the bedroom.
She smiled at him, amusement shining in her dark eyes, cutting through the desire, and he released her hands and slid the door closed, keeping the weather out. When he turned back around, she had removed the terrycloth robe and was standing before him in only her camisole and panties.
Gods.
She laughed when he grabbed her around the waist, lifted her and dropped her onto his double bed. She bounced in the middle of the dark red sheets and he growled as he covered her body with his, settling atop her. Her laughter became a low moan and she snaked her arms around his neck, tangled her fingers in his hair and dragged his mouth down to hers.
He kissed her again, harder this time, and leaned to his right, so he could skim his left hand down her side. She giggled when he reached the curve of her waist and the next thing he knew he was on his back with her astride him. He rolled his eyes closed, a moan leaving his lips over the delicious press of her thighs against his hips, and then flicked them back open when she started to unbutton his shirt.
He loved the way she looked at him when she did that, gaze hot with desire, cheeks darkening and teeth teasing her lower lip, as though she thought he looked as delicious as he thought she did. She slowly popped each button, spreading his shirt little by little, revealing his body to her hungry gaze. For each button that gave, her eyes darkened and her teeth pressed harder into her lower lip, reddening it.
He wanted to kiss her but he also didn’t want to move, was enjoying being at her mercy. He had never met a woman like her. She knew what she wanted and the look in her eyes said that she was damn well going to take it.
Gods, he could just relax into the bed and let her ride him into oblivion. He could, but it wasn’t in his nature to be so passive. He wanted to join in the action.
She spread his shirt, the two sides falling away to reveal his torso. A flicker of hunger crossed her face and he thought she might lean over and kiss his body. Her eyes raked over it, her breath coming faster, and he groaned when she lightly traced his muscles with her fingertips. He tensed for her, earning a low appreciative moan, one that thrilled him. He would never tire of flexing his muscles if it got that response from her every time.
“Hell, you’re perfect,” she whispered with a smile and he grinned up at her.
“Not really... but I like that you think I am.” He ran his hands up her bare thighs and had to focus hard to stop himself from shuddering like a fool over the silky feel of her. When his hands reached her hips, she wriggled them, rubbing her centre against his caged erection. He rolled his eyes and groaned again. Was she trying to get him to make a fool of himself? “You, on the other hand, are damn beautiful.”
She blushed and he made a mental note to tell her she looked beautiful more often because he loved the shy way she reacted to it.
“I want to unwrap you now.” His heated words caused a deeper shade of pink to colour her cheeks and she smiled.
“How about I unwrap myself for you?” She grabbed the hem of her camisole and tugged it over her head, revealing the smooth plane of her stomach and her bare breasts.
Gods.
Ares growled, sat up and grabbed her around the waist. He bent her backwards and sucked her right nipple into his mouth. She moaned and arched against him, hot core rubbing his length, tearing a low groan from his throat. He needed out of his clothes. He needed her naked and against him, her legs wrapped around him as they made love.
She wriggled again and he couldn’t take it. He pulled back and reached for his jeans but she was there before him, hands tearing at his belt. She gently pushed his shoulder and he flopped back onto the bed, letting her take command. She made swift work of his jeans, hooked her fingers into the waist of them and his black trunks, and pulled them both down his thighs.
She moaned again and he looked down the length of his body at her. She had paused with her hands on his thighs, her gaze on his hard length. He flexed his hips, enticing her into doing what he wanted and she flicked a dark hungry glance at his face and then leaned over.
Her breasts brushed his inner thighs and he fisted the red sheets into his fingers, clutching them and bracing himself.
The first soft brush of her warm moist tongue along the length of his rigid shaft made him buck and moan so loud he was sure the neighbours would hear. He didn’t care. They would be hearing far worse soon enough.
The feel of her lips tracing the length of his flesh and her hands holding his hips down was too much for him to handle. He writhed beneath her, blood on fire and burning with a need to touch and taste her in return, to kiss her all over and join their bodies as one. She wrapped her lips around the soft head of his erection and he couldn’t take it. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her up, and she frowned at him but it melted away into a look of understanding.
“Slowly it is,” she whispered and feathered kisses down the length of his shaft and then his thighs.
She shimmied backwards, taking his jeans and underwear with her, and then stepped off the end of the bed, pulled his clothes off his feet and dropped them on the floor. His socks joined them, and so did her panties.
She held his gaze the whole time she eased them down her long legs, revealing Heaven to his eyes again. This time he was going there and nothing, not even an apocalypse, would stop him.
When she was naked, she climbed back onto the bed. He thought she would come up beside him, but she crawled up the length of his body, and he watched her, heart pounding frantically in his throat, his eyes glued on hers. She lowered her head when she reached his chest, pressing light kisses to his body, teasing him, and he settled his hands on her shoulders and then eased them downwards as she halted above him, her knees against his waist. Every inch of her was soft and smooth, warm and enticing. He wanted to touch all of her.
He ran his fingers down her thighs and she giggled, wriggling above him. It seemed she was very ticklish. Another thing they had in common. He hadn’t lied to her the night he had paid penitence and she had healed him.
She sat
back and he couldn’t contain the deep moan that rumbled up his throat as her hot core pressed against the length of his shaft. He bucked, thrusting along the length of her, and she moaned, her eyelids drooping. Her palms pressed into his chest and she rotated her hips. He tensed and grabbed her hips, stopping her from moving.
Too good.
Gods, everything she did, even the smallest contact between them, threatened to push him over the edge.
Her eyes flicked open and she smiled at him, her look one of understanding again.
She raised her hips off him, reached between them and grasped his cock, and he could barely breathe.
His heart hammered in his throat, his eyes wouldn’t move from hers, and he felt as though he might just die as the head of his length pressed against the entrance of her core. His breathing accelerated, blood thundering in his ears, and everything disappeared, leaving only him and Megan, and this moment.
She held his gaze and eased her body downwards, slowly taking him into her inch by agonising inch. He wanted to go faster and slower all at the same time, wasn’t sure whether to thrust home or savour their first connection.
Her body was so tight around his, stretching to accommodate him, gloving him perfectly. So wet and hot, and perfect. His balls tightened and he grasped her hips, halting her. She smiled again, leaned over him and softly kissed him, the gentle sweeps of her lips over his giving him something to focus on other than the fact that he was halfway to Heaven.
He tried not to think about that.
He concentrated on the kiss, giving himself time to relax again. He was so focused on it, on tasting her lips, that he didn’t notice she had moved again, taking him further into her welcoming heat. It was only when he felt her bottom brush his balls that he realised what she had done. His length throbbed and she moaned, a little murmur of pleasure that tore him apart inside. He wanted to hear that sound again, needed to hear the pleasure she got from him inside her, one with her.
She went to draw up his length and he stopped her. There was no way he would be able to make this everything it should be if she remained in charge. He needed to take control and set the pace so he didn’t end up making a fool of himself. She would do her best to draw things out and read his signals, but it would only take a split-second delay and he would come undone. He wanted her to find her pleasure first before he took his.
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