OF WAR Anthology Novels 1-3

by Lisa Beth Darling

  “More.” That kiss and all of the kisses like it, that was why she married him. Why she fell in love with him. That and he was so goddamn handsome, how could any woman not love him? “Please, it’s been so long.”

  It had been almost two weeks since they last made love, and Raven let his strong objections regarding his Father’s intrusion be known. When it was over and he pulled out of her, there was blood on his still hard cock and she soon doubled over in pain. It had been a tough two weeks and Ares, accustomed to engaging in sexual pleasures at least twice a day, was becoming frustrated. Yet he remained, by and large, faithful to his Wife. Ares hadn’t done anything he would consider cheating or a breaking of his vow, certainly not. However, the women in the house, Onya, Iris, and Arianna, not having a man to fulfill their needs had taken to having a three-way relationship. One or two nights, as Alena slept, he’d gone into their room and watched them as they crawled all over each other’s naked supple bodies and he tossed off. They didn’t touch him and he did not touch them. He had no desire to touch them, he only wanted the visual aid they offered and the scents that hung heavy in the air around them. “You know we shouldn’t, we should wait.” But the rising tent in the blankets belied his weak protest.

  “Oh, yes, definitely,” Alena cooed as she reached down under the blanket and grasped his hot hardening cock, “we should wait, I see that.”

  A deep moan escaped Ares’ throat as her hand started gliding up and down along the shaft. “Alena,” Ares pushed her hand away only to have it come back. “Would you stop, woman? I’m trying to be good here.”

  Sliding up his flank, big belly and all pressed against him, she continued her pumping as she whispered in his ear, “You’re always good.”

  Even though her sultry breath against his tender neck made him quiver, Ares held onto his weak position. “No. Raven…”

  Taking the hand trying to pry hers away from his throbbing cock and placing it on her belly, she continued whispering in his ear, “Is sleeping. See?” Raven had been quiet since they arrived at the Fortress, only lightly tumbling around and not fidgeting. “It’s all right.”

  “Alena,”

  “What? You don’t desire me anymore?”

  Ares propped himself on his elbow and pushed her down on the mattress again. “Oh shut up, woman.” He kissed her again and her arms wrapped around him.

  With growing intensity and passion, her hands explored the ripples of his back, his flanks, and that tight ass she loved so much gripped snugly between her fingers. Always swept away to a blissful place long forgotten by Space and Time when she was naked in his arms, Alena let out little coos and moans as they caressed. Unwilling to wait any longer to feel him moving inside her, Alena planted her hand on the back of his head, grabbed hold of his thick dark hair and uttered forth her plea, “Make love to me, please?”

  One shouldn’t keep a lady waiting, especially not when one was already up and eager to go, and she asked so damned sweetly. Therein lie a bit of a problem for the God of War, who’d so long been away from the carnal pleasures of his very pregnant Wife; it was going to take much effort and self-control on his part tonight to accomplish the most delightful task just ahead of him. With that big belly of hers so full of life and the rest of her equally filled with passion and desire, it had become difficult to find a comfortable position, one satisfying to both of them. Pregnant women were not something Ares had ever had to deal with on a daily basis; he’d never been around for the births of his other children, never held their mothers’ hands while they were in labor, or doted over them in the months before. The whole thing was a brand new experience and for a man in excess of five thousand years, new experiences were hard to come by, yet she’d brought him so many of them in the months since Eros dropped her into the sea.

  Easing away from her and pulling her down to the foot of the bed, Ares intended to make love to his Wife by standing while her legs hung over the mattress. It was a position they had both enjoyed not so long ago but Alena had another idea. Grabbing hold of his forearm, she used it to pull herself up and then to stand. “Where are you going?” She didn’t say a word as he followed her across the room to the wall by the hearth where she planted her hands against it with her back to him and looked at him coyly, invitingly, over her shoulder.

  The throbbing cock between his legs swelled to near bursting. “Down boy,” he muttered to it as he drew a hand over his beard to wipe away the moisture that suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth. In this position it was almost impossible to tell that Alena was pregnant at all. While he loved her greatly, the sight of her this way did please his eye as much as his cock…except for the new bruise at the small of her back. Coming up behind her and planting his own hand on the wall while his chest pressed against her back and the tip of his cock twitched at the entrance between her waiting legs, he asked, “You sure about this?”

  “Yes, please?”

  Ares’ eyes rolled back in his head and his heart ran away with his mind, leaving only his body behind. One hand on the wall and one on her hip, he slid into her, finding her wet and wanting. No need to push her downward onto the shaft that was gliding in without hesitation, the hand on her hip wrapped around her, just under her belly, drawing her closer and closer to the marble wall. Her butt pushed back to grind against his hips, greeting him, welcoming him inside, letting out intoxicating bursts of honeysuckle and the musky scent of a woman. “I love you,” Ares whispered in Alena’s ear as he thrust in and out of her with soft, slow purpose.

  “And I you,” she whispered back, reveling in the feel of him buried to the hilt inside of her, all stiff and warm, making her heart beat double time and beads of sweat break out all over.

  While he was able to control himself and not thrust into her with the vigor he wanted, he wasn’t able to control the fact that his orgasm was about to burst forth at any moment. After all, it had been two weeks—two long frustrating weeks—and taking it in the hand four times a day was getting old. Before him, tempting him beyond delight, Alena reached up and moved the silver hair away from her neck, exposing it to him, waiting for him to open his mouth and clamp down. Irresistible in the way she just offered it to him, as though her jugular were nothing. So trusting. So willing. She couldn’t possibly belong to the Dark Kingdom; a Fae would never be so foolish knowing how easy it was for him to kill her in this most heated moment of passion. Unable to resist the gifts she offered, his mouth closed down around her neck. Around the hard cock inside her, the walls constricted and began to run with droplets of Grace. The harder he bit down, the harder she came, the more she came, unable to stop herself. Until the taste of blood rose in his mouth and Ares had to force himself from clamping down any harder as his cock throbbed and exploded inside of her.

  Chapter Seven

  Strange Magick

  I

  Alena woke in the dark of night peaceful, happy, and with a wide satisfied smile. Ares snoozing heavily beside her, she gazed upon his sleeping face and smiled wider, thinking of how in love she was with him. Wanting to kiss him but not waking him, she slid to the other side of the bed, trying not to jostle it too much as she wrestled with her bulging midsection. Upon reaching her goal, she dangled over the side and planted her feet on the chilly marble floor while she fished up her robe and slid into it. Alena stood with no problem at all; walking was another story. Her legs didn’t want to go one in front of the other but more like a sidewinder. Every time she took a step there was a sharp pain in her hip. Not thinking about it, her mind set only on reaching the bathroom, Alena chalked the pain up to something between Raven and Ares heated lovemaking last night. She managed to toddle her way to the bathroom, arms out at her sides for balance when heavy objects were not in reach for the same job. Finishing the chore, she stood up again and caught sight of her face in the mirror, only to find it staring back at her. Although she wasn’t a vain woman, normally Alena found her reflection pleasing enough; now in the quiet of the early morning hour and the
silence of the sleeping fortress she wasn’t sure she recognized the face gazing at her with curious interest.

  Who are you?

  Raising her hands to face, noticing there were little lines at the corners of her eyes and her hair seemed lackluster, more gray than silver. “Alena MacLeod,” she mumbled to the reflection. To her sleepy eyes, her skin seemed sallow with dark circles under her eyes.

  Who is that?

  She wasn’t sure anymore and that was a most unsettling feeling. Yet, surely the aging face staring back at her was not one of the beautiful Fae of the Dark Lands. When had she begun to age so? Those lines weren’t there yesterday…were they?

  In the mirror, the lines grew deeper, her skin sagged as if she were an old hag. “No,” Alena whispered in horror.

  “Who are you?”

  This time it wasn’t a voice in her head; it wasn’t from her belly, either. Slowly she tore her eyes away from the hideous reflection to see a young man standing in the doorway between the bathroom and master bedroom. Although she’d never seen him before, he seemed familiar. He was tall and broad, his dark hair hung to the mid of his back and was peppered by a very becoming streak of silver starting just over his right eye. It went nicely with his deep gray eyes, the pupils of which were not black but amber, giving him a nearly snake-like appearance. Bare-chested and barefooted, he leered at her with those strange eyes, a quiver slung over his shoulder, a dagger stuck in his belt, around his neck hung a medallion—it was a gold willow tree. With midnight hair pulled away from his ruggedly handsome and youthful face, it was easy to see the gold earring dangling from his left ear—a broadsword. “Who are you?”

  “Who are you?” Alena retorted as she stared back at the handsome intruder, safe in the knowledge that Ares was only a shout away. “This is…m-my home.”

  The young man’s head cocked to the side as he considered her words. “Is it?” He seemed to frown as he took a quick glance around and then ventured a step toward her. “If you ask me, you don’t belong here.”

  Instead of arguing the point with the stranger, Alena turned her gaze back to the mirror and wondered if his words were true. “No one asked you.” Staring deeper into the mirror, the deep creases and wrinkles smoothed out, the sagging flesh in her jowls and chin lifted while the years peeled away from the sadness in her stormy eyes, leaving behind only a sparkle of joy. Long coarse silver/gray hair grew silky soft as it reddened to the color of a summer sunset. Behind her, the white marble bathroom faded away and in its place was a backdrop of glittering blackness. She heard music and whispering while a delicate gold crown appeared on her head, not worn on the top of her head like an Olympian but beneath the strands of flowing fire and across her forehead, a finely woven centerpiece of thorns guarding a willow tree.

  “Your home is far from here.”

  The steel in his words shattered the illusion in the mirror; once again she resembled a hag. “How did you…” Alena brought her eyes back to him only to see that he had silently come up to her while her attention was on her reflection. Now she was easily within reach of his strong arms. Instinct brought one arm around her belly to protect Raven from the intruder while the other reached out and pushed him aside. “Ares!”

  With a smile the young man regained his footing, he’d only stumbled a small way and mostly because he let her push him. If he wanted, he could easily overpower the small woman. “He’s sleeping,” the young man sighed as he watched her toddle as fast as she could—which wasn’t very fast at all—out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Her legs didn’t want to work quite right and she waddled more like a zombie-robot than a pregnant woman. He understood why but he doubted that she did, not yet.

  Through the door, arms held out to her sides to keep her balance as though she were walking the high wire, she saw her Husband sleeping deeply on the bed. “Ares! Wake up! There’s a…a…a man here!” Reaching the bed and trying not to fall on it, she reached out, put her arm on his shoulder and gave him a hard shake.

  Ares didn’t even stir.

  “I told you, he’s sleeping.”

  The voice should have come from behind her, but now the young man was on the opposite side of the bed, standing between it and the door. How did he get there? She didn’t see him brush past her. “Ares!”

  Nothing but a light snore came from the God of War.

  Another rough shake of her hand and still nothing, Alena knew she was on her own with the intruder. “What did you do to him?”

  The young man shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “Me? Nothing.” His stare turned icy once more. “You don’t belong here, you know that.”

  Alena couldn’t bring herself to voice her agreement, but her brow wrinkled as she frowned.

  “Come with me and I will take you home.” The young man extended his hand across the sleeping Ares.

  “Leave him? No. Never.” Alena didn’t reach for his hand, instead her own hand went to the necklace she wore. She could never leave Ares, he was her Husband and she loved him with all of her heart. Just the idea of leaving him was ludicrous.

  “If you stay here you will grow far too old far too quickly, even more than you already have. If you come with me, I will help you restore your youth and you will be beautiful again.”

  The hand lovingly caressing the diamond and rubies at her throat clenched the strands in a vice grip. She tried to protest but her voice had suddenly taken a holiday and all she could do was stand there and listen to the stranger talk. “I’m not a vain woman,” Alena protested, “no deal. G-go away.”

  From the other side of the bed, he looked at her with something like pity or sympathy, she couldn’t tell which. “I know, but him, he is vain. Look at him,” the young man invited. “See how he keeps himself? What is that if not vanity? When you no longer please his eye—what will become of you then?” The young man tossed a sneer toward the dozing Ares before turning his amber gaze back to Alena, “he will cast you aside for a new Lover…Wife or not.”

  The blood in her veins turned to ice water and her heart froze in her chest. “N-no,” she whispered, still clutching the necklace.

  “Yes, and when that happens, you’ll be left to Apollo’s whims and him,” another sneer at the sleeping God of War, “he won’t care, he’ll be wrapped up in Aphrodite’s arms. Now that you’ve opened up his heart to Love, she will easily work her way into it and they will have the future that’s always, rightfully, been theirs.”

  Why was he here? Why was he standing there so easily and almost cruelly giving voice to all of her darkest fears? Why did they sound so damn true coming from his young lips? “Raven? My son needs his Father.”

  Still holding his hand out to her, he shook his head again. “Sometimes no Father is better. If you stay here, your son will grow to be a very angry young man. Trust me, Magdalena, let me take you home. Only betrayal, pain and devastation await you here.” He knew she was dancing on the edge of saying ‘yes’ so a little push couldn’t hurt. “And him. If you stay you will be the death of him.”

  Dropping her hand from her belly where Raven was not voicing any dissent to the stranger’s request, she reached out and ran her palm along the top of Ares’ head and through his dark locks. She loved him but, it was true, she didn’t belong here. Worse than that, she couldn’t shake the goosebumps or the cold steel ring of truth in her ears that grew louder and more urgent with each word he spoke. “Can’t he come with us?”

  He knew she was going to ask but hoped she wouldn’t, but here it was and so it was best to just lay the cards flat on the table for her to get a good hard look at. “No, you know what they’ll do to him if you bring him home. After they’ve used him up for breeding stock, they’ll kill him.”

  Before she knew it, as her eyes misted over, she found herself nodding in agreement. If she truly loved Ares then it was better she leave him this way than risk breaking his heart or causing his demise with some terrible act of treachery. “I love you, always,” she whispered with a heav
y heart as she kissed his sleeping brow. “Always.” One last soft kiss and she righted herself, unclasped the necklace, and laid it in his hand. “I will love you always.”

  The scene was most touching; only the heartless could have witnessed it and not been effected, and he was not heartless. “Come Maggie, it’s time to leave.”

  Reaching over the bed, Alena took the hand still being offered to her and he helped her around the bed, only to put his arm around her waist and lead her to the bedroom door, where Alena stopped for one last glance at the only man who would ever hold her heart.

  Together they walked down the mighty marble staircase, through the great corridor, and out the front door of the Fortress into the black Olympian night. It was then that Alena became only vaguely aware of the fact that she was naked. Only an hour or two before she’d been making love with Ares and then fell asleep all funky, naked and warm in his arms; she hadn’t dressed when she got up to pee as she expected to go back to bed. Now her bare feet and legs were nearly knee-deep in cold snow. The young man’s arm slipped further around her, holding her up, as they made their way past the gates of Ares’ Fortress and to the Gates of Olympus.

  “We’re almost there,” the young man encouraged as the Gates of Olympus loomed just ahead. “You open the door and I’ll take you home.”

  Alena’s teeth were chattering so hard and uncontrollably she bit down on her bottom lip several times, ripping it open to the consistency of hamburger while little rivers of blood ran down her chin. She could no longer feel her toes or anything south of her aching hips for that matter. The pain in her hips was excruciating; it felt as though the bones were grinding together with each step, causing bursts of agonizing fire to run across her midsection.

  “You have to hurry now.”

  “I can’t…it…h-h-hurts.”

  “Hurry!” The stranger began dragging her through the snow. “Come on—move! There’s no time.” With her stumbling at his side, they were losing precious time. In one quick motion, without breaking stride, he reached out and snatched Alena off her feet. Like an unbroken stallion, he ran bore toward the closed Gates of Olympus. “You have to open them so we can get through.”