OF WAR Anthology Novels 1-3

by Lisa Beth Darling

  Now it was the God of War left panting and breathless as he rolled off her to lay at her side and stare into those haunting eyes. He watched her lick the last of him from her lips and grin. “It never ceases to amaze you, does it?”

  “No, it doesn’t,” she moaned, letting the tangy sweet taste of dark cherries roll around on her tongue. “I missed you so much.”

  “I see that,” he whispered heatedly. “We’re not done, not by a long shot.” Her hand cupped his face as her eyes gleamed at him with daring and desire. He looked at it wondering if he should secure it again in the empty slipknot. Not wanting to be denied her touch any longer, Ares freed the bound hand and both of them shot for his chest where they grabbed up his hair and then sunk in deep over his heart before raking around to his back and pulling him down for another passionate kiss.

  The lingering taste of him on her tongue and that of her on his mingled as their tongues met and their lips crashed together. Unable to hold back any longer, Ares let out a long low growl as he pulled away from her and then settled his aching unsatisfied cock between her legs. “Always you are mine, no matter what happens, you belong to me.”

  “And you?”

  “Always to you,” he promised as the tip of his stiff cock searched out the hole that it called home. While the space between her legs was slick with desire and anticipation, that hole, so long unused, was tighter than a drum and didn’t want to allow him entry. She let out a groan of pain as the tip pierced through the waiting folds; she flinched and jerked away from him. “No, my Wife, hold onto to me, wrap your arms around me and hold on.”

  Alena’s arms, now free of their loving bonds, wrapped around him at his command and her nails sunk deep into the rippled flesh of his back and as he pressed onward. “My Lord,” she whimpered with passion and trepidation.

  Feeling the swelling walls around the tip of his cock knowing they were just as tight as the night she first came to his bed gave irrefutable proof to the fact that Morpheus kept her prisoner for four years and took her to his bed in the Dream World, but he never touched her body. Ares fought hard against the instinct just to tear into her with lustful abandon, to hold her down and bend her to his will as he reclaimed what was rightfully his. Take that which had so long been denied him. Instead, he let her surrender cool his blood even as it set to boiling, there was no need to snatch out and take by force what she so readily offered him. “I am but your humble servant my Queen, now that you are back in my arms I live only for your pleasure.” The tender hands grabbing and roaming all over stopped at the sides of his head to pull it back so she could look deep into his eyes. “Only for you. Not my slave. Not my trophy. My Wife. My Queen.”

  A few heavy pants and sweet moans of pleasurable pain uttered as hot wisps of breath against his neck begged, “Don’t stop, please don’t stop.” Her body relaxed, it gave way, gave over to him, her only Love. Inch by inch he slid slowly forward until the full shaft and expanse of his burgeoning cock buried itself to the hilt inside her. Alena’s arms wrapped around him bringing him down to nestle his thundering heart over hers. “So long, it’s been so long.”

  “I know, but no more,” he promised as his lips brushed overs and he began to thrust away inside her. Alena’s legs rose up to wrap around him but he pushed them down again to lay flat on the bed. Across the room, the fire burning happily in the hearth sprang up with a loud rush of air—WOOSH. The candles he kept going as vigil over her did the same.

  “Tell me, say it again,” she begged in a long low growl.

  Ares ripped away the hands roaming his back and held them firm to the mattress at the sides of her head by the wrists. “Always you are mine. Never will I let you go away from me.”

  With one more wracking shudder of her lean willowy body Ares gave up, he surrendered to the crashing waves of passion the way she surrendered to him. Gave over, gave up, let them take him away as his mouth closed down over her neck one more time and he pinned her down below him. Thrusting away with long meaningful strokes of a cock so hard it was purple granite, Ares took back what Morpheus tried to take away from him. Below him she loved every stroke, her hips ground upward greeting him and begging for more.

  “My Lord, my Love,” Alena moaned, “take all you want from me. Give it to me, all of it, give it.”

  Below him, her body tightened and he couldn’t hold her back when her legs rose up to clamp down over his thighs pulling him further into her. They butterflied up and down and out to the sides to meet in the middle again squeezing his cock for all they were worth. The sacred walls shuddered, shook, and ushered forth a graceful rain of bliss soaking not just his shaft, drenching his toned thighs, but filling his soul with the divine blessing of her love and desire until he the God of War lost it.

  His hands in her silver hair holding her firm he twisted her head to the side but it didn’t take much force, she offered up her neck to him with much anticipation. When his teeth clamped down below her right ear, sinking so deep into her flesh that her blood rose hot and salty on his tongue, she only begged for more. “Oh, God, yes, please,” Alena moaned lost in the tidal wave of desire, “do it, do it, please, more, harder, give it to me.”

  The rabid wolf in him took over the reins, bit her harder, held her firm as she heaved against him and he took all that was offered, every last drop until his throbbing cock could take no more and exploded with its own load of desire. It seemed to come from the bowels of the Earth itself as it shot through his toes, clamping them to the mattress as it shot up his calves and over his firm ass turning it to steel. As it burst forth from him the wave crashed down taking him higher into the depth of desire until his toned body stiffened neck to toes, his eyes rolled back in his head and he found himself begging for the orgasm to stop because he couldn’t breathe. His heart stopped in his chest, refusing to beat again until the tsunami finished with him. The wolf in him threw back his head ripping his teeth away from her neck and letting go a primal howl that echoed throughout Olympus, shaking the Fortress to its very foundation.

  His arms wrapped all the way around her until they squeezed her so tightly she couldn’t breathe or tell where she ended and he began. Then the bubble burst, she gave out one last long wracking shudder, feeling his cock pump the last of its precious cargo into her and then she lay spent below the God of War.

  Just before he forced himself to roll off her, with his last bit of strength he proclaimed; “No other woman ever made me feel the way you do.”

  “How is that?” she huffed trying desperately to catch her breath.

  “Like a God,” he whispered, tilting her head to look at him. “Like a man.”

  “I love you, Ares, all of you, I love you,” Alena confessed and pulled her tired body in close to him to rest her head over his racing heart.

  “And I will love you until the end of time.”

  While sleep descended on their exhausted bodies for a short time, their night of reunion and rekindling was far from over. A short nap and a tray of delicious delights and they were ready to go again. The Lovers kept right on going well past dawn just as the God of War promised.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The Jig’s Up

  All Good Things Must Come To An End, even a blissful night in the bed of the God of War. When late morning came and it was time to leave the fantasy behind in favor of the new reality Raven created in the world below them, even Ares was at a loss as to where he should begin. Unexpectedly finding himself wishing Alena slept just one more night so she wouldn’t have to face Zeus’ wrath or watch her only Son go down in flames, he insisted that she stay in bed after breakfast.

  “I want to know what’s happening,” Alena insisted, tossing back the blankets. “What has Raven done?”

  “I want you to rest and grow stronger, hummm? I’m going to talk to our Son and you’re going to stay there.” He bent to bestow a kiss on the top of her head. “Sit, relax, I’ll send in Rose I’m sure she’s waiting for you.”

  “Last night
you promised; no more secrets. Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  “I’m not keeping secrets I’m just trying to get more information before we talk again. When I have it I will tell you everything though I fear you will not like it.”

  That sounded truthful enough and Alena decided she could wait a few more hours to know just what kind of trouble Raven stirred up while she was in her extended sleep. After all, Ares did know a lot more about what was going on and had gone on over the last four years than she did, so maybe it was best to let him handle it all for a while. “Me too, don’t be gone long, ok?”

  “Not a second longer than I have to be,” Ares promised, brushing his lips over hers before walking out the bedroom door. Sitting on the floor across from the bedroom door, he found Rose with a wide assortment of her teddy bears and dolls. They were having a make-believe tea party. “Go on, little one, she’s awake and waiting for you.”

  “Yeah!” Rose shouted, pumped her little fist in the air, then she jumped to her uneven legs with a wobble. She grabbed up dolls and bears then toddled over to the door her Father held open for her. Looking up at Ares, puckering her lips and letting out a loud kissing sound; MAH-WAH!, she wandered inside the room to where her Mother waited for her.

  Behind her, Ares smiled wide and shook his head as he closed the door. His upbeat mood soon fled when he stepped across the hall to Raven’s door. Taking a quick glance over his shoulder to see is his own bedroom door shut tight, Ares raised a big booted foot and kicked in Raven’s door to announce his presence. “Get up, boy, we have much to talk about.”

  Raven was awake long before his Father burst through the door. He’d toyed with the idea of running away, just leaving the whole mess behind and starting over somewhere. The fatal flaw in that plan was he had nowhere to go and no idea of whom he could trust. Gathering up what strength he could find, Raven rolled over on his plush bed to face his Father. “Do I get breakfast first?”

  “No,” Ares chimed as he shut and then sealed the door, making it part of the wall, keeping out any yelling or screaming or cries of agony that might ring out in the near future, disturbing Alena and Rose having their tea party across the hall.

  “Can I say something?”

  “Yes.” Reaching into his pocket Ares produced the armband he ripped off the person of one Harold Lauder. “You can explain this.” Ares threw it at Raven who caught it, opened it up, and looked down at it with a grimace. “And the graffiti and the posters and rag-tag militia and the plague you cooked up with Apollo. Don’t lie, I know the two of you are in this together.” Ares pointed to the armband and the flecks of gold dust glistening on the black Raven. “Most of all, you can explain why you wanted to set me up to take the fall for all of it. I’m dying to know the answer to that one.”

  “No,” Raven shook his head, “you don’t get it; we came up with this to honor you, not set you up.” Looking at the sparkling dust that Apollo left on everything that he touched Raven knew he couldn’t lie his way out of any of it. “Apollo said you’d be returned to glory once the inevitable battles, the wars, broke out. That you and I would go down there and fight side by side to restore order to the chaos. We would be its heroes. As saviors we would rebuild a better stronger world under our rule.”

  “And you believed him.” Clearing his throat in a vain attempt to slow his reeling head, Ares’ squared his shoulders and stared harder at his Son. “You let him talk you into honoring me by destroying the Mortal World?”

  Raven stood up from the comfort of his bed and began walking around the room keeping a good distance between himself and his Father. “I wasn’t out to destroy the world, they were frenzied all by themselves, pissed off over money, or…well…their lack of money. They were rioting in the streets. I didn’t do that, they did it to themselves. I just helped them focus their frustrations and use them to their best advantage. Isn’t that what a good warrior does?”

  “What the hell kind of shit is THAT?” Ares demanded and then chuckled darkly. “Are you so stupid boy or do you think I am?”

  “I’m not stupid, I don’t think you’re stupid, I’m telling you—”

  “More than twenty million people are DEAD!” Ares bellowed. “They’re fucking DEAD! And YOU did it. To honor me? To help them?”

  Raven stumbled backward when he heard the number, his mouth dropped open and his dark olive face fell to ash. “Twenty—twenty—mah-mill-ion?” He shook his head swiftly. “No, no way.” Then he thought of Apollo and how happy the Golden God had been to give the news about Major Falls. “They did it to themselves, Apollo said…”

  Ares took a heated step toward his Son with his right fist balled.

  Raven held up his hands. “All right, all right, holy shit…oh my God! Twenty million?” Holding a hand between his aching heart and churning stomach Raven tried to catch his breath.

  “The Human Race is rapidly becoming an endangered species,” Ares said, trying to keep his cool. “Where there were once millions there are only a handful, most of them diseased or defective in some way. The plague they call Major Falls has made its way across the Atlantic Ocean; it’s now infecting the shores of Europe. There’s no cure and no telling how many millions more will succumb. When it’s over, Major Falls will be far worse than the Black Death.”

  Reaching behind him with a weak hand, Raven sought out one of the black velvet chairs that sat by his hearth. He landed in it hard. “Look, I haven’t been down there in weeks,” he confessed, “I’ve been busy with my Trials. There was no plague the last time I was there but, after Poseidon’s Trial I went to see Apollo and he told about the epidemic.” Trying desperately to catch his breath and still his thundering heart, Raven looked up at his Father. “But I just found out yesterday. I didn’t intend to poison the whole planet. I never even considered anything like that.”

  “What did you consider?”

  “Revolution. Chaos. Anarchy.” Raven looked down at his hands lying on the table in front of him and then at his Father again. “Maybe a small nuclear bomb or two.”

  “Small nuclear—Jesus Christ, Raven! You brought them Greek Fire, you taught them how to make napalm, how to defend and armor themselves then you incited them to slaughter each other in the streets.”

  Raven let out a snort. “You’re the God of War—what are you bitching about? Doesn’t any of that get your Ichor pumping, make you happy or proud of me?”

  Ares wanted to choke his Son but instead he threw his hands up in disgust at both Raven and himself because part of it did give a tingle of pride in his Son. It was bold, brave, brash, and underhanded, everything Ares would have expected of his younger self. Here, in the later stage of middle-age, it didn’t sit as well with him as it once might have.

  Seeing his back was still pressing against the wall, Raven hurried on with his explanation. “Look, I told you, they wanted it, all I did was…”

  “Interfere. All you did was rally them, teach them, inspire them, make them promises, arm them, and then you gave them a push, a great big push.” To accentuate his point, Ares reached across the table, planted his big mitts on Raven’s bare chest and gave him a good shove, toppling him in his heavy chair. “They’re not pawns, they’re not toys for our amusement,” Ares growled, “what right did you have to obliterate them?”

  Defeated and deflated, Raven stumbled to his feet, raised his hand to his forehead and then hung it. “I didn’t,” he muttered. “That’s not what I wanted.” Gathering his strength Raven raised his head on his shoulders, stood straight and firm to look his Father in the eye. “Whatever Major Falls is and however it got loose, I did not do it.”

  Normally, Raven told just enough of the truth as was warranted or that would get him by. This time, however, Ares believed he was telling the whole of it. “Apollo did it,” Ares hissed then curled his upper lip, “you idiot, he wasn’t after just me, he set us both up.” When Raven let out a small sigh and flinched rather than immediately protest Apollo’s innocence, Ares knew
he was on the right track.

  “You don’t know that,” Raven returned in a voice so weak even he didn’t believe it.

  Ares knew his Brother well, right now he was preparing to lower the Sword of Damocles on him, he was probably up at the Palace filling Zeus’ head with lies. Worse than that, maybe the two were in on it together. The thought was swiftly dismissed, as much as Zeus loathed Ares and his Family, the God of Gods wouldn’t wipe out so many of his precious Mortals just to stab Ares in the back. No, Zeus was going to be shocked off his old feet. “When I go to Palace today Apollo is going to tell all of them how WE did this to the Mortal World. With my name and your icon plastered all over creation, who will disbelieve his claim? He’s just dying to ambush us and you put him in that position of power. How many times did I warn you about him? How many times did you ignore me? Now we’re fucked. I don’t know but if I were you I’d think up something quick or before the end of day Zeus is going to be calling for your death and mine.”

  Raven grunted as Apollo’s grin went through his head again, his voice ringing in Raven’s ears as he giddily babbled on about Major Falls. It chilled him through to his bones as he listened to Apollo talk, the way his gold face lit up. Right then and there he knew it was possible Apollo had something to do with it. He should have listened to his instincts, he should have run to his Father, confessed everything, told Ares everything but now it was too late. “I’m an idiot, you’re right, it’s all my fault. I let him use me against you.”

  “We agree on something. I guess it’s a start,” Ares sneered. “Why don’t you hit me with the rest of it now? While I’m ready to take it, go on, tell me what was in it for Apollo? What did you promise him in return for his help and his discretion?”