Now she was pissed. Damn him. Not only had he denied himself a great orgasm, he had left her hot, cold, wet, and bothered. Glory fumed. She looked at all the boxes around her.
Fuck. She had no idea where she’d put her vibrator.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
By the time Glory had her shirt back on, and had calmed down―albeit with no orgasm―she decided a glass of wine might take the edge off. Looking around at all her unpacked boxes, she wasn’t sure what she’d do after that, but she had to come up with a game plan, and hopefully it didn’t include moving out…for either her or Enten.
Glory bounced downstairs and rounded the corner into the kitchen, stopping short when she saw it wasn’t empty. Tess, Lenore, Holly, and Dani-Lee perched on stools around the big center island, attacking what looked to be a pan of brownies that had just come out of the oven.
“Hey, Glory.” Tess looked up and smiled. “We wanted to ask you to come join us, but we thought you’d be…uh…busy with Enten?” Her brows went up in an it’s-none-of-my-business-but-why-are-you-here kind of way.
“What she means is, we didn’t want to bother you if you and Mr. Freeze were fucking like snow bunnies, but now that you’re here, pull up a chair, grab a fork, and fill us in on all the body numbing details.” Lenore clearly didn’t hesitant to get down and dirty. “Just how cold is cold?”
Glory would normally have laughed off the girl talk, but she was still angry, hurt, and sexually frustrated having been abandoned, so she decided to let off some steam.
“First, chocolate alone isn’t going to get me talking,” she stated, looking around. “Is there any wine to be had?”
Dani-Lee hopped down from her stool and headed for the fridge. “White or red?” she asked.
“Anything red and dry,” Glory answered. “And feel free to join me.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Lenore moved quickly to get glasses. “Four?” she asked, her eyes skipping over the pregnant Tess who Glory knew wouldn’t be having any.
“If this is a tell-all, I don’t need to get drunk.” Holly smirked. “Count me in with some orange juice.”
“Me too,” pregnant Tess grinned.
Glory ran her hands through her disheveled hair and couldn’t help but mumble about stupid, stubborn, idiot gods while she waited for her libation. Wine and OJ got poured and everyone settled in around the chocolate again.
“So. Tell it, Glory,” Lenore prompted. “Cold dick, warm heart?”
Glory sucked wine into her lung.
“Just jump right in, Lenore.” She coughed and sputtered. “I tell you what. I’ll dish details if you guys will hand out some advice.” Glory banged a hand on her chest.
“Sold.” Lenore’s eyes sparkled and the women moved in closer.
“Okay,” Glory began. “He’s big and gorgeous and hard. Everywhere. And his…male parts are really cold. As in, the more excited he gets, the more ice-like things become.”
This elicited some “Ooh’s” from the audience, with only the doctor showing mild concern.
“Have you, umm, partaken of his charms yet?” Doctor Dani-Lee tried for her professional face. “I mean, seriously. Have you been in danger of frostbite?”
“No. Not at all.” Glory took a good swig of wine. It was a vintage that should be sipped, not swigged, but at this point she didn’t care. “If you want to know, I’ve given him a hand job and he…well…he sleets.” More yummy noises emanated from her audience. “And I’ve had him…ahh…orally. He’s like eating a frozen dessert.”
All the ladies’ eyes grew wide and they looked fascinated.
Glory appreciated the attention, and decided to add a little more spice. “His tongue is set at about a constant fifty degrees…no matter where it goes.”
“Oh my gods,” Lenore exclaimed. “I think I’m coming a little bit right here.” Her expression blanked out for a moment, then popped back in. “Sorry. I let Anshar know I’ll be needing him soon.”
Glory continued with a sigh. “The problem is, I think my big, frosty guy is afraid of what will happen if we take things any further. Maybe he thinks he’ll go all arctic and freeze me up inside? I don’t know. He keeps saying things like he’s scared of losing control. And that I won’t like it if he gets too agitated”
“Oh shit,” Lenore exclaimed around a mouth full of brownie. “Now where have I heard that before?”
Tess nodded her head in agreement.
“What?” Glory asked. “I spilled, so tell me what you’ve got.”
Tess, dainty and highly pregnant Tess, started things off. “When Marduk found me, he was afraid to do anything because he might hurt me. You see, when he gets all agitated and thundery, he gets bigger…as in bigger, if you know what I mean.” She got a Mona Lisa smile on her face. “It took a lot of convincing him that I could take it, and that he wouldn’t lose control, but we were finally able to get on with things.”
“Mine’s even better.” Lenore poured her second glass of wine. “My Anshar turns into a raging sea-monster-serpent-thingy when he gets jazzed. He was certain he would tear me limb from limb if we got intimate, not to mention he gets these lovely-slash-scary raised ridges in some very interesting places.”
“Ooh. Dagon does too.” Holly’s eyes lit up and she actually licked her lips.
“Not surprising since they’re cousins,” Lenore said knowingly. “Anyway. It took him forever to decide he wasn’t going to kill me and we could get to the good stuff.”
“What is it with these guys that they think they’ll hurt us?” Glory asked. “If we’re their Chosen, and Enten assures me I am…”
“Red light never lies,” Lenore agreed.
“Right. So there’s no question here.” Glory nodded. “We’re destined for each other, so why do they insist these are insurmountable problems? Wouldn’t they just figure their boss god, whoever that might be, wouldn’t mess around with something this important?”
“Well, first of all,” Holly began. “Dagon never had a problem controlling himself. He’d made a long study of his powers and taught himself to turn things on and off at will. As for the other guys, the overgod, or boss god as you called him? I’ve heard he has a rather peculiar sense of humor, and none of them would put it past the deity to enjoy messing with their heads.”
“That’s fucked,” Lenore stated unequivocally.
“Well, be that as it may, Glory still has a problem,” Dani stated. “If Enten believes he’ll cold cauterize her girl parts with his boy bits, he’s not going in.”
“He’s said as much.” Glory waved her glass at the bottle of wine, looking for a refill. She got one from Holly.
“Not only that, but he totally freaked out a little while ago during…umm…while I…gave head,” she mumbled. “Because I shivered a little. And it wasn’t his temperature that made me do it. It snowed all around us and a damn flake trickled down my ass crack.”
“That’s right. He makes it snow, and not just in winter.” Tess perked up. “Do you think we can borrow him? It sounds kind of romantic.”
“Romantic or not, it sounds to me like drastic measures are necessary.” Lenore stood and planted her high stiletto heels on the kitchen floor. “I have a sure fire solution to your problem.” She downed the rest of her wine. “I’ll be right back.”
Tess, Holly, and Dani-Lee smirked knowingly at each other, while Glory remained in the dark.
“I guess I’ll find out when she returns.” She had a pleasant buzz going from the fine vintage and placed her glass on the counter, concentrating instead on the brownies. She turned questioning eyes to the doctor.
“So what’s your story with Huxley?” she asked. “Things look a little complicated between you two.”
“Huxley is Tess and Holly’s brother,” Dani-Lee said, shooting a warning look toward the pair. Maybe she hadn’t dared to talk to the sisters about Hux yet?
“I know that,” Glory replied, ignoring the huge stop sign because she was a little buzzed and her
filters were down. “Does that mean he’s off limits, or some kind of a saint?”
Dani looked pained, but she could see Tess and Holly appeared relieved that the subject had been put on the table.
“Nope. Not even close,” Tess spoke up, clearly monitoring Dani-Lee’s reaction. “We’ve been wanting to ask what the situation is for a while, but we’ve held off, trying to be polite.”
“How about no more polite?” Glory suggested. “We all have―or have had―obvious problems, and who knows? The Chosen yet to come might come across things even more fucked up than us. Shouldn’t we make a pact right now that we’re all going to help each other?”
“That’s the best frigging idea I’ve heard in a long time.” Lenore returned with a strange looking item in her hand. “I vote yes.” She chortled. “Let’s call ourselves the Goddess League. ‘Fighting ignorance among gods to protect the Chosen.’ Man, that’s a kick-ass slogan.”
All the women laughed, but put their hands together over the brownies and vowed allegiance. Goddesses rock.
Glory hadn’t forgotten her question regarding Huxley, and once the Musketeer business was concluded she confronted the doctor again. “So what gives?”
Dani groaned, caving. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he exhibited the same strange behavior as your gods. He gives me every indication he’s interested, which includes, I might add, a few earth-shattering kisses, before he goes all cold on me, and not in any of the good ways you’ve described, Glory.” She turned a questioning look to Tess and Holly.
“He’s always been a bit of an enigma.” Tess tipped her head a little to the side, seeing if her sister agreed.
Holly concurred, “Yeah. Secretive about stuff, you know? Like it’s hard to get into his head.”
Well, so far no help there for Dani. They remained silently glum for a minute before Glory eyeballed the item Lenore had brought into the kitchen.
“Let’s put aside another time to talk about the Huxley woes,” Lenore offered. “Right now it’s Glory’s turn. Let’s see if we can solve her first.”
Everyone nodded, and Dani actually looked relieved.
“Okay. I’ll bite.” Glory snickered. “What have you got? It looks like a dog collar.”
“Not a dog collar.” Lenore donned a knowing smile. “A magic collar that, when you put it on a god or goddess, makes them do whatever you tell them to do.” She blinked suggestively. “And that includes fucking. It got retrieved from the Underworld to see if it would keep Enten visible at all times, but it didn’t work, so Marduk stuck it in the basement. I happened to see where he stashed it.”
Leave it to Lenore.
“Seriously?” Glory picked the item up and turned it around. It seemed like a lot to ask from a small circle of metal. “Combination lock?”
“Yup.” Lenore picked up Glory’s free hand and scribbled four numbers down on her palm. “That will open it up.” She must have felt a caveat was in order.
“Here’s the kicker though. The gods don’t take kindly to being told what to do.” Lenore met Tess’s gaze across the counter, and at that moment, Glory knew both of their men had been in the collar before. “They can even become slightly…aggrieved…when you put it on them, so you have to use it wisely.”
“That’s fine with me. He needs to be a little aggrieved for being so dopey,” Glory snarked. “I already know what I have it do.” She took a big, gooey bite of brownie and flashed everyone a crumb-covered thumbs up. “You guys are the bomb, you know that?”
Tess looked a little apprehensive. “You can thank us when the deed’s been done, Glory. Personally, I’m never comfortable when magic is involved.”
“Did someone say magic?” Angie walked in the door with an empty bag on her arm. “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but our kitchen is pretty empty at the moment, and rather than double stock, I thought I’d rifle your refrigerator before conjuring.”
Everyone at the counter seemed to take the term “conjuring” for granted except Glory, who hadn’t yet witnessed the witch ladies at work.
“You can do that?” She knew her eyes had gone wide. “You can just say…vanilla ice cream for my brownie and there it is?”
Angie blinked. “Look down, dear.”
A perfect scoop lay on the chocolate confection closest to Glory.
“That is so freaking awesome.” She looked at Lenore. “You got to grow up with that?”
Lenore pursed her lips toward her mother. “It seems like someone forgot to tell me about a certain skill until just a few months ago.”
Angie looked not the least bit put out by Lenore’s effrontery. “It wouldn’t have been good for you to know,” she said. “Anyway, when I walked in you mentioned magic?” Glory saw the quick change of subject for what it was.
“Glory’s going to try using the collar on Enten. He’s afraid of freezing her to death if he gets carried away. You remember Anshar’s reluctance?” Lenore huffed.
“Yes dear, but there may be a difference. Anshar didn’t like the serpent he became. I have a feeling Enten likes his wintry self and might not be too eager for you to control that.” Angie looked a little pensive.
“Don’t worry, Angie. I’ll be careful, but it could be my only hope. If I don’t succeed with this, he’s going to refuse to make me his Chosen.”
“Are you sure? It takes an awful lot to deny a true mate.” Tess’s eyes had grown serious. “Let me ask you another question. If he asks you, are you ready to go through with the amulet ceremony?” All the ladies held their breath. “Do you love him, Glory?”
Glory worried the collar in her hands and raised her head. Tears pooled up and spilled over, before she could stop them. She’d thought this over long and hard. “I do. I love him more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone. Especially since I’d already decided to give up on men,” she tearfully admitted. “But the problem is, he hasn’t given me any indication he loves me back.” The thought that he might not return her feelings caused another gush of moisture to escape from her eyes.
“Damned macho god shit.” Lenore smacked a hand on the counter. “They all think that just because their idiot shoulder lights up, we automatically assume they love us. It took Anshar forever to say the words, and if I’m not correct, Marduk was the same, wasn’t he Tess?” The platinum blonde looked across at the goddess.
“Pretty much.” She shut down a little and it was apparent to Glory that Tess didn’t like to remember those troubled times.
Holly put her two cents worth into the awkward silence.
“Well, Dagon didn’t have a problem with it. I think he declared it to me first.” She got a dreamy look on her face.
“Excuse us the sainted Dagon.” Lenore rolled her eyes. “Remember, hon, he was the bad guy before he got a load of you.”
“You should talk,” Holly retorted. “You worked for the PP too.”
“The what?” Glory hadn’t heard that designation before, and momentarily forgot her problems.
Lenore giggled. “The PP…the Pilgrim Posse. That’s what we call the Matthew-run group in Plymouth. And don’t blame me, Holly.” She turned to Dagon’s mate. “I was told these were bad gods…via the charter Dagon wrote.”
“Girls, girls. I think we’ve gotten well off the subject,” Angie cut through the bickering. “And I have a question for Glory.”
All eyes remained on the witch as she forged ahead.
“Have you told Enten you love him?”
Glory squirmed. She definitely had screwed up on this one. “He hasn’t actually given me the chance.”
“I suggest,” Angie continued. “That the first thing you do after slapping that collar on him is to tell him your feelings. That way, even if he misunderstands anything else, he knows he’s already in your heart.”
“That’s very good advice,” Tess agreed with the witch, and reached over to cover Glory’s hand where it clutched the item in question. “Promise us you’ll do that. Please?”
&nb
sp; Glory looked around at all the expectant faces and let out a long suffering breath. “All right. I will. But I’m really not sure he’ll be happy about it.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Glory had been back in Enten’s room, pacing for what seemed an interminable amount of time. She’d said her goodbyes to the girls in the kitchen just after the sun had gone down, and now the hours sped deep into night.
If Enten didn’t come back soon―she’d checked and he hadn’t moved his meager belongings―she would have to try using that crazy mind voice she could share with him to talk him into returning.
She slipped the collar into the waistband of her pants at the small of her back, so it would be readily available. All she needed was one big cold man. The room was completely dark, so she snapped on the bedside lamp to give the room a dim glow. The muted light suited her mood.
After an hour or more of worrying the carpet, Glory eventually sat in one of the two big, cozy, over-size upholstered chairs that tucked into a TV nook by the windows and watched the shadows pass outside. Pulling up a plush throw from a basket on the floor, she burrowed down into its softness and with a sigh, eventually succeeded in dropping off.
What could only have been a short time later, despite the blanket, a cold chill permeated the room and brought her out of sleep. She opened her eyes and saw Enten sitting across from her. Had he been contemplating her slumbering form? Glory straightened up.
“How long have you been here?” she asked groggily, stretching.
His eyes fixed on her uplifted breasts for a moment before raising to her face. He looked entranced. “Long enough to know you should be in bed.” His hands steepled in front of his face, elbows resting on the arms of the chair. How could he possibly be comfortable? His quiet vigil gave her hope his feelings ran deep.
“What would you say if I asked you to join me?” Glory would try everything in her conventional bag of tricks first, before resorting to magic.
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