Grace of Gods Boxset: Reincarnated Greek Gods YA/NA Series

by Kyleigh Castronaro

  But the whole point was being drunk enough that you didn’t care. Which was exactly why I pulled Griffin close behind me, wrapped one of his arms around me and pushed my body back hard against his.

  I guess I knew that I didn’t like him, nor did I wanted anything from him but the alcohol never made me think about the consequences of such a forward action.

  I let him put his hands low on my hips, I felt him push his pelvis into my back and I never once considered stopping him. My inhibitions were gone and frankly the only thought I had was: ‘well, if people think I’m a slut I might as well have fun while they believe it.’

  I slung my arm over my shoulder and around Griffin’s neck, keeping his face close to my ear where I could feel his breath panting softly against my skin. My eyes closed as I fell into the dance, my hips swaying and marking the beat with each punch to the side. It was the first time I had truly felt good about myself since arriving at Olympus. I felt beautiful and I felt desired and there was nothing that could spoil that.

  Well, almost nothing.

  The song changed, as did the rhythm necessary to keep up with it. People moved faster and more frenzied, resulting in further careless behavior. Someone bumped into us, jolting me from the haze I had fallen into and I pulled away from Griffin. I shot him a smile to tell him I was okay as I turned around to face him once more. We returned to dancing, the earlier intimacy lost.

  He reached out, his hands falling back on my waist and he pulled me back against him and we clung to each other for a moment, losing ourselves once more in the dance when it was abruptly interrupted by a coldness running down my back.

  With a shriek, I pulled away from him and twisted, craning to see my back and the darkness that was spreading over it where the material was soaked by someone’s drink. I moved quickly, trying to catch the culprit but most people around us had their drinks knocked out already it was hard to tell.

  I turned, looking at Griffin hoping to convey my intentions to him before moving through the crowd towards a bathroom. I needed to clean the drink off my dress before it was ruined. That was the only thought in my mind.

  It didn’t occur to me that magic could fix the dress if it was ruined, or at the least I could conjure a new one later. But I’d never worn something beautiful and expensive before that I could hardly bear the thought of parting with it soon.

  I pushed and elbowed my way to a clearing between the bodies and glanced around for a bathroom. Toward the back of the room there was a dark hallway I assumed would lead me to where I wanted to be. My hands were already unzipping the side of the dress to could get it off and clean it when I got into the bathroom.

  I had the door open and was already letting it fall down my body to the ground where I scooped it up quickly to save it from whatever disgusting things were there.

  The door swung shut behind me and I held the dress up to examine the damage. I had been hoping it would be nothing more than a clear liquid like rum or vodka. But with my luck whoever it was had managed to toss their pink drink all over me. The ends of my hair were dyed too from where they had been hit. The whole thing was a disaster.

  I was too drunk to be dealing with this, my body lurched forward making me catch myself on the edge of the counter for a moment as I stared down at the ruined dress pinned beneath my hands. The room spun for a moment before I blinked the haze away, focusing once again on the idea of saving the dress.

  Collecting soap from the dispenser I rubbed my hands together before gently rubbing at the material hoping it would take it out. The suds turned pink as they pulled the stain from the soft material, hope and relief flooded me. I was bent over the counter, scrubbing at the dress for all I was worth, when the door opened behind me and in slipped Griffin.

  I expected him to ask about the dress, or even if I was okay but he didn’t say anything as he moved over to me. His eyes were watching my reflection in the mirror. I should have seen the look in his eyes when I glanced up to see who it was my drunken haze distorting the glassy reflection.

  He came up behind me, his hands returning to my hips and running slowly along the exposed bare flesh of my lower stomach, his eyes trailing my form like Aidan’s once had: the predator and the prey.

  “Leave it, I think you look much better without it on.” His voice was husky in my ear, different from how he normally sounded. There was something edgier in his accent, something that my drunkenness didn’t recognize right away as dangerous.

  Shaking my head, I looked up at him and quickly made eye contact before trying to shrug him off.

  “No, I have to fix it now or it’ll be ruined.” I hoped that would be enough to get him off me but it wasn’t. His hands tightened somewhat painfully and he turned me around completely to face him.

  “Leave it Savannah.” He said more firmly, his voice hard and cold. I blinked, desperately trying to fight through the drunken haze as we stared at each other. His eyes had changed and there was something different about him, something unnatural and dark. I wanted to say soulless but I knew that couldn’t be the case, we both possessed two souls within us now and yet… His eyes were blank pits with no light or warmth to be found in them.

  My stomach seized slightly, panic flooding my veins as I reached up and tried to push him away.

  “Why don’t you go get another drink while I fix this?” I said quickly, turning myself away as fast as I could to focus on the dress. His hand came out again, this time much less gentle and turned me back around to face him.

  His fingers tightened around my wrists, I was sure he would leave bruises from the force he was using. His body arched, pinning me against the counter tightly and he didn’t say anything. Nary a breath could pass between our two bodies.

  Foggy as my mind was I knew this was bad and I needed to do something at the least, say something. But before anything could come to me he was leaning down, kissing me much more deeply than I was comfortable with.

  “Mm Nno!” I said, my words being absorbed by his lips as they pressed against mine. I pushed my hand up between us and gripped his chin hard, pushing his face away from mine. A growl of frustration resounded in his throat and he glared at me with almost hatred.

  “What? Do you think you’re too good for us? Do you think because you’re Hera you can pick and choose when it’s good for you to get your way? I’m sorry Princess but that’s not how I work!”

  His hands gripped my wrists once again, pushing them behind my back with unnecessary force and pinned them there with one strong hand. His body forced me hard against the edge of the counter like he was trying to force me up onto it, the squared edge biting into my skin. My heart was pounding hard it felt like it had leapt into my throat as I stared at him in horror.

  “Griffin! What… I’d never…” I didn’t know what to say, torn between self-defense and the innate desire to run.

  “This isn’t Griffin.” He countered coldly, the ice of his voice sending a series of shivers down my spine. I knew what he was about to say before he even said it, “This is Hades.”

  I was aware now of the danger of befriending someone with a more volatile God than my own. Griffin hadn’t ever made the union with Hades. Hades chose when he would take control of the unwilling Griffin and when he allowed the boy to think he was the one in charge. The thought terrified me that a God could be in such complete and utter control over a person.

  “You don’t want to do this…” I said carefully, not entirely sure what I could say to sedate him. In all those self-defense classes, they told you to yell rape or look for someone to help you... But we were in an empty women’s bathroom of a club already too loud for someone standing next to you to hear you, let alone someone in a totally separate room. And this was Hades, second only to Zeus in power. It would take more than one God to go up against him, more than one Goddess who only infrequently chose when to show herself.

  “But that’s where you’re wrong. I do want this… and in some way, you do too. No one else wants you; you’re
the sloppy seconds for all the Gods. The desperate measure people turn to when they need a fix. That’s all you’ve ever been and all you’ll ever be but you see: I’ll take you. Not because I know you’d put out when the right words are whispered in your ear but because we could be powerful together… If you joined me we could have it all, I’d give you the world… He’d give you the world.”

  I couldn’t believe what he was saying. Did he think that, now especially, I would be willing to go along with this? He was right, maybe ten minutes ago if he had continued to lay on the charm while my inhibitions were low I would’ve lost the self-respect needed to say no, but now? Now he had me scared and disgusted and I knew one thing: I would never say yes to him.

  But this felt like a negotiation I took the opportunity to counter, “if you want me, let me choose you… Don’t force an ultimatum…” I said slowly knowing that I could buy myself time to find a way out of here if I kept him talking.

  I tried desperately to kick start my hazy mind, desperately needing some water if only to sober myself up a little bit. I hoped what I said would be enough to give him pause to consider but he laughed, “Do you think I’m stupid?” Well, I had been hoping that would work.

  “Please Hades…” I said my bottom lip quivered as I slowly felt my grip on the situation crumbling.

  “Please Hades…” He mocked as fear clenched my stomach and I began to struggle against his hold. I tried to fight him, making his grip loosen even enough that I could break one of my hands free to hit him and run. If I could even get to the door, maybe there was a fire alarm or something.

  “I wouldn’t try it, I designed this place – remember?” I sucked in a sharp breath, my eyes returning to his in time for them to start welling up with tears. I was trapped; this is what he’d wanted.

  Before I could think of something else to say or do he leaned in, kissing me again and I twisted my head to shy away from the gesture.

  This didn’t stop him as his free hand moved to my hip, gripping it tightly and pushing me further onto the counter. His fingers slipped beneath the elastic band of my underwear and he started tugging, the ripping sound echoing around the room.

  This was a living nightmare and I was trapped in it. I felt numb and helpless. My mind cried for me to shut it down, separate myself from the situation and free us from this horror.

  He was going to rape me and all I could do was cry because I was drunk and stupid. I could feel the material around me giving in more and more to his strength and the panic became uncontrollable. My entire body was shaking as I cried harder, choking on air as I sucked in another breath to fulfil my needs.

  The terror resonated through me, filling every inch of me as I twisted and cried more, trying to get him off me in some way.

  “HELP. HELP ME SOMEONE.” I screamed as loud as my voice would go, “HELP, ANYONE.” My voice cracked and my throat ached at the effort.

  “Shut up. No one is coming.” Terrified as I was, as numb as my mind wanted to go to shut off the experience there was a voice. She was telling me to be strong and to not stop fighting; Aidan’s words resonated through my thoughts reminding me that I couldn’t depend on someone to always defend me.

  I had to defend myself.

  I twisted and I tugged, I tried to pry myself from his grip and I flailed my legs against him. I did everything I could despite the power he was exerting over me. Why was it when I hadn’t wanted Aidan and Hunter’s advances Hera had come through for me and given me the power to send them away that now, when I needed her she had completely abandoned me?

  My head pounded and my eyes burned but I kept telling myself I had to stay strong. I couldn’t depend on someone to rescue me when no one was coming… And then all at once Hades was gone.

  One minute he was against me, his hands violating me, and then a cool rush of air replaced the space he had occupied.

  My tears had utterly distorted my vision and I wiped them away as a crash echoed through the room. Griffin was sprawled on the ground, a heap of bathroom stalls beneath him where someone had tossed him. Had I done that? A surge of pride rushed through me and then Aidan stepped into my peripherals.

  “Are you okay?” He said, reaching out to help me off the counter. I’m sure he was trying to be helpful, and frankly he had been, but I couldn’t help but suddenly be uncontrollably angry with him. I was never going to live this down.

  “I was doing fine by myself!” I could hear myself yelling at him as I adjusted my half-torn panties and reached for the soiled dress. I could see in the reflection of the mirror the perplexity on his face that I was reacting this way but I was bright red.

  Once more he had come to my defense, less than 12 hours after telling me how I couldn’t rely on him to do something like this for me and forced me to defend myself without him. But how was I supposed to do that when he persisted in doing it for me?

  “I don’t need you Aidan. You’re not a knight in shining armor, stop acting like one!” I tugged the dress back on and made for the door. I felt justified in being angry with Aidan as I stepped back into the hallway.

  The seriousness of my previous situation hit me as soon as the door swung shut and I covered my mouth in horror. Had all that happened?

  The terror and the anger at Aidan for being contradictory and confusing still echoed through me. None of this was at all helped by the fact I was still mostly drunk, having barely sobered from the ordeal of it all.

  I wanted to go home but I didn’t know how to get there and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go home to America or back to my apartment. I did the only reasonable thing I could think of and slumped against the wall, starting to cry.

  Chapter 13

  “C’mon.” His hands reached out, one sliding around my body and holding my shoulders tightly while the other took my hand and lifted me back to my feet. I could feel him adjusting my, now, loose dress to maintain some of my dignity while he led me toward the closest door. I didn’t understand why he was doing this or why he was being kind but I didn’t question it. I was past the point of questioning everything Aidan did and was too tired to argue anymore. Maybe he would take me back to my bed and I could sleep for years, like Rip Van Winkle.

  My feet were stiff as we tried to walk and finally he stopped. He turned me in his arms, his hands sliding along my back as he pressed me against his chest and let me cry. It felt good to let it all out, like a detox my body had desperately needed. I sobbed uncontrollably against his chest while he stood there awkwardly allowing my tears to soak his shirt.

  My body quivered from the force of my anguish and Aidan took it all, stroking my back as comfortingly as he could manage. Finally, he leaned away to look me in the eye. He reached out and instinctively I flinched back, afraid that he was going to hit me, or grab me like he had earlier. But instead his thumb rubbed along my eye and wiped the tears away from the pools they had formed.

  His thumb brushed down my cheek, moving away the streams that were left behind before tucking my hair behind my ear.

  He looked like he wanted to say something but he simply offered me a small smile before whispering, “you’re safe now.” While my bitterness of everything that had transpired between us left me wanting to think he was lying, there was something about the tone of his voice that told me he meant it.

  He would kill Griffin if he tried to get near me again. A part of me was sad because I knew it wasn’t Griffin’s fault but his God’s. I guess he was a good example of what could happen to us if we rejected our Gods. I shuddered again; thankful I had decided to embrace Hera now instead of continuing to ignore her.

  Aidan took the little quiver differently and stepped back more, wrapping his strong arm around me and guiding me toward the door.

  “Let’s get you home.” He said softly. I was still quite drunk but I hoped I’d be able to remember this in the morning.

  I hoped I could remember every detail down to how his arms felt around me and how delicious his cologne was. I didn’t want to for
get how velvety his soft voice was and how knowing he cared made me burn from my nose to my toes.

  I wanted to remember everything I could about this if things went back to normal I could know that underneath his rough exterior there was a man who did genuinely care, even if he never let anyone see it.

  The Aidan I had grown accustomed to was cold and stoic. He had layers upon layers of brick walls put up as self-defense.

  But this Aidan: he was kind and caring and he was letting me in by showing me this side of him. He didn’t say anything as he led me from the club. The door he managed to conjure opened to our penthouse level and I turned, surprise in my features as I stared at the door as it disappeared into the wall.

  Aidan’s arm shifted around me, dropping to my waist and holding me tight against him almost protectively as his now freed hand reached out to push the door open.

  My body was hit with a fury of unbalance as the alcohol managed to maintain its grip on my senses and I braced myself against Aidan’s muscular structure. I could feel all self-control slowly slipping away to give into the exhaustion I felt in my body.

  As the door swung open he refocused his grip on me before leading us through the door. I stumbled through the threshold; thankful he was there to make sure that I got to my bedroom okay. Mostly because I was certain without his firm grip around me I would have never made it all the way there with the way my feet were sticking to the ground and I was tripping over myself.

  “Hang in there…” He said encouragingly as he finally gave up on my feet and swooped over, scooping me up in his arms.

  “My hero!” I drunkenly proclaimed with a small giggle. He looked down at me, his face neutral but the amusement was there in his eyes as he shook his head.

  “You seriously cannot hold your alcohol. You tripped seven times between walking into the apartment and now… No wonder he…” Aidan frowned and stopped himself from finishing what he was about to say. I could feel myself frown as well, mirroring his expression as I nodded.