“That’s not a bed.… On your straw, you mean.”
As they reached the bottom of the stairs, the playfulness faded from his face. His jaw dropping, he slid her from his shoulder and set her on her feet in front of him.
Sera turned to see a new group gathered in the downstairs of Peltier House. The power coming from them was disturbing enough, but it was the two sets of identical twin gods that set her nerves on edge and terrified her.
One set was easy to mistake for each other. They were both tall, dark, and incredibly sexy. The only way to distinguish one from the other was that the one on the left had shorter black hair than the one on the right.
“Sin,” Max said, extending his hand to him. “Zakar.”
They shook his hand in turn.
The other set was much easier to tell apart. While they both had shoulder-length hair in similar styles, one had his black with a pair of swirling silver eyes. The other was blond with eyes of vibrant blue.
“Styxx,” Max greeted the blond. “Acheron.” He stepped back to introduce her. “My mate, Seraphina.”
Acheron inclined his head to her. “Wish we were meeting under better circumstances. Especially since I’m here to ask your mate if it’s okay if we feed him to the gallu.”
Sin clapped Max on the back and put a firm hand on his shoulder. “Actually, it’s not a request. Buckle up, Buttercup. We’re throwing you under the bus.”
Max gaped. “Pardon?”
“Yeah,” Styxx agreed as they surrounded Max. “And knowing them, they’re planning to back up over you, too.” He flashed a grin at Max. “Like the new hair, by the way. It goes well with the whole dragon sacrifice we’re about to make to the gods. Good times.”
14
“Dragon sacrifice?” Sera repeated with a gasp. “That is a joke. Right?”
“Sure. We’ll call it that.”
Gaping, she looked from Styxx to Max. “I don’t think I like him very much.”
Max cleared his throat. “That’s all right. Some days, I don’t like him either. And I’m thinking today is definitely going to be one of them. All of you do know that at this point I’m going on about thirty hours with no sleep, right?”
Acheron laughed. “Welcome to my world, adelphos. I think I remember sleep … once upon a grand time ago. Or maybe that was a hallucination brought on by extreme sleep dep. Hard to tell, at this point.”
Max rubbed at his eyebrow with his middle finger. “So you’re planning to feed me to the gallu. Any other votes taken while I was away that I need to know about?”
Zakar let out an evil laugh. “You’re remarkably calm for a dragon about to be sacrificed.”
“Yeah, well, we don’t go down easy. You don’t know what indigestion is until you try to eat a dragon. We tend to bite back. And hard.”
Dev cried out in pain. “And that’s more about your sex life than any of us need to know.”
Max playfully shot a blast of fire at him.
“Hey! Do you mind?” Fang stepped between them and extinguished it. “No burning down the bar! Damn it, children, there are some things I shouldn’t have to say, and that is really at the top of my list. Stop playing with fire indoors … around the wooden bar and flammable alcohol!”
“Anyway…” Sin ignored Fang’s outburst. “Do you know where they’re hiding?”
“Irkalla.”
“Oh,” Sin said in a tone so dry it could be used to dehydrate oceans. “That’s awesome. Irkalla … Why?”
Max bent his head as if imparting a huge secret. “Well, I’m no … oh wait. Yeah, that’s right, I am an expert. So I’m going to assume he’s there because you can’t go get him, and drag him out by his ears, screaming. Or kill him.”
“He’s right.” Zakar let out an aggravated breath. “I wish we could go back in time and kick the ass of every family member we had who took a hand in unleashing these bastards on us.”
Sera frowned. “Wait.… Didn’t Ishtar descend into Irkalla and return? Doesn’t that mean you can, too?”
Grief darkened Sin’s eyes. “Different time and place. And I’m sadly not the god my daughter was.” He stepped back as he reconsidered their course of action.
“You may not have to be.…”
They looked at Max with an arched brow.
Max rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb as he considered their resources. “Sera gave me an idea. I actually have what Asushunamir used to restore Ishtar to life.”
Zakar gaped at him with a look of total disbelief. “You’re the Koru-Nin?”
“Yeah.” Max met Fang’s equally slack-jawed stare. “The real reason why I’ve never left Sanctuary before now. I couldn’t care less about the Dragonbane mark. Anyone wants to try and kill me, bring it with friends, and shovels to mark your graves. Rather it’s what I protect that keeps me hidden. I can’t afford for it to fall into the wrong hands. And should I ever happen to go down … only my brothers Falcyn or Blaise have the ability to take over its stewardship. Not even Illarion could handle its power.”
Seraphina had known the Sa’l Sangue Realle was important, but it wasn’t until she saw their faces now that she fully understood her mate’s duties. Just how important Max was to the universe as a whole.
And how incredibly powerful and deadly an object it was. No wonder the demons were after it.
Zakar narrowed his gaze on Max as if trying to understand him. “Have you ever used it?”
“It’s not my place. Nor does it tempt me.”
“Hence why he’s the guardian for it. Anyone else, we’d all be paying tribute to as our grand and evil overlord.”
Max snorted at Acheron’s dry tone. “Bow down before me, Atlantean scum.”
“Exactly.”
His eyes haunted, Max laced his fingers in Sera’s hair while he talked to the others. It was the tenderest expression of care anyone had ever given her and it touched her a lot more than she wanted to admit to. “Considering all that, there’s no reason we can’t reclaim the Tablet from Kessar and the others. Even in Irkalla.”
Sin knuckle-bumped him. “Let’s salt the sands of Irkalla with their blood.”
“No.” Acheron shook his head at Sin’s offer. “I think that’s a profoundly bad idea, since Katra would have both our asses if you went in and we couldn’t get you back for whatever reason. She’s not going to let you go there without her. You willing to risk her life?”
“Hell no!”
Acheron winked at him. “Good answer.”
“Who’s Katra?” Sera asked Max.
“Sin’s wife and Acheron’s daughter. As his wife, she’s technically part of the Sumerian pantheon and could descend into Irkalla with us, should she choose to do so, and as Ash said, she would do it to protect Sin. But she’s also the daughter of Artemis. With that lineage and those ties to that many competing pantheons, who knows what could happen to her if she went in there. While most of the gods should be sleeping, we don’t know for certain if that’s true of all of them. Our luck, and my personal experience, says prepare for a nasty surprise.” Max sighed heavily. “To be safe, we have to do this independent of outside pantheons. With the exception of Illarion, whose father is Ares, the drakomai can go without a problem.”
“What about a Hellchaser wolf?”
Max inclined his head to Fang. “You are welcome, brother.”
“Amazons?” Sam asked.
“Are you a demigod?”
She hedged a bit. “Granddaughter of Ares. Does that count?”
“Closer than we should chance, especially given the disgruntled look on Dev’s face.”
“Yeah,” Dev said irritably. “Back to the Katra thing. You go. I go. Don’t turn me into a demon, Sam. I’d look bad with serrated teeth.”
She groaned at her mate.
“That also leaves Chi out, and me,” Acheron said. “We better not chance it either.”
“But I’m still in.”
Sera scowled at Styxx. “How can you be in if your twin isn
’t?”
Styxx let out an evil laugh. “That’s a long story. The shortest version is he was hidden in my mother’s womb as a fetus to keep his pantheon from killing him. While his mother is a goddess, my mother was a human queen. So even though we look alike—another trick of his mother’s to hide and disguise him—I’m a Chthonian. He’s a god. Clears me for active duty in nether realms ruled by ancient pantheons that bar his participation.”
Fang checked his phone before he spoke again. “And that’s my boss. Thorn’s got his own major situation exploding that’s requiring his full attention. In fact, he wanted me to help with it, then decided he’d call in Cadegan and Varyk instead, and leave me to deal with this.”
Sera crossed her arms over her chest. “So we’re a handful against a horde?”
A playful light darkened Styxx’s eyes. “Typical odds for me.”
Max jerked his chin toward Styxx. “Styxx was the commander of the Stygian Omada.”
It was her turn to have her jaw drop at the name of one of the most successful and famous armies in history. It ranked up there with Achilles and his Myrmidons. In the Greco-Apollon wars, the Stygian Omada had been invincible. “That was you? But you’re just a baby.”
Styxx laughed at her unintentional insult. “So was Alexander the Great. It’s amazing what people can do when they’re highly motivated and there’s an enemy army about to swarm over your carcass, should you fall.”
“Very, very true.”
Now it was Acheron’s phone that rang. He stepped away to answer.
“Blood moon,” Dev said, feigning an evil accent. “What we live for.”
Cherif scoffed. “I can handle that. It’s the dying for it that terrifies me.”
Fang nodded in agreement as he went over their latest plan in greater detail. Though to be honest, Seraphina still wasn’t happy with it. Something was nagging in the back of her mind.
After a few seconds, Acheron returned, his features pale and drawn. “That was Artemis. The gallu are attacking Olympus.”
“Mia!” Sin vanished immediately.
Sera scowled at his terrified reaction.
“Mia’s his daughter,” Max explained. “She must be with her grandmother.”
“Oh crap.”
Max met Acheron’s gaze. “Lead us in.”
“Thank you.”
They stood back as Acheron teleported them to Olympus. Because it belonged to the Greek pantheon, only the gods, or those they permitted, could access it. Obviously, both Acheron and Sin had permission to visit.
At least Artemis’s temple, if not the rest of the buildings on the mountain, since that was where they appeared a few seconds later.
Max had never liked going into battle with family. He liked it even less with Sera by his side. But he knew that this was who and what she was.
A fierce Amazon warrior.
It would be the worst of insults to ask her to stay home and sit this out. So he did the only thing he could. He manifested her helmet and sword and handed them to her.
She frowned at him as she took them, and put the helm on her head. With an adorable smile that did awkward things to his body, she unsheathed her sword. “How did you do that?”
“I’m the one who gave the sword to you, remember?”
Seraphina narrowed her gaze suspiciously on him before she examined the hilt of her sword as if seeing it for the first time. “It’s enchanted, isn’t it?”
The blush on his face and bashful tilt to his head answered her question.
“This was never a wedding present. It was your way of protecting me in battle.”
“I didn’t want you hurt.” He bit his lip in the most adorable fashion. “It’s the Sword of Peleus. Achilles sent it to me to watch over and protect.”
Tears choked her. She’d noticed that her battle skills had improved after her mating to Maxis. And she had thought it odd that she’d ceased being wounded in battle. Not even a scratch. She’d attributed it to her own need to stay whole and an improvement to her skills.
Now …
She kissed him as a depth of appreciation for her mate overwhelmed her and flooded her heart with warmth. He was adorably precious. “I love you.”
Max couldn’t breathe as those words struck him like a blow. She’d never said that to him before.
Not once.
Honestly, there had been times when he was rather sure she hated his guts. Times when he’d have sworn she wanted to take that sword and run him through with it. Or cut off a part of his body he was rather fond of.
Teasingly, she placed her hand to his chin so that she could work his gaping mouth for him. “I love you, too, Seraphina,” she said in a feigned masculine voice.
He laughed and kissed her marked palm. “That I definitely do. You just caught me off guard with your reaction.”
Gathering her in his arms, he held her as Artemis’s handmaidens threw open a door and ran screaming into their room with demons chasing after them.
Yeah, this was even worse than they’d expected. How the gallu had gotten here, he couldn’t imagine. They shouldn’t have had any access to Olympus.
Yet here they were.
Acheron ignored the maidens and rushed to a room on their left. Max led Sera after him while the others went to help Artemis’s servants and the other gods.
Seraphina had never seen anything like this. It was worse than any dragon attack she’d ever been in. The gods were fighting, yet the gallu were fierce.
As soon as Acheron opened the door on their right, they saw that Artemis had been locked in her bedroom with her granddaughter, who had Sin’s coloring, but was the spitting image of a micro Artemis. Remarkably, the girl was fiercely calm as she held on to her grandmother. It was as if she knew Artemis would never allow any harm to come to her.
But the most shocking sight was the Malachai demon who protected them both. In full demon glory, he wore his black battle armor and had his wings spread wide to provide a barrier between them and anyone or anything that came through the doors after Artemis or Mia. His red and black skin swirled over a handsome face and perfect body. But for his demonic appearance and bright red eyes, he’d have been exquisite.
At Sin’s entrance, he allowed the Sumerian god to run behind him to see to his daughter, who released Artemis to fall into her father’s arms. When they followed after Sin, the demon faced them with his sword, ready to battle.
Until he saw Acheron.
Acheron drew up short as if waiting for the demon to attack him.
Instead, the Malachai inclined his head. “We tried to teleport Mia out when it started, but they have the whole place locked down. I’m amazed any of you got in.”
Acheron manifested his staff. “I don’t use the standard channels. I have my own access point.”
“Glad to hear it. Can you get Artemis and the baby out?”
Sin cupped Mia’s head with his hand. “Nick’s right. I can’t teleport out of here with her. We’re locked in.”
“Great,” the Malachai mumbled before he narrowed his eyes on Max. “Hey dragon, want to help a brother out? I think together we can route them out of here.”
“Right behind you, kid.” Max turned into his dragon form. He hesitated. “You want to join us or stay?”
Seraphina frowned at the question until she realized that Max had a saddle on his back. While she’d heard of war dragons and their riders, she’d never seen one. “Are you sure?”
“There’s no place I’d rather you be.”
The thought of riding a dragon terrified her. But she knew Max would never harm her, and her curiosity rose up. How different could it be than riding a horse into battle? Just a little larger horse, really.
Okay, a much larger horse. Still …
Swallowing her fear, she forced herself to climb up his wing and into the saddle.
“You ready?”
She secured herself to the saddle and braced herself for flight. “Ready.”
The force o
f his lift stole her breath. No wonder the saddle had such a high back to it. Winds whipped at her as he followed after the Malachai and into the battle. His massive wings were swift and he could seriously maneuver in spite of his gigantic size.
As could the Malachai.
Together, they rained down blasts of fire onto the gallu. The fighting out here was ferocious. Between the gods and the demons. For her life, she couldn’t understand why the gallu were attacking the Greek pantheon. And as they battled, she began to realize why Maxis had placed her on his back.
From up here, she couldn’t reach anything. Nothing and no one could get near her. A part of her was irritated. The other was charmed by it.
Until he banked hard to the left. She grasped the saddle to see what had caused it.
Artemis had come out of her temple and was firing fierce and fast at the demons with her bow and arrows.
The Malachai laughed at her fury. “I think someone’s a little upset they dared to threaten her granddaughter.”
Max nodded. “But it gives me a thought.”
“What?” Sera asked as he flew away from the Malachai, toward the main temple on the hill.
He skimmed over the demonic horde. “Look at the number of demons here.”
“There are a lot of them. Your point?”
Max hovered just out of the battle frenzy. “Want to do some recon?”
“Depends. If we have to fight, are you going to let me touch the ground?”
He turned his massive dragon’s head around to look at her over his shoulder. “You caught that, did you?”
She lifted her legs that were a mile or so above the ground. “Hard to miss.”
He flashed her an unrepentant grin. “Fine. If there’s fighting, I’ll put you down for it.”
“Very well, then. Lead the way, my dragon lord. Obviously I will go wherever you take me.”
Maxis pulled out of the fighting and attempted to leave Olympus. At first, he couldn’t. Something had him blocked. But his mother’s heritage allowed him to bypass the gallu magick and find a back way through it in spite of whatever they’d put over the place to keep the others from coming in or leaving.
Determined to get to his brother’s Tablet, he carried her down to Irkalla. While he hadn’t seen Kessar among the attackers on Olympus, he knew that the majority of the gallu demons had to be there and not in their hidden realm where they’d been earlier.
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