Half-Blood Academy 5: Magic Flame: a Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance

by Meg Xuemei X

  My men gazed up at me with intoxicating adoration and lust heavier than a rainstorm.

  CHAPTER 15

  __________________

  “Lamb.”

  “Cookie!”

  “Rosebud.”

  “Buttercup.”

  My mates called me all at once, pulling me into their arms. And then I bumped into walls of strong arms and warm chests. It was amazing they weren’t tangled in my wings.

  “I’m in one piece, guys. One piece,” I called, waving a hand to try to get my mates to stop inspecting me or groping me in the dark. “Now let’s bring back your demigod powers. But first, Héctor needs to regain his immortality.”

  “It’s fine, Lamb,” Héctor said, his cold lips brushing my temple. “I’ll be happy to share one lifetime with you. You’ll never lack anything. My bonded brothers will take care of you in every way for eternity. I have faith in them.”

  “One lifetime with you isn’t good enough,” I said, my fingers tracing his sensual lips as they quivered at my touch. I scanned Paxton, Zak, and Axel with white-hot passion in my eyes, even in the pit of the prison where bones scattered and ashes piled. “Even eternity with all of you isn’t enough. I know you’ll go to the end of the universe with me to find a cure for Héctor. Luckily, we don’t need to look far. The solution is inside all of you.”

  “What are you saying, Rosebud?” Zak asked eagerly. “We’ll do anything to reinstate Héctor’s immortality.”

  “My father burned the knowledge of restoring Héctor’s demigod status in my genetic memory when I asked him how,” I said.

  “We saw a flash of light went into you when Hyperion touched you,” Paxton said. “We didn’t sense any ill intention, so we let go.”

  “My father isn’t rusty even though he’s been locked up for so long,” I said, pride beaming in my eyes. “He still has a lot to give.”

  “Of course, he’s the Titan of Light and Fire,” Héctor said. “He understands old, lost magic and rituals more than anyone. He was the true king of Titans before he was betrayed by Cronus and his minions.”

  “Dad said each one of you contains a spark of ancient elemental essence,” I said.

  My mates shared a confused look.

  “We’re demigods,” Zak said. “Three of us are direct descendants of the original gods. Axel is the third generation. So—”

  “Nope, the drop of elemental essence Dad mentioned is from a being older than the Titans,” I said. “He’s the entity of magic and time, the first native in the Void. He left the realm and journeyed to Earth out of curiosity when the original gods sent the Titans to Tartarus. After eons, he was starving and thus greatly weakened on Earth, but he couldn’t return home. So he hid in the Ever realm at Half-blood Academy.” My voice choked in thick emotions as I remembered Septum and how he went down. “He was safe until he revealed himself to me, recognizing our kinship. And then Lucifer and Ares found him and absorbed his energy and powers. His name is Septum. I think he also saved me by giving his last primordial essence to me when I stabbed myself in the heart.”

  A flare of light had shot into me like a supernova as the Ever realm had collapsed.

  My mates held me tightly. They’d been devastated and full of pain when they’d thought they’d lost me.

  Recognition flashed in Zak’s blue eyes as he wheeled me toward him, cupping my face and gazing into my eyes.

  “Yes, Rosebud,” he said. “After the hidden realm exploded and you were taken, we lost our shit. I was trying to find the last trace of you when a glimmer in the ruins caught my attention. Then it flared, divided itself into four beams, and sank into each one of us.”

  Axel’s golden eyes glinted with realization, too. “It spoke in our heads, saying something about we would need its help in the Void.”

  Paxton nodded. “We haven’t thought much about the elemental entity since all we could think was to get to you.”

  “We all have a morsel of Septum,” I said, “and we need to give that drop to Héctor along with a piece of our essence. It’ll create the strongest magical ingredients since we’re all unbreakably bonded. And when the new magic blossoms in Héctor, he’ll be a death demigod again. ”

  “How exactly do we do it?” Zak asked urgently.

  “Brothers, you don’t need to do this for me,” Héctor said.

  “It’s not like we have a choice,” Axel snorted. “Our mate will never feel happy if she loses any one of us. I won’t let her heart break again.”

  I kissed the war demigod and smiled at him.

  “It’s the first time you ever said something that made sense, Axel,” Paxton said.

  “Follow my lead, mates, if you don’t mind a girl leading,” I said before they got into bickering again.

  My Flame streamed out of me, forming a spectrum ring around us, calling for my mates’ powers to merge with it.

  Paxton’s ice magic stirred, and an asteroid of ice orbed around my flame. Then Zak’s lightning shot out, twisting around my flame, adorning it.

  “This is for my brother, given willingly.”Axel took a deep breath, and then his demigod wind fueled my flame, making it dance and leap like a wild, beautiful creature.

  A drop of liquid light phased out of Zak’s forehead, then out of Axel’s, and then Paxton’s. I breathed one drop out of my lips for my love.

  Each drop was a part of our essence, conjured up by old magic. Together, they floated toward the Flame and fused into it.

  The Flame of rainbow rose over our heads, spinning and twisting into two streams of fire. Faster than a falling comet, they speared into Héctor’s eyes.

  Héctor staggered back and doubled over. When he straightened up with a curse, twin flames blazed in his eye sockets, whispering an old language of the galaxies.

  We stared at him in awe. My mouth hung open as we waited, though I could barely breathe.

  If this didn’t work…

  “Say something,” I pleaded in a quivering voice. “How do you feel, Héctor?”

  His eyes resumed their sapphire color, the flames disappearing. Before I let out a breath of relief, a violent wind of dark flame and shadow tore out of Héctor, and he roared in agony. The wind swept him off the platform, tossing him down the abyss.

  Screaming his name, I dove after him.

  But my other mates caught me and held me in an iron grip.

  “I can’t lose him again,” I sobbed. “This is my fault. I got him into this because I wanted—I must go find him. Let me go!”

  “You won’t lose me, Lamb, or any of your mates,” Héctor’s rich, chivalrous voice sounded. He landed on the platform, his massive black wings spreading to their full, glorious length. His signature death light, streaked with a new flame, danced in his thick hair, playing with his locks.

  Joyful tears brimmed in my eyes and a sob escaped my throat.

  My Héctor was a demigod again.

  He grinned at me, so sexy and manly that I wanted to shove him down and ride him wildly right there with my other mates watching.

  “Our powers are back,” Zak announced, lightning flashing in his blue eyes.

  “We’re back, babe.” Axel laughed with me.

  My wings vanished as I felt safe in the arms of my mates.

  “We did it,” I said, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand before my mates fought to lick them away.

  This wasn’t the time for that.

  Héctor stalked toward me, and Paxton grabbed me to him.

  “I didn’t mate Buttercup properly in that fucking jail,” Paxton said urgently. “I need another round to make it right. You three can guard at the edge while we’re at it.”

  “That’s not fair,” Axel hissed his objection. “I should go first. I haven’t touched Cookie for a long time. It hurts. Don’t forget I’m the one who saw her first. Without me bringing her to our fold, none of you would ever have had a chance of laying your uncouth fingers on her.”

  He’d regretted introducing me to Half-Blood
Academy. He’d admitted that if he knew the other demigods would take a great interest in me, he’d have hidden me.

  “Give my Lamb to me,” Héctor demanded, his wings arching aggressively behind his back, his hands balling into fists at his sides.

  Really? Really? They were picking a fight again after we’d just had a spectacular, touching moment? They could shift moods just like that? Maybe they shouldn’t have their demigod powers back.

  I looked at them wildly, biting my lip.

  “Now isn’t time for any mating,” Zak said with the voice of reason, yet his heated gaze on me betrayed his male need for me, too. “We must get out of here. Our mate’s safety is always our top priority.”

  The mention of my safety seemed to clear the mating frenzy in my mates and cool their heads.

  “Zak’s right,” Héctor said. “We need to rein it in and behave for our mate’s sake. Thank you for gifting me a piece of your demigod essence, brothers. I owe you one.”

  He reached out to lay his hands on his bonded brothers, but they each dodged his touch with a flinch.

  “No offense, bro,” Paxton said. “Now that your power is back, your death touch is gonna hurt like a bitch.”

  “We’ll find you a pair of gloves,” Zak offered.

  “I don’t mind his death touch,” I declared to my other mates. “So I’m going to give it a test-drive.”

  I tossed myself into Héctor’s arms, my legs sneaking around his waist, and kissed him hard. Héctor chuckled against my lips in pure male satisfaction.

  His touch was life and fire to me. I bloomed under his death touch, and I was still the only woman my Héctor could touch. Color me selfish, but I liked it this way.

  I tore my lips away from the death demigod and twisted my torso to gaze at my other mates with passion and love. “Listen to my beloved Zak. Let’s get the hell out of here, boys.”

  A smile lit up Zak’s face, which made my core tighten.

  “Why am I not a beloved?”Axel grumbled.

  “Really, Axel?” I pinched his chin with my tough love. “Now, let’s blow some shit up, all my beloveds. I haven’t had fun for a while.”

  My mates flashed their damn sexy grins, loving the idea of blowing up shit very much.

  CHAPTER 16

  __________________

  The wall of the Eternal Prison—that myth said could never be breached—sundered under the onslaught of my Flame and my mates’ combined energy beam.

  “Unbreakable, my ass.” I laughed.

  “You’re very sexy when you giggle, Cookie,” Axel said.

  “Yeah, next you’re going to tell me to smile more often,” I said good-naturedly.

  We’d succeeded in restoring Héctor’s immortality. My mates had regained their demigod powers, and we’d blasted open the prison door. Mating with Paxton had put me in an especially fabulous mood, though I hoped to fuck him again soon so I could have his full hard length—every inch of it—buried deep inside me.

  Zak smiled at me. “My Rosebud looks delicious even without smiling.”

  “Do not encourage her,” Paxton said, his violet eyes full of heat as they roved over me. “I like her smile, especially the wicked ones.”

  Héctor, however, wasn’t in a joking mood. He probably thought the return of his demigod power came with more responsibilities.

  “Lamb, stay behind me,” he warned.

  “Oh, yeah? Still think I’m made of glass?” I stepped off the lift and strode toward the door, swinging my hips. “I’m not the stay-behind kind of girl, Héctor, but you know that already, don’t you?” I purred.

  Héctor growled.

  Damn, he was so gorgeous. “Very scary, my beast. Should I wet my pants?”

  Wetting my pants for my mates had a different kind of meaning here.

  Still, Héctor and Paxton managed to stomp out of the door before me, with Zak and Axel bringing up the rear.

  My mates would never stop being overprotective, but then nobody’s perfect.

  Héctor snarled, for real this time, and Paxton cursed in a very bad way.

  I peeked out. A small army had parked right outside the damaged dome, facing the collapsed wall and us.

  The three bad actors—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—took the center stage, with Ares and Tartarus a step behind them as their sidekicks. The armored guards of Tartarus were stationed behind the gods with raised spears and golden shields near their chests, ready to battle.

  And surprisingly, the Titan inmates were out of their cells, puffing up at the edge of the battle formation. Their leader was Cronus.

  Zeus’s father stared at me, loathing spilling out his dark eyes like a pool of dirty water. The dude hated me more than he hated my father.

  Ares flashed me a vicious smile as I surveyed our enemies.

  Yeah, I saw the odds—the five of us against three original gods, one up-to-no-good war god, a spineless warden who couldn’t decide which pants to wear, a hundred-plus prison sentinels tasked to guard the Titans but turned on us, and a hundred-plus Titans, who obviously had Stockholm Syndrome.

  What a colorful crowd.

  “Guys.” I slanted a glance at my mates and shouted in a mocking cheer. “We’ve got a battalion of cheerleaders.” I swiped a hand toward the gods and their assembly to make sure they got it and to rile them up.

  Tartarus chuckled, but he turned to cough into his fist when Poseidon threw him a harsh stare. The God of Sea was said to be the most uptight amid all the gods, though I didn’t know how he could be when he raped so many women—goddesses, immortal females, and mortal women alike.

  “Ho, bitches.” I addressed the army in front of me. “I didn’t expect this degree of welcome. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but if this is a rehearsal, I have to point out that you got the costumes all wrong for being fucking cheerleaders. I insist you go change to avoid everyone laughing at you in the sports field.”

  Tartarus tried hard not to crack a smirk. Spineless he was, but he was bored out of his wits babysitting the Titans.

  “The Titan demon brat is very mouthy,” Ares said, stepping up to advise his father. “She and my son are the most annoying urchins I’ve ever had to deal with.”

  “I don’t even understand half of what she was talking about,” Hades admitted. “Do all the references she mentioned have to do with Earth culture?”

  My joke was lost on the suckers. If I couldn’t intimidate them, at least I’d confused them.

  Staring down the Olympians and their cronies, I quickly evaluated the situation in front of me. I could go head to head against the three gods with my Living Flame, and my mates could take down Tartarus and Ares. But I wasn’t sure if my Flame could harm the sentinels of the Eternal Prison. Tartarus bragged that he and his guards were immune to all magic as they were commissioned to police the realm of Tartarus. Not to mention the angry Titans in the back.

  I felt invincible with the Living Flame in me, but I wasn’t delusional enough to believe that I was all-powerful. I needed to win this war without losing any of my men.

  Judging from how the original gods’ nostrils fumed, I realized I wouldn’t stall them for long. I picked up some bad habits and strategies from Hell that wouldn’t work on the gods. The demons and I had always thrown obscenities at each other before we fought. The gods were different species, though they weren’t fit to teach the demons any manners.

  “Hey, douchebags,” I shouted at the army across from me again. They glared at me and waited for me to deliver my speech before the battle, and I blinked regretfully. “Oh, I forgot the next lines. But shame on you, cockroaches.”

  “See, she’s very annoying,” Ares explained. “I should have slain her a long time ago when I could, but I was drawn to her power. I thought I could control her.”

  “You were wrong, Ares,” Zeus scolded. “Sometimes you’re overambitious.”

  Ares bowed his head and stepped back. He had tried to work with his uncles to dethrone his father. I don’t think Zeus had forgo
tten that.

  I ignored them.

  “So, Tartarus,” I said. “You just let the Titan psychos out because the three jackasses told you to? No pride in your job anymore? I thought you were an independent agent, not some lapdog.”

  “My hands are tied, Princess Celeste,” Tartarus said wearily. “The fight is inevitable. I hope you don’t take it personally.”

  “Everything is personal,” Héctor said. “Walk away, Tartarus.”

  Tartarus studied us, gave it a thought, and stepped back. “Fine. I won’t fight you, but I can’t order the other sentries to step away. They were originally the royal guards to the God of Sky, the God of Sea, and the God of Death.”

  Lightning flashed in Zeus’s steely eyes as he turned to give Tartarus a seething stare.

  “Sorry, Zeus,” Tartarus said. “I’m an independent entity. So I’ll do what I’m best at—lock up the losing side in the cells. And I do have my pride.”

  Poseidon narrowed his eyes. “You think we’ll lose, jailor?”

  “I’m not a prophet,” Tartarus said.

  “Then we have no quarrel with you, Tartarus,” I said.

  “Father, the demon girl’s trying to plant discord and stir up shit while she stalls us.” Ares stepped up again and said to Zeus. “I recognize her strategy. If we wait, she’ll bring more trouble. I’m talking from personal experience. We need to end her now before she twists the outcomes and tips the scale of fate to her side.”

  “Ares is right,” Poseidon said. “My nephew has good instincts when it comes to war.” He looked at Paxton with disdain.

  “Well,” Hades said, stroking his beard where the shadows danced. “We should give our half-bloods a final chance to make the right choice. I haven’t seen my heir since I left Earth. He’s been exposed to bad influences in my absence.”

  His scathing stare at me indicated I was that bad influence.

  “Do the math, Hades,” I couldn’t help but blurt out. “I’m only twenty-two, and Héctor is ancient. So who’s the bad influence?” I gave Héctor a doting look. “Not that I mind your bad influence.”