I shook my head. "No. No. That's not possible." I shook my head again. "No. Not possible."Heppni smiled at me. Nodded. "But it is. I know that Prime children age similarly to human children when one parent is human, but their bodies stop aging at a certain point. And since you've collected more power along the way, I doubt you'll age ever again.""No, I remember my life from about five and up. That was twenty-three years ago." A thought niggled my mind. "Well, almost twenty-four. But nowhere near one hundred years ago.""You are of me, Kiema. When I was inside you, I felt my power. There is no other explanation," she said."I'd like an explanation on how you think she was either held in cryostasis for over seventy-five years or some other form of hibernation," Dr. Atlas said. His voice was hard, his bright green gaze even harder. "Her father was a brilliant doctor. And he was working with magick users back on Earth.""I'm not even Azican?" I said. I felt like throwing up
I was getting very frustrated. It was almost mid-morning and no one was yet up and around. How could these people be so lazy that they didn't start their days until the noon sun had already crested the sky?"Idiots infantile," I muttered again as I searched through the cool box that held the food. Or was supposed to hold the food. Taryk had told me last night before I went to my stone form that the fridge' was next to the conference room and to help myself. Except for a wash of cold air, there was nothing to be had. Unless he thought I ate coated metal and glass for meals. Except for the brief burst of magic from one of the Directs, the night had been peaceful. I had run the Direct off and nothing else had bothered my new domicile. I'd forgotten how exciting it was to keep watch. To know I guarded the inhabitants with nothing but my magic, my wits, and my cunning. And just my luck, these inhabitants were bâtards paresseux. While we were in Faery, they had seemed noble and h
I shook my head. The thought that that's all I'd been doing for the last three hours had hysterical laughter bubbling up from inside me. Warm arms curled around me and lifted me onto my tiptoes into a huddle of my mates.I've come too far to break now. I've come too far to break now. I repeated the phrase over and over and over in my mind. Pushing everything else out until I could see a way forward. A way through. I sucked in a breath, held it until I felt like my lungs would burst, and then slowly exhaled. "I'm so proud of you, honey. You're a warrior. You can do this," Saint said. "I've never met anyone stronger than you, angel. You amaze me daily. You got this. We're here to help," Ransom said as he kissed my hair. "Nobody better than my mouse," Kord said, a flush of color on his cheeks. "Mouse?" I asked as I looked up at him, one eyebrow raised, a smile pulling at my lips. He dipped his head. "Yeah. I'm an owl and owls eat mice. I'm also Kord, and I def
"While we're all ruminating on that lovely scene, we do still have a more immediate problem," Taryk said. "Rent boy," Lukas said. Taryk nodded. "Yeah, he's got no more power of his own. But that can mean he's even more hateful now. We'll need to watch our backs for a while.""Do we think he was the only one Hellion linked?" I asked. We all stood around in silence. Saint cleared his throat. "I guess we'll find out if one of them pops up at our door.""Let's get him out of here before everyone else starts showing up for the tribunal," Taryk said. "We don't need him sharing any plans with anyone who might still be around from IS."A whisper of magic floated over my skin. I tuned into the sensation, listened. "And that needs to be now. I think the Faeries are here."Everyone turned to look at me."What?" I rubbed my hands over my arms."How could you possibly know that, honey?" Saint asked.I shrugged. "Um, I'm walking around with enough power to be a nuclear bomb
"Again," I called. Kiema gritted her teeth and sent another magic arrow at the target on the opposite side of the gym. It slammed into the bare corner. I came up behind her. Grabbed one shoulder, pointed with my other hand. "You see that section? Right there in the middle? Bright red. Surrounded by yellow, blue and green? That. Those are the sections you need to hit. Not the white corners."She laughed as she elbowed me in the lower belly. "No way. And this whole time I thought it was the corners. They're the smallest sections, you know. Maybe my aim is just that good."I snorted. "I would believe that if you had hit any of the colored sections. Even once would do."She shrugged me off, took a deep breath, and settled herself into her battle stance once more. As she exhaled, she loosed three magical arrows. All three of them hit the bullseye. No hesitation, no whining. Just thpt, thpt, thpt. All three in the red.I was expecting the smirk on her face as she turned back to
I wiped at the tears that streamed down my face. Swimming, indeed. "Goddess Kiema, greetings from Faery," Queen Arasne said as she came to a smooth stop in front of me. She was dressed in battle gear from head to toe. Braids pulled her hair up and away from her face to have it fall in a long line down her back. Under the bright lights, I could see what looked like silver threaded through the strands. Interesting."Greetings, Queen Arasne. Welcome to Azica." I bowed to her. She returned the gesture. "If you could point us to our lodgings, we will begin training with you. Many of our younger recruits are quite anxious to begin." She rolled her eyes. "Youth...always rushing headlong into danger."I smiled. "I think that's a trait of most men as well."Arasne snorted softly. "Indeed. I put the call out to my people. We've had record breaking enrollment for recruits. Graysten is quite beside himself on how to train so many in so short a time.""Well, I'm the only one
"We don't have a lot of time. Where's Kord?" I asked as we sprinted up the stairs. The closer we'd gotten to home, the more my body reacted. I was hard as steel and primed to pound inside this woman we got to call ours. "I called him. He's in the lab's kitchen working on his powders and spells," Kiema said in between puffs of air against my back. "Shit. Tell him to hurry," I said as I pushed through the door on the fifth level. Home."He's on his way over. According to him, he's faster than a MagLev train. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds fa - ""Fast. Very fast," Kord said as he joined us. He threw Ransom's shirt on the floor. "Someone dropped that in the stairwell."I slid Kiema off my shoulder, her soft naked body giving way to the harder, firmer lines of my own. I closed my eyes so I could concentrate. "What's the emergency? And why're you two naked?" Kord asked."Kiema just changed into a dragon. A kind that doesn't let her fly, but a dragon, nonetheless
A distant bell rang somewhere in the building, stopping whatever it was I was going to say. I looked around the room. "What was that?"Saint's brow furrowed. "The building doorbell for lack of a better term. It goes off if the door doesn't open within a certain amount of time after being rung the first time." He looked down at his nakedness. Looked back up at me. One eyebrow raised. "Little help, please?"I smiled and dressed him with a thought. I gave Ransom a shirt as well since he'd sacrificed his own to cover my ass on the frantic run to the warehouse. We all left the fifth level and went to the elevator. Ransom pulled his phone from his pocket. After he tapped a couple buttons, he lifted the phone up and out from his body. "Hello. We're coming down. Who are you?" he asked. I shifted to look into the screen. A small group of men were waiting near the front business entrance door. The man in the front of the group jumped when Ransom's voice filtered out. He looked
Three months later"And I'm telling you right now, dad, that if you want to ever see these babies, you'll stop sending my mates to the Underworld for a cooling off' period. That shit is getting old," I said as I waddled into the hospital built for gods and demi-gods. He chuckled beside me. "But, bubbles, they deserved it. Crowing like they built Olympus bare handed. They were getting on your Circle's nerves. I could tell." He said as he lifted me into the bed. "Bring them back, dad. Now." I glared at him. Even though, on the inside, I was smiling like a loon. This was the type of relationship I'd always dreamed of having with a father. He sighed, a smirk still pulling at his mouth. With a snap, my three mates stumbled into the room."Damn it, Apollo," Saint said as he flicked his shirt. "Cerberus almost got me that time."My dad's head tipped back as he laughed and laughed. The babies inside me loved that sound. They kicked at my belly. I rubbed at the spot. "Easy
Six months later"Last time, I'll ask. I swear." Kiema swallowed heavily as she moved around behind me. "You promise you're okay not getting your deer back?" Kiema asked me as flicked the fabric of my dress this way and that to get it to lay perfectly.I waited until she looked up at me. That look of slight hesitation on her face tugged at my heart. "I promise. I was never meant to be a deer. A shifter of any kind."She nodded, sniffled quietly. "You ready for the rest of this then?" Kiema asked me as she adjusted the crown of flowers in my hair. "So much more than ready. I've been waiting for this my entire life." I bit back the tears that wanted to flood my throat. Not today. I wouldn't ruin this day with tears.She smiled as she stepped back. "You look beautiful, little sister." Tears gathered in her eyes. I held up a hand, looked at the ceiling. "Don't do that. I told you I wasn't crying today. You start crying, then I'll start crying. Then we'll have to postpone e
The next night"Wake up, Saint," I said softly in our shared consciousness. I could barely contain myself. I had felt the swell of magic. Had felt it when it took root."Saint," I said again. The man slept like a rock at the bottom of a spring. "Mgmgs," he mumbled.Forcing our arm to move, I slapped our face. He shot up, his teeth bared. "Who's there?" he called out. "It's me, you buffoon," I said.Our head cocked to the side. "Ten? Why are you waking me up? Can't whatever it is wait until morning?" He snuggled back down into the comfortable bed in our new home. "No." I shook our head so he would fully wake up. "Wake up!"He sat up, pulling the blankets with him. "I'm awake. What can't wait until the morning, Ten?""Kiema is pregnant.""WHAT THE FUCK!?"I snickered as everyone in the room burst from the bed, fists and knives raised in defense. "What is it?" Ransom's head turned back and forth quickly, visually sweeping the room. With a grunt at its emp
Two weeks later"Are we finally going to try this? We've been prepping for what feels like forever." I licked my way up Saint's neck. He shivered as his fingers curled into the flesh of my ass. "Maybe we should wait one more day. I don't want to hurt you."I rolled my eyes under the cover of my closed lids. This man. So dominant. So caring. So sure I wasn't ready to take one of them in my ass. I guess I'll just have to show him that I was more than ready.I slid down his body. A wave of magic and all of us were naked as the day we were born. As I sucked his cock into my mouth, Kord came up behind me.Curling around my back, he pinched my nipples with one hand. With his other, he slid a hand down my belly and straight over my clit. With a sharp movement, his fingers were deep inside me. I groaned around Saint's dick as waves of pleasure washed over me. Sprinkled with the counterpoints of pain from Kord getting my nipples ready for the clover clamps. I felt my core cream at
The next day"Torture and then straight back to bed. I don't care that your father is the god of healing. This is ridiculous, Kiema," Atlas said as we stood in the elevator on our way to the basement level."Don't get trapped in the dungeons," Apollo had said as he laid his palm against the electronic plate on the wall of the elevator.Right. Dungeons in a god hospital. Gods were freaking weird.I patted his cheek. "I've got my main medical provider right next to me. I'll be fine. Besides I feel like a million bucks."He huffed a laugh as Mason and Lukas came up beside him. I wiggled my eyebrows at Atlas, looked over his shoulder, back to his face.He chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Yes, little sister. We've decided to try being a thruple."I wrinkled my nose. "What kind of word is thruple?""A three-person couple, luv," Lukas answered. I snorted. "And you guys won't let me make up words? That's a heaping load of Berserker shit right there."We were all laughi
I pushed the other two through the doors. I wasn't waiting another minute to see my girl. I'd felt her die. Felt my spirit try to follow her down that long tunnel. My heart had stopped beating when I saw Heppni literally rip her heart from her chest and crush it. But here we were. Alive. Healing. She was pale against the bright white sheets of the hospital bed. Although it was unlike any hospital I'd ever been in. Apollo said something about it being a place for gods and goddesses. I shook my head. It didn't matter to me what it was as long as it made her better. She looked over as we rushed in. Her eyes searched each one of us before returning to me. Tears flooded her eyes as I pulled her into my arms. We all sat on the bed, curled and huddled together while she got it all out. The guys and I had had some truly brutal boxing matches to deal with our own emotions. I was still achy and sore from a couple of well-placed hits from Kord. The man might be a nerdy librarian, b
My chest hurt. I tried to rub it, but my arms were restrained. "Easy there, bubbles. You'll pull your stitches if you do that," a man said. His voice was soft and melodious. Like listening to angels sing. Angels. Something about that word tickled my brain.Angel. Almost. Almost.Ransom. As soon as I thought his name, his face popped into my brain. I tried to sit up. Made it a couple inches before I was pushed back to the bed beneath me. I opened my eyes. Ignoring the stabbing pain that slid into my eyeballs, I blinked to clear my vision. A bright white room greeted me. The only color in it was the man who had a hand against my chest. I looked down at his hand. Looked up at his face. Raised an eyebrow. "Get the fuck off, perv. My mates will rip you to shreds."He huffed a laugh and removed his hand. "I doubt your mates will be doing much more than breathing for a couple more hours, but I'm glad to see that you're back, bubbles. Have a nice nap?" I leaned ba
Everyone Hellion had made me vow to keep alive fell to the ground as if they were puppets and their strings had been cut. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I hurried to the closest one's side. Pushed two fingers to his neck. Gone. I was so fucking dead. I blasted an oncoming human with a burst of magic. He withered where he stood. I sank to my knees next to the small woman with bright white hair. She was gone as well. The woman with the long brown hair threw her blade into an approaching Direct. It sliced through him like he was air. With wild eyes, she didn't even try to gather the particles of his passing. She pushed me aside as she cradled the smaller woman to her chest. "No no no not my baby no no no please no no," she wailed. Her agonized scream was muffled against the smaller woman's head.The rest of the humans who had interrupted our plans were either dead or falling back the way they'd come. Movement drew my eye. I squinted as I tracked it across the street. It wa
I sent another stream of fiery magic at the Direct who thought to protect my mother. Some pansy-assed gifted asshole wasn't going to stop me from hunting my mother down and killing her. With a wave of my hand, a path cleared. With a curl of my fist, humans fell to the ground, their spines crumbled into dust. "I'm coming for you, Herpes," I screamed at the top of my lungs. She scurried away, down the side street towards the fighting arena I'd created for us to use for practice. I picked up my pace and followed her. "You better be fucking careful, honey," Saint said through my head. He was working with Arasne and Felix at the opening of the street where the humans were still grouped. The Faeries had set up a blockade of sorts, forcing the humans into a bottleneck situation. They were taken down one by one as Ransom had his horde of beasts funneled them through the line of magical warriors. "Always, Saint baby. See you in a bit." I rushed down the street Herpes had