I have no idea how many days I’ve been stuck in this cell. I’m not even sure where the cell is, though I have a pretty good guess. It’s dark, damp, cold, and smells awful.
And all there is to do is talk to Hecate and Odin, who have their cells on either side of me. Odin’s liquid diet of mead has made the entire place smell like a musty crypt. Add Hecate’s incense scent to that and you can only imagine the smell that I’m having to deal with.
How did I get here? Fucking Hermes. He would have worked out better as the god of chaos instead of being a messenger of the gods. Asshole.
He came to me with a message that I was urgently needed on Mt. Olympus. There was a danger to all of us. We had to come up with a plan to deal with it.
“What’s the danger?” I asked Hermes, wrapping a cloak of stars and night around my shoulders. “I haven’t heard of anything happening.”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be the messenger, now would I? They don’t tell me shit. Just make me go get everyone. And I mean EVERYONE! In and out of the Underworld, in the ocean, rivers, forests, and the heavens. So, if you don’t have any more questions, I’ve got more stops to make,” he said in his signature rapid-fire speech.
“Well, actually - “ I started but he cut me off.
“Great. See you later. Byeeee!” And with that he was gone.
I had a bad feeling about the whole interaction, but I chalked that up to whatever emergency was going on. I quickly contacted Hecate and we traveled to Mt. Olympus together.
Hecate and I have always been close, since one third of her personality is the goddess of the night and I am the goddess of the moon. Kind of a natural collaboration. But since everything went down with our children 21 years ago, where the witches of all of her three aspects and my wolves got together to help each other, we’ve been a lot closer. We even agreed to allow those of our children that have mates in the other’s realm cross the borders to be with their mates. Iris was just the first of many witches in my realm and there are even a couple of my wolves in Hecate’s realm.
It was only natural for us to travel to Olympus together.
We were met by the sight of 11 of the main gods of Olympus being tied up to their thrones, held in place by several entities that I had no idea who they were. Hecate and I hid behind a large pillar that backed up to a wall.
Imps, demons, succubi, and demi-gods were holding the 11 Olympians to their thrones. The only ones that I didn’t see there were Hades, his wife Persephone, and Hermes.
Hades wasn’t that big of a surprise. He is only allowed in Olympus on the darkest day of the year. The day of the winter equinox. It was part of the deal that he made with Zeus when he became lord of the Underworld. He physically could not step foot in Mt. Olympus unless it was on that specific day.
And Perse is in the Underworld during this time of year. She's not coming to Olympus right now.
But Hermes? If he thought that this was an emergency, he would have been here as soon as he finished collecting everyone. But he was nowhere to be seen.
That left two options. Either, he was still gathering other gods, goddesses, demi-gods, and other minor deities and would be along soon. Or he knew about this.
I can tell which one is probably true from the way he talked to me and how eager he was to leave.
“How do we get out of this?” Hecate asked. “I’ve been trying to teleport and I can’t.”
Damn, my friend was much better at thinking on her feet than I was. All I’d been able to do was stare in dismay at the scene in front of us. But the second I tried, I realized that I had the same problem.
“I can’t either,” I told her, starting to panic.
“That’s by design, dear cousins,” we heard from behind us. Turning around, we saw Eris, the goddess of discord. Her name is rightfully translated as “strife” in English, since that’s all that she causes. Want an example? She set the events into motion that caused the Trojan War, killing heros and demi-gods, destroying part of the civilized world, and pitting gods and goddesses against each other in rifts that have lasted until today. All because she wasn’t invited to a wedding.
So when we turn to see her behind us, we know that this isn’t going to be good.
“What is happening, Eris? Why would you rise up against the Olympians?” Hecate demanded.
Eris belted out laughter so loud that it nearly blotted out the sound of battle around us. “Because I hate you! I hate you all. What have they ever done to help me? Nothing! If anything, all you've done is vilify me, when I am only doing what I was created to do.” The look on her face has turned to pure evil, malevolent glee. “So, now I'm helping take the power back for all of us who have been crushed by you and pushed to the side.”
From either side of the pillar, several demons appeared. A combination of succubi, infrites, imps, and shedim wrap chains of silver and iron around us. It effectively imprisons us.
But this can’t be possible. Why are all of these demons here? From so many different pantheons? Christian. Jewish. Celtic.
“They shouldn’t be able to cross the barriers of Mt. Olympus, let alone get into the throne room.” It makes no sense to me. How are so many different religions able to get in here?
“Oh, Selene,” Eris laughed. “Welcome to the new order of things.”
I have no idea what they did with us, but it knocked us out. When I woke up I was in a cell in what I can only assume is Tartarus, because none of us are able to use our powers. At all.
Can’t even create a fucking spark to warm up the space. Get food. Nothing.
I’m going to assume that it’s so that we can’t escape or get in touch with any of our followers. But they could at least let our magic work inside the cells. Cause it’s cold and I’m hungry, damnit.
I grab the bars with both hands trying to summon my power, my strength, and my determination to open this fucking cell. But, of course, they are covered in pure fucking silver. I scream as the silver burns my skin, but I keep hold of it. Silver in and of itself is a soft metal, like pure gold. Depending on how much silver is in the bars, I might be able to bend them and get out.
But it must just be coated with silver over some other, harder metal. I can’t move it. With a final scream of pain and frustration, I let go, pushing myself away from the bars.
“How’d that work out, young one?” Odin asks from the cell next to mine.
“All Father, respectfully, shut the fuck up. I don’t see you doing anything to try to get out of here,” I retort, pissed as hell and having to wait for my hands to heal. Being in this cell and having my powers stripped has affected the efficiency of my healing powers. They aren’t gone, but they aren’t anywhere near as fast as they usually are.
Odin snorts, one of the few expressions of amusement that I’ve ever heard him make. “All I can tell you, young one, is that this isn’t how I end. I don’t know about you, but I have already seen my death. And this isn’t it. I, at least, will make it through this.”
“Well, that’s so helpful, Odin. Thank you so much for that,” I snipe out. He might be powerful and all that shit, but he’s a pain in my ass.
“I get it, Selene, but we already know that brute force isn’t going to work. All you’re doing is hurting yourself and give the rest of us a headache,” Hecate says from the other side.
“Well, I’ve got to do something! I’m going insane just sitting here, waiting for something to happen. Our followers haven’t found us yet for a myriad of reasons and I’m tired of just waiting to see what those assholes are going to do to the world while we rot away here!” By the end of my little speech, I’m screaming.
Suddenly, Hermes arrives in front of my cell. “I might be able to help out with that.”
“You asshole!” I scream and reach through the bars to grab hold of his neck, not caring that the silver burns my arms, chest, and face in the process. I grab him and pull him through the bars by the neck. “At least now I have something to help with the boredom.”
“Wait! I have news!” he chokes out.
With a growl, I loosen my grip on his neck. “Speak! Fast!”
“I know someone who can help get you out,” he coughs out.
I’ve been on the road with Kanati and Kamama for the past six months, first trying to find where the Riding Hoods were keeping all of the supernaturals that they were kidnapping and then trying to find where those same supernaturals had scattered to when they escaped. Let me back up a minute. Give you the whole backstory. About 21 years ago, there was this huge civil war between all of the werewolf packs in the U.S. The trios, where our Moon Goddess and creator, Selene, mated three wolves to each other instead of just two, were coming back after being hunted to near extinction. And there were quite a few wolves who didn’t like that. It caused a civil war, which we won, allowing trios to live happily ever after. But right after that, these witches, called the Riding Hoods, popped up out of nowhere. They are the descendants of the original Little Red Riding Hood, who was killed by a rogue werewolf. Yes, the story was true. Her sister took revenge on the rogue, then decided tha
I’m so caught up in my discovery of where the Red One, Roweena, and Iona all that I completely forgot to be nervous about driving. Brandon and Zak have been very patient in teaching me how to drive over the past few months, but this isn’t something that I feel very comfortable doing yet, especially by myself in a new place. Somehow, there is no one on the road. I don’t know how I got so lucky. But, that wasn’t the top thing on my let’s worry about this list. Go figure. Other than knowing that Ios is a party island along the Greek coastline, I have no idea why in the world Loviatar would keep the Riding Hoods there. Or why she would even want anything to do with them. Compared to the gods and goddesses of this world, the Riding Hoods are nothing. Oh, they want to be. They really want to be something. And had things worked out for them in making me the strongest witch of all time, we might have had enough power to get into the room. But we would never have gotten a seat at t
The pain was the worst thing that I have ever felt. It feels like someone is trying to scoop out my still beating heart with a handful of serrated spoons all at the same time while I’m laying on a bed of burning hot coals. Sharp, stabbing, constant, and all over my body. I can’t breathe, let alone talk. The pain only gets worse when I’m touched by Tomas and Jai as they pick me up. I don’t realize why they’re doing it until I feel the sun on my skin, which just intensifies the pain everywhere it touches. I didn’t know that someone could survive pain this intense. I don’t know that I will. Doesn’t help when Tomas unceremoniously just drops me on the ground. My wolf howls in my head, but all my human form can do is whimper. Tomas waves Jai away who looks back and forth between me and Tomas before shrugging his shoulders and walking back inside. Looks like I’m on my own with a pissed off male. It takes a few moments for the pain to subside enough for me to hear what he’s say
Allegra, the Priestess for Nora’s coven, completes the scrying with the same results that I got. The witches are on the island of Ios. Devin turns and looks at me, smiling. It makes me feel a whole hell of a lot better than the scowl he started the conversation with. Don’t want to piss off the demi-god. I might be the most powerful witch in centuries, but even I don’t hold a candle to a demi-god. “You did good, Nyx. Thank you,” he says, before turning back to the group. It takes me a minute before I can clue back in to what he is saying to the rest of the group. I’ve never had anyone, except for Kayla, tell me that I’ve done a good job with something so important. This warmth in my chest, this smile on my face that I can’t seem to wipe off of my face, is unknown to me. Is this what people feel when they are encouraged by their parents? Is this what children were supposed to feel? It’s almost like a high from some of the hallucigenic potions that I took in my training t
I cannot explain to you how livid I am with my best friend. Nathan rejected his mate for absolutely no fucking reason at all. It was so hard for me to listen to Devin and help Nathan out of the hall without shaking the shit out of him. As someone who has been rejected by both of my mates, watching Nathan reject Nyx simply because of the family that she was born into pissed me off more than I can explain. She has proven herself to be an ally of ours time and time again. Hearing what she went through because Zak and Devin didn’t trust her and not complain about it, how she cared for Kayla and Esteban during their imprisonment, and then knowing how she helped us defeat the Reding Hoods…this woman is the bravest, most selfless woman that I’ve ever heard of. And Nathan just tossed her away, like he’d find another mate out of nowhere. It kills me. How could he do that after seeing what’s happened with me and also with Rowen and Alexander? I’m so angry that I have to get out of ther
Kaia and I are out at a boutique, looking at wedding dresses. Ever since Meredith, Gael, and Hakeem got married prior to the wars, the idea caught on in the wolf community. And it’s something that I have dreamed of for a very long time. I want my mates to be mine and wholly mine. For the rest of our lives. It’s why, when I found out that Tomas was my mate, it disgusted me more than anything. But that’s only because it hurt me beyond measure. A mate that had been with nearly every unmated she-wolf that I had ever met in Arcadia. Goddess, just thinking about Tomas hurt so much. Fucking trio matebond. He hadn’t rejected us. In fact, he had passed out from the pain of our rejections of him right after we gave them. I was once thankful for that because it meant that he didn’t see me in pain from the rejection. Kaia and I were able to comfort each other before he woke. And then Kaia, ever the decisive and stubborn one, immediately said, “Reject us, so that we can be done
Zoe gets dressed and the two of us hurry out of the boutique, running as fast as possible before our mothers can stop us. We almost make it before Sandra sees us. “Where do you two think you’re going? We’re in the middle of an appointment here!” she calls after us. “You guys look at the mother of the bride dresses. We’ve got some other things to take care of!” I call over my shoulder. The door is closing as my mom, Karamea, calls, “Fucking doesn’t count as something you have to take care of right now!” Zoe is laughing her ass off as I hurry her to our apartment which is two blocks away. We had it together, having been best friends since we were still in diapers. Honestly, the Goddess putting us together as mates was the best thing that could have ever happened to us. I don’t want to spend my life with anyone else. I think this, forcefully pushing the mental image of Tomas when he realized that we were his mates out of my head. No matter what the Goddess, my wolf, or my stu
“And then Kara just shouts out ‘Fucking doesn’t count as something important that you have to go do right now,’” Sandra cackles, recounting our daughters escape from the bridal boutique today. My mates and I are out to dinner with our best friends, Diego, Sandra, and Lily. It’s been about a month since we had seen them at Kaia’s ascension ceremony. The day that our girls found out that they were mated to each other. Diego pulls Karamea into his side, kissing her cheek as he tries not to guffaw with laughter at his mate’s antics. Lily just rolls her eyes before squeezing Karamea’s hand on the table. Kara just shrugs her shoulders. “What? They’re the ones that want to do the wedding ceremony before they add the third to their trio. If they’re going to insist on that, they should at least stay for the fucking apointment.” At the mention of our daughters’ third, I can’t keep a growl from forming in my chest. Both Bhakti and Sandra hit me, Bhakti on the shoulder, Sanrda on th
Hey friends!Thank you so much for reading Red Rover, the second book of The Legacies series. I hope that you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. Here are a couple of announcements/interesting information for you.1. The next story, “Mother, May I” will be coming out the first week of November. We'll find out what happens with JoJo, Jacob, Alexander, and Hermes, as well as meeting a new trio.2. If you are interested in what I listen to while I’m writing, you can find my playlist “Creative Juices” on Spotify. I love all different kinds of music, so there’s a little something for everyone.3. I write all different kinds of books. If you’re interested, you can find my other books on these platforms:a. GoodNovel:Trio of Mates Series: 4 werewolf books that take on the idea of what would happen if one of the leadership was gay and couldn’t produce an heir. Lots of very graphic smut. (completed)Hide and Seek: The first book in the Trio Legacies series. This is a werewolf book a
I’ve been stuck here in the Underworld at Uncle Hades and Aunt Persphone’s palace for weeks, unable to see my mates for anything. I was so fucking stupid. Erasing their marks wasn’t even the dumbest thing that I did, though it was by far the worst thing I could have done to make them trust me. Especially Jacob. No, the dumbest thing that I did was checking in on them once they went back to the gates of Valhalla. Because Lucifer caught me as they were escaping to come to the Underworld. And now he has all of us down here together so that he can “keep his allies close.” I’ve managed to slip out a couple of times just to check on my mates, but Lucifer himself caught me last time. I’m still recovering from being thrown into the flames of the Phlegethon River. It didn’t matter that I told him that I was checking up on our enemies’ whereabouts and activities. He said that he had other’s to do that and I was to stay in line and follow his orders. I don’t know how I’m going to be
“How is it that we haven’t heard anything in two weeks? I don’t understand!” Nathan is frazzled and very much on edge. Not only is he grieving the loss of Gregory and Citra, but he hasn’t heard from Nyx at all. And not only that, we have no idea where she is. We’ve heard nothing from the evil gods or goddesses. Nothing from Lucifer. Hell, we don’t even know where Hermes is. Selene and Hecate have returned to their realms. Thor is still hanging out with Selene in her realm. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I also doubt that I have much say in how this goes. If Selene is our mother and she mates with Thor, does that make him our new daddy? Blech. I don’t even want to think about it. That’s just wrong on so many, many levels. The weird thing, though, is that we haven’t heard from Hermes either. Neither has JoJo, Alexander, and Jared. They have no idea where he is. JoJo and Alexander have said that they’ve gotten a couple of mindlinks from him sporadically h
I feel hollow. Completely gutted. Like everything has been scooped out of me. Nyx is gone. We have no idea where she could be. Nathan hasn’t been able to find her on the Astral Plane. We haven’t been able to find Hermes and we can’t get in touch with Hades or Persephone since we left Tartarus.Citra is dead. And though I didn’t know who Citra was until 22 years ago, she became as much of a sister to me as Isla, Ivy, and Indigo are. As much as Iris was. I presided over her handfasting with Michael. I’m the godmother to Caleb, her first born. I don’t remember a day going by in 22 years where we didn’t speak to each other at least once. And now she’s gone.And my mate died saving me. He literally pushed me out of Fenrir’s grasp and died to protect me. We said goodbye to him yesterday, Jamal, our children and I staying in the field until his pyre completely burned out. I have no idea how we’re going to move on from here. Jamal and I are basically living, breathing ghosts.
Bella and I have been in a fog since Gregory’s death. He was one third of our soul and now that he’s gone, it’s like there’s a great gaping hole in our lives. Our two sets of twins Freya and Finnegan and Amethyst and Axel have been trying to help us, but it’s all that they can do to keep their grief at bay. Gregory and I had been together since before the civil war started. When it was us against Mathias. About 22 years ago. We found Bella about a year and a half later when the Riding Hoods first showed up. Twenty years together. Though it might seem long, it wasn’t enough. Gregory was our bright spot in this world. He always found the silver lining. Always found something for us to smile or laugh about. Always made the day brighter just by being him. Bella and I have always been the practical ones, bogged down by our responsibilities as alpha and High Priestess. Gregory found a way to cheer us up. Brought a different perspective to our hard times. How will we find
I rush over to Bella and Jamal who have fallen to the ground sobbing. Mom looks split between going to Michael and going to Bella and Jamal. Michael was in her original pack, but Bella and Jamal have been a necessary part of our family because of my being a hybrid. They are both like family to us, though I’m definitely much closer to Bella and Jamal. As the witches seem to be gathering around us, Mom and Dad run to Michael’s side. Hawk and Jareth follow them. They are sobbing. Wordless, agony filled cries falling from their mouths, They cling to each other, not seeming to sense any of us around them. I can’t even imagine the pain that they are going through. It has to be awful. I don’t even want to know what I would do if Nyx…I can’t even think about it. The fact that I can’t even see her is killing me. And we’re not even mated. We’ve barely known each other for a few months. How awful must it be for them to have lived together for more than 20 years. To have child
I have just finished slicing through two demons when I see the giant wolf enter the field. That has to be Fenrir, the evil werewolf son of Loki. Yeah, I know my mythology. Chris went through a phase where she wanted to know everything about all the mythologies in the world. And at that point, Zak and I had already decided that he was on math and science duty, while I was on history, cultural studies, and English. Can’t beat a master bullshitter. I know exactly who he is and what he’s capable of. So when I see him heading towards Bella and Citra, I start to run across the field. Through our pack mindlink, I yell Get to Bella and Citra! I feel all the wolves look towards them, but Fenrir landed less than 20 yards from them. It would just take a few of his massive steps to make it to their side. I see Gregory and Jamal fighting their way towards Bella, Michael to Citra, but there’s no way that they’re going to be able to make it in time. But Gregory puts on a huge burst
Within seconds, wolves and gods are teleporting into the camp. The fae and other supernaturals have also contacted their rulers and we have portals opening up all over the place. The only ones that don’t show up are JoJo, Alexander, Chris, and Jacob. Hecate still hasn’t come back from bitching out Hermes, so they can’t teleport to us. “Alright everyone, circle up! We’ve got to come up with a plan NOW. What information do we have?” Mom says. Her goddess gift of strategy is really going to come in handy here. One of the Valkyries that Gondul sent comes back, streaking through the sky and directly to her leader. “Mist!” Gondul calls when she is about 20 feet away. “Where is Hrist?” “Keeping watch. The demons are pouring out of the gates. Fenrir is with them. Looks like he is leading them with a god that we do not know,” the Valkyrie, Mist, responds. “Fenrir?” Summer asks. “You mean the Norse werewolf?” Gondul’s face turns to look at us, her expression impassive. “Yes.
It’s been two hours since Nathan went to the Astral Plane. Bella stopped in to check on them after he had been there for an hour, but found the couple talking to each other in low voices and snuggling on a couch. She elected to allow Nathan to stay there for another hour. He and Bella are emerging from his tent right now. “How is she?” I ask my best friend when he gets close. It’s easy to see that he’s been crying, but just as easy to see that spending that time with his mate has helped him a lot. I want to give him a hug, but Nathan doesn’t always welcome that kind of affection when he’s this upset. “She’s hanging in as best as she can. I think that seeing someone other than her tormentors was really helpful,” he tells me. “Bro, it’s got nothing to do with seeing ‘someone’ and everything to do with seeing you,” I tell him, clapping him on the shoulder and squeezing. He actually blushes a bit, a small smile crawling over his face. “She told me that she loves me.” At t