Divine Ecstasy (The Guardians of the Realms Book 8) (13 page)

“It took you longer to get back than I thought,” she started, knowing Dagur had sent a messenger for him days ago.

“And it would have been longer yet, had you not sent Laire. I will need to go back,” he growled. “But first I will deal with our brother.”

Servants stepped back, feeling the heat of Hroarr’s fury as he moved over the polished stone.

“You can’t kill him.” Gefn sighed as she kept pace with him.

If anything, her words only made the packed muscle of his shoulders pull tighter. “I’m aware of that, sister. That doesn’t mean he won’t bleed for every one of my warriors who died,” he snarled.

Dagur was too impulsive. Had always been so. It was what had nearly demolished his own ranks, and now he’d used Hroarr’s warriors without consideration.

He may have gotten what he wanted, what their world needed, but there had been a cost. A cost that hadn’t been Dagur’s to pay, and now they had a mess to clean up.

Once again she was forced to play peacekeeper between her siblings. And it wasn’t that she didn’t want to rip Dagur into tiny pieces, she did. He was a pain in the ass, but he’d unfortunately been the lesser evil of their siblings. And now they were stuck with him.

A dull ache started behind one eye as she kept pace with her fuming brother.

The second they stepped to the edge of the great hall, she saw Dagur surrounded by females. Her reckless brother’s bright golden eyes shone up at them, and Gefn groaned at the sight of his arrogant smile. His hair was a shade somewhere between her blonde and the black locks of her furious green-eyed brother.

“Leave,” Hroarr bellowed to the crowd below, his eyes on Dagur. Within a second the others rushed out, heeding their ruler. Even Hroarr’s guards and Laire stepped back to the doors; Spa and Velspar didn’t so much as twitch at her side.

“Brother,” Dagur said as he crossed his thick arms over a bare chest, his leather kilt the only thing covering him. His smile had gone as he focused in Hroarr’s direction. “It was well worth the sacrifice.”

Power slid from Hroarr, and the male moved so fast even she could barely see him slice through the air. In less than a second Hroarr had Dagur by the throat.

He sputtered and growled as his feet dangled.

Hroarr’s voice was deadly calm. “Tell me,
brother
,” he bit out, “was it your sacrifice to make?”

She watched them, planning to intervene before Hroarr killed Dagur, wondering when her sister, Kara, would finally grace them with her presence.

“Put me down,” Dagur snarled as his hands grasped at Hroarr’s, trying to gain freedom. He sputtered, “Would you rather I do nothing?”

“I’d rather you had a brain,” Hroarr snapped.

“Hroarr, look at the big picture. We have another God,” Dagur tried, and it was the wrong tactic at the moment.

“At a cost
you
were not permitted to pay?”

Dagur sputtered, barely able to speak.

“How many of my warriors did you send to their deaths?” Gefn was sure Laire had told him it was dozens, but she knew her brother wanted Dagur to admit it out loud and suffer for it. Hroarr was a ruthless and harsh ruler if needed. He was also strongest and most powerful of them.

Dagur lowered his eyes and choked out, “I’m sorry, Hroarr. I didn’t intend it.”

“But you didn’t prevent it!” Hroarr bellowed, and the walls echoed and shook with his rage. Flames in the giant hearth roared to violent life at the ruling God’s fury.

They had too few left in their world. Gefn felt a harsh pang that Hroarr had lost dozens. They had lost dozens when birthrates were low.

Dagur turned a shade of red as this went on.

Gefn snapped, “Hroarr,” and slammed them both with a blast of icy power because at some point Dagur wouldn’t be able to speak through their furious brother’s hold. The ruling God hissed out a breath and set Dagur down with force before turning his attention to her.

She understood Hroarr’s fury hadn’t gone its course, but if Dagur couldn’t speak, it would be left to her to share what her reckless brother couldn’t.

“Gefn, do not come between us in this,” Hroarr snarled in her direction. His tone and the wild gusts of his fury spiked the flames in the big hearth, causing Spa and Velspar to rise, their dark scruffs lifting in warning as they paced to eye her rage-filled brother.

He growled, “Calm your beasts.” The ancient Immortal creatures had been with her since birth. They were a sign of favor from her mother and father that had made most of her siblings hate her from the start. Hroarr had been given his own gifts and had never been jealous of hers. The beasts generally liked him, but they were loyal to her. Throughout the long centuries some of her more evil siblings had attempted to kill her beasts and paid the price. Not only were they incredibly powerful, her companions couldn’t die, and they were deadly when challenged. Not even a God could withstand the force of their claws and teeth and not forever bear the scars. Which was why Dagur was eyeing them closely. Her more impulsive brother had always been wise enough to keep his distance.

“Talk,” she demanded of her brothers. She wasn’t happy with Dagur either, but she’d rather Hroarr heard the rest of what their reckless brother had to say. She sent a wave of love and calm through the unique bond with her beasts and they settled at her feet, still facing her brothers.

Hroarr turned his attention to their brother. “I’m aware that you captured a God with your reckless idiocy. And I was told that formidable warriors fought to protect him.”

“Yes.”

“How many of my warriors were lost?” Hroarr snarled, still forcing his brother to say the words that damned him in their world.

“Several dozen.” She felt the ground shake under her feet as her brothers faced off and the harsh bite of so many losses hit them all.

“And you did not venture to this world before sending them to take the God?”

“No.” Dagur at least had the intelligence to look completely repentant even though she could almost feel his teeth grinding. Thule had gone through much death throughout the centuries and birthrates were low.

“And you didn’t go through
with
my warriors?” Hroarr was gaining in fury again.

“I did not.”

“Why?”

Dagur’s eyes darted around, looking trapped before answering. “I had already opened the portals, sending a messenger to you once. Weeks ago,” her golden-eyed brother bit out. Dagur’s jaw twitched. “You didn’t come back, and I checked again to find the God gone.”

“Gone?” Hroarr growled.

“Yes,” Dagur snapped. “And I wasn’t certain he’d return.”

Gefn had been considering this since Dagur told her earlier. It seemed the God could portal out of his world, something they’d never seen from another world, or maybe he could mask his presence there. That was a question she wanted answers to.

Dagur continued, “I kept resending the spell to check the ethers for Creator blood for days after, and when the God returned, I didn’t want to chance waiting, but after sending out so many messengers, I didn’t have enough energy to keep a portal open from there.” Dagur shot her a stony-faced look.

She nodded. It was still reckless, but she somewhat understood. Portals drained energy quickly, from all but Hroarr, and it took time to replenish strength.

“I wasn’t at my palace when the messengers came,” she admitted. Dagur had been left to make a choice, and it hadn’t been the best.

Hroarr ignored her and kept at their brother. “You should have gone to the world first. Or waited.” Hroarr’s eyes were nearly glowing now with his fury. Gefn agreed, but she could easily guess why Dagur had done it.

Excitement.

Hope.

Fear that the God would disappear and never come back. That he’d have lost a monumental chance at taking a rare and needed God. The hard look in his golden eyes confirmed that.

“It’s done,” she bit out. She didn’t like it, but now they needed to figure out the rest while they waited for Kara to arrive.

“Show me the God. I will know everything he knows about that world,” Hroarr growled.

She suddenly felt an odd sensation in her stomach. A bad feeling?

And where was her errant sister? Kara should have arrived before Gefn.

Chapter 14

Sacha’s Paris Home, Earth Realm

Hades rolled to his side, burning with lust. A groan slipped from his lips as he slid a hand over cool empty sheets. A growl followed as his eyes shot open before the initial worry hit. He sat up as he felt for her; had something brought on another memory? When he felt her emotional state, the worry slid away and he lay back in the tangle of blankets.

He hissed out a breath as he gripped his aching cock and groaned, but forced himself to move. A second later he was reforming in front of her. His hard cock pulsed against his stomach, unashamed. He wasn’t alone in his desire, he felt it coming in equal measures from her, so why hadn’t she woken him?

She gazed up at him, her deep chocolate eyes sparking with heat in the early morning light. She was fighting back the need. Or trying to.

Air hissed from his lungs at the image she made sitting at a small stone table, her delicate hands encasing a cup of something. Her shining dark hair edged over the pale robe she wore haphazardly tied. He barely paid any attention to the material. Not when his eyes were gliding down to see one gorgeous thigh peeking from beneath the covering.

She was the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen. Not just her outer beauty, it was also the strength and depth of her soul that tantalized him. Its song still called to him, forcing him to fight the need to claim every sweet perfect inch inside and out.

The morning seemed to have come with new, harsher need. He attempted to lock up the sharp edge of that need as he watched her. But, fuck, it was difficult not to bend her over the stone table, rip the material from her beautiful body, and take her hard while the humans in the city below went about their lives.

The sound of her breath catching forced his thoughts back down.

Memories of her in the shower the night before came back with hard force. He still needed to be careful with her, and he was thinking things that were anything but.

“Why did you leave the bed?” he asked calmly as he dealt with his lack of control, all the while assessing their bond.

He felt her desire, there was no fear, but there was some hesitancy.

Her voice was a sultry cadence that added to his need. “I’m not afraid.” She wasn’t, but there was enough uncertainty that he didn’t take her up on all that arousal. He caught her eyes taking in his cock and he felt as if she’d touched him. His muscles twitched in near agony.

“Why are you out here?”

“I take coffee out here most mornings,” she admitted as she gripped the large cup in her small hands.

The low breeze wasn’t cold enough to take the heat from his skin, and the nearly painful need wasn’t easing. He glared at the offending mug in her grip. “Coffee?” It smelled bitter and unnecessary. “Why?”

He could feel the strength of her desire, but she wasn’t acting on it for a reason. She was considering. And her emotions were all over the place.

*****

“Amusement… Habit?” Sacha replied. In truth she was out there because she hadn’t known what to do with the God in her bed. Her breathing escalated, forcing her hard nipples against the material of her robe. Her skin was flushed and her body was primed for him already; it was her mind that stalled any progress.

His frown eased, eyes heating as he watched her. Through it all he spared another glance at her coffee cup as if the object had committed a crime.

She mentally sighed, part of her amused by his expression because she doubted he was aware of it. Another portion of her was incredibly aroused, yet the larger section of her mind was still focused on the problem she faced.

Her.

“Would you like some coffee?” she offered as her eyes moved over his body. She couldn’t help from getting distracted at the sight of him even when her mind was all over the place. Hades was a being of pure sexual beauty. And she wanted to experience every single wicked pleasure she knew he could offer, but she hesitated in taking him up on what she felt him imagining. The triggers were messing with her mind, and she could almost feel the numbness waiting… That position had the potential for trouble, and she hated having to consider that, but last night in the shower he’d been just as effected and powerless to stop her reaction. If he bent her over the table or the balcony…

He growled low, and she looked up at him, wanting him to understand that she knew it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t stop her from doing these things with him. She only needed him to understand that she might not be able to do it yet.

She breathed out. She’d spent the last half hour wet and aching as her skin tightened with each passing minute. Now that he was out there with her, his need was only amplifying her own. She ran a hand over her robe, and the silky material sliding over her naked flesh only excited her more.

She’d swear they were going through the frenzy, even though she knew he’d bypassed it by soul bonding them.

His eyes captured her as he slipped the warm cup from her hands. “The only way I want coffee is from your lips,” he said huskily. She wasn’t sure where he set the mug, but it wasn’t in his hand anymore when he leaned down and touched his lips to hers. One hand slipped the tie free from her robe and the front opened to his questing hands. Warm fingers slid around her waist to pull her in. She groaned when the sizzling heat met her oversensitive skin. She dug her fingers into his hair, holding his lips to hers as he lifted her up. They devoured each other, her tongue gliding over his as she wrapped her legs around his perfect hips. He rode her up and down his hard cock, and her thoughts were lost, her ears buzzing as her hands snaked around his back and dug into the twitching muscle.

His mouth swallowed her moan. Her fingers trailed back to scrape over his scruff-covered jaw. She couldn’t get enough of how he kissed her. His jaw muscles worked under her palm as he continued to ride her up and down his shaft. Close. She was close to coming just like this.