Chapter 41

41

SELENE

A thena grimly patted me on the shoulder as I readied myself. She didn’t offer me her sword, and I didn’t ask for it. Against the beast, it would do little good. I didn’t plan to fight him, anyway.

Behind me, I could hear Ares bickering with Zeus. He demanded we try something else, but Zeus wouldn’t budge. Ares bit back with something about him holding Hera’s death against me. Zeus responded with a bitter laugh, then mimicked Hera’s dying screams.

I focused on the courtyard, blocking them out.

Deep crimson light painted the marble steps. At their base, standing water stretched across most of the garden. The lycanthrope paced back and forth, his paws sinking into the mud. He kept his gaze locked on me. Even in this form, he knew I was the one who was coming for him.

Dionysos pushed through the crowd and pulled me against him. Surprised, I hugged him back, but then his mouth found my ear. “Don’t drop the blade. The silver can kill it in only one blow. Stab it once, and it’s gone.”

Then he was gone just as quickly as he’d come, vanishing behind the other gathered Olympians. I frowned after him, my heart thumping. Dion knew more about the lycanthrope than I did. My mother had told him about this, too. She’d told him everything .

But why? Why would she tell him this? She’d tried so hard to keep Medea’s beasts a secret, more so than even her worship of Gaia. She’d hated what Medea had done, saw it as corrupting mortal life.

“Enough stalling!” Zeus shouted. “Get out there and lure the damn thing in here before the rain comes back.”

Before I could brace myself, Artemis leaned toward me and shoved . I stumbled outside and down the first step. The slick stone nearly made me topple, but I caught my balance just in time. Heart pounding, I breathed in the salt air. The blood moon’s rays poured across me, energizing me, filling my soul with a longing for home.

The beast froze his pacing and snuffled at the air.

Knees bent, I crept down another step. If I could keep my back to the Olympians and get close to the wolf, I might be able to communicate with him somehow. Get him to meet me somewhere at dawn.

But when I took another step, a thump sounded from my direct left. Gasps erupted from the palace. Tensing, I shot a furtive glance in that direction.

Another beast emerged from the brush. Larger than the first with matted brown fur, his claws were painted a vicious red. The scent of fresh blood rolled off him. My eyes watered. Hunger tightened my jaw. But even as the bloodlust pulsed through me, I had the wherewithal the reach for the silver dagger.

It slid from my scabbard in the sweet song of steel. A rumbling growl sounded from my right in answer, and I whipped my head to find a third beast had entered the courtyard. I wet my lips, looking from one of the lycanthropes to the other, as if I could keep my eye on all three at once.

“Forget this, Selene. Come back inside,” Ares called out, sounding worried.

A furious ball of gray tore into the courtyard, landing with a crashing thud only inches from where I stood. He was the largest of the four, and seething hatred gleamed in his eyes. His fur was covered in dirt and red-flecked sand, and a jagged scar cut across one eye. I stumbled back, my feet hitting the step.

The beast roared.

Tears of terror filled my eyes. I clenched my teeth, swinging my blade toward the lycanthrope. As if anticipating my move, he swung his paw at my chest, making contact before my blade hit his flesh. A terrifying pain ripped through my stomach. I cried out, doubling over and falling to my knees.

“Don’t move!” I distantly heard Zeus shout. “Don’t go out there! Everyone stay inside. This is a command from your Archon.”

Another roar sounded. This time, it was behind me. There were so many of them. I was surrounded. Wincing, I lifted my blade, flashing the silver at the beast. He reared back.

Another flash of excruciating pain lanced through my gut. I tumbled to the side, my face hitting the marble. Despite trying to hold on, my eyes slid shut.

How ironic , I thought through the haze. Ares wouldn’t be the end of me, after all.

Strong arms wrapped around me and lifted me from the ground. Blearily, I cracked open my eyes. I could see Ares’s face above me. His expression was tormented, angry. Burning . The blood moon light was hitting his face, and it was burning him . Smoke curled from his skin.

“No,” I choked out. “It’ll kill you.”

I didn’t know if I meant the wolf or the moon. Either one could be the end of him.

Athena suddenly loomed over Ares’s shoulder. She’d thrown a cloak over her head, drowning her face in shadow. With a roar, she swung her sword at the nearest beast, but missed. A whorl of gray fur, sharp edges, and blood blurred before me.

Ares whipped around and raced up the steps. The archway loomed above us, then vanished out of sight once we were inside the palace. He groaned, sinking to his knees. A moment later, Dion was there, collecting me from his arms.

“You bloody idiot!” Aphrodite scolded him. “You shouldn’t have run out there without a cloak.”

But I didn’t hear more than that. Darkness pressed in around me. My wounds were seeping blood and my last grasp on consciousness left me.

I awoke on a bed of clouds. They pillowed my head, cradled my body, and filled my head with the scent of fire and musk. For a moment, I relished it, feeling like I was where I was meant to be. But then painful memories poured into my head, choking me.

I sat up with a gasp and opened my eyes. Fear had me reaching for my dagger that wasn’t there, and I remembered I’d dropped it in the courtyard. I’d been surrounded. There’d been so many beasts. Any hopes they’d recognized me were gone. Whoever had sent them to the island had sent them for death.

The death of everyone, even those who meant them no harm.

I was so overwhelmed by my thoughts that it took me a moment to register where I was. My boarded-up windows and trunks of clothes were nowhere to be seen. Only luxurious black sheets, flickering torchlight, and the wavy silver hair of my beloved enemy.

My heart constricted with fondness. He slept beside me, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. His skin still looked raw in spots, where the blood moon had burned him. I couldn’t believe he’d done that. To save me, he’d thrown all caution aside—all sense of self-preservation—and he’d run out into the fray.

Knowing the moon could kill him.

Knowing the wolves could, too.

And yet he’d done it anyway.

It was the most selfless thing anyone had ever done for me, and right now, I didn’t give a damn about our fates.

Softly, I brushed a curl off a burnt patch of skin on his forehead. He stirred, and I quickly withdrew my hand. But then his eyes cracked open, and he smiled up at me, and the defenses I’d built against him suddenly cracked .

He wound his hand around mine, tugged it to his lips, and kissed my palm.

“You’re all right,” he murmured against my skin. Chills swept down my arm.

“Thanks to you,” I said softly. “You went against Zeus’s orders.”

“I told you I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“But what about our fates? You must have known the beasts couldn’t kill me since…”

“Fuck our fates. I’ll never stand aside while you’re in danger.”

I swallowed, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. He had that heated look in his eye again, despite the pain he must be feeling. Despite the rift this must have caused with the vampire king who’d saved him from the streets.

And so I began to ramble. “What happened after, do you know? How did we get here? Where is my blade? I should probably talk to Orpheus. And what about Athena? The last thing I saw was—”

“Athena is fine.” He gently wrapped his hands around my waist and tugged me toward him. “I don’t want to focus on any of that right now. I want to focus on your lips and your touch and the way your body feels against mine.”

My heart thundered so hard, I could barely think. “Ares.”

“Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me you don’t want me, and I’ll never bring it up again.” He dragged his thumb across my bottom lip, making my breath catch. “But if you do, for the love of whatever god you serve, let me show you exactly how much I’m willing to rip up our fates and watch them burn.”

It wasn’t possible to do that, and he knew it. But that didn’t matter right now.

What mattered was this: I wanted to feel alive. I wanted to abandon all reason and give in to the instinctual pull I felt toward him. No one had ever looked at me the way he did. It made me feel seen, like he knew me, despite how hard I tried to hide who I was from the world. The darkness in me, my sharpest edges. The bits of me my mother had tried so hard to buff away.

Trembling, I eased into his touch. But he waited for my answer, not fully drawing me near.

“I want this,” I whispered. “But what about our fate?”

“I believe we have always been destined for each other. Whether it’s for love or death remains to be seen. But I will promise you this, I will fight against death every step of the way.”

Heart pounding, I let him pull me onto his chest. My hair tumbled over my shoulders, spilling across his skin. He’d forgone a shirt during sleep, and the hard planes on him pressed against my breasts.

“You are so beautiful.” He gazed up at me with naked adoration. Then his hand slid around the back of my neck, and he pulled my mouth down to his.

His lips were soft but hungry. I kissed him, letting my legs slide onto either side of his hips. Groaning, his fingers skimmed my thighs, sparking heat and desperate need in my core. As I lay there, sprawled on top of him, I let go of all my tension. I let go of all the fear and the anger so that all I felt was him.

I banished everything else from my mind, focusing on the salty taste of his lips and the hint of blood on his tongue. As if he sensed my growing need, he skated his fangs across my mouth. Goosebumps cascaded over me. His nostrils flared, scenting me.

He hummed against me, a deep sound that sent another wave of goosebumps across my bare skin. And then he took his fangs and dragged them across my neck, digging deeper and deeper into my skin. I trembled, and as if driven by some carnal instinct, I arched against him. I drove my thighs against his hips.

His hard length pressed into me, and a groan spilled from his mouth. He clutched my waist tighter, and he ground me against him once more, lifting his hips to meet mine. I shuddered at the delicious heat the friction caused.

But I wanted more. I needed more. This barest of touches wasn’t nearly enough.

Ares pulled back with a feral look in his eye. In one fluid motion, he flipped me onto my back and tossed the silken sheets to the other side of the bed. His linen sleep trousers hung low on his waist, revealing the ridges along his hips. As he gazed down at me, I reached up and traced those lines and the outline of his tattoo, exploring him, learning him, feeling the way his muscles flexed at my touch.

“You are going to make me lose my mind if you keep that up,” he said in a gruff voice.

“Good.” I smiled up at him. “I want you to abandon all restraint. Show me every part of you, Ares. I want to know it all.”

“If that means I can spend all day buried inside you, scenting you and tasting the heat between your thighs, I will gladly forswear sanity.” He cupped my cheek.

I sucked in a breath, my heart pounding. Ares slipped a finger beneath my blouse and tugged it down until he could see the curves of my breasts. And then, with a wicked curl of his lips, he pulled it down the rest of the way. Cool air whispered across my bare skin, tightening my nipple. Ares dropped his head to my chest and gently kissed me.

I arched against him, overcome by need. His tongue swept across me, tasting me, teasing me, making me fully lose all sense of control. A moan curled from my throat. That seemed to only encourage him.

He tugged my blouse over my head, then pulled off my undergarments. His mouth was on my stomach within an instant, and his breath was hot against my skin. The tightness between my thighs was nearly unbearable now. I angled my hips toward him, needing to erase every last remaining space between us. I couldn’t bear to go even a moment longer without his touch there.

With a delicious growl, he slid his mouth down to the apex of my thighs. And then, in excruciating torment, he hovered there, gazing up at me with feverish desire.

My heart was thunderous.

Smiling, Ares leaned in and caressed my core with his tongue. I shook against him, twisting the sheets in my trembling hands. Stars danced in my vision. Again, he licked me. Again and again until the roaring in my ears was deafening.

His mouth covered me, tasting me and making me writhe. Suddenly, my body bucked against him as a wave crashed through me, my pleasure reaching its crescendo.

I gasped for breath, arching against the bed. My hands tightened around the sheets.

For a long moment, all I knew was bliss.

As the pulsing between my thighs began to slow, Ares climbed back up the length of my body and settled over me. He gently brushed my hair aside and dragged his mouth against my ear. Shivers followed in its wake. I moaned, closing my eyes and hooking my leg around his waist. Feeling him here, like this, was far better than the pleasure I felt from drinking blood. Nothing else measured up.

Nothing.

He lifted his head and met my eyes. Every emotion burning through me was reflected on his face.

“You are one of a kind, Selene,” he breathed, his crimson eyes still locked on mine. He slid his hand around my back and pulled me so close that I couldn’t tell where he ended and I began. “I want you, and I don’t care about anything else.”

I slid my hands across his shoulders, then down the length of his chest. His muscles flexed under my touch.

“Then take me,” I whispered, lifting my head to drop one kiss onto his chest and then another. “I want you, too, Ares.”

Ares gripped me tighter. One breath later, his hard length pressed against me. Tremors of need went through my core once again, and he slowly pushed inside. I gasped, digging my nails into his back. He gently rocked against me, taking his time, kissing my face and my neck.

“You are so beautiful, Selene.”

I wrapped my legs tighter around him and arched into his thrust. He moved faster against me, his thrusts deeper and full of growing need. As I gasped, he shifted his hands to my wrists and pinned my arms on either side of my head. He gazed down at me with adoration in his eyes, the same feeling coming over me.

Ares was a contradiction. He was rough and gentle. He was bloodthirsty and kind, too. And I’d never witnessed it more than I did in this moment. Being with him was nothing like I’d expected. It was so much more. It felt like it meant something. And while that should terrify me, it didn’t. I wanted things to be like this between us for a long, long while.

Emotions heightened, I rocked against him, meeting his need with my own.

“Selene,” he said in a murmur. “God, you feel so fucking good.”

I lifted my hips and moaned.

He gripped me harder, and a roar ripped from his throat. Shuddering against me, his thrusts slowed, his heart pounding so loudly I could hear it as if it were my own.

After a moment, he dropped his head to my chest and released his grip on my wrists. Gently, I reached up and dragged my nails through his hair, caressing his head, his neck, and his shoulders. With a breathless moan, he lowered his body onto mine and stayed there like that for a long while.

Eventually, he shifted to the side and motioned me closer. I inched into the shape of him, curling up against his chest. His skin smelled of sweat, musk, and me. He wrapped an arm around me and relaxed it there. The way our bodies fit together, and the ease at which he held me, it felt like we’d done this a thousand times.

More relaxed than I could recall being, I drifted to sleep. My dreams were full of good things for once. Mist and sea, warm summer breezes, and wavy silver hair. It was the best I’d slept in years.