Page 5

5

AZAZEL

M ultiple rounds of rock-paper-scissors and a drawn wrestling match from a very disappointed Ares determined he and I had the pleasure of sleeping in Diana’s bed. He spooned her from behind, his arms and legs wrapped around her leaving no space between them. His forearms pushed her breasts up and together, forming a pillow softer than heaven’s clouds for me to rest my head on.

Thoughts swirled in my racing mind as I took in Diana and Ares’ sleeping forms in the darkness of her windowless bedroom. I slept better last night than I had in days, since long before our captivity in the pit. The feeling of Diana’s warm, soft skin on my face and her sweet scent lulled me into a deep, blank void. The deeper we got into this war, the more visions I had. Some of them were vivid, gruesome depictions of the battles ahead that kept me awake at night. Images of the guys dying at Red’s hands or Diana being captured plagued my dreams. One vision beheld the decaying of the earth after Red’s victory. It was a barren wasteland, with no life, human, paranormal, or otherwise.

Other visions were fragments of a life far removed from the war, where the six of us resided together in a quiet, remote forest. We lived a life free of fighting, Hell, or the rebuilding of a world that was surely shattered by conflict. One even included a small, dark haired girl with a cherubic face, curly chestnut brown hair, and ocean blue eyes…

“Daddy, where is Dollie? I can’t find her!”

Her little pouty lips quivered with worry over her favorite doll. The one Mal and her made during craft time.

“I’m sure we’ll find your doll soon, but you need to use your own magic and find her yourself. Daddy can’t fix everything for you, baby girl. Close your eyes, and imagine winding your magic through the house. See it move, tell it to find her.”

She held my hand and closed her eyes. Several seconds passed, and she squinted with strain. This was complex magic for such a little girl, but if she was anything like her Mama, she needed to hone her magic early. She had to learn to keep it under control.

“Daddy, I can’t!” She wailed in defeat. “What if she’s scared? What if the evil people from Pápa’s stories have her…what if they came back and took her?”

That vision broke my heart, because there was a real possibility that even if we won this war, the fight would never be over. The threat of someone rising up and trying to take power would always loom over our heads. Because power was a beacon for the deplorable, greedy bastards of the world.

I was terrified I’d never get to meet our little girl. I would never teach her how to fly. Ares would never tell her stories of his many battles. Desmond would never teach her how to use her magic. Bash would never watch over her. And Mal would never play teatime with her. Maybe it was my Sight, but I knew the role each of us would play in her life, if we could fight our way to the other side of this living nightmare.

“Zaz…” Diana’s voice was craggy with sleep. “I can hear your heartbeat, it’s so fast. Are you okay?”

My lesson in betraying her was hard-learned. I knew I shouldn’t lie…but part of having Sight was knowing that not every vision came to pass. Nor was every vision wise to share. I refused to tease her with the promise of an unguaranteed future, just as I refused to share the horrors of a battlefield we may never fight on.

I swallowed down the urge to tell her everything and told her as much as I comfortably could. “I had a vision, but I can’t remember all of it. Sometimes they’re so fast, I can’t.”

She wriggled free of Ares’ limbs, then burrowed her face into my chest. As if she could feel my internal struggle or read my mind, she said “It must be so difficult to have such a gift. To be taunted with the ghosts of amazing and horrible things, never knowing if they’ll take form.”

An amazingly insightful thought for someone who did not possess Sight. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. Diana was intelligent, not just in her mind, but in her heart.

She ran her hand through my hair, trailing feather soft kisses across my pecs. Losing myself in her gentleness, the comfort of her body, was my favorite escape from life’s plagues. I rolled onto my back, stretching out and pulling her on top of me. With every press of our lips, I deepened the kiss, exploring her mouth as if it was uncharted territory. I trailed my fingertips under her shirt and down her back in light, teasing strokes. Her gasps and moans as she ground herself against me went right to my cock.

I eased my hand down her sleep shorts, finding her hot and bare beneath. My fingers slid through her wetness, gathering some before bringing it back to her clit. Every loose, slow circle around it teased her, giving her just enough sensation, but not enough to get off. She sat up, positioning herself over my hardness as she rolled her hips in an effort to take what she wanted. Every time I felt her get close, I drew my fingers back just enough to keep her on the edge.

As she writhed on top of me, I felt an overwhelming wave of positivity crash into us. It felt like an electric rush through my frayed, tired system, a warm burst of energy setting me anew. Diana smiled, basking in it as a low, breathy moan escaped her lips.

The positivity was strong enough to wake Ares, who sidled next to us, his large body rustled beneath the blankets. He snapped his fingers, removing her shirt. We watched her for several moments, taking in her bouncing breasts and the strained look on her face as she tried to get more friction.

He rested his head on my shoulder and his muscled body curled against mine. His lips brushed my cheek when he slid his own hand down the back of her pants. I heard Diana groan as he slid a thick finger inside her.

“Your pussy is so wet. So fucking tight it’s squeezing me,” he rasped. I kept alternating between soft circles and pinching her clit, both of us pleasing her in tandem. “Feathers, you need to feel this…”

I turned my head to the side, catching a molten heat in his eyes. Ares’ playfulness was fun. It was one of his most endearing qualities. But his raw sensuality…the heaviness to his voice…the way his tongue trailed over his bottom lip as he let his smoldering gaze burn me. It made me putty in his hands.

I slid a finger inside her from the front, using the heel of my palm to play with her clit. Our fingers worked together inside her, making her moan while we thrusted up inside her.

“Fuck, yes,” she breathed. “More.”

“Be more specific, my Little Goddess,” he purred in that Greek accent. I reined myself in so I didn’t come on the spot. “More what?”

He withdrew his finger from her, then knelt behind her. He grabbed the collar of her tank, ripping it in half and pushing it off her. Each of his hands cupped her breasts, massaging them slowly. She keened, her face pleading as he teased her nipples between his fingers. I pushed two more fingers inside her, working them deep. Her wetness coated them and I yearned to lick each one clean, to savor her taste on my tongue.

I need to taste her, I linked Ares.

“After you come, I’m laying you out on your back and watching Feathers eat your juicy, pink pussy. When he’s had his fill, it’s my turn. We’re ravenous, Little Goddess. We’ll make you come as many times as we want because we’ll never have our fill of you.”

“You can take it, right Honey?” I needed to see her come, feel her clamp around my fingers until they broke.

“Yes,” she yelled, working her hips faster. Ares kept pulling and pinching her nipples, trailing kisses down her neck. “ Please… ”

“I can’t wait to feel you come on my face,” he whispered into her ear. “I’ll drink you up and beg for more, my fucking beautiful Goddess.”

His filthy words set her off. She came with a shout, her thighs clamping around my hips as her entire body shook. I flipped us over and laid her on her back, spreading her legs apart. Her sex was glistening with her first release, and I licked her clean slowly, avoiding her clit. My tongue traced her folds, spearing inside her lazily while Ares watched us. He was curled next to Diana by the headboard, his muscles bunched. I felt his focus like a spotlight shining on me.

He took himself in hand, his breaths a bit heavy as he stroked his massive length. “Fuck, I love watching you two almost as much as I love playing along.”

Diana moaned, throwing her head back and aiming her blue doe eyes at him, no doubt to draw him in. “No one said you had to watch…”

He slid down the bed, throwing her leg over his shoulder and settling next to me between Diana’s thighs. Our bodies touched from our shoulders down to our calves. His skin was so hot it felt like a brand against mine. I wondered if his tongue would feel as hot inside my mouth…trailing along my dick, inside me…

He nudged me over, so our faces were touching. I lifted my hips, giving my aching cock some relief from being pressed into the mattress.

I’ll take care of you next, Feathers, he mindlinked me. He nipped at the outer shell of my ear, then soothed the bite with the flat of his tongue, answering my question from before. The hot, rough texture made me feel like I was melting into a sentient puddle.

He turned his attention to Diana, giving her a wicked grin before his tongue circled her clit. He alternated between soft teasing licks and deep, pulling sucks until she was in tears, so close to coming, to falling off the edge into pure pleasure.

“Your turn,” he rasped, grinning at me.

I pushed two fingers inside her, rubbing that deep, hidden spot as I nuzzled over the same spot Ares did. Every time she clenched around me, or made one of those breathy, needy noises, I felt as if I was floating through the clouds, soaring so fucking high I’d never come down again. Her legs started to shake again, trying to close around us on instinct, but Ares helped me hold them open.

She writhed, pushing her pussy into my face as I devoured her. Tears streamed down her cheeks, falling onto her chest. Ares gathered them up with his fingertips, then pinched her nipples. She detonated, coming onto my face with a scream.

“Fuck me,” she begged, her voice out of breath. “I don’t care how, but please .”

You should go first, Ares insisted.

Who said we had to take turns? My earlier thoughts returned to me. I wanted to feel Ares inside me.

Fuck, you can’t just say shit like that unless you want me balls deep inside you, he growled.

Before I could tell him that I meant what I said, a blaring alarm sounded through the bedroom, echoing off the walls and almost rupturing my ear drums. It startled Diana so hard she fell onto the floor. Ares reached over and slapped her ass, then leapt from the bed solidly to his feet. A wave of his hand muffled the alarm, giving us all a much needed reprieve from the jarring sound.

“That’s the emergency bell. Get dressed,” he ordered. He waved his hand a second time, cleaning Diana up. “Feathers, are you getting any links from Desmond or Lucifer?”

Before I could answer, Bash’s British lilt infiltrated my mind. His voice was harried, weary.

Wake up. NOW. Have everyone meet us in the conference room.

Diana ran to her closet, throwing on black active leggings, a sports bra, and a lavender hoodie. She shoved a bottle of water into the center pocket.

“Oisín linked me. Judas locked the entire compound down, no one gets in or out,” she breathed with a distant look in her eyes. “He said to gather everyone in the conference room.”

“Desmond linked me the same thing, let’s go,” Ares growled.

His entire body was tense. He was a sword ready for battle, brimming for whatever conflict laid before us. This was his God of War mode—his living embodiment of savage weaponry.

A rapt knock on the front barrack door sounded through the hallway. We ran to the door, half terrified and curious to see who it was.

“Don’t answer it.” Ares inched closer, poised to strike at whoever was on the other side.

Our combined magics reached out to touch the wards on the front door. But I didn’t feel anyone.

“Tuck and roll Lady Morningstar. Shit hit the fan,” a familiar voice drawled.

The door swung open as Quelier strode through, tablet in hand. Ares’ sharp reflexes spared him from getting hit in the face with it. Fae PA wore a crisp white dress shirt and black slacks. His thick black glasses sat perfectly on his sharp face, and not a strawberry blond hair on his head was out of place. Did he wake up this early, ready for the day? Was it a Fae magic thing?

“For fuck’s sake it reaks of angel sex in here. Get yourselves together and try to look alive. We’re needed in the conference room. Lucifer is going to debrief us all on the calamity afoot in ten minutes.”

Diana’s face turned beet red. So did Ares’, but I highly doubted it was from embarrassment. I know he didn’t like another man outside the five of us being so close to her after sex, smelling her blissed out scent.

“How the fuck did you get through our wards?!” Ares growled. “How do you even know what the alarm means?”

“Greek Daddy, wards are for regular magic folk, not Fae. We’re built differently. Be thankful I knocked.” His gaze swung to me and he cleared his throat. “You can’t attend the meeting in boxer briefs, even if it is a good look for you.”

With a snap of his fingers, I was clothed in gray chinos, a white shirt, and a long navy cardigan. I felt my hair tug at the roots as it was lifted into a top knot. I’d actually pick something like this out for myself.

“Thank you, Quelier.” He nodded at me without looking up from his tablet. After a few swipes of his fingers, his gaze focused on Diana.

“If this emergency doesn’t throw us completely off schedule, you’ll have magical combat training this morning after breakfast, followed by another lesson from Tempus. You’ll need to wear something appropriate for that, but also sleek enough for a crisis meeting…”

I was curious what he’d pick, or if Diana would even let him dress her. She was fond of her active wear. Honestly, I was too.

I hope he keeps her in something similar. Her ass was made for spandex and sundresses, I whispered down the mindlink to Ares.

“I like Diana’s outfit,” Ares groused in warning as he took a quick peek at her behind.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Quelier replied as he realized where Ares’ gaze landed.

He snapped his fingers, changing Diana’s outfit to ankle length burgundy red catsuit with long sleeves and black combat boots. When she turned around, I noticed that two sheer panels draped over her back, revealing a matching low-cut sports bra underneath.

“Comfortable, stylish, and wing friendly in the back. And I made sure the pants were Ares-approved,” he confirmed as he gave Ares a cursory glance. “You’re welcome.”

Diana took in her reflection in the living room mirror, a small smile curling her lips. “I’m starting to get nervous. Let’s get over there and figure out what’s going on.”

We were the last to fade into the room. Everyone in Lucifer’s inner circle was here, even Nonna, Angela, and Charlie. Feta and Diana’s three new pet velociraptors chased each other around the room. They had on sparkly collars in different colors. Feta broke away from the pack and gave me a few good sniffs before licking my hand. The gigantic beast of a dog had grown on me since Ares brought him back to the compound. I prayed the velociraptors never did, because those scaly little shits were creepy as fuck.

“Come on, my beasties. Y’all gotta go home,” Quelier said before he snapped his fingers, and they disappeared. Where was their home? I need to know so I never go there…

The Costa coven leadership occupied an entire side of the long table, quietly whispering to themselves, except for August, Judas’ second. He watched everyone at the table, taking everything in. Judas’ usual fun-loving, mischievous expression was gone, replaced by a tense jaw and fear in his eyes. Diana’s fathers sat at the head of the mahogany table with Marilyn, whispering to themselves.

Something is definitely wrong… Ares linked me as we took the only open seats.

Quelier sat next to Diana, his palm extended toward the table, calling forth a field of incandescent light that beamed down from the ceiling to the middle of the table. A slowly rotating 3-D image of a black card with a white star appeared within it.

Lucifer stood. “I’m going to cut right to it. The Princeps Council left that for us overnight. It means we’ve broken one of the laws. They’ll be here within the day to pass judgment.”