Page 46 of All Good Dogs Go to Hades (The Hounds of Hades #5)

I was shining again, but this time, it wasn't from magic.

Yeah, I talked big, but when it came down to it, I was nervous to be with them.

These weren't just three human men—they were demigods.

Magical men. And they were mine. This would be our first time together.

First times are very important. It would set the tone for our sex life.

“Oh, fuck it,” I muttered and used my magic to blast my dress away.

Cyrus grinned as he laid me on my bed. I winked at him and waved a hand. His clothes turned into moon dust and drifted away even as he moved onto the bed and over me. I looked down his hard belly and licked my lips. He was ready to worship.

“We're doing this together.” Lex cast off his shirt as he entered the room.

Jake grunted. He was already down to his underwear.

“Come here.” I held out my arms.

The other two joined Cyrus and me. Somehow, we fit perfectly—Cyrus atop me with Jake and Lex to either side.

The time for teasing and lording my status over them was gone.

All my bravado vanished. In its place rose pure emotion.

Love. The love I had acknowledged on Olympus and needed to cement on Earth. It was real, and it took over.

Eyes welling with tears, I cupped their faces, then stroked their hair. I couldn't stop touching them.

“Salina?” Cyrus whispered.

“Selene,” Jake corrected him.

“I love you,” I said to Cyrus. Then to Jake, “I love you.” And Lex. “I love you.”

“We love you too, Selene ,” Jake said. It felt even more momentous coming from him.

“I don't know when it happened,” Lex said.

“But it has,” Cyrus finished. “I love you, you beautiful, brave, annoying woman.”

The semi-adoring words didn't stop. They kept falling from their lips as they moved closer, hands hesitating at first, then sliding over me possessively.

A feeling of “at last” poured through me.

It was as if I'd been waiting my entire existence to be touched by these men.

My heart hurt, it beat so powerfully. Then it acclimated, and I realized that love isn't painful at all.

It's a pleasure so sublime that it has no equal.

And I wasn't alone in it.

Their words were unnecessary. I could feel their love.

It seeped through their hands, lips, and bodies.

From their flesh. It was in their intoxicating scents.

Everything about my hounds screamed that they loved me.

Beyond mortal love. Beyond anything I thought was possible.

They were worth every second of torment that I had endured to get to them.

“Look at me.” I stopped Cyrus as he moved down, between my legs.

All three hounds focused on me.

“I have been cursed for centuries, masked in mortality, and tormented for stealing love.” I stroked their chests and cheeks. “But I'm grateful for all of it because it led me here. I need you to know that. You were worth it. Each of you is worth a hundred times what I suffered.”

“Selene, you will never be tormented again,” Cyrus vowed.

“Oh, I know, baby.” I grinned. “You don't have to protect me anymore. I will protect you.” I began to glow again. My moonshine encased us in love, magic, and safety. “Nothing will hurt us now. And no one is ever coming between us again.”

The men started to close in on me.

“But.” I lifted a hand.

They paused.

“Know that once we claim each other, there is no turning back.”

“Sweetheart, we've always known that.” Jake leaned down and kissed me.

The kiss sent pleasure surging through my body.

How had I been so ignorant of this? I never knew that love could make physical sensations more erotic.

More luscious. Just more. I arched into Cyrus's mouth, opening for him.

His hot tongue split me as I tangled tongues with Jake.

Meanwhile, Lex fed at my right breast, his shaft pumping against my hip.

So much to feel. I couldn't process it all.

Oh, wait. Yes, I could. Things that were too much for my human brain were nothing now.

I could think faster. See clearer. And I knew that this wasn't just destiny, it was also the path to my perfect joy.

I gathered my hounds to me—one hand in Jake's hair, the other across Lex's broad shoulders, and my left leg hooked around Cyrus.

I didn't need them to be inside me. I could claim them at any time. All I needed was their willingness. And they were certainly that.

My magic traveled through my moonlight. And my moonlight already flowed from me. All I had to do was send it deeper. Into them. Past flesh and bone. Deep into their souls.

The men cried out, bodies arching as moonlight shone through their skin.

The light claimed them, burning away the bidents from Jake's chest, Lex's back, and Cyrus's arm.

With the marks of Hades vanishing, their hips simultaneously jerked forward while their hands clutched me and their shafts anointed my new/old body.

I sighed as the hot liquid hit me, the sensation adding to the glorious rush of magic that returned to me—holding pieces of them inside it.

I hadn't lied to Hades when I said these men were now mine.

I might allow them to continue working for him, but it would be voluntary.

They were not beholden to Hades anymore.

Little did he know that when he offered me this deal, he was contracting with a goddess.

And when you give something to a goddess, you don't get it back.

I agreed to unmask Silas for him, and I did.

Hades agreed to give me a new life and these three men to go with it.

He had. Our bargain was nearly complete.

Now, for the final piece. I agreed to mate this Cerberus.

Holding the shuddering men close, I kissed their cheeks and whispered my love to them until they recovered.

It didn't take long before they were staring at me with utter adoration, their hands stroking me again, and their words as loving as mine.

Their bodies also rose to the occasion, and I sat up to put myself in the center of their circle.

“You're mine.” I looked each man in the eye. “Now, you get to make me yours. Together.”

They looked at each other.

Jake slid onto his back before me. Lex got to his knees beside him. Cyrus remained where he was but also got to his knees. Nothing more needed to be discussed. They knew what to do. Instincts were kicking in.

Body wet and wanting, I straddled Jake. Jake grasped the base of his cock to steady it for me.

After smiling at Cyrus over my shoulder, I leaned forward and to the side, bringing my mouth to Lex.

As I did that, the men moved in harmony.

First, Cy slid against my sex, slicking himself.

As he moved to my back opening, Jake moved into position at the front, his thick head nestling into my flesh, and Lex pressed his weeping shaft to my lips.

With a groan, I took Lex's hard flesh into my mouth.

It was the signal they had been waiting for. Jake and Cyrus entered me simultaneously so that the New Orleans Cerberus took its mate in unison. As they were meant to. As the magic urged all of us to.

In response, my magic eased the way for us, making the path to pleasure a smooth one. We came together harmoniously, my eyes closing in bliss as the men groaned deep in their chests. Working themselves deeper and deeper into me, they sent their magic questing.

And I welcomed it as much as I did their flesh.

Power burst through me. Death met Light.

My light wasn't burning or brash. It didn't challenge Death.

Instead, it merged with that Underworld magic as if they were made for each other.

And in that union, we became known to each other.

Death wasn't just death. It was another type of life.

It was more eternal than physical existence.

As the Moon was more subtle than the Sun, so was Death more intricate a magic than Life.

Swirling moonlight and soulfire. Four flames became one.

Four threads tangled together irrevocably.

The physical sensations didn't matter—they faded under the passionate union of our true selves.

There was nothing more sacred, more powerful than this.

This was the power of love that humans spoke of but never truly experienced. It was an honor reserved for gods.

Crying out around Lex, I let go of all restraint.

My body moved instinctively, guiding me through the act as my soul and mind were distracted by the true merging.

Pulsing and pumping, the Hounds of the Moon claimed their mate, plunging into my body and soul.

I spiraled up into the sky that had birthed me, screamed out in completion, and then came spinning back down to them.

Just as I shuddered through the little shocks that came after such a release, my hounds completed their claiming, bursting inside me with roars that echoed through the entire world and into the Realm of the Gods.

Claimed entirely, bound too tightly for anyone to slide between us, we collapsed together in a heap. Panting and smiling, our bodies going into random spasms, we clung to each other.

Nestled into my neck, Cy broke the silence. “I knew you were incredible. But a goddess?” He lifted his head to look at me. “You're going to be absolutely impossible to live with, aren't you?”

I burst out laughing. “Oh, yes. And you're going to love every second of it.”

Jake nuzzled in against my breast. “Yes, we are.” Then he sucked my nipple into his mouth.

“As a goddess, you must have a lot of stamina.” Lex moved between my thighs, giving me a wicked look.

“Enough to take more than you can give.” I winked at him.

Jake lifted his head to say, “Challenge accepted.”