Page 49

The night was spectacular. Hades himself said so.

It was the first time in centuries that several Cerberuses came together like that.

Over twenty teams attended the party, many with mates.

It was a celebration, after all. The war was over.

The Host disbanded. Unfortunately, that meant the “death” of its members when Ace released their souls.

But Hades said he'd make sure they got sent back quickly for another go at life since their last had been cut short by a demigod.

And Ace made anonymous donations at their funerals.

Was all Ace's atoning enough? Probably not.

My nephew had done terrible things, as he had admitted.

But that's love. It can raise a man to great heights or lower him to horrible depths.

Ace had run the gamut of love and come out with nothing to show for it.

He had still lost me in the end, and if you've ever been in love, you'll know that his loss was penance enough.

I felt bad for the kid. But at least now, he could move on.

I saw him talking to Clotho at the party and it didn't look like a business meeting, if you catch my divine drift.

What a pairing that would be.

But back to my pairing. Or quadring? Whatever you call it. I had my hounds, and they had me. As Atropos said, it was done.

The night wore down at last. Gods and mortals left, tired but happy. Most of them, at least. Wren and her Cerberus were spending the night. We were going to spend some time together before they went back to Oregon. I was looking forward to that. But until dawn, my hounds and I would run wild.

I stood in the main suite—now our shared suite—and stared out the window at the full moon. A full moon on Halloween. What were the odds? Probably as low as a lost goddess regaining her magic just in time to mate a Cerberus and take them from Hades himself.

Moonlight streaming through me, filling me with power, I felt my mates come up behind me. They too, needed to bathe in the light of the Moon. Our light. I wasn't her lone avatar anymore. Now, the Moon had four representatives on Earth, drawing down her energy to spread among humans.

I'm back, bitches!

All my sass evaporated when three hands slid up my bare back. Yes, bare. We were moonbathing. That meant naked time. And we were too freshly mated for naked time to not turn into sexy time. But first, the bath.

They closed in around me, pressing their big, hard bodies against my smaller, softer one.

I loved the differences between us. Isn't that the best?

Hard against soft, rough against smooth.

Physical existence is nothing without all those lovely sensations.

But without beautiful emotions to enhance the sensations, that's all they were.

Just a bunch of nerve endings firing and sending signals to the brain.

Flesh feeling flesh. It's great and all, but the effervescent joy beneath the physical feelings, rising to my skin like champagne bubbles, made it thirty times better.

Sighing, I turned, moving in a circle from man to man.

Kissing one while stroking the other two.

With my goddess mind, I was an apt student and had quickly learned how to make love to them.

How to be with all three of them at once.

Although, it didn't have to be like that.

We did enjoy the occasional one-on-one time.

They could all participate, whether they were physically present or not.

But this was our favorite. Me and my entire Cerberus.

Warm skin. Cool breezes. Magic in the moonlight.

These were my rewards for those years of suffering.

I had made it to the end zone where they waited for me—arms open.

It wasn't easy. It was centuries of life as a human.

Growing, learning, and changing. But it was necessary.

All of that experience made life easy now.

It had almost been too easy to fall in love with them.

To bind myself and accept their bond. Simple. I suppose all the best things are.

“I love you,” they whispered.

I said it back, over and over, as they lifted me between them and carried me to bed. Bath time was done. The Moon had merged with us and given us her blessing. Now, we needed to glory in another type of magic.

Our bed was larger now. I'd insisted on it. We needed the space to roll about. Be free. Get a little savage. And Halloween was the perfect night to let your wild side loose. As soon as they laid me on the bed, I was up again, on my hands and knees.

“Jake,” I said. That was all. It was all I needed to say.

The other two knelt in front of me while Jake moved behind me.

Even though it was awkward with me in that position, Jake could never resist getting a few licks in before moving on to the main course.

I groaned through the long laps of his tongue, stroking upward, over that sweet spot and back.

Only when he deemed me ready did Jake get onto his knees between mine.

I licked my lips and looked at Lex. Grinning, Lex offered me my prize.

Just as his incredible taste brought my tongue to life, his hard flesh sliding in to fill my mouth, Jake slipped into my sex.

My moans made Lex moan. Slam! Jake sheathed himself fully.

My channel tingled and clenched around him even as he withdrew.

Slam! I moved with the shove of Jake's hips, taking Lex even deeper.

Slam! The pace increased until I was moving over Lex's cock without any effort on my part.

It was all Jake and his powerful thrusts.

Love moved through me still, but passion overwhelmed it, pushing the emotion into the background as sheer, savage need took hold.

It's all right. I knew the love was there.

I didn't need it in my face constantly. Shit like that gets annoying.

And as I learned about my lovers, they learned about me.

They annoyed me less and less these days.

And when they did, it was on purpose—the rascals.

I shoved back on Jake so I could come off Lex and move over to Cy. Cyrus was ready, holding his cock at its base like an offering. I found it worthy and showed him my appreciation.

Oh, the pleasure. It was almost too much.

That aching need fulfilled. The ecstasy of the filling.

And beneath it, sweetening the ride, that foundation of love.

Our love for each other. With our bonds, we could share more than power.

They felt each other's pleasure and now, I could feel it too.

So, it wasn't only my rapture that rode me.

It was all of ours. A circling ring of passion that grew stronger and stronger with every lap around the speedway. Until . . .

The four of us cried out, flesh shivering, quaking, clenching, and releasing.

A united orgasm gripped us and sent us tumbling into a chasm that gave my belly roller coaster thrills even as my body trembled into satisfaction.

Locked in our pleasure, we stayed upright through it, but when it receded at last, we fell together into a puppy pile.

Limbs tangled, hearts slowing, and breath stroking hot skin. I smiled against Cy's chest.

As if he could read my thoughts, Cy asked, “Will this ever get old?”

Lex snorted a laugh. “Of course not.”

Jake grunted and wrapped himself around me more tightly.

“It will grow old when we do,” I murmured.

The men laughed softly, then moved to lie on the pillows.

It had been a long night, and we had guests to entertain in the morning.

But what was truly amazing was how unimportant sex had become.

Oh, I still loved it. Don't get me wrong.

Every time we were together, it was the most spectacular sex I'd ever had.

I'm not trying to diminish how incredible it was to be with my hounds physically.

But I didn't need it as I had in past relationships.

Sex always felt like the deepest connection I could achieve with a man.

I wanted it again and again, never satisfied because sex wasn't what I was after.

It was love. The real stuff. And not that one-sided unrequited crap.

I'm talking requited all the way. That's what I'd been after, and that's what I now had.

Whether we were making love or not, we still had that love.

I could be miles away from them and feel them with me.

So there was no urgency in me to get physical again. They were always in me. Deeper than flesh could go. And I was in them. My hounds and me for eternity.

And so it was that the Moon found her mates. The peace she represented but never could find was hers at last. She closed her eyes and shone with happiness as she fell into the slumber of the truly satisfied.

Yeah, I'm talking in the third person. I'm a goddess now. That's what we do. Get over it. And go away. The story is over. Sheesh. Stop being such a creeper. Get your own hounds. These are mine.

Forever.