Skin of a Goddess (Goddess Ascension Book 1) (7 page)

Nemesis frowns at me. “I’ll do what needs to be done. I expect both of you to take this seriously and follow the letter of the law as fully as possible. If I have to step in to make sure of this, then so be it.”

“Oh good goddess, your authority doesn’t mean you can make us sleep together.” I roll my eyes and say to Hunter, “Don’t drink anything she gives you.”

“Right.” He nods, with a little smile I don’t begin to attempt to analyze.

“I really don’t want to have to punish you two to keep the balance, but have no doubt that I will,” Nemesis warns. “That being said, congratulations, and I hope to see you at the party later, Hunter. Do you mind giving us a moment alone?”

Hunter throws me a questioning glance, and I give him a quick nod. The sooner he leaves, the sooner we can get down to the bottom of this craziness. A temporary marriage will complicate an already complex situation.

“I’ll see you downstairs,” Hunter promises before taking his leave.

As soon as the door shuts behind him, I pounce on Nemesis. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Her eyes narrow dangerously. “I should be asking you that! You’re jeopardizing everything we’ve worked so hard for!”

“If you’re worried about that, why are you forcing us to stay together? The more he’s around, the more likely he is to catch us plotting,” I hiss.

“No, you idiot. The more he has to sneak and prod you into giving him what he wants, the more likely he is to figure out what we’re really doing. If someone alerts the Olympians before it’s completed, they will end us,” Nemesis says. “Distract him with your assets and he’ll be out of our hair soon enough.”

Enyo nods. “Excellent point. Peitho, wave your lady bits in his face and his brain is sure to turn to mush.”

“What do I get if I play along with the handfasting? Sex is off the table.” I sniff.

“You get to continue living?” Dys asks.

“What do you want?” Nemesis asks in exasperation.

“I want Australia.” I smile.

“No!” Apate wails. “I had dibs!”

While serving as immortal representatives, we’ve been given free rein of Earth. In the past, we were much more restricted. The longer we’re on Earth, the more our powers acclimate to this dimension. If we’re able to finally break the boundaries binding our powers, we will be able to ascend to true, powerful goddesses in our own right. We’ll no longer be daimons or minor goddesses. We’ll have enough power to take the Earth as our own, no longer serving the Olympians.

We just have to figure out how to tap into the real depth of our power. The Olympians are strong because they take what they want, including power from others. They hold dominion over all Immortals, and in order to be stronger, they have made others weaker. We just need to reclaim what is rightfully ours. Luckily, we have at least a century to work on that puzzle. If the Olympians ever find out we’re planning a coup of Earth, we’ll never see the light of day again.

“Fine, you play nice and keep the dragon entertained. If you manage to keep him from digging and snooping around, you can have Australia. Assuming any of you buckle down and are able to assume your full powers,” Nemesis promises.

“We’re working on it. We’ve only been here a few months,” Ana points out.

“Work harder. We’re using borrowed time,” Nemesis points out. “Until any of you have updates, house meeting over.”

I watch everyone disperse.

Apate shrugs and says, “It could have gone worse.”

“How exactly could it have gone worse?” I ask. “I actually have to keep him.”

“Nemesis could have made you two fuck in front of us as proof, asked when you last menstruated so she knows when you’re ovulating, given the safe sex speech again, given Hunter the ceremonial keys to all of our houses, or better yet, told you to pack your things and move into Hunter’s hotel room! Plus, you got Australia. Some days, I really hate you.”

My eyes grow wide as I see Nemesis saunter up behind her and listen with interest. When Ana’s done, Nemesis says, “Firstly, I’ve never been a fan of watching others engage in sex. It just looks so dirty and primitive. Also, Peitho mentioned that a condom was used, so apparently nothing more must be said about safe sex. Lastly, there’s no way that Hunter’s moving in with us. As far as her moving into his hotel room, it matters little to me as long as he’s not around all of us.”

“Damn, I swear, Nemesis, can’t you make any sound when you move?” Ana gasps. “Where’s that bracelet we got you with the bells on it?”

“Ana, how would I sneak up on people to dole out retribution?” Nemesis counters before fading away like a shadow.

As Ana, Apate, and I leave our hotel room, I see Hunter loitering in the hallway. He gives me a sheepish smile. “Sorry you’re stuck with me for six months. I didn’t think it would be taken that seriously.”

He looks so sincerely sorry it’s hard for me to stay strong and rightly pissed. “Yeah, well, I’m sure you don’t want to be stuck with the slut of the daimon world, but here we both are.”

Hunter blinks at me, and I think I may have actually shocked him. “It’s not like you’re actually a slut. Anyone your age seems to have been around a lot, to people who haven’t lived since the beginning of time. I’m sure you don’t have a ton more … relations than others.”

“Certainly not as many as Zeus, and what the hell is his excuse? I mean, I get he’s king and all, but the title doesn’t come with a license to fuck. At least you have a legitimate tie to intimate acts, which is why you crave them more than some. But, honestly, that guy gets around way more,” Ana says with distaste.

Apate shakes her head. “It’s a good thing the big high and mighties in Olympus don’t give a shit what we say, or we’d have been long gone by now.”

I watch Hunter follow their exchange with wide eyes and a slight, amused smile. True, he looks gruff and threatening, but his eyes seem nice. The kind of nice and sweet eyes that I avoid. Mainly because I’ll eventually hurt someone, and nice guys seem to break more easily. I don’t really want to destroy someone as powerful as Hunter.

“Interesting crowd, eh?” I ask him as Ana and Apate debate.

“You certainly keep an odd group of friends. I’m sure it’s never dull.” Hunter grins. “I’m usually more on my own.”

“Really? I thought being a prince you’d be around people constantly,” I say in surprise.

Hunter makes a face. “Being a prince isn’t great for me. I hate to tell you, but you’re now connected to the embarrassment of the family. I’m not only the youngest, but also the worst diplomat in the world. I guess I don’t know when to censor what I say. No filter here, or I’m just oblivious. I don’t know, but all of those courtiers drive me crazy, and I tend to say or do something about it rather than politely suffering through it.”

I can’t help but grin. “Don’t worry about it. In this group, if you don’t speak your mind, you may be eaten alive. You don’t live in the palace then?”

“Gods no. I live near enough to show up if need be, which is rare. The family is happy not having me there. I mean, they love me and all that, but they prefer to see me more for family events where we’re away from prying eyes. I actually live in a cave most of the time. It’s away from the court and not too close to humans, though I also keep a house in the country that I stay at occasionally,” Hunter explains.

“Whatever, at least your family loves you and all that shit. I guess Aphrodite likes me well enough, but we don’t see each other too much. When I was younger, I was my mother’s handmaiden. Unfortunately, our gifts are alike enough that it didn’t work out. She has a mad jealous streak. She started a trend where servants are stuck wearing headscarves and shit.”

“It would have been impossible for her to hide your beauty.” He smiles before quickly changing the subject. “I imagine you’re pretty social?”

“I like to party and go out. I also like to stay in, since it’s kind of an event when we go out. I don’t always like to be on, personality wise, or have people all around me fawning over us. It’s more fun to be with other supernaturals, since mortals tend to go nuts at a pretty face, and the intrigue in that has definitely worn off.” I frown.

“I can imagine that; you are pretty old.”

“Only been alive forever, even if I just started out as an idea. How old are you? Am I grossly cradle robbing, or is it just slightly?”

“I’m five hundred and eighty-nine years old,” Hunter answers, sounding a bit uncomfortable.

“I can certainly say I’ve had younger. Then again, I’ve also had older.”

“I’m not that young.”

“Yep, you’re old enough to have matured, realized it was a boring way of life, and switched to being immature again. It’s like having wisdom but ignoring it most of the time. Plus, I bet you have some major cool treasure. Come on, tell me, tell me! You collect treasure in a big hoard, right? Keep it in your cave? I’ve heard dragons and griffins are treasure fiends,” I say, eyes lighting up.

Hunter answers my smile with one that is possibly even brighter. “What self-respecting dragon would I be without treasure? Of course I have a stash. I’m particularly fond of vintage crowns. I also like royal jewels, gem-encrusted gowns, and scepters. My biggest collection so far seems to be head and hair pieces, like those little combs for your hair and headbands.”

“No offense, but your collection sounds a little girly.”

“I also keep daggers, swords, scrolls, furniture, and all kinds of things. But my collection is also for my future mate. I want to have enough gifts to give her at least one every day of our lives together. Treasure is the ultimate show of appreciation,” Hunter says with a little shrug.

I try to cover up the way his words affect me by saying, “Well, if you start to run out, you can give her each earring at a time instead of as a pair.”

“Apollo is sooo not as big a meddler as Aphrodite!” Ana disagrees with Apate loudly, causing Hunter and me to turn our attention to them.

“If anyone is the bigger meddler, it’s Ares nowadays. He and that shifter biker gang he’s leading. I don’t know what the hell he’s thinking,” Apate says with some admiration. “I heard some amazing stories from the twins the other night!”

“Did she just say Ares is the leader of a shifter biker gang?” Hunter asks me in a slight whisper.

“Yeah, he’s got a real thing for leather,” Ana answers.

“Trust me, the others in Olympus must have been glad to be rid of him. When he’s jonesing for a fight, he picks on them like crazy. They’re the only ones who can give him a good run for his money, so he tries to start shit with them. Not that they give in, but sometimes he makes it damn hard to resist,” Apate adds.

“If you irritate me, I’ll sic him on you,” I warn Hunter.

“I know you’re probably not too happy with the current situation we’re in. It would probably be best to try to be friends and get through this together.”

“I don’t like to be tricked. You could have at least told me about the six months thing
before
we actually slept together. At least with you I know there’s the treasure side effect if I get bored. I can drool over it for at least a good month or two,” I tell him, finding it hard to stay mad despite the clear justification.

“You’d have to share the treasure chamber with me. I can look at it for at least three months.”

“You two are definitely starting to disgust me in your newfound friendship and understanding,” Ana observes. “Granted, I’m all peaches and cream happy that you’ve found common ground, blah blah. Do you think you can do something annoying and insensitive in the next day or so to spice things up? It’s not like any of us has ever been married before. I want to see how tragic it would actually be.”

Hunter raises a brow at me.

“Yes, she really is honest to goddess serious. Just ignore everyone else here. They lost their minds long ago, in a land far away,” I tell him, while rolling my eyes.

“More importantly, do you think I should add a pom-pom tail to finish my look? Carry a carrot around with me?” Apate asks, shaking her ass at us, currently tailless.

“You’re good to go.”

“Already a fashionable half hour late, so the party is sure to be hopping by now.” Apate grins. “I hope Deimos and Phobos come back with more of that yummy in my tummy wine.”

“The guy you were engaged with the other night?” Hunter asks me, suddenly serious.

“Engaged with … goodness, are you talking about the kiss? That was so not even major,” I respond hotly.

“That was Dolos, the god of trickery,” Ana supplies.

“I see. I’ll have to talk to him about our new arrangement,” Hunter says absently.

“It’s none of your business! Don’t get all possessive on me, or you’ll get my foot in your scaly dragon ass!”

“None of my business? Scaly!” Hunter yelps.

Ana nods happily at Apate as they bump fists, and Ana says, “Success.”

Chapter 6

Hunter:

“So you tricked her,” Julian says in an insultingly unsurprised voice.

I look around stealthily, making sure Peitho and all of her friends are out of hearing range. Luckily, there’s not much to worry about on that front. All of them are apparently nuts for glow bowling. They have their glow sticks hanging all about their bodies, and three lanes to play on. The fact that the woman in question is doing an embarrassing victory dance after getting a strike has nothing to do with my smile.

“I didn’t trick her. I helped her realize that what we have is special, and needs six months to simmer,” I say easily.

I watch as Peitho walks forward as if she’s going to take another turn, though she doesn’t have a ball. She stops right in front of the red “do not cross” line and spreads her legs. Far. Then she makes a come-get-some motion with her hands, and Apate throws the ball down the lane, sending it rolling right between my betrothed’s thighs.

“Damn, can you imagine how much that would hurt if she had too high a reach?” I ask in fascination.

“Hunter, can you please focus on the conversation at hand and not your tricked mate?” Julian says with annoyance.

His tone makes me turn back to him. Then I smile dopily, “I guess she is my mate, huh? Even if it is just for six months.”

Julian growls at me. I thought only shifters did that during polite conversation. “Are you going to tell her you tricked her into it? That ‘Little Hunter’ never made it to her southern borders?”

“I’m starting to wish I never told you about that. I don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, I tried to back out of it once I saw how difficult it would be for her and how much it means. But her pushy roommate, Nemesis, wouldn’t let me! Now we’re both just going to have to deal with it,” I say.

“Or you could tell her how you never fucked to begin with?” Julian suggests.

“That would ruin all of the good progress we made.” I look at him like he’s crazy.

“I swear you’ve gone completely insane. She’s going to be pissed when she finds out, and you know she eventually will. Do you really want to be stuck with a pissed-off goddess for six months?”

This I think about, since he finally has a good point. “I’m sure by then she’ll have succumbed to my natural charm and will forgive me easily. Or, you know, never find out. I could always give her a sparkly from my treasure as compensation.”

He just gives me a look. “That would literally be turning her into a whore.”

“Didn’t think that one out.” I shrug, not really listening as I watch Peitho jump on Lyssa’s back just as she’s about to swing. Her dress rides higher and higher until I can almost see—oh God, I hope she’s wearing panties. A quick glance around the room tells me every other guy here is hoping the exact opposite.

“Fine, whatever, we don’t have to talk about it anymore. I still don’t understand what you’re going to do with her for six months. The novelty is going to start wearing thin by month three at least. Besides, I hear her and the other goddesses travel a lot. Are you just going to tag along like a faithful puppy? Or take her to your cave? You can’t expect a girl like that to want to live with you in your cave, even if it is just temporary.”

“She said she doesn’t always like to socialize,” I point out.

“Sure, but I’m sure she always likes to be around a working toilet. Most of us have enough memories of before that, and don’t need a modern replay,” Julian says.

“I have a working toilet in the cave, but thanks for that thought,” I say absently.

“Let’s just leave that one alone for now. You’ll come to your senses soon enough. What do you think about the meeting earlier?”

“What meeting?” I ask.

“Hunter, snap the fuck out of it! The meeting about the girl who was found this morning. You know, the dead one! What do you think about that?” Julian says angrily.

“No reason to snap,” I grumble. “I didn’t know her personally or anything, but it’s always unfortunate to hear that someone’s been murdered and tortured.”

Julian asks, “Are you worried?”

“About what?” I ask in confusion.

“I don’t know, about the murderer? Someone like that isn’t just going to up and stop at one. Hell, it probably wasn’t their first kill. Are you worried that others here will be hurt?” he asks.

“I guess I hadn’t thought of it that much. Dragons don’t usually have to worry about being attacked or anything. Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit dangerous. I’m sure the supernatural enforcers will find the killer soon enough. I doubt he’ll strike the same place twice anyway. That would just be stupid.”

“Hey, excuse me,” a little guy breaks in, motioning to reach across me to the pretzels in a bowl on the bar.

“Oh, no problem.” I move back from the bar a bit, still seated.

“Hey, I’m Vincent,” the man says, easily six foot or so to my seven.

“I’m Julian, a merman, and this is Hunter, a dragon,” Julian says, nodding at me when he says my name. “What about you? Not a shifter, right?”

“You’re very right. As much as I’d love to be a shifter, I’m actually a human. I’m here as a representative of my vampire companion. He’s the coven leader and was unable to come to the convention,” Vincent explains.

I look him over but don’t see any bite marks. “Coven leader?”

“It’s kind of like the leader of a group of vampires. It’s a monarchy,” Vincent explains, then notices me eyeing him and says, “The bites heal.”

“That’s nice, must be easier to hide them from the humans. I mean, other humans. Do you like it here so far?” I stumble on.

He grins a little. “Oh, yeah. Vampires tend to keep to themselves, so I’ve only seen a few shifters before, and definitely no mermen. It’s really nice to be included like this. I feel like I’m part of the supernatural family already.”

I just look at him in confusion for a moment. He’s as much a part of the “supernatural family” as he’s ever going to be. It’s not like I can pass on the dragon gene to him and invite him for a flight.

Julian shrugs. “Not surprising. We don’t leave the kingdom often. We like to be as close to water as possible.”

“Hey, Vincent,” a werewolf greets quietly.

“Hey, Brandon,” Vincent says with an easy smile. “I think that’s a tigress. Brandon, come wingman me, will ya?”

The tall, lanky werewolf gives a shrug of his shoulders as a bit of brown hair falls into his eyes. “If I don’t have to do anything, sure.”

Vincent laughs a little. “By the end of the convention, you’ll totally be out of your shell, huh, guys? Anyway, I’ll see you later. Was good talking to you!”

The two of them trail off.

“Friendly,” I comment.

“Very,” Julian says with a scowl. “I just don’t know what kind of vibe we’re giving off that seems to make people think it’s okay to talk to us. Or that we’re, God forbid, friendly or something. Whatever it is, it better end soon.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mr. Antisocial,” I say.

He frowns at me. “As far as I’m concerned, you used to be too. Ugh, there’s the stink of human and wolf in the air now.”

“Don’t be a snob. The human doesn’t have any friends here. It was pretty brave of him to say anything to us,” I say.

“Brave or really fucking stupid,” Julian counters before glaring around the room.

“What are you doing now?” I ask.

“Making sure I look as unfriendly as possible. How the wimpy human thinks he can last a night with a tigress is beyond me,” Julian says before making eye contact with a werewolf and snarling.

I groan. “Don’t start any fights that you can’t finish.”

“Hunter!” comes a shout from across the room.

My head snaps in the direction to see Peitho smiling and beckoning me over. “I’ll be back in a bit,” I say, putting my drink on the counter and getting up.

“Right,” Julian says sarcastically, “more like six months from now.”

I ignore him as I walk toward my lovely, lovely lady. She’s surrounded by her friends and other shifters or people she’s met. It looks like she’s on a team with Apate, Ana, and Eve.

“What’s going on?” I try to seem casual.

“We just lost.” She pouts meaningfully at me.

I just look at her, waiting for more to be said. Then I realize that’s all she’s going to say, and quickly jump in with, “I’m so sorry about that. I’m sure you tried your best.”

“You think I tried my best and lost anyway?” Peitho asks, looking shocked and offended. “Never mind, let’s go dance, sugar plum.”

“Dance?” I question.

“Over there by the bar is a dance floor. You know, with dancing? It’s a disco, as far as I can tell. We’ll totally fit in. Here, why don’t you put on one of my glow sticks? No! Not the orange one. How about the green one? Now we’re all ready to boogie!” she says, putting the glow stick that had been a necklace on her around my wrist.

“I don’t really dance,” I say as I let her drag me ever closer to my version of hell.

She slows down enough to throw me a glare. “I just don’t understand when guys complain about not being able to dance. Girls are the ones who have to do all the work. You just stand there and sway a little as we shake our asses on your dicks and such. You can sway to the music, right?”

If swaying means she’s going to rub that deliciously plump ass on my dick, then hell yeah, I can sway. “I’m pretty sure I can do that.”

“Then we’re golden. Ha, literally!” She laughs at her own joke as we reach the edge of the dance floor.

Peitho looks at the packed group of people rubbing on each other. Some of the shifters include licking and some light nipping in their dance. The nymphs and sirens simply dance like they’re fucking. There’s barely any room for us to make our way in, even with hardcore techno music blaring and her body twitching as if it just has to move.

“Come on, I’ll make a path,” I suggest and tug her behind me. I start bulldozing my way through the crowd. As with most people when faced with my large frame, the crowd moves out of the way. Soon we’re in the middle of the dance floor, lights blaring all around us from the disco ball, smells from substances anything but legal invading my nose, and my senses well and truly rattled.

“Shifters totally know how to party,” Peitho says, pulling my head down so she can scream in my ear. “They have a DJ and everything!”

I can’t help but glance left and right at all the bodies writhing around me and wish that I were anywhere else but here. Then Peitho starts to dance. She faces me and aligns her hips with mine, then starts grinding and shimmying against my body. I suddenly wish to never leave this beautiful, amazing place.

It’s all I can do to remember to sway slightly to the tempo. It’s true, she’s doing all of the work in our dancing pair. I can’t help but just stare at her. Under this dim, colored light, she glows. There’s something gritty and raw about the whole experience. We’re here with dozens of other people, grinding on one another in a modern form of dancing. I’m sure other cultures would see this as a fucked-up orgy kind of thing, but damn, it feels so good.

“Isn’t this fun?” she asks, close to my ear.

I nod at her. “Yeah, lots of fun.”

Peitho turns around so her ass is rubbing against my cock in a gyration to the tempo, just like she said it would be. It takes all of my concentration to control things down south. I mean, I don’t want to scare her off from my overeagerness. She may act like a modern woman, but I’m sure her age means there’s some old-fashioned sensibilities buried deep in there.

She pulls my head down and turns hers to the side so she can say, “We could have even more fun.” Her tongue darts into my ear as she bites my earlobe. “Ever heard of the horizontal tango?”

It takes me a moment to realize what is happening. Then I do the dumbest thing imaginable. I try to act like a gentleman. “I, um, don’t really think it’s a good idea to do that right now. We’re just getting to know each other and getting used to the arrangement. How about we wait a while?”

Peitho stops dancing and turns to look at me. Then she reaches purposefully forward and feels me through my pants. “Not hard. Huh, you over it, then?”

“What?” I gasp, backing away from her hand.

“Gay?” she asks, pulling back.

“How can you say that after what we’ve already done?” I ask in horrified confusion.

Peitho just shrugs at me. “I’d just like to know what to expect here.”

“I’m not gay, or bi, and I’m really, really interested! I just think we should wait. You’ve just agreed today that we’re handfasted. Besides, I thought you didn’t want to do that anyway?” I ramble.

Peitho just shrugs at me. “A girl can change her mind, you know. You seem like you’d be enough fun. Might as well have a little until the end of the convention and we part our ways. Plus, it will make Nemesis totally get off my case.”

I try not to see red at the fact that she’s willing to sleep with me to get her roommate off her case. It’s beside the point that all she sees in me is “enough fun.” I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into this time. I just really don’t. Besides that, I don’t know why I care and don’t just go along with it. It’s not as if an opportunity like this falls into my lap every day. Or decade. Hell, every century!