Divine Ecstasy (The Guardians of the Realms Book 8) (2 page)

Tria
– Evil Triplets spawned from incestuous coupling of Ares and Artemis; Deimos, Phobos and Than

Tsouximo
– Hell beast resembling a giant scorpion

Uri
– AKA Urian, Aletheia, interrogator, Guardian of the Realms, mate to Alex

Vane
– Demi-God son of Athena, Ailouros (half-lion), Erik’s twin, Alex’s younger brother, Brianne’s mate

Zeus
– Sleeping God

Prologue

Apollo’s Palace, Earth Realm – Millennia Ago

Agony threatened to split Sacha’s mind in two.

The painful rending nearly forced a cry from her lips and came with a wave of emotion so powerful and heartbreaking she was forced to brace a shaking hand against the smooth stone wall. She drew her hand to her side, heart tightening as she glanced down the long hall, making sure there were no witnesses to her agony.

Her sister was dead.

The second she could move, she shifted her long mass of ebony hair back over her shoulders and slipped quickly through the candlelit space. Her slippers were silent against the marble floors, they had to be. She could not afford to call attention to herself, and there was no time to waste.

The onslaught of confusion and pain running inside her mind fed her urgency. She swallowed past the constriction in her throat. Mourning wasn’t possible.

Not now.

Not ever.

She allowed herself one last shaky breath before she closed off all emotion and willed her heartbeat to steady. Too many of the guards were Lykos or Ailouros, and the wolves and felines existing inside those Immortals made hiding all emotion necessary.

It was not only her pain attempting to rip her apart, she was also subject to the agony and disorientation of the small boy who needed her now. Her blood. Her sister’s only child and the son she would claim and protect as her own as she had promised. She forced calm into her mind, blocking most of his pain, as she followed the mental link to him.

Her last few minutes with her sister replayed in her mind as she slipped through the dimly lit tunnel.

“There is not much time. Apollo will be expecting me soon.” Phedra’s words were low as they both darted glances down the tunnel. “He plans to send me to gather information on Ares and Artemis.”

“He cannot,” Sacha ground out, her mind was reeling with her sister’s words. Others of their race had been sent on similar tasks through the years, never to return. A glimpse of the golden serpents circling both their wrists reminded Sacha just how powerless they were. Those bands not only drained Immortal strength and power, they severed family bonds and kept them all from rising up against the corrupt Gods.

They were slaves.

“He can, and he will,” Phedra said with added force.

This could be a death sentence, or worse, if the stories of Ares and Artemis were true. Sacha could only hope that those tales had been fabricated by Apollo to keep them in fear of the other Gods, but too many had been lost after leaving the island.

Already her mind was working to find a way to save her sister.

The low cadence of Phedra’s voice slipped through Sacha’s thoughts. “I need you to do something for me.”

The dim look in her sister’s eyes made Sacha’s bones ache.

“I need this. I wouldn’t ask it otherwise.” Strength and determination combined with urgency told Sacha just how real this was. How little time they might have.

Her heart stilled, but she nodded. “Anything.”

“I need to mentally link you to Sebastian.” Phedra’s son, her only child, who’d been taken at birth to be raised in the warrior camps. The boy had been thrust into the fate of all Immortal young. An existence both she and Phedra knew well.

Sacha wouldn’t hesitate to protect her sister’s child with her life. But she didn’t want to, she wanted Phedra to come back.

“You will return…” The attempt at reassurance was bitter on Sacha’s lips.

The very real fear that Phedra wouldn’t be able to complete her task settled inside Sacha’s stomach. She barely heard her sister’s voice as she blindly nodded.

She could take her sister’s place, but Apollo would never consider it. She was a failure in the God’s eyes, which had been her exact intentions in hiding some of her talents. Even her secret ability wouldn’t be enough to allow her to take Phedra’s place.

The only skill Phedra had managed to conceal from Apollo and Hermes was her power in forming mental links. It was something that no Immortal should have been capable of, not after all the Gods had done to control and imprison them. Phedra had linked them mentally long ago, having felt the echoes of their true family bond the moment they’d met. They couldn’t communicate through it, but the connection allowed them to feel the other’s emotion and track each other’s location. With all the intrigue in the palace, it had been a lifeline they had often used… Their one true comfort.

“Thank you. I would not ask this of you if there were any other way.” Her sister closed her eyes. “I should never have reinforced my bond with him after he was taken, but I could not stop…” Phedra sucked in a shuddering breath. “I had to know he was safe. I had to have that small connection to him even if he never understood. Never knew I was there. It was selfish, but I cannot help that now.”

Phedra’s dark eyes were hard when she gripped Sacha’s hands in hers. “If my bond with him breaks, he won’t understand. And you know what it is like in the warrior camps.” The urgency in her sister’s tone said it all. They’d both been raised there. A yawning void opened inside her.

Sacha nodded. “I know.” Any show of emotion was dangerous in that place. Only aggressive emotions and acts were allowed. Anything else meant the mental training had failed. Failure equaled death for the very young… Their bodies were but instruments in creating the Deity’s perfect army.

Apollo had used beasts in the first Immortals to make them stronger. They were nothing more than weapons, breeders or servants. That was the reason the God tore families apart and mentally conditioned them as children. Their only value was in serving him or protecting his island.

“You’ll come back.” Sacha infused her tone with conviction.

When her sister shook her head and tightened her hold, Sacha held her hard gaze. “You have to come back.” She didn’t want her sister going into the task already defeated. “You will. But I promise you that Sebastian will be protected if something happens. On my life, I swear it.”

Or Sacha would die trying. “Now promise me that you will do anything you have to in order to gain sanctuary with Hades, Athena or Aphrodite, or return here.”

Her sister’s bronze shoulders straightened. “I promise I will do everything possible to make it back.” Phedra brought her in for a tight embrace. Sacha soaked in the warmth and sweet scent of her sister. She held her emotions intact even as her heart was breaking.

“I’ll be waiting,” Sacha whispered. “Now do it.”

Her sister’s shoulders eased, but she still maintained their tight embrace.

Sacha sucked in a breath when she felt her sister inside her mind. It was comforting, warm, but when the new sliver of light slid from her sister out to her, Sacha was forced to hold onto her sister’s arm. The connection was incredibly pure, so brilliant and light that she never wanted to see it dim. The second it locked into place, she searched her sister’s eyes and felt the breaking of both their hearts. Neither could say anything for a moment. They would pretend for the moment that Phedra was coming back and the child hadn’t just become Sacha’s.

“Thank you,” her sister said with a hitch in her voice. “I must go.” The finality in her tone was as harsh as the booted steps echoing from down the hall. “Take care of him.” Phedra squeezed tight once more before adding with a slight hitch, “When he is old enough to understand, tell him I loved him more than life. And that the greatest gift I could give him was you.”

Sacha forced tears away as she tried to be strong for both of them.
“I love you… He will know.” With a last hug, both swallowed. Phedra turned and was gone.

Sacha came out of her memories, forcing away the anguish all over again. She had a promise to keep and a child that needed her, but after that she vowed to find some way, any way possible to destroy Apollo and Hermes.

Her mind racing, she turned down another hallway, alert to any movement in the silent tunnel.

Not only would she wield the power she’d managed to hide from the Gods, she was going to enter the one place forbidden by all but a select few of the highest-ranking guards.

And she had to succeed.

Outwardly she was calm, her breathing steady and her features soft. Nothing in her appearance would betray her emotions. She slid her dark cloak back to show her bare shoulders and the sheer white of her dress. She’d be at the entrance soon and she only had one opportunity to get close. Her body was one of the few advantages allowed her, and she would use it without thought. She relaxed into the seductive glide she knew would show the sentry what she was offering.

Sacha lowered her lashes and lifted her lips in invitation when she grew near the Lykos.

The big male raised a dark brow. “You shouldn’t be down here, female.”

“I thought you would like the company.” The sultry affectation slid from her without thought.

The male lifted his nose to the air, and she was careful not to allow anything in her scent or demeanor to betray her. She was used to dealing with the animal breeds. She focused her mind and body to exude pure sexual intent. Male Immortals were base creatures who needed and wanted all the time. Sex and the Earth’s energies were fuel for their bodies. She was grateful for that weakness.

His amber eyes clouded with caution and a hint of desire. “I am on duty now,” he growled.

She just needed to get a little closer. She slid her fingers over her bottom lip before whispering, “We can be fast… Quiet…”

When he lowered his hand away from the blade at his side and looked behind her, she knew she had him. Moving in close, she lifted to her toes and slid her hands over his chest. He didn’t pull her in, but he didn’t push her away either when she drew his head down to whisper in his ear, “What’s the harm in a few moments of play?”

His lips curved. “Quickly, then,” he agreed.

The big male pulled her lips to his, and the second their breaths mingled, she loosed the full force of her power to paralyze the hulking male. To jolt his mind with the air she breathed through his lips. He groaned and stilled, caught in time. She’d have to see the promise through later, but for now she had only a little time to get to Sebastian and back while he was caught in the moment. She hoped there weren’t many others. She already felt the drain of her energy at having used the powerful ability.

The guard’s eyes were focused on nothing as she slipped through the doorway behind him and into the dangers beyond.

Chapter 1

Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm – Present Day

Compulsion and need were riding Hades unmercifully. The first sight of the stunning figure sleeping in the small cavern room beneath the Guardian manor was tearing him open, but the sound of her soul was unhinging him completely. It was dragging him in, pulling at his own soul, something until this very moment he would have argued he didn’t have. It was demanding and intoxicating in a way that wrecked him. The dim memory of his nephew Draken at the doorway barely entered his mind.

He dug his fingers through his dark hair. Every muscle in his body had pulled tight from the moment he entered the room. All he could do was fight the pull and stare at her prone figure lying alone there in the darkened space. Her bronze skin and features were perfection, from the high cheekbones down to the soft slope of her nose, but it wasn’t just his cock reacting to the lust that came from being near a beautiful female. His entire being ached for this female.

His wings flexed and violently unfurled, taking up the space around him. Ebony feathers twitched as he concentrated on what this meant.

He knew who the exquisite female was. His son, Pothos, had informed him of who all the Guardians were when Hades had been awoken from the Creators’ enforced sleep. He’d seen her image when Pothos had telepathically shared his memories of all the centuries he’d lain in stasis, but he’d never before seen the beauty in real life.

Sacha.

Even the sound of her name called to him. He imagined how it would sound on his lips when he slid inside her.

He growled in frustration. A deep primal part of him disliked seeing her lying so still in the bed. Harmed. Poisoned by some unknown beast, according to his son. Why hadn’t the healer already taken care of her? He growled, knowing it meant Sirena hadn’t been able to. He’d always had a weakness for females, but never had he felt this harsh, pulse-pounding need to care for one.

He gripped his long hair and tied it back in frustration and in need of doing something with his hands. He wanted them on her body, but he was standing on a ledge. If he stepped off, his life was forever altered. She would be his to protect for eternity.

Ares and Artemis were still locked away, unable to target her as they’d done with his son and sisters, but it didn’t make any of this easier.

“Fuck!” Drake snarled from his spot at the door, and Hades ignored it, too lost in his own battle to deal with his nephew. The blond dragon leader of the Guardians could wait for whatever he wanted.

Hadn’t he envied his sisters, Athena and Aphrodite, for their soul bonds with their males? It had only given him more beings to keep safe all those millennia ago, but his sisters had been so damned happy. Aphrodite had always teased and taunted him about all the pleasures he’d never know without having a soul bond. As deep as he hungered for that pleasure now, there was no doubt in his mind that things would be different for him.