She looked doubtful, and close to tears, as she stood up and fled the room.

  Misty’s dark glare at her retreating back just made me feel worse about what just happened.

  What the fuck had I just done? Yes, she’d started it with her pointed questions, and then her accusation, but her lumping me in with all the rest had struck a rage in me and I’d given her both barrels.

  Maybe because I had to keep paying the price for Nate and Zeus being asshats, I wasn’t about to pay for the mistakes of other men too. Fuck that. I think a little frustration was also a part of that clusterfuck, despite the nature of the conversation I’d just shared, below that intellectual exchange our sexual tension had skyrocketed after Lianne and Cerise had left the room and then the house.

  She wanted me as badly as I did her, at least on that level, and it made me consider the fact that maybe some of that disgust she’d displayed had actually been aimed at herself and her mantel, not just me as I’d first assumed in the heat of the moment.

  Scenting emotions was easy, always interpreting them and assigning them to the right facts and interactions was not always so straight forward.

  I chuckled darkly, and supposed she wasn’t the only one with relationship or emotional issues. To be fair, it’d been less than a month since my first mate tried to murder me, and I wasn’t the one lumping in half the species into one basket.

  But now what? It was more than likely we’d just have to write off the whole idea.

  At least I could sense her power in her office, so she’d retreated to dive into work, not to leave. I decided to let it stand, let her think about all I’d said, even if I could’ve said it better the message had been on point and truthful. I was fairly sure trying to fix it would just make it worse, maybe Cerise would have more luck that way, this afternoon.

  After I explained I’d lost my temper, which would likely come after I dumped some of this sexual frustration that Faith had engendered. I could just show them what happened, since Faith was a goddess and Misty recorded all my interactions with other gods to cover my ass through my own eyes and ears.

  Misty winked saucily, then nodded in agreement to that thought.

  Chapter Four

  Cerise was so beautiful, painfully so as she opened the door to her office, and then paused for a second as she saw me in her office chair. The severe beauty of a catwalk model around the face, and her body was just on the lush side of average at five six with generously proud C cups and a deliciously large bubbled ass.

  I patted my lap in invitation, “Have fun shopping?”

  Cerise smiled a bit sultrily, and she walked over to me with a sensual and graceful swish of her hips, her eyes locked on mine with a naughtily submissive promise of… just about anything I wanted. She was a very sensual creature all the time, just a hint of sensuality in all her movements and in her voice, but when she tried to be sensual and really worked it, she was entirely devastating to my libido.

  I’d earned that submissive devotion by being the man of the house without being overbearing or micromanaging, giving her access to sunlight, and showing her respect in her mind and opinion. But I wasn’t taking all that for granted, and I’d be taking her and Lianne out for a night on the town again really soon. A relationship was an evolving process, not something earned once and owned forever, and I took enjoyment in that fact. I loved wooing my ladies.

  She seemed to flower under my intense attention, and I couldn’t look away from her eyes as she sat on my lap, and then leaned in for a long lingering kiss as she wiggled slightly to stimulate me. She sniffed my neck no doubt scenting my strong arousal and sexual need, and she teased the skin with her sharp eyeteeth, before whispering warmly in my ear.

  “Do you need something, sir?”

  One of my hands teased her lower back, while the other one teased her inner thigh just past the hem of her skirt. She enjoyed naughty orders, and being taken, but my anger from earlier had cooled, and my desperate need for release was now tempered by the love I saw in her eyes, and her warm devoted regard.

  As always, her warm and devoted presence had a profound effect on me, shifting my mood from a place of sexually frustrated to drowning in her scents, love, and presence.

  I directed my ladies in where our family was headed outside the bedroom, but generally let them decide the how and steps to take, crediting them with sense and brains. I’d never done that with an order in the bedroom before though, and I was curious to see where she’d take it.

  “I need to take my pleasure in you, wild nymph,” I said firmly, “Consider that an order.”

  She nibbled my neck, already a little breathier just from that command.

  “Yes, sir. It will be my pleasure to sate all your desires and needs. My body was made to sheath and pleasure your fat cock, sir.”

  She backed off enough to look into my eyes, and she smiled wickedly in delight as she realized I wasn’t going to qualify that order with more specific instructions. That how and where, was entirely up to her. She actually preferred me making all the decisions, at least in bed, so she could just surrender and put all her efforts into it, but a small change up on occasion would keep things interesting, and if the twinkle in her warm gray eyes was any indication she was in total agreement.

  We wouldn’t be doing it often, but I already knew this wasn’t the last time, as she kissed me passionately while starting to dry hump me through our clothes. Her panties, and my suit pants, while she straddled me and her skirt rode up around her waist. Her needy and breathy pants into my mouth told me she was probably as wet for me as I was hard for her, already.

  She kissed down onto my neck again, and said breathily, “Gods, I love your scent. So much lust, so much restraint, and how you admire me, care for me, are awed by me. It’s like a dream I never want to wake up from. I need you so much right now.”

  She reached down and unbuttoned and unzipped me, then pulled my pants down a few inches. She looked into my eyes with a seductive dreaminess, as she pulled her panties to the side and impaled herself on me. She was so tight, virginally tight since she’d been turned directly after her first time.

  Which led to control problems for me, at least during the first round, but her eyes were already begging for my release, to feel me fill her sex with the bounty of my loins. She was turned on, horny, but in her scent, it was the desire for that deep intimacy that drove her wanton and needy seduction. She wanted me to be premature, to take care of my need.

  There was no greater proof of that than the choice she’d made, because usually when I took control penetration waited until I’d given her orgasms. Otherwise, she might not even reach one, never mind the multiples she was capable of once reaching that plateau. But she’d chosen it, to sate my need whether she got off or not was her joy and purpose in that moment. It was a heady thing, one of generosity, caring, and the beginnings of love. A level of devotion and service that no man could possibly deserve, not even the king of the gods.

  She was enthralling, and she awed me.

  I grunted, as her tight passage slowly engulfed me, as she bounced down a little farther with each twerk of her hips and rise of her body. I was lost in her surrendering eyes, and the pleasure of her far too tight passage, yet slick and satiny friction that was indescribably intense. Almost too intense, flirting with that line of too much pleasure turning to pain, but not quite crossing it.

  She too, was riding that line of pleasure and pain, as I stretched her out so tautly and filled her so completely.

  The entire time, her eyes locked on mine with a dreamy and almost content expression mixed with the lust and need to be the agency of my release.

  There was a smug joy in her eyes, at whatever she was seeing in mine, as our bodies fully joined as one. Her bubbled ass against my legs and cradled by my hands as I squeezed and kneaded them firmly. Her eyes so close to mine, as her breasts were crushed against my chest.

  She squeezed around me, milking me with a churning grind as she rolled and gyrated her hips. She continued to do that, over and over, and it was ridiculously intense as her eyes begged me for my release. To take my pleasure in her body.

  “I am your wild nymph. I hope you weren’t waiting long, sir. I endeavor to be at your beck and call.”

  I grunted, my cock twitching hard inside of her, “You’re worth any wait, Cerise.”

  She giggled sensually, making interesting things happen below, “I needed this too. I was trying to come up with a good way to seduce you when I found you waiting for me instead. Just relax and enjoy, I don’t even want to cum right now, I just want yours. You more than take care of me that way, and a woman doesn’t have to cum every time, to enjoy sex. The intimacy is more than enough, sometimes. Gods, you drive me crazy.”

  “It’s the same for me. I mean it’s about you, so I can’t help wanting you to reach ecstasy.”

  She said breathily, “I know, and I love that about you, it’s something I’ve never had before. But you left how to pleasure you in my hands, and it’s not up to you this time. So give it to me, you know your wild nymph needs it. I need your pleasure in me, warming me, and that’s all I need.”

  Fuck. That little breathy and sensual speech was it for me, though her constant milking grinds as she literally jerked me off with her silken pussy, had a lot to do with it as well. She was exquisite in bed, and she should be at over four hundred years of age. The myriad pleasures she engendered in me were legion, and I was man enough to admit I’d learned a lot from her already in the arts of pleasure.

  I squeezed her ass harder as I pushed up into her, my balls boiling and my legs tingling, as the pleasure took me by storm.

  Her warm gray eyes holding mine, as I pumped my lust and need into her hot body, while I shared my pleasure and awe through our locked eyes.

  She bit her lip and moaned softly, “That’s it, fill my naughty pussy. Don’t ever stop.”

  To be clear, despite her dirty talk, she didn’t want to be used, she just wanted to be needed, and to feel attractive and sexy, overwhelming to her lover in allure, who was thankfully, me. Which was a good thing, because shifters were too protective of their mates to ever take to things like debasement, even in roleplay.

  The storm of pleasure felt like it raged forever, as I emptied myself into her, but like all things it ended, and I was softly caressing her ass as I came down.

  Her sweet lips were meltingly soft, and wickedly honied and languid as she kissed me with warm sated passion, and a moan of utter fulfillment, even if she hadn’t reached completion the scent of contended satisfaction pouring off of her was something I couldn’t deny.

  I shared that after bliss in a long moment, just cuddling and kissing for a while, and enjoying her in my arms as well as the decadent feeling of my spent cock in her sex’s embrace.

  She smiled, “So, how did it go?”

  I sighed, “Two out of three ain’t bad?”

  She giggled, “It can’t be that bad.”

  I nodded, and we cleaned up. I should also mention that when Misty came out, I caught her giving me another one of those wistful teasing looks, which surely had to be my imagination. Yet, I noted it down for Faith to research, along with the others.

  I also showed both her and Lianne the video shortly after, and suggested she be the one to fix it, if she could. Otherwise… I had no idea. It’d been a mess, and my unusual display of temper had made it worse. But she’d pissed me off with her false conclusions and judgement, so I wasn’t going to apologize for it.

  Lianne tapped her lip thoughtfully.

  Cerise asked, “What are you thinking?”

  Lianne sighed, “I don’t know. We don’t even know if she is compatible, or if she would even like or tolerate a sharing situation like polyamory. There’s too many unanswered questions to justify the risk of pushing her again. What if…” she made a face.

  I said, “I guess I’m not going to like your idea? What is it?”

  Lianne shrugged, “We could get help. She’s not broken, but she’s not open either. Not just to us, to anyone, so who knows if she’s even willing to get to know us. She doesn’t seem to be, she got suspicious the moment you turned the conversation personal, and it wasn’t too personal at first, it was just workplace conversation between acquaintance friends. Pretty normal, until her suspicion changed the course of it.”

  I nodded, “That was some buildup. What’s your idea? How could someone help us?”

  Lianne said, “Well, Natasha is the goddess of love. Surely, she’d be able to tell us if she’s at least compatible with us. If not, we totally back off and just treat her on a professional level as a valued employee. If she is, then we can try to break through her walls and bad assumptions.”

  “That’s not a horrible idea, but she won’t meet with me. Not with the whole Gary being jealous thing, which is ridiculous.”

  Lianne asked, “Are you sure about that?”

  I chuckled, “Yes. She’s affectionate with those she admires. You know Gary was jealous of her father, Mark. Before he found out he was her father. Simply by watching how they’d interacted before she introduced them. I assure you, that affection is purely platonic, and just a part of her mantel, I think. Point is, this isn’t the first time, he’s a jealous man by nature and it’s not really about me being me at all. Plus, I could never be the man Natasha needs, and her appetites don’t work for me either.”

  Lianne looked relieved, probably worried about having competition from the goddess of love herself. Which of course was ridiculous, Lianne was every bit as amazing and more, in my eyes. But there was no point in saying it, she wouldn’t believe it.

  Lianne suggested, “I can go talk to her on our family’s behalf. Maybe at her office.”

  I grunted, “That’s not a bad idea. It feels like cheating, but we had a little help that way too, didn’t we?”

  Sara, the youngest fate, had kind of set us up, even while saving my life. It wasn’t a lack of confidence on my part, but if it helped mitigate some of the risks of hurting Faith for no reason at all if she wasn’t even remotely compatible with our lifestyle, then I was all for it.

  Lianne laughed, “Yes, we did.”

  Cerise agreed, “Great idea, if she helps us, so I’m all for it. For now, let’s not ignore Faith, but we’ll keep our professional distance. It wasn’t that much of a disaster. She’s had a really difficult time with her love life, but she needed to be called out on her bullshit. She forced the conversation there, so she can’t complain about the turnout.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  Misty tossed her hair playfully to get my attention. Which was actually more effective than I was entirely comfortable with given her effect on my libido, she was a very sexy A.I. Part of that discomfort was she knew it, I mean she was in my mind and thoughts, after all. I reminded myself she wasn’t really sentient, and she was just programmed to seem that way.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but you wanted to be informed when gods made the news. It’s also big, you need to see what it’s about. Faith should probably see it as well.”

  I nodded, “I’ll trust your judgement on that, have Bloom send her to the living room, and why.”

  We left Cerise’s office and headed that way ourselves.

  We’d barely sat on the couch, Cerise tucked into my left side while Lianne was on my right, both of them with hands on my legs. I turned on the television as Faith walked in. She looked coldly professional, but something told me she was still upset beneath that, her scent. There was no way to fix that, so I ignored it against my nature.

  I waved at the other couch where she took a stiff seat, and then changed to the twenty-four-hour news station.

  “Oh, damn. Is it too late to take it back and give my power back to the council?”

  There was no doubt about, this was the issue that could turn into a mess, that I needed to be king to handle without exceeding my authority or being hunted down by my own people.

  Lianne giggled, “They didn’t even say anything yet.”

  The announcer was going into his spiel, but it wasn’t required. Because I was looking at pictures of gods in the background. Not gods with golden power, not gods of the Greek pantheon.

  No, I was seeing gods with auras of white, red, and green. The pantheons of the Egyptian, Norse, and Hindu gods, respectively. That was the question I’d already asked myself that Sara had referred to, to drive me crazy, within a half hour of becoming a god myself.

  Where were the other pantheons?

  Well, they were here now. At least, three more of them, maybe more.

  It was obviously the trouble they’d been warned was coming. If I hadn’t been ruling, then the new Indra for Hindu, Osiris and Isis for Egyptian, and Odin for Norse or Asgardian would've eaten the council for breakfast. At least those Norse dicks would’ve declared open season on the Greek gods.

  I mean, the Greek gods were hardly sweetness and light, but the Norse gods were almost all warriors and bloodthirsty by their mantels, so it wasn’t likely it’d be any different this time around, even if the people under the mantels were.

  I on the other hand, knew their pantheons and old selves well, from being able to read the past. More than that, now that I was aware of their presence, and asked myself the question, I knew exactly where they all were.

  It was also clear by the numbers I was getting, like the Greek gods, the Norse, Egyptian, and Hindu gods would be arriving in waves, probably a moon apart like we had. Twenty-eight days between waves.

  This was going to be a total pain in the ass.

  When I checked, there was no sign of the eastern deities yet, thanks for small favors, or the old Native American or Aztec deities for that matter. So it could be worse, hopefully who or whatever was in charge of the shitshow of the gods coming back, would give us another sixty years for things to smooth out between the four pantheons now present on the world, before adding even more.