It was also an obvious adjustment on my part, because I had to keep reminding myself that the breathlessly gorgeous and sexy dark-haired demigoddess wasn’t out of my league, not anymore, not after what Aphrodite had done to my appearance. Not that she noticed that mental struggle, I was as always confident on the outside, whether I truly was or not on the inside.

  The living room couch was fairly comfortable as I sat back and focused, and I’d been at it for almost ninety minutes. I concentrated on that twist in reality I’d felt, gorgeous blue eyes flecked with stars, full lips, and the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on, goddess or not. Not to mention the feminine perfection of her perfect hourglass body. I did all that while trying to sink myself in the blessing.

  I’d gotten that far at least, for brief moments I felt like I was submerged in the blessing, but I had yet to grab hold of it and pull it inside. To offer a simile, it was like dunking myself in a pool. The blessing completely surrounding me like water, but just like water in a pool when I tried to grasp it with my hands it flowed through my mental fingers like water.

  I’d also learned my Ginny’s lushly curvaceous body was far more limber and flexible than I’d imagined. Because her distraction was doing yoga on the rug in front of me, in her sexy red silk and lace lingerie panty and bra set. Her body slowly moved from one impossible contortion to another. I’d have thought naked yoga would be more distracting, but she proved me wrong on that score, because I kept wishing she’d take them off so I could see what was underneath. Her breasts were also mashed and squeezed in interesting ways as she contorted her body for my viewing pleasure.

  I was guessing she was combining my lesson with her daily workout, and she was really into yoga. If it wasn’t clear yet, yoga really liked her as well. She was… sinfully delicious, and quite distracting when she did splits, put her feet behind her head, and several other things which gave me ideas for wildly improbable sex positions that I couldn’t wait to explore.

  What made it worse of a distraction was I was getting the distinct sense that her mind was in the gutter as well, and she was greatly enjoying blowing my mind with her gymnast supple flexibility despite her sumptuously sinful frame. She was hardly subtle, and she kept giving me breathless come fuck me looks. More than that, the view kept getting sexier, as her perfect light tanned skin started to glow with a thin sheen of sweat.

  More than that, every time I managed to sink into that sensation, I could read my Ginny more deeply, as the blessing fed me little tidbits about her. Nothing specific, just a general sense of who she was and our compatibility. That general sense told me she was out of her mind with desire and loved being ogled by me. That she was feeling sexy, cherished, and powerful.

  I had little doubt we’d be fucking like maniacs when this little training session was over.

  I cleared my throat, just to make sure I didn’t let her know just how devastating an effect her show had on my body. I hadn’t been entirely sure my voice wouldn’t have been strained. Of course, she probably knew, since she had no trouble at all reading the signals coming from me all the time. It was second nature for her to interface with and control Aphrodite’s blessing.

  “So, I’m getting the submersion part well enough. It’s like being surrounded in the goddess’s love and embrace, but I can’t figure out how to grab hold of that and pull it in. It’s like trying to grab water from the tub with my hands.”

  She giggled, “Don’t try to grab it with unwieldy mental hands. Imagine it like swimming in a pool, and your body absorbs all the water into itself. An impossibility of course, but not for the magic. Imagine your body like a dry sponge dropped in small pail with water on the bottom, it’ll eagerly suck it in. You could even visualize suction as part of it.”

  I said, “Got it.”

  I gave that a try. It took at least a couple of minutes before I felt submerged in the sense, presence, and body of my goddess, then I imagined all of that being taken inside myself. Much how a sponge absorbs water. It worked for a moment, but the focus required to hold it in was a strain and I lost it. It was hard to believe it would become second nature, something that took so much effort, but I knew the subconscious was like that. Muscle memory and repetitive tasks always became mindless as far as conscious focus. I’d just have to put in the effort for a while before it would pay off.

  She obviously felt it when I did it, because her blessing would’ve stopped being able to read mine. At least directly, obviously her blessing still interfaced with me directly as it reached out from her.

  She grinned, “Good enough for your first session, join me in the shower?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” I replied while my eyes stared into hers hungrily.

  She really liked that, and we went.

  The vast bed was in a room made of marble encompassing the floors, ceiling, walls, and there were some Greek columns as well. I wasn’t sure it existed anywhere but in the goddess’s mind as I was taken into this place, but I supposed it could be her bedroom in Olympus. There were mirrors on the walls, in addition to artwork depicting pleasure in the act of sex, beauty, love, and fertility.

  The two of us were sheened with sweat. I’d meant to talk to her first, but I couldn’t resist her allure at all, and I’d brought her to ecstasy more times than I could count by literally worshipping her body with my own. For the moment I was spent, but I knew from experience my recovery would be wickedly fast in this place.

  Still, it was her that brought it up first.

  She assured me, “I am very pleased with you, Levi, and with the first day you spent with my daughter. I am not an unreasonable goddess except in betrayal or disobedience, you’re doing quite well. Worse, it would be heartless and unreasonable of me to hold you up to impossible standards. The human mind can only process change so quickly. You will adjust to your new life at your own pace, and no faster.

  “At the same time, faith should only be taken so far.”

  “My goddess?” I asked for clarification on that last.

  She grinned, and nipped my lip, I was a little lost in her blue eyes filled with stars, our bodies on our sides, facing each other’s in bed. Her soft caressing hands were a little piece of heaven, literally.

  “Have faith that I sent you one who would make a good mate and help you during this trial. But the world is still full of free-will, hardships to overcome, and connections require effort to be made and maintained. You can take it on faith, but that doesn’t mean the effort isn’t required to bring it to fruition. Have faith to throw yourself into what I guide and send you, and it will work out.”

  I nodded, “Don’t take her for granted, I won’t.”

  I also felt better, I hadn’t been that worried about it, but I had felt slightly guilty and like I’d been letting her down, by not having enough faith. Turns out it was just human nature at work.

  She truly was overwhelming, as the sense of twisted reality was back in full force. I suspected the only reason she granted me momentary immunity was because becoming her Champion had been a matter of free will, but I no longer needed a clear mind and she truly was a goddess in my arms. It was strange, a week ago I’d have snorted at the idea of truly worshipping a goddess, but it was surprisingly easy and felt quite natural to do so.

  Worship her with my thoughts, my desires, and yes, even my tongue and cock. Sex with Aphrodite was a transcendent experience, and purely giving on my part, while at the same time being the most pleasure that I’d ever experienced in my life. I was fairly sure I loved her already, some might say it too fast and unnatural, but what could be unnatural about loving love herself?

  At the same time, she seemed to delight in being teased, and of me using a firm touch, not unlike any other women in that way actually. But it was the drive behind taking control in bed that was purely giving, if that made sense. I’d never actually made love to her yet, as humans think of it, but I was giving it some serious thought.

  Worshipping her even more openly than ever in my thoughts, as our bodies slowly rocked together. I was getting hard just thinking about it. I’d always been a man, dominant of personality that was channeled through protectiveness not destruction, but with her I was clearly not the dominant, no matter how submissive she was in bed to my desires.

  It was twisty in my head, but it made sense in my heart.

  She grinned at me, no doubt reading my thoughts, “I encompass all of it, pleasure in all its forms, sweet and nasty, dominant and submissive. It’s you that defines this place, and how you worship, and I love your mind. I’ve said it before, and I’m rather pleased with myself right now.”

  I wasn’t sure if I understood all that, but my mind shied away from the idea of treating her any less than a lady and a goddess. Sure, our sex was spicy, and had gotten a little naughty. I had nailed her in the ass after all, but it hadn’t been a domination or power play in our exchange of pleasure, not in my mind or heart. I did it because she got off on it, of sharing her whole body with me in love.

  It seemed like she was saying she’d enjoy and get off on anything. That I was the one setting limits that way, but she also seemed delighted I hadn’t taken it to a dark place. So it was confusing, as if she’d welcome it but at the same time had her own preferences even within her mantel, but I supposed I’d never fully understand her. She was a woman for one, and a goddess to boot. Women were a mystery.

  I was about to try out that making love thing, when she frowned.

  “You must wake, and don’t die,” she ordered, and then she pushed me away with a powerful shove. I flew out of the bed and across the room, but before I hit the wall I took in a great gasp as I sat up in bed. That had been distinctly unpleasant.

  Ginny looked at me in alarm, no doubt she’d been woken up by our goddess as well.

  “I don’t think we have until morning, get dressed, we’re leaving.”

  We rolled out of bed and started to pull on our clothes. I’d just gotten done with my pants and grabbed my shirt when I heard the loud splintering of wood, that I suspected had been my front door, and a moment after that a loud roar.

  She cursed, “Taura.”

  At my blank expression she said, “Like the Minotaur, but that was his name. He was a Taura. Our enemy has a few. Shit.”

  Right, tall, huge, all muscle, with a man’s body but a head of a bull. Grumpy, deadly, check. I felt a surge of impotent anger at my inability to protect Ginny like a real man should. I was pretty much helpless, and I also guessed this wasn’t one of the monster girls I could seduce and fuck onto our side. Even if I did know martial arts, which I didn’t, this thing would totally outclass me without greater than human strength.

  It clomped into the living room shaking the whole damned tiny house, and the only way out, the front door and back door through the kitchen, were both through the living room. My impotent anger spiked as I was far more scared for my Ginny than I was for myself, so angry that I felt an eerie tickle against my mind like something was pressing all around me, and like I just might explode from the rush of energy and adrenaline. I wondered if I was about to blow a blood vessel or two in my head, I’d never felt so energized, angry, terrified for someone’s life, in my own.

  There was really no choice.

  “Window,” I said shortly as I pulled on the shirt and shoved my feet into my shoes. I moved over to it and pushed the window open, then knocked the screen out. By then she was finished dressing, and as I prepared to help her through the window, she dove out of it like a damned acrobat, or a great cat. Right, not being a fighter didn’t mean she wasn’t graceful and stronger than the average human.

  Apparently, I was the weak one, for now anyway, but my future awesomeness was little compensation in that moment.

  I dove out the window myself, a little more awkwardly as I landed off balance and fell on my ass instead of rolling to my feet. But I jumped up quickly and we rounded the house at a dead run. I heard a roar, then the sound of my house breaking, as the Taura didn’t so much climb out the window after us but simply smashed through the outer wall.

  Well, so much for getting my deposit back.

  We ran around the side of the house, and then Ginny stopped dead and so did I. There was a young woman leaning her ass back on the Audi’s hood, with a sword of all things loosely held in her hands, and a deadly smirk on her face. Did demigods and monsters still use claw and steel, apparently they did. Well, I wouldn’t complain, a sword was dangerous but at least she wasn’t spraying us down with bullets.

  She looked around our age, maybe a year older at twenty-two, and was five foot three. She had lustrous dark brown hair, chocolate eyes, and a severely beautiful face of a runway model with high sharp cheekbones and a thin face. Her skin was an alluring and flawless light golden brown. Her body was petite and athletic, with tight toned curves, though she did have a nice pair of C cups. She was dressed in skintight leather body armor that wasn’t quite full bodied. It showed off some cleavage and her upper chest, and also stopped around the knees.

  She looked faintly regretful, and said, “Hey, Ginny. Why is she involved in this anyway? Step aside, and I’ll spare your life. My goddess has no business with the slut of the heavens.”

  That caused my rage to spike, but Ginny’s hand grabbing my arm stopped me from doing something stupid. I also felt that stupid haze in my head again, like the scent and feel of ozone right before a lightning storm. Maybe I just blew a few more blood vessels. I couldn’t remember ever being so enraged before.

  Ginny ignored the petite sexpot in armor and looked around with narrowed eyes. Which was a bit confusing to me, until she asked, “Hazel, where’s your keeper?”

  Hazel snorted, “Lillian has more important things to do than hunt down an untrained demigod. Not that it’s going to save you. You’re no match for me or the Taura alone, much less together, so stand aside.”

  At the same time, the Taura finally rounded the house and I got my first good look at it. He was even bigger than my dire imagination had guessed, at least seven feet tall, if not taller. He was as wide as two men standing side by side with bulging muscles everywhere and not a bit of fat in sight. He was also damned ugly, dark gray skin with the head of a bull, and despite having the body of a man it was quite clearly covered in the same thick brown fur on the top of its head.

  Hazel scowled, “Last chance, slut. Move or I’ll… break your car. The Taura won’t wait for my kill signal all night.”

  It was odd, and it was obvious that they knew each other, and fairly well. I also knew we had no chance if we ran for it, the Taura would run us down, if not Hazel. Until I found my power my human speed and strength would count for shit, and it’d be like trying to outrun a bear or lion in the wild. I was also terrified, and not just for Ginny, but the impotent anger, protectiveness and possessiveness I felt for her, and the potent adrenaline made it mostly about her.

  I’d have told her to save herself if I’d thought for one second that she’d have listened, which she wouldn’t. She was stubborn and a bit wild, and she already cared for me too much. Plus, she was here protecting me at her goddess’s orders. Which, kind of made me pissed at her. I was the only one that had to die that night. The only way to save her was to save myself, which seemed like a hell of a long shot.

  My flight or fight was telling me I was screwed either way, but I had to act. At the very least, if I got myself killed Hazel might spare Ginny. There seemed to be history there, and not all of it bad.

  All that ran through my mind as I took a step toward the house, grabbed the silvery metal garbage can, and rushed Hazel. My fuzzy thoughts thought that it might block the sword and bowl her over at the same time.

  “Get in the car,” I snarled.

  Hazel chuckled insultingly, while Ginny said, “No!”

  I had quite a bit of momentum going when she casually stood up and then moved into some kind of spinning kick. Force, momentum, I figured she was tiny and that I had her out massed, strength wasn’t everything, but I’d underestimated her strength, badly. Her kick hit the garbage can which slammed into my body and knocked the wind out of me. I went flying back as I took on all that momentum. Her leap forward must’ve put a hell of an amount of momentum the other way. The can itself fell almost straight down after passing the momentum into my body, and when I hit the ground I couldn’t breathe. I also felt like I’d just been hit by a Mack truck as my heart pounded wildly in my chest.

  Hazel snickered, “He’s not very bright, is he?”

  Ginny shook her head, “He’s no threat to your mistress’s plans. He belongs to Aphrodite now.”

  Hazel shook her head, “You know that’s not what it’s about. It’s about what his very existence represents, an insult to my goddess and yet another moment of unfaithfulness by her mate. Betrayed, so he could stick his cock in some human supermodel. Sure, the other part is a risk as well, but it’s the insult of his existence that cannot be born.”

  What the hell were they talking about? Just who did she work for, and who was my father? I was still trying to regain my wind as Hazel casually moved closer. Were all demigoddesses so attractive and graceful? She didn’t move like my Ginny’s liquid grace though, it was more the grace of a lioness closing in for the kill.

  Fuck me, I really wanted to live. My new life was crazy, but I had a hell of a goddess and her daughter as my future mate. I also didn’t care what my father had done, how was his infidelity my fault? Being hunted because I existed was… fucked up, and beyond petty.

  That didn’t really help me narrow down the possibilities. According to Greek myth all the gods were fucking around that way, except for the virgin goddesses, Artemis, Athena, and Hestia.

  Which was probably just bullshit and wrong. A part that the humans got wrong, considering my trainer to be was a daughter of Hestia. That kind of removed all doubt as to her loss of virginity, didn’t it?

  The house buzzed, like a million insects in my mind and ears, as if reflecting my fear, anger, and frustration. It was just my imagination though, a new and potent level of rage that was fogging my mind. Then it exploded in a vast rolling fireball and the concussive force sent me rolling across the ground. I passed out from the pain and shock of it, with the absurd thought that I definitely wasn’t going to get my security deposit back.