Chapter 1
Sera
A Few Seconds Earlier
So this is what bliss feels like, I marvel, lost in a cloud of wondrous gratification. When can I experience it again?
Maliki is between my thighs, but his mouth is no longer providing pleasure. He’s staring at Hades. My fiancé. Husband. Soulmate.
My lashes flutter as I try to understand what’s happening. Hades told Maliki to please me. But now he’s radiating violent intent.
Is he going to kill Maliki for touching me?
Oh, I hope not.
I told him not to. I said this was my choice. Was this all a test? A way to punish me for my soul’s betrayal?
Does he think I betrayed him… by letting Maliki pleasure me?
“Hades—”
He snatches Maliki’s coat from the bed and drapes it over me, then he yanks me up into his arms.
I stiffen. “What are—”
The world blurs, causing my eyes to go wide in the darkness. I cling to his shoulders, my euphoria melting into terror.
His purr ignites in response, the rumble seeming to echo through every inch of my being. “You’re safe, Serapina,” he whispers against my ear.
Safe? I repeat, dizzy from the rapidly changing sensations in my body. Safe from what? You? I don’t understand what he’s doing.
I can feel the violence in his aura. It’s at odds with the soothing vibrations coming from his chest.
Stars… My mind is telling me to scream, but my body refuses the action, some intrinsic part of me too calmed by this Alpha’s purr.
It’s like I have no control over my reactions, my being enslaved to the God of Death’s commanding presence.
This is not okay, I decide. I am my own person. I do not…
The mental rant trails off as a world of color appears around us. My eyes round as I take in the expanse of water, the sight of which I’ve never seen in person.
However, I recognize what I’m seeing. An ocean.
My lips part.
Then my mind is immediately distracted by the warmth shining down upon me.
The sun. I instantly look right up at it, which is the absolute wrong thing to do, as I’ve spent the last year in the darkness of the Netherworld Kingdom. My brief visit to Morpheus’s palace in the Mythos Fae Realm was not nearly long enough to reacquaint myself with such intense solar power.
Nor should one ever look directly at the sun.
But I’m not exactly feeling like myself right now.
Hades reminds me of his presence, his purr intensifying as he says, “Stay here and don’t move. I need to go back and help Maliki.”
What?
My heels—because, oh yeah, I’m naked yet still wearing four-inch heels—touch the sand.
And Hades disappears.
“Oh!” My knees wobble, and my ridiculous shoes send me sprawling onto my side.
Where I just lie for a moment as I try to figure out what in the thorns just happened.
I—
A whooshing sound has me sitting bolt upright. Black dots still decorate my vision, thanks to my previous glance upward, but I train my squinted gaze on the source of that rumbling roar.
Waves.
Ocean.
Deep blue waters.
It’s all I can see.
As well as the sand I’m currently sitting in.
Stars. Looking down, I run my fingers through the unique texture and note that it’s not unlike the Netherworld Courtyard dirt. Only, it’s pale in color.
Because it’s sand.
Or I assume it is, anyway, since I appear to be on a beach. By. The. Ocean.
My legs scramble beneath me as I try to stand again, only for the heels to dig into the earth and practically melt into the ground.
Growling, I plop back down, then wince because I’m still naked. The jacket Hades wrapped me in is sprawled out beside me, the fabric having slipped off during one of my falls. I’m not even sure when. But it doesn’t matter because I am now covered in sand.
“Pricks,” I mutter. “One problem at a time.”
I focus on the heels first, the straps impossibly difficult.
“Why does anyone wear these?” I ask no one in particular. “They’re impractical. Nonfunctional. And why are there straps?!” I yank on it, irritated by the hook.
I am not an inept individual.
“I will master this shoe,” I tell myself.
“Well, feel free to take your time,” a silky voice replies, causing me to freeze. “I’m rather enjoying the show.”
A shadow blocks the sun, allowing me to look up.
Right into a pair of striking blue-green irises. “Morpheus,” I breathe.
“God of Dreams,” he replies, his gaze running over me. “And a dream you indeed are, my heart.”
I’m pretty sure I stop breathing.
Not only am I naked, but he also caught me having a pep talk over a pair of shoes.
And he called me my heart.
That’s new.
I… I think I would relish it more in any other situation. Alas, I’m currently on fire. And it has nothing to do with the hot sun.
“Would you like some assistance?” he asks softly, crouching before me. “I imagine walking in the sand is difficult with those sinfully sexy heels on.”
I swallow, my shoulders dropping.
“This really can’t get any more embarrassing, can it?” I mumble, more to myself than to him.
“Embarrassing isn’t the term I would use,” he murmurs, his exposed forearms bracing on his thighs.
He’s dressed like Maliki was back in my bedroom—in a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows and a pair of dark slacks.
The only difference is that Morpheus’s shirt is white. Maliki’s was black. Is he even still wearing it? And where is he, anyway?
Hades said he was going back to help Maliki.
Help him with what?
“Arousing, perhaps,” Morpheus goes on, drawing my focus back to where he’s crouching before me. “Adorable works, too.” He smiles. “Want to give me your foot, little dreamer?”
I stare at him and decide, Why not? As I already said, I’m fairly certain this can’t get any more embarrassing.
He may find it arousing and adorable, but I don’t.
I feel meek again. Ridiculous. Small.
How did I go from enjoying the best pleasure of my life to falling onto a sandy beach framed by cliffs and a vast ocean?
“Where even am I?” I marvel, glancing around as I lean back on my palms and give Morpheus my foot.
“Mykonos,” he says, the word foreign to me. I don’t know if he’s answering my question or saying something random.
With Morpheus, it’s hard to say. He loves imparting information, though. And I appreciate that trait about him.
However, I don’t appreciate how deftly he unfastens my heel.
He’s barely touched me, and poof, the strap is unhooked.
I glare as he pulls the shoe away like it was the easiest task in the world.
“Practice makes perfect,” he tells me as he gently sets my foot down. Rather than ask for the other, he simply takes hold of my opposite limb and repeats the action.
Except he doesn’t release me right away like last time. Instead, he leans in and presses a kiss to my ankle before freeing me, then reaches over for Maliki’s jacket and holds it out for me to take.
“How about a shower?” he asks after I bundle myself up in the coat. “I always need one after playing in the sand.”
I blink at him. “Where would I shower? In the ocean?”
He glances back over his shoulder, his crouched form blocking my view. “Oceans are fun and all, but they don’t help much with the sand. Actually, I think it’s worse because then you’re wet and it sticks.”
I squirm, his comment about being wet reminding me of the slickness between my thighs. The sand is already sticking, I think, wincing. “A shower sounds… yes. I would like that. But, uh, where if not the ocean?”
He gestures with his chin behind me. “In Hades’s house. If you can even call it that. More like a fucking cave. But last I checked, it has running water.”
“And when was the last time you checked?” a cultured tone interjects, the words precise and underlined with a quiet fury.
Swallowing, I readjust Maliki’s jacket around myself, suddenly relieved that it fits me like a blanket.
All these men are huge compared to me. I’ve always been shorter and smaller, but they make me feel even more inferior somehow.
Meek, I mock with a mental snort, intentionally using it again. Stars, I really loathe that word.
“Mykonos?” Maliki’s voice has me spinning in the sand to search for him. “Really?”
I gape at the large gash across his face and scramble up from my seated position to try to run toward him.
And promptly trip.
Hades catches me by the hip, his brow furrowing. “Did you give her wine?” he asks.
“She’s never walked in the sand before, Hades,” Morpheus replies. “Give our Omega some grace.”
“She’s not our Omega. She is my Omega,” Hades corrects him. “And why are you here, Morpheus?”
I push away from Hades and try to carefully navigate toward Maliki. My “mate’s” possessiveness can wait. “Are you okay?” I ask Maliki, reaching for him.
He smirks down at me. “I’m fine, trouble. Just got in Ossa’s way, is all.”
My hand hovers over the jagged mark on his cheek. The blood is still oozing from the fresh cut.
“Ossa did this?” I ask, shivering as I think about Hades’s pet guard—a three-headed wolf beast with three names. Ossa, I gathered, is a female. Mort and Howl are her… brothers, I guess?
Maliki nods. “Ossa’s positively feral when she’s pissed off. I tried to move, but I wasn’t fast enough.” He turns thoughtful. “Though, it may have also been intentional. With her, it’s hard to say.”
“Why was she feeling feral?” I ask slowly. Then I frown. “Does it have something to do with why we’re here? In Myko-ah-nos?”
Pretty sure I didn’t get the name right.
But I tried.
“Why are we here, again?” I ask, aware that Hades just made a similar inquiry of Morpheus. But I think our questions actually hold different meanings. “What happen—”
“Gods, I love the Human Realm.” Reaper’s voice travels to my ears, making me look for my sister’s mate.
And did he just say Human Realm?
“But couldn’t we have hit up New York City instead?” he goes on as he appears in a cloud of smoke, his Death Fae heritage seeming to cling to his skin as he fully materializes right next to the water. “I could go for a pizza.”
“You could always go for pizza,” Flame mutters as he appears with him, the Corpse Fae looking oddly deformed, like he’s engaged his deadly traits.
Orcus and my sister arrive next. He’s in full beast mode, his black wings spread wide. When I spy the baby bundle in his arms, I instantly understand why. His protective instincts have been triggered.
Why? What has happened? And why are we in the Human Realm?
“Sera!” my sister yells the moment she sees me and starts scrambling across the sand with about as much success as I did moments ago.
Reaper swoops in to grab her, his arms cradling her as he shadows himself across the small space to gently deposit her in front of me and Maliki.
“I always knew I liked you,” Morpheus murmurs.
“Everyone likes me,” Reaper says. “I’m fucking amazing.”
Alina ignores him and throws her arms around me. I return the hug as a storm of emotion overwhelms me.
So much has happened over the last… week? Few days? Years?
Stars, I don’t even know.
“Lina,” I whisper, using the nickname I’ve had for her since we were kids.
She squeezes me tighter. “It’s going to be okay. The Alphas won’t find you here. And you’re not marrying or mating anyone without consent.”
That last part seems clearly directed at Hades, but I’m hung up on the comment before the marriage one. “Alphas are looking for me?”
“Hunting is a more accurate term, sunshine,” Reaper drawls, the nickname one he gave me early on in our acquaintance. The Death Fae has a lot of quirks. But he treats my sister like a queen, so I accept his bizarre proclivities and focus on the term he just gave me.
“Hunting?” I echo, not liking the sound of that at all.
Reaper grins. “Yep. You’re an unclaimed Omega and about to go into her first heat. From what I understand, you’re a walking beacon for Alpha chaos. And I am fucking here for it.”
A blade appears in his hand as Alina slowly releases me, her gaze searching my face as I struggle to process what Reaper is saying.
“You know me,” he goes on with a charming smile. “I love a good bloodbath. So let’s make it rain.”