Chapter 11
TRYP
T he prophecy from Apollo had been like pouring hot oil into an ant nest. Everyone was panicking, and we were almost divided about how to react. None of us wanted to lose Wren. It would also mean all of us would go with her, our lives intrinsically bound to hers now. Then who would care for the babies?
I almost wished that Demke had held out a little longer before bonding with Wren. He might be apathetic at times, but there would be no way he’d leave the babies to fend for themselves if anything happened to the rest of us.
Wren, on the other hand, seemed to be pointedly ignoring the prophecy. She didn’t want to talk about it, plan around it, or hear about it. She’d decided to be in complete denial, and honestly, I was right there with her. Prophecies weren’t set in stone; sometimes it only took one small deviation for it to not come to fruition. Worrying about it every day wasn’t going to help, and it would probably just be fulfilled sooner, especially as stress was bad for both her and the babies.
Teron, however, was beside himself with worry. He’d been awake for days, consuming every piece of literature he could find, sourcing medicine and equipment we probably wouldn’t even need. He was basically setting up a specialist obstetrics hospital in our formal living room. Well, he was when he could wrestle control back from the Gryphon.
The very thought of his mate dying had turned the normally reasonable beast into an absolute nightmare. He’d built the walls of Wren’s bed nest so high, she was going to need a stepladder to climb into bed soon.
“How much can we trust Apollo’s word, anyway?” Néit asked. He made a good point, but I wasn’t so sure that Apollo was lying. He’d gained absolutely nothing from handing us this prophecy.
They were considered almost sacred among Mythics. Somewhere along the line, a myth had been perpetuated that if you didn’t give a receiver their intended prophecy, ill fortune would befall you ten times over. We were all a superstitious bunch, so if someone had told Apollo the prophecy, he might’ve felt obligated to share.
But I wasn’t about to take it at face value, even if he was Cy’s father. Even if he’d once been as happy here on Crete with the Goddess as we’d been.
Delphos had always been rather impartial as well. I doubted he would suffer too much from the change of the Fates. He hated people. Rumor had it that he’d been absolutely elated when people stopped doing pilgrimages to the temples of Delphi. He just wanted to live in his little cave and have his prophecies and get on with his life. He would still have prophecies under the next Fates, and the ones after them. He wouldn’t be losing power with the shift.
The only people who stood to lose real power were the Moirai, and if Clio and Morrigan were to be believed, they were good at convincing others that they too would lose power if there were new Fates, especially because the triplets wouldn’t be obviously aligned with any Pantheon.
Morrigan obviously believed that they would fall under the Celtic Pantheon, since Wren had been maneuvered into Néit’s path. There weren’t enough of us Minoans left to rise through the ranks of power. Unless Demke rose to some monolithic level of power, we were no threat to the status quo, yet she’d been very obviously placed in our path too.
Would these be the first impartial Fates? Would we all die, and the different Pantheons come to fight over possession of them, to raise them and use them for their own gains?
Worry was beginning to burn a hole in my gut, but Wren was looking to me to be the calm, easygoing one right now. Teron had her in his examination room once again, and then I intended to eat her out until she was so relaxed, she’d be as floppy as overcooked noodles.
I had to do my part, and realistically, I was never going to be useful in the war room with Néit and Demke, or Morrigan. I couldn’t look after her health like Teron, nor protect the borders like Cy. I couldn’t construct her a fortress masquerading as a nursery like Milo. In fact, he was constructing nursery-style boltholes all over the compound, with Erus helping him.
What I could do was make her orgasm on my tongue several times a day, ensuring she was happy and content. A task I would do with a smile on my face.
I skipped into the examination room, and when Wren looked up at me, giving me a tight smile, I knew I wasn’t a moment too soon. Teron was checking on the babies yet again with the ultrasound machine. If he kept this up, by the time the triplets were born, they’d have enough radio waves in them that they’d come out picking up the BBC.
Just like a week ago, they looked like tiny little aliens, all smooshed together with hardly any room. Teron was making satisfied noises as he entered numbers on his tablet.
I walked over and leaned down, kissing her softly. “Beautiful girl, you take my breath away.”
She did. She was glorious, the epitome of life and nurturing. I’d already started painting her every time I picked up my brush, and I had no intention of stopping until I’d recreated her in every position, every light, and every season, even if it took my entire immortal life.
She snorted. “You can’t say that when my belly button sticks out so far, it may as well be a nose.”
I leaned down, kissing the aforementioned button. She gripped my hair lightly, making me moan softly. Everything was stretched tight like a drum, and along with massaging her feet, I made a note to rub some lotion into her stomach as well.
Teron made a tsking noise. “No sex.” He sounded no nonsense, but his eyes said something entirely different. They were full of longing, of desire for the woman in front of us. Maybe he needed a little push, a little demonstration to show him what he was missing, being so noble and professional.
Smirking at him, I shifted down the other end of the chaise lounge he was using as an examination table. “You say that like there aren’t a million other options.” I kissed her shapely calf muscle and felt her eyes on me, but she didn’t move to stop me. In fact, when I reached her knees, she let them fall apart, giving me a perfect view of her delicious body. I had to sit up like a meerkat looking over a molehill to see her face over her stomach, but when I met her eyes, they stole my oxygen. She was staring at me with so much desire, it threatened to burn me alive.
It spurred me on, sending pleasure down my body as I climbed higher. I dragged her shorts and underwear down her legs and tossed them over my shoulder, then got back to work as I sucked and licked at her thighs. Already, I could see her folds glistening, ready for me.
“Have you ever seen a more beautiful pussy, Teron?” I asked my brother, who was watching us with heat in his eyes, his tablet sitting forgotten in his hands. “So wet and ready to melt on my tongue.” To punctuate my words, I licked up her slit in one long stroke, and she groaned, writhing around, trying to get closer. I flicked her clit with the tip of my tongue, making her gasp.
“So perfect,” Teron grunted, and I could see the hard bulge of his dick in my peripheral vision.
I feasted, reaching up one hand to stroke at her breasts, pinching a nipple and making her buck hard against my body. She was so beautifully receptive, and I would happily do this every day for the rest of my immortal life, because this would never get old. Oh sure, maybe she could ride my face. Or maybe she could suck one of the others’ cocks while we did it. The possibilities were endless. But I was addicted to the taste of this woman.
Send me to the Underworld with a messy mouth and her cries of pleasure in my ears.
I mean, the no-penetration thing made it difficult, especially when I wanted nothing more than to plunge my tongue deep inside her and lick her juices from the source, but I resisted. Instead, I worked her clit like it was my own personal pleasure button.
She was hissing like a wildcat all too soon, and as she came all over my face, I let my sigh of happiness cool against her folds. I wasn’t done, though, not yet. I looked at Teron, who looked like he was in pain, his eyes almost glowing from watching his mate come. He was massaging his cock on the outside of his pants, and I knew it must be doing something for Wren, because her pretty core was fluttering hungrily.
“Do you want to watch our doctor fuck his hand, wishing he was me right now, Little Dumpling?”
She sucked in a breath, and when she released it, it manifested as one delicious word. “Yes.”
I looked over tauntingly at Teron, daring him to play. He was many things—cool and calm, but also competitive as hell. There was no way he’d turn down the challenge in my eyes.
His hand went to the button of his pants, flicking it open easily. It had been a long time since I’d seen Teron naked. He didn’t play the way Erus and I did, and it had been an age since we’d all participated in group sex. Nearly a thousand years, if not more.
However, one thing hadn’t changed. He was a beautiful man, all deep golden skin and rippling muscles. I knew exactly why my Wren was looking at him hungrily.
He pulled his dick from his pants, and she moaned softly, which I took as my cue to get back to work. I mean, they say if you did what you love, you’d never work a day in your life, and I intended to become Chief Head of … well, Head. Chairman of Cunnilingus.
Sucking her clit between my lips, her thighs straining against my head, I reached out one hand to grip her ankle, holding her still as I dragged my mouth away. “Tell him what you want, Wren.” Then I left them to it as I went back to swirling my tongue, tracing the words to The Iliad on her clit.
“I want you to stroke yourself,” she gasped, and when he did, I swear her clit pulsed.
Good.
He had an intense look on his face, and I wondered if the Gryphon was also participating in our little voyeurism session, because she went from wet to gushing way too fast. I lapped and sucked, chasing her orgasms until Teron’s groan told me he was finishing. Wren reached down and gripped my hair tightly to tug me away.
I moaned, but I wouldn’t touch my dick. Not yet. I wanted Erus to taste her on me and then fuck me senseless.
“Enough,” she gasped out, and I smiled smugly against her.
Oh yeah. Guess who’s gonna get a Christmas bonus for a job well done this year?