Chapter 22 Zeus
Zeus
I kiss my wife. It’s something I’ve done a thousand times, but it feels different in this moment.
It feels…intentional. Like a promise of something I don’t know if I can fulfill.
Callisto is hurt and obviously shaken, and a better man would wrap her up and tuck her in and leave it at that.
But she opens for me so sweetly—sweetly—and I’m a goner.
I sweep her into my arms, careful not to jar her shoulder. “If it’s too much, tell me to stop, and I will.”
She lays her head on my shoulder and presses her hand to the center of my chest. “I know.”
Two simple words, spoken without any hesitation, are nearly enough to dismantle me entirely.
I set her down on the bed and shove off my pants.
It takes a little more effort than it would otherwise because of the wet fabric, but I manage.
Callisto props herself up on her elbows and watches me closely.
I’ve barely touched her and the intimacy of being seen is almost more than I can bear. Despite myself, I can’t stop from glancing at the light switch. She sees. Of course she sees. “You can turn the lights off if you want.”
If I want. I turn back to her. “What do you want?”
She nibbles her bottom lip, the move so unlike my fierce queen that I can’t help staring as if I’ve never seen her before.
Maybe I haven’t. We’ve been playing war games since the moment she came to me with an offer of marriage in exchange for my protection of her sisters.
We’ve never been vulnerable with each other. Not in any way that truly matters.
Callisto shifts. “I want things I can’t possibly have.”
I’m a fool a thousand times over for the desperation rising in me as I process her words and search for meaning beneath them. “You want me.”
“Yes.” She shifts, her gaze raking over me before finally landing on my face. “I want you. But I can’t have you. Not really. Even if we wouldn’t eventually destroy each other, Olympus will destroy us both.”
Her honesty draws me closer despite how much I hate her words.
I climb onto the bed and stretch out next to her, mere inches away.
As I search her expression, I realize I’ve never seen her look so…
open. It makes me want to gather her to my chest and hold her tight, but I don’t know if she’ll allow it.
I still can’t help but reach out and smooth back her damp hair.
“You have me, Callisto. You’ve had me from the start.
” A truth so stark, it feels obscene to say it aloud.
She shivers. “I like it when you say my name.”
I’ll say it forever if you let me. I know better than to speak that promise aloud. This moment hangs in the balance. She’s scared and vulnerable, and tomorrow, when she’s feeling more like herself, she’ll hate me all the more for witnessing this moment of alleged weakness.
From the time I was a kid, I’ve been taught to lead, to manipulate, to control.
I’ve never been taught how to protect. It’s not a skill I truly understood I was lacking until recently, when all I want to do is protect my sisters…
and my wife. They won’t allow it any more than she will.
If I were stronger, if I knew what the fuck I was doing, then maybe it would be different.
Maybe they would trust me to stand between them and what’s coming for us all.
Wishes are for the pathetic fools who don’t have the power to make things happen.
I hate that my father’s voice intrudes on this moment.
I hate even more that he’s right. I stroke my thumb over Callisto’s cheek.
Over and over again, we’ve brushed against the opportunity to pivot this marriage into something real, and over and over again, one or both of us has shied away from taking that first step.
I wish I could believe tonight will change things, but I know better. Tomorrow, it will be back to war.
But that’s tomorrow. Tonight, she’s mine.
“I’ll say your name as often as you like.
” I brush a light kiss to her lips. “Callisto.” I kiss her again, deeper this time.
She immediately melts into me, crossing the minuscule distance between us and sinking her hands into my hair.
In this moment, we’re not Zeus and Hera, the perpetually warring king and queen of Olympus.
We’re Callisto and Perseus, and if we aren’t fully committed as wife and husband, we’re here.
I grip her thigh and tug her leg up and around my waist. Closer. I need to be closer. I grab her ass and slide my hand down to press my fingers into her pussy from behind. She makes the sweetest little whimpering sound in response. I want to swallow it whole.
Callisto bites my bottom lip, raking it gently between her teeth. “That feels good.”
“I’ll always make you feel good.” I don’t know what I’m saying; the sensation of her wet heat clamping around my fingers is enough to short-circuit my brain.
I like having her like this, pressed against me, pinned on my fingers, grasping at my shoulders with demanding hands.
She kisses me harder but I don’t pick up my pace, lazily finger fucking her.
She’ll never be mine. I know better than to play possession games in the bedroom, but fuck if I don’t want to growl against her mouth to remind her I’m the one making her so wet the sounds fill the room even over our moans and kissing.
It’s not that asshole Ixion driving her out of her mind, taking care of her when she needs it most.
It’s me.
It’s too much, but fuck if I care. “Come for me, Wife. You’re so fucking sweet when you do.”
“I need…” She shivers. “I’m so close.”
I shift our positions just enough to wedge my leg between her spread thighs. It’s a little awkward, but I’m able to guide her to grind against my thigh without sacrificing being able to reach the spot inside her that makes her go boneless and desperate.
“I’ve got what you need,” I murmur against her mouth. “Take it.”
She grinds on my leg, my fingers, her movements just as slow and sensual as everything has been since the moment I climbed into bed with her.
I’m so hard, it’s a miracle I don’t come before she touches me.
The agony of pleasure is worth enduring so I can feel the moment she clamps around my fingers, her back bowing. “Perseus.”
Hearing her cry out my name when she orgasms breaks something deep inside me. I roll onto my back, taking her with me. Callisto lands straddling my hips, her eyes wide and wild. “Perseus, I—”
Fuck, I could get addicted to this. I pull my fingers from her and wrap them around my cock. “You can take more.”
“I need—” Even as she protests, she lifts herself so I can position my cock at her entrance.
“Callisto.” I have to stop, to focus on breathing, as she descends a bare inch.
She’s so fucking beautiful, it’s unreal.
The overhead lights in our bedroom lovingly caress her body, lingering on her fuller-than-normal breasts, on the faint curve of her stomach, on her strong thighs.
They even manage to reach her perfect pussy as she takes my cock, inch by inch.
Watching my length disappear into her is something I’ve fantasized about more often than I’ll ever admit.
It’s so much better in reality. Even with her orgasm slicking the way, she has to fight to descend on my cock.
We’ve done this before, but I’ve never been able to drink in the sight of her in the process.
The lights weren’t off on our wedding night, but there was no room for this kind of intimacy.
“You can take it,” I murmur. I grip her thighs, holding her wide as she rocks to take me deeper. “There you go, love. Just like that.”
Her rocking hitches, and I have a beat to realize what I just said before Callisto plants her hands on my chest, her nails pricking my skin. “The way you watch me…”
Be careful. I ignore the internal warning. I can’t think of anything but her right now. “How do I watch you?”
She sinks the last inch, sealing us together tightly.
Callisto shivers and it feels so good, I can’t stop my grip from spasming on her thighs.
She slides her hand down her stomach to her pussy, creating a V with her fingers.
She starts fucking me slowly, applying friction to either side of her clit.
“Like you want to tattoo your name on my ass.”
That surprises a choked laugh from me. “Not your ass, love.” Damn it, I didn’t mean to say it again.
The word just keeps slipping out. “I’d do it right here.
” I shift my touch to cover her hand, pressing her harder against herself.
She moans, which is a fucking mistake because my words once again get away from me.
“So that every lover you take is constantly reminded of whose ring you wear.”
“You are such a brute.” The words come out slow and sensual.
Callisto rides me with a steady rhythm as if she could go all night.
She’s beautiful enough to make my control shudder, lean and sharp and all too willing to cut the unwary.
I’ve never wanted to feel the edge of a partner’s blade the way I do with her.
The little moments hurt, but the hurt means they happened.
And now here she is, flushed and fiery, coming back to herself, one stroke at a time.
It’s there in the way her spine straightens, the angle her chin tilts, in how she finally lets her eyes flutter shut and head fall back.
Without her gaze challenging me, I can drink in the sight of her at my leisure.
I want to believe there’s a future where this is how we are together. I love the thorns and viciousness, but I’m a greedy fucker because I want all of her. I want her fury and her strength and her trust and her vulnerability.
I want her…love.
Right now, she’s giving me her trust, even though I don’t deserve it. How can I when she was harmed under my watch? My gaze tracks to the bandages marring her golden skin. I should have been there to protect her.
Your family is your seat of power.
I tense, not wanting his voice here in this moment. Callisto feels it, because of course she does. In this moment, she seems just as tuned to me as I am to her. Her eyes open and she braces one hand on my chest so she can grab my chin. “Stop.”
I freeze. “Stop?”
“Whatever you just thought about? Stop. It has no power right now.” She shakes her head sharply and dips her hips, taking me so deep that I can’t stop myself from moaning. Callisto smiles wickedly and this, this, is my wife. “Isn’t it better here with me than wherever you went in your head?”
The question is so absurd, I can’t help but laugh. I grip her hips and thrust up into her. “Everywhere is better with you.”
She slaps me lightly, nowhere near hard enough to hurt.
It makes my balls draw up. I dig my heels into the mattress and fight for control.
Callisto, the little brat, clocks it. She does it again, this time to the other cheek.
“You don’t have to sway me with pretty words.
I’m currently riding your long, thick cock, Husband.
” To demonstrate, she rolls her hips in a more exaggerated movement.
“Yes…” I grit out. “You’re doing masterfully.”
She laughs, clenching around me in the process. But even in the midst of this fantasy of a happy marriage, I can’t help but notice the shadows plaguing me are reflected in her hazel eyes. Her smile dims, though she never loses her rhythm fucking me. “It can’t last.”
“Callisto.” I love the way her eyes flutter when I say her name while I’m inside her.
“Why not?” I pick up her rhythm, matching it and driving a flush across her entire body as another orgasm draws closer.
“We are two of the most powerful people in this fucked-up city. We can do whatever the fuck we want.”
“We…” She seems to force her eyes open. “We can’t.”
“Yes.” I roll us and press her thighs wide so I can get just as deep as we both need.
“Yes, we can.” It takes a moment to find the tempo that has her thighs tensing against my palms and her nails clawing at my chest. “We can do anything together.” I kiss her roughly. “Callisto.” Another kiss. “Wife.”
“Perseus, I’m going to…”
“Come for me,” I growl against her lips, our ragged exhales so in sync it feels like they’re one and the same. “Please, love, I want to feel it.”
“Oh, fuck.” She pulls me closer, and I’m only too happy to oblige to the prick of her nails against my ass. “You, too,” she gasps against my throat. “Come for me, Husband. Please.”
I’d had every intention of holding out, but in the face of my pleading, orgasming wife, I’m helpless.
I move back to fuck her roughly, holding her thighs wide so I can ensure she doesn’t shift on the bed and hurt her arm.
A handful of strokes later, I give in to the pressure gathering in the base of my cock.
I come so hard, my body clenches painfully in a shiver that’s almost a spasm.
I roll to the side and carefully wrap my arms around her.
Maybe she was right and we both needed the sex, but this moment grounds me more than anything else.
I can feel her heartbeat, her breathing, the warmth of her skin.
She’s alive. She was hurt, but she survived.
Something that clenched inside me when Ares got that phone call finally relaxes, just a little.
I press one last kiss to her lips. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She smiles a little, looking soft and thoroughly fucked. “Thank you. I needed that.”
“We both did.” I am a fool for the hope that flutters inside me, fragile and unfamiliar and existing solely because of this woman. We made it through today. There is no guarantee of tomorrow, so I’ll take my wins where I can. Here. Now. With my wife.