5. Forever
FOREVER
ALEX
My arm is completely healed before we arrive at the palace.
I expected as much. Though I refused to use Apollo’s power to cover up the slight gash, I didn’t need to. Gods in the Other have amazing regenerative properties. There was no way to keep the skin from knitting together.
Daphne seems a little disappointed when she notices.
That catches my attention. Knowing her as well as I do by now, I thought she’d join my sister in teasing me for losing the contest to Noelle—or how my twin finally got her revenge on me for taking that fateful shot at the huntsman so long ago.
Zeus, I love her, but Daphne is the kind of woman to scoff and tell me to suck it up.
For her to coo over such a slight injury has me on my guard.
Just what did those two talk about while me and Hunter were banished from the cabin?
When I ask her, she refuses to answer. I do, however, notice an enchanting glimmer in her forest green eyes. She’s plotting something, my nymph is, and from the way she keeps finding excuses to touch me on our walk back… I’m happy to leave her to it.
I’ve grown to crave her skin brushing against mine. All I have to do is feel the slight spark that passes between us—a sign that our souls both recognize and are meant for each other—and if I wasn’t already hard as stone, I’d be halfway there.
Like now. Whenever Daphne glances away, checking to see if we’re closing in on Apollo’s palace, I palm my erection, trying to tame it before the tent in my chiton catches her attention.
Pity that, as I’m trying to get control of one snake, another betrays me.
As if he can sense our approach—which, of course, he can—Pytho slithers out of his moat, greeting us on the edge of my territory.
The giant python is a reminder of my complicated history with Cassandra, the witch in the woods.
When I first arrived in the Other, she wasn’t too happy to have to deal with another Apollo so soon after hers left her behind.
I… didn’t make it any easier on her, and when she conjured a reborn python for Apollo to battle, I proved I was more than just the sun god when I used his skills to make the giant snake my pet instead of a kill.
She thought I was being cheeky. I guess I was.
Now, as I watch Pytho coil and move across the hard ground before rising up, bumping his head against Daphne’s outstretched hand, I find myself fighting back a scowl.
I know they get along. Of all the nymphs, Daphne is the only one that Pytho has taken a liking to.
On the rare times I have to leave her behind at the palace because of Apollo’s duties, she usually spends her days sitting with my python.
As she says, it’s better than gossiping with the other nymphs, but I’ve seen her sneak meat from dinner.
My Daphne is a vegetarian. The meat is a treat for Pytho, and I know because I bring him some myself.
Still, it’s not my legs that the snake is wrapping himself around. It’s Daphne’s, and the scowl finds its way to my face after all when I notice how the hem of her golden dress hikes higher the more Pytho coils around her.
She laughs in greeting, then, in her thick New York accent, says, “Yeah, yeah, I missed you, too. Now get down. Come on. Down you get.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Pytho is trying to steal you away from me.”
He better not. I might have saved the massive snake to make a statement to Cassandra—the first of many times I purposely subverted her expectations of me—but apparently I’m a jealous enough man that I can’t even stand the idea of Pytho taking affection that should be mine.
Just like my nymph should only be mine.
It’s ridiculous. Especially after my brief discussion with Orion, I know better than to think that Daphne would choose any other soul in the Other over me, including my pet.
I don’t hide my jealousy well. Daphne gets one good look at me, chuckles under her breath, then nudges Pytho a little more forcefully.
“I’m glad to be home, too, Pytho. But I gotta go inside. I’ll see you later.” She glances at me. “Tomorrow. I’ll come visit you in the morning.”
Through my connection with the snake, I can tell he’s disappointed. Then again, so am I. Going inside means returning to an empty bedroom while my soulmate sleeps blissfully down the hall.
Ah, well. Can’t be helped. And it’s not like I haven’t taken care of my need on my own plenty of times since Daphne came blazing into my humdrum life. One day I’ll look forward to a hand daintier and softer than mine, but that’s not today.
I meet her gaze. “It’s late. I should walk you to your quarters and leave you to your rest.”
“Mm.”
I can’t help my own soft laugh. She picked up that habit of mine shortly after she came to stay at the palace so I know exactly what she means when she makes the non-committal noise: the same thing I do when I make it.
Bullshit.
And, Olympus, I adore her for it. She knows I’m full of it.
Still, what else can I do? We already ate dinner with Noelle and her husband.
By the time the contest was over and we’d made our careful way through the dark woods—with only one Other creature I had to hunt to keep every hair on Daphne’s lovely head safe—it was growing past the time of Apollo’s power. It’s Artemis’s time to shine.
So though I wish I could stay in her company longer, I lead her to her doorway. If the most I can expect from my soulmate is a kiss goodnight, that’s more than I had before I met my Daphne.
However, just as I’m leaning down to take my kiss, she presses her palm against my chest. “Hang on, Alex. I was thinking… you want to come in?”
I freeze. For a second, I’m not sure I heard her right.
Did she… am I… huh?
“Excuse me?”
“What’s the matter, Alex? You look shocked. You’re the one who said that, if I invite you into my room, you wouldn’t say no. You change your mind?”
I blink. “Daphne—”
“What? You’re not interested? That’s fine. I mean, Noelle made some good points.”
“I… I…”
She chuckles softly. “Never thought I’d see the day I’d render the great Apollo speechless.”
That does it. With the right buttons, even shocked, she’s going to get the real Alex. “Fine. If you call me Apollo, I’ll call you álokhos.”
Her gaze narrows. She can tell that I’m throwing a dare at her, but she doesn’t know why. “I’ve heard you call me that before. I still don’t know what it means.”
That’s because Daphne… my Daphne… is a much more dominant personality than the nymph she used to be. She’s constantly in control without even trying. She wouldn’t know Ancient Greek.
She wouldn’t know that, in my weaker moments, I call her my wife.
Because she’s not. Not yet, at least. Not until we consummate this union that Fate picked out for the both of us. And she… she invited me into her room.
Does she know what that means?
It’s only been a few months. What’s that compared to the promise of forever?
I’ve been careful. So careful. I didn’t want to risk her changing her mind and leaving me, but I’ve always considered her mine…
I just didn’t let her know that. But she hit a nerve—knowing Daphne, she did it on purpose—and I wanted to remind her that I’m Alex.
I’m hers.
I clear my throat. “Wife.” It doesn’t come out anywhere near as smooth as I want it to. But it’s the truth, and she can hear that in how my voice rasps out, “It means you’re my wife.”
“Good.”
Good?
She’s purring as she crooks her finger at me, backing up a few paces so that she’s in her room and I’m still standing on the other side of the doorway. “Because that’s what I am. At least, after we fuck, it’s what I’m going to be. Unless you still want to wait—”
Wait? Hades, no. Forty years I waited for a mate. Three months I waited for her to accept me as hers.
If Daphne is willing to be mine, I’m not going to wait a second longer.
Before she can finish that ridiculous statement, I’ve already strode boldly past her into the center of her space.
Her lips curve upward. Tucking a lock of her red hair behind her ear, she runs her heated gaze over me, snagging on my groin. Her tongue darts out, dabbing the corner of her mouth. “Well, then. Guess that answers that question, huh?”
Using the toe of her sandal, she kicks the door closed behind her. Then, moving into me, she trails her finger down the fabric of my chiton, not-so-casually stroking the side of my glaringly obvious erection.
“Come on, baby. Make me yours.”
DAPHNE
I don’t have to ask twice.
Now, I knew that Alex wanted me. To be honest, if I wasn’t so worried about Willow when I first met him—and his attitude didn’t turn me off right away—I’m willing to bet all the gold in his palace that he would’ve followed me into this bedroom that night.
I would’ve been his bonded soulmate before I even had a clue that was a thing, and I probably would’ve hated him for the rest of eternity.
But that was then. Tonight, I love Alex as much as he adores me. I’m going into sex tonight with my eyes wide open, and no care that I’m tying myself to him for as long as we both live—and, considering he’s an immortal god, that’s a pretty fucking long time.
I can’t wait.
And it’s not because my cousin has her own god of a husband.
Or that Willow is stuck here, no matter what.
For a little bit longer, I could technically go back home.
Would I? Nah. This is my home now. This castle, here with this stunning man…
it’s where I belong. No one—not any jealous nymph, calculating witch, or embodiment of chaos—is going to change that once I get him inside of me.
The best thing about Other fashions? Once I let my dress settle down at my feet, I’m wearing nothing but my golden sandals. Seconds later, they’re gone. It’s just me standing there, completely naked, while my suave soulmate’s jaw drops open.
I snap my fingers. “You gonna stand there and stare all day, or are you gonna strip?”
Alex shakes his head, clearing it. A smirk tugs on his lips as he quickly removes his white chiton.
No underwear for men here, either, I see. Because… oh, yes. I see.
When there was only some thick fabric between my questing fingers and his cock, I figured I got a good idea of what it would look like.
Proud to say I wasn’t that far off—and that I must’ve hit the lottery to be able to claim a dick as nicely shaped as his to be the one I get to ride for the rest of eternity.
Not too thick, just the right length to fill a chick up without being stuffed, and it’s already so impressively erect.
Yes, please.
The rest of Alex is as amazing as I imagined. From his sprinter-like body to the way his dick juts so proudly from his thatch of darker blond curls, I’m almost in a trance, staring at him as he finishes undressing.
His sandals go, and so do his armbands for some reason. But then Alex reaches up, his fingers settled on the sides of his thick, golden torque, and it’s my turn to give my head a clearing shake.
“Leave it.” The words come out husky. “Please.”
I don’t know what shocks him more: that I actually said ‘please’ to him, or that I’m asking him to leave on his torque.
I’m not even so sure why I asked him to.
Probably because, over the last few sleepless nights, I imagined him hovering on top of me, pounding away while the golden shine of his necklace hypnotizes me. It just… it seems right.
He can tell that I mean it. With a smug grin, he says, “Anything for you, my Daphne.”
He did something for me, right? Now it’s my turn to do something for him.
And if the Daphne I’ve always been has this need to turn that smug look into something more to her liking… he didn’t have to follow me in. But he did, and I’m going to make sure he enjoys every second of what we’ve both been waiting for.
Stepping away from my scattered sandals and my discarded dress, I stalk toward Alex. I make sure to put a little bounce in my step, leaving my bare tits to jiggle just enough to distract him while I make a quick grab for his cock.
It’s blazing. Even when Alex is in the lead, he runs hotter than the rest of us in the Other, but I gasp when I feel how hard and heavy and hot his dick is against my fingers and palm. I didn’t have any doubts about what I was doing, but that seals it.
Unless he begs, he’s not leaving this room until I get this thing of beauty inside of me.