And then I felt it. The warmth inside me that I had recognized at the beach. Their love. Hades was right. We had already started to bond. I knew immediately that their tentative hold had been the only thing that kept me from disintegrating instantly. Their love had kept me alive long enough to reach them. If I'd had any moisture left in my body, I would have cried. Instead, I opened myself to them, and I rejoiced within. Even if I died, I had made it back to them, and I would die where I belonged. Maybe they could visit my soul in the Underworld.
Power, bright and strong, shot through me. Exploded outward from my chest. Pain receded in that instant. My organs, on the verge of shut-down, came back online. My flesh filled in and my vision cleared. I blinked, eager to see their beautiful faces, and found their eyes full of tears.
“She's healing!” Rune cried.
“Really fast,” Merrick said in awe.
“Lomasi?” Braxen stroked my face with his massive hand. “How are you feeling, love?”
I wet my lips and swallowed before I could speak, “Amazing! I feel amazing!” Then I launched myself at all three of them.
They surrounded me with their bodies and love, but I didn't need their touch to feel them anymore. They were a partof me, sharing their immortality with me. And this bond would never break. I felt the eternalness of it in every blooming cell of my body. I vibrated with vitality because of them, centuries falling away in the blink of an eye.
“I love you,” we kept saying to each other. Over and over, all three of us. Until we finally remembered that we had a guest.
I was the first to look up and meet Hades's tender stare. “Thank you.”
“Thank you, Lomasi of the Tsimikiti,” Hades said. “You have given my hounds eternity, just as much as they have given it to you. Without you, they would have slowly died.”
“I was slowly dying before I met them.”
Hades smiled softly and nodded. “I rejoice in your love and congratulate you all.” His smile turned into a smirk. “I'm sorry I couldn't help sooner, but my hands were tied until Hermes broke the law.”
“Your arrival was perfectly timed.”
“Yes, I think it was.” Hades shifted his stare to his hounds. “Stay a while in Greece. Enjoy your new mate. You deserve this.”
“What about Michael?” Rune asked.
“The others will handle him. Again, I wish I could help them more, but even gods must obey certain laws. I will do what I can for them. But you must return to Seattle and protect that region.”
“What if Michael left some of his people there?” Braxen asked.
“Oh, he has. Which is yet another reason you must return. Clean up the city and free it of the Host's contagion, but leave Michael to the others. You have a mate to protect now, and other souls to deal with. But first, take a week off, boys. Enjoy Athens and my vacation house. See the sights. And if you see Hermes, give him the finger for me.” He leaned in to grin and add, “I trust you know which one.”
Hades's laughter lingered even after he disappeared.
Chapter Forty-One
The first one to speak was Merrick. “You're really ours.”
“I am. And you're mine.” I grinned and pulled him into a kiss.
With a growl, Braxen pulled me away from Merrick and into his arms. That amazing lightness in my chest spread, becoming delicious tingles. I pressed myself against him and moaned. It was hard to believe that it was all over. An ending to a fucked up relationship that had lasted centuries, and a beginning to one that would last far longer. Or do I count it as three relationships?
“Hey now, don't hog our mate,” Rune said in a teasing tone.
I turned to Rune with a soft smile, and he gathered me in his arms, picked me up, and walked away with me.
“What were you saying about hogging her?” Merrick asked as he chased after us.
“I'm only moving this to the bedroom,” Rune said. “Unless you wanted our first time with our mate to be on the floor.”
“The fuck it will,” Brax said.
I looked over Rune's broad shoulder to see the other two men stripping. It should have made me nervous. Three men at once. But our bond was a brightness inside me that couldn't be dimmed. I felt their love through it and that love told me that nothing we did together would be awkward or painful or shameful. Excitement shimmered through me, drenching my sex.
Merrick breathed in deeply, his head lifting and eyes closing. “Fuck, she's in heat.”
