Your family is your seat of power.
I tense, not wantinghisvoice 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, butthismoment 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.
23
Hera
I lie next to my husband, my body still thrumming with the strength of my orgasm, my mind blessedly blank. In a little while, I’m going to have to start spinning and figure out my next steps, but…not yet. I’m not ready to leave this moment of curious safety.
It’s not actuallysafe. I know that. He seems remarkably blasé about my attempting to murder him, but he wouldn’t feel the same way if he knew I was working with Circe to save my family at the expense of the rest of the Thirteen and legacy families.
The thought makes me uncomfortable. Almost guilty. I’m not used to the sensation, so I start to turn away, but he presses his big hand to the center of my chest. “Don’t run.”
“I don’t run from anything, least of all you.”
Another man would laugh. Would make a joke of some kind. Or maybe he would just grin. Perseus does none of these. Instead, he watches me with those oh-so-serious blue eyes. “Don’t run,” he repeats. “Please.”
The temptation arises again to tell him…something. I have somany doubts about him andus, and yet I can’t deny how safe I feel with him. I don’t know how that equation works out, and because I don’t know, I can’t trust him with my sisters’ and my mother’s safety. If I confess what’s going on with Circe, he’s just as likely to toss me into some locked room as he is to work with me in pursuit of an actual solution—and if I’m locked up, I can’t save them.
Not that I’m doing a bang-up job of saving anyone right now. Persephone has unilaterally told me no, and after the events of the day, there’s no way Hades is going to listen to a single argument I make.
But even knowing how hopeless this entire situation is, I can’t quite turn away from Perseus. I carefully cover his hand with mine, keeping it pressed against my chest. “It’s late. I’m not going anywhere.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He studies my expression. I have no idea what he sees there. “Did I tell you Hermes came to talk to me?”
