AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I mixed a lot of Ares’ products together. I’m sure you’ve smelled them all before.” Shit, they all had super senses. Azazel said he knew them, and they all probably knew what he smelled like. “As much as I love spending time with you both, can I have some privacy while I finish up here?”
“Of course. We’ll wait in bed. Hurry up, we each have a surprise for you. There’s a shirt and boxers laid out for you on the dressing table in the closet,” Ares said.
As soon as they left, my entire body unclenched and I could breathe again. I desperately needed some space to work all of this out. Drying off and making my way to the closet, I quickly dressed in the outfit Ares left me. His t-shirt was a white V-neck and the boxers were covered in Greek flags and graphicOPAS!, like how words looked in comic books. They were adorable and totally something I could see Ares wearing.
I met them in the bedroom and screamed when I saw Oscar laying on the bed between them. He hadn’t changed at all. Same ginger hair with white flecks and paws.
“Oh my baby pussycat boy!My little grouchy pouch.Mommy missed you SO much,” I cooed as I ran over to him, crawling onto the bed to pick him up. He rubbed his face against mine and gave me a littlemeow.
“I always saw you as more of a dog person,” Bash said with disappointment. “I met this little mongrel on a few of the nights I visited you and saw him in some of your subconscious thoughts, so I retrieved him for you.” Oscar gave him an unimpressed stare. He didn’t get his name by being a happy boy.
“I am a dog person, actually. My family had a Corgi named Boots for thirteen years. She passed after I started college. Nonna said we could get another dog when I was done with school and could devote more time to taking care of it.” Thinking of my family was like a knife to the chest. Tears stung my eyes and I tried my hardest not to cry, but a tear slipped out. Oscar rubbed his face against mine again, giving me a humming purr that raised my spirits. “This little guy came into my life a year after Boots passed. If reincarnation was real, I’d like to think she came back to sass us from the grave.”
Bash and Ares looked at each other, and then at me. Bash broke the silence. “So reincarnation actually does exist, but Desmond would be the best to ask about it. I had to set a non-harmful magical trap to find Oscar. It went off yesterday after ouractivities. I was going to give him to you last night, but waited until this morning.” Bash blushed and gave me a heated stare, like he was thinking about last night.
“I’m definitely going to ask Desmond about it,” I confirmed. I learned something new and shocking every day since becoming a magical person. “Thank you so much, Bash. Maybe I’ll feel less homesick with Oscar here.” I hugged Bash, kissing him chastely on the cheek and smooshing my kitty boy between us.
Ares bounced from foot to foot impatiently, holding a green box with a white bow in his hand. I hesitated to take it from him after the finger incident, but then I thought to myself,what could possibly be worse than a ring on a severed finger with dried, crusted blood on it? His excitement was palpable, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I took the box from him, sitting on the bed in case I needed the support. I carefully opened it, and was surprised to see a necklace. It was gold, just like the ring, but instead of onyx, it had pale, white stones in dime sized panels connected by a thick box chain. They were brilliantly white, but didn’t have the same iridescence and color that opals or pearls had. They could be crystals, but I wouldn’t know if they were. Angie had always been the crystal connoisseur in the family.
“This is beautiful,” I rasped through my dry throat. Truly, it was a gorgeous, peculiar piece of jewelry. “What are the stones?”
Ares knelt in front of me, fastening the necklace around my neck. He held my ringed hand in his. Oscar sat next to me, as if he wanted a front row seat to whatever Ares was about to say. A little shiver ran up my spine, but I shoved the weird feeling aside.
“Remember that piece of garbage reptilian shifter who’s finger I cut off? Before I did that, I pulled his teeth out one by one with some pliers to inspire him to share information with me. I wasn’t joking earlier, I take your safety very seriously.” He squeezed my hand, as if ripping someone’s teeth from their gums to torture them was a completely normal thing to do for someone you cared about. “I took the teeth to a paranormal jeweler, and asked him what he could make with them. It turned out well, don’t you think?”
Okay, I stood corrected. Teeth necklaces were one hundred percent worse than fingers. My skin crawled. I was wearing a dead reptile-person’s teeth around my neck! Actual body parts?! I took a deep breath, trying to center myself before I panicked. Ares was a few marbles short of a bag, but this was his way of showing he cared about me… I should not freak out.
“Did you at least sanitize them before you put that thing around her neck?” Bash huffed, his annoyance plain as day on his face.
I doubt he meant the comment to be funny, but the comedic relief it brought to the situation was appreciated. Ares glared at him, ignoring the outburst and squeezing my hand tighter.
“Diana, I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to destroy your enemies and bathe in their blood with you. Not just because it’s fun and blood’s the ultimate accessory for any season, but because a river of their blood means you’re safe and sound. I want to give you the world, give you everything. Destroying Satan is the beginning. I’m falling for you like an angel with a busted wing, Little Goddess.”
How did I go from being inches away from full blown panic mode to happy tears? The gratitude I felt overwhelmed me in the best way. Ares cared about methatmuch?
“Thank you,” I sniffled, “But how do you know? We’ve only known each other for a week, don’t you think this is a little fast?”
“Diana, I’ve only ever felt somewhat close to this way about one woman…” His face fell. “Aphrodite. I thought I loved her so much. She lied to me about leaving her husband, kept me as her side piece for centuries, and made a fool of me more times than I can count. When I compare the way I feel about you to the way I felt about her, it pales in comparison. You consume my every thought and emotion, Little Goddess. That’s how I know it’s the real deal.”
I had no clue how to respond to that. Men were never sweet to me. They never gave me compliments or attention, let alone gifts and declarations of affection. No man had ever made me feel the way that Ares and Bash did. They may be dangerous and we may not have arrived at this moment in the most traditional way, but they saved my life. I felt so cherished, even if I was trapped in this house. The tears I tried so hard to hold back earlier broke through my defenses.
“Oh Birdie, don’t cry,” Bash cooed as he sat on the bed next to me, wrapping an arm around me. “Seriously, you’re wearing a teeth necklace now, you need to put your best badass bitch foot forward.” Since when was Bash funny?
“I’m just not used to this. I’m usuallytoo much. Or too fat, or I get ghosted. And then I find out I’m someone else c-c-completely and get kidnapped and I can never see my family again. The man of my dreams is real, and he and his friend are so good to me. It’s a lot to process.” I choked out through sobs and laughter.And I can time-hop, but I’m keeping it a secret from y’all!I was losing my mind. “I’m so thankful for the gifts, but I need to go back to my room and get ready.”
After what seemed like countless hugs, kisses, and pleas to come with me and watch me get dressed, I walked across the hall to my suite. Oscar followed me, his little kitty tail swishing back and forth as he scanned the hallway. Somehow it didn’t seem like enough space to put between us.
Conflicting thoughts popcorned through my mind, and pinning them down was almost impossible. The guys saved my life, but they expected me to help them kill Satan, the personification of evil. Bash and Ares treated me like gold, even though they were crazy and possessive as fuck. Zaz told me they were dangerous and couldn’t be trusted. This whole situation was a cluster fuck and the only way I was going to get through it was to wait it out and see what happened next. I hated doing that, because it meant not having control of the situation and having to rely on others. But if I was being honest with myself, I had already lost control.
Ihated that loud-mouthed, foul bitch. I couldn’t even enjoy breakfast in my own home without having to deal with her annoying smiles, cackling laughter, andboss bitchattitude as Bash so affectionately called it. Well he had half of it right. She was a bitch.
I wanted to throw her against the table for talking to me without an ounce of respect and spank her until her skin split, but the guys found her antics hilarious. She was already turning them against me. I couldn’t understand what the fuck they saw in her. She wasn’t cute, fuckable, or funny; she was a liability with unrefined magical abilities that we hadn’t even scratched the surface on yet.What kind of witch has superhuman hearing?I still didn’t trust she was truthful about herself. She could have easily altered her own memories to weave a sob story about a poor little girl who didn’t know she was magical and had to leave her only family behind until she took down the big, bad Devil.Oh woe is me, I have to stay in a fancy mansion against my will with supernatural hunks who pound my poor pussy out like a chicken cutlet until I scream.
I stayed away from the house the whole day, preferring to be in the city than anywhere near her. The guys loved hanging around her, fawning over her like she was Hell’s gift to Earth. They constantly touched her and made fucking googly eyes at her. Ares gave her those ridiculous gifts. Who seriously gave a fuck about an ugly necklace and some ratty old tarot cards?
Desmond was into her, even if he pretended not to be. Eventually he’d cave and she’d end up calling him Daddy, too. Ares and Bash hadn’t made any nighttime visits to my suite since she arrived. And I got it, we fucked other people; all of us had action outside of each other. It just pissed me off that out of fucking nowhere some random, average bitch came into our crew, took my friends from me, and made me an outsider. They were my best friends, my brothers. They were the entire reason I could deal with my pathetic clusterfuck of an existence because I had them to lean on, to love me. I guessed now that someone new and interesting had come along, they didn’t need me anymore.
I spent the day visiting some of our businesses in person, checking on the clubs and restaurants that usually gave us trouble. Sometimes the staff needed a physical reminder of who they’d face if they messed up or fucked us over. There had been a few times I’d had to blindfold an employee and fade them into the torture chamber at home to remind them the proper way to do business. Keeping them on their toes by giving them frequent reminders saved me a lot of torture down the road.
