A Court of Earth and Aether: a Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (War of the Gods Book 4) Read online

  After my flight, I would need to find my lair.

  “Dulcis, don’t go, please,” the vampire pleaded. Fear coated his gray eyes, so deep and profound it nearly cut into me.

  The same panic reflected in the eyes of the other two males.

  A slice of light brushed my mind.

  The thought that I would take off and forsake them left the immortals terrified.

  I truly meant a great deal to them. More than a great deal.

  “Your home is here, with us,” the vampire cooed. “And you’re our home. My beloved, we’re all your mates.” He pressed closer and kissed me.

  How dared this immortal kiss a dragon!

  A stream of fire puffed from my snout, arcing mercilessly toward him, but it only caressed him, pleased with his touch.

  My fire would never harm my mate.

  “You’re my sun, my fire, and my light.” He said it again. “Come back to us. Come back to your mates.”

  His intoxicating male scent and voice conjured a memory of long ago, or maybe not all that long ago.

  Another image flashed behind my eyes.

  I had been in a cage. I had been in another form that bore a young woman’s shape. And he and a black panther tore off the door of the cage and set me free.

  Crystal-like tears sprang to his eyes as he saw a spark of recognition in my own.

  He might be my mate. All three males might be my mates. Otherwise, the idea of leaving them wouldn’t leave me feeling quite so gutted.

  It was possible I had four mates, though one was gone. That was why I’d turned into a dragon, as my every instinct drove me to go after him and bring him back.

  “I’m Alaric, your mate,” the demigod confirmed. “The vampire is Lorcan. Pyrder to your left is the twin of your lost mate. We’ll get Reysalor back, sweetheart, I promise. Don’t you worry anymore. We’ll do it together. We’ll tear Hell apart to get your last mate back, then we’ll stay together. Always and forever. But for now, you need to stay with us. You need to regain your strength back first.”

  I eyed him. There was truth in his words.

  Dragons held the cunning ability to detect lies.

  I slowed the movements of my wings and stared down at Lorcan first, then Alaric, then Pyrder, the twin to my lost mate. They stroked me and scratched my skin between my scales on my neck, as if they knew how to tame a dragon.

  They’d told me the name of my last mate. I still wanted to go find Reysalor. I still wanted to sail into the night sky, but I didn’t have the heart to abandon them.

  “Are you hungry, sweetheart?” the demigod asked. “We have cakes in the house, lots of cakes.”

  I regarded him with wary eyes. Dragons didn’t eat cakes.

  “You have another form, a much smaller one,” Pyrder said. “Cass’s form loves cakes.”

  I frowned. This male preferred Cass to me because he thought I was too big?

  “Let me do the talking!” the demigod barked at him before swiftly turning back to give me his undivided attention. “Can you shift back to Cass, sweetie, and then we can have cakes together after we bathe you? Bathing is a lot of fun. You always liked it. Warm water, candles, music, songs, and jokes. And we’ll use a soft sponge to pat your back. And then we can all go to sleep in a large, warm bed and say goodnight to each other.”

  All those promises sounded good. But when he mentioned sleep, it felt as if a spell had just fallen upon my eyes.

  I was tired.

  I was bone-tired. The well inside me dried up, the fire now but an ember in the ash. My eyes felt heavy, and I found I could no longer hold them open. I needed to take a nap. And somehow, deep in my bones, I knew these males would never hurt me.

  They’d guard me, keep me safe.

  They were my mates, and I was bonded to them all.

  I yawned, puffing out another streak of fire.

  “Dulcis, do you want to take a nap?” Lorcan asked, kissing my nose.

  Alaric snarled at him. “Our mate will nap in our bed after she shifts back.”

  “She can’t shift back now,” Pyrder insisted. “She needs enough strength to do that. She’s pushed herself to her limits.”

  “Let our mate have a break,” Lorcan said.

  “Dragons love to nap,” whispered Pyrder, the twin to my other fae mate. “You’re doing all right, Cass baby. You’re doing great. Sleep now, my beauty, and we’ll guard you with our lives.”

  Sweeping my barbed tail in agreement, I folded my massive wings, sparks of fire skittering from the scales as I lowered myself to the ground.

  I peeked at each one of my mates once more, closing one eye, then the other.

  With my heavy head resting on my talons, I dozed off.

  CHAPTER 2

  In my shallow sleep, I was aware of the three males gathering around me, one guarding, two lying on either side of me and snuggling into me.

  The non-mate warriors all ran around in the background to tend to their fallen peers and the wounded. Grief and rage hung thick and heavy in the air. My mates spoke in hushed voices, but I could catch every word in the wind.

  “Is our mate asleep now?” Lorcan asked quietly.

  “Of course, she closed her eyes and she’s purring,” Pyrder said.

  “Like you’re a dragon expert,” Alaric quipped, his tone heavy with sarcasm. “We shouldn’t have let her sleep before she shifted.”

  “Stop being a hard ass,” Lorcan barked at the demigod. “She’s suffered enough today. At least she stayed with us instead of leaving. Consider that a great achievement already.”

  “We have to be firm,” Alaric argued in a grave voice. “The longer she stays in her dragon form, the harder it becomes to get her back. If she withdraws deeper into her inner beast, she might be too far gone for us to ever reach her.”

  “Our Cass baby won’t be lost to the beast,” Pyrder said. “She’s a fighter. She’ll fight to come back to us, right?”

  “It might not be as easy as you think, Fae,” Alaric said. “She’s found a sweet spot in her dragon form where she doesn’t need to face her pain. She can hide there. And becoming a dragon is much more alluring than you can imagine.”

  “How do you know?” Pyrder countered. “You’re not a dragon. You aren’t even a shifter.”

  “We’ll use cakes to lure her back,” Lorcan said. “While Pyrder and I watch over her, Alaric, you should get Boone to start baking. Just the smell of honey might entice her.”

  “I’m afraid cakes won’t be enough,” Pyrder said. “In her dragon form, our mate is a carnivore. Didn’t you see the hunger in her eyes when she first spotted us? We’re lucky she hasn’t eaten us already. She won’t be too interested in cakes.”

  “Then we’ll use sex as the lure,” Lorcan said with determination.

  “How?” Alaric demanded. “She’s in her dragon form. How can we mate?”

  “When she wakes up, you play a sentry,” Pyrder said. “Lorcan and I will strip off in the house and show her our magnificent torsos. All you need to do is direct her to look at the window.”

  Lorcan seemed to ponder for a second before he agreed, “I think the plan will work. I scented her interests when we patted her. It was probably the reason she didn’t swallow us into her keen belly.”

  “Cass would never eat us,” Alaric said.

  “We need to feed her as soon as she wakes, just in case,” Pyrder said.

  “You two had better know how to strip properly,” Alaric said. “I’m not entirely sure that your charm and male magnetism can really lure our mate to shift back to her Cass form.”

  A moment of silence lingered between them before Pyrder broke it. “What if she won’t turn back? What if she doesn’t know how to shift back? We can’t ignore the possibility that our mate won’t return to her true Cass form. I once stayed in my panther form for a century, and no one, not even my twin, could reach me while I was in that dark place.”

  “No matter what form she takes, she’s our mate,” Lorcan sa
id. “I’ll love and care for her just the same.”

  “She’s our one true mate,” Alaric said. “No doubt about it. We’ll protect our mate with our last breath. But regardless, we need to bring her back.”

  “We’ll tell her we want to hold her and make love to her the whole night in our warm bed,” Pyrder said. “Chicks dig that.”

  I might dig that. All the things they’d discussed—cakes, sex, and naked warm bodies—sounded intriguing. I’d need to shift into a smaller form and get into the house to get cozy with them. I wanted to know how it felt to be kissed by them, all over. I wanted their scorching male touch. I wanted them to bury their cocks deep in me and pound between me thighs, just like those fragmented memories that popped in my mind earlier.

  But I couldn’t abandon another mate. I needed to stay here to wait for him.

  The wind, the sky, and the stars now twinkling in the vast blackness still called me to them, beckoned me to roam free.

  A new presence appeared in the proximity that I shared with the three immortal males, and my body tensed, my nostrils flaring.

  He was a powerful god.

  “It’s great that our Cass turned into a dragon!” the newcomer said with excitement.

  “She’s not your Cass!” Pyrder hissed. He was quite territorial.

  “What are you doing here, Hephaestus?” Lorcan demanded. “Alaric, I thought you locked him in the prison cabin.”

  “I don’t appreciate the hostile tone, vampire,” Hephaestus said in a grating voice. “But for Cass’s sake, I’ll let it go. She would want me to have a big heart.”

  I would want him to shut up so I could continue to eavesdrop on my mates’ conversation and gather intel. I wanted to know what they really thought of me. So far, I had mixed feelings. I didn’t like that they kept calling me a beast, though they didn’t seem to discriminate against me much. A distance memory told me that I’d been called a monster since my birth.

  Had I been born a baby dragon?

  I might eventually forgive my mates, since they’d all declared their undying love and devotion toward me no matter what form I took. They even thought I was a beautiful dragon, though they preferred my other form and endeavored to get me to take that form.

  It probably had to do with sex. They couldn’t fuck a dragon.

  An image of them bathing my humanoid form popped up in my mind. One of them spread my legs and thrust into me from behind. I couldn’t remember who it was now, since my dragon mind worked differently, but the sexual image was hot and left me smoldering.

  Liquid fire warmed my belly, and desire rose like hot rain.

  “Didn’t I warn you to stay away until we sort this out, Hephaestus?” Alaric asked in an acidic tone.

  “Oh, c’mon, my bastard brother. I’m one of the major gods. Your sentries can’t keep me in that cell, even warded by you. I stayed in there for a while out of courtesy to Cass, since I’d sworn fealty to her. But it makes me antsy not knowing how she is.” I heard the god rubbing his hands in excitement. “Look at her. She’s magnificent even in her slumber! This is so exciting. I didn’t expect this turn of events. Our Cass is also descended from the Dragon God! This changes everything. This is an absolute game-changer.”

  “How does that change everything?” Lorcan demanded.

  “As a tribrid from the most powerful bloodlines, she could be even more powerful than my father,” Hephaestus went on. “Right now, she’s still the wild card, as everyone said.” He paused for a second before starting again, as if he had to get it off his chest. “Her dragon blood will undoubtedly strengthen the runes on the Blade of Five Elements. I suggest we draw a few drops of her blood now, while the dragon still sleeps, and finish the runes.”

  The nasty god wanted my blood? Would the three immortal males who claimed to be my mates steal my blood while I napped? I struggled to peel open an eye.

  Alaric summoned his flaming blade. I nearly leapt up and shook off the other two males snuggled against me. But the demigod didn’t bleed me. He thrust his sword toward the thieving god.

  Hephaestus jumped backwards, also unbelievably fast, and raised his hands in the air. “I was just saying,” he said with a shrug of his uneven, lumpy shoulder. “I know you are all overprotective of your little mate, but we’re going to war, and she’ll stand at its center against my kind, the most powerful race in the universe. You can’t shield her from that. Just look at her. She’s powerful beyond measure. We’ll only need a few drops of her blood. It’ll be like a paper cut to her.”

  “Say you want my mate’s blood again, and I’ll gut you,” Alaric snarled.

  “As will I if you try to get an inch closer to my beloved,” Lorcan said.

  The handsome vampire stood up, and I didn’t like the empty space he left.

  I liked all of my mates lying cozily around me, where my dragon fire would keep them warm.

  Pyrder snarled like a pissed-off panther.

  Hephaestus shook his head in disgust. “Please pretend that I haven’t said anything. I’m not the enemy here. I’m Cass’s friend.” He then pointed at Alaric’s flaming sword. “Why do you still hold that sword? It should be in my possession now, since it’s my payment for forging the Blade of Five Elements for you. I’ve kept my end of the bargain. I forged the blade and handed it over to you.”

  “And because of you,” Pyrder growled, “my mate is like this, and my twin was taken to hell!”

  “As I told you before, there was no other place we could forge that blade,” Hephaestus exclaimed in exasperation. “And now we’ve gotten the blade made, and Cass revealed more of her awesome power. So I’d say we’ve done extremely well.”

  “I should just use the blade to kill you and be done with it,” Alaric said.

  “You aren’t that kind of male,” Hephaestus said. “You aren’t like them. You still hold honor deeper in your humble demigod bones. Plus, you’ll need me to accompany Cass to Hades’s realm to get her mate back. I think Reysalor Iliathorr is her favorite.”

  Now all my mates growled threats.

  Hephaestus laughed. He really liked to stir up trouble.

  “Don’t take my word for it, though,” he said. “You can ask her. Our dragon goddess is actually awake. Her breathing has changed.”

  “How dare you wake up my mate?!” Alaric said.

  “You lot are nuts, and not in the best way,” Hephaestus said. “If you want to win this war, you’d better get your shit together.”

  I fluttered open my other eye and trained it on Hephaestus.

  More memories flooded into my dragon mind. I remembered him, the God of Blacksmiths and Fire. He’d been forging a blade for us, claiming “shit needs to be repeated eighteen times” before everything had gone to shit.

  Before Hades took my beloved Reys.

  My three mates inched closer to me while keeping an eye on the ugly god.

  “Dulcis,” Lorcan called. “Did the smith god wake you up? Do you want me to teach him a lesson?”

  “Cass baby, how was your nap?” Pyrder asked tenderly.

  I answered them with a small stream of fire.

  Outside the circle formed by my mates, Hephaestus’s dirty green eyes studied me as if I was the most fascinating creature he’d ever seen.

  “Sweetheart, are you hungry?” Alaric asked. “If you want, you can eat the god. He might be ugly, but I’m sure he’s yummy.”

  “That’s not nice,” Hephaestus cried. Then he ignored my mates and shouted at me. “Hello, Cass, my good friend. How are you holding up? Be strong. I’m here for you. I forged the blade for you. It’s a masterpiece, the best art I’ve ever made. You’ll be so pleased when you see it. Do you want to see it now? Your demigod mate took it, and he hasn’t paid me yet. As his mate, you need to make sure he keeps his words.”

  I spat a current of fire toward Hephaestus, and he yelped, leaping back to stay out of its range.

  Alaric threw his head back and laughed.

  “That’s the spirit,
Cass!” Hephaestus called with a grin. “You got some fire in you. You’re a dragon now. I bet none of the gods saw this coming,” he hollered. “I’m thrilled. Now, all that’s left to do is the runes. If you don’t mind donating your potent dragon bloo—”

  He didn’t get to finish the words, because Alaric, faster than the wind and fire, punched him in the mouth. The strike would kill any mortal, and possibly even an immortal, but Hephaestus was a major god.

  This whole time, I couldn’t voice my opinions, other than puffing a ring of fire here and there. So now I wanted to shift back to my girl form to issue some of my objections and sleep on a softer bed with my mates after they fed me cakes and then bathed me, just as they’d promised.

  The frigid, whipping wind hadn’t cooled the rage and grief in me, but my three mates had drowned out the roaring darkness in my ears with their presence, their undivided loyalty, and their loving determination.

  They would never abandon me.

  I swayed my barbed tail to signal to them that I wanted to shift back to Cass, the form they were accustomed to, and I wanted cakes, bath, and sex, not necessarily in that order.

  Shift! my dragon groaned.

  I waited.

  Nothing happened.

  The dragon wanted to stay, and she was stubborn. She wasn’t going to give up her freedom easily, as she enjoyed seeing the world with her big, fiery eyes and feeling the wild wind on her skin.

  I whimpered, exhaling a puff of fire.

  I didn’t have the heart to put her back in a cage or on a leash. I knew what it was like to be locked away.

  “Quiet,” Alaric called. “Mate needs help.”

  “Cass baby,” Pyrder said. “We’re here. I’ll walk you through this.”

  No doubt he was an expert on shifting. I gazed down at him, leaning closer to him and hanging on to his every word.

  “When shifting,” he instructed, “you need to find the deep core that’s the true you, and call it out.”

  That was easy enough. I closed my eyes and reached deep into myself.

  Cass, get the fuck out, I called.