Half-Blood Academy 5: Magic Flame: a Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance Page 5

  “I’m not fragile, you asshole. Fuck off,” Héctor said, and Axel laughed.

  Sometimes I just had to love the war demigod’s carefree attitude.

  The monsters suddenly bellowed furiously, and rolled toward us like black waves with spikes, claws, and fangs. They’d finally seen through our tricks.

  Paxton, Zak, and I were close to the end of the valley now, but Axel and Héctor still lagged. They wouldn’t outrun the monsters. Héctor would be fine since the horde remained uninterested in him, but Axel and my hellhound would be in danger.

  Axel always thought that he was less important in my heart than Héctor, which wasn’t true. And I wouldn’t trade one mate’s life for another’s.

  The first wave of the monsters’ attack rolled toward Axel.

  I screamed his name as I sprang back toward him.

  “Go, Cookie! Leave us!” Axel roared.

  “Zak, get my Lamb and keep going! Do your fucking job, Paxton!” Héctor barked and turned to fight shoulder to shoulder with Axel.

  The monsters swarmed over Axel and Angel.

  Lucifer and Ares didn’t slow down. The God of War would let his son be taken down by the beasts.

  Zak wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back, despite my kicks and screams. Paxton guarded my back.

  “We have to go, Buttercup,” he said.

  “I won’t lose them!” I screamed.

  With every ounce of my strength, I broke free from both Zak’s and Paxton’s hold. But I might already be too late to rescue my other mates and my hellhound.

  Axel, Héctor, and Angel disappeared into the ranks of the trolls.

  “No! No!” I shrieked in terror and agony and rage, and power blasted out of me like a violent wind. “You won’t harm my mates!” I roared at the horde.

  Power surged from me toward the monsters, hitting them like shockwaves. They stumbled, their steps sluggish, and moved in slow motion.

  I blinked, my lips parting in shock. I still had power. It was a new brand of magic, manifesting during times of extreme distress.

  Raw energy sputtered in my belly, completely in sync with the Void. The magic buzzed and spread out from me like a butterfly’s electrified wings.

  In front of me, the monsters’ hive minds opened like a matrix, and all of a sudden I was plugged into it, connected to their collective consciousness. Their minds were filled with blind rage and violence, but I also noticed awareness amid the enormous madness that gripped them.

  They were waiting. They’d been waiting for something, or someone, or a purpose, but they didn’t know what that was.

  I roamed in the center of their minds like a spark of fire amid an ocean of shadows and violence. They were predators, yet they were also a herd.

  “Back off from what’s mine!” I ordered.

  Their rage increased, registering a new presence in the matrix of their consciousness. I matched their rage with my wrath, drawing on the Void magic inside me to create a flaming blade inside the matrix and stabbing a few minds as an example.

  They shrieked in terror and pain, but I didn’t care. Even joined to the horde’s collective consciousness as I was, their agony didn’t touch me. I would do anything to save my mates. I’d be the biggest predator and the worst monster of all, if that’s what it took.

  “You’ll obey me! Or I’ll crash your hive mind and turn it to mush,” I promised.

  A spark of recognition rose from the edge of the matrix and spread like wildfire, piercing the half-madness and fury that drove the armada. The hive mind shifted in an instant.

  I stood my ground, snarling like a primal being, ready for any challenge.

  Only it was no longer a challenge.

  Princess? Mistress? A leading thought queried amid a horde of droning and humming voices, and then all the background voices hushed and listened.

  I stared dumbly at the horde. That was unexpected, but my mind whirled fast.

  You returned to us, Princess?

  Mom had said I was the Princess of the Void.

  I wasn’t sure if the term she used meant the same princess the monsters were asking about, but I would do anything to get my mates out of here, including claiming a fake title.

  Yes, I said. Now retreat and leave my companions alone.

  Something blurred in front of me. Before I could blink, Ares kicked my demon blade from my hand, sending it flying, and seized me. Zak and Paxton screamed war cries and charged in our direction. The war god jumped off the cliff with me in his grip.

  Lucifer leapt right after us.

  The deafening waterfalls drowned out my mates’ roars and the monsters’ bellows as we plummeted. Fear for my mates sank in my stomach like a cold rock, and rage rose in me like acid fire. No time to pull out the hidden dagger in my boot. I drove an elbow back toward Ares’s neck. I threw my other hand backward and found his groin, grabbing his nuts and squeezing as hard as I could.

  Ares shrieked in agony, his hold on me loosening. I shoved away from him in midair.

  “You hellion!” Ares cursed right before he hit the churning water.

  Zak and Paxton roared my name. I looked up in time to see them jump after Lucifer.

  I plunged into the rapids, sinking instantly from the momentum of the fall. I flailed and kicked, struggling to go up to the surface. Just as I almost made it, a flood from upstream swept me under again. I cried for my mates. Icy water pumped into my lungs instead of air.

  It hurt.

  The powerful currents dragged me down, and then there was a fucking whirlpool underneath. I fought against the rapids and vortex, paddling with all my might to swim up, but something kept pulling me in the opposite direction.

  Blackness surrounded me, and panic lumped in my throat.

  I wasn’t a swimmer!

  Where were my mates? Where was my hound? Where was everyone?

  Something grabbed my left foot. I kicked, twisted enough to yank out the dagger in my boot, and slashed it all around like a maniac.

  Then I broke free from whatever had gripped my ankle. The rapids swept me away as if I were a tea leaf, dragging me forward at a bruising speed. I even flipped a couple of times in the current, not by my choice, while the frigid water filled my lungs.

  Where was the swimming boy when I needed him?

  Dread and black panic choked me as my lungs burned. I needed air! Then I remembered that I didn’t need to breathe. My mind was so conditioned by my twenty-years of human living that I forgot to rely on my survival instincts.

  I heard a sound like a voice, but it was distorted through the water. I couldn’t answer or call for help. Nor could I reach my mates telepathically, since our powers were muted in the Void.

  A strong hand seized my arm, and I turned to drive my blade toward that person, assuming it was Ares. I pulled back my dagger right away as Héctor’s handsome face came into view. I sobbed in relief. Of all of my mates, it was my mortal lover who had found me under the rapids.

  I tried to call his name, and more icy water poured into my mouth, burning my throat.

  Héctor pulled me to the surface with unbelievable strength for a mortal, and I gasped for air.

  “I gotcha, love,” Héctor said in his deep, soothing voice.

  I vomited the water from my lungs into the rushing river. Disoriented from the near drowning, I rested my head on Héctor’s shoulder. “Gotcha?” I croaked.

  Zak ran around the riverbank, shouting our names frantically, his wild eyes searching. Spotting us, he jumped into the current toward us. Together, he and Héctor carried me to the bank, and I let them.

  I wasn’t proud of being a damsel in distress, but I had also learned that showing my vulnerability in front of my mates was totally okay. When I was weak, I found strength in them and through them. That was what equal partnership and trust were about. Right?

  I clung to Zak and Héctor, my eyes searching for my missing mates.

  “Axel! Pax!” I shouted—or tried to. My voice cracked in a h
oarse whisper.

  “Axel! Paxton!” Zak yelled. “Show yourselves!”

  Only the roar of waterfalls and rapids and the howls of the monsters above the cliff answered us. The beasts milled around, trying to get down, but we were out of their realm now.

  Héctor pulled me onto his lap to warm me and wrapped his arms around me protectively, brushing a tender kiss over the tip of my nose. Zak kept searching for my other two mates.

  “Paxton jumped at the same time I did,” Zak said. “He should have been out already since he’s a sea demigod.”

  “He probably dived deep into the water to search for my Lamb when he didn’t see her,” Héctor said. “But Axel should come out any time now. He leapt off the cliff before me. We were fending off the beasts, and then they suddenly halted their attacks.”

  My heart pounded. Had the monsters actually obeyed me? I made a mental note to be firm in my command if we encountered a monster horde again.

  Then fear grasped me again. “Where’s Angel? He was forged from hellfire. He might not be able to swim. How could I not think of that?”

  Just then, two heads broke out of the upstream a few yards away.

  “Angel!” I called.

  My hellhound grinned and swam toward us. When he reached me, he shook his hide excitedly and splashed water all over Héctor’s and my face.

  “Damn hound,” Héctor grunted.

  I hugged my hellhound’s two heads, and his rough tongues rolled out and licked my jaw. I scratched the back of his ears and ordered him to track Axel and Paxton.

  “I haven’t seen Lucifer and Ares anywhere either,” Zak said.

  “I hope they drowned,” I said. “If not, there’s no justice in the universe.”

  “We’ll stab them as soon as they surface,” Héctor said. “We have the advantage now.”

  I nodded my agreement and reluctantly left Héctor’s lap. He wasn’t willing to let me go, either, but we had tasks at hand.

  Lucifer and Ares never came out of the water. Neither did my mates.

  CHAPTER 6

  __________________

  Héctor, Zak, and I shouted for Axel and Paxton again and again. A surge of anxiety churned in my stomach, worse than lethal acid.

  I wanted to dive back into the water to look for them, but both Héctor and Zak objected vehemently. I didn’t want either of them to get into the rapids and become lost as well.

  Finally Zak stopped on the riverbank, frowning. “I feel magic where we stand. I think something is messing with us.”

  Héctor nodded, but didn’t elaborate.

  “Please don’t tell me that Paxton and Axel are in a parallel universe,” I said anxiously, pulling Héctor’s wet sleeve.

  Anything could happen in the Void. Most likely bad things.

  “We don’t know it yet, Lamb,” Héctor said, pulling me to his side. “We’re blind in this realm, but we’ll manage. We’ll find them.”

  “We need to stick together,” I said desperately. I was at my wit’s end.

  “We’ll figure it out,” Zak said.

  “On second thought, it’s better we let them come to us,” Héctor said. “You’re our anchor, Lamb. They’ll come to you.” He gave me a warning look, though it was still brimmed with fondness. “But if you run around wild, they’ll lose your trail.”

  “I’m not running around wild!” I said.

  Héctor brushed a kiss above my eyelids and stopped the rest of my protest.

  The three of us trod back upstream where we had jumped, then traced back down the bank. My hellhound trotted ahead of us to track the scent of my missing demigods. Other than the rushing river, cliffs on either side, and the long, narrow shore, there wasn’t a soul in sight, except for Zak, Héctor, Angel, and me.

  I shivered in the frigid wind. My damp clothes sticking to my skin only made me shudder more.

  “We’ll wait here and get our mate warm and dry before we continue,” Zak decided.

  “We don’t want my Lamb to catch a cold,” Héctor agreed.

  “I’ve never caught a cold in my life,” I countered them.

  “Your magic might not protect you in the Void,” Héctor said. “Quit arguing.”

  Right, my mates ruled half of the Earth, and they weren’t used to anyone contesting them. They tried to treat me as an equal to their best ability, but often their old dominant habits would surface, especially when it concerned my safety and wellbeing.

  I had my old habits and stubborn traits, too, and I naturally challenged all authority.

  “But—” I said, putting a fist on my hip.

  Héctor slanted his mouth over mine.

  Unlike any other time, his lips were like ice. They were colder than mine. And the heartbreaking realization haunted me again—my Héctor had become a mortal. He didn’t have a demigod’s strength and body heat anymore.

  I didn’t withdraw from his icy kiss. I didn’t cringe from his icy touch. I stretched my body against his and deepened the kiss, in a desperate attempt to warm him up.

  He thrust his tongue into my open mouth, mating with mine. Pleasure buzzed down my spine after I got used to the coldness he brought me. Demigod or not, my Héctor still tasted the same—harsh male, cinder, and nightly flame.

  I moaned in need more of him. I needed to fuck him. I needed to have his cock deep inside my core.

  His tongue stroked mine in a fever pitch, his needs rippling into me.

  I shivered again, and this time not from the damp clothes and the chilly wind. Lust rode me hard.

  Héctor retreated his tongue from my mouth, and before I demanded he kiss me again, he barked, “Zak, why hasn’t the fire lit yet?”

  “I’m trying,” Zak snapped. “If you want it done faster, why don’t you try it?”

  I blinked, pulling back from the world where only Héctor and I existed. I trained my gaze on Zak. He stared at me with longing and lust in his eyes, then returned to his struggle to get the fire going with two rocks. In front of him laid a pile of well-structured dried wood.

  The sky demigod was as solid as rock. While Héctor and I became lost in each other, he’d picked the dried branches and twigs to light the fire for us.

  Never had he complained that I paid more attention to Héctor. He once told me that he’d take whatever he could get from me and be happy with that.

  “Zak, I can help,” I said, ready to get up from Héctor’s lap.

  “I wasn’t snapping at you, Rosebud,” he said gently. “You enjoy. I’ll get the fire up in no time.”

  “Can you really make fire with rocks?” I asked, my eyelashes fluttering.

  “We were the ones who taught humans to use fire in the first place,” Zak said. “My father was angry when he found out we leaked the secret of fire.”

  Zeus was a selfish ass.

  Millennia had passed, and humans had modernized everything, including ways to use fire. I bet Zak had never needed to light a fire with rocks before. He could have used his lightning to ignite fire easily if the Void hadn’t negated his demigod power. Without any extra help, starting up a fire in the stiff wind wouldn’t be an easy task. I didn’t want Zak to feel that he failed me if he couldn’t get the fire going.

  “You don’t need to make fire, Zak,” I said warmly. “We’ll move soon anyway. Come join us to get warm.”

  Zak paused, staring at me.

  “He’ll manage just fine, Lamb,” Héctor cut in. “Don’t fuss over him. Let him make the fire and dry your clothes before we get moving again.”

  My mates could switch from selfless heroes to selfish assholes in a blink of an eye, and their moods shifted faster than the wind. And none of them were born with a single sensitive bone in their bodies, not even Zak. They were never considerate and couldn’t be taught to be, if I wasn’t involved.

  They were great to fight together against their common enemies as the four of them were a formidable force, but they were terrible to live with each other.

  My Héctor was the most not
orious. Though he’d accepted that I had three other mates, he mostly regarded and treated them as my sex servants and guards.

  And just when I felt giddy they made progress, they backpedaled. I sighed. I’d accepted all their flaws anyway. Even when they were jerks, they were mine.

  The sky demigod growled at Héctor, but went back to striking the rocks diligently.

  Before I could issue more concerns toward Zak, Héctor crashed his mouth onto mine again. I’d learned that was his way of stopping me from countering his decisions. Sometimes I hated myself for not being strong enough to stand firmer when my mates dangled sex in front of me. But when Héctor gave me that panty-melting kiss, my knees just went weak.

  They were my fatal weakness, as I was theirs.

  Héctor lifted me onto his waist and carried me while our tongues entwined. I didn’t care where we were going, as my world was all him and lust burning like fire inside my core again.

  When he settled me on his lap, I noticed that we were behind a thick bush. I knew what he wanted, and I wanted it more.

  “Héctor.” I brushed and whimpered in need.

  “I must fuck you, Lamb,” he said roughly. “I need to have your sweet, tight pussy wrap around my cock to feel you again. I almost lost you.”

  Lust boiled in my blood.

  “That’s fine. But—” I darted my eyes around. I still missed two mates. Anxiety chewed me up inside.

  “We need to find something to do while waiting for Paxton and Axel,” he said, his handsome face twisted in intense carnal need.

  My heart fluttered as the same need reflected in me.

  Not allowing me to deny him, he slid his large hand into my pants and palmed my pussy.

  “You’re aching for me, Lamb. You need my cock,” he said in satisfaction and dark lust.

  “Very much,” I confessed weakly.

  He rubbed my slick flesh back and forth, and I arched my back at the pleasure and sensation. He thrust a finger into my tightness, letting it stay there, gloved by my inner walls. His thumb circled my sensitive clit, and I moaned in delight. I thrust my hips to ride on his finger. He turned and twisted it inside me.

  “Now be still, Lamb,” he ordered.