A Fey New World (The Godhunter #32) - Amy Sumida Page 0,33
fey men, including the High Prince. She was reaching for them—all of them—and they were pawing at her and pulling at her clothes.
“Stop!” I shouldered my way through my confused men and barreled into the huddle of bodies over Artemis.
I wasn't nice about it. I punched and kicked and pushed until I had my arms around Artie. Then I clutched her tightly and traced us away—trying my best to ignore the way she groped me.
Chapter Twenty
“Great Olympus!” Artemis cried as we stumbled out of the tracing room at Pride Palace. “What the hell was that?” Her hands jerked away from me and went to her flushed face.
“That was fertile faerie magic inside the God of the Wild,” I panted. “The apple must have magnified Pan's lust and shared it with us.”
“Artie!” Torrent came running out of the tracing room.
“I'm here!” Artemis met him halfway.
The couple embraced in trembling relief as the other men came rushing into the room after Torr—mostly everyone.
“Are you guys okay now?” I asked even though I knew the answer. All of the lust had left me as soon as I traced away from Pan.
“We're fine, Carus,” Azrael said as he embraced me, his breath evening out. “Are you okay?” He pulled back to look me over. “Did we hurt you?”
“No, I'm fine. Did someone grab Austin?”
“Yes, Ma'am,” Austin was leaning against a wall as if it were the only thing holding him up. “Thanks, Kirill.”
“Da, no problem.” Kirill nodded at him.
“Sorry about grabbing your boob, Vervain,” Artemis grimaced at me from the safety of Torrent's arms.
Torrent—like all the other men there—perked up and looked from Artie to me.
“You can just erase those pictures popping up in your heads right now.” I pointed at them like a mommy, then looked around. “Wait.” I looked over our group and narrowed my eyes. “Where's Thor?”
“One of the Nymphs got him,” Trevor said with a wince. “He nearly fried me for trying to pull him away from her.”
“He'll be fine.” Odin waved off our concern. “Thor could use a little... well, a lot of... nymphness.”
“Of what?” Mr. T asked as he came out of the dining hall with the rest of the Squad.
“What happened?” Morpheus demanded.
“We ran into a bit of a problem,” I muttered.
“A bit of a fuckin' problem?” Austin asked as he pushed off the wall with astonished affront. “I mean, it definitely involved fuckin' but callin' it a problem is like callin' a tornado a stiff breeze. And, by the by, I was there, but I still don't know what the fuck is going on.” Then he added, “If y'all will pardon my French.”
“I don't think any of those were French words,” Torrent said in bewilderment as he finally released Artemis.
To the Squad who was still waiting for an explanation, I said, “We thought Torrent was destroying the magic but it was just relocating. It went to Texas—to that house where the Adroanzi holed up.” To Austin, I added, “The faerie magic is wild and very fertile right now. At least the magic on Earth is. When Pan ate the apple, he must have taken that magic into himself and it had a... violent reaction. Either that or the apples just make people really horny.”
“What did that idiot do now?” Horus huffed.
“He ate an apple from a tree that had grown in a patch of faerie land. Then he changed into this massive goat-man, summoned his Nymphs, and started... frolicking.” Trevor grimaced and ran a hand over his face in embarassment. “A wave of lust swept out from him and hit the rest of us and, well, let's just say it was lucky that Vervain had enough sense to grab Artemis and get the hell out of there.”
“You moron!” Horus snarled as he searched for Pan. “What would prompt you to... Hold on. Where is the moron?”
“We had to leave him behind,” Viper said. “And Thor.”
“You left Pan in a patch of faerie land?!” Horus roared. “With Nymphs and magic apples?!”
“They're not being hurt,” I assured Horus. “And the property is unoccupied so they shouldn't be interrupted. Hopefully, they'll come out of it soon.”
“The keyword being come.” Finn snickered.
“I kinda wish I'd gone now,” Morpheus said to Finn.
Finn nodded in agreement. “Maybe no one would notice if we just sort of sidled slowly to the tracing room.”
“I didn't have any control,” Austin whispered in horror, his outrage fading as his mind processed everything. Then he looked at me. “Vervain, I'm so sorry. I was fixin' to—”