The Passion of Hades - Eliza Raine Page 0,7

you ask me nicely.'

My mouth fell open. Hades, the King of the Underworld, was teasing me. Well, two could play at that game.

I stepped close into him, standing on my tiptoes so that I could just reach his ear. He smelled like wood smoke.

'Pretty, pretty please?' I whispered, and flicked my tongue over his ear lobe. I felt him tense against me, then he gave a low chuckle and leaned his head towards mine.

'Oh, Beautiful, until you get your powers back, you'll lose this game every time,' he said, and suddenly that trickle of divine pleasure from earlier rolled over my entire body at once. Slick heat rushed my center, and my legs began to buckle. Hades wrapped one strong arm around my back, and as my hard nipples pressed against his chest I moaned again.

'Please,' I gasped.

'Please what?' His voice was hoarse and low.

'Please, touch me.' I was desperate for him, sure that only the slightest pressure would tip me over the edge.

'Not yet, Beautiful,' he breathed. 'I've waited twenty-six years for this, you can wait a little longer.' He brought his lips to mine, soft and full and intense. And then with a flash of light, he was gone.

I wobbled on unsteady feet as I blinked at the space Hades had just occupied. The waves of pleasure rolling though my body had vanished with him, but my burning need for him was still painfully present.

'For fuck’s sake!' I exclaimed, digging my nails into my palms as I clenched my fists. 'Why did I let him do that?'

'Let him do what?' Skop asked eagerly, and my fired up body jumped in surprise at his voice. Embarrassment flared in me and I looked over at him, ten feet away in a soil bed, paws filthy.

'Oh gods, you must have seen everything?' I whispered, feeling my face heat.

'No, he put me inside a freaking smoke bubble. You look like you had fun though,' he said, and his tail wagged.

'Well, I didn't. And you're a weird little pervert,' I told him, relieved my encounter had been private.

'You've got no idea,' he answered, and launched back into digging up the soil.

'Skop, what happens when Olympian gods are married?'

'Mostly they cheat on each other.'

'Do they get divorced?'

'Nope. Never been an Olympian divorce.'

'So they just put up with the cheating?' A fierce stab of jealousy gripped me as I thought of Hades with another woman, and I scowled. Why the fuck would I care who he was with?

'Yeah.'

'Why? Why not leave?'

'Dunno. Guess it's to do with them being immortal. It's not like they can just start hanging around with different friends, they all die after a bunch of years and then they're left with their ex again.'

He had a point. That would be pretty awkward.

'I guess any affairs are temporary, for the same reason. The god would outlive any but their spouse,' I thought aloud. 'Wait, are all gods immortal?'

'No. Only the Olympians. And the original Titans. Some of the strong ones, like Thanatos and Eris, can live until they are killed, but they're not true immortals.' Well, that was interesting to know, I thought. The other gods could be killed. 'You know that's why the competition for Queen of the Underworld is so fierce?' Skop said, his frenzied front paws stilling for a moment as he looked at me. 'Immortality is the most coveted thing in Olympus. And it's one of the perks of the job.'

A strange feeling slid through my belly as I processed his words. Immortality? My brain seemed to fizz and cloud as I tried to imagine living forever, the idea too huge for me to deal with.

'People would marry someone they didn't love in order to live forever?'

Skop snorted and resumed his digging.

'They'd do a hell of a lot worse than that.'

I realized with a jolt that the strange feeling in my gut wasn't to do with the notion of me becoming immortal at all, it was to do with someone else marrying Hades for it. Righteous indignation swelled in me, and anger made me stand up straight. Hades didn't deserve a woman like that. He deserved a woman who loved him, who would worship him as the king he was, who would make his every dream a reality....

Oh good gods, where was this coming from? He was made of death and smoke! Come on Persy, death and smoke! He tore that man apart! Your brain is in your head, not between your legs!

But he'd said fated... Could I be