I gazed at my mates through a mist of joyful tears, greedily roving over their gorgeous bodies. My trembling fingers traced the outline of Héctor’s warm, sensual lips, feeling his burning desire.
I wanted to have my mates, all of them at once.
Then fear pumped into me, as I was terrified that they’d vanish from my sight the next second.
“It’s real,” I whispered. “You’re all real. You’re all here. You came. You’re real....”
But it wasn’t enough to keep telling myself just that.
I slammed a palm into Héctor’s broad chest, needing to feel his heartbeat to convince myself once again.
“We’re here, love,” Héctor said, his voice thick with emotion.
He laid his large hand on mine as his heartbeat pounded against my palm.
Contrary to all of my fears, they’d come for me, and now I was in Héctor’s safe arms.
Joy rippled over my heart, so much so it ached.
They’d never abandoned me. I hadn’t wanted them to come for me since I wanted them to preserve their own safety, yet deep in my soul, I dreamed that they’d come.
A sob choked in my throat.
I was loved and cherished. They’d never deserted me. My mates had come to Hell for me. I took a turn to gaze at each of them with tenderness and gratitude.
Heat shimmered through their eyes in different shades and colors. Their desire for me burned through them, so bright and immense it threatened to melt me.
I wouldn’t mind being melted by their passion. I wouldn’t mind their powers crashing into me and caressing me. They wanted to claim me again, this very second, but they were going to great pains to rein in their powers and emotions so they wouldn’t alert our foes.
We were in the heart of the enemy territory.
“Zak, Héctor, Axel, Paxton.” I murmured their names like honey rolling off my tongue. They were my sun, stars, and moon. They were my whole world. Then I sobbed again. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
I couldn’t help being an emotional mess. This moment of reunion meant everything to me. I wanted to tell them everything at once, yet those thousands of words stuck in the back of my throat. I had to dump my passion, fire, ice, and darkness on them, yet I only shivered in my mate’s arms.
Héctor kissed away the tears flowing down my face.
“Cookie, babe,” Axel said, running his powerful hand over my hair, knowing that would comfort and calm me. “I’m here. We’re here. Don’t cry. You’re breaking my heart. We’ll never let you go. Never let you get lost. Never let you be alone. Never let you suffer again.”
Angel chose this moment to get extremely aggressive since he couldn’t stand to see my tears either. He snarled, then leapt at Zak to put himself between my mates and me, to protect me from them.
The Demigod of Sky grabbed the beast.
“Don’t hurt my hellhound,” I shouted. Then to my hellhound, I ordered, “Angel, behave. They’re my mates. They won’t harm me.”
Angel whimpered after Zak released him, but he obeyed me and sat down on his haunches, his two pairs of crimson eyes glaring at my mates, especially at Zak.
“Angel?” a stranger’s voice asked in amusement with a hint of disapproval.
I stiffened, peeking over the space between my mates’ bodies at the fifth person who’d come out of the hidden door in the wall.
His power grade was the same as Loki’s other dukes’. I instantly knew he was the prince’s half-blood spymaster, the one I hadn’t met in the red castle.
He had dark skin and fashionable, medium-length hair. He looked human, handsome, and powerful. This one could walk easily even in the heart of the demigods’ territory.
My hellhound immediately rose to greet him, tails flailing around in excitement.
“Duke Pythius,” I said.