He’d suffered great losses—his father had betrayed him and he thought he’d also lost me. His angst pulsed beneath his desire for me and his joy at seeing me.
And now my rejection cut him bone-deep.
Paxton snapped his attention to me from the door and the hellhound, and he grinned, utterly unaware of how I had hurt his demigod cousin’s feelings. My demigods were always like that. They could be self-absorbed, even though they were devoted to me. It wasn’t in their natures to consider each other’s feelings. I couldn’t blame them either since they’d been fighting for dominance and territories for centuries before I’d come into their lives.
The sea demigod inhaled, gratitude and lust and love shining in his eyes. He stalked toward me, shrugging off the armor from his massive, muscled body on the way. Like all his cousins, he was a perfect specimen.
Liquid fire swirled between my thighs, and an urge to possess him and make him mine overwhelmed me.
“Axel, it’s your turn to stand guard!” Paxton barked, his voice brimming with smugness and pure lust, uncaring that Axel’s look had turned icy and murderous. “Finally, Buttercup wants to fuck me. Respect that!”
All the demigods were subtle like that.
I didn’t blame the Demigod of Sea for being loud. He’d been denied by me again and again, and none of his cousins had ever extended a hand to help him.
He’d been standing on the sidelines, watching me entangle with the other demigods between the sheets, moaning with pleasure. I’d treated him as an enemy while he’d wanted me more than anything.
He couldn’t help but declare his triumph after being tormented for so long.
“It’s fair that Paxton goes next,” Zak murmured, estimating the situation and giving a conclusion, as he always did.
“As you wish, Cookie,” Axel said, hiding his hurt and accepting what I wanted.
I rose from Héctor’s lap and grabbed Axel’s hand before he walked away from me. Then I cupped his handsome face and kissed him hot and hard before pulling away.
“You have no idea how much I want you,” I said. “I developed a huge crush on you the first time I laid my eyes on you when you challenged me in Crack.”
He stepped out of the shadows and said, “Fun’s over, little minx.”Even his voice had made me purr.
My hands dropped to his bare, bronze chest.
“I thought you rode on a chariot of fire from the heavens,” I said. “And you have no idea how hard it was to resist you until I surrendered to you.”
The hurt in his eyes vanished like mist. He grinned.
“You shouldn’t have resisted me, Cookie,” Axel chided lightly. “We’re perfect for each other in every way.”
I smiled. “At the Academy, when Loki glamoured himself to look like you and danced with Britney, I was consumed by jealousy.”
He smirked. “You were jealous?”
I nodded. “Insanely. I was determined to shove my stiletto up your cheating ass, so I followed you two until I stepped into the trap set by the dark prince.”
His smile faded away, and he pressed me tightly against him. “That wasn’t me. I’ve never been with any other woman or been even remotely interested in another since I met you.” Rage moved across his face. “How dare that fucker impersonate me and try to ruin my chances with you? Of all the demigods, he had to pick me. Asshole. I almost lost you that time! I’m in Hell now. When I see that shit, I’ll beat his face to a pulp and teach him to never do that again!”
“He’s on our side now,” Zak said. “I suggest you restrain from antagonizing the dark prince while we’re in the enemy’s domain. We need him.”
I scanned my mates one by one, letting them see my absolute love, lust, and devotion for them in my eyes. I no longer covered up or downplayed my feelings for them.
They owned my vulnerability. I laid myself bare in front of them. All it had taken for me to open up was for me to nearly die, then live in Hell without them.
“I want all of you with every piece of my soul, my body, and my heart,” I said. “The Living Flame is in me, but it hasn’t been activated. Before I stabbed myself in the heart—and I’m sorry for causing you so much pain—the elemental in the tree said that I would need to mate with all of my true mates to light the Flame. The five of us will form a full circle of elemental forces.”
“The Living Flame is the only weapon that can subdue both Lucifer and Ares,” Héctor said. “I’ve been looking for it for centuries, never knowing these past few weeks that it’s been right under my nose, never knowing it’s a person instead of an object. The prophecy stated when and where the Living Flame would appear, and you were right there in front of me that day in the Manhattan street. But I was blinded by my joy at seeing you, and I never realized that the Living Flame was my mate.”
“The power of the Living Flame comes from our combined forces and our bonds,” I said. “I’ve mated with all of you except for Paxton. Now I need to forge the mating bond with Paxton, too, which will finish the ritual and ignite the Living Flame. Time is of the essence in Hell.”
“I’m on board,” Paxton shouted eagerly. “It’s my turn to claim my mate.”