Deity (Covenant #3)(77)

He smiled, and my heart jumped. He reached up, tucking my hair back behind my ear. His hand lingered. “What are you thinking now?”

“We can do this.” I leaned down and kissed him. “We will do this, dammit.”

His arm circled around my waist. “I know.”

“Gods, I know this sounds really lame, so please don’t laugh at me.” I grinned. “But I’ve been… terrified of this Awakening, of losing myself. But… but I’m not anymore. I won’t lose myself, because… well, how I feel about you, it would never let me forget who I am.”

“I’d never let you forget who you are.”

My grin spread. “Gods, we’re crazy. You know that, right?”

Aiden laughed. “I think we’re pretty good at crazy, though.”

We stayed in each other’s arms longer than we should have. I was reluctant to let him leave and I think he was, too. Rolling onto my side, I watched him throw his clothes on. He grinned when he caught me. I wiggled my brows. “What? It’s a nice view.”

“Wicked,” he said, sitting beside me. His hand skimmed over my hip. There was something fierce in his gaze. “We will do this.”

I snuggled closer to him, wishing he didn’t have to leave. “I know. I believe that.”

Aiden kissed me once more and whispered, “Agapi mou”

Chapter 23

EVERYTHING AND NOTHING CHANGED AFTER HAVING sex. I didn’t look any different. Well, there was the goofy smile plastered over my face that I couldn’t get rid of. Other than that, I looked the same. But I did feel different. I ached in places I had no idea someone could even hurt. My heart also did that fluttering thing every time I even thought his name, which was so girlie and I loved it.

Letting my heart instead of my hormones decide when to do it made what Aiden and I’d done special. And when we passed each other throughout the day, the looks we stole suddenly meant more. Everything meant more, because we both were risking it all and neither of us regretted that.


I spent the better part of the afternoon and evening playing Scrabble with Deacon. I think he regretted asking me to play, because I was one of those Scrabble players—the kind who played three-letter words every chance I got.

There was a part of me that kept expecting the gods to zap one of us for finally breaking all the rules. So when Apollo popped in on our fourth round of Scrabble, I about had a heart attack.

“Gods!” I clutched my chest. “Can you stop doing that?”

Apollo looked at me strangely. “Where is Aiden?”

Slowly rising to his feet, Deacon cleared his throat and bowed. “Urn, I think he’s outside. I’ll go get him.”

I glared at Deacon’s retreating form. Left alone with Apollo, I wasn’t sure what to do. Should I stand up and bow, too? Was it considered rude to sit in the presence of a god? But then Apollo sat beside me, cross-legged, and started messing with the letters on the board.

Guess not.

“I know what’s happened,” Apollo said after a few seconds.

My brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”

He nodded at the board.

My gaze dropped to the game and I nearly passed out. He’d spelled SEX and AIDEN with those stupid little squares. Horrified, I shot to my knees and swept the letters off the board. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Apollo tipped his head back and laughed, like, chortled really loudly.

I think I hated him, god or not.

“I’ve always known.” He leaned back against the couch, folding his arms. His blue eyes burned unnaturally, lit from within. “I’m just surprised you two made it this far.”

My jaw hit the floor. “Wait. That night Kain came back? You… you knew I was in Aiden’s cabin, didn’t you?”

He nodded.

“But… how do you know now?” My stomach dropped. “Oh, my gods, have you been doing some kind of creepy peeping-god thing or something? Did you see us?”

Apollo’s eyes narrowed as he tilted his head toward me. “No. I do have better things to do.”

“Like what?”

His pupils started to burn white. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe track down Telly, keep an eye on Seth and, If I get lucky, bring you back from the dead. Ah, and I forgot making a few appearances at Olympus, so that I don’t have every one of my siblings curious about what I’m doing.”

“Oh. Sorry.” I settled down, feeling chagrined. “You are really busy.”

“Anyway, I can smell Aiden on you.”

My face caught fire. “What? What do you mean, you can smell him? Dude, I showered.”

Apollo leaned over, his gaze meeting mine. “Every person has a unique scent. If you mix yours enough with that person, it takes a lot to get their smell off you. Next time you might want to try Dial soap instead of those girly body washes.”

I covered my flaming face. “This is so wrong.”

“But it does amuse me greatly.”

“You… you’re not going to do anything about it?” I whispered, lifting my head.

He rolled his eyes. “I believe that is the least of our problems at the moment. Besides, Aiden is a good guy. He will always put you first, above all else. But I am pretty sure he will get overprotective at some point.” Apollo shrugged while I stared, open-mouthed, at him. “You will just have to set him straight.”