Chapter Fifteen

Aliana’s POV

My eyes slowly fluttered open, the sunlight gleaming in through the specks in the curtains. I blinked, wondering why I’d slept so long. Sure, it was the weekend, but usually I woke up early, being one of the only early-birders in my friend group.

But then again, why was my bed so soft?

Where was the smell of wood, bad coffee, and cheap alcohol that always flowed up into my bunk bed? I lived in a small studio apartment with two other girls, so the space was cramped. I and Evangeline – or just Lin – had the bunk bed while Hannah slept on the couch.

It was the weekend, right?

We always went a little too hard on the weekends. Which was probably why my body felt utterly spent. But why didn’t I have a headache? And why were these sheets so soft?

I sighed in content, digging in deeper as I didn’t want to lose this wonderful, wonderful feeling. The soft sheets cocooned me, their silk brushing against my bare skin like whispers. For a moment, I floated in a haze, heavy and languid, my mind foggy as if I had been drugged by pleasure.

Pleasure?

My eyes snapped open fully as memories from the night before came rushing back.

Escaping Kodra’s men in the forest...

Meeting The God of Justice...

And everything else!

The last couple of hours had been a roller coaster of things that just kept happening to me. First, it had been escaping my deadly marriage. Then I’d lost my virginity to a primordial god, whom I’d then had to somehow save at the cost of almost losing my life in a foot-deep bathtub.

Very heroic of me, I know…

Then Ani had taken me into his arms and--- well, he’d shown me pleasure like no man or god after him could ever measure up to. Hell, the last thing I remembered was the water’s warmth, his hands and mouth on my body, and his strength overwhelming me until I collapsed against him, utterly exhausted from being used by him.

In the most delightful way possible...

After that…

Nothing!

I couldn’t even remember getting dry and moving to the bed at all…

I still couldn’t believe that I was with an actual god. I mean, the dragon and a freaking talking crow should have been my first clue that I was in some Twilight-Saga shit-zone, but of all the supernatural things to come across and I met a GOD?!

Seriously, at this point, it was more believable if I’d come across a werewolf or a vampire.

Or alien!

At least the last one was plausible...

But no! Of course, Aliana Bekim had to run into the most unlikely of creatures and crash into an ancient Greek god, with powers that could rip souls out of people's still breathing bodies and bend reality to his will.

And I’d fucked him…

When in reality I should fear him!

But I didn’t…

Instead, I felt safe in his embrace, protected and coveted. Even by his shadows as they stretched and lined every corner in darkness, I felt warmth...

AAAAHHHH!!!

This was so confusing!

And now I really had to pee...

Shit!

I attempted to slip out of the bed when the weight of something across my middle stopped me. I froze, wondering if there was some kind of creature that I hadn’t gotten acquainted with yet. Slowly, I turned my head, bracing for the worst---

Ani!

He lay beside me, one arm draped heavily across my waist as if I belonged to him. His face was strangely relaxed in sleep, but devastatingly beautiful. The harsh lines of his jaw softened, his long lashes brushing against skin the color of burnished bronze. His horns curved back elegantly, glinting faintly in the sunlight, a crown that marked him as something more than just a human.

As an otherworldly king!

Of what I had still to figure out...