“And you need to buck up, buttercup,” she said, her full lips tipping up into a megawatt smile. “Loverboy is about to be taken down for the count.”
“What the—?” Her words sank through, and I spun around. My heart dropped.
Aiden was surrounded, two daimons at his back and two at his front. No other Sentinels were around. The daimons were going straight to the pures because they, like Artemis and me, were chock-full of aether. This was good for the halfs, since it gave them the advantage. But not Aiden. Blood trickled from the side of his throat. A female daimon in front of him had blood on her pink, chapped lips.
He’d been tagged.
Aiden had been tagged.
Oh, that flipped my bitch switch from meh to pure “I’m going to cut a bitch” rage.
Whatever funk had invaded my system was overshadowed by my fear for him. Forgetting Artemis and her sudden, unexpected, and really bizarre appearance, I launched forward. My muscles and body knew what to do. Brain clicked off. Instinct kicked in. Finally.
I came up behind the two daimons and slammed my dagger into one of them. The other sensed my aethery goodness and whirled on me.
It screeched. “Apollyon—”
“Shut up,” I said, dipping down as it swung on me. I sprung up, kicking and swiping the legs out from underneath him. “I know I smell good. I’m sure I taste good, too.”
Thrusting the dagger down, I took the daimon out, and then popped up. Slipping under Aiden’s arm, I went straight for the female with his blood on her ugly face. Flipping the blade back, I swung my arm, catching the female daimon in the jaw. Her head smacked back, and the pleasure I felt would worry therapists across the nation.
“Damn,” Aiden said under his breath, and then took down the other daimon.
The female daimon charged me, practically impaling herself on my dagger. Blue dust blew into my face. “Gross.”
Artemis was making short work of the daimons and looking disgustingly beautiful doing so. With her cheeks slightly flushed and her lower lip sucked between her teeth, she darted around, popping the daimons off one after another. And once the Sentinels began to realize that a god was in the mix, everyone pretty much stopped what they were doing.
The legion of daimons wasn’t going to kill us. Nope. Artemis was here.
She sprang onto a tree trunk, spinning like a ballet dancer. Sun glinted off her silver bow. Three arrows flew from her bow, zipping between Sentinels and smacking into daimons.
Holy Hades’ butt crack…
I did not want to piss Artemis off.
Within a minute, over a dozen daimons were nothing but shimmery blue piles of dust, and Artemis hadn’t even broken a sweat. Not a strand of hair was out of place. Slipping the bow into the harness strapped across her back, she winked at Solos before blinking out and reappearing like right in my face.
“Good gods,” I gasped, taking a step back. “Was that necessary?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Ares is playing dirty. These,” she waved her around, “are from him. He led them here, and more will come. The First is on the move.”
“Seth?” Aiden swiped his hand over his neck. “He’s coming here?”
Artemis’ creepy god eyes shot all kinds of static when she looked at him. A fine shimmer surrounded her, like she’d been dipped in glitter, and then the camo get-up disappeared.
My eyes widened.
A true goddess stood before us, dressed in white, nearly transparent linen that hugged her curves and revealed more skin than a thong. A silver band covered her upper arm. A moon hung from it, shining as if it had been dipped in light.
Her lips curled in a smooth, seductive smile. “Hey there, how about you ditch the little Apollyon over there and get with—”
“Hey.” I folded my arms, trying to keep my own eyes on her face. “Aren’t you supposed to be a virgin goddess?”
A soft, tinkling laugh came from her. “Honey, have you ever heard of kiss and don’t tell?”
“Have you ever heard of a bra?” I demanded. “Because I can see your…you know. Everything.”
Aiden cleared his throat as he averted his gaze, brows raised. Artemis laughed again as she turned her attention to me. “I will aid you when I can, as will the others, until Apollo can return to your side. We cannot allow Ares to continue. You must transfer the power of the First to you.”
How she went from hitting on my boyfriend to all serious wardeath-blah talk was beyond me. “It’s at the top of my to-do list, along with—hey!” I leaned back from her suddenly outstretched hand. Her fingers grazed my cheek. “Stop it!” I jumped back as she went to touch me again. “Man, you gods are so weird.”
Artemis wrinkled her nose at me. “There is something wrong with you.”
“Uh…” That didn’t seem very polite. I glanced at Aiden. He was staring at Artemis, but not in the way every other guy except Luke was staring at her. Correction. Even Luke was checking her out. “Care to explain?” I asked.
Her eyes narrowed, and then her hand snaked out again. I forced myself to stand still and let her feel me up, because seriously, she didn’t appear like she was going to stop until she did. She cupped my cheek and placed her other hand below my breasts, between my ribs.
“Um…” I was really starting to feel a bit wigged out. “I really hope this has a point, because half the guys are staring at us like they’re hoping we’re going to make out.”
Aiden coughed.
The goddess’s lashes swept up. “There’s something inside you.”
“Well, I do have organs and…” I trailed off, remembering how Apollo’s son had said the same thing. Concern swelled. “Like something that doesn’t belong there?”