And with her newfound senses, she knew his neck wasn't the only place she could feed from…

Ash opened his eyes as she moved away from him. Frowning, he watched as she dipped down and bit into his inner thigh. He sucked his breath in sharply as a wave of desire blinded him and hardened his cock which was only a few inches from her mouth. But greater than that was the shock that she hadn't grabbed his hair and hurt him while she fed from his neck. She was being gentle and considerate, and when she looked up at him, her eyes matched his.

That deep swirling silver that he hated so much was beautiful on her. They were bound together now. His powers. His blood. They were hers too. But even so, he wanted her as she'd been. Kissing her lips, he turned her eyes back to the brown color that had stolen his heart the first time she'd looked around the room in nervous panic.

This was the woman he loved. The one he couldn't live without.

Tory felt a raw unimagined power deep inside her. She could hear everything now. See the most minute color changes in every object. "Is this how you see the world?"

"Yes."

It was all so vivid. Overwhelming. At the same time her body was hot and needy. She looked at him and he actually blushed before he clothed himself.

Clearing his throat, he indicated the door with a tilt of his head. "We can't do that here."

"Artemis," she growled the name.

He nodded. "We're still locked in her temple."

"Not for long." Rising to her feet, she went to the door.

Ash scowled as Tory closed her eyes and held her hands out by her sides. He felt the wind of his grandmother stirring around them. His jaw went slack as he realized what was happening-his mother had surrendered part of her powers to Tory. She didn't just have his inside her.

And the combination of his powers with his mother's…

Scary stuff that.

The thought had barely finished before the door splintered into a thousand fragments.

Artemis shrieked from the other side, then ran to her throne room.

Ash stood up and went to Tory. "Let's go home."

She shook her head. "You go on ahead. I'll be there in a minute."

He paused at the odd note in her voice. "Tory…"

She gave him an impish smile, cutting his words off. "I'm just going to talk with her. Don't worry."

Yeah, right. Don't worry? Was she insane? And for once, he wasn't sure which of them was in the most danger.

Ash hesitated, but ultimately he trusted Tory. "Remind her that I'll know if she hurts you and if she does, there's not enough power on Olympus to protect her."

She kissed the tip of her finger and pressed it to the tip of his nose. "Don't be such a worrywart. We're just having girl talk."

Ash somehow doubted that. Knowing Tory, it would be more like a cat fight. But he wouldn't interfere. It was time someone took the goddess down. "All right, baby. I'll be waiting at my apartment."

Tory didn't move until Ash was gone. The moment she sensed his powers safely back in the human realm, she headed in the direction Artemis had run off to.

Her new powers surging, she went to have a long overdue Come-to-Jesus talk with the goddess.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Artemis kept waiting for all of the powers to fade from her temple.

They didn't. She felt Acheron's primary ones leave, but there was more still here. Powerful. Cold. Calculating.

That wasn't Acheron.

And when Soteria came through the doors of her bathing chamber and into her throne room with a deadly lope, the blood completely drained from Artemis's face. There was no denying the woman wanted a piece of her and was ready to fight for it.

Still she refused to let the girl see her panic. "You're nothing to me, human."

Tory scoffed, and spoke to her in perfect Greek. "Oh you're wrong about that, Artemis. I'm not nothing. I'm the one who's going to kick your butt if you ever go near Acheron again."

Artemis flung her hand out and sent Tory flying across the room. "You don't threaten me."

Tory lifted her hands and just as she would have hit the wall, she stopped moving. Opening her eyes, she was stunned to find herself floating over the ground a few inches from the stone that Artemis had intended to slam her into.

Artemis shrieked in outrage while Tory laughed in relief. These powers were very cool.

Holding her hands out, she centered herself back on the ground. Artemis ran at her and caught her about the neck. Tory slid out of her grasp, then shoved her away. "Oh, bitch, please." She threw her hand out and pinned Artemis to the wall.

"Let me go!"

Tory tightened the hold on her. "For all the times you've hurt Ash, you're lucky I'm not ripping the heart out of your chest right now. How could you?"

Tears formed in Artemis's green eyes as she struggled to free herself. "I love him."

Tory shook her head. "How can you say that? You don't even understand what love means. Love isn't being ashamed to be seen with the one you care about. It isn't about punishment or hurt."

Feeling sorry for the goddess, Tory let her go. "Love is what gives you the strength you need to face anything no matter how brutal or frightening. It's what allowed Ash to be beaten rather than tell his father about you. It's what allowed him to be gutted on the floor at your feet rather than publicly shame you. And you spat on him for that love and tore him apart. For a goddess, you're pathetic."

Artemis sneered at her. "You're human. No one cares if you sleep with a whore."

Tory did something she'd never in her life done before. She slapped another person.

Artemis shrieked and tried to claw her, but Tory caught her wrists in her hands and pushed her back. She leveled a murderous look on the goddess to let her know she meant business. "You ever insult Acheron again and so help me, I'll do to you what you allowed your brother to do to him. I'll cut your tongue out for it. Acheron is the man I love and no one, ever, takes issue with him without having issues with me."

Artemis snatched one hand free and tried to backhand her, but Tory caught her wrist again. "You're no better than I am," Artemis snarled. "You would sacrifice him in an instant to save yourself and I know it."

Tory shook her head in denial. "You're wrong. There is nothing on this earth, above or below, that I value more than Acheron. And we're both done with you. Have a great eternity and if you want to continue having an eternity, stay out of my way and leave Acheron alone."

Artemis curled her lip. "You're not done with me entirely, human. I'm the mother of his daughter."

That turned her stomach. "You're right. You are Katra's mother, poor her. But you're wrong about one thing."

"And that is?"

Tory let the Destroyer's power unite with Ash's inside her. One minute, she was normal and in the next, she felt her hair turn white blond and fan out around her as lightning engulfed her and flew out of her fingertips. "I'm no longer human," she said in a demonic voice. "I'm the Atlantia Kedemonia Theony-the guardian of the Atlantean gods. And right now there's only one of them walking about and to save him from one more bad memory created by you, I'd bathe in your entrails, bitch. As for Kat, she's a big girl-I know, I used to live with her. She'll survive the death of her mother. Trust me, I have firsthand experience with the subject."

Artemis gaped at her. "You would destroy the entire world for him?"

"Yes, I would. Would you?"

Artemis looked away.

"And that is why you're going to wish him well and get out of our lives. The next time I see you, Goddess, you better be bringing presents that make me smile, otherwise the Greek pantheon will be looking around for a new goddess of the hunt. Do you understand me?"