“Stop, Alaric!” I barked. 

My demigod mate narrowed his dark brown eyes, a storm raging inside him. I was afraid it would never stop.

“You want to show this motherfucker mercy?” he snarled. “No one who ever lays a finger on you with harmful intent should take another breath.”

I rolled my one eye—the golden one. “You know you can’t kill a second-tier god that way, so we try my way. And I need to feed first. I’m hurting all over!”

Huh, we were having a lover’s quarrel on the battlefield.

Reys kissed my head, attempting to ease my pain, before he turned to snap at Alaric. “Why did you raise your voice at our mate?! Don’t you see how hurt she is?!”

Alaric swallowed, his throat bobbling. He’d never cared for anyone before he met me, and when he’d charged in, seeing me chained and tortured, he’d lost his shit.

He dipped his head, icy rage still distorting his every feature. “I’m sorry, sweetheart.” He tried to soften his coarse voice, which sounded like a broken phonograph, and failed. “It’s my fault.”

He pressed the tip of the flaming sword to the center of Deimos’s throat.

My demigod mate had me worried. I’d need to do something to bring him back to his normal self.

Pyrder and Lorcan, who had the God of Terror held down, weren’t any more forgiving. After they snarled at Alaric, they stomped on Phobos’s face in turn and delivered brutal kicks to his ribs, again and again.

The two gods spat blood and cursed. With a burst of fear and terror energy, they pushed my mates back a step. Before they could bolt for the door, and before my mates cut in to stop them, my black light shot out like vines and caught them.

“Going somewhere, boys?” I asked. “Little Cass is hungry.”

Phobos screamed for mercy. Alaric punched his face with his bare knuckles to shut him up.

I turned my focus to Deimos and drank of his godly life force greedily. I gasped at the pure, blissful shot of energy as his essence flowed into me, replenishing my power and speeding up the healing of the damage to my severely beaten form. The two gods had shattered every single bone in my body and tore open my inner organs. It was a wonder I could still lean against Reys.

As I absorbed the god’s essence, I could feel my tissues and bones knitting back together. I could finally breathe freely.

Deimos’s violet eyes widened in raw, undiluted fear. It was a delicious irony to see him, the god who pumped fear into every mortal’s and immortal’s heart, cower and quake in fear.

“Don’t drain me, please!” he begged, while Phobos sobbed beside him.

“Oh, don’t cry, you big babies,” I said pitilessly. “Your father didn’t want me to figure out where I fit on the food chain, but I just did.”

My hair where they’d torn it from my head grew back, shiner than ever.

My bad eye that hadn’t been able to open now gazed at my mates, radiating violet light.

Deimos sprawled on the ground where our blood mixed and flowed. There was no light or fight left in his eyes. His skin dulled to the color of sour milk.

“No, Deimos,” Phobos cried. “Please, no.”

“I’ve drained him down to the last drop of his life force.” I turned to Alaric. “Will you do me the honor now, my mate?” 

“No, please!” Phobos screamed. “Stop!”  

I could be crueler than the gods if necessary, and I was showing Phobos just that. We were at war, and the gods had taught me what that meant.

A menacing smile lit Alaric’s face. The demigod raised his flaming blade high. One sweep, and he decapitated Deimos.

I felt the essence of the God of Fear dissipate into nothingness.

Phobos tore his gaze from Deimos’s head to me, his wild, red-rimmed eyes full of pure hate. “You killed him, you bitch,” he said. “You killed my only brother!”

“The world doesn’t need to embrace any more fear, in my humble opinion,” I said.

“That’s revolutionary.” Lorcan blinked, as if waking from an unbelievable dream. “We’ve just discovered a way to kill the second-tier gods. We let Cass drain them first, and then we take their heads.”

“We can try it on Apollo, as well,” Pyrder said positively.

“It might not work on a major god,” Alaric said.

There was one major god in this torture chamber. I swept my gaze to Demeter and caught fear flicking in her gray eyes.

“I won’t touch you or Artemis,” I said. “I never forget a debt. Gods are going to war against Earth and each other, and you’ve chosen our side. On second thought, I think we should wait for Ares and Apollo to return and test it on them. While you four occupy them, I can try to drain them.”

“They’re more powerful than you think,” Demeter said. “And when they summon the other major gods, they’ll all be here in an instant. And you don’t want to face the three original gods yet, not before you’re ready.”

“Fine,” I said, wheeling to Phobos. “Now it’s your turn, sugar doll.”

Phobos wept.

I didn’t feel sorry or pity for him, unlike before. I remembered how he’d beaten me over and over while mocking me, peeled my flesh from my bones, and tore my gown off with the intent to rape me.

My dark fire grabbed him, and his energy flowed into me, filling my well of power and nourishing me.

I was high instantly.

If Phobos could be so delicious, his dad must be a real delicacy. I craved a major god’s pure power. My gaze swept to Demeter again, but I wouldn’t harm her.

My tri-fires—black, blue, and red—twirled around me, licking at my skin. The black fire came from the death god, the blue from Earth, and the red from the Dragon God.

Feeling glorious from feeding off a god, I threw my head back and roared.

The terror and fear essence from the gods had once again triggered something dark and ruthless inside me. Darkness swirled around me like black wind, swallowing all other colors. All beings were my prey, except my mates.  

Phobos crumpled on the ground like an empty waterskin, and my eyes glowed with power. I’d drained him within an inch of his life.

“Cass baby, you should stop now,” Reys suggested gently.

“Dulcis!” Lorcan was more forceful with his warning.

All my mates looked alarmed. They remembered my withdrawal when I couldn’t get the energy drink from a god for a couple of weeks. 

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ve learned how to channel the gods’ essence. There!”

I spread my arms, my palms facing down, and violet light shot out of me, all the way down to Earth. “The energy I drank from them has repaired me. The rest of their energy can go to Earth and repair the damage to the land their kind caused. Earth and I have an understanding now. It’s my new reservoir.” I grinned at them. “If I need a real pure shot, I’ll take from you four.”

And my face flushed.

Lorcan swept me into his arms before the others could and kissed me.

“What are you exactly, Cassandra Saélihn?” Demeter whispered. “You’re more than a goddess.”

I winked at her. No gods could mutate powers like I did.

“We need to go, and take Phobos with us,” Alaric said roughly.

“Leave Phobos,” Demeter said. “Cass did a number on him. He won’t have a coherent thought for a long time, so he’s our perfect fall guy. You should all go now. Apollo and Ares are on their way back. I’ll stall them.”

Her gray eyes met mine. “I’ll see you again, Cass.”