Page 44 of The Goddess is Angry
“I would have said yes without you fighting dirty, asshole.”
“You know you love it,” Drake said, blowing a kiss at me.
I was pretty sure the only reason he didn’t spank me this time was because my entire family was sitting in my living room. Azren held their arm out and I took it. Azren was my tutor, and we talked all the time. I was crazy about them and wanted things to go further.
One of the quickest ways to get insight into any god was to visit a realm they created, and I was getting a front row seat to the Netherworld.
azren
Realms were a lot like mortals who liked browsing real estate listings. Everyone was curious and wanted a peek. Some were these vast, mostly empty places populated exclusively by gods. Others were like mine, where our creations lived and thrived. Most of them had been keyed so that outsiders couldn’t get in without a resident bringing them.
Some of that was to keep gods out. Some were to keep everyone out. Mine was completely open, but no one really got curious enough to visit. Probably because none of their locks and precautions could keep me or any of my creations out. They were terrified of us because nothing kept Death out.
George had never been scared of me. I mean, she punched me in the face. She seemed to like kissing me, too, and kept pressing for more. Inviting her to my realm was the god equivalent of meeting the parents. Most of us didn’t have parents. Your realm and how your creations lived said a lot about you.
There were only a few gods who didn’t think I was a villain and had come here. Freya loved it here. She recovered here every time her witch body died, and she lost her mates. She met the same three mortal men in every lifetime. It was unheard of for an essence to be reborn that fast, but it happened every time Freya went back into a witch.
I wassupposedto be helping her with that, but then I got that feeling again and she told me to look out for George. That was all I set out to do. That, and catch a killer. But then I fell for her and now I was inviting her back to my realm.
I was older than the universe and I was actually terrified. I’d been in relationships before—with men and women. I wasn’t remotely a virgin. I’d had sex as a man and a woman. I knew how to treat my partner.
George was my first relationship with another god, even at my age. I didn’t have to worry about breaking her or someone coming for her to get me to abuse my magic. She knew I was the God of Death. I’d never have to agonize about telling her the truth and hoping she didn’t judge me for what I was or ask that I kill someone for her.
I could just be myself.
I landed us at Ketura’s house. She should meet Drake’s mom. When we got back, I sat Drake down so we could talk. All her other boyfriends had figured out we were together. I told Drake about it. Even though I was totally crazy about her, I offered to step aside if Drake had a problem with it.
Drake gave me the most ‘Drake’ look possible, informed me I was being an idiot, and that it wasn’t up to him if the two of us got together. It was up to George. And honestly? He was right.
Ketura’s security system would have let her know we were outside. Everyone had a house in my realm. No one was displaced. Ketura had a nice three-bedroom cottage. One bedroom was hers, the other was Drake’s, and the third was for her cats. I’d created cats and dogs for my realm because I was partial to them and they made good companions.
Ketura came out covered in flour. She had been baking when we left. Her house was decked out for Yule. We didn’t do red and green here. We did silver and blue. Most of the trees in her yard had silver branches, and she had blue lights. She had a giant, inflatable Krampus terrorizing an army of lawn gnomes out front.
“Is this her?” Ketura squealed. “Welcome.”
“This is my mom,” Drake said.
“Seriously?” George said, pulling her into a hug. “Drake has told us all about you. He said we have you to thank for him being so amazing at dodgeball.”
Drake was obsessed with finding out what happened to his birth mom, but Ketura was the only mother he knew. They were close and yeah, Ketura was why Drake was so good at dodgeball. Ketura blushed and held George at arm's length.
“I got flour all over you. I was just about to take the last batch of cookies out of the oven and dinner is ready.”
“Ketura makes the best pumpkin spice chocolate chunk cookies and Yule technically lasts all month here, so she made a feast,” Drake said.
George let out a sexual moan that went straight to my dick. I wanted to hear her moan like that because of me.
“Pumpkin spice chocolate chunk cookies? That’s the best thing I’ve heard in a while. Your realm smells cleaner than Earth.”
Before I could say anything, Ketura’s nosy neighbor stuck her nose out the front door. She zeroed right in on George.
“Oh, my. Is that a witch?” she asked.
Ferula was a busybody who used to make a big deal about Drake. She tried to get me to banish a kid because he was playing in his own yard. She didn’t like that Drake was an outsider. The rest of my realm adored Drake. Ferula could never make up her mind if she wanted to badmouth Drake or try to seduce me. I couldn’t stand her.
“Hi, I’m George.”
“She’s with us, Ferula. Run along now. She wasn’t very nice to Drake,” Ketura said to George when she noticed the look she was giving us.
