Page 56 of The Call of Monsters
Demos just yawned.
“I don’t want to talk about puppies. We’re finally home. We won. Sure, Dionysus’s party was brilliant, but I think we all know we would have preferred a different kind of celebration.”
I cocked an eyebrow at Demos. That spoke directly to my very soul.
“Big ass orgy?”
Tryphon tossed his hair over his shoulder.
“I was a little disappointed to get invited to one of Dionysus’s parties, and wedidn’thave one of his famous orgies.”
Hephaestus just laughed.
“No, you don’t. We can have a much saner orgy than anything Dionysus threw. His satyrs went wild, and his Bacchae egged them on. Trust me. You want no part of those orgies.”
I put my hand on my hip and struck a pose.
“I don’t want to think about horny satyrs. Let’s celebrate what we’ve accomplished back in my room.Now.”
I was so in for this. I didn’t want to deal with walking there. I could make portals, and I intended to abuse this power.
I opened a portal straight to my bedroom because we were doing this. They had kidnapped Hephaestus the last time we did this. It was time to do this with everyone here.
Chapter 32
Tryphon
I
f we were doing this, I might as well just say it. It wouldn’t hurt to ask. It was like everyone didn’t know, anyway. Hephaestus might not, but River could probably guess. I knew Demos and Kimon wouldn’t play, but I was hoping sexy Hephaestus would. If he wouldn’t, that was fine. River was indulging her bisexual side, and mine wanted to come out and play too. There were just so many possibilities with her dating all of us, and I wanted to explore all of them…if the other men were on board with that.
I struck a pose by her bed and flipped my hair back. I might as well just blurt it out and get it over with.
“I have a request, and if it’s denied, I’m okay with that. I just want to ask.”
River snuggled into my chest.
“I’m up for anything you want, Tryphon.”
I knewshewas. She was up for fucking everything in this adorably insane way. She loved my tentacles, and she enjoyed fighting with a damned Minotaur in bed. I could have suggested the most deranged thing possible off the top of my head, and she would have tried it and probably enjoyed it. The rest of us were sick fucks too, but they cut Hephaestus from a different cloth than the rest of us. He was so much kinder, and I admired that about him.
I kissed the top of her head.
“It’s not up to you, River. I’m just as bisexual as you are. I want you to share me with someone else.”
I wasn’t looking at anyone else in the room, but Hephaestus. I already knew what Kimon and Demos’s answers would be. They were totally judgment-free, but they didn’t enjoy the company of other men as I did. Hephaestus knew I had zeroed in on him, and he just cocked an eyebrow at me.
“I will admit to being curious, and I like the way you are looking at me, but why? Most women don’t even want to bed me unless they want something.”
River let out this little growl, and I just smiled at him. I couldn’t change how people had treated him in the past, but I could help River in making him see that he was pretty fucking amazing. His small limp didn’t make him ugly like his people made him think. He was honestly one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen, and I didn’t give a shit he had that limp.
If I was just blurting things out, I might as well keep doing it.
“Those people were fucking stupid. Honestly, you’re one of the most amazing men I’ve ever met. I’d still be trapped as my Kraken if it weren’t for you. You saved my queen and everyone else in the Underworld. Because of you, Olympus is a better place. I’ll bet your fucking family is regretting making you feel like shit about that injury because they’d still be under Zeus’s thumb. And I’m sorry, I know you don’t like to talk about this, but you have this whole sexy blacksmith thing going on that I dig. People who didn’t want to just jump on that train and ride it for fun have to be pretty fucking stupid.”
Did I offend him? Back when I was still on Earth, everyone talked about how horrifically disfigured he was. Everyone knew if you went to him to have something forged, you had to avoid staring or mentioning what he looked like, or he’d throw you in the fire. I didn’t care. I didn’t want him to think he was ugly any second longer. Luckily, he threw back his head and laughed.
“I have to say. No one has described me in that way before. I like it.”
