Ares by Edlyn Reynolds Read Free Book Online Page B

you dare apologize for it. I like being able to fully speak my mind with you. I like you. So not at this moment but maybe soon we can show each other our birthday suits?" she offered brazenly.
    Ares smiled, "I'd like that, Ava." Leaning in he brushed a light kiss to her cheek. "Now go and look around. Just don't go out that," he pointed, "door. It leads right out to the main thoroughfare of Olympus and will expose you to the others. No going out there without me, but if you want to go through any of the other doors, feel free. The rest is shielded from prying, conniving, vicious eyes." It was clear in his eyes that if anyone other than him saw her out there and touched her he would raze Olympus to the ground without hesitation.
    “Right, no going out there. I have a feeling that if I did the Gods would zap me deader than dead before I could blink.” Ava looked to him and smiled. “Go, do what you need to do. I will go ahead and look around. Will I be able to look out of the windows without others seeing me?”
    “Of course,” he nodded. “You can even go out into the yard if you wish. It has a wall surrounding it that provides more than enough protection. It’s shielded fully as well so even if another God was sitting up on the top, he, or she, would never see you. I won’t be long,” he said and started away. He stopped though and turned with a snap of his fingers. “Don’t drink or eat anything. It’s not exactly human friendly around here right now, but, I will fix that because I want you to feel at home here when you come to visit.” Smiling slightly, he headed off once more down a long, wide hallway.
    “Thank you,” she said with a smile and moved from where they had been standing and walked outside. “Wow.” She breathed out softly and took in the sheer and utter beauty of the place and its surroundings.
    Stepping out of one of the many doors in the grotto, Ava then stepped back quickly, realizing she had stepped out of the home that Ares had shielded as his own. A low whistle sounded, which was followed by a male voice calling out to her. Not by name, but by ' hey pretty mortal ' . She was terrified, she wouldn’t and couldn’t lie.
    After she closed the door once more she could no longer hear the voice and hoped that Ares didn’t notice she had gone through a door that lead to Olympus proper. If she were lucky.
    After shaking off her dread and fear, she moved through the beautifully manicured gardens that were a part of Ares’s home. “This is utterly incredible,” she whispered and walked to a tree that was a study in perfection, flawed perfection, and beauty. Reaching up she touched her finger to a leaf and whispered, “Amazing.”
    “That tree has been here since I built the place. It was a gift from a friend, long since having left the world,” Ares told her. He was close, really close behind her. “So be gentle with it. It’s very, very old.” He moved so she could see him at her side. Ares kept his anger stamped down, he was more than pissed off that someone had seen his Ava. Without blinking, without breaking the eye contact he had with this beautiful little human, he sent a zap of pure anger to Perseus, the ass who thought to call out to his Ava as if she were a being for the taking. She wasn’t. She was his , and that in itself worried Ares, a lot.
    “It’s stunning, Ares,” she whispered and turned to look at him with a smile. “You have an amazingly beautiful home. It’s incredible. Your home is amazing in ways I can’t even begin to explain. I’ve never…” she stopped talking suddenly. She was going to tell him she had never felt more at peace, more at home, than she did right then and that was not a good thing to tell someone you had just met.
    His attention was on her fully, “You’ve never what, Ava?” he asked. His voice was a low rumbling purr. He’d lifted an eyebrow and impossibly, he was closer. “I’m trying to behave around you and stay out of your