CHAPTER 157: CLAIMED BY BOTH

The tension between them had always simmered, sharp and near-violent beneath every word, every glance, every breath. But tonight, it no longer strained against restraint. There were no more rules to follow. No eyes watching from high council seats. No thrones to kneel before.

Only instinct.

Only need.

Only her.

Athena stood between them, the curve of her back bathed in moonlight, the sheer black gown clinging to her like mist. The balcony doors were still open, the wind teasing the loose tendrils of her hair, carrying the scent of her wolf—ripe with the pulse of divine heat now awakened fully, sanctioned by the bond and made all the more potent by her refusal to deny it anymore.

Cassius moved first.

He stepped behind her, one hand sliding around her waist, the other drawing her hair aside as he pressed his mouth to the bare skin of her neck. His breath was rough, reverent, a shudder rolling through his chest like he hadn’t touched water in a hundred years and she was the last pool left on earth.

Lucas didn’t wait.

He stepped into her from the front, fingers tipping her chin upward, eyes locked on hers with fire and command. "No more denying what’s ours," he growled, before kissing her—slow and deep and filled with the kind of hunger that came from years of control snapping like a bone under pressure.

Athena moaned, caught between fire and frost, between two wolves who had once circled her with fear and longing, but now stood as equals—two forces of nature given permission to consume.

Their hands found skin.

Fabric melted away beneath fingers and claws alike. Cassius dragged her gown down with a snarl, lips ghosting over her shoulder where his name burned bright. He kissed the mark like a prayer, then bit it, just enough to remind her he was still wild beneath the silk of his voice.

Lucas’s hands gripped her hips as he lowered her to the bed behind them, kissing down the line of her throat, between her breasts, down to the place where her scent was strongest. His voice was hoarse. "You don’t know what you do to me. How long I’ve waited to have you like this—without guilt."

Cassius joined him, kneeling beside her, his eyes dark with hunger and devotion. "We worshipped you from a distance. Now we get to do it with our hands. Our mouths. Our teeth."

Athena’s body arched, caught in the coil of tension that only they could loosen.

When Cassius kissed her, it was sharp and desperate.

When Lucas touched her, it was with the steady control of a man determined to make her come undone one gasp at a time.

But when they moved together—in sync—it was divine.

She felt their wolves in their movements: one a storm, one a wildfire. Her wolf rose to meet them both, not submitting, but welcoming.

Lucas spread her thighs with a reverent growl, trailing his mouth down her inner thigh. Cassius kissed her chest, her collarbone, her lips, anchoring her with one hand tangled in her hair.

Every lick. Every thrust. Every graze of teeth. It wasn’t just sex.

It was a claim.

The kind that burned through her soul and left her panting, clawing, howling their names as they took her—first together, then in turns, then again as one.

They weren’t gentle.

They weren’t careful.

They were hers.

And when it ended—when they lay tangled in the aftermath, skin damp and muscles trembling, the marks on her shoulders glowing like brands freshly seared—the goddess did not weep.

Moonlight dripped like silver wine across the velvet sheets, illuminating the curves of Athena’s bare body as she stirred beneath the warmth of tangled limbs and fading fire. The chamber smelled of her heat, of alpha musk, of wild jasmine, sweat, and shadow. Her skin still shimmered from their first union, marked with faint traces of claw and kiss, a goddess blessed and bruised by love.

But sleep didn’t come.

Not truly.

Because even in the hush of night, her body still ached—not from pain, but from hunger. The bond thrummed through her veins, radiant and maddening. It whispered through her bones, her blood, her core. It curled her toes beneath the silk, lit her belly with heat, made her thighs tremble when she closed her eyes.

And they felt it too.

She knew it by the way Lucas stirred behind her, arm still wrapped around her waist, palm spread low across her abdomen like he’d meant to keep her from leaving even in dreams.

She knew it by the way Cassius shifted in front of her, golden eyes watching her from the shadows—no longer storming with jealousy or restraint, but filled with something far more dangerous:

Worship.

Athena opened her mouth to speak, but Lucas beat her to it—his lips ghosting over her neck, his voice rough and sleep-warm.

"You’re burning again."

Cassius’s hand reached for her, fingers brushing the side of her face. "The bond’s not done with us."

Athena let out a slow breath, eyes fluttering shut. "Then don’t wait."

There was no rush this time.

No frantic desperation.

Only the steady, unfolding reverence of three souls locked by fate and sealed by moonlight.

Lucas shifted behind her first, lips trailing down her spine in slow, deliberate presses of heat and hunger. He took his time, mapping her skin with tongue and teeth, until she arched like a bow beneath his mouth. His hands explored her body like sacred terrain—one he’d fought battles to protect, one he would gladly worship for the rest of his life.

Cassius took her mouth, slow and deep, fingers stroking her jaw as if he needed to memorize the shape of her face in the dark. His kiss wasn’t urgent—it was reverent. Like she was the only thing tethering him to the earth.

She moaned into his mouth as Lucas’s hand slipped between her thighs, finding her slick and eager, her body already ready to take them again.

"You’re still wet for us," Lucas whispered against her shoulder. "Still begging."

"Always," she breathed.

Cassius kissed the shell of her ear, then her throat, dragging his teeth across the tender place where her pulse thundered. "Then we’ll give you what you need."