Lame, with harsh features, brooding eyes, a wiry beard crackling with flame, and ropy muscles, the god mortals call Hephaestus is nobody's idea of perfection. Indeed, far from it. A lingering odor of burnt solder clings to him, adding to his manly stench of sweat and musk. His bed is narrow and lonely, his sheets filled with soot and regret.<br><br>Blacksmith to Olympus, he hides from his kin on an island in the Mediterranean, commissioned to forge a hero's sword from unbreakable metal. But a brief tryst with a minor water god distracts him. Aean is everything Hephaestus is not -- young, beautiful, sexy. He stirs in Hephaestus a savage lust the smith has never felt before.<br><br>Now Hephaestus wants Aean for his own, and he won't rest until the water god is his.

To Love a God

But a strong hand catches his, and the male


voice that purrs in his ear surprises him into opening his eyes.


“Oh, no, smithy. You’re mine this evening, not the other way


With a start, Hephaestus stares at the water


god above him. Golden skin almost translucent in the dying


sunlight, eyes the deep blue of the pond in the morning, disheveled


blond curls like wood shavings cascading across a strong brow. He


looks eighteen one minute, eternal the next. Beautiful, in a word.


Exactly what a deity should be. Hephaestus tries to wrestle out


from under him but the river god is stubborn and clings like


seaweed to the smith. The erection throbbing against the god’s


buttocks doesn’t help Hephaestus think straight. “Who are you? Get


Perfect lips curve into a perfect grin. “I am


Aean, god of this pond. You came to me, remember?” Though he is


human in appearance, the water god’s legs end in tails like those


Chapter 3