Wrath of the Gods (Magic Blessed Academy Book 3) Read online

  Wrath of the Gods

  Magic Blessed Academy #3

  Eva Ashwood

  Copyright © 2020 by Eva Ashwood

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Epilogue

  Books by Eva Ashwood

  Chapter One

  “Ouch! Motherfucker!”

  The big, dumb bastard knocked me halfway across the clearing and into one of the huge godly trees.

  The bark shattered off and crumbled into my hair as I slid down to the ground, landing hard on my ass. My eyes narrowed, and I huffed, standing back up and shaking out my shoulders.

  Baring my teeth in a silent snarl, I pushed my sleeves up and slapped my hands down, bringing the magic into my fingertips.

  The enormous monster stood in front of me in the clearing, huffing as it pawed at the ground. It was bright purple, with the body of a rhinoceros and the head of a big-ass bull. It snorted, blowing steam and snot all over the leaves beneath its feet.

  Ew. That’s gross as fuck.

  I put my hands up and flicked my fingers back and forth, letting magic dance between my hands. “Come on, you big behemoth of a shit stain. You wanna fucking fight? Fine! This could have been simple. We could’ve each minded our own business. But nooo, you had to charge me as soon as I appeared here, get in my damn way, and then attack me. For all you know, we could’ve been best friends. But it’s too late now, dickhead.”

  The beast reared its head back and wailed loudly, the sound reminiscent of a dying caribou. Much as I would’ve liked to believe it was mourning the loss of my friendship, I was pretty sure it was just gearing up to attack again.

  Damn.

  I hadn’t been in the ring in a while. Maybe I needed to work on my smack talk.

  “Alright, motherfucker. We’ll do this your way,” I muttered, then threw myself forward, my feet digging into the soft earth.

  The beast charged toward me as I charged toward it, each racing as fast as we could. The magic spread over me, a trail of purple haze coming off my back. As we collided, a wave of energy blasted outward, bending the trees back and then forward again. I grabbed the beast by the horns and twisted its head as it attempted to gore me, its heavy feet shaking the ground.

  The thing was so big that it should’ve been able to shake me off like a rag doll, but the power burning through my veins gave me strength to match the monster. Pushing my head down and my forehead against its leathery side, I flipped the rhino-bull over onto its back. It wriggled and wailed, and I struggled to keep it down.

  Come on, Aria. If you’re really a damn god, you should be able to take down one lousy magical beast.

  As if sensing my internal doubts, the creature bucked under my hold, swiping at me with its large horns.

  “Hold still,” I grunted, pinning it down again. “You know I don’t want to kill you.”

  I managed to get my hand up, pulling a ball of energy into my palm. It swirled around like a purple mist, gently seeping down over the beast’s face. The monster snorted and huffed, but slowly, its eyes began to close. The tension faded from its body until it finally went completely limp.

  Whew.

  I fell back onto my ass, holding the beast’s head in my lap as it snored gently. “See?” I whispered. “You could’ve just taken a nap in the first place, and everything would’ve been fine. Now you’ll have to lay here for a couple days before the spell breaks. That’s what you get for messing with shit you don’t understand.”

  And that I don’t understand.

  I didn’t bother saying that part out loud to the rhino-bull. The thing was passed out cold anyway, and besides, it wouldn’t have been the most sympathetic confidant even if it were awake.

  Grunting, I pushed the beast off of me and stood up, brushing the dirt and leaves off my pants.

  The snap of a twig in the distance made my head snap up, and I looked around quickly, my breath freezing in my lungs. Using my magic to magnify the noises from the distance, I picked up the faint sound of guards shouting as they charged toward my location.

  Ah, fuck. I’d made too much noise.

  From the little snippets of words I could pick up, they didn’t seem to know what they were looking for, but they knew there was an intruder outside the city of the gods. The godly realm had been on high alert recently, but I wasn’t sure whether it was because of me or not.

  It was definitely messing with my ability to practice moving in and out of the godly realm though. Ever since I had realized that I could transport to the godly realm without using a portal like most magic users had to, I’d been working on honing my skills.

  Practicing.

  Testing the limits of my power.

  I wanted to show up in a specific location, and I wanted to bring the guys with me. But unfortunately, I was having a hard time managing to do either of those things—as evidenced by the fact that I’d shown up in a random part of the forest outside the city of the gods, and none of my three men were anywhere to be seen.

  Fuck and a half. Guess I’ll have to try again.

  The shouts in the distance grew a little louder, letting me know the guards were heading my way. “Of course, here comes the brigade.”

  I sighed and closed my eyes, imagining myself traveling back to where I’d come from. Nothing about my transportation to the godly realm had been easy, but the return trip was usually a bit easier. I was getting better at controlling where I ended up in the earthly plane, at least.

  When I opened my eyes, my feet were touching down on the ground in the living room of the rental house in Boston. I stumbled a little, my stomach feeling like it was about two seconds behind my body.

  A hand gripped my arm, steadying me, and I glanced over to see Merrick watching me with concern.

  Leading me over to the couch, he chuckled, though the worry didn’t leave his amber eyes. “You alright? You’re getting better at it. This time you didn’t throw up or fall down.”

  I looked up at Lachlan. The burly Irishman was sitting in the chair across from me, his red-brown hair a little darker than normal. Little droplets of water clung to the ends of it, making me think he must’ve just gotten out of the shower. He lifted an eyebrow and nodded. “Yeah. I appreciate the not pukin’ thing.”

  Wrinkling my nose and hissing through my teeth, I settled onto the slightly lumpy couch, letting my body relax against the cushions. “Sorry about that. I tried to warn you.”

  Trace poked his head out of the kitchen, his dark
hair gleaming in the light. He was shirtless, and the half-formed tattoos on his torso shifted as he walked toward me. Some of them had been partially destroyed by the burns he’d gotten during our first Gods’ Challenge, but they still looked hot as hell.

  “Here you go, champ. Drink up.” He handed me a glass of water before sinking onto the couch next to me. “And I’m not surprised you didn’t hurl this time. It’s not like you’ve eaten anything the last couple days. You’ve been so focused on perfecting this travel thing.”

  Shrugging, I gulped down the water, feeling it slosh a little in my empty stomach. Yeah, I really did need to eat. “But it hasn’t been working. I just dropped myself into the woods, literally on the back of a giant purple monster. It bucked me off, and then we had to fight.”

  Trace looked like he was holding back a smile. “And I’m assuming you won?”

  “I did, but this time I didn’t have to kill it,” I replied, feeling a little flare of pride. “I put it to sleep, and it will be that way for a couple days, I think. I just really thought that I would have this by now. It shouldn’t be this fucking hard, should it? Not if I have the powers I’m supposed to.” My chest tightened, and I ran a hand through my dark hair. “I dunno. I’m starting to think you guys were wrong. I’m not a god. Besides, we were wrong about everything else—everything we thought we knew about Magic Blessed. There’s nothing definitive about any of this. None of it makes fucking sense.”

  Trace put his hand on my leg, his thumb rubbing gentle circles over my knee. It was a comforting gesture that still sent a flare of heat running through me. I wasn’t sure my body would ever not react that way to these men’s touch.

  “We were wrong about a lot of things, sure,” he conceded. “But I seriously don’t think you’d be able to travel between the godly realm and the human one on your own if you didn’t have at least some kind of godly power. Even the magic users who live in the gods’ realm and worship them, the most powerful humans there are, have to use portals to travel between earth and the godly plane. But you don’t.”

  “He’s right,” Merrick put in. “On top of that, your powers are growing. They’ve been growing ever since that first challenge, and they keep getting stronger every time you go back to the godly realm. It’s like you’re drawing power from that place or something. Like its power is meant to be yours.”

  Lachlan smirked at me, running a hand over his square jaw. “Aye. He’s right, Aria. I bet ye did some kind of crazy trick and picked that enormous monster up in the air with yer magic, didn’t ye?”

  My gaze shifted toward him as I took another drink of water. “Not exactly. But I was able to flip it on its back like a little bitch.”

  He chuckled, seeming both impressed and turned on. “That’s my girl.”

  Merrick shook his head. “That’s what I’m talking about. You’re stronger than any of us could be. You’ve got to get yourself back together, dust yourself off, and keep trying. We believe in you, and we know losing hope won’t do anything for you.”

  “Yeah. We just want you to be safe and careful, Snow,” Trace added, his hand tightening on my leg.

  I gave him a small smile, resting my hand over his as my gaze swept all three men. I could tell they were on edge, worried about me and frustrated that they couldn’t have my back in the godly realm. But at the same time, they were trying to stay optimistic for my sake.

  The two times we’d gone to the godly realm for the challenges, it’d been a team effort. As we’d struggled to stay alive in that deadly landscape, we had all used what we had, what we were good at, to work together. But this was different. Getting us to the godly plane was all on me. I was the only one who could do it.

  The guys felt helpless, and I felt helpless—although for very different reasons.

  They wanted to help me in the godly realm, and I wanted to be able to bring them with me when I transported there.

  So far, none of us had gotten what we wanted.

  And summer break was blowing by way too fast. We’d need to head back to school soon, and I didn’t want to step foot through the doors of Magic Blessed Academy until I knew I had a handle on my powers.

  After the insane last few days of the spring semester, the guys and I had been eager as fuck to leave the isolated grounds of the school. We’d headed to Boston, not even debating or questioning whether we would all stick together for the break.

  Of course we would. The guys had my back, and I had theirs. We’d danced around the thing between us long enough, and I could finally admit to myself how much I needed them. The relationship we’d developed was real and solid, and I trusted these three men more than anyone in the world.

  Merrick had rented a house on the outskirts of the city, with a big open field out back and lots of privacy. We had spent some time with Lachlan’s biker club, letting them meet the other guys. But mostly, my boyfriends had sat around and watched me transport from here to the godly realm and back over and over and over again. Sometimes, I would come back completely fine, just a little bit disoriented. Other times, I would come back to earth beat up, scraped up, or half-conscious.

  They never knew what they were gonna get when I popped out of the ether into the living room.

  Lachlan stood up, stretching out his shoulders. The fabric of his t-shirt strained over the muscles of his chest and biceps. He was the biggest of the three men, built like a truck with a fighting spirit to match. I fucking loved it.

  “Well, I’m makin’ an executive decision. It’s time for a wee break. If ye don’t take a bit of time off, ye’re goin’ to run yerself ragged. And we’d like to keep ye alive, sweetheart. My cock would never forgive me if I let ye go.”

  “Aw, Lach. You’re such a sweet talker.” I grinned, sticking my tongue out at him. He knew I liked dirty talk, and I could hear the worry buried underneath his joking words. “Yeah, okay.” I nodded. “I’ll take a break.”

  “Good.” He strode over and pulled me to my feet. “First, we’re gettin’ some food in ye. Then we’ll go out. I got word from some of the blokes from school that there’s a gatherin’ of magical people—not just from Magic Blessed, but from the wider magical community—about twenty miles outside the city. I figured we’d go check it out. If we hate it, we can fuck off and come back here.”

  I shrugged. Anything to lighten my mood or give me motivation. “Sure. I’m down.”

  Merrick pursed his lips. He came from a business background, and he was usually the most serious of the three men, the most cautious. But after a moment of consideration, he shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Why not? It’ll be one of the few times we’ve actually done anything this summer.”

  I made a face. “Hey, I’ll have you know I did a lot this summer.”

  “I know.” He pulled me up from the couch, wrapping his arms around me and gesturing with his chin to the other two men. “I meant us. We’ve just been sitting around waiting for you, wondering if you were going to come back piece by piece, or one whole body.”

  “Ooh. You like my body all in one piece?” I waggled my eyebrows and ran my fingers down the strong muscles of his back, infusing my voice with dirty innuendo.

  But Merrick’s face remained serious, his eyes shining like twin flames as he tightened his hold on me. “I like you in one piece.”

  I let him pull me in for a kiss, feeling Trace come to stand behind me as my tongue tangled with Merrick’s, my fingers sliding through his white-blond hair. As Trace’s lips found the back of my neck, brushing my hair aside, I melted into their touch.

  Still, I couldn’t stop a tiny part of my mind from floating back to the fight I’d had with the rhino-bull in the godly realm. It’d been a much more even match than it would’ve been a few months ago.

  But if I’m truly a god, shouldn’t I be more powerful?

  After Lach cooked and the guys excitedly watched me eat an entire steak, we all headed out to the SUV Trace had rented and drove over to the event.

  It was on the outskirts of Bos
ton, on an old fairground. It had the atmosphere of a fair too, except that I didn’t see any regular humans around. Everyone we passed by had the telltale glowing aura that identified them as a magic user. I was so used to it that I barely ever noticed it on the guys or my friends from school anymore, but when looking at a magic user and non-magic user side by side, the aura would become glaringly apparent.

  The four of us made our way through the crowd, glancing around at the sights as we passed. There were games and food, and I could see bursts of light emanating from the crowd as people used their powers.

  It’s like some sort of magic carnival.

  As we moved toward the back of the crowd, my feet slowed, and I put my hand out stopping the guys. “Is that… a shrine?”

  Merrick lifted an eyebrow. “Huh. Yeah. I think it is.”

  A spark of fury lit in my belly, and I cast my gaze around at the crowd again. “Fucking hell. All these magical users—they have no idea. Even the ones who don’t serve the gods still worship them. And the gods think we’re all shit beneath their boots. It makes me so fucking pissed.”

  Trace draped an arm around my shoulder, his warm, rich scent teasing my nostrils. “It’s interesting to me. Humans can be the same way… except it’s not always about their gods. There were fans of mine when I was touring with the band who would build shrines to me. They’d put all kinds of shit on it, and people would visit it, cry over it.” His words could’ve sounded boastful, but instead, he just sounded bemused. “People are so fucking weird. They didn’t even know me. Just like the gods, I could’ve been some psychopath.”