Chapter 9

To anyone who did not know the War God as well as she did, they would have never picked up on the anguish that was discreetly hidden behind those angry auburn eyes of his. The Love Goddess had turned her back on them for one tiny second and things had spiraled this far out of control. She had to give it to them though, they certainly knew how to screw things up on a celestial level. She just did not understand why they were always fighting against their crucial need to be with each other. Constantly keeping the other at arm's length in their pointless attempt to show the world that they did not need anyone or anything when at the end of all their charades and fake bravado, what they secretly yearned for was each other.

Aphrodite really wished that Ares would stop being such an idiot and show the Warrior Babe that he was devoted to her and her alone. She knew that more times than not, he would forget that she was only mortal and if he continued down this scornful path then he would not just lose her to another who showed her everything that she really wanted from the War God, but he would lose her forever while she took that misunderstood heart of his with her to the Elysian fields.

By the looks of things though, someone was already making an effort to try and pry the Warrior Princess's heart out of the iron tight grip that was her brother's hands.

"Ares…", Dite tried to get his attention but he was so focused on watching Xena and her unwelcomed guest that he completely blocked everything else out.

What did she think she was doing exactly? She was in the hands of the enemy! How many times had he told her that any God out there would do anything that they possibly could to exploit him in anyway? She would not though…. no, what they had she would not just throw it away so easily as a way to try and get back at him for that insignificant encounter with that woman.

The more the War God thought about it however, the more he knew that was exactly what she was doing. She was already mad at him before then and this was her way of trying to drive him insane by letting another touch her the way she was letting that God do. Ares' eyes flared more with fury as he watched him roam his hand lightly up and down her leg. She was his damn it! No one was supposed to be touching her in that manner.

And he was a Roman! Just what was she trying to prove?! He did not like this; he did not like it one damn bit. From the way her body had subtly stiffened, Ares knew that she could feel his heated gaze upon her, and it was at that precise moment that her piercing sapphire eyes flashed his way. What he saw in them, he was not sure how to describe. Just on the surface of those dazzling baby blues that he adored was still the faintest hint of pain and the rest was filled with hatred that was directed solely towards him. Watching his Princess with that heathen and seeing how she seemed genuinely relaxed within his company as his arm gently wrapped around her waist in a possessive manner and pulled her closer to ward off others from trying to charm her away, only made Ares want to rip his arm off and then shove it down his throat.

A few seconds later, never breaking eye contact with his deceitful little vixen, his precious Princess soon leaned in closer to the Roman God, making his stomach turn in knots from their nearness, and whispered something against his ear. She made sure that Ares could not tell what it was that she was telling him and the light smirk that began to form on his face only made the War God's angry glare become more intense. When she pulled back from him that atrocious barbarian actually had the audacity to smooth his fingers along his Xena's face.

He was going to kill him; he was going to chop him into little bits and pieces and then he was going to burn him until there was absolutely nothing left to show that he even existed. The next thing Ares knew, Honos had placed his hand against Xena's head and in that instant, he knew exactly what was happening and he just could not believe it as his mouth fell open a little in disbelief. He was taken aback by what he was seeing, not trusting his own eyes as he witnessed it. She was letting him into her mind, never, not once had she ever allowed him to do that and then within the next moment her dress was changing.

Ares' mouth had fallen open more in shock for a moment. It was not just any dress, it was his dress, his favorite crimson dress that he absolutely loved when she wore it. Xena had flashed him one last cunning smile before she shut him off from her hypnotizing blue eyes completely and turned her attention back to her companion. She had only worn that dress for him and when she did, let us just say that she was not in it for too long afterwards.

As Honos started to appreciate the new garment, softly running his hand along her waist and teasingly smoothing his fingers along her chest, Ares growled territorially low in his throat. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to fuck his Chosen right now, the War God could barely control his own urge to ravish her when she wore that, and he could see all the tell-tale signs indicating that was exactly what this God wanted to do.

There was no way in Tartarus that he was ever going to let that happen. She was his and Ares was not about to watch some other God fuck her. As the Roman God's hand drifted down towards his darling Xena's leg, the Olympian's eyes raged more with malice at the sight and as it started to wander slowly under her skirt, there was absolutely nothing that was going to stop Ares from turning this place into a blood bath.

"That son of a bitch!" he breathed out venomously and took a small step in their direction.

Before he could get any closer though, the Love Goddess who had been standing idly by watching everything unfold with rapt attention, quickly stepped in and pushed her brother backwards. He was so angry, and she really did not think that he was going to listen to her, but she at least had to try. Jealousy, it was such a nasty little green-eyed monster, and the Warrior Babe knew all the right buttons to push to send her brother completely off the deep end with it.

"Get out of my way Dite!" Ares growled threateningly, glaring daggers down at her for a second and then quickly looked back at his worst nightmare.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Ares." she tried to reason, struggling to keep her brother from going any further when he tried to move again, "You're not exactly her favorite person at the moment and you are just going to add more oil to the fire."

"So, what? I'm just supposed to let him fuck her?!" he cruelly yelled, snapping his focus back to his sister but only for a brief second because he could not keep his eyes off of Xena for long as that sleazy bastard's hand disappeared under her dress.

"He's not going to live long enough to do that." he snarled, pushing Dite to the side when that scum pulled his darling Xena closer to himself, but she quickly grabbed his arm to keep him for leaving.

The agony that was in her brother's eyes as he watched Xena in the arms of another was tearing the Love Goddess up. But she knew that if he went over there and started to be all barbaric then the only thing that he would accomplish would be pushing her further away and then they would both do something that they would later regret.

"Ares let me talk to her." the Goddess suggested, still keeping with her vital need to keep the War God put as he slowly dragged her across the floor as she tried with all her might to keep him put, "I'll be able to reach her better than you can right now.", she breathlessly puffed out as she continued to try and hold him back.

"Oh, I'll reach her all right.", he dangerously breathed out as Dite manager to make her way back in front of him.

With one impressive hard shove, Aphrodite knocked the War God back far enough that even he was taken by surprise with the force she had used. He was always so impulsive, and he was only going to drive away the one thing he wanted to hold on to the most.

"Do you want her back?", Dite harshly questioned, seeing that the only way she was going to get through to him was to be tough with him, "If you go over there now then you will lose her forever, Ares."

"I can't watch that." he objected, his eyes once again returning to his precious Xena and the animal that had her in his clutches.

"I guess now you know how she feels…", she blurted out, her last-ditch effort to get her brother to calm down, "… I won't let that happen, but you have to let me handle this. Trust me."

As that pained expression of seeing the love of his life getting more cozy with someone else etched itself more on handsome War Gods face, Aphrodite took that as a sign that he was going to let her handle it. She was getting a second chance and this time she was not going to let him down like she did before, and she was more determined than ever of getting Xena back into his arms where she knew the Warrior Babe really wanted to be.

Turning around to her goal, she could see that she better hurry or there was not going to be anything that she could do to stop Ares from going ballistic if that God took possession of his precious Xena.