Page 1 of Make Mine Nymph

CHAPTER 1

EXCUSES

ALEX

I’ve run out of excuses.

It was bound to happen eventually. For some awful reason, my twin has decided that I needed to put in more of an effort to get along with the huntsman. Orion—or, as Noelle calls him, Hunter—is her husband, and they’re a package deal, I’m told.

It’s been three months since I met my own soulmate. And while Apollo’s opinion on Artemis’s companion has definitely colored the way I think of Orion, I understand why Noelle is so protective of the huntsman. If anyone tried to get between me and Daphne, I’d give Apollo control so that they’d learn not to test one of the Twelve.

I’m a god. Even before I discovered that I was one, I’ve always been a bit of a cocky bastard. Arrogant, too, as my feisty nymph delights in reminding me all too frequently. I’ll protect her and I’ll love her, just like how I’ve always cared for my twin. It doesn’t matter that we’re not blood. Doesn’t matter that, technically, I was in the Other for decades before Noelle St. James was born mirrorside. She carries the soul of Artemis inside of her, so she’s my twin, just like Daphne Ackerly is my only chance at having the one thing I’ve always wanted.

A happily-ever-after.

Not that I’d admit that to anyone else. I have a reputation to protect, both as Alex Harcourt and Apollo, the arrogant god of far too much to mention. In his myths and legends, he went through lovers—male and female both—faster than I could change my sandals, and while he chased the original Daphne, I’m the one she didn’t flee from.

I’m the one she chose.

Which, of course, is a good thing since I fell head over sandals for her reincarnation the moment I saw the dare written in every line of her beautiful face, stiletto in hand as she prepared to stand her ground against my pet python. Then she stomped into the megaron, fury pouring off of that luscious body of hers, and I was a goner.

Not to mention the red hair. Zeus, but my gorgeous ginger really gets me going.

Back on the mirrorside, my smirk and my attitude hid another side of me. I wanted love. I wanted affection. I always felt as if I was missing something, and when I ended up in the Other, I discovered what it was. I was missing my eternal twin, plus the other half of my soul. Apollo had thousands of lovers, thousands of soulmates for an insatiable god, but Alex…

I just wanted one.

I have her. In nearly all ways, I have my Daphne. She lives in my palace, she’s part of my oikos, and the guarded look in her lovely green gaze has been gone for months now. When I tell her honestly how much I love her—whether with words or in songs and poetry, another perk of being Apollo—she’s stopped with the impish shrug and a curt, “I know,” in that adorable New York accent of hers. She repeats it back and, sometimes, she even tells me unprompted.

She gets along with my twin, too. I’ve known from the moment I met Daphne that family is important to her; of course, since she only arrived in the Other because she was searching for her missing cousin. As soon as she agreed to stay with me, I introduced the two most important women in my life. And, because I had no other choice, Daphne met the huntsman, too.

That was three months ago—and when I began with the excuses.

Now, I’m not a fool. I know part of the reason she decided to stay was because Willow can’t leave. As the reincarnation of Persephone, Daphne’s cousin played her part long before my nymph ever arrived. That’s because time works differently in the Other. To Daphne, Willow was only gone for three days. To Willow, she spent two seasons as Persephone before her cousin—with my generous help, of course—tracked her down in the Underworld with her new husband, Aiden, the most recent Hades.

I would’ve done anything to convince Daphne to give me a chance. Considering how I almost lost her before I had her—thank you, Apollo—I was desperate. After so long in the Other, I believed wholeheartedly that I’d one day meet my soulmate, though I expected it would all go wrong. Every new life that Apollo has led since the beginning had, and if I ever doubted it, I just had to remember Cassandra.

And that was difficult since the curse another me placed on her made it so that no one believed her—until I finally realized how wrong that was and found a way to remove the curse.

Whatever my story was, whatever price I had to pay to be an immortal god in the Other, I hoped for a happy ending, though I doubted I’d get it. Not because of anything Cassandra told me, either. It’s just… in the Other, the magic wants us to play our part. To relive our myths exactly as they were once told in order to create stability and balance. It’s why we’re here. To keep the myths and the magic alive, regardless of the toll it takes on our human sides.

Until Noelle arrived seasons ago and found a way to change her story, no one else had. But then she did, and that’s when I started to hope again.

Pointless, really. In the end, I didn’t change mine. Just like it happened ages ago, when Daphne discovered that I was Apollo, she ran and, I kid you not, she turned into a tree. But Daphne… my Daphne… she didn’t take the first portal out of the Other. And, yes, I know it was because of her cousin, but it was a little bit for me, too. She stayed for me. She lives with me. She loves me.

But will she stay with me forever?

Or will she pull an Apollo and change me out for another lover when she gets bored?

It’s almost unfathomable. A god like me, worried that another, lesser male will catch her eye. But that’s Alex, I guess. Apollo would be insulted, I’m sure, but I’d be heartbroken. I want to make my nymph mine in all ways, but nothing is tying us together anymore. Our story’s been told. The magic paid. If she wants to walk away from me right now, I can’t stop her.

And Orion, godsdamn it, is a handsome bastard.

I’m being ridiculous. As much as it turns my stomach to think of it, my twin and her huntsman are sleeping together. In the Other, where soulmate bonds are real, the physical act adds another layer to that tie. Even if Noelle didn’t wear his ring on her finger, anyone looking at them can tell that they’re fated to spend the rest of their days together. He’s not just her companion, he’s her husband, and he adores Noelle. He’d never cheat on her, just like I know that Daphne wouldn’t stray while she tells me she loves me.

But we don’t have that bond. Not yet. And as much as I’m dying to make her mine, I worry that she’ll reject me the same way that the first Daphne rejected Apollo.

I don’t know if I can take it.