Heroes of Olympus, 1
Mikhail “Wolf” Rossov and Gareth “Gunner” Gruffyd are part of a joint Navy SEAL and Army Ranger team that have been tasked with a new war. One that needs to be kept from being discovered, at all costs.Out on the job, they end up saving a woman who turns out to be more than they could have believed.
Camilla Berry is a kindergarten teacher. The most dangerous part of her job is a wide spread flu epidemic in her class. Being a teacher is all she’s ever wanted. She never thought she’d soon be part of something bigger.
Kidnapped to become a pawn in a dangerous, violent game, Camilla has only one hope—for her two men to come to her rescue, before it’s too late. She knows that they would walk through the fires of hell for her. But will they make it in time?
Be Warned: menage sex (MFM), anal sex, double penetration, spanking
Excerpt:
It felt good to be back on American soil. While Mikhail thought of himself as more Russian than American, America had been his home for all his life and always would be.
Mikhail stepped out of the steamy bathroom and finished toweling off as he padded into the locker room. Nodding to his teammates who were scattered around in various states of undress, he grabbed up a pair of jeans and pulled them on.
Three weeks since their mission to extract the CIA operative from Greece without anyone, official or not, the wiser. While it hadn’t been smooth, they’d gotten in and out without alerting anyone they’d ever been there. Bad guys notwithstanding, of course.
He buttoned up his fly and crammed his feet into a pair of boots. Mikhail pulled on his shirt before dropping to sit on the bench to do up his boots.
They’d been in endless meetings and sessions to debrief since they’d gotten out of Greece with the operative. All they knew about her was her code name for the op, Sugar. Not exactly fitting given the venom she’d directed their way the entire flight out of the country and then back to the States. But then again, she hadn’t looked all that happy before they’d met her.
What her mission had been in the country, Mikhail couldn’t say. But since they were currently on friendly terms with Greece, who the fuck knew. Especially when it came to the spooks. Those guys just loved to root around in the darkest of corners looking for enemies and, if they couldn’t find any, making new ones.
He stomped his feet a little to settle the boots in place. Just as he grabbed his leather jacket, the door into the locker room crashed open and four MPs came in.
“Sorry, sirs. The admiral has requested your presence immediately.”
Mikhail knew it wasn’t an actual “request.” No one, an admiral especially, needed four heavily armed MPs to pass on a “request.” No, it was an order, and he bet if it weren’t obeyed the MPs had very specific and detailed instructions about what to do.
He shrugged on his jacket and leaned against his locker as his cohorts finished dressing. None of them were in any apparent rush. While the MPs had said immediately, and he knew the admiral had meant yesterday, they weren’t going to just give in. That wasn’t how they were made. His fellow team members gravitated into their duos, as usual. He wasn’t surprised when Gareth shot him a small, crooked grin. The men weren’t couples, but they all worked together very well and—at least where he and Gareth were concerned—shared women more often than not.
Rubbing a hand over his mouth, he hid his smirk as James “Fury” Ashton asked Owen “Viper” Lueger which shirt went with his eyes better. Always pushing the envelope, that one. When Mikhail caught the look on the MPs faces and the way they were fiddling with their sidearms, he cleared his throat. He gave his team a couple of signals out of sight of the MPs.
It got everyone moving faster. If a bunch of highly trained military cops were that twitchy, something big was going down. No need to provoke them more than absolutely necessary.
As they left the locker room as a unit, Mikhail noticed they all exchanged the same look. He knew no one had a clue what was going on and that they didn’t like it—especially since they’d all just been told they had three weeks’ leave. Which, in their minds, meant they got to leave, no questions asked.
Not good.
****
Twenty minutes later, Mikhail could not believe how fucking right he’d been. “Excuse me, sir. I mean zero disrespect, sir, but are you off your fucking rocker?” he asked.
His teammates all nodded. Yeah, every single one of them had been thinking it. Mikhail was just craziest of the bunch to say it out loud. It was part of his rep, and he did love living up to his rep.
“I wish,” Admiral Weller said. He rubbed a hand over his military-regulation cut and looked at them all.
Mikhail couldn’t believe how old Admiral Weller looked right then. Sharing a worried look with Nolan, he shook his head. “Sir, this is crazy. I might buy that Nolan might believe in the Greek gods, growing up as he had, but coming from you…” He shook his head again. “I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not buying it.”
“You’d better,” a new voice said. One that was deep, bowels-of-hell deep, and sent a shiver down Mikhail’s spine.
Mikhail spun and looked up—yeah, up—at seven-and-a-half feet of solid muscle covered in leather. Holy shit, where the fuck did this guy come from?
“Olympus by way of Athens,” the large male said. He turned his blacker-than-night eyes to the admiral. “Andrew, sorry I’m late. Had a small family matter to attend to.”
“No apologies needed, come on in and grab a seat. I think I’ll let you tell them the rest of this, as they don’t seem to be taking me seriously.”
The large man chuckled and—no joke—Mikhail could have sworn the room actually pitched and rolled like the deck of a battleship on high seas.
“They are trained to believe what they can see, hear, and touch, Andrew. Of course, they are not going to just take you at your word.” He walked around them, surprisingly light on his feet, and took the seat the admiral had offered.
Mikhail saw the same what-the-fuck expression on Nolan’s face that had to be on his own. The guy, on a first-name basis with the admiral, seemed to be buying into the same delusion, too. This would be interesting to hear. He wondered why no one was questioning the unvoiced questions, but these men knew him well enough to know that he would fill them all in later on everything.
“It’s not a delusion, Mikhail,” the guy said. “The Greek gods are real, all of us.”
“So, we’re to believe you’re one?” Lincoln “Saber” Jamison asked.
“Yes.”
“Right,” Thomas “Brick” Gordon drawled out in his Southern manner. “Which one, just so we keep it all straight and shit?”
The admiral’s expression showed his discomfort. Not a look one expected of a career military man who’d been through more wars than most could lay claim to—and all on the front lines for the most part.
“Ares,” the male said.
“God of War,” Stefan “Orion” Patras said softly. “Son of Zeus and Hera.”
“Bingo,” the big male said. “Got it in one. Which, considering your heritage, I’d be truly miffed if you hadn’t.”
Shooting his Greek teammate a look, Mikhail shook his head. “Okay, I have a question, if we’re all going to play along with this delusion.”
“It’s no delusion and yes, the gods are real.” Ares, or whoever the fuck he was, got up from his chair. He pushed it out of the way and settled with his feet spread so they were right under his shoulders.
A flash of light and they were staring at the guy in full battle regalia. As in, ancient armor with one hell of a big-ass sword in hand, tip to the floor. Oddly enough, the guy seemed even bigger.
He walked straight toward Mikhail.
Standing his ground, Mikhail notched his chin up to keep eye contact with the guy. A lot harder than he’d thought, now that the guy’s eyes were silver pools, much like a whirlpool, trying to suck him in.
“Military men are always the hardest to convince,” the god said. Then he smiled, showing perfectly white teeth, and lifted a hand. “Let’s see if I can’t convince you, shall we?”
“First Contact” is a pretty good read. The characters came to life and I was able to enjoy them. I did have a hard time getting into the storyline and it took me a bit of time to finish it. The stars of this story are the awesome characters. The plot could use a bit of reworking as I just couldn't connect fully with story.
Let me start off by saying, I love greek mythology. Love it! Hercules, Xena, ect, loved them. When I read the blurb for this book, I was intrigued. Then I found out it has to do with the God Ares being the leader of twelve sexy men trying to keep Hades in the underworld. Say what?! *grabby hands* First Contact has to deal with two of these soldiers, Wolf and Gunner, meeting the love of their lives and having to rescue her. Romantic suspense anyone? Give me some of that! Oh, oh, did I mention the piercings? *thud* Wolf and Gunner, if I have to choose…I’d be forever stumped. They’re both gorgeous, badasses and I want one of each please. So. Freaking. Hot! Camilla is the kindergarten teacher that’s attacked by…wait for it…werewolves. Odd but okay, I’ll work with that. If there are Gods why can’t their be werewolves? Once the trio meet it’s a fabulous balance of romance and action. I love how the plot comes together and the sex is so damn yummy. I cannot wait to read the next book! First Contact is a new paranormal, greek mythology, sexy series by the talented April Zyon. A must read!
I really loved this story and Mik and Gareth were just oh so sexy. Camilla was one lucky woman. Now I can't wait for the next book!!
First off, whenever I see a book come out by April Zyon, I get that excited squee thing going, but a new series? Well pick me up off the floor. (Seriously, can someone find me two, strong, alpha males to pick me up off of the floor?) Ok, I digress. A NEW SERIES! I'm just all atwitter. So, First Contact is about a 12 man team of uber hot soldiers that have been hand-picked by the God Ares, (that's the God of war in case you didn't know) to form a special team to help defend against evil and keep Hades where he belongs. Hades also needs the powers of at least 4 of 6 women who are descendants of the Gods. This is where our souped up guys come in. As you can see from the number of female to male ratio, there are 2 males to one female. So the men will pair off with their perfect soul mate of a woman. There are lots more to all of this, and it's all a very cool concept and plot. Our first two mates are Mikhail and Gareth. Mikhail is known as Wolf, and is the sniper and defacto leader. He's also the dark half of the equation. Gareth, is the light. Both tall, built and hot. They are also both pierced. (Yup, on the floor again.) It's a thing with all of them, you'll see. Their rescue and person to protect is a kindergarten teacher named Sandie heh heh, no Camilla. I have to say there were times I wasn't quite sure how to take Camilla. She was veeery talkative, a mite bossy, and there were times I was wondering when the gag was coming out. But she was certainly lovable, and she was the soul mate of our two heroes. I fell in love with this book and I am excited to read the rest of the series to see what happens. Trust me, you don't want to miss this! Voluntarily read ARC provided by Evernight Publishing
Love this book and the heroes of Ares, the only thing I couldnt stand is the way Camilla talked it was annoying especially when using words like crapballs, good lord love a duck, friggin. But when she got taken by the bad guys the fbomb came out lol. I actually already have this book same title but its was called Knight of Ares instead of Heroes of Olympus Book 1 and wondered why she brought out 2 exactly the same book but different series title. But on that note cant wait for the next one.
I loved this book can't wait for the next one :)
This is a re-release of a book with no major changes. I loved this story by Ms. Zyon. Mik is a great male character whom I adored. He was silent but when he spoke you listened to what he had to say. And Gareth was a nice foil to his character. Both men were ALPHA but in different ways. The completed Camilla in different ways but it was obvious that she saw them as separate men who fulfilled her. And Camilla is a wonderful female character. She is a chatterbox. And while she finds herself quickly drawn to both Mik and Gareth I love how she worries less about her growing feelings and more about the situation she has found herself in. And the care that Mik and Gareth give just makes my heart melt. I love that Camilla seems to fit effortlessly with her men. Her sense of humor is apparent and I found myself laughing several times throughout this book. Camilla's relationship with Ares was an additional layer to this story that I adored. Ms. Zyon gave us a story that is full of laughter and love. Camilla gave the men hope even as she reminded them why they were fighting. The love came quickly but felt real which isn't easy to do and which Ms. Zyon does extremely well. I can't wait to see the rest of the men find there happily ever after.
This book was amazing. I loved the way that Ms Zyon took the Olympic Gods and made them more "human" while they were on Earth, first of all. Secondly, I am in love with this team of men and am thrilled that she has decided to write menage books! This woman never fails to floor me with how creative she is and this book is just a reflection of that. Third, I love how this author creates a central theme of overall "bad" in what looks to be a limited series. (I am assuming since there are 12 men and the Gods were talking about 6 keys) so this will be fun to figure out who the real bad guy is aside from the glaringly obvious in each book. I am impressed, both with Ms Zyon and once more with Evernight for the quality of book they put out. Highly recommend.
