For Lilah, today had been unimaginable.
She didn't know what kind of person Jack Kadere truly was, nor did she know what the future held. But she knew her destiny had changed completely. The man before her was her Master now, and if she wanted any hope of a better future, she would have to please him.
Jack lay stretched across the bed, watching her with casual interest.
Lilah's fingers found the buttons of her blouse. One by one, she undid them—slowly, deliberately—letting the fabric slip from her shoulders and drift to the floor. Her skirt followed. Then the rest. The recycled air of the Aerie carried the faint metallic tang of the ship's systems and something warmer underneath: her skin, her nervousness, her arousal beginning to bloom.
She walked to the bedside and climbed onto him, straddling his hips, her bare thighs settling against his. She leaned down and kissed him.
It was clumsy. Eager. Her lips parted too quickly, her tongue uncertain, but there was genuine heat behind it—a flower forcing itself to bloom before its season, releasing whatever charm it could muster.
Jack was curious to see how far she would go.
Lilah proved smarter than he'd expected. Or perhaps this was simply a woman's instinct. She watched his reactions carefully—what made his breath catch, what made his hands tighten on her hips, what made him grow harder beneath her. She adjusted. Adapted. Her kisses grew more confident. Her hips began to roll.
He likes when I move like this, she realized, grinding down against him. He likes when I take initiative.
She reached between them and freed his cock, wrapping her fingers around the thick shaft and stroking slowly. He was already fully hard, the head flushed and slick. She positioned herself over him, her wet folds parting as she sank down inch by inch, her breath hitching at the stretch.
"Nnnh—"
She was tight. Inexperienced. But she was also soaked, her arousal easing the way as she took him deeper. When her hips finally met his, she paused, adjusting to the fullness, her walls clenching around him.
Then she began to move.
Lilah rode him with a determination that surprised them both. Her hips rose and fell in a steady rhythm, her small breasts bouncing with each motion, her emerald eyes fixed on his face to gauge every reaction. When his grip on her hips tightened, she moved faster. When his cock twitched inside her, she ground down harder, rolling her hips in tight circles.
Jack let her set the pace for a while, content to watch this former witch try so desperately to please him. But eventually, his patience ran out.
He flipped her onto her back.
Lilah gasped as her spine hit the mattress, her legs spreading instinctively as Jack settled between them. He thrust into her without ceremony—deep, hard, filling her completely—and she cried out, her nails dragging down his back.
"Ahhn—! M-Master—"
He fucked her properly then. Not the tentative rocking she'd managed on top, but real thrusts that drove the air from her lungs and made the bed creak beneath them. Her cunt gripped him like a vice, wet and hot and impossibly tight, and every stroke drew fresh slickness from her depths.
Lilah's composure shattered quickly. She moaned openly, her head thrown back, her thighs trembling around his waist. The scent of sex filled the small cabin—musk and sweat and the sharp sweetness of her arousal.
"Hahh—yes—please—"
Jack took his time with her. He changed angles, changed rhythms, learned what made her gasp and what made her whimper and what made her clench around him so hard he almost came too early. He edged her twice before finally letting her finish, her orgasm crashing through her in waves that left her shaking and incoherent beneath him.
Then he kept going.
By the time he finally spilled inside her, Lilah had lost count of how many times she'd come. She lay boneless beneath him, her chest heaving, her thighs slick with their combined fluids, her mind pleasantly blank.
Jack pulled out and settled beside her, pulling her into his arms. He smiled down at her flushed face.
"How about you change your name to Ocean?"
"Ocean?" Lilah looked up at him lazily, her emerald eyes hazy with satisfaction. "Why?"
"Because the ocean..." Jack's grin widened. "You are full of water."
Her face went crimson. She buried it against his chest, desperate to change the subject. "Diana—is she also your... body pillow?"
"If she was, by the time I got around to you, you'd have been through hundreds of battles. All that would be left for me is your technique."
Jack shifted to a more comfortable position, tucked her against his side, and fell asleep.
---
[The Aerie — Morning]
The next morning, Jack and Lilah emerged from the cabin.
Diana sat in a chair near the main console, looking as if she hadn't slept at all. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her posture was rigid with tension.
The moment she saw Jack, she shot to her feet and crossed the distance between them in three strides. "I need to talk to you."
"About what?" Jack asked casually.
"Last night..." Diana hesitated, her jaw tight. "I heard sounds."
Lilah's face instantly turned scarlet. "I—I'll go check if there's anything to eat."
She fled before anyone could respond.
Jack shrugged. "Is that all you wanted to say? Seems the Aerie's soundproofing isn't great."
"No." Diana shook her head, frowning. "I wasn't talking about you. I heard Athena's voice."
"You're Wonder Woman, not a Saint Seiya."
"What's a Saint Seiya?"
"Never mind. What did Athena say?"
He doesn't take anything seriously, Diana thought, irritation flickering through her. But he's the only one who can help me find Ares.
"She told me that a disaster capable of destroying the gods has been born. She told me to find Ares." Diana studied his face. "You didn't hear it? You have divine power too."
Jack considered this seriously for a moment, then shrugged. "Maybe the signal was bad."
Diana snorted. "I think the disaster Athena mentioned is Ares. I want to find him."
"Fine by me. Once I figure out how to time travel, I'll take you to him."
Jack dropped into the pilot's seat and began studying the controls, cycling through menus and testing functions one by one. After several attempts, he found what he was looking for buried in the navigation system.
"Ha! Found it."
He input the coordinates and spun around with a grin.
"1917. Aerie—set off!"
The ship lurched. Diana stumbled, grabbing the wall for support. Lilah, who had just returned with a piece of stale bread, lost her footing entirely and sprawled across the deck.
Light flared through the viewport.
The Aerie vanished.
---
[European Non-Combat Zone — October 1917, Late Morning]
The Great War was grinding toward its end. The Central Powers and Allied Powers had begun negotiating an armistice, and the front lines had grown quiet enough that civilians dared to venture outside again.
The sky hung gray and heavy when a flash of light split the clouds. The Aerie descended through the opening and touched down in an empty field, surrounded by nothing but dead grass and distant tree lines. The ship's stealth systems engaged, rendering it invisible.
"We're here!"
Jack turned to find Diana braced against the wall, pale but steady. Lilah lay sprawled on the deck, clutching her head and crying out that she couldn't see.
"Side effect of time travel," Jack told her. "You'll get used to it after a few more jumps."
"Time travel?" Lilah repeated weakly.
"Where is Ares?" Diana demanded.
Jack smiled. "Relax. I'll take you to find him later."
---
[Unnamed European City — Two Hours Later]
Lilah's side effects faded faster than expected. By midday, the three of them had made their way into the nearest city.
The streets bustled with activity—horses and early automobiles sharing cobblestone roads, men in worn military uniforms mingling with civilians in heavy wool coats, the air thick with coal smoke and horse dung and the yeasty smell of bread from a nearby bakery. Newspaper boys shouted headlines about armistice negotiations. Women in long skirts hurried past with baskets tucked under their arms.
For Diana, this was her first true experience of the human world outside Themyscira. She turned her head constantly, taking in every detail—the architecture, the clothing, the noise of so many people living so close together.
This is what I left my home to protect, she thought, watching a mother shepherd two small children across the street.
Lilah walked beside her in a daze. She had been in 1871 only a day ago, and now she stood forty-six years in the future. The automobiles. The electric lights. The fashion. She couldn't process any of it.
The trio drew stares wherever they went—two striking women and a man who moved like he owned the world, all dressed in clothes that didn't quite fit the era.
Diana stopped suddenly, pressing a hand to her temple with a grunt of pain.
"Your side effects are coming a bit late, aren't they?" Jack teased.
"It's Athena," Diana whispered.
The voice came again, clearer this time, transmitted directly into her mind. She tried to respond, tried to reach back, but the connection only flowed one way. The same words repeated over and over:
The disaster that will destroy the gods has been born. Go find Ares.
"Is she alright?" Lilah asked Jack quietly, watching Diana with concern.
"She won't die." Jack glanced around the street, then smiled. "Wait here. I'll be back."
"What? Where are you—"
But he was already walking away, disappearing into the crowd.
Lilah moved closer to Diana, her nerves fraying as she stood alone in an unfamiliar century. The voice in Diana's head eventually faded, and the Amazon straightened, blinking away the lingering disorientation.
"Where did he go?"
"He said to wait here," Lilah answered. "He didn't say why."
Diana frowned but nodded.
Twenty minutes later, Jack returned at a leisurely pace, carrying two long black felt coats draped over his arm.
"Put these on." He handed one to each of them. "You're drawing too much attention."
Diana accepted hers without comment. Lilah shrugged into the heavy wool, grateful for the warmth against the October chill.
"So?" Diana asked. "Did you find Ares?"
Jack's smile widened.
"No. But I found something interesting."
"What?" Lilah asked.
Jack turned and pointed down the street, toward a woman walking briskly through the crowd—tall, dark-haired, unmistakable even at a distance.
"I saw Wonder Woman."