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Grabbing her by the hand,he tugged her out onto his balcony, then, with his hands in fists,he crossed his arms over his chest before jerking them down andout. In that instant, wings magically appeared at his back. Notwhite wings but glittering and golden, like his arrows, and just asephemeral.
“I’ve never flown someonebefore,” he warned as he scooped her up in his arms. “I hope tohells this works.”
“What?” she might havescreeched the word.
But it was too late. With amighty flap, they shot up into the sky and over the edge of thebalcony. He flew them down in circles until they reached theground, not out front, but the back of the building in an alleyway.Already sirens of firetrucks could be heard around the otherside.
Chance gave her an apologetic look. “Myneighbor, Roger—”
“Go.” She even shoved him abit.
Clearly not liking havingto leave her, he took back off into the skies. She shivered. Hard.Damn. New York was cold in February. Especially still in pajamasand no jacket or shoes.
“Every creature is afraidof fire,” a menacing rumble of a voice sounded from behind her theinstant Chance was out of sight. “Even gods apparently.”
Technically, Hephaestuswasn’t afraid of fire. Hades either. But she wasn’t about to arguewith a minotaur.
She turned slowly to facethe man who was out for her blood and flinched. Not at the way heleaned against the brick wall of the building. Not at the way hewas peeling an apple with a bowie knife either. But at hisaura.
Nothing muddy about it now. Just pure evilintent.
Chapter 11
Elodie smiled. Deliberately.
Then opened her mouth…and sang.
Not a song that any man orgod could write down and replicate. A siren’s song was distinct tothe listener. They heard whatever fit them best. Not even Elodieknew exactly what they heard, though some men had spokendescriptions out loud.
The most famous of whichwas Odysseus. After having his men tie him to the mast so he couldlisten, and stuff wax in their ears so they couldn’t, he’d writtenabout the experience. When he’d heard the words and the music, thesong had enchanted Odysseus’s heart. He longed to plunge into thewaves and to swim to the island.
Elodie’s own songs hadnever once failed her. So wonderful was a siren’s musical talentthat it was said they could even calm the winds. Which wastrue.
But Cretan didn’t move byso much as a twitch. Didn’t walk toward her spellbound, or fall tohis knees weeping, or take out his cock and start fisting it assome men had been known to do when she sang.
Nothing. Not even a flickerof need crossed his face. How was that possible? Or had he pluggedhis ears like Odysseus’s men?
Regardless, she was stillthe bigger monster, even without the effect of her song. That wasjust the bait to make her victims pliable and draw them close.Fixing him in her sights, Elodie brought on the change. It waseasy, with her monster already clawing to the surface.
“Your mistake,” she said,as mist swirled around her. Her voice was no longer beautiful,coming out as a small girl screaming.
All pretense of beingunconcerned fell away from Cretan to leave a man intent on her. Butnot in fear or defense. He was…
Is he studyingme?
She halted the changebefore it hardly began. Not even a flash of lightning in themist.
“Right,” Cretan muttered,more to himself than her.
Narrowing her eyes, Elodiebent to grab a rock in the alley and threw it at him. Only the rocksailed through…nothing. It shattered the illusion, and what wasessentially a holographic projection of the minotaur disappeared.He hadn’t been there at all.
Magic. The word whispered through her. It was the only explanation.But how? Minotaurs didn’t possess any magical abilities beyondtheir change in form.
Her monster in all herhunger and rage threw her head back and roared her frustration,mist and lightning going out from her in a shockwave. But Elodie,when she’d been chained to the ocean floor, had learned to cage thebeast within her, a skill that served her now.
She forced her monster toremain inside, pushing her deep down where she couldn’t emergeagain easily. She would need to feed, and very soon. As soon as shecould get away from Chance. She couldn’t continue to risk his lifelike this. Or the lives of other innocents.
But…for now…she was back to herself.
