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Apollo nodded, and I had the strangest sensation we were a team of sorts. I couldn’t remember when the gods had last agreed with me, let alone accepted me in their circles. In fact, I couldn’t remember it’d happened at all. They tended to hate me for one reason or another. And I accepted that long ago, which was why I did my own thing most of the time.
Usually because I didn’t see things the way they did.
But I liked this arrangement. It was something new. It felt good to belong somewhere for a change, and with it came a strange warmth floating through me, heating my skin like rays of a summer sun. And I was more than happy to stand together with these guys if it meant we could help Elyse to bring her friend back. Catina was just a mortal woman, and she didn’t stand a chance against X.
No human did, but I shuddered to think what he was doing to her. X was a fuckhead. I wasn’t quite sure how he was a part of Hades, but I would’ve hated to have an alter ego that was pure darkness. Perhaps that was why Hades was always pissed off.
Still, we’d do what was needed to bring Catina back safe and sound. Not only for the sake of the human woman, but also for Elyse, who deserved to see her friend home without a scratch.
Elyse covered her face, and I knew she was crying again. Somehow, her tears smelled like freshly fallen rain. And it was the saddest damn thing I’d ever experienced.
I yearned to take the pain away.
Looking at the sympathy and helplessness on both Apollo and Poseidon’s faces, they felt exactly the same way.
“Hey,” Apollo said, gently peeling Elyse’s hands away from her face to reveal tear-stained cheeks. “We’re going to fix this. There’s still hope. He just did this to get to you. And if you keep panicking about it, he’s going to win. Don’t let him win.”
It looked like Apollo’s speech had worked a little. Elyse tried to swallow her grief and looked at me. Her dark eyes were bright with tears, and if the situation weren’t so dire, I would’ve thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world.
Scratch that. No matter what she did, she was the most beautiful woman in the universe. Natch.
“Why the hell was X at Catina’s?” Elyse asked. “I can’t figure out what’s going on. Is this Hades?” She posed the last question to Poseidon.
Apollo and I both looked at him, too. But Poseidon shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t have an answer either.
“All I know is that he has to be stopped,” Poseidon declared.
“Yeah, I’ve been trying to do that,” Elyse snapped. “But I haven’t had much luck, have I?”
“Don’t forget,” I said, interrupting her, “you’re not alone in this anymore. You’re not supposed to be the only one to save Earth. We’re here to help you.”
Elyse blinked at me. It was true. Even Poseidon had been sent to rein in Hades, and Apollo had wandered the Earth for the last three centuries, so I wasn’t the only guard destined to stand at Elyse’s side. Even though I was the only one Zeus had sent to help.
“We’ll get her back,” Apollo said, reassuring Elyse yet again.
“Yeah,” I added. “No matter what, we’ll get through this—together.”
Apollo and Poseidon both stared at me, their jaws dropped.
Until now, I’d been obtuse, throwing everything they thought about me in their faces. Because if they didn’t want to believe I was a hero, I’d show them what a disappointment I could be.
Looking back now, it didn’t make sense. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to prove them wrong instead.
“What?” I asked when Apollo and Poseidon wouldn’t stop gawking.
“Nothing,” Apollo said. He pulled Elyse into a hug.
Poseidon sat down on her other side, putting his hand on her knee. I was the only one not in on the action, so I climbed over the coffee table and planted my ass on the wood, facing Elyse with our knees touching. I moved the coffee cup out of the way.
Who said I couldn’t be domestic?
My skin prickled with the sensation of…magic?
It seemed when the three of us were together, all of us touching Elyse, the strangest thing happened. Energy flared between us. It tasted a little like my own magic, but also like Elyse’s. And Apollo’s. And Poseidon’s.
Strange.
With the four of us touching, the energy we created grew bigger and stronger, its electricity humming over my flesh. Did the others feel it too?
