by Amy Sumida
“Not Kosmos,” Cer said grimly.
“Shit,” I muttered. “What did Kasteo do now?”
“He stole something from the Demos Family.”
“Fuck!”
“Yeah.”
The Demos Family. Shit. Humans aren't the only ones with mobsters; the Beneath has its crime families too. Most of them ran their shady businesses out of the safety of Beneather Bazaars where they didn't have to worry about pesky things like laws. But the problem is; they don't stay in the Bazaars. They spread their filthy empires out across the globe, and the Demos Family was one of the most powerful syndicates in the Beneath.
“Fucking Satyrs,” I growled.
I'm not saying that all Satyrs are bad news. I've met some very nice ones. But I didn't have to explain my comment to Cerberus. He knew that I was cursing these particular satyrs—the satyrs who run the Demos Family; starting with the head satyr, Philip Demos. He's as nasty as you can get and that goes for his entire “family.” Drugs, prostitution, assassination, intimidation, theft, blackmail; he offers it all. Not that I had room to point fingers; I'd been a supernatural fixer once and assassination was one of the many services I offered. But I had been discriminating in my choice of clients and targets; Cerberus always vetted them and made sure I was on the morally right side of the situation. Also; no children or animals were to be hurt. Not ever. Philip Demos has no such limitations. But then he rarely had to do the dirty work himself; his family of goons did everything for him. The only murder or mayhem Philip participated in were those he wanted to be a part of.
“What did Kas take?” I growled. “Beneather drugs?”
“Come on.” Cer rolled his eyes. “Do you really think he's changed that much?”
“No. He seemed just the same as always.”
“And he is. So, what do you think would prompt Kasteo, the most annoying cat burglar ever born, to steal from the most notorious Beneather syndicate on Earth?”
“If I thought a woman could be stolen, that's what I'd say,” I huffed. “I could totally see Kasteo pulling a Paris.”
Cerberus just stared at me.
“He stole a woman from them?!” I shrieked. “From who, exactly? Which one of the bosses did he woo a woman away from?”
“She wasn't someone's mistress, El,” Cerberus' voice dropped into dangerous tones. Whatever this was about, it had pissed off the Hellhound. “Kas rescued this girl. He snatched her right out from beneath their noses.”
“Rescued her from what?” Gage asked as he and Darc stepped out of the stairwell and into the room.
“Sorry about the shriek.” I grimaced; that had to have been what woke them and drew them downstairs.
“It's okay, babe.” Gage waved it away. “Who was this girl rescued from?”
“The Demos Family,” I said. “They're bad news, and although they don't have much magic to speak of, their numbers, cunning, and sheer ruthlessness make up for it and they have a wide reach.”
“To answer your first question”—Cerberus slid me a furious look—“Kasteo rescued the girl from an auction house.”
“An auction house?” Darc asked in confusion.
My jaw clenched. I couldn't get the words past my bared teeth to answer my husband. I was too busy making growling sounds like an enraged animal. I knew the Demos Family did some bad shit but this was beyond bad.
“She was being sold into sexual slavery,” Cerberus explained. “They abducted her, and several others like her, right off planet Olympus and brought them here to sell in a secret auction.”
“It doesn't matter, does it?” I snarled. “Beneather or human, there will always be people who take advantage of those weaker than themselves.”
“Yeah, there are motherfuckers in every race,” Cerberus agreed. “But let's not get weepy it. Let's just go kick their furry asses.”
“You want Elaria to go up against this group of criminals because her friend rescued a girl?” Darc asked in surprise. “That seems like an extreme reaction.”
“Kas will be hunted,” I tried to explain. “Neither he nor this woman will ever be safe again.”
“She's a nymph,” Cerberus growled as if that made it even worse.
In a way, it did. Nymphs are the most gentle race to come from the Greek Realm, previously known as the Greeca Realm. They're farmers mostly; they love nature almost as much as Shining Ones do. And pleasure. A nymph, be they male or female—and yes, there are male nymphs, that's how you get baby nymphs—will happily lie down in a summer meadow and share an intimate afternoon with a complete stranger. They are the original Flower Children.
But force a nymph into a sexual act, and you destroy them. You take something beautiful and precious to them—something sacred that they freely give—and you make it base and disgusting. That tears at their minds, and most nymphs who are raped never come back from it. They experience mental breaks so terrible that it's practically a lobotomy... which turns them into the perfect slaves. You never have to worry about a broken nymph fighting back or trying to run away. They will do exactly as they're told. Which is the main reason why people rape nymphs.
“They're stealing nymphs from their home planet, breaking them, and selling them into slavery?” I snarled.
“Yep.” Cerberus had his face set into fighting lines.
Women are his weakness; they always have been. Put Cerberus on a battlefield, and he will fight a woman without issue. It's his opinion that she's there voluntarily and knows what she's gotten herself into. In that situation, it would be an insult to not fight her. But hurt a woman off a field of battle, and the ex-Hound of Hades will go into a frothing fit. To Cerberus, we are not the weaker sex, but we are the softer one; the one that gives him comfort and pleasure. To harm a woman dishonorably is an atrocity that my bestie will not stand for. In fact, it was how we became friends, to begin with. Cer rescued me from a drunken jerk who followed me out of the bar I was working at. I'd been gagged and helpless while the asshole tried to rape me in an alley, and Cerberus had literally torn him a new one. A few new ones. The kind of tears that don't heal.
Neither of us could allow this shit to happen.
“You should have brought Kas and the nymph here,” I chided Cer. “This is the one place where they'd be safe from the Demos Family.”
“He did.” Kasteo sauntered out of my kitchen with his brother, Kosmos, and a beautiful woman with haunted eyes and a hunched posture.
“Kas!” I cried in relief and went to hug him.
Kasteo laughed and hugged me back. “I wasn't sure if we'd be welcome so I asked Cer to talk to you first.”
“Of course, you're welcome.” I looked from the slim, dark cat-shifter to his buff, blond brother and then to the delicate nymph in between them. “All of you. Hi, I'm Elaria.”
“Helene,” she said softly as she dipped her head forward. He chestnut hair fell in a veil around her face, framing a pair of huge eyes the color of newborn leaves. “Thank you for granting us sanctuary, Spellsinger.”
I let out a startled laugh, and the nymph's eyes widened.
“What did I say?” She asked warily.
“Sorry.” I waved her concern away. “It's your name. I just finished telling Cerberus that I could imagine Kas pulling a Paris.”
“And here's Helen of Troy herself,” Kasteo concluded. “Yeah, I'm a hero, I know.” He winked at me. “But I'm no Paris; that guy was a fucking pussy.”
“That's a funny insult to hear from a cat,” Gage snickered.
Kasteo grimaced. “It was bad enough when it was just you and Cerberus. Why'd you have to go and marry the Griffin version of him, El?”
“Because she couldn't handle the original.” Cerberus puffed out his chest and smirked.
“No.” Darc crossed his arms.
Darcraxis' original physical body had been gigantic. We had made ourselves extra-large forms back when we were Gods and wanted to try out the world we'd made. But this time around, Darc shrunk himself to be more compatible
with me in my Spellsinger body. That being said, even scaled-down, Darc still towered over most men and the wealth of muscles that covered his large frame was damn impressive. He wasn't as bulky as Gage or Cerberus, but he was intimidating, and he was the only one of my men who could stare Cerberus in the eye. He did so now with such ferocious intensity that it made his regal features seem suddenly savage. A lock of his passion-tousled, midnight hair fell forward as he lowered his head menacingly.
Cerberus blinked. “It was a joke, dude. I'm not interested in Elaria like that.”
“That's not what he meant. He's saying no to you bringing me into this.” I set my stare on Darcraxis. “I need to do this, Darc.”
“Elaria, we put the other gods to sleep,” Darc reminded me. “We fought for everyone; every living thing on every planet. Isn't that enough? Do we have to join another war that doesn't involve us?”
“Kasteo is family,” I said sternly. “I'm involved.”
“Kasteo is safe.” Darc waved his hand at the cat-shifter. “Him and his woman. They can stay here as long as they wish. Why do we need to concern ourselves with this?”
“Because those nymphs can't fight for themselves,” Cerberus growled. “With great power comes great responsibility.”
“Did you just quote Spiderman?” Kosmos asked dryly, a pale brow lifting over his dark stare. Those midnight eyes were the only feature he shared with his brother.
“Shut up, Kos,” Cer snapped. “It's true.”
“We took responsibility for the Gods and the Phoenixes,” Darc argued. “When will it be Elaria's turn to be safe?”
“Elaria could demolish those fuckers with one song!” Cerberus shouted.
“Do not raise your voice to me in my castle, Hellhound,” Darc said in a dangerous tone. “Especially not when you're talking about my wife.”
“She's my best friend,” Cerberus shot back. “I was in her life long before you were.”
“No, you weren't.” Darc narrowed his eyes at Cer. “You forget who you speak to.”
“Enough!” I shouted as I went to stand between the men. “I know that you want some peace, Darc. We've earned it; I agree with you. But Cer has earned my loyalty and even if I didn't want to do this, I would still do it for him. Simply because he asked it of me.”
Cerberus smirked at my husband.
“But you don't get to talk to Darc like that.” I turned to point my finger in Cer's face. “This is my husband, Cerberus. And he's right; you're in our home, here to ask for our help. You don't ever disrespect him like that again.”
“Fine,” Cer grumbled. “Sorry I snapped at you, Darc.”
Darcraxis nodded stiffly. I stared at him and lifted a brow.
“What?” Darc scowled at me. “I said nothing that warrants an apology.”
“Maybe not, but you still need to say something.” Gage shook back his lion mane of hair. “She's waiting for you to be supportive.”
I lifted my brows at Darc again.
Darcraxis, King of Kyanite and minor God of Water and Darkness, sighed like a beleaguered husband. “I'm going to regret this.”
“Thank you,” I said with satisfaction.
“Don't celebrate just yet, my fire,” Darc said in a grim tone. “You still have three other men to convince.”
“What about Slate?” Gage asked. “He's family too; he should be told about this.”
“I was including Slate,” Darc drawled. “You're the one I left out. You go wherever your mate leads.”
“Hey!” Gage snarled and then thought about it. His hazel eyes shifted to me and he grinned. “Yeah, okay.”
Chapter Two
“No,” Torin said.
Darcraxis chuckled under his breath as Cerberus cursed.
I had contacted my absent husbands and boyfriend using my contact charm and asked them to come to Kyanite for a meeting. It had taken a few hours to get all of them there, but after they finally arrived, I summarized the situation for them. Kasteo had taken his nymph to a guest tower to relax. She was a bit skittish, especially around men, and my men made regular, uninjured women nervous. Now, I was glad Helene was gone because it looked as if I were about to have another argument over her people.
“You are not endangering yourself again,” Torin went on. “We just—”
“Yes, I know,” I cut him off. “I've heard it all from Darc. We just saved the worlds; all of them. But Cerberus, Kosmos, and Kasteo asked me to help so I'm going to.”
“I was going to say that we just finished helping one of your friends, and you nearly got killed in the process,” Torin corrected me.
“A friend who saved my life by teaching me to control my magic and whose brother has offered to take her place as my teacher even though I couldn't save her. I don't see how I could have turned my back on the Phoenixes.”
“No, that was justified but this is reckless.”
“This is about helping some very old friends of mine and freeing enslaved people,” I insisted.
“So, we don't get a say?” Torin growled. “If it involves a friend of yours, our opinion doesn't matter?”
“We're talking; I called you here. You obviously have a say. I'm just being resolute in my wishes. As you are.” I waved my hand at his stoic face. “You started with 'no,' Torin.”
Torin and Darc are very similar in appearance. Both have that kind of raven black hair that's so dark it shines blue. Both have sapphire eyes and lightly tanned skin. Both have sensual lips, high cheekbones, and rugged jaws. Both have muscular bodies that make my knees go weak. So, it was particularly annoying when they also behaved the same.
“Look at the Bobbsey Twins over here,” Cerberus grumbled, mirroring my thoughts. “Do they share a brain too?”
“I agree with Torin.” Declan stepped forward, his stern stare shifting from royal purple to shimmering blue in the light. “It's one thing to put yourself at risk to save entire planets and quite another to do so for a few strangers.”
“A few?” Cerberus snarled. “The Demos Family has an operation going on. Who knows how many nymphs they'll abduct? They won't stop when they're making money. This could become the enslavement of an entire race.”
“Kas said there were easily forty women there,” Kosmos announced in his calm, deep voice. “That's more than a few.”
“That's what worries me.” Torin shook his head. “You're not talking about going in and rescuing those forty women. You want us to take down a worldwide crime syndicate. Even with our combined power and resources, that's a daunting task. You can't just sing them out of business, Elaria. Mobsters are like the Hydra; you cut off one head, and two more take their place.”
Cerberus scowled and sat back in his armchair. I don't think it was the reference to his sister, Hydra, that bothered him. Cer hadn't considered the extent of this mission. He had heard that women were being abused, and he started frothing for a fight. Now, his brain was kicking in and telling him that this wasn't just a fight, it would be a war; a world war. Possibly multiple worlds.
“If you won't help me, I'll do it alone,” Cerberus finally announced, his voice as resolute as his expression. “I have my security teams, we'll figure it out.”
“I'm in,” Slate said into the silence that followed Cer's declaration.
We all turned to stare at the gargoyle in surprise.
“This is what I do.” Slate held his hands out as if to showcase his impeccable suit. “I help to keep the Beneath safe. The rest of you can make your own decisions, we're all adults here, but as for me; I'm in. I've been waiting for a shot at the Demos Family and this sounds like the perfect opportunity.”
“Yes!” Cerberus whooped and leaned over to smack Slate on the shoulder. “That's what I'm talking about! I knew you had some boulders for balls, Gargoyle.”
“So, by your reasoning, we should allow Elaria to make this choice by herself?” Torin asked Slate in a careful tone.
“Of course.” Slate frowned as if it were obvious. “I don't control h
er, and I don't think any of you should either.”
“It's not about control,” Declan argued. “This is marriage; it's a partnership. We are supposed to decide things together, not act as if we're still single and as if our decisions don't affect each other. You say we're all adults, but you're acting like a child.”
