by Lisa Kessler
Nate sighed. “It looks like a long-term rental. It’s going to take some digging. I’ll have to call you back.”
“Thanks, Nate.” He hung up and stuffed the phone in his pocket as he got out, doing his best to be inconspicuous.
The front door of the mammoth house opened, and Tera’s mother came down the walkway toward her. “Good to see you, baby girl.”
And that was all it took. His birthmark started to burn.
Something was off, and he was too far away. He turned to cross the street and was suddenly at Tera’s side as if he’d been there all along. He wasn’t even out of breath. And how had he gotten past security? Had he jumped the fence?
Hell, if he knew…
Tera glanced up at him, but his gaze stayed locked on her mother.
Doris grimaced like she just caught a whiff of a dirty sweat sock. “What is he doing here?”
Gavin stood tall, not threatened in the least. “Making sure you don’t make Tera regret showing up.”
Her mom rolled her eyes and kept her attention on Tera. “If he interrupts your interview, I’m going to escort him out.”
Gavin chuckled. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Enough, you two.” Tera shot him a silencing glare and then focused on her mother. “Who is this guy you’re so desperate for me to meet?”
Her mother’s eyes lit up. “He’s amazing and hates the traffic getting into Los Angeles, so he’s willing to commit the start-up funds for a professional ballet company right here in Crystal City. This is an incredible opportunity.”
Gavin frowned as his birthmark throbbed again. He scooped Tera up in his arms, but before he could speed off, time stopped. He fought to move, pushing his muscles to the brink, but only managed to turn his head. What the fuck was going on?
An older man with slicked-back silver hair exited the house and walked toward them. He stood in front of Gavin and smirked. “I’m Kevin Elys.” His gaze slid down to Tera. “But you might know me better as Kronos.”
Gavin’s pulse went supersonic. This was the mighty Titan everyone was talking about, the one who wanted to torture Tera to lure Zeus into this world. Fuck! Why couldn’t he move?
Tera didn’t—or couldn’t—move. Sweat rolled down the side of Gavin’s face as he continued to struggle against whatever was holding him in place.
“Can’t…move.” He grunted.
“Yes, I know.” Kevin nodded. “I’ll be back soon. I have a meeting with the police department and one of the members of the Order.” He chuckled as he walked away. “Don’t go anywhere now.”
Ted and Mikolas helped Mark slide a shirt on over the bandages on his shoulder. He was still pale and weak from blood loss, but the ER docs had removed the bullet. Other than a scar, he wouldn’t have any permanent damage.
Mark didn’t seem to notice the pain, though. His entire focus was on saving Trish.
Ted glanced over at Mikolas. “I don’t think he’s strong enough for this meeting. He can barely stand. He’s not going to be able to drive the truck.”
“It’s my work truck. I’ll be fine,” Mark replied as he slowly walked past them. “It’s easier to get in and out of than the Camaro. I can do this. I have to.”
Ted watched him go. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Me too.” Mikolas kept his voice low. “If Kevin doesn’t give a shit about humanity, why would he bother honoring an agreement with a human like Mark.”
“Are you saying you think Trish is already dead?” Ted ran a hand down his face. “Then why are we doing all this?”
“We don’t know anything for sure yet,” the Greek reminded him. “Plus, if Kevin does show up at the rendezvous point, it’s our best chance to capture him.”
Ted laughed, a neurotic panicky sound, that unsettled even him. He abruptly stopped. “You seriously believe they’re going to successfully arrest the Father of the Gods? Zeus had to trap him in the center of the Earth to contain him.”
Mikolas met his eyes. “That’s why I’m going to meet Rhea. I’m bringing her to the parking structure across the street from Belkin Oil. You go to the rendezvous with Mark and text me when Kevin arrives. As the police make their move, I’ll bring Rhea over. Maybe we can stop this before more people have to die.”
Acid bubbled in Ted’s stomach as he nodded. “Okay.”
Mikolas gripped his shoulder. “We’re making this right. Remember that.”
Ted just wanted to make it out alive.
He rode in the jump seat of Mark’s truck, sitting directly behind the undercover officer disguised as Tera. They were almost an hour early to the Belkin Oil parking structure. Ted peered around the empty lot before jumping out of the truck. Mark knew the plan. Ted would be inside the building “working” just in case things went sideways with Kronos and they needed him to come out. For now, Ted was still on the short-list of humans Kevin trusted.
The police were probably already surrounding the property, but Ted didn’t see them. He jogged to the high-rise, unlocked the doors, and slipped inside. On the second floor, he stared out at the parking lot for what seemed like an eternity before a black Mercedes sedan with tinted windows drove up.
Showtime.
Kevin got out of the driver’s seat and scanned the lot. He opened his arms wide, shouting as he walked in a small circle. “I know that is not Tera Muldoon.”
Mark got out of his truck and straightened up. Maybe adrenaline was powering him, but his shoulders were somehow squared. “This is the muse you wanted me to bring to you. Now give me my wife.”
Ted’s gaze flicked to the gate to the lot. Where were the police?
Kevin raised a brow and let loose a deep laugh that echoed across the lot. Ted could hear him all the way inside. “You are in no place to demand anything, human. But I am feeling generous, and I want the police, who are surely watching, to know just what I am capable of.”
Mark took a couple steps closer to Kevin. “Please. Trish is innocent. I tried to get the muse for you.”
Shit. Ted’s pulse hammered in his ears as he raced down the stairs. He had no clue what he was going do, but he’d think of something.
Ted got to the bottom of the stairs and pushed through the glass door. Kevin had the back door on the passenger side of his car open. He reached in and then helped a very old woman out of the back seat. She clung to his arm, tottering forward.
Who was this? Ted frowned and started walking toward Kevin, hoping his look of surprise would be genuine. “Kevin? I wasn’t expecting you here today. Can I help you…”
His words faded away as he got closer. The wind pulled at the woman’s wiry, white hair, exposing a lined but familiar face—Trish’s.
Mark gasped and rushed forward. “What have you done to her?”
Kevin transferred the frail woman to her husband as Ted approached. Ted couldn’t take his eyes off Trish. “Why didn’t you tell me you had Mark’s wife?”
Kevin’s cold stare lasered to Ted. “Because I owe you nothing.”
Ted looked over at Mark as he helped Trish to the truck. Her gait was slow, her back hunched. Ted’s brain couldn’t process what he was seeing. Somehow Trish had aged at least fifty years in the span of forty-eight hours. “What happened to her?”
Kevin chuckled again. “Have you forgotten that while I am the Father of the Gods, my first title was the God of Time?” He gestured to Trish’s withered form. “If I so choose, I could rid the Earth of humanity in a week. Be sure the members of the Order understand that. I demand loyalty and obedience, and will accept no less.”
Ted tried to swallow the lump of fear that had lodged in his throat. They were all fucked. How could they stop an immortal who controlled the passage of time?
Kevin turned and walked back to the Mercedes. He opened the door and stopped, his gaze locked on Ted. “Tell the Order, I won’t tolerate failure.”
He disappeared into the car and drove away.
Ted snapped out of his trance and yanked hi
s cell phone from his pocket. His hands were shaking as he pressed Mikolas’s number.
“Hey, Ted,” Mikolas answered. “We’re on our way.”
“He’s already gone,” Ted whispered. “Get over here. Now.”
“But I thought you said he left?”
“He did. It’s what he left behind that you need to see.”
Tera struggled to move, but it was like the air around her had hardened like cement. Shifting even her pinkie finger the slightest bit was impossible. Somehow Gavin had managed to get her to her loaner car, but it was painfully slow and came at a high physical price. He was drenched in sweat, his hands trembling as he placed her inside.
Another fifteen minutes passed before he was able to get behind the wheel. It was like his superspeed had been reduced to a snail’s crawl under whatever this spell was. He started the car and grunted, “Have…to…get…out.”
She wanted to nod, but her muscles wouldn’t respond.
He cranked the wheel so slowly that his turn was wide, knocking over a planter. The flowers fell in real time, which suddenly seemed crazy fast. Once the security gate rolled open, Gavin got them on the road, and time gradually seemed to restore itself the farther they got from Kevin’s mansion.
Tera peered into the rearview mirror. “We left my mom.”
Gavin gripped the wheel tighter. “You’re his target, not her, and I almost couldn’t get you out of there.”
“What was that?” Tera asked, her soft voice quaking.
He glanced over at her. “I don’t know. He paralyzed us or something.”
“But you could move, just not very fast.” She looked over at him, thinking out loud. “What if it was time?”
“What do you mean?”
“Hold on.” Tera took out her cell phone and called Clio. “Hey, it’s Tera,” she said when her muse sister answered. “You know how Hercules was super strong and Apollo was a healer? What was Kronos?”
“He was the God of Time,” Clio answered without hesitation. “Why?”
Tera’s head fell back against the headrest. “Because I’m pretty sure he just hit us with some serious time manipulation. Meet us at my condo.”
“On my way.”
Tera ended the call and turned to Gavin. “Kronos was the God of Time, and the planter you hit with the car fell over at a normal speed. He had to have done something to change the passage of time around us.”
Gavin glanced her way. “You think he slowed time for us but left the rest of the world untouched?”
“Something like that. And maybe he slowed it so much that it seemed like we couldn’t move at all, but he doesn’t know your gift is the speed of Hermes. So even though time was super slow, you could still move.”
He nodded. “Because in real time I would’ve been superfast.”
“Just an idea.” She shrugged. “Hopefully Clio can help us find out for sure.”
They reached her condo complex, and he parked the car. “So why can we move now?”
“I don’t know. What if he can only manipulate time in a certain area, or it only works for a set amount of time?” She glanced his way. “Or maybe he needs to be in the vicinity to maintain it? That could be why it started to wear off after he left.”
Gavin rolled his head. “But it got easier to move the farther we got from the spot where he zapped us.”
“He could have a power source in there.”
He turned off the engine and reached for her hand. She let him squeeze it briefly before pulling away.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, I think so.”
He nodded, and they got out of the car and headed back to her condo. They looked like they’d just run a marathon—sweaty and exhausted, but alive. She’d count it as a win.
Gavin checked the condo and then set the alarm. “I just need five minutes to rinse off. You call me if anything seems off.”
“Clio should be here any minute anyway.” She brandished her pepper spray from her pocket. “Plus, I’m armed.”
He was all business. No smile. “Okay. I’ll be fast.”
The shower turned on upstairs. She got up to get a glass of water when a knock came on the door. She almost jumped out of her skin before she remembered Clio was coming over. Every muscle ached as Tera hobbled over to the door and looked through the peephole, then turned off the alarm and opened the door.
Clio came in and frowned. “You look awful. What happened?”
Tera reset the alarm and reclaimed her spot on the couch. “I don’t even know where to start…”
Clio gave her an encouraging smile. “The beginning always works.”
“True.” Tera chuffed. “Well, a patron of the arts has been filling my mom’s head with dreams of starting a professional dance company in Crystal City with me as the principal dancer, and she wouldn’t leave me alone, so I drove over to meet her at this benefactor’s house.”
Clio straightened up in her chair. “Oh god. It was Kevin, wasn’t it?”
“Please, he was full-on Kronos in a human body. He walked out of the house and suddenly none of us could move, but we weren’t paralyzed.”
A crease formed between Clio’s brows. “You think he slowed time itself?”
Tera nodded. “Yeah. But he doesn’t know what Gavin’s gift is, so while his body was using his superspeed, he could move, just really, really slow.”
“I’ll have to do some research to try to find out how he does it.”
Gavin came down the stairs then, wearing shorts and nothing else, and even exhausted, Tera’s pulse jumped at the sight.
He noticed Clio and feigned a little modesty. “Sorry. My clothes are in my bag down here.”
Clio did her best not to stare, but Tera couldn’t blame her. Damn.
Gavin pulled on a shirt and turned toward Clio. “That Ted guy was saying that Kronos wants Tera so he can try to lure his son to our world, right?”
“That’s the theory.” Clio stared at her hands in her lap.
Tera raised a brow. “Is there something you’re not telling us?”
Clio looked up, gnawing on her lower lip. “There’s something, but it can’t—or won’t—help us.”
Tera frowned. “It?”
Clio wrung her hands in her lap. “Remember when we had coffee and I told you I’d been sworn to secrecy?”
“This is that secret?” Tera glanced at Gavin and back to Clio.
“Yeah.” She sighed. “Mason thinks I should tell you, but I don’t know how much help it will be. He won’t help us right now.”
Tera raised a brow. “He, who?”
Clio lowered her voice as if someone else might be listening in. “Zeus.”
CHAPTER 13
Mikolas and Mrs. Zervos arrived at the Belkin Oil lot at the same time as Detective Malone. Ted jogged over to meet them while the undercover cop dressed like Tera was helping Mark get Trish to the truck.
Mikolas pointed at the truck and frowned. “Who is the old woman?”
“That’s Trish Gibb. Two days ago, she was forty.” Ted crossed his arms, his gaze flicking between Mikolas and Nate. “Kevin was good enough to share that Kronos is also the God of Time, and if he chooses, he can speed up time and age out the entire human race. We’d be destroyed in a week.” He shook his head. “How are we supposed to fight a guy who controls time itself?”
Mrs. Zervos clucked her tongue. “Bullshit.” They all turned her way. “Kronos is powerful, but even he has limits.”
“What kind of limits?” Malone asked.
She opened her mouth to reply, but the undercover officer was headed straight for Malone. She pointed back to the truck, her voice a little breathless from rushing over. “Malone, I thought we were making a trade for the victim’s wife, not his mother.”
Shit. Ted turned to the detective, praying Malone was on the same page about keeping this secret. At least the officer had been in the truck while Kevin blurted out his threats. Other than seeing Trish, the un
dercover officer couldn’t possibly understand the real problem. Good thing. The last thing they needed was the authorities tossing all of them into a locked ward for observation because they believed a Greek god caused a woman to age half a decade in two days.
“We thought so, too,” Malone answered.
The undercover officer frowned. “Why didn’t you make the arrest?”
Ahh, the million-dollar question. Ted held his breath.
Malone didn’t miss a beat. “We received a credible tip that he still has a hostage.” He took his phone out of his pocket. “There’s a tracker on his car now. With any luck, he’ll lead us back to his home base. We’ll take him in there.”
She digested the information and slowly nodded. “All right. Can I get a lift back to the station?”
“Yeah.” Malone gestured to the parking lot entrance. “My car’s just outside the gate. I’ll be right behind you.”
She walked away, and Malone turned to Mrs. Zervos. His voice was hushed as he asked, “You were telling us the limits of Kronos’s power?”
“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “He is the God of Time, that much is true, but it’s not a simple gift. In order to alter time, he must orchestrate its passage.”
Malone shook his head. “I don’t follow.”
“It’s tough to explain to mortals. For you, time is linear.” She pursed her lips for a moment, then went on. “I guess the easiest explanation is that it requires his full concentration and it’s more effective when he is in close proximity. He couldn’t change time for the entire human race all at once.” She pointed toward the woman in the truck. “So in order for him to age that woman so quickly, he must’ve been physically near her and had to keep his power focused on her timeline alone.”
“Wait.” Ted frowned, raising a brow. “Does that mean he can make time pass differently for different people?”
“If he chooses.” She shrugged. “But each timeline is a drain for him. A demonstration like that would leave him weakened.”
Malone punched something into his phone and turned his attention on her again. “Is it safe to say he can’t alter time from a distance?”
