by JoAnna Grace
Avery closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “They were all I had left of my old life, you know, the last living pieces of Frank and our friendship. For many years they were the only companions I had at home.” Empathy was evident upon her lover’s face. She touched his furrowed brows. “Now I have you.”
“I would get you more pets if you desire.”
“No.” she said, touching his lips. “No replacements. I have a feeling they would only be another way for someone to upset me and I don’t want that. I loved my boys, but I don’t need that companionship now. I have you.” Kissing Ryse only solidified that thought in her heart. “Besides, if I ever feel the need to curl up with an animal, I could always get Bren to shift into that—that thing he is.” The disgusted look on Ryse’s face made her laugh.
“That is very wrong in many ways,” he said sarcastically. Something about seeing Ryse this loose erased any sorrows she might have felt. That’s not to say she didn’t want the blood of whoever killed her precious boys. Justice would be served.
But maybe after one more tumble with Ryse. Besides, this room was going to have to have some major repairs after what happened last night. Might as well finish the demolition.
After they both collapsed, once again panting and sated, Avery asked, “Do I get to show off my brand today?”
Ryse’s smile melted her into the sheets. “You know, you are quite a contradiction of yourself. You don’t like the term ‘mated,’ but you are one hell of an animal in bed. So which is it, baby?” he said, running his fingers over her breast. His eyes followed the curves and stopped when he saw the mark. With the wave of his hand the room was illuminated and he was staring at her tattoo. His jaw was clenched.
The look on his face scared her. “What? Ryse, what is it?”
“Get dressed.”
Ryse burst into his parent’s private sitting room without so much as a knock, pulling Avery by the hand. Avery remembered the roses and cream room well. Standing, looking into the lit fire was Troy. The masculine man was highly out of place in the feminine room. General Falcon was standing close to him talking. Dyna sat in a wingback chair and was in deep conversation with Hayden. All eyes turned to Ryse.
Troy addressed him immediately. “General Falcon has been informing me of all the events that went on under my roof last night while I lay unaware, sleeping in my bed. Would my eldest son like to tell me why I was not alerted?” Troy’s acidic voice carried a resonance in it that made Avery feel like a grade school child getting scolded by the principal.
“The situation was being handled,” Ryse barked back.
Troy looked at his son with nothing less than the sheer power that made him King of all the Deities. “Oh, I see very well how this situation was being handled. General Falcon was just informing me that our only witness has gone mad after having his blood sucked to his skull and the person he tried to incriminate killed himself by the same poison he used to kill the dogs.”
“Good!” Ryse said, letting Avery’s hand go. Would anyone notice if she tucked tail and ran?
She slowly slumped away from the two male lions locked in a dominance battle. She stood behind Dyna and Hayden, safely hidden. Hayden hugged her to his side and took the hand she had placed on his chest. It shone with Ryse’s ring. “Congratulations, sis,” he whispered in her ear before kissing her cheek.
“And what is so goddamned good about it?” Troy screamed, commanding their attention. “The informant never spoke of who gave him the poison in the first place!”
“Father, I think you know exactly who gave him that shit!” Ryse met his challenge with his own raised voice.
Troy grabbed his son by the nape of the neck the way a lion would grip a cub and looked him in the eye. Taking a voice so low and threatening it made Avery want to run from the room again, he leaned close to Ryse. “You watch your tone with me, son. Not even you will disrespect me in my own home. And if Ares has a problem with it, then he can take it up with Zeus!” Everyone in the room shriveled against his aura. Ryse slumped under the staggering power of his father. Troy’s words were accented by thunder. As if nature itself cowered to his rage. “Now you will calm yourself and speak to me the way you were raised to speak to your elders.” He pushed his hand off Ryse, making his son take an involuntary step backwards.
Dyna and Hayden stayed out of it, keeping their eyes down. Avery took her cue from them even though a feral instinct to protect her husband radiated from her skin.
Ryse closed his eyes and took a deep breath, bowing his head. “Forgive me, Father.”
“Ryse, I understand that you have been under a lot of strain. But I expect you of all people to keep your head on your shoulders.” Troy placed his hand on the wall of the room. He was putting up a protection ward. Ryse had explained them this morning. An invisible ripple went through the walls. “Everyone in this room knows that Salina had something to do with this. We all know it, but we have no evidence. To charge a Princess, especially the daughter of such close friends, would be a disaster if she proves innocent.”
“I cannot hurt Filene like that,” Dyna spoke up.
“If the girl did this, Filene will be hurt no matter what. Right now, she is being careful and leaving no loose ends,” Troy said to his wife.
“The one lead we have in her direction is the butler who spoke to Salina’s Shadow Lady. Without a formal petition, she is protected under confidentiality laws,” General Falcon informed them.
If a formal petition were made, Salina would know they were on to her and she would go home before being proven of anything. Once in her home country, she would be under the control of her parents, and they were her jury.
“I’m not meaning to diminish the situation,” Ryse said. “But I have something that I believe needs to be discussed. Falcon, my family and I need to talk privately.”
Ryse was sending Falcon away? Dang. What was so wrong with her brand that the General couldn’t see it? She unconsciously pulled her shirt tighter against her neck.
The General nodded and left the room. Once he was gone, everyone looked expectantly at Ryse. He turned to Avery and his family followed his lead. Hanging her head, her eyes went to the floor and felt her cheeks turn an unhealthy color of red. Dyna was the first to gasp, recognizing something that Hayden and Troy only noticed a moment later.
“Oh!” Dyna stood, eyes watering and hand dramatically over her chest. “You’ve mated!”
Oh god! How embarrassing! The mother-in-law could see sex written all over her face. This was beyond mortifying.
“Yes! Her aura is completely different.” Dyna exclaimed as she touched Avery’s cheeks. “The gods have descended their blessings upon you, my darling. You glow of their radiance.”
Hayden huffed and slapped Avery on the butt. “I don’t think it’s divine radiance that is making her glow,” he muttered under his breath.
“Hayden!” Dyna scolded. She then grinned at Avery slyly and whispered, “Physical bonds do make the aura the brightest.” Dyna winked and hugged Avery close. “My heart overflows with happiness.”
The mood in the room seemed to lighten as everyone congratulated Ryse and Avery on their impromptu marriage. Even Troy managed a hearty handshake for his son and a kiss on Avery’s cheek. Hayden went on a tirade making insinuating comments while Avery showed off her wedding ring. It was silly when she thought about it, wedding rings were a human tradition, not Olympian.
“While we both greatly appreciate your affections,” Ryse said, pulling Avery against his side, “there is something that you all need to see. I gave Avery my mark last night. But hers is a variation that I’ve never seen before. Between the four of us, I was hoping we could figure out what it means.”
He looked down at Avery, who was not exactly comfortable with what he was silently asking her to do. He furrowed his brow and touched her chin. “What’s wrong? This morning you were asking if you could show it off,” he said quietly.
“That’s before you sta
rted acting like I had a scarlet letter across my chest,” Avery said, wishing she could bury her head deep in the sand.
“There’s nothing wrong with it, love. I’ve just never seen anything like it.” He kissed her. Hayden said something about getting a room and Ryse glared at him. “Come on, love, show them.”
Avery unbuttoned the first few buttons of her shirt and pulled the left collar down over her shoulder. Troy, Hayden and Dyna gathered around her like a circus show and looked at the tattoo.
“It’s a lion.”
“Why a lion head over the sword?”
“There is only one goddess who used lions in her marks.”
ALL EYES TURNED to Hayden. He continued to explain. “Rhea, the mother of Zeus, Poseidon & Hades—her chariots were pulled by two lions. Throughout our history, only a chosen few have been marked with lions.”
“The mother goddess?” Troy asked incredulously, his voice barely an awed whisper. “How is that possible? Avery took the mark of her mate. Why would she also be marked of Rhea?”
“I’ll have to study the history again.” Hayden brushed his hands through his hair, clearly not liking that he didn’t know exactly what the symbol meant. “She still has Ryse’s sword, but the lion’s head is on top of the sword.” He went to touch the tattoo, but Avery swiped at his hand.
“Back, mister,” she said, pointing a threatening finger at him. “No touching.”
“I second that motion,” Ryse sneered at Hayden.
Hayden chuckled and shook his head. “What a pair.” He grinned at Avery. “I thought you were on my side?”
“I’m a married woman now, sorry sugar.” Avery leaned into Ryse and was comforted by the strength at her side.
Breaking into a side conversation, the men huddled together and began debating. “This has to be related to her blood results…”
Avery covered herself and met Dyna’s eyes. The amazing lavender color framed in black lashes was such a striking blend. It was like she could see exactly what had happened in that bedroom since last night. Awkward.
A light giggle crossed the woman’s lips. “Are you ashamed that you lay with your husband?” Dyna asked as she pulled Avery into a separate part of the suite.
“Well, I, we…” Blowing out a deep breath, Avery tried to speak with the composure of an adult. “I know that technically Ryse and I are bound as an Olympian couple. But I wasn’t raised as an Olympian.”
Understanding lit up in Dyna’s face and she put reassuring hands on her new daughter’s shoulders. “You still feel as though there should be a formal wedding to make it official.”
It wasn’t a question, but Avery answered anyway. “Yeah. Is that crazy? I feel like I ran off to Vegas and got married by Elvis. I mean, I’m wearing his mark, his ring, but it still seems very fragile and possibly breakable.”
Taking her hand, Dyna moved for her to sit down in a chair. She rubbed Avery’s arm while she talked. “I promise you there is nothing breakable or fragile about this union. A mating is very permanent, especially when done with a branding. At this point, the blood bond is nothing more than a bow tied on the package.” Dyna tilted her head as if reading into Avery’s silence. “You aren’t afraid of your feelings changing, are you?”
“No, I love Ryse more every day.” That wasn’t the problem at all. Every time she looked at him, heard his voice, felt his aura, or took a breath of his scent, her affections for him grew. It was rooted deep despite the short time frame of their relationship.
“You fear his feelings will change?” The way Dyna said it, it sounded like the most incredulous and unthinkable concept. Avery felt stupid for worrying. But it was her fear.
“Oh, my darling!” Dyna pulled her into an embrace. “Think about how much you love my son, then think about having to wait a century to attain that love. Trust me, I don’t believe the gods themselves could pry that man away from you.” She kissed the top of Avery’s head. “Have confidence in your bond. You must be a united front, being as one. Our people will look to you for their security and safety. But they will also analyze your relationships, your marriage and friendships. As their future Queen, you have a responsibility to be the kind of woman, friend, mother, and Olympian you would want your populace to be.”
Avery listened closely. Dyna was in full mentor mode now. Words of wisdom and advice flowed freely.
The brunch was set for ten that morning. Even with everything that had happened the night before, Troy still wanted to host the sit down meal in attempt to look like no one suspected Salina. Avery had less than half an hour before she had to face the snake-witch and not nearly enough sleep. Nikki had promised to have an assortment of stylish one-shouldered outfits to choose from.
Avery, Nikki, Brenden and Dante were heading up to one of the guest apartments to get ready. Her suite was still being quarantined until they knew the source of the poison. Ahead of Avery and Dante, Brenden and Nikki were walking rather close and whispering to each other. Looping an arm around Dante’s elbow, Avery leaned over and whispered, “What’s with those two?”
“Lover’s quarrel.” He smirked. “Bren was rather agitated when he was done with the interviews last night. I think he was snippy to her.”
Nikki stopped dead in her tracks, turned to Brenden and smacked him with all the force her tiny redheaded body could muster. She grunted, and without so much as a look behind her, went into the guest apartment. Brenden, holding his cheek, looked at Avery and Dante with wide eyes.
Avery tilted her head and smiled innocently and in her thickest southern accent asked, “You gonna tell me why she did that, darlin’?”
Bren’s eyes thinned into tiny slits and his nostrils flared. “You women are so damned crazy.”
“True,” Avery conceded. “But Nikki is one of the sweetest people I know, so what did you do to set her off?”
Brenden’s mouth hung open. “Me? Why do you assume it was me?” The look that both Dante and Avery gave him was the equivalent of both of them saying “Duh” in unison.
“You don’t have time for this,” Brenden said, ushering Avery into the room. “Just get dressed in here, we’ll be next door.” He pushed until he could close the door behind her. She was left facing Nikki.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She looked pained and twitchy. “Please pick a shirt.”
Avery pulled Nikki into a hug and let her friend sniffle on her shoulder. Nikki was stiff and unyielding. “You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
“Please stop. We don’t have time, really.” Nikki let her go and insisted on getting dressed in silence.
Before joining the guys in the hall, Avery took Nikki by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. “I hate this, Nikki. I hate us not talking like friends. Whatever is wrong, you can tell me.”
“Avery, let’s face the facts. You are a Deity now,” she said the word with such distance that Avery didn’t even recognize her. “I am a Shadow Lady. I am your servant. We need to make that line very clear.” Avery started to speak, Nikki cut her off. “No, Avery. We don’t get to be friends, or pals, or bosom buddies. Please let me do my job like I have been trained for.” There was no room for questioning her. Her stern face said it all. Nikki held open the door for Avery then looked at the floor while she walked through.
What had happened? Just the night before they had sat there like best friends, Avery crying on her shoulder and Nikki comforting her like the loving dear that she was. What had changed? What had Avery done to deserve such a breakup from her only friend?
Standing in the hall and wearing their standard black were Brenden and Dante. Both men looked very professional. Black slacks, black shirts and black ties. Dante had his sandy blond hair pulled back or…wait a minute.
“You cut your hair!” Avery said, shocked at how it had happened in the last twenty minutes. “How?”
Dante’s eyes squinted like the answer was obvious. “With scissors, a comb, and mechanical clippers.”
Av
ery put her hands on her hips while Brenden laughed. “I meant how’d you do it so fast? And why?” She motioned for him to turn around so she could see. The back of his neck was cleanly shaven and short. The soft blond hair was longer on top, parted to one side and swooped down long on the other side. Avery reached up on either side of his face, petting at his newly uncovered neck.
“It’s a family tradition to cut one’s hair when they are bound to their Deity. One of Master Ryse’s people did it. Is it not to your liking?” Again, he looked at Avery with big puppy eyes seeking her approval.
“It looks fine! I was shocked that you could cut it in such short time.”
“Ain’t he pretty?” Brenden teased, rubbing Dante’s head and laughing.
“Bren!” Avery scolded. “You messed it up!” Avery stretched up on her toes to comb her fingers through Dante’s hair. “There.”
“That was so motherly, it was disturbing.” An upstate accent was a dead giveaway to the new person in the conversation. Something about Yankee both intrigued and scared the living daylights out of her.
“HELLO, YANKEE.” AVERY greeted him, remembering his “hot” comment. It made her grin, which clearly made him uncomfortable. His eyes skated around, finding something besides her to look at. “Master asked me to bring little brother this patch. Said something about substituting for a blood bond. He could have found someone better to deliver it. I think this is punishment.”
“Yeah, for me,” Brenden said, taking the green and gold armband from Yankee. On the hunter green background in gold thread was an embroidered lion’s head with a tall winged sword behind, identical to her tattoo. She couldn’t help but notice Dante eyeing it covetously.
“Soon enough, darlin,’” she said to her shy warrior. He let one corner of his mouth turn up.
