He flew up so we were eye to eye. “Listen, it’s not my fault. Didn’t you ask Merlin to make you special?”
I glared at him and snatched the remainder of the muffin away. “Don’t you try and make this my fault that your boss is obviously nuttier than a batch of Christmas cakes.”
He made a grab for the muffin, and I held it back. “I don’t know how much to trust you, Ernie. How do I know you aren’t going to run to Aphrodite and tell her . . . I don’t know what you’d tell her, but something to make her angrier. How do I know you won’t run to Theseus, or Hera?”
His mouth hardened into a fine line. “You’ll just have to trust me that I’m doing everything I can.”
I handed him the muffin and stepped back. “I’ve done that before, Ernie. Trusted men who were supposed to be there for me. Roger. Remo. Tad. You. Even Zeus said I could trust him.”
The front door clicked open, and Tad’s heartbeat preceded him. “Do I hear my name?” He stepped into the room, his eyes lighting on the muffins. “Thought I smelled these from outside.”
I looked back at Ernie. “You have to earn my trust now, Ernie. I’m not just giving it to you like a free cookie.”
He put the last of his muffin down on the table. “Then I guess I’d better go. Since I’m not trusted, that is.”
Without a backward glance, he flew out the open window, disappearing into the night. I swallowed the desire to call him back and tell him all was forgiven. I couldn’t afford to be the nice girl anymore, and it killed a part of me to embrace that truth.
I looked at Tad and refocused. “Did you find Theseus?”
“Shit, sis. You going to just act like Ernie isn’t a friend? You pretty much booted him out.” He frowned at me, a muffin in each hand.
I glared at him. “I didn’t boot him out, I gave him a choice. And if you want to keep your muffins, I think you’d better reconsider those words. Ernie is dodging questions and working for more people than he has fingers. Explain to me how I can trust him.”
Tad popped the whole muffin in his mouth and grinned around it. “Mfffn gdd.”
“Yeah, buttering me up won’t save you now,” I grumbled, but I still smiled.
He swallowed the muffin down and licked his lips. “Theseus is holed up in Seattle, not far from Mom and Dad’s place, actually.”
A nervous zing of energy snapped through me. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, you know that big house on the corner? The one that’s been for sale for like a year because it was way overpriced?”
I nodded. “He bought it?”
“I don’t know if he bought it, but he’s living there. It’s gated and everything, I tried to get in, but he’s not doing interviews until tomorrow.”
“Interviews, you can’t be serious now.”
He nodded. “He says he understands my desire to get away from you, but he’s got other people looking to be on the ‘right side.’”
Although it was good to know where Theseus was, I wasn’t sure how it was going to help me. Tad leaned back in the chair. “You ready for dinner at Mom and Dad’s tonight?”
I groaned. “Damn. I forgot about that.” The fact that I’d even been invited had been a shock until I realized that it had been Dad making sure I was part of the family event.
“We have to decide what to do with this.” Dahlia held up the flask. “Can we just pour it out, down the sink?”
I frowned. “I don’t know.”
The front door clicked open, and the three of us froze. While I picked up a heartbeat, I didn’t immediately recognize it.
Yaya called out, “Darling granddaughter, are you baking?”
Relief swept through me. “When am I not, Yaya?”
She greeted Tad first with a pat on his cheek. A thought rolled through me like a wave of undulating coils. “Yaya, what are you doing up at this hour?” Hard to believe it was only the middle of the night, with all that had happened so far.
“I’m old, Lena Bean, and that means I do what I want. And I don’t sleep worth shit anymore.” She rubbed at her right hip. “What I wouldn’t give to be young again and free of this.”
She pointed at the flask. “What’s that?”
“Fennel oil. We were just going to pour it out.”
“Oh, gods, don’t do that! It has to be properly disposed of.” Yaya flapped her hands at Dahlia as she unscrewed the cap.
“How? Why?” I blurted out. “I rinsed it off me in the river, can’t I just pour it out there?”
Yaya lifted both eyebrows and closed her eyes. “No. It’s not really an oil, though they call it that. It’s imbued with power from the forge of Hephaestus. Which means it is a weapon designed for destruction. If you just pour it out . . . there’s no telling what it will do.”
Well, that was just awesome. “So what do I do with it?”
“Hide it.” She pointed at Dahlia. “Let your friend keep it safe while she sleeps.”
That was actually a good idea. “You okay with that, Dahlia?”
Dahlia swept past me with a nod, clutching the flask tight. She kissed Tad solidly on the mouth. “Keep an eye on her, I have to sleep. See you three at dinner tonight.” She held the silver flask up and I nodded.
“Thanks,” I said. “Wait, you’re going to be at dinner?”
They ignored my question.
Tad swatted her on the butt as she sashayed away. “I always keep an eye on her.”
The sounds of her footsteps faded as the sun rose behind me. “She was cutting it close,” I said.
“She loves you and wants to keep you safe,” Tad said as he took another muffin. “We all do.”
Yaya nodded. “He’s right, we’re all here for you.”
The statements were meant to be heartwarming, I’m sure. But all I could hear was that I wasn’t capable of taking care of myself. I frowned. “I’m going to go shower and sleep for a couple of hours.”
I walked away before Tad or Yaya could answer. I wasn’t really tired, though if I were still human, I knew I’d be falling asleep on my feet. There was something about danger that supercharged my ability to stay alert and functioning. That was probably a good thing, since some of the people closest to me were nighthawks. I’d noticed I could run on only a few hours of sleep each day or night and keep going.
Go me.
Up the stairs and into the bathroom, I did my best to ignore the pacing of Beth’s feet in her room. Sandy was quiet, either sitting or lying down by the rate of her heart. I flicked the shower on as hot as the water would go and stepped in with a gasp. I stayed in for a good ten minutes, letting the water run over my face, muffling the sounds outside of the bathroom.
Letting me believe for a few minutes that I was still normal. I snorted and sucked in a lungful of hot water, which sent me into a coughing fit.
I flicked the water off, grabbed a towel, and headed for my room. Beth and Sandy were no longer upstairs. I flopped into bed, set my alarm for three hours, all that was left of the night, and fell fast asleep.
The buzzing of the alarm went off what felt like seconds later. I jerked upright and checked the clock. Three hours shouldn’t have been enough, but I was alert. With a yawn and a stretch, I slid out of bed and dressed in a flowing short skirt and a beautiful lacy mauve top that skimmed the edge of my belly, giving glimpses of my skin here and there. I braided my hair down one side of my head and left the rest loose to hang past my shoulders.
And not once did I let my mind wander to all the problems.
Yeah, right.
I couldn’t stop wondering if, when night fell, Santos would be back.
If Beth would attack me or go back to Theseus. If we could mend our friendship.
When Aphrodite would make a full move, if she hadn’t already.
If Remo missed me at all.
I closed my eyes on that last one and knew it was the question I wanted the answer to more than any other.
I hurried downstairs. Tad was passed out on the couch, snorin
g loudly. Yaya was nowhere to be found, but a note said she was looking forward to dinner. I snorted to myself. No doubt she knew the poop show it was going to end up being. How could it not, with a Firstamentalist mother and her two Super Duper kids sitting down together?
Beth and Sandy were gone too, and I let out a sigh. I hoped they were just out shopping, being normal. And not being sucked back into Theseus’s grasp.
Slowly, my thoughts came together, and a possible solution formed like watching dough rise. Maybe there was a way. “Tad, I need to go to the bakery and whip something up for dinner tonight.”
He groaned, and I grabbed one of his feet and gave it a shake. “You brought your car, didn’t you?”
Another groan. I rolled my eyes. “Look, I get it. I’ve only had three hours too, but there is nothing I can—” I stared at his sleeping face. Only, he wasn’t sleeping, not really. Blood seeped from a thin line along his forehead. “Did someone attack you?”
His eyes fluttered open. “Beth.”
“Beth?” That was crazy. “Why? What did you say?”
He drew a slow breath. “I tried to stop her from taking the flask.”
My heart sank to my toes like a lead weight dropping through a piecrust. “No . . . Is Dahlia okay?”
“Yeah. Dahlia is fine. Slept through the whole thing, I think.” He struggled to sit up, so I helped him.
“Tad, this is bad.”
“She’s working for Theseus, then? For real?” He squinted at me and then covered his eyes. “Damn, two of you is too much.”
“Lie back down. Stay here and rest. I’m going to take your car and go to the bakery.” A place of sanctuary, a place I could hide for a little while from the truth that was causing me to shake. Theseus had the oil. And I had no idea how to stop him. He was moving his chess pieces carefully, and I couldn’t seem to outmaneuver him.
“Why not bake here?” Tad grumped.
I shook my head. How did I say that the bakery might not be mine much longer and I wanted as much time there as I could get? “Special equipment, ingredients and such. You and Dahlia come for dinner in her car, okay?”
He grunted. “Be careful, sis, he’s out for you.”
“I will. You too. Bro.”
He laughed, his chest shaking. “Don’t ever say that again.”
“I make no promises.” I scooped his car keys from the hook beside the door and stepped outside into the surprisingly bright winter sun. And right into Smithy’s chest.
I blinked up at him. “Captain. Can I help you?”
Ice-blue eyes stared down at me. “My men have been pulled off duty. Captain Oberfall is back.”
I bobbed my head. “Okay, thanks for letting me know. And thanks for the help the other day.”
He didn’t move. “I heard a rumor you took out the twins.”
I frowned, not understanding at first. Then I blanched as I realized he meant the twin vampires that had been in Santos’s gang. “Um. Maybe?”
“With wooden spoons? Your smell is all over the handles.” He held two bloodied wooden spoons up, and I pressed my back into the door.
“Are you going to arrest me?” I whispered.
“Nope. Any woman who can kill a vampire with a pair of wooden spoons . . .” He shook his head. “I wanted to thank you. Personally.”
It was then I realized he wasn’t in his uniform but instead wore a pair of tight jeans, a black T-shirt, and a thin camouflage jacket.
He held out his hand that didn’t have the spoons. “I was wrong about you. I’d like you to consider joining the Supe Squad and working with me.”
My jaw dropped as he took my hand. “Oh no, I don’t think that’s a good idea. The spoons were an accident.”
Smithy shook his head. “No, it wasn’t. Killing a vampire is never an accident. It’s hard work. They don’t die easy.”
“They underestimated me,” I blurted out. “It means they don’t take me seriously. No one does.”
Smithy’s lips twitched. “Yeah, I got that. Look. I was wrong about you. And I want to try and make it right. For my part in things.”
His words had more weight to them than just what they seemed. I could feel it in the air. I stared into the blue eyes, and a flicker of something I didn’t expect flowed between us. The image around Smithy wavered, the werewolf I knew sliding away to leave someone very different in his place. Same blocky muscular build, and the eyes were still the same flinty blue, and even his hair was the same. But he had scars across his neck and up the sides of his face. The scars, though, weren’t what made him look so different. The fact that he wasn’t really a werewolf was what caught my eyes. He reminded me of Zeus, the way he just stood there, looking at me.
He held out his hand. “Hephaestus.”
“Happy?” I blurted out before I could catch myself. He grimaced.
“Damn Eros. No, do not call me that.” He frowned. “You can still call me Smithy if you want.”
“Smithy, as in blacksmith?” The pieces clicked together for me, and I whipped a hand out and slapped him hard enough to snap his head sideways. “You made that oil of fennel.”
Smithy, Hephaestus, whatever he wanted to call himself, slowly turned back to me. His eyes were all but glacial. “My wife asked me to. Let me tell you something, Drakaina. You don’t turn down your wife, especially not when she is a goddess of love and sex. Get my drift?”
“You did it so you could . . . boink her?”
His jaw dropped and a laugh boomed out of him; he roared with it until his eyes ran and he actually went to one knee. “Oh, gods. Alena. You are nothing of what we expected.”
What we expected. Chills and horror collided as they raced through my synapses. “What do you mean?”
Smithy stood and crooked a finger at me. “Come on, let’s have a chat.”
I stood unmoving. “Why would you help me? Your wife is working with Hera to have me killed. And you’ve been hiding in plain sight all this time, pretending to be a werewolf. Why?”
The words hovered in the air between us, and he gave me a slow nod. “How can I put this? The pantheon is complicated at the best of times. Yes, I gave my wife what she wanted, and she gave me what I wanted.” He smiled, the grin all wolf and lechery. “That being said, now that I know what she and Hera have been up to, I don’t necessarily agree with it. While I can’t go against my wife, exactly, I can give you some ideas. And yes, I hid in plain sight. Gods get bored too, you know. It’s the bane of a long-lived life.”
I wasn’t buying it. “I ask you again, why? You gain nothing but an angry wife if you help me.”
He squinted one eye at me. “You know why I took the job as second-in-command at the SDMP? I’m bored, Alena. The world is boring. And then you showed up, and things started happening.” He smiled, and I realized for the first time he was a rather handsome man. I didn’t even mind the scars.
Our eyes connected again, heat simmering between us in a way I didn’t expect. I flushed and looked away, not liking the flash of whatever it was that zipped between us. I had enough on my plate with my craptastic soon-to-be ex-husband, a taboo cross-species growing relationship with Remo, and Theseus making a bid on my life to be dabbling in this kind of tension with a Greek god.
“So I make things interesting? That doesn’t seem to be much reason to put your marriage and life on the line.”
Smithy snorted. “Please, like all marriages within the pantheon, it’s for show. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to get back in her bed? Unlike her, I don’t stray.”
My eyes involuntarily shot to his, and he slowly nodded. “I respect your stance on trying to get a divorce, even though it won’t happen. You’re as trapped as me, Drakaina.”
I lifted my chin. “I have a hearing again tomorrow. I’m not giving up.”
That smile crossed his face, and I found myself staring. Well, this was not a development I’d expected.
“I wouldn’t expect you to. The real heroes don’t.”
&nbs
p; “I’m not a hero.”
He shook his head. “A hero’s journey is rarely one where they see themselves as such. Do me a favor. Trust Eros. He’s on your side, as I am. As Zeus is, even if he’s doing nothing but partying it up at his house out on Olympic Drive in the Highlands area.”
I lifted both eyebrows and his mouth twitched up.
Smithy rubbed his jaw. “Not exactly subtle, I know. He’ll probably hide if you show up, but it might be worth a visit.” Smithy winked. “In case you need to talk to him.”
I opened my mouth to thank him, and he closed the distance between us. I held my breath as he dipped his mouth and let it hover over my lips. “If I weren’t married, Alena, you would be in trouble for a whole different reason.”
That was all he said. He stepped back and turned away from me. I blurted out the question I couldn’t help but ask.
“Did you know what I was from the beginning? When you first caught me?”
“No,” he called over his shoulder. “No, I didn’t. Nor did I realize you’d rolled me at the gate until after. And even then I didn’t understand. It’s been too long since we’ve seen a real monster, Alena. And maybe it’s been too long since we’ve seen a real hero. You are changing the rules, even if you don’t know it.”
He slid into the SDMP pickup truck at the curb and pulled away without saying anything else. My heart bumped against my rib cage, and I made myself walk down the steps to Tad’s beater of a car. I was out on the human’s side of the Wall in a matter of minutes, and while there were officers watching, they waved me through.
Another few minutes and I was on the highway headed south to my bakery.
“What in the name of all that is made of sugar and spice just happened there?” I couldn’t wrap my brain around Smithy, Hephaestus, whatever his name was. He wasn’t a werewolf, he was hiding in plain sight. Just like Zeus working for the local Blue Box Store. I lifted a hand to my lips. He hadn’t kissed me, but he’d wanted to.
And I think I might have wanted him to as well. Not that I would have. It was bad enough that Remo and I had kissed . . . a curl of guilt spooled out of me when I thought of Remo. Like I’d been unfaithful to him. When in reality it was Roger I was married to. I put a hand to my head as I drove. “Seriously, you are messed up,” I whispered to myself. I did my best to focus on what Smithy had said. He would help me. And he told me to trust Ernie.
Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2) Page 14
