Healing Their Mate (The Love of a Shifter) (30 page)

Gods of Old Book Two

By Edlyn Reynolds

Hades could not believe his eyes, even with the evidence before him.  Ares was smiling gently at the human female and she was grinning up at him.  The looks on their faces supported Apollo's claims.  The God of War was in love.  He'd found his consort.

Signaling to his nephew he walked back out into the sunshine outside the temple. 
“You spoke true, Apollo.  Ares has indeed found his consort.”

Shocked and confused eyes met his. 
“His consort?”

Hades nodded,
“Every God has one or so the Fates mumbo jumbo tells us.  They say there is one person in the world destined to be ours.  One person who will, above all others, know us, honor us, and protect us at all costs.  That is what the human female is to Ares.  She is tied to him.  You can see the strands of their lifelines twining together.  It's not yet permanent, not until he gives her his vow.  Then, if anything happens to one it will effect and happen to the other.”

“
Like what exactly?” Apollo asked quietly.

“
If she dies, so too will he.  His powers will be absorbed back into the universe and never seen again.  Unless they had a child, then the child will take on those powers when he or she comes of age.”

“
Huh,” Apollo tipped his head.  His expression said he was trying to process the information.  “So, you're saying that we're all destined to turn into lovesick fools like Ares?”

“
That is the current rumor,” Hades said.  He gave a snort and shook his head.  “Whether it’s the truth or not, we have a piece of evidence before us that says it's possible.”

“
Well, hell!” Apollo looked mortified, annoyed and slightly disgusted at the prospect.  “Uh…did they happen to say if they were to all be humans?”

“
You know that’s not their way.  They speak in riddles and then watch us flounder around.  Until this moment,” he waved a hand toward the temple.  “I didn’t know they meant a consort.  Seeing them together, that piece of the puzzle fell into place and their prophecy or part of it anyway, made some sense finally.”

“
So, what does that mean for the rest of us?”

Apollo sounded more than a little apprehensive.  Given the way he liked to go through females, he likely was.  He wouldn
’t like the idea of being stuck with one female for the rest of time.  Unlike him, Hades thought the concept had merit.  Of course, he'd ended up screwed on the last deal he'd made with a female.  He would not be making the same mistake again.

Thank the Gods for a little known clause he'd found to get out of that.  All he
’d had to do was set that bitch Persephone up and let her hang herself.  Then he'd been free, free of her sadistic and conniving clutches and free of her bitch of a mother, Demeter, too.  Now all he had to do was figure out the best way to pay them both back, slowly and painfully.

“
Well, nephew,” he smiled.  Hades knew it wasn't a pleasant smile, not much about him was pleasant any more, not after being shackled with that bitch Persephone for so long.  “I’d either avoid this realm entirely or get ready to pick out china patterns.”

Apollo swallowed hard, yeah...he didn't like the idea at all. 
“What about you uncle?”

Hades frowned,
“What about me?”

“
Well, you're in the same boat as the rest of us, are you not?”  That said the golden little shit flashed away with a too smug grin.

But, he was right.  Gods protect the female that thought to bring him under her heel.  He'd been fooled once, nearly lost his life before it was his own again, there wouldn't be a second time. 
“Shit!”  He really needed a drink.  Maybe he'd hit up the Goth club.  At least there he didn't stand out and no one in their right mind fucked with him.

The Guardian Book One

by Lynn Ray Lewis

It was a week before Christmas, and all the holiday shoppers were out, ready to knock a person down, and stomp on them to get those “must haves” for gift giving.  Julie Nelson was glad she wasn’t one of those people in lines and overspending on their charge cards.  She took care of her shopping a few months ago, and was quite proud of her ingenuity.  Since she only had six people to get gifts for, each recipient would be getting a bottle of their favorite alcoholic beverage.  She loved the holidays, the lights, and music, even the commercialism put a smile on her face.  She was a slut for Christmas miracle stories, and didn’t apologize for it.  Did it really matter that the holiday historically happened in early summer, or that there was no snow within a thousand miles or so at the time?  For Julie it was the “Peace on Earth Goodwill toward Men” thing that hooked her.  Even if she never had enjoyed a storybook Christmas, it was still her favorite holiday.

Four of those bottles would be going to a house party with her tonight.  Her brother, Andrew, always drank rum, it didn
’t seem to matter if the brand was cheap or expensive, and rum was his choice.  His wife, Etta, was a lover of vodka, she had a little classier taste in liquor so Julie made sure to get the better priced stuff.  The new fifty-one inch LED flat screen TV should have been delivered sometime today. 

One of her author friend
’s husband owned a string of electronics warehouses, and had been kind enough to give her the set as a gift for saving his company from total chaos.  Not that she had directly done anything to save them.  Her cousin was a computer forensic scientist, so she provided the CEO with contact information.

One of the company
’s ex-employees had been caught stealing, and fired.  Since the man was a trusted employee, he had access to the order and routing information.  In all of the confusion, his boss had forgotten to disable the man’s password from the company’s system.  The day he had been released from jail on bond, he began to play with the largest orders coming into the company.  The vendor’s complaints were what had clued them into a problem.      

Since she had no room in her apartment, coupled with the fact she rarely watched TV, made giving it to her brother and sister-in-law a great idea.  They both had good paying jobs, but still couldn
’t afford luxuries like a big screen TV.  When they bought the house five years ago, they knew the luxuries would have to go.  So she tried to give them things they wouldn’t have spent money on for themselves.  Picturing her brother’s face when he saw the monster set made her smile.

It had been a challenge to find and obtain the bottle of tequila from Mexico.  The stuff was a private label and pricey but if it made the Dailys happy then she would be able to pat herself on the back for a gift well given.  She couldn
’t understand what the attraction was between her brother and Jorge Daily, but each year since they had lived next door, they were guests at her brother’s home for Christmas.  Jorge was some sort of online investment trader and she knew Andrew had made a good bit of money taking the man’s advice.  The odd couple were hard to please, but always gave beautiful, expensive gifts to everyone at the Holiday gatherings.  She tried to ignore the snide comments coming her way from Hailey Daily. 

The woman was a brittle female, she was never happy, even with the nice home, and what appeared to be scads of money to spend.  Jorge was a handsome man to say the least.  He could be charming and would often be seen laughing with Andrew.  The man oozed sex appeal, but Hailey never seemed to care that her husband was sexy.  Almost every word coming from her mouth was sarcastic and petulant.  Julie knew Etta felt sorry for the woman.

The black label whiskey would make Mr. Murphy happy as a clam.  He always had some clever ditty about the Irish, and sometimes even the Scottish, when his glass was hoisted during the few get-togethers she had attended in the past three years.

As she expected, the house was lit up with colorful Christmas lights, and a balloon Santa was waving at visitors from the front yard.  The icicle lights hung over the eaves, and ribbons were wrapped around the porch railing.  The snow fell lightly helping to create a beautiful Christmas scene.  Julie was glad she was wearing sturdy boots and jeans topped with a bright red Christmassy sweater.  It showed a little cleavage, but she loved the feeling of the knit fabric.  On her head was a Santa hat with warm faux fur framing her blue eyes and pink cheeks.  She refused to call herself pretty, even if others told her so many times.  Her blue eyes and pale milky complexion were complimented by the straight as a stick dark blonde hair on her head.  And while she would never be a supermodel, she felt comfortable with her curvy figure.  At a whopping five feet seven inches tall in her stocking feet, she learned to embrace her inner and outer chubby.  Yes, all things considered, she felt her twenty-eight years looked pretty good on her.

The big screen TV had been set up in the family room of the house.  It was a big hit as far as presents go.  Her brother kept looking at it, and she knew as soon as everyone left tonight, that TV would be on.  The dinner was strictly buffet and the conversation was, as usual, easily flowing.  Etta, Andrew’s wife, refused to allow Political or religious discussions at her gatherings.  It was a good rule in general to keep heated debates from erupting into arguments.  She expected her house parties to run smoothly and luckily they almost always did.  Julie was presently being trounced in the rousing game of charades.  Out of the group someone made the snide remark that for an author it was a shame she never read other books by a
famous
author.  Then she heard “she doesn’t write real books, she writes sex books”.

Julie knew who said the nasty remarks, and she let it go.  After all, they were right in a way, she wrote erotic romance books.  It did irritate her when she thought of all the trouble she had been through to obtain that bottle of tequila for the couple.  If they were invited next year she would find the cheapest bottle of rot gut she could find for their gift.  The fact she never once saw Hailey Daily with a genuine smile on her face, gave Julie the impression the marriage was not very happy.  And unhappily married people tended to be more critical of unmarried happy people.  It was no excuse for their rudeness, but still could be part of the reason.

When it was time for presents to be exchanged, Julie was tickled to find out she was soon to be an aunt in the form of a framed picture of an ultra sound.  The baby looked like a bean in the blurry picture, but Andrew and Etta proudly beamed as she hugged each of them.  “Well I guess you will have to put this away until after the little one is born,” she said as she handed them her presents.  Etta laughed and told Andrew that he would have to drink for both of them, but he took the bottles of liquor and put them in the cabinet.  Mr. Murphy, Julie’s usual partner at these parties, was grinning by the time she handed him his present.

Mr. Murphy was Andrew
’s other neighbor, and had no other family to spend the holidays with.  His wife had died a few years ago.  When Etta and Andrew moved in next door, they kept an eye on the elderly man.  Julie was happy her brother had a man’s influence, and knew Andrew had learned a lot from the old man.  Their mother had done her best after their father ran away with his local bartender, but she was too busy to pay attention to her kids while working two jobs to keep food on the table, and a roof over their heads.  Julie had to smile when she received the smoked salmon that her brother caught during one of his fishing trips with Mr. Murphy.

Andrew had smiled widely when he brought the tasty treat to her, and shyly admitted that he was the angler, this was also his first foray into learning to smoke fish.  Now, with a new baby on the way, Julie finally could breathe a sigh of relief, Andrew hadn't been the most stable of men until he had met and married Etta.  At the time he told Julie that,
“She makes me want to be a grown up, Jules, she makes me want to give her the best husband in the world”.

Julie received a beautiful scarf from Mr. Murphy and she loved the bright pink color.  When it was time for her to give the Dailys their gift, she handed the package to Hailey, and waited for her to open it.  The woman handed it off to her husband, and he almost dropped the bottle when it was revealed.  The shock on his face was surprising. 
“I hope it is the brand you like, when I was at your home last spring I had seen the bottle on your sideboard and thought you might like another one.”  Hailey looked at the bottle as if it would bite her, and she put her hand to her mouth in what appeared to be fear.

Jorge Daily looked at Julie and demanded,
“Where did you get this?”  His voice was hoarse and low.  While Julie tried to think about what she was seeing and didn’t immediately answer him, he got up, pulled her from her seat by the arms, and shook her, “Tell me where you got this.”

Andrew watched his neighbor manhandling his sister and started toward them.  Julie stomped her foot on the man
’s toes and he let go but not without cursing a blue streak and calling her some pretty filthy names. 

“
You couldn't have purchased that bottle anywhere in the world, there is only one place that you could have obtained it, unless they gave it to you,  and if they gifted you with this, then you must have done something to deserve such a gesture of goodwill.”

“
Look you ungrateful ass, I paid a lot of money to a truck driver who lives next door to me with his wife and kids.  He drives a semi truck all over the southern states and into Mexico.  So when I saw the bottle at your home, I thought Miguel might be able to help me find a bottle of the stuff.  I looked in two liquor stores for it, and no one had heard of the label around here.”  Julie stepped back and held out her hand, “You can give it back and I will be happy to drink it myself since you are so upset.” 

Jorge immediately regretted grabbing the girl and shaking her.  It obviously wasn't her fault, she had only been giving them a gift.  She couldn't know what she had just cost him
—all the planning, the hiding, everything—for nothing.  What was he going to do now?  When he'd left years ago, he realized he couldn't stand being alone without others around him, that's when he made friends with some members of a neighboring clan, just for the camaraderie.  That is why he stayed under the radar with the leaders there.  Them never knowing the true Jorge.  Now, that would be questioned.  He was disgusted with himself and Hailey on their behavior.  He curled his lip and grabbed Hailey’s arm in his other hand then hauled her out of the front door, barely taking the time to yank their coats from the hangers.  They needed to leave, their plans had changed in one small gesture of kindness.

Julie stood there wondering what in the hell that was all about and when she heard Mr. Murphy start to tell Andrew what started the problem she shook her head and sat back down. 
“This is what I get for thinking I was so smart, buy everybody a bottle of their favorite beverage”, shaking her head and throwing up her hands, she laughed, “Etta is pregnant, so the vodka is out, and the bottle of fancy private label tequila caused the Dailys a panic attack.  Next year it’s gift cards, or movie tickets.”  At the look of horror on Mr. Murphy’s face, she assured him, “I would never stop supplying you with your Black Label whiskey Mr. Murphy, I know you won’t get pregnant or throw a fit if I give you your favorite libation.  Then she laughed.  “I think I need to get going, it looks like I will be skiing home if I don’t leave soon.”

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