“A truce.
Let’s put everything aside and focus on vanquishing Caquix.
Agreed?”
Max grasped his hand.
“Sounds good to me.”
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*
“You can stay in the spare bedroom.”
Max pointed to it when they emerged from the rune circle.
“Who says I’m staying here with you?”
“Please, Votan.”
Michelle clutched his arm.
She gazed at him with pleading eyes.
“I’m staying here, and we need to stick together.”
“Puh.”
He headed into the room.
Michelle’s hand was caught by his.
She found herself being tugged along with him.
“She’s with me,” Max said.
“No, she’s not.”
Votan flared his teeth.
Michelle pulled her hand free.
“Yes, I am.”
She avoided his eyes.
“You had me last.
It’s his turn.”
“Who said anything about turns?”
He verged on a shout.
“You may be fine with me fucking her,” he said to Max, “but I’m not fine with you touching her.”
“Get over it!” Michelle said.
The proclamation was all she could manage before tears built behind her eyes.
“I love you both.
I’m with you both.”
“Ixchel, don’t do this.”
He seethed at her.
“You’re just making things more difficult for us later—when things are made right.”
“They’re right already.
I’m not breaking up with either of you.”
Her throat felt raw.
“But you know what, maybe that’s going to change.
Maybe I do have to let one of you go.”
“Ixchel…”
He hissed below his breath.
“Him tonight, you tomorrow.
Or both of you together right now.”
“Woah,” Max said with a brow lift.
“I’m not going to exclude either of you.”
She looked at Votan.
“I love you both.”
He turned his back to her.
“You’re spitting on our love.”
With that, he entered the guest bedroom and closed the door.
Michelle stared at it a moment.
Her chest had tightened.
Why the hell is this so hard?
A sob contracted in her abdomen.
She placed her face in her hand and let the tears come.
Max went to her and pulled into his arms.
She clung to him.
“He’s just a selfish man.
You realized that, don’t you?”
She snuffled.
“He’s used to getting what he wants all the time.
Asking someone like that to share is like asking him to fall onto his sword.”
Michelle looked up at him through bleary eyes.
“But he has to.”
Max soothed her hair.
“I hope he does, Michelle, for your sake.
But…you may have to cut your losses when everything is done with.
That’s something you have to be prepared to deal with.”
She shook her head.
“I’m meant to be with both of you.”
He hugged her once more.
“Let’s see how things are in the morning.”
Michelle was grateful Max didn’t want to make love to her.
She felt more drained than she’d ever been in her life.
She slept in his arms, accepting the warmth and comfort of his embrace.
In the morning, some of the darkness had lifted from her spirit.
She was one night removed from Caquix’s violation.
Her mind had processed it in dreams and stored it as a memory.
She felt less vulnerable.
Votan was already in the kitchen cooking what looked like a dozen eggs.
Max poured coffee beside him.
“If we’re not starting the war right this morning,” he said, “then I need to get into work.”
“I need to get my things from the hotel,” Votan said to the mostly empty refrigerator.
Michelle craned her head to assess their supplies.
“You need groceries.
I think I should go grocery shopping, right?
Though, I’ll need money…and a ride.”
“You think groceries are a priority?”
Votan flipped some of his eggs.
“They are if we’re all going to be living together,” Max said.
Votan gave a disgusted groan.
Max took a debit card from his wallet.
“The pin is 1313.
I don’t do carbs.
There’s a list by the phone, but get more than that.
Enough to get us by for a while.”
She accepted it.
“Thirteen, thirteen.”
He handed her a clump of twenties.
“Take a cab to
Miltons
.”
“
Miltons
,” she said.
He handed her the key to the door.
“Make some copies at
Miltons
.”
“Oh, right.
Okay.”
He eyed Votan.
“I didn’t sleep with her last night, just so you know.”
Votan glared at him with his lips sealed.
“It’s your turn with her now.
I actually don’t care if you’re with her.
As long as she wants it, and if it makes her happy.”
He headed for the door and put on his coat.
“Sometimes it’s good to care about someone other than yourself.”
He left.
Votan shook his head while blowing through his puckered lips.
“The cuckolder isn’t allowed to resent the husband.”
Michelle thought of what to say to that.
She came up empty.
Fighting her mates and her enemy had still left her raw.
Besides that, it seemed Max was putting on a show now.
He hadn’t been so selfless before Votan arrived.
Votan’s overbearing personality was giving him the chance to look like an angel in comparison.
Michelle knew he was capitalizing.
Both her mates were counting on her getting rid of the other one.
The thought made her middle clench.
She couldn’t fathom letting go of either of them.
The love she felt for them both was like an obsession.
It was dangerous, in that it robbed her of some of her reason, but she refused to fight it.
“I’m going to get the groceries,” she said.
“If I can get a cab.
I think you just wave for them, right?”
Votan smirked at her.
“Let me eat and we’ll go together.
Then we’ll stop by my hotel to check out.”
She gave a sigh of relief.
“Oh, good.”
“I actually do care about you, Ixchel.
I’m old.
In fact—I’m ancient.
I don’t take to new situations easily.”
She nodded.
Hope was curling up the edges of her lips into a smile.
As long as you take to it eventually.
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Votan hailed a cab with a level of confidence that confirmed he’d lived in a big city before in a past life.
They headed for the grocery store Max mentioned first.
“Can I help you and Max fight you know who?” Michelle said after a moment of pondering in the back of the cab.
“No.
You would be a liability to us.”
She made a sound of annoyance through her nostrils.
“Why?
Female jaguars fight just as well as the males.”
The Persian cab driver peeked at them in the rear view mirror.
“Ixchel is not a warrior.
You’re a temple goddess, a seer, and one in tune with the universe.
You have magic more powerful than either Maximon or me, but when brute strength is needed you’re mostly useless.”
He turned half his large body toward her.
“If this offends you, consider the facts.
You knew the future.
You orchestrated things so that Maximon and I were forced to deal with the threat.
You’re Caquix’s greatest enemy.
Without you masterminding everything no one would have ever stood against him.”
“Huh.”
She uncrossed her arms.
His acknowledging her power over him completely dissolved her indignation.
“I have another question.
I’m not sure if it’s okay to talk about it outside the ring—but I think so.”
Votan waited while staring outside the window.
“I knew Caquix was evil, but didn’t know how serious his presence in the mortal world was.
I still wouldn’t know it if you hadn’t accepted your godhood and explained everything to me.”
“Mm.”
“Why did he reveal himself?
It seems so idiotic.
If he just minded his business and kept doing what he was doing we probably wouldn’t know he was free until it was too late.”
Votan gave a bodily shudder.
“Be glad that’s not the case.”
He eyed her.
“Caquix slipped through the seal of the underworld in a human form.
He probably half killed himself as he did.
He could only escape into the mortal world because the seal grew weak, as it was prophesized.
But it’s strong again.
He can’t break it.
The only one of us who can break it is you.
You have the magic he needs.
If he could trick you then he could bring his armies to the mortal realm and take over at once.
Without you, he’ll toil for years to achieve his goals.”
“Wow.”
She felt impressed with herself.
“Thank God I wasn’t tricked.”
“You’re playing a computer game?” the cab driver said.
She screwed her lips.
“You know, I kind of thought she couldn’t hear us.
Like when they can’t see us when we transform.”
Votan turned up his hands.
“She can hear us.
She just rationalizes it away.”
He leaned forward.
“It’s not a game.
We’re jaguar gods in human form.
We reincarnate as mortals every generation to protect the world from the demon god Caquix.”
The cab driver gave an enlightened nod.
“Ah.
That’s good that you’re protecting us.
Thank you.”
Votan leaned back again.
Michelle’s eyes were wide.
“Does she actually believe you?”
The cab driver answered her question with a laugh.
“She just wants a good tip,” Votan said.
The same cab driver was willing to wait for them as they grocery shopped.
Votan overloaded their cart with extravagant meats.
Michelle made sure to get everything on Max’s list, despite having to guess on the brands.
He put down coffee.
To her that meant instant, but she was at least smart enough to presume he wanted the fancy coffee-maker coffee.
But did he want whole beans, or grounds?
Why did they even sell whole beans, actually?
People must have grinded it themselves.
She erred on the side of pre-ground coffee.
But wait…there were these little cups that fit in special coffee makers.
Did he have a regular coffee maker or one of those?
“Let’s wrap this up.”
Votan headed for the check-out.
“Hold your horses.”
She grabbed a pouch of ground coffee, creamer, and sweetener before following.
Shopping was stressful now.
She realized she wasn’t just trying to adjust to a new life where mystical beings were real (and dangerous) but she was trying to blend into a new social strata.
Everything in the grocery store was overly fancy and outrageously expensive.
She wondered why she wasn’t getting stares due to her poor-people’s clothes.
Though…for some reason others looked like they wore clothes from thrift-shops, also.
The only thing that looked expensive on them were their eye-glasses.
She wished she had Votan’s confidence.
He stood out far more than she did, with his body-builder’s physique.
The way he carried himself made it seem as though he were someone famous.
People eyed him and whispered, but it was with admiration.
Votan seemed used to it.
In another world she might have fawned over being the girlfriend to someone like this.
She was too frazzled.
Their love was solid enough—now she was just trying to keep up with the whirlwind her life was caught up in.
They went to his hotel.
Michelle waited in the cab with their groceries.
A bellhop helped bring down four large pieces of luggage with fancy designer symbols on them.
She was glad he had so much stuff.
Hopefully this was all he needed.
He could unpack it into Max’s house and they could all live together as one happy family.
She sighed at her near impossible dream.
When they entered the condo, both laden with bags, the phone was ringing.
Michelle dumped her haul on the kitchen counter and answered it.
“How’s everything going?” Max said.
“Fine.
We just got back.”
“Well, I’ll be back soon, too.
My streams are back to normal.”
She brightened.
“Really?”
“I think you were right.
He was piling them full of demons to keep me from going to you.
Now there’s no point to it.
We’re already together.”
“I’m so glad.”
Votan took the phone from her.
“You coming back?”
She watched as Max said something to him.
“Fine,” Votan said, and hung up.
“Please try to get along with him.”
“Huh?”
He marched toward their groceries with a scowl.
“Try to make this work.
I’m begging you.”
“Don’t beg me.”
He put a whole goose in the freezer.
Emotion dredged up inside her again.
“I love you, and I love him, and I want you to be like brothers.”
“Mm-hm.”
He put a paper-wrapped parcel of bison meat beside the goose.
“That’s the prophesy.”
“So work on it.
Please.”
He gave a noncommittal grunt.
Then he placed two whole chickens on the cutting board.
“You know how to work these ovens?”
She gaped at them.
“I don’t know how to cook.”
“Hmph.
You’re always an amazing cook.
Even from the beginning.”
Her brow rose.
Really?
“I guess I can try to cook them, but you have to do the washing up.”
He grunted his typical affirmation and left her to it.
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