Page 3 of Desired By Eros

“For one thing, it’s abarn.” The Alaska pack celebrated every major event in that dingy shed. He had attended one shindig there—some kid’s first shifting party or whatever—and had never stepped foot in it ever again.

“I like the barn,” she sniffed. “Plus, I did all the decorations and arrangements, so everything is perfect.”

“Yeah, whatever you say. There’s an open bar, right?”

“Yeah, but?—”

“Great. You know where I’ll be.” Speeding up, he marched away from her and Cade and headed straight to the barn, making a beeline for the bar. He ordered a double scotch and downed it, then asked for another one before he skulked to the darkest corner, leaning against the wall as he nursed his drink and watched the festivities.

While he was ecstatic for his parents, he just wasn’t in the mood to mingle at the moment, especially considering there were some gods and goddesses in attendance. Bitterness coated his mouth at the sight of them, oozing with such divine energy that it nearly choked him, reminding him of what he had lost.

He had to find a way to gain his godly status and get the fuck out of here.

But how?

How was he supposed to learn to be human exactly? The council didn’t even give him a fucking clue. All they said was they would “know” when that happened. In the past year of living here, all he’d learned was that humans were all damned idiots, caring only about themselves. If that was what it meant to be human, then he would have gotten his immortality back after a day because he sure didn’t give a shit about anything anymore.

Knocking the rest of his scotch back, he made his way to the crowd of guests. While all he wanted to do was leave this place and go back to his room, he still hadn’t spoken to his parents.

I should at least say hello. And maybe ‘I told you so.’

Scanning the crowd, he found them near the dance floor, along with their hosts. He was about to say hello when a loud, piercing wail sliced through the barn, echoing off the cavernous space.

“Waahhhhhhhhh!”

“What in the world is that racket?” he exclaimed. “Oh. It’syou.”

Eros narrowed his eyes at the crying child, who was being held up by a petite, brown-haired woman. He hardly saw Artemis and Cade’s children, but he always heard them around the pack’s complex, mostly during mealtimes at the community center. Artemis wanted the children to be comfortable around people so she always brought them around with her, but that also meant Eros couldn’t get a moment’s peace around common areas. Usually, whenever he saw them, he’d run in the other direction, but seeing as the brat was between him and his parents, he had no choice but to interact with it now.

He snorted. “Don’t you do anything but scream and cry?”

“It’s a baby,” the woman, who still held up the child like it was a bunch of bananas being inspected, said. “It’s how they communicate as they have yet to learn any language skills. They develop?—”

“Here, let me have her.” He plucked the child—it was the girl twin, Patty or Penelope or whatever—from her and perched her on his hip. Staring into her bright blue eyes, he said in a serious tone, “Be. Quiet.”

The child ceased its caterwauling immediately.

He huffed. That wasn’t so?—

“Yeow!” A sharp pain shot up the bridge of his nose as Patty–Penelope’s small fist connected with his face. “What did you do that for?”

Much to his annoyance, she let out a peal of laughter.

“Oh, is that funny?”

“I didn’t think you’d be good with children,” Hephaestus remarked.

“Probably a fluke. I think something is wrong with this child.”

The girl, however, curled up against his shoulder and began to suck on her thumb. Eros glared at Hephaestus as he attempted to suppress a laugh. “Don’t think I’ll be babysitting for the two of you anytime soon.” Not wanting to even imagine having a baby brother or sister at his age—he was over twenty-thousand years old after all—he turned to the unknown woman beside him.

As he did with any woman he met, he looked her up and down. Shifter, his instincts told him. Having been around them all this time, he just knew, not to mention, there were very few humans allowed on pack territory. She was petite for a shifter, particularly one from Alaska, and at least a foot shorter than him, with wavy brown hair.

Cute, he supposed, especially with those freckles across her button nose and round cheeks. Large eyes—not quite brown, but not quite green either—stared up at him. He smiled at her. Usually, at this point, most women turned away or got all giggly and pink-cheeked. This one, however, continued to stare at him, assessing him.

An unknown feeling curled in his belly, and he didn’t like it. So, he said the first thing that came to his mind. “So, are you the new nanny? I’m no baby, but you can sit on me anytime.”

“Eros!” Aphrodite admonished. “Psyche is a guest of your Alpha.”

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