Page 33 of Tangled Threads Of Fate

Erus, my other half, stood at the top of the stairs. “Who was it?”

I shrugged. “Some pregnant chick.”

He gave me a disapproving look, and despite the fact that we were Goddess-ordained soulmates, he looked at me like it might’ve been mine. I mean, we’d both been manwhores in our day—me perhaps alittlemore than him. But it had been a long time since those days.

“I swear, it wasn’t me.”

He huffed a disapproving sound and leaped down the stairs two at a time, as surefooted as a cat. Walking over to the door, he opened it back up.

The big guy was still holding the pregnant chick in his arms, his scowl promising murder. He looked between the two of us, as the girl muttered groggily about lions.

Erus threw me a more concerned look, because from what I could tell, she was human. There was no way she could know we were Genii, with the bodies of men and the heads of lions.

It had to be a coincidence.

The guy, though… He made me pause. He was certainly not entirely human, but I didn’t recognize him at all, so that meant he wasn’t from these parts.

“Who the fuck are you?” he spat menacingly.

Well, that’s just rude.“Uh, you knocked onourdoor, remember? I think the correct question is, who the fuck areyou?”

Erus raised a hand to grip my arm. “My name is Erus, and this is Tryp. What can we do for you both?”

“You can put some fucking clothes on. That’d be a start,” the guy grumbled beneath his breath. “You guys are Mythics?”

Now it was my turn to be surprised. Mythics was a modern way of describing what we were. Supernaturals. Legends. Storied beings. Mythological constructs made real. Immortals. We were many things, but Mythics worked for most of us.

Erus answered. “Uh, yeah. You?”

He nodded. “I am. She is not. You don’t happen to be lion-shaped beneath that pretty fuckboy glamor?”

I grinned. “You think my glamor is pretty?” I fluttered my eyelashes at him. He gave me a glare which made me want to laugh, but would probably end with him waving that big-ass ax at me. “Yeah, we have lion heads.”

He frowned. “She can see through your glamor,” he said pensively. “She can’t see through mine.”

The girl twisted in his arms, and his eyes dropped back to her face, the concern etched there setting off worry in my own chest.Which was a novel emotion in itself. Mortals came and went, and outside of the townspeople of Amourgeles, I didn’t really give a shit.

Erus was also frowning at the girl. “Is she okay?”

The big guy shook his head. “I don’t know. She’s never passed out like this before.”

My other half was a sucker for a human in distress. He flung open the door, gesturing for the guy to carry the girl in. “Come, we’ll go and see Teron. He’ll be able to check her out.” He turned back to me. “Go get Demke and bring him to Teron’s chambers.”

Casting one more look at the two strangers, I did as Erus asked. Racing back up the stairs two at a time, I headed to the furthest wing. Demke’s rooms were slightly apart from ours; once it had befitted his station, but now? It was just because he appreciated the solitude, I think.

I ran down the long hallways until I was finally in front of the big, carved wooden door that led to his living area. It opened almost before I’d finished knocking.

“Who was at the door?”

“A pregnant girl.”

Demke tilted his head at me, his frown disapproving. “Really, Tryp?”

I threw up my hands. Why did everyone think it was my fault? “I haven’t fucked a mortal in, like, two hundred years. Give me a break. I have Erus. What do you, Milo and Teron have, hmm? Your hand? If anyone was going to knock up a human, it’s definitely one of you three.”

Demke rubbed his forehead, like he wasn’t a legit God and could actually get headaches.

“Did you send her away?” It wasn’t really a question. This was our haven, our fortress of solitude. We did not invite people in.

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