Page 63 of Whiskey, Thieves, and Bastards
Oh, my shit, I wantedallof that.
“We’ve been undercover breaking our mate out of a Coalition prison. I haven’t made an official announcement yet, but we areveryclose to making the Coalition illegal here. We don’t know if the angels will show their faces since they haven’t in other countries, but we’ve got weapons if they do and we plan on using it to our favor. Benji will be back to get his favorite drink soon,” Cas said.
“My granddaughter has her heart set on going to college in a place where the Coalition is very active. I’m not sure how long your mate was in their facility, but the Diwata can die if we are cut off from nature. We’ve been trying to talk her out of it, but she has her heart set on a school that has the best program for her. If you can make it safe for her, I’ll feed you for free until something finally removes me from this planet.”
“No need,” Pax said. “We want to keep her safe, but this has been our goal for a long time. It benefits everyone.”
Did this bitch just turn down free Filipino food? I’d think about that later. Medusa was going tolovethis, and she was going to adore having a family of Diwata this close. I ordered a ton of food because gods ate a lot. Even more than supernaturals. We had very high metabolisms.
I was going to destroy the shit out of this food and then I was stealing Medusa. It was agonizing being separated from her while the Coalition had her and then I knew I needed to give her time with her new mates. I was stealing her tonight.
Ishould have known if I left Dionysus alone for five minutes, he was going to go straight to the Filipino restaurant I saw when I was walking through the village. We’d traveled the entire world and sampled countless cuisines. Filipino and Ethiopian were his favorite.
The food was amazing, and I almost forgot I’d just escaped the Coalition and that we had a big battle ahead of us. I even forgot I was mad at Athena for five minutes. Benji insisted on playing Charades and mixed up the teams so there were no mates or friends together.
I was paired up with Kat and she was vicious at Charades. Athena was with Jezebel, who wasn’t taking the whole thing serious at all. Benji decided he was going to play with Hades andI was pretty sure Hades wanted to murder him. Oddly, it was Calamity and Pax who ended up winning.
“Okay, so now you have to do a sexy dance,” Benji said.
“I don’t remember agreeing to those rules,” Pax said, crossing his arms. “Why are we dancing if the rest of you lost?”
“Because it pleases me when you shake that ass,” Benji said.
“Why don’tyoudance?”
“Why don’t you make me?”
Cas picked up Benji and threw him over his shoulder.
“I’ve got a brat to handle. You coming, Pax?”
I would have thought they were leaving Dionysus and me out, but Cas shot me a pointed look that they might have thought it was Dionysus that was feeling left out, so they were leaving us alone for some one-on-one.
“Gross,” Kat said.
“I agree,” Hephaestus said.
“That’s our cue,” Hades said.
“Mine, too,” Dionysus said, scooping me up.
He carried me to the bedroom he claimed and placed me gently on the bed. We had some things we needed to discuss. I was happy here. I needed to know he would be, too. He laid on his side so I could do the same and we could look each other in the eye. This was how we had all our serious discussions.
“So, this place is perfect for you,” Dionysus said.
It was. I’d never be without power because of all the greenery and they’d practically made this a haven for green witches. I could portal anywhere I wanted if I needed to do a fury thing. Also, I wassafehere. It was only supernaturals and Cas vetted everyone who lived in this village.
“Yes, but is it perfect foryou?”
That was the big question. I knew Dionysus better than anyone on this Earth aside from Persephone. On the surface, this seemed like the perfect place for him but Dionysus was acomplicated man. Hera hadn’t bothered him in a very long time, but she was his Athena.
He was always looking over his shoulder for his stepmother. Dionysus always thought if his life got too perfect, she’d show up and curse him again. She hadn’t in the entire time I’d known him, but it was just a trauma response because of what she’d already done to him.
Sometimes, he’d sabotage things if they were getting too good. Never with me, but sometimes, we’d have to move even if there wasn’t a mishap with my glasses. He’d profusely apologize, and I’d try not to get mad at him because that could have been me.
This could be perfect now, but if it got too perfect, he could do something to ruin it. He knew what I was asking.
“I think this is it. This is peace. Athena is really the only one of us that has any kind of relationship with the people back on Olympus. You know why Hades and Persephone can’t stand them. Zeus physically abused Hephaestus and then forced him to marry Aphrodite. Even if they invited me back, I’d refuse to go.
