the same mistakes as the men before me, both of whom I assume are dead. I will not pursue female monsters, nor will I try to improve the sanctuary. I will enjoy the benefits of leadership and that will be it.
Unfortunately, one of my responsibilities came long before my new role, and even as the leader of my people, I still need to come when called. So I sit at the table in a little run-down house in the middle of nowhere. Close enough to the sanctuary that the trip is easy, but far enough from civilization that no one should spot this meeting, which is imperative.
I hear a sound, and a second later, Conley enters. The phoenix looks youthful, although he’s been around nearly as long as I have. He has long blonde hair slicked back from his face and a cocky smile. He’s shirtless and wears shorts that are low over his hips. His feet have sneakers, like he’s some twenty-something-year-old human punk on the beach.
Phoenixes are irritating.
“Old man!”
I glare. “Cocky phoenix.”
He smirks, grabs a chair across me and flips it around, then sits in it backwards.
I rub the bridge of my nose. I dislike this man nearly as much as I hate my crippled “son” Elliot. My anger grows. No matter how much I remind myself that I’ve disowned that failure, the word “son” seems to be forever attached to him.
“What is this meeting about?” I demand.
He frowns. “When I got the message, I thought you’d called it.”
My stomach twists. “If you didn’t call the meeting, who did?”
I hear the crunch of shoes outside the door. A second later, the human known as Peter enters. He is our liaison in the Special Unit. Most of his people work to keep the supernatural community hidden from the humans, but Peter secretly links us information about any monsters, so we can kill them when they least suspect it. When they think they’re safe. Although I’d say he failed miserably when it came to Medusa.
He has dark hair and dark eyes. He’s built like a god, and wears a black shirt and pants that are almost a uniform. His gaze moves over both of us, and then he sits down beside me.
“Why did you call a meeting?” I ask him, lifting a brow.
Technically, he could call meetings, if it is important. But the human knows his place. He works for me, and with us, not the other way around. So for him to do this must mean whatever is happening is important.
He sits up taller, his gaze jerking from the phoenix to me. “I didn’t call a meeting.”
What did he just say? Ice moves through my veins.
I stand abruptly. “This is a trap.”
“A trap? What an ugly word.”
A man enters the room, and I feel terror blossom within me. Well, not a man, a god. Hades wears a pink suit with skulls stitched into the lapels. His hair is neatly styled, and his eyes are ringed by red. He takes the only remaining seat, and I swallow hard, slowly sitting down.
Hades is not a member of this group, however, he has used us for his own purposes in the past. And each time, he left nothing but death and destruction in his wake. The fact that we were called here by him means only trouble.
But I’m too smart to say that. I just wait.
“Uh, why do we have the pleasure of a meeting with you?” the phoenix asks, and there’s a waiver of fear that runs through his words.
The god cocks a brow. “Because an old problem may come back to bite us all in the asses.”
Peter sighs and crosses his arms in front of his chest. “What old problem?”
Hades plays with the cuffs of his suit. “If you’ll recall, one of our first get-togethers involved a certain plan.” I feel the color drain from my face. “Peter came to me with an interesting bit of information he found on a dead monster. Information about how to bring back a certain titan from his prison without releasing the others. A certain titan who could make Peter a god, kill all the monsters for Gary, and restore the phoenixes’ prior glory…”
Fucking hell, I don’t want to think about that disaster. At the time it had seemed brilliant. I could get rid of a problem gargoyle and have a titan kill off all the monsters, leaving my people free to simply exist in peace. It’d been worth working with the human, god,