always be able to find you and part of the reason for the delay is due to gods yes, but not Ra this time.” Cass and Wes shared a look and then Cass dropped a bombshell. “Lord Zeus wants to see us. All of us. We’ve been ordered to go to his ranch in Montana.”
“Zeus, as in the Zeus?” Arvyn gulped. “But he’s a Greek god. What’s he got to do with Ra?”
Cass shrugged. “It was him, or rather his mate, Paulie, who set us on this quest to find you two in the first place. Wes called Zeus this morning to update him, expecting us to be reassigned now you two have met – we can only interfere so much before the Fates take notice – and Zeus told us we were expected for lunch. You two were included.”
“From what Zeus implied I don’t think Paulie’s very happy with you two,” Wes said, and Arvyn’s gut turned queasy. “He’s really young, for a shifter even, but he has very solid views on how matings are meant to go between paranormals and gods. Zeus didn’t help when he behaved like an ass when those two first met. Then, apparently, Paulie got talking to Orin…”
“Who is the Norse God Thor’s mate, also a shifter,” Cass added helpfully.
“And Orin was all for summoning Ra and locking all three of you in a room somewhere until you got your shit together, but Paulie’s not like that. But he does want to see you.”
“I thought gods weren’t supposed to interfere. What about free will?” Kirill snapped. “I’ve got a coven…”
“Which is perfectly safe for now. My Lord Zeus wouldn’t have insisted on this meeting if things were going to shit there.” Cass glowered and his eyes flickered with the flames of the Underworld. “Sure, you don’t have to come with us. I don’t transport the unwilling. But if you don’t come with us, then Paulie will get really upset and might even cry. If Paulie cries, then their son Egan starts bawling too. If they’re both crying, then Zeus gets real shitty and he isn’t known as the god of the storms for nothing. He’ll start pounding the skies for stress relief which doesn’t bode well for any of us.”
“If Lord Zeus causes too much of a ruckus, then Lord Hades will get involved,” Wes continued calmly. “Zeus and Hades work together on helping paranormals in need. Hades also has a new mate and children, and he runs the Underworld. He’s not going to want to be bothered if something’s gone wrong with a case. Zeus only has to make a call and you two could find yourself sweating out the heat of Tartarus and that’s one place Ra wouldn’t be able to find you. In fact, you’re lucky Zeus wants to see you in Montana and not Olympus, because Ra couldn’t go to you there either, unless Zeus allows it.”
“Kirill, please.” Arvyn was fast falling for the man he’d shared a bed with after just one night, but Ra was like a missing part of his soul and the thought of the tiny god not being able to find them caused an ache he couldn’t handle. “Surely, no god would’ve gone to all this trouble, arranging it so we could meet, and then let your coven be taken over. Do you realize how lucky we are? How many people like us who don’t find their mate or beloved, and how we almost missed each other too? When that car hit me, I was already thinking about leaving town and where I’d go next. Now…” He shrugged helplessly. “We’re together, we both wear marks even if we haven’t done anything else yet, and Ra will forgive us. He does want us; I could pick that up in his scent. We just have to learn to treat him like a normal man instead of someone who could wipe us out of existence with a blink, and we’ll be fine.”
“Mates and beloveds don’t hurt each other.” Kirill patted his hand absently. “I’m sorry. I’m not normally a prat, but it’s like so much of my life has been out of my control lately…”
“Which is what normally happens when the gods get involved.” Wes chuckled and Arvyn was pleased the wolf hadn’t taken offense. “When we met Paulie for the first time, Zeus simply told us he was a young shifter needing a helping hand. Cass beat up the bad guys, we took Paulie off and fed