Worth It - Lisa Oliver Page 0,11
know.” Ra sighed. “And doing things like this is only exciting for the first five minutes. It’s not very interesting without people around. It’s people that make things fun.”
“Yeah, well, Helios is probably having a right laugh at our expense, so you’ve put some fun in his day.” Zeus eyed the sky grimly. “He’ll be so busy staring at us, he’s slowed down the sun deliberately making this road hotter than Tartarus. Can we consider your love affair with being a biker over now? Can I go back to what I was doing before I was rudely interrupted?”
“We could go to a bar,” Ra suggested with a gleam in his eye. “Or a restaurant – try someone else’s cooking instead of zapping up food for a change.”
Zeus shuddered at the thought. “That would mean sitting among other noisy people, maybe screaming kids as well. Waiting to be served. Then you’d have no idea how fresh the food was, or…”
“It’s just a meal!” Ra shook his head. “It’s not as though you could get food poisoning, and you’re hardly likely to die if you have to listen to other people conversing over a meal once in a while. When was the last time you had a sit-down meal? A proper one, at a dining table with company?”
Zeus thought. “Poseidon’s wedding?”
“Ooh, you fucking fibber.” Ra narrowed his eyes at him. “I was there. You didn’t go to Poseidon’s wedding, nor did you go to the party they had to celebrate Hades meeting his mate. And I know you were invited.”
“I sent a gift. Besides, who wants to spend all their time sitting among mated couples being lovey dovey with each other. That might be your idea of fun, but it’s not mine. If I want to see that I can watch a movie.” Zeus lifted his boot, hearing the squelch of the pavement. “Look, can we talk somewhere else if we have to chat? My boots are melting on this damn road. Better yet, you go and find someone to have dinner with and let me go back to…”
He trailed off, frowning as he saw Ra wasn’t looking at him, but at something behind him. “Did you let traffic back on this road?” He asked, wondering if he should turn around.
“Technically, this road doesn’t exist,” Ra said absently. “But someone wanted to track us down and as it’s a demon, I’m guessing it’s for you.”
His frown deepening, Zeus turned. Sure enough, the demon Castor was standing two feet away from him, his head bowed respectfully. “What the hell are you doing here?” He snapped quickly. “How did you find me? What’s happened? Did you get to the young tiger shifter in time?”
Chapter Four
“My lords, I apologize for the intrusion.” Cass nodded respectfully. “Lord Hades let me know where you are. Wes and I felt it was imperative we talk to you, Lord Zeus. We intervened with Paulie as you asked, and he’s physically unharmed. However, during a chat with him afterwards… it seems things are not going well for him. In fact, he was very upset when I left to find you.”
“What do you mean, not going well? He’s not an idiot. I checked. He’s had everything handed to him – a college education, an apartment, enough money for…”
“Lord Zeus,” Cass cut in quickly. “Can I speak openly?”
Zeus was fuming. Blooming typical. Give a mortal everything and they still don’t think it’s enough. “Speak and speak quickly. That ungrateful mortal is one wave of my hand away from being on the streets again.”
“He’ll never be on the streets again, no matter how much you wave your hand.” Licks of flames lit up Cass’s dark eyes. “Wes and I will see to that if necessary. Do you know Paulie’s back story? Do you know how long he’d been on those damn streets left to fend for himself?”
“I know nothing about him except he’s a shifter and he was homeless.” Ignoring the smirking Ra, Zeus looked out over the barren landscape. “He caught my eye during a random investigation into another matter. He has an innocence about him. I purposefully didn’t interfere beyond giving him a chance at a decent life for himself.”
“You’re definitely wading in a gray area there, Zeus baby.” Ra laughed. “It might have been that the Fates determined this innocent shifter of yours was meant to have an early death to secure the future of another in their bigger plans.”
Gods do not get heart attacks, Zeus reminded himself silently, fuming