Worth It - Lisa Oliver Page 0,44

because the collar would look ridiculous with jeans, he wore one of his gold robes, although he was naked underneath. If the tiger, or rather Paulie, got cuddly with him, he wanted to be prepared, an action Zeus’s cock thoroughly approved of.

But Paulie wasn’t home and from the chill and stillness in the air, he’d been gone for a while. He’s probably studying. Zeus flicked a finger at the kitchen counter, causing a half a dozen covered dishes to appear. Hmm. Zeus tapped his fingers on his outer thigh, eyeing the computer he’d left in the corner of the living space. I could have a quick look…

But no. Zeus was trying to break a habit. Besides, in all the times he’d been watching Paulie, the man was never out after dark for long. While Zeus was a bit miffed Paulie wasn’t waiting for him, as he’d expected – because no one with half a brain turned down another romp in the sheets with a god – he told himself he could be patient. Thinking of his kindle caused it to appear. Zeus made himself comfortable on the couch, complete with a drink and his device. See, this is me, waiting patiently. I can do this.

/~/~/~/~/

One hour later: Zeus had given up all pretense at reading, his fingers drumming an angry tattoo on his knee. How dare that bloody tiger stand me up when he knows I was coming here tonight.

/~/~/~/~/

Two hours later: Maybe something’s happened to him. But there were no messages on Zeus’s phone from either Cass or his wolf mate. Zeus zapped up another phone in case the one he was using was faulty. And then another one, just to be sure. Still no messages.

/~/~/~/~/

Three hours later: Zeus caved, sitting at the computer he’d left in Paulie’s apartment, linking it to his screens at Olympus. A wave of his hand started the search over six screen segments… Come on. Come on. Where is he?

Zeus found Cass and Wes, but from the surroundings he found them in, they weren’t even in the US. Shit, that’s right. They are working on that case of the abused vampire in Milan.

Poseidon and Claude were enjoying sexy times in a room full of equally sexed up wolves. Ha. I could do better.

Ra – Zeus only got static when he thought about Ra, meaning the god was tending to something in his realm.

Someone was hosting a celebration in his honor in Greece. Zeus lingered on that image for a moment, but then waved it off. The priest, or whoever the man filling the screen was supposed to be, couldn’t even get his costumes right. Guys should do their homework and show some respect.

Paulie. Zeus forced every inch of his focus onto the bottom right hand segment. Paulie. Show him to me. The computer screen shimmered, and then made a ding. Zeus stared at the blue text that appeared in the middle of a full black screen.

“Page Not Found.”

Picking the computer up, Zeus hurled it at the wall across the room. “That’s not possible, you piece of junk.” Zeus tried to calm himself, but his breathing was increasing, and his heart was going too fast to be comfortable. He needed his other computers, but if Paulie turned up and he wasn’t there… “Fuck it.” Zeus translocated back to his office, beckoning to a hesitant worker who was hovering with a sheaf of papers. “Coda. Has anything happened to our mainframe system?”

“It’s all running perfectly, my lord.” Coda bowed low.

“No glitches, or page not found error messages?”

“Never, my lord.” Coda stayed bent over. “The system always runs perfectly.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Zeus stormed into his office, slamming the door behind him. “Reveal Paulie.” He waved his hands over the multitude of screens. Just as had happened in Paulie’s apartment, the screens shimmered, crackled, dinged and then the same message came up again – “Page Not Found.”

“He’s not a fucking page!” Running back out of his office, Zeus yelled at Coda. “There’s been a system breach in the search engine. Run a complete diagnostic on the system, including bios and network.”

“My lord.” If Coda was surprised to see him so soon, he’d never dare say so. “I promise you the whole system is working perfectly. There are no search glitches at all. See for yourself.” He waved his hand at the other workers, who were all bent over screens that were clearly showing scenes from life on earth.

“Get out of that chair.” Zeus pushed the