Stryker felt as if he could fly. He didn't know what it was about this woman, but she set fire to his soul. She always had.
"Didn't you two just get through doing that?" Medea asked in a surly tone.
Stryker pulled back with a laugh. "Are you going blind again, Daughter?"
"Scarred for life, thank you very much. I'm definitely going to need counseling."
Stryker traced the shape of Zephyra's lips before he gave her one more quick kiss. Then he looked back at his people. "Now that we know what we can do, let's tear those bastards apart. Davyn, open the bolt holes."
* * *
WAR STEPPED BACK AND LAUGHED AS HE watched the Daimons and the gallu tear into each other. It was absolutely beautiful.
"You are positively evil." Ker draped one long, graceful arm over his shoulder as she watched with him. "I love it."
It was so good to have her and Mache with him again.
"We still have the Malachai to deal with."
She sighed nonchalantly. "We will find him. Ma'at protects him, but she can't stand alone. I've been wanting a piece of her for quite some time. Have no fear. We'll both be appeased."
He watched as she split into ten beings.
"We'll find him," they said, their voices echoing. Then they took flight, leaving him alone with their source.
He sucked his breath in sharply at her ability to do that. It'd always made him hot. But there would be time for sex later. Right now they had to secure their freedom.
"Our fellow Greek gods are pulling together from other pantheons to come after us."
"Mache will handle them. He's already back with Eris, stirring them up against each other."
Eris . . . the goddess of discord. War had spent many a night in her bed, too. Though not an official member of his band, she'd been useful to him from time to time.
He stiffened as an idea struck him. "Get Eris. I have a job for her."
"And that is?"
"We need her to feed the Greek paranoia where Ma'at is concerned."
Ker frowned. "I don't understand."
"We convince the Greeks that she's going to use the Malachai to destroy them. As much as they hate anyone with ties to the Egyptians, they'll turn on her in a minute." He laughed again. "Think about it. Why else would she protect a Malachai unless her goal was to destroy the rest of the pantheons?"
"Because he's the balance."
War rolled his eyes. "You know that and I know that. But Eris can stir them up to where they won't think of it. Now go and feed their frenzy."
She vanished and left him to savor the scent of the bloodbath going on as the Daimons and gallu continued to clash.
This was what he'd been bred for.
It was a new world he was creating and it would just be a matter of time before he would have all of them dancing to his whims.
Now he just had one more thing to deal with and then the world would be his.
ZEPHYRA SAT ON STRYKER'S THRONE WHILE HE and his Daimons were off fighting the gallu. She'd sent Medea with her father, then stayed behind to sort through everything that had happened in the last few hours.
She needed time alone to think and to absorb all the complications that had blindsided her. It was all coming at her too quickly, and she was overwhelmed by her emotions and by the sheer magnitude of Stryker's presence. And his passion. But as she sat here alone in the darkness, for the first time in centuries she could see a better future.