He woke curled around her, front to back, his hand in hers, both nestled between her succulent tits. Not more than a handful, but a perfect fit for his palm. His dick swelled and hardened against her curvy butt. He’d lie here forever, but he was afraid he’d get restless and disturb her sleep.

He sure as hell didn’t want to leave the warmth of Aerie’s bed, of her body. Rolling reluctantly away from her, he eased off the mattress. His bare toes hit the cold floor and he winced and hopped quietly as he located the tactical pants he’d aggressively stripped off the night before. He couldn’t locate his shirt in the weak dawn light in Aerie’s bedroom. Grabbing his weapon and his phone from the nightstand, he then padded toward the exit.

Pausing in the doorway, he battled the urge to go straight back to bed, gather her in his arms and make love to her again. And again. The tiny hump of her body under the covers, head barely protruding from the beneath the heavy comforter, was still and peaceful. But overnight, she’d been erotic, giving. She’d taken his hard, fast loving with a carnality that surprised him. She twisted under the sheet, let out a sighing breath, gave a cute snore and resettled. An unaccustomed smile pulled the corners of his mouth as he eased it shut.

The sun rode low on the horizon, painting the sky cotton candy colors as Finn tiptoed into the kitchen. Even though Aerie had commented about how rude it was to hunt through someone’s cabinets, he knew she wouldn’t mind in this instance. Coffee was a priority.

A slight breeze wafted in through the window he opened over the sink. The cool air caressed the bare skin of his torso. Leaning against the counter, pants slung low around his hips, he scrubbed his knuckles over his sternum. The motion reminded him of how Aerie had speared her fingers through his chest hair. She hadn’t stopped there. Her hands had swept up his neck, over his cock, and even danced on the mark on his shoulder. The spot still buzzed from her touch. And the residual hum traveled all the way through his body, pooling heavy in his groin.

Her touch was incendiary. Bewitching

The coffeemaker chugged next to the sink, the steady drip punctuating his thoughts. To help her win the challenge, he was supposed to believe in something. Find the answer to a what if question he still hadn’t figured out yet. Maybe he was fucking magic as well. So much of the mystery of his blackouts and hair-trigger temper had been explained last night.

Outside, a stately oak tree dominated the back yard. Not a single leaf stirred on branches. Just how supernatural was he? Concentrating hard, he blew out a breath, imagining the tree limbs swaying in a breeze created by him. Nothing happened. Not a single leaf moved. With a snort, he scrubbed his palm over the crown of his head. The idea of him being magic crashed and burned. What an asshole.

Impatiently, he strode to the table. He collected the dirty dishes still littering the surface from yesterday. He carried the stack to the sink and turned on the tap to run water over them. Not a chance in hell of keeping his thoughts from turning again to Aerie and her family.

He was a descendant of the God of War. Fuck!

The pressure in his skull ratcheted up, but for a change, he stayed calm. Now he recognized the compression as an inbound immortal, not an impending blackout. He angled into the corner between the sink and stove and swept his glance around the room, waiting for whatever deity was popping in. The pulse seemed alive, prodding and poking. Not understanding why, he sensed frustration in the movement. The squeezing sensation eased with a pop, but no one appeared in the room with him. That alone made him tense. Was the inbound company Pierus, or his ugly-ass bird kid, Hate?

A tap sounded on the glass above the sink. He spun toward the sound, his hand automatically going to his side for his weapon. The one he’d laid on the kitchen table.

Zeus popped up below the window, a frown pinching the skin between his brows. Pulling his mouth to the side, he tipped his head toward the door.

Not Pierus, but not as awesome as say, the pizza delivery guy. Feet filled with lead, Finn plodded across the room. He swung the door open, then stepped to one side to allow Zeus to stalk past him.

“My daughter has her home much too tightly warded. Her own father barred.” There was no happy smile on his face to gentle his words. Far from it.

Zeus went immediately to the cabinet and jerked out two mugs. They clattered on the granite when he deposited them on the counter none-too-gently.

“Careful,” Finn cautioned. “You’ll wake Aerie.”

“Son, I know you are new to this whole pantheon idea, but one does not shush the king of gods.” The corner of Zeus’s mouth quirked up for an instant, them he pursed his lips back into a tight seam.

King or not, he wasn’t going to let the man wake Aerie. “She needs her rest. Yesterday’s riot was rough on her. Plus she didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. She, uh spent a lot of time…explaining this whole immortality thing to me.” Dumb shit! Why didn’t he just tell her dad they’d fucked all night long? Finn clenched his hand to keep from smacking his palm on the forehead.

“Yeah, okay.” Zeus directed a pointed gaze at Finn’s bare chest, smirked and handed him a full cup as he passed on the way to the table. Pointing his finger at the chair, he levitated it two inches and flicked his wrist and silently swept it back from the table, before lowering it back to the linoleum floor. At least he heeded the caution to be quiet.

Damn if Zeus didn’t smirk again as he did the same for the chair across from him, then nodded toward it. Finn remained standing when Zeus settled. The god slurped his coffee, a sound that surprised Finn. But hot coffee was hot coffee regardless of whether you were the king or not. Could a deity burn his tongue?

Finn studied the man while he waited for whatever Zeus had to say. Dude’s sense of fashion seemed to come with a healthy dose of mountain man. He was dressed as a cross between lumberjack and wilderness guide. A plaid wool shirt gaped open over a faded Beatles concert T-shirt. Khaki cargo shorts had at least five bulging pockets. Awful heavy wool socks, the kind Finn reserved only for hunting in the coldest part of winter, rose out of battered hiking boots. His Australian bush hat, one side fastened up, the other slouched down over his ear, had several tiny fishing flies hooked into the brim.

Zeus snapped his fingers, drawing Finn’s attention, then pointed to the gun lying in the middle of the table. “Can you do something with that?”

With the accompaniment of birds chirping in the trees in the backyard, Finn pushed away from the counter. He retrieved the weapon then laid it on top of the refrigerator. Carrying his mug, he finally claimed the seat across from Aerie’s dad. “What brings you here this early?”

“What? A father can’t have breakfast with his daughter?”

“Sure, but that’s not why you’re here before sun up.”

Zeus crossed one bony knee over the other and slouched in the chair before answering. “Finding out you are not what you believed yourself to be and then thrown into a challenge to save the world doesn’t happen every day. I wanted to give you some time to come to grips with it, then make sure all your questions were answered.”

Toying with the rim of his mug, Finn thought about what he needed to know. “Are you certain I’m the one to help? Have any of the other men who partnered with your daughters been immortals?”

“First you should understand you aren’t really immortal. You are the descendant of one of the major deities. Unlike me, or your ancestor, Mars, you will die. I only ask that you take care to avoid that final fate while working with my daughter.”

Finn lifted a shoulder, but said nothing.

“To answer your question…as Aerie’s challenge was beginning, you shared a kiss. That was the action to start the entire affair. You had no option but to help at that point.”

“We live in a free will society. I am not obligated to help.”

“But if you don’t, Aerie would face Hate on her own. I don’t like the way Pierus structured the challenge, requiring the help of a mortal man, but according to Dice, we must abide by the terms he set forth.”

Finn wracked his brain, trying to recall the Greek mythology units he’d sat through in middle school history. His head throbbed a little and the mark on his shoulder pinged with a sizzling current. “Dice?”

“Goddess of Justice. We are in the process of petitioning her to adjudicate this dispute. But our legal system mimics your government’s system. Slower than sludge.” Lip pursed, Zeus looked like he sucked a lemon.

“If all the other men were mortal, and I’m a descendant of Mars, could my participation be considered…I don’t know, illegal or cheating?”

“Possibly, but Pierus has started hand picking his contestants. Ben Jordan was the first during Lia’s challenge. He selected you. That is in our favor should he cry cheater like the whiny little bitch he is.”

Yep, Zeus just dissed Pierus. Finn would have laughed if he could. Cop instincts kicking in, Finn segued to another line of questioning. “Why did you do it? Curse the guy’s children?”

“It happened a very long time ago.”

“Answer the question.” Finn took the tone reserved for suspects in an interview room. Deep, guttural, and commanding. After all, interrogation was his specialty.

Zeus’s eyes flashed bright blue, like lightning just erupted deep within. Oops, probably shouldn’t have ordered the grand poohbah of gods like that.

The flame faded and Zeus leaned forward, propping his forearms on the table. “I was prideful. Pierus used to strut around like a peacock, crowing about how wonderful his offspring were. How they were prettier than my daughters, smarter and more powerful.” He dragged a hand over his jaw, paused to take a sip then continued. “Gaia warned me against taking action. I should have listened. If you repeat that to her, I will change you into a salamander and put you in a cage with kittens.”

Finn couldn’t stop the burst of laughter. He held three fingers, like a freaking Boy Scout. “She won’t hear it from me. So what happened?”

“One day, Pierus promoted a foot race between his girls and mine. He gloated that his children were better athletes. When he threw down the challenge, I had to pick it up. Possibly the original instance of dick measuring.” Zeus shook his head, like the thought still disgusted him.

Finn noticed movement in the hall behind Zeus. Aerie silently leaned against the doorframe, one arm crossed over her chest. She tipped her chin up, pressed a finger to her lips, motioning him to silence.

Oblivious to her presence, Zeus continued. “When my children won that first contest, he accused me of somehow supernaturally influencing the outcome. I couldn’t let him call me a cheater. We had words. He pissed me off, and I made his girls pay.”

“Why change them into magpies?” Surely there could have been a more loveable creature he could have picked. Contemplating Aerie possibly spending the rest of eternity as a fucking ugly bird bit hard. He held her eye across the room, sending her a tight smile.

“Whenever those girls were together, they squawked and pecked at each other. And the way they dressed, always in black with dark kohl on their eyes and lips, reminded me of crows.” He frowned and rubbed his hands down his thighs. “I thought magpies a kinder choice. It was natural. And just. Humans had a difficult time curbing their natural tendencies toward the evils those girls represented. They certainly didn’t need any extra influence from immortals.”

“So, in your eyes, you were doing humankind a huge favor.”

“You sound just like Gaia. She didn’t speak to me for many years after I cursed Pierus’s children.”

Aerie broke her silence and strode forward. “Zeus, she didn’t talk to you for weeks after that, not years.” She greeted her dad with a kiss on the cheek.

“You heard all that?”

She dropped Finn’s shirt in his lap, a blush on her cheeks. “Yeah. I don’t know if I ever knew the whole story. I remember that race though. Those girls cheated. Two of them ganged up on Mel, tripped her and pushed her down. Lia was pissed. She faced them down on the back side of the trail and screamed at them like a fishmonger’s wife. It was dramatic.”

Finn jerked his shirt over his head, settling the fabric over his hips. “Which one is Lia?”

“Muse of Comedy. Mel is her twin,” Aerie explained as she reached into the cupboard for a cup.

Finn lost his breath as Aerie’s top lifted away from the waist of the sleep pants riding low on her hips, revealing the sexy dip at the top of her buttocks. There was a slightly purple blemish on the skin, corresponding to the place he’d sucked and licked her backside. She had the cutest case of freshly fucked bed-head. He wanted to take her right back to the bedroom and pound into her until she screamed his name.

He retracted his tongue into his mouth, dragged his gaze from Aerie’s sumptuous ass and focused on Zeus. “Is there nothing you can do to lift the curse?”

“Certainly, but now this whole thing is more treacherous. The Pierides can’t be unleashed on mortals. We’ve protected humankind too long to allow their destruction now.” Zeus pushed up from his chair and paced, his boots clomping on the floor. “Pierus intends to take over Olympus, killing me in the process. We will waste no time second guessing my choice over six thousand years ago.”

Aerie moved toward the chair Zeus had vacated, but changed direction before claiming it. Instead, she approached Finn, nudged his hand from the table and slipped onto his lap. While Zeus paced, sloshing his coffee on her clean floor, Aerie pressed her lips to Finn’s, then licked the pointed end of her tongue into his mouth.

Finn’s dick jumped to life under her lush bottom, getting harder when she wiggled over the thick roll straining for release from his tactical pants. Going commando was probably not the best idea. The rough fabric bit into his erection, the friction between it and her soft ass pushing him to near mindlessness.

Zeus cleared his throat loudly. “Aerie. This is serious business.”

Her breath sighed against his skin. “So is this.” She slung her arm around Finn’s neck, and faced her father. “How did you get in, anyway?”

“I let him in.”

“Your wards held. You shouldn’t bar your father this way.”

“I thought a little privacy was in order. Finn had…questions that needed my undivided attention.” The smile on her face pegged the needle on the innocent to straight-up-fucking-wicked scale. Finn’s blood hammered through his veins.

Zeus rolled his eyes and directed his question to Finn. “And did my daughter successfully answer them for you?”

Twisting on his lap, Aerie ground down hard on his groin as she faced her dad. “Actually, no. I couldn’t answer why Finn doesn’t come back with memories. We assume since he is partisan, he should.”

“We are not sure yet whether he is a member of Mars’s legion or not. The fact he had a nixae leads me to believe he is.”

“His aura is blue in the Hollow.”

“I believe Mars is investigating Finn’s lineage. So for now, this question must remain unanswered.” He paused and tipped his chin down.

Finn’s phone buzzed with a text alert. He stretched across Aerie’s chest, making sure to brush her tits as he reached for the device. The contact made them both gasp. Finn lowered the hand holding the phone to Aerie’s thigh and opened the message from Anson.

Hey, even immortals have to show up at the office. Barber is looking for you.

“Looks like I need to get to work.” Reluctantly, he urged Aerie off his lap. She balanced with her hand on his shoulder.

Zeus growled deep in his throat. “Mars just reported. It appears we can expect more trouble. Phillip is on his way back. Aerie, please adjust your wards so he can shift in directly.”

“What’s going on?” Her voice trembled and her fingers tightened on his shoulder.

“Problems at the University. Nothing the police can’t handle, but Mars’s security is on standby if needed. Lykos was spotted lurking by the gymnasium.”

“Well, damn.” Aerie inched away to let Finn rise. She closed her eyes, and the light dimmed in the room, then flared bright again. An immediate compression of the air tightened around his body.

Blue mist coiled in the corner of the kitchen. Phillip’s body solidified as the vapor cloud dissipated.

“First shift, reporting for duty.” He shot Aerie a cheeky grin, then bowed toward Zeus, touching his forehead. “Good morning, sir.” He waited for Zeus’s nod.

“Keep an eye on my child today. With Aerie cementing Finn’s assistance, Pierus might get desperate. Anything can happen.”

“Yes, sir.” Phillip turned to tidy up the mess still on the counters from the meal that had been interrupted last night. He scraped a baguette and crumbs from a cutting board into the trash.

“You couldn’t have brought donuts or bagels?” Aerie pouted.

Phillip smirked over his shoulder. “The line at the shift through was too long.”

There was something Finn chose not to think about. Drive through in the Hollow thingy. Too confusing for sure. Maybe later after he got the hang of it.

Zeus levitated, skimmed to where Aerie stood, then lowered back to the floor. He pressed his forehead against hers, a silent communication between father and daughter. The slight smile on his face was mirrored on Aerie’s.

Seeing the emotion on their faces, the presentation of a happy family vibe shifted something in Finn’s chest. With his own experience growing up, he’d never thought about how other families demonstrated love. His father used to claim he beat Finn’s mom because he loved her. The lousy bastard. And with his job, with the incidents of domestic disturbance he’d been called out on, he’d never trusted that being part of a happy family was in the cards for him.

Until Aerie.

Zeus’s voice broke through his reverie. “Have you taught your mortal how to mask his shift from the Hollow?”

Her mortal. He liked the sound of that.

“Not yet. I was going to steer him through the void to work today since that is where his car is.”

“Since I’m leaving now, I’ll do it.” Zeus beckoned him over. “Ready to get to work, son?”

“Let me get my boots.” Finn grabbed Aerie’s hand and dragged her down the hall after him.

He sat on the bed to pull his socks on.

Aerie sat next to him. “You’re not too freaked out about traveling with my dad?”

Bent over lacing up his boots, he tipped his face toward her and hit her with a ridiculous grin. “Nah. He called me your mortal.”

Tiny lines around her eyes crinkled. “That should have terrified you.”

He stood and pulled her to her feet, settling his arms low around her waist. “I like the idea of being your mortal.” He pecked her mouth, sipping her lower lip between his. He groaned. “I’d like nothing more than to tumble you right back to that bed.”

“With my dad in the house?”

“I’d do it, but you’re a screamer.” He liked that about her.

She punched him in the shoulder. “You do real good things to me.”

He kissed her longer this time, relishing the smooth slide of her tongue over his.

“Detective Finnegan!” Zeus hollered.

Aerie chuckled. “Better go. He isn’t always nice when he’s impatient. He might drop you in the fountain in front of the police station.”

Feeding his utility belt through the loops on his pants, he followed her back down the hall. Phillip handed Finn the gun he had stowed on the fridge at Zeus’s request. He secured it in the holster, and faced Aerie.

“I’ll see you later, right?”

“Come back when you finish work. You can relieve Phillip for the evening.”

Her smile promised some naughty entertainment.

Zeus snorted, then laid a hand on Finn’s arm and levitated them both upward. Cool vapor surrounded his body as his shape misted.

The last thing he saw before blinking into their Hollow was Aerie blowing him a kiss. His misty body went hard, which was a weird sensation since he no longer had a solid form.

With that kind of sendoff, today was guaranteed to be spectacular.