“Back off,” Finn ordered. He turned his attention to Aerie. He didn’t like seeing another man’s lips on hers, but he liked even less seeing her experience the amount of pain he’d witnessed. Both had ripped his guts to shreds.

Pushing away his jealousy, he cupped her nape, and drew her to him. “Are you okay?”

Aerie flicked her gaze to him, gave him a gentle smile and a nod. “Fine. I’m so sorry. I would have never allowed him near me,” she whispered.

“I’m just glad you’re better. Jesus, Aerie, I thought you were going to die.”

Drawing her knuckles over the stubble on his jaw, she held his gaze momentarily. “The thought crossed my mind, too.

Callie grabbed Aerie’s shoulder and jerked her from Finn’s arms.

“Hey! Dammit, Callie, that hurt!” Aerie knocked her hand away and rubbed the muscles Callie had dug into.

“Probably not nearly as much as seeing you kiss Lykos hurt me.” If steam could have come from the woman’s ears it would have. She leaned in and sniffed the air near Aerie’s mouth. Her nostrils flared, like she’d caught a whiff of something offensive. “I can smell him on you.”

Aerie stepped back, bumping into Finn’s chest. “Goddess, Callie, we all stink like him right now. Anytime we’re in close proximity to a satyr you know that stank gets on you. You practically have to bathe in tomato juice to cut the smell.”

“It’s worse on you. He shouldn’t have kissed you. He should only be kissing…” She trailed off, clenching her fingers into tight fists. She went up on her toes like a boxer getting ready to release a knockout punch.

Finn stepped in front of Aerie, tucking her safely behind him. He put as much don’t-give-me-no-shit attitude into his voice as he’d use with a convicted felon. “Lady, back the hell off. Aerie’s had enough today.”

Two of the other Muses Finn couldn’t name stepped toward Callie but she shook off their approach with one hand held up in their direction. They both lurched to a stop, mouths hanging open like they hit a wall she’d erected.

“Stop right there.” Holding her other sisters in place with one hand, Callie spun her attention back to Aerie. The woman shook her head. “Not until I’ve had my say. You don’t get to make out with Lykos. You’ve known he’s been mine forever.”

“What the fuck, Callie? You’ve hated him since the second century when he tried to trick Gaia away from Zeus. Are you freaking crazy?” Aerie clutched his waist and tried to shove him out of the way.

“Dammit, Aerie! Calm down. You were just on death’s door.” Finn couldn’t kill the urge to protect. The air tightened around his chest and his vision clouded. Fuck, knowing you’re somehow immortal doesn’t stop the blackouts when you’re pissed. He grabbed Aerie’s hand. If he was blinking out, he’d take her with him.

Callie lunged, raking her long fingernails across his cheek. He ducked but Aerie didn’t. Callie tangled her fingers in Aerie’s hair and jerked hard. Aerie howled and tried to retreat, but Callie’s grip was too intense.

“Calliope, cease this moment!” Mars’s thunderous voice caused the partisan guards lining up around the group to flinch. Even Finn could see flickering in the shimmering mask they’d constructed around the immortals. They were in danger of discovery by the people attending the pep rally.

“Fuck off, Mars. I’m pissed at her and she’s going to pay.” Callie’s muscles bunched as she prepared to pull Aerie’s hair again.

Finn caught Callie’s wrist in a viselike grip and bore down hard, squeezing the fine bones until he could have snapped them like twigs. Callie screeched in pain, and released her grip on Aerie’s fine red hair. Mars grasped Callie around the waist and hauled her back against his chest. He spared a look at Finn. “Go!”

Pulling Aerie around in front of him, Finn secured an arm around her waist. “Hold on, princess.” He held his breath, shot them six inches off the ground, and misted both of them out of harm’s way.

“Goddamn it, Finn! I wasn’t through.” Her voice banged around his head like a rock hurled at a wall. A puff of mist hit his cheek, like she’d just blown out an exasperated breath. “She pulled my hair. She hasn’t done that since I was two and she was a bitchy twelve-year old.”

“Both of you are too old for hair pulling.”

“She started it.”

He bit back his chuckle. He’d bet on Aerie any day. She might be the Muse of Love, but she’d held her own in a catfight.

In the Hollow, the humidity from their mist forms intensified the odor clinging to her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, princess, but you smell rank.”

“Lykos said I smelled like freshly fucked female.”

Finn laughed. “Definitely not what I’m getting. Maybe closer to two days of unwashed hooker with a hint of brimstone.”

“Not scoring any points here, Finnegan.”

“But once I soap your body in the shower to scrub that scent off you, I’m going to mark you again. You’ll thank me later.

“As soon as I shower his stench off my body, we’ll have to travel to Olympus. I’m sure Zeus will require a report. Fucking Callie had better not come near me.”

Taking to this method of travel like a pro, Finn swept along the energy trails of the Hollow. “We’ll save time and shower together.”

“Finn, where are you taking me?” Her voice was a sexy stroke across his mind.

“My house. Everyone will be looking for you at your place. I figured I’d buy us a little extra time.”

Her mist pulsed in his arms, still not quite the sunny yellow he’d become accustomed to seeing. Even the beating yellow core in his mist seemed duller than it had on the trip to the stadium. Although he didn’t exhibit any of the same symptoms Aerie had, it made him wonder just how closely allied their existences were.

Shrugging away the thought of his wellbeing so closely tied to hers, he shifted into his house, landing directly in his master bathroom. His descent to the slate floor was more controlled than the first time he’d tried to move them anywhere.

He had the water running to warm up before he turned to find Aerie stripping off her clothes. She kicked the offensive smelling garments into the corner. “Can I borrow your tooth brush?”

He handed it to her, along with a tube of paste. Standing stark naked in front of the sink, she set to work brushing. She looked magnificent, toned and lean. Too bad she reeked. Stifling a smile, he set a bottle of mouthwash next to the sink. “Do you want bleach or soap for your shower?”

At least she laughed. “Bleach would work better, but I’ll take the soap.”

Opening a cabinet, he grabbed two fluffy towels, and a bottle of flowery smelling body wash he’d gotten as a sample in the mail. Finn adjusted the temperature of the water to this side of scalding, and kicked off his shoes.

Aerie delicately spit out the foaming toothpaste. “You weren’t kidding about showering together to save water.”

“Never kid about showering with a beautiful woman.” Finn cocked a grin her way.

She gargled a swig of mouthwash, then spit into the sink. “I’ll let you wash my back.” Holding the body wash, she scooted under the rain head shower, tipping her head back, letting the water cascade over her.

He unclipped his shoulder harness, and pulled the gun from the holster as he walked to his bedroom closet. After locking the firearm safely away, he discarded the harness and returned to the bathroom. He dropped his shirt on top of Aerie’s clothes in the corner and stepped out of his socks and pants, then joined her in the shower. Ducking around the front of Aerie, he let the stinging spray beat on his head. The smell of lilacs rose in the steamy air as she scrubbed away the remnants of the foul odor. Being this close to her in a steamy shower spiked arousal in him. He didn’t bother to fight the erection springing to life.

Curling her hand around his hip, she shoved him to the side. “You’re hogging all the hot water.”

Finn stepped behind her, poured shampoo in his palm and then massaged it over her scalp. Together they washed her clean of the memory of Lykos, his disgusting kiss and the entire event at the stadium.

A steady knocking on his skull finally seeped into his conscious as he helped her rinse her hair. The insistent tap intensified once he became aware.

“Where are you? Is Aerie safe?” A voice he identified as Zeus flitted around his brain.

“Your dad is looking for you. Are you blocking him?”

“Hell yeah. Tell him I’m fine. We’ll be there in…” She tossed a glance over her shoulder and down at his groin. “…an hour?”

A slow smile curled Finn’s lips as hot blood slammed into his dick. “Maybe two,” he replied. He shot a terse reply back to the king of gods. “She’s in the shower. We’ll be there as soon as she’s satisfied she doesn’t stink.” He shut down the link.

Grasping her shoulders, he turned her toward him and cupped her breasts and scattered kisses across her collarbone. All thoughts, of the challenge…of magpies and satyrs…fled before the all-consuming idea of being in Aerie.

* * *

Aerie hadn’t let Finn kiss her mouth during their interlude in the shower. The taste of Lykos’s kiss was still foul and rank. It certainly wasn’t a flavor she wanted to share with him. She only prayed the aftertaste faded fast. She missed Finn’s kisses.

After brushing her teeth a third time in the past hour, she threw Finn’s toothbrush and the clothes she’d been wearing in the trash. Finn loaned her a T-shirt and shorts for the trip to her place for a change of clothing.

Aerie was quiet as they moved through the Hollow toward Olympus. The tension Finn had swept away with his strong body, flared back to life. What the hell had happened to Callie? They shimmered out of the Hollow into Zeus’s office.

The place was a curious dichotomy of opulent and austere. His desk was devoid of ornamentation. Just a utilitarian surface holding only a gigantic monitor. No papers littered the surface. The complicated phone system sat behind the desk on an equally spare credenza. But a plush seating area across the room had a brocade couch and matching chairs with overstuffed cushions. A low bouquet of orange and red flowers rested on the carved wooden coffee table. Aerie recognized it as one of the tables that had been in the reception room of their London townhome in the late eighteenth century.

Aerie tightened her grip on Finn’s hand when she spied Callie cowering in a corner. Anger flashed in her sister’s eyes, but she didn’t approach. Probably because Mars and a pair of partisans stood guard over her.

Zeus glided toward Aerie, hovering two inches above the floor. Once again, his choice of clothing made her smile. Somehow, Gaia had let him out of the house with blue and green plaid golf pants and a striped shirt. He wore his favorite red Chucks without socks. When he reached her side, he did something she couldn’t remember him doing ever before. He wrapped her in a hug so tight it squeezed the breath from her lungs.

“I was afraid we’d lost you,” he whispered in her ear.

“You knew what was happening?” Aerie tightened her arms around his neck as he lifted her off the ground. The thought of Zeus knowing she was in danger saddened her.

“I received regular updates from Mars as you battled Pierus and Lykos. I do not like that they did something to sicken you.”

Aerie leaned back in his arms and laid her forehead to his, letting him see into her. “I’m fine, Dad.”

Closing his bright blue eyes, Zeus absorbed the essence of her, looking for truth in her statement. A tiny smile grew on his lips.

Behind them, Callie growled, the sound feral in intensity. Zeus lowered their feet to the floor and released his hold on Aerie. Risking a glance toward the corner, she noted that Callie’s eyes were glazed and her upper lips curled in an unbecoming snarl.

“Zeus, what is wrong with Callie? She’s always been cranky, but never this…this angry.” And certainly never at Aerie. Of all the Muses, she and Callie had gotten along best. Until this challenge.

“I have asked Asclepius to examine her, but I believe somehow Hate or Pierus has corrupted something within. You must not hold her attack against her. I do not believe she was in complete control.”

“What? You think someone enthralled her? How is that even possible?”

“Pierus is resurrecting some very old ways in his quest to defeat us. We saw in Lia’s challenge how he possessed a mortal’s body to cast down the gauntlet. I didn’t believe he’d ever try to take control of an immortal this way. But its seems he will do anything to conquer us.”

Behind Aerie, the door to the office opened. Eirenne entered, followed by Asclepius and Hygeia.

The healer hurried to Aerie’s side. “How are you feeling?”

Aerie shrugged. “Doesn’t seem to be any lingering ill-effects.” She bent her head, knowing H was going to lay hands on her.

While Hygeia examined her, Asclepius laid his hands on Callie’s scalp. She knocked him away. He pointed to the partisans and they each grabbed an arm to hold her still. An enraged shriek rent the air, but the guards didn’t let her go. Laying his hands on her head again, the father of medicine closed his eyes.

“I sense no residual ill-effects from the battle,” Hygeia reported, a happy grin lightening her features. She cast a wink toward Finn. “In fact, you seem really good.”

Heat flushed into Aerie’s face. Of course the healer would be able to read the residual energy from her time in Finn’s shower. In Callie’s corner, Asclepius mumbled in ancient Sumerian, still clutching her head between his palms.

Eirenne looked up from her quiet consultation with Zeus. “Dice is dispatching Themis and Nomos back to the Oracle. Lucky me, I get to go and play referee between those two.” She rolled her eyes. “We’ll lay all the information we have so far before her and will be requesting that she set aside the challenge and find a just punishment for Pierus.”

“I should have stripped him of all his powers after the first challenge.” Zeus pounded one fist into the other palm. “If I had, then my daughters could focus on doing their jobs. I already sense the world is more gray because their focuses are split.”

Guilt riddled her psyche. She had been lax in inspiring new couples to find love. And if not for Bernie and Larry running the office, her business would surely be suffering. But she couldn’t allow her sense of culpability to get in the way. “Zeus, this isn’t on you, or on us. And it won’t last that much longer. If he keeps up at this pace, we’ll be done in a couple of months. We won’t take responsibility for the evil Pierus has wrought thanks to his conceit and pride.”

“But we will stop his sorry ass this time,” Finn added.

He said we. There was a gigantic shift in her chest as she processed his words. She was proud of how he’d taken on the challenge and made it his own personal quest. He might think he lacked the capacity to love, but she’d argue that point with him all day long.

At the sound of whimpering in the corner, Aerie dragged her gaze away from Finn’s rugged features. Tears leaked on Callie’s cheeks, the anguish and dread evident in the thick rivulets coursing down her cheeks. As evident as the pleading in her eyes. “Aerie.”

The plaintive moan raked Aerie’s senses, immediately clearing the worry that Callie might be permanently mad at her. She sent a tremulous smile to this oldest sibling, tears forming in her own eyes. Callie tried to stand, but the partisans held her arms firmly.

“Let her up,” Aerie commanded as she crossed the room.

Callie surged out of her seat the minute the partisans released her, and they collided halfway. Aerie jolted backward as Callie nearly tackled her.

Holding her tightly, Callie wailed, “I’m sorry. It wasn’t me. I don’t know what came over me.”

Aerie stroked Callie’s thick, russet hair and crooned to her about it not being her fault. Kissing her sister’s cheek, she infused the gesture with her hallmark of love, peace and calm. “It’s okay, love. It’s never been a secret that you abhor Lykos. We all do. He’s a big bastard. I know you’d never go near him.” She bent and whispered for Callie alone. “But stay away from Finn. Him I’d fight you for.”

That earned her the chuckle she sought.

Grasping Callie’s shoulders, Aerie nudged her away. “I’m glad Asclepius could free you from the thrall. Maybe he freed you from some of the grumpy that’s been claiming you lately.”

Asclepius grunted. “That is not the fault of any possession. She comes by it naturally. There’s no fixing her moodiness.”

“Hey!” Callie glared at the medicine man, but soon turned her gaze to Zeus. She dipped her head, a sign of fealty and remorse. “Father, I’m sorry if any of my actions have caused you distress.”

Zeus crowded in next to them, wrapped them both in a hug and pressed his forehead to Callie’s. Aerie had no idea what thoughts their father filtered directly to Cal’s mind, but it brought a tiny smile to her older sister’s face.

Backing away, Zeus indicated the seating area. “Let’s talk. Mars, you may dismiss your staff. I do not believe we have need of them. Plus, Finn is here to help, if necessary.”

Mars nodded to the partisan guards. They bowed and touched their fists to their chests, then quickly left the room.

Callie settled on one of the chairs. Aerie tucked herself into the corner of the sofa nearest her. She took hold of Callie’s hand on her left, while Finn dropped to the couch right next to Aerie. He laced his fingers through hers. His touch, the heat from his palm, seeped calm and relaxation into her soul. She pressed a fast kiss to his jaw, pleased to see that smile she loved. He laid his thumb right over the pulse point in her wrist.

Zeus grunted as he lowered himself to another chair. “Now that things have returned to normal…well, almost normal, we need a strategy.”

“Zeus, Pierus sickens with this challenge as well. I saw a pustule of disease in his aura before he shifted fully out of the Hollow. Just as this challenge is taking a toll on you, so is it on him. We must find a way to use that to our advantage.”

“He is expending a lot of power to possess people and thrall mortals and gods alike. Asclepius,” he said, pointing to the god, “you and Hygeia should look into how we can exploit his weakness. Or at least, how we should go about breaking his thralls in the future. I can’t have the Muses bickering when they should be at their strongest to circumvent the takeover of Olympus.”

Callie cleared her throat. “Why was Lykos able to thrall me? Satyrs do not have that gift. The ability to mesmerize, yes, but not a thrall.”

“That dirty bastard Pierus must have endowed him with this special power. Are you certain it was him and not Pierus?” Aerie asked, a bit curious herself.

Callie shrugged.

“Zeus, one thing I noticed was that Hate’s transformation to human form is not as pronounced at this stage of the challenge as I believe it was for her sisters. Any thoughts about that?”

He father pondered the question for several seconds. “Perhaps she lacks confidence in her ability to win? Love is a powerful force.”

It was Aerie’s turn to shrug. “Doing the best I can.”

Finn squeezed her hand, and angled his head so only Aerie could see his smile. “You’re doing great, princess. You never say die. That’s what I love about you.”

Her eyes grew wide. He just dropped the L word right in front of her sister and father. The shift she’d felt in her chest earlier dimmed in comparison to the earthquake shaking her right now. Did his use of the word get them one step closer to answering Finn’s what if? Not to mention what it did to her heart. She shoved emotion away and focused on the problem, like a good Muse.

“So our strategy going forward is what…wait and see? Because I can’t for the lives of me figure out what to do next.” And as much as she hated feeling as if she were in the dark, she didn’t see a clear path to victory.

“I believe the next demonstration Pierus comes up with will be the last for Hate. We must stay vigilant. No time to let down our guard.” Mars pushed away from the wall he’d been holding up and paced to the center of the room. “Michael, I know you are always present with Aerie, but I believe we will have Phillip and Anson move into the carriage house.” When Aerie started to protest, Mars quelled her with a hard stare. “They are moving in as we speak. Phillip should have been there a week ago, but with Finn’s presence it wasn’t deemed dire. That has changed now.”

“Mars, I don’t want to inconvenience either of them.” Plus that meant less privacy for her and Finn.

Mars cut her off with a wave of his hand. “We will also be starting regular patrols to shadow any DCPD units dispatched to incidents involving disputes, or mob action. My commandant has already arranged this with Captain Barber.”

Finn’s brows lifted. “He agreed to that?”

“We ‘encouraged’ him to allow it.” A tiny smirk danced on Mars’s face.

What he probably meant was coerced. Even if it was by supernatural design, force was still force.

Callie yawned and pushed to her feet. “I am going home to shower the satyr stink from my body and burn these clothes. Too bad.” She glanced at her cinnamon colored sweater. “This was one of my favorites.”

Crimson mist churned around Callie’s legs, rising higher until it consumed her entire form. She wiggled her fingers in a goodbye. Finn pinched his nose and blew a breath through his pursed lips. Aerie wondered if he’d ever get used to the concussive arrival and departure of immortals.

She stood.

Eirenne and Hygeia took the opportunity to hug Aerie as they misted out, their cool vapor touching her skin, heating it with the glow of friendship they offered as they departed.

She drew Finn to his feet. Zeus groaned as Asclepius helped him from the plush chair. Swatting the healer’s hand away, Zeus nodded then pointed to the ceiling. “It is late and my bones are weary. Everyone out.” He turned away, but spun back around. He pressed his forehead to Aerie’s and relayed a message just for her.

“Even with all the unknowns, you are performing admirably in this challenge. I feel stronger now than I did with the last go-round with Hunger. Keep up the good work. I love you, daughter.”

His words were a sweet balm for her soul. Sure, they still didn’t exactly know the question Finn was meant to answer. That fact meant the challenge was far from over. But she had every confidence that together they would conquer hate.

She hoped she wasn’t wrong.