Chapter 1
The Zodiac
Pru sat at the table in a foul mood which was nothing unusual of late. She’d turned to the stars to help her reclaim the male she wanted and needed more than anything. The newspaper smeared her fingers black as she read the news under her sign again.
“What the fuck does this mean? ‘You will get a pleasant surprise in the mail’. I never get the mail. This is a bunch of hogwash!” Pru cursed.
Annie flushed at her sister’s foul mouth. This was a new thing where Pru was concerned. Herakles was gone and couldn’t be found. He and Pru had hit it off, or at least they seemed to when they’d met at a dinner party Annie and Ram had held. Pru had wanted more, expected it even. The male had seemed agreeable, attentive to the extreme at the party. Now he was in the wind, an apt saying for a Pegasus.
“You never bothered with horoscopes before,” Annie observed. Sipping her coffee, she felt helpless to aid her sister. To meet your fated mate and be rejected was worse than a slap in the face. The male had been handsome too. The tall, dark saying had applied completely. Annie would say he was almost as handsome as her mate, Ram.
Herk, as he’d said to call him, was muscular and had dark brown hair. He wore a mustache when she’d met him, but his friend had mentioned he wore a beard sometimes and also shaved bare at times. His eyes were brown in both his forms, human and Pegasus. As a Pegasus, he was white as snow, and his wings were huge. He was the grandson of the original Pegasus who had flown away with Hercules to wherever the old gods had retired to.
Now they ran with the wild horses on the Great Plains. Annie grinned as she remembered the story Sophie had told her about how she had met Herk.
“Let’s go see if the pegasus are where you last saw them,” Sophie demanded of Knossos the dragon she eventually mated.
“Aw, hell. Why not? Give me your hand.” Knossos said, and she did so they flashed to the Great Plains where the wild horses ran.
“Some of these are pegasus’?” Sophie questioned.
“At least a tenth of the herd. The leader is Herakles. He’s the grandson of the original Pegasus.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Not even a little bit. Want to meet him?” Knossos asked, and she later realized there was mischief in his eyes.
Sophie hesitated before she nodded. Suddenly she disappeared and reappeared on the back of a huge white horse. He reared, and her eyes nearly popped out. “What do I do?” She yelled at her future mate.
“Grab the flowing mane on the very top of his head!”
“I don’t see it!”
“It’s there. Just reach over where it ought to be.” Knossos instructed. Sophie did, and now she was riding his neck as she held tight to that part of his mane.
Herk ran, and his hooves thundered as he moved like wildfire across the plain. Sophie had described how terrified she was. Had she flown off, she would have been trampled to death by his hooves and those of the others running alongside him. Herk came to an abrupt stop, but Sophie hung on with all she had. Her fingers hurt, she held on so hard.
Herk bucked higher and higher each time, but Sophie was stubborn, and she didn’t want to die. Her fingers gripped the mane so tightly if she fell it would be because it was ripped out by the roots. Herk seemed to come to the same conclusion. He stopped and morphed into his human form. With no mane to hold on to, Sophie slid off him. When he turned to face her, she stared in shock. The male was gorgeous.
As entertaining as Annie had found the story, she was glad it had been Sophie, her cousin, rather than her that had ridden the pegasus. She never told Pru that story for fear she might be jealous. Annie was mated to Ram, a phoenix, and she wouldn’t want to hear about another woman riding him in either form either.
“Males are assholes,” Pru muttered before taking a bite of her stack of pancakes. Anger and frustration had added to her appetite. She ate twice the food she normally ate, but her anger burned off the calories. There had been no weight gain.
Annie’s appetite was better too, but her reason was that she was eating for two. That was also why she was craving pickles and sardines. Not by themselves, she was adding them to things she would normally consider disgusting. Sardines and vanilla ice cream or pickles with jam sandwiches.
Her baby would probably come out screaming for sardines with its milk. Annie had never liked sardines at all before. Pickles were okay, but not with ice cream. That was just weird. Whatever, her biggest concern was Pru. Her attitude grew worse with each passing day, and there was no Herk in sight.
It reinforced the fact that most males were indeed assholes. Luckily she’d gotten a gem. Even Knossos who’d seemed rather bad at first had turned into a great guy. She’d worried about Sophie for a while, but her cousin had tamed the dragon. Unfortunately, a Pegasus who hid was hard to tame. Herk might be the biggest challenge for the females in her family to date. It was a good thing the females in her family took on challenges successfully all the time.
Now that they were done eating, she wasn’t sure what she should do. Normally, she ate breakfast with Ram at the Phoenix HQ. Since Pru had been rejected by Herk, she had made an attempt to see her a few times a week to try to cheer her up. So far, it wasn’t working. Had Ram rejected her, nothing could have cheered her up either. Somehow they had to get that damn pegasus to come back and claim his mate.
Annie didn’t understand how anyone could turn from a fated mate anyway. The drive to be with them, the need to protect them, and the overwhelming desire to claim them had to be painful to ignore.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Sis. It will turn out alright. Sometimes all it takes is time.” Annie said, and she prayed to the goddess she was right.
Pru shot her a look. “Yeah, right. See you tomorrow.”
Annie felt bad as she left her parent’s house. Just when things seemed to be getting better for everyone, this happened. Now she had to leave to do the work she still carried out for her family. The baby bump that Ram found so cute didn’t yet interfere with the work she had to do. Sophie’s magic had improved, and she now took on some of the load Annie had before she’d mated. That was because Ram wanted her to drop to four days a week as soon as they mated. Soon she would drop to three. Two would follow that then finally one just before she was off to have her baby.
The surprise had been when their mother had approved of the plan. Everyone hoped others that hadn’t been trained in magic originally would be good enough to take up the slack since Sophie was expecting too now. It seemed there was a population explosion taking place at the same time as novices were finally getting training to be all they could be. It was both scary and exciting. Finding fated mates was always exciting. Expecting a baby was always a gift. The uncertain future that loomed in front of them, that was the scary part.
Annie’s work kept her busy until noon when she stopped at HQ to meet Ram for lunch. “Hey, Sweetheart. I wasn’t sure if you’d make it. I’ll order you lunch. You can help me snack on mine until it comes.” Ram said as she slid into a seat next to him.
Her baby bump was barely noticeable, but her appetite, that was king sized. She was eating like three people but not gaining much weight. She would enjoy it while she could. Normally she watched her weight because she gained easily.
“So how is Pru doing? Is she planning any nasty surprises for Herk?” Ram asked.
“Could you blame her? She has not said anything, but I’m surprised he’s not been turned into a frog or a snake already. Pru’s always been one to take action first and think later. If I was him, I’d buy some magical protection, the best available.”
“Maybe he has?”
“I hope for his sake he has. Pru can be difficult at times, and she could go into a rage. This time, I wouldn’t even blame her.” Annie admitted.
“That’s the problem, no one would blame her. I don’t really know Herk, but Knossos does and even he was surprised by his behavior. If he’s like this with women all the time, it’s a wonder he’s lived so long.”
Annie agreed. Had he made it clear it was a one night stand, no one would blame him. Instead, he’d acted completely charmed and smitten until they were apart. Out of sight, out of mind? That’s what it looked like. He’d not even bothered to send a dear Pru letter. He’d left and apparently forgotten she existed.
Pru hadn’t forgotten him, though. She’d been understandably upset, and now she was stewing. She’d be taking action, Annie was certain of that. What the action might be, she wasn’t so sure about. Did he have a reason for his behavior? That’s what everyone wanted to know. If he did, why hadn’t he just said so?
“Maybe he’s got troubles in his herd?” Ram suggested.
“It’s been two months. Those would be some serious troubles.” Annie pointed out.
“True. We don’t really know much about him or his herd. He did commit to helping with the battle ahead.”
“And how will you find him to enlist his help?” Annie asked.
“I’ll leave that to Knossos.”