Lulu clapped her hands excitedly, bouncing up and down as Connor took his seat. “If we have the right legend, this one involves a strong woman—and you have to know I’m on board with that one.”

“But of course,” Connor answered with a wry grin. “Okay, tell me the legend. I know you guys are dying to share. I feel like a jerk for letting you do all the footwork though.”

I threaded my arm through his as I leaned against his shoulder. “We all play to our strengths, right? Don’t worry, I think this is why we are meant to work in pairs. I had to do my part figuring out the clue, but my guess is that you’ll be the one to find the object and save the day.”

Lei rolled her eyes. “Because we need a male alpha to save the day? Please…”

“Play nice,” Aurora chided as she leaned over to kiss my sister’s cheek. “Besides, Connor isn’t some alpha caveman. He’s our friend, remember?”

Lulu snorted. “Yeah, but remind me again who’s the one who was able to reach the top of the Douglas fir outside of Powerscourt House in County Wicklow when we were younger? Because as I recall, it wasn’t an alpha.”

Connor sputtered while the girls cracked up at the memory. “That’s not fair. You shifted into your hawk form and flew up the fucker before any of the rest of us had a chance.”

“That’s down to me being smarter, not what animal I can shift into. Your cat could’ve made it up there just as quick, if you’d taken the time to think about doing it in fur form. Hell, at least Jonny gave it a shot, and he’s an omega like me,” Lulu said with a sniff.

“Anyway…” Connor rolled his eyes. “We’re getting off topic. I believe you gals were going to tell me about a legend?”

“Yes.” My sister’s eyes lit up as Lei glanced up from her monitor. “So the story is that there was once an awesome chick named Atalanta. She was good at all kinds of sports, especially running.”

“Don’t forget the part where she was a sharpshooter, a strong wrestler, and a better huntress than any of the men in her area,” Lulu interrupted.

Lei held up a hand. “I was getting to that, but thank you, dear. So yeah, she was all that and a bag of chips. But then this Oracle came along and told her that if she ever got married, she’d be screwed and lose all her skills. I guess maybe it was tied to virginity or some lame shit like that? But yeah, Atalanta’s dad said she had to marry someone, because why not? Goddess forbid a strong woman should choose to remain single and not pop out a pack of babies, right?”

“You’re going off topic again,” I laughed. “Back to the story, if you will.”

“Right.” She stuck her tongue out at me and continued. “There were a bunch of men that wanted her, but nobody could have her. After a lot of pressure from her dad, she finally said that she would only marry the man who could beat her in a race, but if they lost, she’d kill them for daring to try. So naturally they all tried to race her, but she beat them, no problem. And then,” my sister’s eyes widened with a bloodthirsty thrill,” she actually kept her word and killed every man she beat.”

“She sounds absolutely lovely,” Connor commented dryly. “She must have been quite the beauty for the men to line up to race her after she’d killed the first one.”

“They did, though.” Aurora shook her head with wonder. “Can you imagine? I’ve gotta say, I’m an alpha and I can’t think of any woman hot enough to risk my life for.” She blushed when she looked at her mates who were both staring at her with lifted brows. “Except for my mates, that is. I would totally die for them. Maybe. I mean, I would now, absolutely. But just to get their attention before we’d mated? Yeah, I’d have to think about that one.”

Before my sister or Lulu could tease her, I motioned for Lei to continue. She gave her wife one last chiding look before turning back to Connor. “So there was this one warrior named Hippomenes. Atalanta actually liked him, and they fell in love. But she still didn’t want to give up her powers, even for love, you know? She begged him not to race her, because she didn’t want to kill him. But the idiot was determined to get her to marry him. So he prayed to Aphrodite to help him win.”

“And here’s where you come in,” Lulu interrupted.

“I’m getting there, dear.” Lei rolled her eyes at Lulu. “Okay. So yeah, Aphrodite was the goddess of love, so naturally she told him how to win. She gave him three golden apples and told him to throw them along the ground during the race. And of course he did, right? Well, Atalanta ignored the first one, but when the second one rolled past her, she paused to look at it, and that’s when he had her. On the third apple, she stopped completely and picked it up to admire it, enabling Hippomenes to breeze right past her stupid ass and win the race. Can you believe that shit?”

Aurora spoke softly as she looked around at our group. “Another important note about this story is that discrimination against females was still prominent during that time, despite Greece’s democracy. I think the reason this legend didn’t get lost to time is because it showed that women weren’t inferior and could even do better than men sometimes. And yes, she was known for being a major beauty, but then aren’t all legendary females? It’s not like anybody would be lining up to risk their life to marry the girl next door. But the golden apples have long been considered a myth. Most people who told the story figured it was probably just a regular apple that wasn’t known in the region. Apparently, they really were actually made of gold though.”

I nodded. “That makes sense, when you think about it. I mean, they were given to him by Aphro-freaking-dite. Although, I could also see where it would be considered myth because apples were used in fairy tales for evil, like Snow White’s poison apple,” I pointed out. Turning to Connor, I finished my thought. “And that’s where it ties into the forbidden fruit from the clue. Apples were usually considered the forbidden fruit, right? Even back to the Garden of Eden and Eve’s famous apple.”

Connor nodded thoughtfully. “So are we looking for three apples, or one? Your legend mentioned three, but Easton only said something about one prize to guard.”

“Exactly.” I was vibrating with excitement as everything clicked together in my head. “The warrior’s prize! The apple that she picked up was Hippomenes’ means to win her, making both it and Atalanta his prizes. Her, because he got to marry the woman he loved, and the golden apple because it enabled him to win her. Now all we need to do is find the damn apple.” I smirked at that one. “Easy peasy, right?”

Connor looked around with a wide smile as he bent his head to kiss my cheek. “So it’s here in Greece then? You’re right, honeybun! It will be easy. We can grab it before we go home, I bet.”

I bit back a laugh as I shook my head at his cluelessness. “Connor, I was being sarcastic when I said easy peasy. Do you really think it’s going to be that simple? The thing has been lost to the ages. There’s no record of it even existing, which is why it’s considered an object of myth. Anybody who knew about it is long dead and took the secret to the grave with them.” I shook my head. “No, we need to pack up and go home. Who knows how long it will take to track this down, but my pregnancy will be over before we know it. Four months will go by faster than you realize.”

Lei smiled wickedly. “Plus, you really do need to go face Baba sooner or later.”

I groaned as I wrapped my arms around Connor’s neck and buried my face in his bicep while my sister and her mates cackled like shrews.

Yeah… I needed to find new friends. I was pretty sure I couldn’t replace my sister though, so maybe not.