“Where’s Urian?”
“Oh shit” didn’t quite capture the feeling of dread that ripped through him as he realized just how badly he’d screwed up. Because he was used to dealing with Dark-Hunters, he wasn’t used to thinking about the fact that Urian now had “parents.”
More to the point, he wasn’t used to remembering that Urian had a mother and father who would kick his ass if anything happened to him.
Ash gave his twin a nervous grin. “Um…”
“That’s a bad sound, brother. That’s the kind of sound you normally make that precedes my desire to hurt you.” Styxx crossed his arms over his chest as he pinned him with a gimlet stare.
“Let me remind you before you kill me that in order to get to your son, you’ll have to go into the domain where my mother resides, and she won’t be happy if you harm me.”
The look of disgust on his face might actually have been amusing if Ash hadn’t felt so bad about causing it.
“What did you do?”
“He wanted to go after Phoebe.”
Ash hadn’t been cussed out that effectively or colorfully in ancient Greek in a number of centuries. It was impressive.
Styxx finally stopped long enough to issue one fierce command. “Open the portal to Kalosis!”
“The one I control will take you straight to Stryker.”
“I don’t give a shit where it goes. Get me down there so I can find my child. Now!”
Bethany appeared instantly. “What’s going on?”
Styxx gestured at Ash. “He let our child loose in Kalosis to go after his gallu-infected wife.”
And now Ash was being cussed in ancient Egyptian and Atlantean. Which brought Tory out of the main room, into the hall where they were gathered.
“What in the world is going on? Is that Egyptian?”
Ash gestured at them. “I pissed off my family again … and yes, First Dynasty.”
Bethany’s eyes flared to red. “Tory? Can you please watch Ari for a bit? I have to go find my oldest and drag him home before he does something stupid.”
“Sure.”
“Open the portal, Acheron,” Styxx repeated.
“Stryker—”
“Won’t stand in my way.” Bethany immediately pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
While Ash would argue with his brother, he was going to cede that point to Bethany. Given the fury in her eyes and tone, he had no doubt that Stryker would get his ass kicked effectively. “All right, then.” He opened the portal. “Urian has friends with him. Please try not to skewer Simi.”
That seemed to calm Styxx a little. “Thank you for sending her with him.”
“You really think I wouldn’t?”
“I didn’t think you’d send him!”
“Stop arguing!” Bethany snapped. “Get to my baby!” She pushed Styxx toward the portal. “I’m going to beat both of you later.”
As soon as Ash closed the portal, he turned to see Tory’s perturbed grimace. “What did I do to piss you off?”
Smiling, she pulled him into her arms. “Nothing. You look like you could use a hug.”
Finally, someone who wasn’t mad at him. “I really didn’t mean to put him in harm’s way.”
“I know, sexy baby. It’s all good.”
*
Stryker was used to unexpected visitors dropping through their portal. Over the centuries, they’d had quite a few interesting creatures.
Dark-Hunters. Were-Hunters.
A couple of gods. Demons. Forest creatures. A large number of trelos.
Stupid humans by the dozens, especially in the nineties during the height of the vampire craze. He couldn’t count how many Goth counterculture members had dropped in, taken one look at them, and said, “Bite me!” and not in a bad way. They’d wanted to join them.
They’d always provided a quick and easy snack for his Spathi warriors.
Even his wife had dropped in at his feet a decade ago.
But this … this was a first.
An ancient Greek hero and an Egyptian goddess who landed on their feet with a searing glare that would have sent a lesser man scurrying for cover.
As it was, Stryker remained seated and only lifted one insolent brow at the temerity of confronting him in his own living room, as it were. He tilted his head toward his wife, who came forward to lean against his throne that was made out of the bones of gods Misos had defeated long ago.
“Hmm, Phyra. I’m trying to decide if I should be flattered by their visit or pissed.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she shrugged. “If they’re bringing tribute, flattered. Any other reason … I say we skewer them where they stand.”
Bethany scoffed. “Try it and I’ll use your guts for shoelaces.”
Styxx cleared his throat as he placed a gentle hand on his bloodthirsty wife’s shoulder. “What my nondiplomatic better half is trying to say is that we’re here on a mission of peace. And it’s one that concerns you, too, Stryker.”
“How so? Since the last time I looked, we were enemies?”
“Enemies or not, we have a common interest … Urian.”
At the mention of his son, Stryker felt a rush of pain and anger. One that made him want to lash out as he remembered that Urian wasn’t really his son.
He was theirs.
“What of him?”
“He’s here. Seeking Phoebe.”
Those words went through Stryker like ice. He came off his throne before he’d even realized he’d moved. “What do you mean, he’s here?”
“As I said. And I’m not a fool, Stryker. You don’t stop loving a child. He came here to find her and help her.”
Damn him for the truth of that statement. Like it or not, he did still love the boy, even if he did want to beat him senseless. Stryker glanced to Zephyra. She was his strength.
When she met his gaze, she gave a subtle nod. “We have to find our son before he’s harmed. Where would he be?”
And that was why he loved her.
“I don’t know. But we’ll find him.” Stryker ground his teeth in frustration as he glared at Zolan. “Fetch Davyn and Medea. One of them might know something.”
Bethany stopped Stryker as he started past her. “Was he really so hard to raise?”
He let out a frustrated sigh. “He was a nightmare unimagined … and my greatest joy and pride.”
Tears gathered in her eyes. She lifted her hand toward his cheek. “May I?”
Stryker knew she was asking if she could share his memories of Urian’s childhood. A part of him was selfish enough that he wanted to keep them for himself and deny her request. But then, he wasn’t quite that big a bastard. The rational part of him knew that he wouldn’t have had so great a gift if not for his two enemies.
So the real crime wasn’t in the anger that lay between him and Urian now so much as in the fact that they had never known their son at all.
He couldn’t imagine a worse horror than what they’d experienced. To have the son they’d wanted so desperately ripped from their lives and given to another. His gaze went to the scars on Styxx’s arm where he’d carved the name they’d intended to give Urian on his birth … Galen.
No, he wouldn’t be that cruel to anyone. Enemies or not. So he nodded and braced himself for her intrusion.
Closing her eyes, she laid her warm hand to his cheek, then reached to touch Styxx with her other hand. It wasn’t until Styxx gasped that Stryker realized she was sharing the memories with him as well.
His head spun as he felt Bethany picking through his mind with a master skill.
Strangely enough, she revived things inside him that he’d forgotten. Precious moments spent with Urian as a child when he’d once thought the world of Stryker. The night when Urian had picked up his battle helm for the first time, and tried it on.
It’d fit over his head like a bell, and sat askew to the point where the poor child had been unable to see. Still, Urian had stumbled his way into Stryker’s bedroom to proclaim himself ready to battle by his side. He’d stood there, completely naked save for that helm and his wooden sword and a towel he’d knotted around his neck.
“I’m ready, Solren! Take me with you to battle the human vermin!”
Another time when Urian had stolen the laces from his armor to make a present for Paris.