Releasing the Gods

by Leia Stone

  His gaze sharpened. His lips tilted up into a smile. I had expected more of growly Cronus, so this shocked the hell out of me as I blinked stupidly at him.

  “What are you doing?” I murmured, not covering myself but more wary. Maybe my teasing had finally cracked him. Men had fragile minds.

  His smile grew larger, and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him. “I don’t like this, Cronus. You need to shut that shit down immediately. Since when do you smile? Are you sick?”

  He threw his head back and laughed, and despite my confusion and concern about what he was scheming, I had to admire how beautiful he looked, head back, water dripping along that strong throat and across broad muscles. When he straightened, his dark hair slicked back from that perfect face, I wondered if it was possible to die from wanting someone so much and not having them. Was that actually a thing?

  Because I was about ten minutes from combusting and it was only pure pride that stopped me from throwing myself at Cronus.

  “I have never spent a lot of time around humans,” he finally said, softly. “Your spark for life … your stubbornness and free-willed nature … it’s intoxicating. I never expected…”

  He paused and I leaned forward, desperate to hear the next words.

  “You. I never expected you.”

  Fuck. I was in so much trouble. It hit me then like a ton of bricks: I was falling for him. Hard. I couldn’t be falling in love with this big brute. He wasn’t human! We weren’t even the same species. And when we got this sins thing under control, he’d go back to whatever gods did, and I’d go back to waiting tables and hoping for my big break.

  Still, my damn heart beat so hard, and if I hadn’t known for certain it was Cronus causing that, I’d be worried the sin in my necklace was giving me a heart attack.

  While I was having my existential crisis of the heart, Cronus swam forward and I jumped when his thigh brushed against mine.

  “Maisey,” he rumbled, drawing all of my attention. We were inches away from each other, our lips almost touching as he barely stayed afloat, too caught up in whatever drew us together. My nipples brushed lightly against his chest and I had to ball my hands into fists to keep from moaning.

  “It’s the bond, right?” I said breathlessly. “This pull … the attraction. The bond is causing that?”

  Cronus’ chest rumbled, and as it swelled it pressed harder against my bare breasts, sending the most delicious sensations through my body. My hands were moving toward him, but somehow, at the last second, I managed to stop myself.

  “The bond ties us physically together,” Cronus said, his face unreadable but his eyes blazing. “Physically, and our life energies. But it has nothing to do with an emotional bond. I cannot manipulate emotions.”

  That meant … this was all real. On my side at least. I had no idea what he was feeling, outside of a fairly obvious erection that spoke of his attraction. I mean, it was a good place to start, but my feelings went so much deeper and it scared me.

  Suddenly I regretted playing this game with him, trying to lure him into sex with me, to have one night. One night wasn’t going to be enough for me. I wanted years. I was going to get hurt. I was going to get so badly hurt that I would cease to be the Maisey Hope Parker that I was now.

  Could I risk that? Cronus was the riskiest thing I’d ever had in my life, and maybe, just maybe … it was too much for me.

  I’d been through a lot of loss in my life. My mom, losing my dad to alcohol, then the actual death of my dad. It was too much. I jerked my face away and swam toward the ladder that led up to the docks. “Too tired to swim now,” I called carelessly over my shoulder, hoping he’d think it was exhaustion that caused the waver in my voice. “Time to get some sleep.”

  I’d played with fire and I’d almost gotten burnt. Right now I couldn’t decide if it would have been worth the flames for one night with Cronus, or if I made the right decision.

  Either way, I was going to bed wet and horny, and that had nothing to do with the ocean water dripping from me.

  Chapter 19

  That night was the most uncomfortable Cronus and I had ever had. I pretended to be asleep after he finished his shower and came to bed, not flinching as his weight sank down the side of the massive bed and he slipped in under the covers beside me. After everything, I wished he’d slept on the couch, but since I was “asleep” I couldn’t suggest it.

  Instead, I continued to mull over why our bond was allowing more and more space to come between us. It scared me. If the bond broke would Cronus even stay around anymore?

  “I know you’re awake, human,” he said, his voice a quiet rumble in the air, the crashing waves in the background the only other sound.

  “Tired,” I mumbled, wanting to escape this whole fucked-up situation.

  Cronus let out a long sigh, and before I could stop him, he rolled over and wrapped me up tightly in his arms. My heart pounded hard and a strangled moan died on my tongue. I opened my mouth to protest, but he shut me up when his lips pressed into mine, his tongue sweeping across mine in a claiming sort of touch before pulling away just as quickly and leaving me breathless.

  “Now shut up and go to sleep,” he growled. “We need to rest or we’ll be useless against the sins.”

  A strangled snort escaped me. Like I was going to be able to sleep with a giant god wrapped around me like…

  The sunrise woke me and I looked down to see that now I was the one wrapped around Cronus, his huge body sprawled out underneath me. I’d kicked off the blankets because he ran about ten degrees hotter than a human, and somehow that had been the most restful sleep I’d had in a long time.

  Turning my head, my cheek pressed to his chest, I watched the full rise of the sun, the soothing thud of his heartbeat in my ear. Right then, I couldn’t imagine feeling more content. I hated that the sins were out there trying to ruin lives. What if we failed? What if this was the last sunrise I ever saw? Last swim in the ocean? Last kiss?

  Turning away, I choked back a small gasp. Cronus was wide awake and he was watching me, his eyes hooded, the blue blazing in the new light. I had no idea how long he’d been watching me while I stared into the sun, but there was softness in his face that wasn’t usually there.

  His hand came up and tangled in my long hair. I’d braided most of it last night because it was crazy unruly when left to its own devices, but as always, half the strands had escaped. “Your hair is truly spectacular,” he said, voice husky. “The humans must have been jealous growing up.”

  I shrugged, even more captivated by him than I had been by the sunrise. “Not really. My shitty life didn’t exactly make anyone envy me, even for great hair days.”

  He nodded like he understood. And maybe he did. After all, his offspring killed his family and then locked him away for a thousand years. No one’s life was perfect apparently. Not even gods’.

  “We should go,” he said, and I sprang out of bed.

  “Yep, definitely. Just give me a few minutes to shower and get dressed.”

  Cronus nodded, sitting up so he was leaned against the wooden bedframe, his chest looking even more bronze than usual. How, I couldn’t tell you, since he hadn’t exactly been out tanning. But apparently he could just get hotter at will.

  #Fucker

  Dragging my ass off the bed, I rubbed at my chest and was relieved that the necklace felt a little lighter today. Less of that dark feeling and heavy weight seeping into me. My shower was moderately fast—I had to shave and wash my hair since I had no idea how long it would be until I got to do it again. By the time I was done, dressed in my last sets of clean clothing, Cronus had ordered us breakfast.

  He had it set out on the table outside, where we could sit and feel like we were basically eating on the sea. “Get started,” he told me, “I’ll freshen up too.”

  My stomach growled and I didn’t need to be told twice, diving into the fresh fruit and yogurt, pastries, and eggs. Everything was so tasty that I couldn’t stop once I sta
rted. Hopefully Cronus wasn’t too long or I’d eat it all before he got some. The only thing I didn’t touch was the meat.

  A splash out in the water drew my attention, and I saw a school of fish and … a few dolphins, maybe. I caught a glimpse of a fin and hoped it wasn’t a shark. I mean, we were safe up here, but other people were out swimming in the early morning. Some right near the splashing.

  No one seemed panicked though, so I just enjoyed the show and ate more food.

  “I’m not feeding you enough,” Cronus said from the doorway, and I jumped a little. Dude was so fucking quiet. #GetHimABell

  Looking down, I felt a little guilty that I’d eaten so much. Not to mention I also felt a little sick now that some of it had a chance to sink in—I’d eaten so damn fast.

  “Uh, yeah, sorry about that,” I said, softly dropping the pastry that had been halfway to my lips. “I was stupid hungry, and now I think I’m going to explode.”

  Cronus laughed, and he looked carefree. For him. My new life goal was to see him laugh all the time, because I could get used to this view. “You need the food more than me. I can fuel myself in other ways. Never worry about taking too much. It’s all yours.”

  Other ways? One day soon we were going to have a very serious conversation about the gods and all the ways they were different to humans.

  Cronus sat across from me and picked at the food that remained, finishing it off fairly quickly. Both of us were silent, watching the water and world around us, but unlike last night, the tension was gone. We weren’t “fixed,” by any means, both of us were still clearly running from our feelings, but we were okay.

  I’d take it.

  When Cronus was done, we stood, gathered our stuff; he grabbed my arm and zapped us across the world to Hyperion. “How did you know where he was?” I asked, shaking my head to relieve it of the slight disorientation that happened when he used that power on me.

  “We’re all connected,” Cronus told me, tapping his head. “Beings born of power and energy. It’s a physical connection that supersedes many others, but only when they are alive. Hyperion can send me mental messages of his whereabouts.”

  The only important thing I took from that was Hyperion and Cronus were not blood related. Not in the way of humans. Otherwise I’d be lusting after someone I was related to, and that was not cool with me.

  Looking around, I blinked. “Where are we?”

  Cronus had zapped us into a small group of scraggly trees, but the moment we stepped out, it was like we’d entered a war zone. The scent of dust, blood, and … a powdery substance that made my nose twitch was in the air. “Egypt,” Cronus said. “Strife and Turmoil love to team up, and they love the desert. It doesn’t surprise me that we’d find them here.”

  It was a different part of Egypt to where we’d found Rhea, and I tried to orientate myself to these new surroundings. The ground rocked as an explosion shook the land, and I all but dove back behind the scraggly bushes. There was nothing green where we were, and while it didn’t look like full desert, it was close. The sun intensified as I had that thought, no doubt wanting to remind me that it could still kill me, “full desert” or not.

  “I didn’t really dress appropriately for this,” I said, lifting my collar and trying to block my mouth and nose from the acrid winds. Sand was already accumulating in places that I didn't like to have sand in. “Jeans and a t-shirt is not much protection against these elements.”

  I didn’t even have a damn hat.

  Cronus wasn’t worried. “Hyperion is just over the way. You won’t be exposed for too long.”

  “Does he have the sins contained?”

  Cronus nodded, looking off into the distance as if reading Hyperion’s mind or something freaky. “Yes … he kind of does anyway. They’re in a slight standoff … you’ll see.”

  He stepped out of the coverage. I ducked my head and followed, reaching out to hold his hand, because the sand was blowing straight into my eyes. Cronus didn’t seem to have the same issue, ducking and weaving with ease, only pausing at another explosion, his arm wrapping around me to stop a faceplant.

  “Cronus … Maisey!” Hyperion shouted; Hound was at his heels barking excitedly.

  He was standing shoulder to shoulder with Koios and Crius, the three of them sending some of their Titan energy across to a set of buildings in the distance. The three were hidden in a natural sand bank, protected from the winds.

  “We need to stop playing around now,” Cronus growled. “We’re running out of time. This was not a war zone last week, according to the locals hiding in that building.” He pointed to another set of buildings, not close to where the sins were, but also not close to us, and I had no idea how Cronus heard what they were saying. I mean, that was like supersonic hearing—his powers were growing scary powerful.

  Hyperion grumbled. “They’re so strong, the turmoil and strife energy of this time is off the charts. We’re trying to weaken them first.”

  “We’ve got them barricaded into this section at least,” Koios said. “Spent the last few days tracking those bastards, and it’s only with Hyperion that we’ve been able to lock them down.”

  After another explosion, this time so close that I was knocked on my ass, my ears ringing, Cronus helped me up, his face wreathed in scowls. “The fucking humans,” he growled. “They’re making this easy for those sins.”

  That’s when I realized the explosions and such were not coming from the direction of the two sins, but from a town that I could see in the distance, to the east of us. They were full-on at war, and that powdery scent was in the air again as the loud crack of gunshots were heard.

  I wrinkled my nose. “Explosives and gunpowder,” Hyperion said, noticing my reaction. “Both are strong scents if you’re not used to them.”

  Strong and horrible. Teamed with the heat and dust, I was starting to really regret my huge breakfast.

  “What are they fighting over?” I tried to wrap my mind around how the sins worked.

  “The humans?” Hyperion asked, and when I nodded he shrugged. “When Turmoil and Strife are nearby, the humans with the weaker minds, who are more prone to rage, just start going berserk. Pretty soon it will be World War III.”

  Koios nodded. “We need to lock them in the necklace. Now.”

  Cronus placed a hand on my lower back. “Then that’s it. I won’t allow her to carry more than three sins. We need to find another box.”

  No one said a word to go against him, but part of me wondered if there would be another way. If there were, Selene probably wouldn’t have sacrificed herself.

  Cronus turned to me. “The bond started to thin after we locked Sickness in the necklace. I’m not sure what adding two more will do, but you should prepare yourself.”

  I sucked in a deep breath, knowing there was no way I could prepare myself for that.

  Cronus continued. “You wait here and we’ll bring the sins to you. Don’t. Move.”

  I just nodded; I wasn’t trying to be a hero today. There were four Titans here. I was basically useless compared to them.

  As the brothers—but not really brothers—stalked off into the war zone with Hound, I made myself go flat against the wall. How far could Cronus and I be apart from each other now? Why the fuck was Sickness breaking down our bond? How was Sickness breaking down our bond?

  All of these thoughts swirling around my head, I barely noticed when a shadow moved to my left until a hand clamped around my mouth. One second we were standing in Egypt, dust flying everywhere, and the next I was transported to a deserted island, right on the beach. Pain laced through my entire body as I felt the loss of Cronus from our bond. I fell to the ground panting and my gaze fell on a pair of bronzed male feet.

  Zeus’ voice was unmistakable: “So the bond thing is true?”

  “Help,” I wheezed, pain slicing through my stomach. It felt like someone had taken a fishhook and yanked me across the universe by my belly button.

  “It shouldn’t kill y
ou to be apart, but I’m not really one hundred percent sure.”

  I was going to pass out. The pain was rolling through my body in waves as anger flooded through me.

  This motherfucker needed to die.

  “What. Do. You. Want?” I rasped, looking up at him from where I’d collapsed on the sand.

  He crouched down, all but putting his crotch in my face. “I want Cronus, ‘king of the Titans,’ to feel a little lost and hurt,” he mocked. “I want him to leave the world saving to me and my children. I want him to stay in his fucking prison and leave Earth and its humans to their rightful leader!”

  I was dying, this is what dying felt like. This was period cramps times one thousand, in my belly, my chest, my head. This selfish fucker was hurting me because he wanted more attention? Megalomaniac.

  How dare he! The Greek gods couldn’t even lock the sins away, so this was all a fucking stupid attention-seeking action. Finding strength buried deep, I reeled my arm back, and lightning-quick punched him right in the dick. When he keeled over backwards, I jumped up and the whole beach swam. Trying to run away, more like limp away, only worked for about twenty feet before I heard him pounding the sand behind me.

  Anger. Fear. Rage. Survival. All bubbled inside me. A dark feeling exploded in my chest. Spinning around, I threw my arms up and screamed bloody murder.

  The pendant at my chest pulsed. An inky black magic poured from my fingers and wrapped around Zeus’s shoulders like rubber bands. He cried out in shock at the same moment a sonic boom sounded in the air and Cronus appeared at my side, mad as fuck.

  “ZEUS!” he roared and the entire beach shook, like a motherfucking earthquake.

  Zeus had fallen over, restricted by my black magical bands, and now looked at me with a mixture or horror and fascination.

  “She’s a demon…”

  Cronus looked from Zeus to my hands and back again. When my gaze fell to my fingers, I gasped. “Fuck! Get it off!” I shook my hands vigorously. Black ink, like tattoos, coated the tips of my fingers as evidence of the dark power I’d just unleashed.