Page 19 of Conquered Obstacles

Well, that, and I didn’t send him back. He couldn’t get home unless he wanted to walk all the way in his boxer briefs.

As I reached the stairs, I made a lot of treats. I always needed them when I was out of sorts, and Colton had to be after waking in my house in that condition. No matter how much I hated him or what had happened between us, I had never meant to… I wasn’t trying to torture him.

I wanted to cut him out of my life and move on.

I swallowed a snort.

Sure I did. Clearly, my subconscious really did.

Jamie woke when I entered the bedroom, blinking around and rubbing his eyes. “Colton’s here. Are you okay?”

“No,” I whispered, tears filling my eyes. “A lot’s happened, and I don’t even know how to explain it all. I did something weird even for me, and I need to know if you’re okay?”

He slowly nodded. “I had a weird dream that I protected you in wolf form. My wolf is upset that he hasn’t met you yet. I meant to ask if you would meet him now that we’re being intimate, but he’s being pushy. Also, I wanted to talk to you about adult stuff.”

I nodded too. “The twins suggested you have your own room so it’s not like we’re living together-living together yet and I can be…”

“I think that’s perfect. I just want my stuff not in limbo.”

“Thank you, Jamie,” I rasped. I tried not to cry, I really did, but… Yeah, I quietly cried.

He was amazing and held me in the shower, needing to shower off the nightmare and the underworld. He washed me and promised everything would be okay.

“Your phone has been going nuts while we were in the shower,” Jamie informed me.

And it was Isiah. That couldn’t be good.

I brought him over to the kitchen, hoping Colton would handle him for the moment, and texted Demarcus asking to speak. I also summoned my brothers while using my power to dry off and dress.

Same with Jamie.

A few minutes later, we were all gathered in my kitchen, and I defaulted to my normal of making more food appear when I was unsettled. “I apologize for the time, but I did something new, and it affected Colton and Jamie, so I thought I should check on the two of you as well. Then I saw you were trying to contact me, Isiah.”

“I did some magic unfamiliar to me, but I don’t know what I did,” he blurted, his heart racing too fast.

“But you didn’t,” Colton said firmly, giving me a look. “He hasn’t done it. He just thinks he did. His magic has not done that spell. He cannot. He’s not powerful enough.”

I nodded that I understood, explaining to all of them what happened.

“This is my fault,” Hades said, upset in his cold eyes. “I apologize.”

“You’ve been giving us Zeus’s power,” Poseidon stated, his voice carefully devoid of emotion.

“Yes.”

I did a double take at Hades’s response, unable to process it after all of the hits of the night. “I’m too upset in this moment to understand, Brother. Please explain to me where your head is at. Please make this make sense to me and why you didn’t tell us.”

“I actually understand this and agree with it,” Poseidon cut in, shocking both of us. “The mistake was not telling us or not telling Arabella when she is already struggling, but I could have made the same mistake given we are not her. We are struggling trying to protect you when we did not and let you protect us from too much.”

“Yes,” Hades agreed. “Especially when you said you wanted my protection and I finally can protect you.”

But that was all he said as if afraid to say more, so Poseidon took over. “He thought about what we said about how to take matters over from Zeus. It’s not about war or letting him be as he is. Hades is stronger and can punish Zeus now. But Hades is already stronger, and we both know Zeus’s power corrupted him. Hades is smart enough to have learned from that mistake.”

Shock flashed in Hades’s eyes before it was gone. “Thank you, Brother.”

Poseidon did a double take, his gaze softening. “You were never greedy, Hades. You’re trying to punish Zeus but balance the scales. Zeus feared you trying to take him over. That was his idiocy. You never wanted it. He intentionally undercut Arabella and me so we could never help—you want things even.

“Giving yourself some of Zeus’s power as punishment will also make him a martyr. Hera too. Others will blame Arabella. She came back and now twisted you—all lies they will say anyways and none will believe, but if you give yourself power, there will be something for them to point to. That is also why you didn’t tell us.”

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