Page 8 of Conquered Obstacles

He swallowed loudly. “Yes. She wanted—I thought she liked me, but she wanted to marry into the Kraft family because we have money. Barb actually protected me that time and never stopped humiliating me about it, but…”

“Our going slow is healing you too?” I hedged.

“In a way,” he said after a moment. “I never got the cute touches and exploring.” His cheeks heated, and he leaned in and ran his nose along my face. “I never felt safe enough to trust someone and know they would never take advantage of me. I want to explore more with the handcuffs, Arabella. I want to do a lot of things. I want to get lost in you too.”

I shivered, liking how much it had excited me to put those on him even if I’d known he could break them. “Thank you, Jamie.”

“Thank you for cooking me dinner.” He kissed that spot under my ear. “How about you fill the house with my favorite tonight? I want the whole house filled with meringues.”

Liar. Those weren’t his favorite. He just knew those took the longest to make and people wanted more and more of them.

Still, it was a kind lie, and I appreciated him trying to focus me that way.

Apparently, he could too.

Oh, and luckily, Kary did set up some cameras, and we learned that I started putting the treats on what would be the dining room table. I went out from there.

So now I just had to figure out how to ward up my dining room to transfer anything I put there to another warehouse. Lovely.

3

“Aunt, I found a very powerful priest snooping around your home,” Dion informed me when I opened the door the next day about twenty minutes before the time we’d set for lunch… And magically forced Colton to come into view.

Colton’s eyes flashed shock but then relief even as he was frozen.

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “Please release him. I have a feeling I know exactly what happened. Since you came early to check this wasn’t a trap, you probably set off some protective magic he left here that I didn’t sense.” I gave Colton the look he deserved. “Sound about right?”

“He really is dedicated to your safety even if you will never consider him again,” Poseidon mocked from inside the house.

“Yes, but he can still hide magic from us,” Hades said, his cold detached tone having an edge of annoyance. “I placed the protective wards here and didn’t sense it. I want to know how.”

Dion sighed and released Colton, making it clear the warlock better get inside and explain.

Colton cleared his throat and gave me an apologetic look before stepping inside. He didn’t move past me though. “Yes, I piggybacked off what your brother put down. I was worried about more of Zeus’s bastards or children trying to make a move against you, and now that I know how to sense them, I laid down a few detections. One went off yesterday. I got worried and—”

“How is a priest this powerful, Aunt?” Dion asked, studying Colton. “He’s hiding it, but it’s ridiculous. He’s more powerful than some demigods. Hercules for sure.”

“He was bred for power,” I answered, not willing to expose more of Colton’s past than that.

“But he’s on your side?” Dion checked.

“Yes,” Colton said firmly… As I snorted. He sighed, his gaze never leaving mine. “Yes.”

“Is he if he oversteps and doesn’t listen to what you actually say?” Hades drawled. “The wolf actually gives you what you need even if I hate he is in your bed and touches you like a woman. That’s more than I care to know as your brother.”

“Yes, well, you enjoyed rubbing that in his face,” I drawled, seeing how it hurt Colton. “You can leave now that you know I’m safe. I won’t thank you when you—I didn’t even tell you about this place. You go too far, so just go.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. He cleared his throat and stepped aside so Dion could come inside. “I just wanted to protect you the way you protected me.”

I had nothing productive to say and only petty responses, so I simply closed the door in his face once Dion entered. I refused to become Hera, and I felt like the pain Colton caused me could put me on that path if I wasn’t careful.

“Thank you for coming.” I kissed Dion’s cheek after giving him a hug.

“You’re not angry that I checked yesterday?” he hedged.

“No, you should be that smart,” I accepted easily. “And I adjusted the wards to allow you.”

“We knew,” Poseidon said as we walked into the great room and he came over to hug him. “It’s great to see you, Dion. We looked for you. We looked for several of you.”

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