Page 10 of The Chosen Son

But then he pulled back the sides of his shirt to reveal a bright orange bodysuit beneath. His sidekick, too, was disrobing, which certainly gave me further pause as I tried really,reallyhard not to stare at him in all that Spandex. Wow, that was tight and leftnothingto the imagination.

“You both really just walk around with Spandex on under your clothes? Okay, that’s… weird.” I swallowed hard, averting my eyes from the enticing distraction that was Cameron. “Phobos, you know what happened between me and Loki. You know full well it’s within my right to get revenge. Why are you being such a dick?”

“And why are you being such a baby? Oh, boo-hoo, Loki hurt your feelings three-fucking-hundred years ago. Let it go! If Gorgias really loved you, he wouldn’t have left in the first place,” he growled, shoving an accusing finger at my chest. “You’ve taken this way too far! Don’t think I don’t know it was you who kidnapped all those shifters.”

I sputtered a laugh, casting a glance at Cameron who was now glaring at me. “Pfft! Of course it was me! But why the hell would you care? You’ve spent too much time on earth, you’ve gone soft.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t lose any sleep over it, I let them go practically unharmed. I even wiped their memories so there’s no lasting trauma.”

“Some of them were children!” he shouted, growing increasingly frustrated.

We were drawing all kinds of attention, between the screaming and the brightly colored tights. This wasn’t at all how this was supposed to go. In and out, that was the plan. Well, I would just have to put my brother and his sidekick down long enough for me to get back on task.

Phobos and the other gods had been struggling with their power in this modern world. Me, though, I had so much terrestrial energy coursing through my veins, I could easily use a little here and still have plenty to take care of Loki.

Besides, putting my brother in his place could be fun.

I clenched my fists at my sides and let the power rise right to the surface, my skin glowing red and gold. “Last warning, Phobos. Get out of my—”

The air in my lungs froze as I got hit with a shot of ice straight in the chest. Ice crystals formed on my lashes, but just as quickly, they began to melt, and I gave a shaky cough. My body was too hot for that kind of attack to work. But… it hadn’t come from Phobos. I’d been staring at him the whole time. Phobos, too, seemed surprised.

We both turned and looked at Cameron, whose hands seemed to be steaming as the vapor evaporated. He shrugged and laughed uneasily. “Sorry.”

“No, no, don’t be sorry. That was awesome!” Phobos gave him a thumbs-up. “What else you got?”

I scoffed. “Don’t encourage him! I’m fine, by the way, thanks for asking.” And then, before he had a chance to answer me, I shot off a blast of fire straight at my brother’s head.

Phobos ducked and came back up, looking furious. “Hey! That almost hit me!”

“Good!” I seethed. “I hope it melts off all those precious golden locks of yours.” And for good measure, I threw another fireball at him, and this time he crouched down and catapulted himself off the earth and into the sky. I knew he hadn’t run away, he wasn’t the type to flee, but now I was forced to search the dark night sky for him.

“Come on, Brother. Face me like a man,” I taunted, chin tilted up.

I’d allowed myself to get distracted again, and this time, I didn’t even see the attack coming. I began to sweat, tugging at the tight bowtie strangling me around the neck. It got hotter and hotter… “What the fuck isgoing—”

Cameron was standing not 20 feet away, glaring at me with his hands outstretched. He shrugged. “I figured if the cold wasn’t your thing, maybe heat would hit the mark.”

That little shit! It was such a slow creep in temperature that I almost didn’t notice. I was the lobster in a pot of cold water, suddenly finding himself as someone’s dinner!

Growling, I took a step toward him, but with a swipe of his hand, debris began to come flying at me from all directions. Rocks, branches, the garbage can from the corner. I was so busy batting the small hurricane of smaller debris that I didn’t hear the newly installed statue of Loki being cleaved off its base with a creak of metal. I didn’t have time to dodge it as it came flying at me. It hit me hard in the chest and threw me back. I landed on my back in the middle of the street, staring up into a bronze Loki’s smug, shit-eating smirk.

I could admit that I didn’t have the best handle on my emotions on a good day—and today wasnota good day.

Throwing off the statue, I allowed my power to surge, rising my body off the ground, hovering three feet up. I heard startled cries, and people began to run in fear. The glow coming off me was so bright that Cameron couldn’t even look straight at me. The pavement beneath me blistered then began to melt, the nearby trees caught fire, and electricity arced and crackled off my fingertips.

“Do not begin to think you’re a match for me, mortal,” I roared, my voice echoing with an ethereal pitch that rumbled through the heavens. I was the god of terror, and I unraveled just a fraction of what I had to offer.

To his credit, Cameron did not turn and run, as so many men before had when faced with raw fear. He squared off his shoulders, clenched his jaw, and brought his hands together. It wasn’t graceful; in fact, it looked like he was just making shit up as he went along, buthe ended up with a giant ice spear. He looked almost shocked at what he’d created, but he schooled his expression and hefted it up to his shoulder, ready to launch.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Cameron,” I said through gritted teeth, but the truth was, it would soon be outside of my control. The power I wielded was unruly, not meant for me, and it was like trying to lasso a wild stallion. But unlike when I’d lost control in the tunnel, this time the floodgates were wide open. Power leached from my pores at an obscene rate, and my stores were being drained. Fuck!

Cameron did what he could to protect himself from the heat wave, but it was so intense that when he threw his spear, it melted long before it could reach me. The sidekick was strong, but not strong enough. He wavered then fell to one knee. Why wasn’t he running?

“Run, you idiot!” I shouted, my own skin splitting then healing, only to split again. It was agony! And I didn’t think I would ever be able to stop.

But then I heard a high-pitched whistling sound, and it was getting louder.

Cameron raised his head and stared up at the sky. Like a meteorite, Phobos came crashing down right on top of me. The force was strong enough to knock me out for a second, and when I came to, I found myself drenched in foul-smelling wastewater. I’d been punched straight through the street and into the sewer below. The water boiled around me, but it seemed to be absorbing a lot of the heat I’d been emitting.

I let out a shaky sigh, my tender flesh soothed at last. When I looked inside, my energy stores were nearly empty. My chance at revenge was ruined.

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