Page 19 of The Chosen Son

Curiosity sparked and crackled inside me. It was an itch I couldn’t scratch, a thirst I could never quite quench. My brother was hiding something from me, something that had to do with his sidekick, and Ineededto know what it was.

While I was deep in thought, my thumbnail finding its way back between my teeth, Phobos turned and sighed. “So… are we gonna do this?” he asked.

“Huh?”

He waved a hand around the room. “You know, you try to rob a bank, and I stop you. I assumed you wanted to fight it out.”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess.” I slid down and shook out my hands as I tried to dredge up a little power. There simply wasn’t much left in the tank. I needed that recharge, but since Cameron wasn’t here, I obviously wasn’t going to get it from him. I would need to siphon the latest batch of shifters, but the thought of it was just so exhausting right now. I lifted my fists. “Okay, I’m ready. Hit me with your best shot.”

Phobos didn’t even bother to take a fighting stance. He was watching me, a crease forming between his eyebrows, and I wondered what he saw when he looked at me. “Is it just me or is your heart not in it today?”

“I mean…” I dropped my fists, my shoulders sagging in premature defeat. “Nah, not really.”

He came over and gripped my shoulder in a gesture meant to be comforting. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’re just having an off day. The next robbery will be more exciting.”

I shook my head, sighing. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“No, I swear I’m not.” He dragged me in, and as I stood there in his embrace, my arms hanging listlessly at my sides, I realized I couldn’t remember the last time someone hugged me. It was both foreign and terribly familiar at the same time.

Even as I ached for the contact, I found myself withdrawing, pressing a hand to his chest to worm my way free. “All right, that’s enough of that.”

And even though I’d pushed him away, he was smiling. “Okay, then let’s wrap this up.”

I wiped the memories from the hostages before letting them go, and then my brother gave me a lift up to the roof. “You sure I can’t give you a ride home?”

“I would not be caught dead seen being carried by you. I would never live it down,” I sassed, only partly serious. But also, I knew this truce between us was temporary, and I thought it best he didn’t know where I lived.

Phobos paused before he could fly off, hovering a foot off the roof. “I talked to Harmonia. Will I see you at family dinner on Sunday?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I wanted to ask him if Cameron was coming or not, but I found that maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe I wanted to go either way. It had been too long.

Chapter 9

Cameron

I tried to slipout unnoticed, but Phobos was there, popping around from the side of the house as I snuck out to my car. It was like he had a superpowered radar attuned to me—and that super speed sure didn’t hurt.

“Hey! Cameron, hold up!” He was smiling so wide it was like the sun shone specifically for him. Like he was actually glad to see me, and guilt churned in my gut. I’d been avoiding him ever since that kiss. I’d regretted it the second it was over, for so many reasons, not least of which was because I really didn’t feel that way about him. In fact, I wasn’t sure I would ever feel that way about anyone ever again. With how sick I’d been feeling, a romance was the very last thing I was looking for!

I stood there in the open door to my car, one leg already inside. I tried to play it casual, like I wasn’t actually leaning my full weight on the car in a desperate attempt not to collapse. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked, trying for easy breezy, but it was more like a full-on hurricane.

There was a flicker of something across his face, there and gone, before he doubled down on the smile. “You missed a wild time last night.”

“Oh?” A muscle in my thigh had begun to spasm, and I casually dug my thumb into it, struggling to keep the pain off my face.

“Yeah, there was a bank robbery… sort of. And I totally saved the day… mostly.”

I felt my eyebrows climbing higher. “Sort of? Mostly?”

He laughed. “Yeah, it was actually pretty funny. I got the call from the police and flew down there, charged in through the skylight, broken glass raining down in the most epic entrance of all time, only to find it was just Deimos, up to his usual shenanigans.” He rolled his eyes.

Hearing the man’s name brought to mind the dark-haired god, with his volatile power and even more dangerous attitude. His sexy smirk haunted my dreams. “Your brother is a menace,” I snarled. “He needs to be locked up.” Was there even a jail for gods?

Phobos tucked his hands in his pockets and shrugged, all bashful. “Aw, he’s not as bad as he seems. No one was hurt. He’s just been going through a rough time for the last… 300 years or so.”

My scoff echoed off the courtyard. “He kidnaps shifters and steals their powers, then tampers with their brains. I don’t care what he’s going through; nothing excuses that kind of behavior.”

“Okay, I admit, he hasn’t been dealing with it in a healthy way, but love makes us do stupid things… wouldn’t you say?” He was looking at me with such softness that I had to look away. Surely Phobos didn’t think he was in love with me. Right?

---