Page 67 of Sinful Mates

As usual, everything relied on me. Break the two curses. Research for Alaric’s drugs arrest case. Tests for evidence in Slade’s accusation of murder for Hellhound Heller. And now, taking down our enemy, simultaneously commencing the world’s largest reckoning against an extensive enemy that infiltrated every government, every institution, company, the world over. All in a day’s work for the god of Reckoning, right?

“While I’ve got you on the line, brother.” Mads yawned, part of his dramatic flair. “Found some references to the Dark One in the Greek history books.”

Tension in my body lessened. Thank fuck. I was getting pissy at this asshole hiding from me.

Slade’s chair creaked as he sat up and leaned on his desk, listening acutely to the information about the avatar behind our troubles.

“Apparently, your shifty little adversary likes to cover his tracks, erase mentions of his activity from stone tablets and parchment.”

I thought as much. One minor mention of the Dark One was strange for Egyptian culture when they recorded everything.

“He?” I had to keep Mads on track when he had a habit of going off it to stir shit, confuse people, and slide away into the night. Sneaky and playful, that was Hermes and his avatar for you.

“Sending you through some information.” Mads yawned again and my phone buzzed with an email. “Have a read. Riveting stuff. Needed coffee to get through it.”

I scanned the documents as Mads summarized for me, clearly enjoying the sound of his own voice.

“There was a cult in Eastern Egypt in 2030 BC that worshipped the Dark One. The true King of the Underworld. Dark wolf head. Anubis. Ring a bell?”

Anubis.

The dark-skinned, wolf-headed god of Embalming and protector/keeper of the dead. Formerly the god of the Underworld and Death, until Osiris died, and Thoth and Isis resurrected him.

Pieces of the puzzle clicked back into place as I recalled the history of the gods. For the resurrection miracle, the people worshipped Osiris as the god of Death and the Duat, relegating Anubis to a minor role. No wonder he was aggrieved and resentful. Exactly how Thoth or I would feel if cast aside so indiscriminately and callously.

I joined the gods’ mythology together into a coherent story that explained Anubis’ motivations to curse Set, Thoth, Isis, Osiris. Set lay the groundwork for everything, cutting Osiris’ body into pieces, hiding them at various locations around the world. Isis hunted down her husband’s remains, piecing them together, finding every limb except his penis. Thoth and Isis used their magick to bring Osiris back from the dead long enough to make love with Isis and seed Horus in her belly. But that didn’t explain why Anubis also punished Horus, unless the former wanted to punish the child of his nemesis, Osiris.

Heat on the bond went thermal to match Slade’s temper. “Motherfucker!” He pushed out of his chair, pacing the length of his office.

“Bit of history there?” Mads enquired with mild curiosity masking his nosiness. “Did he bite your dick after a bad blow job?”

Zethan let out a surprising chuckle at someone who was facing jail time for his stunt. When the cops finished meddling with the club, they were coming after him next… maybe sooner. “We had a bad break-up.”

“Oh, do tell.” I imagined Mads grabbing a bowl of popcorn and settling in for a story.

“We worked for him a few years back, transporting candy,” Zethan explained, using the code candy word for drugs. “Things went south with one of our members causing trouble with another club whose turf we relied on for transport. Let’s just say Colton Raine has more than enough reason to want revenge on us.”

“We paid back that money.” Slade held back barely restrained anger.

I transferred money we didn’t have to cover the debt, but the gesture didn’t seem to cover it.

“Well, if I were you,” Mads warned, “I would get your ducks in a row, if you know what I mean.” Despite the scrambling on the line, we still spoke in code to cover our asses. “We had a run-in with him about a year ago. He kidnapped Autumn and we helped Hades rescue her.”

Slade glared at Zethan, never letting him forget the time the Wolves surprised us with an ambush, and he and I took serious fire from our enemies. The president called on Zethan to wipe the fuckers out with his death power, but the Underworld’s magick whisked Zethan away and left us to save our own hides. Vengeful Hades had attempted to crush Colton’s soul, calling Zethan to their location, forcing him to rescue Colton as a servant of the dead.

The damn day we found out Aaliyah infiltrated us. Betrayed us. Saved her goddamn snake of a brother.

“Raine’s tricky,” Mads warned again. “Worked for Zeus to kidnap Autumn and draw Hades out of the safety of the Underworld, where he was weaker. If you need any help with him, I’m sure Hades would be more than happy to tear his head off.”

Sounded about right. Raine had enemies left, right, and center, muscling in on his territory left weakened by his father’s shady business deals.

Slade moved back to the desk, stubbing out his cigarette with the same force Colton Raine would face when we caught up with him. “We might call in a favor.”

I appreciated that Slade let me handle this and kept his butting in to a minimum.

“Between you and Reading, I’m collecting lots of favors.” Mads’ tone gloated down the line. If it wasn’t fun, he opted out, so I let the banter extend for a moment before I circled back to our conversation.

“Yeah, yeah. Three.” Knowing Mads, he’d call the favors in at the most inopportune time.

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