Page 38 of The Death God
“Good because I think they’re here.”
Nerves swirled in his gut. He’d never cooked for anyone other than the others in the castle, and Minerva, Prophecy, and Jaki had the same crappy food experiences as he did. It was hard to fail then.
A couple of minutes later, Gregory entered the kitchen, followed by the biggest man Thanatos had ever seen. He was maybe an inch or two taller than Rufus, who was freakishly tall, and he was broader. There was a lethal grace to him at odds with his size.
A stuttering breath left him.
“Honey, this is Alaric Quin, alpha of the Quin pack.”
Thanatos scrambled forward and offered his hand in greeting. “Thanatos.” It wasn’t until he’d spoken that he remembered they were gonna call him Joshua. He noticed Alaric stiffening, but before he could do any damage control, an even larger man entered the kitchen, and this time Thanatos was pretty sure he whimpered. Crap, they were big.
When a warm, callused thumb stroked over the back of his hand, he realized he was still holding onto Alaric’s hand. He snatched his away. “Sorry.”
Alaric smiled. There was a warm glow in his eyes as if he hadn’t stiffened at the sound of Thanatos’ name seconds ago. An instant later, Gregory hissed and pulled Thanatos to him. “Cut it out.”
“Possessive?” Alaric chuckled. “He’s a cute little thing.”
It made Thanatos tense. Gregory placed a hand on his neck and ran his thumb over the skin. “He’s yanking my chain, love. Nothing to worry about.” Though Gregory looked as if it was something to worry about.
Alaric winked at Thanatos, and part of him wanted to smile in response. He didn’t.
Alaric motioned at the mountain of a man behind him. “This is Amell, my brother.”
Thanatos raised his hand in a wave which he knew damn well wasn’t good enough, but he was a little dazed. He’d believed Gregory and Rufus were the most powerful beings he would ever meet, but these brothers were…huge, and strong, and he wanted to say magical, but he couldn’t sense magic, so he didn’t know if they were.
“Interesting name there, Thanatos.” Amell had none of Alaric’s warmth in his eyes as he looked at Thanatos. “What is it you do?”
Gregory stilled next to him. “What the fuck?”
“In the car, we have a guy named Himeros.” Alaric studied Thanatos with such intensity as he spoke, Thanatos wanted to sink through the floor. “I called Silas, thinking the vamps might know more than we do, but all he said was to get my ass over here.”
Thanatos glanced at Jaki, who’d taken a step closer to Rufus. He didn’t know of anyone called Himeros. “The god of…” He tried to remember. He’d read a lot of Greek and Roman mythology. “…unrequited love?”
“Sexual desire and unrequited love.” Alaric nodded, a grim expression on his face. “The party we were to have this Saturday was to celebrate Amell taking a mate. A female werewolf from a pack down south.” He stared at Thanatos as if willing him to say something.
“Congratulations?” Was it the right thing to say? He didn’t know anything about werewolves and looked at Gregory for guidance, but Gregory’s face was a blank mask.
“Oh, it would’ve been a thing to celebrate. He swore it was his true mate. Finding true mates is rare. Very rare.” Alaric’s voice had turned icy.
“Okay.” Gregory had told him about it. “So it’s a good thing, right?”
“It would’ve been. Except for as long as I have known my brother, which is quite some time, he’s never bedded a female.”
Thanatos grimaced. “Would a mate bond do that? Pick someone you don’t—”
A snarl cut him off. Amell’s snarl. Thanatos shrank into Gregory, who wrapped an arm around him.
“I’ve never heard of it before. There are few female shifters. For some reason, most children born are males. Many of us mate with humans, which might have fucked up the balance. I don’t know. Either way, it’s rare to find a female shifter, rarer still she’d be a true mate. When Amell claimed it was the case, I didn’t argue. Maybe a mate bond could override orientation, however ingrained it’d been in the years leading up to that point.”
Thanatos didn’t answer, and he didn’t know why Alaric was talking to him. He was the least knowledgeable person in the room, apart from maybe Jaki.
“Then we found this person sneaking around on pack land, and the moment one of my men knocked him out, Amell was no longer interested in mating with a female. So what the hell is going on?”
* * * *
Gregory didn’t like the way Alaric and Amell were staring at Thanatos, but the information was disturbing, so he allowed it for now.
“Wait, what?” It was Jaki speaking, and Gregory was glad someone was asking questions.
