“And them?” she points at us now.
“It was never the plan to kill them. They should have remained distracted until I got my hands on Maahes.”
“Well, the plan clearly backfired,” Bastet says evenly. “And now we are all summoned to the committee. Isis wants to see us.”
Maahes raises his brows but doesn’t say anything.
“I am not a lesser deity,” Apophis says. “I am on par with them.”
“Maybe, but are you on par with all of them?” Bastet questioned. “I’m not against you or your existence, or I wouldn’t be here preventing you from making the biggest mistake of your life. Chaos is part of life and needs to continue to exist.”
“What do you suggest?” Apophis frowns. “I know you, sly cat. You always have a plan. What do you want from me for you to prevent Isis from speaking against me?”
She snickers, her eyes glinting. “How about a contract, Apophis? Just between the both of us.”
He growls and hisses but eventually gives in. “Come to me when you are finished here,” he huffs, not even gracing us with another gaze before taking off.
Dalila’s stance and eyes return to normal, but she looks a bit disoriented before her eyes finally meet mine. “Tony,” she exclaims, running towards me. I catch her in my arms, ignoring the surge of pain that goes through my body. She notices, though, drawing back a bit to check on my arm. “Oh, my god, Tony… your arm! It’s broken.”
“More than once,” Henry adds with a frown.
“We need to get you away from here,” she says. “I can teleport us back.”
I look at her in worry. “You took over for Auset, didn’t you?”
She tilts her head. “I was always meant to be bound to Maahes,” she admits. “It’s my birthright. Auset just acted as a vessel until I was ready.” She smiles. “It’s not so much different from what you and Lys have, I promise.”
I grin. “I won’t complain. I got a fucking deity for a mate. I don’t understand what you did, but it’s hot!”
She grabs my face between her hands, relief washing over it before she pulls me into a kiss. Cassiopeia clears her throat behind us. “We really should leave,” she says.
“What about the dead bodies?” Henry asks with a frown. “And the burned-down buildings?”
“Let me handle this,” Bastet says calmly as she approaches us. She looks at Dalila with a smile. “What you did for my son means a lot to me. He is a reliable ally, and I promise you I will have an eye on Apophis from now on.” She pauses, looking at me now. “Anthony,” she says.
“Yes, Goddess,” I mutter nervously.
“Selene, your moon goddess, asked me to tell you something. She said she didn’t see the accident coming.” My eyes widen at her words. It wasn’t planned? Corinne’s death shouldn’t have happened? “She wouldn’t have made this poor human soul your fated mate otherwise. Chaos meddled with the world and changed a lot of fates. We are going to need some time to get everything into order again.” She smiles. “After your first mate passed, we agreed to fate you and Dalila to one another as a gift. Being part deity, she was never supposed to have a fated mate. But the death of her parents shouldn’t have happened, and your loss shouldn’t have happened either. It felt right to have the both of you find each other, and I strongly believe you were truly meant to be. Sometimes, not even I understand fate.”
Her words give me peace. I’ve been beating myself up over the question of why Corinne died and why the Goddess would punish me and her like that. Knowing now that nothing like that was ever planned, I feel like I can finally allow it to rest.
And as sad as it was, it led Dalila into my arms, my peculiar mate.
52
Gifted
*ANTHONY*
“Youreallyshouldn’tshiftfor the next week,” the doctor says with a frown. “This was dangerous, Young Alpha.”
“Yes, it really was.” Dad furrows his brows at me.
“Shifting with your hand still healing broke it again and made the injury worse,” the doctor keeps lamenting.
“Yes, you could have—”
“Goddess, Dad.” I stop him. “Don’t pretend like you would have just sat there and watched the group you were responsible for fight for their lives while your mate is in a fight against a deity.”