23. Cameron

Chapter 23

Cameron

Life is good. Life. Is. Good.

I’d been repeating this mantra to myself for the past seven months, but I was still scared to believe it. I’d grown up waiting for the other shoe to drop, and even after saving the world, there always seemed to be something awful waiting in the wings.

Now, though, maybe it was finally time to let myself believe that a happily ever after was possible for someone like me.

And it all started with righting one serious wrong.

Even though I knew the winter wind was howling somewhere outside, inside the cave, it was like another world entirely. The only sound was the drip, drip from stalactites into pools below, and the temperature was hot as hell—literally. I’d immediately stripped off my thick down jacket and had already begun sweating through my paternity shirt, and we’d only been down here ten minutes.

“I warned you, Deimos, that it could not be undone,” the goddess Apate rasped from where she sat on her rock-hewn throne, her face hidden beneath the black veil. Her skin where it could be seen around her gown was pitch-black and seemed to move in eddies and swirls, like a living oil slick.

I shivered and wrapped my arms protectively around my round stomach, and Deimos tightened his grip around my waist. “I’m not asking for you to undo my curse,” he said. “I’m asking for you to quit playing games with the humans.”

The fluctuation of Apate’s skin seemed to still, like a pond suddenly without ripples, which was somehow even more disconcerting. “What games?” she asked with feigned innocence.

“Cut the bullshit,” I said, glaring. “We know you’re responsible for the Chosen Ones, and we are telling you to stop. I don’t know what kind of sick amusement you got out of toying with humans, but you are ruining lives and tearing families apart! No more unlimited power bestowed to children. And that’s final!” I felt like I was scolding a naughty toddler, but I figured it didn’t hurt to practice now before our baby arrived.

“What will you give me if I do this for you?” she asked slyly.

Deimos leaned in, his lip curling in disgust. “How about we don’t tell Loki that you’re peddling shady magical deals in a pocket realm beneath his city…”

She huffed but relented without putting up much of a fuss. “Fine, but I cannot take back what lingers in this one,” she said, wiggling a finger at me. “He’s been altered.” Maybe it was just me but she sounded kind of put out, as if someone had broken her favorite toy.

“Don’t worry about that. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” Deimos turned and gave me a wink. In fact, we’d been doing just fine managing my powers. He siphoned them off as needed, and he’d started finding ways for him to burn it off, for “magical emergencies.” Though he never took credit for it, he’d become a real-live superhero for the city. And if the power still managed to build up too much, he’d even found a way to force it back into the Valleywood power grid. Somehow, this awful thing I’d been forced to live with my entire life had become a benefit to others.

It was clear Apate wasn’t pleased to have her fun ruined, but as we turned to climb our way back up the slippery cave path, I thought I caught a peek of her face through the veil, a hint of mischief in her smirk, and I knew this wasn’t the last we’d heard of her.

“Are you sure we can trust her?” I asked, panting as I took Deimos’s hand and let him pull me up the incline.

“Not even a little,” he admitted with a surprising amount of levity.

I frowned up at him. “How can you be so easygoing about the whole thing? She’s a menace! Like, a literal manifestation of evil incarnate! Think about the countless lives that were lost for the sake of one goddess’s amusement. And what about me? I lost my parents to this Chosen One nonsense, and it was nothing more than a fucking game!” I’d been thinking a lot about my parents lately, and the brother I’d never met. Would they want to see me now that my human life was over? Would they want to meet their grandchild?

Deimos stopped where he was on the path and turned to look at me. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” I snapped, then took a slow breath. “I’m fine, I just need a bath.”

“And maybe a backrub?” he asked coyly.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re not fooling anybody. I know exactly what you mean when you say ‘backrub.’”

His smirk did things to me. “Hey, there’s rubbing, and it’s definitely somewhere on the back of your body…”

“Get walking, mister, or we won’t get home before the storm hits. And then nobody will be getting any rubbing tonight.” But as we continued up the short incline, I realized for the first time in months, I wasn’t in the mood to get frisky with him. I felt sick and tired and sore.

Uneasiness filled me, and I was suddenly very eager to get the hell out of this cave. Deimos seemed to sense my urgency and picked up the pace, pulling me firmly above ground.

Stepping out from the cave into the narrow, garbage-strewn back alley felt like emerging into a different world, and I supposed that was exactly what it was. Deimos had mentioned a pocket realm, and while I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant—I was new to this whole god thing, after all—I decided it was a problem for another day. Right now, I had something more important to worry about. Namely, the band of pressure that was beginning to tighten around my middle.

Panting to catch my breath, I struggled to get my jacket back on. “Damn, how long were we down there? It wasn’t snowing like this when we went in.” It was as if hours had passed, though I could’ve sworn it was only 20 minutes. The blizzard was already in full force, and even tucked between the buildings like we were, snowdrifts had begun to build up and were already up to the top of my boots, tight around my swollen feet.

I tried to pull my jacket around my stomach, but it no longer reached, this close to the end of my pregnancy, but I pulled my hood up and low over my forehead. I blinked quickly, trying to see through the blustering snow as ice pellets stung my cheeks. This was what the news outlets had been threatening all week. The blizzard of the century.

Deimos had a tight grip on my hand and walked slowly, ensuring I didn’t slip. Immortal or not, I was still pregnant with his child. “Where the hell is our car?” he grumbled, squinting through the pelting snow. We trudged through knee-deep snow to where we found our vehicle .

“I bet you’re glad I made you buy the SUV now,” I snarked. He’d wanted to keep driving his little black sportscar, and I’d wanted a mini van. We’d compromised.

“Sirs! Over here!” I could hear Zeek, but it was impossible to see a thing in all this snow. Then, the twin headlights cut through the whiteout.

Deimos practically picked me up and carried me to the car, loading me into the back, then he climbed in behind me, slamming the door shut. We took a moment to just catch our breath. My eyelashes were caked with ice and my cheeks were raw. “Zeek, take us home,” Deimos said, but I quickly corrected him.

“Uh, actually, can we take a detour to the hospital?” My voice quivered nervously as I realized the back of my pants were wetter than with just snow. “I think my water broke.”

Two sets of eyes turned to stare at me, but I wasn’t in the mood to explain. “Hospital! Go!”

Zeek slammed on the gas, the truck fishtailing before the tires finally gripped, and we took off down the deserted street. The city looked like a ghost town, cars abandoned on the side of the road, snow clogged around the wheels, locking them in place.

My heart was lodged in my throat, anxiety taking over. I couldn’t decide if I was hot or cold, and there was a band of pressure tightening alarmingly around my stomach. “Careful!” Deimos shouted as Zeek took a corner too fast, the rear of the truck sliding wide.

“Your dinky sportscar would’ve gotten stuck by now,” I jabbed irritably, dropping my head back on the seat, moaning as a contraction hit me.

“Yes, dear, you’re always right,” he said soothingly, and I cracked an eye open to peek at him .

“Don’t do that. Don’t play the good guy. I fell in love with the villain, and that’s what I need right now. I want you to fight with me. It’ll help distract me.” I could feel a cool sweat beading on my forehead.

Deimos leaned in and took my jaw in his hand, his violet eyes flashing. “Anything for you, love. What kind of material were you hoping for? I left the bread bag open on the counter this morning. I bet the whole loaf is all stale and crusty by now.”

I laughed lightly. “You asshole.”

His smile was everything, and he kissed me lightly, tenderly. “I look forward to fighting with you for the rest of our lives.”

We were interrupted by the truck jolting, and I hissed in pain when we went over a bump. Deimos brought his arms instinctively around me, holding me to him, but he shouldn’t have bothered, because next thing we knew, the car came to a sluggish stop. Zeek revved the engine a few times, but I could hear the tires spinning uselessly beneath us.

We were stuck.

“This isn’t the hospital,” I said, stating the obvious.

Zeek turned to look at me from the driver’s seat. “It is not.” The poor demon looked crushed to have failed me, his poor pudgy face quivering. “What shall I do, sirs? I could run to the hospital and bring a doctor back?”

Deimos reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “Don’t bother. I’ll call Phobos, and he can fly Cam there.”

I had my doubts about this plan. Phobos had been screening his calls, suddenly too busy to talk to us. He was having a good sulk after I chose Deimos over him. I waited, breathing through another contraction, while Deimos angled his phone this way and that, his expression darkening. “No service,” he finally spat, squeezing his phone hard enough that the case cracked .

“That’s okay… it’s fine… we’re gods, we’ll be fine…” My eyes stung, and I shut them to keep the frustrated tears at bay. I didn’t want to have my baby in a car. I gritted my teeth as I tossed off my seatbelt and debated how much space I would have to lie down. “We don’t even have the baby bag because we left it at home by the door! Why aren’t we prepared for this?! We’ve had literally months of warning! It’s not like it’s a surprise, ‘Oh, where’d this baby come from?’”

He smirked rakishly. “We had better things to do than worrying about a stupid bag,” he said, bestowing me with a wink. The things we had to do were sex.

I smacked his shoulder. “You find me somewhere safe to have this baby or you’re never getting sex again!”

I rocked back and forth on the seat, trying to ease the growing pressure, and my wet pants made a squeaking sound against the leather, making me giggle manically. Life is good, remember?

I didn’t miss the look that passed between Deimos and Zeek. “Fuck off, the both of you,” I growled. “Until either of you has to push a baby out, neither of you are allowed to have an opinion.”

“Yes, dear,” Deimos said, sliding straight back into role of appeasing the omega in labor. But then he reached for the door handle, and as soon as he cracked it open, a flurry of snow blew in, the wind whipping at my hair.

“Where are you going?” I shrieked in a panic. He wouldn’t leave me here to do this alone, would he?

“Hey, it’s okay. Look.” He pointed through the window, and I saw a neon sign glowing through the snow. I couldn’t read what it said, but in my mind, it meant safety.

I nodded. “Okay… but come straight back! ”

He wasn’t even gone a full minute before he ran back to the car. He flung the door wide, the storm invading my tiny haven, and reached for me. “Come on, the owner said it’s fine.”

Sniffling back my tears and my lower lip quivering, I took his hand and let him sweep me up into his arms, using his body to shelter me from the worst of it. He carried me through the deep snow, and Zeek scurried ahead to hold the door open for us. It was warm inside, almost too warm, with a crackling fire in the wide, stone hearth. “Is that legal?” I asked, warily eyeing up the significant blaze, but I wasn’t about to look a gift fire in the ash.

Especially not when another contraction hit me with the force of a tidal wave, nearly knocking me off my feet. Deimos caught me before I could go down and held me until it passed and I could breathe again, then he guided me over to the fire where a bearskin rug was laid out. “Hey, I remember this place,” I muttered, kneeling down to lie on the floor. Deimos helped me peel off my jacket and balled it up to use as a pillow.

There were no customers and only one staff member. The same lumberjack bartender from the last time I’d been here was sitting in a chair with his boots up on the wood table, arms crossed over his chest, scowl peeking out from under his beard. “Yeah, and you’re lucky I’m still here. Looks like I might be forced to close my doors. Business has not been good.”

“Uh-huh,” I grunted, not really listening. I was sorry for his financial troubles, but I had bigger issues on my plate right now, and all of my focus was currently being devoted to Deimos peeling off my wet pants. This baby was coming whether I was ready or not.

What happened if there were complications? I might’ve been almost invincible now, but we didn’t know for certain whether the baby was conceived before or after I was marked. What if they were not a god but a demigod, mortal and fragile? What if—

The lights flickered then went dark as the power cut out, throwing deep shadows about the room, and a whimper escaped my lips. The fire would keep us warm at least, but how long would we be trapped here?

I wasn’t even aware I was crying until Deimos reached over and dried my cheeks. “Don’t be afraid, Cam. Everything will be fine.” With a single brush of his hand, my beloved god of fear made me brave, drawing away my doubts and worries and leaving only determination behind.

The labor progressed quickly, and it made me wonder just how our time in the pocket realm had affected the timeline. The bartender kept his distance, but I could feel his curious gaze from his perch, and I found myself wondering if he had any children of his own.

Zeek proved to be surprisingly well-versed in labor and delivery, and soon enough, he declared that it was time for me to push. I didn’t question him about where he got his medical degree. It hurt like hell, of course, a searing heat that threatened to tear me in two, but I felt like I could endure any amount of pain with my alpha at my side. I bore down, telling myself that it was almost over.

“That is the head,” Zeek said. “Now the shoulders…”

With a final rush, I felt the baby slip from my body, and I collapsed back against Deimos, exhausted but proud. “You did it,” he whispered in my ear, his voice ragged with emotion, and I swore I felt his tears drip onto my neck.

“It is a son!” Zeek proclaimed, swaddling our baby in an apron our host had provided and passing him to me. He let out a thin cry, his little legs kicking .

“He’s beautiful,” I gasped. Even though he looked so tiny and delicate, I could sense something otherworldly about him. He would be powerful one day, I just knew it.

Deimos wound his arms around me to help bring him to my chest to feed for the first time, and Zeek found a blanket to drape over us. In this cozy cabin in the heart of the city, it felt like we were in a world all our own. I’d almost forgotten about the storm outside.

“Maybe we should name him Loki,” I teased.

“Bite your tongue,” Deimos said without any real heat, pinching my side lightly. He was totally enamored with our son, not looking away as he reached up to stroke his rosy cheek.

I could feel sleep trying to claim me, and I put my trust in Deimos to take care of me. I lay there in my lover’s arms, exhausted and completely at peace. My gaze moved to the windows which were coated with ferns of frost, glowing with the light of the moon. Did that mean the storm had passed?

I wasn’t ready to go back to the real world just yet, so I said nothing, and the four of us remained where we were for the rest of the night. Everything else could wait.