Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

“I am telling you, it’s just embarrassing at this point. Even Fenrir has found his fated mate, and here the three of us sit, not having found one for any of us,” said Hermódr. “And what’s wrong with us? We’re hot. We’re cool. We’re rich as hell. Plus, we’re gods.”

“There is nothing embarrassing about waiting to find the one you’re meant to be with forever, Herm,” replied Vidar.

Hermódr shook his head and took a massive bite of his burger. “I am done waiting to find her. All we ever do is work, and sleep, and drink, and?—”

“Enough,” said Tyr. “You two sound like two silly little maidens who want to braid each other’s hair and draw your wedding dresses on paper. You’re ridiculous.”

Herm and Vidar looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Awww… are you feeling left out? Come here, I’ll braid your hair.” Herm reached for Tyr, but Tyr slapped his hand away.

“He’s cranky because he hasn’t been laid in what? A year?” said Vid. “Two? I think you need to go down to Odin’s and find a girl and bed her well.”

Tyr growled and stood from the couch before walking to the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water. He chugged down the icy liquid and then tossed it in the trash before setting his hands on the counter and staring at them.

His brothers-in-arms were right. It’d been far too long since he’d bedded a woman, but that was not his problem. His problem had been the same for the last thousand years—companionship.

Fenrir finding his fated mate had made things much harder for Tyr. Not because Fenrir quit working for him, that he understood. But because it showed him how deficient he must be if he, Tyr, God of War, could not find someone to share his life with, and Fenrir, the cursed god, could. Even Loki found a Valkyrie to settle down with. And have children… Children.

Tyr had no children. No family. No legacy to pass on. Nothing. Sure, he had the two idiots sitting on the couch, but they weren’t family in the sense he wanted.

They had been together as a trio from the moment they’d betrayed Fenrir. Brothers-in-arms. Vid and Herm knew everything about him… mostly. But even he didn’t have the same bond with them as they had with each other. Even with them, he was the odd man out.

“What do you say, Tyr? Want to go with us? It could be fun.”

Tyr blinked at the mention of his name. “What?”

Herm and Vid laughed.

“He asked if you want to come with us to the DeLux Café to the Speed Dating Event,” said Vid. “It’s in a few hours.”

“Yeah, maybe you will find a woman, lock eyes with her, and just know she is meant to be yours forever,” Herm said wistfully.

Vid punched him in the shoulder, and they both burst into laughter again.

Tyr shook his head. “I’ve had horses more mature than the two of you?”

Herm shrugged. “And we’ve had a set of triplets between the two of us who had less PMS.”

Tyr had no idea how to respond. Was he uptight? Yeah. But he had to be. He had to be rigid. Had to be in charge. People’s lives depended on him. Always had. As the God of War, peoples’ fates had always been in his hands. Millions of people. If he had a good day, they would win a battle. If he had a bad day, so did they. If he lost his temper… people got hurt. People died. He hadn’t asked for it, but that was his fate. He couldn’t change that fact any more than he could change the color of the sky.

He had to control his emotions, whims, and passions. When he let those things go… bad things happened.

“So, are you coming or not?”

“You don’t have to participate,” said Vid. “You could sit on the sidelines and observe.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea. If he watched us, he could get some pointers.”

Tyr rolled his eyes. “If I took pointers from you two, I’d still be single in a thousand more years. Who is going to put up with you two teenage troublemakers for eternity?”

Herm and Vid looked at each other in astonishment. “Wow. Good one.”

“I think he actually wounded me with his words.”

“Yeah, that kind of stung, Tyr. Mean. It was plain mean.” Herm began to fake cry.

Tyr rolled his eyes. Gods help the women who ended up with those two. They’d need more patience than Frigg herself.

Tyr’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out. His brow furrowed. It was a number he’d not seen in forever. He pushed the button and answered.

“Sylax?”

“Tyr? I need your help.”

Tyr strode to the stairs and jumped down them in one leap. He grabbed a set of keys off the wall and threw open the door to the garage.

“Tell me where you are.”