18. Pax

I was prepared to wait as long as she needed. She'd been through hell in New Eden and it got worse when Dionysus came back with Athena. I knew it was needed, but I hated feeling her in pain. She felt so much better now. Stronger. She was ready to take down Hannibal and the Coalition.

I couldn't see the furies, just their outlines, but I liked them. I could tell that Medusa was a little afraid to meet them, but she would have felt the same thing I did. They felt like controlled chaos, but in a good way. There was something soothing about the furies. I didn't know if it was because my mate was also a fury and they went well out of their way to help her or because I knew what they were about even before they went into greater detail to explain.

We were finally back home. Dionysus was whipping something up with ambrosia and I was realizing exactly how much the Fates were meddling with us. Kat, Calamity, and Jezebel were all crowded around their phones with Hephaestus while Athena had set up some kind of genius murder board in the corner to track Hannibal and Saul.

As soon as we walked in with Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera, it was like Kat and her mates froze when they saw Tisiphone. Tisiphone stood there with her mouth open. It seemed like another fury found their mates. Megaera looked like she desperately wanted to meet hers, too. I didn't know what was going on with Alecto. She seemed happy for her sister, but I was getting vibes off her that she'd gut her mates if she ever found them.

While we were gone, the network of Maenads and Jaminas had been coordinating with Kat. I was pretty sure half of them were newly questioning their sexuality if they hadn't already and she was feeding that information to Athena for her murder board.

Hephaestus had apparently used his skills to design satellites and drones and he was using them to track Hannibal and Saul based on the information he was getting from Kat. They apparently knew exactly where they were and would know if they left.

Jezebel borrowed Kat's ear piece and went right back to work once she was able to talk again after she realized she had another mate here. She was also flirting up a storm. Calamity was glued to her phone.

"Uh huh, kitten, has anyone ever told you how amazing you are?" Jezebel purred.

Kat just rolled her eyes. She was old enough to understand that it was Jezebel's nature to flirt but that she'd always come home to her mates.

"Got it," Kat said. "Benji, you'd better start calling this girl by her real name because she got us in the room with Hannibal and Saul."

"Seriously?" I asked.

"Yeah. Calamity is listening. You can find out what she heard after you finish your homework assignment. We need your fury as stable as possible. I know it'll be an accident and you can fix it, but I really don't want to know what it feels like to be turned into stone."

"It could be cool to try it out for science," Calamity said. "One of my cousins got kinky with a gargoyle in their stone form once."

"That sounds like a UTI. Stone is porous."

"It was a girl gargoyle."

"That sounds extremely unpleasant and painful," Cas said.

Calamity just shrugged.

"My cousin was never really right in the head. He had to move elementary schools for getting weird with crayons and glue. My parents never really let me play alone with him."

"Well, we can't do anything until Medusa eats. I don't want to hurt her," Cas said. "Can we get any updates?"

"Hannibal thinks Pax was a human priest who didn't have the stomach for what they were doing, stole confidential data off their computer, and helped start the riot. They don't want to say that because it looks bad that one of them turned. It's better for them if it was supernaturals that did everything.

"Hannibal wants to spin the vineyard and all the records disappearing on demons. Saul wants him to wait until they can confirm someone actually saw anyone where there would be paper records and apparently the Maenads at the Vineyard are having a field day with how their parents worked there, too, if a reporter shows up. Right now, they are arguing about it," Calamity said.

"You've got homework, big guy," Jezebel said. "As one of Medusa's best friends and a succubus, I expect to get a full report that she's been sufficiently railed."

"She has to eat first. She's still weak," I said.

"Cas and Pax are really good at the railing. Ask me how I know," Benji said.

"You aren't discussing our sex life with a succubus hybrid, Benji," Cas warned.

"She could give me pointers."

She really could. From what I understood, Jezebel used to be a sex worker. No one here cared about that, but she probably understood the male and female body better than anyone in the room.

Dionysus finally came back with Medusa and announced she was fed. Her aura was feeling much stronger. Maybe I was imagining it, but her outline seemed to have filled out a little from the two servings of ambrosia. I know I felt stronger from eating one. I was glad Dionysus kicked down Athena's door for it. It wasn't just that it helped her. It got her answers.

"No offense, but get the fuck out of my house," Cas growled.

Yeah, it was on.