“Elva.” Her name came out as a pained mumble.
“Hello, Grayson,” she greeted me breezily.
“You aren’t helping the matters,” I told her, my gaze darting along the others. A few caught my eye before hurriedly looking away.
“Let them gossip,” Elva said, waving a hand dismissively. “We’re friends, are we not?”
Our work was so intricately entwined that the rest of Elysia assumed it’d be natural for us to fall together in the same way as Erik and Sloan, but I found Elva too calm in her nature. She dealt in death and finality. Instead of taking to it with the same vigour and darkness that pushed me, Elva was comfortable in her routine. Soft-spoken and gentle was her approach.
If I ever considered settling down, I wanted someone that was as chaotic as I was at heart. Balance was not something I craved. I didn’t long for someone to calm me down or slow my pace. If it were to ever happen, I’d find a woman to burn beside me, equally bright. But Elysia had yet to create such a being, letting me grow accustomed and comfortable to my solitude.
“We are,” I admitted quietly.
No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t set the record straight, and it pissed me off how much the others took a vested interest in my love life. A love life they’d created out of nothing more than clucking tongues sharing baseless rumours.
“So? Let them talk.”
Hunter stood in front of the eleven of us and called order, hushing the rabble and drawing kin to empty seats.
“I wanted to gather everyone today to remind you why we came to earth.”
I couldn’t resist the urge to roll my eyes, earning a pointed look from my older sibling.
“As we integrate ourselves with mortals, ensure that anyone outside of the project knows nothing of our powers. We’re here to understand —”
I zoned out from the sanctimonious lecture. It wasn’t like we hadn’t heard it before. There was no doubt in my mind that he had called this meeting for my benefit. A public briefing to remind me that if I set a toe out of line, there were plenty of witnesses to help pin every accusation to me without hesitation.
My brain settled on Scott and the way she’d looked at me from the floor of the ring. It wasn’t just anger, but disgust. I was used to it. There were plenty that were sitting around me now, that had the same reaction to me and my responsibilities.
My official title may have been God, but the whispers hissed monster.
“What are you thinking?” Erik had caught me again, and he looked at me curiously.
“Nothing,” I said, avoiding his eye.
“Is it her?” he pressed. When I didn’t respond, he continued, “Twice in two days, Gray. Why is this mortal taking up so many of your thoughts?”
We kept our voices hushed, but I grew anxious that someone might pick up on the conversation.
“You find her appealing,” Erik said, lightbulb going off.
I balled my fists in my lap. “Drop it.”
This morning, when she waltzed into the kitchen, dressed in skin-tight gym gear, Scott had piqued another facet of my interest. Beneath the lab coat and baggy jeans that she sported for work, there was a curvaceous body. Thick thighs that demanded to be wrapped around a head, a peachy ass, and wide hips. Her stomach didn’t quite lie flat; a lover of the finer things in life and an ample pair of breasts. Beneath the nerd, Scott might have been classified as a temptress.
Then she stepped into the ring and as I lifted the weights, doing my part to blend in, I fixated on the way she moved. All that fury packed into that body sparked something a little more dangerous than vengeance. But it all shattered when I all but knocked out Holden.
Holden.
She ran to Holden’s side.
Regardless of how much I despised her, even I could see that Holden fell way below Scott’s standards. He was punching above his weight in more ways than one.
Maybe I’d gone about this the wrong way.
Erik cocked his head to the side and stared at me.
“What do you want?” I snapped.
