“Athena are you there?” Zeus asked, and she let out a deep breath.
“Yes. I’m here,” she gritted through her teeth.
“Your brother is in trouble,” Zeus said again, this time with only a slight tremor in his voice.
“Oh, I heard you. Loud and clear.”
“Are you free to meet with me today? I’d much rather discuss this in person. I haven’t seen you in so long, and I—”
“Today?” She huffed in annoyance, knowing full well even if she didn’t’ want to see him, she would.
Even though he did not sit atop Mt. Olympus anymore, his word was still commanding, both as a god of gods and as the man who’d seeded her very existence.
Athena carefully unlatched the lock on her kitchen window, preparing herself. Sunlight streamed in all golden and bright, the sound of the birds chittering and chattering outside her window like a symphony. She braced herself against her marble counter as he spoke.
“It has to be today, yes. I am only in town for the night, for a show—”
“Of course you are,” she bit.
“I have an interview with Rolling Stone in an hour, perhaps you could come... soon? I’d hate to postpone...”
Athena did not follow her father’s current career path, though she’d heard enough to know he was quite popular. Popular enough his music was climbing the charts.
She closed her eyes, grinding her teeth as she nodded, though he couldn’t see her. She would always come running when he called her to clean up her brother’s inevitable mess, whether she wanted to or not. Because somewhere deep inside, she was still a daughter who longed to please her only existing parent.
“Where are you?” she said with a shaky breath.
“Felicity.”
Athena’s wings knew it was time. She hadn’t shifted in over a month, and the promise of flying, even if it was to see her pain in the ass father, was too much to fight.
“I will be there in a flash,” she said as she hung up, setting the phone down on her counter. She didn’t think twice about letting her inner owl take over, for she was eager to spread her wings, too.
Anything to get this inevitable meeting over with.
Shifting was never uncomfortable for her, in fact, it was quite the opposite. She relished the rearranging of muscles, her skin morphing into something softer, lighter. And the moment she’d transformed, her feathered wings flapping to keep flight, the instinctive coo escaping her throat, she felt a peace that didn’t exist when she was in her godly form.
She was, as the humans said, ‘free as a bird’ in the literal sense.
The wind called her name, and she took off without warning, leaving through the window and into the chilled morning air of Los Angeles, in hopes that the mess her brother had made would not be one she could not mend.
CHAPTER7
Brian layin Athena’s bed, the feeling of elation more than prevalent. He didn’t wish to get up, for starters, because his entire body was ripe with the effects from his all night-fuck-a-thon.
He’d never in his life gone back to back as he had with Athena, though he’d certainly fantasized about it. However, when it came to actually seducing a woman and getting lucky, Brian did not have much experience in that department.
The few girlfriends he’d had, and at least two one-night stands, had all ended in disaster. He’d been happy with whatever his partners wanted him to do, and he normally obliged without argument. The innate desire topleasethe women he’d fallen for in his life was a sentiment not shared by his former partners.
They’d only taken his desire, his constant questioning, his need for reassurance that he was doing the right thing as second guessing his own skill rather than for what it truly was, and for Brian it was pivotal.
He longed to be with someone he could truly worship. Someone he could make breakfast for on Sundays when the library was closed, someone he could slow-dance with in the rain, someone he could shower with affection and praise that didn’talwaysend in mind-blowing sex.
Though I’ve never had mind-blowing sex until what?
Mere hours ago?
The sounds of birds chirping pulled him from his thoughts, and he could no longer hold off his festering need to take a piss, and so he huffed out a sigh as he threw the covers off of him, fully intending on asking Athena where her bathroom was.
