“I got the call while we were at the hotel.” Lamont’s face had gone red, which was adorable and also slightly concerning, given they were standing in front of an actual god. “I promised Ewen I wouldn’t leave him, so I didn’t. I brought him with me.”
Lamont’s arms tightened fractionally, as if he expected someone to try prying Ewen away. Ewen grabbed the blanket edges and tucked them more securely around himself. If Lamont wasn’t keen to put him down, that was fine. But Ewen wasn’t keen on being naked in front of strangers either.
“The issue,” Lord Hades said, his voice carrying the kind of authority that made Ewen’s fox want to roll over and show its belly, “is that you told Coda your journalist was your mate.”
“I did.” Lamont’s chin lifted slightly. “Because he is.”
“Coda works for my brother Zeus.” Lord Hades’s expression could’ve frozen the Styx. “Not for me. Using Zeus’s satellite network for personal matters creates...complications.”
“I didn’t have a choice.” Lamont’s voice stayed steady, but Ewen felt the tension thrumming through his mate’s body. “I’d searched for ten days. His phone was off, his apartment empty, and The New York Times had scrubbed him from their systems. I was out of options.”
“You could have asked me for assistance.”
“You were dealing with Giorgio’s situation, and your new twins, and the court days, and…I didn’t want to bother you with…”
“With the fact that your mate was missing and likely being tortured?” The consort, Ali - Ewen remembered the name now - crossed his arms. “Lamont, honey, that’s literally what Lord Hades does. He fixes things.”
“I fixed it myself.” Lamont’s jaw set in a way that Ewen was starting to recognize as stubborn. “I found Ewen. I rescued him. And yes, I told Coda he was my mate even though I didn’t know for certain he was at the time, but I was right, wasn’t I?”
Lord Hades’s eyebrows rose. “That’s not the point.”
“I feel that it is, sir.” Lamont shifted Ewen’s weight slightly, and Ewen wrapped his arms around his mate’s neck to make it easier. “If I hadn’t told Coda it was an emergency, if I hadn’t invoked the favor he definitely owed me after that crap-fest in Tuscany, if I hadn’t used every resource available to find him, Ewen would be dead. I’m sure it would’ve only been a matter of time before they killed him, and that’s assuming the mating sickness didn’t kill him first.”
“They were definitely planning to kill me,” Ewen confirmed, because that seemed relevant. “I overheard them discussing disposal methods. Very creatively, actually. Lots of concrete and sand involved.”
Ali winced. “Ouch.”
“The issue,” Lord Hades said, his tone sharpening, “is that Zeus is now aware one of my hellhounds used his resources without permission. There will likely be...consequences.”
Lamont’s arms tightened around Ewen. “What kind of consequences?”
“For you? Punishment of some kind, most likely. Zeus is being cagey about specifics, which means he’s planning something irritating. We can only hope his mate, Paulie, talks him out of it.” Lord Hades rubbed his temple. “For me? Probably an extremely tedious memo where he lectures me about proper channels and bureaucratic procedures.”
“That’s not right.” The words came out before Ewen could stop them.
Every eye in the room turned to him, and his fox curled up in terror, but Ewen pushed forward anyway. “I’m sorry, sir, but that’s not right. Lamont literally saved my life. If he hadn’t come when he did, I’d be dead. How is that supposed to be okay? I’m his mate. I’m fairly sure the Fates didn’t intend for me to die before we had a chance to say more than a dozen words to each other. Don’t their wishes count for something?”
Lord Hades studied him with dark, ancient eyes that seemed to see straight through the blanket and into Ewen’s soul - being a god, he probably could see everything right through to Ewen’s rather embarrassing love of lizards. He resisted the urge to squirm.
“It would have been fine, one way or another,” Ali said gently. “If you’re meant to be Lamont’s mate, you’re already immortal. You wouldn’t have died.”
I wouldn’t?That would’ve been a useful thing to know when he was tied up. But Lord Hades was shaking his head.
“No.” Lord Hades’s voice was gentle, but it still cut through the room. “Ali, love, I’m sorry, but that’s not correct.”
The consort blinked. “What? But what about Enda? That’s Giorgio’s mate,” he added to Ewen. “He was always going to be immortal, even if Giorgio hadn’t found him when he did, and he was a shifter.”
“Only technically. Enda’s a phoenix – they are immortal. But humans who are fated mates to immortals receive immortality the moment the mate bond snaps into place.” Lord Hades gestured at Ewen. “Because Ewen is a shifter, he would live longer than humans by several hundred years, yes. But a shifter doesn’t become truly immortal until after their mate wears the collar.”
The room went very quiet.
“Oh,” Ali said softly. “Oh, shit.”
“Exactly.” Ewen’s grip on the blanket tightened. “So, like I said, if Lamont hadn’t found me, I’d be dead. Very, very dead, sir. And how is punishing him for saving his mate’s life supposed to be fair?”
Lamont’s chest rose and fell against Ewen’s side. “Ewen, you don’t have to…”
“Yes, I do.” Ewen looked directly at Lord Hades, heart hammering. His fox was screaming at him to shut up, to not challenge a god, but screw it. He’d already been kidnapped, tortured, and nearly killed. What was a little divine wrath on top of that? “Lamont spent ten days trying to reach me and then searching for me. He tracked me across two continents. He called in favors and used every resource he had because he couldn’t stop thinking about me, even before he knew I was his mate. That’s not something that should be punished.”
