The morning sun was already blistering-hot when Mace and Blade arrived at Ares’s training arena, ready for whatever torture he’d devised to put them through today. Oddly, Scotty was late, and they were surprised when she showed up in the archway with Ares.
Their surprise turned suspicious real fast, though.
Scotty and Ares were smiling.
Sure, that was normal for Scotty, but it was really unsettling on Ares. The dude’s perma-scowl was practically iconic.
“What’s wrong with him?” Blade whispered to Mace. “He looks insane.”
“Right?” Mace was really freaked out.
“Guys!” Scotty ran across the expanse of groomed sand, practically bouncing. “Guess what? You’ll never guess. We have Harvester’s blood!”
“Hell, yeah!” Mace high-fived her, and Blade did the same. “This means Eva is safe, right?”
Ares’s grin slid off his face. At least he no longer looked demented. “Only if we can bring back Harvester.”
Confused, Mace looked between them—down to meet Scotty’s gaze and up to meet Ares’s. “You mean there’s a chance we can’t?”
There’d been a plan in place to bring Harvester back almost from the moment they’d learned that the blood that fell on Limos’s party and the Dome of the Rock belonged to the angel.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Scotty’s grin had faded, too, but she perked up again. “But Aleka’s done the research, and she believes that we can do it. With Raika’s help.”
“Why Raika?”
“Because she has some of the same powers as her father, and the ceremony requires manipulating souls and Sheoulic energy.”
“There’s still a chance it won’t work—”
“Daddy!” Scotty jammed her fists on her slim hips and rounded on Ares. “It’s going to work. Think positive.”
Ares was the size of a fucking building, and his intimidation factor was off the charts. But in the stare-off contest between him and his precious little girl, he backed down first, with the slightest twitch of amusement on his lips.
“I prefer being realistic,” he said, his voice a low growl, “but I want this as badly as you do, so I’ll be…positive.”
“Look at you and your personal growth.” Beaming, Scotty bounced on her toes and patted him on the shoulder. “And people say you’re resistant to change.”
“No one says that.” Ares swiped his fingers over a crescent mark on his neck, and his leather armor, the breastplate embossed with the same horse symbol as his forearm, clacked into place. A summoned sword appeared in his fist. “Now, are we all ready to work some shit out?”
“Everyone says that,” Scotty chirped, clearly enjoying poking the bear, “and we got all our shit worked out already.”
One reddish eyebrow came up. “Did you, now?” He grinned. The one that made you shit your pants because you knew there was a whole lot of pain and humiliation coming your way.
“Aw, come on, man. We—” Mace didn’t get to finish his sentence. Nope. Instead, he took a full body slam from the shield Ares must have pulled out of his ass. He flew backward, over the low arena wall, and crashed into the stadium seating.
“He’s your teammate,” Ares yelled at Blade and Scotty. “And you let him get hurt. What are you going to do about it?”
Mace knew the answer to that. They’d come to his defense like a pack of hellhounds, just as he’d done for them countless times.
And yep, in an instant, Blade and Scotty launched at Ares. Fuck, yeah. “Get him, guys!”
Ares defended himself almost casually against their coordinated attacks, but for the first time since the punishing training had begun four days ago, Ares gave up ground. Sure, he regained it with his powerful offensive pushes, but Scotty and Blade, working together in a seamless, coordinated combat dance, made him work for it.
Mace loved watching them fight. Blade’s decisive, high-octane blows could shatter bone and skulls or sever heads and limbs, while Scotty’s quick, graceful style distracted their enemies and left them vulnerable to attack from Blade or Mace. Although she was physically stronger than they were, she preferred lightning-fast, crippling strikes with her blade or high-speed hand-to-hand.
Mace’s style was a blend of both, but he liked to play with his prey more than they did.
And he was ready to play.
