“But…their mates broke my law! I had to do something to keep the humans quiet. And how many times can I go around musing people? The last human I offered the honor of becoming a muse turned it down! I have just about had it with my children not listening to me!” She jumped down and stomped around her throne.
Misty stepped forward. “If I may be so bold, Goddess…”
“You may not! Just because you’re the muse of modern parenting doesn’t mean you can tellthisMother what to do. I just need to be obeyed. Can you make that happen?”
“With your gift of free will, I’m afraid not. However, I have found a good explanation delivered in a calm, nonthreatening way, with respectful two-way communication, helps a great deal.”
Gaia took a deep breath, letting it out in a whoosh and slumping. “Fine. I’ll try it your way.” She climbed back up and perched on the edge of her throne, leaning forward. “Children, I made the law for a good reason. If humans learn of paranormals in their midst, they’ll feel threatened and try to kill you…or worse. They’ll want to capture, experiment on, and try to use your powers for themselves. In fact, we’ve already had that happen, and naturally, I had to straighten out that mess.” She pointed. “You remember that, Wolfensen. Right?”
“Indeed,” Nick said respectfully.
“Cameron?”
“Yes, I do.”
“And Ruxandra—wait, whatisyour last name now?”
“Morgan. My husband’s last name. He’s still human, by the way. You didn’t have to ‘muse’ him.”
Luca leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “Isn’t your husband Kurt, the wizard?”
“Yeah,” she whispered over her shoulder.
“The human wizard.” Gaia laughed. “What some people lack in imagination they make up for in foolishness.”
“Hey!” Ruxandra didn’t have a chance to defend her choice. Luca reached over and clapped his hand over her mouth.
“What I was going to say, Mrs. Morgan, is that during the whole lab-rat debacle, you were also instrumental in stuffing that cat back into the bag.”
“What cat? What rat? We had werewolves, shifter bunny rabbits, and a merman.”
Gaia let out a long-suffering sigh.
“Perhaps I can help after all,” Karma said.
Gaia glanced over, hoping Karma could get this trial back on the rails. “Speak, Sister! And please say something useful.”
With an unrepentant smirk, Karma launched into her speech. “Goddesses, shifters, and vampires of this kangaroo court, I see, as perhaps no one else does, the joy and misery people bring to one another’s lives. In some cases, these lives are very long. And what is life without love? Even a short life is worth living, especially if there is love.
“Love is the best part of life. You, my dear sister, knew this and capitalized on it. To continue the species, you created the mating instinct and tricked people with love to trigger it.”
Mother Nature smiled and leaned back in her throne. “Yes, that was a brilliant trap I set, wasn’t it?”
“Of course!”
Karma was stroking her ego. Ordinarily, this would be a welcome change, but the sly expression on her face said she had something else up her Chanel sleeve.
“The thing is, dear Gaia, you made sure almost no one was unaffected, and you even created some unpleasant emotions, if sexually healthy people weren’t gettin’ any.”
“Yes, yes. I know all this. Your point is?”
“My point is…” Karma whirled on her and rudely pointed right at Gaia’s face. “You’ve fallen into your own trap! You, my dear, bitchy sister and goddess of all, need to get laid!”
The entire court gasped, followed by a few barely suppressed snorts and giggles.
Gaia sprang to her feet and clenched her fists. Her face heated with fury. In the next split second, she could strike her sister down with a lightning bolt. Or she could wrestle herself under control and model the behavior she wanted from her children.
Fuck. That. Shit.
