I think every last one of us would disagree that any part of this was even remotely fun, but I had gotten to know Solron. She was so fucking twisted, this waspreciselyher idea of fun, and that was why I liked her, even if I didn’t share the sentiment. I knew Pavlina liked her too because they did their little fist bump handshake they made up when Solron let go of me.
I grabbed Charley and hugged her because if it weren’t for her and her magic, I would long be dead. Demeter would have killed me on sight if it weren’t for the enchantment she gave me to wear around my neck. For that matter, Hephaestus might have too instead of hearing me out. I still hadn’t forgotten she healed Pavlina and Lis. I was going to miss that witch.
Finn didn’t talk much. I hardly knew him. I didn’t know if it would offend him or not, but I hugged him too. He nearly died getting that shot at Ares and had saved all of us. I was super fond of not dying, and none of my mates getting killed too. Now that things were settled, I would have to make Solron and Finn a nice care package for taking Ares out.
Before I knew, everyone from Hell had stepped into a portal and were gone. They didn’t say goodbye to Hades. I had a feeling he already knew. He joined us as soon as the portal closed. Cerberus and Lis came bounding into the room, and Cerberus was even more excited than usual. I thought it was just because we were back until he just blurted it out.
“Lis went into heat while you were gone, and I’m going to have puppies! Can you check her out?”
I inwardly groaned. I knew they would have some powerful, adorable puppies, but I’d already dealt with Cerberus when Lis was injured. I knewexactlywhat kind of neurotic, doting dad he was going to be. Still, Lis was a Hellhound, and Cerberus had three heads. Lis needed to be seen, and I would have to do an ultrasound to see exactly how many heads her puppies had. This could very well be a French Bulldog situation where she had to deliver via C-section, and I was already groaning about trying to have that conversation with a three-headed dog.
“Congratulations, both of you. Hades, you’re going to be a grandfather.”
“Excuse me?” he demanded.
“Cerberus and Lis are having puppies. I need to examine her because she might have difficulty delivering if the puppies have more than one head like their daddy.”
“You can be a daddy now if you want too,” Pavlina said. “Zeus is gone, and the new council doesn’t feel the same about new Olympians. Nemesis has already agreed to be a surrogate to Hermes and Eros. Dionysus and Apollo have mates, and I think they’ve already gotten started. Hestia has paired up with Erebus, and she’s said she has long wanted children. Phanes is a bit of a perv. I guess he pretended to be the God of Procreation for a reason. He’s offered to knock up anyone wanting children.”
The big, bad Hades just entirely lit up. He was this grumpy motherfucker when it came to me, but I knew he adored Persephone. And I just watched him visibly soften now that he knew he could have babies with no one invading the Underworld and sending them to the Pits of Tartarus. He had a soft side. It just didn’t involve me pissing him off.
“Do you hear that, my love? It’s finally happened. We can fill our castle with little Olympians.”
Hades got pissed off at mea lot.He didn’t like me questioning everything, and he loathed it when I challenged him. Did he think a bunch of children was going to be any different? I could be a childish adult, but I hadnothingon a hormonal teenager or a hangry toddler. Still, I was happy for both of them. Maybe a baby would calm him the fuck down.
Persephone must have really wanted that baby. I wasn’t even remotely ready to have children, but I wasn’t nearly as old as she was. I couldn’t imagine being ready for as long as she had been and not being able to do it because your family is a bunch of psychos who would hurt a baby. Persephone was pretty much done waiting. As soon as she found out no one was coming to harm children, she dragged Hades away just as fast as he came into the room.
“River? While you were gone, Hades was setting up a clinic for you to replace the one you had back on Earth. It’s not finished yet, but can you look at Lis?”Cerberus said.
“It’s still early, my love. River just got back, and her clinic isn’t finished. Let her get settled and have the proper tools. I’ll be fine,”Lis said.
I didn’t know Hades was building me my own vet clinic here, but it meant a lot to me. Being a vet was important to me, and I didn’t want to stop even if I had totally moved realms. I was totally against irresponsible animal breeding and had to bite my tongue while assisting with some C-sections. Multi-headed puppies were outside of my scope, but I was a little excited for Cerberus. He found his mate, and I was happy for him. Even if that meant I would have to figure out how to deliver three-headed puppies with Hellfire.
“When did the two of you mate?” I asked.
“Two days ago,”Cerberus said proudly.“Several times.”
I had no problems talking about his puppies, but I didn’t want to talk about his sex life. And lord help me, it was way too soon to tell, and he was already flipping out.
“It’s way too soon for me to tell if she’s pregnant, Cerberus.”
“We tied. She’s totally pregnant.”
Ew.
“I still can’t confirm it just yet, and nothing will show up on my ultrasound. For now, spoil her and make sure she gets more food.”
“I can do that. When can you look at her?”
I might have thought Hades would be an impatient parent, but he had nothing on his pet dog. I had a feeling I would see a lot of Cerberus and his puppies, but I knew he would make a fantastic daddy dog. He tried to nanny dog me several times when it came to monsters in my bed.
Lis rubbed up against Cerberus.
“Let her get settled. She’ll look at me when it’s time. Let’s go snuggle and leave them be.”
Lis and Cerberus left the room, and I was alone with my monsters and god.
“Those are going to be some adorably dangerous puppies,” Tryphon said. “I hope Lis can teach them to control that green fire, or they will destroy this entire castle.”
