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He waited until Gary collapsed back on his pillow, then strode out of the bedroom and down the hall, unleashing his full alpha authority.
“Boys,” he barked, “what the…Holy fucking shit.”
Beyond the dogs, who looked even bigger than usual with their hackles bolt upright, an enormous eagle—Remus’s balls, that wingspan had to be twenty feet if it was an inch—hovered over the patio with barely a twitch of its wings.
Finn heard the shuffle of bare feet on the carpet behind him, along with Gary swearing in some other language.
“Stay back,” Finn said, unlocking the door.
“No, Finn.” Gary grabbed his arm. “You don’t understand. It’s—”
In a burst of white light and a clap of thunder, the eagle transformed into a man.
Gany was so furious he could have hurled one of Zeus’s stupid lightning bolts straight at the big jerk’s head. What was hedoinghere? He wasn’tallowed. Gany lunged for the door. He was going to give Zeus a piece of his mind. He was going to—
“Gary, no.” Finn gathered Gany to his chest and turned them both so Finn’s back was to the door, effectively blocking Gany’s view of Zeus. “Look, I don’t know who this guy is, or what I did for the council to send him after me, but I promise I won’t let him hurt you.”
“Finn—”
“I talked to Tanner earlier, and he said everything was cool between us, but he couldn’t answer for anyone else, so I guess somebody’s decided to make a move.”
“Finn—”
“I’ll give myself up. It doesn’t matter what they do to me. My life was trash before I met you anyway, so Immmphm.”
Gany shut him up by kissing him. When he drew back, Finn was blinking as though he’d been smacked in the head with a cast-iron skillet.
“Uh…” Finn said.
“Are you ready to listen now?” When Finn nodded warily, Gany pointed over his shoulder. “He’s not here for you, honey.”
“How do you know?” An odd, hopeful light dawned in Finn’s eyes. “You know about shifters?”
Gany huffed a laugh. “He’s not a shifter. Well, I mean he does transform himself into other things—a swan, a bull, a shower of gold, aneagle.” Gany stopped ranting long enough to glare over Finn’s shoulder at Zeus, because this was how Gany had first seen him, right before Zeus had plucked him off the hillside and carried him off to Olympus. “But he’s not a shapeshifter, per se.”
“Ganymede,” Zeus bellowed.
Gany winced. Between Zeus using his outdoor voice and the dogs objecting vociferously to Zeus’s presence, the neighbors werenotgoing to be happy about the racket.
Finn angled himself slightly so he could look outside, but still blocked Gany’s body with his own. It was… sweet, but unnecessary.
“If he’s not a shifter, then…” He glanced down at Gany, eyebrows quirked.
Gany sighed, because Zeus’s zest for drama made it impossible to pass him off as anything other than what he was. “He’s Zeus, Finn, and I need to talk to him before he literally wakes the dead.”
Finn’s eyes popped wide. “Zeus. You meantheZeus? Like from Greek mythology?”
Gany smiled a little crookedly. “To you, it’s mythology. To us, it’s just our big, dysfunctional family history.” He gestured to the door. “Could you keep the dogs contained? I really have to…”
Finn moved out of the way, although he stuck close enough that Gany could feel the warmth of his bare chest against Gany’s back. Gany opened the door and stepped outside. Behind him, Finn murmured something to the dogs before sliding the door closed. The dogs’ growls were only slightly muffled by the glass, but at least they weren’t barking.
With Finn’s hand warm on the small of his back, Gany crossed his arms and glared up at Zeus, who was wearing a minuscule speedo, his broad, bare, muscled chest glistening in the fading moonlight.Probably oiled it up just for the occasion. Zeus was even more vain than Narcissus.
“You’re not supposed to be here, Zeus. According to the terms of your parole, you can’t step over the threshold.”
“I didn’tstepover the threshold.” With a smirk, Zeus spread his arms wide and waggled his fingers. “I flew.”
“The result is the same. You’re here where you shouldn’t be. You’re not allowed to approach any of your victims.”
