Zeus
The woman who sits across from me is a vision in white. Everything about her is willowy and fair, delicate and feminine, everything I might have pursued in my earlier years. She practically purrs at me from across the table when I sit down at her table. Table fourteen.
She’s small and petite with a spine of steel. I’ve met her kind before. They rule all who come before them with an iron will. As the king of gods, I know something about ruling. And once upon a time, I would have loved it, loved the challenge of commanding someone like her. Because make no mistake, a woman like this would require command.
But for all her wiles, my entire being has gone cold as I chat with the lovely woman across from me. Five minutes later, Aphrodite’s bell rings and I give her one last smile, and then turn my attention to the Fae woman at the next table. Table fifteen.
I’ve always liked the Fae. They are sneaky, driven, ambitious, and they move as though the wind floats them along. They are also very physically appealing. The Fae I’m talking with, a woman named Cara, although I’d wager that’s not her Fae name, is of medium height, with dark hair and a sleek, supple, earthy look about her.
Once again, even though this is the kind of woman I’ve been interested in before, she’s not the one for me. We make small talk, pleasant but shallow, and I sigh a little as it’s time to rise. As I stand up, there’s a tap on my shoulder.
I turn to find Aphrodite with a pursed mouth and an imperious gaze.
“What?” I ask. “Are we finished already?”
“You must stop sulking. You have to try a little if you plan to find the right person,” she says. “And if it doesn’t happen tonight, you can come back next week.”
“No,” I growl at her, unable to help myself. “I didn’t bargain for this tonight, and I don’t plan to return. This is a one-time thing.”
“Then make the most of it.” She pokes my shoulder with each word, harder this time, as though in warning.
I roll my eyes as the goddess of love flounces away, ringing the bell for the next date.
Maybe she’s right. Maybe I could try harder. Very well. Who am I to deny Fate her due? I smile at the vampire as I sit down at table sixteen.
The night stretches on. There are good women here, women I’d have been proud to squire around, to roll in the bedclothes with, to laugh with.
Once upon a time.
But not now.
I feel nothing at all, and that only makes me feel more sullen. I had hoped to speak about this with Aphrodite tonight. My lack of feeling was the reason I came calling… not speed dating. Well, at least the night is nearly done. And perhaps Aphrodite owes me for helping people her event to make it a success.
Two more dates, two more women who aren’t the right ones.
The next bell has me arriving at table five. As I sit across from the woman with warm red hair, I get a flash of her amber eyes.
Everything about her screams heat, and fire, and darkness, and light.
She blows me away.
The energy coming off her leaves me speechless for a moment.
She rescues me by putting out her hand. “Hi,” she says.
Easing forward, I say, “I’m Zee.” My voice cracks a little. Where in the name of all the old, cursed gods did that come from? It’s even worse when I take her hand. There is a connection, a living thing, that comes to life when I touch her. I stare at her. Her eyes are amber, and there’s a hint of a spark, almost like seeing my lightning, deep within her eyes.
I can’t speak. She has taken my words. My ability to think clearly.
I need to say something, not just sit here holding her hand like a weirdo.
“And you are?” I ask. Happily, my voice doesn’t crack this time.
“I’m Jade,” she says with a smile.
Jade. A cool green wave washes over me, like the smooth feeling one gets when holding her namesake stone in one’s hand. She’s not cool, though. She’s boiling with an inner heat, one that I want to get closer to, to burn myself in.
She’s smooth, and hard, and strong, and beautiful. She’s nothing like the women I’ve fallen for in the past.
I love it.
Jade.
“Jade,” I say slowly, savoring her name on my tongue. “That’s a lovely name for a striking woman.”
Her brows twitch almost imperceptibly. “Oh. Thank you,” she says, in a voice that sounds like music to my ears.
Then she blushes, the faint pink of her cheeks and her neck providing a delightful contrast to her otherwise fair skin. I want to see how far the blush goes, trace its journey down on her body—what? What is happening? It’s been so long. I can’t even remember the last time a woman made me feel this way.
How long has it been?
Too long. But just the right amount of time perhaps… if it means that I had to wait to meet this woman. Jade.
The heat comes off her, as though I’m standing in front of Hephaestus’ forge of old. And she’s strong, powerful—but it’s quiet. This isn’t a woman who advertises who or what she is.
My fantasy about following her blush all over her body vanishes as I see her amber eyes narrow as she watches me.
Is she angry? Her gaze is so intense.
I sit back, taken by her obvious power. Does she know how powerful she is? I find that idea just as intoxicating as if she does. Everything about this woman is intoxicating, everything besides the way she’s studying me right now. “Are you all right? Have I offended you somehow?”
“No, no,” she says hurriedly, stammering for whatever she is trying to say. She ends with, “You’re very good looking, you know.”
The god within me roars in triumph. She likes how I look. If she likes me in this, my human form, wait until she sees me in my godly form.
Wait.
Shit.
Not many women can handle being with a god. It’s why I’ve taken on a human form. I deflate a little, thinking about how disappointed I’d be if she doesn’t like all of me. Because this woman, this Jade, whoever she is, whatever she is, calls to me. To the real me. To the ancient and powerful me who I’ve hidden for so long.
She’s mine.
She will be mine.
The damned bell rings again and I’m forced from Jade by a little man who ought to know better. I sit down at the next table, across from a woman who is clearly a wolf. I like wolf shifters. They are strong, straight forward, and take no nonsense. Although I generally don’t like it when that no nonsense point of view is aimed at me.
Like it is right now.
Aimee, the wolf shifter, leans on her arms and bends her head closer to me. “Zee, you know, you’re supposed to at least pretend to be listening to me.”
I mirror her actions. Crossing my arms and leaning over the table toward her. “I am listening to you. I am hanging on every word,” I say, putting on the Zeus voice.
She laughs in my face, but it’s soft, friendly. At least it’s not loud. “No you’re not. Every part of you is still over at table five, wanting to rip one of the horns off that poor satyr who took your seat.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. “You’re right. Very perceptive.”
Aimee snorts. “Perceptive? One would have to be a rock not to see it, Zee. Sorry. You’re not any sort of subtle.”
“How could you say that? Of course I am. Subtle is my middle name.” I feign offense, but somewhere inside I know that Jade has set me off my edge.
“She likes you, too.” Aimee smiles again. “Jeez, I think everyone in here had their hair stand up on end when you two met.”
Whatever I was expecting, that wasn’t it. “Really?”
She nods. “Yes, really.”
This is something. This is a big deal. Maybe even bigger of a deal than I’d realized when I’d been thinking about Jade’s blush and how I wanted her to be mine.
“So you’d better go get her,” Aimee says, patting my hand.
“Sorry?” I ask, not understanding.
“Your girl. She just ran out of here like she was on fire,” Aimee says, lifting her chin toward the stairs that lead out of the bar.
“What? No! Has the bell rung?” I get up, and then I stop, turning back to Aimee. “Thank you for the conversation,” I say. I don’t want to be rude to someone who was so kind to me.
“Shut up and go, lover boy,” Aimee says with a dramatic roll of her eyes.
In all my years, I loved the chase. Loved the thrill of what would happen, knowing that in the end, I’d catch whatever or whomever I was after.
But now?
There is no surety that I’ll catch up with Jade. And while I don’t know much, I know what I felt. I know that I felt.
I felt her.
I actually felt her. I still feel her.
That’s something I haven’t experienced in years. Whatever it is, I don’t want to lose it. I don’t want to lose her. Lose Jade.
I run.