“Can you call off the terraforming and give me a chance to sort things out?”
“Not my decision, and I doubt yours, either.” Shade strolled away from the window and went back over to his desk. “Once the seal was broken, the process started automatically. If those on Mount Olympus hadn’t been greedy, none of this would have happened.”
“What can I do to stop it?” Morgan refused to believe it was too late.
He looked contemplative, a deceptively humanlike expression, but she knew the jackass had an agenda.
“Do you know only the gods have the power to travel to this world?”
She stiffened at his not-so-subtle probe.
“If the gods are released, the wars will just start again. Why do you think it will be so different this time?”
“Because we are.” He glanced up at her from his desk.
“You still want to rule,” she instantly denied. Even with the distance between them, power emanated from him, but to her frustration she couldn’t sense whether his intentions were good or bad, or if he was just playing with her.
She suspected the latter.
“Not many of the original gods remain. They decided not to breed with each other and procreated with the local populace instead. They couldn’t risk upsetting their power base.” He snorted at their hubris. “What you see before you is a city run by demigods. The people who stay in the rural areas still live in temples and follow the old ways.”
“The gods are still alive?” The news floored her, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. She sure as shit didn’t want to meet one of them. She didn’t think things would go well for her.
“They remain on New Olympus.” He stared out the window, and she followed his gaze to see the majestic mountains in the distance.
“The perfect place to survey their domain.” Morgan’s eyes were drawn to the dragons in the distance. They looked much closer, the number of them doubling.
As if they had a mission.
Instinct warned that it had to do with her.
To retrieve or kill her, she wasn’t sure which.
Neither option left her with warm fuzzies.
“I propose a trade.” Shade’s voice was pitched seductively low, and oozed charm that had no doubt enticed many women to his bed.
“Morgan—”
“No.” Morgan ignored Kincade’s warning, not stupid enough to fall for his trap.
No deal with the gods ever worked out well for the other party.
Shade raised a brow at her and smiled. “Then I win and you lose.” He walked over to the sideboard and lifted a decanter. “Drink? I imagine you have an hour or less before the dragons arrive to retrieve you.”
“I wouldn’t exactly consider this a win. You are still stuck in Tartarus.” She crossed her arms, knowing better than to accept the drink he held out to her.
“Then what are your terms?” His smile held no humor, and she squinted, swearing that she saw sharp teeth flash at her for a second, a harsh reminder that he was not human.
Her eyes were drawn to the window again, or more precisely, the dragons as they closed the distance between them. “No one knows I’m here, do they?”
“Not yet, not if I can help it, but it’s only a matter of time.” He emptied his glass in one gulp. “Your presence was noted. While I run this city, there is only so much I can do before they come for you.”
“They don’t know about the terraforming, do they?” She nodded to the people in the streets hundreds of feet below them.
“Just the upper echelon…those who have an open invitation to New Olympus.” He set the glass back on the sideboard without taking his eyes away from her. “After they spawned numerous offspring, most of the gods decided to sleep and left their protégés in charge. While the seal has been cracked, most of the offspring see this as a victory. They believe it’s only a matter of time before the gods wake or the seal breaks completely. And they will be very interested in finding out how you were able to travel here.”
His words weren’t quite a threat, more of a warning.
“If we don’t come to some sort of deal, your realm will die.” He glanced at his desk, then headed toward the door and touched a panel on the wall next to it. Seconds later the sound of industrial bolts being engaged thudded through the room. While his back was turned, her men moved to take up position around her.
“Tick-tock.” Shade turned and raised a brow at her. “These doors will only hold the others out for so long. After that, there is nothing that I can do for you…or your realm.”
Bastard!
They stepped into the most perfect trap—do what he wanted or be taken captive.
“Morgan.” Kincade stepped in front of her and tipped up her chin. “You can’t trust him.”
“Do you see any other choice?” She grabbed his hand and squeezed.
They both knew there wasn’t one.
“It could be a trap.” Ascher refused to look away from Shade.
Morgan thought about it, but while Shade probably wanted something from her, he actually hadn’t demanded anything.
Yet.
Then his eyes betrayed him. He looked beyond her to gaze out the window at the dragons closing the distance between them.
“The dragons aren’t only coming for me, are they?”
Chapter Twenty-four
“Come.” Shade walked toward a blank wall. Using his weight, he pushed against a section until a panel slid back to reveal an elevator. “They will be here soon.”
When the doors to the elevator slid open, he stepped inside, then lifted his brow at her in challenge.
She went to follow when Kincade caught her arm. “We can’t trust him.”
“In this we can.” She met his look squarely. “He wants to be caught even less than we do.”
Loki leapt from his shoulder onto hers, stood to attention, front leg up, tail straight, as if pointing toward Shade in agreement. Ryder fell into step next to her. Seconds from entering the elevator, pounding thudded heavily against the door.
Not fists.
More like a battering ram.
She whirled, expecting the see the door disintegrate. The metal held, but it wouldn’t last long. Even now the door—hell, the very walls next to it—began to buckle under the assault. Shade grabbed her arm and yanked her inside the elevator seconds before the doors whooshed shut. Muffled shouts from her men rang out from behind the door. Morgan lunged forward to pry open the panels when the elevator dropped so fast her feet nearly left the floor.
“Take me back.” She jammed her fingers against the buttons, then slapped at the panel with the flat of her hand when nothing worked.
“No.” Resolve hardened Shade’s face.
He wouldn’t relent.
She whirled, kneeing him in the groin, dropping him to the floor, then jabbed her arm back and cracked him across the temple with her elbow. She’d managed to drag him toward the door, ready to use his fingerprints to make the elevator obey, when he spun and kicked her feet out from under her.
Loki gave a rumbling growl and launched himself from her shoulder, latching onto Shade’s leg, frantically wrenching his head back and forth.
As she fell, Shade slammed his hand hard against her sternum, and she smacked the floor hard enough that the metal dented. Air rushed out of her lungs, the impact leaving her ears ringing. She brought up her leg, her knee jabbing him in the ribs, sending him flying into the wall, but her blow lacked force, her movements uncoordinated.
She peeled herself up off the floor, spun, crawling to her knees, sucking in a wheezing breath, when five distinct thumps came from above. Pure relief brought a smile to her face, and she jumped, hitting the release latch near the ceiling. Kincade was the first through the hole, murder darkening his winter green eyes.
Morgan sucked in another much-needed breath, ready to step between the two men when Kincade grabbed her to him. She lifted her arms to hug him back when she realized that he’d pinned them to her side. The other four men dropped into the elevator, shrinking the space down even more. Ascher shoved his forearm into Shade’s throat, pinning him to the wall, and her anxiety spiked.