The woman laughed and stuck a handwritten green ticket in a clamp on the circular ticket holder for whoever was in the kitchen. “That’s really noble of you, a young woman like you looking after those kids. God is smiling down on you for your charity.”

I shrugged again, now feeling bad for lying. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, turn them away.” At least that was the truth.

“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his deed,” the woman said, her eyes kind.

Guilt flowered within me. Here I was, invading someone’s refuge for personal gain. This Thunderstroke guy had escaped a truly horrible life in a world so corrupt and disgusting that it had been openly known—and accepted—that his Demigod had kept him chained to a bed as a slave. What was I thinking? I couldn’t, in good faith, take his second chance, especially since I was offering nothing but danger as a substitute. Because the truth was that I had no idea if he’d be safe with us. If someone took out Kieran, everyone on our team would be vulnerable. I couldn’t protect this guy any more than he could protect me. He might find himself chained to someone else’s bed, and honestly, I could, too. The future was bleak if things went wrong. I couldn’t force someone to endure that with me, not when they’d already been granted their freedom.

I took the coffee and food back to our table, lost in thought. I didn’t interrupt the kids’ bickering, and shrugged them off when they asked what my problem was. By the time Mordecai took his last bite of pie, I’d made up my mind. Being here was a lot of risk, and a lot of selfishness, and the latter wasn’t a good look on me.

“Come on, finish up. We’re leaving.” I piled my dishes together for easy cleanup. “We’ll stay in the house tonight, but we’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”

“Where are we going?” Mordecai said, his mouth full.

I sighed and gave him a flat stare until he closed his mouth. The door opened, and fresh air swirled through the coffee shop. Daisy put her dishes in a tub near the napkin and flatware stand.

“Here.” I motioned for her to get mine, too.

“I’m not your minion.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “You’re my kid. Kids do stuff. Get to it.”

“I’m not your kid.”

“Daisy, so help me God, if you—” Mordecai’s kick nearly loosed my power on them both. I was in that kinda mood. I turned my scowl on him. “Do you want to sleep outside, is that what—”

“The guy who just walked in is standing in the doorway and staring at us,” Mordecai said under his breath.

I glanced over, only to freeze solid, my hands hovering over my dirty plates and my eyes rounding like saucers.

The man looked about Kieran’s age, late twenties or early thirties, and extremely handsome. His hair, a little wavy and a lot messy, went from light brown at the roots to wheat and then gold, natural highlights women would spend oodles of money for in a salon chair. A light dusting of scruff adorned his angular face, tilting him from pretty boy to pretty damn hot. Brows arched over clear baby blues, framing a gaze as direct as it was beautiful. A tattoo of fire rose from his neckline like actual flames crawling up his skin.

I gulped, not sure what to do. Not sure where to look. This had to be the guy. I could see the conflict in his knowing stare. The rage. He was clearly wondering if he could burn me dead on the spot.

13

Alexis

“Dylan, hello,” the woman at the counter said.

He shook himself slightly, as though waking from a trance. His deeply hooded eyes, like a man in the throes of sex, blinked twice quickly, and then he was walking toward the counter again, fluid and easy.

The small hairs stood up on my arms.

Too easy.

Sweat broke out over my brow. All I could think about was getting my kids to safety. But where the hell would they go?

My mind whirled, going over everything I’d heard about this guy. He could only detect people of Zeus’s magic, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t put his other senses to use. He clearly knew something was up. Still, he wouldn’t light up this whole town. No way. Given the way he was talking to the woman, he liked her. They were friendly. In a small town like this, he was probably friendly with a great many people. He wouldn’t want to rain lightning down on everyone just to get to the kids and me. It wouldn’t be smart, either. A Chester would cry magic, people would figure out what magic, and the game would be up.

“Go,” I said softly, passing the kids the keys. “Go. Drive away. Get out of this town. Right now. Do not come back for me.”

“No,” Daisy said, her body moving like liquid grace as she walked back to the table. Her movements screamed lethal training. “We’re not leaving you here.”

I reached in and grabbed her soul. “You will get out of his town right now. Both of you. You will run.”

She gritted her teeth, fighting the pain in her middle. Mordecai didn’t even have to grit his teeth. He was too used to pain for that—his entire life had been riddled with it until recently. He just watched me placidly, refusing to get up.

“This is the second double-shot Americano I’ve made in the last hour. You young people.” The woman tsked with a smile, moving to prepare the coffee. The man, Dylan, turned and looked at the person who’d obviously ordered the last one, the warning in his suddenly dangerous glare sending tingles scurrying across my skin. His soul, once bright and alive, pulsed dark. Throbbed, even. I had never seen a soul change like that. I wondered if mine did the same thing when I prepared for battle. Like right now.

“What about you?” Mordecai asked.

“Get the fuck out of this town, right now,” I said, standing and yanking him up with me. I shoved him toward the door. “Take your sister. Make her go.”

Daisy yanked her arm out of Mordecai’s grasp. She blinked away the moisture in her eyes, the only remaining sign she’d felt my attack on her spirit box. “We’ve done this before, remember? When you took off to protect our house and left Mordecai and me in safety? Remember how that turned out? We both nearly died. I’m not doing that again. I’m not leaving you or him. We stay together. We’ve always done okay when we’re together.”

I shook my head at her in utter disbelief. This was not the sort of thing heroes had to deal with, their freaking kids refusing to get saved.

Dylan slid a bill over the counter and turned gracefully, heading toward the sugar station behind Daisy.

“Then sit down,” I said through clenched teeth, watching the woman behind the counter busy herself cleaning. “Daisy, go order something. A hot chocolate. Keep that woman in the room.”

“I could do with another slice of pie,” Mordecai said as though we weren’t in extreme danger and Dylan wasn’t slowly loading up on sugar while he worked over why a magical worker with a Demigod’s mark was hanging out in this Chester town. The fact that we were here meant we had fake documents good enough to get us past the very thorough highway patrol station. Only dual-society zones allowed magical people in, and this was far from one of those.

“You’re going to get sick if you eat another slice of pie,” Daisy said.