Hermes (Frozen Origin #2) (16 page)

His radio buzzed. “Hello.”

“Hermes, there’s a meeting.”

“Okay, be right there.” He told Hercules as he grabbed the radio and rushed to the meeting room.

Zeus and half a dozen higher gods sat around the table including Sierra and Doc. Way wasn’t there so it wasn’t concerning anything publicly known.

Doc said, “Let’s get this meeting started. Maria, the guard that helped Erebus escape is pregnant and the baby is a god or a demon. The father isn’t Erebus and it’s too complicated to test everyone for paternity. What we’ve decided to do is put her where she will meet the largest number of gods to see if any of
them are her mate. Once we rule out most gods, we’ll start on the demons. If anyone is drawn to her, they need to let us know. I’m aware some of you don’t want a mate, but we need to know who the father is so we can care for the baby.”

“Wouldn’t we know if we got a female pregnant and if she were our mate?” Hercules asked.

“Normally, but she’s been artificially inseminated with sperm Origin had stored and they have some from all of you. She wasn’t even aware until I told her, so you wouldn’t know either.”

“Damn!” Someone said and they all agreed.

“If they were aware she conceived, they will try hard to get her back.”

“Why does that mean she is a mate?” Hercules asked.

“According to everything I have seen, conception is unlikely with anyone other than the mate.”

“Unlikely?” Hercules asked.

“I can’t say it would be impossible under the right circumstances to breed another god’s mate if he had DNA in common with the female’s mate. I’m just not certain enough, but the odds are the father is her mate or someone related to him. With a close biological relation, the pull similar to mating but not as strong might be there.”

Hermes wasn’t completely surprised. Most of the gods if not all of them had felt a pull to Zeus’s mate and now he noticed many were drawn to his mate too.

“Did Maria have any more information on the experiments being done on Erebus?” Hercules asked.

“Yes, they were breeding experiments and they were testing Erebus’s healing and strength. None of that is a surprise, but the fact that they were farming out gods or demons to individual scientists was a shock. Maria also had information on the testing of control devices. These were collars and
chips used to control gods so they could be sold or rented to terrorists and rebels. They would punish the wearer for disobedience with electrical shocks, poisons, or some kind of pulse that causes pain in the nerves.”

“Shit!” Someone muttered and everyone had to agree.

“Should we quarter Maria on the demon level for safety?” Hercules asked.

“Right now the policy is only claimed mates can know about the demons. We may adjust that later, but for now I think we’ll just stick to that.” Zeus said
as he looked around to see if anyone disagreed. It was alright to express  your views as long as you realized that the final decision was with Zeus. No one said a word.

Doc’s radio buzzed and she answered it whispering into it. Hades was sitting next to her and raw pain was easily seen on his face. Must be the latest lover since it upset Hades so
much. Hermes admired his restraint because he would kill anyone who touched his Cher. Of course he hadn’t been stupid like Hades had. At least not since he had met Cher, he couldn’t imagine touching another female since he had seen her hiding in the shadows looking at him.

Zeus looked at Doc clearly wondering about the call. “It’s personal.” Doc said and Zeus nodded.

“Anything else we need to discuss?” Zeus asked.

“Are we on schedule for the ball? It’s just one more day.” Hercules said looking at Sierra.

“Why doesn’t everyone tell us how their area is doing?” Zeus suggested.

“With Cher’s help the kitchen is on schedule. Doc and her team have helped with decorating the great room so that’s nearly ready too. Lu’s demons have the rooms ready for all guests and I’ve already checked them out. It looks like all my areas are ready or nearly so.” Sierra said and the relief that she could say so was obvious.

“Security is ready, even more so than expected with Cher’s help. She even ordered me some neat toys that will be in tomorrow. We’ve gone through the guest list, highlighted anyone suspicious and coordinated with Mark’s people for maximum coverage. Looks like my areas are good too.” Hercules said with clear satisfaction.

“I’ve got the schedule for
Cronos’s security details posted and all doors are already secure. Cameras have been installed with separate audio surveillance. My area is covered.” Hades said.

“I have lists of all transports coming in and their scheduled arrival times. Guards have been assigned to cover everything more than adequately. I see no possible problems.” Apollo said with a smile.

“I’m glad to see everyone has their duties under control. This should be an enjoyable time for everyone.” Zeus said with a smile and a look for his mate. They would have an official marriage ceremony during the ball. Most people wouldn’t realize it was real, but that didn’t matter. Sierra and Zeus had planned it all out, after the ball they would be mates but also man and wife. Hermes planned a similar thing for Cher once she accepted the mating.

Chapter 7

Settling In

The message was anonymous making them all wonder if it could be trusted. Cher read it again loo
king for hidden meaning but couldn’t divine any.
Kyler comes for his woman and child.
It was no surprise, she had been told by Hercules about the nut job who had claimed Sierra even after she had mated Zeus and thought she had his baby even though she denied it. Yes, Sierra had a baby, but the little angel looked just like Zeus. There was no doubt in her mind the child was not Kyler’s. She hurried to the kitchen where she needed to get a lot done before tomorrow. She wished she could divide into two and work in security and the kitchen at the same time. Right now, they both needed her.
y.n her face was smiling, with the girl next to her who was working on salads for the ball. S

Cher poured the last of dough into the cake pan then placed it in the oven. She started mixing up her pie dough after she took one quick look around to be sure all the others were working
. They weren’t a bad group, some of them could actually cook, they just had no discipline and if not closely supervised barely managed the daily meals. Nancy was particularly useless without close supervision and she only trusted her to do dishes. Once Hegias had stopped seeing her, she had made the decision, or so it seemed, to see how many gods one woman could sleep with. She didn’t seem to care if it was during work hours either, she simply dropped everything and left.

Cher’s
coworkers, who had been here for weeks before she was, should have baked many things ahead, froze them in, and had them ready to go for the ball. Instead, she had come in scant days away from the ball with very little done. Now they were cooking and baking like crazy, but they were taking directions from her. Even Lizzie, the tough as nails, bitchy self-proclaimed boss, at least before Cher got there, was working hard with little instructions. She was a redhead, the kind that had the bad temper and sometimes bad attitude, okay most of the time bad attitude. Cher had faced her down, Lizzie really wanted to keep this job for some reason and she wasn’t willing to push more. Lizzie was one tough bitch and the rest of the kitchen staff followed her lead.

Cher wondered what had brought a woman like Lizzie here. She didn’t seem the type, some of the other women were so easy going, sweet
and probably only here to meet gods, that it made Lizzie stand out. She was pretty or would be if she ever smiled. Lizzie was getting lunch ready for the gods. Home cooking was her specialty, southern to be exact. She was working alone and doing quite well especially considering that she usually had lots of help. She had her red hair in a ponytail and was wearing her hairnet, another bone of contention that Cher had forced on her coworkers. Her brown eyes were warm as she joked around, yes she was smiling, with the girl next to her who was working on salads for the ball. She was breathtaking with that smile on her face. It changed her looks so completely, it was good that none of the gods saw it or they would probably hit on her.

Some had hit on her, but she had shot them down so thoroughly, they didn’t try again
but a smile could be encouraging. Her initial reaction more than anything made it clear she wasn’t here to hookup with a god so she was either escaping her old life, something Cher could relate to, in need of the money the job paid, which was higher than usual for a cook, or up to no good. That was just another good reason for Cher to spend time in the kitchen where she could keep an eye on Lizzie.

She rolled out the pie crust and it covered most of the large table. She cut out eight
individual crusts and put them into the pie pans. She shaved off the extra and rolled it out on the table to cut strips to make lattice covers for the pies. She cheated by using canned pie fillings, but it saved so much time. In just a few minutes she loaded the last oven with pies and checked on the cakes and cookies. They would all be done by lunch so she cleaned up her area before starting on some stuffed mushroom appetizers.

She looked up when her heart beat seemed to speed up for no particular reason. Hermes was there making his way to her. She finished the last mushroom, and moved to the oven to pull out a sheet of cookies placing it on the table then going back for the second one while placing the first sheet of mushrooms in on the empty rack. Hermes looked at the cookies clearly wanting one so bad but they were too hot to attempt to eat.

She checked the large sheet cakes pulling one out and checking with a toothpick to see if it was done. It was so she pulled out the next one checking it too. She turned off the oven since no one else needed it now. The pies would be done about the time the mushrooms were and she would bake all day tomorrow. The rest of today, she would help out security. She liked to bake, she really did but security was her first passion. She glanced at Hermes and felt her whole body heat, okay, maybe her second passion.

“I came to get you for lunch.” Hermes said holding his hand out to her.

“I have things that need pulled out in thirty minutes, can you wait?” She asked. He seemed to hesitate. “The cookies will be cooled off by then.” He nodded before looking around the kitchen as if he was in an alien world. “You can help me fix the stuffed Jalapeno peppers.”

She pulled out a big bowl of peppers. “Go wash your hands and come back.” She put on gloves so she wouldn’t get capsaicin on her hands. It would burn and irritate if she touched her face.

He came back and she gave him gloves which he put on without question. She showed him how to destem, devein, and remove the seeds. Some of the ‘heat’ from the peppers did end up in the air and she noticed Hermes eyes teared up as much as hers did. They worked quickly and efficiently to get the job done. With all of them ready for the filling, she pulled out the ingredients and melted the cheese. Once she had that mixed up, he watched her stuff a few and he started stuffing them too. The last step was to wrap each pepper in a piece of bacon cut to size. A toothpick held the bacon in place and they went on the sheet, ready to be baked. Once the sheet was full, she covered it and put it in the walk in fridge. She would bake it first thing in the morning. Next she pulled off the gloves and went to the oven where she started pulling out the pies and the mushrooms.

“I can leave these out to cool, and we can go eat.” She smiled as she watched Hermes filling a bag with cookies.

“These are so good.” He said with a mouth full of cookie. “What are they?”

“The
one you’re eating is Macadamia nut and the other ones are peanut butter fudge.” He pulled her to him giving her a kiss with more than a little taste of cookie.

“If I didn’t already love you, your cookies would finish me off.” Hermes whispered in her ears.

Love? He loved her?
Oh my god
! She thought about how she felt about him and realized the warm feeling that she felt every time she saw him was more than just lust. He had power over her, had since the moment she had first seen him. She should have known it sooner but she had been focused on what Keven was doing and then she had concerns about his possible womanizing past. He was the kind of man she didn’t want to love or need and yet she felt both. She needed him so badly right now that food wasn’t a concern at all, only getting to their room was.

“Let’s go to our room, first.” She whispered back.

“I’ve always seen want in your eyes, Cher. Now I see need but that’s to be expected with mating. Is there nothing more to see?” Hermes whispered hope and despair fighting a battle on his face and in his voice.

She wanted to tell him but she couldn’t admit how far gone she was. It left her feeling vulnerable and scared that he would have such power over her and know it. “Perhaps in time, for now I will take what you freely give me.”
He whispered.

His pain was there for all to see and guilt assailed her, but she knew how he was and she couldn’t risk her fragile heart, not yet. They headed down the hall, rode the elevator to their floor, and headed to their room. Demons greeted them with smiles and winks as they passed them.
Damn their super senses!
They all knew where they were headed and what they planned to do. Her need was so great that she overlooked the knowing expressions and just walked a little faster.