Sounded stifling to Clarabelle.
And it lacked something.
“Is it missing a certain warrior?” Once more Murphy spoke right to her as if reading her mind.
“I never got to say goodbye.”
“Would you have said goodbye?” Murphy asked.
“No.” An answer she’d learned too late.
“What will you do when you return?”
“Keep him confined to a bed until that damned bond snaps into place,” she grumbled.
“And if it doesn’t?”
“I don’t care. I love him.” Tail and all.
“Love who?” Murphy asked.
She huffed as she faced the colony leader. “As if you don’t know. I love Thyos. I want to be with him.”
“Who are you talking to?”
She whirled to see Thyos. Here. In the bronzed flesh.
She gaped. “Thyos?”
“Surprised to see me?”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t be. You left without saying goodbye.”
“You said I could leave if I wanted.”
“Did you want to leave?” he asked softly.
She shook her head.
“Yet you didn’t come back.”
She didn’t need a mind reader to know he was hurt. “Does it help if I say I was trying to? The moment I got here I knew it was a mistake. I tried to leave the very next day, but they keep screwing up the repairs. Ask Murphy. He’ll tell you what a bunch of incompetent morons the mechanics are.”
“Who?”
She turned to wave at the colony leader, only to blink. “Where did he go? He was right here.”
“Sure, he was.” Thyos tucked his hand behind his back.
“I was just talking to him. Chunky fellow, big mustache.”
“Calling himself Murphy?” he asked.
She nodded.
Whereas he laughed. “I do believe you’ve met your first god.”
“God? What are you talking about? Murphy is the leader of this colony.”
“No, he’s not, caw,” Ishtara announced, stomping into view. Amazing how quiet she could move when she wanted to sneak.
“What are you talking about? You’ve met him,” Belle insisted.
“I have, but he’s not a human leader. He’s a god. Demi-god to be exact.”
“Because there’s a difference.” Clarabelle rolled her eyes.
“You really don’t know how the gods work, do you?” Thyos said as if she were the crazy one for not believing in that shit.
“I don’t know what you’re both talking about, but I would think I’d know it if I met a god.”
“Do you believe it now?” A woman appeared, suddenly and without warning, in front of Clarabelle. A beautiful woman, wearing an almost see-through grown.
And what was her first impulse?
She slugged her.
Seventeen
Belle punched Karma in the face, and for a moment, Thyos was fairly certain they’d all die. Belle especially, which was why he threw himself in front of her.
“Don’t you kill my sykyrah!” he yelled.
His goddess, recovering from the fine blow, scowled at him. A terrible thing to see given it involved an actual storm cloud forming over her head, tossing out little lightning bolts. “She hit me!”
“Don’t blame me. You’re the one that appeared out of nowhere!” Clarabelle yelled right back.
“I’m a goddess; it’s what we do.” Karma appeared mightily peeved.
Which was when a chubby fellow with a mustache appeared. “Goodness, Karma, what happened to your face?”
“She did!” Karma pointed in accusation.
“The human did it?” The man who could only be Murphy, turned, his head pivoting more than halfway to glance at Belle. “Nice shot.”
“What is happening?” Belle’s expression showed a hint of fear, but courageous determination held her rigid.
“You are in the presence of gods,” Murphy offered with a flourished bow.
“Goddess, actually.” Karma grimaced, and the bruise disappeared.
Whereas Ishtara snorted. “Demi gods. Let’s keep things accurate.”
That turned a glare from two gods on the Zonian, who didn’t look disturbed one bit.
“We are powerful and deserve respect,” Karma snapped.
“Or what? You’ll give me bad luck?” Ishtara leaned forward. “Do it. I dare you.”
Murphy clapped his hands. “I say, accept the offer. Think of the fun we could have.”
“We? What’s this we? This is all me,” Karma said, swirling her finger at the group.
“And a fine job you’ve done,” Murphy declared. “His family tried to kill her and, when that didn’t work, got rid of her. Then the boy took his sweet time coming to fetch her.”
“Because I was trying to respect her choice,” Thyos exclaimed.
“He’s the only one who did,” Belle announced with a hard stare at the gods and Ishtara.
“I am your friend. I am supposed to save you from bad choices,” the Zonian declared with a ruffle of her wings.
“I tried to bring you together, but you just had to be stubborn,” Karma huffed.
“That might be my fault.” Murphy raised his hand. “You know how I like to do things.”
“I do know,” Karma snapped. “You’re always screwing up the perfect plan.”
None of that made any sense to Thyos, but he did know one thing. These people—gods, demi or whatever—were standing in the way of a proper reconciliation with Belle, and he was getting mighty tired of it. He’d come here for one thing only, to abduct his mate and bring her home.
It should be noted he’d come to this decision only after much rumination. Thyos never planned to interfere with Belle’s choice, but finding out she’d been helped along…
That changed things. Had she intended to stay? Could they perhaps still be together? He had to know.
But it appeared he needed some help. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled, loudly, which brought him some silence.
“Now that I have your attention, be advised that you will no longer interfere with our lives.” He pointed to himself and Belle.
“You can’t tell me what to do,” Karma declared.
“Interfering is a specialty of mine,” was Murphy’s addition.
“You are tempting me to peck out your eyes and eat them like berries.” Ishtara smacked her beak.
Gallump. Gallump.
The steady thudding drew several pairs of eyes and even widened them.
Clarabelle smiled. “You brought Ralph!”
“He missed you almost as much as me.”
The wolmoth, running so hard the ground trembled, appeared as if he’d barrel right through Belle, only to abruptly stop so she could hug him and exclaim, “Who’s the cutest, wutest puppy dog evah?”
Thyos had no idea what she said, but Ralph panted happily until she whispered something in his ear. Then he turned and growled at the gods and the Zonian warrior.
Belle sauntered close. “That should keep them busy for a while.”
Maybe. He wasn’t taking any chances. He tossed her over a brawny shoulder and headed back for his ship.