Ares gave a bark of annoyance, this time stamping his foot on the ground. “You are everything I hate about humans!”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment, on behalf of all humans,” I said. Truth was, I didn’t think I represented humans well at all, they mostly seemed to hate me. But he didn’t need to know that.
“The helmet was a gift from my father,” he snapped.
“Zeus? The same Zeus who stole your power?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you hate him now?”
“No. He is mighty and strong and our true leader.”
“Then... Why’d he take your power?” I felt the tug in my tummy before I saw Ares begin to grow, his armor shining and growing with him. My eyes went straight to his, with a spark of hope. I wanted to see the fire.
“My father will have had his reasons. And I will have an eternity to work them out. In the meantime, we will find this blasted demon, get your accursed friend, and deliver them to Hades!”
“And show the whole of your realm your real face,” I added, with a small shrug.
A blast of power erupted from the god, and before I could blink, I was tumbling backwards. Heat and the sound of drums engulfed me as I lost my footing, but then my butt bounced off something soft, righting me on my feet again. I had my arms flung out, trying to regain sturdy footing as I looked up at Ares. Embers burned in his chocolate eyes and the stupid tingles started up again instantly. I could still hear the drums.
“You are impossible,” he snarled. “Are you trying to force me to lose my temper?”
“No,” I lied. A little. Though I knew how stupid that was. He probably would kill me.
I turned my head to see what had broken my fall, but there was nothing there. Had I somehow used my magic? Or had Ares stopped me falling on my ass again? I couldn’t imagine he cared much about my ass though.
“Removing my helmet will be the hardest thing I have done in centuries. If you can’t respect that, keep your mouth closed,” he said quietly.
To my utter astonishment, his words actually made me feel guilty. If this really was such a big deal for him, maybe I should back off a little. But he was going to kill you! My indignant inner voice was right, but I couldn’t bring myself to goad him again. Centuries was a long time. Plus, there was a curious part of me that wanted to see what he looked like under the armor.
In a flash, my sex-starved brain served me an image of him, under the metal. And I mean under all of the metal. Huge, hulking, and naked. I couldn’t stop the heat spreading across my cheeks and blinked the image away quickly. Weirdly, naked Ares in my head still had the helmet on. It seemed it was easier for my imagination to conjure up a naked body than to invent the god’s face. Bet a shrink would have fun with that one.
When I did indeed keep my mouth shut, Ares huffed an angry breath, and turned his back to me, taking a few long strides and putting a decent distance between us. I almost made a quip about him being a drama queen and clamped my jaw shut tightly to stop the words escaping.
But geez, the man was over-dramatic. What was he hiding under there? An image of Shrek popped into my head and I bit back a snort of laughter slightly too late. Ares tossed me an angry glare over his shoulder, then gripped the bottom of his helmet.
Anticipation skittered through me, unbidden. Why did I care what he looked like? He lifted his hands, pulling the helmet clear from his head. A mass of warm brown, slightly wavy hair fell down his back, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise. It was streaked through with white and reached well past his massive shoulders. I watched wide-eyed as he dropped the helmet onto the sand and began to tie it back into a tail with a leather strap. I really would not have guessed him as a long-hair-kinda-guy. In fact, I would have staked money on him being an angry-buzz-cut-kinda-guy.
When he finally turned to me, it took every ounce of willpower I possessed to keep my jaw from dropping.
Fuck me sideways, Ares was hot. Hot enough that this was the most evidence I had had so far that he wasn’t actually human. No human looked like that.
Those chocolate brown eyes that stormed with fire were set in a face that could not have blended stern and sexy any better. His hard, angular cheekbones and jawline were offset by full soft lips, and his short, dark beard somehow made his wavy hair look intensely more masculine. He was perfect. Simply perfect.
“Well, I guess you won’t need a paper bag,” I breathed.
He frowned, dark eyebrows drawing together. “Why would anyone need a bag made of paper?”
Seeing his mouth move as he spoke for the first time gave me an inexorable desire to feel his soft lips, and I screwed my face up. He was a god. Of course he would be hot. That didn’t mean he wasn’t still an asshole! Focus!
“It’s just an expression from my world,” I said, shaking my head. “What are you going to do with that?” I asked, pointing to his helmet in the sand.
“I will hide it, along with this.” He banged a fist on his massive chest-plate, and my cheeks burned as though someone was holding a flame to them. Great. The hottest asshole I’d ever met was about to undress.
I tried to distract myself by sitting and doodling in the sand, whilst Ares clanged about, removing his armor. Joshua. This was about saving Joshua, I told myself repeatedly, drawing a large spiral with my finger. I needed to stop delaying Ares and get a move on. As soon as he was ready to go, I’d start behaving myself; rein in the attitude, and focus.
“Let’s go,” Ares grunted, snapping me out of my self-scolding. I leaped to my feet, pulling my bag with me, then stumbled as I turned to the god. He was wearing simple black linen pants, and no freaking shirt.
“Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” I fixed my gaze on his face, his outrageously sculpted pecs burning into my lower peripheral vision.
“People in Erimos do not wear shirts,” he answered simply.
“The women better wear damned shirts,” I said, alarmed. I wasn’t walking into an alien city with my boobs out. Not a chance.
Ares gave me a look as though I was ten years old. “It is clear you are a tourist. You may stay dressed as you are.” Across his forehead was a gold band, the same material as his shining helmet. I pointed to it.
“Is that your armor? In disguise?” He nodded. “Neat trick,” I said, impressed. “But you do look a little... regal.”
He rolled his eyes and turned his back to me, striding through the sand. It was entirely impossible not to look at his massive shoulders, the way his toned muscles moved as he walked, the dimples in the small of his back. The low waistline of his pants... I gave myself a hard mental slap. No more ogling, Bella. It’s time to find Joshua.
8
Bella
We’d only spent about a minute walking, in complete and awkward silence, when a teal shimmer caught my attention, and I slowed to a stop. Zeeva appeared on the sand before me, gave a languid cat stretch, then sat neatly, tail wrapped around herself.
“Why is your cat here?” growled Ares, stopping and turning to glare at us both.
“Beats me,” I shrugged, refusing to look at his bare chest. His muscular, tanned, hulking bare chest. “What’s up, Zeeva?”