“Blasphemy!” he bellowed and trained his trident on me. My mates tossed their combined powers at the sea god, their energy beam holding back his killing current that mixed with nasty ice spikes.
Paxton spat. “Don’t ever think about harming my mate, dick.”
“Join me, brothers,” Poseidon shouted at Zeus and Hades. “Destroy them!”
“How did all the brats get their fucking powers back?” Ares screamed as he failed to conjure up his power. “Héctor is a fucking demigod again. This can’t be happening!”
“Hold your horses, Poseidon,” Zeus said. “Hades is right. I also want to give my bastard son a chance to turn away from his evil path and return to Olympus with me.”
Poseidon pulled back his ice and water power, and my mates withdrew their beam, their fiery gazes never leaving our enemies.
“Zak always dreamed of being a hero,” Zeus continued. “So he followed Ares, his half-brother’s lead, and headed to Earth to become one.” His lightning gaze snagged on Zak. “Son, I’ll give you a second chance. You can be a hero by my side.”
A sudden realization hit me, along with guilt and remorse.
I’d regarded all of my mates as mine. More often than not, I started taking them for granted. I thought we were a close unit and forgot that they were also independent of me.
They had their own feelings and a life outside of our relationship. All of them also had extended family. The three extremely powerful beings in front of us were a father to my mates, and Zeus was Axel’s grandfather.
No matter how hateful their fathers acted toward me, they were still my mates’ parents.
It had never occurred to me until now how difficult it might be for them to cut their old family ties for me. I knew without a doubt that they’d choose me over anyone else, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt them to go against their fathers like this.
As I quieted my own emotions and listened to theirs, their pain and rage lapped toward me through our bond.
They were everything to me. They’d done everything for me. If I could spare them pain, I should and I would try.
“Hey, God Zeus, God Poseidon, and God Hades,” I said, swallowing my pride. “I think we all got off on the wrong foot when we met. I shouldn’t have said those mean things to you, but you called me an abomination first, and then sent us into the pit of the black dome where the smell is bad. But we got out. So, no harm is done. Let’s call it even and bear no hard feelings. You’re my mates’ parents, so we really don’t want to go against you. We can all try to be reasonable, can’t we, as adults? We can start over. You can say some nice things to my mates, and they’ll say some back. And then we’ll part ways. We’ll even invite you to visit us when we have a big party on Earth.”
“Silence, abomination!” Zeus said without hesitation or mercy. “Your existence is illegal and thus must be terminated.”
“Says who?” Axel challenged. “You aren’t the law of the universe.”
“Axel, how dare you disrespect your grandfather!” Ares hissed. “May lightning strike your corpse!”
I sighed ruefully. “It seems we can’t work things out. I tried.”
“Choose, son,” Zeus said, swiping his scepter in our direction, and I put on a shield in case he was being sneaky. “Choose wisely, demigods. You have one last chance to turn away from your evil ways. If you want to live, abandon the demon spawn and return to your fathers, and all will be forgiven. Be the hero you were born to be and not the traitor of your own race.”
“How’s this?” Paxton said, flipping off the god king. “Fuck you.”
“My mate is everything to me,” Zak said. “When you tried to hurt her, you made an enemy out of me. From this day forward, I denounce you as my father. You’re nothing to me, and I have only one family—my mate and my bonded brothers. I vow to live and die for them.”
Hot tears burned behind my eyelids. “Oh, Zak,” I whispered.
“There’s no use bargaining with them,” Héctor said. “They’re the worst cheaters in all the universe. That’s how the Titans lost the war.”
“To this day and forever, we defend our mate to our last breath,” Axel vowed, wrath burning in his amber eyes.
I let out a sob of gratitude. “Guys!”
Zeus’s face turned purple in rage and he thundered. “Cut her down!Cut them all down!”
Lightning flashed across the sky of the Void, the sound of seething ocean raged somewhere, and death light swallowed Tartarus.
The gods leveled their weapons at me. Spears of lightning shot from Zeus’s scepter, a flood of ice spikes poured out of Poseidon’s trident, and death fire like hissing snakes with wings, all surged toward us.
“You won’t harm my mate!” my demigods roared.