The Amazon and the Beast E-Book

Hati Bell

• Herausgeber: Shanna Bell
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

THE AMAZON
Kellsey Callahan has everything an Amazon could wish for – kick-ass brothers, a rock chicks crew, and a pet Kraken. Everything except her childhood crush Leroy Leandros. He wouldn’t even touch her when she jumped into his bed, naked, as a surprise, eight years ago.

THE BEAST
Cursed by a goddess, Leroy turns into a savage beast three days a year. Having murdered countless people, he ended his rampage only when he locked himself in a cage. His raging beast was prepared for anything: except for a captivating Amazon.

When during a game of Truth or Dare Kellsey’s challenged to steal a kiss from Leroy, she decides to shoot him with Cupid’s arrow. It’s just a cute little arrow. What could possibly go wrong?


Note: This is a full-length, standalone novel. No cliffhanger.

Leseprobe

Contents

The amazon and the beast

Synopsis

Quote

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Epilogue

Plea from the author

Coming up next

Mythical list

THE

AMAZON

AND THE

BEAST

Copyright © 2017 by Hati Bell

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

All trademarks are the property of their owners.

THE AMAZON

Kellsey Callahan has everything an amazon could wish for: kick-ass brothers, a rock chicks crew, and a pet Kraken. Everything except her childhood crush Leroy Leandros. He wouldn’t even touch her when she jumped into his bed, naked, as a surprise, eight years ago.

THE BEAST

Cursed by a goddess, Leroy turns into a savage beast three days a year. Having murdered countless people, he ended his rampage only when he locked himself in a cage. His raging beast was prepared for anything: except for a captivating amazon.

When during a game of Truth or Dare Kellsey’s challenged to steal a kiss from Leroy, she decides to shoot him with Cupid’s arrow. It’s just a cute little arrow. What could possibly go wrong?

“Just because a Kraken has killer claws, fangs, and

poisonous skin doesn’t mean he’s bloody dangerous.”

PROLOGUE

In the Chaos dimension…

He found the baby in the trash. Riz looked down on rosy skin and a tuft of jet-black hair that was put in a basket. It was lucky that the vermin hadn’t gotten to it yet, but that luck wouldn’t last much longer.

The medusas had already smelled the fresh meat and slithered to their prey. Their snake-like bodies curled up aggressively and their tongues slid out of their hissing mouths.

Tasssty.

Juicccy.

Sssuck the marrow from the bones.

It wouldn’t be long before the women, with the bodies of snakes, pounced on the baby before they had to share it with hungry wolves or giant scorpions.

A gust of wind rushed past him and then a familiar voice sounded.

“Hey, boss, what’d you find?” Ronin had already drawn his sword.

The boy could barely stand still. He was like a vibrating shade next to the other four boy soldiers who had gathered around the infant.

Riz stepped forward to claim the baby and the medusas crept away hissing.

One of them was left hanging too long and ended up under the oversize paw of the young werewolf Kuno. When the medusa was crushed, Kuno climbed onto the garbage dump and circled the baby. It was in the wolf’s nature to protect a pup, but the baby was no pup. No one on Chaos was as they first seemed. It was just another unwanted child the parents had gotten rid of. Chaos was, after all, the dimension where cast-off mythos were dumped.

Riz knew the werewolf probably didn’t understand this, and he wasn’t sure if he could explain it to him. He’d found Kuno as a pup, and he had never seen him in his human form. Chaos was a dangerous place to walk around as a human given that they were such weak creatures. Though, to be honest, compared to his glory days he himself was almost as weak as a human. That is, as long as he was trapped in this hellish dimension. An old bitterness crept up from his stomach and settled in his heart.

“How could anyone throw away a baby?” Qasim asked indignantly.

“They tossed us out too,” Kartal muttered.

“Not me. My father loved me,” Ronin said. He sounded proud and a bit forlorn. “It was my uncle who dumped me here.” His fingers tightened on his sword. “One day I’m gonna find him and kill him.”

The other boys nodded in solidarity.

“But we weren’t thrown away when we were this young,” Qasim argued. “Nobody sends a baby to Chaos.”

Riz realized that the boy was right. “I don’t think this is a regular baby,” he said.

“We can use him–” Kartal began.

“–to make more fireballs, boss,” Qasim continued. “A baby’s energy is pure and powerful.”

“Oh, no, not more fireballs,” Ronin groaned. “What is it with you djinn and fireballs? If you want to kill something you should just cut off its head.” He made a swishing motion with his sword. “Like this.”

“When we saved your ass from that swarm of medusas–” Kartal said.

“–you were all too happy with our fireballs.” Qasim snickered.

“Like a couple of slimy snakes could even touch me. I danced circles around those low bellies,” Ronin said, offended. “We should just kill the puny thing. He won’t survive the night anyway.”

The suggestion earned him a growl from Kuno. The werewolf leaned over the baby and began to lick it. Miraculously, the little one kept sleeping.

Riz thought about the proposal by the djinn twins. They were always looking for new fuel to feed their magic. An infant’s soul, regardless of its race, contained a purity which yielded a lot of power.

His eyes moved to the youngest of their group, who until now had kept silent. Levi, the dhampir, stood at a distance, as always.

“We should give him to Moloch.” Levi finally spoke. “In exchange for water. Our water well is almost dried up. We’ve already lost too many soldiers while defending it.”

His suggestion didn’t surprise Riz. Dhampirs were born as humans and were vulnerable until they reached the age when their body was at its strongest and became immortal. Only then were they able to turn mortals into vampires so they could provide them with blood. As the weakest among them, Levi had learned at an early age to use brains over brawn. The abuse that he’d experienced in the slave halls of Chaos had taught him to negotiate. First, over his own body. Now, also over that of the child’s.

Kuno bared his razor-sharp teeth and positioned himself in front of the baby.

“Moloch!” Ronin hissed and he made a stabbing motion with his sword. “I’d rather kill this thing myself.”

Riz pondered his options. He knew that the boys would fall in line, whatever he decided. As the oldest and strongest among them, he had been automatically selected by them as their leader. They were the last five of his army. He’d trained them by teaching them how to fight. So he was surrounded by only the best warriors Chaos had to offer. To test their endurance and loyalty, he had tortured them for days, but none of them broke. With the baby, their group consisted of seven mythos, a sacred number. Would it be enough to escape from this cursed dimension?

He looked to the north, where the wasteland of black ruins slowly changed in the high gates of the icy realm of Hel. The unattainable goddess guarded her domain with an icy fist. In the south, the black ruins gradually changed into scorched sand and showed the way to a dark tower where Moloch reigned with fire and ash.

The baby wouldn’t last a day in Chaos, not even an hour. Time in this dimension went by slowly. It would take a hundred years before the child was old enough to defend himself. The rest of the boys had been teenagers when Riz started training them. The baby was just an extra mouth to feed. Killing him would be an act of mercy. Unfortunately, he was not merciful.

“Water,” Levi repeated tightly.

“Fireballs,” the djinn said in unison.

The most shocking was Kuno’s reaction, though. For the first time, the werewolf shifted into a man. He took the baby in his arms.

The boy’s mouths dropped open. They all stared at Kuno’s massive frame. His silver hair fell in long strands down his broad shoulders. It was clear that the blood of the wolf god flowed through his veins.

“You’re huge, brother,” Kartal said, impressed. “And here I thought you always walked around like a wolf because as a human you were puny.”

Kuno licked the baby’s face. It would take some time before he lost his wolf-like habits. “Brother,” he said, with which he claimed the newborn.

Riz studied the rest of the boys. Stealing a claimed pup from an alpha werewolf was highly dangerous.

“What’s a baby good for anyway?” Kartal asked.

“We could all teach him a thing or two,” Qasim suggested.

“I can teach him to fight with a sword like my father taught me,” Ronin said and his chest swelled.

“I can build him a cage,” Kartal said, stroking his blue Mohawk. The djinn could build anything from steel.

“So no one can eat him until he’s strong enough,” Qasim finished his thought.

Riz continued to be amazed at how quickly the boys closed their ranks. How different it had been in his family. The only time they’d ever worked together was to banish him when he refused to bow down to them. Then, they had practically erased any trace of his existence from history.

“What are we gonna call him?” Ronin asked. The boy had clearly accepted the baby and wanted to give it a place amongst them. “He’s going to be a warrior like us, so his name should sound really important.”

“Achilles,” the djinn said immediately.

Riz was starting to regret telling the boys myths and legends. Those stories were meant as life lessons, not to name a pet. He had wanted to teach them that a warrior needed more than just his strength and weapons.

Kuno cradled the baby in his massive arms. The blanket the baby was wrapped in fell down and revealed a new surprise.

Ronin gasped. “It’s a girl!” he shouted accusingly.

Riz stiffened when he saw two tiny symbols, a hieroglyph and the sign of Ares, on the baby’s buttocks. He was about to make his decision when the baby opened her eyes.

Her gold-colored pupils flickered for a moment and his breath caught in his throat. She wasn’t just a girl–she was an amazon. Riz suddenly knew exactly why his gaze had been drawn to the trash dump and how the little one ended up in this dimension.

The boys moved closer to the baby, staring at her, looking mesmerized.

Riz saw it happen right before his eyes: the shock that went through Levi when the baby wrapped him around her finger, Ronin, who lowered his sword, the twins, whose eyes turned soft.

Then, the baby did something much more dangerous: she smiled, and her newfound brothers changed into her willing slaves.

1

KELLSEY

Oban, Scotland, twenty-four years later…

Kellsey looked down at the wooden arrow in her hand. “Shouldn’t Cupid’s arrow be made of gold, dotted with hearts or something? This looks more like something Robin Hood would use.” She hadn’t expected an angelic choir when she had taken the arrow from the vault, but this just looked sad.

“You could ask your brother,” Shay suggested, and she jumped on the windowsill beside the kitchen island. “Oh, wait, then you’d have to tell him that you stole something from his safe.”

“Borrowed,” Kellsey corrected her. Stealing and borrowing was practically the same with the Callahans. She handed the arrow to Vicky so she could use it in her witch’s brew.

“Are you really going to stick that arrow in Leroy’s ass?” Shay continued. “Can I be there when you do it? Can I? Please?”

Was she really going to do this? Use a love arrow to make Leroy Leandros fall in love with her? Even if it was an artificial love?

After a millisecond of pondering she nodded. Absolutely! All was fair in love and war. Especially when she was challenged.

“Someone has to put that arrogant fairy in her place,” she said defensively. “I have a reputation to uphold.” Which was why she hadn’t been able to refuse when Lea had challenged her during a game of Truth or Dare to steal a kiss from Leroy. On the hood of his beloved Jeep, during the annual Blood Games, where everyone could bear witness.

Vicky cleared her throat while she continued to stir in her cauldron. “Are you sure Lea’s challenge is the only reason?”

Kellsey put on her most innocent face. “What other reason could I possibly have?”

Shay snorted. “Maybe because you’ve been chasing Leroy’s ass since you could crawl?”

“I have not!”

“Watch it; your nose is growing,” Shay said as she grabbed a lollipop from a kitchen drawer.

“Why not just explain it to him?” Vicky suggested as she threw a rose and a peacock feather in the cauldron.

“What’s the challenge in that?” Kellsey asked, not surprised by cautious Vicky’s suggestion. The black witch feared her own shadow. That is, unless you crushed one of her plants. Then she turned into the Hulk.

“It’s safer,” Vicky said. “We don’t even know what kind of mythos he is.”

“He’s Greek, right?” Shay noted. “Maybe he’s a centaur. You think he’s hung like a horse?”

Kellsey rolled her eyes. “He’s not a centaur. They’re practically extinct.” Which was a damn shame, because riding on the back of a centaur was on her bucket list.

“What if he turns out to be a dragon?” Vicky continued. “He could burn the place down. Your brothers won’t be happy if the Asylum collapses, and they have to rebuild it again.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Shay said as she waved her lollipop. “Remember that time when you hid a hydra in the dungeon?”

Kellsey sent her an annoyed look. “How could I have known that Hermy would grow so fast? Or that he would slip into Levi’s bed?” If she’d known that she would have kept the baby hydra far away from him. Of course, it didn’t help when Levi decapitated the hydra and continued to decapitate him until poor Hermy had nine heads.

“Just like you didn’t know your Kraken would outgrow the tub in the basement?” Shay asked sweetly.

Kellsey winced. She didn’t like to be reminded of that incident. “Well….”

“Kellsey was practically a toddler when that happened,” Vicky defended her. “She probably didn’t understand Krik when he told her that he would soon outgrow the bathtub.”

If only that were true. She had been seven when Krik told her that he needed more space. Understanding Krik and telling her brothers that they were about to be living with a gigantic sea creature, however, were two different things. By the time she had gathered her courage to tell them, Krik had burst from the joints of the basement. He had taken half of the basement with him, as his giant tentacles had beaten it to smithereens. Something her brothers liked to remind her of, a lot. They were never going to let her live that down.

“This is Leroy we’re talking about,” Kellsey hastily changed the subject. “He doesn’t have any mysteries or surprises that could cause unexpected problems.”

His reliability was one of the things she liked most about him. And his muscular arms. He had the sexiest arms. She pictured him traveling through the jungle, swinging from vine to vine in search of an ancient temple with a hidden treasure. Sadly, so far that picture had remained a fantasy, because he had refused to take her on one of his trips.

“Then why doesn’t he ever appear in his mythos form?” Shay asked suspiciously.

“He’s a nomad. Maybe he’s on the run from his old clan,” Kellsey countered. At least, she thought he was a nomad. She hadn’t seen a clan mark on his body. Hers was placed on her right wrist. Not all mythos wore it in the same place, though.

“Or perhaps he’s being hunted because he’s the last of his kind,” Vicky said softly, her eyes full of shadows.

“Or maybe he’s a hybrid, and he’s ashamed of it,” Shay said stiffly. Her pupils flared into smoldering pools of red and then changed back into a frosty white. Being half frost giantess, half djinn made her an unusual combination of fire and ice.

“Leroy doesn’t strike me as the type that gets hunted.” He was more the hunter. “He doesn’t strike me as the type who’s ashamed to be a hybrid either,” she said. But for some inexplicable reason, he kept his true nature hidden.

“The potion’s almost ready,” Vicky said. “Once it has cooled, it’s ready to be used.”

“Cool is my middle name,” Shay said as she dipped an icy finger into the cauldron.

“I thought it was Lolly,” Kellsey said innocently. Everyone knew of her love for salmiak lollipops.

Shay frowned. “Shut up, Achilles.”

Kellsey pulled a face. “Sometimes you can be so mean.”

“Mean is my default setting,” Shay said. Her corset creaked as she bent over and grabbed another lollipop from the kitchen drawer.

“So, how long will the arrow work?” Kellsey asked. She’d kind of bragged that she’d win the dare within twenty-four hours.

“It’ll work for twenty-four hours instead of a century,” Vicky said and she took the arrow out of the purple concoction.

Kellsey would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about keeping Leroy as a willing love slave for a hundred years. For just a wee moment, of course. Sometimes, it felt bad to be good. The only thing stopping her was her Callahan pride. She wanted Leroy to genuinely love her, not because a magic arrow shot hearts through his body. “Are you absolutely sure?” she asked. The Blood Games lasted two days. They were held at the open field behind the Asylum where there was a crowd all day long. Leroy never stayed longer than he had to, so he would be gone by the second day. Twenty-four hours didn’t give her a big window of opportunity to hit Leroy with the arrow.

Vicky cast her eyes down. “Yes. If you want the warranty of a trained witch, you’ll have to hire a white witch.”

“No, I trust you,” Kellsey assured her quickly. She could hardly blame Vicky that she wasn’t properly trained in black magic. Her race had been massacred by the white witches. The white witches now ruled over Avalon. So, the odds of Vicky being trained there were about as high as those of Shay wearing a cardigan.

The arrow, now transformed, was pink. “It should work now,” Vicky said, and she gave it to Kellsey.

“That’s more like it.” Kellsey jumped from the kitchen table with the arrow in her fist.

She left the kitchen for the gym where she usually trained with her brothers. The armory was situated by the gym. She took a short crossbow and went outside. She stepped in the middle of a crowd. The back yard was packed with clans and supporters who came to take part in the Blood Games.

Shay sauntered by in her miniskirt and corset. “I love this time of the year when the crème de la crème of sexy testosterone passes over our doorstep. You know what turns men on? Fighting. And blood.” She suddenly frowned. “Where are the Buchanan werewolves?”

The befriended werewolf clan was absent indeed. Shay had a friends-with-benefits relationship with Conn, their alpha. She’d admitted that she wasn’t sure if it could lead to anything more than a fling between them since an alpha werewolf, unlike the betas and omegas, could one day meet his true mate.

Kellsey knew Shay feared that the werewolf would then cast her aside like an old pair of shoes. “You’re playing again this year?” she asked, avoiding the sensitive issue of the Buchanan alpha.

“If your brothers would just enter the Games I could form my own kick-ass team instead of having to join the Buchanan team,” Shay complained.

“At least you get to play,” Kellsey grumbled back. It was a recurring discussion point between them. Shay complained because she lacked five clan members to form her own team. Kellsey complained because she couldn’t play at all.

“You really shouldn’t complain, chicky. It wouldn’t be fair if you played. You know what happened last time.”

Kellsey rolled her eyes. She was just as good at breaking bones as her brothers. Unfortunately, no one on the other team dared to attack her, which just ruined the game. And all that, just because Kuno had gone berserk when someone smashed his fist in her face.

2

LEROY

Being summoned by Riz Callahan was never a good sign.

Leroy stared at the iron gates of the Callahan house with a heavy feeling in his heart. In the middle of the former asylum’s gate, the well-known “C” was etched. The bars to the left of the monogram were scorched and dented. He’d been there when Riz had lit a frost giant on fire and had pushed him, in pieces, through the bars. It was a silent reminder of the Callahans’ brutality when their family was threatened. The beast in him appreciated the ability to protect your own. He wished that he could’ve done the same for his family. Unfortunately, his own flesh and blood was reduced to one person, his nephew Liam. They had spent the past decade in Oban, a small town on Scotland’s west coast. He had never stayed in the same place for this long since he’d left Nemea. He usually ended up at odds with local clans, because nobody really liked or trusted a nomad.

In Oban it was Riz Callahan who was on top of the food chain. You either paid for his protection or took care of yourself. Leroy had had his own reasons to recently join the Callahans.

He parked his car and got out. The Callahans loved their Harleys and they weren’t the only ones. The parking lot of the former asylum was filled with row after row of bikes and cars. Groups of mythos walked toward the field at the back of the house. Some of them were wearing the same color paint on their cheeks and walked in a group of six.

Of course, the annual Blood Games. It was the one time of year that mythos who had sworn their allegiance to Riz could hash out their differences like in the old days.

Shit. Leroy usually avoided this event, but it seemed like this year was also his year. Since he hadn’t joined a team, that could only mean one thing: someone had challenged him. Through the gravel, he walked on the path of broken columns. Each column had a marble statue placed on it that looked like a scarecrow. Every now and then a suicidal idiot popped up who wanted to become a legend, and therefore challenged Ronin Callahan. There was a special place reserved for those candidates. Some turned-to-marble mythos were still alive and sinister eyes followed him as he walked inside. Even before he’d passed the door he smelled two Callahans and a vampire.

Riz stood next to the fireplace, his massive arms crossed in front of his chest. Levi was sitting on the couch with a deck of playing cards in his hand. As usual, the dhampir was dressed in a custom-made suit and differed as night and day from his brother. Levi was the most slender of the six brothers, but possibly the most dangerous. Riz, on the other hand, was built like a Mack truck. He wore his usual black kilt and tee. Although it was unusual to see a vampire under his biker boots.

Riz gave Leroy a short nod. “Take a seat, Leandros. This won’t take long.” He looked down at the vampire under his boot. “It’s the first of the month, and your master hasn’t paid me yet. Instead, he sent a minion. It’s not like your master to be so disrespectful. Where’s my money, blood bag?”

Leroy plopped down on the chair across Levi.

“Spike,” the vampire under the boot groaned. “The name’s Spike, not ‘blood bag.’”

“Do I look like I give a flying fuck about your name?” Riz asked.

“Of course that’s your name,” Levi sneered. “The day I meet a vampire with an original name is the day I lose at poker.”

Leroy knew what he meant. In a blood house, you tripped over the Spikes and Lestats. The first thing a vampire did after he was turned was to discover that he was a blood slave, created with the sole purpose of providing his dhampir master with blood. The second was to take a new name. Usually one from a romanticized Hollywood production. Though he had yet to meet the first Blade.

Riz pulled Spike up and pushed his head in the fire. The vampire began to scream, and his limbs shook wildly.

“Oh, well; at least it’s not another Edward,” Levi sighed.

“Someone should teach baby vampires to take a proper name,” Riz growled. “Like Nicolas Cage did.” He tossed the vampire to the other side of the room.

The leech rolled until he slammed against a cabinet and came to a halt. He moaned as he got back to his feet. His head, a bloody, sticky mess, was still smoldering.

Then, Spike did something really stupid. He showed his fangs and hissed. It was the ultimate form of disrespect.

In a flash, Riz stood for the vampire, his fist around Spike’s throat. A second later he held two fangs in his hands. Spike fell down screaming while he held his bleeding mouth.

Leroy viewed Riz with renewed respect. He’d thought of a punishment far worse than death for Spike. A vampire without fangs was like a frost giant without an icicle.

Riz threw the fangs on the ground. “Tell your master he has twenty-four hours to pay or his fangs are the next I’m going to collect. Oh, and don’t forget to mention the hundred percent interest he now owes me. We’re not a fucking charity. Our protection doesn’t come free.”

Spike scrambled to his feet and wiped the blood from his mouth. “I ask for a postponement of payment. The earnings this month were down and….”

“Do I look like a damn bank?” Riz roared.

“They were the same as usual.” Levi joined the conversation. He shuffled the cards in his hands as if he were sitting in his casino. “You should sniff less euphoria and work more.”

The vampire turned ashen. He nodded miserably and rushed off like a shadow.

Leroy wasn’t surprised that Levi knew about Spike’s euphoria addiction. The dhampir had eyes everywhere. He had to if he wanted to keep his clan safe. The Callahans had settled in Oban over twenty years ago. They surfaced out of nowhere during the chaos that was created by the war between the gods. In the beginning, the odd family which consisted of a motley bunch of mythos wasn’t considered a serious clan. Two decades later, they ruled the Highlands.

“It will happen again,” Levi predicted. “According to rumors, Spike’s master is killed. Most vampires from his nest have already found a new master. However, a few are stupid enough to believe that Spike can lead them.”

Riz cocked an eyebrow. “Then perhaps you should lead them, brother. It’s time for your own bloodline.”

If Leroy hadn’t seen Levi’s fingers tighten around his whiskey glass, he’d have thought Riz’s words had had no effect on him. Levi could hardly bear it when someone touched him, up to the point of going batshit crazy. A bad trait for a dhampir, who had to provide his vampire with his own blood.

“It wouldn’t matter in the long run,” Levi said. “Dhampirs are a dying species.” He didn’t sound particularly sad at the prospect.

Riz frowned, but he let the matter go. He wiped his hands on his kilt and turned to Leroy. “I have a personal request for you.”

A request sounded good. Leroy relaxed a fraction. “What kind of request?”

“I want you to find the helmet of Hades.”

“That’s it? Why don’t you just ask for Pegasus or the sword of Onuris?”

“I don’t need a flying horse and to get that sword you’d have to descend into the Egyptian underworld. No one returns unscathed from Duat.”

Once again, Leroy wondered how old Riz actually was. The Callahan patriarch was an enigma. “You want the Helm of Darkness which makes Hades invisible for gods and mythos?” he asked when Riz kept looking at him dead serious. “That thing is just a myth.”

During the past millennia, he’d encountered many mythical objects, but never something of Hades. The Greek god of the underworld was in a league of his own. He was known as a loner and didn’t reveal himself to humans or mythos.

“Interesting that you mention both aspects of the helmet,” Riz said sharply. “Most mythos don’t know it also makes you invisible to the gods.”

Unfortunately, he’d found that out the hard way. In a time when he’d thought that invisibility could protect him against his curse. He knew better by now. “The helmet was probably lost during the war of the gods. If it ever even existed.”

“I can assure you that it exists,” Riz said. “According to my source, it will be auctioned in two days by Satiros. The satyr has his ways to get his hands on rare objects.”

“Satiros the satyr?” he said skeptically. “Then it’s probably a fake. And why exactly are you asking me to get it?”

“You’re the only one currently available whom I can trust.”

Just then Qasim Callahan walked in. With his tousled blue hair, Star Wars tee, and sneakers, he looked more like a student than a professor. He’d heard that Qasim had six master’s degrees and a PhD.

“Hey, Leroy. Has Riz already told you how I found the helmet?” He tapped on his iPad. “Through TCNN, The Callahan Nomads Network.” He sounded smug.

Riz let out an exasperated sigh and slumped on a couch. “I miss the good old days when you barely spoke.”

“You mean when Erin the siren had stolen my voice?”

“No, I meant when you were busy tracing your ass away from that harpy and had no time to talk.”

Qasim shot him a dirty look. “It wasn’t just a harpy, but an entire fucking nest. I couldn’t speak for a month because they were attracted to my voice. If Kartal hadn’t taken my place and distracted those angry birdies, I’d probably still be chased by them. It would’ve been nice if you’d also helped me out instead of laughing your asses off.”

“Yep, those were the golden days,” Riz sighed.

“It was fucking hilarious,” Levi agreed.

Qasim turned his back on his brothers. “Jangan kuatir, saudara,” he said.

Leroy looked at him questioningly. The djinn probably spoke as many languages as studies he’d done. Sometimes, he forgot that the rest of the world wasn’t super-smart.

“Riz told me this morning that I have to trace you to Lombok tomorrow so I’ve started to learn Indonesian,” Qasim explained. “I said, ‘don’t worry, brother.’ Unlike them, I won’t leave you hanging when you’re attacked by a harpy. Though, statistically, that’s unlikely to happen since Asia isn’t their usual habitat.”

“When do you need the helmet?” Leroy asked.

“You have about a month,” Riz said. “I need it before Kellsey’s birthday.”

Leroy shook his head. “I’m not taking on new jobs right now. I can’t leave Liam unprotected.” Not while they were being hunted. He felt that the dark cloud of anger and revenge that had pursued him for millennia was near.

“The Spartan,” Riz said understandingly.

Leroy wondered if there was anything Riz didn’t know. “The Spartan,” he agreed.

“I need the helmet for Kellsey,” Riz said.

A cold feeling settled into the pit of his stomach. “What do you mean?”

Riz looked grim. “Someone has threatened her.”

He felt his beast clawing inside, wanting out. “Who?”

“Can’t tell you that. You know the danger a name can carry. All you need to know is that it’s a Hades and She With the Icy Name situation.”

Shit, it was a Hades and Hel situation. “You could send Shay.” He didn’t want to end up in the position where Riz was leading him.

“I don’t want Kellsey to start worrying. Shay couldn’t keep this a secret. They have some kind of rock chicks pact in which they tell each other everything. Also, she doesn’t have your knowledge. She wouldn’t know the difference between the real and a fake helmet.”