Morpheus Read online

  “Yes,” Zeus said with a sigh. “It would cost us more to hunt him down and there’s the possibility he will help us find more of our people.”

  “He could be lying.”

  “If he doesn’t deliver, we can revisit the issue but we can’t take the chance that he could find even one and not give him the chance to make it happen.”

  “He’s too smart. He managed to peg you guys right off the bat. I wouldn’t trust him,” Zan observed.

  “I don’t, but right now we have no choice but to play by his rules,” Zeus replied.

  Morpheus chose that moment to bring the kids in. “Any word?” he asked with hope shining in his eyes.

  “Yes, it’ll be alright. He just wants money and Zeus is working on it. We’ll have her back soon,” Hades assured him.

  There was relief on Morpheus’s face but it was tempered with caution. “This is good, right? We’ll pay and he’ll give her back.”

  “I certainly hope so,” Hades said. “Zeus will get us the money, and then we’ll get your woman.”

  They waited, but it was too late in the day to get the money together until the morning. Zeus got it started, but it would be near noon the next day before they got the money in hand. Hades called Dawson who wasn’t surprised at the delay. Now they could do nothing but return to the hotel and rest until morning came.

  The First National Bank of Northwestern Virginia was busy this morning. People moved in and out of the large double doors getting and leaving money in their wake. The bank president waited for them seemingly anxious to do his part. Maybe it was the large sum of money he had yet to count out to them that caused the sweat to collect on his brow and run down his face. He took on the chore personally, either not trusting any of his employees to do the job or feeling it was a job that required the one in charge to handle it.

  He was an older man with silvery hair a slight paunch and restless brown eyes that moved constantly surveying the area. His hands were gnarled as if he had worked them hard all his life, but they easily began to count the bills as if he lived for nothing else. He was efficient and the whole process from entry to exit was completed in less than thirty minutes. He wished them luck and the relief he felt was palpable. The money was now in their hands and the hardest part still ahead of them.

  Hades called Dawson to set up the meeting. “Dawson here.”

  “I have the money and I’m ready to meet you. Tell me where to go.”

  Dawson gave him the directions and gave him no time to prepare a surprise. “Come alone, Hades. We don’t want this to go wrong.”

  There was no doubt they would follow direction except he would take everyone with him part way and go the last couple of miles alone. It would be stupid to go to the middle of nowhere alone with no back up anywhere. They made their way to the meeting place and there was an old abandoned house around three miles from the meeting place. That was where Hades left the rest while he headed on.

  He made the designated meeting place and stopped to look around. He saw no one but there were places someone could hide. He held the briefcase over his head. “I have the money, where is the girl?”

  He heard the sound of someone moving. “Keep your hands above your head and turn all the way around so I can see if you have any weapons.” Hades did as he was told even though he didn’t see how anyone would think they could see concealed weapons that easily. “Walk this way slowly.”

  Hades headed in Dawson’s direction. He just wanted to make the trade and get El home to Morpheus. He also hoped Dawson really could help them recover some of their brothers. It would be worth everything they had gone through with El and Morpheus if he could. “Look,” Dawson said.

  Hades looked and he saw El. One of Dawson’s men held her still by her arm. He was glad she didn’t look harmed, she didn’t even look scared. It gave him a positive impression. He moved up to Dawson as Dawson moved to him. El was moved near them too. It was time to make the exchange. Hades slowly handed the briefcase to Dawson who immediately opened it scanning the cash. He nodded to his man and he let El go. She moved quickly to Hades who pulled her close against his side.

  “You’ll hear from me soon. I’m following up on a lead for Aeolus who was given to an unknown scientist. She’s researching anti aging so you want him back quick. Those tests can be traumatizing.”

  “I hope we hear from you,” Hades said with what he hoped was just the right amount of threat.

  “You certainly will. I need to make a living for me and my men. These recovery fees will support us until we get back into our old lives. Want me to use your hotline or you have a number for me?”

  Hades handed Dawson his personal business card. He used those cards when they were out in the human world trying to find more of his brothers. If Dawson would truly help them, that would be priceless. Hades took El’s hand and pulled her behind him as he walked speedily to the SUV he’d come in.

  He drove fast, Morpheus and the kids were waiting. Cutter and her men were restrained ready to catch a private plane out of there. It was worth a hundred thousand dollars to keep the evil bitch and they would get some information out of her, Hades looked forward to it. It was just a little way up the road and everyone was waiting for them. The outcome had been the best possible and Hades thought Dawson might be a useful contact for them in the future. He needed money and they needed to recover their brothers.

  Chapter 11

  A Safe Return

  Hades pulled over in front of the waiting group. Morpheus shook with worry, would he have her? Would she be alright? She slid out of the passenger seat, closed the door, and just stood there a moment searching until their eyes met. Morpheus saw his future, his life, and his love in her eyes. He stayed back to allow the kids to greet their mother first. He watched them hug before she waved her arm to tell him to join them. He put his big arms around them all but he’s careful not to squeeze as tight as he wanted to. He never wanted to let them, his family, go.

  He hoped this would be the end of their troubles and that El will agree to settle into mated life with him. He believed with all the people that kept him imprisoned now captured, the threat to him and El should be gone. They could live in Olympus or stay in the area El was raised in, all he wanted was to be with her and the kids. As far as he was concerned, they were already his, but if she wanted to get married, he would happily comply.

  They all went back to the hotel with El and the kids sitting next to him in the van. He held her hand just to reassure himself that she was really back with him. They made it back to the lobby and they all filed into the suite Morpheus and El had been staying at. They all wanted to know what had happened.

  The room was packed with people sitting and standing everywhere. Morpheus wanted the kids to go to their room but El allowed them to stay. “They need to know what has happened.”

  “Tell us what you know about how they found you and where they kept you?” Doc asked quietly.

  El nodded. “I can do that. We were all hungry and we didn’t have any food here because we left in a hurry. Morpheus stands out so much, besides he doesn’t have a driver’s license, so we decided I needed to go to get food and other stuff we needed. Morpheus stayed behind with the kids, we thought it would work out. I think they were in the parking lot here and they followed me waiting until I was vulnerable. It makes the most sense since I went into a store to buy some things and I was in there maybe twenty minutes. I came out and started to unload the cart when the door to the backseat of the van behind me opened, someone grabbed me, and put a rag over my mouth as they dragged me into the seat. The van took off as this big guy restrained me. He had my mouth taped with duct tape but he kept asking me where you and the kids were. I couldn’t answer and finally the woman in front told him to give it a rest, they’d interrogate me at base.”

  El paused to sip a drink Doc had brought her. Morpheus wanted to hit himself for not thinking about her needs. No doubt she was hungry and thirsty after all that she’d been through
. “Did they say how they discovered your location?” Hades asked gently. No one was sure of exactly what she’d had done to her and they were afraid to asked.

  “They couldn’t bug the phones but they had a microphone of some sort.”

  “A laser microphone?” Hercules asked. Surveillance equipment was more his line of expertise. The microphone would be pointed at a window or some weak spot and could pick up sounds from inside that room.

  “I think so. He said they picked up enough information to get the general location and the rest was luck. They were there to get a room. I’m not sure I believe they could be so lucky while we were so unlucky, but they had no reason to lie. They kept asking me where Morpheus was, hitting, pinching, and biting me. I hope you killed that bastard, but it got bad so I started giving them room numbers, not the right ones. Finally the woman, you called her Cutter, she said to stop because it was a waste of time and she would figure out something different. She sent me with the guy that you made the deal with.”

  “At least we know that there wasn’t a leak,” Hades said.

  El turned toward him quickly, a look of concern on her face. “Did you suspect there might be?” The underlying fear in her tone was clear.

  “We have had problems when dealing with others before. We caught some of the military personnel, left to help us, working with Origin so they could retake us. Trust has never come easy for us, but after that, you can understand why we question everything,” Hades explained.

  “If anyone can understand, I can,” El said and Morpheus knew she meant her ex-husband. Hades and some of the others looked puzzled at her remark but they didn’t ask for details. They valued privacy and she would tell them when she was ready. Morpheus knew that the other gods thought he and El would return to Olympus with them, but he wasn’t so sure they would.

  Doc managed to get rooms for all of them and they slowly left to go to their own rooms leaving Morpheus and his little family on their own for the night. He and El made sure the young ones took their showers, put on their PJs, said their prayers, and were tucked in, each in their own bed. Now he would be alone with his mate and he would be able to ask her if anything happened that she needed to tell him. He had worried about what might have happened to her and since she had been freed he hadn’t been able to find out because he couldn’t, wouldn’t ask her that in front of anyone else.

  They made their way to their bedroom and as soon as the door closed he began to strip his clothes off tossing them carelessly in a pile. Nothing mattered but that he immerse himself in his mate joining them so they were one. She seemed to feel the same need as she, too, stripped her clothing off and tossed it on the floor. He wasn’t prepared to move to the bed or do anything that would delay their joining for another moment. He picked her up pushing her against the wall. One leg went around his waist but he caught the other leg before it went there too. He pulled up her knee against his chest opening her up to even deeper penetration then he merged with her in one sharp thrust.

  She was slick making him slide in easily but her sheath squeezed his cock in a tight grip. Nothing felt like being inside of his El. Her muscles massaged his hard length making him want to spill his seed deep inside her. He calmed himself so he could enjoy the pleasures of her body as long as possible. He pumped into her, hard and fast. Their need couldn’t be held back any longer, they both had to have this joining now. He was like a crazed animal holding nothing back. Faster, harder, deeper and his hand moved between them to encourage her release before he could no longer hold off his own.

  He felt the tingle that signaled his orgasm was on its way but he also felt her shudder as her own neared. It was anyone’s guess whose would arrive first. She cried out as he groaned with pleasure. They both seized with bliss as the first wave of their orgasms hit simultaneously. Her muscles clutched as he jerked and waves of joy rolled over them both. Ecstasy held them both in its grip as his seed pulsed deep into his mate’s channel which grabbed at his staff coaxing every drop of his essence out.

  With the edge taken off their runaway desire, he now moved her to the bed. He positioned them both and he slowly eased into her, making love to his female in leisurely smooth strokes that went into the deepest parts of her. She moaned deliciously, making his stomach clench with need but he refused to move any faster. Her legs wrapped around him encouraging him to hit the deepest depths but he took his time seeing to her simmering desire as he stroked all the places that she loved. Even though he built the pressure slowly, when it finally exploded, it was like a volcano erupting. He saw stars and even afterward he felt the Earth move as he tried to calm himself. He could tell she was equally struck by the devastating results of their release.

  He rolled to his side with her in his arms. He wrapped his body around her for comfort and protection. He would never let this woman go even though he suspected he would have to learn to live in the human world with her if he was to have any hope of convincing her to join with him at all. He had hoped to speak to her tonight, but as he listened to the even sounds of her breathing and saw her closed eyes, he knew she had already gone to sleep. His breathing slowed too as his eyes began closing and soon, he slept as well.

  He jerked awake unsure as to why. He heard a sound outside the door and he suspected the kids were awake. He eased out of bed so as not to disturb his mate, dressed, and hurried out to take care of the kids. They had been up a while and had already tried to make breakfast with devastating results. He got out cereal and made them each a bowl.

  “But Morpheus, if we wanted cereal, we would have got it. We want some home cooked food,” Cassie the usual spokesperson of the two whined just a little bit.

  “You two are going to have to clean up this mess you made and hope your mother doesn’t see it.”

  “But Morpheus…,” Donnie began.

  “Don’t Morpheus me, you guys know you shouldn’t have tried to cook in this kitchen.”

  They both looked down at the floor as if they wanted to cry and he was surprised by how bad they made him feel. “Listen kids. We’ll learn how to cook some things together after we get home.” Home, he was surprised how easily the word came to him when he thought of El and the kids. He didn’t see the triumphant expression both kids wore. It wouldn’t be long before he realized how sneaky these two kids could be. Meanwhile they intended to enjoy everything they could get out of him. He was going to be their dad and he needed to be trained properly.

  There was a knock on the door. Morpheus opened it to find Hades, Doc, Hercules, Lu, and Eres standing there. The humans weren’t with them and he didn’t know why. Hades started to speak in response to the questioning look on Morpheus’s face.

  “We came to talk to you about Olympus and bringing your family there,” Hades explained.

  “I’m not sure we will be living at Olympus. El and the children like where they live. They are surrounded with family and community that they would miss.”

  Hades and the other gods looked at him in shock except for Doc who understood the human ways and Lu who chuckled. “Way to go, Morpheus. Keep them thrown off balance. There are others who live among the humans, they just don’t have mates yet.”

  Hades nodded and said, reluctantly after glaring at Lu, “It’s true. We have investigators who are looking for more gods under circumstances similar to yours. They live mainly in a bunker that Hermes’s mate has near her business.” Under it to be exact, but no one ever spoke about its exact location. With the leaks and spying that was being done, only a conversation in a secure location would have any details.

  El came out and joined them. She had missed the whole conversation, but the kids hadn’t. “Mom, Morpheus is coming home with us,” Cassie said jumping up and down with excitement as she spoke. El’s eyes flew to Morpheus’s face to see if it were really true. He nodded and everyone could see the relief on her face.

  “Why don’t we find someplace to eat breakfast and we can discuss this later?” Hades asked. A stubborn look on Morpheus’
s face told him that as far as he was concerned, it was decided.

  Morpheus was thinking about the risks, he was just willing to take them. He would see that El and the kids were safe, any chances taken would be his. As far as Olympus went, he wanted to see it. They could visit, it didn’t mean they had to stay. If El liked it and wanted to stay, he was all for that too. He’d never felt at home anywhere until he’d been in her arms. As long as she and the kids were with him, he could live anywhere and deal with anything.

  Breakfast turned out to be a relatively quiet meal. They found a nearby restaurant that served breakfast and lunch all day long. They had picked up the human team as they left the hotel making them a large group. They requested a large table and the staff put two together in a back room that was empty when they arrived but started to fill before their food arrived. It was the start of the lunch crowd arriving. The little bit of conversation going on seemed to be between small teams within their group. The humans spoke more than the gods, maybe because they had things they could discuss that didn’t effect their safety.

  Eres stared at the human team leader often enough that all the gods noticed. What was his interest in her? She was pretty, no doubt, but she worked for them which would make things uncomfortable if he just planned to play around. His eyes were even now on her, devouring her. She looked up, aware and not happy that he stared at her. Her glare wasn’t enough to make him look away so she did. Eres one, Zan zero. Eres smiled a self satisfied smile having won that war of wills.

  Morpheus sat with his mate beside him and the kids next to her. He felt satisfied, complete; he couldn’t really explain but for the first time in his life he felt good. Nothing was missing and his soul sang. Maybe he was becoming a little soft but if it felt this good, he could understand why it happened to warriors. The promise of a life like this could make a male fight hard against any that threatened to take it away. He had read a lot as a young boy, history especially when a war was involved, were his favorite books. He would read about peasants, those untrained in the way of fighting, going to war against all odds. He wondered why they would fight with little hope of winning but now he knew. He looked at his small family and he realized those men had fought for those they had left behind. It made perfect sense to him now.