Page 2 of Bottoms Up (Mythic Beast #4)

Julian

It was so frustrating, watching Silver’s interview when I couldn’t be there with her, but having her publicly acknowledge me as her boyfriend could cause all kinds of problems when she travels, should she enter the territory of someone who doesn’t get along with Marco.

With the new Senatus, most of the state-level Masters can be in the same room together without bloodshed, but that doesn’t mean they won’t cause problems for the human girlfriend of another Master’s personal assistant just to be a bastard. Or a bitch.

Kirsten kept her phone close, ready to teleport to Silver if she was needed, but the text never came.

Until it finally did, and the second it came through, she disappeared.

Nathan had wanted to go, but he was in the kitchen getting more beer and snacks when the text came through, and she didn’t wait for him.

Man, was the Lion King pissed when he returned to find her gone.

Mordecai popped in about fifteen seconds later and told Nathan.

“She’s fine. X was gone before she got the text.

I sent one of my daughters to explain to X why he needed to leave, and he did.

He’d blocked Silver’s phone — she sent the text shortly after he arrived, but X didn’t let the text go through until he left. ”

Nathan dropped onto the sofa and crossed his arms. “She was supposed to take me.”

“She’s fine. I’m sure she’ll be back with Silver,” he paused and tilted his head, “and Animal, soon enough. The humans need to pack their things and check out of the hotel.”

“Thank you,” I told him. “I’ve been so worried.”

“Your Silver said all the right things. I’ll let her tell you what the demon offered as a bargain.

I believe Silver’s considering it, or at least thinking about possibly considering it.

” He didn’t look happy, but he noted, “As the current bearer of the metal portion of Freyja’s necklace, it’s Silver’s decision. ”

When Kirsten finally popped back in with Silver and Animal in tow, Silver held her hands up to stop me when I moved toward her to hold her.

“Not now. I’m going to put this blasted necklace in its case and hope it stays there, and then I’m going to get another shower and go to bed.

” She turned to Kirsten. “Thanks for coming to me, and for the quick trip back here, where I feel safe. I never want to have to face him again, especially when I’m alone. ”

“Then we’ll make sure you aren’t alone for a while,” Nathan said, and he looked at Mordecai, who frowned.

“I don’t want to pull Ellania away from Lauren.

Bacchus would do it, but…” He stopped talking and looked at Silver a few seconds.

“No. Not my great-grandson.” He looked at Kirsten.

“I can’t ask my sister Enyo because she doesn’t need to be in the same room with X, either.

Ellania or Adonis. I’m afraid those are the only two I would trust for this. ”

“Not Adonis, and Ellania is settled in Vegas, having fun performing. How about Harmonia? She’s in Vegas too, but…”

“Jupiter has taken a liking to the whole band,” Nathan said. “I doubt he’s going to volunteer to hang out with Silver possibly indefinitely, but he might have someone he can assign.”

Mordecai nodded to Nathan, looked at Kirsten a few seconds, and vanished.

“You’re welcome to stay here until we work something out,” Kirsten told Silver. “Go, get a shower. This is a safe space for you.”

When she left, Kirsten told me. “She’d have started crying if you’d hugged her. Don’t take her wanting to escape to the shower personally.”

I’d guessed that, but it was good to have confirmation. “Thanks. You should explain the pros and cons of Adonis guarding her, so she can make an informed decision. We haven’t promised monogamy to one another, and I would not deny her a few weeks with a god.”

Kirsten shook her head. “I try hard to keep him away from the public areas of the house. I don’t want any wolves falling into his spell.

They mate for life, and I can’t imagine the damage his mojo could do to one in a committed relationship.

He and I are friends, but I spend time with him away from Homewood. ”

“My wolf had her fun with him years ago,” Marco said. “So she’s safe from his magnetic personality.”

I smiled at Cora. “Lucky you. I used to dream of Adonis setting his gaze on me.”

“Since your Silver wants some alone time,” Marco told me, “we have work to do.”

I followed him to the underground, aligning things by priority in my head.

Mostly these days, I work on Senatus business for him, but we had an issue in South Carolina — businesses Marco owns that are being mismanaged.

Marco was moving people around so he’d have loyal people in place to clean house and then run things properly.

* * * *

Silver

It’s kind of fucked up, but it wasn’t until I had a legitimate offer to make me ‘normal’ that I realized I like who I am and don’t want to change.

And I definitely don’t want to bear children.

For one thing, there was no way all the female hormones necessary to make me carry a healthy child to term wouldn’t massively change my body.

I didn’t want more curves, or bigger tits.

My body is perfect as it is. A waist cincher if I want more curves for a specific outfit, but otherwise, everything works no matter what gender I feel like being on any particular day.

Would I want to father children? I had the same questions — would the male hormones give me more facial and body hair I’d have to wax? Would they change my voice?

I looked at myself in the mirror when I got out of the shower.

I mean, really looked, like I’d never seen myself before.

Small tits, a picture-perfect dick even if it’s a little smaller than average.

Slightly curvy body. A face that could pass for male or female — and did, depending on the hairstyle and makeup I either wore or did not.

While I was staring at myself, the necklace appeared around my neck once again, and I rolled my eyes at it in the mirror.

“I put you in your case because I’m tired of your ass.

” I narrowed my eyes at it. Considering.

“I bet there’s some kind of Mount Doom for you, and either no one’s telling me, or they don’t know what it is.

Someone melted you down and turned you into a coin, right? So I could maybe melt you down and…”

It suddenly didn’t feel like I should say what I was thinking out loud, but what if I had this couple of ounces of gold melted into, like, twenty pounds of gold, and then that gold melted into a thousand rings and necklaces?

Could you dilute it enough so it wouldn’t be sentient?

Or would it make the whole twenty pounds sentient?

I did the math in my head, and twenty pounds of gold would be a little over half a million dollars — totally worth it for even the chance it might work.

Okay, so what if I did some kind of jewelry as merch?

Little gold guitars? Or hell, I could make ten thousand gold coins like the kind I wore to the Grammys.

Fuck yeah, that could work. Twenty made of real gold and sold with serial numbers so they’d be collector’s items, and a couple thousand made of silver with gold plating.

Mordecai popped into my bedroom with his back to me, and I walked into the room without bothering to put clothes on. He seems to know more than even Marco — it was nice of him to turn his back, but I was smart enough to know he knew everything about me. “You’re going to try to talk me out of it.”

“I don’t believe the necklace will allow you to do what you’re planning.

It may or may not enjoy the idea of so many copies of its current form floating around out there, but it isn’t going to let you mix it into that much gold unless it’s certain it can be sentient when diluted.

If so, it’ll allow it, and then you’ll end up with a whole bunch of magic necklaces, rather than just one. ”

I walked to my suitcase, opened it, and stepped into a pair of shorts. “You’re sure there isn’t some kind of Mount Doom that Kirsten can zap me to?”

“The original torc was forged in Svartalfheim, the realm of the dwarves, and it was made of gold and silver, not just gold. The torc was a solid piece of metal, worn as a necklace. The silver and gold were woven together, with gemstones at the ends and the center.”

He looked at the little seating area in my room, and I said, “Please, sit.”

The women had mentioned, during our little drunken soiree, how the ‘ old ones ’ are big on certain formalities, like not sitting in someone’s home, or even their private space, without an invitation.

When the giant of a man, even bigger than my Julian, sat on the loveseat, I sat in one of the armed wingchairs.

“The pendant you have is a small part of the gold from the original necklace. I do not know where the rest of the gold and silver is. Also, the being you met does not own all three gemstones from the original.”

“Can we take it to the dwarves’ realm and deconstruct what’s left of it?”

He shook his head. “It was made by magic. A fire may or may not have been involved. You’d need to deconstruct the magic, and I’m not certain that’s possible. Your idea of dilution could possibly work, but I don’t think the necklace will let us do so.”

“It makes sense. It can teleport itself, and it seems to be able to read my mind, so it isn’t likely to let me plan to destroy it and then just sit idly by while I carry out my dastardly plan.”

He smiled, and I had the idea he found me amusing.

“Okay then, how about a Plan B?” I asked aloud, and then telepathed, What if I had it melted down and reformed into something no one would recognize?

I have a few torcs, so I actually know what they are. What if I had this one formed into a ring that resembled a torc? I sent him an image of what I was thinking, and the necklace vibrated on my neck.

“Kirsten said vibrating is a warning,” I told him.