Page 18

“What made you decide to work for the agency?”

Enda’s question broke Giorgio out of his thoughts. It was late – very late that evening, technically, although with the change in time zones, Giorgio was losing track of what day of the week it was. They were in Giorgio’s big and remote estate in Tuscany. Giorgio always loved to get away to his estate when he’d been working in London, and he was confident that it was the best place to use as a base until they dealt with Enda’s father.

But for now, Giorgio’s mind had been consumed with things closer to home. Like the smell of sex in the air, the sight of his mate sprawled out across the sheets. Giorgio had been running his fingers through Enda’s hair. He loved the blue highlights provided by Consort Ali.

“The short answer is that I’ve always liked helping people,” Giorgio said softly. “Although we didn’t often have as many positive outcomes as I would have liked to have seen in the course of doing my job, I know I have saved a lot of genuinely innocent victims over the years, and that meant a lot to me. I suppose that’s why I kept doing it. It’s a bit sobering now, thinking that I was so focused on my own goals, I had inadvertently turned a blind eye to any signs of corruption that might have been in the agency, who I believed was backed by the government.”

“I’m not so much thinking about the politics of the situation,” Enda said. “I don’t know who world leaders are – if you asked me who was the leader of England, I couldn’t tell you, and it’s the same with anywhere else. So, I can honestly say that I don’t understand a lot of it.

“My issue is my father. I can only assume that my father is behind the mess you found when we met. But doesn’t that mean that his empire, his network, or whatever you want to call it, surely must stretch across the globe? It’s easy to imagine that there hasn’t been anywhere that I’ve been that he hasn’t been aware of, except probably here and London, because with luck, he’ll still think I’m dead until the articles come out.”

Giorgio chuckled. “If he does believe you’re dead, then he’ll get one hell of a shock when he has his morning Wheaties and checks the news sites. Incidentally, you look absolutely incredible in those photos.”

Enda ducked his head as if embarrassed. “Thank you. So did you. Very imposing, very agent-like with your dark glasses, your dark suit, and everything else. You looked like you were someone important in a movie.”

Brushing his hand through Enda’s hair again, Giorgio marveled at how confident his mate was in some ways and so shy in others. “When we met, you called me the magical beast, and yet you’re the beauty on my arm.” He sighed. “I can’t wait until you’re completely safe, and we can go anywhere you want to go. You’d be able to learn about the world at your own pace and in your own way.”

“I’m looking forward to that, too.”

“We’ll make it happen. But still, with regard to the agency, I suppose it stems back to when we were created. The sole original purpose of me and my packmates’ creation, our job if you will, was to chase down bad spirits. We were meant to keep the demons and our Master in the Underworld safe, to basically keep the spirits where they were meant to be.

“You know it, you’ve seen for yourself, not everybody is bad in the Underworld. The demons that live and work there, who grow up, who have their families, they’re all amazing people. But for the longest time as hounds, we got our orders directly from Hades or from Cerberus.”

“Isn’t that the three-headed dog?” Enda asked. “I thought Consort Ali said something about him when we were there.”

“Yes, he is. He was a pup when Lord Hades got him, and Lord Hades kept him for eons. His prime focus now is to guard the large gates of the Underworld. But, some time ago, Lord Hades gave him the chance to shift into human form. I know it was after we’d been allowed on Earth, but I can’t tell you when. Anyhow, before Lord Hades met Consort Ali, Cerberus got it in his head that he should be Lord Hades’ mate.”

“Ooh.” Enda wrinkled his nose. “It doesn’t sound like that went well.”

“I’m embarrassed to say it, but it was a case of the wonderful loyalty known in dogs going completely amuck. It was around the same time Lord Hades met Consort Ali, and Cerberus couldn’t handle that at all. He caused issues on Earth and in the Underworld, and in the end, it was Consort Ali who suggested the confusion Cerberus was feeling came from not being able to handle a shifter nature. He’s back to being happy, guarding the gate in his three-headed dog form.”

“But none of you hellhounds have ever done anything like that, have you?”

“No, of course not. I remember thinking when we heard about it, I think I was visiting Cain at the time, one of my other packmates, and we both agreed that was a bit of a horror story, you know, if we ever did anything wrong, we could have our human status taken away as well.”

“But none of the hellhounds cause any trouble.” Enda raised his head in alarm. “And seven of you now have mates, including you. Consort Ali told me how you all lead really productive and decent lives and never cause any trouble.”

“Don’t worry, the Master wouldn’t do that, especially to those of us with mates.” Watch what you’re saying, you numbnuts. Enda didn’t need any more stress. Giorgio slowly stroked through Enda’s hair again until Enda laid his head back on the pillow again.

“I’m sorry about that. I was getting a bit off point. I raised the issue of Cerberus, because me and my packmates and I, are also canines…that just happen to only exist in the Underworld. But our loyalty to our master – and then our mates - is just the same as any other cherished dog.

“Well trained?” Enda raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

“Probably, although we were encouraged to show initiative. It’s not like we sat around all day waiting for our master to tell us what to do.” Giorgio grinned. “No lazing in the sun for us.”

“There is no sun in the Underworld.” But Enda was grinning as well, so that was a plus.

“Exactly. But in all that time, all we ever really dealt with, you know, day in, day out, were the spirits of the worst mortals that ever lived. You know, for all that they might protest their innocence and goodness, you should hear them when they face Lord Hades in the courtroom, but there’re no mortals down there - somebody who has died and his spirit has gone to the Underworld - who shouldn’t be there. They all have black marks on their souls, which is what sends them to the Underworld at the point of death.”

“Black marks?” Enda’s head was up again, and he was looking at his arms. “How do we know if we have any?”

“You don’t, you really don’t. You have to do really bad things to end up marking your soul – murder, sexual crimes, financial crimes – real crimes that leave innocent victims in their wake. The point I’m trying to make is that no spirit down there is good or decent, and my packmates and I had to deal with them for thousands of years.”

Clearly, the hair stroking wasn’t as soothing as Giorgio had hoped, so he snuggled down farther on the bed, draping his arm over Enda’s back.

“I’m not saying sometimes it wasn’t fun. Chasing a couple of spirits across the wastelands because they think there’s some road somewhere that’s going to take them back to Earth is a great way to stretch your legs. But when we got to Earth, and you’ve got to remember, too, this was a long time ago, I wanted to do something more for the victims of those people I’d spent thousands of years dealing with.

“There weren’t organizations like the agency then, but there were always small groups of people who tried to maintain order or help those hurt by others. What I will say” - Giorgio leaned closer, brushing a kiss against Enda’s cheek - “is I will never know for sure why I started trying to help people, but I am so glad I did, because two thousand years later I found you, and I’m happy to say that will probably be my last job. Well worth it, in my opinion.”

“You would give up working completely? Is that allowed?” Enda was smiling, though.

“We have free will to do what we like on Earth.” Giorgio let out a contented sigh. “An endless holiday with my lovely mate – I doubt I’ll get bored.”

“It sounds like it might be the safest thing to do.” Enda’s sudden uneasiness twigged Giorgio through their bond. “Do you really have no idea what the connection might be between my father and your agency?”

“No, although that’s another good reason for not going back, regardless of what happens. An example of me being focused on the good I thought I was doing, without seeing corruption in the very agency I was working for. Not my finest moment.”

“I’m sure my father would’ve come up with something else.”

Unfortunately, there was a good chance Enda’s suspicions were correct. “You’d think I would’ve worked out something was going on while I was there.” Giorgio thought back over the past six months he’d been working. There had been a higher than usual number of jobs and a lot of mistakes… or were they?

“When I look at it,” Giorgio said, just speaking his thoughts out loud. “The issue with Mitchell wasn’t only to do with Mitchell. He was being targeted, yes. Lord Hades confirmed that. There were other signs, though, that I’m only seeing now in hindsight. There were times when the support staff wasn’t there or when only half the support team turned up. I remember there was a case and yes, that was with Mitchell, too, but this was a time when he wasn’t being targeted.”

Giorgio shuddered at the memory. “We’d been sent in. There were twenty or more victims found in a dark, smelly, and very damp basement. It was a sex trafficking ring, and the victims were no more than children. But I got told, as a negotiator, to deal with the people we found in the house above the basement. Idiots sitting around, getting drunk, the room thick with cigar smoke as they played poker.”

“Probably former clients from the boat I was on,” Enda said darkly, but he reached over, caressing Giorgio’s arm. Giorgio wasn’t sure if he was being comforted or if Enda was looking for comfort himself, but either way, it worked.

“I asked Mitchell to let our support team know we had a huge number of victims that needed urgent care. All they were concerned about was secure transport for the men responsible for the crimes. Mitchell sent them pictures, showing the conditions these victims had been in, and they sent one fucking solitary van.”

Giorgio felt his tension rising, just remembering the state those people had been in and the flagrant disregard for their future shown by the people he and Mitchell had worked for. He inhaled slowly, taking in Enda’s scent, and worked on slowing down his breathing.

“So, yeah, they sent one van to transport twenty-odd people who were scared, injured, and traumatized. According to my superiors, the case was closed. I’d done my job, and that’s what counted, apparently. I complained about it. I got told, ‘Well, you know, resources are tight,’ and ‘We can’t always do what we need to do, so you have to make do with what you’ve got.’ Or the worst thing I got told, and I know that stung at the time, ‘It’s really none of your business. You’ve saved them, leave the rest to us’.

“I remember I walked away from the scene thinking I don’t know if any of those rescued people are going to be safe, and because of the nature of the agency, I’ll never know.”

“I’m sorry, that can’t have been easy for you.”

Enda didn’t say anything else, and Giorgio lay next to his mate, his mind going over countless different cases and seeing them all in a new light. He actually thought Enda had fallen asleep when his mate asked quietly, “You’ve seen a lot of life and death, and…I’m not asking for the secrets of the universe, but do you believe people have a set amount of time to live? Something that is predetermined from when they are born?”

“I’m probably not the right person to ask,” Giorgio said. “I was never born, and I will never die. However, we believe, and there are a lot of people who believe things differently, but we believe that one of the reasons hellhounds were given mates, along with many of the gods, is because the Fates need more permanent strands in the tapestry of life.

“Part of that belief also states that the Fates are the ones responsible for the length of each person’s thread, so, in that respect, the answer would be yes – that time when a thread is cut is predetermined.”

“Is that all the time? Every person is a specific thread?”

“In my belief, yes.” Giorgio encouraged his mate closer, wrapping his arms around Enda’s back. “What made you ask?”

“Two things, really. I was thinking about what you said about those victims you were worried about and then about the victims at the scene where you found me. If that belief was true, then all of those people who died with me were meant to. Which seems a bit harsh.”

There wasn’t any answer to that, not one that Giorgio could think of anyway. Life, unfortunately, wasn’t always fair, but Enda didn’t need to be reminded of that. From the sounds of it, his whole life had been a classic example. “What’s the other reason” he asked gently.

“If threads are determined at birth” - Enda looked up, watching him from under a wave of blue hair - “then wouldn’t that mean I was already going to live forever from the moment I was born? You said my phoenix meant I wouldn’t die, but I wouldn’t have done anyway because the Fates clearly planned for me to be your mate.”

Shit. Enda was right, but it didn’t seem fair to say so to a man who’d lived under a threat from his father from the moment he saw his mother killed. “You heard Lord Hades say himself that no one knows what the Fates are thinking and why they do what they do. I know I’m really glad you’re in my arms now, and I promise to do everything in my power to make sure you always will be.”

“Good save.” Enda patted his chest. “What time are your packmates coming tomorrow, or is it today?”

“I have a feeling it will be later today as it’s well after midnight, but don’t worry about them.” Kissing Enda’s forehead, Giorgio yawned and closed his eyes. “My packmates know to make themselves at home. You sleep in as late as you need to. I know I’m going to.”