He entered the elevator and heaved a sigh of relief when he pressed the button for the floor he was going to and the doors closed, leaving him alone and cutting off the stares. He hadn't really suffered from anxiety until he started giving information to Hermes. Now he was a nervous wreck. What was on this hard drive, and what if he opened the drawer and found a big fat file about his very own espionage? Was this all a trap of some sort?
The elevator halted and the doors opened on the top floor. He passed a receptionist's desk that was currently empty and suspiciously clean of any personal items. What happened to Sarah? Fired when there was no boss, or quit due to fielding inquiries? There was no telling. He would need a new receptionist. The office door had been unlocked ahead of his arrival, and he stepped inside and looked around.
Though he'd seen the place a thousand times, he couldn't believe this was his office now. The back wall was nothing but windows overlooking the city. The wooden desk in the middle was massive, and along the walls, stone pillars held plants that gave the place a pop of color. It was an amazing office.
Chrys set the box containing the hard drive on the desk and plopped down into the plush leather chair. Then, he stuck the desk key into the drawer and unlocked it. Two folders sat on top and he pulled them out. Underneath, a few more cases like the one he'd been handed took up the rest of the space. He'd have a lot to go through. For now, his curiosity about the folders outweighed the daunting task of sorting through a bunch of digital files.
The first folder contained information, but no photographs, on the movements of the surviving vrykolakas from Brazil. One of the former Amazons, a queen named Myrine, had taken the new identities and money Pan and Hermes had set them up with and created the Myrina Initiative, an organization that sheltered and assisted abused women and children.
Chrys closed that folder and pushed it aside. It made sense for the women who had been basically mind controlled by Lamia for longer than he had been alive to want to help other women in bad situations. He'd have to look further into what they were doing and see if he could help them in any way.
He opened the second folder and his jaw dropped. Picking up photocopies of news reports out of Brazil, he read the reports of a dragon flying in the sky. An actual dragon. And the location was in the area where the Arcadians had faced off with Lamia and Echidna before going to Greece. Could it be connected?
It has to be.
Now the bigger question remained: was the dragon or Theron the bigger threat?
There was no better way to start the day than with sex. Jacen grinned as London tossed her head back and cried out in ecstasy. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders as he cupped the back of her head and brought her down into a kiss before flipping them over so she lay beneath him.
"And how many orgasms does my love desire for breakfast this morning?" he teased as he took one of her nipples into his mouth.
London giggled and then groaned as he nipped at her tender flesh. "Mmm… Three."
"Scrambled or over-easy?"
"I feel like I'm going to be both of those things if you keep doing…that! Oh!" Her body trembled as he slid a finger between them to stroke her clit. "Jacen!"
As he brought her to her second climax, his phone rang. Glaring at it, he allowed himself to reach his release, spilling inside the love of his life.
"Don't answer that," London begged.
Jacen picked it up and looked at the notification. "It's Chrys again. He might have an update on Theron."
"Fiiiinne."
Jacen laughed and gave her a quick kiss before answering, "Yeah?" He reluctantly let London wiggle out from under him and he sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He hadn't bothered with a glamour yet for the day. Luckily, his hooves didn't bother her. "Is everything okay?"
"Well, yes and no." Chrys laughed nervously over the line. "Are you sitting down?"
Absently, he glanced at the bed underneath him. The fitted sheet had been yanked off the top corner of the bed again. "Yeah."
The Boeotian let out a long breath, and his next words were said with about as much enthusiasm as a condemned man headed to the gallows. "I was promoted to the new CEO of Bach Industries."
Of all the things Jacen thought Chrysander would be calling about, that was not a single one of them. "Wow… I don't even know what to say…" He shot a glance at London who arched an eyebrow as she looked at him expectedly. "CEO, huh? Wow."
He was at a complete loss for words. Even though they all knew Dionysus was dead, it hadn't fully registered. Having someone replace him in his company brought with it a starting dose of reality…and finality. Immortality was easy to take for granted. The loss of Orestes still hurt. And while he didn't think any of them would miss the wine god very much, if at all, it was difficult to think of him as being dead and gone.
"Exactly. I didn't want this, but I figured it would provide a valuable resource in dealing with things. Which reminds me—I don't have Nestor's number. I want to meet with him and Pan at some point in the next few weeks and discuss setting up a lab space."
Nestor's miracle pills he'd created to curb the lust after learning more about Bremusa
