Deity (Covenant #3)(112)

Laughing, he caught me before we both tumbled off the bed. “I guess you do like it.”

I pushed him down and kissed him. “I love it. I love you.”

Aiden reached up, tucking my hair back as his molten stare pierced me to my core. “I know what you’re thinking.”

“Great minds think alike.”

“Later,” he growled.

I started to protest, but he rolled me to my feet. “Boo.”

He gave me a cheeky grin. “You have to come downstairs.”

“I do?”

“Yes. So don’t argue with me.”

“Fine. Only because you’re wonderful and this necklace is beautiful.” I paused, nudging him with my hip. “And because you’re sexy.”

Aiden ushered me out of the room after that. Before I reached the stairs, I tucked the necklace under my shirt. People may know or suspect something, but I wasn’t about to broadcast it, even though I wanted to shove the necklace in everyone’s face and make them coo over it.

I followed Aiden into the kitchen. My steps slowed as I saw everyone gathered around the table. “What’s going…?”

Deacon and Luke stepped to the side. “Happy Birthday!” they cried in unison.

My gaze fell to the table. There sat a birthday cake, decorated with eighteen burning candles and… Spider-man? Yep, it was Spider-man. Red and blue tights and all.

“It was either that or My Little Pony,” Luke said, grinning. “We figured you’d appreciate Spider-man more.”

“Plus he’s all wicked cool with the whole climbing buildings stuff,” Deacon added. “Maybe one day, when you decide to Awaken, you’ll be just as cool.”

“I lit the candles,” Solos said, shrugging. “All by myself.”

“I gave them the money.” Marcus folded his arms. “Therefore I was the key part of all of this.”

“And we got grape soda.” Luke gestured at the bottles of soda. “It’s your favorite.”

“This… this is… wow.” My eyes found Lea, sitting behind Solos. Her hair was pulled back from her face, eyes still swollen. She caught my eyes and smiled just a little. “This is great. You guys are awesome. Really.”

Deacon grinned. “You’ve got to blow out the candles and make a wish.”

What to wish for? I smiled. That was easy. As I crept to the table, I blew out the candles and wished that all of us made it out of this alive, including Seth.

“I want the spider web!” Deacon yelled as I stepped back, producing a supersized knife.

“Yikes.” I stepped back into Aiden.

“It’s her birthday,” Luke took the knife from him. “She gets to pick what piece she wants first.”

I laughed. “It’s okay. He can have the spider web. I’ll take the head.”

We set about carving the cake and passing around grape soda. I was overwhelmed by everyone. I hadn’t expected much of anything on my birthday except weird looks, but this was amazing. It was easy to forget about everything and what today symbolized. Here, surrounded by friends, things were sort of… normal.


Normal for a bunch of halfs and pures celebrating a birthday.

Okay. It wasn’t normal at all, but it was just my kind of abnormal.

Huddled around the table, we laughed as we shared cake and grape soda. Lea perked up a little, nibbling on the frosting. The boys continued to give me crap about not Awakening yet, which Aiden tried to put a stop to. It was cute watching him try not to be overly defensive or protective of me. Not like I needed him to, though I think it was just second nature to him. He was the same with Deacon… when Deacon wasn’t wielding a six-inch knife.

Toward the end of the birthday celebration, there was a distinctive pop! from the rec room. We all twisted around. I prayed the rune worked on the house, because there was definitely a god here.

Apollo strolled into the kitchen. The first thing I noticed was that his eyes were blue and not that creepy white. “How is my birthday girl?”

For some reason, I blushed to the roots of my hair. “Doing good, grandpa.”

He smirked as he slid into the seat beside me, easily prying the knife from Deacon’s fingers. “I do not look nearly old enough to be what I am to you.”

That was true. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties, which made it all the freakier. “So when were you going to tell me that you spawned me?”

“I did not spawn you. I spawned a demigod centuries ago who eventually spawned your mother.”

“Can you guys stop saying ‘spawn’?” asked Luke.

Apollo shrugged as he carved off an edge of the cake. He handed the knife back to an oddly subdued Deacon. “I did not find it necessary to tell you. It is not like I am going to be bouncing little Alex babies on my knee.”

The soda caught in my throat, and I almost spit it back up. Someone chuckled, and it sounded like Luke. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“My sister should have kept that to herself.” He took a bite of the cake, made a face, and then pushed his plate away. “Our familial tie is not what is important here.”

I frowned.

“You know what, guys?” Solos clapped his hands on Deacon and Luke’s shoulders. “I bet I can take you both at air hockey and make you call me mama.”