"You worthless piece of…" Julian let out a string
of curses.
Grace’s eyes widened. She didn’t know what startled her most, Julian
assaulting the unknown biker or the language he used.
As he pummeled the biker, the man fought back, but his fighting skills were
nowhere near Julian’s.
Forgetting Selena, Grace ran toward them, her heart hammering as she tried to
think of what she should do. There was no way she could get between the two men.
Not at the rate they were trying to kill each other.
"Julian, stop it before you hurt him!" the biker woman cried.
Grace froze at the words.
How did she know Julian’s name?
The woman danced around as if trying to help the biker thwart Julian. "Honey,
watch out he’s going to . . . ouch, that had to hurt!" The woman cringed in
sympathetic pain after Julian hit the biker in the nose. "Julian, stop hitting
him like that! You’re going to make his nose swell. Ew, baby, duck!"
The biker didn’t duck, and Julian caught him one hard blow to the chin that
made him stagger backward.
Totally befuddled, Grace looked back and forth between the woman and Julian.
How could they possibly know each other?
"Eros, baby. No!" the woman shouted again, waving her hands around her face
like a bird about to take flight.
Selena moved to stand beside Grace.
"Is that the Eros Julian was trying to summon?" Grace asked.
Selena shrugged. "Maybe, but I never thought of Cupid as a biker."
"Where’s Priapus?" Julian demanded as he grabbed Eros and forced him back
against the wooden railing above the water.
"I don’t know," Eros said as he struggled to loosen Julian’s two hands from
his black t-shirt.
"Don’t you dare lie to me," Julian growled.
"I don’t know!"
Julian tightened his grip as two thousand years of pain and rage swept
through him. His hands shook while he held Eros in his fists. But worse than his
desire to kill was the unrelenting questions that screamed through him.
Why had no one ever answered his summons before?
Why had Eros betrayed him?
And how could they have done this to him, then walk away and leave him to
suffer?
"Where is he?" Julian asked again.
"Eating, belching, hell, I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in forever and a
day."
Julian pulled Eros away from the railing. All the wrath of hell was branded
into his face as he released him.
"I have to find him," Julian said between clenched teeth. "Now."
Eros’s jaw ticked as he brushed his hands down the front of his t-shirt to
straighten it. "Well, shaking the shit out of me isn’t going to get his
attention."
"Then maybe killing you will." Julian reached for him again.
Suddenly, the other bikers started for Julian.
As the men closed in, Eros ducked Julian’s blow and whirled to stop his
friends.
"Leave him alone, guys," Eros said, grabbing the one closest to him by the
arms and pushing him backward. "You don’t want to fight him. Trust me. He could
rip your heart out and feed it to you before you hit the ground dead."
Julian scanned the bikers with a glare that dared any of them to approach
him. The cold, lethal look terrified Grace and she held no doubt he could do
just what Eros said.
"What are you, crazy?" the tallest one asked as he raked a disbelieving stare
over Julian. "He don’t look like much to me."
Eros wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and gave a half grin as he
saw the blood on his thumb. "Yeah well, take my word for it. The man has fists
like a sledgehammer and the ability to move a hell of a lot faster than you can
dodge."
In spite of his dusty black leather pants and torn t-shirt, Eros was
incredibly handsome, and lacked the worn-out look of his companions. His
youthful face would have been very pretty if not for the dark brown goatee
surrounded by a three-day growth of whiskers, and the military cut of his hair.
"Besides, it’s just a little family squabble," Eros said with a strange glint
in his eyes. He patted the biker on the arm and laughed. "My kid brother always
did have a nasty temper on him."
Grace exchanged a stunned, disbelieving gape with Selena.
"Did I hear that?" she asked Selena. "Surely he can’t be a brother of
Julian’s. Can he?"
"How would I know?"
Julian said something to Eros in Ancient Greek. Selena’s eyes bulged and the
smile faded instantly from Eros’s face.
"If you weren’t my brother, I’d kill you for that."
Julian’s gaze shot daggers. "If I didn’t need you, you’d already be dead."
Instead of becoming angry, Eros laughed.
"Don’t you dare laugh," the woman said angrily to Eros. "You better remember
he’s one of the few people capable of carrying out that threat."
Eros nodded, then turned to the other four bikers. "Go on," he said to his
friends. "I’ll catch up later."
"You sure?" the tall one asked, sliding a nervous look to Julian. "We can
hang if you need us to."
"Nah, it’s all right," Eros said with a dismissive wave. "Remember, I told
you I had to meet someone here? My brother’s just pissed at me, but he’ll get
over it."
Grace stepped back as the bikers walked past her. All of them except for the
stunning woman. She folded her arms across her leather-clad, amply endowed chest
and eyed the two men warily.
Oblivious to her, Selena and the woman, Eros walked a slow circle around
Julian, looking him up and down.
"Keeping company with mortals?" Julian asked as he raked a mutually cold
sneer over Eros. "My, Cupid, has Tartarus frozen over while I was away?"
Eros disregarded his angry words. "Damn, boy," he said in disbelief, "you
haven’t changed a bit. I thought you were mortal."
"I was supposed to be, you . . ." there Julian went off again into a cursing
frenzy.
Eros’s eyes flashed. "With a mouth like that, you ought to hang out with
Ares. Sheesh, little brother, I didn’t think you knew the meaning of all that."
Julian grabbed his brother by the shirt. But before he could do anything more
to Eros, the woman threw her arm out and held up her hand.
Julian froze as still as a statue. By the look on his face, Grace could tell
he wasn’t pleased.
"Let go of me, Psyche," Julian growled.
Grace’s jaw dropped.
Psyche? Could it be?
"Only if you promise not to hit him anymore," Psyche said. "I know the two of
you haven’t been on the best of terms, but respect the fact that I rather like
his face as it is and I won’t stand for you damaging it any further."
"Let . . . Me . . . Go," Julian said again, stressing each word.
"You better do it, Psych," Eros said. "He’s being nice to you right now, but
he can break your hold even more easily than I can, thanks to Mom. And if he
does, you will get hurt."
Psyche lowered her hand.
Julian released his brother. "I don’t find you amusing, Cupid. I don’t find
anything about this funny. Now, where is Priapus?"
"Hell, I don’t know. Last I heard, he was living it up in southern France."
Grace’s head buzzed from her newfound knowledge. She looked back and forth
between Cupid and Psyche. Could it be? Could they really, truly be Cupid and
Psyche?
And could they really be related to Julian? Was such a thing possible?
