Chapter 1 #2
Her empathic sense wasn’t always active; she’d learned to keep it dialed down unless she wanted to be overwhelmed by the emotional static of every being within range. But Eros and Psyche…well, they practically glowed.
It was impossible not to feel it.
They weren’t just affectionate or compatible. They were mated, bonded in a way that tied their souls together. Psyche had captured the heart of the god of love and desire himself, and somehow the world hadn’t tilted off its axis from the shock of it.
Zara watched them briefly as they walked ahead, Eros’s thumb brushing Psyche’s hand, Psyche leaning subtly into his side, the easy rhythm between them. Their emotions intertwined like golden threads: devotion, joy, desire, comfort.
Steady and real.
She exhaled softly, a wistful flutter stirring in her chest.
It must be nice. To have that. To be wanted that deeply. Seen that clearly.
She wondered when—if—she’d ever find someone who made her feel like that. Someone who looked at her like she was their whole world. Someone whose emotions didn’t overwhelm her, but steadied her.
Zara shook her head lightly.
She was only twenty-one. She still had time, plenty of it. A whole life ahead. Wings possibly on the horizon, a new job starting today, siblings to wrangle, and an entire realm to adjust to.
Love would come when it came.
For now, she followed the god of love and his soulmate deeper into the building, letting the echo of their bond warm her like sunlight without burning.
As they made their way toward the elevators, Zara’s thoughts drifted, back to the beginning, to how she’d ended up working with Lord Eros in the first place.
It all started far from Alindale, far from polished floors and divine bosses.
She and her siblings had been in Valle Trigenico, her father’s hometown tucked deep in the mountains of Bolivia.
A place where the clouds brushed the cliffs and magic ran in quiet, old lines through the earth.
They’d grown up spending summers there, surrounded by family, by tradition, by the kind of silence you could feel in your bones.
And that was where Perseus and Medusa found them.
Not the myth versions that Upperworld humans whispered about. But real ones, modern ones. A wolf shifter and a gorgon, both surprisingly kind despite their names echoing through ancient stories like thunder.
The triplets had sensed them coming long before they appeared. Their empathic bond flared with certainty: these two were good people. Honest. Searching, not hunting. Worth trusting.
So when Perseus explained their mission, finding the lost descendants and those in the bloodline of Cyncus and Eros, the triplets didn’t hesitate.
Disclosing their own lineage had almost been easy. Their powers had awakened early, and with them came a certainty about who they were and where they came from. And more importantly, what they could do.
One of their rare abilities was the power to combine their senses—to triangulate, as they put it.
When they worked together, they could scan an entire region and detect the presence of any being with geryon blood.
It was like tuning three instruments until they produced one perfect note that resonated with others like them.
Perseus and Medusa had practically melted in relief when they realized how useful the triplets would be.
It really had been a no-brainer to join the team.
And that was how Zara Chura went from a mountain village to working under Lord Eros himself—the god whose lineage she shared, whose power was returning to her bloodline, and whose history the entire monster world seemed to gossip about on the internet.
Not exactly the career path she’d imagined growing up.
But then again, nothing about her life had ever been ordinary.
They stepped out of the elevator into the familiar expanse of the office—sleek, modern, and buzzing with quiet energy.
High ceilings, glass walls, soft rune-lighting instead of harsh fluorescents.
The whole place looked like someone had blended a tech startup with an ancient temple and then given it a minimalist makeover.
Zara led the way down the corridor. She’d only been in Alindale for a week, but she already knew this office like the back of her hand, mostly because Perseus insisted on “proper orientation” and Medusa insisted on “safety protocols,” which for a gorgon meant a lot of rules about not touching her things.
They stopped in front of the only closed door on the floor.
Of course.
Perseus and Medusa shared an office, partly because the space had been designed that way, and partly because the two were incapable of being apart for more than an hour.
They’d fallen in love almost immediately after meeting the triplets, which had sparked a chain reaction of drama and misunderstandings, but love won in the end.
Perseus chose Alindale as their permanent base, and he’d been the one to set up the team’s headquarters while Medusa handled negotiations, staffing, and making sure no one put tacky art on the walls.
Zara paused at the door and knocked.
A muffled voice called from inside—Perseus’s, clipped and familiar:
“Come in!”
Zara cracked the door open, and leaned her head inside. “Perseus, Medusa, good morning, I—”
Her sentence died instantly.
“Um, sorry for interrupting.”
Perseus and Medusa jerked apart a little too quickly, guilt and flustered affection blooming through the air in a burst Zara felt as clearly as if someone had turned on a heater. She politely kept her face neutral, though they all knew she’d sensed it the moment the door opened.
“Not at all,” Medusa cleared her throat, trying for dignity. “We were just…finishing up moving in.”
Sure. Moving in. Zara bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling.
“Thanks for coming in on time,” Medusa added briskly.
“Of course.” Zara stepped fully into the office. “I’m excited to get started and see our headquarters. But”—she glanced back over her shoulder—“the reason I knocked is because we have visitors.”
She held the door open wider.
Psyche stepped in first, her brown hair shimmering as the light caught it, followed by Lord Eros, radiating casual divinity.
“Psyche, Lord Eros,” Medusa greeted warmly. “What a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe this honor?”
“Oh, we thought we’d pop by for a visit,” Eros said, slipping into that cheerful tone he always had around his mate. “And I realized Psyche has never been to Vale Crossing, so I figured I’d show her around.”
“I don’t usually care for unfamiliar places,” Psyche looked around with bright curiosity. “But I have to admit, this place has piqued my scientific curiosity. And Eros said there might even be fossils around here.”
Medusa blinked. “I don’t know anything about fossils. Though you probably could find someone at the university who specializes in them.”
“There’s a university too?” Psyche’s hazel eyes widened with the kind of excitement that made Zara like her instantly.
“Of course,” Medusa replied. “Alindale’s a modern city. We have libraries, parks, shops, cafés.”
“It kind of reminds me of London or Paris,” Perseus added. He smiled at his sister, “Anyway, I’m glad to see you, Psyche. Since Eros is your mate, I’m sure he won’t mind ferrying you back and forth.”
Eros smirked, arrogant and unbothered. “Still upset I won’t ferry you across dimensions just so you can get a little ‘Netflix and chill’?”
“Hey—” Perseus started, bristling.
“Quit it, you two,” Medusa snapped before turning back to Psyche. “How are Leo and Jean?”
“They’re great,” Psyche said, with obvious fondness for her parents. “And they said hi.”
She paused, then added, “They’re also asking if you need anything else to help with…you know. Finding Zeus’s offspring.”
Zara’s stomach did a small, startled flip.
Right. That part. The expansion.
The project had grown so quickly that it still felt surreal, what started as tracking geryon descendants had now officially widened to include locating Zeus’s offspring. Which, technically, made them Perseus’s siblings.
Great, Zara thought dryly. Because this family tree wasn’t complicated enough already.
She folded her arms loosely, trying not to picture how chaotic the next few months were about to become.
“They’ve done more than enough,” Medusa replied. “And we really want to get started, but there’s still a lot to do.”
“We need to recruit more people, for starters,” Zara added. “We’ll get started right—”
The rest of her sentence was torn away as the office door exploded inward, reduced to splinters in an instant. A shockwave of unfamiliar power ripped through the room, pressing against Zara’s senses with a force that made her gasp.
“I heard you were in town, bastard!” a thunderous voice roared. “How dare you show your face here after last time?”
Zara scrambled backward, bracing herself against the wall as Perseus rose, planting himself between the intruder and Medusa.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Perseus snapped. “And—what the fuck are you?”
Zara gawked at the being with his towering height, the diamond-like scales covering his body, and the faint glow that pulsed beneath them.
And those shoulders, incredibly broad. He looked like some kind of dragon, horns rising from his head above a human body, his size massive enough to make the air around him feel crowded.
“You’re a Drakkon,” Medusa said.
Perseus threw her a bewildered look. “A what?”
But before she could explain, the stranger stretched his arms wide, his chest swelling. The glow beneath his scales intensified, a bright, molten orange.
“Oh no,” Zara breathed.
He opened his mouth, and fire burst forth in a blazing stream, racing across the room until it slammed into a desk, engulfing it in flames.
Perseus stared at the burning ruin. “What the hell? That’s my desk!”
The Drakkon didn’t even glance at him. “Bastard, you’re going to pay for what you did!”
Zara looked around, trying to figure out what was happening.