Strawberries to Share: Ares’ Story (The Gods Made Me Do It #16)
Chapter One
“I suppose I should be grateful Olympus is so quiet. In theory, that would give me time to relax.” Ares, the ancient Greek God of War and Courage, and one of the twelve original Olympians, let out along breath as he looked out of his window overlooking the giant meeting hall, that always used to be filled with life and now stood empty.
He was confident no one was around to hear him – most notable figures from the Pantheon lived life on Earth, and those few who remained wanted nothing to do with Ares. They hadn’t done before, either, so it’s not like anything was different.
Unfortunately, even if Olympus was starting to resemble a ghost town in places, nothing would shake the low-grade anxiety Ares had lived with for most of his existence. Maybe it was the echoes of people’s hate in the marble columns, or maybe it was knowing Ares would never find approval from either of his parents. Maybe it was simply that Ares hated the pretentiousness of Olympus, forever conscious that he didn’t fit in. Or maybe… Cut it out.
Striding across his large office space, something he’d modeled on Zeus’s set up, although he’d never mention that to anyone, Ares ran his palm about an inch from the surface of a huge table that dominated one side of the room.
In response to his magic, the surface of the tabletop morphed from its dark wood grain into a swirl of silver and blue smoke. As the smoke cleared, Ares swiped his hand to the right, flicking through the various “tabs” he had for places of interest.
The various war zones, he flicked through with no interest. When gods were forbidden to interfere in the affairs of mortals, Ares had privately thought that the desire for warfare would die out completely. It’s not like he’d been worshipped much back in the day. His biggest claim to fame, according to ancient mortal writers had been his affair with Aphrodite. That didn’t stop various members of his family from blaming him for the strife the world had seen through the ages. As if any of that was my fault. Ares had never started an altercation in his life.
But no, war didn’t die out. The mortals who quickly spread across the land masses still found reasons to fight. Whether fueled by greed, desperation, or a desire for more power, the number of wars ebbed and flowed over time, but never completely disappeared for long. Ares shook his head at the waste and destruction he saw through his lens, a scowl marring his face. The poor fight for their right to exist while the rich stay safe in their castles.
Forcing the depressive thoughts from his brain, Ares quickly flicked through more tabs. He lingered for a moment on the scene of his mother, Hera. She was dressed in a sharp tailored suit, her hair immaculate, using a long stick to point to something on a whiteboard as she addressed a group of men and women similarly dressed.
Flicking his fingers apart, Ares zoomed in, squinting to read the words on the whiteboard. He could pick out the words “Home,” and “Family,” but then there was something about corporate life, blah, blah. Proving you haven’t changed your ways, Hera. Paulie believed living on Earth would teach you lessons about home and family bonds, but you just found a way to manipulate those around you.
Ares quickly flicked to the next scene, his memory of his visit to Hera on Earth causing his cheeks to heat. Her capacity for caring for her children hadn’t changed either, especially when it came to Ares. He’d gone to visit, to ensure she was all right after her temporary banishment. He believed she’d appreciate a visit from a friendly face.
He should’ve known better. The moment Hera saw him, she’d dragged him off to a tiny closet, insulted him and then demanded that he do something, anything, to convince Zeus and Paulie to rescind her temporary banishment. At least she acknowledged that Paulie was Zeus’s mate now, but that was only because she thought Paulie would be a soft touch and easier to manipulate in comparison to Zeus.
Moving right along. The next scene was Zeus – he was sitting in a large rocker on the porch of the Montana home Ares knew he shared with Paulie, apparently reading to his son, Egan. How domesticated, Ares sneered. In all his eons of existence, Zeus had never given a damn about any of his family members – which numbered in the hundreds. Apparently, it took a tiger shifter getting pregnant for Zeus to remember what the father part of his “Father of All” title meant.
With depression pressing heavily on his shoulders, Ares quickly flicked onto Demetra’s new life on Earth life. He blinked and instinctively reared back from the table at what he saw. Taking a second to recover, Ares quickly flicked to the next tab. There was no way he needed to see that woman’s naked ass, especially when she had company.
I didn’t know you had it in you, he thought as he checked the hive that was Persephone’s home for the foreseeable future. That tiny crown was a cute touch. He gave a thumbs up at the scene, aware that it was Paulie’s influence, not Zeus’s.
Sighing, Ares checked on more of his kin – Poseidon was busy with his wolf. Artemas, Hades, Lasse, and even Baby - all with mates. Even Thanatos had a mate… but not me. It was easy for Ares to feel bad for being overlooked.
His hand hovered above the table as the last image came into view. Hephaestus. Out of all of his kin, Hephaestus was the only one who actually had good reason to hate him. Ares had been sleeping with Aphrodite for most of her marriage to the God of the Forge. Although, after they’d been caught and shamed before everyone on Olympus, Aphrodite refused to have anything to do with him anymore.
“I’m glad you’re happy, old man,” he murmured, watching as Hephaestus greeted his smiling mate, his belly swollen with new life. “If anyone deserves it, it’s you.”
Feeling decidedly maudlin, Ares swiped the smoky scenes away, returning the tabletop to its wooden form. Making his way back to the window, he thought a large black coffee into existence, sipping it slowly as he looked at the deserted area below.
Not quite deserted. Ares moved back out of sight as Athena glided through the marble columns and stone benches before disappearing in the direction of Zeus’s computer offices. I wonder what that schemer’s up to now. With Demetra, Persephone, and Hera all temporarily banished from Olympus, Athena was one of the few women left. And with Zeus away…?
Ares wasn’t silly enough to wander down that mental path. Admittedly, Zeus spent barely any time on Olympus anymore. If the rumors were true, apparently, Paulie didn’t like the place, and frankly Ares couldn’t blame him. Olympus was the sight of some of his biggest embarrassments.
But Olympus was still Zeus’s realm, and Zeus had a very loyal staff. Nothing went on at Olympus without him knowing about it. It was one of the reasons Ares was anxious all the time. Every time he scratched his ass, Ares wondered how long it would take for Zeus to think he had the shits.
I need a break from this place – I need to be somewhere else. Going back to his table, Ares thought of his homes, swirling the wood away so he could see what was happening at the four houses he owned on Earth. Each one was picked for different attributes, and Ares had lived in them all for varying periods of time, depending on what he needed at the time.
His house in Hawaii was for when he was in the mood for sunshine and socializing, surfing and swimming. Ares never stayed there for long because there was a limit to how long he could walk around with a smile on his face. But it was fun in short doses, and it always served to remind him of why he typically avoided people.
His house in France was perfect for that. Ares lived in a large old chateau, and rarely went to the village. The cautious nature of the people who lived there made him laugh when he was alone. They didn’t mess with him, but they weren’t interested in his day, either, which was perfect as far as Ares was concerned.
Ares was just thinking France would be a good idea when he got a notification on his phone. Picking it up with a frown, because no one messaged Ares just to say hi, he saw it was an automatic alert from the security company who managed the cameras in his house in Westwood on the outskirts of Boston. When Ares chose his US home, he was determined to be as far away from Zeus’s little clan in Montana as possible, and the home he found was isolated enough for his needs.
Usually. Typically. But according to the notification Ares had just received, someone had been caught lurking in his back garden by one of his cameras at the rear of his house. Ignoring the camera picture attached to the notification, Ares used his table, zooming in on the area behind his house.
There was a lot of it. One of the things that attracted Ares to his address was the twenty-plus acres the house was set in. He did have neighbors across the road, but his house couldn’t be seen from the road as it was set back down a long driveway. The entire area around the driveway was covered in trees, and Ares even removed the silly mailbox on the roadside so no one would know a house was there.
Another positive point for the property was that there was no foot traffic. His street didn’t even have a sidewalk, and the road itself was narrow and typically only used by locals and delivery people. Ares scanned the area around the back of the house, frowning as he saw a sudden flash of light disappear into the trees.
What the fuck? It was the middle of the night in Boston. It was also the middle of winter. In January and February, the temperatures could get quite chilly. Fuck it, I’ll go and see for myself. Ares set his tabletop back to wood and disappeared. The person, whoever it was, had clearly left, but Ares wanted to get out of Olympus anyway, so using the excuse that he needed to do a spot of investigation at one of his properties was as good as any.
It'll give me something to do. For any god who felt he’d lived too long already, that was a gift in itself.