Frozen Holidays 1& 2 Eudorus and Zelus (12 page)

She was working on some of that, but she was
having to do that secretly while she outwardly worked only on
Raker’s projects. She had never considered herself a bad person,
only a very unlucky one. Now she was about to turn her whole life
inside out for the love of a child and whether she admitted it or
not, because it was the right thing to do. She took care of Joy and
carried her to her room with her. She put her in the bed on the
side that was by the wall. She’d always heard you shouldn’t let you
children sleep with you, but once in a while she just need her baby
right there by her. She thought Joy needed it too. Joy was asleep
before Em was even ready for bed. Dressed in a comfortable cotton
gown, Em settled in beside her daughter. She was a sleep in
moments.

She smelled coffee, something must be wrong.
Martha never fixed coffee in the morning. She rarely got up before
noon. Joy had already gotten up. She must have slipped down to the
bottom of the bed to avoid waking Em. Children were very
resourceful. She knew she needed to get up and check on Joy. The
house was childproofed but children needed constant
supervision.

She got up, showered, dried, and dressed.
Martha had indeed gotten up and made coffee. No breakfast, but just
coffee was an improvement over the nothing that she usually fixed.
Joy was on the floor playing with her toys quietly. She knew Martha
didn’t like noise so she didn’t make any. Em hated that Joy
couldn’t even play like and average kid or with friends. It was one
more thing that was about to change.

Martha watched her warily making her wonder
if something was going on she didn’t know about. She poured herself
a cup of coffee and got a bowl for some cereal. She poured some
milk over her cereal and sat down looking back at Martha. The woman
had a vicious look on her face that would alarm anyone that hadn’t
dealt with her as much as Em had. Something was up and she hoped
the raid on this place would happen in time to stop whatever Martha
seemed to be looking forward to.

Em finished eating and kissed Joy before she
went downstairs to the lab. She went to see Rheus first. A
scientist had named him the male form of Rhea, a form he made up.
Rhea was the sister/wife of Cronos and considered the mother of the
gods and goddesses but not really a goddess in her own right. Em
knew that they had hoped Rheus would father many gods but he
hadn’t. She knew he wasn’t Joy’s father and if he had fathered any
of the other babies that were expected to be born from the god
cocktail, a collection of small amounts of seed from many gods,
they’d used to impregnate the unsuspecting women, Raker would be
treating him better.

Rheus looked fine and he was in the caged
area. That meant no one was testing or experimenting on him. She
looked past him and saw Themus was in with him as well. She held
out her hand to Rheus and he grasped it in his. He held it gently
and there was a half smile on his face. Themus stayed back, the
breeding attempts had made him bitter toward all human females and
even though he knew she was against those attempts, had even tried
to stop them, he couldn’t help how he felt. Her attempts had
limited the breeding experiments, but Raker picked sadistic bitches
who inflicted pain when they didn’t get their way.

Themus had been named after Themis, a
Titaness. Titans were the precursors of the gods. Themis was said
to be the personification of natural order, law both human and
divine, and to be of good counsel. Em suspected he would make a
good negotiator for the gods. He would be good at dealing with
politicians and industry leaders. It was a thankless job and she
doubted anyone else would want it. It would be easier for him if he
were skilled at it.

She wanted to tell them so badly, but a
couple of days and they’d be out of here. One of the guards was
coming in the room. She dropped Rheus’s hand quickly and turned to
face him.

“Dr. Emma, looks like you’re going to lose
one of your boys?”

“What do you mean, Hank?” Hank was one of the
nicer guards. It might just be because he had a crush on her but he
treated the gods and everyone around him better than the lunkheads
he worked with did.

“I was told Themus is leaving tomorrow.
Raker’s coming in person to escort him to his new home. Rheus won’t
be here much longer either. He’s shutting this place down. No
mention about you or the girl. Martha’s going with Themus and the
brood mares are going with Rheus. He’s pulling them over to that
clinic by the ocean.”

She understood what Martha had been so happy
about. That was the look, triumph. On her, all emotions looked
scary. Thankfully, Hank had told her what was happening. Who the
hell was Martha that Raker had such loyalty to her? Martha wasn’t
his lover, he had hit on Em and some of the more attractive ladies
but no one like Martha. She was just too old and smelly for him.
Raker was picky and fastidious. He never messed with what he termed
as breeders and with all the rejection he’d received from
personnel, she thought he’d turned exclusively to paid companions.
Maybe the nasty old bitch was family.

Em knew she would have to call and let Zelus
know about this new complication. It would be harder to do with
Martha feeling like Em was about to be taken out. Martha would
watch her like a hawk and even the bathroom might not be a safe
place to talk. Half the facility was bugged and most of it was
covered by cameras. Maybe Em would just go out for lunch and take
Joy with her. She would take her to a playroom where grown men
hanging around without kids would draw suspicion. She’d done it
before but only under the most desperate circumstances. This was
one of those desperate times.

With that decision made, she got to work
trying to find out who the women were that Raker called breeders
and where they worked for him at. It wasn’t here and it wasn’t at
the ocean side facility. Well except for that one poor girl whose
husband had died. Raker had bragged about taking advantage of a
widow with a small child as if he’d defeated an army single handed.
The man was a bastard without a heart.

Em worked through her computer doing a little
hacking in the main system. She needed to get some information on
the breeders so she could find them. The only thing she did manage
to find was a list of businesses Raker owned. She sent the list to
one of her anonymous emails. Maybe the women worked at one of those
businesses. It was a place to start and now that it was almost
lunchtime, she would check with Rheus and Themus before leaving for
the day.

She hurried up to her apartment. She had
spent too long with Rheus and Themus. The guards hadn’t arranged
for them to be fed because they said they were leaving anyway. She
explained to the idiots that a time hadn’t been set and Raker might
even end up leaving them here. She waited until they brought them
food before she left them.

Martha was lounging in Em’s favorite chair
when she entered the door. She knew that chair was off limits but
when Em shot her a chastising look, she just sent a rebellious look
back. Change was in the air, but whether it was as Martha expected
or what Em hoped for, remained to be seen. Em went to her room,
opened her safe to grab her purse, and went out to pick up Joy.

“Where are you going?” Martha asked with
barely veiled suspicion.

“Out to lunch,” Em said because it was easier
to reply than to argue.

She was out the door in a second and had a
tail before she was in her car. She put Joy in the back in her
child car seat and they headed out with two instead of the usual
one car trailing them. Martha must have some authority to send
double the shadows after her. Em planned to lead them on a merry
chase before going to the playroom where they couldn’t follow.

She decided to go to eat lunch at a café she
liked down the road. The parking was very limited and she grabbed
the last spot that was nearby. She enjoyed her food knowing they
had dropped a guy and the drivers were circling around hoping a
space would come available. She took her time eating and Joy ate
quickly but she had a coloring book to play with. After killing an
hour at the café, they got back in her car and went to a huge toy
store. She found all the toys she had planned to buy for Joy for
Christmas and played while they were waiting for the store
employees to wrap them in return for a donation to a local toy
drive.

Once they left there, she went straight to a
popular play room. Most parents dropped their kids off so they
could go shopping or do whatever they needed to do. Em stayed and
set up at a table with her computer and phone. The loud background
noises of children playing would make it impossible for anyone to
overhear her conversation. She watched Joy for a moment. She loved
playing with other children. She swore to herself again that she
would get something like a normal life for her. At Olympus they
could live like a family. There would be other children, at least
in due time. They would have privacy and she would have more time
to spend with Joy.

She’d put it off as long as she could. It was
time to call Zelus. “Hello,” he said. She recognized his voice and
wasn’t surprised he didn’t identify himself. He wasn’t sure it was
her calling. What if someone else had found her phone?

“Zelus, there’s a problem. Raker plans to
move Themus soon. Martha, the woman he hired as my housekeeper, I
think she’s a manager. She’s acting creepy and I think she doubled
my usual guards.”

“Don’t worry about Raker. He won’t be
interfering with you. Just keep an eye on things and tell me if
anything else changes. We’re almost ready, just stay strong.”

His reassurances shouldn’t make a difference,
yet they did. She felt calmer than she had all day. Her mind
conjured up his image, when he was next to her in the tub. He’d
looked delightfully sexy. When he’s held her on his lap and kissed
her, she’d wanted him to take her all the way.

“Em!”

Oops, she must of stopped listening to him.
“Yes?”

“I asked you if you were alright.”

“Yes, I’m fine as long as Raker doesn’t drag
Themus off somewhere never to be seen again.”

“He won’t. Can you interfere if someone else
takes it upon themselves to try to remove him?”

“Depends on who it is but I think I can stop
them.”

“Okay, just sit tight and do your best.
Remember that it won’t be long and you’ll all be out of there.”

“Oh, yeah. I just remembered, Raker owns a
bunch of businesses. I think the breeders might be working at one
of them.”

“You call them breeders?” Zelus’s voice was
cold.

“Raker calls them breeders. All I know about
them is what he’s told me. I’d call them by name if I knew it.”

“I’m sorry, I’m just a little sensitive about
people being used by Origin and treated like they’re less than
people.”

“It’s okay, I understand. I am just trying to
help. Those women are in danger because of the rapid growth and
high energy requirements of the babies. They have to be found.”

“If you have the list send it to my email.
It’s
[email protected] god
. Did you
get that?”

“Yes and I already sent it. I hope it
helps.”

“It will because we need to dismantle all
Origin resources and eventually one of those will lead to the
mothers. Just remember, I’m here for you.”

She’d never heard sweeter words than that and
they stuck with her as she and Joy went back to their apartment to
face Martha.

Chapter 4

Moving Day

Today was the day that two gods would be
freed and Zelus would claim his mate. The plan had changed and he
knew Em wouldn’t be happy. The orders had come directly from Zeus
so that was just it. Zelus didn’t like it either, it might endanger
his mate. The new plan required that the facility be taken down but
the he, Em, and new guards, gods of course, stay in the hopes of
luring in other Origin managers and employees. It was hoped that
they would be able to find other gods and the mothers who carried
god babies.

Zeus felt it was worth a try and since they
had captured Raker’s personal assistant and she was cooperating, he
felt the risk was negligible. Zelus wasn’t as certain that was the
case. He knew Em wouldn’t want to go along with it but she really
had no choice. He knew Zeus would cover all the risks he could and
they would have to deal with what couldn’t be covered. He had
decided not to share this information with her until the raid. No
use in upsetting her or throwing her off her game. She needed to
concentrate on the raid, not on what would follow.

He was excited, in an odd way. He would be
with his mate and meet his new daughter. Em claimed her so he would
too. He knew it was a package deal and he loved kids anyway. At
only two years old, she would accept him in whatever role he
decided to have. He would have it all, a mate and a child. Joy was
a goddess making her a member of the Olympus family already. Their
family was expanding quickly with gods being recovered, mates being
found, and children coming in both through mates and through
Origin’s machinations.

It was a good thing that they had been given
some of Origin’s old facilities and that they would be using them
for gods and for demons. He’d heard Lu had decided on one of the
facilities. It was big enough to hold all the demons including any
they might find in Origin’s hands. It was also big enough to hold
mates and children, up to a point. Even though it was for demon’s
use, gods would be welcome as well. Neither Zeus or Lu wanted a
divide between them. After all, demons were gods so they were all
family.

It was almost time to go. They had done their
work with the supplier that delivered goods to Em’s facility.
Olympus security, or Cherish personally, had spoken with the owner
of the business and explained who ran the facility. He had
immediately agreed to cooperate fully. He was aware the US had
strict regulations in place about Origin, the gods, and anyone
suspected of assisting Origin in their attempt to keep gods
enslaved. He probably feared his business would be seized for doing
business with Raker who was an Origin manager, if he didn’t help
them out.