Chapter 6
"You worthless piece of..." Julian let out a string of curses that would make a sailor blush.
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."
A muscle in Eros's jaw twitched 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 an equally 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..." 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?
Then again, she supposed it was as likely as two drunk women conjuring a Greek love-slave out of an ancient book.
She caught Selena's delighted, eager look.
"Who's Priapus?" Grace asked Selena.
"A phallic fertility god who was always portrayed as walking around with a hard-on," she whispered.
"Why does Julian need him?"
Selena shrugged. "Maybe he's the one who cursed him? But here's the fun fact. Priapus is Eros's brother, so if Julian is related to one, there's a darn good chance he's related to the other."
Cursed into an eternity of slavery by his own brother? The very thought made Grace ill.
"Summon him," Julian said darkly to Eros.
"You summon him. He's p.o'd at me."
"P.o.'d?"
Cupid responded in Greek.
Her mind overwhelmed by it all, Grace decided to interrupt them and get a few answers.
"Excuse me, but what is going on here?" she asked Julian. "Why did you hit him?"
Julian gave her a droll look. "Because it gave me a great deal of pleasure."
"Nice," Cupid said slowly to Julian, never once looking Grace's way. "You haven't seen me in what, two thousand years? So, instead of a friendly, brotherly hug, I get slugged."
Cupid smirked at Psyche. "And Mom wonders why I'm not closer to my siblings."
"I'm in no mood for your sarcasm, Cupid," Julian said between clenched teeth.