Cyra's Cyclopes (5 page)

Eager to get started, she put her
hand on Agres jaw, and waited until he stopped glaring at Dionysus
and looked at her with a soft gaze. “Let’s go home.”

Without another word, Agres held her
securely in his arms and hers were wrapped around his neck, and
with Brontes, and Steropes, they turned away from the respected
Olympian god. The crowd was silent as they started to make their
way off the temple grounds when a screech suddenly tore through the
air. She tried to look over Agres shoulder to see what was
happening, but he put his hand over her face, pressed it to his
chest, and took off at a run.

“What was that? What happened? All I
heard was a shriek and that’s normal for the festivities.” He
grunted in response and kept running all out. Even though he
exerted a great deal of energy, Agres held her so closely and had
her well cocooned, which meant she didn’t move at all. She couldn’t
hear anything from the other two and was worried about
them.

Had a maenad physically attacked
them? They could be ruthless killers and their typical frenzied
attitude would be at a peak with Dionysus present and
angered.

Agres wasn’t concerned for his
brothers’ safety. Cyclopes were tough and knew how to handle
themselves in a fight. They’d been through much worse than the mad
mob behind them could ever manage to muster, although he was sure
Cyra would be happier to know they weren’t harmed. He was sure
they’d catch up with them soon and in the meantime, he would savor
holding their woman in his arms.

Earlier in the day, Agres knew he’d
been close to losing control of his brightening abilities, and
hadn’t been able to pull back by himself. Thankfully his brothers
and boss had helped him back from disaster, only it hadn’t been
enough.

Their creating the special collar
for Cyra had helped, although he’d still been far from maintaining
his glow. Even once they saw her standing amongst the celebrants,
he had felt better, but not entirely stable. They’d kept their
distance so as not to draw attention to their presence, but were
close enough to watch their lover, and make sure no harm came to
her. It had been difficult to do, but a smart move because, as
they’d expected, the festival had turned ugly.

All he could think about was how
good it felt to hold her again. For a moment, he focused on feeling
her breath blowing gently against his chest and the softness of her
arms wrapped around his neck, which made him shiver with
need.

There was no doubt he needed to
connect with her on a deeper level, but first he wanted to hear her
say she loved him and his brothers again. Despite the chaos raging
behind them, he realized everything inside him had finally settled,
and that had happened the moment he had her in his arms. He was
finally in control of his unique personification.

Once he had passed through town and
the forge, he started looking for the entrance in the massive stone
wall that led to the hidden path which ended at their home.
Finally, being in close proximity to their base meant he breathed
more freely, although he wasn’t ready to put her down. It may take
him some time to get to the point where he wouldn’t panic when she
left his sight, but he had time.

Whatever it took, they’d make it
work between them. Unlike any other time in his life, he was
looking forward to the future.

When he saw the brass handle set in
a triangle stone standing out from the wall, Agres slowed down, and
eventually stopped in front of it. Taking his hand off Cyra’s face,
he reached out to turn the ring. As soon as the metal absorbed his
essence, the rocks separated, and an opening wide enough for them
walk through was made. After they passed through, the stones closed
again.

“Agres, what about Brontes and
Steropes? Shouldn’t we go back and do something to help them?” When
she put her hand on his face, the gentle touch sizzled through his
body and he was lost all over again.

Stopping on the mossy hilltop at the
place where the path separated to either continue along the cliff
top or slope down toward the rocky bottom. His eye locked with hers
and, no matter what else was happening, he felt content. He could
see her clearly in the moonlight and saw the concern marking her
face. All he ever wanted her to be was happy and loved, and that
wasn’t going to happen if she was worried.

“Please don’t ask me to take you
back there, I couldn’t do that. They wanted your blood and while
not all Cyclopes are immortal, we are. Maybe you don’t know all the
details about us, but I assure you, we can’t be killed. Only our
own personifications can do us any harm. However, to put you at
ease, I’ll go back after I see you safely home. Is that
good?”

“Yes, yes, that’s fine.” Once he
heard her acceptance of his compromise, he started walking down the
hill. It wasn’t steep and he could see well enough, but he walked
slowly, because he didn’t want to take any chances with his
delicate bundle. What he hadn’t realized was that he’d exposed a
serious problem with his brief explanation. “I didn’t know you guys
were immortal. Does that mean I’ll grow old and die while you guys
stay young, healthy, and handsome?”

“Shhh, don’t worry, Cyra. I don’t
have any answers, but I’m sure everything will work out. We’ll talk
to Hephaestus, he’s our best connection to Mount Olympus and Zeus,
and hear what he says.”

“Oh, wait a second, what about
children? I haven’t even thought about little ones until now, but
could we have any?” As he entered their home, the lights were all
on full. Looking at her revealed a slight pink tinge that painted
her cheeks. While the delightful color held his attention, he
stopped breathing when she’d mentioned having babies. He would love
to build a family with their woman, as would his brothers, but
there was a very grave concern that he wasn’t entirely sure she was
prepared to take on.

“Even if it’s a Cyclopes?” Agres
whispered the question mainly because he wasn’t sure he wanted to
hear the answer, but did want to know where she stood on the issue.
They’d never been careful about their sexual relations and they’d
have to be if having a child that took after them would be a
problem.

Out of the corner of his eye, he
realized both his brothers had made it back to the house before
them, and had heard the question. They must have taken the short
cut along the top of the hill. It was the quickest way to their
house, but not the safest route, and that was why he’d ignored it.
He wouldn’t take any chances where their woman was
concerned.

What caught his attention was how
they didn’t make their presence known and figured it was because,
like him, they were as curious as he to hear her
response.

“Of course I would! Agres, how could
you think otherwise?”

“We know about our reputation,
Cyra.”

“A reputation is not reality. Look
at Dionysus. People say he’s fun-loving, always ready to party,
even helpful, but he was none of that earlier.”

“True.”

“Now put me down and go get your
brothers, we need to talk. All of us.”

“They’re already here.”

“What? Really?” He laughed as she
twisted in his arms and tried to look around the room.

As he set her down so she could see
they were all right, he reminded himself that their woman was a
ball of fire. He couldn’t wait for the talking bit to be done.
Talking wasn’t his thing. He was better at showing her with his
body how he felt about her, but he’d do what she wanted, because he
wanted her to be happy.

Agres smiled and watched her run her
hands over his brothers and check out various scratches for
severity. He should be surprised that his outlook had changed from
the dark void he’d sunk into that morning to one full of joy and
contentment as the moon rose to its zenith.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he
looked over at the basket resting on the table. With hard fought
for patience, he waited for the conversation bit to begin. While it
wasn’t his thing, he still understood that the sooner the
talk-thing started, the sooner it ended, and then they could get
down to giving her their collar.

Despite neither he nor his brothers
ever having worked on something so delicate, he was proud of what
they’d created. It was full of everything in their hearts, their
dreams for the future, and looked good. They’d asked Hephaestus
opinion on the final product, mainly because they were embedded in
the piece, and didn’t believe they could look at it without
everything coloring their judgment.

“I’m going to clean these wounds and
you guys are going to tell me what happened back at the temple.
Steropes, you have scratches, what looks like a bite on your leg,
and your fingertips are flashing.” Agres watched her go into the
kitchen area where she filled a bowl with water and crushed some
leaves she had drying on a shelf, dampened a cloth and picked up a
dry one, then returned to his brothers sides. “And you, Brontes,
something is up with your voice and someone tried to shred the skin
off your back. Don’t try and protect me, tell me what happened back
there.”

Gently, she dabbed the wet cloth
over the bleeding flesh, and looked to be trying to stop the flow.
Cyra appeared like she wasn’t paying attention to much beyond the
various wounds. She shifted the strip of chiton that Brontes wore
casually thrown over his shoulder so his entire back was exposed
and made some soothing sounds as she worked. Agres could see his
brother was enjoying her attention and the touch of her hands on
his bare flesh, but wasn’t surprised when she reminded the man with
a pinch to his side that she didn’t want to wait any longer for
answers.

“Sorry. What started it all were a
few women who came after you and when they realized you weren’t
catchable, they went after the lady who came up to you, and seemed
to be a friend.”

“Filla? Is she all right?” She
paused and looked over at Steropes with obvious concern. Their mate
possessed a soft heart for those she cared about and Agres liked
that about her.

“Once we freed her from their nasty
attack, we held back the growing crowd, until a satyr left with her
in his arms. They didn’t do much damage to your friend, mainly
scratches, hair pulling, and a few punches. Although I think they
were prepared to hurt her and would probably have taken it even
further if Dionysus hadn’t put a stop to their intention to follow
the duo.”

“Did he really? Usually he feeds on
the frenzy and pushes them even further. Wait, you didn’t hear
that. Please forget I said anything.” She twisted around showing
them all a face full of fright. Agres couldn’t stand to see her
afraid and tried to soothe their woman’s concerns. Walking over to
wrap his arms around her, he said a few things that he hoped would
help ease her mind.

“Don’t worry about anything. Your
friend is safe and we know about the mysterious rituals surrounding
the worship of the god of wine. Everything is going to be just
fine.” Closing his eye, he rubbed his chin on the top of her head,
enjoying the silky softness of her hair and the sweet flower scent
that belonged to her. When he felt her lean against him and relax,
he looked at his brothers.

“Get the basket.”

Steropes didn’t waste any time. He
walked over to the table and brought the small basket with a lid
back with him. They knew they weren’t the best looking men,
especially after the night they’d had, but they loved her, and
wanted to share what they were feeling with her.

“Cyra, look at us.” Once they had
her full attention, Agres nudged Brontes to take over. He was the
better speaker out of them.

“When you took off the collar we
made for you our first night together, we were sure it was because
you were preparing to leave us. You stayed though, so we started to
once again hope you cared for us as much as we do you,” she opened
her mouth to say something, and his brother held up a hand to stop
her. “Let me get it all out, please.”

Once she nodded, he set out to
finish what had been sitting heavily on their hearts and minds for
too long.

“It all changed again when, earlier
today, you told us you were going to Dionysus’ annual festival. We
were sure that was the end of us being in your life and were
heartbroken. While trying to complete the order of celebratory fire
bolts for Zeus, our emotions reached too high, and that’s why my
voice is a bit deeper and Steropes fingers flicker. Agres was the
hardest hit, glowing like a lit beacon, although we managed to all
pull back from the abyss by focusing on a project. Something for
you to show what you mean to us. It was Hephaestus who pointed out
that we never told you and that you might want to hear how much we
love you.”

Her surprised gasp made them each
smile. They’d have to thank their boss for his good advice, he’d
been right. Their woman did want to hear the words.

“We do love you, Cyra.” He motioned
to Steropes to hand her the basket. When she opened it, lifted the
golden collar out and looked at their offering with tears in her
eyes, Agres had to touch her. Be connected with her in some way.
Apparently his brothers felt the same way because all three of them
reached out and held onto her.