Goddess of Love (Goddess Summoning #5)(4)

With the unbreakable strength of an immortal's belief,

find a mortal man who can grant me relief!

The pillar of flame exploded with a roar that would have instantly deafened a mortal man. Unscathed, the Fire God watched as a sliver of golden flame, invisible to all except for the God of Fire himself, formed within the pillar and then split free of it to hover in the air in front of Vulcan.

"Go! Do my bidding!" the god commanded. Quick as one of his father's infamous thunderbolts, it dashed from the heart of Mount Olympus. Vulcan knew its path. The questing flame would follow Venus all the way through Demeter's portal and into the Kingdom of Tulsa. There it would seek and search for something it could never find in the ancient world of man - a modern mortal who could take his place as God of Fire.

Vulcan smiled in satisfaction and settled down to wait.

Hera felt the tug of her power being used. She glanced surreptitiously at Zeus. He was busy with Demeter. The two of them were arguing good naturedly over the quality of the ambrosia harvest.

"Dearest, I need to check on some last minute details for the feast this evening. Will you excuse me?"

Zeus nodded and waved absently at her. Demeter caught her eye and Hera winked quickly at her. The Goddess of the Harvest nodded slightly and launched into the ambrosia argument with new zeal. Hera hurried from the Great Hall, sure Zeus was well occupied - at least for a few moments. She ducked into a shadowy alcove and closed her eyes, concentrating on the gift of power she'd given her son.

There! Under her closed lids she could see the thread of invisible fire Vulcan had bespelled. She watched as it snaked through Olympus toward Demeter's temple and then vanished into the portal that led to the modern city of Tulsa. Surprised, Hera concentrated harder, and her consciousness expanded, hooked into the thread of questing fire by the power of the queen of Olympus. Through the spark of connection she saw Venus and Persephone enter the modern world, and she could feel the weight of Vulcan's incantation as it followed the Goddess of Love. Why was Vulcan following Venus and Persephone? Had he finally tired of that sham of a marriage of his? Hera smiled. She sincerely hoped so. Her son deserved more than the shell of a marriage. With a mother's determination she reached out to the thread of fire that carried the gift of her power and spoke to it.

Hear my command; do my divine will.

It is my son's empty heart I wish to fill.

So seek what cannot be found amongst the gods.

One who will complete him against all odds.

He has long been alone, the God of Fire.

Find that special touch to awaken his desire.

Hera flung out her hands and new power, filled with her words, flew invisibly through Olympus, joining the thread of fire and augmenting its already white-hot strength. Hera smiled in satisfaction and retraced her steps back to the throne room.

Chapter One

Pea felt a wash of relief, which was quickly followed by embarrassment when she heard the fire siren getting closer. Crap crap crap! What a way to start Saturday morning.

"They're almost here, Chlo-chlo-ba-bo!" she yelled up at the tree. The pitiful whine that replied from the middle of the winter-bare branches squeezed at her heart, but Pea shook her head sternly at the dog, refusing to give in to Chloe's manipulation.

"Okay, look! How many times do I have to tell you? You. Are. Not. A. Cat."

A black nose appeared from a top branch of the tree. Behind it Pea could see the glint of bright, intelligent eyes staring down at her.

"Hrumph!" Chloe barked the strange, deep growl sound she made when she was highly annoyed.

"Whatever! You can love cats. You cannot be one."

Chloe had just hrumphed indignantly at her again when the fire engine glided to a smooth stop at the curb. Pea sighed and gave Chloe one more glare. Then she started to walk toward the men who were climbing out of the traditional shiny red fire truck. Instantly Chloe erupted in a pathetic chorus of whines and yaps. Forgetting all about embarrassment and doggie manipulations, Pea rushed back to the tree.

"Chlo-chlo! It's okay, baby girl. I'm right here."

"Bring the ladder over here, Steve." A deep male voice called from close behind her. "This is the tree."

"Hurry!" Pea yelled without taking her eyes from the frightened dog. "She's really scared, and if she falls she's definitely going to break something."

"Ma'am, cats rarely hurt themselves when they jump from trees. The whole land-on-their-feet myth actually has quite a bit of truth to it," the voice over her shoulder said. Chloe whined again.

"Hey, that's not a cat."

Pea turned to the fireman, an annoyed frown on her face. "I clearly told the dispatcher that my dog - " she began, putting her fists on her waist and letting the worry she felt for Chloe shift over to irritation, but one look at the man had her anger fizzling and her tongue stammering. She felt her cheeks flame with heat. Quadruple crap! It was him. Griffin DeAngelo. The most gorgeous man she had ever seen. Ever. Even on TV. He was also the guy she'd been crushing on for the entire past year - ever since she'd walked Chloe by his house (which was just down the street from hers) and seen him mowing his yard. Without a shirt on. And here he was. Standing in her front yard like he'd walked right out of one of her very graphic dreams. Naturally he wasn't looking at her standing there in her baggy sweatpants and sweatshirted glory, and he hadn't noticed her sudden pathetic inability to speak. He was peering up at Chloe with a quizzical smile tilting his delicious-looking lips.