Thanos (Masters Among Monsters Book 3)

  Vasilios let go of the mug, chuckled, and then moved to kiss Alasdair’s smiling mouth. “Good morning. Your tea is brewing. I didn’t know you’d finished with your shower or I would’ve brought it in.”

  “Yeah, thanks. I just finished up and got a little…distracted.”

  As Vasilios straightened and took a sip of his coffee, he said, “I can’t blame you for that. However, Leo is running late and his boss might get upset at him. He has a big night to finalize tonight. Save this for later, you two. When we’ll have something else to celebrate.”

  Leo took another sip of the perfectly brewed drink and then shoved the sheets away from his legs so he could climb out of bed. As he placed the mug on the bedside table, he spotted the book Vasilios had been using as part of the research for their grand exhibition this evening: Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths.

  He’d always loved the cover illustration of the dark, dangerous vampire biting down on the vulnerable neck of a blond male while another watched. In some perverse way, it reminded him of them. Picking it up, he pointed to the cover and winked at the two now staring at him. “I think tonight we should role-play this. I volunteer to be the one being bitten.”

  As he tossed it on the bed and headed toward the bathroom, he heard Alasdair ask, “What the hell are we gonna do with him?”

  Vasilios chuckled, and just before Leo kicked the door shut, he heard, “I don’t know, but whatever it is, it’s sure not going to be boring.”

  “WOULD YOU STOP fussing?”

  Elias had just finished putting the final cufflink in place when he glanced in the full-length mirror and spotted his wife stepping into view.

  Wow, his wife…

  It still felt so odd to think of Isadora that way, but when he turned around to see her in all her glory, the sight of her curvaceous figure reminded him of the reason the two of them had made the decision they had made.

  “I’m not fussing. Women fuss,” he said, knowing the kind of reaction he’d get, and when she scoffed and headed over to him, Elias took a moment to really drink in the sight of her.

  She was breathtaking with her hair a riot of raven curls over her bare shoulders, and her gown of scarlet and lace that had a swath of material over one shoulder and then molded to every sensual line of her body before falling from mid-thigh to the floor.

  “You look incredible.”

  When she stopped in front of him and placed her palms on the lapels of his jacket, she tipped her face up and said, “You don’t scrub up too bad either, Elias Fontana.”

  His lips curved at the twinkle in her eyes, and he brought a hand up to run it down one of the loose curls.

  “Did you speak to Dio yet?” he asked, and when she nodded, Elias leaned down to press his lips to the corner of her mouth. “Good.”

  “He said the plane was on time and to go ahead. That he’d just meet us there.”

  “Of course he did. Always issuing orders. I can’t remember the last time the three of us did something that wasn’t suggested by him.”

  “That’s probably true. But that’s why we love him.”

  “That’s why you love him.”

  Isadora cocked her head and asked, “And why do you?”

  Elias thought about the man under discussion and then raised an eyebrow. “Hell if I know. He becomes more impossible every day.”

  “Liar,” Isadora said, and gently smacked his chest. “You love him because…”

  Elias lowered a hand to her nine-month swollen belly, and as he rubbed his palm over it, her eyes softened and he said, “I love him because he gave us all this very precious gift.”

  The radiant smile that hit Isadora’s lips told Elias just how special Diomêdês Michou was for both of them.

  A couple of years ago they’d found out that Elias was sterile, and after the heartbreaking realization that he’d never be able to give Isadora a child, Elias had spiraled into a depression he wasn’t sure he’d ever climb out of. He’d distanced himself from the one he loved more than any other, and it had been a hard time between the two of them, one they were only able to overcome due to the love and support of the unlikeliest of sources—Diomêdês.

  Elias couldn’t say their relationship was an easy one, because God knew they’d had their ups and downs. But when his Isa had needed someone to lean on, it had made sense she go to her best friend, Dio.

  And now, Elias thought, as the baby kicked against his hand, thanks to the love Diomêdês shares for her and the help of modern medicine, the three of us are forever entwined.

  “He did,” Isadora whispered, and placed her hands over the top of his.

  “I still can’t believe we willfully bound ourselves to that guy by blood.”

  She laughed at that. “Oh no? Come on, he’s not that bad.”

  Elias thought of the serious CEO, who was known throughout the business world as the one with ice in his veins, and frowned. “He’s a workaholic.”

  “He’s dedicated.”

  “He’s got no sense of humor.”

  “He has a big heart.”

  Elias had to admit that he did, and, somehow or another, Diomêdês was in their lives for good now. “Well, he loves you. And that’s all I care about.”

  Isadora took a step back, and as their fingers entwined, she shook her head and said, “No it’s not.”

  As she switched the light off, Elias wondered what she meant, but when he heard her say, “He loves you too,” he was aware that something inside of him warmed at the notion, and didn’t that just make that silver-haired bastard all the more infuriating.

  Bossy, even when he’s not here. Making me feel things I never could’ve imagined.

  PARIS STOOD INSIDE the grand exhibition hall of the museum and took a final look at the setup for this evening. Everything had to be perfect. Not only was his new boss Vasilios going to be there, but their new benefactor was also to be in attendance tonight. He’d flown all the way over from Greece for the opening.

  Yeah, ’cause that isn’t nerve-racking at all.

  This night had to go off without a hitch. Leo, Elias, and himself had been working on this exhibit for nearly two years now. But honestly, it felt as though they’d been working toward it from the moment they all met back when he and Leo had been studying history under the careful guidance of their professor, Elias.

  But tonight—tonight could, and would, change the course of their lives. It would put their museum and names on the map, and have patrons visiting for the few months it ran. And if it was—no, no, when it was—successful, it could even travel the country, as they’d acquired all the right permits and had everything set in place if that were to happen. Please, God, make that happen.

  He’d taken an hour, a little while ago, to go home and get showered and changed for the night, and now, with only ten minutes or so to go before people started to arrive, he stood there beside Leo and asked, “Is Vasilios happy?”

  It probably wasn’t the most professional way to go about acquiring your boss’s approval, by asking his partner, but hey, Paris wasn’t above doing what he needed to feel confident tonight. And it wasn’t like Leo would hold it against him. He hadn’t exactly gone to great lengths to hide his relationship with the new director and his…original partner.

  Yeah, the stories Leo had told him of late were interesting, to say the least.

  “Oh, yeah. He’s extremely happy. Just nervous, you know,” Leo said, and then moved one of the informational signs a little to the left.

  Paris looked over to the grand staircase that led up to the second story, and spotted their boss with a cell phone glued to his ear. He was decked out much the same as they were, in black-tie attire. But unlike Paris and Leo, Vasilios made the suit look phenomenal. Not the other way around.

  Vasilios Panayiotou was ridiculously attractive, and so was the man now walking up the stairs to stop beside him. His and Leo’s other half, Alasdair. A bloodsucking lawyer by day, so his arrogant demeanor suited him we
ll, Paris had always thought. But Leo assured him that underneath all those scowls was a sweet guy. Yeah…right.

  “I’ve always loved this main replica we built to house all the others,” Leo said, as he cocked his head and they both studied the mock-up of the Greek bathhouse that took up the entire first floor.

  With the thick Doric columns and a sunken rectangular bath, the patrons could actually walk through it and really feel how it must’ve been back then. They could also walk down several of the steps and read about the tantalizing secrets and history of the deals and extracurricular activities that took place at the bathhouses, as images and information were written on the walls.

  “Me too,” Paris said, and laughed. “Probably has something to do with the fact that we both like the idea of lounging in a warm bath staring at naked men, wouldn’t you say?”

  Leo’s eyes rose to the stairs across the room, and when he said, “Definitely,” Paris had no trouble guessing whom his friend was imagining. Lord knew, those two men would certainly fit the part naked and wet in a tub—Greek gods surveying all they could see.

  “Where’s Elias?” Paris asked, as he took his eyes off Leo’s guys and glanced down at his watch. “He was supposed to be here to meet up with our special guest.”

  “I know,” Leo said as he glanced behind them, as though expecting Elias to walk through the doors any minute, but…nothing. “Maybe he got held up with Isadora?”

  “That’s exactly what happened.”

  Both he and Leo turned around to see Alasdair walking toward them, and yeah, okay. Up close he made even more of an impact in his tux, with his thick black hair slicked back and his bright green eyes that always reminded Paris of a panther or something that…prowled.

  “Vasilios had to step out for a minute, but he just got off the phone with Elias. Isadora went into labor on the way here and they won’t be making it.”

  “Oh, wow,” Leo said. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes, everything’s fine,” Alasdair said, and placed a reassuring hand on Leo’s arm.

  “Is there anything we can do?”

  “No, he just asked that Paris meet up with—”

  “Oh, right, of course,” Paris said, and brushed his hands down the front of his jacket. Okay, he could do this. He’d dressed the part—all he had to do was go outside and greet the guy when he arrived. “How do I look?”

  Both Alasdair and Leo turned on him. Leo’s grin was cheeky as he said, “I don’t know. Without the Doc Martens and with your hair tied back, you almost appear to be an adult.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Alasdair said, and Paris found those captivating eyes of his and a wicked looking smile. “You look very handsome tonight, Mr. Antoniou. Now you better get going, before the bigwig gets lost trying to find his way inside. Vasilios would have a fit.”

  Paris nodded and gave one last smile before he headed off across the marble floor, grabbed his black wool coat, and shrugged into it, before heading out the front doors.

  Snow swirled around him in flurries as he carefully navigated the stairs from the museum’s entrance down to the main road. He was about halfway down when he saw the limousine Vasilios must have sent pull up along the curb, and the driver step out and move to the back door. He knew next to nothing about the man he was hoping to wow in the next few minutes.

  Nothing, that is, except for his name—Thanos Agapiou.

  He was the only son to one of the world’s wealthiest tycoons, who’d recently passed in the last year. And as a final wish to his father, Thanos had wanted to go ahead and fund the exhibition on Greek Culture and Myths of the Gods and Monsters.

  As the passenger climbed out of the car and the driver shut the door behind him, Paris came to an abrupt stop on the last step. The man who had emerged from the vehicle was tall, and it was only because Paris stood on a step above that he was actually eye to eye with him.

  He had blond shoulder-length hair that surrounded a face that, God, took Paris’s breath away. It looked as though it had been sculpted from the granite he and Leo had been discussing minutes ago, and the impact of it made every thought in Paris’s mind vanish.

  Brilliant blue eyes stared up at him, and when it was clear he wasn’t going to be able to speak anytime soon, Paris opted for offering his hand instead.

  Holy shit, Thanos Agapiou was extraordinarily handsome.

  “Good evening,” Thanos said, and as the warmth of his palm seeped into Paris’s cold one, it felt as though a fire had just coursed through his veins and licked its way up to his heart. “Elias, isn’t it?”

  Paris licked his bottom lip and shook his head, knowing he needed to find his tongue and speak. “No, sorry. I’m Paris,” he said. “Elias got held up.”

  Thanos’s eyes narrowed as he took a step up so he was now standing on the same level as Paris, and it didn’t escape Paris’s notice that he hadn’t yet released his hand.

  “Lucky me,” Thanos said, as he continued to stare down into Paris’s eyes, and as the snow fell around his head, Thanos reminded him of an angel.

  “Umm…yes,” he said, nervous now, which was the last thing he needed to be. “Well, I hope so.”

  Realizing he was still holding this stranger’s hand, Paris let go and shoved it into his pocket, just in case he did something stupid, like reach for him again.

  He needn’t have worried, though, because Thanos was the one who couldn’t seem to stop himself. He touched beneath Paris’s chin and chuckled.

  “Glikie antra,” he said, slipping into his native tongue, which Paris was thankful he understood. And the endearment, sweet man, felt incredibly intimate and familiar. “I already feel lucky. I believe that some paths are just meant to cross. Don’t you?”

  Paris thought of the men waiting for him inside, and his friend, who was currently making his way to the hospital to welcome his baby into the world, and he smiled at the man now walking up the stairs beside him.

  He did believe in that. What he couldn’t believe was how comfortable he felt with this guy after only seconds in his presence. He couldn’t explain it, but Paris felt an unbelievable pull toward Thanos, as though he’d known him for years, or perhaps in another life, which was crazy.

  When they reached the entrance to the museum and Paris held open the door, he looked into eyes that he swore saw straight into his soul, and answered Thanos: Yes, I do, in Greek. “Ne, thechome.”

  As Thanos walked by, Paris took a deep inhale of his cologne and was reminded of exactly why he was there—yes, his love of all things Greek.

  Letting the door shut behind him, he saw Leo and Vasilios standing by Alasdair, and thought, This is it. In another hour the rest of the guests for the night would be arriving, but right now they had one shot. They had one moment to really win this guy over and get him on board with their project.

  So Paris extended his arm toward his director, curator, and the elaborate exhibit beyond, and said with more passion than he’d felt about anything before, “Welcome to our home away from home, Mr. Agapiou. Tonight, we here at the National History Museum hope that you feel at home, as we do our best to take you back to a time that may be long since gone from this world, but still resides deep in all our hearts.”

  Thanos inclined his head ever so slightly, and when the corner of his lip curled, Paris’s heart pounded. He knew right then that there was no way anyone but him was going to show this guy around.

  Hell, Paris thought, he’d happily lead him around the rest of their natural lives. “If you’d like to come with me, I’ll take you back to where it all began…”

  And as it goes with most tales, myths, and stories, the rest is ancient history.

  For nearly all of 2016 I said “Next, I must write Thanos.” And for a while there I thought I would actually write it and get it out in 2016. However, some books like to just sit there in your mind and brew. That’s what happened with Thanos.

  This book and series was a true labor of love. There were lots of intricate det
ails, lots of characters, and an entire world to wrap up in a satisfying way, and I knew I couldn’t be rushed. So, when I finally sat down to it, I locked myself away and it just came out.

  I fought with certain elements and storylines and how to get them all where I wanted them. But in the end (and with the help of many) I finally wrote the conclusion to Masters Among Monsters and am incredibly happy with how it turned out.

  Thank you for being patient, and I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I did writing it. Thank you for taking the journey with me!

  Xx Ella

  Candace Wood. So…it’s finally done. Can you believe it? How long did I think on this? Talk about it—oh, wait. Most of 2016. But Thanos is now done. Thank you for listening to me go around and around about the direction of this series. Thank you for helping me see my vision through from the beginning to the end. And thank you for always believing in me, even when I doubted myself. SOA definitely helped, and you still owe me a year’s worth of therapy sessions.

  Pavlina Michou. Ahhhh!!! Thank you for your patience, and for coming back nearly a year later and helping me add an authentic voice to y Greek guys and girls in Thanos. I know I made you wait for Paris and his man, but in the end, I hope he was worth it!

  Judy Zweifel. My eagle eyes. You are always there to find the missing words, the overlooked comma here or there, and you really help to make my books the polished versions of themselves. Thank you for always being available at the drop of a hat. And thank you for working with me.

  Arran McNicol. You sarcastic, no-nonsense, straight-shooting editor you. I always look forward to the dry wit of your comments that are littered throughout my manuscript. Thank you for always working with my dates, even if I am late or early. I appreciate you being so flexible and so unbelievably fast. I am undeniably spoiled by working with you.