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Eighteen - Zeus

When her breathing slowed and evened out. Zeus knew Tati had fallen asleep beside him in the passenger seat. It was almost two in the morning when he pulled off the main road. He slowed onto the hard packed dirt that led to a small shit box of a two-room cabin. Zeus used it in the past to hide when he didn't want to be found by the world. The only living person who knew about it was Castian.

It took several months of wasting away in the backwoods before Castian had enough. He came out to the cabin and drug Zeus out. Castian told him it was time to kick this shit in the teeth. He needed a goddamn shower and to brush his teeth because it smelled like he ate the ass out of a dumpster. It was time to get back to work.

Zeus was livid with Castian for coming out there. But it was the bucket of ice water to the face he needed. Zeus couldn't bring Mia back from the dead by wasting his life holed up in that cabin. The team still needed him, and Zeus, miserable as he was, needed them, too.

It took another month for Zeus to dry out in Castian's spare bedroom before he walked back into K9 headquarters. Still, Castian had been right. It was what Zeus needed. He believed the remote locale would be of help to him now. When he needed to keep Tati as far away from civilization as possible.

He wasn't hiding anymore; he was trying to save someone. Zeus couldn't lose Tati too.

The car bounced over the rutted back road for another hour before the car pulled up in front of the cabin. It was more of a two-room shack than a cabin. One day, when all this was over, he would build a house. A haven for him and Tati. A place where they could escape whenever the world was too big, and they needed time alone together.

Tati shifted in her sleep beside him. Her eyes fluttering open as she brought her hands up to scrub her fists against her eyes to dislodge sleep.

"Are we stopping here?" she asked?

Zeus could tell she was sizing up the place.

It was a two-room shack, but it would serve their purpose fine for now.

"It's only temporary." He assured her. "Stay here," Zeus said, getting out of the car. He left it running as he walked up to the door and pulled a set of keys from his pocket. Zeus picked out the one he needed; he turned the key inside the padlock over the door.

It looked like nothing but a piece of plywood was aged and warped. He'd need to fix that while they were here. Even though they weren't on the mountain, there was a bitter chill in the air. It was nearing the dark season on Wolfeen when the nights were longer and colder.

When he pulled the door open, he was met by nothing but darkness inside. He soon found the switch and flipped it. A faint yellow light spilled out behind him onto the rickety steps. He'd cleaned the place up—or rather, Castian had—before leaving. Eventually, Zeus came out and inspected it when he was on his feet again. He brought a stash of dry groceries for the next time he was out there. Mostly, they were ready to eat meals.

He couldn't believe this was what he was living off of before Castian came and kicked his ass into gear again.

At least none of the wild animals of the area had found their way inside, given the state of the door. Before going out to the car to collect Tati, he checked the hygiene cubicle. It was the one expense he'd spared when he built the cabin. There was a good shower and a working toilet.

He might have been a Wolfeen, but he wasn't an animal.

It wasn't good enough for his mate, but it would need to work for now until he could give her something better.

Zeus turned the light off in the bathroom, making his way across the tiny living area and the part of the counter acted as the kitchen. The bed was farthest from the door.

He could see Tati sitting up in her seat, looking into the cabin through the open door. Zeus would definitely get on fixing that door in the morning. For tonight there was a space heater inside as he crossed the dry patch of earth to the car and reached inside. Taking the keys from the ignition, he smiled across at Tati.

"It's not as bad as it looks on the inside. I promise, Angel."

"We both know I've lived in worse."

Tati shrugged, taking the seat belt off, twisting toward the backseat to grab the duffel of serum.

"I'll get it. You go inside. There's a bathroom, so you can take a shower and use the facilities if you need to. I'll get the bag and fix something for us to eat."

Zeus shut the driver's side door before he opened the back and got the duffel bag. They didn't have any extra clothes, but there were a few garments still left in the wardrobe in the cabin. It wasn't much, and they smelled like dust and pine trees. They were going to be roughing it for a minute.

As he turned back to the cabin, he watched Tati edging her way up the steps. The sway of her hips and the roundness of her ass made his pants tighten uncomfortably. Zeus forced his gaze to look anywhere else.

The twin moons over Wolfeen were visible through the trees as he looked up at them. In their legends, the moons were their gods. Zeus uttered a silent prayer as Tati disappeared inside the cabin.

"I need her...please don't take this one too."