Everyone stood frozen once Uranus gave that command. Katia gave a small shrug and countered, "Why don't we make it more interesting? Have them fight until the death until all are dead except one."
Uranus clapped gleefully, "Maybe you do have some of my genes granddaughter."
Katia smiled and said, "I ask a boon though grandfather."
Sighing he answered, "You always do. What is it?" He looked at Selene and Lucifer knowing it was involving them.
Katia's eyes sparkled when she changed up her request to ask, "Actually, I ask that Selene and Lucifer be exempt from the fights. Once the winner is declared they must enter a fight to the death with you."
Uranus spun around and sputtered, "What did you say?"
The sparkle in her eye was brighter when she answered, "Are you afraid, grandfather, that you will not be able to win?"
"Why withhold Selene and Lucifer from the fighting? They are a danger to me and my rule like the rest." Uranus argued.
"Because their loyalty lies with me and mine lies with you." She stated firmly. Katia thought she would choke on those words when she said them but somehow she didn't.
The occupants in the homey prisons were going nuts. Arguing with each other and arguing about the women not having a chance against the men. Uranus held up his hand and bellowed, "QUIET! I have heard how well your women fight and have been taught to defend themselves. It was the one thing I applauded your kind for. It is also why I made sure Katia ended up with Alpha who did not believe the women of their packs should be trained as warriors."
Cronos interrupted, "Not all the women are werewolves and raised in packs."
"Nonsense, my son. I know the power of the women in your group and they will have no problems fighting with any of the men. However, because I am in a giving mood we will have the men fight the men and the women fight the women." Uranus smiled, pleased with his generosity.
"Then what? The last standing from the two groups fight each other?" Kane asked.
"Yes, that would be the new plan, my boy." the grandfather stated.
Kane muttered, "I am not your boy. You are crazy old man."
Nathan was listening to the exchange going on around him but he was more interested in his mate and her reactions. Not what she was saying. If one watched her closely, Katia had little telltale signs of the fear she was trying to hide. He watched as she brushed her hair out of her face and how her hand shook while doing it. The nervous glances she kept sliding to the corner and back at Selene. How she kept her hands behind her back and kept wringing them or twisting the ends of her hair. Lucifer would step forward and grab her hand to hold when he thought she was losing herself to the fear. His touch brought her back and calmed her. Nathan did not like that another man was doing what he should be for his mate. Although he was thankful someone was there for her and her sister. Looking at Selene she seemed to handle things better. He understood now why the two acted so differently. Why Katia was so immature at times.
Lucifer was worrying about Katia as much as Nathan was. He could see what this deception was doing to her. She was terrified something would go wrong and an innocent life would be lost. What amazed him was she did not fear her death. She was more scared of the tortures her grandfather could do to her before killing her. At the same time, he could feel Selene's self-loathing for not being strong enough to endure the things Katia had so many times. He tugged the two sisters toward him and once again was holding them close to his chest. Leaning in between the two heads, he whispered next to the ears, "Shhh, calm your thoughts and fears. Hold it together this will end soon and the outcome will be what we are striving for or it will not. Do not let him feel your fears and self-hatred. Uranus will feed from those negative emotions and drain the two of you."
Noticing what looked to be an intimate moment between his granddaughters and the fallen angel, Uranus took a jab at Katia's mate, "How easily you mistreated your mate and sent her fleeing to her death and now what looks to be another's arms, Alpha Nathan." He was awarded immediately with a reaction from the Alpha when the man growled and claws began to lengthen from his fingers. His grandson Kane, snapped at the young Alpha, "Don't let him goad you into losing your temper, Nathan, it is what he wants."
Nathan looked to his father, "Well, great Zeus, when are you going to do something to stop him?"
Before Zeus could speak up Uranus jumped in answering for him, "Well, well, well. I think we have the first opponents to fight. Father and son, god against demigod, disappointment against hate. What a joy this will be. What say you, Katia? You may be rid of that mate bond quicker than you thought."
Looking at Zeus Katia spoke quietly to him, "I am sorry, but grandfather is right, we do not belong mixing with those weaker than us. Look at what it has done to Selene and me. It has made us docile."
Zeus corrected her, "No, my dear one, it has made you compassionate and given you empathy for other life forms. Things the Titans and gods lacked for a very long time. Yes, we love but our need for power overrides everything else. We do not stop to think what our actions do to others whether it is our own or our creations."
Nathan spoke up this time, "Katia you are not docile. You are anything but. You do not outright fight but you find ways to show us other ways to negotiate peaceful outcomes. The problem was me. I let the mate bond rule my emotions and could not understand why it was not the same for you."
She glanced his way and for a moment Nathan thought he saw a glimmer of her love for him, but it was gone before he could be sure. "Do not blame the mate bond. The mate bond did not stop Alpha Lorn from rejecting me. The mate bond should have kept you from hurting me but it did not. I do not think it was the mate bond that caused your behavior that day. Maybe I do not know exactly what it was, I just know that I do not want to experience any more of that behavior from anyone."
"Little mate, you have been so injured and mistreated. I only wanted to love you and keep you safe. I did not understand how hurt you were and how much you had been affected by what you had gone through for centuries. When your safety was threatened I did not think and let my emotions overcome me. I cannot take any of it back and I regret every moment of it." Nathan confessed.
Turning out of Lucifer's arms and facing Uranus Katia urged, "I think it is time to begin the fights and get this over with."
Uranus did not like the way she was pushing for the fights to begin now. He wondered what these girls were up to, so he hedged, "We will have the first fight between Zeus and his son Alpha Nathan, tomorrow morning. Let them rest and prepare their strategies tonight."
Once making that decision Uranus left as he had come with a shimmer. Rhea appeared with a snort, "Huh! Old fool is worried and did not like that you were pushing him." Tappin' her finger against her mouth, she decided, "I will send Stryga to watch over him and ensure he finds nothing out about our plan." Stryga was Rhea's trusted pet. A gargoyle that could make herself invisible while she kept an eye on the happening around her.
Lucifer imparted that Crael was with Alpha Lorn and the Starlight pack. He had angels with each of the packs to even the odds of their survival if they were not able to stop Uranus. Lucifer did not want his new world to come to an end so fast. He enjoyed the inhabitants and their antics. They were easy to influence and play with. Which would drive Zeus crazy. Lucifer wished the ladies would let him in on the full plan and not just the parts he was involved in.
Nathan addressed Katia once more, "If tonight is to be my last, would you sit on the other side of the door and let me say the things I might never get to say to you?"
Lucifer knew that Katia would break at hearing those words from Nathan. She wasn't strong enough to deal with what was between them and what needed to be done to stop Uranus at the same time. He saw the look of fear that crossed her face and instinct told him she could not face Nathan right now.
"Really, Nathan, you have so little faith in your fighting abilities that you already believe you will die tomorrow? How did you plan to protect your goddess if your fighting abilities are insufficient?" Lucifer wanted to know. He finished with, "Maybe you should be planning your strategy as Uranus suggested." Lucifer glared at Nathan trying to convey to drop the subject and let things alone for now between him and his mate.
Rhea had enough and snapped, "This is not time for couples therapy and arguing! You all need to prepare for who and what is coming."