The two men stood staring at one another, shocked that this was real. Uranus was not kidding he expected them to fight to the death. Neither wanted to fight the other or any of their friends or allies. As they stood doing nothing, the demon muttered, "If I were you I would start beating the crap out of one another fast."
Zeus smirked, "If we don't. If we refuse to fight, what can he do?"
Shaking his head the demon sputtered, "You do not want to find out. Please fight."
Nathan raised his eyebrow at the plea in the demon's voice, but still, the two men did nothing. They refused to fight each other. Zeus and his son stood in the same stance. Legs braced apart and arms folded across their chest. Both dared someone to make them move from the spot they stood in. At that moment, Dalia saw the likeness of her brother to Zeus. She wondered how no one noticed the likeness before now. She noticed Katia staring at Nathan with her brows drawn together. Dalia knew that Katia was terrified this whole plan was going to go wrong before the puppet master arrived. Yes, all of the women in the group knew the plan and what was going to happen. They knew their men were going to be angry when they found out how much they had been involved and for how long. They had kept the men in the dark because they would not have had the patience to let everything unfold the way it needed for this to work.
Uranus stood up from his seat, in between Katia and Selene, and bellowed, "Why are they not fighting?"
The demon muttered, "Now you've done it." and then yelled back to Uranus, "They refuse to fight."
"They what?" Uranus questioned with surprise.
The demon yelled louder, "I said they refuse to fight, my great and kind lord of the gods." Zeus snickered at the butt-kissing the demon was trying to do.
Uranus snapped, "Shut up Barker, I am not going to kill you. No, I have something better in mind." Raising his arms to each side, he wrapped his hands in the hair of the girl at each of his sides. He looked at the men standing staring back at him and smiled, "You refuse to fight? I will give you an incentive." He blew a puff of air on Katia and then Selene, the women wrapped their arms around their middles while trying to grab their heads. The screams coming from them were not of this world. Selene was yelling, "It burns, stop it, please." At the same time, Katia was screaming, twisting/ turning, and holding onto her head, "Oh my goddess, the pain, no more, please." Both were bowing their backs in pain now and crying. Lucifer was held in place by something he could not see, so he wrapped each girl in a protective barrier to absorb some of the pain and burns. It did not help for long and both girls were back to screaming while welts and blisters appeared all over their bodies. When their eyes rolled back into their heads, the crowd let out a gasp of air and cheered.
Nathan had thrown a punch and hit Zeus in the side of the head. Uranus released the girls and they both fell to the ground. They were shaking, crying, and covered in burns and welts. Lucifer dropped down and tried to pull them closer to him. The chains did not allow much movement. He ran his hands over the parts he could reach of Katia and Selene trying to help their pain. Uranus yanked on their chains making them take their places in the chairs next to him. Before he sat again he hissed, "Every time any of you disobey me, I will torture your moon goddesses."
Zeus hit his son back, landing a punch to the face. They went back and forth throwing punches at each other, learning strengths and weaknesses. Nathan and his father knew that they needed to make this look good for the girl's sake. Nathan roared, jumping through the air, using his legs and feet to shove into Zeus' chest. Zeus tumbled backward from the force and fell to the ground. He had landed on his backside and as he pushed up with his hands, Nathan landed on top of him pummeling him with his fist. He took all of the pent-up anger, at himself for what he did to Katia, the love he lost with those actions, the anger at finding out Zeus was his father and not the man he loved as a father, and for the fear he felt from knowing he was powerless in this situation. Nathan just wanted his mate and the life they were supposed to have. Not this fiasco they were forced to take part in. Nathan hated them all at this moment, they were gods and titans or whatever else and they could not protect or take care of two small women. They forced their fight onto innocent beings from a different realm. Instead of manning up, these gods allowed two innocent godlings to be tortured, and who knows what else was done to both of them over the centuries.
With that last thought, Nathan glanced toward Katia, she was crying as she watched him beat his father to a bloody pulp. Zeus was not even trying to fight back against his son. Nathan was shocked at the amount of blood oozing into the ground. Why had he not protected himself or healed himself? Katia entered his mind, "He cannot. He is too weak from Uranus draining us." She gave him a nod that only he would pick up on, it was a nod toward the demon. She was trying to tell him something but he did not know what. So he picked his father up and threw him against one of the trees. He landed next to the demon Uranus called Barker and before he could scramble away, Nathan stood in front of him staring into his eyes. Something in the demon's eyes was familiar. Nathan could not figure out what it was. Feeling Zeus reach and grab him around the legs, Nathan kicked his hands away and kneeled on his chest.
Zeus lay still trying to catch his breath and hoping his son's anger would run its course. He understood the emotions running through the young wolf. He knew the fear he had felt watching his mate in pain and not being able to do anything about it. Damn, his son was strong and his punches were powerful. Zeus could feel his eyes swelling shut and knew he would be black and blue for days. Nathan grabbed his head and was about to beat Zeus' head into the ground when the demon whispered, "Calm yourself Alpha, killing Zeus will do no good. Give a good show but do not make it a real show."
Zeus stared in shock and Nathan's eyes snapped back to Barker's eyes. They both realized that was no demon, it was Gammy disguised as a demon. Nathan nodded slightly and bent over like Zeus had punched him in the gut. Leaning next to Zeus' ear he said, "What are we supposed to do? He is not going to believe this for much longer."
"Hell if I know, it would be nice to have some idea how this plan was going to play out," Zeus mumbled, making it sound like a groan of pain. Nathan let him roll to his side and then pulled him up to his knees. Zeus drew back his hands against his chest and threw them forward pushing Nathan backwards. As his son stumbled back, Zeus stood shakily on his feet. Nathan let out a growl and rushed toward his father slamming his fist into the center of his chest. It was Zeus's turn to stumble backward. Nathan turned reaching out with his left arm to grab his father around the neck.
Suddenly, Uranus yelled, "Shift." Nathan shifted to his wolf, Kalen. As he did so he tried to pull some of the strength in his arm back but he was too late. He watched as a clawed paw swiped down the front of Zeus' chest. Zeus had twisted his body at the last minute allowing his torso to take the damage instead of his throat. He landed on the ground at the feet of his son. His chest was heaving as he gasped for air.
Snow Moon, Moon Touched, the titans, the gods, and the rest all gasped, "No." Katia and Selene stood quietly crying. Barker came close and whispered, "Not as it seems. Not as it seems."
Lifting his head to Uranus, Barker yelled, "My lord god, this one is all but dead. He has not long."
"He is not dead, though. Is he?" Uranus screeched. He looked at Nathan and said, "Alpha you will kill the god known as Zeus or you will watch as your mate and her sister are tortured to death."
Kalen, Nathan's wolf, snarled at Uranus as he walked toward to body of Zeus. Standing on the injured man's chest with his front paws he leaned his head toward his throat and opened his jaws. Latching on to the throat of Zeus he prepared to rip it out.
"Enough!" was heard as a tall blonde wolf and a beautiful woman with plants for hair appeared.