Heroes aren't meant to act like their villains -- or fall in love with them. The elements touch everyone on Earth -- Fire, Water, even Light -- but every so often someone becomes more attuned to their elemental leaning and develops true power. When an evil Elemental known as Thanatos arrived in Olympus City, it saw the rise of its first hero -- Zeus. But the death toll caused by defeating Thanatos changed Zeus, who by day is young detective Danny Grant. It's been six months since Thanatos terrorized the city at the start of Lovesick Gods. Danny should be used to his duty behind the mask, but the recent past haunts him. His girlfriend left him, he snaps at the barest provocation, his life feels empty -- he needs an outlet, any outlet to pull him out of his depression. Enter notorious thief Malcolm Cho, the Ice Elemental Prometheus. There was a time when Danny welcomed a fight with Cho, filled with colorful banter and casual flirtations that were a relief compared to Thanatos. Even as a criminal, Cho had recognized the threat Thanatos posed and promised to help Danny stop him, but the day Danny needed Cho, he never showed. Cho was the reason so many people died that day -- including Danny's mother. Danny decides to teach the man a lesson and fan the fire of their attraction into something more. At worst, he'll get some no-strings-attached sex out of the deal and finally blow off steam; at best, he'll get Cho to fall in love with him and then break his heart to spite him. Danny doesn't expect to fall for Cho in the process, and he certainly can't predict the much darker threat on the horizon.

Lovesick Gods

“Danny, that isn’t how this works. You can’t keep hiding from us by running around the city.”


The pang in Danny’s chest grew tighter and he felt the urge to throw everything off his desk, including the bags of food, and scream at Stella to stop psychoanalyzing him like one of her cases. But he shouldn’t need to do that. He was better than that. 


Taking a breath, he stood from his chair to avoid the temptation. “It’s not patrol. I have plans tomorrow night, okay? I can’t cancel them. I’ll join you guys next week, I promise. I haven’t been good company lately anyway. I need a break.”


“From me?” Stella tilted her head with a crook to her mouth that betrayed how hurt she was by his words.


“From me,” Danny said honestly. “From a lot of things. I can’t exactly take a break from being Zeus, so I need something to distract me for a while.”


Chapter 23