Amanda Meuwissen

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

“Come on,” he said to Danny, turning to head down the street. “And try to keep up.”


Danny almost couldn’t believe he’d convinced Cho to let him stay. Andwhile he was keeping tabs on his ‘territory’. Little had Danny known how powerful Cho was. This was good intel. And kind of fun.


There were several businesses they hit, one after the other. Cho was as smooth as ever asking how things were going. Some of the proprietors said very little and that was that. Some quietly mentioned the cops hanging about or one of the Dunkirks, to which Cho made a point of responding that he needed to know the second the man showed up again. Even fewer of them asked about Danny. 


“Oh, he’s new,” Cho would say. “Just giving him the fifty cent tour.”


Danny smiled but didn’t say anything. If anyone thought he looked like a cop in his neatly pressed blazer and trench coat, none of them voiced it. After all, he was with Cho.


Chapter 54