His Undoing

Churning of the Tides

Mara felt a pair of eyes on her and turned abruptly, meeting the eyes of the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. He was brooding, well over six feet tall, with broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim waist. He was dressed in a suit, no tie, sleeves rolled up to his forearms, and his long blond hair was tied back, away from his face, but some of it had fallen forward. A tattoo peeked out from under his shirt collar and others decorated every inch of skin that was visible on his forearms. He had deep blue eyes under serious eyebrows, a proud nose, and a smirky mouth that she wanted to kiss and bite the sass out of. Heat flooded her cheeks at the thought and she broke eye contact and looked away. 

"Who is that man?" She asked Nat. 

Thanatos looked behind her and saw Zeus eyeing up the young goddess. Typical. She rolled her eyes. "The dark brown haired one? That's Zeus. Look at me, Mara. Stay the f**k away from him. Not only is that something you can't handle, but you don't want to feel the wrath of Hera. I f*****g mean it, Mara." 

"Listen to her, Mar. The last thing you need is to be another notch in that fucker's bedpost," Nyx chimed in. 

"No no, not...him. The blond one," Mara said, exasperated. 

"Oh! Poseidon.... Oh boy. He's the God of the Sea. Your new work partner. You'll probably meet  him formally on Monday. Zeus has asked us to bring you in for a meeting to discuss your duties as well as take an aptitude test to see what your affinities are. We know you're a sea goddess, but you still have to take the test. It's pretty simple- they're going to give you different elements to see if you can wield them," Thanatos explained. 

"Even if I can prove right now that my affinity is the sea?" Mara questioned. The idea of taking a test to prove that seemed redundant. 

"Have you tried your abilities on anything else? Flowers? Mortals? Have you tried to light something aflame or make a pear tree give you an apple?" Nyx asked. Mara bit her lip guiltily but Nyx returned it with a smile. "I don't like wasting my time with pointless things, either, but this will actually be a good test for you. You could have other affinities you don't know about." Mara looked down at her hand and wiggled her fingers, thinking. 

"Don't you dare try anything here!" Thantos yelled and grabbed Mara's hand. "If you have an affinity for something dangerous, you could hurt someone. There's too many mortals here." Nat looked around warily, thankfully everyone was distracted and didn't notice her outburst. "These people don't know who we are... And per Zeus, we are not to let anything slip." 

"Oh no..okay.. So what do they think we are?" Mara asked, looking into the faces of the mortals. You could easily tell which people were mortal which were not. The Gods were taller, broader, and more beautiful than all of the humans. Mara caught sight of Poseidon, a mortal in his lap, and his brothers laughing about something. She rolled her eyes and turned her back on them, deciding instead to go mingle with others. "I'm gonna go dance!" 

"We will go with you. A dance sounds like a good time right about now," Nat said, setting her empty glass on the bar. She wore a black bodysuit that shimmered gold in the light, setting off her coffee colored skin and her dark hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. Her arms, wrists, and neck were decorated with gold. Nyx had on a tight black dress with all silver jewelry that billowed around her and to the floor, swirling like a shadow around her legs. The three headed to the dance floor, turning heads along the way. Nyx and Nat each grabbed a mortal on the way and they began to dance. Nat grabbed a woman and Nyx grabbed an attractive-for-a-mortal male. Mara swayed to the music off to the side on her own, after slipping off her shoes. She closed her eyes and let the melody of the music carry her like a wave, and she danced in it like the dolphins do at dusk. 

Soon Mara was overwhelmed with a need to be nearer to the sea. She felt confined, claustrophobic, and trapped. She slowly backed away from the turbulent bodies on the dance floor and bolted down the hall to the nearest door, she threw it open and ran to the sand, pulling the hem of her dress up and beckoning the ocean to her, to calm her. She threw her head back and took a deep breath as the waves stretched to meet her on the beach. 

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Poseidon quickly grew tired of the party he never should have thrown. The mortal in his lap did nothing to calm his desires for the woman across the room. He found it hard to keep his eyes off of her the entire time he had been over here. His i***t brothers had convinced the three women to grind on, kiss, and feel each other up for their entertainment, and then convinced one girl to attempt to give him a lapdance. It was going horribly and the only thing this woman did for him was make him never want to host another party, or attend another party, for the rest of his days. He cleared his throat, pushed the woman on the floor, and walked out of the room, the crowd parting for him as he went. He went to his expansive kitchen, shrugged out of his suit jacket, grabbed a bottle of water, and then headed out onto his porch. He sat on top of the wide marble railing, his back against one of the solid pillars and took deep, calming breaths of the salty air. He tried to keep his focus on the one thing that had always held his interest above all else- his ocean, but tonight, even that couldn't compete with the gorgeous woman in his home at his party. Even now , his eyes drifted inside and found her, caressing her body and watching as she swayed to the music he couldn't hear. Her long, thick hair swayed around her and her eyes were closed as her body moved. She was enticing... And then she was gone. He searched the room for her as the door burst open and there she was. She ran straight for the sand, lifted her dress, and without a word the sea stretched its waves to meet her. He licked his lips and rubbed his beard, watching her throw her head back and take a long breath. 

"Don't let any mortals see you," he called out to her in a stern tone. She jumped slightly and turned to him, her eyes finding him immediately and her face flushing again. 

"I-I didn't think... I thought I was alone," was all she could think to say. She bit her lip and swallowed. If she thought he was sexy before, that didn't hold a candle to him without the jacket, wearing a shirt that could barely contain the bulging muscles of his arms, chest, and shoulders. She wiggled her toes in the sand and turned back to the water. 

"You didn't even look, you just ran out here without a care in the world. Next time, you need to f*****g look before you threaten exposing us," his tone was harsher than he meant it to be and wished he could take it back when he saw her flinch. Better yet, he thought, let her be afraid of me. It'll make it easier to stay the f**k away from her. Here she stood, bathed in the moonlight, looking more beautiful than any woman had the right, and commanding his sea. Suddenly she lifted her head defiantly and turned on him. 

"You know what? If I wanted advice from an asshole, I would have asked. Next time, do yourself a favor and save it. I'm not taking your s**t," she said, meeting his gaze. The wind picked up and the waves crashed behind her. His eyebrows knit together and he stroked his beard, watching her eyes as they began to glow. He rolled his eyes at her but said nothing, watching as the storm calmed behind her and slowly the ocean returned to normal. He would need to talk to Zeus about how quickly she was gaining power. He stared at her and she stared back in defiance, the storm petering out as quickly as it started. She sighed and ran her hand through her long hair. "I'm sorry," she said quietly, to which Poseidon had nothing to say. 

Who was this woman?