Page 52 of Sobek’s Joy

Rudy blinked…and then blinked again. “You want to fix the house with magic.”

“I’m a god, Sunshine. I can reshape matter with a thought.” He caught Rudy’s hand. “You’ve worked so hard for so long, and you’ve done an amazing job. But you have me in your life now. Let me take care of this. Let me make sure our home is safe and solid.”

Through their bond, Sobek felt Rudy’s resistance - not to the idea itself, but to accepting help of any kind. Rudy took a lot of pride in what he’d achieved, and rightly so, but Sobek needed him to understand he wasn’t alone anymore. He had a god standing by his side, ready to do his bidding - within reason, of course - but Sobek wanted his family safe and happy above anything else.

“I don’t want a fancy mansion,” Rudy said finally. “Or some weird temple thing with gold everywhere and…”

“It’ll look like a regular house. It’ll look like this house.” Sobek brought Rudy’s knuckles to his lips. “I promise. Just better. Safer. Stronger.”

Rudy studied him for a long moment. “Can you really fix everything with magic?”

“In about three hours.” Sobek could probably replace the whole house in less time than it took for Rudy to make coffee, but he didn’t want to overwhelm his mate, and doing something so quickly would appear frivolous. Sobek needed Rudy to trust his version of renovations.

“The whole thing in three hours?” Rudy glanced around the room, and then shook his head. “That’s...ridiculous.”

“That’s just part of being an ancient god.” Sobek grinned. “An ancient god who is completely devoted to my mate’s comfort.”

“You’re going to spoil us. I can see that coming.”

“Absolutely.” Sobek kissed him properly. “That’s the entire point.”

Rudy laughed against his mouth, then pulled back. “Fine. But I’m warning you now, I like the paint colors in the hallway.”

Sobek glanced toward the doorway, where three different shades of green fought with purple and orange in a combination that made his eyes water. “You mean those paint colors?”

“They’re cheerful.”

“They’re chaotic.”

“Exactly.” Rudy stood and pulled Sobek up with him. “So they stay. And I want to add more.”

More. Sobek’s crocodile whimpered at the thought, but his heart swelled with affection. If his mate wanted rainbow chaos, then rainbow chaos it would be.

“Deal,” he said.

/~/~/~/~/

An hour later, Rudy sat on the front porch with all three children, a picnic blanket spread out and sandwiches distributed. Rose wore her golden tiara. Jack clutched his wolf figurine. Timothy wouldn’t stop staring at the house.

“Sobek’s gonna make the house better?” Timothy asked for the fourth time.

“That’s what he said.” Rudy bit into his sandwich. “It should be interesting to watch.”

“Can he make my room purple?”

“You’ll have to ask him.”

Rose bounced in place. “I want more pink.”

“Also, something you’ll have to ask him.” Rudy ruffled her curls. “But right now, we’re eating lunch and staying out of his way.”

Jack frowned toward the house. “What if something goes wrong?”

“Nothing will go wrong.” Rudy squeezed his shoulder. “Sobek knows what he’s doing. Just think of it as his version of play time.”

/~/~/~/~/

Through their bond, Sobek felt his mate’s absolute trust and nearly lost his concentration. He stood in the center of the gutted house - he’d cleared everything out first, storing their belongings in the ether - and let his power flow.