by Mila Young
“If this was what three of us are together,” Apollo finally spoke, “imagine what we can do when all of us stand together against X.”
I rubbed a hand through my hair, unable to stop staring at my Elyse, sitting there all naked and delicious.
“Let’s hope it’s this intense,” Elyse said.
I glanced at Apollo. Did she mean sexually, or regarding the war against X?
But right now, did it matter?
Chapter 17
Elyse
If we were going to battle, we’d need all the help we could get. Yes, I was determined to get Catina back, even if it meant traveling to the Underworld. I’d sat back, waiting, for too damn long and now, I needed to kick some serious butt. And after the incredible sexy time I spent with Poseidon and Apollo, the magic between us flaring in a way I’d never felt before, it was better to go as a team than alone. We’d somehow bonded, our energies intensifying, and I didn’t care what Poseidon said about being cautious. I’d use whatever arsenal I had access to in order to save my friend. I itched to get started.
But I needed all four gods with me. I had to learn to work as team better. Especially since the guys weren’t leaving my side. That was something new for me, but I was open to the challenge. The more, the merrier, right? Besides, this fight wasn’t only between X and me anymore. Since he’d escaped, thanks to Hades’s poor view of life and love, this fight had become about so much more than saving the humans. Catina. Hades. Myself.
Which was why I wanted Hades with us when we went to the Underworld. The team wouldn’t be complete without him—I’d seen how X backed away when the four gods had stood with me, when he sought me out. And seeing the friction between Hades and the other gods, they all agreed it was best if I went to see him on my own.
We needed that unity again.
And I was convinced if I asked Hades to join us, he’d agree. After all, the last two times we’d been together had been very different from our previous meetings. Until recently, Hades’s attraction toward me had been purely sexual. A hell of a lot had came down to lust between us whenever we were together, and I’d been convinced for a time that was all there’d been.
But lately, Hades had shown me a vulnerable side of himself. There was so much more affection there than in his closed-off, aggressive side. In a strange way, it excited me to know there was a chance we could be more than just friends with benefits.
That exposed, empathetic side of him was the one I wanted to appeal to now. We needed him to help out and get Catina back. And seeing Hades never meant for anyone to get hurt, much less Catina, my best friend, I was sure he’d be happy to help.
When I knocked on his front door, it took him a while to open up. He looked irritated when he opened the door, his hair scruffy, exhaustion in his eyes, even after he saw me.
“Can we talk?” I asked when he didn’t invite me inside. It looked like he was in a bad mood.
“I guess we can.” He just stood there, staring out into the distance.
He seemed a little sarcastic, or maybe I was just skeptical—the man I’d seen the last two times was gone, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t gutted.
“Can I come in?” I pushed again, not nearly as forthcoming as I’d been a moment before. Hades was a son of a bitch. There were no two ways about it.
“Yeah,” he finally said, stepping aside. He seemed unhappy with me in his space, but he’d have to suck it up. My expectations for this chat wavered. I didn’t get the feeling I’d have as good a conversation with him as I’d imagined. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but the Hades I saw now was much more along the lines of the villain I’d thought he was.
“What do you want?” he challenged. He really didn’t want me here. What the hell was going on?
“I want to talk to you about Catina. Ares found her in the Underworld. X is keeping her there. We’re going to get her, and I wanted to ask if you’ll come with us.”
“No, thank you,” Hades responded without even appearing to think about my question.
“Just like that?” I exclaimed in shock, my stomach twisting. “Don’t you care?”
“Not about Catina,” Hades declared with zero emotion in his voice. “Why would I? I don’t even know her. She’s just another inconsequential human.”
“That inconsequential human is my best friend,” I said tightly. “And you are partly to blame for her disappearance.”
Hades barked a sarcastic laugh. “How do you figure that?”
“You’re responsible for X’s release. He’s running around, causing shit all over the place, and you’re the one who should be able to rein him in.”
Hades narrowed his eyes. I didn’t like the way he looked at me as if I was just another one more of his enemies. I thought everything had changed between us; I’d assumed he felt something more for me than the strange rivalry we’d had that was always laced with sex.
“I’m not interested,” he replied coldly.
He didn’t even offer an explanation, an excuse, anything. I stared at him for a moment, surprised he was so extremely closed off to me. Much more than before even.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you didn’t even care about me,” I said softly.
“You see, this is how everyone pisses me off.” The bitterness in his voice was out of place and caught me off-guard. “Everyone seems to think there’s no other way than to love. But I’m not interested in love, sweetheart. Not anymore. I’m sorry you thought it was something that could happen, but I don’t love.” He almost growled the words, and I trembled at the anger he spewed toward me.
A fiery rage slingshotted through me, and a blaze crawled up my spine and over my head. Why was he messing with me like this? What about the last two times we’d been together? I didn’t understand why he bothered showing me that side of him if he was only going to cut me out again.
“Was I just a convenience while you were feeling weak?” I let my anger show and lifted my chin to make myself look bigger.
“Don’t flatter yourself. I was bored.”
“And now I’m the pathetic one who thought I could be anything more to you than sex.” My words shook from pure rage, shielding the shredding of my heart.
Hades’s shrugged response only made it worse.
I groaned, exasperated. I was so over his shit, over how he blew hot and cold, over how he could be incredibly attractive one moment and revolting the next. I was sick and tired of fighting the monster he’d set free, whether he’d willed it to be or not. I was tired of being scared, tired of being angry, tired of being tired. Who the fuck did he think he was to treat me this way? And I hated that I let him hurt me, and I felt sick to my stomach that I cared, that my throat thickened with the tears pricking my eyes from him pushing me away.
“You know what?” I snapped, my hands curling into fists. “I’ve just about had it with you and all the time you’ve wasted.”
Before he could respond, I launched toward him and punched him in the face. Our fights always turned physical—he was the only guy who didn’t pull his punches because I was a woman. He saw me as a worthy adversary. He fought me with all his power, as if he knew I could take it.
And I could. Now more than ever.
His mouth dropped open—clear surprise at my attack—but he retaliated a moment later. He wasn’t one to stand on ceremony, and he placed a kick in my gut. I’d already anticipated it and started moving away, so it wasn’t nearly as effective as he intended. With the barrier broken, the fight had started, and we both lunged into it with everything we had.
My power surged through me, heightening and expanding around us, the heat building. The energy I’d been practicing using lately was scorching hot. The type of heat that could melt metal. But Hades’s ability had been fiery all along. I remembered one of the first times I sensed it, how I’d felt him burning me up inside.
Of course, we’d been fucking then. Now we were fighting—again. It was always one or the other with him, an
d I’d been a fool to think our relationship could be anything else. Ha, no…not relationship. Just a fucked-up mess.
“You’re strong,” Hades growled while we punched and kicked and spun around, evading each other, attacking when we thought we could get through. “Stronger and faster than before. But you’ll never win going up against a god. Not against me, and I doubt you’ll ever win against X.”
“If you don’t want to be on my side, fine,” I seethed, breathing hard. I elbowed him on the jaw, and he staggered backward. He recovered almost immediately and counter-attacked. “But I didn’t think you’d be against me.”
“I’m against everyone. The world isn’t a welcoming place, and I don’t expect anyone to back me up.”
“Yeah, your skepticism is clear. It’s a pity you seem to think everyone is against you when there are people out there who care for you.”
“If you say Persephone, I’m going to gag,” Hades spat. “She cares, but she couldn’t even love me.”
“I was talking about me,” I yelled, ducking a punch. I retaliated, and he managed to sidestep me, staying out of the way.
He began to laugh, and the sound grated on my nerves. It was sarcastic, mocking. Hades was taking my affection for him as a joke. It only irritated me more—I wouldn’t have invested any kind of affection in him if he hadn’t shown me his softer side. But maybe I’d been wrong about him. Maybe he was playing me, bored, as he said.
“You really are a dick.” I kicked him in his sternum.
He only took one step back, smirking. “Finally you notice.”
The sound of menacing laughter had us both spinning. X himself leaned against the wall not far from the kitchen entrance, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched us battle.
“The two of you are like an old married couple,” he mocked. His voice danced around me, brushing against my skin and making me shiver. But my anger was greater than my fear at this point. I breathed heavily, my heart pounding, and I was ready to launch at X, but Hades stepped between us and with a well-aimed punch, he flattened me.
I looked at him from the floor. He towered above me, a smug smile on his face.
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “Not only are you not willing to help me, but you’re also planning on getting in my way. It just gets better and better.”
Hades ran a hand down his face and sat on the couch. He couldn’t hide his heavy breathing, but other than that, it didn’t look like my attack had affected to him.
X still leaned against the wall, looking nonchalant as fuck, and I had a feeling no matter what I did, asking for Hades’s help wasn’t going to work. Plus, X wasn’t here to fight, only to spectate. To laugh at me, and on my own, I couldn’t take him down. I climbed to my feet, rubbing my jaw, which ached from Hades’s hit.
“You know this is a bad sign,” I said to Hades, pointing at X. “He’s only here because you refuse to accept the good side of yourself. I’m sure you’ve figured that out by now.”
Hades’s face tightened. If he already knew, he seemed to have accepted that fact. If he hadn’t known yet, he didn’t seem to care.
“It’s every man for himself, sugar,” he sneered. “I’m not going to fuss about everyone else who needs saving. There are enough of you in the world willing to do that.”
I wanted to attack him again, drive my fist into his face. He knew just which buttons to push. But I held back, clenching my jaw. It wouldn’t make a difference—I’d never win a fight against Hades. And he didn’t have a limit to what he was willing to do to me.
That asshole had killed me before. Sure, I accepted he’d done it to save me, but now I doubted his reasoning.
So instead of engaging with X, or continuing the fight with Hades, I turned around and stormed to the front door. X wasn’t here to battle me because it wasn’t a big enough audience. Fucking bastard. I hated how everything reduced to dramatic value for these gods… even killing someone.
“Don’t think this is going to stop me from getting her back,” I snarled to X, my hand already on the doorknob. I looked at Hades. “As for you, I think I’m just about done.”
I couldn’t read the look that crossed his face—something that seemed a lot more emotionally charged than I expected. But I wasn’t going to read too much into it. Hades had shown me his true colors. I thought I could lean on him, and he’d proven he wasn’t someone who’d ever have my back.
That Hades had some kind of heart was nothing more than a myth.
Chapter 18
Hades
I was in a shitty mood, and my adrenaline was on a rampage. X’s appearance hadn’t improved my confrontation with Elyse. I struggled to control myself around her as it was, and as much as I had tried to be the nice guy and give her what she wanted, fear and reality seared through me. Even more so after seeing Persephone. That night we visited the Grand Canyon, I’d realized I was falling for Elyse so fucking hard, but what then? Get my heart smashed all over again, become a laughing stock? I couldn’t go through that again, not after all the shit I faced with Persephone. Every time I considered letting myself go there with Elyse, terror spiked through my chest, reminding me of what awaited me when I failed. Because I always failed.
I swallowed the thickness in my throat, my heart racing, still remembering Elyse’s exquisite smile and her laughter when we chatted over the various meanings of the constellations. Those were moments I needed to forget and stop torturing myself. Especially when I had X to do that for me.
It never put me in a good mood to see him, but lately, X and I just weren’t on the same page anymore.
That was saying something for the God of the Underworld and the Greek Grim Reaper.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I barked at him after Elyse had stormed out. I was shaking with fury that he’d driven her away.
Sure, I was the one who’d made her angry. I’d refused to help her. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. But I was terrified of what I was feeling for her. It pissed me off that I couldn’t control my affections. After I lost Persephone, after I’d realized the whole thing had been one big joke, I’d promised myself to never love again. Then Elyse came into my world and tore at my heart. It fucking scared me.
If my brothers and sisters were right, love was something I was incapable of anyway.
But with Elyse, our relationship was something else. I couldn’t help how I felt about her, and not being able to deal with such confusion only made me furious.
“I had a feeling you were stirring up problems, and I wanted to watch.” X’s razor-sharp teeth were on display through his toothy grin.
He pushed away from the wall and seemed to float toward me. I remained seated on the couch, my legs wide, leaning back as if I didn’t care he was in my space. If I showed him he irritated me, he’d only make it worse. X was nothing but a deadly pain in the ass.
“I wasn’t stirring up problems.” I shouldn’t have had to defend myself, but I didn’t want to admit I’d driven Elyse away. Even though I had. Admitting you were wrong was a bitch.
“Yeah, it looked like she got upset for no reason at all.” Mirth danced behind his words. He dropped into one of my armchairs, and I hated that he made himself at home in my space. But X was part of me, and I suppose I should’ve expected it.
“Look, if you’re not here for any good reason, then kindly fuck off,” I said.
X laughed. His teeth were very sharp up close, the fangs of a monster. But nearly everything else about him looked human now. The more souls he consumed, the more human he became. It was almost as if he’d be able to kill more people now, purely because he looked like they’d trust him. He was in predator mode.
Almost.
When X first arrived on Earth, he’d looked like a kind of daemon, the way humans describe them. He was much stronger now, but he looked more trustworthy. It was a deadly combination.
And it wasn’t like I didn’t want to help Elyse get her friend back. I wanted her to be happy. I cared about her,
even though I’d said I didn’t.
But I couldn’t get involved without losing a piece of myself. If I acknowledged how I felt about her, I’d end up getting hurt again. And I didn’t like getting hurt. Too much had happened in my life for me to accept anymore.
“Well, if you’re not going to fight her, I will,” X growled.
“I thought you didn’t come for that.” I sat forward on the couch.
X pulled up his shoulders and stirred, stretching like a feral animal “Yeah, well, we can all do with a little bit of fun.”
Before I could answer him, he disappeared. He was going after Elyse. I might have told her I didn’t care, that I wasn’t interested, but I wasn’t going to let X take her. She couldn’t be very far away. He was going to cut her off and fight her.
And I had to be there to look after her. My pulse was on fire, and I shot to my feet.
Even as I rolled my eyes at myself, irritated I couldn't just let Fate do what it wanted with her. I disappeared into a scramble of magic.
It wasn’t hard to track down Elyse. Her power signature rippled in the air, and she stood in the middle of a cloud of darkness. X had already found her. My heart thundered with urgency to shield her.
When I took form, I found them fighting in an empty park in a shady part of town where there were boarded-up houses. None of the other guys had showed up yet, so either they were out of range or X somehow blocked them.
Elyse had gotten hold of her scythe—she must have had it in her car. She wielded the weapon against X in a way I hadn’t seen her do before. When I saw her at the training center, she’d only been practicing. But this…this was war.
I sensed her anger—her fury at me for not being willing to help her, her rage at X for taking Catina, her loathing at herself for not being able to stop him. My heart went out to her. I hated that I was responsible for this mess. And I wasn’t trying to do something about it, either.