by River Ramsey
And yet, Theo was the one who crumpled. It happened suddenly and the moan that escaped him was a bit too enthusiastic to be pain. We were all left speechless as we watched him drop to his knees with a dazed look on his face. A second later, he dropped facefirst with his forehead barely across the boundary.
Before the disqualification could even be announced, Ingrid came at Dionysus with a warcry. He reached out swiftly and caught the end of her bo staff with his left hand, using her own momentum to throw her. She sailed past the arena line with a cry of dismay before she managed to land on her feet.
The entire crowd was silent, but Kore stood and started cheering, igniting the whole lot of them. The three of us were the only ones who remained seated and silent, but when I looked over, the smirk on Fenrir’s face had me seeing red.
Not that it mattered. The preliminaries were one thing, but there was absolutely no way Kore and her motley crew were going to win the Games. I intended to make sure of it.
Chapter 12
Loki
They say curiosity killed the cat, but it had never led me astray. It had been a few days since the preliminaries, and I knew firsthand that the other students were making sure Kore and her posse didn’t have any time to enjoy their victories, since I was the one orchestrating most of it.
Hades was never lacking in spite, but he did lack motivation. No sense of humor, that one. He just couldn’t appreciate the poetic irony of the goddess of spring opening her locker only to find it full of rotten rose petals, or the classic appeal of the tripwire I’d placed outside the women’s locker room.
Today, our Rabbit was in for a special treat. As I leaned against the wall of the main classroom building waiting for her to show up, I found myself snickering at the thought of the latest game.
Hades had asked us to turn up the heat, and I was never one to disappoint. Fenrir had admittedly upstaged me with his little hellhound trick at the preliminaries, so I had something to prove.
The sound of muffled laughter from the other students shuffling to class told me my target was on her way. Sure enough, Kore rounded the corner with a murderous look in her eyes and a uniform that had been bleached from top to bottom.
“Oh my,” I said innocently as she stalked over to me. “I don’t think that’s regulation at all.”
A vine rushed out from under her sleeve and slammed into my chest, surprisingly hard enough to push me up against the locker. “Now, now,” I chided. “You’re already on thin ice with the headmaster.”
She was still seething, but the vine eventually retreated in her sleeve. It was all I could do to hold it together and not break down in hysterical laughter.
Oh, she was so much fun.
Hades had chosen well. Or rather, his father had.
“Do you ever get tired of playing these silly little games?”
“I do, as a matter of fact,” I answered. “But you’ve breathed new life into the hobby.”
She didn’t seem to know what to make of that remark. Her only response was a disgusted snort. “It’s a shame you waste your talents being Hades’ errand boy.”
I laughed. “I’m afraid that won’t work.”
“What won’t?” she asked innocently.
I stepped forward, propping my arm against the locker above her. Her eyes burned with irritation as I brushed the underside of her chin with my fingertips. “Trying to drive us apart. In case you haven’t heard, the three of us are inseparable.”
“Oh, I’ve heard,” she said, unflustered. “I’ve also heard that you share everything.”
I grinned. “You heard right,” I said without a hint of shame. “When you’re ready to surrender, maybe you’d like to see for yourself.”
She brought her foot down hard on mine and it was difficult to mask a grimace, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
“When the underworld freezes over,” she said, shoving past me. I watched as she walked to class. She was a pleasant view coming and going, and it was really a shame she was off-limits.
Of course, I knew better than anyone that the rougher Hades played with his toys, the more possessive he was of them.
Chapter 13
Fenrir
After the preliminaries, I took a few days off from class. Hades didn't complain, considering that it gave Kore fewer opportunities to interrogate me. Even so, I knew at least Loki would have a comment about it when I came back.
I hated this. I wasn't even sure why I hated it. I barely even knew her, and she was certainly more spirited than the usual Rabbits.
Part of me knew the answer, even if I didn't want to accept it. I had imprinted on Kore. Going away had only made that clearer, despite what I'd hoped. Coming back... Well, that made it unbearable.
Being attracted to her was one thing, imprinting on her was entirely another. She belonged to Hades, even if they despised each other. I knew him well enough to know it was more than that beneath the surface. The more he carried on about hating someone, the more emotion he felt for them. He was just the kind of twisted, battered soul that had lost the ability to tell the difference between love and hate a long time ago. Whether that was because the people who were supposed to love and care for him had treated him like garbage or simply because he was that kind of asshole, I couldn’t say, but it had never mattered before.
How he had treated the Rabbits had never matter to me before, either. I had a prey drive of my own, and while these juvenile stunts were far from being as stimulating to me as they were to the others, I understood the need to pursue and break and wreck and ruin.
The most fucked up part was, I felt it toward her as well.
My whole life, I had been running from what I was. From what the world wanted from me. My original destiny was as black as the void, and now that I had betrayed it, my future just seemed... Empty.
Then she had to come along and give everything flavor again. Meaning. It felt like betrayal to find that outside of Hades, and the purpose he had given to me, but I felt it all the same.
If he ever found out the truth…
Sooner or later, I knew I had to go back. Being around her wasn't going to get any easier.
There were certain changes that took place when a wolf imprinted on a mate. Even when that wolf had the spirit of Ragnarok. The urge to hunt and claim her, marking her as mine, was stronger than any hunger I had ever felt. It was a siren’s song sweeter than any blood I had ever craved. Resisting was torture, but the alternative was worse.
Not that she would have me even if she didn't already belong to someone else. Something told me the latter wouldn’t stop her, but what had happened at the preliminaries certainly would.
I managed to make it through my first day back in class, but my head was anywhere but the lessons. As faint as her scent was across the hall, it still brought out my primal nature.
When I finally made it to the end of the day, I headed straight for the woods. Before I'd even reached the tree line, I started slipping out of my clothes. My uniform jacket, my plaid tie, the thin white shirt that felt like fire against my burning skin, muscles aching to unleash the beast within. Once I'd left all my clothes on the trail, I hit the ground with all four paws and took off running.
The relief was insufficient, but instantaneous. The more I ran, the more the beast took over. We weren’t quite separate entities, rather shades of the same gradient. Being human for so long was taxing that identity, and it took so much less energy to just be out here.
Not for long, though.
I caught her sent before I caught sight of her kneeling on the forest floor, surrounded by flowers and greenery like some kind of fairy. I stopped running just to watch her for a moment, trying to tell myself it was better just to leave.
Then again, the wolf always had other ideas.
She looked up and spotted me, taking the running option off the table. Her eyes narrowed immediately, and I could see why Hades enjoyed playing with her so much. She was all the more beautiful and she
was livid.
I shifted back, finding it difficult to do so in the throes of the instincts that came with a wolf encountering his mate in the wild. Better push those down real far.
“What’s the matter? Did you get tired of your other form?” she asked dryly. There was no mistaking the accusation, and I had no intention of denying it. Kore was plenty of things. She was stubborn, feisty, principled to the point of recklessness, but she sure as hell wasn’t stupid.
“Not very practical for most things,” I answered, walking over to her.
Most women would at least have blushed at the side of a fully naked man before them, but she made no attempt to look away. I couldn’t help but smirk as she looked me up and down, making it clear she was assessing the goods. “Like what you see?” I asked.
“I was just curious,” she said, getting to her feet.
I cocked my head. “About what?”
“Whether your dick was as big as your ego.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ll leave that for you to decide.”
She turned to walk away and I called, “Wait.”
She stopped but didn’t turn around right away. When she finally did, she wasn’t quite as angry as I’d expected her to be. It was something else entirely that threw me off.
Was she actually… hurt?
“What do you want?” she asked guardedly. We’d never exactly been on friendly terms, her and I, but the wall between us had undoubtedly grown higher.
“I’m not proud of what I did,” I began, choosing my words carefully.
Her eyes narrowed. “Is that supposed to be an apology?”
I scoffed. “I don’t apologize. To anyone. And you could end this at any time,” I reminded her.
She rolled her eyes. “Right. All I have to do is grovel and lick your ringleader’s boots like the rest of you do.”
I laughed, even though I knew she was trying to get under my skin. Unfortunately for her, it would take a lot more than that. “You really don’t understand how we work.”
“You mean your precious Triad?”
“Someone like you would never understand,” I said, walking toward her.
She stood her ground, eyes blazing. “Understand what?”
“You have your mother,” I answered. “Your friends and family back home. People you belong to.”
“And you three don’t?” she challenged. “You run the school, and as soon as you get out, the world of the gods will be waiting to grovel at your feet. You’re just mad because I’m the only person who won’t.”
I shook my head. “There’s a difference between authority and acceptance. Hades, Loki and I… we have one thing in common.”
“And what’s that?”
“Before we were born, before any of us had a say in it, this world chose to cast us as villains,” I said, shrugging. “So we play the part. And yeah, we enjoy it for the most part, but at the end of the day, that’s what people want. That’s what they expect. We stick together because we’re alike. We’re of the same kind. Something you could learn from.”
She’d grown quiet as I spoke, and from the pensive look on her face, I almost thought I was getting through to her. At that last bit, she frowned. “I’m nothing like you.”
“You’re wrong,” I said, walking a circle around her. Her gaze followed me, and I could feel the forest shifting around her, as if readying to come to her defense. The energy was electrifying and my wolf responded to it in kind. Beast and nature, we were one and the same. Two sides of the same coin.
It was a shame we were destined to be enemies.
“You’re more like us than you think, but you surround yourself with people who mirror what you want to be—but not what you are.”
“And is that supposed to mean something to me?”
I moved swiftly, coming up behind her, just close enough to startle her. “Does it?” I asked as she spun around on me. “You want to know what I think?”
“Not really,” she said boredly.
I smiled. “You may be the goddess of spring, but every rose has its thorns. And I think, Persephone, there’s more darkness and chaos inside your heart than anyone could imagine.” I lowered my voice to a reverent whisper, brushing my fingertips across the curve of her jawline. Her breath hitched, and her eyes went wide as she gazed up at me. “Even you.”
“And what makes you say that?” she asked, having greater difficulty maintaining her careless tone. Her voice quivered just slightly, but I knew better than to mistake it for weakness. There wasn’t a single weak bone in her body.
“Like recognizes like,” I answered, letting my hand fall away. I walked away to leave her with her thoughts and smirked at the fact that I could still feel her watching me. She might’ve belonged to Hades, but I knew from that one interaction that our kiss was still the forefront of her mind.
At least I wasn’t the only one.
Chapter 14
Kore
In the weeks following the preliminaries, the Wild Hunt went from being a nuisance to a nightmare. I could scarcely get to class without some bullshit flying up at my face. If it wasn’t the students snickering about me whenever I passed or spreading rumors, it was them shoving past me in the hall. One day, I opened my locker to find it filled with cockroaches. The fact that they vanished as soon as a professor rounded the corner made it clear someone was putting their uber creepy abilities to good use.
I tried not to react visibly, knowing that would only give them what they wanted and make it worse, but it was admittedly wearing me down.
I’d gained a new nickname, too. Crazy Kore. Not exactly the most inventive, and I’d had worse in kindergarten, but the next person who said it was really going to test my resolve not to slap anyone else before graduation.
Honestly, with the amount of homework the professors gave us and the high probability that any given class would result in a pop quiz, it was a wonder any of them had the time.
No wonder the Triad always pulled straight A’s. They got other people to do the dirty work for them.
Well, most of it…
My interaction with Fenrir in the forest was still fresh in my mind. For a moment there, I’d thought he was going to kiss me again. The really fucked up part was, I wasn’t sure how I would’ve responded. It was pretty much a fifty-fifty shot between decking him and returning it.
His words stayed with me even more than that original kiss. Like recognizes like… What was that even supposed to mean?
One possible answer was particularly troubling. Could he know the truth about my father? Hades thought it was Poseidon, which turned out to be well off the mark, but Fenrir’s golden eyes seemed capable looking right into my soul.
After all, the Fenris Wolf was his father. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that they had interacted at some point or another.
Finally, I told myself I was just being paranoid and resolved to get on with my life. If Fenrir did have any idea about my controversial parentage, I was sure he would’ve posted it on flyers all over the school by now. In the beginning, I thought he was different from the others. Maybe that was what made the hellhound stunt sting so badly. Now I knew the truth. He was just as bad as Loki and Hades were, if not worse. He was just better at hiding it.
When evening fell, I decided to go for a walk around the grounds. It was the only time I could really get any nature time to myself without being harassed. The further I got from the Academy, the more I began to relax.
It didn’t really feel like I had wandered all that far, but I knew from the vantage point of the portal that the forests surrounding the Academy were vast. Somehow, I’d walked to the end of them. I found myself on top of a hill overlooking a valley with a lake full of water that was so dark it looked like shimmering sapphires.
I knew I should go back to the Academy. We weren’t allowed off grounds, and while that generally applied to visiting the nearby city of Atlantis, I doubted going into the wilderness was an acceptable loophole.
Still, I wasn’t ready to go back just yet.
I had told Dionysus my theory that Fenrir was the hellhound, and he’d believed me even before the asshole admitted it himself, but he agreed that using that info to clear my name would just dig me into a deeper hole.
I was a complete mess and while he was always there to lend a shoulder and a listening ear, I didn’t want to burden him with the particularly emo mood I was in that night. He had enough to worry about on his own, and I was responsible for much of it. I knew he didn’t blame me, but that made me feel even guiltier.
As I walked over to the edge of the water, it seemed to grow darker the longer I gazed at it. There was something mesmerizing about it. A sense of safety and bliss enveloped me, like Dionysus’ ecstasy, but even gentler. All the stress and sadness lifted off my shoulders just like taking off a cloak, and for the first time in months, I actually felt relaxed.
Something about my reflection caught me off guard. I saw movement even though I’d been still by the water for several minutes. I peered into the water and realized it was growing fuzzier, swirling in a hypnotic pattern.
My instincts railed at me from deep inside, but the euphoria was drowning them out. My eyes were so heavy, but I couldn’t even blink. I couldn’t look away.
My arms seemed to extend without my mind telling them to, and my fingertips brushed over the cool water as it rippled like silk. I could hear a voice within, calling to me.
Calling my name.
It was such a sweet sound, but it beckoned me powerfully. I felt pulled in, almost magnetized as I moved closer and dipped my toes in the water. As I sank further, the water only reached the tops of my knees. Strange that such shallow water could be so dark.
I walked in deeper and deeper, drawn toward that sweetly singing voice. It had turned my name into a song, an intimate cadence meant only for the two of us. The water rose higher and higher, and only when it reached my chin did I realize what I was doing.