Page 34 of Hades

Something lay beneath the accolades. Something that made my skin crawl. I shivered and took a step back. I didn’t belong here. This wasn’t pain from grief. It was more, something I couldn’t name, but it engulfed these people, this family. Something toxic. Something rotten.

It felt like betrayal.

It felt evil.

That was when I saw him.

I didn’t know his name, but he stood beside Zeus. His eyes were locked on me. Dark eyes. A predator’s eyes. His dark hair hung to his shoulders. Shoulders that were wide and held muscular arms and large hands clasped together in front of him. His jaw was chiseled, his beard neatly trimmed close to the skin.

Skin that had been kissed by the sun. My body shivered despite the heat of the autumn Texas sun. Heat pooled low in my belly.

Unwanted.

Unwelcome.

Undeniable.

I didn’t need the cut on his shoulders to warn me away. His size assured me he could snap me in two without breaking a sweat. It wasn’t even the large scar on his face that gave him a dangerous edge. He wore it like a mark of violence, a badge of survival.

It was the way he looked at me that had me trembling. As though he could see straight through to my soul. See the darkness inside me. Every secret I’d ever kept. Every life I’d ever taken. Every poison I’d ever brewed.

And he smiled.

Then he winked.

And I knew in that moment that whoever this man was, he was dangerous. A threat to the quiet life I’d built. To the heart hammering beneath my ribs. To the carefully constructed walls I’d erected around myself. He was going to tear it all down. Burn it to ash. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to run from him or toward him.

Fuck.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Hades

She was fucking here.

I wondered if she’d come with the others. If she’d ridden in that beat-up truck of hers or if someone had brought her. The thought of another man’s hands on her made something violent twist in my gut.

Apollo droned on about Kronos and his accomplishments in and outside the club. I couldn’t focus on his goddamn words. His voice was tight, strained. Those of us who knew the truth understood he was struggling. Torn between loyalty to the man he once respected and the girl standing on the outside of the group.

A girl who’d come to mean everything to him. A sister young enough to be his daughter. A replacement for the baby sister he’d lost. Apollo had found Indie in a park one day. A literal starving artist he’d pulled under his wing. He encouraged her art, taught her everything he knew about tattoos and piercing. Gave a shit about her when no one else did.

Then she disappeared.

Despite her age, he’d mentored her and provided her with fake identification, making her older than she was. When she vanished, he didn’t look for her. Wouldn’t let Coeus search for her despite his worry. Just let her disappear like smoke, like she’d never fucking existed.

Then one day, he found her in the Silver Shadows’ clubhouse.

And watched her kill his president.

My eyes scanned the crowd. Most were brothers in the club, eating up the praise Apollo spewed about their president like it was gospel truth. They didn’t know the real story. Not yet. A few old ladies of the older brothers were sprinkled in. The club whores were crying, making a goddamn spectacle like they were losing something precious. There were even people from the town. Civilians who thought they knew the man we were burying.

And her.

I knew the moment she felt my stare. Her body shivered, a full-body tremor that I felt in my fucking bones. She backed up a step, looking around, searching. When her eyes finally landed on me, something snapped.

Not a break in the connection, but the slam of a door, sealing her inside. She was mine, and whether she accepted it or not, I was coming for her. Coming to claim what belonged to me. Coming to mark her so thoroughly that every man in this fucking town would know she was taken.

Her hands twisted in her skirt, and I smiled. She felt it. There was no mistaking the fear in her eyes. She wanted to run, but something dark, something invisible, tethered her to me. It bound us together in a way that made my chest tight and my cock hard.