Page 58 of Hades

She loved that bike. Alex had literally become hell on wheels once she learned to ride it.

When she left four years ago, she took off on her bike. We assumed she would this time too, but when we found it abandoned, I figured she’d left another way. A way that made tracing her impossible. It pissed Alex off when Zeus assigned her a shadow. It was just like her to say fuck you to all of us because we tried to help. Tried to protect her.

Now I realized how wrong we’d been.

The church room smelled like stale beer and leather and the lingering ghost of my father’s violence. Blood had been scrubbed from the floor, but the memory remained. The stain of it. I took my seat and tried not to think about Lettie’s mouth. The way she’d tasted. The soft little sounds she’d made when I made her come.

Fuck. Focus.

“Alex had a little help disappearing,” Zeus said, passing the email around the table.

“Fuck,” Atlas cursed. “When are we leaving?”

“We aren’t.” Zeus locked eyes with Poseidon when he said it.

“She’s my fucking sister.”

“I understand, but I can’t send the whole fucking club. We can’t handle another war, especially with the Brotherhood.”

“So what are the options?” I asked. My voice came out rougher than I intended, impatience clawing at my chest. I wanted this meeting over. Wanted to get on my bike, ride to Lettie’s house, and bury myself so deep inside her she’d forget her own goddamn name.

“Poseidon goes to get her.”

“Alone?” Ares asked, sitting up straighter.

“No,” Zeus answered with a sigh. “Take Kraken with you. He’s a big motherfucker. My mother may think he’s a fucking marshmallow, but he’s your best bet.”

Kraken was over seven feet tall and all muscle. A few years younger than Zeus and me, we’d considered him for enforcer when we took over.

He turned us down.

Rhea wasn’t far off, though. Kraken was a fucking marshmallow until you hurt someone he loved. He didn’t find enjoyment in beating the shit out of someone the way Poseidon and Ares did. Didn’t get hard watching bones break and blood flow. But when someone crossed the line, when they threatened his people, he became something else entirely. Something brutal and unstoppable.

He loved Alex like a little sister. Spoiled her the way Poseidon did. It was only fair that he back Poseidon up and bring home the brat they’d created together. The spoiled little princess who’d never faced a real consequence in her entire fucking life.

“Do you think he’ll let her go?” Asclepius asked.

“I think... I hope he’ll be reasonable.” Zeus turned back to Poseidon. “Without knowing what she did, I can’t in good conscience put my men in the line of fire. At some point, Alex needs to learn that actions have consequences.”

“Zeus,” I warned. Poseidon’s eyes had darkened, and he stood and faced off against his president. The air in the room shifted. Thickened. Violence hovered just beneath the surface like a shark circling in dark water.

“She is my sister,” he ground out between clenched teeth.

“And she’s a product of what you made her. Her entire fucking life has been a series of fucked-up decisions that put her and every member of this club in danger.”

“So you leave her to the fucking wolves?”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” Zeus let out a slow, frustrated breath. I watched the wheels turn as he worked out how to make Poseidon see the truth.

I hated to agree with him, but Alex had always lived like no one else existed. She never really had friends. The other girls in the club tried, but Alex wanted to be alone. Wanted to be special. Wanted attention without earning it.

And Poseidon let her run over him. Let her manipulate him with tears and tantrums and the memory of their dead parents.

“He won’t fucking shoot you on sight.”

“You sure about that?” Hyperion muttered with a chuckle.

“Zeus is right,” I added. “He’ll at least tell you what she did.”