Page 59 of Hades

“There are more of us than there are of them,” Ares pointed out.

“We are not starting another fucking war!” Zeus shouted and slammed his hands on the table. The crack of flesh against wood echoed through the room. He closed his eyes, and I watched him count to ten. When they still didn’t open, I sighed.

“Poseidon, we all love Alex,” I began. “But Zeus is right. She’s an adult. She has to accept her punishment.”

“And if he kills her?” Poseidon asked.

His flared nostrils and labored breathing weren’t from anger—no, they were from fear. Fear for his sister, and I understood. Hell, we all did. But you could only hold someone up for so long before you had to let them fall. Before you had to let them face the consequences of their own stupid fucking choices.

“He won’t kill her,” Apollo assured him. “Not unless she kills one of his men, and even Alex isn’t that stupid.”

“Alex couldn’t hurt a fly,” Adonis offered. “Not physically, anyway. She’s too soft.”

Nods and murmurs went around the table. Poseidon sat down, his elbows hitting the wooden surface as he held his head in his hands. Broken. Defeated. Watching his baby sister self-destruct and knowing there wasn’t a goddamn thing he could do to stop it.

“Take the night and head out in the morning.”

“No, I’m leaving in an hour. I won’t leave her there longer than I have to.” He stood from the table and walked out of church. Silence filled the room as we watched him go, the door closing behind him with a finality that felt like a death knell.

“Church is over.” Zeus slammed the gavel on the table, and the brothers quietly filed out until it was just the three of us.

Zeus, Atlas, and me.

We spent the next few minutes dissecting Alex’s latest fuckup. The political fallout. The potential for violence. The ways this could blow back on us. But my mind kept drifting, circling back to golden hair and soft skin and the way Lettie had looked at me when I’d made her come. Like I was everything. Like I was hers.

And then I’d fucking left her.

Stood her up without a word. Let club business pull me away without even a goddamn phone call to explain. I’d been so focused on Zeus and Poseidon and the clusterfuck with Alex that I’d forgotten the most important thing.

My queen.

She was going to make me pay for it. I could already feel the reckoning coming. The punishment I’d earned.

Fuck, I hoped she made it hurt.

I said my goodbyes. There was nothing left to do except go see my woman and drop to my fucking knees. Beg for forgiveness. Grovel at her feet until she let me back in. Until she let me prove I was worth keeping.

I pulled my bike up to the house and switched off the key, listening to the engine tick as it cooled. All I heard were birds chirping and wind rustling through the trees. Peaceful. Serene. The kind of quiet that made my skin itch because I knew it wouldn’t last.

My eyes scanned the yard. Chickens pecked around a small garden beside their coop, and I smiled. I’d seen the extensive gardens out back and wondered if she’d made this one specifically for them. Another sign of her softness. Her care for living things.

She was the fucking light to my dark. The balance I didn’t know I needed until I’d tasted her.

I swung my leg over the seat and walked toward the front porch. Halfway there, the door flew open and Cerberus came charging at me, teeth bared, hackles raised. The massive beast moved like a freight train, all muscle, fury, and protective instinct.

I stopped mid-step and waited for my queen to appear. When she didn’t come outside, I looked down at the snarling dog. Smart. She was making me work for it. Making me prove I was worth the effort.

“I guess that answers whether or not she’s pissed.”

I stood in the yard with my hands on my hips, staring at the house. The way I saw it, I had two choices. I could take a chance, walk forward, and risk having my balls ripped off by a hundred and fifty pounds of pissed-off Cane Corso. Or I could stand here and wait her out. Show her I wasn’t going anywhere. That I’d stay as long as it took.

Leaving wasn’t an option. Not now. Not ever. She was mine, and I’d sit on this fucking porch until I rotted if that was what it took to make her understand.

Taking a chance, I stepped forward. Cerberus lunged, and I jumped back, nearly falling on my ass. The dog’s jaws snapped inches from my thigh, close enough I could smell his breath. Feel the heat of his fury.

“Listen, boy, I’m sorry. I just need to go in there and apologize.”

The dog didn’t care about my apology. All he cared about was his mistress. Protecting her from the asshole who’d hurt her. He had no idea we were on the same page. That I’d die before I let anyone hurt her again. Including myself.