Page 95 of The Alpha’s Heir

Persephone.

“My favorite stories.” Her pretty smile seemed to hold something wicked in it as she winked. “I adore a good forbidden romance.”

The beastly male beside them sniffed the air, turning his glowing eyes on the road we’d just come from.

Kera bravely stepped closer, claws extending that she twisted to hide behind her back. “What do you want with us?”

“We came to visit.” Hades spread out his arms, laughing to ease the tension. “It’s been years since we walked among the graveyard pack.”

Bright lights swept the cobblestone street as a vehicle came careening down the road. My pulse thudded in my ears when I saw it was Staff Sgt. Marcus in the Jeep.

“Go. I’ll take care of them.” Kera nodded at me, stepping to the side and drawing the gods closer to the pack. “You’ll have to excuse our rushed welcome. We seem to be dealing with some strange weather lately.”

Kera sucked at the diplomatic bit, but she did make Hades chuckle, which was a terrifying sound in itself. I hoped her Beta Coral would help soon. But I didn’t have time to stick around and help.

Not that I wanted to meet the lord of the underworld in person.

I still hadn’t released Meg’s hand as I ran across the street to where Marcus was jumping out of the Jeep. In my gut, I knew I should let her go, but not yet. A few more seconds.

The beastly male that stood with Hades didn’t take his burning gaze off us.

“What happened?” I asked, relaxing a fraction when I saw Justus safely in the backseat.

But Marcus had wild eyes and a death grip on his rifle. “We need to go. Ethica lost power.”

“So?” I asked. We had measures in place for this, back-up generators—

“Lightning or something fried the power grid!” Marcus was already jogging backwards to the Jeep. “We’re leaving now, Lieutenant. I need to get Daisy.”

My stomach sank when the realization hit.

“I have to go back to Ethica.” I turned to Meg, face slipping into a mask of stone as I thought about what awaited us.

“I’m coming with you.” Meg didn’t hesitate.

“No, you should stay.” I tried to warn her, pulling her close as I breathed in her scent a final time, then forced myself to step away.

Marcus punched the horn.

“Didn’t you hear me about the mate bond? We stick together. Where you go, I go.” Meg pushed me off and started to run for the Jeep.

Fuck.

I didn’t have time to argue.

Because if what Marcus said was true, then we were heading back home to the apocalypse.

34

Meg

My first warning that something was seriously wrong was the eerie stillness as we drove straight through where the fence line should be without any buzz of it being shut down. Marcus had called on the radio for clearance, but we were told the fence the humans had to keep mutants—like me—out wasn’t working.

It was a weak defense, but all they had.

The second warning was the total quiet of the Fringes. I’d only been through here twice, but compared to the city of Ethica, the people in the Fringes were loud.

Pans crashed, doors slammed, and people yelled outside the broken, bar-lined windows of their homes that faced each other on the makeshift buildings clinging to the walls of Ethica like barnacles. The noise and constant movement created an orchestra of too many bodies too close together with sweat and life and poverty as their music notes.