Chapter 5
Hades
The way Serapina stiffens in my arms tells me that I’ve done something wrong.
She was relaxed. Content. I dare to even believe that she temporarily felt safe.
But I’ve ruined that somehow.
Something she proceeds to prove by pressing a palm to my chest to push me away. “Stop purring,” she demands, making me frown. “Just. Stop.”
I do what she commands, though I can’t help asking, “Why?” Because it’s a strange request for an Omega to make. An Alpha’s purr is meant to soothe, which she seems to need. She’s upset and tired, and rightly overwhelmed. I simply want to help.
“Because you’re making me dizzy,” she says, her hands going to her head. “I feel fuzzy, and I need to think.”
I frown. “My purr makes you dizzy?” That doesn’t seem right. But then, nothing about my Omega is what it should be.
From her strange estrous cycle to her reactions to me as her Alpha mate, everything is different. She is different.
My frown deepens as another thought nags at me. Orcus was right. He told me that Serapina wasn’t Persephone, and he knew that after only a few minutes in her presence. He advised me to do the same, but I refused.
And now I realize his advice was given with true purpose.
Everything about Serapina is unique, including the fire in her gaze now as she looks up at me and meets my stare directly.
“You told Maliki his life depended on how much I enjoyed his pleasure.” She utters the words slowly, like she’s trying to ensure she understands. “You… you forced him to please me, just so you could determine if I’ve been lying. Because my word wasn’t good enough.”
“That’s not quite—”
“You put me in a vulnerable position,” she goes on. “Forced him to give me my first…” She clears her throat, her expression contorting with an emotion I don’t like.
Pain.
Fury.
Sadness.
“I’m not Persephone,” she grits out. “I’ve never lied to you.
Yet you feel it’s your right to betray me—hurt me—because I harbor Persephone’s soul.
You’re punishing me for her sins. And I think, no, I know, I can accept that.
But to punish Maliki, too?” She takes a step back and shakes her head. “That’s not fair.”
I move toward her, the water meeting my back as I shield her from the overhead spray. She cowers—fucking cowers—and shrinks back against the wall.
I nearly growl in frustration. This has all gone horribly wrong.
Morpheus’s previous comments start to beat through my skull, his reminders that we don’t treat Omegas this way. His chastisements about not talking to Serapina. His demands that I fix this.
Yet all I’ve done is make this worse.
When Serapina’s gaze falls to the marbled floor of the shower, I wince.
“Serapina, I’m not going—”
“Stars, is that blood?” she asks, her eyes widening.
“What?” I glance down, my frown returning. “Oh. Yes. Dried blood.” I try to look over my shoulder, which is an idiotic move since I can’t see my lower back. But I’m feeling very out of sorts at the moment. Very un-Alpha-like, too.
Clearing my throat, I shake my head and try to regain control of the situation.
This is my soulmate. I… I can, no, I will, fix this.
“Reaper stabbed me,” I explain, wanting to be forthcoming and choosing this as a way to be truthful with her. To try to talk to her. “I forgot about it, as it’s already healed, but that’s actually why I came in to shower—to wash off the blood.”
She gapes up at me. “Oh, fae, is Reaper okay?”
And I’m frowning again. “Is Reaper okay?” I echo back at her. Did she not understand what I said? “He stabbed me.” There. That should be clearer.
“Yes, I heard that part. Is he okay?”
My brow furrows. “You’re worried about Reaper? When I’m the one who was wounded?” That doesn’t make any sense.
“Did you punish him?” she asks, her soft tone holding a note of caution to it, one that has me realizing her concern is founded on her perception of me. Of what I’ve done to her. Of what she believes I did to Maliki.
Fuck. “No,” I snap and move away from her to run my fingers through my hair.
I knew things between us were distorted and wrong. But this? It’s far worse than I realized.
And it’s all my fault.
I whisper a curse and step beneath the spray, letting it wash over me as I try to figure out how to recover from this.
Movement causes my focus to return to Serapina as she starts to tiptoe around me.
“Please don’t leave,” I say, suddenly feeling more exhausted than I have in a very long time. “I didn’t punish Reaper, nor was I punishing Maliki. Actually, if anything, I was rewarding Maliki by letting him touch you.”
Because I knew he wanted to. And he needed me to essentially demand he do so in order to feel allowed to act on his desires.
“I would never force Maliki to do something he didn’t want to do. Actually, I’m fairly certain I can’t force him to do a damn thing. He may respect me as his friend, but he has no problem telling me to fuck off when I overstep.”
In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s been doing that a lot over the last year where Serapina is concerned.
“He likes you,” I go on. “And for months he’s been saying you’re not pretending or lying. I stubbornly believed my mate had deceived him just as she’d done to me. So I chose to engage her—you—in a game. One I now realize has caused significant harm.”
Serapina slowly turns to face me, her gaze guarded.
It’s a look that physically undoes me.
Because I’ve earned that expression. And I fucking hate what I’ve done.
She’s an Omega. She deserves to be cherished. Yet all I’ve done is frighten her and make her think the worst of me.
“It’s not an excuse, but I truly believed you were Persephone and merely pretending not to remember me.” The words come out bitter because I’m still struggling to accept that I was wrong, that my soulmate isn’t actually staring back at me right now.
But the proof is irrefutable.
She’s not Persephone.
However, she is my soulmate.
Which means she deserves to understand my motives and what I originally intended to do.
“I was trying to punish Persephone in my own way,” I admit.
“That’s why I re-created our engagement announcement and even went as far as to plan a replica of our first wedding.
It was meant to remind her of who we once were, while the environment around us showed her who we had become—as a result of her deception. ”
I’ve had millennia to prepare for her return. Never did I consider that the version of her wouldn’t be the one I once knew.
“I’ve been hunting her soul for over two thousand years,” I confide softly.
“I knew she wasn’t truly gone. I felt her.
Sensed her in every breath. Knew she was somewhere I couldn’t touch.
And when I finally found her—found you—with Demeter, I assumed you were a reincarnated version of my mate, all memories intact. ”
It was an intelligent assumption.
But a wrong one.
“This is all unprecedented, Serapina.” I run my fingers through my hair. “You’re mine. I feel in my heart and soul that you are my mate. Yet that mating call you unleashed earlier says otherwise.” It should have been impossible. However, that’s exactly what happened.
Which provided even more proof that Serapina may possess my mate’s soul, but she isn’t Persephone. And she isn’t truly mine, either.
A fact I’m refusing to accept.
Because it makes no sense.
I feel our connection thriving between us. Though, I don’t think she feels anything at all.
Except fear. And maybe disgust.
She thought I meant to punish Maliki by forcing him to please her. Then she showed concern for Reaper…
Fuck, this female doesn’t understand me at all.
My jaw ticks. “I—”
“Morpheus said,” she starts, interrupting what I was about to say. “Oh, sorry. I, er, I thought you were done. Never mind.”
“If anyone needs to apologize here, it’s me, Serapina. I realize I’ve not been the best communicator and I’ve failed you in a lot of ways, but despite what you’ve witnessed, I do know how to be a good Alpha.” Of course, it’s going to take me some time to prove that to her.
But I have to start somewhere.
May as well begin with this.
“What did Morpheus say?” It has to be one of the hardest questions I’ve ever asked anyone. Because I don’t truly want to know what my cousin said to my mate. However, it matters to Serapina, and therefore, it matters to me.
“He said I basically informed the Alphas that I’m unclaimed, but I don’t understand how I did that. Was it… because I moaned?” Her cheeks turn red, but she doesn’t look away from me as she adds, “When I climaxed, I mean?”
Her words evoke a memory of said climax, causing my knot to pulse in response.
Because fuck. She was stunning. Unique. New.
It almost felt wrong to react to her in such a way. She’s mine… and yet… not.
I haven’t touched anyone in over two thousand years. Persephone was my everything, my life. Now her soul is standing before me as someone I don’t know.
Is it wrong to crave Serapina? To watch her come undone again, all while knowing she’s not my Persephone?
I swallow, unsure of how to feel about this growing conundrum.
So I focus on what she just asked me instead.
And do my job as her Alpha.
“Your aura emitted a call to all of Alpha kind in this dimension,” I explain. “It wasn’t a sound or anything you actively did. It was your Omega soul crying out for a mate. Because you’re going to go into heat soon and you’re going to need a knot.”
She looks a little unsteady. “Okay. And what… what does that actually mean? Morpheus said the Alphas were hunting me. Did they hunt Alina, too?”
I take a step toward her as she sways. “How about this,” I say slowly. “I’ll explain everything, answer all your questions, while I wash your hair, okay?” I really just want a reason to touch her, to try to calm her. It’s an intrinsic need, one driven by my inner beast.
She’s an Omega in distress.
All I want to do is purr for her, but she told me not to.
“Please,” I add, feeling a little desperate. “I know I haven’t earned the right to touch you, but it should help a little.”
“Help what?” she asks, her voice quiet. “I don’t even understand what’s happening.”
“Your inner Omega is awakening,” I tell her. “This happens when an Omega is ready to take a mate and procreate. But your situation is unpredictable and rare. And, honestly, it’s also unknown.”
Because the only two beings in existence with answers are Demeter and Persephone. The former isn’t talking. And the latter, well, she doesn’t remember.
Knowing that serves as a kick to my heart. I thought I’d found my mate, that she was playing some sort of deceitful game for months, only to realize that this isn’t Persephone.
It’s Serapina.
She stares up at me with big blue eyes, so different from the dark ones I used to look into, and blinks long blonde lashes when I cup her cheek.
“We’re going to protect you,” I promise her. “Maliki and I, I mean. Maybe my cousin, too. Regardless, I need you to know you’re safe. Those Alphas can’t touch you here.”
Her nose scrunches. “You mean your brother, right? Orcus?”
“Well, him, too. But no. I was referring to Morpheus. He’s my cousin.”
The way her eyes widen tells me she didn’t know that detail.
Which only makes me feel worse.
Because there is so much she doesn’t know. I made far too many assumptions where Serapina is concerned.
“We’re going to need to start over,” I tell her, sighing. “If that’s even possible.” I run my thumb along her cheekbone, my gaze holding hers. “Hi. My name is Hades. And I’m your intended mate.”