Chapter 20 Hades
Hades
I only take two steps before Serapina starts to slip beneath the water.
Her exhaustion came on fast, leaving her a bit delirious in the end.
That’s not surprising. She’s an Omega who is about to go into heat, and while not all Omegas experience this level of extreme tiredness, I’m not at all shocked that it’s impacting her in this way.
She’s an extraordinary case.
And with that come extraordinary reactions.
I bend to lift Serapina from the bath, her petite form instantly curling into me as I begin to purr. She’s soaking through my suit, but I don’t care. She can’t sleep in the bath, or she’ll drown. So I carry her to the bed, where I manifest a warm towel to lay her on.
I create a second one to run over her damp limbs to thoroughly dry her, then conjure up a sleep gown for her to wear. It’s golden silk, reminding me of her hair.
She doesn’t stir as I pull the sleepwear on, though her nipples harden beneath the fabric as I tug it down to her hips. I try to ignore the view, but it’s difficult. She’s just so fucking beautiful.
And so different from Persephone, I think, an uneasy feeling stirring in my gut.
I’ve spent two thousand years being devoted to one Omega. The only time I deviated was when I watched Maliki fuck. But I never touched or indulged in the experience. Just watched.
It fed a foreign part of my soul, one I chose not to acknowledge until recently. When I asked Maliki to kiss my wife…
I swallow, my gaze running over Serapina once more.
She looks so soft. So beautiful. So deceptively fragile.
Oh, she’s absolutely breakable in her human form. But she possesses a warrior’s spirit. Which is utterly bizarre because Persephone wasn’t a fighter.
Which again has me wondering if my mate was truly reincarnated.
Thus, her soul is mine.
But this version of her is not.
I tuck her hair behind her ear. The ends are damp from her ten-second bath. They’ll dry. However, I help speed that along by patting them with the towel. Then I lift her again and set her more firmly in the center of the bed and grab one of the blankets to drape over her.
After firmly tucking her in, I pick up the towels and discard them in the bathroom.
With a low whistle, I call for Ossa and her brothers. They appear in a heartbeat, our connection resolute. “Guard my Omega,” I tell the trio. “Alert me immediately if there are any issues.” There shouldn’t be any, as this maze is the best-protected creation of my existence.
But Serapina may wake up scared or confused, and I’ll need to mist back to reassure her.
Though, I hope she sleeps. She’s going to need it for the heat to come.
I give in to the need to admire her again, my gaze observing as her chest lifts and falls as she succumbs to a deeper sleep. My purr is likely a source of contentment for her, which I use as an excuse to linger a little longer.
However, after several minutes, it’s clear that she’s lost to her dreams now.
So I leave her to go clean up the living area.
Once done, I stop in one final time, just to see if she’s moved.
She hasn’t.
Though, my beast has settled onto the foot of the bed, their three heads resting on the mattress as they guard my sleeping mate.
Fortunately, they’re facing away from her, their focus seeming to be on me in the doorway.
“Try not to scare her when she wakes up,” I say softly. “She doesn’t know you like I do yet.”
Ossa snorts, almost as if to say, “And whose fault is that, hmm?”
I ignore her and look pointedly at Mort and Howl. “If you want to play fetch, use balls, not skulls.”
They look at each other in a way that suggests they’re confused by my request, but I feel them agree via our connection.
Meanwhile, Ossa basically rolls her eyes.
“I mean it,” I say. “Be gentle.”
She huffs, and I’m pretty sure she’s saying, “We’ve got it. Now fuck off.”
Sighing, I do just that and mist back to the palace where I sense Maliki’s presence. He has no idea that I marked him. It wasn’t exactly intentional. I really just wanted Morpheus to leave my best friend alone. But I suspect Maliki isn’t going to see it that way.
And honestly, I probably should acknowledge that my mark went a lot deeper than a simple charm.
I essentially claimed him as part of my mate-circle.
Which… I didn’t fully realize or accept at the time. But I understand it now. And I’m prepared to—
A fist flies at my nose as Maliki materializes in front of me, his fury a whiplash that has me misting backward just before contact.
Only, the asshole anticipated my movement, as evidenced by the knife now lodged in my fucking back. “Maliki.”
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” he says. Then saunters off down the corridor like he didn’t just fucking stab me.
I’m about to go after him when a series of electric currents hums through my veins, telling me he laced the blade with some sort of venom.
Fuck.
“What the fuck?” I demand, my knees giving out.
“You stabbed me in the back, so I returned the favor,” he informs me from what sounds like far away as my vision begins to black out.
It’s only a momentary blindness, but it’s enough to infuriate me.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” I snap. Or try to, anyway. My voice is a bit hoarse. And what is he going on about, saying I did this to him? “I never stabbed you.”
“It’s an idiom,” he drawls, his voice stronger now as he crouches in front of me.
That’s when I realize his hit has sent me to the damn floor.
And I’m flat on my stomach.
“Also a metaphor, I guess,” he adds, his head cocking to the side. “It means you betrayed me. So I physically returned the favor. As I said ten minutes ago—hurts, doesn’t it?”
Ten minutes ago?
Fuck.
I must have blacked out longer than I realized.
Hence my placement on the floor.
But the knife appears to be gone.
“Now get up and take me to Serapina,” Maliki commands.
I huff a laugh. “Not going to do that.” Not after you fucking stabbed me, asshole.
Yet I’m oddly aroused by his violence. It isn’t because I want to fuck him, but because it confirms my decision to claim him for Serapina.
He truly is the ideal mate for my circle.
He’ll protect Serapina from every threat imaginable—including me.
Which will be important if she doesn’t want me to see her through her heat. I meant what I said about locking myself away. But on the chance I find a way out of the box, he’ll need to be able to take me down.
I’ll have to provide him with the tools to do so. However, he just proved he won’t even hesitate to follow through.
Because Serapina has his loyalty now.
Just as she should as our mate.
“That wasn’t the right answer, Hades,” Maliki says in a silky tone.
I mist to my room before he can stab me again, then mist a second time to his room, just in case he’s trying to anticipate me again.
And finally return to the hallway on my feet rather than on the floor, and grab his wrist before he can stick another knife in me.
Except the clever fae was apparently ready for that, as evidenced by the stinging sensation climbing up my arm.
I release his wrist with a curse, belatedly realizing he put on some sort of silver-studded bracelet—laced with more venom. “Maliki.”
“You pissed me off,” he says conversationally. “So I found some extra slug venom.” He smiles as my knees give out. “But because I need you to be coherent, I didn’t use too much. Now take me to Sera.”
“I can’t,” I grit out. “Not yet.”
He cants his head. “Meaning what, exactly?”
“Meaning we have to talk first.”
“Talk,” he repeats, like the word is foreign to him. “Fancy that. You could have talked to me about an escape plan, but didn’t. Could have fucking mentioned a maze built to torture your mate, too. But no. You kept me in the dark.”
I wince, and it has nothing to do with the venom humming through my veins.
“I didn’t intentionally keep you in the dark, Maliki,” I growl.
“Fuck, you’re my best friend. I just… I didn’t…
” I wince again, this time from the pain echoing up my arm from my fingertips. “I didn’t think… it would be needed.”
Darkness overwhelms me again, the venom winning as I crash into the floor once more.
But this time when I come to, I’m on my back and Maliki is standing over me. “Best friend?” he says, arching a brow. “I’m your best friend?”
“Well, you were until you fucking stabbed me,” I mutter, my tongue feeling so damn heavy that it’s hard to speak, let alone talk.
“You’re going to have to repeat that, as I didn’t understand it,” he says, folding his arms.
It’s then that I realize he’s dressed in assassin leathers—black pants, a tactical vest, and boots.
“Fuck, you look ready for war,” I grumble, my hand coming up to touch my pounding head. “I’d kill anyone else in this position. You know that, right?”
“Still can’t understand you.”
I glare. “Liar.” My tongue is already back to its normal size, which means my words are more than coherent.
And the grin he gives me confirms it.
“Asshole,” I add.
He shrugs. “You pissed me off.”
“You said that already.”
“It was worth repeating.” He holds out a hand.
I eye it warily. “I’m not falling for another one of your tricks.”
He grunts. “I’m done torturing you for now.” He wiggles his fingers. “Best friend.”
Fuck, I’m never living that down. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
“Oh, that ship has sailed.”
“Your mortal idioms are tiresome,” I inform him. Because that one I’ve heard.
“Your lackluster communication is tiresome,” he returns.
I sigh. “Fair.”
“Not nearly,” he replies, bending down to grab me by the shirt to yank me upright. “I want you to take me to Sera.”
“I told you I would—after we talk.”
“So talk,” he demands.
Ignoring him, I mist to my room for a much-needed drink.
He shadows after me.
“Stab me again and I will consider taking you to the death world,” I warn him from the bar area.
Maliki snorts at that. “Sounds like a date, best friend.”
I roll my eyes and grab a bottle of bloodpagne. I don’t ask if he wants a glass, just pour us both one and hand it to him when I turn around.
He takes it despite not really caring for the liquid. “Are we celebrating our friendship?” he asks, a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.
My teeth clench. “I think we’re celebrating our mate-circle.”