Chapter 13 The Hunter
THE HUNTER
KHARON
The world hissed as rain poured down, mud gathering beneath my knees.
Gunshots echoed, Titans screeched, chains rattled, and Augustus grunted as he fought behind me.
Soaked to the bone, pain throbbed across the fresh wound on the left side of my head.
All that mattered was her.
Alexis Hert was lying in the muddy grass covered in blood, looking ruined and ethereal.
My wife is injured.
It was nothing short of devastating.
With perfect precision, I stitched my ear to the side of her head.
In, out, in, out.
Fixing Alexis was the only thing of consequence.
The fucking Titan had sliced her ear into pieces, and I had a perfectly good one that she could use. It was that simple.
I was also no stranger to stitching appendages back on. I’d lost fingers, toes, and even an entire hand once in battle.
Spartans couldn’t regenerate anything that was hard tissue, like appendages and limbs, but we could fuse.
If you stitched an injury within a few hours of receiving it, our bodies would re-heal the damaged appendage, and the same applied to the body parts donated from other Spartans.
My wife’s body was going to accept my ear. It didn’t have a fucking choice.
Hell and Hound prowled protectively around us, flame eyes flickering, ready to maul anyone who dared approach.
A Titan screeched close by, but I didn’t turn and look.
Augustus would handle it. I trusted him with my life, and hers.
But when the fuck did the Titans start mutating into bats?
I finished the last stitches as Alexis drifted in and out of consciousness.
Rain splattered across bronzed skin, and her golden curls were a tangled halo around her head as she lay in a muddy puddle of pink.
Even for a Spartan, even for a Chthonic, she’d suffered grievous injuries, and yet she was somehow still breathing.
I’d never seen anything like it.
She’d single-handedly fought off two Titans that could fucking fly. It was mind-boggling.
Achilles and Patro were also missing, which meant they’d abandoned her.
If they aren’t already dead, they will be soon.
Alexis gasped brokenly and I used the hem of my shirt to wipe away the gore around her ear.
Tracing my finger over the stitches, I inspected it closely for signs of rejection—the pale skin color was already turning bronze. Her body was accepting it.
I could do nothing but kneel beside my wife as I waited, shaking, my tears mixing with rain.
Alexis rolled onto her side and coughed jerkily.
My heart stopped as I stared down at the damage on her back. It was so much worse than I’d initially thought—skin flapped unattached and the white knobby bones of her spine were visible. Her back was torn to absolute shreds.
There wasn’t enough skin to even pretend to stitch up.
“Don’t move!” I ripped my shirt off and pressed the fabric against her ruined flesh.
“Shut u-up.” Alexis struggled in the mud.
I tried to stand to stop her, but I slipped and fell to the ground with a grunt. The Titan we’d captured in South America had left talon marks through my thighs, and for some reason my back was also hurting. I had more wounds than I’d realized.
“How—” Alexis coughed as she turned her head. “You know … come … here?”
Rain dripped from her long lashes.
“We were always coming back for you.”
Hell and Hound sat down next to her, whining as they nuzzled at her side.
It didn’t escape my notice that neither of them were worried about helping me.
Alexis laughed weakly, her ruined back shaking. “Good … doggies.”
The deadly class six beasts wagged their bony tails, preening under her attention, licking her face as she giggled.
Alexis coughed, blood dripping from her lips. “Save … yourself … leave … me.”
Our mud-covered faces were inches apart.
Something dark and sinister awoke inside me. “Do you know who I am?” I asked.
Her gaze darted to the bloody side of my head, and she blanched.
We were physically connected, forever.
Perfect.
“I’m yours,” I said as the rain roared around us. “You can break my legs, but I’ll still crawl after you. If you’re injured, I will carve myself to pieces to make you whole … every … single … time. This is not a temporary arrangement. We will be together. Forever. Or I’ll be dead.”
Two-colored eyes widened.
“Do you understand what I’m saying, princess?”
Her breath hitched.
“Tell me that you don’t feel it.” I leaned closer—our mouths touched. There was nothing sexual about the kiss; it was all possession and rage. “If you don’t feel it, I’ll give up,” I whispered against her lips. “I’ll still protect you, but I’ll stop … trying.”
I breathed in, inhaling her, like a dying man.
Her pupils dilated.
“I … feel it,” she said quietly. “But it d-doesn’t … mean anything.”
I opened my mouth against hers, tongue sweeping out. Devouring.
Her tongue fought back.
“What the fuck is wrong with you two?” Augustus shouted. “Why do I keep finding you like this? You’re both kissing as you bleed out?”
I dropped her chin like it burned.
Long seconds passed as Augustus studied us in the rain. His hair was drenched, sticking to his arms and back like a second skin, and Poco sat on his shoulder shivering.
He shook his head. “Can either of you stand?”
“No,” I said, at the same time Alexis whispered, “Maybe.”
We glared at each other.
Augustus took a deep steadying breath. “None of us are in any shape to leap—we have to get to a safe house.”
There was a loud whine, then a monstrous creature nuzzled Alexis’s face.
I reached for my gun.
“Don’t … Fluffy Jr.”
I gaped at the white beast, which now had the build and height of a small horse, but the body of a dog. A strange lump protruded from its back.
“What the fuck happened to him?” Augustus asked, aghast.
“Just … growing.”
Great, my wife is a lunatic.
Before I could lecture her on animal safety, Augustus nodded like he was steeling himself for something.
“Let’s go,” he said. “I know a safe house in this city—I’ll carry you both.”
Alexis looked at the three Titans chained around his waist with disbelief.
I nodded in agreement. The House of Ares was the House of War for a reason. Its heirship was earned through unfathomable pain and endurance.
A few minutes later, mud splattered as Augustus stomped forward.
He held Alexis against his chest bridal style, I leaned against his arm for support, and chains clattered as he dragged three Titans behind him.
Alexis mumbled as she lulled in and out of consciousness.
Augustus didn’t falter. A muscle in his jaw ticked, the only sign that he was in pain, as he continued to stalk forward, a stoic behemoth.
When we made it to the edge of the grassy park, two figures stepped forward in the rain, blocking us.
Augustus clutched Alexis tighter to his chest.
I grabbed my gun.
“What are you doing with her?” an elderly woman demanded. Her chest was drenched in blood and she swayed like she was seconds away from passing out.
“Lucia, be careful. They’re Spartans,” an old man warned her.
“I don’t care what they are.” She glared at me. “Where are you taking her?” Her voice warped strangely in my missing ear.
Augustus gaped down at her.
Humans didn’t approach Spartans. Ever.
“Excuse me?” I asked, stunned by her hubris.
Another woman stepped up next to her and pointed at Alexis. “She saved us—so what are you doing with her? Answer the question. We won’t let you hurt her.”
I chuckled sarcastically. “She’s our wife. She’s none of your concern.”
More people sidled forward, standing behind the idiots blocking our path. They crossed their arms and scowled up at me like I was the problem, not one of the men who’d just saved her.
“Move aside.” I raised my gun.
I’d mow them down for the audacity of thinking they had a right to her.
“Put your weapon away.” Augustus’s voice was clipped as he shook his head at me.
The world hissed in the downpour as I slowly lowered my weapon but didn’t re-holster.
Fine, I’ll just kill them all with my bare hands.
Augustus cleared his throat, tension melting off his face, as he donned his mask—the nice guy, the eldest heir, the leader.
“Don’t worry, folks.” His voice rang with sincerity as he addressed the growing crowd.
Dozens more people spilled out from side streets and buildings to block our path. Where the fuck did all these humans come from?
There were so many of them. It was disgusting.
“On my honor as the eldest heir of the House of Ares,” Augustus said. “I promise that I’m taking Alexis Hert, heiress to the House of Hades, to get medical treatment. No harm will come to her under our care. I solemnly swear, she is ours to protect.”
Forever.
The elderly woman huffed as she peered at my missing ear suspiciously.
I glared back.
She frowned. “She’s better than the rest of your Spartan lot—you never care about us. Not like she did … She’s different.”
She made the sign of the cross with her gnarled finger.
“Angelus Romae,” a man called out from the crowd, his voice shaking like he was addressing someone of greatest esteem.
The Angel of Rome.
Augustus bowed his head respectfully.
The crowd parted for him, and as we walked forward, humans of all ages reached out and lightly touched Alexis.
They spit on the bound Titans, and a few even kicked them.
Cameras flashed.
“Angelus Romae!” Humans chanted with hero worship as we moved forward. Instead of dispersing, people flooded out of crumbling buildings, lining the rainy streets.
Skin prickling as I limped forward, I studied Alexis’s features.
The humans weren’t wrong.
Even in the rain, her golden hair curled around her head like a halo. She looked like the paintings of their divine creatures.
The problem was the humans were calling her their angel, and I’d claimed her first; the only person I’d share with was Augustus.
Everyone else could go choke.
I bared my teeth to the crowd, growling with my hellhounds at anyone who touched her.
The chant grew louder, and the urge to scream at them to shut the fuck up increased.
For now, the humans could pretend she was their hero.
They would learn.
At the end of the cobbled street, a loud crack echoed. Smoke billowed.
A figure stood in the ruins of a townhome. Fresh blood was smeared across the brick wall, sheltered from the rain by a broken slab of concrete.
We halted.
Augustus clutched Alexis tighter against his chest and she grumbled incoherently.
The figure walked forward out of the shadows.
“How dare you show your face here!” Augustus shouted, his face twisting with fury.
Achilles took a step toward us, eyes wide as he stared at Alexis. Rain dripped off his muzzle.
“You abandoned her.” Blood streaked down Augustus’s face, washing away in the rain. “You left her TO DIE!”
Achilles took a guilty step back, shoulders rounding.
Augustus straightened to his full height, the sharp planes of his face ruthless and unforgiving. “You disgust me, brother.”
Crack.
Achilles leapt away, eyes haunted with regret.
He deserved far worse.