Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Hades
Diamond Creek, Nebraska...
The hospital corridor was quiet except for the thump of my boots as I made my way to his room. Apollo had just woken up and was asking questions Perseus didn’t have permission to answer.
It was late and visiting hours were almost over, but Patch, the Silver Shadows’ doctor, had secured authorization for me to stay as long as I needed.
“Go get Zeus,” Apollo hissed.
“I can’t leave you unprotected.”
“I’m in a fucking hospital,” he argued.
“I’ve got this, Pers. Go grab some coffee or something.”
Perseus nodded, and I slapped him on the back as he walked out the door, closing it behind him to give us privacy.
“Where the fuck is Zeus?”
“Texas,” I said with a heavy sigh.
“Fuck!” Apollo slammed his hand on the bed and winced. He grabbed the blanket and swept it off his legs. I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning back against the wall, and waited.
“Why the fuck won’t my legs move?”
“You were shot in the back, Lo,” I said quietly, waiting for his mind to catch up.
Apollo swallowed and closed his eyes. His chest rose and fell with each heavy breath as he processed what I’d said.
“Is it permanent?”
“We don’t know. It’ll take a few weeks for the swelling to go down. Until then, they can’t make an assessment unless you start moving on your own.”
“If I can’t walk, I can’t ride,” he said, his voice a harsh whisper. “If I can’t ride...” His words trailed off as he looked out the window, unwilling to voice his greatest fear.
“Men still ride even when they can’t walk, brother.”
“I can’t—”
“Bullshit!” I cut him off before he even got started. I’d known Apollo for a long time; I knew exactly where his mind went. “You’re the fucking chaplain. You don’t need to go on runs.”
“I need to pull my weight.”
“Brother, you keep us all sane and keep us from eating a fucking bullet. You pull your weight just fine, legs or no fucking legs.”
He closed his eyes and rested his head against the pillow. “I need to talk to Zeus. About Kronos.” His voice was somber, pained.
“We know.” I stepped closer to the bed and dropped into the chair Perseus had been sitting in when I walked in. “We know about Indie.”
“She had a good reason, Hades. I don’t know what it was, but I know that girl. She wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t have to.”
“Lo, I need to tell you some shit, and I need you to keep it together.”
“If Zeus hurt that girl, I’ll fucking kill him myself.”
“He didn’t hurt her. He wanted to. Even lunged for her when he found out.” I looked up at Apollo and smirked. “King fucking shot him in the shoulder.”
“Good. Fucker probably deserved it.” Apollo pinched the bridge of his nose. “What the fuck, Hades? Why’d she do it?”
I took a deep breath and told Apollo everything we knew about Kronos and his life before he started the Gods of Mayhem. Explained the name Nemesis and what he’d done. Even told him about Rhea and the way he’d used her to secure the treaty.
“Bullshit. I dug into him, Hades. I dug into all of them.”
“Morpheus has a computer guy. One of the best.”
“Nano is twenty-six fucking years old. He didn’t wipe that shit. The kid’s only been in the Brotherhood for what, a decade at most? No, someone else did that. Kronos would’ve had to have someone do it before that kid was even born.”
“Asclepius knew the truth.” Apollo’s eyes locked onto mine, hard and blazing with anger. “Not the shit about the Trick Pony or what he did to Indie. But he knew Kronos was in the Brotherhood. Knew he was lying to Rhea all these years.”
“She’ll never forgive him. Either of them. Does she know?”
“She knows he’s gone. King brought the women back a few days ago, and she went home with Zeus. Diana and Irene went with them.”
“What about the kids?”
I blew out a breath and stood to pace the room. “Diana’s kids are wild cards. Their loyalty is with the Silver Shadows. Mimic is a patched brother, and Kytten is the VP’s old lady.”
“Rhea will want a funeral. She’ll want her grandkids there.”
“Zeus wants a funeral. Right now, only the officers know the truth. What and when he tells the rest of the club, I don’t know.”
“This is some bullshit,” Apollo cursed.
“I know, brother, but King’s old man has the proof.
At least the proof of Kronos’ involvement in the Trick Pony.
And the Society.” I turned to face my friend.
Apollo was a few years younger than me, but like Zeus and the rest of the officers, all except Atlas, we grew up together.
We were brothers before we prospected and joined the club.
“I think my old man knew.”
“Fuck,” Apollo said.
“I don’t know how much, and I don’t know if he was involved in that shit, but if he was, Lo...”
“Yeah. I know, brother.”
The nurse came in, cutting our conversation short. She checked Apollo’s vitals, and when Perseus returned, I said goodbye and walked down the hall to see Eros. He wasn’t an officer but given everything we’d learned and his relationship with Ravage, Zeus and I decided to tell him the truth.
Eros wasn’t a brother you kept secrets from. Zeus had offered him an enforcer patch, and he’d turned it down.
Now we knew why.
Eros was a member of F.I.R.E. A group that got called in when someone needed to be taken out. Someone no one else could get close to.
All four members of F.I.R.E. sustained injuries in the war.
Ravage, aka Jackson Baudelaire, who we’d recently found out was Zeus’ cousin, had taken a hit saving his woman and King’s after the Death Dogs kidnapped them.
King, not wanting to risk him further, had sent him away before the most recent attack on the clubhouse.
An attack during which the Brotherhood of Bastards’ member Firestride, Disturbed member Indigo, and Eros all became targets before someone took the first shot at the clubhouse.
For years, F.I.R.E. had worked in anonymity. Navigator, a brother in the Silver Shadows, was their handler. The jobs came through him, and he dispatched one or all of them depending on the skills each job required.
Someone out there knew who they were. I was a cynical son of a bitch and would’ve thought Nav had turned on his brothers, seeing as he was the only one who made it through the fighting intact.
But when the dust settled, we learned his father, Cerberus, had locked him in a fucking room when the fighting started to keep him safe.
I took a deep breath and opened the door to Eros’ room. Hydros looked up, his face grim.
“How is he?” I asked, glancing at Eros. His eyes were closed, his breathing slow and even.
“He’s lying right here. Ask him your fucking self.”
I shook my head with a grin. “I thought you were asleep, asshole.”
“Can’t fucking sleep in here. The constant beeping is like a fucking dripping faucet. I’m going insane.”
Hydros stood from his seat and whispered, “Good luck, VP,” before he slipped into the hall.
“Indigo?” Eros asked, opening his eyes to look at me.
“He’ll be okay. He’s as pissed as you are.” I took the seat Hydros vacated. “Did you see who did it?”
“No. One minute I was talking to Indigo, wondering who the fuck called us there, and the next I was staring at blood spreading across my stomach.”
“I think Indigo knows, but he’s keeping quiet about it.”
Eros nodded. I knew he’d find the fucker who shot them both, but he’d never tell me or Zeus who it was. We’d learned to accept Eros’ secrets.
“What about Firestride? I would’ve expected him to show. If he didn’t...”
“He never made it out of his room. Morpheus found him. He’s critical, brother. I’m sorry.”
“I need to get out of this fucking hospital.”
“Doctor said two more days. But I need to talk to you. Some shit went down.”
Eros whipped his head toward me. “What shit?” he asked, his voice low and deadly.
His eyes shifted from concern to cold and calculating. Eros was a scary son of a bitch. All those times he’d disappeared without a word, only to show up weeks, sometimes months later with no explanation. Now that we knew why, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be the one to break this news.
“Did Kronos know? About F.I.R.E. and the ink on your chest?”
“No. No one knew who F.I.R.E. was except the four of us, Nav and his dad.”
“Well, someone knew because you were all targeted.”
“Is Nav—?” Eros asked, trying to sit up.
“Nav’s fine. Cerberus locked him in a closet when the fighting started.”
The corner of Eros’ mouth twitched. “I bet he was pissed.”
“He beat the hell out of the old man once he got free,” I said with a chuckle.
The room went quiet, and Eros studied me. “Just fucking tell me.”
“Kronos is dead.”
“Fuck,” he whispered. “How? Who did it?”
I rubbed the back of my neck and stood to pace the room, feeling like a trapped animal as I searched for words to ease the blow. Eros looked up to Kronos. He’d joined the club without prospecting after saving Kronos’ life in a bar fight.
“Indie killed him.”
“What? Why?”
“Brother, I’m about to tell you something and I need you to keep it contained. I know what you’re capable of, and I need you to remember you got shot in the gut a few days ago and you’re still healing.”
“Tell. Me.”
“I also need you to know that Zeus didn’t know fucking shit about any of it. Neither did I. We still haven’t told Rhea, and Zeus isn’t sure he wants her to know at all.”
“Fucking tell me, Hades.”
And I did. I told him everything, my eyes locked on his face as I shared every disgusting truth we’d learned about Kronos. When I reached the part about Kronos being in the Brotherhood and what his road name was, Eros shut down and told me to get the fuck out.
When I tried to talk him down, the look he gave me sent a chill down my spine. I nodded and turned toward the door. As I opened it, Eros called out, “Hades.”
I turned to look at my brother. I knew in that moment, we’d lost him. Whether for good or not, I wasn’t sure. But he wouldn’t be returning to Texas with us.
“Take Hydros with you. He walks back into this room, he won’t be walking out.”
“Brother,” I pleaded.
“I mean it.”
I studied him for a moment before nodding and closing the door behind me. Hydros stood against the wall across from me. “Let’s go.”
He looked at the door to Eros’ room, then back at me. He nodded and fell in line behind me as I walked down the hall to the elevator. The space went silent as I punched the button for the ground floor.
Perseus was with Apollo, but I texted him, anyway, and told him to stay away from Eros.
My brother had some shit to work out, maybe more than the rest of us.
He was close to Kronos. Closer than the others.
And knowing Kronos was the man who raped his friend’s woman when she was only sixteen years old? That was tough for anyone.
But in the MC, we weren’t just brothers. We weren’t just family.
We were one.
You come after one of us, you come after all of us.
You hurt one of us, you hurt all of us.
We were the Gods of Mayhem.
The gods envied us. They envied us because we were mortal, because any moment might be our last.
And with our last fucking breath, you can be damn sure we’ll all come after your ass for vengeance.