Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Hades
“HADES,” Zeus yelled.
A silent groan rumbled through my chest at his voice. Fuck. I kissed the top of Lettie’s head and told her, “I’ll be right back, baby.”
She nodded, her focus on Apollo and his questions.
I gave him a hard look, letting him know that wheelchair or not, if he upset my girl, I’d kick his ass.
My jaw clenched. My hands flexed at my sides.
Violence simmered just beneath my skin, ready to explode if he made her uncomfortable.
If he pushed too hard. If he made her look at me the way she had when she’d run from the clubhouse last week.
He nodded, and I left her in his hands, knowing he wouldn’t leave until I came back.
She also had Cerberus by her side. She’d be safe.
That was what I kept telling myself as I made my way over to Zeus.
That was what I repeated like a fucking mantra even though my instincts screamed at me to go back.
To stay with her. To keep her in my sight every goddamn second.
“What?” I asked, looking between him and Isis. My blood was already heating, already preparing for whatever bullshit was about to come out of their mouths.
“Echo is sick.”
“So? What the fuck do I care?” The words came out harsher than I intended. Colder. But I didn’t give a shit. Echo meant nothing to me. Less than nothing. She was a warm body the club used and discarded. A whore who spread her legs for anyone with a patch.
“She’s asking for you,” Isis said.
I glared at the club whore. She was Zeus’ favorite, and if he wasn’t careful, she’d make his life hell.
She already had her eyes on his patch and thought she was queen bitch over the other whores.
Her voice grated against my skull like nails on a chalkboard.
Made my teeth ache. Made me want to wrap my hand around her throat and squeeze until she shut the fuck up.
She had a rude fucking awakening coming. Once I made Lettie my queen officially, she’d be in charge of the whores—well, at least until Zeus took on an old lady.
If he ever did.
Rhea had been harping on him for years about settling down and giving her a grandchild. Well, now she had two. And little Gus made three. Zeus had his legacy, provided the test came back in his favor. He might never settle down now.
Sure as shit, he’d never put his patch on a club whore.
“Tough fucking shit.”
“Hades, she has whatever you had last weekend. She must’ve caught it from you,” Isis whined.
The words hit me like a freight train. My mind spun.
Caught it from me? What the fuck was she talking about?
I hadn’t been sick. I’d been poisoned. By Lettie.
By my beautiful, territorial queen who’d served me tea laced with something that had me shitting my guts out for twenty-seven hours straight.
But Echo? How the fuck would she catch that?
Unless…
My thoughts scattered like startled birds. The possibility flickered through my mind. Sharp. Dangerous. Intoxicating. Lettie had poisoned me. That much was certain. But had she poisoned Echo, too?
The thought should’ve terrified me. Instead, it made my cock hard.
But I was getting ahead of myself. Echo could’ve caught something else. Could have been coincidence. Could have been that Isis was full of shit and Echo had just drunk too much and was nursing a hangover. People got sick all the time. It didn’t have to mean anything.
Except Lettie was territorial. She’d made that crystal fucking clear when she poisoned me. And Echo’s hands had been on my chest when Lettie walked in the door. She’d heard Echo trying to seduce me behind Lettie’s back.
My queen didn’t like that. I knew she didn’t.
But would she really poison Echo? Just like that? Without hesitation?
The answer terrified me because I already knew it. Yes. She would. She absolutely fucking would.
Fuck, she was perfect.
“She didn’t catch shit from me. I haven’t touched the bitch since before the funeral.”
Zeus watched me without a word. He leaned against the wall, letting Isis plead for Echo. The bastard was letting her have too much fucking say. His eyes tracked my face. Reading me. Calculating. He knew something was up. Could probably see the satisfaction I was trying to hide.
“Hades, she needs you.”
“Fuck off, Isis. I’ve got my old lady here. I’m not leaving her alone to sit and watch a whore puke.” The words tasted good on my tongue. Right. True. Lettie was mine. My old lady. My queen. And every person in this clubhouse needed to understand that.
“Old lady?” Isis snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. Her tits pushed up, trying to be seductive. Trying to remind me she was available. It did nothing but turn my stomach. “She told Echo you were only playing with her.”
“What?” My blood went cold. Then hot. Rage flooded through me. Sharp and violent and barely contained.
“Earlier tonight, she brought Echo a drink, apologized for taking you away, and assured her you’d get bored in a couple of weeks and then Echo could have you back.”
Zeus smirked, and I punched him on the shoulder. Hard enough to make him grunt. “Fuck off, both of you. Echo’s a fucking liar and you know it.”
But even as I said it, I knew it was true. Lettie had played Echo. Had smiled sweetly and apologized and handed her a poisoned drink while promising I’d come back. The cunning of it. The calculated cruelty. The absolute fucking brilliance.
My cock hardened more. Throbbed. Ached. I wanted to march back to that table, throw her over my shoulder, and fuck her until she understood exactly how much that turned me on.
“Echo didn’t tell me. She can barely talk—she’s throwing up so much. Gaia told me she was sitting right there.”
“It doesn’t matter who said what. Lettie is my old lady.”
Zeus lifted a brow, a silent question about the rules and bylaws. I nodded, confirming what he wanted to know. I’d be asking for a vote at the next church. If what I suspected were true, I’d be calling an emergency meeting in the morning to take that vote immediately.
Because if Lettie had poisoned Echo for touching me, if she’d looked that whore in the eye and smiled while handing her a drink that would make her sick as fuck, then she was already mine. Already claimed. Already wearing my mark even if it wasn’t visible yet.
“You’re not going to Echo?” Isis asked.
“What part of no don’t you fucking understand?
” I growled. My hands clenched into fists.
My jaw locked so tight my teeth ached. The violence inside me coiled tighter, ready to strike.
“She’s a whore, not my old lady. You’d all do best to remember that.
” I looked at Zeus. “You would do well to remember that, too.”
Zeus dropped the smirk and ground out, “Watch it, Hades.”
Isis smiled. The bitch was stupid if she thought that reproach meant anything other than the fact that Zeus didn’t like being told what to do. It had nothing to do with her. She was reading the situation all wrong, seeing what she wanted to see instead of what was actually there.
“I’m done here.” I turned to walk away and Isis grabbed my arm. Her fingers dug into my bicep. The touch made my skin crawl, made bile rise in my throat. “Bitch, I know you aren’t touching me.” Still, she didn’t let go.
“Echo needs you. She’s part of this family.”
“Isis, enough,” Zeus ordered.
“But, Zeus, he’s ignoring her for a woman he barely knows.”
I gave Zeus a hard look. Let him see the rage burning in my eyes. The barely contained violence. “Get your bitch under control, brother, or I’ll have her thrown out.”
Zeus glared back at me, and I knew I’d pay for the comment. It would only fuel Isis’ delusion about being his old lady. But I didn’t give a fuck. Not when Lettie was sitting across the room. Not when my queen was waiting for me. “Isis, get your fucking hand off him.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to make you jealous.”
Zeus snorted. “Go back to your woman.” As I walked away, I heard Zeus tearing into Isis, and not in the way that would have her moaning in pleasure.
“Get the fuck out of my face, Isis,” Zeus growled.
I smiled at his words. She fucked up accusing him of being jealous, but he fucked up by only fucking her. As I headed for the table where my old lady sat with Apollo, I heard Zeus yell, “Venus! Get your ass over here.”
He sat in the corner of the couch and unbuckled his belt. That was my cue to get Lettie the fuck out of here. My cock was already hard. Already aching. Already demanding I claim what was mine. And I wasn’t about to fuck her with Zeus getting his dick sucked ten feet away.
“Hey, Lo, I need to steal my girl, man.”
Apollo let go of Lettie’s hand and sat back in his chair. “No problem,” he said. “We’ll talk again soon.”
“I’d like that. I’d love to hear more about your sister.
” She smiled brightly at him, reminding me of her light.
Then I remembered what Isis said about Echo catching what I had.
You couldn’t catch that shit unless someone threw it at you.
Unless someone handed you a drink with a smile and watched you swallow poison.
My queen was fucking ruthless.
“I’d also like you to meet my dad.”
“I would love to,” she told him.
“Tomorrow, then,” he said, backing his chair away from the table.
“Oh, okay,” Lettie said as he wheeled himself away.
I pulled Lettie from her seat and started down the hall, Cerberus right beside us. My hand wrapped around hers. Possessive. Claiming. My blood pounded through my veins, hot and demanding. I wasn’t sure what we’d do with the dog, but he wasn’t watching me fuck my girl.
“Apollo told you about his sister?” I asked, knowing he didn’t talk about her much. His dad had told Kronos and the other founders about her when he joined the club. Coeus had been trying to help find her ever since he joined, but every lead hit a dead end.
“Yes.” The back of her hand smacked my chest. “You should have said something. I’ve been telling everyone to call me Lettie, and it’s probably tearing him apart every time he hears it.”
“Why? Her name was Colette.”