Chapter 26
HADES
Having my cock in Persephone’s mouth again was everything I remembered.
I hadn’t lasted long because every touch of her tongue was like a surge of electricity, and when she’d groaned and hummed, the vibrations in her throat sent me over the edge.
Watching her swallow me down had almost addled my brain—she had consumed me like an addict. At the memory, my throbbing erection strained against my jeans. I was, and always had been, insatiable around her… I was desperate to fuck her.
It was becoming harder to resist her. Harder to restrain myself.
Our physical love had always matched our emotional love—emotional love satisfying our souls, while physical love satisfied our bodies. I lowered my brows and ran a hand over my head; I couldn’t succumb. I couldn’t keep her unwillingly, whether I loved her or not.
I needed to maintain a greater distance until she accepted the soul bond.
I was to see her in her garden after I met with Poseidon and Zeus. Taking a deep breath, I shadow-walked to my brothers, to the kingdom of Genesion, many leagues under the sea.
I appeared in Poseidon’s throne room—all greys and swirling blues, like the sea he controlled. The glass-like structure above our heads was immense, and marine life swam past, oblivious to our presence. Poseidon’s kingdom was vast, as was Zeus’s. For obvious reasons, mine was as large as the Earth.
Glass-like structures stretched as far as the eye could see, all connected by covered walkways and roads. It was the only place I ever visited for any period of time. Poseidon was a grouch, but he was my ally—my closest brother.
‘Brother,’ Zeus said as he slapped me on the back. My jaw hardened, and Poseidon attempted to hide his smirk behind his hand.
‘Any further news on Ixion?’ I got straight to business, eager to return to Persephone, longing to speak with her, to see her—the extraordinary woman who captured my heart and once loved me enough to become my wife.
As the ocean sparkled overhead, I wondered whether her love for me would reignite and endure the trials ahead, or if it too would crumble under fate’s relentless design. I would never love anyone else because my heart would always belong to her—the one who had broken it.
I shook off the thought before the physical pain of her potential rejection brought me to my knees.
‘We’ve not heard anything new,’ Poseidon’s baritone voice replied. ‘But we’re making progress with the Council of Magic.’
My eyes widened at Zeus, and my brows pulled tightly together.
‘I do listen to you, Hades,’ the smarmy bastard said, his eyes glinting with something akin to amusement. ‘Hecate has been doing the rounds, and they’re considering our offer.’
Hecate. Damn it. I’d scarcely had a moment to speak with her alone since she’d flayed my skin from my bones with her acerbic words about my treatment of Persephone. ‘Which is?’ I snapped.
‘To become our allies. Come out of hiding. However, they must relinquish all divine blades.’
I scoffed a laugh. ‘Do you honestly think they will trust us if you make such a demand?’
Zeus frowned. Gods, he was a complete jackass.
‘No,’ Poseidon replied. ‘Zeus’s intellect occasionally rivals that of a toddler.’
I sighed as Zeus grew to his divine size, soon followed by Poseidon. I was so tired of the bitch fest that never ended.
‘Enough! For fuck’s sake,’ I yelled. ‘I’m sure your dicks are equal in length. I need to return.’
They both morphed into their human forms. ‘To the lovely Persephone?’ Zeus smiled with a sinister edge, and Poseidon sighed.
‘I know she kissed Apollo,’ I seethed. Zeus flinched, and Poseidon shot me a worried look.
‘It was entirely my fault. She was angry with me. Don’t ask questions.
’ I pointed in Zeus’s face as he opened his mouth, likely to ask questions.
‘Rethink your demands with the mages,’ I ground out to Zeus.
‘They have no reason to trust us. We must demonstrate that they can and that the trust is mutual.’ Zeus’s face was a picture of confusion.
‘That’s precisely what I said to the daft bastard.’ Poseidon laughed.
With a sigh, I shadow-walked back to Persephone’s garden and found her waiting for me. She sat at the edge of the pond, idly running her fingers through the water. She tensed as soon as I appeared, her eyes darting to my face.
‘Hi.’ She smiled coyly, a rosy warmth blooming across her cheeks.
‘You ready?’ My mouth twitched at the eager nod of her head. ‘Let’s practice.’ I extended my hand to her and grasped her tiny fingers.
After an hour, Persephone’s frustration boiled over. ‘I can’t do it!’ she screeched, stamping her feet for what felt like the hundredth time.
I needed a new tactic, something to cut through her panic. I moved in close, pressing my chest to her back. ‘You can. You will unlock your power, agapi mou,’ I whispered in her ear, my arms circling her waist.
‘What does agapi mou mean?’
It signified “my love”, but I wasn’t revealing that information just yet…
Not until I knew my love was reciprocated.
Instead, I ran my hands down her stomach, into the band of her shorts, and then down to her panties.
I pushed them aside, and she moaned low in her throat as I massaged her clit with the palm of my hand.
‘Try harder,’ I muttered in her ear as she pushed her ass against my engorged cock.
‘I need you to…’ she whimpered.
I tensed, forcing my eyes closed. ‘Persephone. Show me your shadows.’
‘I—I’ll try,’ she groaned, pushing back into me.
I pulled my hand away and licked her neck as my fangs elongated.
She spun around, glaring. ‘You’re cruel.’ I shrugged and bit back my half-smile, trying not to cringe—my cock was uncomfortably hard, and I groaned silently. She resumed her position. ‘Here goes. But what if I can’t control it?’ She glanced worriedly back at me.
‘Then I’m here to save you.’
Her power was extraordinary. It made my hard-on even harder. Gods, she was amazing. The black tendrils of shadows pulsed from her widespread hands and enveloped the garden, withering everything under their touch, and she screeched. ‘Pull the power back inside you, Persephone.’
‘I can’t. I can’t control it.’ Her voice was panicked, so I took her hands, and the shadows dissipated.
‘My garden!’ she cried.
‘Really?’ I arched a brow. Her grin was wild, defiant. She crouched, slammed her palms into the soil, and released a torrent of flora magic. Life erupted in a riot of colour, her garden returning even more breathtaking than before.
‘Again,’ I instructed. We replayed the scenario over a dozen times, and eventually, she gained some semblance of control.
‘Your shadows are a part of you, Persephone. A part of you to cherish and welcome. Draw them back inside. Surrender to your magic, and don’t panic.’ I turned her to me and gazed into her enchanting, vivid green eyes. ‘Remember, sometimes, to walk in the light, you need to embrace the darkness.’
She nodded and swallowed thickly as she took deep breaths; then she followed my instructions. Gradually, the shadows receded.
‘Gods, I’m exhausted,’ she whined after recreating her garden again.
‘You’re not stopping yet.’
She turned with her hands on her hips, glaring up at me, and I grinned at her until Hecate appeared. My grin withered, like an old memory. Fuck.
‘We need you for judging. Like, yesterday,’ Hecate barked. I groaned; Persephone scowled, and I vanished into the aether.
After judging two particularly nasty humans to an afterlife in Tartarus and one egotistical demigod whom I’d stripped of his memories and left to wander the Meadows of Asphodel, my mood was dark.
I shadow-walked back to Poseidon’s realm, to which I had an open entry. I found him brooding in his office.
‘Hades.’ His gaze looked me over. ‘What’s the problem, Brother?’
I dropped into his plush sofa and sighed. ‘Many things,’ I muttered.
‘Then let’s have wine.’ He handed me a large glass of fruity red liquid, and I downed half of it in one gulp.
‘Let me guess. Your undisciplined wife is the biggest problem.’
‘Of sorts.’
‘Of sorts?’
I blew out a ragged breath. ‘I want to fuck her so badly—’ Poseidon barked a laugh, and I glowered at him.
‘Then why don’t you? She belongs to you, after all.’
‘I can see why you don’t have a female in your life.
You’re a Neanderthal.’ I arched a brow at him.
‘Persephone is not a belonging, Poseidon.’ The words were out before I could stop them—hypocrisy on my tongue.
Because she was mine. She was fucking mine.
I had to keep her. A ragged breath escaped me, but I recovered quickly, squaring my shoulders.
Poseidon’s eyes locked with mine. He knew bullshit when he heard it, but I pushed on. ‘In today’s world, we should lead by example. Be civilised.’
‘And if you fuck her, you’ll keep her.’
I gave the smallest nod.
‘That won’t stop you,’ he muttered.
My jaw clenched as my shadows flickered, writhing from my palms like living anger. Because he was right. I was a hairsbreadth away from taking her—keeping her—whether she wanted it or not.
‘Calm down, Brother.’ Poseidon’s voice rumbled like a storm. ‘You’re an alpha. You’ll have her by any means.’
I opened my mouth to argue, but he raised a hand, cutting me off, studying me for a long, heavy moment.
‘Love kills more fucking brain cells than crystal meth,’ he grumbled as he shook his head, making me smile despite myself.
‘That’s why females are a no-go for me. They’re nothing but trouble.
You won’t catch me fawning over one,’ he sniped, then pondered for a while.
‘Maybe you need to woo Persephone…?’ He grimaced at his own words and poured more wine.
‘That’s what Hecate said to me.’
‘At least you’ll get to fuck her. It’ll be worth the torment.
’ He drank more wine as he eyed me. ‘She’s pussy-whipping you again, but this time…
I don’t know,’ he mused, and I lowered my brows.
‘But stop being a total schmooze. You’re like a spurned puppy, Brother.
Make her do some of the fucking work.’ I contemplated his words. Maybe he has a point.
‘Like I said, you’re an alpha male. Fucking act like one.’ He rolled his eyes, and I bristled. ‘Now, tell me. Why did she kiss Apollo? I thought I’d better ask if there was a good enough excuse. Otherwise, I might have to drown the little fucker.’
I half-laughed, groaned, and then told him about what happened. His response? Hysterical laughter. I watched him as he gasped for breath at the hilarity, and I came seconds away from kicking him in the balls.
‘Sorry.’ He coughed-wheezed as he tried to regain control.
‘You’re a fucking dozy bastard. Even I know that’d piss a woman off, and, as you say, I’m the Neanderthal.
’ He carried on laughing until he managed to control himself.
‘Anyway, on a brighter note.’ He blew out a breath and wiped his eyes—the dick.
‘Zeus has agreed to new negotiations with the Council of Magic. It’s looking promising. ’
‘Yes, I spoke with Hecate. She’s arranging for the high priestesses to meet with us all.’
After discussing politics, Ixion, and the disadvantages of having women in one's life—that part was Poseidon—he decided it would soon be time to return to the mortal realm for his monthly sojourn.
One of his many properties was a beachfront hotel in America, boasting excellent surfing beaches, which he adored; another was a mansion in a prestigious area featuring its own private beach.
It had taken Poseidon a long time to embrace the human world and leave his beloved kingdom, but the old bastard was lightening up.
When he visited the mortal realm, Poseidon maintained the same level of privacy as I did, adopting an alias as a wealthy and powerful playboy—few were aware of his true identity.
'So, have you returned to the mortal world since you kidnapped your wife again?'
I huffed a breath. ‘No.’
‘Hmm.’ He studied me. ‘Maybe you need to see what’s going on in those clubs of yours?’
‘I have trusted demigods, and Minthe running them. They’ll be fine for now.’
‘Why don’t you bring Persephone to Atlantis hotel? I’ll text you.’
I coughed a laugh. ‘You have a mobile?’
He looked affronted. ‘I do. Things are changing, Brother. And I think you’re right; leading by example is definitely the way to go. But how to get Zeus on board and stop being a philandering asshole?’ He raised a finger to his lips.
We both dissolved into laughter at the thought.