“You’ve come here to gloat?” I guess, not giving him the chance to answer before shoving a bolt of energy directly into his mind.
For just a second, I want him to experience my pain. My agony. The very real torment of once again feeling my mate’s need and not being allowed to answer her call.
“Morpheus,” Hades hisses.
I ignore him and yank him even deeper into the pit of despair I’ve crafted from my personal experience, forcing him to face the truth. The hurt. Thetorture.
His face contorts, the sight one I’ve yearned to see for so long that I give myself more than the promised second and instead allow it to go on for a handful of beats.
Then I release him with a sigh and turn to walk away. “Go gloat somewhere else, Hades.”
Because I’m not fucking interested.
His responding growl echoes in my wake as I mist back to my palace.
Not the one in the Morpheus Kingdom, but my true home in the Mythos Fae Realm.
Athena appears with me on the balcony, her starry eyes scanning for any threats. I acknowledge her with a nod and start toward my bedroom doors when she squawks out a loud warning.
I spin just as Hades appears in a wave of shadows and darkness. I gape at him, shocked that he dared to enter my domain.
A domain he rarely ever visited even millennia ago.
“Wow, I had no idea gloating meant this much to you,” I say, folding my arms. “By all means, then, Hades, brag to your heart’s content.”
I don’t bother holding back on my sarcasm. He has a lot of fucking nerve showing up inmypalace to taunt me with words aboutmymate.
Maybe he craves death,I think.After all, he is the God of Death.
“Maliki pleasured her, not me,” he informs me. “And for the first time in my existence, I somewhat understand your plight.”
Athena walks over and pecks Hades on the head, earning her a warning snarl from the Alpha.
I ignore her antics, aware that she’s merely doing her job as my familiar and expressing my frustration. It’s not like she attacked him. Not really.
“Fuck off,” he says to my majestic owl.
She snaps her orange beak in response, her silver and gray feathers flaring as she flaps her massive wings.
“Morpheus.” Hades sounds exasperated. “Tell your bird to back off.”
“She’s an owl,” I reply. “And no.”
Athena can do whatever the fuck she wants. This isourhome, not his.
“I came here to apologize,” he says through his teeth. “And to have a real conversation.”
“So just because you’re finally ready to discuss our mate, I have to be amenable and receptive?” I ask, purposely being difficult. Mostly because I’m shocked that he’s here. But also because he deserves my ire.
Maybe Maliki pleased our mate this time.
But he wasn’t around with Persephone. Hades was. And those years were hell for me to endure.
Yet I did.For her.
But our Omega wants me now. I’m sure of it. So I won’t be enduring this pain any longer.
“She’s mine, Hades,” I tell him. “End of discussion.” I step through the curtains framing my balcony and enter my rooms.
