“Andreas, she didn’t do anything.”
“I’m not going to repeat myself, Dionne.”
She flashed me a worried look before letting go of my arm and leaving. I swallowed hard when I met Andreas’ eye. There was nothing forgiving about this God.
“Follow me,” he said, turning away.
Straightening out my dress, I did as he said. A myriad of whispers reached my ears as we walked across the floor and took the stairs. I wanted to ask him what I’d done wrong, but my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. Why hadn’t I been kicked out with the others?
Andreas opened a door in the hallway and we stepped inside. Something familiar pulsed through me. A sense of comfort and rage that I couldn’t describe but filled the empty sensation that plagued me for hours.
“Thank you for the help, Andreas,” Gray’s voice emanated from the corner of the room, and my head snapped in his direction. He stepped out of the darkness, and I scowled at him.
“No problem, Grayson. I’ll give you both some privacy.”
Andreas left the room, shutting the door behind him, and Gray wasted no time in crowding my space.
“How did you know I was here?” It was the first question that spilled from my lips.
“You’re not exactly keeping a low profile.”
My back hit the wall, and I called on my aura so it drifted around us, lighting up the space. Gray’s didn’t join it. He’d caged me in between his arms. An easy prison to break out of if I wanted to.
I didn’t need to justify myself to him but the words flew from my mouth. “Hiding away won’t help me. I’m finding Gods to trust.”
“And you thought this shit hole was the best place?”
“It was the most populated place. Plus, I’m not sure Andreas will appreciate you calling his business a shit hole.”
“He won’t care. We’re family, after all. Andreas is Sloan’s father and a God of war. He’s heard much worse over the course of his existence.”
That explained his imposing and intimidating nature. A shudder ran through me at being ordered about by a God of war. I couldn't believe that he had raised someone as gentle and positive as Sloan and had a son-in-law like Erik.
“I gave you space so that you could calm down, and you dressed up and walked into the lion’s den?” Gray asked, eyes slowly turning black. “Any other day I would encourage all the chaos, but this is reckless.”
“You want to act like you care now?”
Gray pressed his body against mine and I forced myself to stare straight back into his eyes. “I saved your life once and I’m trying to do it again. Don’t you dare question whether or not I care about you.”
His chest heaved with the effort behind his words, and I dropped my gaze to his collarbones. Dealing with Gray was like dealing with two completely distinct entities. He was the embodiment of destruction whose past made me question everything. But he was also the man who got on his knees and begged for my life. It shouldn’t have been possible for both versions of him to exist, but they did, and I struggled to untangle my feelings.
“Come home,” he whispered against my skin. “Let me explain.”
My resolve wavered. Any time I was away from Grayson, the seconds stretched into eternity. The idiot girl in me wanted to forgive him. To collapse in his arms and allow him to take the weight of everything I carried. He would tell me his side of the story and I’d forgive him and everything would be fixed.
But that level of naivety would get me killed. I needed to listen to my head instead of my heart. My brain had never steered me wrong. It’d got me a well-respected job. It led me away from trouble. All my heart had ever done was left me broken after convincing me to make stupid decisions.
“These things are always done on your terms, Grayson,” I muttered in response. “You withhold information and expect me to go along with it. This wasn’t a small thing.”
“I understand that. I told you this is new to me. What Archer showed you… I knew you would never take it lightly, but you’ve only seen his memory of it.”
“I’ve heard what the others down here have to say. It was a massacre.”
“If you let me explain—"
“Gray,” I said, finally looking up at him.
Electric blue materialised behind him, and I shoved Gray hard to put some distance between us before Hunter appeared in the room.
