New joints snapped his limbs into place, their position articulated differently from normal wolves to give Jono more strength to grip and rend. His spine popped and locked into place with a violent motion. His head was shaped like a wolf’s but with a heavier jaw and thicker skull, long fangs sliding free of his lips.
Jono was frightening in this shape, as most werecreatures were, a shade of the animal the werevirus drew inspiration from. But his eyes were still the same wolf-bright blue, the human intelligence in them tempered by a viciousness driven by animalistic ferocity.
Jono put himself between Cerberus and Patrick with a challenging snarl the thunder couldn’t drown out.
“Those coins weren’t yours to use. Hermes had no right to give them to you,” Hades said as the hellfire he commanded grew brighter.
Patrick’s ribs ached from the hit and the fall, but he never lost his grip on the dagger. He might not have his magic, but the blade he wielded was more than powerful enough to replace it.
“Hera sanctioned it since you betrayed your familyagain,” Patrick spat out. “What have you done with Zeus?”
“I’ll tell you if you will trade yourself for my brother. A life for a life, what do you say?” When Patrick didn’t answer, Hades snapped his fingers. “I didn’t think so.”
The hellfire rose higher around them, trapping them inside a circle of hellish heat. Patrick couldn’t tell if it was rain or sweat sliding down his neck beneath his leather jacket.
“Is Ethan still promising you Macaria’s life? Are you still believing his lies?”
“You, of all people, don’t get to say my daughter’s name,” Hades snarled.
Patrick took a step forward, heavenly magic twisting around his arm. “Don’t try to lay your guilt at my feet.”
“I wanted to survive. I wanted to beremembered. There are different paths forward, and not every Fate is on heaven’s side. You and the wolf were never supposed to meet.” Hades smiled, the expression a slow, vicious promise as he twisted his wrist, all five fingers spread, palm pushing outward. “Vα.”
Hades words rang through Patrick’s head, freezing him where he stood for one agonizing moment.
It was enough for the god to gain the upper hand.
As if Hades’ insult was an order, Cerberus surged forward with a threefold roar that nearly made Patrick’s ears pop. Jono met the hellbeast’s charge with an answering snarl as he launched himself at the three-headed immortal.
“No!” Patrick yelled, unable to hold him back, to protect him. “Jono!”
Jono and Cerberus tore into each other with a ferocity that could only lead to death. Even as they fought, Hades was walking toward Patrick with a promise of murder in his dark eyes.
Patrick had no magic, no weapon save the gods-made dagger in his hand. As much as he wanted to save Jono from the wrath of a god, his odds weren’t good when he couldn’t even save himself.
So someone else did the saving for him.
The wall of hellfire had nearly reached Patrick when the flames suddenly went up in smoke. Slim arms coiled around his torso from behind, two slender hands pressing hard over the scars carved into his chest. The rich smell of flowers and fresh, earthy grass filled his nose, spilling into his lungs.
It tasted of spring.
Hades rocked to a halt, one hand lifting in what might have been supplication in anyone else but him. Patrick could see the hurt and deep anger that suffused Hades’ face, the way the immortal’s eyes went wide with both betrayal and a love that bordered precariously close to hate.
“My love, don’t do this,” Hades said, sounding almost desperate.
The smoke turned into fog, blocking out the world as it pulled Patrick under. Those impossibly strong arms caught him as he fell, Hades’ shout and Jono’s snarl of pain fading away.
“I have you,” Persephone whispered into his ear in the ethereal space of the veil.
Which was true, in every way that mattered.
The Greek goddess and queen of the Underworld owned his soul debt, after all.
17
Pain wasa companion Jono had become used to since he was seventeen.
Over the years, he’d never quite gotten used to the god riding his soul.
