Everything had gone wrong.
He’d learned about Acheron being the true son of Apollymi and her lies to him. That had hit him like a sledgehammer. All these years, he’d thought Apostolos was dead and that he was her chosen son.
Instead, he’d found out that he was a puppet and Acheron was her beloved child. It had gutted him. Worse, Urian had killed their own to protect the bitch he knew Stryker wanted dead.
So when Shanus’s call had come in while Urian was out that Phoebe had gone trelos …
Stryker had been torn between his duty as a father and to his people, and his fury over being betrayed. When he’d gone there, his intention had been to kill Phoebe. To unleash his wrath on her for the lives she’d taken.
They’d fought and fought.
In the end, he’d been unable to do it. For the first time in his life, Stryker had shown mercy. Instead of killing her, he’d brought her back to Kalosis and locked her up. His intention had been to tell Urian later and let him deal with her.
Then when they’d faced Acheron and Wulf in Dante’s Inferno … he’d absolutely lost his fucking mind. Acheron, a two-bit whore, loved by Apollymi in spite of turning against her and her cause, surrounded by countless Hunters who were loyal and willing to die for him, in all his smugness. For Acheron to stand there, taunting and judging him when all he was trying to do was save his people.… And Apollymi with her taunting him about Urian’s betrayal when he’d done nothing to deserve it.
Because in the end, Stryker had only had one person in his entire life he could depend on. One person he could love. One person who loved him. And the gods had taken her from him.
Everyone else used him and lied while they did so. They tried to kill him or threw him away like he was garbage. Or worse, the gods took them from him and left him barren and alone.
Except for Urian. He was the only one Stryker had depended on and needed.
Then to find out that the one and only person he thought he could rely on was also a fraud …
It’d shattered him. The pain of losing that sole person in his world who loved him had been more than he could bear. It had destroyed him and so he’d lashed out and done to Urian what the entire world had done to him since the moment he’d been violently thrust from his mother’s womb into the cold and unfeeling hands of a wet nurse who’d rather see him dead than fed.
But even then, he’d known that Acheron wouldn’t let his son die. Stryker had merely severed their bond so that Urian couldn’t hurt him anymore.
Because Stryker knew that Urian was the one and only person who would always have the power to bring him to his knees.
He was his son. His beautiful boy. Regardless of what Urian did or how badly he hurt him.
The bastard was his son. And Stryker would always love him. No matter what pain Urian gave him, he wouldn’t care.
It was why he’d kept Phoebe alive. Even though Stryker knew he should kill her. That so long as she lived, she was a danger. He couldn’t do it. He could lie to himself and everyone else about why he’d done what he’d done. He could lie about what happened to Phoebe. Tell them all that he’d killed her and cut Urian’s throat.
It changed nothing. Because he couldn’t kill what his son loved. And though he could cut his son’s throat, he couldn’t kill his boy.
Worse, Stryker had relived that day a million times over and had lashed himself with guilt and remorse. With so many could-haves and should-haves. He would sell his soul for one chance to go back and change what he’d done to them.
That was why he didn’t believe hell was real. Lifewashell. It existed solely to torment the living, and death was the reward for having endured it.
Stryker choked on tears he hadn’t realized were falling until Bethany dropped her hand from his face, released from the nightmares of his past.
At some point during the horrors, Zephyra had pressed herself against his back to comfort him and had buried her hand in his hair.
His breathing ragged, Stryker wasn’t sure what to expect from Styxx and Bethany. Given the memories of Urian he’d just passed to them, he half-expected both Styxx and Bethany to gut him where he stood.
Instead, Styxx jerked him forward into a fierce embrace. When he whispered in his ear, his voice was thick with emotion. “From this day forward, we are brothers, Stryker. I will never again consider you my enemy.”
Swallowing hard, he nodded.
Likewise, Bethany wiped away her own tears. “Thank you for loving my son so. I am honored to share him with you. Now let’s find him so we can both set his ass on fire.”
What do youmean, we’re lost?” Urian glared at Davyn. They had barely gotten to him in time with the dragonstone before the gallu had struck and killed him. Even so, their rescue wasn’t going quite as planned.
“I’m still weak from my attack, so my tracking abilities are down.”
“Why isn’t he a gallu?” Blaise asked. “I thought everyone they attacked converted.”
