When I woke up in bed, something felt wrong. But it shouldn’t have been. Not after I’d spent half the night in the French Alps with Apollo. After a couple of hours of scorching hot sex, we had watched the glorious sunrise over the snowcapped mountains in each other’s arms. A moment I’d never forget. After he had brought me back home, I crashed from exhaustion once he left.

But right now, it was still dark outside, Chicago remained asleep, and the city’s silence engulfed me. I snuggled back under the covers, about to drift off to sleep when the hairs on my arms lifted, followed by waves of magic pulsating through the air, crackling over my skin.

The moment it tingled on my flesh, I jolted up in bed and rubbed my eyes. “What the hell now?”

Was this never going to end? I desired one night where I could sleep without getting interrupted by this shit. One day where I could focus on training without needing to fight. Better yet, a day off. I glanced over at my nightstand, at the necklace with the moon’s essence that Apollo had gifted me, my insides beaming. Maybe I’d spend today with him by the beach or whatever a normal women did with a new man in her life. Plus, I’d been battling since last week and deserved time off.

But as the power built all around me, bubbling, heating me, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to ignore this. Whatever it was, whoever was doing this, it would turn into another fight. I could almost feel the burning energy scoring my skin.

I climbed out of bed and dragged on my fighting clothes, as if this had become the status quo. If I was going to be drawn into battle, I wasn’t going to do it in my pajamas. I had my limitations.

When I stepped outside the apartment, dawn hung low like fog. In the middle of the vortex of power stood Hades on my sidewalk, his shoulders slightly hunched and his mouth drawn into a hard line. My insides hummed.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, exhaustion pushing through me. I realized I should have recognized the magic that had woken me up, but it had caught me off-guard.

“I want to talk to you,” Hades said, his voice low and calm.

“So you called me with your power?” Except, I didn’t care. I shook my head, not interested in hearing what he had to say. If he needed to do anything, we could fight, finish what we started. And I was stronger now and was about to tell him so when I took a good look at him.

His clothes hung from his frame, as if he had lost weight, although his physique was still spectacular. Hades had lean muscles, unlike that of Apollo or Ares. He appeared more regal. But his handsome face was tired, his eyes weary, and he didn’t have his pitchfork with him. Though he could pull it from nothing like he had last time.

“About what?” I asked, instead of telling him to fuck off or fighting him.

“Your death.”

I groaned. “What is it you want to tell me, that you’re sorry? I guess this is the only case in which your work can be undone when you actually kill someone. Because I came back to life.”

“I didn’t want to do it,” Hades pleaded. “Please believe me. But you wouldn’t stop, and losing you wasn’t an option.”

“Sure you didn’t.” I folded my arms over my chest. I knew what I had felt for him when we’d been together, but I couldn’t trust him. There had to have been other options than killing me.

“You were going to fight X. He was going to murder you. It was the only way to stop you, and I couldn’t lose you,” he murmured, a tremble underlining his words.

Silence filled the air between us, but inside my head, the pounding of my heart continued.

I shook my head, my throat thickening, and my fingers tingled for him, so I curled them. “Don’t tell me there was no other way.”

Hades just stared at me, and it made me think back to that night. I had been forcing away the memories of that incident, but this time, I allowed myself to think back properly.

I had fought with a vigor that night. I had managed to reach down deep and find power I hadn’t even known I was capable of releasing. It had been a hell of a battle, and I’d had every intention to get past Hades and confront X himself. That asshole had killed innocents.

He probably would have killed me, and if I’d had my head screwed on right, I would have stopped.

“So you killed me so X wouldn’t?” I asked, gripping my hips.

Hades nodded. “You have no idea what that decision did to me.”

I remained skeptical there wasn’t another option. “You’re right, I don’t. Tell me.”

Hades inhaled deeply. “What I feel for you is a hell of a lot more than I should be feeling for anyone. I’m not going to lie about it. I won’t admit it when anyone asks, but I care for you. Killing you damn near ripped my heart out.”

When he said it, his emotions were raw, touching me when they shouldn’t have.

“You couldn’t have knocked me out instead?” I asked. “Killing me was a dick move if you really cared.”

“You wouldn’t have stopped,” he snarled.

I stared down at my curled hands, then back up at him. The reason this pissed me off so much was because I did care for Hades. “You could have chained me up or something, but when you…” I didn’t want to keep saying the words. So much had gone wrong that night, and I wasn’t sure whom I ought to have been more pissed off at. Hades for killing me, at myself for not being strong enough to withstand X’s influence, or X. Okay, X was up there, the asshole, but I’d never expected Hades to hurt me.

“You proved to me you were evil by doing exactly the one thing good guys don’t do.”

“I chose the lesser of two evils,” Hades said, his chin raising.

Our voices were raised, as was the tension in the air. But I liked fighting him in a way. Hades was a good opponent, and engaging him gave me an outlet for my pent-up emotions.

I much rather preferred other things with him, though. I shouldn’t have thought about it. The moment I did, arousal flared up, and my power surged forward. Hades stepped closer, as if he were being drawn to me like a magnet.

“I can taste your magic,” he said in a whisper. “It’s so strong. So fucking strong I can’t think of anything else.”

I nodded, swallowing hard. The problem was, the more potent my magic became, the more power it called from the gods. Hades’s energy wrapped around me, and it was cool on my skin, the promise of secrets and danger lurking beneath the surface. It was delicious. The danger, the darkness, was attractive. With Hades, I toyed with seeing how far we could push it. To find where the edge was and how far we could shuffle before we tumbled off.

Hades closed the distance between us in a second and pressed his lips against mine. It was unexpected, but I had ached for the feel of his mouth on mine. His energy slithered over my skin, cold and wet like a snake, and my power accommodated it, responding in the same strange manner. This was new. My ability had changed, and I was still getting to know the power. The sexual need inside me had become overwhelming, burning me, shoving aside all rationality. I had to have Hades. My apartment was right here. In the back of my mind, I thought of Apollo, but it wasn’t as simple as belonging to a single god. I felt that now, just as Heracles had tried to explain.

It was never that simple with them, and I got it now. Except I wasn’t ready to just jump back into his arms, as much as every molecule in my body insisted. I stepped back from him. I needed my head straight.

“We should get some breakfast perhaps,” he suggested. He must have sensed me pulling away, though his ravenous gaze was anything but calm. His eyes drowned in desire, but the shit between Hades and me wasn’t over. And I wanted to talk about things.

“There’s a small café open a few blocks away,” I said.

Hades nodded. “Let’s go.”

I took his hand to lead him away from my apartment, but he pulled me against him. The length of his body was pressed up to mine, and I felt his erection, long and hard against my hip bone and lower stomach. He wanted this—needed this—as much as I craved our time together.

“No,” I said. “I still haven’t forgiven you.”

The Earth started to tremble beneath my feet. Hades had his arms wrapped around me, tightening as if nothing would dare pry me from his grasp.

“What are you doing to the ground?” I asked.

“I’m not doing anything.” He glanced up and down the empty sidewalk in front of the apartment.

Raindrops fell from the sky, first one by one, slowly picking up to become more and more. We both looked up. The water fell down in a sheet that was so solid, it was almost like a bucket had been upended and the water was rushing to Earth.

“Oh, no,” Hades said.

“What’s going on?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m so sick of this shit.”

I frowned, opening my mouth to ask, but the heavens opened and a god stepped down from the heavens.

He was older, with long, black hair that hung in curls on his shoulders and a distinguished face, angular and handsome. His eyes were the color of the ocean, a deep blue that went on forever, and he stood with an authority that would have driven fear into the hearts of men.

But I wasn’t just any human. Hades looked irritated if anything, his brow pinched, lips twisted into a wry frown.

“You couldn’t stay away, could you?” Hades cried out.

I shook my head. Who the hell was this?

The stranger strode toward us, and the power rolled off him in waves, making me feel like I couldn’t breathe, as if I were submerged in water.

“You can’t stay out of trouble for one century, can you?” the new god asked.

Hades groaned. “I don’t need you here.”

“The presence of X says otherwise,” his voice boomed.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but who are you?” I asked as he strode toward us up the sidewalk.

Hades sighed.

“You don’t recognize me?” the new god asked, a brow arched.

I shook my head. “Should I?”

“It’s my brother,” Hades growled.

I looked at the god again, and suddenly, I could see it. I smelled the ocean, tasted the salt on my tongue. My skin was damp with the sea breeze, and I breathed in deeply. The strangest sensations accompanied it. A feeling of being…home, which I didn’t understand.

“Poseidon,” I breathed.