Gryphon flinched out of her grip and stepped far, far away from her. “No, I’ve wasted way too much time on you as it is. You’re good, female. I have to admit that much. But like I said before, you’re not irresistible. Thank your mother for reminding me what really matters in this life.”
Orpheus called out to him, but he was already flashing, flying over land and water and reappearing at the gatehouse, where the portal that led into the human realm was housed.
The two executive guards on duty lurched to their feet, but the darkness inside had all but consumed him, and Gryphon moved faster than both, disarming them and leaving them in a tangle of limbs on the floor before either could draw a weapon. “Stay fucking down,” he growled as he kicked their weapons aside. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t follow.”
He moved for the portal, hesitated at the edge, and closed his eyes to listen for the voice.
Now that he was away from Maelea, he could hear it. Could feel the pull in the center of his chest, calling him back. All he had to do was follow it. As he let it guide him, he let go of all those silly fantasies he’d had the last few days and refocused on what was important.
Freedom.
Not from the Argonauts or the Council or the half-breed colony, but from Atalanta. From the voice and darkness. From the threat of the Underworld lingering over him like a black cloud. A threat he should have been thinking about all along.
***
“I didn’t take it,” Maelea said in a frantic voice to Orpheus. A voice she couldn’t control.
“What the hell is going on?” Orpheus asked.
Beside him, three more Argonauts appeared—Theron, Demetrius, and Zander—all sporting the same pissed-off expressions. But Maelea didn’t shrivel into the background the way she normally would when faced with four gigantic warriors. She stood her ground and focused on Orpheus. “Persephone appeared to me in that motel when Gryphon stepped outside, and she offered me a deal. She wanted me to get her the Orb. To convince Gryphon to bring me here so I could take it. But I didn’t. I didn’t agree to anything, I swear it. I didn’t even plan to come here. You and Titus and Skyla brought us here. I haven’t even been alone. Callia or Skyla have been with me the whole time. Orpheus, I’m not lying to you. I wasn’t lying to Gryphon, but he…”
Oh, gods. Her heart contracted so hard, the pain stole her breath. She covered her mouth with her hand to hold back the sob. He thought she’d betrayed him. That she’d used him. And why wouldn’t he? Look at her parents. Lies and betrayal and thievery ruled all the gods. Genetics weren’t on her side. And then there was her own admitted obsession with Olympus. And his abuse at the hands of another god, Atalanta.
Her stomach rolled. Tears burned her eyes. Dammit, she never should have used that elixir her mother had given her. She hadn’t been trying to seduce him as Persephone wanted. She’d simply been trying to get him to cooperate so she could save their lives.
Orpheus gripped her upper arms. “Focus, Maelea. Where did Gryphon go? He said something about thanking Persephone for reminding him what matters most.”
She blinked back the tears. Told herself to keep it together. She had to make this right. She had to find a way. “He…he’s been planning to go after Atalanta all along. It’s why he left the colony. He was getting ready to leave me at the beach house and do just that when you and Skyla and Titus showed up. It’s her voice he hears in his head. When he was in the Underworld, Krónos bound them together. She’s been calling to him. He thinks the only way he’s going to be free of her is to kill her.”
“Skata,” Theron said at Orpheus’s side. “Did he say where she is?”
“No.” Maelea shook her head. “He never said, and I don’t think he knows. But he can find her, just by listening to the voice. By giving in to the pull. Krónos gave them six months to find the Orb or he’ll drag them both back to the Underworld, and he’s running out of time.”
“Skata,” Theron said again, glancing toward Zander. “That fucking Orb. We’ll never find him.”
“I gave him Titus’s fancy transmitter,” Orpheus said, letting go of Maelea and pulling his out of his pocket.
“It’ll only work if he’s still in Argolea,” Theron said.
“Does he have the Orb on him?” Zander asked as Orpheus tried to contact Gryphon.
“I don’t think so,” Maelea answered. “I didn’t sense it. But I can only sense the Orb if it’s being used, and it—oh, my gods.”
She gripped Orpheus’s arm, swayed on her feet.
He reached out to steady her. “Maelea? What’s wrong?”
Energy whipped through her. An energy with power like no other. A power that was definitely being used.
“The Orb,” she managed in a shaky voice. “Someone just used it to open a portal to the human realm.”
“Gryphon?” Orpheus asked.
She swallowed hard. Shook her head. Turned toward Zander, because the face she saw now in her mind was one she’d seen at the half-breed colony. “No,” she whispered. “Your son.”
***
Max wasn’t sure where to open the portal, so he picked the woods surrounding the old half-breed colony in Oregon. He knew patrols still ran in that area, looking for half-breeds who’d yet to move over to the new location. Hoped he’d run into one today.
Rustling in the trees at his back caught his attention and he whipped that way, only to freeze when the god stepped out of the darkness, heading right for him, a smirk across his menacing face.
Max moved back a step. He didn’t know who the god was, but he sensed his power. And a whole lot of darkness—darkness like Atalanta’s.
“You proved to be quite the Argonaut, boy. And completely predictable. Now I’ll take the Orb and we can both be on our way.”
Max’s mind spun. Then his eyes caught sight of the mark of the Underworld peeking out from under the collar of the god’s shirt.
Hades.
Max swallowed hard. And fear burst in his chest. What was Hades doing here? How did he know Max had the Orb? How did he…?
Lachesis.
Oh, shit.
He hadn’t once thought to question the Fate in the woods outside Tiyrns. He’d been too upset. But thinking back now, he realized the eyes were different from the last time he’d spoken to the Fate. The eyes, he realized now, were dead black shards of coal like those in Hades’s head.
The Orb burned hot against his flesh where it rested on a chain around his neck under his shirt. Infused him with power. He still wasn’t any match for a god, but he’d gotten away from Atalanta with nothing but the Orb. Maybe, if he played his cards right…
“You son of a bitch,” a female voice hissed. “You are not to go after my daughter.”
Hades’s head swiveled to the side. Toward the dark-haired female dressed in a black robe, also appearing from the darkness of the trees, hatred and retribution alive on her pale, perfect face. “My love—”
“Don’t ‘my love’ me,” she growled. “My daughter is not to be touched. You sent hellhounds after her again, you bastard.”
Persephone. Double shit. Max glanced between the two, his eyes growing even wider as he took another step back.
“She was not harmed,” Hades said, trying to brush off her anger with a roll of his eyes. “There’s no reason for you to be in such a tizzy.”
“I’ll show you a tizzy.” Persephone lifted her hands. Electricity arced out of her fingertips and hit Hades square in the chest. He flew back ten feet and slammed into the ground with a grunt. “That’s for attacking my daughter.” She lifted her hands again before he could get up, sent another current of electricity through his body that made him shake and writhe on the ground. “And that’s for interfering in my quest for the Orb. It will not be yours, husband. It will never be yours.”
; She turned her icy glare on Max. And under her dead stare, every hair on Max’s flesh stood straight. “You.”
Before she could attack, Hades lurched to his feet and hurled a whip of fire out from the palm of his hand. It wrapped around Persephone, locking her hands at her sides, and yanked her backward. Her skirts flew up. She screamed as she was dragged toward Hades.
Her body slammed into his. He closed his arms around her. “It seems all your time on Olympus has made you forget who’s in control, little wife. I think it’s time I reminded you.”
He bit into her neck. And Persephone screamed again. But as her cries of protest turned to moans of pleasure, Max knew if he didn’t get out of here right now, he was going to be in even deeper shit than he already was.
He turned and ran. And hoped like hell they were too distracted to realize he was gone.
His heart pounded hard in his chest, was a roar in his ears, as he zigzagged around tree trunks and jumped over logs. He slipped on a wet patch of moss, hit the earth face-first. Pushed up again and tore off through the trees. Only when he was at least a half mile away did he slow and realize he could use the Orb to open a portal to a different location, far away from here.
With shaking hands he unzipped his jacket, was just about to pull the Orb from under his shirt when a growl echoed close.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”
Slowly, he turned and peered up at the five daemons moving toward him from the shadows.
“He’s an Argonaut,” the one on the right said, drawing in a deep whiff.
“He’s Atalanta’s son,” the one in front said, a sinister smile twisting his gruesome lips. “We’ve been looking for you, boy.”
Max dropped his hand from his shirt. Zipped his coat. Tried to quell his racing pulse. But it didn’t work. Because this increase in tempo wasn’t from fear. It was from excitement. And the promise of retribution yet to come.
This time, he had no intention of running.
“Really?” he said in a voice that was calmer than he expected. “Well, here I am, dog-breath. What are you waiting for?”
Chapter Twenty-two
Gryphon sat crouched in the trees outside Atalanta’s new stronghold, a stone fortress set deep in the Scandinavian Mountains of Sweden. Scanning the compound, he took stock of the daemons on patrol around the property, the sharp-rising ridge to the west, the river to the east, and the lake not far beyond.
Snow littered the ground, but spring was trying hard to make itself known this late in May, though nothing—not even the sun trying to peek through the trees—could cut the chill in Gryphon’s soul. The darkness inside vibrated with too much intensity this close to its source. And the voice was all but screaming to draw him the rest of the way in.
He ground his teeth, blinked hard, and shook his head to fight off the urge. He’d let the voice and darkness pull him this far, but he needed to think. To regroup. To figure out how he was going to get inside without being caught. Everything hinged on that. On staying focused now more than ever. If only he had Maelea with him…
I didn’t take it. I promise. I didn’t make that deal.
Her words outside the castle spiraled back through his mind. And with it, the conviction in her voice when she’d added, I wouldn’t use you like that.
The way he’d used her?
Skata, he didn’t know what was real and what was a lie. He wanted to believe her, knew he’d jumped to conclusions without giving her any chance to explain, but he’d been duped before. By that warlock who’d sent his soul to Tartarus. By Atalanta, when she’d offered him freedom from his suffering. By Hera, with that damn soul-mate curse. He didn’t want to be the fool again.
This…it’s sudden and crazy, but…for the first time in my life, everything feels right.
Warmth slid through his veins when he remembered the way she’d looked at him, encircled his heart, squeezed until he could barely breathe. Being with her felt right to him too. In a way nothing else had ever felt right, even before the Underworld.
That was real. The way she made him feel, the connection they shared, the emotions he’d heard in her voice when she told him she loved him, the way she’d held him that night in her beach house when he told her about his time in the Underworld…that was all real. No matter what she’d arranged with her mother before their week together, he knew in the bottom of his heart what she’d said outside the castle in Tiyrns was true.
His pulse beat hard as he scanned the compound again. Skata, he was an idiot. So sure she had to be as dark as her mother, he’d ignored what he knew to be true in his heart. And now he’d probably lost her because he’d let that fear control him. Just as he’d let Atalanta control him for far too long.
Urgency pushed at him. He was done living in fear. Done letting others manipulate him. He still had just over three months before his deadline with Krónos. He could come back. He could bring Orpheus and some of the other Argonauts to help him. Demetrius, Zander, even Titus…they’d all relish a go at Atalanta. And thanks to the darkness inside him, he could lead them back to her. He could—maybe—be the key to finally bringing her down once and for all.
Dooouuulas…come to me.
The screaming voice, the darkness…they pulled at the center of his chest, drawing him in, but he knew now he could fight it. Thanks to Maelea and her faith in him, he knew he could fight anything.
He backed away from the compound, into the darkness of the trees, intent on getting far enough away so he could open a portal back to Argolea without drawing attention, but froze when a portal popped open not far from him, and five daemons stepped through.
“Atalanta will be most pleased with our catch,” the one in front said, staring down at something in his hand.
The one on the right chuckled. “Maybe she’ll make all of us archdaemons. Screw that sonofabitch Naberus.”
Gryphon narrowed his eyes to see what they held. The middle daemon in the back of the pack carried something that wiggled and turned as if trying to get away.
“Put me down! I can walk, you morons!”
Gryphon’s blood ran cold when he recognized Max’s voice.
Shit. Shit! Had the kid followed him? How would he even know how to get here?
He scanned the area. The daemons were marching for the front gate of the compound. If Gryphon didn’t do something right now, the kid was toast.
He grasped his blade at his back and stepped out of the trees into the daemons’ line of sight. “Looks like you boys found something that doesn’t belong to you.”
The daemon in front, the one holding something in his gloved hand, drew in a long whiff, then growled, “Argonaut.”
“He’s alone,” another said, sniffing the air, moving up next to the first. “And he’s the one we’ve been looking for.”
The remaining daemons stepped into line with the first two. The fifth hovered at the back of the group with Max in his arms. Max’s eyes grew wide but he didn’t speak. Didn’t even move.
Four—make that five, if the one in the back dropped Max and joined the fight—against one. Not great odds, but Gryphon had faced worse. However, he needed to take these fuckers down quietly and quickly or else they’d have an army of daemons on top of them within seconds.
“Max,” he called, ignoring the growls from the daemons already inching toward him. “Remember how you got away before?”
“Yeah,” Max called back before the daemon could stop him from answering.
“Do it again.”
The daemon in front chuckled. “That boy’s not going anywhere but to Atalanta.”
Gryphon closed his eyes, drew on his forefather Perseus’s power from deep in his core. Energy radiated up from the soles of his feet, through his body, and out his limbs. And when he opened his eyes and fixed them on the daemons in front
of him, their gasps of surprise as their muscles stopped working and their bodies stilled was like music to his ears.
A thwack, followed by a grunt, echoed ahead. Gryphon stumbled back a step as his energy waned, then slowly slumped to the ground. He watched through hazy vision as Max scrambled up from the snow where the daemon had dropped him when he stopped midstep, and grasped the beast’s sword. Then he knocked the monster to the ground with his boot and decapitated him.
Minutes later, all that remained were steaming bodies and the kid—looking and acting more like Zander’s son with every passing second—wiping the bloody blade on his pants. He leaned over, picked something up from the ground, then stalked toward Gryphon. “Are you okay?”
Gryphon blinked several times. Tried to get up. Couldn’t. “No…that…drains me. I’ll be…okay. In a while.”
A smile slinked across Max’s face. “That was way cool. I wish I—”
A rumble sounded from inside the walls of the compound.
Max’s smile faded. He shot a look over his shoulder then handed Gryphon the object he’d picked up. “We might not have a while. Here, use this. It’ll help you regain your strength faster.”
Max shoved a metal disk into Gryphon’s hand. And only when power radiated through his chest to warm him from the outside in did Gryphon realize the kid had given him the Orb of Krónos.
Gryphon’s eyes shot to the glowing disk pressed against his chest, then up to Max’s face. “You took it?”
Nervousness crept over Max’s face. “I wasn’t going to give it to Atalanta, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just needed the extra power. So I could open a portal. So I could get here and win.”
“Holy shit,” Gryphon breathed, already feeling better from the Orb’s power. “Your dad’s probably busting a few thousand blood vessels right now wondering where the hell you went. And your mom—”
“My dad doesn’t care. He treats me like a baby. And I’m not. A baby couldn’t kill those daemons.”
Max’s eyes leveled on Gryphon’s. Eyes, Gryphon noticed, that were the exact same shape and color and intensity as his father’s when Zander was angry. And he heard his own thoughts ricochet through his head. Thinking no one cared about him. That no one missed him. He’d been so wrong. Just as Max was wrong.
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