Ares Is Mine: Paranormal Romance (Gods and Monsters Book 3)

by Mila Young

  “What now?” I pulled a packet of chocolate-chip cookies from the pantry. My one treat in the house, and something I’d enjoy with Catina when she’d come over for a girls’ night.

  My chest hurt as I remembered who Catina was with. I felt guilty for enjoying myself. “Do you know anything about my friend, Catina? X kidnapped her, and maybe… You can sense where X is keeping her.” I gripped the cookies, the bag crinkling in my hands.

  She stared at me for a long time as if processing the question, then raised her palms up and out. “Honey, I wish I could help, but he’s connected with Hades, and I haven’t felt him around for weeks now. I’m sorry I can’t help more.”

  My stomach sank, but I held on to the hope we’d find her.

  “To sort out this huge mess, you need to start realizing Hades isn’t the bad guy and give him a chance. It might be the answer you’re seeking,” Persephone said. She swallowed a mouthful of coffee, but her eyes stayed on me. And I had no reason to believe she had an ulterior reason for visiting. She sounded genuine, and maybe she knew more about X than she led on.

  “So, me being with Hades will help keep X under control?” I asked, stating the point Persephone seemed to avoid directly saying.

  A blank expression fell over her face. “Difficult to know the exact reason X broke free, but Hades needs to learn to love again, so it’s worth trying.”

  So I’d try to listen to her advice, which was much easier said than done. You didn’t just decide a bad guy was a good guy because someone else said so. But I’d wanted to trust Hades from day one. And maybe now I’d be able to.

  After he proved himself, of course.

  Because I was a lot of things, but naïve wasn’t one of them, regardless of what Persephone believed.

  Chapter 7

  Apollo

  Elyse had changed since the last time she died. She was a lot stronger, yes, but it was more than sheer physical strength. She’d been so angry before, so unsure about who she was going to become. But she was different now—sure of herself, settled in her power, and looking forward instead of back. Even after the shit X had pulled, I had to admit I admired everything about her, from her confidence in the face of such a horrific time to her tenderness—caring so much for her friend, insisting she’d search every corner of the planet to find X and save her.

  We spent all of Saturday together, spending time in each other’s company.

  Comforting her, I insisted on going out for a walk with her for fresh air. Lake Michigan was spectacular, and there were a few people around, but it was quiet as we strolled side by side next to the water.

  I listened to her talk, and I was fascinated by her human life—an existence she seemed more and more uncomfortable with. With each passing day since I first met her, she seemed less human to me. No matter how much she insisted she wasn’t a deity.

  Catina was Elyse’s link to her humanity, and she held on to that connection for dear life. I’d figured that out pretty soon after meeting the girl. Now with Catina taken, I tried to do whatever it took to distract Elyse until we found X, to stop her from falling apart because her tears broke me. Yet I kept wondering if she felt like it was symbolic, that her humanity was fading and Catina had disappeared, too.

  Though again, I hoped she didn’t feel that way. Her compassion, her emotional strength, her will to lay down her lives—all four of them—for others, was her human side showing through.

  The gods could be pretty damn selfish. Ironic, if you considered how much life we had to live. But we took our immortality for granted and too often gave little thought to the grief humans went through. Sure, we observed them, but for us, the souls went on to another realm, so life never truly ended.

  “Talk to me,” I murmured softly, taking her hand in mine, our fingers intertwined. She felt tiny in my palm, and more than anything, I wanted to fold her into my arms and keep her guarded from X, from grief, from agony. But she’d never accept that. She’d been brought up a warrior who fought against danger, not a victim who ran away. So, I’d remain by her side as I had done since we first met, there for her when she needed me.

  “I don’t want to talk about Catina if that’s what you mean,” she finally replied, glancing up at me, her eyes glazed. They were still red from her earlier crying, her cheeks rosy and so flawless like the rest of her.

  My chest tightened. I didn’t mind what she talked about to me as long as she didn’t shut me out. “We can chat about anything.”

  “Persephone came to see me,” she said softly.

  “What?” I looked at her, frowning. We’d spent the whole day together, and she hadn’t mentioned that piece of information.

  Elyse kept staring at me without answering. She knew I’d heard her.

  “She’s not supposed to be able to come to Earth yet,” I explained.

  “That’s what I thought, too. But apparently, the Underworld is unstable because of what X is doing. It’s falling apart.”

  I tried to piece together what Elyse was saying. X’s actions had repercussions far worse than I’d imagined. If the Underworld was unsteady, what would that mean for the dead souls? The fates? To the balance for humans? Zeus ruled over the domains with his two brothers to maintain perfect harmony, but if one element stopped working, everything would soon start breaking down.

  “She said it’s not Hades.” Elyse’s voice sliced through my thoughts. “Apparently, X is acting on his own. Because Hades is in such a bad place X was able to escape.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” I said. “Hades and X are supposed to be stuck to each other. X is his alter ego.”

  Elyse glanced around as if looking for answers. “To be honest, I don’t know enough about X to tell you if you’re right or wrong. I never learned about him in school or from my dad. He’s not a popular topic in Greek mythology. Which is why he’s pissed off, it seems. Or something like that. Persephone said Hades needs to learn to love again, and I must give him a chance. What am I supposed to do with that?”

  I ran my hands through my hair. What the hell had just happened? We hadn’t talked about anything important the whole day, and now she’d blurted out a vital piece of information?

  “Okay,” I acknowledged.

  “Okay?” She looked at me, her brow furrowed.

  “Yeah. Thanks for telling me.”

  Elyse shrugged again, and we continued walking. “Just thought this might mean something to you. Clearly not,” she said, her voice darkening.

  But my mind was racing, far away, with Hades. I drew her into my arms and wrapped them around her. My heart beat erratically in my chest whenever I held her, when our bodies pressed close, and I wanted nothing more than to keep her safe for eternity.

  The breeze fluttered through her long, chestnut hair, a striking contrast to her pale skin. All I could remember was her smile when I’d whisked her off to ride in my chariot, how I’d promised myself to do whatever it took to give her endless joy and wipe away the grief.

  “I’m going to find out what it means.” I brushed a strand of hair off her cheek.

  Her mocha eyes carried a softness to them, and she melted against my chest, her arms looping around me. With her cheek just over my heart, I touched my chin on the top of her head and knew exactly who’d help find the answer we sought.

  Poseidon

  Later that day, I appeared in front of Hades’s dump. Apollo came to tell me what Elyse had said to him and thought I’d do a better job of getting more information out of my brother. I wasn’t sure it would work, but Hades would more likely speak to me than Apollo.

  If my brother wasn’t at fault here, why didn’t he help us stop X? I couldn’t stand that my brother hurt as much as he did. First Persephone, and now X’s atrocities on his conscience? If it was true, of course.

  “What do you want?” Hades blurted when he opened the door.

  “We have to talk,” I said.

  He rolled his eyes but he let me in. “I don’t really want company.”
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  “Too bad,” I grumbled. “What’s going on with you and X?”

  Hades groaned. “Why does everyone think I’m the one to blame for this?”

  “Because it’s X, Hades,” I said. “Because he’s always been a part of you. But Persephone doesn’t seem to think so.”

  Hades’s frustration morphed into a glare almost immediately. “You talked to her?” he snarled. “What the fuck made you think it’s okay to chat with my ex? God, nothing is sacred with you people, is it?”

  “Calm down. She’s my family too, so of course I’ll talk to her if I need to.” Fuck, his irritation was getting to me because I felt jumpy, as if I wore a straitjacket and just needed to break free. “But this time, I didn’t talk to her. She came to Earth and looked up Elyse.”

  Hades blinked at me, as shocked about the news as I’d been.

  “You’re kidding me, right? You’re just here to fuck with me.”

  I sighed and walked to one of the couches facing the television. The inside of the house was fit for a king, with lush furnishing, paintings on the pearl white walls, and exquisite rugs. It was just the outside that resembled a crap-heap. But I understood what Hades was trying to do. I glanced around, and I wondered if it was the case with him as a person, too. Was he a dick on the outside but nice on the inside? Did that mean Persephone’s message was real because she truly cared for him?

  There was no way I’d know if his good side was real. He was so damn shut off from the rest of us. Had always been that way.

  “Trust me,” I finally said. “I wouldn’t go out of my way only to fuck with you. I’m serious. Elyse is a little unsure about what to make of the visit.”

  “Well, she should just reject anything that witch said about me.”

  I pushed my shoulders back. “She said you’re not to blame for what X is doing.”

  That pulled Hades up short. He flopped down in an armchair, his legs planted wide, his elbows on his knees. His face was incredulous.

  “She said that?” he asked in a softer voice, his gazed fixed on the rug under his feet.

  “Yeah. She’s coming to your defense, believe it or not.”

  “Why the fuck would she do that?” he questioned.

  It was a damn shame he was so used to being treated badly that he couldn’t fathom someone wouldn’t want to hurt him.

  “Look, I’m sorry about all of this.” The words were hard to say, but what if I’d been wrong this whole time, blaming my brother unjustly?

  Hades narrowed his eyes at me. “What do you mean, you’re sorry?”

  “How many meanings can an apology have?” I asked. “Seriously, I thought you were a dick, looking for attention. I was wrong. I didn’t realize that this thing with you and Persephone was so serious.”

  “Did you think we were playing happy family for centuries to humor Hera after she cursed me?” Hades sneered, straightening his posture.

  I sighed. He was so angry, but who could blame him?

  “That’s the point I’m making,” I said carefully replied, articulating each word. “I realize now how hard the breakup had to be. I want to be here for you now because I wasn’t before.”

  Hades let out a sarcastic laugh and reclined in the seat. “Well, aren’t you just so noble? The hero brother looking out for the mistake.”

  “You know that’s not what this is,” I snapped, reeling in the fire burning in my chest. Hades always pushed my buttons.

  He slapped his thighs and stood up. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, asshole. Don’t act like you give a shit about how I feel now. If you cared that much, you would’ve stopped Hera from playing her games when she cursed me to fall in love with Persephone. And you wouldn’t have exiled me to the Underworld.”

  “Are we still on this?” I started, but he went on.

  “Don’t come to my house, intrude on my time, and sit your self-righteous ass on my couch to pretend like you fucking care, Poseidon. You’ve never given a shit. You had a hell of a long time to fix this, and to be frank, it’s far too little, too fucking late.”

  I stood, also, the rage pouring through me. “Do you think you’re the only one who suffers?”

  “What have you gone through, Oh Mighty God of the Seas? What have you struggled with that makes us the same?”

  “I have to stand between you and Zeus all the time. Do you know how often I have to give up my own life to sort out some shit between the two of you?”

  “Spare me, Poseidon,” he growled, rolling his eyes. “Don’t act like that’s half as bad as what you did to me. Besides, if you guys hadn’t fucked me over, there wouldn’t have been fights to mediate, so I think you got what was coming to you.”

  I groaned. This was never going to go anywhere. We always revolved around to the same problem, over and over. He’d never forgive Zeus and me.

  “Why don’t you get over it?” I barked. “It happened at the beginning of time! That’s a long while to hold a grudge.”

  “Why don’t you just fuck off and leave me alone?” Hades marched out of the room and down a corridor, vanishing into the house.

  I didn’t have to do what he said, but the conversation was over unless I followed him. And I wasn’t a sucker for pain. This was unnecessary. He wasn’t going to tell me anything about Persephone or X, not in his shitty mood.

  I’d come here to reach out to Hades, not to fight.

  So, I “fucked off” as he’d said. I left his shitty house and stormed down the road, seething. The clouds overhead crowded together, and hard raindrops fell around me. Not on me, but the world surrounding me was soon drenched, rivets of water running under my boots, splashing with each footfall.

  Did I feel like shit about what Zeus and I had done to Hades? Yes. Did I hate that it practically ruined the relationship between my brother and me? Absolutely.

  Was Hades going to forgive me? Probably not.

  But I was sorry that I’d put him through so much, and for years I’d tried to mend the bridge between Hades and me, but I could never do enough. I saw that now.

  I could only try for so long. Maybe the damage was so deeply entrenched in our history that there was no coming back, simply no way to mend our relationship.

  I’d always assumed we’d one day get over the past one day, but now I wasn’t sure. It had taken me too long to understand how deeply this affected Hades. And now in my heart, I retracted all the bad things I’d ever said and done to him.

  Guilt clawed at me. I’d hurt him and it was unfair that he’d wound up in an even worse spot than before. With Persephone leaving him, he’d probably realized he was hard to love. And more than anything, I wanted to be there for him and help him. But I couldn’t change what happened in the past. I wished Hades could understand that. Whatever ensued back then was in the past and no matter what happened from now on, the only direction to move was forward. I had to somehow make Hades open his eyes.

  For a moment, I considered talking to Zeus. This was as much his problem as it was mine, after all. But I decided against it. Zeus wasn’t involved in all this bullshit on Earth thanks to X being set free. And Zeus had already taken care of what he could by appointing the Lowe family to protect the humans from godly monsters. Knowing him, he’d just as likely banish us from humans altogether, leaving them to their own devices. And as selfish as it sounded, I didn’t plan to lose Elyse.

  But the three of us—Zeus, Hades, and me—couldn’t fight until the end of time.

  At some point, I had to take responsibility for what had happened between us, without Zeus.

  It was a strange concept, but I couldn’t only be the mediator like I always was. It might be a bitter pill to swallow, but I’d been a dick, too.

  Chapter 8

  Elyse

  The only way to deal with everything going wrong in my life was to work out. Training wasn’t only my day job these days, it was also my escape. I pushed myself so hard that thinking about my problems was out of the question.

  And I had
a hell of a lot to escape from.

  Since X took Catina, there’d been no sign of her. I didn’t know where he was keeping her, and it ate me up inside each time I thought about what she’d be going through. Was she still alive? I’d searched all over Chicago, looking everywhere I could think of, and anywhere that was darker than it should have been. Old buildings, rundown joints, and even the underground tunnels.

  I wiped my cheeks of tears.

  I’d asked Poseidon to call an audience with Zeus to help us out, but he insisted calling him might not necessarily result in the answer we wanted. He wouldn’t say anymore, so I left it. Some things were better left unsaid when it came to Zeus. If Heracles said Zeus’s help came with more complications, I believed it.

  X was connected to Hades, and only Hades had power over him, not Zeus. A situation the king of Mount Olympus had created when he segmented the Earth and straight divided it between him and his brothers. So it came back to Hades. Always him. Which the other gods were on top of, they insisted. They were running around to find Catina and telling me to stay safe and keep training. But it killed me to sit back. Especially when all of us had no clue where X was hiding.

  A sickness sat permanently in my chest, and I could barely eat since my thoughts were with my friend every second of the day.

  Catina’s job was on the line as Tina had called me looking for her, threatening to fire her if she didn’t appear. And while that wasn’t as high a priority as her life, Catina would be devastated to lose the job she adored and had worked so hard to keep. For that reason, I opened a missing persons file at the police station. Tina couldn’t fire her if this wasn’t Catina’s fault. So, she’d at least have a job once she returned. Please let her come back in one piece.

  Of course, the police wouldn’t find her. Even if they put their best detectives on the job. But they wouldn’t do that, anyway. Too many people were nowhere to be found in Chicago, too many other crimes took precedence. She was just another missing persons case.