Shadows swept around her, swirling across the dome, and she looked left and then right, watching as they closed in on her, rushing to figure out what he was up to so she could brace against his attack, maybe even circumvent it.
Her gaze collided with his and she froze.
Rumours on Olympus had always painted Hades as having two sides to his personality—the one most people saw who ruled with an iron fist and expected all to obey him, was quick to put people in their place.
And a darker side that was more twisted, almost demonic in form, with sharp claws and vicious fangs, and black eyes that blazed scarlet in his pupils.
Eyes like the ones looking at her.
Staring so deep into hers that she was sure he could see all of her, knew her thoughts and her fears, her deepest secrets.
Black claws grew from his fingers.
Huge fangs filled his mouth as he snarled at her.
The slightly pointed tips of his ears grew sharper.
She tensed as shadows whipped around her, turning everything black.
Braced herself.
A scream lodged in her throat as Keras was suddenly before her, lashing out at her with his claws. She stumbled backwards, heart thundering as he melted into the shadows again.
Blood rushing as those shadows snapped at her, jabbed her in her legs and her back, pushed her around as she turned left and then right, cursing them. They were dampening her senses. She couldn’t feel Keras but she knew he had to be close, inside the barrier.
Her gaze shot upwards as the roof beneath her shook, as a hollow ringing sound filled her ears. Crimson lightning arced along the dome, just visible through the shadows as they writhed, growing thinner and then thicker again.
The lightning struck again, an ominous crack following it.
Her eyes widened as a fault line chased across the barrier, shining white-blue.
A low chuckle curled around her.
She couldn’t let Keras escape. Not when he was like this.
She spun in a circle, peering into the shadows, desperately seeking a sign of movement. Nothing. The shadows constantly swirled, thinning in places, growing denser in others, but she couldn’t see Keras anywhere.
But she could feel him everywhere.
It was as if he was the shadows.
He loomed out of the darkness and she was swift to duck, evading his first blow and attempting to catch him with one of her own. He easily dodged it and came at her, struck her with an uppercut followed by a left hook that hit her so hard she saw stars. She blinked to clear her head and parried, tried to match him and keep up as he fought her, but he was faster, his blows harder. He landed more than she could block, driving her backwards. Pain rolled through every inch of her, gathered in her head to slow her further, blurring her thoughts together and dulling her vision.
Keras bore down on her again, grinning as he struck her, as she blocked his next punch and landed one of her own, smashing her fist into his ribs. He took her next blow too, didn’t even flinch when her fist ploughed into his face, splitting his lower lip. His eyes darkened, pupils dilating as she struck him again.
She threw another right hook at his jaw.
This time, he didn’t even try to block her.
His head whipped to his right as she connected, a breathless sigh escaping him that was out of place in the moment, and as his gaze slid back to her and he licked the blood from his lips, she could only stare at him.
Because he was finding pleasure in her hurting him.
And in hurting her.
He suddenly backhanded her.
She hit the roof, shook her head and pushed onto her feet, narrowly avoiding the heel of his foot as it came down.
Left an impact crater where he had struck the roof instead of her.
This hadn’t just been a bad idea.
It had been a terrible one.
His scarlet pupils narrowed again as he stalked towards her, as she clutched her waist and limped away from him, needing a moment to gather her strength.
She had been a fool to think stoking his rage would free his emotions.
But then she had never believed the rumours about Hades to be true.
Now she did.
Because Keras was just like him, had a feral side that was demonic, one that ruled him.
That wasn’t Keras striding towards her, black eyes filled with a hunger for more violence, lips twisted in a smirk that flashed his fangs.
That was someone else.
Something else.
“Keras,” she said as she came to face him, as she backed away to keep the distance between them steady, aware she was nearing the edge of the roof and was in danger of running out of space to move. “Listen to my voice, Keras. I should not have pushed you like this. I should have thought things through… but I was—am—worried about you. You are not well.”
His fingers brushed his remaining limiter, and she silently begged him not to break it.
If he broke it, he would destroy her.
He would destroy this world.
She could see that now.
He had been telling the truth and he couldn’t control his power.
Because it was too strong.
“Please, Keras,” she whispered and held her hand out to him.
He stared at her bloodied fingers, a light entering his eyes that gave her hope.
The shadows suddenly closed around him.
She grunted as he slammed into her back, knocking her forwards, as he grabbed her from behind and hauled her against his hard chest. His claws pressed into her stomach, digging her armour into it, and she struggled against his hold. She couldn’t teleport when he was holding her, wasn’t even sure she could teleport even if he wasn’t, not when she couldn’t see where she was going.
He had never used his shadows in a fight like this, stealing one of her senses from her.
Making her feel weak.
She hated it.
Enyo battered him with the one elbow she could use, but he only tightened his grip on her. She cried out as her injuries burned, as pain ricocheted through her body and her vision tunnelled.
She froze when he loosened his grip slightly, enough that it no longer hurt, and grazed his lips along her shoulder, as a lover would. Their soft caress ignited heat in her veins, rousing desire she tried to battle as he eased towards her throat. When he fisted her hair and yanked her head back, his fangs brushed her skin.
She told herself on repeat that he wouldn’t bite her.
The flicker of heat that lit her blood became an inferno. She tried to douse it, sought an excuse that would kill the flames that licked through her veins. It wasn’t the position they were in rousing that fire, wasn’t the thought of him holding her at his mercy and biting her that ignited this wicked need. It was the battle high, the adrenaline and the fear, the desperate fight to survive. Everything she felt whenever she was on the battlefield.
Her body called her a liar, the trickle of arousal becoming a flood as Keras brushed his lips over a sensitive spot on her neck.
She fought the urges that ran rampant inside her, refusing to take pleasure from violence as he did, refusing to cross that line even when it beckoned her, whispering seductive words in her ear that had part of her wondering what it would be like to surrender to him instead of fighting him. Explosive? Wild? A thrill chased through her.
Enyo shut it down.
She snapped back to the world as the fog of lust cleared from her mind and kept slamming her elbow into his ribs.
He tugged her harder against his body and growled into her ear, the sound feral and low, more beast than the man she loved.