“I can heal you if you need it,” Megan said.
“No.” Keras choked the word out and cursed as those feelings grew stronger in response to her kindness, as they came dangerously close to pulling him under.
He stared into her chocolate eyes and gritted his teeth as he remembered how he had treated her, how close he had come to hurting her. He couldn’t let her heal him, wasn’t even sure she could heal this for him. He wasn’t willing to risk finding out.
Healing his kind drained her and he wouldn’t risk her unborn child.
He reached a shaking hand out and laid it on her stomach, feeling the baby there.
Life.
So small and precious.
And she would risk it to help him.
He closed his eyes as emotions overcame him, a combination of guilt and a deep and humbling sense of gratitude. She honoured him. Tears lined his lashes and his nose burned as he lowered his head, as he battled to break the surface again so he could breathe. He knew he could never make up for the things he had done, or the person that he had been, but he was going to try.
He was going to face whatever lay ahead of him.
It wasn’t over yet.
There was still a long way to go before he was in the clear and free of his addiction, before he learned how to handle life without his pills.
“I’m sorry,” Megan whispered.
He opened his eyes and fixed them on hers as she rubbed her belly on either side of his hand.
“Why?” He frowned at her, confusion washing through him, sure he had missed something.
“I don’t know.” She gave a little shrug and her face crumpled. “You just look so…”
Keras managed a smile. “You did nothing wrong… It was I who did so much wrong.”
Those last words leaked from him as he looked at all his brothers where they had gathered before him. Around him. Shame devoured him. A sense of honour humbled him.
He didn’t deserve his family.
He looked at each of his brothers in turn, at the women who stood beside them, and then settled his gaze on Ares. Ares’s dark eyes were warm, filled with concern that touched him and made him feel as if his brother was waiting for him to have a complete meltdown, was poised to catch him in case he fell on his face or did something equally as embarrassing.
“Do not look at me like that,” Keras muttered, because he wasn’t an invalid. Not anymore anyway. “I will be fine… but if you can… send a message to your protector, I… would appreciate it.”
Ares’s tawny eyebrows met in a quizzical look. “Why?”
Keras glanced at the favour mark that peeked out from beneath the tight sleeve of Ares’s black T-shirt, the tribal shield design a few shades darker than his skin.
“I know Enyo is with her brother.” And he worried that he wouldn’t see her again. “And I wish to thank her.”
The room erupted and he grimaced as his ears ached, flinched away as his brothers argued with him and with each other, most of them against Enyo and only a few of them for her after what she had done.
He lowered his head as it ached, the noise grating viciously in his ears, his heart drumming faster as a need to lash out at his brothers built inside him, coaxing the darkness towards the surface.
Eva beat him to it, her Italian accent sharpening her words to a blade as she snapped, “Shut up! Stronzi!”
Keras lifted his head.
Found not only Eva in front of him, but Caterina and Megan too, and Cassandra, Aiko and Marinda looked ready to join their side in the fight, all of them glaring at their men.
Megan turned to him.
“I’ll give the message to Enyo. Ares will do what I want.” Megan didn’t miss a beat even when Ares arched an eyebrow at her and tried to interject. “Enyo did the right thing, even if these idiots don’t think so, and she stayed with you the whole time. She even brought your mother here for you. I doubt she wanted to leave, so… I will go and tell her brother Ares that you’re grateful… and you want her back.”
Keras stared at her and fear got the better of him, was too powerful for him to master and silence. “I do not think she will come back.”
Megan smiled. “Of course she will.”
Keras would have killed to have her confidence.
She peered over her shoulder at Ares. “Take me to wherever this Ares is.”
Ares huffed. “Mount Olympus, and we’re not usually welcome there, and neither are mortals.”
Megan planted her hands against her hips and huffed right back at him. “Well, heck. I’m going and they can try to kick me out. I’m not just any mortal. I’m the mother of Hades’s granddaughter!”
She was so feisty that Keras couldn’t hold back a genuine smile. He had never realised how strong and brave she was.
A few of his brothers looked close to tearing up as their gazes locked on him.
He scowled at them all, daring them to mention anything about his smile, or how he was emotionally all over the place. They all just smiled right back at him.
Except Ares.
He sighed and muttered, “I’ll get into trouble for this.”
He took hold of Megan’s hand and pulled her to him, wrapped her in his arms and held her close as he gazed down at her, his dark eyes warming with love and his voice dropping to a soft whisper.
“I’ll try to be more gentle this time.”
He disappeared in a swirl of black smoke.
Keras stood there.
Aware of his brothers as they stared at him, as a tense silence fell. He tried to think of something to say as he slowly pulled himself together, as he conquered the emotions that had him feeling he was on a rollercoaster, up one moment and down the next, never knowing what was going to happen next.
Esher stared hardest at him.
Keras cleared his throat. “Something smells good.”
Seconds stretched until each felt like a minute.
Finally, Daimon grumbled, “Figured you’d be hungry when you woke.”
Cal came to Keras and took hold of his other arm, and guided him to the long low wooden dining table with Marek’s help. Valen was kind enough to gather so many cushions that Keras’s seat looked like a padded cell, but he didn’t pick his brother up on the fact he clearly felt Keras was in danger of breaking himself.
Marek helped him down into his padded cell. There was just enough room for him to sit wedged between the cushions. If he had wanted to move, he wouldn’t have been able to.
Valen looked pleased about that as he sank into his own seat opposite Keras, and Eva joined him, still looking irritated with him and Keras’s brothers.
Cal set a glass of water in front of him, and placed a pitcher nearby. “You look like you might need this.”
He did. He clutched the glass in both hands, not trusting his strength, and did his best not to reveal how much they were shaking as he carefully lifted it to his lips. The water was bliss as it washed over his tongue and down his throat, cooling it and his stomach, and quenching some of his thirst.
He felt like hell still, but a little better at least.
Keras fought for something else to say, something that would get the conversation flowing or stop his brothers from watching him like hawks.
Nothing came to him.
His mind was occupied, tied up in thoughts of Enyo.
He wanted to see her again.