Then Hercules is there, gathering me carefully up and rushing back several steps to put distance between us and his father. I lift my head enough to see Hades standing over Zeus, who’s bleeding from a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Not fatal. Not by a long shot.
Hades trains the gun on Zeus, and I’ve never seen him look so cold. “If you or your people set foot in Carver City, your life is forfeit.” He gives a slow smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “You’re lucky I care for your son or I’d empty this clip into you.” He glances at me—at Hercules at my back. “A gift to you, little Hercules. Your father’s life.”
Hercules starts to move forward, aggression in every line of his body, but I clutch his shirt. “It’s the right choice.”
“He took you. He was going to hurt you.” His eyes go hard, and he’s never looked more like his father than he does in this moment. “There’s only one way to guarantee that he doesn’t do it again.”
“No.” I look between my men and put more force into my voice. “No.” I want nothing more than to take that gun from Hades’s hand and pull the trigger several times. I hate that Zeus made me afraid, I hate that the fear will cling to me like a spiderweb for days and maybe weeks to come. It doesn’t matter. I put a little wobble into my voice, and it takes far less effort than I want to admit. “Take me home. Please.”
For a moment, I think it won’t work. Hercules hesitates and then finally takes another step back. “If that’s what you want.”
It isn’t. I want this man dead at my feet. I want to rip him to pieces with my bare hands and then scatter his ashes to the wind. But Hades has always seen things clearly enough for both of us. He’s right. If Zeus dies today from our hand, Hercules will eventually grow to hate us. He won’t be able to stop himself, no matter what he’s feeling in this moment.
If there’s a choice between love and revenge, I choose love.
Today, for the first time since I’ve known him, Hades does, too.
Hercules doesn’t stop until we’re on the other side of the car from Zeus. He sets me carefully on my feet and then Hades is there, running his hands gently over my body. His fingers graze my side, and I wince. “Ribs,” he says, echoing my thought. “Get her into the car before someone calls the police.”
Hercules opens the door and carefully guides me inside. Allecto turns around as I settle in the middle seat. “You’re alive. Good.”
“No thanks to you.” I’ve never heard Hercules sound so dangerous. “You could have killed her with that stunt.”
“I had things perfectly under control.”
“No, you fucking didn’t.”
I clear my throat. “Children.”
Hades opens the other door and takes a place on the other side of me. I’m safe. My brain may register that, but my body hasn’t quite got the memo. I can’t stop shaking. “You shot him.”
“Yes.” Hades leans forward. “Go, Allecto. We’ve lingered too long.”
“Yes, sir.” She veers into traffic heading back toward Carver City, as reckless as ever behind the wheel.
Hercules shifts me until I’m leaning back against Hades’s chest with my legs over Hercules’s lap. They hold me carefully. Gently. Words bubble up inside me, but I know better than to speak them. Not yet. Allecto is trusted above all others, but she’s not part of our relationship, and I’m not willing to spill those secret parts of myself while she witnesses. Still, I can’t help saying, “You came for me.”
“Yes.”
Hades’s hands tremble a little as he smooths them down my arms. “We’ll always come for you, love. You’re ours.”
“You’re fucking irreplaceable.”
I can’t stop shaking. The impact of the last few hours hit me in waves. There was no time to process before, just to act. “Are you sure it will work? Banning him?” He made it to the Underworld before. Just drove right up to it without the slightest hint of difficulty. I shiver.
“Yes.”
Hercules looks over my head at Hades. “How can you be sure?”
“Every single territory leader in Carver City graces my doorstep at one point or another, and most of them regularly.” The cold satisfaction in his voice warms me in a strange way. “If they want to continue to have access, they will bend to my will in this one small thing.”
If every territory in Carver City ceased to be a welcome place for Zeus and his people, it would create that many more hurdles he’d have to get through in order to reach us. No one wants to fuck with Hades, not when he offers such a particular service. Neutral ground. The sex and kink and everything else, yes, but the true value of the Underworld is the sheer number of deals made beneath its roof, facilitated by Hades’s enforcement of neutral territory. It might actually work.
We sit in silence as Allecto drives us back to Carver City. My men don’t stop touching me, as if they’re afraid I may disappear at any given moment. As if they’re afraid this isn’t real. My adrenaline fades right around the time we hit the city limits, and then all I know is pain. I’ve definitely broken at least one rib. My knees and shins is full of pinpricks of agony from the broken glass and I’m getting blood all over the seat.
Hades is the one who carries me out of the car and up to his penthouse. I’m so tired, I don’t even bother to protest that I can walk myself. I feel safe in his arms with Hercules shadowing his steps.
Someone must have called Dr. Miranda because he arrives less than a minute after we do. He’s a small white man with giant glasses and a no-nonsense attitude that never ceases to make me feel like I’m five years old and have disappointed him greatly. He casts a look at me. “The dress needs to come off.”
Hades cuts off my dress as the doctor peppers me with questions that I try to answer as honestly as possible. Once I’m naked, he does a quick examination and stands back. “Broken ribs, most likely, but I’d need an X-ray to be sure. They aren’t hampering her ability to breathe, and she hasn’t started coughing up blood or any of that nonsense, so I doubt it’s serious. Miscellaneous cuts and bruises that need to be cleaned, but nothing deep enough for stitches.” He crosses his arms over his chest and glares down at me. “You’ll live.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Six weeks of no hard activities.” He turns that glare on Hades and Hercules. “No wild sex. No swinging crops and the like. Nothing that puts stress on those ribs. If the pain gets worse or you start having trouble breathing, call me immediately.”
“I will.”
“Then I’m going back to bed. You two.” He points at my men. “Clean her up. I’m sure you have bandages around here. Rinse the wounds first to make sure there’s no glass remaining. That’s it. Keep things PG.”
Hades levels a severe look at him. “Thank you for your help, Doctor. Please leave.”
“Good night.” Dr. Miranda turns and strides to the elevator, and then he’s gone.
I let out a dry laugh. “I always liked him.”
“It’s the only reason I put up with his attitude.” Hades moves to stand in front of me. “Come on, love. Let’s get you cleaned up.”