“What’s your name?” he asked through the door.
“Hades.”
“Wow,” Aaren blurted. “Totally not ominous at all.”
The alpha laughed. But there was something in that laugh, low and rich, completely genuine, that made Aaren pause.
Hades didn’tsoundmore terrible than Ballus. If he kidnapped Aaren to cook for him... Well, that wasn’t the worst thing ever.
With fingers that were completely steady, Aaren opened the door.
2
SEDUCTION
The manon the front step was... huge. A head taller than Aaren and twice as broad, his sea-green eyes bright on his handsome face. He had thick dark hair peppered with grey, full lips, and artful stubble that belonged in a magazine.
“Uh,” Aaren said, stunned. To avoid staring, he dropped his gaze—only to find a thin shirt stretched across the alpha’s chest. It highlighted his full pecs and stretched around his thick, tattooed biceps, and further down, grey sweatpants hugged the alpha’s muscular thighs.
Then there was his bulge. Gods, was it a big bulge.
“Why do alphas wear tight pants?” Aaren blurted. “I mean, your sweatpants are not tight, but they hug your legs like a clingy ex. It’s like they’re trying to give me x-ray vision to your bulge. You’re—” Andtherewas the crown of his tip, a gently curving line that told Aaren exactly where the sensitive part of his cock was. “You’re not wearing underwear.”
Hades coughed. It made his cock twitch.
“Oh gods, it’s like a living, breathing trouser snake,” Aaren whispered. “You need to call animal control. I can’t look away. It’s going to rise up like a cobra and stare at me in the eye. It’s going to see my soul. You need to cover it up before it takes my eye-virginity.”
“Your eyes seem to be very happy where they are,” Hades said dryly.
Aaren choked andwrenchedhis gaze up, only to be confronted by the alpha’s full pecs. He had to yank them higher to look at the alpha’s face.
“You’re Aaren Miller, I presume?” Hades asked when their eyes finally met.
Aaren watched him warily. “You followed me here all the way from Mount Hood?”
“After I got out of prison, yeah,” Hades said.
Aaren froze. “Prison?”
The alpha shrugged. “I was in prison for a while. When I was released, I went back to Rizz Razz, only to discover that the food now sucks. I asked around and found out that the old cook had disappeared. The new cook is terrible. The burgers are over-salted, the cheese barely melted, the bread is stale and crumbles like a cookie. And the beef stew—” Hades grimaced “—watery and under-seasoned, the carrots and potatoes undercooked. Somehow, the beef in theretastes like chicken.”
The more he described, the more horrified Aaren grew.
“Wow,” Aaren said. “That sounds like food from Hell.”
“Possibly even worse,” Hades agreed.
“But you could’ve just... eaten somewhere else?”
Hades gave a half-shrug. “It’s not the same. I’m sure you’ve experienced that yourself.”
Well... yeah. Aaren had. It was like how he could never quite replicate his mom’s cookies, even though he had her recipe.
“Here.” Hades pulled out his wallet and handed over a stack of twenties. “Cook something for me. Please. That should cover the ingredients as well.”
“N-now?!”
“If you could, yes.”
