Page 76 of Hades

“Hades, she needs you.”

“Fuck off, Isis. I’ve got my old lady here. I’m not leaving her alone to sit and watch a whore puke.” The words tasted good on my tongue. Right. True. Lettie was mine. My old lady. My queen. And every person in this clubhouse needed to understand that.

“Old lady?” Isis snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. Her tits pushed up, trying to be seductive. Trying to remind me she was available. It did nothing but turn my stomach. “She told Echo you were only playing with her.”

“What?” My blood went cold. Then hot. Rage flooded through me. Sharp and violent and barely contained.

“Earlier tonight, she brought Echo a drink, apologized for taking you away, and assured her you’d get bored in a couple of weeks and then Echo could have you back.”

Zeus smirked, and I punched him on the shoulder. Hard enough to make him grunt. “Fuck off, both of you. Echo’s a fucking liar and you know it.”

But even as I said it, I knew it was true. Lettie had played Echo. Had smiled sweetly and apologized and handed her a poisoned drink while promising I’d come back. The cunning of it. The calculated cruelty. The absolute fucking brilliance.

My cock hardened more. Throbbed. Ached. I wanted to march back to that table, throw her over my shoulder, and fuck her until she understood exactly how much that turned me on.

“Echo didn’t tell me. She can barely talk—she’s throwing up so much. Gaia told me she was sitting right there.”

“It doesn’t matter who said what. Lettie is my old lady.”

Zeus lifted a brow, a silent question about the rules and bylaws. I nodded, confirming what he wanted to know. I’d be asking for a vote at the next church. If what I suspected were true, I’d be calling an emergency meeting in the morning to take that vote immediately.

Because if Lettie had poisoned Echo for touching me, if she’d looked that whore in the eye and smiled while handing her a drink that would make her sick as fuck, then she was already mine. Already claimed. Already wearing my mark even if it wasn’t visible yet.

“You’re not going to Echo?” Isis asked.

“What part of no don’t you fucking understand?” I growled. My hands clenched into fists. My jaw locked so tight my teeth ached. The violence inside me coiled tighter, ready to strike. “She’s a whore, not my old lady. You’d all do best to remember that.” I looked at Zeus. “You would do well to remember that, too.”

Zeus dropped the smirk and ground out, “Watch it, Hades.”

Isis smiled. The bitch was stupid if she thought that reproach meant anything other than the fact that Zeus didn’t like being told what to do. It had nothing to do with her. She was reading the situation all wrong, seeing what she wanted to see instead of what was actually there.

“I’m done here.” I turned to walk away and Isis grabbed my arm. Her fingers dug into my bicep. The touch made my skin crawl, made bile rise in my throat. “Bitch, I know you aren’t touching me.” Still, she didn’t let go.

“Echo needs you. She’s part of this family.”

“Isis, enough,” Zeus ordered.

“But, Zeus, he’s ignoring her for a woman he barely knows.”

I gave Zeus a hard look. Let him see the rage burning in my eyes. The barely contained violence. “Get your bitch under control, brother, or I’ll have her thrown out.”

Zeus glared back at me, and I knew I’d pay for the comment. It would only fuel Isis’ delusion about being his old lady. But I didn’t give a fuck. Not when Lettie was sitting across the room. Not when my queen was waiting for me. “Isis, get your fucking hand off him.”

“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to make you jealous.”

Zeus snorted. “Go back to your woman.” As I walked away, I heard Zeus tearing into Isis, and not in the way that would have her moaning in pleasure.

“Get the fuck out of my face, Isis,” Zeus growled.

I smiled at his words. She fucked up accusing him of being jealous, but he fucked up by only fucking her. As I headed for the table where my old lady sat with Apollo, I heard Zeus yell, “Venus! Get your ass over here.”

He sat in the corner of the couch and unbuckled his belt. That was my cue to get Lettie the fuck out of here. My cock was already hard. Already aching. Already demanding I claim what was mine. And I wasn’t about to fuck her with Zeus getting his dick sucked ten feet away.

“Hey, Lo, I need to steal my girl, man.”

Apollo let go of Lettie’s hand and sat back in his chair. “No problem,” he said. “We’ll talk again soon.”

“I’d like that. I’d love to hear more about your sister.” She smiled brightly at him, reminding me of her light. Then I remembered what Isis said about Echo catching what I had. You couldn’t catch that shit unless someone threw it at you. Unless someone handed you a drink with a smile and watched you swallow poison.