Hades issued no protests.
As she nuzzled that dark-as-night fur, William drew her backward. Where was her usual paranoia? Evil surrounded her. Unless...the answer hit him, air hitching in his lungs, joy filling him anew.
She feels safe with me. She expected him to take care of any threats or problems, as promised. I will, beauty. Gladly.
The moment the cat sniffed William, she leaped into his arms.
“Not this again,” Sunny muttered.
The kings watched her with different levels of amusement, annoying William greatly. She amuses me. Me, and no other.
Ready to jump-start the meeting, he announced, “I have a golden medallion with strange carvings. Lucifer tried to obtain it, and failed. Whatever it is, it teems with dark magic.”
Now his audience went still and quiet. He had their full attention.
“How?” Hades demanded, deigning to speak at long last.
One word. One question. A voice dripping with disdain. Once again, William’s joy drained away. He loved Hades. He would always love Hades. Yet, the gulf between them seemed to grow every time they interacted. If not for Sunny, he might have broken down.
“Doesn’t matter how I got it,” he said, unwilling to reveal Sunny’s part in its acquisition. “Do you know what it does?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Hades echoed. “You will give it to me.”
Any other time, William would have obeyed. With the tension between them, with Sunny’s attachment to the item, he grated, “No. I’ll be holding on to it.”
The other kings snarled with fury. So. They’d turned on him, too. Wonderful. Ignore the hurt. Focus on your own fury.
Hades donned his customary blank mask.
“You disobey a direct order?” Achilles asked.
Falon stroked two fingers over his dark, stubbled jaw. “That is what I heard.”
“Then your ears are working.” William displayed a manic smile. Try to take it, I dare you. “It’s mine, and I keep what’s mine.”
Sunny cooed to the cat, unconcerned by the thrum of violence in the air.
Drumming his fingers on the arms of the throne, Hades stated, “I called this meeting to inform you of Lucifer’s actions. In the past two days, he has used his deceptions to steal someone from each of us, and vowed to kill a captive every time we strike at him.”
William tensed all over again. The bastard never kept his word, which meant he’d be killing the captives regardless.
Had he come to the stable to abduct Sunny?
“Who did he take from you?” William asked his father.
A pause. Finally Hades snapped, “Who, and what. The mirror.”
His precious. The magic mirror that contained the Goddess of Many Futures. If she told Lucifer their battle plans before they struck... Shit. Shit!
Sunny faced the kings, incredulous. “Are you kings or pansies? Take your people back already. Problem. Solution.”
William found a sudden urge to laugh, but tried for a stern expression. Sunny...interacting with others, especially powerful men...there was no better entertainment. And no better female. “You’re not making any friends, sundae.”
“So?”
He lov—liked her attitude. Liked her more every time she opened her mouth. Or moved. Or breathed. And damn it! He was still hard, aching to sink inside her at long last. Must have her. Soon.
Soon isn’t soon enough.
Today.
He wasn’t sure how much longer he could go without coming inside her, branding her with his essence.
Nero bowed up, as if preparing for battle. “You will mind your tongue, girl, or you will lose it.”
Blood like lava, William took a step forward. On command, smoky wings burst from his back. “Speak to her like that again, and our alliance ends.”
“Enough!” Hades shouted as he pushed to his feet. “Do we have any other orders of business?”
“Yes.” William breathed deep. “I have Evelina. Lucifer doesn’t know—yet. I’ll let him know any harm to your loved ones assures her death.”
Evelina’s defection had been a major blow to Lucifer’s pride. If she died, he would be unable to achieve vengeance. Knowing Lucifer, he would do anything for vengeance.
The kings nodded, their satisfaction obvious. All but Hades; his expression had blanked once again.
“I want that medallion, William,” Hades intoned. “Give it to me.”
Another command. “If I don’t?” he asked softly.
Silence reigned, aggression charging the air.
“If you don’t...we go to war,” Hades said simply.
He could not be serious. Had his father, the man who’d loved and raised him, truly threatened his life?
Incredulous, William looked to Sunny.
“Your penis is cute,” she said, earning snickers from the kings. Again, from everyone but Hades.
Translation: Hades had told the truth. He would war with William. Over a medallion.
His incredulity turned to hurt. Hurt turned to anger. After everything they’d been through, this was how their relationship would end?
He met his father’s gaze, hoping Hades would back down. Instead, his father—ex-father?—lifted his chin, the picture of stubbornness.
Yes. This was how their relationship ended.
The anger deepened, seeping into William’s bones. His soul. He would not drop to his knees and beg for forgiveness, as part of him wanted to do. He would not cry or lament. Not here, and not now. Later...
“You may show yourself out.” Hades stood, turned on his heel and stalked from the room, calling, “Naomi. Come.”
The fur-baby leaped from William’s arms to chase after her skin-dad. Halfway there, she morphed into the biggest panther he’d ever seen.
“You are making the prophecy self-fulling,” he called. “Do you realize that?”
Silence.
For a moment, William stood rooted in place, angrier by the second. Until Sunny threaded her fingers through his, reminding him of her acceptance and desire for him.
Lifemates made your life better. Will not allow anyone to take her from me. Ever.
“Let’s blow this joint and go home, baby,” she beseeched for his ears alone.
Home. Yes. Business had concluded. He nodded to the kings. “Ladies.” Then he flashed away with Sunny.
31
“The big, bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew her panties down.”
Something inside William had changed. Sunny had noticed it when they’d reached Hades’s palace, but she’d really noticed it when they’d appeared in his bedroom. He was tenser, his eyes frenzied. Even his aura had changed, embers blazing inside the blur. Embers of rage and hurt.
Hades had been so cruel to him. It had taken every ounce of her self-control not to shift into her unicorn form and stab the king in his black heart.
Right now, William paced through the room—their bedroom—every stomping step breaking another piece of her heart.
“I suspect it feels like a death in the family, and it sucks. But you are not at fault here, baby,” she told him, easing onto the edge of the bed. “Hades’s actions speaks of his character, not yours.”
He scoured a hand over his face. “Stay here. I’m taking Dawn for a walk.” He flashed to the hellhound, then flashed away, the two disappearing from view.
He never acknowledged her words, but Sunny didn’t take his abandonment as a rejection. She understood loss, and the need to be alone with your thoughts. She also knew William and knew he needed touch the way others needed air; it made him feel alive, accepted, important and wanted. Everything he’d missed as a boy. It was why he’d slept with so many women.
So, when he returned, Sunny knew just what to do. Sex! No more waiting. Around William, her level of arousal remained on con
stant simmer, every sensation enhanced.
Just the thought of being with him drew her nipples taut and soaked her panties. The fact that William had asked her to move in... She wondered, Am I the one he’s been searching for? Am I his lifemate?
The possibility made her heart leap. Do I want to be his lifemate?
She thought she...did. But before she contemplated the ins and outs of their relationship, she should check the page he’d locked in the drawer. He could return at any moment.