If anything, his brow rises higher. “Somehow, I don’t believe you.” But he gives one of his slow smiles. “Of course we can go in, Persephone. Lead the way.”
A bell dings above our heads as we walk through the door. I inhale the mixed scent of animals and wood shavings, and a feeling wells up inside me that’s part nostalgia and part something I can’t identify. I don’t spend much time thinking about my life before my mother became Demeter and we moved to the city. There’s no way she’d leave us behind, and pining for a life that was no longer mine seemed a study in madness. Better, easier, to focus on the future and my path to freedom.
I’m not even sure why a pet store brings it all back, but my heart is in my throat as I wander the first aisle, looking at guinea pigs and brightly colored birds. We reach the end near a counter and see two pretty Black women standing there, heads bent over a computer. They look up and catch sight of us. One of them, the woman wearing a faded pair of jeans and an orange knit sweater, grins in recognition. “Finally decided to take my advice?”
“Hello, Gayle.” He moves past me and she pulls him into a hug. “We’re just doing the rounds.”
“Oh, that.” She waves it away. “We’re fine. You’ve more than made sure of that.” She grips his shoulders and looks up at him. “We support you. No matter what.”
There it is again, the sheer loyalty Hades commands. He does it without threats or making lavish promises. His people will follow him to the end of the earth simply because he respects them and does his best to see they’re taken care of. It’s a powerful thing to witness.
He nods. “Appreciate it.”
She drops her hands and grins again. “Don’t suppose today is finally the day I convince you to get a dog or two so you aren’t haunting that giant house by yourself?”
I perk up. “Dogs?”
She finally looks at me, and her attitude cools a little. “We don’t normally keep any dogs but Old Man Joe in the shop.” She motions behind her at a dog bed that I thought contained a bunch of towels. A head lifts and I realize it’s not towels at all. It’s a Komondor dog. He shakes his hair out of his eyes and gives a big yawn.
“Oh my gods,” I whisper. “Hades, look at that magnificent creature.”
“I see,” he says drily.
Gayle shrugs. “Like I was saying, we don’t normally keep dogs here, but Jessie found a box of them by Cypress Bridge. I don’t know if someone from the upper city decided to dump them there or if it was one of ours, but…” She sighs. “People can be real assholes sometimes.”
I manage to drag my attention away from the dog at that. “They just dumped them there?” I have absolutely no business feeling a kinship for these puppies I’ve never seen, but I can’t deny that it feels like a strange twist of fate. “Can we see them?”
“Yeah.” She jerks her thumb over her shoulder. “We have them back here. They look like they were old enough to be weaned, so that’s a silver lining.”
I’m already moving, slipping past Hades and Gayle in the direction she indicated. Sure enough, there is a large box set up near the back of the shop. I lean over and look in and gasp. “Oh my gods.”
There are three of them, all perfectly black. I’m not quite sure of the breed—I suspect they’re mutts—but they’re cute as they sleep in a puppy pile against one corner. I reach out, then stop to look at Gayle. “May I?”
“By all means.” Most of the frostiness is gone from her when she looks at me, and I’m certain I see amusement lingering in her dark eyes. “I take it you’re a dog person.”
“I’m an equal-opportunity pet person.” I go to my knees next to the box and reach down to run a gentle hand over the back of the puppy on top of the pile. “I like cats, too. Fish, I can take or leave.”
“Noted.” Now Gayle is definitely fighting back laughter, but that’s okay. I don’t mind her finding me amusing.
“Hades, look.”
He sinks to his knees next to me. “I’m looking.” There’s something strange in his tone, and it’s enough to get me to drag my attention from the puppies. Oh my gods, they’re so soft.
I study his face. He looks almost pained. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Your words are saying ‘nothing’ but your expression is saying something else altogether.”
He sighs, but not like he’s irritated. More like he’s giving in. “They’re very cute.” He reaches down and lifts one carefully into his arms. Now he really looks pained. “They shouldn’t have been left like that.”