We’d literally woken the sleeping giant, and it. Was. Pissed.
“Nice doggy,” Leo said. “Niiiiice doggy.”
I gaped at him, my attention temporarily taken off the massive killing machine towering over us. “Nice doggy?”
Leo glared at me and adjusted his stance, trying to find better footing. It was impossible. As the dog continued to rise from its slumber, the bones poured down around us until I was forced to pull myself out of a hip-deep pool of human remains.
If we stood here much longer, the dog wouldn’t need to bother eating us, because we’d drown in a heap of dry bones. I wasn’t sure what idea scared me more: quick death from ten-ton jaws, or to have my last breath be full of finger bones. Neither was too appealing, to be honest.
My first instinct was to run, but we could barely stand on the hill without staggering. If we made a break for it, we’d end up in the river, and as option C it didn’t seem like a much better way to die.
Charon knew exactly where he was dumping us and had left us here anyway. The evil, immortal prick.
But why would he ferry us to certain death after making such a big show of getting a promise from me about Sunny? Seemed like a lot of effort to go through to put us in an impossible situation. Which led me to believe there must be a way out of this we weren’t seeing. Some solution that wasn’t obvious.
I had a demigod with a bracelet of invincibility standing next to me. Surely he must be good for something other than thievery and bad jokes.
Then I saw it in his eyes.
Our salvation.
“Look at me.” I grabbed hold of him, turning his body towards me and sending both of us sliding ano
ther foot down the slope.
His gray eyes had become deep, gloomy pools, the same green-tinged charcoal color as a cloud threatening to turn into a tornado. I hadn’t known before if he had any of his father in him, in a power sense, but as the first flicker of lightning danced across his irises, I broke into a broad smile.
I could have laughed or cried, but neither seemed like the right response.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Cerberus growled again, the bones around us rumbling and rattling in chorus. But for the first time since we’d arrived here there was a glimmer of hope. Because if Leo was his father’s son and carried any of Seth’s ability, I could use it.
It didn’t matter how dormant it was. If the spark was inside him, that was all I needed.
Of course, using it might kill me anyway, but I’d deal with that if and when it became an issue. I wasn’t going to turn down this opportunity for something as small and insignificant as my potential death.
Any other time I’d have worried that using his powers would damage him, but as long as he had that bracelet on his wrist, I knew it couldn’t kill him.
Just hurt him real bad.
“I’m going to do something, and you’re not going to like it,” I told him matter-of-factly.
“Is it any worse than the situation we’re already in?” He spoke in a rapid-fire burst that made the full sentence sound like one long word.
He grabbed me by the waist as another small landslide threatened to take me down with it. Instead of putting me down, he held on to me, his arms locked around my middle, and the warm plane of his chest pressed against mine. This much closeness would normally bother me, but something about the added proximity to Leo felt comfortable, like it was perfectly natural for him to be holding me like this.
Actually, the more of me touching him the better. I recalled the way Seth had put his hands on me when he channeled his full power into me. This would be much the same. Instead of drawing the energy of the storm from the sky, I’d be pulling it out of Leo. Touch was a great way to get as much out of him as I could all at once.
“This might hurt a little.”
He began to reply, but I kissed him.
At first he was startled by the gesture—one I hadn’t intended romantically—and he went still beneath my mouth. But as the spark inside him responded to me, so too did the man. His hands moved from my waist to my thighs, and he lifted me, positioning me so my legs wrapped around him. I didn’t argue, needing the support for what I was about to attempt.
His skin simmered and radiated so hotly I could feel his synapses firing underneath my fingertips. I may not have meant the kiss as a seduction, but damn if it wasn’t turning out to be a hot one. I gripped the back of his neck, tilting my head for a better angle as he opened his mouth to me.
I’d owe him an apology after this, but my brain was too foggy right then to remember why it was wrong.