I looked at the horse and his eyes spoke to me. My chest caved at the realization I tried to deny. “Tarek?” I asked, and the horse neighed before nudging me again. He had been one of the Tulpar and was a descendant of the great Pegasus himself. He’d been not only my mount, but my friend. “Impossible,” I whispered as I lifted the side of the blanket and small saddle. He shied from me, and regret overtook me at the loss of his wings.
“I’m so sorry, my friend,” I whispered to him. He dropped his head and rested his broad forehead against my chest. Gently, I scratched his jaw. There was an ache deep inside me that wouldn’t go away. It wasn’t fair that he’d been punished too. He’d only helped me secretly meet with Soleil because I instructed him to do so.
“Can you ride?” the man asked.
Concerned about causing him pain, I looked my horse in the eye. He shook his head up and down. Relieved, I nodded before I sheathed the sword on my hip. With practiced grace, I jumped and mounted my old friend. Wincing at the pull over my shoulder blades, I gathered the reins. The movement made me gasp at the raw pain that burned there.
“What’s your name, soldier?”
“Aros,” I replied, still unsure why I was in the middle of this battle—though I was beginning to have an idea, and it didn’t bode well for me.
“Well, Lieutenant Aros, let’s ride. We have a battle to win.”
I wish I could say that was the last battle I’d fought—the last war.
Angry, full of self-loathing, and spiteful to a fault, I’d done everything I could think of to die. Each and every attempt had me waking up to find myself whole and hearty—and more pissed off at the world. As times changed, I set Tarek free to run with the wild mustangs. In a modern age, I couldn’t exactly ride a horse everywhere I went.
Eventually, I quit trying to find my death and figured it would eventually happen naturally.
Hell no, it didn’t.
And that’s what I was in—Hell.
Maybe I deserved it, but my vengeful goddess seemed to delight in my torment. Merciful and loving, my ass. If I could’ve made a deal with the God of the Underworld himself, I would’ve, but that was forbidden and even Hades didn’t dare.
The fist hitting my face before my body slammed to the ground, pulled me out of my thoughts.
“Are you done, kid?” the man I’d picked a fight with in the bar snarled as he leaned forward with his meaty palms on his thighs and stared down at me. The patch on his leather vest read “VENOM.” Another indicated he was the president of their group.
My teeth ground and I used the back of my hand to wipe the blood from the corner of my mouth. I’d hoped for more damage, but of course I wasn’t that lucky. Gravel dug into my back, but I welcomed the feeling.
“Stubborn little prick,” he muttered. To prove him right, I stood without taking the offered assistance of his outstretched hand. Scowls covered the faces of the men with him as they watched the scene unfold.
I didn’t give two shits.
Remaining mute, I insolently glared at each of them as I brushed off the dust from the gravel lot. The bar was a hole-in-the-wall off of a two-lane highway cutting across Iowa. Disappointment settled in my gut because I wanted to keep fighting.
“You’re an angry guy,” one of them observed with a narrowed and calculating gaze. The color of his icy-blue eyes was nearly as startling as mine. If anyone stuck around me for long, they saw the way the color shifted from the darkest black to a molten silver, depending on my mood.
Right now? Guaranteed they were as black as the shitty fucking heart in my chest.
The dude with the icy gaze studied me and my skin prickled as if he was trying to peel away the layers. Anger surged at the violation, and I pushed back. The slight widening of his eyes was the only indication that he’d experienced the burst of electricity from my protective response.
He leaned over to whisper something in Venom’s ear, causing the president’s attention to snap back to me. Then Venom did the same to a tall guy standing next to him with messy dark-brown hair and eyes that were a mix of brown and gold. They were sharp and seemed to miss nothing. As he cocked his head to study me, I caught his vice president tab and his name patch. “RAPTOR,” it read.
“Who are you?” Raptor quietly demanded.
Not willing to give him the satisfaction of a reply, I pressed my lips together.
“That your bike over there?” he tried again.
Full of insolence, I shrugged.
“You look like you’re going somewhere,” he persisted.
Still, I simply blinked at him. Venom stepped in front of Raptor and stared at me with a narrowed gaze.
“Son, I’m not the enemy here. Voodoo here says you belong with us, yet neither he nor Chains could get a clear picture—and I’m here to tell you, that’s not normal. Now you can continue to be hateful and angry, or you can get on that bike and follow us the rest of the way home. That is, unless you’re on your way somewhere specific. While I may not have been able to do anything with those emotions of yours, I’m pretty sure you’re wandering,” Venom observed as he motioned to both the icy-eyed guy and the one I assumed must be Chains. He was also covered in tats with inky black hair that fell over one eye.