her—she’d sold him to one of the kings of the underworld. The male had controlled a pack of hellhounds. Not through bonding. The hounds had to be willing for that. But through threats. Do what I tell you, or watch as I kill your mate.
Upon his order, they’d tracked Hades...ripped him apart.
So much pain...so much agony. Of the body and of the soul. He’d loved his mother, but he’d hated her, too.
And now, Katarina thought she had the wits to trick him? The courage to betray him? She thought she could free her piece-of-shit husband and leave him?
Destruction roared with a rage he’d carried all these centuries, the emotion leaking into Baden. Power before sentiment. The weak always sought a protector. Any protector. It was just a fact of life.
Some part of Baden defended Katarina. Her mind was well-honed; she was intelligent and crafty. She could survive the world without him—without Aleksander—and even thrive.
The thought...couldn’t be correct. She needed a strong man to save her. She would always need a strong man to save her.
She raised her chin, her gray-green eyes crackling with fury of her own, daring him to speak against her.
In the revelation of her deceit, she dared challenge him?
Maybe her mind wasn’t so well-honed, after all. She purposely incited his worst.
Calm. Steady. Baden placed Biscuit in her arms and scooped up Gravy. With his free arm, he yanked his betrayer against him. Chest to chest. She gasped in surprise...perhaps in fear.
Baden and Destruction cursed her in unison. A treacherous bitch shouldn’t feel this good.
Aleksander lunged at him with all the slack the chain allowed. His mistake. Baden booted him in the face, nearly snapping his neck.
Far from satisfied, he flashed just outside the safe house, where Keeley and Lucien had flashed the others. The temporary home was a shack on the outside, but was a tricked-out arsenal/makeshift hospital on the inside. He released Katarina in a hurry, as if she were toxic waste—because she was—and placed the dog at her feet.
Baden expected her to grab hold of his arm and cling, to sob and make excuses for her behavior.
You misunderstood...
I was so scared, so confused, but now I’m back on track.
I would never betray you. I crave you too intensely.
She merely flipped her hair over her shoulder and sneered at him. “You don’t need Distrust to be a suspicious, unreasonable kretén, eh?”
“How am I unreasonable, zvodkyne?” Seductress. Tell me. Please. “Your own words condemn you.”
“You’re right. Now go away.” She dismissed him with a regal wave. “You only hear, but you do not listen.”
“What does that even mean?” he demanded.
The hinges on the front door creaked; Sienna stepped onto the porch, ending the conversation. One of her enormous black wings was bent at an odd angle, and she had stitches on her forehead.
A serene expression overtook her features as she approached. Her demon, Wrath, sensed the strife between them and ate it up, a fact that irritated both Baden and the beast.
“Thought you might need these,” she said, holding out two collars and leashes.
“Thank you. You are kind and understanding.” The dogs bucked as Katarina anchored the straps of leather in place. But when she began to hum, they settled, suddenly docile.
Baden scowled. She’d once subdued him just as easily. Never again!
“You’re, uh, welcome?” Sienna said and returned to the house with only a single backward glance.
When Katarina attempted to follow the girl, Baden latched onto her wrist. “The attack we just faced was a hired hit. I’m a wanted man.” The anger in his voice would have caused anyone else to run, but not the human. Never the human. Foolish girl. Foolish Baden. Why did he admire her so? “Hades has two sons. William, whom you’ve met, and Lucifer, who is ultimate darkness with no hint of light. He’ll steal from anyone, kill anyone and destroy anything. He wants me dead. He wants all my allies dead. You need my protection, and you’d do well to remember that.”
“Lucifer...as in the devil? The original fallen angel? The one who bargains and cajoles and tricks, damning souls?”
“The very one.”
“Well, I have nothing to fear. I’m not your ally. Screw your protection, and screw you.” Chin lifting another notch, she wrenched free of his clasp and marched into the house, the dogs trotting behind her.
Baden trailed after her, too, catching up in a living room furnished like any other. A couch, two chairs and a coffee table. He gritted out, “Does your leg need further tending?”