Damn it, I was so bad at this. He got his hands on me and I lost my mind. Even now, I was having a hard time thinking straight.
But Mac needed me. And Hades was half out of his mind with desire, muscles tense and breath heaving. His strong hands had moved to my hips, gripping almost hard enough to bruise.
This was my moment.
It made me feel like total shit, but it was my chance to save Mac.
Heart thundering, I pressed my lips to his chest and shimmied down from the table. He shuddered as I ran my hands up his hard stomach to his chest, marveling at the wide expanse of muscle.
“I want to kiss all of you,” I murmured, meaning it. I didn’t have to fake anything with him.
I just had to betray him.
His head tilted back and he groaned low in his chest, his fists clenched at his sides. I kissed his biceps, so heavily corded with muscle, and moved around to his back, my vines making room for me.
It was a wonder of muscle and smooth skin, and I ran my lips over him, feeling him tense beneath my touch. His entire body was a work of art, tightly wound as pleasure streaked through him.
Heart thundering, I dropped my gaze to his hands, clenched into fists at his side.
I needed to cuff him.
Conflict nearly ripped me apart.
If not for Mac, I couldn’t have done it. It was her face that I pictured, wan and near death, as I pulled the cuffs from my back pocket and slapped them on his wrists, moving swiftly and making sure my vines held him tight. The cuffs would weaken him so he couldn’t break out of my vines.
He stiffened. “Seraphia.”
I jerked back, stepping away as my vines held him still. Quickly, I buttoned my trousers.
Please work, please work, please work.
If they didn’t, I was dead.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, struggling against the cuffs and vines, turning so that he faced me.
“Escaping.” I grabbed my shirt and tugged it on, buttoning it with shaking hands.
He strained against the vines that wrapped around him, eyes flashing. “What the hell did you do to me?”
“A spell.” My throat tightened, guilt twitching inside me. “On the cuffs.”
“To weaken me?” Anger tightened his lips
“It’s my only chance at getting out of here. Of saving Mac.” I kept my magic flowing to the vines, forcing them to hold him tight. To grow stronger, wrapping around him like a massive snake.
He went to his knees, most of his skin now wrapped in the brilliant emerald vines.
Trembling, I stood, looking around the room.
Where the hell was that key?
“You won’t find it.” Anger flared in his eyes.
“I will.” It would be here, somewhere. Definitely. No way he’d keep something that important anywhere else.
Heart racing, I ran around the room, checking every drawer and nook and cranny I could find. I could feel his gaze on me as I searched, but it wasn’t anywhere in the living room. I could still feel him struggling, the vines forming a connection between us.
“Seraphia,” he growled.
I ignored him, skin cold with fear as I moved to the bedroom, finding the imposing bed draped in dark fabric. Huge windows took up most of the walls, thrown open to the night air.
He sleeps here.
If I hadn’t spent that night in the cave with him, it would be hard to imagine that he slept at all.
Yet he did, and in an enormous bed that looked far too inviting.
“Seraphia!” He roared, his voice shaking the floor. “Release me!”
I drew in a shuddery breath and looked around, searching for any place where he might stash a key.
Yet there was almost nothing in this room besides the bed. Not even a side table. Hades wouldn't be weak enough to require a glass of water in the middle of the night. Silly me.
Even the floor was stone—great huge slabs of it—so I wouldn’t find it under a floorboard. Heart racing, I turned back to the living room, trying not to look at him.
“Seraphia. Release me.”
“You underestimated me.”
“I did.” There was anger in his voice, stark and fierce. Along with regret.
I shook my head. I didn’t care. I had to find that damned key.
Think.
My gaze roved the bookshelves along the walls. There were hundreds of books. Thousands.
He valued books. Not the same way I did, but he valued them all the same.
An idea popped to mind. It was crazy. Totally crazy.