friendship that’s cropped up with Aurora and several other women in the Underworld. Maybe it was always there, but they’re out in the open with it now.
Allecto is one of the few people in Carver City that gives me pause. She could be an Amazon for how superior she is to everyone around her in every way. She’s smart, capable, and famously brutal with the people who cross Hades. I always assumed her friendship with Aurora was one where she took on a dominant role and looked after the younger woman like a protective older sister.
If they’ve trained enough to make Aurora this skilled, they’re closer to equals than I could have imagined.
Which means Aurora is a threat in a way I didn’t anticipate.
I’m thinking too hard. It slows my reaction time, which is the only excuse I have for Aurora sneaking past my guard and clipping my chin. It’s a glancing blow, but it snaps me into the present. I step back a few times, putting myself out of her range, and touch the spot. “Are you angry at me, Aurora?”
A fine sheen of sweat glistens on her skin. She clenches and unclenches her fists. “Why would I be angry at you, Mistress?”
Answering with a question is its own kind of confirmation. The knowledge creates a strange feeling in my stomach. No matter what else has happened, I’ve inundated her with orgasms this afternoon. She shouldn’t want anyone touching her pussy for a few hours yet, no matter how insatiable she is. Surely she’s not still angry that I pushed the issue with aftercare?
Aurora takes advantage of my distraction. She comes at me in a concentrated effort, alternating kicks and punches until I’m scrambling to keep any of the hits from landing. The little asshole feints with her leg, aiming for the same spot now aching from that first kick, and when I move to block, she punches me in the face.
I’m on her before I make the conscious decision to move, bearing her to the ground. She tries to roll us, but I’m stronger, and I have as much experience grappling as I do with the rest of it. I straddle her hips and hook her thighs with my feet, pinning her lower body to the mat. She tries to hit me again, but I easily catch her wrists and shove them down, holding her in place.
My leg hurts, but it has nothing on the throbbing in my face. I move my jaw carefully, but everything seems to be functioning as it should. “You didn’t pull your punch.”
“Oops.” She doesn’t sound the least bit sorry.
It should piss me off, but the feeling surging through me isn’t anger. It’s admiration. Admiration and a heavy dose of lust. This delicate flower has more thorns than I could have imagined. Instead of turning me off, it makes her that much more interesting. I stare down at her. “I should have expected this.” I’m the one who pointed out how dangerous she is, how ready to do violence when incited.
“Sounds like a you problem.”
I sit back a little, careful to keep her wrists in place. “Can you shoot? Use weapons beyond fire?”
Aurora’s gorgeous face takes on a stubborn set. “Want to grab some guns and find out?”
That surprises a laugh out of me. “So you can shoot me? I don’t think so.” But it also answers my question in a roundabout way. “What was Allecto preparing you for?”
Aurora narrows her eyes. “Who says she was preparing me for anything? Maybe it has nothing to do with her at all.”
I’m making assumptions again, something she’s proven time and time again that I can’t afford to do. I trace her inner wrists with my thumbs and am gratified to see her breath catch. “I have you pinned. To the victor goes the spoils.”
“Am I the spoils of war now?” The way she says it is all wrong. She might like the way I touch her, but she is furious. Far angrier than this loss warrants, especially since she landed such well-placed blows.
I contemplate her for several long moments, but she offers me nothing. I don’t know the source of her rage, which means I can’t work with it. Surely it’s not… I take a breath. “Are you angry because it took eight years for me to circle back to you?”
“Yes. Next question.”
No, she answered too easily. It’s the truth, yes, but not the full truth. Gods, this woman is a puzzle I only have