moment Malone will be moving through this world, the next she will be a memory. Just like my mother.
I take a slow breath and finally shake my head. “No. I can’t ask that of you.”
“You aren’t asking; I’m offering.”
I shake my head again. “It has to be me.”
Allecto scrubs her hands over her face. “Fine. But don’t you dare beat yourself up when you change your mind. There are people capable of murder, and you’re even one of them when you get heated, but an assassination is a totally different animal.”
It’s irritating that she doubts me. “I’m more than capable of doing this.”
“Sure. Capable.” She turns for the door. “That’s not what I said, though, is it?”
She’s gone before I can come up with a response. I don’t care what Allecto says or how many theories she has about me developing feelings for the people I have sex with; none of that has to mean anything. Malone isn’t just anyone. She’s the enemy.
I huff out a breath and turn back to get the treadmill going again. As I take up the steady pounding rhythm of running, my traitorous mind flickers to the single scene I had with Malone all those years ago. I agreed to it out of some perverse desire to understand the woman who hurt my mother. I didn’t expect Malone to systematically dismantle all my defenses and shatter me to pieces. The woman is the single best Dominant in Carver City. I’d know—I’ve been with them all at this point.
It doesn’t matter.
I’ve already agreed to this assignation, and I’m going through with it.
I’m going to kill Malone.
3
Malone
I’ve never had a problem taking what I want. The world respects power and power alone, and that’s particularly true in my world. In the past, it’s been a simple matter of seeing something and going through the necessary steps to acquire whatever it is—whoever it is.
As I sit in the chair across from Hades’s desk, it’s with the uncomfortable knowledge that I don’t know what he’ll say in response to my request to contract Aurora out. The old man has a soft spot for the girl, and has ever since she came to work in the Underworld nine years ago. It’s not exactly a fatherly love, not with the games we all play, but he cares about her. It colors his perspective, ensures that he won’t be able to make this decision based on possible gains or compensation. He’s making it emotionally.
Because of that, I can’t guarantee what his answer will be.
After all, I didn’t expect him to make me wait a full twenty-four hours for a response, and yet here we are.
Hades steeples his hands in front of his face. He doesn’t bother with a greeting. We both know why I’m here. “There are conditions.”
Something like giddiness courses through me. He’s going to say yes. I keep my expression cold and unmoving through the ease of long practice. “I expected as much.”
“Aurora is too reckless to put hard limits in place, so I will do it for her.”
That surprises me enough to raise my eyebrows. “You don’t trust her to know her own mind after nearly a decade in the Underworld? Hades, you’re getting soft.”
“Violate the terms of this contract and see how soft I am.” The quiet menace in his voice has me going still. Hades might be an old dog, but he’s still got claws and teeth. There’s a reason why all the territory leaders, me included, respect his territory as neutral space. My mother taught me never to walk onto a battlefield unless I was sure I could win. I’m not entirely sure I could win a conflict with Hades, and because of that I’m forced to play these polite games.
“What are your conditions?”
“No blood play. Nothing that could scar.” He considers me. “No breath play or water play.”
I’m not exactly surprised, but it’s interesting that he feels the need to vocalize this list. “Those are the rules of the club.”
“And you won’t be in the club, so it requires stating explicitly. If you harm Aurora, I will destroy you.”
This is a fault line I could exploit if I so wished. Everyone looks at Hades and assumes the way to hurt him is to hurt one of his lovers—Megaera or Hercules. Very few people look deeper to realize that, no matter his cold attitude, he takes the protection of his people seriously. Especially Aurora.
He’s not the only one in Carver City that feels that way. If