felt her excitement as if it were his own.
Just wait, female. This is only the beginning...
They emerged from the thick forest and stepped into a dull white light. And as she sucked in a breath and stared wide-eyed at the stone archway, he lowered his lips to her ear and whispered, “You’re mine now, mono mia. And this time, I’m never letting you go.”
Max wasn’t sure how long he’d been out.
There had been motorbikes. Lots of them. Whining up an abandoned highway in the dark. Nothing but dots of red in the distance.
He’d been shoved on the back of one bike, behind a rancid smelling satyr he hadn’t wanted to touch let alone look at. His hands had been bound at his front, his torso strapped to the seatback so he couldn’t fall off. The trip was a blur, mostly because whatever energy Zagreus had hit him with wasn’t just messing with his body but with his head. His thoughts and memories were a jumble. And every time he opened his eyes, he saw Talisa.
He saw her standing with Zagreus in the middle of that dance floor with his massive hand wrapped around her arm. Saw the shock and fear in her eyes when she’d realized the god had bound her gifts so she couldn’t fight back. Saw the horror in her violet gaze when the black smoke started to swirl and she’d realized Zagreus was taking her with him.
Max didn’t know where she was. Didn’t know if she was alive or dead. But he knew what Zagreus was capable of. Everyone did. The Prince of Darkness’s reputation for abducting and torturing females was legendary. And Max hadn’t done a damn thing to stop the sadistic god from making Talisa his next victim.
At some point, the satyrs had stopped in the middle of a dark forest and pulled him off the back of the bike. They’d been hiking by the light of the moon for he didn’t know how long—though what he’d been doing couldn’t really be called hiking. Mostly he’d been stumbling and slowing them down, which was just pissing them all off.
As if he cared. His head was too light to give a shit what they wanted.
“I can’t wait to sink my teeth into that blonde we captured last week,” one of the satyrs said at Max’s back.
“Already did that,” another one answered. “Not that impressive. The redhead who was with her, though... She’s another story.”
“Talented?”
“Double-jointed.”
Laughter echoed through the forest. Then another satyr called out, “Ah, the maenads were Zeus’s greatest gift to us mere mortals. Horny little sluts.”
Their laughter grew louder. Ahead, through a gap in the trees, Max spotted what looked like a crumbling stone fortress high on a cliff.
A satyr slammed into Max’s back, shoving him forward. “Did we say it was break time, maggot? Keep walking.”
Max hadn’t even realized he’d stopped. His muscles were weak. Every inch of his body felt fucking weak, but he wasn’t about to show it in front of these beasts.
Gathering what was left of his strength, he pushed forward, heading through the trees where the satyr pointed toward what looked to be a cave entrance.
The cave was dark. And cool. Cooler than the night air. Max shivered. Inside, one of the satyrs lit a torch, which cast orange light over the uneven rock walls.
The satyr at his side grasped him by the arm and pulled. He stumbled but followed. As they wound their way through the cave, he realized they were slowly gaining in elevation.
When they finally came to a stop outside a thick, steel door, Max was sweating and breathing hard. The tallest satyr in the group—one who was about Max’s height—rapped on the door, then stepped back as they waited.
At Max’s side, the satyr who’d been dragging him said, “What are we doing with this one?”
The leader of the ragtag group turned and gave Max the once over. “Until we figure out what he can do for us, throw him into the abyss.”
Metal hinges creaked as the door pushed open. Inside, a couple of satyrs greeted the party, but Max was too busy wondering what the hell an abyss was to care.
The group thinned out as satyrs disappeared in different directions. Stone walls rose around Max as he was pushed forward down a long corridor lit only by torches here and there. Laugher and voices echoed through the space, followed by feminine screams that had to come from whatever nymphs these beasts had trapped here.
Max didn’t want