Page 73 of Charmed By Apollo

Scrambling to her feet, she glanced around. Hades, Persephone, and Adonis were nowhere to be found, so she guessed Hades had taken them somewhere safe.

But where was?—

“Cade!” She scrambled over to where her brother was slumped down on the ground a few feet away. He had been much closer to the barn, so his back was shredded into ribbons. “Cade, are you alright?”

“Holy shit.” Apollo blanched visibly. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”

“Help him,” Geri said. “Please.”

Before Apollo could move, Cade let out a long groan and shuddered.

“Help!” came a faint voice from somewhere. “Get this hulk off me!”

Geri blinked. “What the?—”

Cade rolled off onto his back and let out a pained groan. “Fuck!”

“Oh gods, I’m sorry, Alpha!” Artemis—who apparently had been trapped under Cade—cried as she sat up, scattering smushed sunflowers around her. “Why did you do that?”

Cade winced as she reached out to touch his shoulder. “Damn it, don’t touch me! Leave it, I’ll be fine. I heal fast.”

“You’ll heal faster if you let me?—”

Cade shrank away from her touch. “I said, leave me alone.”

Artemis crossed her arms and harrumphed. “Fine. Go ahead and suffer.”

“I saved you,” he reminded her.

“Did you forget I’m immortal?” she retorted. “I can’t die easily, and I can heal myself.”

“Yeah, well, your pretty little face would be minced meat if it wasn’t for me.”

Artemis opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again.

Geri sensed that Apollo wanted to laugh or say something inappropriate about his sister finally shutting up, but she sent him a warning look that said, not now.

“Goddammit.” Cade spat blood on the ground as he looked at the burning barn. “What the fuck happened?”

Apollo frowned. “I don’t know. Could it have been an accident?”

“There’s nothing in that barn that could have set off an explosion like that.” Cade attempted to get up, waving away Geri’s hand. “Hannah and the crew strung up a few lights and set up the DJ booth and sound system. But that’s all solar-powered, and we haven’t turned on the batteries yet. Fuck, I hope no one was in there.”

Geri snapped her fingers. “The ticking.”

“Yeah,” Cade said, his eyes darkening.

“What ticking?” Artemis asked. “I didn’t hear anything.”

Geri tapped her ear. “Shifter hearing, remember? Cade and I heard a ticking sound right before the explosion.”

“You mean, like a timed bomb?” Apollo sucked in a breath. “Who would want to bomb your barn?”

A sense of foreboding flooded Geri as she met her brother’s gaze. Someone planted a bomb in their territory, which meant they wanted to cause serious harm to the pack—or perhaps to Cade and Geri.

“I don’t know,” Cade growled. “But when I find out, I’m going to find them, and they’re going to wish they were dead.”

A shiver ran down Geri’s spine at Cade’s words. The man before her wasn’t just Cade or her brother. He was the Alpha, the leader and protector of his pack. And when anyone dared to threaten him and his wolves, he wouldn’t just sit back and let it happen.

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