Page 4 of Underworld

“Oh, he’s serious, Starlight,” the milk chocolate male says beside Hades. I stiffen at the nickname. Cerberus, that was his name. Only one person has ever called me that, and I haven’t heard his voice in ten years. No one is allowed to call me that except for him. Only Howe.

Glaring at him, I growl and say, “Only one person is allowed to call me that. So, what’s with the weird nickname?”

A gravelly, gruff voice speaks up beside him, “Maybe one day we will explain it to you, Sunshine.”

I gasp, closing my eyes. No. No. No. No. It can’t be true! Zane used to say that every single time I asked that question. I look over my shoulder at Charon, and he winks at me again. “Speechless there, Moonbeam?” I choke on a sob. Alec. My Alec. I gaze at the male in front of me, and he grins. I shake my head, unable to believe what is happening. Blinking fast, I try to clear my blurry vision, but it’s no use.

“J,” I whisper, not wanting to hope, but damn, my heart is painfully throbbing with it.

“Hey, Princess,” he says softly. That’s when I break and fall to my knees. My guys. My boys are here in front of me!

Chapter Five

Jace/Hades

Fuck! I wasn’t expecting the waterworks. Tears. I fucking hated them when I was younger, and obviously, I didn’t grow out of that. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made many women cry in my line of work. Doesn’t bother me one bit. But Jane? Jane’s different. I look at the other guys. I can see the panic in Howe’s and Zane’s eyes as I shift my gaze over to Alec, who just rolls his eyes at us. He’s always been the one who could handle her tears, not us! I’m ripped from my thoughts when she flings her body against me and wraps her arms around my neck. I stand there shocked for a few seconds but begin to relax the longer I hold Jane in my arms. I have to admit, she was a cute thing when we were younger, but puberty did great things for her.

She still has hypnotizing gray-blue eyes, but she now comes up to my chin. Which would make her about five-six or so. She’s filled out and has some thickness to her. It makes me happy to see she’s no longer the thin child she was when we were younger. Thick but toned. Sexy as hell. I tangle my fingers into her now pastel, prism-colored hair. I feel my body trying to betray me. Focus! Fuck! You have a crying woman in your arms, Jace. I’m brought back when I hear her soft voice in my ear, “I fucking missed you.”

Holding her tighter, I whisper back, “I missed you too, Princess.” I hear her wet snort at the nickname. I only got away with using it once in a while when we were kids. She hated when I called her princess because she thought that meant she couldn’t take care of herself. I would laugh and tell her she was a warrior princess. After that, I got away with it more often. The standard lights flick on instead of the UV lights, and I have to blink a few times so my eyes can adjust. I look over Jane’s head and notice Alec walking back over. He must have walked over to the corner of the room to switch the lights when she launched herself at me. Once her sobs quiet down, she pulls away and wipes her eyes.

“Your eyes are still creepy as hell in normal lighting,” she says with a laugh. I pull out my contact case and carefully pluck my lenses out. I look back up, noticing the others doing the same.

I grin at her. “Better?” She reaches up, and her fingers glide beside my slightly tilted eyes. Without the lenses, she can see my dark brown eyes, which look almost black. Compliments of my Chinese mother, or so I’ve been told. I wouldn’t know because my brothers and I grew up in the same foster home since we were kids. She nods, looking over to Howe beside me.

With a grin, she teases, “I see you’re still a troublemaker.”

Howe laughs, opening his arms wide for her. I can see the laughter in his light hazel eyes as she pounces on him, and he swings her around while she laughs. I smile at them. I haven’t seen him this happy in what feels like forever. He stops swinging her and places a kiss on the top of her head, which he can easily do, being a foot taller than her.

Giving her a tight hug, he whispers, “Always, Starlight. I’ve missed you so much.”

She squeezes him back. “Me too, big guy.” She pulls away from Howe, looking to Zane next. She pauses when she notices that his hood is still hiding his face. I run a hand through my hair in worry. He doesn’t want to show her the damage to his left eye. It’s my fault he had to protect me when we took over the city. He got jumped during a fight when we were eighteen, and he’s partially blind out of that eye now. His voice never recovered from almost being choked to death, leaving him with a deep, gravelly voice. It helps with the intimidation factor when dealing with clients, but for the most part, it just reminds me of my fuckup.

“Hey, Zane?” she whispers. He releases a deep breath before pulling off the hood. Rubbing a hand through his long, chocolate hair, he flips the ends out, making the red tips disappear behind his back. He takes another deep breath before lifting his gaze to meet hers. I can tell she notices that one of his ice-blue eyes is more glazed over when she gasps. She rushes over to him, lifting her hand to hover over the scar. He gives her a small tilt of his lips, making his snake-bite piercing glint in the light. Placing a hand over hers, he presses it against his cheek.

“I’m fine, Sunshine. It happened a long time ago.” His voice comes out gruff from lack of use today. “Missed you too, by the way. Don’t want you thinking these guys were the only ones.” She lets out a laugh before encircling his torso and giving him a tight hug.

Lastly, she looks over at Alec. “I knew there was something familiar about you on the car ride here.” He grins at her, opening his arms wide. His golden-brown eyes glisten with happiness at finally having her back. She rushes to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest. He tightens his hold on her. “It was so hard not to tell you in the car.”

“So why didn’t you?” she whispers into his chest.

“The guys wanted to make sure you were who you said you were. I knew you were my Moonbeam the minute I saw you, but I wanted the guys to see you before we told you.” He pulls away from her with another grin.

She turns in Alec’s arms, facing me with a smile before saying, “Well, I suppose you found my boys a lot quicker than I originally thought you would.”

I laugh as I say, “Your boys, huh?”

She grins and sasses back, “Yes, my boys. You got a problem with that, sir?”

The boys around me laugh when I let out a growl. “Sir?”

She steps away from Alec and makes her way back over to me. “Well, you are the boss around here, are you not?”

The minute she gets within reach, I grab her wrist and pull her to me. She places her hand against my chest, and I’m sure she can feel my heart pounding. Releasing her wrist, I wrap one arm around her waist and thread my fingers through her hair with my other hand. I stare into her gray-blue eyes, assuring myself she really is here. Her lips tilt into a smile, and I grin back as I reply, “Yes, I would say I’m the official boss around here. But the boys and I run this thing together.”

“She still hasn’t agreed to our price yet, Hades,” Howe states beside me.

Right, I almost forgot. Still at work. I look down at Jane with a grin. “He’s correct. You haven’t agreed to our price yet.”

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