Page 73 of Hades

“My children.” Her lower lip trembled, but the tears that lined her lashes didn’t fall, not even when she tried to move to greet Keras and Calindria.

And jerked back when Hades kept hold of her hand, his arm rigid.

She turned towards him, the high winds and rain battering her, making her blink as her green gaze sought his. Confusion became awareness, laced with need that rolled down his spine as lightning forked above the dome of rock behind her.

Waves thundered into the shore, spraying foam over the blood-soaked battlefield, and the gale beat at his back.

The hunger that blazed in her eyes beat in his soul too, wrenching control from him again, pushing him deep into the darkness as he again thought about how close he had come to losing her. The look on her face beckoned him, a silent demand he couldn’t refuse.

On a low growl, Hades pulled her towards the edge of the wards. “Meet us back at the palace.”

“We’ll go home together,” Keras yelled after him over the roar of the storm.

Hades snarled and bared fangs at his son over his shoulder as they breached the edge of the wards and Persephone’s gaze seared him. He lowered his eyes to her, feeling like a savage beast as need consumed him.

Instead of answering their son, he swept her into his arms.

And teleported.

Chapter 20

Persephone’s back met cool black rock as Hades closed in at her front, the hard planes of his body coming to meet hers. Fire and need shone in his dark eyes, entrancing her. Awareness thrummed inside her, making her breasts and the apex of her thighs ache. The darkness had him in its grip again, and she thrilled at the thought of what was to come.

The air chilled her damp skin wherever it touched as she waited for his calm to break, a contrast to the heat of Hades as he pressed closer. Water droplets still clung to the sculpted planes of his face and no trace of blood remained on his fair skin.

Her fingers twitched, eager to skim up the straight line of his jaw to tunnel into the tousled wet strands of his black hair.

Hades beat her to it.

He lifted his hand, twisted her scarlet hair around it at her nape, and tugged her head back. Her little gasp ended in a moan as his mouth came down on hers, his forceful kiss igniting every nerve in her body until she was on fire for him. The possession in his kiss stoked that fire, making her restless in his arms as he yanked her closer and pressed her harder into the wall, until there wasn’t a breath of air between their damp bodies.

Anticipation of what was to come made her want to rush, but at the same time made her want to draw it all out, so the pleasure would be more exquisite.

Hades’s low growl sent a thrill down her spine and his tongue breached her lips, masterfully stroking hers and teasing her into submission.

She surrendered willingly.

Aching to feel his tongue elsewhere, to have it tracing the column of her throat as he grazed her sensitive skin with his fangs. Her mind raced forwards, replaying the thousands of times he had taken her like this.

Conquering her.

This was a claiming, rough and raw, and animalistic.

And by the gods, she wanted it.

Hades’s hand in her hair tightened and he pulled her head back as he lifted his mouth from hers.

Sinfully dark eyes stared down at her, his black irises and crimson pupils capturing the whole of her focus. There was lust in that predatory gaze, hunger that said he was going to devour her and when he was done, she would never be the same.

That same wild, desperate need blazed within her too.

She wanted to conquer him.

Claim him.

His entire body tensed as her hand met his crotch and she cupped the steel-hard erection caged behind the lacing of his black leathers. On a feral, blood-heating growl, he rocked into her touch, his gaze growing hazy for a moment before he caught himself and eased his body back from hers, breaking contact.

“Not yet,” he snarled, sending a bolt of lightning whipping through her as his rough, low words sparked a thought in her mind.

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