Page 4 of Medusa

Augustine spat him out the front door, Jaden rolling head over heels on the hard flagstone path until he came to a stop flat on his back by the front gate.

“Come back when you are in a better frame of mind,” Augustine growled, snorting smoke out of his nostrils. “Whatever that might take.” He slammed the door closed behind him.

Jaden flipped the bird at the house and rubbed the back of his head. “Fuck,” he said quietly, feeling a knot forming. He sat up slowly, the house across the street swaying in his vision until he blinked a couple times and his dragon healing kicked in. Using the gate, he struggled to his feet and brushed dirt from the path off his clothes. Fortunately, there were no rips in his shirt or jeans, and the dirt fell to the ground with little persuasion.

“This wouldn’t have happened if Finley were home,” Jaden said, sulking as he started down their street to the main part of Purgatory. “He would have stoppedAuggiefrom throwing me out.” He spat the name of his brother along with a wad of saliva onto the side of the road. It was tinged with blood and he scowled at it.

“‘Just go pick up a woman,’” he said, imitating his brother’s voice. “‘What, like it’s hard?’ Bah!”

Once he reached the main street, Jaden paused, considering his options. He could go to Valhalla’s Throne, but he’d already fought there today, and he’d lost. Badly. He didn’t want to risk running into Pollux again after the words they’d shared earlier that evening.

Jaden groaned. “I wish I could redo this whole day,” he lamented. “Somewhere with alcohol, then. Drink to forget, right?”

A flash of shimmery purple material caught his eye, and he watched a striking blonde walk into the Underworld Cafe. “Nowthat’swhat I’m talking about,” he muttered under his breath. He crossed the street, paused to fix his hair in his reflection in the cafe’s windows, and opened the door.

Please, let one thing go right for me today.

* * *

The day had startedas usual. Jaden woke early, downed a protein shake, stretched in preparation for his run, woke his brothers, and then headed out for his run.

What would they do without me?

Waste the whole day sleeping?

He chuckled at the thought. He ran in silence, enjoying the cool morning air as he worked up a sweat.

Once back at the house, he spent some time with the weights in the backyard, two-hundred-pound weights in each hand. His brothers had left to do their own thing by the time he’d entered the house, and he took his time in the shower. Then a high protein, high carb lunch, because his fight was scheduled for the dinner rush and he wouldn’t eat much beforehand.

Odin requested that his fighters arrive at least an hour before their scheduled appearances, so Jaden made his way to the brothers’ ready room with time to spare. He wanted to get in a few leg reps in the fight club’s workout space. It was the one thing they didn’t have at home; a good machine to work out the legs.

Jaden laid out his fight uniform on the chair in his room, a pair of loose black shorts with green scales on the sides, and returned to the hallway.

“Watch it,” growled a deep voice, pushing past him as he closed his door.

“Watch it yourself,” Jaden snarked back. “Am I not visible enough for you?” He faced off against one of the biggest bullies in Valhalla’s Throne.

Most of the fighters employed by Odin were the amicable sort; willing to play up a character in the ring, not holding any grudges once out. Pollux, the brute he was going toe-to-toe with right now, wasnotthat sort.

Fuck, am I ever looking forward to mopping the floor with him tonight,Jaden let his smug amusement show on his face as he stared Pollux down.

“Hey, keep it in the ring, boys.” One of the members of Odin’s security team put his arm between the fighters.

Pollux sneered. “You need these weak-ass boys to do the fighting for you, J-Star? Too chicken to fight me without the precious rules of the ring?”

Jaden took a deep breath, trying to cool his quick temper. “I’m not going to get kicked out of the club because I was picking fights outside the ring. You want your fight? Come and get it at six tonight.”

“Rules,” Pollux spat. He pushed the security guy’s arm away from him. “I don’t need you!” He pretended to take a jab at Jaden, who didn’t flinch, making Pollux even angrier. The demigod stormed off down the hallway, on the way to the ring to watch the fights before his own.

“You okay?”

Jaden rolled his head on his neck, getting rid of some of the tension that had crept in. “Fine, thanks.” He hated that every nerve now felt on edge. Hopefully a good workout would get his head in the right mindset for the fight tonight.

He groaned internally. He’d yet to roll the dice to see whether he’d win or lose tonight.

The dragon shifter brothers had decided together, when they’d started fighting in Odin’s underground fighting club, that they would roll a dice before each match to see whether they would win or lose. Without that random chance, there was no way they would ever lose, and that just wasn’t interesting for the spectators. Nobody knew that they decided the outcome of the match beforehand, and they wanted to keep it that way.

Nobody’ll know if I just…

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