Page 6 of Hades' Shadow
“Zeus warned us that it is only going to get worse and there’s a possible war on the horizon. The gods’ items of power have been stolen and if we don’t find them before it’s too late the gods won’t be able to help us.”
“Shit,” Dax says and peers around at all the students who will be affected if we don’t do something.
“Draven, can you let me know if you notice anything else strange?” I turn to the Hermes student.
Draven nods and he lays a hand on my shoulder, squeezing before letting go. “You aren’t responsible for everyone here, Beth.”
“I’m the child of Zeus. I think that means I have to be a leader or some shit,” I grumble, shaking my head.
“You can let others help take that burden.” He smiles softly at me before strolling away with his hands in his pockets.
Can I really, though? Raven and Jayden are the only ones I trust even the littlest bit and Jayden is questionable.
As if my thoughts conjured him, he strolls into the clearing with Mia hanging off his arm, his beautiful features scrunched up in a frown. His black hair looks limp and his ice-blue eyes are dull.
What is going on with him?
Mia bounces at his side, and though he’s too far away for me to hear, Mia’s lips are moving. I don’t get it. He doesn’t even like her, and I have to guess that he’s only letting her hang all over him to hurt me.
I eye the two of them and take stock of myself and my emotions. I feel absolutely nothing watching her vie for his attention. Turning, I glance at Dax. His eyes are hopeful.
“Fine. Let’s train,” I say too loudly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Jayden stiffen and pull away from Mia before stomping to the other side of the clearing with his back to me.
“Really?” Dax asks excitedly.
“Yeah, just no fucking battle-ax. Can you even hold that thing up right now?” I crouch into a fighting stance and cut the magic to my whip so I don’t burn him further.
We are training, not actually trying to kill each other. I also need to get my strength up so I can take him to the ground.
“Yes, I can lift my ax,” he scoffs, moving into his own fighting stance.
“Still, no ax.” I raise an eyebrow at him.
I flick my whip out at him and he jumps back.
Maybe I can add a tiny bit of electricity to the end; it will help me learn control.
I grin at him and pull the whip back. Dax lunges for me but he’s a lot slower than I am, and I duck away before he can get his huge arms around me.
I flick my wrist out, hitting him in the chest with just the tip of my whip, and he yelps, jumping back and falling on his ass. I burst out laughing at his disgruntled expression.
“What the fuck was that?” he barks, rubbing his chest.
“I was practicing control. It was just a little zap.” I giggle, reaching out a hand to help him up.
He wraps his hand around mine and it’s too late to stop as he uses his strength against me and pulls me down, rolling us quickly so his body is pressing me to the hard-packed dirt and my breath goes out on a whoosh.
“Get off of me,” I wheeze. He’s like two hundred pounds of pure muscle and he’s crushing me beneath him.
“You have to yield first,” he whispers. His eyes are hooded as he stares down at me.
Fuck. This is so bad.
He hardens against my leg the more I squirm to get away. “I’m not going to yield.”
“I’m not letting you up until you yield.” He tilts his head down and breathes deep.
