Page 12 of Bonds of Hercules
My chest heaved with rage.
“Heshotmy wife.”
Agatha cradled Hermos’s bloody snake head, her face shifting rapidly between a woman and a demon. “It’s the rules!”
“It’s my wife.”
I turned and ran, resuming the hunt.
An eerie hum filled the air as sleet poured harder and slammed against ice.
Shadows moved up ahead.
When I finally broke out of the forest, Drex was lying in a heap cradling his arm, but his bullet wounds were somehow already healing over.
That’s strange.
I stepped over him.
In the middle of the clearing, Alexis was limping backward. Her strange protector crouched in front of her.
Lightning lit up the inky sky, illuminating wet golden curls.
Augustus and Patro were slowly approaching her.
“Just come with us!” Patro shouted over the wind. “You hate your husbands.Wenever betrayed you. Not like they did.”
Poppae and Nero crept forward with him.
Augustus shook his head. “Don’t listen to him—letmehelp you, my carus.” Poco was a lump on his back, hiding from the elements under his cloak.
Achilles stood with his arms crossed, smoking in the sleet, as he watched the two men approach Alexis.
I stalked along the shadows of the tree line.
“Let us help you!” Patro held out his hand. “It’s different with us … We’re not like them.”
Thunder cracked.
“Careful.” Augustus turned his head to the other man. “That’s my wife you’re talking to.”
Patro’s laugh was cold and humorless. “Tell me, does the marriage truly count … if the bride is trapped, deceived, and forced into it?”
Augustus raised his fist.
Achilles moved in a flash, shoving Patro back as he stood in front of him.
“Don’ttest me,” Augustus said as he pointed at Patro. “I won’t hold back. Not when it comes to her.”
Lightning flashed.
Achilles’s ice-covered muzzle glinted as he pulled out a serrated hunting knife. He held it up to Augustus’s throat.
Blood dripped from Augustus’s lashes, freezing as it spilled over.
I crept closer, ignoring the pain in my leg.
Alexis held her hands to her chest and closed her eyes like she was concentrating.
