Page 6 of Bonds of Hercules
Complete cardiovascular meltdown.
I’d forgotten what it felt like to meet his gaze; I’d forgotten how my cells froze with abject terror as a deep animalistic instinct screamed at me toget away from him; I’d forgotten how he’d mockingly called out the greeting each time he’d leapt to Corfu.
Now I remembered.
“Hello, carissima,” Kharon mouthed silently. His posture was hostile, his expression downright disrespectful.
Carnivores like to play with their prey.
The Hunter stood before me, a creature capable of unholy depravity, and he wanted one thing.
Me.
I looked down, turning slightly so he was in my blind spot, faint with panic.
He was searching for a weakness, desperate to exploit me. This was nothing but a power trip for him.
He can never know about my eye and ear.
Two hellhounds crouched at Kharon’s feet, their bones flickering in and out of existence as if they were glitching. Blue flames danced in their eye sockets.
They shouldn’t have been visible.
“Alexis,” a baritone voice said, smooth as silk. “Lookat me.”
I obeyed.
Augustus’s black eyes trailed down my body from head to toe,caressing, checking for injuries.
My name lingered between us in the icy air—three short syllables—yet he’d managed to make it sound like the most depraved of curses. He always did.
Midnight eyes locked on mine—I gasped.
Augustus’s expression wasravenous.
Black and white hair hung loose down his back, the strands blowing around his wide shoulders. The scarlet edge of his scar peeked out beneath his helmet.
Tendons strained in his neck.
Danger, a subconscious voice screamed as my pulse pounded in my ears.
Crimson pooled in the whites of Augustus’s eyes as he activated his Chthonic powers.
He lookedenraptured.
Beside him, Kharon slowly licked his lips.
The world faded and there was just the three of us meeting in the snowy woods, the dangerous villains and their reluctant wife. A trifecta of lethal abilities.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.Even Lord Acton couldn’t have imagined the depraved power of Chthonics.
A droplet of blood spilled from Augustus’s lashes, streaking down his cheek like a tear and disappearing beneath his Spartan helmet.I’ve never seen a Chthonic do that before.
He’s going to invade my mind and smash it to pieces.
Terror crawled down my spine. He’d torn into my head during the crucible and forced his will upon me. He could do it again.
RUN.
