Page 19 of Bonds of Hercules
My teeth ached as electricity traveled through my jaw.
A long second passed.
Heart pounding, face flaming, I gathered my courage.
“Just … physical,” I whispered.
Kharon dropped his hand from my jaw like I’d scalded him.
I smiled, victorious as I stumbled back.
“Wait—why is there a Taser in your stomach? Why are there scorch marks on her chin?” Augustus looked between us like we’d both lost our ever-loving minds (we had).
“I’m seducing her.”
“He’s trying to k-kill me.”
Kharon had the audacity to look offended.
I shook my head, trying to find words that wouldn’t come.
How did I explain Karen was secondhand Tasering me … and I liked it?
Do the Olympian health clinics offer lobotomies?
Kharon’s abs flexed and contracted in rhythm to the electric shock. My mouth went dry.
Mental note, need to get one. Immediately.
Augustus sighed heavily. “Kharon, you’re clearly scaring her. Tone it down. We talked about this.” He pointed at me. “She’s bleeding out from a fucking bullet wound and looks like shit. We need to get her back to the outpost. Patro and Achilles are leaping all over trying to find her first.”
Why do my mentors care so much?
“Look at her!” Augustus yelled.
Okay, now he was just being rude.
“You’re the one who told us to kiss,” I mumbled under my breath.
Blood pooled in the corners of Augustus’s eyes. “What was that, my carus?” he asked softly. “Speak up, darling—do you have a … complaint?”
I opened my mouth to argue, but no sound came out. He wasn’t like Kharon; arguing with Augustus felt different.
There was a dangerous energy around him. An authority.
I wanted his approval.
Dear God, I’m ready to die.
Kharon blanched as he stared at my leg, like he’d forgotten all about the bullet lodged in my calf. Grabbing the second Taser wire still in his skin with both hands, he ripped it out of his flesh like it was nothing.
The sputtering wires dropped to the ground.
“Yep, I’m into that,” Nyx said.
Me too.
“I’ll leap all three of us back,” Augustus ordered. “Since I’m the only one of us not activelyfuckingbleeding.”
