Page 9 of Bonds of Hercules
Drex and I didn’t need to be told twice. We turned and sprinted into the icy woods.
2
THE HUNTER
KHARON
Hell and Hound led the way through the dark woods, bones flashing as they sprinted between the snow-covered trees.
Augustus ran beside me.
The sky opened up and freezing rain fell sharply, covering everything in a layer of treacherous ice.
It was a perilous night for a hunt.
Old scar tissue and misshapen joints ached in my ruined right knee.
I’d been steadily spiraling out of control since Alexis left us. We’d rushed down the aisle to avoid violating the marriage law, since I’d turned twenty-seven on the first of February.
We’d hunted Alexis and yet she’d still gotten away.
You’re nothing but a failure.
Dark memories strangled.
Artemis and Erebus had enrolled me in the SGC when I was eighteen, to show off the strength of their prodigy.
But I’d done the unforgivable.
I lost.
Defeated and broken, gasping on the hot sand with a mangled ruined right leg—bones protruding, bloody brands across my chest—I’d dragged myself out of the Dolomites Coliseum by my arms, and collapsed in the wings.
I’d whimpered with pain, fading in and out of consciousness, waiting for my parents.
No one had come.
When I finally woke up, Artemis was standing over me with a disgusted expression. “You’re no son of mine.”
It was the last thing we’d ever said to each other.
Officially, to save face in front of Olympians, I was a member of the House of Artemis. Unofficially, I was dishonored.
If it wasn’t for Augustus taking me in and helping me prepare for the crucible, I don’t know what I would have done.
Don’t think about it.
I focused on the present.
Lowering my head, I activated my powers—protector bond strumming in my chest, I shoved my consciousness into my hellhounds while maintaining a full-out sprint—my senses strengthened.
The forest illuminated with the neon green of night vision.
Vanilla smoke filled my lungs.
I’d inhaled that scent when I’d dragged my tongue across Alexis’s delicate golden skin ninety-nine days, twelve hours, thirty minutes, and ten seconds ago.
“They’re not going to make it to the clearing in time,” Augustus said stoically as he scanned the forest.
