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But his teeth were gritted, his nostrils flaring, and shadows lashed around him. "My instincts are screaming," he said in a hoarse voice, like he was the one screaming.

Harvey reacted instantly, Kai and Emlyn following suit as we pressed close around him.

"What kind of problem?" Lucifer demanded, any friendliness hidden behind a hard mask, like he was ready to slaughter whatever the issue was. My interest piqued at the violent promise in his voice, and Kai snarled, his lip curled back from his teeth.

The look I shot him said,what? I like dangerous men and he'sthe devil.I'm only looking.

Then again, ifhelooked at anyone else, I might rip their guts out through their belly button, so I understood the glare.

"Aphrodite's here," the grizzly replied. "She's looking for someone called Halwen Vakhara."

What?My spine straightened. My heart galloped in my chest when Lucifer shot me a disbelieving look. I didn’t understand that sentence either; it made absolutely zero sense that Aphrodite would be looking forme.

"Why?" Kai asked in a scary calm voice, already planning gruesome murder.

The grizzly bear turned, noticing us for the first time. "She's sentenced to death. Something to do with treason, kidnap, murder, and breaking a seal."

I stopped hearing aftersentenced to death.

CHAPTER15

"She doesn't even have jurisdiction over Tartarus!" Lucifer yelled, his crimson eyes ablaze with anger on my behalf, which might have made me warm and fuzzy if I wasn'tsentenced to death.

"Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger," the grizzly bear who I'd learned was called Ceyx muttered, stalking over to the drinks cabinet and grabbing the bottle of whiskey. He didn't bother with a glass; I respected that. "She's in the reception room with Bernard but I can't imagine him holding her for—"

The door flew open a second time, tearing all the way off its hinges with a horrific shriek this time. It slammed to the floor, ruching the crimson rug under the sofas, and I flinched at the violentboom.

"Long," Ceyx finished with a scowl, coming over to stand beside Lili, like he expected the furious woman in the doorway to attack her.

My mates pressed tighter around me, Wane's shadows expanding but trembling, like fear made his grip weak.

The woman was clearly a goddess—an aura of power throbbed around her so oppressively that my breath caught and stuttered in my chest, and pressure filled my head until my ears popped. Her skin was rich umber, her brown-gold hair completely flawless, not a single hair out of place as she strode through the broken door and pinned unsettling eyes on me. She was too beautiful; my instincts bleated that something was wrong, something was unnatural.

I glanced away, unable to look into her light blue eyes for long.

"You," she seethed at me, "are a traitor to all gods, and to your own kind."

I froze in place, petrified like a single glance from her had turned me to stone.

"She's also under my protection, Aphrodite," Lucifer cut in, crossing the room to stand in front of me and my mates.

Aphrodite sneered, so furious and entitled that it took her beauty down a few notches and I could stand to look at her again. My heart stopped in my chest when I saw what was pinned to her lapel.

My voice came out hollow when I asked, "Where did you get that pin?"

Even the king and queen paused at the sound of my voice, at what I asked.

"That’s not your business, traitor," Aphrodite replied, her voice sweet and high and perfect. That sneer was still on her face, though. She looked like she'd stepped in shit and sucked a lemon at the same time.

"That pin was stolen by my mate," I said, grief bruising my chest like a fist, "who was working for Cronus. How doyouhave it?"

"Your mate," Aphrodite replied in a low purr that made me colder, "never gave it to Cronus. He gave it to me. His lover."

It took a moment for the words to hit. For silence to ring inside my head.

"Bullshit," Harvey spat. "That psycho was so obsessed with Haley, he'd never even consider looking at anyone else."

"Positive about that, are you?" the smug goddess replied. "What aboutbeforehe met her?"