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“Am I?” Zeus shrugs without looking up. “He’s weak, Megaera. You’d recognize that if you knew true strength. He takes every hit lying down and when he tries for revenge, it’s laughably pathetic. Seducing my son?” He snorts. “As if Hercules won’t come crawling back to me the second he realizes I have you.”

“I won’t let that happen.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

The cars are closing the distance fast. I don’t know what their plan is, but I grip the seat belt tight against me as the closest one edges near. I swallow hard. “I think you’ll find that I do.” I have a moment to tense and then the car nudges the passenger side of our car, right near the back tire. For one second, I think it won’t do anything, but then our car begins to spin.

We hit the edge of the highway and barrel down the embankment. A rumble of impact and then I’m weightless, the car rolling with a violence that leaves me breathless. Or maybe that’s the seat belt slammed against my chest, holding me immobile. We land right side up, and I let loose a sob and scramble for my buckle. It gives with a pop, but the pressure in my chest doesn’t abate.

Through the shattered window, I see the other car screech to a halt. The doors fly open and there’s Hercules and Hades.

They came for me.

Hercules sprints to our car and damn near yanks the door nearest me off its hinges. He starts to reach for me and hesitates. “Are you hurt?”

I try to find words, but a sob rips free and I throw myself into his arms. My chest hurts. Ribs, I think distantly. “I’m… I’ll be okay.”

He holds out a hand. “Can you get to me, Meg?”

My fingers brush his when a hand closes around my throat and I’m jerked back against a big body. Something wet coats my back, soaking through my dress. Zeus’s voice sounds more animal than human. “You always were a fucking traitor.”

Hercules goes pale. “Let her go.”

“Move back or I wring her neck.”

Hercules takes a step back and then another, his hands held up in front of him. Each increase in the distance between us spikes my panic. I struggle, but Zeus wraps his other arm around my waist and squeezes. The pain nearly makes me black out and I can’t stop a shriek.

Zeus shoves us from the crumpled vehicle, dragging me over broken glass. I barely feel the cuts over the symphony of agony that is my ribs. He stops just outside the car and my vision clears to see Hades bearing down on us. Zeus, the bastard, laughs. “I thought taking her was good enough, but you’re right. This is better. You can watch her bleed out and know that it’s your fault.”

Hades draws a gun and points it at us. “Release her.”

“Is your aim good enough to hit me and not her?” Zeus laughs again. “I don’t think so.” He hefts my body up until my knees don’t touch the ground, using me as a human shield. “Move back.”

“I don’t think I will.”

“Come now, Hades. Release Hercules and I hand you back your woman. She’s even mostly whole.” He laughs, the bastard. “You’ve had your fun.”

“No.”

Zeus goes tense behind me. “You can’t get out of this without losing one of them. Her or him. Choose.”

“There is no choosing, Zeus. I love them both.” Hades hesitates and then his eyes go hard as they meet mine. “Head wound, Meg.”

I don’t think. I can’t afford to. I reach back and punch blindly over my shoulder, ignoring the screaming of my ribs. My fist makes contact with Zeus’s head. It wouldn’t be enough if he was healthy and whole, but the blood soaking me must be his because he shouts and drops me. I hit the ground and press myself down as a gunshot sounds. Too loud. Too close.

Then Hercules is there, gathering me carefully up and rushing back several steps to put distance between us and his father. I lift my head enough to see Hades standing over Zeus, who’s bleeding from a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Not fatal. Not by a long shot.

Hades trains the gun on Zeus, and I’ve never seen him look so cold. “If you or your people set foot in Carver City, your life is forfeit.” He gives a slow smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “You’re lucky I care for your son or I’d empty this clip into you.” He glances at me—at Hercules at my back. “A gift to you, little Hercules. Your father’s life.”

Hercules starts to move forward, aggression in every line of his body, but I clutch his shirt. “It’s the right choice.”

“He took you. He was going to hurt you.” His eyes go hard, and he’s never looked more like his father than he does in this moment. “There’s only one way to guarantee that he doesn’t do it again.”