Page 26 of Bride of Death (Netherworld Fae #1)

Morpheus

My jaw smarts from Hades’s abrupt hit, my smile disappearing in a flash.

Alpha aggression is dangerous. It easily escalates into feral territory.

So when he attempts to land another blow, I wrap my arms around him and mist us to a deserted field in our home realm.

It’s more desolate than the Barren Lands of the Hell Fae Realm.

It’s simply nothing apart from scorched dirt, making it the perfect place for whatever Hades has in mind.

He yanks off his jacket and drops it onto the charcoaled ground. I follow suit.

His button-down shirt is next, the buttons scattering as he all but rips it off.

I do the same, though I’m a bit more careful with my fingers and manage to disrobe without destroying my shirt.

He paces around me, his dark eyes glittering with barely restrained power. I’m surprised his wings haven’t appeared, his black plumes an ominous flurry of feathers that he rarely displays.

But anger is usually a catalyst for his beast to come out. Interesting that he’s holding that part of him back. For now, anyway.

I match him step for step, my energy building in cadence with his own.

If he wants a fight, I’ll give him one. But he should know there will be consequences.

Such as other Alphas potentially joining the fray.

Alphas like Ares .

Violence calls to him. And I’m sure he’s spoiling for a good battle right about now.

A chill sweeps through the air as Hades engages his gifts, the death world responding to his call and coming right for me.

I deflect with an illusion of sunshine, bursting from the murky sky above and angling right at Hades’s eyes. He holds up a hand to deflect the intense light, giving me just enough time to mist to him and deliver a punch to his nose.

He curses.

I grin.

And then the real fight begins.

Lightning strikes the charcoaled ground as we slam into each other, our powers mounting with each hefty blow.

Hades strikes my arm, causing it to go temporarily numb—like it’s dead—and I respond by shoving him into another reality.

One filled with a million of those moss plants that Maliki loved so much.

A roar comes from the dream as Hades fights his way out of the illusion and back into reality, just as my limb begins to recover.

Only, he’s not alone as he resurfaces.

He brings the hounds of death with him.

I sigh. “You really want to do this?”

The growls coming from his three-headed creature tell me oh, yeah, he absolutely does.

So I whistle for Athena.

But she’s already on her way, her link to my mind informing me that she heard the call before I even finished thinking about it.

Howl—or is that Mort?—looks up right as my owl appears above. A loud growl leaves the hellhound-like creature’s snout, alerting the other two heads to follow his gaze.

And the animals go sprawling across the vacant landscape.

I smirk, only to find my neck in a twist, courtesy of Hades.

“Bastard,” I snarl, realizing he used our familiars as a distraction.

“Why did you bring her here?” he demands.

I assume her is Serapina. “To teach her,” I ground out as he starts trying to twist my head off. I mist out of his hold, only to lose feeling in my legs.

Glancing down, I curse at the deadly trap Hades has left for me here.

It’s worse than the slug venom on Maliki’s blade.

This… this is true death .

A pit of souls like Pip, only these beings are not wearing cloaks.

And they’re all touching me.

I can survive this. But it still smarts like a son of a fae.

“What did you think she needed to be taught?” Hades asks, his silky voice near my ear as he crouches behind me.

“Everything, you imbecile,” I hiss at him. “She knows nothing . Not about Persephone. Not about mating an Alpha. Not about our world. She’s utterly lost with only her sister’s words to guide her. And she thinks she’s not an Omega.”

That last line is delivered with such rage that I can’t control my tone. Because I’m furious that he let it get this far.

“You’re her Alpha, yet you’ve left her woefully unprepared for our life,” I accuse, my voice growing hoarse from all the deadly toxins flowing through my veins. I would mist if I could, but the damn souls neutralized that ability the moment my feet touched this pit.

Well played , I would normally tell Hades.

But I’m not in much of a praising mood right now. I’m too irritated with him to be commending his sparring choices.

“You do not tell me what I have and have not done for my mate ,” Hades replies, his voice reverberating through his deadly minions.

“If Serapina is your mate, then you’ve already failed her,” I return, hating how weak I sound.

“She doesn’t understand or know you at all, as evidenced by her thinking you hate her when we both know you could never truly hate your Omega.

And she thinks marrying you will help her Omega side take over. ”

I grunt after that last sentence, still irritated by the conversation I overheard.

Because yes, I was lurking in the mist. I probably should have made my presence known, but I wanted to give Hades a chance to properly woo Serapina.

But his own stubborn nature took over. He’s hurt from a betrayal that happened two thousand years ago. I understand. We’re all hurt by what happened.

However, his pain blinds him to what everyone else can plainly see—that Serapina is not Persephone. She’s a separate entity. A human. A beautiful mortal who has been paired with a turbulent soul.

That’s not her fault.

She shouldn’t be punished for another being’s sins.

Yet the beautiful individual that Serapina is came out on full display as she offered to do whatever was necessary to try to access the memories buried deep inside her spirit.

“What are you going to do on your nuptial night, Hades?” I ask, my vision starting to go black. “Continue to assume it’s Persephone, thereby justifying your growl? Seduce the Omega into taking your knot when she doesn’t even bloody know what a knot is?”

“And how do you know that ?” His fury underlines that last word, making me sigh.

Because I’m about to lose consciousness.

And he’s probably going to leave me here to suffer until Ares comes along.

Or maybe Athena will pull me out. But only if she’s careful. I would die a thousand deaths before letting any ill fate befall my precious owl.

“Because I made an offhanded comment the other night,” I tell him, my voice barely audible. “She repeated the term like a question.”

I don’t hear his reply.

Not even sure he makes one.

But I really only have one last thing to say to him anyway. “All I’ve ever wanted was to share her, Hades. Not take her. Not claim her as my own. Share . Alas, it’s something you’ll never understand. Not even for Maliki.”

Because I know that’s what set him off—his possessive jealousy.

He took it out on me. Which is fine. I can take his fury.

Yet I’m so bloody tired of this fight.

Maybe he’ll finally hear me.

Maybe he won’t.

With a final breath, I simply fall deeper into the pit.

And give his minions what they crave. My life .