Page 40 of Gods and Graves

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

THEA

“ I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Everett says, shifting slightly so he’s blocking me from view.

Cerberus laughs, but the sound is devoid of any humor. “Don’t play with me, boy.” He bares his teeth and takes a step closer. “Right now, I’m merely amused. But my amusement can morph into anger very, very quickly. You don’t want to see me lose my temper.”

“Guys, it’s okay,” I whisper.

Rafe and Krystian both whirl to glare at me, but I ignore them and step around Everett. I don’t feel any different, but I can tell the glamour has been lowered when Cerberus’s bright, penetrating eyes lock onto mine. He arches an eyebrow.

“You’re a reaper,” he says simply.

Captain Obvious over here.

“Yes, we’ve established as much,” I say, wringing my hands together as nerves tangle in my belly.

It’s not simply because this man is intimidating—though that certainly plays a part in it.

It’s because this is Everett’s dad, who never thought Everett was good enough.

Righteous indignation fills me at just the thought.

How could he possibly think that? Isn’t he aware that Everett grew to be one of the most protective men I know? One of the best?

Cerberus begins to circle me, his hands clasped behind his back and his chin lifted haughtily in the air.

He practically exudes arrogance, which isn’t all that different from Everett, now that I think about it.

But Everett has every right to be cocky, while Cerberus…

doesn’t. He’s nothing but a damn watchdog whose entire existence revolves around Hades.

“But you’re not any reaper who’s currently active,” Cerberus continues, his shrewd eyes narrowed. He returns to his spot in front of me. “You must meet with Hades at once.”

“No way in hell,” Rafe growls, moving to stand beside me.

Cerberus ignores him and extends a hand towards me. “Come, darling. Hades needs to know?—”

He’s shoved aside by a snarling, half-rabid Everett.

“Don’t fucking touch her,” the shifter hisses, his eyes glinting with a strange, primordial energy.

Cerberus growls. “Boy…”

“I’m not a fucking boy.”

And then Everett shifts.

Oh my god.

He’s just as big and terrifying as his father—a three-headed beast, though Everett’s fur is a dark shade of blue streaked with white and gray.

I stand frozen, my feet glued to the ground and my breath caught in my throat. It feels like the world is closing in on me, the air thick with anger and fear.

Everett is going to fight his father.

For me.

Fuck.

“Everett!” I scream, taking an automatic step forward—quite stupidly, I might add.

I know it’ll be a horrible idea to get between the two of them, though Cerberus has yet to shift.

Rafe and Zaid each grab one of my arms and tug me back, while Krystian keeps his arrow locked on Cerberus’s side, though he doesn’t pull back the string.

I don’t know if it’s because he’s afraid of what his arrows will do in the Underworld or if he’s terrified of accidentally killing Hades’s right-hand man.

“I won’t let you take her.” Everett’s voice is a low growl, barely recognizable as his.

He’s practically vibrating with fury. I know this rage—it’s familiar to me—but now it’s twisted and demented, honed from years of suppressed anger. This isn’t just about me. This is about him—him and his father.

Cerberus doesn’t hesitate. He shifts too, his hulking form rising up like a living shadow, his fur thick and dark, and his eyes glowing with an ancient malice.

Everett’s and his father’s eyes are the same…

but they’re not. One is filled with a protective kind of rage; the other with something far darker.

The ground trembles beneath their combined weight as they circle each other, snarling and snapping.

“You’re a fool, Everett,” Cerberus growls, his layered voice seeming to vibrate in my chest. “You always have been, but I assumed your training over the years would’ve changed you.”

Everett growls fiercely and stalks closer, his huge paws kicking up black rock and sooty dirt. “Fuck you.”

“She’s a reaper, son. She belongs to death, not to you.”

The words hit me like a slap, sending a wave of cold dread through me.

She belongs to death, not to you.

Belongs to death.

Oh…hell no. I belong to no one and nothing. Not ever again. Cerberus can take his assumptions and shove them right up his ass where they belong.

Everett lunges at Cerberus, snapping all three of his jaws, but Cerberus sidesteps easily.

That doesn’t stop Everett, though, who pounces on his back with another guttural roar.

They roll onto the ground, and I can’t tell who’s winning.

The sound of their teeth grinding against each other is sickening, the kind of noise that makes my skin crawl.

My heart hammers in my chest, terror twisting my gut as I watch them fight.

Please, Everett. Please.

You don’t want to do this.

You don’t want to hurt your father.

“We need to get Thea the fuck out of here,” Krystian says, his eyes flicking in all directions rapidly.

“How?” Zaid demands. “There’s no boat.”

“Then we fucking swim!”

“And have the souls of the dead pull her deep into the River’s depth?

” Zaid asks scathingly, frustration evident in his taut posture.

He rakes a hand through his hair. “Fuck.” He pauses like an idea has occurred to him and then turns towards Rafe, who’s scanning our surroundings with a clinical detachment. “Rafe, can you portal us out of here?”

Rafe’s lips thin as he answers simply, “No.”

As the guys continue to discuss their options, I turn my attention back to Everett and his father, still engaged in a fierce battle.

Blood stains Everett’s side, but I don’t know if it’s from him or Cerberus. That disgusting red liquid speckles them both, and the latter appears to be missing an eye from its left head.

My heart aches at the sight of my shifter, at the way he’s fighting—fighting his own father. His father, who should’ve been protecting and supporting him instead of constantly putting him down. Who should’ve offered to help his son instead of trying to take me away.

I don’t know what hurts more—the fact that I’m powerless to stop them, or the terrifying realization that this is all because of me. Maybe not entirely, but I’m certainly the catalyst.

The fight continues, blood mixing with dirt and dust as their two forms collide. All I can do is stand here, desperation arcing through my veins and fear coiling in my belly like a nest of venomous snakes.

Shadows converge in front of me, and Zaid immediately tugs me behind him, protecting me with his body. Rafe and Krystian move on either side of me.

At first, I think that this is a wraith like Zaid or even a spirit. But as the darkness solidifies, and I sense the ancient power crackling through the air, I realize that this isn’t just a normal supernatural.

It’s a god.

Hades.

An olive complexion, made all the more striking against his rich, ebony hair. Cold, unnerving gray eyes. A dark scowl. An aura of danger.

Before any of us can even blink, Hades’s hand thrusts out and wraps around my throat. His hold isn’t tight—I can still breathe—but it’s enough to make my guys stop moving. Hell, I’m not even sure they’re breathing.

“Stop fighting, young Everett, or I’ll snap the reaper’s neck.” Hades’s voice is a dark, insidious promise.

I can’t see much with Hades in front of me, consuming my vision, but the sound of growls and cries ceases.

When Hades finally removes his hand from my throat and steps aside, I see Everett on his belly with Cerberus looming over him, though I know my proud shifter was winning only a few minutes earlier.

Yet he doesn’t hesitate now to bare his throat, to surrender.

For me.

“I’m sorry,” I mouth as all three of Everett’s heads turn to stare at me intently, searching me for injuries.

Hades once again reclaims my vision, his head tilted to the side in contemplation. I feel like a butterfly pinned between two glass slides and positioned beneath a microscope. His gaze is assessing, curious, confused.

He snaps his fingers in the air, and creatures of all shapes and sizes materialize seemingly out of thin air.

I spot a minotaur—seriously, another one?

—with a furry head and strong legs, carrying an ax the size of my body.

Beside him stands a creature that appears to be a cross between a lion and an eagle.

Another creature is nothing but a skeleton bedecked in heavy armor.

“Guards,” Hades says, his gaze never leaving mine. “Take our… guests to the throne room. I need to have a word with them.”