Page 30 of Love and Death (Tempting the Fates #4)

CERBERUS

W hy does she not listen? She should not be here. This place is not safe … I am not safe.

Something is wrong.

The bond is snapping into place too fast.

It claws at me, tearing me to pieces from the inside out. I crave her, and yet, it wants me to destroy her. To punish her for not giving in.

Hades’ own leash of loyalty tightens even as the fate bond twists, burying itself into my ribs like a sharp blade.

She does not know how close I am to breaking.

I should not be this close to breaking. I should not be this close to her .

Any moment, one of these bonds will snap. One of them will win.

And either way, I will hurt her.

I take another slow step toward her and watch her retreat.

“You need to leave, now,” I demand, hating how cruel my voice sounds. Hating the low growl that lies in wait behind it.

“Now, now,” The invisible leash constricts, choking me back toward obedience. “What would be the fun in that?”

Hades.

I clench my teeth, realizing I have been made a fool by the silencing of the inner sanctum, as the king steps into the room behind me, closing the heavy doors with a resounding thud.

I should have known it was too late, the pull of his leash growing tighter over the last few minutes. I should have run, should have taken her with me when I had the chance.

Why did I not run?

Now, I am caught between them both. The fate bond with her, the loyalty bond with him … and I am being strangled between them.

I cannot protect her while she refuses the mark, and yet, I cannot live with myself if Hades uses me against her.

“Cerberus,” Hades says, his voice far too sweet. Far too soft. “It would appear you have been keeping secrets from me for far too long.”

“Secrets, my lord?”

“The note. That it was you who summoned Death to my door. Need I go on?”

“I only wished to do my duty by protect—”

“Enough, I have seen the Fates. I know of your bond.”

The life bleeds out of my soul, my heart dead in my chest. Why would they tell him? Unless … of course, they mean for him to use it against me.

Against her .

“I did not—”

“Silence! You will speak when I tell you to speak,” Hades hisses in my ear, circling me. “I also know that she has found Death’s new vessel. Apparently, his soul remains tethered, for now.”

What ?

My eyes flicker to the mortal, her face pale and stricken, but I cannot read in her whether or not he speaks the truth.

“Now, Cerberus, make her talk. Make her tell me who his tether is.”

“Who is it?” I snarl at her—the words tasting like ash and venom—as my eyes fix on her with dark determination, and I realize I have already taken a step forward, toward Hazel, without knowing.

I cannot stop myself. I am obeying my orders without question, my leash growing taut.

“I cannot—”

“She can, and she will,” Hades cuts her off. “Force it out of her. Break her if you have to.”

She shrinks back, fear striking in her wide-eyed features. Part of me takes cruel pleasure in the effect I now have on her, while the rest of me blisters in agony.

I stalk toward her, and her breath catches. She does not scream or run. She just looks at me, and it crushes my heart.

She still thinks she can trust me.

I reach out to grab her, my hand wrapping around her throat, and she lets me. I could snap her neck in my hand, I—

A grunt of pain.

I blink to see Hazel now curled on the floor against the far wall.

“Good boy,” Hades sneers, and I suddenly realize I must have thrown her. “Continue.”

My heart twists, my mind shouting at me to resist. To stop, but I have no control anymore. Hazel looks up, tears forcing their way down her cheeks as she scrambles to pull herself up off the floor. To get out of my way.

And the beast in me roars.

I am suddenly inches from her, teeth bared, breath ragged, hands slamming into the wall on either side of her head. Caging her in.

As I struggle to stop myself from touching her ... From hurting her.

“Cerberus,” she gasps.

My name on her lips is like a calming salve, peace amidst a broken battlefield. Come on, say it. Command me. Give me a means by which to defy him. I plead with my eyes, but it is Hades who speaks.

“I told you to break her,” he commands. “If she will not give you the name, take it from her. Take everything that she holds dear. Strip her. Now!”

All-out war wages within me at this. Without warning, my leash and my bond strike a harmonizing, terrifying cord as they both will me to obey.

Her scent overwhelms my senses. Soft and sweet, tearing down my defenses .

My hands tremble on either side of her before dropping to the dark silk of her dress.

No.

I tear it, exposing the top half of an undergarment, Hades words echoing in my head over and over.

Break her.

Take her.

Strip her.

Hell’s teeth, I want her, but not like this.

Not forced. Not in obedience to him.

I rip the fabric again so that it hangs around her hips.

“Cerberus, please, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to obey.”

Not an order.

My fingers twitch against the fabric, aching to do as they have been told, even as my stomach knots within me and sweat beads on my brow.

The leash tightens like a noose, and I grit my teeth against it and taste iron on my tongue.

“I knew this bond was going to cause trouble,” Hades scoffs. “Force her to submit to it, Cerberus. Now.”

I bend, my mouth finding hers, fierce, hungry, wrong. My hands reach for her as I shove my body against hers, pinning us to the wall.

I grab a fistful of her hair in one hand, her thigh with the other to lift it up over my own hip. It would be so easy to finish this, to claim her and satisfy the leash and the bond. It would be so—

No, I pull away from her lips, sweet and maddening as they are. My body trembles as I continue to try to resist through sheer force of will .

I am unraveling, losing all control.

“Hazel,” I groan in a low rumble between kisses, my heart shattering within me. “Stop me.”

I cannot fight this alone.

And then the beast steps in, its desire scorching, prey at hand. There will be no more resisting. I drop my hand from her hair to yank her skirts out of my way and release myself unto her.

“Cerberus, stop,” Hazel whimpers, her voice small but audible.

The noose around my neck loosens, and I freeze. But, for a single, soul-shattering moment, I think it is already too late.

But I am wrong. The heat of her but a split second from consuming me, and my heart slams back to life in my heaving chest.

Hades, on the other hand, misreads the moment by some fortunate miracle.

“Well done, my good boy,” he crows with a slow clap. “I was beginning to think you did not have it in you. Though, of course, now she is ruined for me.”

“Tell me to hurt him,” I grit into Hazel’s ear.

“What?”

“Please, tell me. Command me,” I growl low, shifting back to meet her eyes. “Let me serve you.”

She hesitates only for a second.

“Cerberus, make Hades pay.”