Page 350 of The First Taste

Or maybe I should just yell at her to leave me alone.

The two warring factions in my brain make it hard for me to decide anything at all. I open my mouth, my brain queueing up words without me even really thinking them through.

But I’m saved by the front door slamming open. I blink as Ares shouts to me.

“Hades! Come on out. We know that ye aren’t screwing yer pretty little captive…”

Eros is right behind him. “He’s been yakking nonstop about whether or not we would find ye two fucking or not. Do me a favor and kill us both.”

I catch Persephone’s eye for just a moment. My neck heats at my brothers’ less than gentle jibes. They are right of course; under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even find someone weak enough to be kidnapped to be attractive.

I stare at Persephone, my mouth creasing on one side. Is she different, somehow? I’ll admit to fighting an attraction to her since the moment I met her.

Ares swings his gaze from Persephone to me, looking us up and down. “It’s like I said,” he calls over his shoulder to Eros. “Poor sod hasn’t even gotten his dick wet even though the girl needs us to survive now.”

I crowd Persephone behind me, backing up until she is in the tiny bedroom.

Persephone moves closer to the door, trying to see Ares. But I don’t move. Instead, I stand firm, taking up too much space in the doorway.

I shoot Ares a fiery look. “Fuck off.”

Eros appears behind Ares, shoving him aside with a shoulder. I glance behind me and lick my lips. For some reason, I hate my brothers knowing that I was in this claustrophobic cottage with Persephone.

Nothing was happening…

But there is an undercurrent of sexual tension between the two of us, nonetheless.

Ares peers behind me and sees Persephone. He looks her up and down, a devilish smirk appearing on his face. “There ye are, sweetheart. I was starting to wonder whether Hades had locked ye away or something. He’s pretty mental at times.”

Persephone shoots him a tiny glare. “You kidnapped me from another country. You don’t get to ask how I’m doing.”

Eros grins and Ares chuckles. “She’s got a little bit of snap back, doesn’t she? I like feisty girls. They are all hellcats in bed.”

“Shut up, Ares.” I hold my arms out, ushering my brothers back into the cramped main room. “I need updates on what’s going on. Are the plans still in place for Tunisia?”

Eros glances back over my shoulder and sends a wink to Persephone. She gives him the most dramatic glare that I’ve ever seen.

Inside, I puff up a little, feeling a strange mote of pride. She’s prickly with me for sure. But not as standoffish as she seems to be with my brothers. Being the single one among us who she doesn’t outright hate is…

Well, let’s just say that women don’t generally choose me when given the choice between all of us.

“Constantine has been making overtures to the Algerians,” Ares says.

A rumble bursts from my chest. I turn away, following my brothers into the main room and dropping onto one of the chairs. “How does he know about what we have planned?”

Eros sits down, shaking his head. “I dinnae ken. We have played our cards very close to our chests this time around. Kept a tight circle.”

Ares stays standing, aggravated by Eros’s words. He ticks names off on his fingers. “Who could it be?”

“Etienne,” Eros suggests.

My gaze hardens. “We just told him that we were looking for a forger. Nothing more specific than that.”

“He probably ran straight to Constantine and told him who we were looking for,” Ares said. He lets out a hiss, rubbing his hand through his dark wavy hair. “Fuck. If it was Etienne, he also told Constantine that we have his ex-girlfriend.”

A heavy weight settles on my shoulders, like a blanket made of lead. “Fuck.” I cast a glance behind me, but the doorway where Persephone stood is empty. “That’s not good news, Ares.”

Eros flits his gaze over to the bedroom. Then he leans in. “Should we get another forger? Dispose of this one?”