Tiny bolts of lightning crackled in his blue-green eyes, making me wonder if the world he had swallowed was now suffering a thunderstorm. I had no idea why he was ordering me to do the interrogation and not Griff, who he trusted, but I wasn’t about to argue with a furious god.I gulped. “Of course.”When I turned back to Marianna and Don, they were both quaking and alert.“This is Marianna Shade, an assassin Hades pulled from the Punishment Pits.” I pointed to her face. “She’s in a new body, but it’s the same soul.”“Shut up,” she hissed. “He’s going to torture us all.”“Why did he send you back?” I asked.Marianna clamped her lips shut.“Answer the questions,” Fenrir snarled, sending out even more pulses of that power.It was like cold electricity running up and down my nerves and sending sparks across my bones. My teeth chattered, but I clamped my jaws shut.“Larissa disappeared,” Marianna blurted. “King Hades needed someone familiar with you, since you were getting so close to the
We returned to the alpha’s mansion with Fenrir, where one of his staff led Don and Marianna to the dungeons and another showed Griff and me to separate but adjacent rooms.Griff paused at his door with his gaze turned to me. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes, waiting for him to speak. He cleared his throat, making me turn my head.“Cathwulf,” he said.“Yes?”“Good work today.”“Thanks.” I raised my brow.As he continued staring, Beki barked at me to invite him to my room.A flock of angry butterflies thrashed their wings, reminding me of Griff’s reactions each time we’d been intimate. If he wanted to start something, then he would have to speak first.“Good night.” He pushed his door open and disappeared into his room.Beki’s reprimanding snarl told me I was an idiot, but I shook my head.“At least I’ve ended today with my pride.” I stepped into my room, tore off my clothes and sank into the softest feather mattress.The silk sheets were smoother than anything that had gra
The next morning, light streamed in through my eyelids, and my nostrils filled with the sweet scent of the forest. For a moment, it felt like I was back in the tent within the Hellfire pack’s enclosure. My front leg twitched, reminding me that Beki and I had swapped places. The light became warmer, brighter, more golden.My brow furrowed.Golden?Since when did the enclosure ever get bright light and since when did it seep through the bell tents?I cracked open an eye to find myself in one of the alpha’s guest rooms. At the foot of the four-poster bed stood a doorway filled with golden light.My jaw clenched. This could only be Ophois.“The sleeping Nefertiti awakens.” His deep, rumbling voice swept over me like thunder.I barked to ask what he was doing in my room.“You were supposed to return for training after eating,” he said, sounding mild for a god I’d just ditched the night before.Beki made a whining noise in the back of her throat. On the inside, I shook my head. She was bein
“Thank you.” I stepped out of his embrace and smoothed down my denim jacket. When he wasn’t flirting or acting like a peeping wolf, he was actually quite pleasant.He wiggled his fingers and produced a golden needle. “Place this in your lapel.”“Is this for transporting the crystals?” I asked.“Precisely.” He manifested a set of keys from thin air and opened a doorway into Fenrir’s basement.The Norse god stood by an eight-foot-tall holographic model of a castle that was only half-complete. From its high towers and turrets, I could tell this was Hades’ palace. This had to be what the cartographer had cobbled together based on Coral’s recollection of her stay with Hades. I glanced at the bottom floor, which was devoid of detail.My throat spasmed. How on earth were we going to find the dungeon where they were keeping the Hellfire pack?Griff, Lydia, and a brown-haired administrator type sat at a small row of chairs. From his scent, I could already tell he was a Neutral and had no usabl
Griff’s lips were soft and supple and my salvation. After the awkwardness of the night before, this kiss was exactly what I needed.Somewhere in the depths of my soul, Beki was making a congratulatory backflip. I couldn’t focus on the activities of my wolf. Not when my pulse beat so fast that it filled my ears with a drumroll. Not when my knees trembled so much that I could barely hold up my own weight.I stumbled, but Griff’s strong arm around my back held me in place.“Congratulations,” he murmured into the kiss. “I knew you would succeed.”Fenrir cleared his throat, making Griff pull back.“Save the celebration for later,” he said, his words gruff. “We still have a lot to do before the Strawberry Moon. Cathwulf, what are your findings?”Whatever I was about to say evaporated under the heat of Griff’s gaze. He had never looked at me with both love and admiration—not even when he thought I was Katie.“Give her a minute,” Lydia said with a chuckle.Fenrir huffed a breath and turned to
She rose from her seat. “Are you sure you don’t need my help? I could travel over with Cathwulf and fly—”“They need you now more than ever with the Trials,” Fenrir said, sounding like he’d had this discussion before with his mate.I tried not to wonder what on earth could go wrong with a bunch of girls battling it out in the forest to win the heart of a wolf. There were too many things at stake to lose focus.The Neutral sitting on my right rose and gazed down at me with a warm smile. “Allow me to show you a selection of devices.”“Can we go there via the armory?” I asked.Philip the Neutral turned out to be a friend of Gerrison and said he had served as the Shifter King’s administrator when my former beta took control of the pack. He had been kind enough not to mention my crime or my execution, even though he had resided in Logris in the 1970s and would have remembered the scandal.He took me to the office beside the alpha’s study and showed me an array of mobile phones. Since I had
They both mentioned that Griff had been in contact and agreed to meet me at the alpha’s mansion in a few hours. While I was waiting for them, I ran the bath and ordered a grilled steak sandwich from the Hatch.A huge cheer sounded from outside, and I rushed to the window to see what was happening. The lawn that stretched between the mansion and the guesthouse was crammed with people, staring up at a blond-haired man.“That’s probably Dolph,” I murmured.She gave me a questioning bark.“The young wolf who wants a mate.” I placed my hands on the windowsill and leaned forward. “Weren’t you there when Hades told us about the Shifter Trials?”She raised her paw in a shrug, indicating that she hadn’t been paying much attention.“He’s going to help Fenrir lead the Norse pack. I have no idea why they’re not in Shifter City.” My mind drifted across everything I had learned in the academy about Norse mythology. “Maybe the land is sacred?”The Hatch pinged. I tore myself away from the spectacle
All plans of using Juniper and the other women as a buffer between Ophois and me tumbled sideways. I had absolutely no idea there was another side to the Egyptian god, although I should have known his head wasn’t permanently that of a wolf. If I could shift my eyes for better vision or transform my fingernails into claws, it made sense that a god could change the shape of his head.My gaze swept down his muscular body. Ophois wore a black blazer with gold buttons, but it looked classier and more expensive than the one Griff had worn today. His shirt was a silver fabric that was so dark that the color bordered on black. I gulped. If I didn’t know any better, he was trying to outshine my mate.It was working.His magic rumbled over me like a desert storm, making every nerve ending shiver. Beki pushed herself to the back of our bond and cringed. I guess she was also feeling overwhelmed.“Shall we?” Ophois offered me his arm.I glanced down at his huge bicep and gulped. “But my friends—”