Chapter 2

2

Aurora

“Malone?” I suspected it had to be her, I still can’t keep the shock from my voice, from my face, from my very being. It’s finally happening? Finally, after all this time?

“Yes, it surprised me, too.” Hades watches me closely. “I’m inclined to say no, but Malone doesn’t demand much and it runs the risk of alienating her. However, considering your history with her, it’s a terrible idea.”

Hades is the only one besides Allecto who knows who my mother really is. Who’s responsible for putting her in that coma to begin with. He’s right. I should say no.

If he knew where I’d just come from, he wouldn’t have even given me the option. He would have rejected the offer instantly.

But as I sit here, staring at my hands, darkness rushes into that void inside me. A screaming that demands action, demands revenge. Malone is careful and particular, and in my nine years of working here, I have only truly interacted with her once, years ago when we scened together. If I say yes to this, I will be close to her for the next two weeks. I’ll be close enough to strike, to do something to hurt her as much as she’s hurt me. “I accept.”

“Aurora.”

“Hades.” I can’t quite soften my tone into playfulness. I never talk back to Hades. Never. Partly because I owe him so much, and mostly because of the sheer dominance he exhibits without seeming to try. He’s got himself bottled up right now, but the man can send me to my knees with a single look. Not today. I feel like nothing can touch me today. “I need to do this.”

“You really don’t.”

“This is why I came to you to begin with!” I stop short and make an effort to modulate my tone. “Do not take this chance from me.”

He looks like he’s torn between yelling at me and coming around the desk to wrap me in a tight hug. “Malone will eat you up and spit you out. She will harm you.”

I shove to my feet. “There is nothing she’ll do that hasn’t already been done to me a hundred times over during my years here.” I laugh harshly. “You know me, Hades. I like everything. Pain and humiliation and degradation. Soft words and gentle touches and kindness. It all gets me off. Malone can’t harm me.”

“Aurora.” Hades stands slowly. I don’t know how he manages it, but it feels like his power unfurls through the room. “I would have thought age would make you less reckless.”

The desire to apologize bubbles up inside me, but I shove it down. I am not weak, and I am not a fool. All those years ago, I came to the Underworld with two goals: to keep my mother alive and to get revenge. I’ve managed the first. Now it’s time for the second. “I’m not reckless.”

“You are the very definition of reckless.” He sighs. “But you’re an adult who knows her own mind. I can keep you from Malone now, but the moment the bargain is done, I suspect you’ll be taking that contract.”

I will. Now that she’s finally made a move on me, I refuse to miss this opportunity. “Better to let me do this while I’m still yours.” I’m being cruel, but I can’t help it. If I do something to Malone, Hades might bear the price of it alongside me, but he’s more than capable of navigating the situation. He’ll be fine.

He takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I dislike you attempting to manipulate me.”

“I’m just speaking the truth.”

“You are willing to say anything to convince me to agree to this. Don’t deny it.” He cuts me a sharp look. “But you do have a point.”

I press my lips together. Pushing him now won’t guarantee victory, and it might just backfire. So I force myself still and wait while he thinks about it.

Finally, Hades shakes his head. “I’ll allow it.”

Relief makes me a little dizzy. There’s no guarantee that Malone’s offer would stand in another few weeks once I’m free of Hades’s bargain. I won’t get another chance like this, to get close enough to her to strike. “When do I start?”

“Tomorrow.”

* * *

“You goddamn fool.”

I don’t look over as Allecto storms into the gym. I just increase the speed on my treadmill, feet pounding in time with my racing heart. “I’ll talk to you when I’m done.”

“The fuck you will. You’ll talk to me now.” She stalks to the treadmill and reaches past me to slap the bright-red Stop button.

I stumble as the track suddenly stops moving. “Hey!”

“What the hell are you doing, Aurora?” She’s practically vibrating with anger. “Why the fuck did Hercules just tell me that you’re about to go spend two weeks with Malone?”

“Because I’m going to spend two weeks with Malone.” I try to say it calmly, rationally, but it comes out spiked. “She offered. It’s an opportunity I can’t miss.”

“An opportunity.” She looks like she wants to strangle me. “An opportunity to do what?”

I could hedge, but the truth is that if anyone will understand, it’s Allecto. “Kill her.”

My friend stares at me for several long beats as if waiting for the rest of the joke. She finally shakes her head slowly. “No. Absolutely not. Your mother just died. You aren’t in your right mind.”

“My mother died twenty years ago. That wasn’t her.”

“Don’t try to twist logic with me now, not when the entire reason you bargained so much of your life away with Hades was to save her.”

Something cracks inside me. I didn’t save her. No one could save her. It didn’t matter what I did, how high I reached for assistance. My mother was lost to me the moment she entered that fight with Malone. I look at Allecto, trying to make her understand. “I have to do this.”

“No, you don’t.” She glances at the door as if she’s going to charge up to Hades’s office and tell him everything. “She’s going to kill you.”

I grab her arm, holding her in place. “She won’t get a chance to.”

“Yes, Aurora, she will. Malone is one of the deadliest people in Carver City, full stop. She’s ruthless and ambitious, and she cuts down people who cross her without a second thought. If you move against her and fail, she’ll kill you. If you somehow manage to succeed, her people will kill you. There is no outcome where this ends happily.”

“That’s fine. I don’t believe in happily ever after. Not anymore.”

Allecto sighs and steps onto the treadmill to take my shoulders. “I can’t say I know how you feel right now, and I’m shit at comfort, but this is not the right course. You are not a killer.” When I start to protest, she speaks right over me. “She is going to twist you up, break you down, and you’re going to end up hating yourself because you’ll start to care and won’t be able to take her out.”

“I will not start to care about Malone.”

Allecto snorts. “Aurora, you already care about her. You’ve been eye-fucking her for years.”

I try to jerk back, but she tightens her grip on my shoulders, keeping me in place. “I have not.”

“You sure as fuck have.” She shakes her head. “You fall in love with everyone you sleep with. And she’s Malone. You’re already fucked, and you’re too stubborn to realize it.”

I poke her in the chest. “I do not fall in love with everyone I sleep with.”

“Prove it.” Allecto releases me and glares. “Gaeton.”

“He’s my friend, of course I love him.” He’s a brutal giant of a man with a surprisingly gentle heart, and we’ve been scening for years.

“Isabelle.”

My skin goes hot, and I try to fight down my reaction. “She’s different.” Who wouldn’t fall at least a little in love with a woman like that, so shiny and new to kink and embracing it full-heartedly with her two men? The fact that one of them is Gaeton only makes playing with her more enjoyable.

Allecto holds my gaze and starts ticking up her fingers with each name. “Meg. Hook. Jafar. Ursa. Alaric. Stop me when I find one that you haven’t been at least infatuated with.”

“Stop it.” I glare. “There is nothing wrong with caring about people.”

“Don’t get pissed now because I’m right.” She drops her hand. “And that’s not even getting into those jackasses that you dated. Finn. Hazel. Oliver.” The last of her fingers go down.

“You’re supposed to fall in love with the people you date.”

“Uh huh.” Allecto snorts. “And look how well that worked out. I was cleaning up the heartbreak tears for weeks after those relationships went down in flames.”

“Heartbreak after a breakup is also a normal thing.”

“You will fall for her, you will hate yourself for doing it, and then you won’t be able to go through with it.”

I hate how her words feel like daggers aimed right at the heart of me. “You are such a bitch sometimes.”

“Ooh, fierce words from the asshole who’s planning murder.” She shakes her head. “Killing Malone won’t fix anything. It’s only going to compound that horrible mess of emotions you’re refusing to address. It won’t bring your mother back or make time go in reverse.”

“Enough.” I shake my head as if I can dispel her words. It’s never that easy. Allecto knows me well enough to know exactly the right thing to say to have her words set up residence in my head. “That’s enough. It’s my choice and I’ve made it.”

“Aurora.” Some of the fierceness bleeds out of Allecto’s tone. “If you really want her dead, I’ll take care of it. It won’t fix anything, but at least then you’d be safe.”

I stare. Now it’s my turn to wait for the joke to land, but I should know better by now. Allecto doesn’t joke about things like this. She sure as hell wouldn’t choose to start now, with this topic. “What?”

“It’ll be a mess. She’s a strong leader, and her territory is stable, and the ripples will affect the rest of the city, but if you need this done, I’ll do it for you.”

For a moment, I actually consider it. Allecto’s good, and she can likely do exactly what she’s offering. One moment Malone will be moving through this world, the next she will be a memory. Just like my mother.

I take a slow breath and finally shake my head. “No. I can’t ask that of you.”

“You aren’t asking; I’m offering.”

I shake my head again. “It has to be me.”

Allecto scrubs her hands over her face. “Fine. But don’t you dare beat yourself up when you change your mind. There are people capable of murder, and you’re even one of them when you get heated, but an assassination is a totally different animal.”

It’s irritating that she doubts me. “I’m more than capable of doing this.”

“Sure. Capable.” She turns for the door. “That’s not what I said, though, is it?”

She’s gone before I can come up with a response. I don’t care what Allecto says or how many theories she has about me developing feelings for the people I have sex with; none of that has to mean anything. Malone isn’t just anyone. She’s the enemy.

I huff out a breath and turn back to get the treadmill going again. As I take up the steady pounding rhythm of running, my traitorous mind flickers to the single scene I had with Malone all those years ago. I agreed to it out of some perverse desire to understand the woman who hurt my mother. I didn’t expect Malone to systematically dismantle all my defenses and shatter me to pieces. The woman is the single best Dominant in Carver City. I’d know—I’ve been with them all at this point.

It doesn’t matter.

I’ve already agreed to this assignation, and I’m going through with it.

I’m going to kill Malone.