Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Beast

Getting out of the Underworld has never been complicated. Finish a scene. Clean up. Walk out. After Hercules’s interruption, I should have expected things not to be so simple. I retrieve our coats and Gaeton wraps his around Isabelle. She’s too drunk off the adrenaline letdown and her orgasm to fight too hard about being naked under it—or his carrying her out of this place.

We almost make it.

We’re halfway through the lounge when Aurora appears in front of us as if by magic. She’s a tiny little thing, all light-brown skin and big brown eyes, with a penchant for bright hair colors. It’s been pink for a long time, but she’s edging toward a frosty pastel version instead of the brilliant hue she started with. Aurora is sweet enough that she invokes every Dominant protective instinct I have. She doesn’t look particularly sweet right now. She looks furious. “Hades wants to see you.”

I feel Gaeton go still at my back. We’re staying in Hades’s territory right now, renting places in a neutral space while we figure out what the fuck we’re doing if we’re not generals for the Man in Black any longer. Gaeton and I made our choices separately, but like in all things since I showed up in Carver City, we seem to be endlessly on parallel tracks. We can’t afford to ignore a summons from Hades.

I give Aurora a long look. “Since when do you run messages for the old man?”

Her expression goes a little sharp. “Since I took over Tink’s old position as Meg’s second-in-command.”

That, I didn’t expect. Tink was mean enough to keep even the Dominants in line when she needed to. Aurora is … not. But Meg isn’t the type of woman to make mistakes when it comes to the club, so she must see something I haven’t.

Still, it’s in my nature to push. “We’re a little busy.”

Aurora props a hand on her hip. She’s wearing a tiny white lace slip that hugs her curves and barely covers her enough to be considered decent. “That wasn’t a suggestion, Beast. Not for either of you. Hades wants to see you, and the longer you make him wait, the less likely the conversation is going to go the way you want it to.”

I raise my brows. “Someone’s been taking lessons from Meg.”

She doesn’t blink. “Stop patronizing me and get back there, or I’m going to have to get Allecto involved.”

“Shit, Aurora.” Gaeton huffs out a laugh. “Beast is just being a dick. No need to bring out the big guns.” He steps past me, not quite shouldering me aside, but damn close. “Lead the way.”

She gives Gaeton a smile. “Hey, big guy.”

“Looking good, Aurora. Like the dress thing. It new?” He falls into step beside her, chatting easily as if he’s not holding Isabelle in his arms, leaving me to trail behind. It’s just as well. Gaeton is better at charming people than I am. Likely because I never bother to try. It’s easier to intimidate if you speak less, because it gives your enemy no traction to guess your thoughts. Gaeton prefers a different strategy.

She leads us back to Hades’s public study. It’s decorated in shades of gray and carefully positioned lights that leave the man behind his massive desk bathed in shadows. Hades doesn’t need all the theatrics to intimidate, but he sure as hell seems to like them.

Gaeton doesn’t bother to take a chair and I’m content to follow his lead. I glance at Isabelle to find that she’s fallen asleep in his arms. My chest gives an uncomfortable pang, but I stifle it. She came here with every intention of doing whatever it took to bring us back. If she accepted the price we laid out, then she has only herself to blame.

Besides, she needs this little catnap. Dawn is a long ways off, and we have a whole hell of a lot to compress into the two-week timeline.

Hades steeples his fingers in front of his mouth, bringing our attention back to him. “You two are dancing a fine line with this one.”

I give him my full attention. “That’s our business.”

He pauses, letting the silence tick out, letting me know exactly who holds the position of power in this place. Him. Not me. It shouldn’t irritate me so fucking much, but here we are. He sighs. “War is everyone’s business.”

Gaeton goes stiff next to me, but I don’t look at him. “Say what you mean to say, Hades. You’re wasting our time.”

“As you wish.” Hades, leans forward, bringing himself into the light. “You are living in my territory out of the grace of my goodwill. I highly suggest you do nothing to that woman that will antagonize Cordelia Belmonte. She will go to extreme lengths to protect her youngest sister, and that includes doing the equivalent of cutting off her nose to spite her face. If you both are removed from the equation, it’s entirely likely she will lose part—or all—of her territory to Ursa. You know what that means.”

It means the carefully balanced ecosystem of Carver City will potentially collapse. War between two territories is the kind of conflict that will send waves through the rest of the city, affecting everyone. I’ve seen it happen before. It’s why I ended up here in the first place, fleeing a losing war in Sabine Valley. Regardless of what happens with Isabelle, I refuse to repeat history. We’ll ensure she’s safe and the territory is stabilized. It’s held this long. It will hold for two more weeks.

I exchange a look with Gaeton. He nods, letting me lead this conversation. A fucking first, though I suppose that’s not strictly true any longer. Since our respective relationships with Isabelle detonated, some of the animosity between us collapsed with it. Not all, not by a long shot, but I can stand next to him without wanting to cut his fucking throat. An improvement.

I meet Hades’s gaze. “Two weeks won’t make a difference one way or another. Beyond that, I wouldn’t worry too much about Cordelia seeking revenge since she’s the one who sent her baby sister here tonight in the first place.”

Hades doesn’t blink. “I highly doubt she envisioned the terms of the bargain you struck with Isabelle Belmonte.”

Heat courses through my body, but I muscle back my physical response. All in good time. Because we do have time now. Two weeks is more than long enough to play out every filthy fantasy I never let myself contemplate with Isabelle. The fact that Gaeton will be doing the same concurrently feels strangely right. We began this journey at the same time, and we’ll finish at the same time as well. “That’s our business.”

“See that it doesn’t become my business.” He glances at Isabelle, gaze cold. “She’s playing in deep waters. Don’t let her drown and bring ruin upon us all.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “If you’re done …”

“I am. For now.”

I turn and lead the way out of Hades’s office. Aurora is nowhere in sight, which is just as well. We don’t need an escort to the exit. I nod at Adem at the front desk and step into the elevator. We don’t speak again until the doors slide open and the cool air of the parking garage seeps into the elevator. “Your place, your transport.” I know where Gaeton lives, of course. It pays to keep track of these things, especially since we’ve both found ourselves in something of a precarious position leaving our old territory, but he’s hardly sent out engraved invites to his place.

He nods and leads the way down the ramp to a sleek black SUV. I glance around for a driver, and he catches the look. Gaeton gives a shit-eating grin. “Not all of us are fancy bitches who need to be carted around.”

I narrow my eyes. “I prefer to keep my hands free for other purposes.”

He snorts. “Whatever you have to tell yourself, asshole.”

Isabelle stirs as I open the back door and Gaeton sets her carefully on the seat. She blinks those big brown eyes at us. “Did I fall asleep?” Her hands flutter to her hair, seeming to register how tangled it is, and then to Gaeton’s coat. “You ruined my dress.”

“Won’t be needing it where we’re going.” I nudge her across the back seat and follow her in, leaving Gaeton to walk around to the driver’s door.

Isabelle slaps my hands away when I reach to fasten her seatbelt. “You can’t be suggesting I’m not wearing clothes for the next two weeks. Don’t be absurd.”

Gaeton backs out of the parking spot and heads for the exit. “Depends on how many pieces of clothing you want ruined, Isabelle. Your choice.” The easy charm is gone again, leaving a simmering anger I recognize down to my very soul. Another similarity I don’t want to share with this man.

I lean back against the seat and look at her. Even out of her depth and looking like she’s just been fucked within an inch of her life, Isabelle is a study in perfection. She’s always been beautiful, but it’s the intelligence in those brown eyes that draws me in again and again despite myself. My position in Carver City would have been a lot more secure if I’d been able to resist that spark. Her father, Orsino, didn’t exactly disapprove of our dating her, but that man would have taken the moon right out of the sky for his youngest daughter, though, so he never said a word edgewise. He wasn’t exactly thrilled with it, though.

Fuck, but I miss him.

Angry at the loss of another person I cared about, angry at myself, I rake my gaze over her. “What the big man isn’t saying is that your pussy is ours for the next two weeks and we won’t tolerate anything limiting access.”

She jerks back, staring at me as if she’s never seen me before. “Have you always talked like this?”

Not to her. Never to her. I bound myself up in love until I couldn’t breathe, just so I could be worthy of this woman. All for nothing. All of it was for no goddamn reason. I lean forward and give her a cold look. “Only to the people I fuck.”

An important distinction, and one she picks up immediately. “I see.” She narrows her eyes. “So you’re going to fuck me, Beast? Take all that aggression and anger out on me?” She lifts her chin, a clear sign that she’s stepping to the line drawn in the sand between us. “Bring it on.”

“Isabelle,” Gaeton rumbles. “Playing the brat isn’t going to make him stick his cock into you out of spite. He’s got better control than that.”

I’m glad one of us is sure of it. Right now, it’s everything I can do not to fall on her and fuck her until she begs for mercy. Until I can get rid of the tight feeling of my skin being too small. No matter what I did for this woman, it wasn’t good enough, and when Gaeton finally called it quits and she should have been mine by right, she left me in the dust. And I still don’t know why.

I turn away from her and stare out the window. We are only a block from Gaeton’s, which feels like a block too far at this point. The icy calm I had in the Underworld is unraveling too fast to stop. I don’t know what will happen when it’s completely gone.

We arrive before I find an answer.

Gaeton’s place is like most of the other buildings in the neutral territory ruled by Hades. It’s a mishmash of businesses on the lower floors and apartments on the upper two-thirds. We are all silent as we take the elevator up to the twentieth. Not the top, but damn near it.

I raise my eyebrows at Gaeton. He smirks. “Don’t tell me—you got some cheap-ass apartment the size of a matchbox.”

He’s not wrong. We made good money under Orsino Belmonte, known as the Man in Black to everyone else, but with the future so uncertain, I chose not to blow more of it than necessary on rent. Over the years, I’ve learned the hard way that nothing is for certain and having a financial nest egg can make the difference between surviving and ending up six feet under. If I wasn’t so paranoid, I wouldn’t have made it out of Sabine Valley alive.

I wish I could have ensured the same survival for Cohen.

I push the thought away. I don’t want to think about the past right now. I don’t want to think about anything but extracting every bit of pleasure from Isabelle’s tight little body in retribution. It’s enough. It has to be enough.

Gaeton opens his door—one of only four on the floor—and steps aside to let us precede him. There’s no way the apartment was furnished when he moved in. Current trends lean towards the modern look and fragile-as-fuck furniture. The massive couch and chairs dominating the living room look like they could hold three men of Gaeton’s size without a problem. He’s put down a thick gray rug that softens the marble floors. His dining table isn’t particularly huge, but the style wouldn’t be out of place in some ancient king’s banquet room. A pair of doors leads into what must be a bathroom and a bedroom. The kitchen is small and seems barren as hell, but the appliances are all top of the line. The real perk is the view. The massive windows look out over Carver City painting the night with an array of lights.

Gaeton closes the door and locks it. “Shall we?”

I don’t know if he means it’s time to talk or time to fuck, but I’m only in the mood for one of those things. I turn to Isabelle, who’s looking around with wide eyes, and inject a little snap into my tone. “Lose the jacket. Now.”

She hesitates but finally unzips the jacket and shrugs out of it. Good. “Now bend over the arm of that couch and brace yourself on the cushion.”

Isabelle flashes me a look. “No.”

A dark thrill soars through me. It likely says something unflattering about me that I want her to fight, I want to force her, knowing she’s getting off on it as much as I am. “You won’t like it if I have to repeat myself.”

“Safe word,” Gaeton rumbles.

“Candlestick,” she shoots back. Isabelle glares at me. “Repeat yourself all you want. I’m not bending over the arm of the couch like some kind of sacrificial lamb.”

Interesting that she sees it that way. The dark thrill surges higher. “Now, princess.”

She lifts her chin and says the two words destined to toss a lighted match into the gasoline-soaked room that is our current situation. “Make me.”