Her Forever

Parisa’s POV

Hades laced our fingers together as we left the guestroom. I was able to get a better look at the hallways as we walked down the long corridors to Athena’s study. Athena and most of the original gods were able to stay here in the Celestial Palace, each having a wing of their own and can be called upon by Zeus if needed.

Athena was one of the favored by Zeus, meaning she would help him with decisions involving the fate of the gods and how to deal with certain situations between feuds. Who knew the gods would be angered with each other so much that Zeus would have to be in the middle of it? The way Zeus handled himself with Hades proved he wasn’t the most emotionally stable kind of guy.

We passed several naked statues of women, fairies, sirens, and even a few wolves along the way. Each wolf had dazzling eye colors such as blue, green, and even gold. “Zeus tries to have all the creations created by gods their own statues; Ares help create the werewolves, so there are plenty of wolves down his wing to commemorate them.

“Huh, I wonder why Ares couldn’t sense something in me since he is so connected with wolves?” Hades chuckled and squeezed my hand again.

“Ares may be strong, but he isn’t the most intuitive. He’s nothing but beef and brawn, not much upstairs.” Hades pointed to his temple while I laughed.

“I heard that! You flaming pile of s**t!” Ares came around the corner, strapping his ax on his side. He was in his original attire: a battle skirt of leathers, straps for holding weapons, and his gladiator sandals. Hades laughed and smacked him on the back.

“I’m only joking. Where are you headed?” Ares tightened his belt as he puffed out his chest.

“To the sparring grounds. Those angels look pretty weak; I might have a talk with Gabriel too.” Hades narrowed his eyes and gave a curt nod as he left.

Hades’ mind was still drifting to why Persephone’s mate Gabriel had no remembrance of their meeting. It is supposed to be memorable, enjoyable. While Hades thought I was sleeping, I could feel his worry through the emotions. Anxiety, fear, determination, it was there like a smoldering pile of ash that hovered over my heart.

After several winding and twisting turns, we reached Athena’s wing of the palace. On two pillars held massive owls that were sitting on olive branches filled with gold. The eyes of the owls had black onyx stones, and the wings dipped in glowing amber. As we entered the wing, there were rows of books on either side. Not one wall was clear; all of them had some sort of picture or map.

Athena was a regular librarian or bookworm. Beside several doors held glass boxes sitting on pedestals of stuffed animals and beasts with their claws and jaws hinged open. I shivered to look at one of the serpents striking a helpless rabbit.

“She’s great at battle strategies,” Hades mused. “Athena also has her very own helm; instead of becoming invisible like mine does, her helmet provides her alertness and strength. Pretty handy when battling unruly supernatural beings.”

The last door on the right held floor-to-ceiling doors. Two angels perched on either side of the door bowed their heads and removed their spears that had a cross next to the front. “Athena is expecting you,” one grunted and opened the door. I gave a small thank you, but his face remained that of displeasure.

Who peed in his cornflakes?

“You’re late,” the door slammed open, and Athena rose from her seat behind the desk. “I do have other duties to attend to, you know. Like finding who is responsible for your helm disappearance and a missing Nero and his mate.” Hades gripped his teeth.

“So he’s missing. Zeus knows?” Athena nodded her head. “I assure you, Zeus had nothing to do with trying to get rid of you mate, he was just following Selene’s orders before her disappearance.”

Athena walked to the couch in front of her desk and motioned for us to sit down.

“We aren’t here to talk about that. We have more pressing matters.” I didn’t know that it could even be possible to be more critical than finding missing gods? Gods were more substantial than regular immortal supernaturals; whoever took them must have something powerful on their side. What could be more pressing than finding two missing gods?

As I go to sit down, Hades pulls me to his lap. “Hades,” I started to complain, but he gripped me tighter.

“It makes me more at ease knowing you are here,” his nose ran up my neck as I shivered.

“That’s enough,” Athena snapped. “Time is of the essence here!” Athena grabbed her large book, one of many, and dropped it on the table. The table shattered, and the few cups of tea clinked. Athena licked her fingers as she flipped through and danced her index finger across the page.

“Hades, do you think you could let go of your mate for ten minutes,” Athena let out an exasperated sigh as I tried to get up.

“Nope,” he prolonged the p and gave her a wink. Athena growled put both her hands out for me to grab hers.

Ten minutes went to three hours, I was exhausted at all the techniques she taught me to control my empathy power. By the end of it, I could block out everyone in the room and hone in on one person at a time. My range was twenty feet, and Athena wanted to write all of it down in her white notebook. “This is so interesting,” she mused as she flipped through another page. Hades’ head was dropped back on the couch, and his mouth was slightly open. Little snores left his lips, and I couldn’t help but giggle and not pay attention to my tutor.

“There is no recorded record of this other than a god,” she babbled. “That can project and read emotions from that distance.” Hades let out a louder snort/snore, and I laughed hysterically until he woke up.

“Yeah, of course,” Hades coughed as he tried to look like he was paying attention. As I was about to tell him how adorable he was, there was a scratching at the door to the library’s entry. The angels outside started arguing, and smoke and bits of flame tendrils lit under the door while the screams of: “put it out” and “get that thing away from me” got louder.

“Kronos, is it Blaze?” I projected my empathy towards the door, and sure enough, it was Blaze, and he was worried and upset.

“It is. Let him in!” I shouted, and the angels started screaming for him to back up, but snarls and roars burst through the door. The front of the door was charred and black, and Athena scoffed.

“What did you do to my door, you little,” but before she could finish, we saw Blaze, the size of a lion, enter. His nails clicked on the floor as he approached, and Hades only scowled.

“Parisa,” Blaze spoke through to me; his voice was considerably more profound than his usual chattering.

“Yes? Blaze?” I stuttered as he sat in front of me, completely destroying the coffee table and knocking Athena’s book off the table. Hades gripped me tighter, ready to stand, but I pat his chest, my eyes never leaving Blaze.

“You cannot put this off anymore; you need a pack. Elea demands it. Do you not feel her?”

I managed to draw out a long, “uhhh,” before lifting the block that Athena taught me just hours before.

“We have just days before we shift, Parisa. Don’t block me out. If I shift without you with me, we are both as good as dead!” I gasped as everyone sat looking at me.

“Blaze said I will be shifting soon. That block you taught me kept Elea out she couldn’t reach me.” Athena nodded, “be sure to only let her in then at all times. You both need to leave and take her to a pack. Elea will need to speak with a few of the other wolves and become acquainted. I’ll let Hera know of your departure.”

Hades stood up with me in his arms and took me past the charred doorway. The angels’ robes were still on fire as they tried to extinguish them. The grumpy corn flakes guy was even more grumpy as he ripped his clothes off, and his undergarments looked like a diaper. I snorted in laughter, and he gave me a pressing look.

“Aw, is the baby more grumpy?” I whispered only for Hades to hear, but angels have good hearing too, as he swore under his breath. I gasped.

“Can’t he say that? That’s so naughty for an angel to do!”

“I didn’t know my mate could make an angel curse if there was any doubt in my mind before it is gone now. Well done.”

Ares was in the fields, along with Vulcan having a heated discussion with the angel called Gabriel. I remembered him from the first day here and the haunting look he gave me. “Can you find out his emotions, Parisa?” I nodded my head as Hades put me on the ground.

“Now see here,” Gabriel pointed his finger at Ares. “I know nothing about Persephone; she’s Nero’s mate. I can’t touch her!”

“But you like her! I’ve heard the other Angels talking. They say you stare at her while she is making flowers in her garden; you try and talk to her every chance you get!” Ares pressed.

“She has a mate! I cannot like her!” He growled out as he pulled his hand through his hair. “End of discussion.” Gabriel goes to walk away, but Hades grabs his shoulder. “What if I was to tell you, you should have feelings for her?” Hope flowed through Gabriel as his heart filled with delight. Gabriel wanted that more than anything, but he thoroughly denied it because of Nero.

“What if I told you, you are her mate. That it was written in the ultimate history books of our kind?” Gabriel was instantly saddened. “You shouldn’t joke about this; this is even lower than ever expected you would be, Hades.” Gabriel’s eyes glistened as he looked away. Anger started to flow as he stretched his wings and took off into the sky.

“He loves her,” I whispered. “He cares for her, but he thinks Nero is really her mate. I don’t know about you guys, but I think Persephone is involved in this.” Hades eyes didn’t leave the sky as Gabriel continued to get smaller as the distance grew between us.

“I agree with you,” Vulcan spoke. “Gabriel isn’t part of this fiasco, but I believe that Persephone and Nero are. Now to find them is the question.”

“No, we have to find the Sphere of Souls,” I corrected. “Selene said to find that first. The only way to do that is for me to get my memory back,” I sighed, irritated. Hades held me in his arms and stroked my hair.

“One step at a time, let’s get you shifted first. Maybe that will trigger something,” Hades turned to Vulcan and Ares. We leave for the Night Crawler Pack this evening. I will warn their sorceress, Bhodi, that we are coming.”

Both of our friends nodded as Blaze continued to walk with us in his larger form. Many angels stared at us while we retreated to the main living space of the Celestial Palace.

“Where is Hermes?” I asked curiously. “We haven’t seen him in forever!” It has only been two days, but that was a long time for Hermes. He would always come back to let us know if he found something or nothing at all.

“Good question, he should be around here,” Vulcan mused as he looked out over the vast window that held the kingdom. Zeus came barreling into the room along with Hera, who was beside him clutching his hand.

“Hermes has been taken!” Zeus shouted. The room grew silent as Vulcan and Ares growled.

“How do you know this?” Hades roared as he stomped to Zeus. Zeus held out a note that had been ripped from a dagger.

“I found this on his home door in the city. I had sent angels to retrieve him so I could send a message to Posidon, and when the angels returned, they brought me this.”

Hades,

Revenge is the acceptance of pain.

Accept the fate that the fates themselves

Are too scared to give you.

Nero

Hades crumpled the paper and lit it on fire in an instant. “They want to play games?” He growled out. His dark hair turned to his beautiful white-blonde hair, his attire shifted from his Armani suit to his devilish robes. His strides were long as he reached me. Not being scared in the slightest, and gripped me by my h**s and wrapped his cloak around me.

Smoke had covered the once white floor entirely of blackened smoke while Zeus and Hera looked on in shock.

“Then we will play games.” Hades’ body stiffened as fire engulfed all around us. A stream of a fire beacon came from our bodies, shooting upward, causing the glass ceiling to break into a million pieces and spread out across the sky. Dark clouds now covered the kingdom as it rained drops of fire.

Hades’ voice changed to a deep baritone with a hit of the rumble in his chest. “Now hear this,” his voice spoke for all to hear. Looking over my shoulder, I saw angels and Celestial Fairies stop in their tracks, listening to his voice. Many angels and fairies grew panicked but stopped to hear Hades’ message.

“Anyone lays a hand on my mate, Parisa, they will seek certain death. There will be no forgiveness.” Hades paused for effect. Vulcan and Ares stood with stern faces while Hera and Zeus remained panicked.

Niko just walked into the room, watching the scene unfold. He was in his demon attire, looking on in horror. His face darted from Zeus to Vulcan to figure out what was going on.

“Turn over the missing gods within 24 hours, or you have sealed your own damn fate. The real fun will begin once your body rots into the ground.” Shivers went up my spine as he announced his threat. The sky continued to stay dark as his words seeped into the ground of this holy place.

The smoke seeped into my hair, causing it to fly upwards as my fingers gripped Hades’ cloak tightly. Not once did the fire come too close, so I never felt its warmth; instead, I still felt the cold darkness of Hades’ words.

“Hang on,” he whispered as he wrapped me in his cloak before Hades, Blaze, and I were engulfed in flames.