Her Forever

Hades’ POV

Parisa left the room in a rage. Her h**s swayed with the conviction that she would not give in to my minor begging. There wasn’t anyone I would beg for except her. Dismissing me, I felt my anger seep into the chair where I still sat, waiting for me to hear the door slam to the Alpha’s home. Luckily, no one was here to witness my ugly defeat to become back in my mates’ good graces.

Jaw tightening, I slung the chair away from me, flipping over a few tables in my wake. I felt the smoke tentacles reach out of my clothes as I slammed the door open. Willing a fireball in my hand, I threw it as far as I could, which was the middle of the dense forest to the East. Several screams and howls were heard, stomping to where I will feel the burn and let off some fumes. Tartarus was too far; I wasn’t willing to leave my mate here on Earth to just torture Demeter. That would have to wait, unfortunately.

Several wolves, including Jack’s beta, Keith, began yelling and mind-linking. He was unreasonably loud and thunderous in his call; I wasn’t about to kill anyone in this pack unless they got in my way.

My skin and my fangs itched, hair was sprouting on my body. Ares and his mate run up to me while my feet scorch the ground.

“Hades, what the hell?” The fire was roaring, trees were toppling to the ground, and the fire would be unbearingly hot for a mere mortal; only the gods would be able to withstand it. Cerberus pranced up to me and sat down as I stomped the ground and large pillars of jagged rock erupted from the ground. I could bring Demeter here; I threw the thought away by scratching my chin. The chances were too great to have her powers spring back to life touching the soil.

“Oh, he’s gotten in a little tiff with his mate,” Athena walks up casually in her dark blazer. “He’s gone all, ‘Alpha male’ on her when she left to go have Niko and Nora mated.” Ares let out a scoff and put his arm around Mariah.

“Well, I wouldn’t want my mate around Niko the way he acted around Parisa. I say he has a right to be mad.” I didn’t need anyone vouching for me; I knew I was right. Summoning another fireball, as large as a basketball, I threw it in the air only for it to explode over the lake where Parisa liked to fish with her father.

“Hey, hey, hey,” I heard Persephone’s voice coming closer. Great, now everyone is going to get in on this. I cannot be left alone for one damn minute.

“I can repair the forest, but I can’t bring back the fish. Wolves have to live here, you know?” Gabriel put a possessive hand around Persephone while his wing shielded her from me. f**k if I care, I didn’t want her, but in the back of Gabriel’s mind, I was doing to be the d**k that hid her all those years.

“Cerberus, why are you not with Parisa? You need to protect her.” Cerberus scratched the back of his ear with his rear foot. The young pups in the pack had decorated all three heads with flower collars, making him look like a p***y.

“She said I remind her too much of you. Parisa has Blaze, though,” he whined and laid his head in the still flaming grass. “Stupid Blaze,” he growled. “He’s become some damn therapist to all the wolves; he’s been talking to Sampson, Jack’s wolf. Blaze was trying to figure out why Sampson insists on talking like a caveman instead of like the other wolves. Then we found out he only does it because it turns on Marigold and Rosalie, his mate.” Cerberus made a gagging noise, and Persephone giggled into Gabriel’s feathers. “He used to gag like that when I made parsnip soup.”

“You need to stop this, Hades. You are scaring everyone,” Ares looked out on the mass chaos that I had erupted. If anything, it looked like I brought the Underworld to the surface. If I could, I would set the lake on fire and have the apocalypse right now.

“Think Hecate can bring back the fish?” I growled again, feeling the slight sting on the back of my head. “No, I cannot bring fish back to life, you i***t. Now put it all out so we can fix this. All this mess is going to make Parisa mad and the pack more scared of you.”

I didn’t want to.

I’m angry.

I wanted my mate.

The fire burned hotter, gasping with the intensity of the fire now turning blue; everyone stood back. My chest heaved, feeling Parisa’s sorrow through our bond. Was I acting like an alpha d**k? I trusted her, not that damn demon, but he shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Having her out of my sight was torture. Our child was nestled into her womb, and I have everything at my fingertips, ready for it to be taken away because of Nero.

Parisa thought I had forgotten that little detail. She kept it nestled in the back of her mind, putting up walls and barriers from Elea. I had known that Nero was still out there and held it to myself. She thought I would blow up the entire pack and destroy everything in sight. He could have traveled back with us just as easily if he still had the Helm.

Proved her wrong; I only set the forest aflame.

Persephone could fix that; she was now taking Demeter’s place.

Problem solved.

Screaming was heard in the distance; all of our eyes went to the woods, the portion that hadn’t been turned into a raging inferno. There was no sight of where the screams came, only that there was a running voice.

“Nero,” I growled. Vulcan laughed from behind, holding his mate tight.

“Stupid angel didn’t realize he could catch fire even with the Helm. What an idiot.” Gabriel stiffened behind me, wanting to go forth and find the fucker; hell, I did too.

The voice became louder, passing us, but unfortunately, my arms went to grip the sound only to find I was hugging myself. The Helm could grant invisibility, and smells were nearly neutral, but not completely. My white teeth gleamed in the flame before me; stripping of my robes, I focused on shifting in the beast that my mate had made me to be.

Fur sprouted from my back, flames engulfed my eyes, paws lit to scorch the ground. Using my nose enhanced with the god’s abilities, I caught his dirty scent. The smell of betrayal, sin, and torment. My favorite to skewer in the bowels of Hell. Springing forth, my nails curved into the dirt, Ares not far behind. He would not smell Nero because only I could smell the evil.

Nero had stopped at the lake that was surrounded by fire. The choice was his to make, jump through the flames to quench the thirst or continue to burn. Not giving him time to think, my jaws clamped on soft feathers. Ripping him back from the water, his screams ripped my ears, feeling like they had been pierced through my own sword.

Shaking him violently, the Helm fell from his feeble head, exposing his lightly covered feathers. “Would you look at that,” Vulcan spoke from a distance. It was almost too easy.” Kicking the Helm with my hind leg, Vulcan picked it up and handed it to Hecate, who quickly made it vanish to land right where it belonged, behind closed doors of my prized possessions. It would not remain for long; it would be destroyed with Hell’s fire and never to be used again.

Dragging Nero from the flames, his white-covered wings were reduced to nothing but broken feathers, dirt, and grime. Feathers missing, falling to the ground like the useless leaves in the fall.

My wolf craved the b***d from his wings, wanting more than a bite, but this wasn’t just my time to torment this soul. I would have him in his afterlife. As much as I wanted to sink my claws in one at a time into his throat, I drug him to Persphone and Gabriel.

Nero’s body, nearly naked, tried to stand, but only his elbows could support him on the ash-ridden ground. Pushing him forward with my snout, I nodded at Gabriel to do what he will. Once he was finished, he would await his fate along with Demeter.

Transforming back into my robes, standing tall, waiting for one of the finest warriors of the Celestial Heavens, I waited to see what he would do. This could be interesting.

“Why?” Gabriel’s voice proclaimed as a valiant trumpet. “Why would you agree to take someone elses’ mate? Let alone from the angel that could have your head with just a flick of my finger?”

Nero leaned back, the front of his chest exposed to the setting sun. Boils and burns littered his body; I wanted nothing more than to rip into them and watch the b***d pool to the floor. Ares put his shoulder on me, understanding the anguish.

“It was a proposition proposed by her mother, Demeter.” Nero took in a large breath and held his wounds. “I had often gone to Demeter to help with nymphs that would get too handsy with her foliage on her land. Demeter was funny when growing her own flowers and shrubs, but the nymphs would laugh and make them grow too large or not at all. It irritated her, and she only trusted me to take care of it since I wouldn’t harm her plants in the process.”

“Yawwwwwn,” Ares put his hand up to his mouth. “Hurry up with it,” he growled.

“Anyway, Demeter took a liking to me. She asked if I would want Persephone as my mate. Persephone was beautiful, but I knew she wasn’t mine. Demeter said she would make it happen as long as I did what I was asked. I got greedy. I didn’t want to wait, and Demeter had always been kind to me. As long as I stayed in the area which she lived and kept Persephone close, I was allowed to have her. Then, I became obsessed.”

Persephone stepped behind Gabriel, who puffed out his chest. His white tunic barely held in his heart while his breathing was deepening. Dagger in hand, his knuckles popped in retaliation.

“Persephone, I was a good mate when we were together!” Gabriel bent down and pulled Nero up by the neck.

“You were never her mate, you fool. Never.” Gabriel’s grip tightened while his sword pierced between his collar bones. Gabriel sliced through the chest cavity down to his bowels with one swift motion. B***d poured from Nero’s torso, and soon his intestines hit Gabriel’s feet.

Nero’s mouth hung open, heart still beating in his chest, falling to the ground, unable to move. “You’ve caused a lot of headaches, Nero. For something so stupid as not being patient. You helped kidnap gods, sent my mate into a s*x trafficking ring, gave the Helm to a human, and dared try to bond to Persephone. Your punishment is death, given order by the high God Zeus himself. You are in my dominion now, you insufferable being. Be prepared to suffer.”

Wielding my sword from beneath my robes, the black iron steamed while it sliced through the air and plummeted into the angel’s black heart. Since made from the heavens, Nero’s body disintegrated into a puff of sparkle that immediately descended beneath the ground where he would stay. Straightening my back, hearing it pop a few times, Gabriel lent out his arm. I took his forearm as we both shook as a sign of unity and no hard feelings.

“Phew, glad that’s over,” Hermes walked up to the group, his vampire mate by his side. Both of them were sporting new marks on their bodies while his smug smile punched the tense ambiance.

“Now we won’t have to worry about him crashing the party!” Hermes does a little dance with his mate, being the annoying little fucker he can be, while everyone joins in on the laughter as if they didn’t even witness an angel falling to the depths of Hell.

Having Nero captured and the probable harm of my mate sated my anger, but my body and soul craved Parisa. I didn’t have the strength in me to stay away. Looking at the burning forest and shrugging my shoulders, I waved my hand to put out the hot flames. “About time,” Persephone chirped as she began to regrow the forest.

First, the lush grass sprouted beneath the ash, shrubs, and small trees grew into wide trunks. Vulcan tracked close to a tree and, with his power to build a massive three-story treehouse that expanded through ten trees. Rubbing my eyes, grateful to have gods on my side for once, I gave them a genuine smile.

“I did get carried away, didn’t I?” I chuckled while the rest joined in agreement. “Just don’t piss me off,” I grunted, back to the stoic face, and more laughs and cheers exploded while I walked back through the crowd, to where my mate was no doubt still steaming.

“I expect to see everyone at the celebration,” I huffed again, only to be pushed to the ground by a heavyweight sitting on my back. Several times I tried to move upwards, only failing.

“Did someone say party!?” The booming voice and joyous cheer could have only come from one person.

“Get the f**k off me!” igniting my hands, I put it right on the fool’s a*s, eliciting a scream of pain.

“Dionysus!” Ares cheered. “I was wondering when you would show up! Come here, my man!”

The god of celebration and wine. Great.