Hades

Chapter 15

I spent much of the morning in the bathroom. I didn't have any of my hot tools or much my makeup but I was still trying my hardest to make an impression. I need to impress the king and queen if I wanted them to take my accusations against Hades seriously. However, it seemed that was going to be impossible. My brown hair always had this lackluster wave to it, not quite a curl, not quite straight, not quite wavy. Just boring. Pair that with my brown eyes, standard body shape and a casual dress and I wouldn't remember me either. 

Plus, the idea of meeting the love of my teenaged life was pretty intimidating. I, like every other werewolf woman, had been in love with Prince Ajax. It was hard not to want him when he was just the gold standard of arrogance, class, and auburn hair. I'm sure that there had been a collective sigh across the continent when it was announced that he had found his mate.

"Are you almost ready?" Hades asked through the door.

"Yes."

I yanked open the bathroom door, knowing that I couldn't make my situation any better than it was. I had no straightener, no curling iron and not even an eyeshadow palette. Mascara and a hairbrush were the only tools at my disposal. As much as I hated it, the king and queen would just have to deal with me wearing my bargain brand pineapple dress and damp hair in braids.

Hades's amber eyes slipped up and down my body and I expected there to be a flash of lust. Instead, there was only concern. "You're going to be cold."

I glanced him over as well and quirked an eyebrow at his outfit. Who on Earth wore jean and a polo shirt to meet the king and queen? Clearly, he was confident beyond what I thought or he was playing an angle I didn't quite understand.

"I'll be fine," I snapped, glaring at him.

He didn't even try to argue.

We moved through the house together, but I stayed quite far behind him, as if a little distance would be enough to rein in our mate bond. I hated to admit it, but I was attracted to him. Beyond my high school crush on Prince Ajax before he found his mate and became king. Frankly, what I felt for Hades was stronger than anything I had ever felt for anyone, even Caleb. 

But I fought it with everything I had in me. The idea that I wanted him when I should've been with Caleb repulsed me.

We ended up on the back side of the house and Hades pushed open a door that led to a rather large garage. It held the car that had originally brought me here, an off road SUV and, to my surprise, two motorcycles. What kind of guy has a ball room and motorcycles?

"Do you like bikes?" Hades wondered, catching my wandering gaze.

For a second I was startled, still amazed by how attentive and in-tune to me he was. Then I saw those eyes and thought of the way he had yanked my necklace off of me. I would do anything to hurt him like he had hurt me.

"I hate them, actually. They are unsafe."

"They really aren't. People aren't careful when they ride them and that's what leads to high accident rates, not the bikes themselves," he continued, coming back towards me with a set of car keys in his hand. "I could show you sometime, if you wanted."

"No thank you."

He didn't push it. We took the more off road oriented SUV and once again I wondered if he knew who we were going to see. He had a beautiful car and decided to take the old Nissan instead, it didn't make any sense. Still, I refused to engage in any conversation with him, crossed my arms over my chest, and leaned my head against the window.  

We drove for about half an hour before Hades turned on the music. It was rock. I had almost expected classical, like in the ballroom, but still said nothing. 

Another half an hour passed and he began drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, constantly turning his head to glance at me. I pretended not to see it and kept my head pressed against the window. 

"I'm sorry about your necklace," he blurted finally.

I said nothing. 

"It was obviously important to you and I reacted badly. It's just that when I see items like-"

"I don't want your excuses, Hades," I said numbly, keeping my gaze trained on my own reflection in the mirror.

He took a deep breath and deflated into his seat. There was only rock music for a few more minutes.

"You said yesterday that you wanted to spend time with me. Now you aren't even talking to me. I know that this must be really hard on you, but I'd love to clear the air."

It wasn't exactly a question so I didn't feel particularly inclined to answer.

"Charlotte, please."

His words were only met with silence again.

"You called me Sebastian yesterday," he whispered. "It's been a really long time since anyone has called me by my real name. Even Ethel has started calling me Hades out of habit. I know that you probably didn't even notice that you did it, but it...it felt so good."

I opened my mouth to reply to him, but I wasn't sure what would come out. I hated him. I hated him more than I had hated anyone. He might've been named Sebastian, but he was certainly all Hades now. But his voice was so soft, so fragile, that it made me regret ever wanting to be malicious towards him. The mate pull was harder to resist than I thought.

But the vehicle turned off the main highway and down a road that was barely a road at all. It was two tire tracks that were slammed full of holes, rocks, and hills. My teeth chomped down on my tongue and I took that as a sign from the moon goddess to keep my words to myself. 

Soon enough, I would see Queen Keiko and King Ajax. I would tell them everything I knew. And if they were fit to rule over the whole werewolf kingdom then they were the only people who would know what to do with Hades.

~~~Question of the Day~~~

If you could live anywhere in the world and money wasn't a factor where would you live?

I love Canada very much. It's a beautiful country and I'm very fortunate that my dad decided to immigrant here of all places. But, I would definitely go back to Europe. Much of my family is there and there is just so much history. I'm particularly fond of Vienna. All of the palaces and museums and history is enough to make my head spin. Plus they have a world famous riding school there which I'm obviously all about.