บท 69: Chapter 69: The Dark Goddess' Demands

*A/N: This chapter contains content some readers may find disturbing. It describes the torment of a bad guy, but it's still dark.*

Melisande POV

At first, everything looked fuzzy and dark.

The eyes of Melisande slowly opened, but Hades looked through them.

Robes surrounded him. Robes, and dark blue trousers. He smelled two witches, a wizard, and a shifter. Anneliese, Patch, Daxius, and the sweet scent of Morgana.

Silver chains bound him. He didn't even feel the burning and pain. How was that possible? He'd always been so careful not to touch silver. But somehow he felt immune—

The ring!

He'd been going to get it from the office–but Jude had insisted on bringing him to this tower room where his prisoners had been chained. And now, somehow, he wound up getting himself captured.

The ring! He could feel it nearby. One of his captors had it.

Morgana? No.

Patch? Anneliese? No.

Daxius. Ravyn's interfering ex-husband had his ring.

Morgana glanced at "Melisande" and Hades shut his eyes. There had to be a way to escape and get his ring back, to control this body again.

"Dark Goddess," Hades thought. "Surely I'm not meant to end up a prisoner! There's too much work to do. I have two Alphas here out of the twenty-four, and two Lunas. I sense that meddlesome Jiro may be nearby, with dear Garnet. These are the very people who ruined your plans."

The silky, velvety, seductive voice answered him.

"Hades, you've failed me so far. This new identity was so promising, but here you are, chained up."

He gritted his teeth. "I know."

"My poor Hades."

Her voice was a dove's coo. Although he knew better than to soften, to lower his guard against her, he felt soothed.

She continued. "You've been trying so hard to please me."

"One day, I'll find a way, so you'll–"

She sensed his unspoken thoughts even though he stopped himself.

"I'll let you go? Ah, but Hades, you failed against Cyran."

"I didn't–"

It was an old argument. She'd never accept that he'd won his freedom, and that only some loophole or rule kept him on her string.

"I'll be generous, since you've been a loyal servant," she told him in a voice full of iron. "You'll have your chance to win your freedom, but there will be a price."

"Fenrir's guts! H*llfire! WHY WON'T YOU LET ME DIE?"

Unlike all the other times, she responded. "You have a destiny to fulfill. A huge role in the world I'm creating. I can't reveal it all, not while you're surrounded by our enemies."

"TELL ME. I'll pay you in blood. With everything."

"Give me your wolf. After all, you took Cyran's wolf, and Naomi's."

His wolf?

He'd carried his wolf with him for centuries. It wasn't always the same wolf, of course. His current wolf had slept for three years, but now stirred. Fierce and bold and restless. He didn't even bother to learn its name.

He didn't need it in Melisande's form.. Did that mean he had to stay in this form forever? He wanted to die. But if he must go on living, he wanted to live as a shifter.

Snatches of conversation drifted around him like falling leaves,

Morgana argued, "But if he is Hades … his wolf will assert itself. Especially with us keeping the ring secure."

Anneliese sounded skeptical. "He died! A thousand times, probably. He still has his wolf?"

"It's useful to the Dark Goddess," Patch argued. "She probably controls it just like he does those rogues' wolves–just ask Cyran and Naomi."

Daxius scoffed. "A wolf is like part of a soul. I wasn't aware he had one anymore."

"That's true, and it's a waste of a perfectly good wolf," Patch said, smelling fiery. "But he must have one. These rogues would never follow Melisande Bracknell by herself."

That was right.

He couldn't give up his wolf.

"Dark Lady, I'll give you anything else but my wolf," he negotiated. "You haven't held up your end of the bargain."

And suddenly, it was as if his body was full of hot coals. He knew nothing but pain. Overwhelming, excruciating. He was going to pass out. Everything was shutting down, his system overloaded, his wolf growling.

He was close to dying. But no, the goddess wouldn't be that kind. This body couldn't take much more, especially chained up. The whiff of death was everywhere, and yet he knew he would never die. The goddess would just move him somewhere else, or keep him alive and in pain. Maybe if he fought hard enough he would just die naturally…

Someone freed his wrists and crouched over him. Patch shouted at him. Anneliese shouted, too. Words he couldn't hear through the agony. But the tone sounded commanding. A rallying cry. Maybe they were ordering him to stay alive.

"Hold on, Hades. I'm here."

Those words didn't come from Patch and Anneliese. They came from Hades' mind. From a voice he never expected to hear again. A voice he longed to hear from, strangely, despite everything. The voice was golden and powerful. A coolness and calm swept over him.

"Hades, you are not dying like this, not until we get answers. I'm going to claw the Dark Lady herself to make sure you stay alive. You owe me."

He'd laugh if he could.

Instead, he smiled to himself. A small smile, full of pain, but a smile nonetheless.

The last person he ever thought would lift a paw to help him was offering to fight for him. His descendant, his pupil, and his most treasured follower.

Cyran Sinsworth.