Valen (Guardians of Hades Romance Series Book 2) Read online

  She unlocked the door to the building and quickly moved up through the silent levels.

  Or maybe she could kill him herself.

  Security would be a problem, but there was a chance she could slip into his villa while he was sleeping and take him out.

  Eva almost laughed at herself for even considering it.

  She reached the floor she had chosen to live on in the building. Her building. It had cost her a small fortune, but it was better than sharing one with others. She wasn’t sure how her mark did it. How could he live surrounded by so many people?

  She paused at the door to her top-floor apartment.

  Or did he live alone in his building just as she lived alone in hers?

  She wracked her brain, trying to remember whether she had seen or heard anyone when she had been leaving his building.

  She hadn’t.

  Eva shook her head. It had been early, barely dawn. It was possible everyone in the apartments had been asleep, or she had missed hearing them because she had been so preoccupied with getting away from him after he had kicked her out.

  Kicked her out.

  It felt as if he had done just that, that if she had acted differently he would have kept her around, even when he knew she had been hired to kill him.

  Or whatever Benares had hired her to do.

  She pushed the solid metal door open and stepped into her apartment. A quick scan revealed everything was right where she had left it and none of the motion sensors had been triggered. Good.

  Eva turned to close the door.

  And almost jumped out of her skin.

  Jin curled a crimson-painted lip at her surroundings.

  How the hell had her client found her? No one knew where she lived. She had made sure of that, had covered her trail relentlessly, ensuring that her base of operations remained hidden from her clients.

  Yet Jin was standing on her doorstep, looking for all the world as if she wished she wasn’t.

  “You did well,” Jin said, coldness in her British accent that had Eva wondering whether she was being sarcastic, or whether everything really had gone as Benares had planned last night.

  Eva ran a glance over the woman and frowned. Combat fatigues. The black long-sleeve roll-neck top hugged her incredible figure, and tight trousers had been tucked into rubber-soled leather boots. Even her blonde hair had been tied back into a neat ponytail.

  Why was her client dressed as if she was going on a special-ops mission?

  It dawned on Eva as she spotted something sticking out of the woman’s pocket, something that resembled a balaclava.

  There was a reason Jin had known where she lived, and had known the moment she had returned to her apartment.

  Jin was the one following her, reporting her every action to Benares.

  She had tailed Eva to the square last night, and from there to her mark’s apartment, and she had seen her leave this morning and had followed her to her apartment building.

  Eva curled her fingers into fists at her sides and cursed herself, and her mark too. It was his fault she had failed to notice her tail this morning. She had been too preoccupied with thoughts of him. Stronzo.

  Damn him to Hell.

  How much did Jin know and how much was she piecing together from Eva’s appearance?

  She was dressed in her mark’s clothing after all. She huffed and cursed again. She should have squeezed back into her damp things. Her shoulders sagged a little. It wouldn’t have changed anything. She had still been spotted leaving his apartment building in the morning after she had been there all night.

  Her eyes widened in horror. The windows. Rooftops. A groan escaped her.

  Just how much had Jin seen?

  Eva wanted to bury her head in her hands and scream in frustration. Instead, she tipped her chin up and rolled her right shoulder as casually as she could manage.

  “I was just doing my job.” It sickened her to say that when in part it was the truth.

  She knew without a doubt now that Benares had hired her to seduce his target, her mark.

  Her stomach rolled, but she held her shit together.

  “We want you to go to Valen one more time.”

  Anger lanced her as those words reached her ears, making her blood come to a boil in her veins. No damn way. She knew exactly what that meant. She was done with this job. She was done with Benares and Jin, and her mark.

  Valen.

  Was that his name?

  In all the months she had been working the job, she had never uncovered it. Wherever he went, he used a different name, so many that she had grown tired of asking people what it was and had settled for leaving it a mystery.

  What had he done to deserve Benares coming after him like this?

  Why was it so important to Benares that she continue to seduce him?

  The greater part of her wanted to tell Jin to go to Hell, but there was a small piece of her that wanted to question the woman so she could learn why Benares had hired her and could uncover his end game.

  That desire disappeared with a sharp pop as Jin leaned towards her, blue eyes eerily bright in the dim light, and smiled.

  “You enjoyed it didn’t you?”

  Eva scowled at her. “No. I’ve done my part. I’ve done what you asked. I’m an assassin, not a whore. This isn’t what I do, so I’m done. Understand?”

  Jin sighed and leaned back. “Benares will be disappointed. He does not like it when people renege on a contract with him.”

  Eva held her ground, planting her hands on her hips and keeping the frown on her face, hiding the sudden spike of nerves that shot through her together with images of her lying in a ditch somewhere, beaten and dead.

  “I’m not reneging on anything. Benares withheld information from me, something I don’t like, and I did what he asked. I got intelligence on this Valen character for him. I did what I was hired to do.”

  Jin’s smile turned cruel. “I do not recall your contract stating what it was my brother had hired you to do.”

  Brother.

  Eva’s mouth flapped open and she quickly snapped it shut. Benares was Jin’s brother? Her stomach turned again, revulsion churning it this time as she caught a flash of the way Jin looked at him, desire written plainly across her face. What sort of sick relationship was happening in that mansion?

  She barely suppressed the shudder that went through her.

  On the heel of a deep desire to vomit came a realisation that rocked her to her core.

  The demented bitch was right.

  Her contract with Benares didn’t state what it was she had been hired to do. None of her contracts did. It was hardly sensible to put in writing that she was going to kill someone.

  Damn. She should have been specific this time though, since Benares had only hired her to gather information on Valen. Now she was trapped by her own damn contract, and stupidity.

  “So you will do as Benares desires?” Jin moved closer, that twisted smile holding, a glimmer of satisfaction in her blue eyes that told Eva she liked seeing her squirm.

  Why? Because her brother had a twisted thing of his own for her?

  Did Benares even want her to sleep with Valen again?

  A voice at the back of her mind whispered that it was probably Jin who wanted to see it happen, that the woman had a motive of her own and it was born of jealousy, which had grown into a desire to ruin her in her brother’s eyes so he would no longer want her.

  Both of them were sick.

  “If I do this, I’m done?” she said, going against every instinct that screamed at her to slam the door in Jin’s face, pack a bag and run as far as she could before she was pulled deeper into their twisted world and whatever game they were playing.

  Jin nodded. “If you get the result we desire, then yes, your contract will be fulfilled.”

  The result they desire.

  That was just another way of saying she wouldn’t be done, that Benares wouldn’t release her from her contract and he would
keep changing the rules, using her in whatever way he saw fit. She would never escape them.

  But running wasn’t the answer either.

  Benares would find her.

  There was only one way to be free of him.

  She bit back a smile as a plan came to her, one that was dangerous but might be her only shot at saving herself.

  She was going to play her mark against her client.

  CHAPTER 6

  Valen glared down at Rome, watching it flicker from the present to the possible future between lightning strikes. Black clouds boiled overhead, the rain cold on the nape of his neck as it hammered down, turning the grass beneath his backside to mud.

  Eva.

  Another white-purple bolt lit up the sky and ravaged the earth, tearing it up just twenty metres to his left and shaking the hillside. He growled through clenched teeth, fury mingling with hatred in his veins, tangling together so tightly they sucked all his other useless emotions into the blackhole they created.

  Valen let them go willingly, didn’t give a flying fuck about anything as the rain poured down on him and his beautiful lightning ripped apart the sky and shook the ground.

  The storm raged before his eyes as fiercely as it raged within him, savaging everything in its path, so violent that it was bound to draw attention from Mount Olympus.

  He didn’t give a fuck about that either.

  He shoved onto his feet and raised his face to the sky, held his arms out at his sides and let the storm build within him, coaxed it and fed it, pushed it to its limit. Lightning struck all around him, the thunder so loud it hurt his ears, and car alarms screamed in the distance. Each rapid strike only served to fuel the fury mounting inside him, and in turn it served to quieten the pain.

  Power raced along his bones, through his veins and lit up his nerves. He embraced it and let it flow through him, let it carry him away in the hope it would burn everything in its path—all of his feelings.

  His memories.

  Her.

  The rain grew heavier, pelting him like shards of ice, but still he didn’t move.

  He kept feeding the storm, even when he could feel the fear in the air, hear the terror of the mortals far below in the city.

  A city he had vowed to protect.

  That made him want to stop, but he couldn’t now. He couldn’t. Not until the storm had burned away whatever this fucking idiotic feeling was inside him, this feeling that shouldn’t exist.

  This weakness.

  Another flash of Eva denying she had slept with him tore a scream from his throat and had lightning striking hard all around him. The smell of earth and ozone flooded the chilly air, but it didn’t comfort him today. Not when her words taunted him.

  She would never fuck a mark. She would never sleep with him.

  He knew what she had been trying to say. She had driven her point home hard enough that it had pierced his chest, but hadn’t quite hit its mark.

  Valen finished for her, hammering it into his own stupid head. She wouldn’t fuck a mark. Meaning something without feeling, something detached and methodical. Fair enough. She wouldn’t sleep with him. Meaning she felt no desire for him, was repulsed by him, would never even consider him whether he was or wasn’t her mark.

  He laughed at that, but it was a broken hollow sound, one that only stoked the fury in his veins until it blazed so hot he couldn’t control it.

  He snarled and snapped his head down towards his city at the same time as he brought his hands forwards. Lightning struck across Rome, hitting every single one of the two hundred plus rods he had painstakingly placed on the buildings to protect them. The entire city shook from the force of the blow.

  He didn’t give a damn what she thought.

  It bounced off him just as the rain did, washing from his body and rolling away from him.

  His power rose again, another bolt charging, making his blood hum and bones warm. Gods, it felt good.

  It was beautiful.

  The only beauty he needed in his dark world.

  There was nothing as addictive as his power. Nothing as seductive. Nothing as pleasurable.

  It was all he needed.

  It was all he would ever need.

  He pressed his middle finger and thumb together in front of him and clicked.

  The lightning rushed to obey him, a white-purple blaze shooting from the black sky to split and split again, creating a branching pattern above the city before each tiny fork connected and the earth responded, sending electricity racing up the branches and thickening them as thunder boomed across Rome.

  The otherworld flashed over the city, a vision of fire and horror, filled with the screams of mortals and the choking stench of death. It was growing worse again.

  He needed to deal with the assassin, and whoever had sent her.

  It was the only way to restore some balance to Rome and the world, and stop the otherworld from looking so crappy.

  But to do that, he would have to see her again.

  He growled and raised his hand to conduct another lightning strike, and snarled again when his hand shook, weakness invading his body and making it difficult to move his fingers. He had pushed too hard again, had let his power take too much from him. He lowered his hands to in front of him and stared at his upturned palms. They trembled violently and he struggled to form fists, fighting the cold ache that started in them and seemed to travel through his body, sweeping the last of his strength away.

  Fuck.

  He threw his head back and roared at the sky, unleashing his anger in the only way he had left.

  Fury at himself this time.

  He shouldn’t have gone all out. He had a city to protect and he was no use to it if he couldn’t use his power.

  Valen looked down at Rome, barely able to see it through the haze of the rain.

  A city he had just terrified.

  He sank to his knees on the slick grass and let the storm fade, let it all flow out of him and calm replace it, filling him up and stealing away his emotions. The rain lightened and then gradually stopped, revealing the city to him. Relief swept through him. It was fine. Still in one piece.

  Which was more than he could say for himself.

  The black clouds parted, allowing the sun to shine through and hit his back. It instantly warmed him, as soft and comforting as a caress, and he sat on his knees and let it soothe him and chase away the cold.

  When his hands stopped shaking, his bones no longer trembling, he pushed back onto his feet and trudged down the slick hillside towards the distant road, skidding in places and having to fight to retain his balance. His punishment for using too much of his power. He was going to have to walk all the way back to his apartment, a distance of at least five miles.

  He couldn’t even step that tiny distance now.

  What use was he to his city when he was like this?

  No use at all.

  He shoved his hands into the pockets of his black jeans and huffed as his soaked black t-shirt tugged against his skin, irritating him. He hadn’t wanted to bring his coat, even when he had known it was going to end up pissing down on him.

  It smelled of her.

  By the time he reached the city outskirts, his feet were sore in his boots, souring his mood further. He cursed Eva’s name with each step, and that only dragged his mood deeper into a dark mire.

  His brothers were right.

  He needed to deal with her.

  At the very least, he had to locate her and bring her to his brothers so they could question her.

  He growled at that thought.

  He didn’t want Keras anywhere near her.

  She would probably fall head over heels for the bastard.

  She was his.

  He laughed under his breath at that and hardened his heart again, pushing her out of it as he turned a corner.

  The scent of lilies hit him.

  That heart softened to mush.

  Valen froze and dragged his eyes away from the pav
ement, fixing them on the woman standing before him in the alley, shadowed by the elegant buildings that surrounded her.

  A ray of light in the darkness of his world.

  She held her slender pale hand out to him, her smile lighting up her face as it curved her soft shell-pink lips. Her luminous green eyes sparkled with love and understanding, a stunning contrast against the earthy red of her wavy hair that curled around her bare shoulders and brushed the black layers of her corseted dress.

  Valen went to her as she desired, unable to refuse her.

  She carefully lifted her hand and smoothed her palm across his cheek.

  “I felt your anger and your hurt, and Hades gave me leave to see you.” Her melodic voice danced around him, as comforting as an embrace from her would have been, and he sank into it and let it push all of his heavy thoughts away, replacing them with only her.

  He had figured Mount Olympus would feel his fury. He hadn’t banked on his father feeling it all the way in the Underworld too.

  “Can we go to your home to speak?”

  He instantly shook his head, his insides growing heavy and dragging him back down. He didn’t want to take her there because he wasn’t ready to face it yet. He didn’t want to think about Eva right now.

  “To another place?” Persephone said with a bright spark of hope in her soft voice and he nodded.

  “I know somewhere.” It was hardly suitable for her, but it was nearby and it would hopefully be quiet at such an early hour.

  The sun was still peeking above the horizon, not quite ready to bid goodnight to Rome.

  His mother nodded, and the fact she had come to him again sank in as he led her through the streets, struggling to stop himself from growling at every male who looked at her. She was off limits. He would kill anyone who even thought about speaking with her, let alone looked as if they might try it.

  He turned down another smaller alley a short distance from the Pantheon and pushed a plain metal door open, holding it for her.

  She thanked him with a gentle smile and stepped inside, and he grimaced as he noticed she was barefoot.

  At least flowers weren’t sprouting around her feet as they normally did.

  He glanced back along the street in the direction they had come, relieved to see she hadn’t left a trail of blooms in her wake.