Page 23 of Sin

I knew the question was more reminder than bid for information. Grim already knew the answer. When I couldn’t actively participate in war—mortals tended to notice when you didn’t age after a couple of decades—I usually moved on to other violent outlets. Anything that would allow me to siphon off bits of the violence simmering within me. Most recently, I’d been an underground fighter with a perfect record. Or at least I had been before Hel captured me and took me off the scene.

“Your punching bag is still in the gym.”

My surprise helped ground me. “We haven’t been together in decades. Yet you kept this place as though we’d return at any moment.”

Grim shrugged, silver irises flashing in the pre-dawn light. “This is your home. It always will be.”

I grunted in response. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was touched by his sentiment; that implied a depth of emotion I didn’t think either of us could lay claim to. But it was as close to brotherly as any of us got.

“I’ll work it out of my system.”

“Good. See that you do.”

“Motherfucker!”I slammed my fist into the punching bag hard enough to burst its seams, but not without a shockwave of pain accompanying the blow.

The agony radiated through my bones, up my arm, and into my shoulder. I wasn’t mortal, hadn’t been for longer than most could comprehend, but I remembered this feeling. Overexertion. Weakness. Fatigue.

The last time I’d been this wrung out, I’d just completed the Crypteia. I’d nearly died during the rite of passage, but I proved myself worthy of the title of Spartan warrior. So while the sensation was one that certainly left an imprint, it was also one I had never anticipated experiencing again.

With each minor defeat, my frustration mounted, and with it, my rage.

It began when I couldn’t successfully bench press my usual weight and then grew when I had to not only slow down but cut short my run on the treadmill. But the final insult was this fucking wheezing in my lungs as I threw punch after punch at the bag. My godsdamned muscles trembled and threatened to give out.

If I ever got my hands on Hel, I’d make her wish she was never created.

Snagging a towel, I wiped the sweat from my brow before storming out of the gym and toward the kitchen. At this rate, I’d need to ensure I had a pre-workout shake along with my usual smoothie after. Just like a fucking mortal gym bro.

The disgust I felt at my current situation had my stomach churning.

Yeah. Disgust. That’s the reason I currently felt like puking, and not because I’d just spent the last three hours running my body into the ground.

Some male specimen I was. Even if I wanted to breed our little troublesome ward, I had little to offer at the moment.

I’d just thrown everything into the blender when the elevator emitted a soft chime and none other than the menace herself tumbled out of the doors. I had to admit, she looked better than when we’d taken her. Cheeks rosy, lips plump, hair somehow glossier than before. Thankfully, she’d changed clothes, but even in sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt, she was somehow themost alluring creature I’d laid my eyes on. I hated how she could draw my attention with so little effort.

I didn’t want to desire her in any way. There were so many more important things to focus on. She was an inconvenience I didn’t want or need.

“What the hell are you doing?” I snapped, annoyed that out of everyone here, she was the one who caught me in my moment of weakness.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, tossing her hair over one shoulder. “I was just looking for the kitchen.”

“Well, you found it,” I muttered, pressing the button on the blender and drowning out whatever else she was about to say.

When I couldn’t keep the blender going any longer, I shut it off and kept my gaze focused on the task at hand. Pour the ugly green drink into a cup. Don’t spill. Don’t look at her.

She let out a musing huff as I started chugging my smoothie. “I think I’m going to call you Grumpy. Oh wait, that might be confusing with the Brits. Hmm. Oh, I know. I’ll call you Moody!”

“Great. And I’ll call you Annoying Pest. Glad we’ve established our roles. If you’ll excuse me.”

“I thought you’d settled on Red,” she called after me.

I would have smiled at her sass if I didn’t find her mouthing off so fucking annoying. There were clearly better uses for that mouth. Ones that didn’t involve her uttering a word.

“Wait!” she cried just before I could slip out of the living area and back into the wellness half of the penthouse’s bottom floor.

“What?” I grumbled, irritated for many reasons, the least of which was the erection her proximity was causing.

Succubi were as notorious as sirens for the way they preyed on lesser men. I was not a lesser man. I was one of the strongest beings in existence. And still, her power called to me. I would not be bested by lust magic. I was the master of my domain, even if I was weakened at the moment.

---