Page 99 of Junkyard Dog

“Such a pretty creature on four legs or two, isn’t he?”

She spun around, her hand flying to the weapon on her hip as she took in the vaguely familiar woman gazing in the direction Alex had gone. She grazed her fingers over the snaps holding her gun in place and adjusted her stance.

“Persephone,” the woman said, extending her hand in Charlotte’s direction. “I don’t believe we’ve been officially introduced.” She took a step closer and shook her head. “I really need to work on those boys’ manners.”

She tentatively met the offered hand. “Charlotte.”

Persephone smiled. “I know.” She glanced back at the ridge for a moment before turning to face her. “He’s a good boy. Well, he tries to be. He does have that snake gene running through his veins, after all.” She flashed a brilliant smile. “But don’t all men?”

Watching the woman warily, she released her hold on her weapon. “You’re talking about Alex. You, uh, know him?”

“Know him? Oh, honey.” Persephone laughed. “I own him.”

She bristled at the flippant remark. “So you’ve come to, what, take him?”

Striding past her, Persephone opened the truck door. “I love the motion of these things. Take me for a drive and we’ll talk, my dear.”

Memories of high school history flew through her head. Mythological gods and goddesses and the callous games they played with humans for their amusement. “I—”

“I didn’t ask,” Persephone stated, buckling herself in and crossing her legs as she draped her long skirt over her thighs. “Come, Charlotte. I have to head home soon and I’d like to have a little chat with you.” When her demand was met with stillness, she sighed heavily and gestured at the holster on Charlotte’s hip. “If it would make you feel better, you can point that thing at me while we discuss my boy.”

*

Persephone was quietfor the first few minutes of their drive, her eyes flicking over the dark desert until she settled back in her seat, apparently unbothered by the gun resting in Charlotte’s hand. “He’s forbidden from seeking you out.”

She remained silent, her attention bouncing between the road and her passenger.

“Hades fears you may be enough of a draw to keep Alexandros topside. And seeing as he lasted a week before coming to you, I believe my husband’s fears may be justified.”

“I tracked him down first,” she muttered, turning off the main road onto a well-traveled loop.

Persephone played with the buttons on her door before finding the one that operated the window. “Hades won’t be concerned about the details,” she said, unrolling her window and sitting back in triumph. “Your mere presence places Alex in a precarious position. He, along with Orion and Boreus, do not have the freedoms of higher deities. Their choices are limited through both their station and their connection to each other.”

Orion and Boreus.

Charlotte frowned. “Ryan and Bo?”

“Who else?” Persephone asked, playing with the reclining mechanism on her seat. “Alex is loyal to his brothers first, his master second. And his mistress third.” She preened. “That’s me.”

“I figured as much.”

Persephone faced her, her stunning features solemn. “He sought you out tonight. Knowing he was in direct violation of his master’s decree, Alex came to you. Was drawn to you.”

She slowed the truck to a stop. “This is insane,” she muttered, sliding her gun back into the holster and snapping it in. “Look, Persephon—”

“Call me Seph, honey.”

“Seph,” Charlotte echoed in exasperation. “Whether you are who you say you are, or you’re one of Alex’s hookups that he convinced to back up his story, doesn’t change the fact he and I knew we were short-term, whether we like it or not.Likedit or not.”

The woman collected her long hair into her hands and draped it over her shoulder, patting it smooth as she opened her door. “Well, let’s eliminate one of those uncertainties now, shall we? Come.”

Rolling her eyes, she turned off the truck and followed her passenger, shining her flashlight on the sand as the woman ran her hand over it.

“Nothing grows in the darkness of Hades,” Persephone said, digging her fingers into the ground. “Cerberus is a beast of darkness, an unchanging constant in the underworld. But in human form, my boys bring beauty into a place where beauty is hard to find, and even harder to hold.” She tilted her head and looked up at Charlotte. “And sometimes we hold on to that beauty so tightly it loses that which we desire.”

Charlotte kept one eye on Persephone’s hands as they flitted through the sand.

“We lost Bo to Dionysus’s call,” she continued, lifting her fingers and watching the grains fall. “Orion’s remained a loyal, unchanging force, but his eyes hold no spark. He lives to serve, and accepts his happiness through Hades’s hand. And then there’s Alex.” She smiled. “I’ve always found his form of defiance fascinating. Total compliance, but on his own internal terms. And those terms have shifted recently, haven’t they?”

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