Page 84 of Junkyard Dog

She smiled and stuck her tongue out at him, placing the memories she was dredging up squarely into the hallucination pile. “Cut me some slack,” she whined, reaching across the table to grab his hand. “I was tired. Hungry. Injured. Without caffeine. It does stuff to your head.”

“You get two days of me taking it easy on you,” he relented, pouring half his coffee into her empty cup. “Only thing I saw out there were a ton of dog tracks and bear tracks. I put out the alert to the station already.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Alex padded acrossthe marble tiles, the clicking of his claws alerting Hades to his presence. His master patted his thigh and held his hand out, waiting patiently for Alex to join him at the table and giving his shoulders a hearty rubdown as he continued to discuss the recent gossip about Hera with Dio.

It had only taken a week for him to fall back into the routine. Three more until he had it perfected once again.

Wake. Eat. Swim.

Eat. Wander down to the river. Swim.

Check in with Hades. Eat. Sleep.

Ryan was stretched out on his back in the corner of the room, one eye on Hades as he relaxed on the large pillow Seph had plumped and smoothed for him.

Bo’s head lay on Dionysus’s lap, his tail thumping off the floor as the god focused his attention on the sweet spot behind his ears.

Setting a paw on Hades’s arm, he rose up and scanned the feast covering the table, sitting back when Hades began filling a plate for him and set it to the side. Climbing into the closest chair, he pulled the plate closer and dove in, pausing periodically to snort in amusement when Hades launched into a tirade about his sister.

Hera intimidated Alex, and he sure as hell wasn’t embarrassed by it.

Persephone flitted into the room, Iris trailing behind her. Hades shifted his position, angling his legs out from under the table and wrapping his arms around his wife as she settled into his lap without a second thought.

Iris gave Alex a polite smile, sitting in the seat beside him and shuffling a fraction away as she continued to listen attentively to Seph.

He subtly placed his paw on her edge of the table, catching Dio’s eye when Iris wrinkled her nose and crossed her legs away from him.

She hated dogs.

Dionysus smirked and made a production of scratching his ribs, earning a yelp of annoyance from Bo. Taking the hint, Alex lifted his hind leg and mimicked the movement, sending Iris halfway down the table with her chair.

Persephone delicately cleared her throat and gave him a pointed glare, appeased when he lowered his head to the table and looked up at her balefully.

Yeah, he knew the routine.

Just like Iris would be tracing her hand up his arm at the next banquet he attended in human form.

Just like Hades would be cursing the clock in five minutes, annoyed when he realized it was time to hold court again.

Just like Seph’s open smile would shift into cold appraisal as she took up her spot at Hades’s side in the throne room.

“So I told her if she wo—Seph, honey. Is that clock right?”

Persephone nodded, rising from Hades’s lap and reaching over to run her thumb over Bo’s brow. “Only two new ones on the docket tonight,” she replied, straightening her skirts and pursing her perfectly painted lips when her husband let out a string of curses. “Hades.”

Ryan rose to his feet and joined his master, Bo reluctantly following suit alongside Alex. They trailed behind Seph and Hades, Iris veering off toward her rooms after flashing a look of disgust at him.

“The pomp of this is ridiculous,” Hades muttered, snatching his staff from the corner of the hall. “Two shades. For this I have to stop everything I’m doing?”

As Seph stroked his ego, Alex, Ryan, and Bo united, blending into one body that moved under the collective will of three minds. The doors opened to the reception room, and Cerberus led his master to his throne.

*

Hades slumped backin his chair and groaned as the last of the onlookers exited the room. “I’m too old to do this,” he grumbled, placing his hand on Persephone’s as she stroked his beard. He patted Cerberus on the back. “Up, boy.”

The dog rose to its feet, Bo nipping at Alex behind Ryan’s head and growling when Alex bared his teeth in response.

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