Page 22 of Wild Hunt
Loki
They say curiosity killed the cat, but it had never led me astray. It had been a few days since the preliminaries, and I knew firsthand that the other students were making sure Kore and her posse didn’t have any time to enjoy their victories, since I was the one orchestrating most of it.
Hades was never lacking in spite, but he did lack motivation. No sense of humor, that one. He just couldn’t appreciate the poetic irony of the goddess of spring opening her locker only to find it full of rotten rose petals, or the classic appeal of the tripwire I’d placed outside the women’s locker room.
Today, our Rabbit was in for a special treat. As I leaned against the wall of the main classroom building waiting for her to show up, I found myself snickering at the thought of the latest game.
Hades had asked us to turn up the heat, and I was never one to disappoint. Fenrir had admittedly upstaged me with his little hellhound trick at the preliminaries, so I had something to prove.
The sound of muffled laughter from the other students shuffling to class told me my target was on her way. Sure enough, Kore rounded the corner with a murderous look in her eyes and a uniform that had been bleached from top to bottom.
“Oh my,” I said innocently as she stalked over to me. “I don’t think that’s regulation at all.”
A vine rushed out from under her sleeve and slammed into my chest, surprisingly hard enough to push me up against the locker. “Now, now,” I chided. “You’re already on thin ice with the headmaster.”
She was still seething, but the vine eventually retreated in her sleeve. It was all I could do to hold it together and not break down in hysterical laughter.
Oh, she wassomuch fun.
Hades had chosen well. Or rather, his father had.
“Do you ever get tired of playing these silly little games?”
“I do, as a matter of fact,” I answered. “But you’ve breathed new life into the hobby.”
She didn’t seem to know what to make of that remark. Her only response was a disgusted snort. “It’s a shame you waste your talents being Hades’ errand boy.”
I laughed. “I’m afraid that won’t work.”
“What won’t?” she asked innocently.
I stepped forward, propping my arm against the locker above her. Her eyes burned with irritation as I brushed the underside of her chin with my fingertips. “Trying to drive us apart. In case you haven’t heard, the three of us are inseparable.”
“Oh, I’ve heard,” she said, unflustered. “I’ve also heard that you shareeverything.”
I grinned. “You heard right,” I said without a hint of shame. “When you’re ready to surrender, maybe you’d like to see for yourself.”
She brought her foot down hard on mine and it was difficult to mask a grimace, but I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.
“When the underworld freezes over,” she said, shoving past me. I watched as she walked to class. She was a pleasant view coming and going, and it was really a shame she was off-limits.
Of course, I knew better than anyone that the rougher Hades played with his toys, the more possessive he was of them.
Chapter 13
Fenrir
After the preliminaries, I took a few days off from class. Hades didn't complain, considering that it gave Kore fewer opportunities to interrogate me. Even so, I knew at least Loki would have a comment about it when I came back.
I hated this. I wasn't even surewhyI hated it. I barely even knew her, and she was certainly more spirited than the usual Rabbits.
Part of me knew the answer, even if I didn't want to accept it. I had imprinted on Kore. Going away had only made that clearer, despite what I'd hoped. Coming back... Well, that made it unbearable.
Being attracted to her was one thing, imprinting on her was entirely another. She belonged to Hades, even if they despised each other. I knew him well enough to know it was more than that beneath the surface. The more he carried on about hating someone, the more emotion he felt for them. He was just the kind of twisted, battered soul that had lost the ability to tell the difference between love and hate a long time ago. Whether that was because the people who were supposed to love and care for him had treated him like garbage or simply because he was that kind of asshole, I couldn’t say, but it had never mattered before.
How he had treated the Rabbits had never matter to me before, either. I had a prey drive of my own, and while these juvenile stunts were far from being as stimulating to me as they were to the others, I understood the need to pursue and break and wreck and ruin.
The most fucked up part was, I felt it toward her as well.
