Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 142

Eve

The wine had really hit its mark, later rather than sooner. Yet, my skin still itched with anxiety, every nerve on edge as Hades closed the door behind us. He had not said a word to me since he escorted me back to the car, but I would have been dense not to notice the wary glances he cast my way.

He shrugged out of his shirt as he sauntered towards me, where I unhooked my earrings—or at least tried to. I was trembling, my hands shaking.

His eyes searched my face as he stood before me and narrowed. My pulse jumped when his hand came up to my ear.

"Let me," he murmured.

I hesitated for a moment before my hands dropped, and I let him. To my shock, he was very deft with the task as he cradled my face with one hand and released the earring with the other.

He rubbed circles on my cheek with his thumb. He did the same with the other one.

"I want a phone," I told him.

He stilled. "All of a sudden?"

"I just feel vulnerable without one," I lied.

"Uhmm," he mused.

"I had the perimeter swept for signs of the Beta, James Hale," he revealed. His brows drew together. "There was no sign of another werewolf. No infiltration."

I swallowed, not trusting myself to speak, especially with the memory card burning into the skin of my leg. I avoided his eyes, but he tilted my head so that I was looking up at him.

"Would you go with him?" There was a dreadful glint in the depths of his eyes. His voice pitched with an uneasy softness—one that felt more menacing than if he had snarled outright.

I froze, the question filling that space between us with even more unbearable tension. "I..." I tried to take a step back.

His grip tightened ever so slightly—a warning; I am not letting you go.

"Hades..."

"Red..." A muscle in his jaw ticked. "Tell me. If you were given the chance today, would you have run away with him?" His eyes were bleary and hard, but his voice told another story. His tone was almost... beseeching. I could smell the wine on his breath. It had a trace of a sanguineous scent.

"I would not," I said, breathlessly.

His eyes flickered, his gaze searching. "Why?" His head tipped toward mine.

Words tangled in my throat, leaving me unresponsive.

"He was your lover, your fiancé, until me," his lip twitching into anything but a smile. "So why not leave?"

"The alliance," I blurted.

But his eyes darkened only further. "The alliance," he whispered harshly. For a moment, he looked hurt, gutted d even. Not angry.

As if his emotion had a direct consequence on me, my chest tightened—but only for a moment before I remembered. I was forgetting again. Forgetting my place in his life, like I had done when I asked him to call me "his Red." He was no longer branding me—I was branding myself. He had no right to look at me like I had betrayed him.

"Yes, the alliance."

Hades’ hand dropped from my face as if I’d burned him. The warmth of his touch vanished, leaving a coldness between us that I wasn’t sure I could bridge.

He stepped back, his gaze shadowed with something darker than disappointment. He ran a hand through his hair, his movements suddenly less controlled. He was intoxicated—far more than he was letting on.

"Right," he said quietly, almost to himself. "The alliance."

I should have left it there. Let the silence swallow whatever thread of emotion hung in the air, but I couldn’t.

"You forget," I murmured, keeping my voice steady despite the weight pressing against my ribs. "That’s all this has ever been."

His head snapped toward me, sharp eyes narrowing.

"That’s what you tell yourself to make it easier, isn’t it?" Hades’ voice carried the kind of quiet rage that hummed just below the surface. "To pretend this isn’t something more."

My breath hitched, and I forced myself to hold his stare.

"I don’t pretend anything," I replied. "I know my place. I know about the other woman."

He blinked, his entire body going still as if the words had struck him harder than any physical blow. For a moment, he simply stared at me, eyes narrowing as if trying to decipher whether I was serious or delirious from the wine.

Then, to my utter surprise, a low chuckle escaped him. It was humorless at first, just a breath of disbelief, but it grew—a rough, rumbling sound that filled the room in a way that made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

Hades dragged a hand down his face, laughter still rippling through his chest as if I had just told the most ridiculous joke.

"Other woman?" he echoed, shaking his head. His eyes glinted, sharp and dangerous, as if he found some twisted amusement in the accusation. "Gods, Red. Is that what you think?"

I crossed my arms, trying to stand my ground even though my heart was battering against my ribs. "I don’t think. I know."

He stepped closer, the laughter fading into something darker—something less playful and more intimate. The space between us evaporated in an instant, and I could feel the heat of him as he leaned down, eyes locking with mine.

"I am a lot of things," he murmured. "A murderer, a narcissist, a sadist, hedonist," his gaze dropped to my lips. "Obsessive. But I am not a cheater."

I shook my head, like I could shake off the genuineness that I wasn’t ready to accept. His words felt too sharp, too deliberate, as if they were meant to cut through the walls I’d carefully built between us.

His gaze flickered, something dangerous surfacing just beneath the calm exterior. _{frёeωebɳovel.com}