“No!” My heart stopped—my world stopped.

Akasha surged under my skin and the marks brightened. Each and every one of them burned and tingled with the power of the fifth element.

Something snapped inside me; my vision dimmed, and then brightened. I heard nothing but my own thundering heart and the hum in the back of my head.

Throwing my arm out, a bolt of intense blue light flared from my open palm and arced. My aim was off since I was going for the bitch’s head, but the bolt of energy clipped the fury’s wing, whirling her around.

Absolute insanity broke out.

Thanatos roared his rage. The fury shot into the air, but sputtered out with one wing and came spinning back down. Aiden darted to the side, but not fast enough. Weary from fighting me just like I was exhausted from our battle, she crashed into him and they rolled in a tangle of arms, blades, and deadly-sharp claws.

Out of the corner of my eye, forms crested the valley—Solos and Marcus bearing sickle blades. Marcus?What the…?

I shot toward the wrestling forms before me.

Thanatos whipped around and extended an arm. He didn’t physically touch Solos, but boy did he fly like he’d been smacked with a cannonball. The half-blood Sentinel hit the tree with a loud grunt and dropped to his knees.

The god turned his creeptastic eyes on my uncle and raised another hand. “Stand down, pure-blood, or you shall meet an untimely fate.”

Marcus lowered his chin. “Sorry, but that’s my niece, so that’s not going to happen.”

Something with sharp claws and rank breath caught hold of my hair and pulled hard. I hit the ground and in a heartbeat, air punched from my lungs. Scrambling to my knees, a second passed and the fury’s bare foot connected with my chin, snapping my head back.

A metallic taste flooded my mouth. The dagger flew from my hands as pain radiated down my spine, exploding out over my nerves.

Panic dug in—raw, unbridled panic.

All around me the sounds of fighting escalated. There were grunts and yelps of pain. The fury that had kicked me into next week reared up, her fingers splaying. I stared, numb and unflinching as death…

Death? It struck me then. They couldn’t kill me. Yeah, they could put a serious hurting on me, but kill me? No. I was the Apollyon. I wielded control over the four elements and the fifth and the most powerful—akasha. I fueled the God Killer. I was his power-up—the ace up his sleeve. I was the beginning and he was the end. And together… there was no together.

There was just me.

My eyes locked with the fury’s and I smiled.

She hesitated.

I snapped to my feet. “Bitch, please.”

The fury’s mouth gaped open, and I summoned the air element, letting it go. The hurricane-force winds smacked into the fury and sent her flying back through the trees as if she was connected to a rope and Zeus himself had given a good old pull.

“One down,” I said, turning around. “Who’s ne—?”

Thanatos tossed Marcus to the ground, deflected Solos’ attack, and turned on me in a nanosecond. It was pretty epic.

A bolt of white light flew from Thanatos’ hand and there wasn’t a single thing in this world that could move fast enough to avoid it. Not even Seth, I was betting.

It hit me just below the chest, and my legs collapsed from underneath me. Red-hot, searing pain sliced through my skin and my face smacked off the ground. I didn’t even feel it. There was nothing but the razing pain locking up my muscles.

God bolts sucked.

Aiden yelled my name, and then I thought I heard my name called again, but it was inside my head, loud, and so very angry… and it sounded like Seth.

Without any warning, the ground trembled under my twitching body. A flash of golden light cascaded through the clearing. Warmth stole over my body. Weakly, I lifted my head.

Two leather-clad legs stood before me.

“That is enough, Thanatos.” Apollo’s voice was calm, but it was that creepy, deadly calm I never wanted to be on the receiving end of.

“N-n-nice of y-you to s-show up,” I gasped.

“Shut up, Alex.” Apollo strode forward. A ray of light followed his steps.

Thanatos held his ground. “She must be neutralized if we cannot kill her. Let me take care of this, Apollo. We must do something to prevent war.”

“She broke the bond, you idiot.”

The other god huffed. “Like that matters. Time will pass and she will connect with him again.”

“It does matter!” Apollo roared. “If she is not connected with the First we are not to harm her! You—” Apollo growled at the increasingly close sound of hissing. “Call your two furies off or they will join their sister. I promise you.”

“We must—”

Too weak to hold my head up, I rested my forehead against the ground, but I didn’t need to see what happened to know that Apollo had lost his patience. Wind picked up and the ground shook. The two gods collided with a crack.

I closed my eyes and hoped that Apollo had won this round, because there was no way I was fighting anymore. No way at all.

Someone was body-slammed into the ground, followed by a quick succession of pops. The air crackled with electricity, and then silence, blissful silence.

Strong hands gripped my arms and gently rolled me onto my back. I stared up into silver eyes. “Alex?”

“I’m okay. Just… just a little twitchy. You?”

Aiden had seen better days. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. A bruise shadowed his jaw and the front of his shirt was torn, but he was alive and he was okay.

His gaze scanned over me and then he lifted me up, not even bothering to put me on my feet. Holding me close, he turned and I surveyed the damage.

Solos and Marcus stood near Apollo, who held one of the Covenant daggers in his hand. Blood dripped from the edge, making me stare.

Apollo glanced down at it and shrugged. “He’ll get over it.”

I changed focus and stared at him.

“But I’m going to have to answer for that, I think.” Apollo handed the dagger to a bruised Solos. “And it may take a few days…”

Apollo stalked forward, stopping in front of us, and Aiden placed me down and stepped between us. The god smirked. “I know she’s broken the bond. Good to have you back, Alex.”

“Yeah,” I breathed.

He turned his attention to Aiden. “Keep the wards on the house until I can return. In the meanwhile, prepare for battle.”

Battle? What the hell did he think we’d just done?

Aiden nodded.

The god took a breath and flexed his hands. “And you were right. I was wrong.”

“I know,” Aiden said, and I glanced up, confused.

Apollo turned to the other men and nodded. His form started to fade. “Wait,” I called out. There were so many questions I had, but all he did was look over his shoulder and smile.

CHAPTER 8

I don’t remember much of the trek back to the cabin. At some point, I’d wiggled enough to get free and walk, but I was moving so slowly and so pathetically that Aiden had finally stopped grumbling under his breath and picked me back up.

I didn’t fight it after that. On my feet, I was more of a hindrance.

The cabin was quiet upon our return. Marcus and Solos had limped off, no doubt to tend to their injuries. Somehow the rest of the occupants knew that right now wasn’t time for a welcome back to the world of the sane and logical. Aiden carried me up the stairs and down the narrow hall, toward the bedroom he’d slept in when I’d been on the Elixir. I remembered that, even when I’d been high on the happy drink, I’d sought out his presence and snuggled against him on the couch. My heart tripped up.

Aiden started toward the bed, but I stopped him. “Shower,” I said hoarsely. “I need a shower.”