The Darkest Torment (Lords of the Underworld 12)

And yes, she knew her math was off. Such an impossible topic called for skewed numbers.

“If I had sex with eighty-year-old Katarina, I would break her hip.”

The deadpanned response broke through her growing upset, and she burst out laughing. “Most men would claim age doesn’t matter.”

He reached up and caressed her cheek. A touch he would not have initiated weeks before. A touch she thrilled to receive. “I’m not most men. I know how quickly the human body withers, have seen it happen too many times. And as I’ve mentioned, staying with me places you in danger. If someone were to hurt you...to injure you beyond repair...”

She struggled to maintain her composure amidst such a sensitive topic. “How about I stay with you until I get my first gray hair?” A little time together was better than no time at all.

“No.” He shook his head with a determination that promised a battle if she dared disagree. “We’ll find a way to make you immortal.”

Tell him about the dogs.

No! She couldn’t. Not outright. He wasn’t just Baden, he was Destruction, too. She had to proceed with caution.

She petted his chest the way she knew he—they—liked. “Let’s back away from the immortal thing for a bit. I’d rather talk about hellhounds and the people who survived their bite.”

Baden gazed at her as if he’d give her anything she asked—and how heady was that? “I know of only two such cases. Zeus ordered his army to capture the males who’d been bitten, and we did. But they were stronger than before, with claws arcing from their fingers and toes. They were also crazy, constantly pulling at their hair and hitting their temples. On the way to Mount Olympus, a pack of hellhounds ambushed us. Many men died, including the bitten males. They were the main targets, the first killed.”

“But why? The bloodlust alone?”

“I think the hellhounds wanted no outside tie. So many had tried to control them. Some, like Hades’s tormentor, had even succeeded...for a time.”

Now she withered. Was she soon to go crazed? Crave living beings for her meals? Would the pups begin to eye her as a meal-on-heels?

“Were the hounds immortal?” she asked.

“No. They had the life span of a human. To my knowledge, a hundred and twenty years is the longest one ever lived.”

“What happened to them?”

“Hades took control of two underworld realms. His mother’s and his tormentor’s. He led his armies into battle against all the packs, eradicating the entire race.”

A spark of anger burned her chest—some of those hounds had been innocent, surely. A spark she ignored. For now.

Where had Biscuit and Gravy come from? Were there more?

“About the immortal thing. I don’t know if I want to live forever.” Their relationship was so new. What if things ended in a month...a year...five years? She’d be stuck—alone—in a world she wasn’t sure she liked. “And I’m not worried about the danger that comes with you.”

“Because I am—”

“Because there will always be danger in the world. Making decisions based on fear only leads to regrets.”

“You need me,” he snapped. “With me at your side, you won’t have to be afraid.”

Oops. She’d poked the bear. Well, why not keep poking?

She stood, gathered cleaning supplies, stripped him of his soiled clothing and thoroughly washed him. “You want me to need you. There’s a difference. I don’t need you, and I’ll never need you. Dependency isn’t my thing. But I do desire you as fervently as you desire me.”

He didn’t erupt again, as part of her expected. He softened, saying, “For the first time in forever, I have hope for the future. At least, I think I have hope. It’s been so long since I felt the emotion, I can’t be sure.” He rubbed his chest. “Whatever it is, you are at the center.”

How sad was that? And how freaking sweet? She pointed to the wall, saying, “Biscuit, Gravy. To your own beds now, my loves.”

They hopped off the mattress without pause and trotted to the pillows she’d stacked against the wall. After praising them for their obedience, she shimmied under the covers and stretched out beside Baden, careful of his injuries.

“We’re talking about staying together, being together, but we’ve only ever been on one date. Which isn’t fair—to me! I deserve to be wooed.”

He draped his arm over her middle, pulling her closer. “I’ve never wooed a woman.”