Ewen settled again, and Lamont felt his hound stretch out inside him, maintaining a protective watch even as Lamont’s body relaxed slightly.
The hotel room’s air conditioning hummed. Outside, Cairo’s night sounds filtered through the window - distant traffic, and the occasional voices - normal sounds, safe sounds.
Lamont let his eyes drift shut, although his hound stayed alert. He’d take just rest for a few minutes. That was all he needed. Ewen was safe, they were together, and tomorrow they could figure out the mess Ewen had uncovered and…
Lamont.Lord Hades’s voice slammed into his mind like a thunderclap.
Lamont’s eyes snapped open.My Lord?
You will come to the Underworld. Now.The god’s tone carried an edge that made Lamont’s hound flatten its metaphorical ears.
Shit.I’m with my mate, my Lord. He’s been injured and…
Now, Lamont. I will not ask again.
Well, double shit, that wasn’t good.
Lamont looked down at Ewen, still deeply asleep, still clutching the blanket. He’d promised. He’d given Ewen a solemn promise that he wouldn’t leave. If Ewen woke up alone, after everything else…My mating would be over before it begins.
But he’d also vowed to respond when Lord Hades called. That was the bargain all hellhounds had made when they’d been given human form and released from their eternal guard duty.
Lamont carefully slid his arms under Ewen’s shoulders and knees, lifting his mate, blanket and all. Ewen mumbled something unintelligible but didn’t wake.
“Sorry, love,” Lamont whispered. “This is probably going to be uncomfortable when you wake up, but notice, I’m not leaving you behind.”
His hound surged forward, power gathering in his chest. The familiar tug of translocation pulled at his gut, and the hotel room dissolved.
The Underworld materialized around them - Lord Hades’s waiting room with its dark marble floors and eternally burning sconces. The temperature dropped immediately, and while Lamont was used to it - evil souls were never meant to be comfortable - he adjusted his grip on Ewen, making sure the blanket covered him completely.
“You couldn’t come alone?” Lord Hades stood in the center of the room, arms crossed. Consort Ali perched on the arm of a nearby chair, looking considerably less intimidating in pajama pants and a T-shirt that readI’m not short, I’m fun-sized.
“I promised him I wouldn’t leave.” Lamont met Lord Hades’s gaze steadily. “He’s already been held captive for ten days, starved, and tortured. He has mating sickness. I wasn’t going to let him wake up alone.”
Something flickered in Lord Hades’s expression. His dark eyes dropped to Ewen’s sleeping face.
“Mating sickness.” Ali’s voice was softer. “Oh no. That’s bad.”
“It was bad.” Lamont shifted Ewen’s weight slightly. His mate was too light, even accounting for his slight build. “He’s getting better now, although we’ve only been together a few hours. He’sa silver fox shifter. He told me they don’t handle mate rejection well.”
“You rejected him?” Lord Hades’ eyebrows rose.
“Not intentionally. I didn’t know he was my mate when we first met.” The words came out more defensively than Lamont intended. “Ten days ago, at Pier888, I was walking out the door to find somewhere to translocate to Giorgio’s place, on your orders. I met him just before we got to the door. We talked briefly, and then two men dragged him away. I couldn’t do anything for him although every instinct in my body demanded I follow him and make sure he was all right. But I couldn’t because you told me to go to Tuscany. So, I went to Tuscany. By the time I got back to Egypt, Ewen had disappeared and it’s taken me this long to track him down.”
“Ah.” Lord Hades’s expression shifted to something that might have been sympathy. “And the accusations?”
“What accusations?”Had someone had a phone recording their disappearance after all?
“My brother Zeus is rather upset that Coda was pressured into using his satellite network to locate a mortal.”
Coda’s a darn snitch,although, Lamont reasoned, it was likely that Lord Zeus knew everything that went on in his domain, the same way Lord Hades kept tabs on everything in the Underworld. He sighed. “I’d run out of options. What else was I supposed to do?”
“You could’ve zapped me up some clothes before bringing me to meet a god, for a start.” Ewen’s voice was quiet, as if he was hoping only Lamont would hear, but of course, Lamont wasn’t that lucky.
Chapter Eight
“Ooh, I think I’m going to like our Ewen.” The man in pajamas hopped off the chair arm, grinning. “He knows how to speak up if he needs something, which is probably why he got a hellhound for a mate. We all know they need help in the dating department.”
Our Ewen?That was...weirdly possessive for someone he’d never met. Although given the casual way the guy was standing in what Ewen assumed was Lord Hades’s throne room - or waiting room, or whatever gods called their reception areas - Ewen figured the man speaking had to be the consort Lamont had mentioned - the shifter mate. No one else would dare wear a fun-sized T-shirt in the Underworld.