I don’t get a chance.
The attacker has backed closer to me and they look down and meet my gaze. My death is in those dark eyes. They ignore Eris entirely and bring the knife down. It’ll take me in my chest, maybe my neck, and there’s no coming back from that shit. I instinctively throw my hands up.
They never make contact. Eris hits them hard enough to take them both off their feet. The attacker lands on their back beside me, their head slamming against the floor. They lay there for a beat, and I think they might be stunned.
At least until Eris rolls off them and I see the blood.
Not just blood.
Their fucking knife is sticking out of Eris’s stomach.
“Fuck!” the low voice says. The attacker scrambles back. Distantly, I register that they’re here for me, not for her, but that doesn’t mean a single damn thing to the growing puddle of blood around her body.
I manage to crawl to her just as the door opens and Adonis and Pandora walk back into the penthouse. Pandora cries out, but Adonis springs into motion without hesitation. Another time, I’d marvel at how he goes from easygoing charmer to something furious and violent in the space of a heartbeat.
Our attacker never sees him coming.
He punches them in the side of the head and they slump like a puppet whose strings have been cut. Adonis shoves them to the floor and flips them onto their stomach. “Pandora, get the zip ties from under the sink and then bring me my phone.” He’s all business as he yanks the black mask from their head, revealing a white guy with short dark hair. I’ve never seen him before, but that doesn’t mean a single damn thing.
I press my hands to Eris’s stomach and go cold. Too much blood. Too much fucking blood. “Eris. Wife, look at me.”
“So bossy.” The words are too faint to bring me any amount of comfort.
“Eris?” Adonis is by my side in an instant. “Don’t move the knife.”
“I know not to move the fucking knife,” I snap. “Call someone. Now.” Desperation bubbles up inside me, burning like acid. I lean down to look into Eris’s glazed eyes. “Hang on. Help is coming.”
“Stabbed.” She gives a pained laugh that cuts off halfway through. “Helen will never…let me live it down.” The last bit comes out on an exhale, the words so faint they’re almost incomprehensible.
“Then you’d better live so she can yell at you.” I glance down and my stomach lurches. My hands are covered in her blood to my wrists. Too much. She’s losing too much. “Don’t you dare die on me, Wife.”
She smiles a little but her eyes close. “No promises.”
Fear makes me shake. “Where’s that fucking phone?” I roar.
“Here!” Pandora skids up to us and drops it into Adonis’s hands.
It’s just as well. My hands are shaking too much to dial. I stare into my wife’s eyes as Adonis barks orders into the phone. I barely register his words. I’m too busy trying to will the color back into Eris’s face.
I knew I didn’t want her dead, but it’s not until she passes out in my arms that I realize exactly how much I want her alive and with me.
35
ADONIS
I’ve never known fear like what I feel in the ten minutes it takes for the paramedics to arrive. They’re not the same people who help the main population of Olympus; these are a team specific to the Thirteen. It’s the only reason I trust them enough to move back from Eris’s unconscious body as they sweep in.
That and the fact Zeus followed them in.
He looks like shit, and I don’t give a fuck because Eris is dying on her floor and it’s his fault. I surge to my feet and am on him in a handful of steps. He doesn’t bother to fight me as I slam him against the wall. Later, that will bother me. Right now, I flat-out don’t give a fuck.
“You did this.”
He looks past me to where the paramedics have strapped Eris to a gurney. “I had nothing to do with this.”
I slam him against the wall again. “Don’t lie to me. I know the ultimatum you gave her.”
Zeus finally focuses on me. His blue eyes flash. “Then you know I gave her three days.” He shoves me off, easily breaking my hold. “Then you know I would never endanger my sister.”
“Not without cause.” My heart is in my throat as the paramedics wheel her out of the penthouse just as three people rush in. I immediately recognize Ares and her two partners. She’s pale, but takes in the situation in a single glance. “Achilles, you and Patroclus secure the attacker. Alive. I want answers and I want them as soon as possible.”