Wicked (Eternal Guardians #9) - Elisabeth Naughton Page 0,1

they say?”

Her jaw clenched down hard. Max was as big and blond as his father, the Argonaut Zander, and he had the Argonaut markings, same as Talisa. He’d been helping her informally train in the woods outside the capital city of Tiyrns for years, from the time she could hold a blade, and she was just as skilled and tough as him even if he was eleven years her senior.

She told herself it wasn’t his fault the Argonauts had willingly accepted him as one of their own so easily, but it grated on her last nerve. Because the only difference between her and Max was the fact she was female.

“Nothing I haven’t heard before.” She didn’t slow her pace, didn’t stop when she reached the wall, just signaled the guard and blew right through the castle gate as soon as it opened.

“Ah, Tali.” He kept pace with her. “I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, I tried to get my dad to talk Uncle Theron into letting you in.”

Max wasn’t taking the hint that she didn’t want company. And she couldn’t stand to hear how he’d tried to influence any of the Argonauts.

She didn’t need favors, dammit. She deserved a place with the Argonauts because it was her destiny. Only they were denying her that destiny because they were misogynistic assholes. Just like their forefathers.

“I need a fucking stress reliever,” she mumbled, stopping in the cobblestone square in the fading afternoon light and late September warmth, where Argoleans milled around the great fountain of Heracles and the original seven heroes that fronted the castle gates.

“Skata, Tali.” Max’s voice took on a worried edge she knew well. “Not tonight. Come on. You know it’s not safe. And if they find out—”

“I don’t give a flying fuck if they find out.” She’d had it with family and Argonauts and people telling her what to do. “And I am sick to death of people shoving the word ‘safe’ in my face.”

When Max sucked in a breath, she glanced over her shoulder at his shocked silver eyes and reminded herself none of this was his fault. He was her best friend, not her punching bag. But the fact he was male, and Argonaut, and in was firing all her triggers tonight.

“Look.” She forcibly gentled her voice. “I know you mean well, but I don’t want to hear it. This has nothing to do with you. It’s about me and what I need. And what I need right now is space and some time to chill the hell out before I go insane. Warnings and a conscience and you being a cock-blocker because you don’t approve of my choices are not things that are going to help me. So give me some space, okay? I’m not stupid. I know how to take care of myself. I’ll be back before anyone even realizes I’m gone.”

He didn’t reach out for her. Didn’t try to stop her. And as she closed her eyes so she could flash to the witches’ tent village in the Aegis Mountains where the secret portals were hidden, she was thankful because tonight she needed exactly what she’d said.

She needed a stress reliever.

And there was one place in the human realm where she knew she could find it.

He was playing with fire. But then, considering he’d already been tortured in the flames of Tartarus, he wasn’t easily deterred.

Zagreus scanned the writhing bodies in the middle of the dark club from the shadows where he stood, growing more frustrated by the second. The only nymphs who’d wandered into the otherworldy bar had been tagging along behind a couple of satyrs. And those nymphs had looked scared as shit and completely overwhelmed.

His gaze narrowed on the two nymphs cowering under the pulsing lights of the basement club in an old warehouse on the outskirts of San Francisco. Both were smaller and more petite than the satyrs. Attractive and submissive. Perfect prey for someone like him.

Neither was what he was searching for, though.

He looked over the crowd again. He sensed other creatures in the bar tonight, many using glamours to hide their real appearances—Amazons, witches, Misos, dryads, a couple of bloodsuckers, even a lycanthrope—but none of them interested him, either.

Even though many of the otherworldly beings were enemies of each other, they were of no worry to Zagreus—or one another. It was easier for them to let down their guards here than in the presence of humans, which was why this club was so popular. The satyrs, however,