Free Hades by Crystal Dawn

coffee in the kitchen at Olympus. That was
probably because she was the biggest coffee addict out of all of
them.
    He dragged around, showered and dressed so
they could get on with the business of breakfast. He stomach didn’t
growl, it roared. He would admit, but only to himself, that Doc had
worn him out. She didn’t seem any worse for it, but he was. If he
didn’t wake up, the guys would rib him forever, especially since
Doc was hopping around singing to herself. He felt a flood of
masculine satisfaction roll through him that his mate was so sated
and joyful. Yeah, he’d done that!
    They made it to the lobby joining the others
then out to the Hummers to go to eat breakfast. Once they were
done, they were off to the copters for a long ride. At least he
could hope for sleep, his mate would make an excellent pillow. The
only problem is he ended up being the pillow and even though they
both slept, he would bet money she slept more comfortably than he
did.
    When they finally set down, every muscle in
his body ached, he could tell he wasn’t the only one. They all
stretched as much as they could then headed down the trail to find
the facility that held his brothers so they could free them.
    His head hurt as he struggled to remember
exactly what had happened. He felt the cold from the ground seeping
into his skin. Cold was all around him and if he’d been human, he’d
be dead. He struggled and finally managed to open his eyes. The
dead and wounded lay scattered around him, many burned beyond all
recognition. They were Origin, not his brothers thank goodness.
They had pushed him until he had turned it loose on them. His team
had already spread out, they weren’t near him only the enemy was.
He never used the gift, it was too scary, too unpredictable. He
breathed in as deep as he could, he couldn’t scent her anywhere
near.
    This time the attack had been launched as
soon as they landed. Their people weren’t well trained so Origin
thought to win by overwhelming the gods with sheer numbers. They
were all surrounded individually with too many for anyone but a god
to overcome. The only human among them was Doc and he saw them
herding her away. He was in the middle of so many he had no way to
get to her. She was his and they dared to touch her. The power grew
inside him and all his people were too far away to be hurt so he
released it. Even his people gasped at the destructive power he
unleashed and those who were too far away to be killed but within a
certain distance were knocked unconscious for a brief time.
    Lu had probably been the closest of his
brothers and even though he had a similar gift, it had not
protected him from the impact of Hades’s gift. He was out for the
count and would probably be out for a while. He didn’t think it
would kill him, Lu was strong and he wouldn’t go down that
easy.
    He knew what it was and what it did to those
nearby. They burned from the inside out, their heads exploded from
the pressure inside that their bodies could no longer contain. He
caught Doc’s expression from the corner of his eye, visible even in
the distance. Terror, stark unmanageable terror that might drive
them apart even though he had just reclaimed her. He wanted to
follow to save her, but he was just too drained to do any good. He
felt himself sliding to the ground as his mind began to dim. He may
have taken out more than half of them, but there were still plenty
left to cause trouble. He fought to stay conscious but it was a
losing battle.
    The ache in his head was now a dull throb and
he was weak as a kitten from unleashing his gift. He looked around
noting the copters had left them, self preservation had ruled. He
saw other gods standing a distance from him afraid to come to
close. He wasn’t sure anything could help him now. Doc was gone and
he thought he might go crazy.
    He saw Argos come into his line of vision.
“You should keep your distance,” he said.
    “All of us just woke up from the disturbance
of