Casadin gasped when, in the next instant, he found himself somewhere else.
He was standing in front of another door.
It was not the door to his office.
And yet it was a very familiar door.
"Mark me! Why won't you mark me?!"
Casadin's eyes widened at the scream.
It was full of anger. Full of heartbreak. Full of the kind of desperation that came only when someone had already fallen too far into pain.
He spun toward the sound.
And then he saw it.
He was inside Hades' master bedroom in the penthouse.
And there, on the bed, under the sheets, were Hades and Evadne.
Both of them were undressed beneath the blanket.
But the air in the room held none of the warmth of passion.
None of the softness of lovers.
Only pain.
Only chaos.
Hades was on top of Evadne, pinning both her wrists above her head. His face was twisted with pain and fury, his whole body rigid with desperation.
He kept shouting at her to mark him, baring his neck to her mouth over and over again, but Evadne could only shake her head while tears streamed down her face.
"I don't know how…" Evadne cried, her voice breaking.
"I don't believe you!" Hades shouted back. "Mark me now!"
This time he released her wrists only to grab her by the jaw, trying to force her mouth toward his neck, trying to make her bite him.
"You piece of shit!" Casadin roared.
He did not think.
He moved.
He crossed the room in a blur, yanked Hades off Evadne, and punched him square in the face.
Hades, caught off guard, could not block the blow.
With Casadin's new, unmeasured strength, Hades was thrown violently across the room and crashed near the corner of the bedroom. The impact nearly knocked the consciousness out of him.
But one punch was not enough to kill the rage in Casadin's chest.
He stalked toward Hades, grabbed him, held him down, and drew back his fist for another blow...
"Cas, no!"
Evadne's scream cut through him.
She had already scrambled off the bed and rushed toward them. She reached them just in time, catching Casadin's arm before his second punch could fall.
Though he was still shaking with fury, Casadin stopped.
He turned to Evadne.
Her tears were still falling.
Her body was covered in angry bite marks.
And he knew.
He simply knew.
Hades had been forceful.
"Princess," Casadin said, voice rough and shaking, "tell me. Did he hurt you?"
It was a stupid question.
He had felt it.
He had felt her pain. Her heartbreak. Her fear.
Evadne could only shake her head.
She did not want to answer aloud because she knew Casadin had already felt it.
And right now, through the bond, she was feeling him too… his anger, his helplessness, his murderous rage, his violent need to protect her.
"Don't lie to me," Casadin said, gripping her shoulders with careful firmness so she had no choice but to look at him. "I felt you. I felt your pain. Why didn't you stop him? You could have used your ability to stop him."
"I'm fine…" Evadne whispered.
"No, you're not fine!" Casadin shouted. "I felt it. You were hurting..."
Whatever else he wanted to say was cut off by laughter.
Hades' laughter.
Both of them turned toward him.
Hades was looking at them like a man already half-unhinged, laughing as if the sight before him had finally confirmed the worst thing he had feared... that they had betrayed him.
Casadin looked at him with murder in his eyes. He wanted to hit him again.
Evadne, on the other hand, rushed to the bed, grabbed the blanket, and wrapped it around Hades.
That made Casadin's eyes widen in disbelief.
Even now... even after what had just happened... she was more worried about Hades than herself.
"You must be in heaven right now, huh?" Hades snarled at Casadin, hatred blazing in his eyes. "Not only can she hear your thoughts, now you share feelings too. You must be so proud of your mate bond... and you came here just to rub it in my face!"
Then, without warning, Hades lunged and punched Casadin.
Casadin, momentarily caught off guard, only shifted half a step when Hades' fist connected with his face.
"Fuck!" Hades shouted immediately, grabbing his own hand. The bones in his fist felt like they had cracked on impact, as though he had punched a wall instead of a person. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
Then he turned to Evadne.
The anger in his face was still there, but now so were agony and raw injustice.
"And you said nothing changed?" Hades demanded.
He grabbed Evadne by both shoulders and shook her, too consumed by pain to care how terrified or exhausted she looked. The pain in his hand no longer mattered. The pain in his chest was worse.
"This is nothing to you?!" he shouted. "You can speak to each other across distance! You can feel each other even when you're far apart!"
Tears spilled freely down his face.
"I only wanted you to mark me!" His voice broke. "Why are you being so unfair? Why do you always treat him better than me? You said you love us both... but why do you love him more?"
Every question came out full of grievance, pain, and the helpless fury of someone who felt left behind by fate itself.
Evadne could only shake her head while tears continued pouring down her face.
And even without a mate bond between them, she could feel Hades' pain.
She could feel how broken he was.
But she did not know what to do.
She did not know how to make that pain go away.
"Are you fucking crazy?!" Casadin shouted, yanking Hades away from Evadne again before driving another punch into him.
Hades crashed backward onto the bed and slid down to the floor.
"Cas, stop... don't, please... You're hurting him!" Evadne cried, desperation thick in her voice as she rushed behind Casadin and wrapped both arms tightly around his waist, trying with all her strength to hold him back before he lunged again.
"He's in pain," Evadne pleaded.
Casadin went rigid in her hold, his chest heaving.
"Can you hear her?" he roared at Hades. "Can you hear the words coming out of her mouth right now? She is more worried about your pain than the pain you caused her, and you're saying she loves me more?"
His fist remained clenched, but he did not move forward again. He let Evadne restrain him.
"What kind of stupid are you, Hades?" Casadin snarled, his eyes blazing. "Can't you see it? Can't you feel it? If there's one person between the two of us who should feel like this is unfair, it should have been me!"
His voice shook with fury.
"Not just because I have to stay in the shadows. Not just because I have to pretend I'm nothing more than a friend. But because if Vee ever had to make a choice, she would always choose you over me! If marking one of us had truly been her choice, she would have marked you first!"
Evadne bit her lower lip hard, tears slipping down her face as she felt every ounce of the pain behind his anger.
"I'm the one who always has to adjust," Casadin went on, almost choking on the force of it. "I'm the one who always has to be careful. I'm the one who always has to understand that she has to spend more time with you than with me. And you had the audacity to scream at her because you thought she loved me more?"
He laughed once, harsh and furious.
"Are you fucking kidding me?! You call her baby, but don't you even notice that it's not you treating her like one? She's the one babying you." His jaw tightened. "Fuck you, Hades Falcon."
Evadne's tears fell harder.
She had always known, in some quiet part of herself, that Casadin felt the imbalance between him and Hades. But she had also always known that Casadin understood her more easily than Hades did, and because of that, sometimes... far too often... she took his understanding for granted.
Because Hades was more insecure.
Because Hades needed reassurance more.
Because Hades always seemed one step closer to falling apart.
But now, feeling Casadin's hurt so clearly, she understood with cruel clarity how unfair that had been to him.
"You think I came here to gloat about my mate bond with her?" Casadin said with a mocking laugh. "Then fine. I guess you're right. I am her mate. We do have a mate bond. And that means I have more right to her than you do."
Hades' eyes widened.
"So listen carefully, Hades Falcon," Casadin said, each word cold and final. "Until you stop acting pitiful and blaming everyone else... blaming me, blaming Vee... for your insecurity, I will not let her see you again."
"You can't do that," Hades said, stunned.
"Try me," Casadin hissed.
Then, without another word, he shrugged off his jacket, wrapped it around Evadne, lifted her into his arms, and turned toward the door.
"No," Hades said, stumbling to his feet and trying to stop him.
Casadin kicked him hard enough to make him double over again.
"Baby, no…" Hades called after Evadne.
She heard him.
God, she heard him.
But she could not turn around and look at him. She could only bury her face in both hands as Casadin carried her out of the room, out of the penthouse, crying soundlessly.
"Baby!" Hades shouted after her, voice breaking. "You can't leave me!"
"Cas…" Evadne looked up at him when the doors of the private elevator closed around them. "We can't leave him behind."
But Casadin only looked back at her, jaw tight, and pressed the floor button for Zeus' penthouse.
A moment later, Hades stumbled out of his own penthouse wearing nothing but a bathrobe thrown over his naked body.
"Baby!" he shouted again.
But he was too late.
The elevator had already closed.
All he could do was stare at the numbers above the doors as they moved farther away from him.
Casadin knew there was no point locking the main door of Zeus' penthouse. Hades knew the passcode there too. But this was still better than staying in Hades' penthouse.
Once inside, Casadin carried Evadne straight into the master bedroom, set her carefully on the bed, then locked the bedroom door itself so Hades would not be able to come in immediately even if he reached the penthouse.
"I won't let him see you until he calms down, Princess," Casadin said.
"He's hurting," Evadne whispered.
"It is not a reason to hurt you!" Casadin shouted back.
The moment the words left his mouth, he regretted them.
He saw the pain that flashed across Evadne's face and immediately closed his eyes for a second, cursing himself inwardly.
"He's just insecure with himself," Evadne said softly.
Casadin let out a long, exhausted breath.
Then he walked back to her, dropped to one knee in front of the bed, and looked up at her.
"No, Princess," he said, voice quieter now, but no less raw. "He is not only insecure with himself. He is insecure with your love."
His expression tightened.
"Every time he questions whether he is worthy of being with you, he is also questioning your love for him. And there is no winning against that." He swallowed, hurt written plainly all over his face. "No matter what you do, it will never be enough for him."
And what hurt him most was not what Hades had said to him.
It was that Evadne... who was already trying so hard to hold all three of them together... was being made to carry that pain too.