Contents
Chapter 2: The Hunter
Overview
In a brutal icy hunt, Hermos shoots Drex and Alexis, prompting Kharon to execute Hermos on the spot. At a tense clearing, rival factions close in until Alexis teleports to Kharon, then hauls them to Montana. Kharon stabilizes her wound, but a raw confrontation over betrayal and violence ends with Alexis calling the bond “just physical,” provoking Kharon’s furious lunge.
Summary
Kharon, running the hunt beside Augustus through sleet and ice, channels his hellhounds’ senses to track Alexis and Drex. The pursuit reopens Kharon’s old traumas and his volatile marriage-bond power. When gunfire erupts from the Chthonics, Drex is hit; Alexis refuses to abandon him, revealing her resolve under fire.
Hermos shoots Alexis in the calf. Enraged, Kharon turns back and executes Hermos at point-blank range despite Agatha’s protests, then races to the clearing where Augustus and Patro close in on Alexis. Tensions spike as Patro questions the marriage’s legitimacy and Achilles threatens Augustus with a knife.
Alexis concentrates and teleports from the clearing, rematerializing beside Kharon. When the others rush toward them, Kharon grabs Alexis and leaps again, landing in Montana near the Spartan Federation border—her former refuge. Alexis is hemorrhaging; Kharon softens his approach, removes his weapons, and applies a tourniquet, earning a hoarse “thanks.”
Kharon urges a return to base for treatment, but Alexis accuses him of betrayal, coercion, and sadism. He argues the oppressive laws forced their hand and insists her powers also benefited. The debate darkens as she condemns his mutilation of men who assaulted her and rejects the extravagant gifts he misunderstands as care.
When Alexis declares, “It’s just physical,” Kharon’s fury detonates. The chapter ends with Kharon lunging, the fragile truce shattered and the moral rift between them laid bare.
Who Appears
- KharonPOV hunter-husband; kills Hermos for shooting Alexis; aids her medically; argues over betrayal and violence; enraged by “just physical.”
- Alexis (Hercules)Target of the hunt; wounded by gunfire; teleports to Kharon and then Montana; accepts aid but confronts him for betrayal.
- AugustusHusband and hunting partner; tries to reach Alexis and restrain Patro; powers bleed from eyes; protective but conflicted.
- PatroFormer brother-figure to Kharon; taunts, courts Alexis’s trust, clashes with Augustus; shielded by Achilles.
- AchillesHouse of Ares enforcer; matches Augustus’s speed; threatens Augustus with a knife to protect Patro.
- DrexFellow recruit; shot in the arm, begins healing unusually fast; dragged to safety by Alexis.
- HermosGorgon who shoots Alexis and Drex; immediately executed by Kharon at close range.
- AgathaHermos’s partner; protests his death but is overruled by Kharon’s fury.