Apollyon

I took a deep, long breath. “You… you should join me.”

Part of me expected that I would have to do a decent amount of begging. Aiden was “on the job,” and I was prepared to deploy every technique I knew, including whining.

So when he stepped back and slid off his boots, I was pretty damn surprised. Shock splashed over me as he quietly tugged his shirt out of the waistband of his tactical pants and pulled the wet cloth over his head.

I bit back a gasp.

His stomach was some serious perfection, a product of years of rigorous training. It looked like someone had placed paint rollers under his taut skin. And his chest…

Yeah, I couldn’t stop staring.

And the whole time he watched me with an intense gaze like heated silver. I felt the flush return to my cheeks as my breath quickened.

When his hands moved to the top of his pants, I did turn away. Only because I was sure I’d pass out and drown if I kept staring, and well, that would so kill the moment.

Clothing hit the rock bed and there was a second, too long, of silence, and then the water stirred in the pool, bubbling even more. Pulse pounding everywhere, I twisted toward him and lost my breath and my heart all over again.

Aiden stood there like a god.

So much taller than me, water grazed his navel. White foam lapped at the ribbed planes of his stomach, and I was struck by the image of Poseidon rising from the ocean.

Poseidon had nothing on him.

He glided through the fizzing water, hands out to his sides. I had to tip my head back to meet his gaze. “Hey,” I said.

One side of his lips curved up. “This probably isn’t a good idea.”

“Why?”

“I have a feeling I’m going to be very distracted here in a few seconds.” He reached out though, finding the band that kept most of my hair up. “Actually, I’m already distracted.”

My heart was trying to come out of my chest. “But we’re safe here. Apollo said so.”

“We are, but…” He gently pulled the band out and then set about rearranging the thick strands around my shoulders. A great deal of it sank below the surface. “But we should be careful. I should be paying attention.”

I stepped into the loose circle his arms created as he played with my hair. Placing my hand on his chest, I was thrilled by the way he jerked and sucked in a breath. “Can’t you multitask? I can.”

Aiden lazily tossed a damp strand over my shoulder and moved to another. “You’re such a liar. Your multitasking skills suck.”

“Do not. And we’re not talking about mymultitasking skills.” My hand slid down, having a mind of its own. “I think you can handle doing two things at once.”

He’d gathered all my hair now, twisting it around his fist. “You do?” He placed a finger on my bottom lip, slowly tracing the curve. His lashes lowered even more, and only the thi

“I will.” I took the last step forward. The bubbles fizzled and gave way. Stretching up, I looped an arm around his neck. “But you should rest, too.”

Aiden’s free hand drifted down my neck, over my shoulder, and then his arm was around my waist, holding me tight against him, our bodies touching length to length. It was maddening, and when his lips brushed over the curve of my jaw, my eyes fluttered shut. Every muscle in my body tensed, and then I felt the marks gliding over my skin.

“We can take shifts,” Aiden said against my chin, and then on the other jaw. “You sleep first. Get a couple of hours in and I’ll wake you up.” He paused, pressing a kiss to the sensitive spot below my ear. I shivered. “Okay?”

I’d have agreed to anything at that point, so I did.

“Then we head out first thing.” Aiden lowered the hand wrapped tightly in my hair, arching my back. The chilled air of the cavern spread goosebumps over my exposed skin. I sucked in a breath when I felt his lips return to where my pulse pounded and then lower, over the rise of my collarbone, and still lower.

Then he pulled back, letting go, his chest rising and falling unsteadily as he moved toward the edge of the pool. “And you should be resting right now. This—”

“Stop talking.” I pushed through the water, well aware that as I moved closer to him, the cloak of water slowly receded.

Aiden was well aware too. A muscle flexed in his jaw as his gaze dropped. “Did you just tell me to shut up?”

“No.” I followed him as he kept backing up, until he had no other place to run to, until his back was against the edge of the rock pool and he was trapped. Placing my hands on either side of him, I looked up. “Okay. I did tell you to shut up, but I did so nicely.”

He took a deep, long breath. “I may be able to overlook it.”

I floated in, letting my legs tangle with his. “For someone who doesn’t talk a lot, you sure do talk a lot when I’d rather you not be talking.”

Aiden’s laugh sounded choked. “That makes very little sense, Alex.”

Gri

“I think you believe a lot of things are overrated.” Aiden’s head fell back, the thick cords of his muscles in his neck and shoulders tensing as his hands dug into the edge of the pool.

For a moment, I froze in awe of him. It wasn’t often that anyone got to see Aiden like this, completely vulnerable to someone else. I touched his cheek, wanting to remember this moment. The enormity of what lay ahead was a cold draft on my skin and deeper, on my soul. There was no telling what my future held—what Aiden’s would end up being. So many things were still so uncertain.

Apollo’s words intruded. There can only be one.

I shuddered, understanding what that meant more than I wanted to. Even Seth had understood it. I thought about the damn dream I’d had on the way here.

There might not be years for Aiden and me—maybe not even months or weeks. There might not even be days. And what time we had left, we’d be spending in constant danger. The next hour wasn’t even guaranteed, and I didn’t want to spend every moment racing toward the end time.

Aiden’s eyes opened. “Alex?”

I blinked back the sudden tears. “I love you.” It was all I could say.

His head lifted, eyes searching mine, and maybe he saw what I was thinking. Maybe he too knew that, in the end, there would be more lives lost—ones that would be nearly impossible to overcome and move on from, losses that would steal a part of us. That this moment together, we might never have again.

He was done talking.

Aiden came off the wall so fast the water reacted in a frenzy of bubbling. He— we—were in a frenzy. His arms crushed me to him, his mouth demanding, saying those three little words over and over again without speaking them. Aiden lifted me up, one hand burying deep in my hair, the other pressing into my lower back, fitting us together. He turned and my back was against the edge and he was everywhere all at once, stealing my breath, my heart, my soul. There was no coming up for air, no control or limits. There was no tottering on the edge. We both fell headfirst. In his arms, in the way the water bubbled and moved with our bodies, I may’ve lost track of time, but I gained a little part of me. I gained a part of himthat I would hold close for the rest of my days, no matter how long or short that turned out to be.

CHAPTER 23

While I’d slept, Aiden had managed to dry our clothes without turning them crispy. If it’d been left to me, I probably would’ve turned them into torches. I slept for a little over four hours, waking before he told me to. I changed, and then settled back down beside him on one of the two thin blankets. Both of us smelled of jasmine, which was better than the dank smell of the Underworld.