She’d gotten good over the years at dealing with all the feelings that people had and her odd ability to sense them, shutting them out, letting them pass over her and not through. But these emotions were different. It was like being hit with a truck over and over. Her stomach rolled as she tried to process just what was happening.
“Well,” Val said and stood just inches away from the woman’s pointed finger. “As much as I’d like to stay and continue with the crazy, I’ve got even more crazy things to do.”
She pulled out her wallet and tossed a few bills down. It was too bad her waitress brought out the nut-baggery. Val was normally a pretty good tipper.
Her sneakers squeaked across the floor as she made her way to the door.
“You’ll regret this,” an old man said at a booth near the door.
She stared at him for a moment. Weathered face from years being outside. White hair and a bushy mustache. Not at all the sort of man you’d expect to say something like that. His eyes were just as glassy as the poor waitress and skin just as pale.
The waves of aggression and violence again crashed into her, but she gave a small smile and shouldered through the waves.
“Likely,” she said. “But it wouldn’t be the first time.”
She shook herself from the odd hold the place had and pushed through the door. Once outside she could breathe again and sucked in deep breaths.
From the sidewalk, she stared through the picture window at the eyes still watching her.
“Great fucking start,” she mumbled and glared at them through the glass. It was one messed-up town. If that is how people thought, she was surprised they hadn’t all stormed Luna Lodge with pitchforks and torches.
Val turned her back to the window and frowned. She didn’t have time for this. She checked her phone. Just enough time to get there. They warned her not to be early, and she didn’t want to do anything that might hurt her chances. If she shouldn’t be early, she definitely didn’t want to be late.
Ignoring the crazy people in the cafe, she smoothed her hands down her jeans and zipped up her coat over her t-shirt. It was time.
* * *
Apollo grumbled in the main conference room. The guy was already late. Not a good sign. They needed reliable people, not lazy idiots. Luna Lodge wasn’t some grocery store. People were trying to kidnap and kill them.
He glanced at his watch again. Three minutes after.
Did the guy think Apollo didn’t have other shit to do? He wasn’t going to just wait around all day.
Movement in the hall caught his ears, and he stood. The door started to open.
“It’s about fucking ti…”
The words were still on the tip of his tongue, but all he could do was stare at the little woman who had just stepped in beside a soldier. The first thing he noticed about her was the striking pale blue eyes staring back at him. Against her pale complexion and light blond hair, it was by far her most striking feature.
Those eyes pinned him, and he nearly lost himself in them.
“Sir,” one of Carter’s men looked to him, uncertain. “She—”
“Are you Apollo?” she asked and stepped into the room. As the pale blue eyes got closer, he felt the walls close in around him. The small woman walked up to him and extended a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
He looked from her to the delicate hand and then back.
She frowned, and he could see that she did it often enough to cause fine little lines on her face.
“Are you?” She gave him a funny look before turning back to the man still at the door. With an exasperated sigh, she addressed the soldier. “Is this they guy or what?”
The man looked between the woman and Apollo. Not quite sure what to do next. “Sir?”
His words cut into Apollo’s partially numb brain, and he shook himself the rest of the way awake.
“Who the hell are you?” he asked, more confused than angry.
She frowned again.
“I’m Val. Who the hell are you?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him.
It wasn’t really the response he was used to getting.
“I’m Apollo,” he said slowly.
She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “Well, aren’t you the guy I’m supposed to meet with?”
He glanced over to the soldier but found he’d already left the room.
“Yes. I mean no. I mean…” He stopped when she smiled at him. She was just messing with him now. “You are Val Hart,” he said finally.
She rolled her eyes, and it only proved to piss him off further.
“Yes,” she said simply.
“Valentine Hart,” he said.
The steely stare she gave him could have cut through stone. “I go by Val.”
“But Valentine is a man’s name,” he said again and moved to the other side of the table. He was pretty sure of it, at least. They had their gaps in knowledge, but everyone, including the non-hybrids, seemed to be expecting a man. Something about the woman was already rubbing him the wrong way.
“Talk to the person who gave it to me,” she said more firmly than before. “It’s Val.”
“This can’t be right,” he said and picked up the phone. “You’re supposed to be a man.”
Faster than he expected, she turned and headed for the door.
“Wait,” he said as she opened the door.
Val stopped at the door and turned to look at him.
He scrubbed a hand on his face and sighed. It would be hell for him if the leading tech person left under these circumstances. This would be the nail in his coffin that he was indeed hard to work with.
Apollo looked at the tiny little woman. She was small. Smaller than any other woman he’d ever met. At least she was pretty in an odd sort of way. Her hair was short and fair, so much so that at first glance, it appeared white, a bit unsettling to him, as it reminded him of Romulus, but it was her eyes that captivated him.
She stared hard at him, and he shifted uncomfortably. Something about the way she stared nagged at him. Like she wasn’t waiting but searching. He could feel it somehow. Val breathed in deeply, and for a split second, he could have sworn she smelled his confusion.
He nearly laughed at the thought but stopped. A warm rich smell clouded the room and filled his nostrils. It was sweet with deep notes that only seemed to take hold the more he breathed.
Apollo stared in surprise. A Vestal? No. It was impossible.
As soon as the word entered his head, the smell vanished, leaving him aching for it once again. He opened his mouth to say something but not quite sure where to start. Had he imagined it?
Val closed the door and stepped closer.
He breathed in deeply and frowned. Nothing. He almost wanted to laugh. Was he so desperate for a mate that his brain was playing tricks on him?
“I’m Val Hart,” she said. Her piercing eyes pinned him as she stood before him just feet away. “Do you have anything else to say on that subject?”
Apollo shook his head.
“Good,” she said and stepped back.
He shifted slightly to hide the bulge that had formed in his pants. The last thing he needed was to be accused of harassment, especially after making a big deal about her not being a man.
“Maybe you want to show me what I’ll be working with,” she said and stared at him expectantly. For someone so small, she sure knew how to throw her weight around.
Apollo nearly choked as he stepped back a little more. She might not have meant it that way, but in his current state, it was the only thing that came to mind.
She rolled her eyes at his discomfort.
“You men are all the same,” she muttered. “The camera.” She sighed. “I want to see the camera.”
Apollo frowned.
“I’m not a man,” he said and walked to the door. This woman was going to be a pain in his ass.
* * *
“Stupid piece of shit,” Val cursed at the damned camera that just refused to come unscrewed.
The bolt gave way, and she twisted the wrench furiously.
“Ha!” she cried out in victory.
She had been at it for nearly an hour now. At first, having the large man watch from below had been a little unsettling, but after time, they fell into a sort of comfortable silence. He wasn’t a bad man. Maybe a bit of a dick, and he needed to keep his hormones in check, but that didn’t really change the root of his character.
She didn’t even need to check the feelings she got around him. It was more what he did with those feelings. She knew of his attraction to her. It wasn’t her first time dealing with it. And maybe she was slightly attracted to him as well. Or at least she was interested in the object that had started to grow below the waistline.
Still, she didn’t have time for that. Like earlier, it was best to keep those sort of ideas out of her head.
Val glanced down at him. He sat off to the side, just out of the direct wind. It was damn cold out. That was likely why she was having so much trouble getting the bolts off. It was either that or some massive man had decided to use super-human strength to put them on. She looked back down at Apollo again and shook her head.
No, if they had used one of their own to put them on, they would have just used that person again.
The camera moved forward, and she stared at the wiring on the back of it.
“Son of a bitch.”
“You curse a lot,” Apollo said from the ground.
She glared down at him.
“Well, you would too if you knew what I was looking at.” She held the camera’s wires out for him to look. “Whatever jackass wired this place did a piss poor job. You see this?” She pointed to the large black wire. “Wrong wire for this system. I’ll have to rewire the whole thing to start with.”
She shoved the camera hard against the wall and screwed the bolts back into place. Although she was hoping there would be enough that she’d need to work for a few days, this was far more work than she had anticipated. Even if she worked every waking second, it was going to take time. Serious time.
“So what are you saying?” Apollo cut into her thoughts and voiced the very thing she was thinking.
“Well…” She turned and made her way down the ladder. It bounced a little against the wall it leaned against, but she wasn’t bothered. Just another day on the job.
Val gasped just a few rungs from the ground when strong hands wrapped around her waist. She took in deep breaths as she tried to steady herself. Her feet touched the ground, and she quickly turned around. This position was almost worse. Face to face with a wall full of chest.
Her face was so close to him that she could smell the spicy soap he used, and it nearly intoxicated her. Val followed his hard expanse up. Were they all this large? She hadn’t gone far into the complex, and the only other men she’d seen were one hundred percent human.
Apollo was easily the biggest man she’d ever met. He was certainly the handsomest.
Her eyes landed on his tanned neck, and she watched as his throat bobbed while he swallowed. Involuntarily, she swallowed as well. Suddenly, her mouth was far drier than she remembered.
“I…” She stumbled over her own words. Thanks was at the tip of her tongue, but she froze when her eyes met his. Bright amber, it was hard to see anything else. Something about the look of them froze whatever words she might have inside.
A noise at the gate broke the moment, and she quickly moved away.
“What was that?” she asked.
Apollo looked over his shoulder and down the road.
“Protesters,” he said and frowned.
She watched as his jaw twitched and started to worry. If the people in the town were any indication what kind of trouble was outside the gate, then it was no wonder the hybrids wanted to rewire the cameras.
“Should I be worried?”
He turned and held her gaze but didn’t say anything. She almost liked it more when he was being a smart ass with her. Tension and concern radiated from him now.
“We should finish up here,” he said and nodded to the camera.
Val looked away, grateful for the chance to not have to stare up into those eyes. She wiped her hands on her pants and shook her head.
“That’s it for the initial inspection,” she said. “Now we talk time and numbers.”
Apollo frowned. It was clear by the look on his face and the irritation emanating from him that he was expecting it to be easy. Hell, everyone that hired her expected that. She couldn’t help it if her work required more than her clients expected. For some reason, there was this idea that all she needed to do was flip a few switches, and like magic, things would work.
“What do you mean time?” He stared holes into her as she grabbed her tools from the ground.
“Likely two weeks,” she said. “I’m about an hour away, but I can make it work.”
He was shaking his head before the words were even out of her mouth. “That’s not going to work.”
She shrugged and started to walk to her car. Val’s heart thumped hard in her chest as she made a gamble with her future. Every part of her just hoped he would tell her to wait, but she knew he wouldn’t. She felt so much suspicion and irritation from him, it was amazing they were able to hire anyone here.
When she made it to her car, she turned to look at him. He stood just a few feet away, looking even more irritated than before.
“Two weeks and two thousand dollars,” she said and slipped into the car. “You have my number. When you’re ready to talk, you know where to reach me.”
She started the car and slipped her shades down over her eyes. This could be a major mistake. She could almost feel her only chance to meet Sol slipping between her fingers.
For a second, she even wondered if she should have tried to flirt with Apollo more or something. She’d felt his strong attraction, but that just really wasn’t the way she wanted to do things.
The gravel crunched as she pulled away, and Val wondered if she was making the worst mistake of her life. She glanced back in the mirror at Apollo’s lone figure and groaned. Either way she was going to be screwed in all this.
Stay and never meet him or go and risk the chance of a lifetime.
Chapter Four
Val looked up at the ticking clock on the wall and turned back to scrubbing her floor with all her might. She wasn’t even sure why she was doing it. The white tile was already so clean it gleamed. Maybe she just needed something to occupy her time and get her mind off the job, or really, the lack of the job.