Page 7

AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

Nero peeled out of the shadows, holding the knife I’d launched across the room at the unseen intruder.

“Oh.” I shot him an apologetic smile. “It’s you.”

“Indeed.” He strode forward. His powerful presence seemed to shrink the whole room.

Holding my gaze, he set the knife down on my desk. His face was a granite mask.

I chanced another smile. “Oops.”

“Oops?” he repeated, brows peaked. “That’s all you have to say?”

“No.” The distance between us felt massive, so I circled around my desk to be closer to him. “I always have more to say.”

His lip twitched.

I sat on the edge of my desk. “So, what are you doing here anyway, stalking around in the shadows?”

He remained standing. “I was waiting to see how long it took you to notice there was an intruder in your office.”

Of course he was. Nero lived and breathed training exercises.

I pushed off the desk, angling up to him. “And how did I do?”

His lips cut into a hard frown. “Were I an assassin sent to kill you, I could have done it ten times over.”

“Na, not ten times. Any assassin worth his salt wouldn’t waste the effort killing someone who was already dead.”

“I’m serious, Pandora.”

I looped my arms over his shoulders. “Oh, really? How totally out of character for you.” I smirked at him.

But he didn’t smile back. “The Guardians are still out there, Leda. And after what we did to them, I would have thought you’d take this building’s security more seriously.”

I stiffened. “I take this building’s security very seriously. Bella and Gin helped Alec install a new super-sophisticated security system. There are no holes in this building’s armor.”

“If that were true, how did I teleport in?”

“You teleported here? Cool! I’m glad you’ve finally figured out how to not accidentally end up at the bottom of the ocean when you teleport.”

“That was one time,” he said with strained patience. And—yep!—there was that adorable crinkle between his eyes. “Are you ever going to let me forget it?”

“Of course not,” I laughed. “You’re perfect at everything, Nero. Literally everything. So of course I have to remind you of the one time you messed up, if only to keep your ego in check.”

“I sense this has less to do with keeping my ego in check and more to do with teasing me.”

I leaned in. “Well, I do love to tease you, General,” I whispered against his lips.

Temptation flashed in his eyes. His hands closed around my hips. Magic, hot and potent, trickled down his fingers, slipping through my armor. I licked my lips, clutching him closer.

But Nero gently nudged me back, then dropped his hands to his sides. “You were telling me about your supposedly impenetrable security system,” he reminded me.

“Of course it’s impenetrable. You can test it out if you’d like,” I added with a sexy smirk.

Or maybe it wasn’t so sexy after all.

Because Nero folded his arms across his chest and said, “I already tested it out.”