Page 108 of Sigma

I feel Apollo behind me, and I turn back to him, but I dare not touch him. Even now, the wildfire between us needs but a single spark to conflagrate.

He keeps his hands in his pockets, but his eyes caress me where his hands do not. “You had better go.”

“Will you come?”

He nods. “I have a long way to go before I’m the man you seem to see in me.” A soft smile, such as I’ve never seen from him. “But yes, I will. When I feel ready.”

A harsh laugh from Puck. “Buddy, you ain’t ever gonna be ready. You won’t ever be what you think she sees in you. That there is some free advice from someone who ain’t but a collection of rough edges and mistakes who somehow managed to get a damn fine woman to love him. You ain’t ever fuckin’ ready. So don’t wait till you are.”

Apollo’s brow furrows in thought. “I see.” He looks to Puck—short, broad, thick, scarred, bald with a long black beard going gray. “And how will I know, in that case?”

A laugh. “You don’t. When you can’t fuckin’ stand it anymore, you just go and lay it all out there and hope for the fuckin’ best.”

“He’s right,” Duke chimes in. “You’re never ready. You just go when you feel like you won’t ever be anymoreready than you are.”

“You’re giving this manadvice?” Dad snaps. “What do I pay you for?”

“Hush, darling,” Mom says.

He growls. “Stop telling me to hush, dammit. I’ll hush you.”

Mom snickers. “Ooh, threaten me with a good time, why don’t you.” She pats him on the chest. “He’s not like them, Val. Can’t you tell?”

Daddy’s growl is still fierce, but I can tell a difference. “All I see isher.” He gestures at Apollo. “Those damn eyes of his. Just like hers.” A sigh. “But…you’re right. He may be redeemable. She was not.”

Apollo looks at the crowd of men, the guns—then Mom and Dad, Mom leaning up against Dad’s side, his arm slung over her so his hand rested possessively on her hip. “You have quite a remarkable…family, Corinna.”

“He always call you Corinna?” Thresh asks, the first words he’s spoken thus far. “Last time I called you that, you bit my head off.”

“It’s different,” I answer, not looking at him—only at Apollo. “You can’t. He can.”

Apollo’s eyes heat. Fix on me. He steps into me, pulls me against him. A beat of hesitation, noses touching, and then he kisses me. It’s a kiss meant to slay me, to lay me down and ravage me, to claim me. It’s a kiss that takes no quarter. Demanding. Aggressive. Furious and full of fire.

When he finally relinquishes me, I’m breathless and sagging in his arms.

He waits until I’ve found my breath, and my feet, and then he steps away. “Until I see you again.” His lips touch my forehead, slow, soft, and gentle—one last kiss.

He turns away and strides with that confident, arrogant swagger to his tower. Vanishes into it, and he’s gone.

It feels like all the oxygen has been sucked out of the sky.

I feel eight pairs of eyes on me.

I stride to the rear passenger door of the nearest vehicle and get in without a word.

Within moments, we’re rumbling away from Apollo’s castle. I don’t look back—I can’t. I’ll see him watching me go from the top of his tower.

“Of all people,him?” Daddy mutters, beside me. He points at Mom, on the other side of me. “Tell me to hush and I’ll paddle you the moment we’re alone.”

Mom’s laugh is dark and dirty and makes me extremely uncomfortable. “Not the way to win that argument, sweetheart.”

I fake a gag. “God, you guys—gross.”

“You just were just kissed by the son of my worst enemy.” Dad’s eyes are on me—I feel them. “Don’t talk to me about gross.”

“Your worst enemy is dead, Dad.” I don’t open my eyes—I’m too tired, suddenly. “I don’t want to talk about this right now, okay?”

Dad sighs, a long, deep release of tension. “Fine.” He stretches his arm out and pulls me against him; Mom is, of course, already as close to him as you can get while clothed and in a car. “I’m just glad you’re okay, and that we have you back.”