“Remember why we’re here. This isn’t a simple animal we’re dealing with. We need to be careful.”
Her face hardened, and she nodded.
They pressed on through the snow. Sunlight from the now cloudless sky streamed through the branches. Ice still clung to the trees, the light bouncing and twinkling off them like they were glass statues. In any other situation, he would have appreciated the beauty. For now, it was just another distraction that might help conceal his foe.
Veronica froze in front of him. He stopped immediately, all senses kicking into high alert.
“Holy shit,” Veronica said.
Jace looked around wildly, raising his fists. No hostile sound reached his ears. No Glycon stench filled the air. He didn’t understand how she could have spotted the enemy before him.
“What?” he said, still desperately trying to find the enemy. “What do you see?”
Veronica turned and beamed at him. Her happy expression left him confused.
“It worked,” she said and launched herself into his arms. “It actually fucking worked.”
His tension faded as Jace caught the small woman. He looked over her shoulder at the slab of meat that lay untouched in the snow.
Jace peered at the silver ring containing the meat. Not even a nibble was missing from the steak.
“So are you sure you can scale it up for the Glycon?” he said, still watching the perimeter for any sign of the enemy.
Veronica leaned back and nodded. “I think so.”
“Maybe we can trap it.”
She pulled away from him. After a few steps, she knelt and began examining the device more closely.
“If I just extend this…” she mumbled. She fiddled with it for a second, and the green light disappeared along with the annoying buzzing. “And amplify that. Yes, that should work.”
Jace looked down at her and was surprised to see her smiling yet again. He didn’t know much about how her equipment worked, so he focused on keeping an eye out for the Glycon.
“I’ll need to go back to the hotel,” Veronica said. “I’ve got some parts there, and it might be a good idea if I change.”
He could see the blush as it spread over her face and knew she was still without panties seeing as he’d destroyed them the night before.
Jace felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
Veronica frowned at him.
“Don’t get any funny ideas,” she said. “We’ve got work to do here.”
Unable to stop himself, the twitch spread to the other corner. “Whatever you say, boss.”
She packed up the equipment, grumbling the whole time she did, but the glances she spared him spoke volumes, along with her smell.
She wanted him just as much. Now he just had to make her see that this was more than a fling. Because there was no way in hell he was letting go of her.
Chapter Seventeen
Veronica tried not to pay any attention to Jace as she worked on her device on one of the beds. She could see him sprawled out on the other bed in her motel room, flipping through the channels there like he didn’t have a care in the world, like they weren’t about to go after a ruthless super-strong and super-fast monster.
She’d dealt with more than a few dangerous animals in the last six years, but she’d never been in a situation where she genuinely feared for her life.
She tightened a screw on the main control module of her device. “So is this something you deal with often?”
He looked over at her. He kept his arm behind his head in the most casual of ways and shrugged his other shoulder.
“Sometimes,” he said. “There are a lot of really dangerous people out there that would like to get their hands on my people. We can’t depend on human authorities to protect us.”
She nodded. She’d seen the news reports mentioning the mysterious Horatius Group who had held the hybrids. From what many reports said, the hybrids were all trained to be warriors. More than a few others speculated that the hybrids posed a danger to society.
Veronica couldn’t help but stare at the man across from her. He was big, sure, but there was such a sweet way about him. The way he had been with her last night, there was no mistaking that. She wasn’t quite sure what they had together, but it seemed like he was interested in more than a quick fling.
She set down the device she was working on and picked up another piece of equipment. She started pulling the wires and splicing a new piece in between them before sparing a quick glance at the tranquilizer gun case.
“Maybe that would help,” she said.
“We can’t depend on it acting fast enough, and if Glycons are anything like hybrids, it might not even be all that effective. We should stick to the plan.”
She nodded and continued twisting some wires. “So you’re all just hiding here? What about that other group at Luna Lodge? I know you said they are kind of different, but couldn’t you at least get some reinforcements or resources or something? They can’t be that different, right?”
Jace clicked off the TV and sat up on the bed. “They are like us,” he said, “but different in a very important way.” She could see he struggled to open up about himself. “They were born as they were.”
Veronica stopped her work to look at him. “And you weren’t?”
He shrugged. “We’re not totally sure, but at least some of us weren’t. They used this stone or something to turn us into what we are.”
“Stone?” She stared at him in shock. “How?”
He shrugged. “We don’t have that information. The stone is something the Azilians have. It’s… I don’t know how to describe it. I guess you could call it magical.”
“Magical?” She tried to keep her doubt out of her voice, but it leaked in.
“I don’t know enough about science to say, but that thing can turn a man into a liquid. We’ve seen it. So you can call it science we don’t understand, or magic. Same difference in the end. Anassa has a weapon that we can’t begin to understand.”
A chill ran through her thinking the strange woman had that sort of power at her fingertips.
As much as Veronica wanted to believe the hybrids misunderstood what she saw, she couldn’t dismiss the claims so easily. The existence of the hybrids themselves in many ways seemed beyond what science deemed possible.
“And they just all changed you using this stone? In Italy, like the others?”
He shrugged. “The Luna Lodge hybrids all come from this time.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And you don’t?”
“They froze us… cryogenic suspension. We have a feeling that some of us are way older than we realize.”
“But no one even has that sort of technology. It’s all science fiction.”
“Magic, then?” He shrugged. “We don’t know how exactly. They took all our memories, too. It’s claimed the stone has something to do with the Atlantean gods.”
She peered at him. The story was getting stranger by the second.
“And you believe that?”
“I’m not sure myself. Some of us believe. Some don’t. I guess that’s not different than religion for humans.”
Her mind reeled at all the possibilities. She just didn’t know what to believe anymore. She went back to her work on the sonic device.
“You know this all goes against every part of me that has followed science,” she said.
Jace slid off the bed and knelt in front of her. “But you believe me,” he asked. “Don’t you?”
She considered that for a long moment. Her entire life she’d trusted her rational side, never letting herself get swept up in what she couldn’t prove. Now, though, every word coming out of his mouth felt true, or at least he seemed to believe it. Her heart told her it was all true, and she believed it enough that she was modifying her sonic device to help trap an evil monster rather than dialing 9-1-1.
Veronica sighed and nodded. She set the device in her lap and stared at him. On his knees, he was eye to eye with he
r, his bright blue eyes staring back.
“Yes,” she said softly. “It’s all so crazy, but I just know you’re right.”
Jace pulled her hand from her lap and placed it against his tattoo. A hum filled her as an electric charge raced down her arm.
She let out a shuddering breath.
“You feel it,” he said. She nodded and looked back to his eyes. “You know I’m telling the truth because you are a part of all this,” he said.
Jace let go of her hand, and she placed it back in her lap. The charge lingered.
Veronica gave a little laugh. “How can I be a part of all this?” she asked. “I’m not one of you. I’m just a human, born the old-fashioned way, no genetic engineering, Atlantis, or magical stones.”
Jace shook his head slightly. “Not directly, but you’re what’s called a Vestal,” he said. “We were designed for one another. Two pieces of the same stone, once again rejoined. It’s fate, I guess. We’re destined to be together.”
She wasn’t quite sure what to make of his words. Her stomach flipped at the idea of them being meant for one another. It had been something she had wrestled with from the moment she first saw him.
She wouldn’t deny she felt it, the instant attraction, the feeling that he was someone she could completely trust. She’d even slept with him despite barely knowing him, hardly her style.
“How can that be?” she asked. “That… just seems crazy.”
Jace shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care. Whatever it was, it brought us together. I don’t have to understand it or even believe in it to like the results.”
He leaned in and placed a soft kiss against her lips. Veronica kissed him back and smiled when he sat back to look at her.
“Is it finished?” he said.
She nodded and set the last piece on the bed. “It still needs to charge before we set it up, but it should work.”
Jace smiled again. This time she could see the light in his eyes.
“So you’re saying we have some time,” he said and raised a brow.
He moved his face closer to hers. She could already smell the scent of sandalwood on him and breathed in deeply.
“I should really take a shower,” she said, her voice low and husky.
His lips grazed hers now, ever so slightly as he spoke. “Maybe we should multitask.”
Unable to resist him, Veronica closed the distance between them and sealed his mouth with her own.
Chapter Eighteen
Every cell in his body screamed out the truth: Jace needed Veronica. Needed to make her see that she was his. Not just for one night, or one visit, but forever. She said the words, but she had to feel them.
He quickly moved to strip off his clothes as he edged them to the bathroom, starting with her shirt and bra. After that, his hands hit the button on her pants and slipped them down. Too many barriers. He’d get rid of them all.
Peeling his mouth from hers, he stared at her swollen lips.
“Step out,” he said gruffly.
Veronica watched him as she slowly kicked her pants off.
“Fuck,” he grunted when he saw her bare pussy, lips already glistening with her sweet juices. His already hard cock became a stone rod.
Christ, he’d have to remember to shred all her panties if that would be his reward.
He sucked in a breath. The beast in him screamed to throw her on the bed and take her then, but he forced it down.
No. Not that quickly. Not yet.
He tossed off his own clothes and flipped on the shower. There wasn’t going to be a lot of room, but that was fine as long as their warm slick bodies could meld with one another. His cock twitched at the thought.
When he turned around, he found her staring at his ass.
A smile spread across his face. “You checking me out?”
She blushed at his words but still kept her eyes on him. Her gaze slid over his body until she landed on his hard cock. Her eyes widened slightly.
“You bet I am,” she said. “And let’s just say I really like what I see.”
A rumble shook deep in Jace’s chest. The animal craved to be unchanged, to take his woman.
He picked her up with ease and carried her into the hot spray, leaning her back against the wall.
“I want you,” he growled
“Then take me,” she whispered back.
Her legs wrapped around his center, and he groaned as her wet heat slid across his throbbing cock.
“I need to be in you,” he said and rubbed his cock between her folds.
“Then do it.”
She took a few shallow breaths as he probed her center with his tip. After a few more quick teases, he shoved inside. She responded with a loud moan. Quick thrusts followed.
One hand that was wrapped around his neck tightened with his thrusts. Her nails bit into his shoulder.
Veronica leaned forward until her mouth was at his ear. He could feel her soft breasts and hard nipples pressed against him.
“Fuck me,” she said. “Fuck me harder.”
Jace yanked his hips back and slammed back into her. Her juices coated him now. He pulled out and pushed in until he was seated fully inside. A shuddering sigh escaped her lips. He stilled for only a brief moment before slamming hard and pulling out as quickly.
He started pumping in and out of her again.
“Yes,” she grunted. Another loud moan followed.
He loved the sounds she made. The soft sighs when he was deep inside her. The way she moved when she was close to coming. But most of all, how she looked when she stared at him.
Jace pressed his mouth to hers.
“You are mine,” he said when he pulled his mouth back for air. “And I am yours.”
Veronica stared at him in surprise. She opened her mouth to say something, but he silenced her with a kiss once again.
Slowly, he began thrusting deep inside her. Each time he pulled nearly all the way out and then filled her once again. He could feel the pressure building, the strain of his coming release.
She moaned against him and rotated over his thick shaft, trying to pull him in farther.
Jace placed his hands around her firm ass and thrust even harder into her wet heat. Faster and faster, he moved until he had to pull his mouth from hers to catch his breath.
“You’re mine,” he said again as she watched him. “I just need you to know.”
Veronica placed a hand against his chest as he moved inside her. She slid it over to his heart and stared at him.
“You are mine,” she said softly.
He slammed hard into her again, her words the balm his heart needed. He continued entering her, showing her just the sort of man she was getting.
Mine, his mind echoed again.
Her insides quaked around him, pulling him in. His walls broke, and his own orgasm exploded through him.
Jace thrust into Veronica one last time. All of his length sat deep inside her as his cock pumped thick, hot cum, filling her.
They stayed like that for a moment, both breathing heavily as they came down off the cloud of pleasure they’d been riding.
Finally and reluctantly, he pulled away from her and kissed her lips softly.
Jace grabbed the small towel inside the shower and slid the piece over her with a little soap, being careful when he reached her breasts and pussy. Veronica jumped at his touch but let him finish. Her gaze stayed on him the whole time.
When he was done, she took the towel from him and proceeded to scrub him. When she reached his chest, she placed the cloth to the side and instead used her hands.
“Next time,” she said quietly. “I think we should do this first.”
Jace raised a brow. “And why is that?”
Her wet slippery hand passed over his sensitive cock. “So we can enjoy this more,” she said with a smile.
Chapter Nineteen
Veronica couldn’t stop smiling. Never in her life had she been so happy, and it was all because of Jace.
Despite the fact that they were about to do something she knew was dangerous, she found herself thinking more about her next chance to be with him.
She glanced over to him as she loaded the equipment into a pack. He gave her the saucy smile she’d come to know so well.
“Better quit checking me out, or I’m going to have to do something about it,” Jace said with a wink.
She blushed at his words despite the fact she wished they had time to stay in bed all day. Things would be over soon. Spending a little time with an amazing man sounded like a good reward for saving the town from the Glycon.
“Here, Hot Shot,” she said and handed him the heavy bag. “You get that loaded, and I’ll go make sure I’m paid up on the room.”
She walked past him and stopped when his hand grasped her wrist.
“You know,” he said softly, “after we take care of this, you could just come stay with me. I won’t even charge you. And I provide good bed service.” He grinned.
Her heart fluttered. They were about to go out and try to catch a monster, but here he was, asking her to stay over with him.
“I… um.”
Jace gave a small pained smile. “It’s okay,” he said. “Just think about it.”
Veronica nodded and slipped out the front door into the cold. The sun was setting on the horizon. She could barely make it out behind the mountains.
One thing kept striking her every time she traveled outside. Eagle Ridge was gorgeous, the sort of place she always saw herself settling down.
She blinked. Maybe settling down with Jace was just what she wanted in life. He hadn’t been asking for her to move in for good, but she didn’t think it was that far away. A man like him didn’t seem willing to waste any time at all.
Not that she could blame him. If she didn’t know her past and had been a puppet for God knew how long, she would be in a hurry to get on with her life as well.
Veronica moved along the path to the front office, her mind drifting back to Jace with each step.
She sighed. He had been hurt she hadn’t said she would go home with him. Everything in her heart wanted to, but her damn brain kept coming up with every reason that she shouldn’t. Although she hadn’t done much listening to her brain recently and had gotten laid.
Jace: #6 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas) Page 9