held on tightly to Apollo, rubbing the new ring with her thumb.
Married.
The words sounded weird in her head but comfortable, like she had been waiting for him her whole life.
“We’re almost there,” Apollo shouted to her.
She looked around his massive back at the path ahead. They had only been on the road for a little over an hour, but she would be glad to get off. The little bike wasn’t made for two people or even a single Apollo-sized person.
Not to mention her ass hurt from all the bumps.
He brought the bike to a halt, and she climbed off, glad for the relief.
Apollo pulled out the GPS and stared at the screen. Val leaned in to take a look. They could see the red dot clearly on the screen, not far from where they were.
A faint light flickered on the edge of the map.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the flickering light.
Apollo frowned.
“Don’t know,” he said and slapped the GPS against his hand a few times.
When they looked back at the screen, the light was gone.
“Fixed it,” he said with a smile.
Val snorted loudly. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
His grin only grew. “We can’t all be as computer smart as I am.”
He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips before his expression grew serious.
“You ready for this?” he asked, concern lacing his words.
She nodded. It was clear from the start what they would be doing. In the end, she was just getting them inside and hanging back. The hybrids would do all the heavy work.
“I got this,” she said firmly. “Now we better meet up with Sol before he decides to take off pieces of you that I rather like.”
* * *
The rendezvous was easier than Apollo expected. The men were all ready when they arrived, and Sol was going over the plan.
He glared at Apollo several times, and he knew he was in for more ass chewing later. But right now they all had the mission.
“We move out together,” Sol said. “If we start splitting up, we’re fucked.” He looked at the men.
Zeno snorted loudly. “So it’s only okay to separate if we’re getting a little action on the side?”
The younger hybrid’s cocky smile ran right through Apollo.
“Got something you wanna say?” Apollo huffed and stepped up to the man.
“Yeah,” Zeno said. He squared his shoulders and opened his mouth to continue when Sol cut them both off.
“Shut the fuck up, both of you.” He glared at them in turn. “We’ve got a job to do and if you two can’t get it together, I’ll leave both your asses here.”
Apollo’s mouth clamped tight. The last thing he wanted to do was send Val into this shit without him.
Zeno stomped over to the other side of the group, clearly still angry. The little prick had been acting more like an ass every day. Although it wasn’t much of a surprise. Many of the men were having issues with the sausage fest Luna Lodge had become.
It was something Apollo could relate to. It’s not like he hadn’t been a jackass when he thought his chance at a woman had been lost.
He glanced over to Val, who shook her head and slipped her hand into his. His finger bumped her ring, and he couldn’t stop the smile that came to his face.
“Can we move on?” Lucius said, glaring at the group. His patience was wearing thin.
“Val,” Sol said to her. “You have everything you need to get in, right?”
She nodded and took in a breath. He could hear her heart thump wildly in her chest.
“I hack the system and pop the lock,” she said. Her voice only shook a little as she spoke. “Then you hotshots take over. Sound about right?”
Sol grinned at her.
“Something like that,” he said and then looked back at the men. “We keep the lines open and play it loose. Don’t know what we’ll find when those doors open or even the layout, but top-priority is taking out anyone with a gun or the ability to cause problems. The quieter, the better.”
The men all nodded their agreement. Getting their hands on some of the