Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

APOLLO

A pollo leaned against the back of his bike, his eyes trained on the front door. He sniffed the air and caught her scent growing closer.

Good.

His wolf paced and growled at the thoughts of what she and Ares might have been doing upstairs.

"Don't worry, boy, she'll be ours."

His wolf wasn't so sure. Ever since they'd been young, Ares had gotten everything Apollo had been rightly due. But not this time. A werewolf only got the chance for one fated mate, and he'd be damned if he'd let his brother take her from him as well.

River exited the front door and shielded her eyes from the bright sun. Lachlan showed her down the steps and met up with Silas and Bennett. The group walked toward him, and Apollo crossed his arms over his chest tighter to keep from reaching for her.

She wore jeans and boots with a loose T-shirt and hoodie. Even so, he couldn't take his eyes off her.

She stopped in front of him and looked over his bike.

"Have you ever been on a motorcycle before?"

She shrugged. "I've ridden a bit. Though I prefer my 1956 Uncle Pan to these new custom choppers."

His wolf howled, and Apollo couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

Easy, boy.

"Good." He handed her a helmet, and she took it and put it on without saying a word.

"Bennett, Silas, out front. Lachlan pick up the rear in the car."

The men nodded and headed to their vehicles.

Apollo straddled his bike and turned it on. River didn't move for a moment, and then her small form slid behind him. He gripped the handlebars tighter at the feel of her so close. He waited for her arms to slide around his waist, but they didn't.

He chuckled. The woman was stubborn. No worries, though; she'd be clinging to him soon enough.

They'd been riding for close to fifteen minutes when River grabbed onto him. The sensation sent a jolt of desire ripping through him. Apollo smiled to himself as she squeezed her thighs around his and hooked her thumbs into his belt loops. Contact was good. Contact would help ease her reservations.

Unconsciously, he rubbed her hand at his waist until she removed it.

He tried to keep calm at the slight. Time. She just needed time. And that's what they'd get.

He pulled off the highway and slowed as he rode down the street. They passed several shops, and he pulled his bike to a stop.

"What do you wish to have for dinner?"

She stared at him through the helmet's visor. "I ate already. With Ares."

"Of course, but you'll be hungry again. So what do you prefer?"

She looked around at the shops. "Burger, fries, largest cola they have."

A girl who really ate, there was nothing sexier.

He relayed the message to Bennett and then told him to get some staples before they took off again at a slower pace. Apollo let her look around as they rode through the rustic old town. More than once, he caught her checking out different sculptures they passed in the parks and town hall grounds.

So she likes art. He made a mental note to look into that.

They turned down a dirt road, and she grabbed him again as the ruts in the ungraded road made their ride bumpier.

Finally, they came to a set of log cabins, and he pulled in front of the first one and stopped the bike. They were old, but he'd paid to keep them up so the cabins weren't in bad shape. He had a specific reason for wanting to bring her there, and it was a bonus that there happened to be no cell or internet reception in the area.

She slid from the back of the bike and handed him her helmet before fluffing her long, silvery hair and stretching, revealing a good three inches of skin above her navel. Apollo's body hardened, and he coughed and looked away.

Don't be a dick, dick. If you can't even control yourself with a peek at just a few inches of skin, what will you do when you see more?

Lachlan approached them and addressed River, making Apollo want to rip his arms off.

"You all right, Highness?"

River rolled her eyes. "Lachlan-"

"I've tried. I swear I have, but I just can't."

"Okay, well then, Bodyguard, until you can call me by my first name, you shall henceforth and forward be known to me as Bodyguard."

Lachlan groaned. "Fine. R-"

"If you say her name, I'll rip your tongue out and eat it," said Apollo.

Lachlan blanched.

"Ares lets him call me River," she lied.

"Well, I am not my little brother. And my mate's name is reserved for my lips only. He may call you Highness, Princess, or Prince Apollo's intended, but neither he nor my men will call you by your birth name."

She held his gaze steadily for a moment, and her hands balled into fists. For a second, he imagined her trying to pummel him with those tiny little things. Instead, she turned and stomped toward the cabin, making his wolf chuff with each slight sway of her hips. As she went, Apollo swallowed hard and could practically see her tail swishing with anger. Man, he couldn't wait to meet her wolf.

Apollo opened the front door as Bennett and Silas put the bikes in the barn. He stepped aside while she entered and allowed her to take in the ample open space while he took her in. He'd been unable to get a good look at her up to that point, so he took the opportunity while it lasted. She was petite and thin, but her walk told him she possessed a confidence that a shifter of her size rarely exuded. Instead, the small female shifters he'd known were more than content pretending to be weak to appeal to a male's protective mating instincts. But not River. No. If anything, she pretended to be stronger. He wondered what in her past made her that way.

She walked to the oversize fireplace and plucked a photograph from the mantel. She studied it for a moment and then put it back.

"So this is where you and Ares were born."

He wondered how she knew that from just looking at an old photo.

"It's where our ancestors first settled when they arrived in Montreal. Most young couples in our family spend time here in the beginning to connect with their roots."

She looked at him and nodded. "So now what? It's not like I have bags to unpack or anything."

"I hadn't thought that far ahead."

Her eyebrows scrunched together. "You don't know what we are doing?"

He shrugged. "What did you and Ares do?"

She swallowed hard and averted her eyes.

Interesting.

"We uh… went dancing. And to a museum and the theater. And I packed up my stuff. And he came to my show-"

"Your show?"

"I'm a sculptor."

"Clay?"

"Metal."

"That's hot."

She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Get it. Because you have to melt the metal to bend it, and it gets hot?"

She shook her head, but he caught the hint of a smile on her lips, which made his wolf beg for more.

"How about we go for a run," he offered.

She looked out the window. "It's not night yet."

He shrugged. "No one comes out here but family, which currently consists of me, my brother, my uncle Osmodius, his only living child, his daughter Amelia, and now you. So, I think we're good."

She looked out the window again, and he could practically hear her wolf begging to go for a run.

Apollo stripped off his shirt and dropped it to the floor. "Tell ya what. I'm going for a run. If you care to join me, please do."

Her eyes glowed brighter as he kicked off his boots and undid his belt buckle. She blushed as he dropped his jeans to the floor and stood before her naked. He watched her expression change from curiosity to desire as the room grew heady with her scent.

"Uh, Highness?"

Apollo turned to find Lachlan standing, eyes wide at the door. Without explanation, he spun and shifted midair, knocking Lachlan out of the way before he bounded down the steps and out into the trees.