Innocence (Tales of Olympus #1)(15)

She stared at him as her body throbbed, her lips tingling and breasts swelling. From his touch. One touch. She never even knew that was possible.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Yes.” Her mouth still worked even though her throat had gone suddenly dry. A miracle. “I’m good,” she whispered.

Marcus narrowed his eyes a moment before his face softened. His thumb stroked over her pulse. Her limbs turned liquid.

“Angel,” he said softly, and the way he said it sent thrills through her.

He didn’t say anything more, and he didn’t have to. Did he… Was he... feeling it too? He had to know how he affected her. And he didn’t pull away.

His grey eyes gleamed. Oh gods, he was. He was interested. In her.

Very interested, if the way his nostrils flared were any indication.

This was nuts, totally nuts. But it was happening. It was, wasn’t it? She wasn’t just making things up in her head? She searched his eyes, feeling desperate from all the sensations he was stirring inside her.

“Why are you helping me?” she blurted the question that had plagued her since she’d woken this morning. “I’m no one.”

A final squeeze, and his tall, powerful frame moved gracefully back to his seat. She felt breathless, all the nerves in her body still firing from his touch.

He looked down at his plate, his expression shadowed. The silence stretched.

“It’s just, you’re doing all these things for me. And I’m so grateful, don’t get me wrong. But if I could understand why—”

“You remind me of someone,” he said, eyes still on his plate, and she didn’t miss the way his jaw worked. “Let’s say helping you is paying a debt I owe.”

“Oh.” Cora’s stomach sank to the floor, all the lovely feelings dissipating. She was a debt to him? So much for him seeing her as a woman. She felt so foolish. Like a schoolgirl with a crush.

“And this city is a dangerous place. I know better than anyone. I had a sister who was a little younger than you when I lost her.”

A sister? And he’d lost her? Cora immediately felt like a witch for being so self-absorbed. Schoolgirl indeed.

“I’m so sorry. Marcus.” She reached across the table and laid her hand on his. “What happened? No, gods, I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me.” She gave his hand a squeeze and he exhaled a huge breath, finally lifting his grey eyes to hers. She couldn’t look away. In front of her was a man, not a boy. He was a man who’d lived through things and survived them, things she couldn’t even comprehend. She suddenly wished she was more…well, just more, so she might be any sort of comfort to him.

“I want to tell you.” His eyebrows were drawn together and she could see a deep grief in his eyes that time obviously hadn’t healed. Cora felt his pain cut straight through her own chest down to her bones. “She was my sister and I loved her more than anything else on earth. When she and my parents were taken from me, brutally, violently,” his hand shook under Cora’s, “for a long while, I wished I’d died with them.”

“Marcus,” Cora whispered, barely able to get the word out, her throat was so thick. She reached her other hand out and clasped his, both of her small hands only barely surrounding one of his huge ones.

She didn’t know why he’d chosen her to share this with, but from her limited interactions with him, she felt sure this wasn’t common for him, that he was a man who rarely if ever wore his heart on his sleeve. He was too in control of himself, too measured in everything he did. Whatever his reasons, she could only feel honored to have this peek beneath the mask to glimpse the genuine man.

“But I vowed to do everything I could to take the city they loved under control so that the monsters who killed them would never have free reign again. So you understand why I can’t let you go,” he said, gaze more direct than ever. “This city is a beast. A beast in a cage. Violent. Brutal. Innocents fall and the criminals go unpunished if left unchecked.”

He believed everything he said and he believed it passionately. Absolutely. It sent a shiver down Cora’s spine.

“But what about the cops?”

“What about them?” he sneered. “The police do nothing. They’re either corrupt, or have no power. There’s no law and order, just violence. The strong crush the weak, and death walks the streets. There’s a reason they call the part of the city where you were clubbing The Underworld. But it’s not just the south side. The whole city balances on a knife’s edge. And it’s men like me who keep it from going over and falling into chaos.”

It’s not safe. The world out there isn’t safe.

How many times had her mother told her that? She’d repeated it over and over. Not safe. Not safe. Not safe.

“I don’t want to live my whole life in fear,” Cora whispered.

Marcus shook his head. “You won’t have to.” He flipped his hand and this time it was him squeezing hers.

She felt the strength of his grasp all the way down to her toes.

He leaned in, the burning intensity of his eyes flipping her stomach again as he vowed, “You’ll live among the angels where you can’t be touched.”





Five





“Babe, babe, come on, move!” Cora turned and was blinded by the lights. She’d stepped into the studio and was immediately overwhelmed by the frenetic energy of the place.