Her chance to do her part for harpykind. To ovary-up or shut up. The way heroes—or cowards—were forged. She refused to let Halo turn her into something she wasn’t.
Maybe she played with fire, but so what? She’d rather go down in flames than live without heat.
At the moment, Halo, Roc, and Taliyah were talking among themselves at the other end of the table. The trio ignored her existence. Though, okay, yes, snacks arrived for Ophelia to steal every hour on the dot. Despite Halo’s aloof demeanor, he maintained an acute awareness of her and timed her food intake to prevent hunger.
How could he be so wonderful and terrible at the same time?
His electric pull only ever amplified, drawing her scrutiny again and again. Her curiosity about his past only deepened—what had created the male he was today? Her desire for him only heated. Her admiration for him had skyrocketed—and continued to climb. It was starting to scare her.
Growing attached. Was he doing the same? Maybe? Possibly? To have him for a consort...to have sex, satisfaction, companionship, a true partner... Longing bombarded her.
Was it all too good to be true?
Would he ever mark her?
Ophelia watched him, unable to look away. He stood between the two leaders, pointing to passages in different books, his muscles flexing with each movement. Not a strand of inky hair was out of place. His expression revealed polite respect, nothing more, and yet she sensed great frustration and tension inside him.
Though the Commander and General had moderated their tones the entire conversation, Halo did not show the same courtesy.
“My task, my way. In this, my authority supersedes yours,” he stated. “Soon you won’t even remember we had this conversation.”
How delicious. Any time Halo told his Commander or the General what to do, pervy Ophelia got wetter. She could only shift in her seat and cross her legs to mitigate the sudden ache.
An insatiable fire blazed in her marrow, the flames reaching for Halo. No one else would do. This was a needing.
Both Roc and Taliyah scowled at him. They didn’t want Ophelia overhearing the battle plan in case Erebus got his hands on her again. As if she would ever spill! The lack of trust in her abilities only added fuel to the fires of her determination.
Strengthen. Help win the task. Bask in the accolades.
Halo’s accolades, particularly. He would have to eat his doubt and admit she wasn’t just some bed bunny. Granted, she would very much like to get him into bed. The way his muscles rippled...
His gaze darted to her, there and gone. A familiar action. He’d glanced her way more than a dozen times already. Had he, perhaps, scented her growing arousal?
“Why do we have to reset?” Taliyah demanded. “Why are we taken out of commission twelve hours a day?”
“Ten hours,” Halo corrected. “Sixty minutes are added to your tally and subtracted from Erebus’s each time we complete a labor. I believe the day will cease repeating sometime after my eleventh victory. Perhaps the twelfth. My biggest problem is Erebus’s ability to bypass palace security. He and his phantoms come in and out at will.” Without looking Ophelia’s way, he waved her over. “Show them where you’ve met with Erebus.”
Called off the bench? She popped to her feet with record speed, surely, and raced over. Halo’s scent infiltrated her awareness, stoking the inferno in her bones to new heights.
Do not melt against the coach, player one. Not again.
At attention like a good soldier, she examined the map stretched over the table’s surface, overlaid with a transparent blueprint of the palace. Pointing, she said, “Here, here and here, sir.”
As though it were the most natural thing in the world, he wound an arm around her and cupped her hip. Her heart fluttered. Was he, perchance, imagining Ophelia sinking to her knees, tearing open his leathers, and devouring his length? Because suddenly she could think of nothing else.
“Have Silver perform a sweep of all three areas,” he commanded. “Perhaps he’ll notice something I missed.”
“Consider it done,” Roc replied.
“And now, this meeting is over. No,” Halo interjected when the couple issued protests. “I have other things to do.”
So hot!
The Commander and Taliyah flashed from the room.
Halo exhaled a heavy breath, some of the strain easing from his features. From the Machine to Irresistible Halo.
He met her gaze. “I apologize for the time delay. There was more to cover here than I’d realized. Every day I give Roux something else to research and every day the information leads in a new direction.” A slight twitch in his jaw. “Now we have only minutes until the freeze occurs. Let’s go somewhere.” He smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Tell me your favorite place in Harpina.”
She leaned into his touch, saying, “Climax Point.”
“Why am I not surprised?” The corners of his mouth curved up.