The way Aiden kissed me, well, it never ceased to affect me. Every time was like the first time. Butterflies buzzed in my belly the second our lips touched. My chest always fluttered, and I could never get used to the fact that he was kissing me. That we were together in spite of the laws forbidding it and everything that stood in our way, including each other. When he lifted his head, I let out a little sigh, and he kissed the corner of my lips.

Stretching out on his side, he leaned over my stomach, putting his weight on his elbow. “You should be asleep.”

“I know.”

“But you’re not.”

“Neither are you.”

One side of his lips tipped up. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay.” I reached down, my fingers brushing just below the tag he’d received. The skin there would always be a few shades paler than his natural tone. The bite had been so close to his jugular. Although he was a pure-blood, the bite could’ve taken him out of commission for a while, or even killed him. “What about you?”

He wrapped his hand around mine, pulling it away from his neck. He pressed a kiss to my palm. “I’m okay.”

I tried not to let it show, but fear spiked in me. “You’ve never been tagged before.”

“There’s a first for everything.” He lowered my hand, but kept holding it. “It’s really not that bad.”

I disagreed. “I want to kill that daimon all over again.”

Aiden smiled then. A real one, showing off those deep dimples. It seemed like it had been so long since I’d seen him smile like that. “It was kind of hot how you popped out of nowhere and owned her.”

“I need a shirt that says, ‘I owned her.’”

“I can do that for you, but I like seeing you in my clothes.”

A flush crept across my cheeks. “I probably should’ve asked.”

“You never need to ask.” He squeezed my hand gently. “Are you hungry?”

I groaned. “No. Gods, no. My stomach feels like it’s going to burst from all you made me eat earlier.”

He didn’t say anything to that and closed his eyes. Thick lashes fanned his cheekbones, and I got a little lost staring at him. A year ago, I never thought we’d be where we were now. A year ago, I never thought I would’ve frozen in the middle of a fight either.

Aiden’s eyes had opened, and he was staring back at me. “What’s going on inside your head?”

Sometimes his ability to read me was frightening. “I hesitated out there.”

“It happens, agapi mou.”

The endearment almost broke me. “Not to Sentinels,” I whispered, staring over his shoulder. “I completely froze, Aiden. I couldn’t move. I didn’t want…”

“What?” he prodded when I didn’t continue.

I wet my lips and said quietly, “I didn’t want to be out there.”

“Who would?”

Pulling my hand free, I shifted my gaze to him. “You don’t understand. I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to be anywhere but where I was, and when I saw that daimon, I thought I saw—” I cut myself off. I couldn’t admit that I thought I saw Ares. He would think I was insane. “I just locked up. What if I do that again and more people get hurt or killed?”

“Alex, you’re not responsible for those who died today.” He shifted so that his face was right over mine. “Don’t put that kind of crap on yourself. It’s not right.”

But it IS right, whispered that voice. “People expect me to fight and kick ass. You can’t tell me the people out there didn’t expect me to take out those daimons. And if Artemis hadn’t shown—”

“You would’ve snapped out of it. Just like you did,” Aiden said, cupping my cheek and forcing my gaze to his. “You’re being too hard on yourself. What you’ve been through is going to affect you, and you’re not giving yourself any time to deal with what just happened. You’re not okay, Alex, but you’re not broken and you’re not damaged.”

My breath shuddered from me. “Then what am I?”

“You’re someone who is incredibly strong and brave, and who has been through way too much. Too many people expect too much from you. And it’s not because you’re weak. You’re eighteen, Alex. Even if you were twenty-eight, all this crap would be too much.” His fingers trailed down my cheek, the path slightly uneven from the raised scars. “You’re the Apollyon, but you’re only one person. And you’re not alone. You have me. You have Luke, Olivia, and your uncle. You have Solos, and you have my brother, although he’s a little crazy.” A small, quick grin appeared on his lips. “And tomorrow, you’ll have a whole army. You’re not alone in any of this. You’ll never be alone.”

I blinked back the wetness gathering in my eyes. “I think you spend your spare time studying a book full of the right things to say.”

He chuckled softly, and then his lips brushed mine in a quick kiss. “Nah. I just love you, Alex.”

Raising my hands, I placed them on his smooth cheeks. The tiny scratches from the birds had healed over already, leaving behind faint marks. “I think I’d go crazy without you.”

He kissed my cheek and then stretched out beside me, snaking an arm around my waist. In the quiet moments that followed, I didn’t feel numbness or fear. I was content, warm, and I felt a little like my old self. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and who knew what was waiting for us beyond that. I didn’t want to think about any of that. Not right now.

I rolled onto my side and stretched up, bringing our lips together. The kisses started off slow, nothing like this morning when they’d almost had a fevered pitch to them, but then they deepened and my heart kicked up, thumping in my chest. His hand curled around my hip, tugging my body to his. Pressed together, a shiver danced down my back as his fingers slipped under my shirt, skimming the bare skin of my waist. My hand moved across his chest, and I wished I had some kind of Apollyon power that made clothing disappear. That would’ve been really handy right about now.

He eased me onto my back and slid a leg between mine. His tongue swept in, scattering my thoughts and pulling me in. A delicious tension built in my lower stomach, and when his body shifted against mine, I gasped. My reaction was immediate, rocking against him.

Aiden shuddered as he lifted his head. Those eyes were heated silver. “We need to press pause for a second.”

I knew I couldn’t have heard him correctly, because he moved his leg in a way that had me trembling, then kissed me again, nipping at my lower lip.

“Seriously, we need to talk for a second,” he said, his voice thick.

A small grin pulled at my lips. “Then stop kissing me.”

“That’s an excellent idea.” He pressed his lips to the sensitive spot under my ear. “Yet so incredibly hard.” But then he did sit up, cross-legged beside me. “I want to talk to you about something.”

The way he said that made my stomach dip. And he was rocking the Aiden is being serious” face. “Okay. About what?”

“About what Artemis said to you out there today.”

“About my hair?”

He shot me a bland look. “No. When she said there was something inside you.”

“Oh. That? Weird, right? Apollo’s son—Hippo-whatever—said the same thing when I was in Olympus.” I sighed, trying not to be too freaked out by it. “I have no idea what they’re talking about.”

“You don’t?” Surprise flooded his voice.

“No.” I frowned. “Do you?”

Aiden opened his mouth and closed it. Several seconds passed, and then he thrust his hand through his hair, scratching his head. “Think about it, Alex.”

Crossing my ankles, I gave a lopsided shrug. “Enlighten me, wise one.”

“You’re really going to make me say it?” He swore under his breath as his hand fell to his lap. “Of course you are. Don’t you think there could be a possibility that whatever Artemis felt, or saw or whatever, means you’re…pregnant?”

I stared at him. “What?”

His dark brows lowered. “Pregnant.”

“No.” I coughed out a laugh and rolled my eyes. “No way.”