She stopped as well, turned his way and tapped her finger against her cheek in a thoughtful move. “Well, that depends. You know, in a place like XScream, a woman’s pay is based on job performance, and I was good. Very, very good at what I did.” A wicked smile slid across her tempting lips. “Just ask Nick.”
A spear of jealousy stabbed him in the gut.
But Argonauts didn’t get jealous. Only humans did.
And then she smiled. A grin laced with pure victory and female delight. She was playing him. And enjoying it.
“You weren’t a dancer.” His eyes ran over her svelte body, and the relief that rushed through him was swift and consuming. “I can’t see you taking your clothes off for strange men for any amount of money.”
She only rolled her eyes and resumed walking. “I did it for you, didn’t I? And for free, no less. And you’re the biggest stranger of them all.”
“Acacia.” He gripped her arm again, stopping her. As he turned her his way, a voice in his head screamed, Keep your mouth shut, but he couldn’t. “Three thousand years ago, when Zeus set aside Argolea for our race, Hera played her cruelest practical joke.”
“Zeus’s wife? Why would she care about you and your race?”
“She hated Heracles. For a variety of reasons, but mostly because he was one more of Zeus’s blatant infidelities. And because of Zeus’s affection for the heroes as a whole, she likewise hated the Argonauts. What better way to get back at all of us than by convincing the Fates to make sure we are never happy?”
“What do you mean?”
“The Argonauts, every one of them, me included, were given one soul mate. Just one. And it’s always the last person they would ever choose. Most Argonauts go their entire lives without finding theirs. Since I met you, all the signs point to you being mine.”
“What signs?”
Don’t tell her.
He glanced around the forest again, remembering that being out in the open like this wasn’t safe, but unable to let this subject drop. “The attraction between us, for one. The sexual heat.” Her cheeks blushed again, encouraging him. “The fact that even when I thought you were human, I recognized something unique and alluring in you I’d not recognized in another.”
“You’re not wild about my being human, are you?”
He didn’t answer. Couldn’t.
She looked at his chest, then up to his eyes, and if he thought he saw a flicker of disappointment, she masked it well. “Just how many women do you have to sleep with to find this soul mate?”
He recognized her sarcasm, and knew he was dancing perilously close to the edge with her. “It’s not like that.”
“Oh, it’s not?” she asked innocently. “Then that means you don’t want to have sex with me?”
He eased closer and dropped his voice. “I want very much to be with you, you know that. You can see it in my eyes.”
“To see if I’m your soul mate,” she said plainly.
“Yes.” Her eyes flashed. “No,” he corrected. Good gods, she was trying to trap him in a lie. “I want to lay with you because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the way you feel and taste since that night in your house.”
She tipped her head. “And an eager and willing captive is so much more appealing than a combative one.”
“Acacia—”
“You know what, Theron? Don’t even try to dig yourself out of this one.” She patted him on the shoulder. “Nice try, though. I’m sure it works on some women. Just not me.” She marched up the path with a smug sway of her hips.
As she moved away, Theron cursed under his breath and berated himself for being so stupid. Why in the name of Zeus had he told her about the soul mates? She’d never understand the importance or the fact the Argonauts as a whole were seemingly immune to tapping into their humanity, which was Hera’s original plan. Even if they did, the fact the goddess had made sure their other half was the exact opposite of what they wanted was a guarantee of disaster. And an Argonaut who’d found his soul mate and then lost her? He might as well just open a vein and bleed out all over the floor. Because that’s what it would be like. Nothing left inside him. Theron knew that was true from watching his kinsman Zander these past ten years. And it wasn’t something he ever wanted to experience.
Of course, Acacia would never get that. Hell, she hadn’t even fully accepted who and what she was. And then he’d gone and told her he’d know if they were destined to be together by screwing her? Yeah. All things considered, he was lucky she hadn’t hauled back and nailed him in the nuts for that suggestion.
He was so caught up in his own thoughts, he didn’t realize Acacia had picked up her pace until she rounded the bend and disappeared from sight. A tingle spread down his spine as he jogged to catch up with her. As he turned the corner, he discovered the forest opened into a clearing and what had once been a small settlement.