Need you right now

We rested for a few moments, adjusting to this new bond between us. With every breath I took, I could feel Apollo in the back of my mind and my heart. He was there, and he was so happy it made everything around him seem bright.

I wished this moment could have lasted for an eternity.

Apollo knew the moment my thoughts went dark. That new bond between our souls giving away more than I knew how to express.

"We still need to talk about what happened, and what we need to do." I sat up and brushed my unruly curls back from my face. "Oh, where's Alannah? I'm just now realizing I woke up and jumped you without even thinking about her."

"Right," Apollo grunted. A deep exhale escaped him, and he palmed his face. "She left like three hours ago, but she's going to come back."

He looked at me through his fingers, and I caught sight of his nostrils flaring. With a jerk, Apollo moved upright and traced the side of my face. "You mentioned a wolf. You... you smell like one now. Fully. How is that possible?"

"I saw some things about my past while in that dream, or whatever it was." Fingers of ice danced along my spine, and I released a shaky breath. "I'm a hybrid."

"A what?" He gasped.

"Well, the others like me, the special agents, we're not just made in a lab. We were all spliced with supernatural DNA, but it's supposed to remain dormant. Did Alannah not tell you this before she left?" I paused, retelling what I witnessed in the visions.

"No, she bolted out of here like a bat out of hell saying she needed to talk to the New York Matriarch." He shrugged one shoulder, never taking his eyes off me. "Spliced DNA?"

"Yes," I licked my lips, remembering the glowing gold fluid pumped into me, "they mixed me with the DNA of an Alpha wolf."

"Oh, my gods." Apollo rubbed his hand over his chin, eyes roaming over my naked body as if seeing me for the first time. "That explains the changes in you, but if it was supposed to remain dormant, why now?"

I couldn't stop my chuckle as I leaned forward and bumped my forehead into his. "You. My wolf, my soul, it was dormant until we met. You, my soulmate, woke it all up."

A ragged breath left him; golden eyes locked on my lips. "Calypso," he sucked in a breath. "This is a lot to take in, and I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" I balked at him, wondering at where the apology came from.

"I threw a wrench into your life and your mission. I'm not sorry that we met, that we're mates, but I am sorry that I've thrown off your plans." He tilted his head. back and chuckled, "Well, not the plan to kill me."

"I don't think I could have killed you even if we weren't mates. You're innocent, and it wouldn't have been right." My throat constricted, and I angled away from him. "They say we're the executioners and nothing more, but we don't need to be that either. Who gave the organization the right to choose who lives or dies?"

"You're not a killer, Callie," Apollo started, but I interrupted him.

"No, Apollo. I am. I am a killer. It's what they made me for and it's what I've been my entire life. I can't even tell you how many people have taken their last breath because of me, but that's okay. Because now I have the option to choose." I got to my knees and grabbed his hands. "And I met my wolf."

He saw the tears slipping free from my eyes and jerked his hands from mine to wipe them away. Apollo cradled my face in his hands, and I leaned into his palms, soaking up the warmth of his touch.

"I'll never see her again. I'll never be able to shift like you can. I'm not a full wolf like you. Why would you want me?"

"Callie, I don't care what you are. I was ready to have you as some crazy human. I'm more than happy to accept you as a hybrid. It doesn't matter to me, as long as you're mine." He kissed the tears from my face, and I inhaled at the feeling of his lips on my cheeks. "You're strong, and smart, and brutal when you need to be. I've always been prepared to take you as you are."

"Apollo." His name was a breath on my lips. I fell into his open arms, melting into his embrace.

"I hate what they did to you, how they raised you and made you think you were nothing but a weapon. But I know better than that, and I promise I will be here with you every step of the way to figure this all out, Calypso."

I kissed him lightly on the lips, stunning him silent for a moment. "I know you mean it too. I can feel it. How sincere you are, how much you care for me." It was all flowing through him and that bond that connected our souls.

"Of course, I mean it, Callie. You're my mate, my other half. We're together till the end of the line." Apollo pulled me back down over his hard body and I reveled in his toned frame and intense heat.

"It doesn't bother you at all that I'm a hybrid? After what I did to that other agent the other night, how I turned into a monster?" I stopped him from pulling me against his lips again.

"I said I would take you as you are. It's no matter to me if you're only part wolf or fully human." His hands ran up and down my legs, finally settling on my hips. "Plus, seeing you transform like that was actually incredibly hot."

That caught me by surprise. "Oh?"

"Oh yeah," he groaned, digging his fingers into my hips. "Knowing that you can claw me and bite and scratch me and mark me the same way I can mark you," he rolled his hips under me and I felt his erection slide against me, "it's heavenly to know I can mate you to the extent I want to, and your fragile human body won't break."

The heat of the moment was falling over me, and I couldn't resist the pull. The new marks on our necks and our naked skin drawing us together.

"I could have handled you before my wolf woke up."

"Oh, could you have?" Apollo's grin was positively devilish, and it made me want to purr. In the blink of an eye, he flipped us over and had me pinned to the bed again. "Then I'll have to show you what an Alpha is really capable of."

I felt the claws spread from my nails, and fangs grow in my mouth as I grabbed him. "Stop talking and show me already." I pulled him down to whisper in his ear. "Alpha."

His resounding growl could have brought the walls down around us.