Chapter Five
Cato wasn’t sure what he had been thinking the day before. All he’d planned to do was stop by and see what he needed to do for the party. When she’d opened the door looking far less starched than when he’d seen her earlier, something in him felt the call of his inner beast.
No matter how inconvenient it might be, the cold, hard fact was that she was his Vestal. He knew it wouldn’t do any good to complain to Titus. He wondered if Titus realized already that she was Cato’s Vestal.
When he saw how she reacted to his presence though, he wasn’t thinking about Titus, or spying, or any crap like that. He just wanted her.
Cato grunted as he made his way over to the ball room. Of all the stupid times for him to meet his mate, of course it would be now. Right when things were about as uncertain as they could get. And what the hell was his plan if he had gotten her to bed?
The lower half of him jumped at the idea of sliding into her. He stifled the growl that wanted to come out.
He was fucked. And not in the way that his lower half wanted to be. No, this was full-on trouble and worst of all, there was no way to avoid any of it. Titus had asked him to work with her and be his ears. Now there he was, facing down his only chance at happiness and not able to act on it without losing any chance of keeping his head clear.
This was a living hell. And it was only going to get worse. He would almost rather take on a room full of Glycons.
Cato stopped outside the large door and breathed in deeply. He could already tell she was there waiting for him. Her soft cinnamon scent floated in the air around him, luring him into focusing on her.
His.
He could feel it to the very center of his being. She was his.
Cato let out the air he had been holding in and shook himself. No. He needed to keep control.
It was not like he could walk up to some soldier and give her a line about how they were destined to be together. He could only imagine how Colonel Hall would react once she heard that.
He could do this. Just walk in, get whatever he needed to do done, and go home. Sure, he might have to relieve some pressure himself once he got home, but he could fucking do this.
There wasn’t a choice. He had to do this. For the sake of the hybrids.
With more force than he intended, Cato tossed opened the door. Inside he was surprised to find that Wendy wasn’t alone.
“What the hell is she doing here?” he asked, his voice almost a growl.
The two women sat in some nice armchairs from the corner of the room, which they had pulled over to the middle. Wendy, in uniform, and someone he was shocked to see: Jill Hope. A cameraman stood behind them, his camera over his shoulder.
Just thinking the name Jill Hope still pissed him off. The reporter had been a pain in their ass since they were exposed to the world. The woman had been kidnapped along with Lena, the Vestal mate of Varius, when Reverend John had hatched a vicious plan against the hybrids.
The crazy bastard had intended to burn Lena alive on television, and needed Jill Hope and her cameraman there to report on it.
None of the hybrids blamed Varius for killing the bastard, but the death being televised live hadn’t helped them at all in the public eye. The humans all seemed to focus on John being killed, rather than the fact the monster had intended to murder a woman.
Sure, Jill Hope had been fighting on the hybrids’ side ever since, but in Cato’s eyes, that didn’t make up for the damage that she had done. Her reporting was half the reason so many people distrusted the hybrids.
And he didn’t give a shit if she was a Vestal, something they hadn’t realized until the dust settled. Almost no hybrids ever had direct contact with her, and Varius had been around his own Vestal and so focused when he encountered her that he didn’t initially realize it.
Cato didn’t care. It changed nothing.
“Jill Hope,” the reporter said, and stepped over to where he was.
All the while Cato stared down Wendy. Was she the one who’d brought Jill Hope in?
Jill stuck out her hand, and he ignored it. The woman only smiled a little wider. Her teeth were white, almost unnaturally so. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen teeth so white.
“Titus wasn’t wrong,” Jill said, and grinned. “Your surly attitude is going to be a great sell. The female viewers will eat that up. Everyone loves a bad boy.”
She gave him a little wink and then spun on her heels. Her shoulder-length straight blond hair swished as she did so.
It took him a few seconds to process what she’d said and a few more for the implications to sink in.
He was confused. Beyond confused. Titus set this up? The bastard didn’t even bother to warn him.
“What?”
“Okay, let’s get to work,” she said. “I need you both in the chairs, and we can begin.”
This was making even less sense.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
He looked over to Wendy who seemed to be having trouble looking him in the eyes. For a moment everything faded as he remembered just how close he had been to taking things a step too far.
All he had wanted to do was get the fuck through this day as quickly as possible. Now it had all gone to shit, and he wasn’t even sure why. No one could be bothered to give him a two-minute phone call apparently.
“Now don’t you worry,” Jill said, and pulled him over to the chair. Cato sat because there really was no other choice. “This is a puff piece. Something fun to show how well things are going for you here. How well the military and the hybrids are getting along.”
“But we aren’t.”
His gaze followed Wendy as the cameraman led her to the side. She still wasn’t looking at him, and it was only irritating him more having the yappy reporter in his face.
The cameraman slid a finger between the buttons on Wendy’s shirt and clipped a small microphone there.
The man was too close to his Vestal. Cato felt the low rumble in the back of his throat.
“Hey, big boy,” Jill said. He snapped his eyes to hers and narrowed them. “Look, no going all glow-eyed on me. The public won’t respond well to that.”
Cato huffed loudly. “And why the fuck should I care what the public thinks?”
She rolled her eyes. “Boy, would have been nice if Titus had told me how thick you are,” she said, and leaned in a little. “I’m doing this as a favor. You all need this. There are people out there that would like to see your people taken out for good. I’m here to help with that.”
Help. People didn’t just help for nothing in his opinion.
“And what do you get out of this?” he said, not bothering to hide the disdain in his voice.
She shrugged as she straightened the black t-shirt he was wearing and clipped a mic onto his pocket.
“I get an exclusive with the hybrids,” she said. He watched as she continued to not look him in the eye.
“And?”
Jill turned her eyes to his, and he could finally see honesty there.
She shrugged. “And a chance to make amends. I owe Varius.”
He gave a little nod and turned away. Maybe he had been too quick to judge. He was still annoyed, but she could work off her debt.
“Okay,” Jill said, and stood. She frowned down at him a little. “Is that the best shirt you have?” She sighed, then shook her head. “You know what, never mind. It’s very… you.”
He glanced down at her shirt. What the fuck was wrong with his shirt?
“You look fine,” Wendy whispered as she sat next to him.
Cato turned and was surprised to see her looking at him for the first time since he’d come in.
He couldn’t help the small smile that came to his lips. Her cheeks were pink, and he loved the little strands of soft hair that floated around her face like a halo.
“Um, you just have,” she said, and leaned over and slid her fingers through the front of his hair.
He breathed in deeply. The rich cinnamon scent filled every part of him and made him ache for more of her touch. If they didn’t have an audience, he wasn’t half sure that he wouldn’t have groaned a little at the need that filled him.
When Wendy sat back, her face was even more pink than before.
“You just had a few pieces out of place,” she said.
Cato swallowed. There was no way today was going quickly for him. No way in hell.