Acheron

looked at him with respect and who allowed him dignity.

If they ever knew…

He'd rather die again. No, better a sting to the professor's ego than to his. While he had moments of altruism, in this he didn't. No one would ever expose him again.

Artemis blinked in happy expectation. 'Where is this lecture going to be?'

'Room down the hall.'

She vanished.

Acheron shook his head. He took a few minutes to walk around the exhibit and smile at the modern world's interpretation of the past. How could humanity be so strangely astute and at the same time dense? Their perceptions swung from being unerringly accurate to downright ridiculous.

Then again, didn't all creatures suffer from that same dilemma?

'Dr. Kafieri?'

Soteria looked up at the docent who was watching her with a perplexed expression. Oh, please don't tell me I was talking out loud to myself. By the woman's face she knew the answer and hated having been caught… again. 'Yes?'

'You've got a good crowd gathering. I just wanted to know if you needed some water for your presentation?'

Her gut knotted at those words. Good crowd. Yeesh. She hated crowds and public speaking. If not for the fact they needed funding for new equipment in Greece, she'd have never agreed to this. 'Yes, please, but make sure it has a screw cap. I'm always spilling drinks when they don't.'

The woman turned and left. Tory looked down at the notes she was reviewing, but the woman's words hung in her mind.

Good crowd. What an oxymoron for a woman who hated crowds. Her throat tight, she went to spy on the room.

Yeah, it was definitely a crowd. At least sixty people were there. She felt sick.

As she started to withdraw into the shadows, the door opened and in walked a man who took her breath away.

Unbelievably tall, he strode into the room as if he owned it. No, he didn't stride, he loped in like a seductive predator. Every woman in the room turned to stare at him. You couldn't help it. It was like he was a magnet for the eyes.

His long black hair held a streak of bright red in the front and framed a face so incredibly handsome that he'd be pretty if he didn't have such a rugged aura. It also made her want to know exactly what his eyes looked like, but since he wore a pair of opaque black Oakley sunglasses, she couldn't tell. Dressed in a long black distressed coat, he wore a dark gray hoodie underneath that was opened to show a Misfits T-shirt. His black pants were tucked into a pair of dark cherry red Doc Martens boots with skull and crossbone buckles going up each side.

Ignoring the women who ogled him, he shrugged a black leather backpack off his broad shoulder and set it on the floor by an aisle seat before he sat down. The leather was as worn as his coat and the backpack was marred with a white anarchy symbol and one of a sun pierced by three lightning bolts.

She didn't know what it was about those long legs stretching out in front of him that made her heartbeat speed up, but it did. He looked so masculine sitting there like that. With his large hands covered by black fingerless gloves, he pushed the sleeves of his coat up on his forearms, then leaned back in the chair, completely at ease. She caught a glimpse of a red and black dragon tattoo on his left arm. He also had a small silver stud pierced through his right nostril, as well as a tiny silver hoop in his left ear.

He took a deep breath and hung one arm over the back of the chair. Dang, the man moved like water. Slow, graceful and yet he gave the impression that at any minute he could explode into action to take down anyone who threatened him.

Yeah…

'Dr. Kafieri?'

It wasn't until the third time her name was repeated that she realized the docent had returned. 'I'm sorry. I was having a bit of stage fright.' And a long minute of lust-filled fantasies about wrapping herself around Mr. Goth.

'Oh you'll be fine.' The woman handed her the water.

Tory wasn't so sure. Crowds terrified her and unlike the Goth man outside, she hated to stand out. She would try picturing him in his underwear, but that was even more disturbing since all it did was make her hot and even more nervous…

He had to be the only man alive who could pull off intimidating in his tighty-whities.

God, what if all that massive hotness was commando?

Forcing herself to stop those thoughts, she checked her watch and saw that it was almost time to begin.

Tory gulped.

She glanced back at the crowd to see a tall, extremely voluptuous red-headed woman approach the Goth man. The woman was as beautiful as the man was gorgeous, but she didn't look like the type who would normally associate with his. Where he was dressed in black, FU clothes, she wore an all-white suit, right down to the dainty Jimmy Choo shoes. Immaculately coifed, the woman reminded her of a runway model. And when she sat down by the Goth man, he actually grimaced at her even though she was smiling and offering him some of the drink she'd brought with her.

The woman spoke to him and he turned his head to respond with a very harsh, 'Fuck off.'

She looked completely stricken by his coldness. Tory clenched her teeth. It was obvious they knew each other and while the woman was enamored of the man, he couldn't care less about her.

Typical jerk. Tory hated to judge people, but she'd seen his type over and over again in the classes she'd taught and had made the mistake of thinking herself in love with someone just like him once upon a time. Users who took advantage of the women who loved them. No doubt the redhead had bought every piece of the expensive clothes he so proudly wore.

But their relationship was none of her business. She just hoped the woman came to her senses soon and dumped the asshole.

'I'll go introduce you.'

Tory jumped at the sound of Dr. Allen's voice as he moved past her. Just over fifty, he was fit and trim with gray hair and a small moustache. He'd been the professor who invited her to speak about Atlantis as part of the Parthenon's classic civilization series. Now if she could only use this as a way to help finance her next excavation, she'd kill two birds with one presentation.

Just don't let me fall down and stutter…

She crossed herself three times, spit and quickly prayed.

'I know many of you are familiar with the Kafieri name and the dubiousness of Soteria's father's and uncle's research and their claims. But in all fairness, Dr. Kafieri has taken her scholarship extremely seriously and I have to say that her findings have impressed me enough that I wanted to bring her here. Not to mention, being one of the few people who received a doctorate by age twenty shows exactly her level of commitment. I've yet to meet anyone who can flaw her theories or her dedication to the field of ancient study. Now if you'll all help welcome Dr. Kafieri.'

Ash withheld his applause as he waited to see the professor he was about to roast.

'Shoot!'

The embarrassed word wouldn't be audible to anyone other than Artemis and him, but the stress in her voice evoked a wave of pity in him. He arched a brow as he heard papers being pushed together as if the presenter had dropped them.

An instant later, she popped out of the door behind the podium. Very tall and slender to the point of waifishness, she was pretty with plain brown hair she'd pulled back into a severe bun. A pair of small round bronze-rimmed glasses covered her deep, intriguing brown eyes. The beige box-cut suit did little to compliment her body and it was obvious she wasn't comfortable wearing it. In fact, she looked really itchy.

She set her papers down on the podium and cleared her throat before she offered all of them a sheepishly charming grin he was sure had gotten her out of much trouble growing up. 'I know we're not supposed to open a speech with an apology, but I dropped my pages on the way out here so if you can bear with me for a moment as