by Dylan Quinn
It foretold another war, and now more than ever, Lennox had to keep Reanna alive, considering what was ahead for her and Denvar.
And all of Ama Seldova.
As he flew through the Complex to Reanna’s apartment, his mind drifted back to Geneva Jayne and their glorious night together.
In his mind, in his body, Lennox felt something for the woman.
Was it love? Lust? He wasn’t sure, especially given her so-called Cupid’s curse.
If he was being honest, there had always been something stirring inside of him, drawing him to Geneva like gravity.
Yes, the woman was stunning. Built like a goddess. Long, luscious red hair. Eyes the color of caramel. Perky, beautiful breasts. Curvy hips, enough for him to grip while he buried his cock deep inside of her.
But there was so much more to the woman than her body.
He believed it. Felt it the moment she refused to allow him near her sword, the weapon that held his foresight. And the memories of his late wife.
His mistakes.
Lennox wasn’t there the night Jenexa died. He was gone on a mission he wasn’t meant to take, and when his life was in danger, Jenexa performed a spell that ultimately gave her life for his.
He blamed himself for his wife’s death and although it wasn’t truly his fault, it would haunt him for eternity.
The pain had consumed his soul for hundreds of years.
Then one day, Lennox heard about this woman who could take it all away. Numb the pain that was ruining his life and making it impossible to move on or even be productive in his duty as the Watcher.
Truth was Lennox had lost his vision long before giving his foresight to Geneva.
It became buried in the pain he held. Geneva knew it, too, which is why she knew he could not see through his pain to read the vision of Reanna and Denvar.
Lennox had to find a way to release it, to be rid of the pain for good, but he didn’t know how.
In all reality, Geneva saved his life.
From this day forward, Lennox resolved he would make it his mission to save Geneva’s.
Lennox arrived at Reanna’s building and met the guard at her door, who was storming out with a vengeance.
“Sir.” He stopped in his tracks. “We have a problem.”
“Any idea where she is?” Lennox growled, already knowing the problem. He’d read the lieutenant’s mind the moment he pushed through the door.
“Sorry, sir. She was here last night. The locks were secured. We’d not seen or heard a peep all day, so we went in to check. She’s not in there. She’s gone.”
“How can she be gone? Was this door not watched all night?”
“Jasper and Drennon were here last. Nobody saw her leave.”
“Shit.” Lennox put on his earpiece and spoke into the communicator on his wrist. “Reanna Clifton is missing. Get the word out, scour the Complex. Get on the monitors and search for her. Now.”
Lennox rushed into her living quarters, searching each room, just to be sure. “What about the boy, Denvar?” He called out as he returned to the door.
“We’re sending someone there now to see if he can be located.”
“Contact me as soon as you know something. There’s somewhere I need to go.”
A knot rose to Lennox’s chest.
He’d fucked up again.
Broke the rules.
Had he been on duty as he was supposed to, none of this would have happened.
Instead, he was distracted with a woman he could never have a future with anyway.
What the fuck was I thinking?
Lennox growled as he boarded his flyer and flew back to Geneva’s apartment.
Grave déjà vu washed over him.
Once again, his head was focused somewhere it shouldn’t have been when he was supposed to be protecting an innocent.
“One fucking job,” he mumbled as the flyer raced through the Complex.
Geneva was the last one in touch with the girl, which meant she had the closest connection to Reanna that Lennox knew of.
He’d need that connection to use his sight to find the missing Meta.
Lennox’s gift of sight worked strongest on proximity. He couldn’t just know everything, he had to find some kind of connection to retrieve his visions, and Geneva was the last one to have contact with the girl.
Lennox arrived at Geneva’s living quarters and knocked on her door.
A moment later, Geneva opened her door wearing a transparent white robe with nothing underneath, her stunning body on full display.
For a moment, just the sight of the ravishing red head caught his breath.
“Lexie, love.” She grinned. “Miss me already?”
“I need your help.”
The smile wiped from her face as she moved aside, ushering him in. “What’s going on?”
“Reanna is missing.”
“How can she be missing?” She pursed her lips. “Don’t you have a twenty four-seven watch on the girl?”
“Supposed to, someone’s obviously been slipping. Namely me.” He grumbled. “I need your connection to find her. We need your sword.”
“No way.” She shook her head.
“Geneva.” He narrowed his gaze. “It’s the only way to find her. And perhaps use my foresight to see if anything further has taken place that we don’t know about. That vision was telling, what I saw of it.” He stepped closer to the Cupid. “I need to know what’s happening, so we can stop it. I’m being blocked from my other sight now as well. I have no idea what’s happening.”
Geneva sat on her couch, pulling her knees to her chest. She closed her eyes and took a slow, deep breath.
“I can’t let you do that, Lennox.”
Lennox narrowed his eyes, a growl building up in his chest.
A moment later, his wrist communicator lit up.
“Sir, we have the boy. He’s not seen Miss Clifton either. She’s not on any monitor. We think she’s escaped the Complex.”
“Fuck.” Lennox’s cheeks flushed with anger. “Bring him to Intra North for questioning. I’ll be there shortly.”
Lennox stared at the floor for a moment.
“Listen. I need my foresight, Geneva. You can give me back the pain. I don’t care. This girl’s life is in danger.” He moved across the room and kneeled in front of her. “I realize you’re trying to protect me, and I appreciate that greatly. More than you know, but this isn’t just about me anymore. Please.” He implored, picking up her soft hands. “I need your help.”
“I saw more.” She sighed. “In that vision. I didn’t say anything, because to be honest, I don’t really understand your gift like you do.” She inhaled a slow breath. “I’ve never used it before.”
Lennox stared into her caramel eyes. “You’ve never used it?”
She shook her head.
“Have you used any of the powers you store in that sword?”
Geneva said nothing. Which was more than enough.
“You haven’t. Why do you keep them?”
“Leverage.” She shrugged. “In case.”
Lennox didn’t know if he should be irritated or empathetic. He understood Geneva had an issue with trust, as she should after what that witch did to her.
“I refuse to be at a disadvantage. And the more powers I have, the longer I live. I don’t know if I’m truly immortal or not.”
“So, you don’t really want to die then. Do you?”
The declaration gave Lennox a brief sense of relief.
She exhaled a long breath. “I guess being Cupid makes me a hopeless romantic.”
He stared at her for a moment.
“Listen, Geneva. I promised you I’d find the Curse Catcher. And I meant that. Even if you return my powers to me, I will follow through with my promise. I gave you my word, and that’s sacred to me. You can trust me.”
“This isn’t about trust, Lennox. I know how that pain affected you. You’ve been without it for a very long time. If I gave it ba
ck to you now, it would render you useless. If the girl is really in that much trouble, she needs you right now. More so than you need to see what the future holds. I’m not keeping it from you just for your benefit. It’s for her, too. I am her guardian, you know.”
Geneva was right. And the fact that she was even willing to do this said so much more about her than he’d ever imagined.
“All right then.” He made tiny circles on her hands as he held them. “What do you need from me?”
“Go away. Somewhere outside of here. When they built this, I paid a little extra. To insulate it so others would be isolated from the pain. When Reanna and Denvar were here, I suspect it alerted someone to her whereabouts. I think she may have been kidnapped.”
“Why would you think that?”
“A dream?” She shrugged. “I told you, I’m new to your visions. I didn’t understand them. And I didn’t have that vision until I slept. I thought it was just a dream.”
She stood and stepped up to Lennox. Placing her hands on his cheeks, she closed her eyes and focused on recalling the vision.
A moment later, Lennox was nearly knocked off his feet as all Geneva’s visions, her dreams, flooded into his head followed by a vision of the hybrid girl being pulled from her room by two unknown Metas.
Lennox opened his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Geneva said. “I really didn’t know. Can I help? I think I have residual sight left in me for some reason.”
He nodded. “Get dressed, let’s go to Intra. I’ll speak to Denvar about Reanna, and I’ll see how far the search for the Curse Catcher is coming.”
“You go ahead.” Geneva laid her hands on his cheeks and leaned in, leaving a slow, soft kiss to his lips.
Goose bumps raced across his arms and settled deep within his chest.
Something that never happened to Lennox.
Good gods, what was this woman doing to him?
Lennox held her cheeks, kissing her fiercely. Tenderly. In a way he never imagined he’d care to do again.
Something about the Cupid just made him weak.
As much as he wanted and needed to resist her, he couldn’t.
A tear slipped down Geneva’s cheek, and she stepped back and turned away, quickly wiping the tear away.
“Geneva?” He reached for her shoulder to spin her around, but she held her ground, refusing to look at him.
Something about her reaction left a knot deep in Lennox’s chest. He didn’t know what it was, but he didn’t like it.
“Go ahead, call me if you know something.” She sighed. “There’s something I need to do first.”
Chapter 11
Lennox arrived back at Intra North.
Denvar was sitting in Lennox’s office, pale complexion and visibly trembling, though Lennox didn’t know if it was from fear or anger.
Lennox closed the door and sat across from Denvar.
“Where’s Reanna?” Denvar asked.
“First, there’s something you need to know about her.” Lennox ushered his hand toward the chair across from him. “Have a seat.”
Denvar sat, leaning on his thighs.
“Before I tell you,” Lennox began, “I need to know you’re sworn to secrecy. Under any other condition, I wouldn’t tell you this, but in light of the circumstances, I feel you should know Reanna’s history.”
Denvar sat up straighter, focused on Lennox.
“What do you know of Reanna’s background?” Lennox asked.
“She’s President Clifton’s niece. Our families forbid us to be together once the war began. After they overtook the planets. Nathan and my mother had a bit of a duel over who would run which planet. Once Mother won the presidency for Wreston, our parents wouldn’t let us see each other anymore.”
“Okay, I’m going to tell you something. But you need to keep this to yourself. Can I trust you?” Lennox leaned in, eyes narrowed. “Reanna’s life is at stake.”
The color drained from Denvar’s face once more. “Yes.”
“I came to the Complex for one reason. Frankly, I wanted to retire, but Reanna’s uncle came to me with an offer I could not refuse. The fact is, Reanna didn’t come here by choice. And she’s not Nathan’s niece, she’s his daughter. The result of an affair with an Angel. Something I only recently discovered myself.”
Lennox shook his head, irritated at the whole situation.
Had Clifton been straight with Lennox in the first place, this safety detail would have taken a much stricter course of action. Which is why his omniscience would have been helpful.
“Reanna is here under my protection. Before the Complex, mercenaries made several attempts on her life. Nobody knew who these men were or why they were after Reanna, though I now suspect it has to do with her father’s ties to politics, perhaps even your family. I’ve attempted to contact him since learning of all this, but I’ve been unsuccessful.”
Yet another part of this whole situation that pissed Lennox off.
Secrets.
Being dragged into Human politics was the last thing Lennox wanted, especially now that he knew another war was on the horizon.
“Back before this experiment, Clifton contacted me, asking for my help. So when the Complex was erected, I vowed to keep Reanna safe within the dome while Clifton initiated a manhunt to find and destroy whomever was after the girl.”
Lennox sat back and took a breath. He never wanted to get back into this game, but Clifton had come to him, and Lennox couldn’t refuse the offer he’d made.
Unlimited funds. Unlimited freedom.
Lennox was honestly tired. Ready to give up his duty as Watcher, protector of Ama Seldova... or any other universe, for that matter.
Thousands of years fighting wars he never wanted to fight, Lennox simply wanted to settle down. To breathe.
Perhaps the Humans knew something he didn’t.
For as far back as he could recall, since Jenexa, his existence was all about the job. Money. Duty.
There had to be more.
Balance perhaps.
Geneva gave him hope. A spark of possibility he’d not felt in centuries.
Lennox was ready for something more.
Maybe even more with the Cupid, even if she was a woman he could never really have.
Though considering the feelings he felt growing inside him, he seriously doubted this whole curse in the first place.
This job could give him the payout he needed to be free of the burdens his gifts carried. And maybe free to pursue something real with Geneva.
Sitting across from the distraught young man though, Lennox realized peace and freedom from his own duty would likely never happen.
He would always experience the pull to intervene.
It’s just who Lennox was.
No running from it, but perhaps for once, he wouldn’t have to do it alone.
He was onto something with Geneva.
She could read people’s emotions just as Lennox could read their thoughts.
Perhaps once the experiment was over, the two could even work together.
They could be unstoppable.
Just like he and Jenexa were once.
A knot settled in Lennox’s chest at the thought.
Could he risk it? Geneva may or may not be immortal.
If she wasn’t, Lennox knew it wasn’t a risk he was willing to take.
Yes, Lennox knew what he truly needed was balance in his life. Geneva now gave him that motivation. He’d never had a reason before.
Perhaps the vulnerabilities of spending eternity without love and alone just weren’t worth the real price he paid when he gave up his heartache to the Cupid.
It was a mask. A shield. But in the reality of it all, Lennox needed to embrace who he was. The man he hid deep inside from nearly every being, Meta and Human.
His identity was a secret. To all except one.
Perhaps it was time he relinquish that secret. Show the world who Lennox truly was.
Embrace the Watch
er again, once and for all.
Spending time with Geneva, seeing how hard she tried to hide her true self, made Lennox realize how painful pretending to be someone you’re not was on her.
It kept her distant.
Alone.
Lennox’s secret kept him distant too never truly able to embrace who he really was either.
While Lennox couldn’t keep his identity from everyone, it was safe to tell a select few.
Could even be empowering.
Lennox inhaled, closing his eyes for the briefest of moments, then focused across the room on the future hope for peace of their newly born Ama Seldova.
“Can I trust you, Denvar? Truly trust you with some information.”
Denvar narrowed his eyes. “I just want Reanna safe. And this new world we’ve built. I’ll do anything.”
Lennox nodded.
“Let’s forge a deal then,” Lennox said.
“What kind of deal?” Denvar narrowed his expression.
“Did you see the Cupid’s vision? When you held the sword.”
“Not really. I saw blurry figures, nothing solid. I felt off for a long time afterward though, but no, I didn’t see her vision.”
“Okay, what I’m about to tell you will change everything you’ve ever known. Under the circumstances, I feel it’s necessary to tell you. But it must be kept in the strictest of confidence, do you understand?”
Denvar nodded.
“You’ve heard of the Watcher, yes?”
Denvar narrowed his eyes. “Urban legend. All knowing, omniscient immortal. Right?”
Lennox nodded. “Yes.”
“Of course, we grew up hearing the Meta ghost stories, what about them?”
“It’s not a story.”
“You mean he’s real?”
Lennox nodded. “And he’s sitting across from you.”
Denvar sat straight. “What?”
“I’m the Watcher.”
Denvar’s eyes went wide. “Are you serious?”
“I am. And the whole truth is many years ago, I lost my wife to a senseless tragedy. Geneva, the Cupid took away my heartache in exchange for my foresight. So the other night, she saw a vision. One of war and destruction. If you and Reanna do not unite, another great war will ensue, one that will destroy the entire Seldova system, and every living thing within it.”
