Lucius (Luna Lodge #3)

by Madison Stevens

  “How are you?” She set down the flowers in her hand and gave a hug.

  Kate smiled and Hannah wondered when the last time she smiled was.

  “Clearly better than you,” Kate said. “Sounds to me like man trouble.”

  Hannah sighed and looked over to Titus who was, unsurprisingly, looking anywhere but at her.

  “You mean my baby sitter?” Hannah crossed her arms, just daring Titus to look at her.

  Kate crossed her own arms over her growing tummy.

  “You too?”

  The two women glared at Titus until they had nearly burned a hole through him.

  He sighed and faced them both.

  “Look, I know neither of you is happy,” he said. He paused when Kate snorted loudly and frowned. “But we’re just trying to keep you safe.”

  He sounded so lost when he said it. Like it was the only thing in the world that mattered. It was hard to stay mad at him, and Hannah wasn’t the only one who found herself cracking. Kate stepped forward and pressed her hand to his cheek.

  “We’ll be fine,” she whispered.

  It was such an intimate move that Hannah blushed and turned the other way.

  “Things start to go south, I’m coming to get you,” he said firmly.

  Kate smiled up at him. “I know.”

  Hannah couldn’t help it. The scene warmed her.

  She turned around from her busywork at the table. They watched him as he walked out the door.

  “Good, now that he’s gone, we can all strip down to our panties and have a pillow fight.” Kate winked at her.

  The growl from the hall echoed in the large room.

  “I think your version of baby showers and mine might be a little different.” Hannah grinned and pulled out a chair for Kate.

  Despite only being five months along, Kate looked far more pregnant than anyone Hannah had ever seen. She assumed it was the weight of carrying three babies.

  “Oh, would you stop looking at me like they are going to fall out any time now,” Kate snapped.

  Hannah had to turn to hide the smile that popped up. She was never one to hold back and pregnancy certainly wasn’t going to change that.

  “And don’t think I don’t see you laughing,” she huffed.

  Hannah turned around and placed a cup of punch in front of her.

  “Here,” she said and made a face. “Maybe your blood sugar is low. You’re being very pissy.”

  Kate took a drink from the cup and sighed. “What I wouldn’t give for a glass of wine.” She sighed. Hannah noted that for all the complaining, she rubbed her tummy affectionately as she spoke.

  Hannah sat down next to her and sipped her punch. It was still a little early. The men hadn’t arrived with the other women, and she knew Titus wasn’t far from them.

  “So dish. Titus won’t tell me the good stuff, but I know something is going on.” Kate leaned forward and stared at her eagerly.

  Hannah blushed. She hadn’t really expected to answer questions about herself.

  “Nothing really,” she said shyly.

  “Oh come on!” Kate threw up her hands and leaned back in the chair. “I know something’s going on. Titus had to go out the other night, and all he would say was that you knocked Lucius one. Nice by the way.” She winked at her. “And you two were together and he took you home. Boring.”

  She sighed. What was there to tell?

  “I hate to burst your bubble, but nothing really happened.” Hannah frowned. “We made out a little and that’s it. Next day it was like nothing happened. I’m just so…” She balled up her fist. “If he didn’t already have a broken nose, I’d do the job. Again.”

  Kate stared at her for a moment. Hannah wondered if she thought she was crazy until she started to laugh. Her blond hair shook as she laughed.

  “You know, for a second, I thought you might actually mean to hurt him, but you’re just so damn cute.” She grinned. “It’s like listening to a chipmunk chitter.”

  Hannah frowned. It was not the first time she had been told something like that. She raised her middle finger and stuck out her tongue, which only seemed to make Kate laugh harder.

  “Stop,” she cried. “My bladder can’t take anymore.”

  A squeal of laughter lit up the room, and Hannah turned around to see Erica, Sol and Apollo walking in with the children. Sol handed over giggling little Atticus to her and raced back outside.

  “Don’t forget the bag in the back.” Erica called after him.

  He raised a hand to signal he heard as he raced through the door.

  Hannah grinned at the little guy in her arms. “Well, hi there.”

  Atticus babbled happily back at her.

  Sol and Apollo came back in loaded with various things.

  “Are you moving in?” Kate joked.

  Erica snorted. “You just wait. Any time you leave the house you’re going to need a whole truckload of things.”

  The color drained from Kate’s face, and Hannah reached out to pat her arm.

  “It’s a good thing you’ve got someone you can call who’s already been through this,” she said.

  Erica sat next to Kate with little Cassia in her arms. She sat, watching the adults quietly and Hannah wondered what she thought of it all.

  “All set up,” Sol said from behind Erica.

  She turned to smile at him and handed him Cassia. “Will you put them down?”

  Sol held the little girl in his arms. The two locked eyes, and it was as if on some primal level, they understood each other. Hannah looked down to Atticus who yawned. He was definitely part hybrid but not in the same way. Maybe because she was female, it affected her differently. She kissed the little boy on the head and handed him over to his father.

  “You saw,” Erica said to Hannah and nodded to the babies. “She’s not like him. Her hybrid genes have manifested in different ways.”

  Hannah watched as Sol placed the babies in the portable crib.

  “And what does Rachel say?”

  Sol stiffened at the mention of the doctor.

  “We aren’t mentioning it to her,” Kate said. Hannah turned and found both women staring right at her. “We like Rachel, but she doesn’t always used the best judgment, and there are times when she treats the children like experiments.”

  “Rachel would never harm them,” Hannah said.

  Erica shook her head. “We know that, but with Dr. Fisher…”

  Hannah sat in shock. They didn’t trust her. She had her doubts a few times, but this was just harsh.

  “But she set up this baby shower,” she said in defense.

  Sol came to stand next to Erica, but Apollo was the one to speak. “Which put all the women in one spot.”

  “But if she was going to leave, why wouldn’t she just go with the doctor?” Her head started to spin.

  “Maybe to collect more data,” Sol replied.

  Hannah watched as Erica placed a hand over his.

  “Listen, none of us want to think she would do anything, but we have to be cautious,” Erica said. “The Horatius Group is ruthless.”

  She looked up at the sound of footsteps.

  “They’re here,” Titus said from the door.

  Sol nodded and looked down at her.

  “We need to know we can trust you, Hannah,” he said.

  She sighed. “I don’t like this.”

  Everyone returned her tight stare. Her eyes landed on Apollo, who she felt the most hurt by this. It was not what she would have expected from him. Not when he spent every day with the two of them at lunch.

  He looked away.

  “I won’t say anything. Mainly because it would hurt her if she were to find out,” Hannah said. “I think in the end, you’re all going to feel bad about this.”

  Sol nodded. “I hope that’s the case.”

  Hannah watched quietly as he and Apollo passed by and gave a nod to the woman they had just accused of potentially the worst kind of betrayal. Her eyes came ba
ck to the other women at the table, and she sat stunned. Their accusations had drained away all the fun of the day.

  Both women stared anywhere but at her, and she knew they felt the weight of their guilt. Hannah could only hope it ate at them at night.

  “Sorry I was late,” Rachel said, oblivious to the situation. “Captain Grouch was mad I would only take out one packing in his nose.”

  Lucius frowned from the doorway. Her anger from before ebbed somewhat.

  “How does it feel?” Hannah asked. The question was out before she could even think.

  “It’s fine,” he said and turned away.

  She turned back to the awkward silence and stood. “We’re only waiting on Jenna now,” she said. “Go ahead and have a seat.”

  Right on time, Marius appeared at the door. Hannah jumped up to greet the mousy woman and her escort, before watching as the men took their positions at the doors. She took a deep breath, and let all the crap from earlier go. If they were going to get through this, she was going to need to put on her best party face.

  * * *

  Lucius grunted from his door position. All night long he’d had to watch her fake her way through conversation and wondered what the hell was going on. She worked the floor like any other time, but he knew. There was something off with her.

  Finally, people started to leave. Jenna was the first to go. Apollo volunteered to take her home. He was glad to see the cool communication between Apollo and Hannah. She gave Rachel a big hug at the door. Soon after, Marius ushered her to the car. Lucius moved to stand beside Hannah, uncertain what to even say.

  “I suppose you’re with them,” Hannah said, still watching the car lights in the distance.

  It didn’t dawn on him what she was talking about until Titus spoke.

  “He and Marius were the two opposed to the plan,” Titus said. “But we need to keep her in the dark about a few things until we can be sure she can be trusted.”

  Hannah turned to look at him with surprise. They had talked about the plan but didn’t expect that they would put it into action during the damn baby shower. Wasn’t exactly the right time for that.

  “She’s a pain in the ass and reckless and even crosses the lines,” Lucius said with irritation. “But I think she still knows where the line is, and she’s made no signs that she’s a spy. If she is, she’s the worst spy I’ve ever seen.”

  He smiled a little at Hannah’s grin.

  “It was put to a vote,” Titus said with a sigh. “For now, we just wait and see.”

  “For how long?” Hannah asked. “This could go on for ages.”

  “It’s just a risk we can’t take,” Kate said.

  Erica leaned forward and hugged Hannah. “You’ll understand one day when you have children,” she said.

  “I hope I don’t,” Hannah whispered back.

  Quietly, the others shuffled out of the room and into the night.

  “They are wrong,” Hannah whispered to him as the others drove away.

  Lucius placed an arm around her and pulled her close to his body. “I know.”

  He breathed in deeply for the first time in what felt like ages. Something warm and sweet swept through the side he could smell. It came in odd bursts and confused him. Lucius turned his head and buried it in her hair.

  “Is something wrong?” she whispered.

  Lucius leaned back to look at her.

  “I can smell you,” he said.

  Hannah stared at him for a moment before taking a step back.

  “And what does that mean?”

  They stared at each other for a long moment.

  “I need to clean up this mess.” Hannah turned and walked toward the tables, letting the door shut behind her.

  This whole evening was going from weird to weirder, and she was at her limit with this crap.

  “Maybe you knocked something when you hit me,” Lucius said from behind her. She could hear him taking in deep breaths every now and again. “Maybe I broke it during a training exercise and now it’s fixed.”

  She tried to ignore him as she started to sort through things. There was so much cake. If she had been thinking earlier, she would have made everyone take cake home.

  “Hannah,” Lucius said as she continued to clean.

  “Hmm,” she replied absentmindedly and sliced off a couple pieces of cake. Not like it was going to hurt her at this point.

  Two large hands spun her around.

  “Hannah.” His face was close to hers, and she was startled by his sudden nearness.

  Her hands flipped up and spattered cake on them both. She looked down at her new dress and frowned.

  “I got cake on my new dress,” she said.

  She gasped when he pressed closer, the outline of his hard cock pressed firmly against her thigh.

  “I can take care of that,” he said. His voice rumbled in her ear.

  She brought her eyes to his. All the times she had ached for him to return her feeling, and when he finally did, it seemed like a hollow gesture.

  “I just…” She fumbled with her words as he moved his mouth toward her. For a second she thought about just giving in, but what was the point? It would just be meaningless in the end. She evaded him and slipped out of his reach.

  Lucius frowned at her.

  “What’s the problem?” He stepped toward her.

  Hannah took several steps back until she was on the other side of the table.

  “We just can’t do this,” she said simply.

  Lucius stopped and leaned forward against the table. She watched as his muscles bulged under his t-shirt.

  “I don’t understand.” He frowned. “I thought you liked me.”

  Hannah stepped back and sucked in a couple deep breaths. Nothing about this damn day was going as planned.

  “I do,” she said quietly. She stared at him from across the table and watched him smile with smug satisfaction. “But what does that matter?” The smile slipped from his face. “I don’t want someone who’s happy because they can smell me. Not when they’ve spent this whole time pretty much ignoring everything about me.”

  She sighed and rubbed her fingers on the bridge of her nose.

  “You don’t even know the first thing about me,” she mumbled.

  Hannah jumped, and her eyes popped open at the squeak of the table as Lucius shoved it out of the way and stalked toward her.

  “What the hell are you—”

  “You have one cup of tea every afternoon with loads of sugar and cream,” he said and stepped closer.

  “It tastes good that way,” she said defensively.

  “Every Friday, you let yourself have dessert.” He raised a brow. “Even though you look at them every day.”

  “They smell good,” she said quietly and frowned.

  He stopped in front of her.

  “If there’s a peach for lunch, you’ll get it. Every time.”

  She looked up to him. How had he watched her so closely without her seeing?

  “You don’t let your past stop you,” he said and stepped forward.

  “I think the same could be said for you,” she whispered.

  Lucius leaned forward and pressed his head against hers, their bodies still slightly separated.

  “Hannah,” he groaned.

  She closed the space between them and leaned into him, her mouth hard on his. Never in her life had she been so hungry for another person, to have her arms around him and pull him close to her. She slipped her tongue into his mouth and savored the feel of their mouths moving together. Frenzied, she pulled her tongue out and nipped his bottom lip. Hannah moaned when he pressed her into the wall. Her hips moved and couldn’t help but reply to the thick cock pushing at her.

  Her hands slipped up his biceps as they kissed. She wound her arms around his neck.

  Lucius grunted in irritation and pulled away from her mouth. She gasped when she felt his hot hands on her ass lifting her up against the wall.

  “You and a
ll these damn dresses and skirts,” he grumbled.

  Hannah fidgeted in his hands. “What if someone comes in?” she whispered.

  Lucius grunted. “They’ll leave in a hurry then.”

  “But…” She blushed bright red. “You can’t keep holding me up.”

  Lucius stopped and flashed her a genuine smile.

  “Is that a challenge?” He grinned.

  She swatted at him. “You know what I mean.”

  “Fine,” he sighed. “We’ll get your things and leave.”

  She shivered when he leaned forward and growled in her ear. “A bed would be a good idea.”

  Chapter Ten

  Her nipples tightened as she slid down his chest and stood on her own two feet. Steadying herself against him, Hannah took in several breaths. She could hardly look him in the eye after everything he had just said. It still made her head spin just thinking about it.

  She walked to the table and grabbed the keys to the back room. The faster they got her stuff, the faster they could get to that bed.

  She blushed again when she glanced up to him.

  “I’ll just unlock the door,” she said.

  They walked to the back corner. She frowned. The door was slightly ajar.

  “That’s weird,” she mumbled. “I’m sure I locked it.”

  She placed her hand on the knob but was suddenly knocked to the side by Lucius.

  “Stay down!” he shouted at her as a man lunged through at him.

  A quick flurry of blows followed until Lucius staggered back from a powerful hit. Hannah screamed and scrambled to the side wall as the two fought. She gasped when the man came into view. Man. She didn’t even know if that term still applied. His skin was pale. Nearly gray. Large pieces of skin, although they appeared to be healing, were still split and weeping. She gagged as the smell of rotting flesh hit her nose. The mutated hybrid whipped his head around to her and snapped his teeth at her.

  Back to the wall, she had nowhere to go.