The townspeople. They had been a thorn in their side since day one, but the recent issues had been troubling to say the least.
Idiot protestors they could handle. If only the people in town had remained nothing more than that.
The hybrids knew that mind control was something the government had been toying with. It was hard to not think the Horatius Group was involved given the impressive technology required.
They’d seen instances of the mind control all over, but lately what they’d witnessed from the town was a whole new ballgame. They weren’t trying to control the hybrids, but the thousands of people around them.
Many with Vestal mates worried that their women would be the next on the list, given they’d already encountered one incident of a Vestal being mind controlled. It didn’t help that things seemed to be escalating.
Recently, armed mind-controlled men from the town had climbed over the Lodge walls with the apparent intent to shoot hybrids. They’d almost shot a Vestal. Kyros had also spotted them wandering the woods at night near the compound recently.
“Their movements are still pretty predictable,” he said. “Like they are just tracing a pattern in their head of where to walk, but they seem aware enough not to trip over things in their way. I mean, even if you armed the entire town and gave them guns, they wouldn’t really be able to put up a good fight. Not exactly soldiers. I don’t think they can pull off an actual stealthy infiltration without another near riot like last time.”
“We can handle a few,” Sol said. “That’s not what I’m worried about. But they’re out in the woods for a reason.” He grunted. “I just wish we knew why they came out at night in the woods. None of it makes a damn bit of sense.” He frowned. “We need to be ahead of our enemies and not just reacting.”
Kyros shrugged. “I should get going.” He shoved another cookie in his mouth. He was going to have to be going if he wanted to get through the tunnel system and not be seen. He stood and Sol followed.
“The minute they come back, you let us know,” Sol said.
Kyros nodded. “Will do,” he said. “I hear you’re under curfew here.”
Sol gave a sharp nod. “They’re going to be watching us very closely.”
They grew silent for a moment, each understanding the implication of what that meant.
Kyros quietly flipped the rug back in the home and opened the trapdoor to the tunnel below. With one jump, he landed softly on the ground.
“Stay safe,” Sol said.
He nodded up at the other man. “And you as well.”
The door closed overhead, and he moved quickly through the underground passage. He didn’t have much time before the guards came around. If he didn’t hurry, he could be stuck in there for another twenty minutes.
He made it through the tunnel with ease and took a deep breath of fresh air outside. The sun beamed down on him, and he squinted at the bright light. It was so stuffy in there, and the lack of light only made him glad he didn’t have to spend his days stuck in there.
Something moved in the distance, and he stepped behind a tree for cover.
A shiny black car made its way down the road, its windows down. He watched as it grew closer, and despite the part that told him to hide, he kept watching, almost as if being drawn to it for some reason.
Kyros took in a deep breath. The scent, even if faint and at a distance, was instantly recognizable. The sweet elixir tugged at him, and probably only wasn’t overwhelming because she was far away and moving so fast.
It was obvious who was in the car.
“Fuck,” he grunted. The new teacher was his Vestal.
Chapter Three
Jasmine frowned at the forest to the right of the car. For a moment, she’d been certain a man was standing there. Not just any man either, an exceptionally hot one.
She laughed. How had she even come up with that? If she’d seen anyone, he would have been there for a second or two, and she was looking at him from a distance in a moving car. Yet somehow she knew he was hot.
She shook her head. This was the last thing she needed. To be inventing hot guys. Sure, it had been a while since she’d seen any action. About two years to be exact, and even longer if she counted only from the time that she actually got her cookies as well.
A loud sigh escaped her.
Yup. Nothing like a sex-starved teacher. She might as well resign herself to getting a cat or twelve and enjoying her lack of a love life.
She let out a little chuckle. Now she was sounding like her mother. It had been one of the biggest reasons her mother had been so supportive of her move to Luna Lodge.
Her mother hoped she’d meet some nice guy and maybe enjoy life a little. There was a part of her who wanted to pretend that when her mother said to enjoy life, she was talking about dates, but she was more than certain she meant the big S-E-X.
Just thinking that word and her mother in the same sentence made her shiver a little and wonder if those thoughts were the reason for her celibacy.
Well, that and asshole exes.
The reasons didn’t matter in the end. She sighed. She was starting a new life, and maybe she’d get lucky and start a new love life as well, but she wasn’t going to hold her breath. The best thing she could do was concentrate on her job and get her bearings in life again.
All those thoughts disappeared as she reached the gate. She spotted people protesting. That didn’t cause her much concern, but the various soldiers holding rifles and frowning intimidated her.
A very stern-faced soldier walked over to her window and gestured for her to roll it down after slinging his rifle over his shoulder. She complied.
“License and purpose,” he said.
Jasmine dug in her purse for a moment before finding her license. Having such a scary guy looming over her only added to the nerves that were already there.
“I’m here to see Titus,” she squeaked out. “He’s expecting me. I’m the new teacher.”
The man glanced between her and the license before stepping away and speaking into a walky-talky on his shoulder. After a moment, he came back and handed her the license.
“Go right through,” he said. “You’ll be directed to the right building. Wait there to be escorted to the office.”
She nodded and rolled the window back up. The large gate opened, and the crowd surged forward, but several shouts from the almost as agitated soldiers had them stepping back a bit.
Slowly she drove through the gate and followed the path the soldier had pointed to. In her rearview mirror, she saw the giant gate close, and she felt the finality of it as it did.
Jasmine parked in an open spot and was relieved when a woman came to stand behind the car. The woman was dressed in a skirt and a nice blouse, more business casual than uniform. For some reason, after seeing the normal soldiers at the gate, and after hearing about how the hybrids had originally been trained to be soldiers, she half-expected to see nothing but people in uniforms around.
She got out of her car and smiled at the woman. “Hello, I’m Jasmine.”
The other woman gave her a warm smile. “Ava,” she said and nodded toward the door. “Sorry for all the trouble. Titus is in his office.”
She nodded and followed her inside and out of the bitter wind.
Beautiful didn’t fully describe the other woman. Her light brown hair flowed down her back and was streaked with highlights of blonde. Her skin was sun kissed, and Jasmine wondered just how she did that with the cold weather.
Suddenly she was feeling more drab than normal in her sweater dress and leggings. She’d gone for comfort over hotness.
They stepped through a waiting room and into a large office. Inside, she found Titus sitting at a desk. Although they had only spoken on the phone, she could have picked him out of a crowd. With his huge size, tanned skin, and black hair, he’d become the face of the hybrids, the one shown on every news station and web site across the globe, even before the truth of the hybrids had been revealed.
He stood and gestured to a chair across from his desk. “Ms. Moore, please have a seat.”
She smiled warmly at him as she sat in the chair. “Jasmine, please.”
He nodded and sat back down. “We’re so glad to have you with us,” he said. “We have enough young hybrids here that we’ve needed this for a while, and we can no longer continue the way we have.”
“I’m glad I can help out.”
They weren’t just empty words. This was a unique educational opportunity, after all. From what little she understood about the hybrids’ life when they were still prisoners of the Horatius Group, education wasn’t high on their creators’ priority list.
He nodded. “I’ll have Ava take you over to where you’ll be staying for now and then the school.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing the classroom. I’ve never had such a small class before. A dozen students, I believe you’ve said?”
He nodded, and she couldn’t hold back the smile. Even at the prep school, they had packed the students in. The more the better. With so few, she would be able to actually make a difference with the children and help catch them up to a world that was so much more than those monsters at the Group had let them know.
Titus stared at her. “Now before you get started, I wanted to make sure you understand that these are hybrid boys. Their natural aggression runs high, and they can be quite the handful. The Horatius Group…” His face twitched for a moment. “Their methods of instruction were not based on the idea of mutual respect. This is an experiment that I hope turns out well, but you shouldn’t expect an easy to manage class used to conventional human education techniques.”
Before she could even stop herself, Jasmine snorted loudly.
Titus furrowed his brow, but didn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her cheeks heating. “I’m coming from a class of thirty-two. And let me assure you that entitled children of politicians and wealthy businesspeople are no walk in the park. I’m ready for whatever these boys might throw my way. I’ve never been one to shirk from hard work.”
He raised his brows, and for a moment, she worried she might have offended him until a broad smile broke out on his face.
“I think you’re going to fit in just fine around here,” he said. “Maybe you’ll be the one giving them a run for their money.”
He winked, and she tried to remind herself that he was a married man.
“Ma’am,” Ava said from out in the waiting room. “He’s in with someone right now.”
The door opened, and Jasmine could see the irritation written all over the pretty woman’s face.
“Colonel Hall would like to have a word with you,” Ava said.
A military woman in a fancy decorated uniform stood just behind her. There was a smile on her face, but she could see a stern look in her eyes and knew that the woman meant business.
“I’m sorry for the interruption, but there are some discrepancies in this personnel list you’ve given me,” the colonel said.
Titus smiled slightly, but Jasmine could sense the tension.
“I’m in the middle of discussing something with our new teacher,” he said, his voice cool.
The woman nodded. “I apologize, but I think that can wait. I need all personnel accounted for right now. I don’t want to have to send up a report that suggests we don’t have the situation in hand. It’d just make things uncomfortable for everyone.”
Jasmine watched in silence.
“Okay, then.” Titus cleared his throat. “I’m afraid you’ve probably got an old list.” He stood and smiled again, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “During the Horatius Group invasion aided by soldiers in your military, we lost a few men. If you’ll allow me to just finish up here, I’d be happy to go over the list.”
A faint frown appeared on Colonel Hall’s face, and she nodded once.
Invasion? Jasmine had heard about an incident on the news, but she didn’t realize it was that serious. Though she supposed it made sense that the government and the hybrids kept such information from being broadcast all over the world.
It didn’t matter. This really didn’t have anything to do with her. She was there to teach, not worry about military and hybrid leadership politics. Jasmine quickly rose. The last thing she wanted to do was cause trouble on her first day.
“It was a pleasure meeting you,” she said and held out a hand to Titus.
He took it and offered an apologetic smile. “Ava will show you around, and if there’s anything you need,” he said warmly, “please come see me. My door is always open.”
She nodded and made her way to the door where the colonel now eyed her with interest.
“This the new teacher?” she asked, apparently not really expecting an answer. “I’ll send someone to gather some information from you soon enough.”
Jasmine held back from the frown that wanted to come, but nothing about the woman’s tone made it seem like it would be a good visit.
“Let’s go get you settled,” Ava said and gave a little pull on her arm.
Jasmine went willingly, ready to see where she would live and teach.
Really, she didn’t care as long as she ended up pretty much anywhere but there.
Chapter Four
As Jasmine pulled out a few books from one of her boxes, she reflected on how the house resembled the sorority house Jasmine’s friend had lived in during college, with a shared kitchen and living room but each person having their own bedroom. It was a pretty enough place. The general decoration was better than anything she could have done.
Though it seemed with the current situation, she wouldn’t have much in the way of roommates, as all the other women working at Luna Lodge for the moment were married. Not that she would mind a roommate for a little while. Still, a little privacy didn’t hurt either.
By the time they had arrived, she had decided that she liked Ava. In that short time, she’d learned that the pretty woman was married to a hybrid and that her sister was also living at Luna Lodge, also married to a hybrid.
It was just interesting. Ava was so willing to chat, with no pretense. The beautiful woman was married to a genetically engineered super-soldier, but she came off as a pleasant person you might just meet in a normal neighborhood.
She seemed happy and glad to be there, which only made Jasmine glad to be there. Although she was eager to take the job because of the unique opportunity it represented, she was all too keenly aware that an unpleasant work environment could make the days seem long.
Jasmine had never really made many friends at the prep school. The teachers all seemed so full of themselves, and the parents were worse.
It was nice to think she might be able to have other people to chat with about random things from the day, and that those people wouldn’t be so obsessed with social status and wealth or kissing the ass of those who had those things.
It was the one thing she missed about having a relationship. There was always someone there to share things with, even if it was just the simple joy of a new song.
Despite multiple offers to stay, Jasmine waved off the help. She could tell Ava was anxious to get back to Titus. The colonel who had come in hadn’t been happy, and that likely wouldn’t improve for no reason.
It was better her new friend deal with the trouble than worry about her. Settling into her new place was something she’d rather handle on her own, anyway.
Since most of her things were still being shipped out and wouldn’t be in for about a week, it didn’t take that long for her to unpack the important things she had brought. She had enough outfits to see her through for now. She still had tons of books to unload, but that could all wait. She was anxious to get to the school and start setting things up.
Ava had pointed out the school on their way over. It was a bit farther out than some of the other places, but she thought it was nicely situated. Just far enough out that the children wouldn't be easily dist
racted by all the movement the military had brought with them.
She could take care of the rest of her unpacking later. It was time to see her new classroom.
* * *
Jasmine pulled the car out front of the school building and reached into her purse. A cold metal key pressed into her palm. The whole building was hers to do with as she wished. Excitement bubbled inside her as she stepped out of the car and unlocked the door.
After a quick survey, she decided that she liked the feel of the place overall. It reminded her of an old-fashioned frontier school house. Only it was also equipped with all the modern conveniences like running water and bathrooms.
She noticed she had her own private bathroom attached to an office in the back of the classroom. It was a nice touch since she would be the only female there.
The main classroom was a nice-sized room considering how few students she had. She thought the space was a bit wasted, but maybe they had plans to add more students.
She furrowed her brow as she thought about that. She honestly didn’t really know much about the children of the hybrids. From what Titus had told her before, the students she would be teaching had just been the youngest when the hybrids were freed from the Horatius Group.
Box by box, she brought in all the supplies she’d been able to bring with her. Mostly motivational and educational posters and signs that she’d managed to pick up over the past few years. With much deliberation, she tacked the posters and signs to the walls and smiled at her handy work. It was starting to look like more than just a room now.
“So I guess you’re the new teacher.”
She jumped slightly. Things had been so quiet in her time in the building. She never expected to hear another voice.
Jasmine turned around quickly and found about six boys of various ages standing near the door watching her.
“And I guess you must be my new students,” she said and smiled at them.
Kyros: #12 (Luna Lodge) Page 2
