Kyros: #12 (Luna Lodge)

by Madison Stevens

  She let out a long breath. There was just something about this man, and she had to know what it was. Maybe she’d be disappointed, but she sensed she wouldn’t.

  If anything, he was a hybrid, and no one could say they were normal, boring men.

  She hadn’t intentionally stayed late at work for most of the past few days. Well, not totally intentionally. She did actually have work to do, but maybe, on some level, she had been hoping that he might pop by again.

  So when she’d been locking up the school doors for the evening to walk home, and a light clicked on across the way, she was moving before she could even think if it was a good idea. She didn’t want to be disappointed if she missed her chance to talk to him again.

  Cool air swept through the field, and she shivered a little. Despite her casual wear of jeans, sweater, and a coat, the chilly air still nipped.

  Her heart picked up, and she crept across the field toward where she’d spotted the light. Jasmine glanced around, nervous, even though she wasn’t doing anything wrong.

  Well, mostly not wrong. She had a feeling that Colonel Hall wouldn’t be too happy with her wandering around past curfew anywhere other than the school. It’d also raise the awkward question of why she was doing what she was doing.

  She didn’t pull out her phone for light. No reason to make it easy for the soldiers.

  A blocky shape formed in the darkness, and she realized she was closing on a little shed with windows. She paused when she reached the door to the little shed.

  She must have spotted him through the window, though the inside was dark now.

  Unsure what to do, she knocked lightly on the door, glancing over her shoulder to make sure no patrols were near. Maybe Mr. Mystery was hiding out there. Maybe this was where they kept their weapons.

  She paled a little, and her stomach rolled as another idea struck her. Maybe this was where he took his women. Surely a man like that had women.

  No answer came for her knock, but that didn’t ease the worry. The last thing she wanted was to open the door on Mr. Mystery doing the deed, especially if it wasn’t with her.

  Jasmine frowned. That was silly. There was no reason at all she should be jealous. Yet she felt the twinge of it biting her. Maybe it’d only been a conversation and flowers, but she already felt such a strong connection to him.

  She wasn’t sure if she should be more annoyed with him or herself. Irritated by her own childishness, she opened the door to the darkness. She pulled out her phone and hit the light on it.

  Nothing. Well, no one at least.

  Her frown deepened. There was no way he wasn’t there. She had just seen him. Or at least seen somebody there. It wasn’t like he disappeared. For all their abilities, the hybrids weren’t magic.

  Jasmine moved around the small room. It wasn’t all that big. This didn’t seem to be a place for booty calls or secret weapons, mostly boring equipment, things like shovels, rakes, lawn mowers, bricks, and wood, along with empty filing cabinets, chairs, and a few desks. It was more Home Depot and Office Max than Playboy Mansion.

  She yelped when the ground under one of her feet was suddenly gone. Jasmine grabbed a shelf before she fell, only barely stopping herself from slipping into the hole she’d found.

  With a little help from the shelf, she steadied herself and shined the light down.

  “What the hell?” she whispered.

  It was a tunnel. She could clearly make out the path below, and it was obviously man-made despite the crude hole that had been dug to the tunnel.

  Jasmine worried her lip and considered going into the tunnel, even though a big part of her brain screamed at her not to.

  It was a bad idea. Of all the ideas there were in the world, this was likely one of the worst. She was at the point in the horror movie where she shouted at the people to not go in the room.

  Now she realized why those people always went in the room. The lure of curiosity was just too strong.

  She thought it would be hard to make her way down but found grooves where someone else had placed their feet over and over again. When she reached the bottom, she stared up at the hole above her.

  The room seemed far brighter than she remembered it being, but then, it wasn’t underground in a pitch-black tunnel. Only her phone light cut through the darkness.

  Jasmine looked both ways and spotted some sort of light in the distance to the right. With a shaky hand, she moved along the tunnel. Below her feet, she was surprised to see some sort of railed track, along with beams overhead holding back dirt.

  Someone had put a lot of effort into constructing these tunnels. She wondered if it was the hybrids, but some of the wood was rotted, suggesting the tunnels might have been here before the hybrids moved in.

  She breathed in deeply and frowned at the musty smell but still kept moving. She was stupid enough to go into the tunnel, she might as well find her way to the end.

  Slowly, she made her way through the darkness, stumbling from time to time as she went but still managing to keep herself upright.

  She shuddered when a cool breeze drifted past her and breathed in deeply.

  Fresh air.

  The farther she moved, the more light that filled the opening in front of her until she was suddenly outside the tunnel and in the moonlit outdoors. When she’d left the school, she felt like she could barely see anything, but now having left the tunnel, the moonlight almost seemed bright in comparison.

  Jasmine looked around her, not quite sure exactly where she was. It didn’t look as if she were inside the Lodge anymore, but she couldn’t be that far away despite the long walk.

  She wasn’t even sure how long it’d been.

  She turned to stare at the opening. It was very unassuming for such a long tunnel. Likely why it was still in use. No one would ever think anything of an opening like this unless they were standing right in front of it and maybe not even then. Caves weren’t exactly uncommon.

  Movement caught her ear, and she turned. Not far ahead she spotted several shadows creeping along the line of the forest. Her heart picked up. They were definitely not Mr. Mystery.

  She opened her mouth to say something when a large hand clamped over it.

  Her stomach lurched into her throat. Whatever was going on, she had just been caught watching. She didn’t imagine that would go over well. This was the part in the movie where the killer finished off the foolish victim.

  She screamed into the hand, but it was too tight. Only a muffled sound escaped.

  “Turn off your phone,” said a soft rumble coming to her ear.

  Her tension blurred into arousal.

  She knew that voice. It was him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Kyros watched as Jasmine switched off her phone and glanced behind her at him. He slid his hand off her mouth slowly.

  “Keep very quiet,” he said and nodded toward the people in the woods. “They haven’t spotted us, and I don’t know what they’ll if that happens.”

  His gaze wandered down to the small woman standing in front of him, and he struggled to maintain some sort of control. All he’d been able to think about was her for the past few days and then, at the worst possible time, she appeared.

  He couldn’t let his attention drift from the townspeople in the woods, no matter how much the Vestal pulled at him. A slip up, at best, would end up with him being discovered, and it was far more likely blood would be spilled.

  Though the townspeople in the distance wore the same blank expressions of the other night wanderers, their overall movement seemed purposeful. Unlike the ones near where he was hiding, they seemed very active.

  If he had any doubt they weren’t under mind control, their eerie silence only confirmed it. He didn’t buy that these blank-faced people could be walking around at night without so much as a peep.

  He didn’t like it one bit. He’d have almost preferred if they were just assholes from town, rather than not knowing how they would react or how the government had progra
mmed them.

  Even though the hybrids had developed some limited ability to jam the control signal, from what they could tell, the signal technology was only becoming stronger and more refined.

  In silence, Kyros led Jasmine away from the movement so they could watch from a little farther out. When they had stopped, Jasmine turned to him. Confusion mixed with fear in her eyes.

  “Who are they?” she asked quietly, now sounding more curious than anything.

  Kyros pulled her closer to him as one of the people passed nearby. “Townspeople,” he said near her ear.

  He felt her shiver, and it sparked the beast in him. Kyros fought to keep himself in check. She might just be shivering from the cool night air, but his lower half didn’t really care about the reason.

  Jasmine peered into the darkness, and he wondered just how much she could even see out there.

  “What’s wrong with them? I mean, something looks wrong. I don’t know, their faces, I guess.”

  What to tell? He didn’t suppose there was much harm in telling her what the hybrids knew. She’d already seen them, and it’d be better for him to keep her from stumbling over to the military to ask them.

  “They’re being mind controlled,” he said.

  Jasmine turned and gave him a funny look. He could easily see the skepticism in her face. “Mind control? That’s like something out of a movie.”

  “Kind of like genetically engineered super-soldiers?”

  She blinked. “Okay…”

  “The source is the government, maybe the military, but we’re not so sure this latest batch is being controlled by the government or the military.”

  She stayed quiet for a moment, and he almost wondered if that was worse. Jasmine had taken everything far better than he could have ever expected. Almost too well.

  It wasn’t like he wanted her to be running around screaming, but he was fairly sure there was a line on how calm a person could be in such an odd situation. Hell, he was a hybrid, and even found it odd.

  When she shivered again, Kyros placed a hand on her shoulder and realized she wasn’t shivering from the cold but shaking from fright. His hand slid across her back as he pulled her close to his body.

  “You’re with me,” he said. “And no matter what happens, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

  It shouldn’t have made her feel better, being held alone in the dark with a stranger, especially with his strange stories of mind control. Yet it did.

  Just having his warm firm chest pressed against her made her feel like things really would be fine. That danger wasn’t closing in on her.

  Mind control. She didn’t want to believe it. Everything in her said that it was a bunch of shit, but deep down she knew it must be true. The way they moved around just wasn’t natural.

  And he was right. Ever since the hybrids had been revealed to the world, the border between unbelievable and unexpected had thinned.

  “Let’s get back in the tunnel,” he said quietly.

  Jasmine nodded. Whatever the truth of what was going on, she certainly didn’t want to hang around the shuffling, eerily quiet townspeople.

  He slid his hand from around her shoulder to the small of her back and guided her back to the opening. The people continued to move around the woods, not ever paying any attention to her and Mr. Mystery or saying anything.

  They stepped inside the tunnel opening, and he pulled out a small flashlight. Not saying anything else, he grabbed her hand and led her farther in.

  Despite the darkness, he kept a decent pace, not troubled by any hidden snags or nooks despite the modest light from the flashlight.

  Her eyes adjusted to the light as he helped her through the tunnel. She wondered how good his night vision was. Titus had made it clear that hybrid hearing was super-human, so it’d only make sense hybrid vision was just as good.

  They traveled for several minutes before she broke the silence.

  “I’m going to take a guess that Colonel Hall doesn’t know this tunnel exists,” she said.

  Mr. Mystery glanced over to her. “No.”

  She nodded. Not surprised but glad to know he didn’t mind her knowing.

  “And I’m guessing that you’re not supposed to be out and about,” she said, gesturing with her hand, “without their permission.”

  He paused for a moment. His hand at her back slipped away. The absence disappointed her.

  “I’m here to help my people,” he said. “Even if it involves not obeying all of the military’s rules.”

  She nodded. She’d guessed as much. It made the most sense for them to only trust their own people, especially since the military wasn’t there for the hybrids’ best interests, despite what they might say.

  She frowned, remembering Titus mentioning soldiers helping the Horatius Group in the past. Even if they were renegades, it also made sense that the hybrids wouldn’t trust the government and the military. She wouldn’t in their situation.

  “And is this what you were doing when you needed to hide in my school?” she asked.

  His beautiful eyes flared up to a bright yellow. Her heart kicked up.

  “I had to see you.” He grunted and turned away. “I just had to.”

  Now she was genuinely intrigued. “See me?” she squeaked.

  His gaze fixed on her, and he moved toward her slowly. “I knew I should have gone another way, but I couldn’t resist.”

  She gave a nervous laugh as she took a step back. “Couldn’t resist me?”

  Never in her life had she heard a pickup line like that, and she could have kicked herself that she was falling for it.

  Sure, the guy delivering it was like a dream come to life, but he was throwing lines at her after they’d had to escape from mind-controlled people. Odd barely began to cover it.

  He moved closer until she’d backed up to the wall behind her. Mr. Mystery placed his hand against the wall above her head and took in a deep breath. His eyes closed as he did so. It was almost like he was savoring her smell.

  The odd gesture only turned her on in a way she never expected. When he opened his eyes, she could make out everything around them from the bright glow.

  “You’re scent calls to me,” he said softly. “I’ve done nothing but think of you since that night.”

  Jasmine swallowed hard. She’d done nothing but think of him as well. She wouldn’t remotely pretend she hadn’t.

  She licked her lips and could see his eyes following the motion. The sexual tension crackled between them. The last thoughts of the danger from before disappeared.

  “I liked the flowers,” she said. “They were very sweet.” His gaze came back to her. “I was hoping I might see you—”

  His mouth closed over hers, and she sighed against him, not even bothering to try and stop whatever the hell this was. All she knew was how much she wanted him, and never in her life had she felt like this before.

  She wasn’t sure whether it was love or lust at first sight, but either way, she liked how it felt.

  Jasmine groaned against his mouth and wound one hand through his hair as the other rested against his chest.

  His muscles rippled under her touch, and she shivered at the thought of feeling him uninhibited. Such power.

  He slanted his mouth over hers and slid his tongue against the seam of her lips seeking entrance. Without thought she opened to him.

  His warm tongue invaded her mouth, swirling and twining with her own.

  Jasmine felt her center grow warm and slick at the hot kiss. More of her wanted things to progress. To feed the ache that had grown deep inside her.

  As if sensing her need, he pressed in. His thick, hard erection pressed against her.

  Jasmine nearly choked at the size of him.

  Holy shit, he was no kidding around big. Like bigger than anyone she’d ever been with by double. She didn’t even know they came in this size outside of porn.

  He pressed in, and she moaned loudly against him, still surpris
ed by his size but totally willing to try.

  Suddenly, he pulled away panting. She stared at him for a moment, in shock at the sudden aloneness that she felt.

  “I think,” he panted. “I should get us out of here.”

  Jasmine frowned and opened her mouth to say something but stopped when he held up a hand.

  “Those people might come back through here,” he said, “and I don’t want us to be here when that happens.”

  It was a reasonable explanation, but it still annoyed her.

  Without another word, he moved down the tunnel, and Jasmine followed. It wasn’t until they were standing under the hole at the shed that she even felt like saying something.

  “Thanks for helping me get back,” she said and cringed.

  He stared at her for a moment before nodding. With ease, he lifted her up until she was back inside the shed. Jasmine looked down at him through the hole.

  “Well, you can at least tell me your name,” she said and grinned at him.

  A small smiled played on his face. “Goodnight, Jasmine.”

  She frowned as he continued moving in the opposite direction from where they had just come. The tunnels were even more extensive than she realized.

  She sighed as she thought over what she had learned. Not Mr. Mystery’s name. That was for sure. But she did learn there were crazy mind-controlled townspeople wandering the forest for who knew what reason. She also learned that Mr. Mystery was a hell of a kisser and obviously didn’t want her to know his name.

  For a first date, it didn’t even come close to her bottom so that was a plus.

  Chapter Twelve

  The whole next day, Jasmine kept waiting for Colonel Hall to come busting through the school doors to take her away and throw her in a military jail. She could picture the soldiers surrounding her, their rifles ready, the order to arrest her being barked out.

  Perhaps it was a bit over-the-top, but she had never really been one to break the rules, and now she certainly was in so many ways. It was messing with her in ways she hadn’t expected, but she still didn’t regret her actions.