Leah snorted.
It was like a two for one. She got half way with the sexy hybrid, and her friend had managed another real smile. It wasn’t a home run, but she’d take it.
Chapter Seven
The hidden mine was too small today as he paced around, even if it’d proven useful as a hideout and link to the tunnels underneath the Lodge. It let the hybrids enter and exit without attracting the interest of the military.
It didn’t help, though, that the tunnels had obviously never been designed for tall humans, let alone hybrids.
Lucan walked over and kicked a creaky bedframe with an old mattress on top, his bed. It’d been so long since his fake death had been reported, he’d long stopped thinking about the bed as temporary.
He muttered and shook his head. He hadn’t gotten a bit of sleep last night. All he could think about was Jamie’s sweet mouth on him and how fucking good it felt.
Hell, just thinking about it again made him want to take another cold shower.
He imagined being interrupted had left them both frustrated, and his cock already was clamoring for a full night with his Vestal.
Even though he’d come, that wasn’t good enough. He wanted to plant himself inside Jamie and hear her moan his name as he entered her again and again.
Lucan sucked in a breath. This was why he’d been trying to avoid Jamie. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his mission if his thoughts were constantly filled with his Vestal. He could only imagine that it’d be ten times worse once he actually fucked her.
A loud knock came at the front door, but he knew who it was before he even opened it.
Nikon stepped into the front room, which served as some sort of dining room when the mine had been in operation years before. He carried two large boxes.
He slammed the heavy load on the old wooden table in the center of the room, and then took a seat.
Nikon looked like hell, but Lucan expected that. His eyes were hollow but still better than he had looked the week before. The hybrid was resilient despite having lost his twin in the bombing. Lucan wasn’t so sure he’d be as put together in the same situation.
“Cato got some of the military personnel to run a check on the name you found,” Nikon said. “That A. J. Kinkaid.”
“And?” Lucan took a seat as well.
Nikon shook his head. “There’s no mention of him in the government files. At least none that Colonel Hall’s people have easy access to.”
Lucan sighed. He had been certain that the name was familiar and would lead them to the Group, or at least some sort of enemy they could strike.
He was just so damn tired of always being three steps behind their foes.
Lucan nodded to the boxes on the table. “What’s that, then?”
“Cato thought we might find something if we searched all the files we were able to get from one of the Horatius Group facility raids. It’s a long shot, but right now, we really don’t have much to go, and staking out the mail box wouldn’t be effective. If anything, people would eventually realize it was a hybrid watching and freak out.”
Lucan sighed. Staking out the mail box had been what he was thinking of doing. It sounded like tedious work, but it was better than sitting on his ass all day, especially when the name and the post office box were the first decent clues they’d gathered in weeks.
He looked at the boxes as Nikon pulled a lid off.
Well, if Lucan was willing to sit around on his ass anyway, it was worth looking through the files. The name was familiar, and there was more than a good chance it was from the dark part of his life that he didn’t want to remember.
Like the others at Luna Lodge, he’d grown up imprisoned by the Horatius Group, thought of as an interesting experiment at best, but more typically treated like a disposable tool. It was only luck that had resulted in the hybrids gaining their freedom, and he’d do everything he could to make sure they didn’t have to go back to that.
“Fuck it,” Lucan grumbled. “Let’s get this over with.”
* * *
Jamie usually loved her days off. They were a time to catch up on much needed sleep, get laundry done, and maybe give herself a little spa time. Well, or at least take a file to her nails.
Today, however, was not shaping up to be that way.
All the ice cream the night before didn’t help with the frustration she was experiencing. Instead, it only made her want more. Even helping herself out in the shower that morning hadn’t even come close to scratching the itch she was feeling.
Jamie didn’t blame Leah for showing up when she did, but she also wished that Leah could have just maybe shown up thirty minutes later, or not at all.
Worst of all, Jamie had a feeling the only one who could satisfy her at this point was the one guy who had high tailed it out of Dodge after she’d finished blowing him.
She licked her lips again as she folded the towel in her hands.
Lucan’s taste had stayed with her. More than anything now, she wanted to have his thick cock inside of her, but now she wondered if he’d actually bother to call her.
A small knock came at the door, and Jamie pressed her fingers to her cheeks to cool the flush that had suddenly appeared.
The damn hybrid had her flustered all the time now.
Jamie opened the door and was surprised to find Leah standing there, hair pulled back in a pony tail and looking more refreshed than she’d seen her in the past week.
That was a good sign at least.
“You have the day off, right?” Leah asked, checking the room.
Jamie held the door open wider. “He’s not here… unfortunately,” she mumbled.
Leah nodded and stepped into the living area. “I just thought we could take a jog and maybe get a coffee by the water.”
Now this behavior was a big surprise. Not only was she a little perkier, but she actually wanted to go out.
Jamie dropped the towel into the basket. “Give me two minutes, and I’ll be ready to go.”
Her own situation didn’t matter. This was the first time since the incident that Leah seemed like her old self. No way in hell Jamie was wasting that sort of positive energy.
She tossed on a black sports bra, black tank with a sassy "Run Like A Girl’ on the front, and some sneakers.
Her hair was just long enough to pull back in a tiny pony tail. She didn’t put on any makeup, but her face was clean, and that was all that mattered.
“Let’s do this,” Jamie said, and grinned.
Leah smiled, and they both headed out.
* * *
They jogged for about forty minutes before reaching the sidewalk that led to a lakefront park.
Jamie breathed in deeply and sighed. She loved this spot. The other day she’d stumbled on it and told Leah all about the spot. At the time, she didn’t expect her to even make it there.
She turned and smiled at her friend as she grabbed two cold lattes from a nearby coffee stand. The irony of the calorie burn for the calorie intake wasn’t lost on Jamie.
“You look good today,” she said to Leah.
Her friend nodded but continued to stare out into the water as they made their way along the shoreline.
“You’re different,” Leah said finally.
Jamie frowned. “I’m not—”
“You are.” She sighed and sat on the bench in the shade. “I could see it last night.”
Jamie was starting to worry she’d triggered something with her display the previous night. It hadn’t really occurred to her that Leah was being quiet about this sort of thing when they hung out, but mostly they’d been watching movies.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” Jamie began.
Leah held up a hand. “You’re stronger than I am,” she said softly. “And I think that’s a good thing, so I’m going to try to be more like you from now on.”
With that, Leah hopped off the bench. “Let’s just walk back.” She smiled.
Jamie stood and followed her frie
nd. She was stunned by her words. Never once had she thought that way. She was just doing what she needed to do. That’s what she did.
Her friend’s words surprised her so much that she didn’t notice the woman behind her until a firm grip pinched her arm.
“Hybrid slut,” the woman hissed.
“What?” Jamie said.
At first she couldn’t quite process what the woman had said. The pain spreading from the woman’s tight grip was distracting.
“You let him touch you with his filthy body.”
Jamie tried to twist out of the grip, but the other woman seemed determined to keep her in place. Her gaze found the woman. She gasped.
She’d seen those eyes before. Seen that stare. It was the same dead stare Jamie had seen the night of the bombing. Mind control.
It’d been hard to accept, but she’d seen it, and the hybrids explained about what had really happened that night. Ignoring the truth would just get her and Leah killed.
Jamie glanced over at Leah who looked to be on the verge of totally breaking down.
There was no one there they could shout to for help. She swallowed. She’d have to handle this the direct way.
Jamie punched the woman hard in the throat. The other woman’s hand lost hold of her arm, and Jamie grabbed Leah’s hand.
“Run!”
She wasn’t even sure where they were running to, but anywhere else was fine by her.
They turned several times before a crowded Mexican restaurant came into view.
Jamie pulled her friend through the doors and watched through the tinted windows as the woman passed by, glancing around as if searching for them.
Leah shook next to her.
“She’s gone,” Jamie whispered.
A server approached them in the lobby. “Table for two?”
Jamie nodded. Leah stared at her in disbelief but followed her lead.
They made their way to a booth in the back. Once they were seated and alone, she pulled out her phone.
“She was being controlled like the others,” she said. “We can’t call the police. They wouldn’t understand.” She shook her head. “And they might be controlled, too.”
“Wendy?”
Jamie nodded. She hated to bother her friend who was dealing with the mess they had left behind, but it seemed like the mess had followed them.
Chapter Eight
Lucan and Nikon had been reading for hours. It sickened Lucan to have to go through pile after pile of papers describing all the vile things that had been done to their brothers.
It almost would have been better if they’d been filled with emotional observations. Instead, the notes carefully detailed horrific experiments and murders with the cold detachment of a bored psychopath.
Subjects subjected to performance parameter evaluations.
Failed stock requiring more efficient disposal.
Gestational failures in high percentage of experimental subjects.
The files provided not even a hint of humanity from the Horatius Group. It almost made Lucan want to laugh.
Humans complained about hybrids being the abominations, but the hybrids had done nothing as evil as the humans of the Group.
No matter how much he tried not to think about those days, they existed and lingered inside him. He might be free of the Group, but his heart would never truly be free. It was like some sort of infection he’d never be able to get past.
Lucan slammed down the latest report. His stomach churned as he mulled over what he’d just read.
Loss of mature stock has been minimal during the evaluations. Despite worries of elevated risk of permanent neuromuscular trauma from the experimental protocol, we have found that the nervous-stimulation protocol outlined in section A1 can produce the requisite pain response without any permanent trauma. Additional testing will be necessary to determine if the subjects will respond to localized tissue insult in conjunction with pain response in the same manner.
Recommend minimal reuse of stock during the experimental sequence to minimize intrinsic sample bias.
He didn’t understand all the jargon, but he understood enough. They were testing their pain tolerance over and over. Seeing if the super-soldiers they were making could one day be stabbed, shot, or hit without even noticing.
“Sick fucking bastards,” Lucan mumbled.
His fists clenched as he tried to keep down the contents of his stomach. If he could catch these bastards, he’d rip them limb from limb.
He didn’t care what sort of monster that made him. It was still nothing in comparison to these people. They needed to suffer for what they’d inflicted on the hybrids.
Nikon slapped a file in front of Lucan and pointed to it. “That’s it!”
“Huh?”
Lucan picked up the file and skimmed over the text. It wasn’t that different than the kinds of things he’d been reading about.
In this case, it was mostly horrible experiments having to do with endurance. The Group was, as always, thorough in testing everything from fighting to running to even sex. They would make the hybrids go for hours, sometimes days, breaking their will as they did so and forcing them do unspeakable things once their will was broken.
At the end of the paper, he found a signature from the lead researcher.
A.J. Kinkaid.
Lucan looked up to Nikon, stunned.
“This is the bastard we’re looking for?” Lucan growled.
Nikon leaned back. “Hard to believe he’s still hanging around, doing the same types of things. That’s one sick motherfucker.”
Lucan stared down at the scrawled signature in the paper. He was going to get the fuck if it was the last thing he did. A.J. Kinkaid was going to pay for all the hybrids he tortured.
His phone rang, pulling him back to the here and now.
Lucan pulled it out. “Yeah.”
“I need you to do something,” Cato said, his words rushed. “Jamie and Leah were chased by some woman. She seemed to have spotted you two together.”
He took a deep breath, his heart pounding over the idea Jamie had been threatened.
“Another fanatic?”
Nikon frowned at his words.
“Jamie said the woman was like the mind-controlled people we’ve seen before,” Cato said. “That she had the same vacant look. It might be nothing, but I think you should check it out. They are at a Mexican restaurant. I’ll send the address.”
Lucan nodded. “Got it.”
He hung up the phone and headed to the door. When Nikon followed him, he stopped.
“I suppose you heard,” Lucan said.
There was no reason to suspect the other hybrid couldn’t have easily heard both sides of the conversation with his enhanced hearing.
Nikon lifted his chin. “I’m coming.”
He grunted. There wasn’t much to be done. Leah was his brother’s intended Vestal.
Normally, a Vestal was destined for one hybrid, but being twins provided an exception. The connection Nikon shared with the woman was likely just as strong as his brother’s. Complicated wasn’t even the half of it.
“You take the car,” Lucan said. “I’m on my bike.”
Once outside, he quickly made his way over to his motorcycle.
He climbed on the bike and pulled up the map on his phone. The area was full of shoppers that time of day.
An open attack using a mind-controlled person was sloppy and obvious. The potential for immune witnesses was pretty high.
He shook his head. Maybe they planned on taking out a large number of people and blaming the hybrids. After the suicide bombings, anything was possible.
* * *
The hybrids made their way two towns over, speeding and weaving through traffic until the two had pulled up outside the little Mexican place.
Lucan stepped off his bike and looked around. Nothing out of the ordinary. It looked like a normal-ass street.
The hybrids walked inside. A waiter hurried to the front
to greet them.
“We’re meeting some ladies,” Lucan said. “They should be expecting us.”
The man’s eyes widened as he stared at the two men. They kept their glasses on, which only made them look more dangerous. Lucan could see it in the stares of the staff and the other customers.
Jamie’s scent hit his nose. Through the spices and corn, he could smell the soft scent of lavender before the waiter even pointed. But it was Nikon that stepped forward first, moving as if he had his own scent he was following.
Lucan tore his attention away from Jamie’s scent. Even though it didn’t entice him as much, Leah’s underlying scent was there, explaining Nikon’s behavior.
When the women came into view, Lucan breathed a sigh of relief. Something about the call set him on edge, and just knowing Jamie was okay made him feel much better.
Lucan slid into the seat next to Jamie. She moved over a little but not so much that they weren’t touching. There was a part that was glad she wanted his comfort, even if he didn’t want to admit it to himself.
Nikon slid in next to Leah. Her cheeks were pink as she moved over, allowing them plenty of space between. Still, to anyone walking by, both pairs looked like couples.
The waiter stopped by, and they ordered. It would be less conspicuous if they ate something. Besides, Lucan was starving after all the reading they had done earlier.
“Two more mojitos,” Jamie said.
Leah frowned. “I don’t know if I should.”
“Have another,” Nikon said quietly.
Lucan was surprised when the woman nodded, and the waiter stepped away. There was something there.
“Tell us everything that happened,” Lucan said as he turned to Jamie. “Don’t skip anything.”
* * *
Jamie relayed their entire event-filled day, only halting briefly when the waiter stopped to deliver the food and drinks.
When she finished, she could see that Lucan and Nikon had been hanging on every word.
“This isn’t good,” Lucan mumbled.
He shifted in his seat. The heat from his thick, warm thigh penetrating through the chill that had come over her.
Lucan: #14 (Luna Lodge) Page 4
