“What the fuck?” she shouted.
He still looked elsewhere, and she had to take a deep breath to keep from smacking him.
“I think maybe I should—” He inched to the door, but she cut him off.
“Oh, I don’t think so, bub. You don’t get to suck my tits and then just race off.”
His gaze shot to the door and then to her face. Marius glared at her.
“Mind keeping your voice down?”
Rachel crossed her arms over her chest, only managing to push her breasts up further. Well good! He should have to look at the evidence.
“Yes, I would mind,” she said loudly. “I’m good enough to play with, but you don’t want the boys to know?”
Silence fell between them, and whatever she was feeling from before started to shatter around her.
“It’s not like—”
“Get out,” she said. If she had to listen to his excuses, she would likely start crying, and the last thing she wanted was to be weak around him.
He looked like he wanted to say more but stopped himself. Rachel watched as he turned and walked out the door.
This was stupid. This whole place was stupid. In the past week, she had cried more than she had in the past ten years. She was not going to cry over that asshat, even if it had felt good, and she wanted more.
Rachel sighed. Too bad she wasn’t a different sort of woman and couldn’t find relief with just anyone.
She picked up her shirt and slipped it over her head just as the door opened.
Marius stood in the door and despite herself, she couldn’t help but feel happy. She liked him. She wanted him. There was just something about the two of them that worked. When he hasn't being a jackass, at least.
“Something’s wrong,” he said.
The smile that had started to form fell, and the doctor in her rose for the occasion.
“What?” she said and grabbed her coat and stethoscope from the desk.
They passed through the door and into the hall.
“The men I sent to check for anything unusual a few days ago are now exhibiting the same types of symptoms as Lucius,” Marius said. They rounded the corner, and she could see the six hybrids filling the waiting area. “Most seem to be pretty moderate except for Rufus.” He turned and whispered quietly, “He’s somehow much further along.”
Rachel nodded and swallowed. Poor Rufus didn’t look well. His skin was pale, almost translucent, contrasting greatly with his red hair. She could see the veins under the skin, covered in a sheen of sweat. It was clear that he had not been able to take care of himself or moderate his fluid levels.
“We need to know the path he took, but no one can go that way,” she said. “As a matter of fact, we really need an essential-personnel-only quarantine.”
Marius raised his brow, and she didn’t really know what to say. It was extreme but so were these sorts of results. What if more people came in like this? They didn't exactly have the capacity to handle dozens of seriously ill people.
“Please,” she said. “Just talk with Titus. I’ll call him later to give an update once I’ve gotten the men settled, but I need to make sure everyone is safe.”
Marius watched Rachel direct the well hybrids to help those that needed it. She began her examination of Rufus. Guilt ate at him as he thought about what they had just been doing minutes before all this. The hybrids were in danger, and he couldn’t even control himself around a woman that wasn’t staying.
He shook his head. He didn’t have time to be thinking about this. It was going to take some real work to convince Titus to shut things down at Rachel's suggestion.
As he walked to the car, he thought about the general dislike most of the men seemed to have of her. There was a part of him that understood, but some of the reasons seemed to stem from something totally irrational. It was as if they had filtered all their fears of the Horatius Group into one person, which seemed totally unfounded and unrealistic. There hadn’t ever been any indication that she was working with anyone outside, and although her methods might be a bit outside the box, the men had certainly pushed her to use those methods.
Marius sighed and slipped into the car. It started up, and he drove along the smooth newly paved road. Despite his protests, he was glad they had spent the money on the roads. It was a sign of a town and in the end, that was what they were becoming. Not some compound of soldiers. Not just the fake Luna Lodge. But Luna Town.
He smiled at the thought. Maybe one day they would find more like themselves and build. The smile slipped a little despite himself. More men meant additional mouths to feed. It was hard enough now.
The building holding Titus's office was nearly dark except for his office. Everyone had already gone home for the evening. He smiled at Jenna’s truck in the lot. The woman was just as hard a worker as her boss.
Marius made his way inside and was surprised not to find Jenna at her desk. He swallowed. Never in his life would he suspect that Titus would mess around on Kate, but it did look a bit suspicious. Shaking himself, he went to the door and knocked. A few long moments later, the door opened. Jenna stared up at him. She was fully clothed, with no real rumpling, but her tight smile and wide eyes only kindled his suspicion.
Titus stood behind her. He opened the door a little wider.
“Marius?” Titus said. His voice was clear and firm. “What’s going on?”
Marius opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He narrowed his eyes. Rem was sitting in a chair in front of the desk, arms behind the chair bound together with tight zip ties.
“What the fuck?” Marius said. He tried to step into the room but was stopped by a wall made of both Jenna and Titus.
“We’re just talking,” Titus said, holding up his hands.
Marius looked between the three of them. Rem looked over to him and gave a nod.
“Just talking,” he said with a smile.
Marius looked to Jenna. “Then what’s she doing here?”
“She’s my eye candy,” Rem popped off.
Jenna turned and gave him a dirty look. “I’m here to take notes and mediate.” She looked between Titus and Rem and then back to Marius. “They aren’t exactly the best at talking.”
Marius nodded and could see that their idea of talking could easily turn into talking with fists.
“Maybe you should take Rem back,” he said to Jenna.
Marius coughed loudly. “Her?”
Jenna frowned. “Got a problem with that?”
Rem laughed loudly from inside the room. “You haven’t seen her shoot,” he said. “I think I’d be a little more careful with what you say around Annie Oakley here.”
“Shut it, or I’ll make you ride in the back,” she mumbled.
Marius stared at Jenna. The sweet, quiet, short, curly haired niece of the major was apparently a sharpshooter that had no problem torturing prisoners.
“Are you a spy?” he blurted out.
This time it was Titus who laughed loudly as Jenna stomped across the room to Rem.
Marius watched her with open fascination. Never had he met someone who was so opposite of themselves.
“Shouldn't a hybrid escort him?” Marius asked.
“We've come to an understanding,” Titus said. He walked over to a desk and pulled out a pistol, which he handed to Jenna.
“I'm not going anywhere yet,” Rem said, a cheery grin on his face.
Jenna just snorted. “Let's go.”
When Rem and Jenna left the room, he turned to Titus.
“Do you really think that's safe?”
“She'll shoot him if necessary. She’s just helping and isn’t very happy about it,” Titus said. “But we need the help of a non-hybrid. It would be best if we kept this quiet for now. I think some men feel talking to him at all is a sign of weakness, and we just can’t have issues right now.”
Marius winced. He’d nearly forgotten the whole reason for him being there.
“Some of the men have
come in sick today,” he said.
Titus stilled.
“There are six total, and Rufus is in bad shape,” he said. “We need to know what area he covered. and we also need to close down that section for sure. Who knows what the hell is out there.”
He paused. This was the moment.
“Rachel would like to have only essential personnel mobile and all others homebound.” He watched Titus to see if he could read the man's face. Titus raised a brow.
“And you?” he asked. His long dark hair fanned around his face and made him seem far older than he was.
Marius thought for a moment. “I trust her. I know how people feel, but she has never proved to be wrong when it comes to medicine. She is our best bet, and it’s the most logical move we have. It's not like we can just yank another doctor in here to help with whatever this is immediately.”
Titus looked down and frowned, falling silent. The air in the room felt like it grew a little thin as Marius waited. He wondered if Titus was going to ignore this. It seemed so silly. He'd been willing to lockdown the compound before. There was little reason not to do it now given the current situation.
“I agree,” Titus said, breaking the silence. “I’ll make the announcement the first thing in the morning.”
Marius breathed a sigh of relief. At least now they wouldn’t have to worry about as many people getting sick. As it was, Rachel was already overloaded at work. Her complaints about being understaffed were far from groundless, after all.
“Zeno thinks you need to be pulled from working with her,” Titus said, interrupting Marius's thoughts.
Marius frowned.
“What?”
Titus shrugged. “Said you were too involved with her.”
Marius felt his fists flex and had to force himself to unfurl his fingers.
“Tell him to mind his own fucking business.”
Titus stared at him for a moment before nodding.
“I think that might be best for us all.”
Chapter Ten
It had been a long night. Rachel had slept very little trying to make the men comfortable. She worried. Rufus was the worst, and there wasn’t much she could do. Even if they had been at a full facility hospital, she knew there wasn’t much more they would be able to do if they didn’t know what was causing the problem. Generalities weren't good enough. Unfortunately, the world was filled was deadly poisons, and what nature hadn't seen fit to supply, mankind was more than willing to do so.
Much like the other patients, Rufus's vitals were off and to keep him from crashing, she was giving him a hefty dose of morphine to mostly keep him under. She hoped that some sleep would help. While he was out, they changed his clothes and cleaned him up. He’d been suffering for days trying not to come in, and it ate at her. There was no way she could continue at Luna Lodge if they couldn’t even trust her when they were this sick.
Rachel lay on the couch in her office thinking as the first rays of light filtered in. She had been waiting to call Titus until she knew more, but she really didn’t have much more to offer than she did the previous night. Frustration gnawed at her, and now she had eight patients who required full care. It was too much for her.
She swung her feet to the side and sat up. It was time, whether she wanted to or not. Rachel picked up the phone and dialed Titus's office number first. It picked up on the first ring. She half-expected Jenna or his voice mail.
“Titus,” he said.
“This is Rachel,” she said. There was no point trying to stand firm today. She didn’t feel much like a doctor, and what she really wanted was to crawl in a hole. “I wanted to give an update.”
“Go ahead,” he said.
She took a deep breath before going ahead. “The men are stable. All are in beds and comfortable. Rufus is sedated at the moment, but it’s so he can get some rest. We’ll slowly bring him out of that over the day.”
“How bad is it, Rachel?” His voice was filled with concern, and for once, she felt like she was dealing with someone that might be reasonable.
She sighed. “Can I be honest?”
She could almost hear the frown on the other end. “I would hope so.”
Rachel leaned back in her seat and stretched her muscles. “The others can hold on, but I worry for Rufus. Even at a hospital with constant care, he still might not make it. Whatever this is, he got a heavy dose of it.”
The phone went silent, and she wondered if she’d been too blunt. She knew it was her way sometimes, but she just didn’t know how else to address this. They had to know how serious the situation was. Just being a hybrid wasn't enough to save them this time.
“What do we need to do?” Titus asked.
Her heart jumped, and she nearly dropped the phone. It was the first time he’d asked.
“I can identify the underlying cause,” she said quickly. “I know I can. This is what I do. It’s what I did.” She took a breath. “Before I came here.”
Titus didn’t say anything, so she took that as a sign to continue.
“We need help. Maybe if we can just get some good nurses in here to help rotate care,” she said.
“Bringing in outside help is dangerous,” Titus said. “We'd need time to dig into people to ensure they aren't with the Group, and even if we had time, they still might be able to slip through.”
“I understand that, but not bringing in help is dangerous,” she countered. “Look, I can’t do this by myself. There are just too many beds, and with Rufus, someone is going to suffer, and it’s not going to be just me. If I don't get help, your men may die.”
Titus went silent again. and she waited. Rushing wasn’t going to do her any good.
“I’ll talk to the hospital,” he said after some time. “I’m sure they will have a few people that might be interested.”
Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. Having support would mean so much around here for everyone.
“This is really going to help,” she said.
“I’m trusting you,” Titus said. His voice was tight, and she knew he was trying.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m going to figure this out.”
* * *
Marius watched as the helicopter settled on the landing pad and tried not to calculate how much it would have cost them if Major Carter hadn’t stepped in to help. Varius stepped out with Apollo. He had been less than thrilled with the number of men sick, and as much as he could, Marius was trying to serve as a buffer between the two. The task had been proving harder than he expected, since Rachel wasn’t answering his messages at the moment.
“Did you see anything?” he shouted over the rhythmic pulse of the rotor.
Varius shrugged. “Normal forest,” he shouted back.
Apollo pointed to the building, and they made their way in to escape the noise. Once inside they started toward Marius’s office just down the hall.
“Nothing?” Marius said as he slid the key into the lock and opened the door.
Previously, the space was pretty dull, but since he started sharing his space with Erica, Sol’s wife, things had changed. Suddenly, half the room was bright and cheerful and had far more seating than he cared for. He frowned. She was hardly there now because of her twins. It seemed like a waste of space and resources. Not that it seemed to bother the other men. They happily pulled up one of her comfortable chairs.
“There’s nothing out there,” Varius said as he sat down. “We snapped some shots.” Apollo handed over the camera. “But I couldn’t see anything that stuck out, and we circled around a number of times.”
Marius slipped out the card and loaded it onto his computer. As he waited for it to load, he could feel Apollo’s eyes burning into him. He turned, only to find Apollo glaring at him.
“What?” Marius asked.
“Just want to know if you know what you’re doing,” he said more than asked. Apollo leaned back and stretched out.
Marius glanced back at the computer. “Pretty sure this is my fi
eld.”
His eyes narrowed more, and Varius shifted. “He’s talking about Rachel.”
Marius stilled. Fucking Zeno.
Apollo shrugged a shoulder. “She seems like a risk for someone like you.”
A muscle in Marius’s jaw twitched as he tried to control his temper.
“Well,” he said and turned around. “When I need help in that department, I’ll be sure to put it to a vote.”
“Look,” Varius said and placed a hand on his shoulder, “we’re just worried she’ll get the drop on you, and you’ll be defenseless.”
Marius stood up and clicked off the computer.
Marius pointed to the door. “That’s fucking it. Outside,” he said. “Get the fuck up,” he said again and made his way to the door.
“Why?” Apollo said, still leaning back.
“Because if I’m going to beat the shit out of you two, I’m not doing it where my stuff is going to get ruined.”
* * *
“Punch him in the throat!”
Rachel stopped in mid-bite of her egg sandwich and made her way across the lot from the breakfast area, her coffee mug still in hand. It wasn’t really the kind of atmosphere she was looking for, especially after the night she had.
A crowd of hybrids stood in a circle, their massive backs to her and hunched such a way that made it seem like that were trying to hide what was going on. She frowned. Apparently, Titus had a different definition of essential-only personnel.
She edged around the men until she found a break in between. In that gap, she could see several hybrids tossing their fists in flurry of motion. She couldn’t quite make out the men, they kept moving just out of her sight, but from her understanding, it was two against one. It didn’t really seem fair, but she didn’t really know what she could do about it.
Rachel took several big bites of her sandwich, but the sound of flesh meeting flesh was unsettling. She took a drink of coffee to help her swallow.
“Don’t fucking talk about her,” one voice growled. The voice sounded familiar, but in the din of the crowd, she couldn't quite place it.
Marius (Luna Lodge, #4) Page 9
