Sergius: #4 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Stevens,Madison

  Sergius stepped into the kitchen and came back out carrying a glass of water. He held the sleeping pills in his other hand.

  “I think it would be best,” he said softly, “if you take these and get some sleep.”

  Jade complied. She looked up to his face after. Sergius stood, waiting for her, and she debated telling him what she had seen in the last vision and the strange light at the bottom of the ocean.

  But telling him that might result in him looking at her like the others had been looking at her. Even if he accepted the strange dreamscape, that wasn’t the same thing as accepting everything about what had happened, especially if Anassa was involved.

  Her heart just couldn’t bear to have that happen. She needed time to process the events.

  Jade gave a weak smile and made her way over to the couch.

  “Take the bed,” Sergius said. “I’ve got some patrols to do anyways. You will be completely safe in this house.”

  Jade stared at his unflinching eyes and knew the Sergius would do what he had to in order to keep her safe. She blushed and averted her eyes from him. His kindness was almost too much for her.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Tired and exhausted Jade made her way to his bedroom. Not caring about propriety, she shed her clothes on the way to bed and slipped into the warm covers. It was only a matter of moments before she closed her eyes and was sound asleep again.

  Chapter Ten

  It was late in the day when Jade woke up. The sun had just started to set, and its golden warmth filled the bedroom. She snuggled down deeper into the covers and groaned, exhaustion still weighing on her.

  Her sleep hadn’t been near long enough, and she felt like she could go back to sleep for another twenty hours.

  Still she needed to see what was going on, to check on if Dea was okay, and if they caught that thing that attacked them.

  Jade peeked out from the blanket and sighed loudly. Her stomach rumbled as the scent of pasta filled her nostrils.

  She sat up and blushed a little, realizing she was in her panties and bra. She’d been so tired in the morning that it didn’t matter, but now she realized that she had been sleeping in Sergius’s bed with nearly nothing on, pushing her waking reality a little too uncomfortably close to her dream reality.

  She slipped out of bed and went to find her clothes from yesterday. They were folded neatly in a chair. A bag sat next to the chair.

  Jade arched a brow and unzipped the bag. She was surprised to find her tooth brush, hair brush, and toiletries inside, along with a few pieces of clothing from her house. She blushed a little thinking about Sergius bringing her clothes. It was both sweet and intimate.

  She pulled out a fresh pair of panties and matching black bra, along with a black tank and pink and black pajama bottoms. She wasn’t going to worry about wearing pajamas since it would soon be night again, and, at this point, she was really more concerned about comfort than anything else.

  She grabbed the bag and stepped into the bathroom. Inside she was surprised to find a towel laid out for her. A little shower would help both with her fatigue and sweaty body.

  Jade turned on the hot water and stripped her undergarments away. Carefully, she took off the bandage on her arm and tossed it in the trash. She grabbed her toiletries from her bag and placed them inside the shower and then stepped into the hot spray.

  She groaned a little as the warm water beat on her back. It felt good to have the spray massage her.

  She slowly lathered her body and washed her hair, all the while thinking about everything that happened the last twenty-four hours. From the monster to Anassa, it all just seemed a bit overwhelming at times. Almost insane.

  But she had to make some sense of it all. Right now nothing seemed to fit in place, and she needed it to, before she started losing control, or even her sanity.

  She bit down a laugh. Not that many weeks ago, her main concern had been paying her bills and debts. She never imagined that she’d end up involved with not only the hybrids, but strange powers.

  The stone. Jade shook her head. Well, at least Anassa had provided an explanation for why this was all occurring. She’d touched it, and it’d changed her, slowly giving her the insight and abilities that had led to her dream adventures.

  Understanding why she had changed provided some small comfort.

  She rinsed off the last of the soap and shut off the water. The cool evening air had already seeped into the house, and she shivered a little at its touch.

  Jade stepped out of the shower and toweled off. She slipped on her undergarments and then the black t-shirt and pink and black pants. When she opened the bathroom door, the smell of pasta filled the air, and she felt her stomach rumble again. She wondered if she ate in a dream if she’d not feel hungry.

  Jade opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the living room. She could hear Sergius in the kitchen and quietly made her way around the corner.

  “I hope you’re hungry,” Sergius said with his back to her. He glanced at her over his shoulder. He froze in place.

  Jade glanced down at herself confused before running her fingers through her dark black hair and nodding. “I thought you didn’t cook.”

  Sergius turned around. His beautiful blue eyes stared right at her.

  “Dea made lasagna for us,” he said quietly. “She feels bad about how she treated you before.”

  Jade was surprised but was happy to know the other woman was all right. Still, Dea had made it very clear that she wasn’t fond of her, but then events last night had changed everything for them. Now they were all in this together.

  Anassa had been right about one thing. She’d been told the hybrids were hiding from the Horatius Group, and she’d heard enough on the news about the attacks on the other hybrids of Luna Lodge to understand how dangerous the Group could be.

  A small group of people being hunted by a ruthless, powerful group had all the reason in the world not to trust an outsider, and so she found it hard to blame Dea for being suspicious.

  Jade also realized that her powers must have been manifesting long before her first vision. What she’d chalked up to intuition had unnerved the others. She couldn’t blame them, given how much the situation now unnerved her.

  “She brought over some wine as well,” Sergius said and held up two glasses. “I thought we could have it with dinner.”

  Jade noted how he had set the table in the corner of the room for two people. He’d gone to some trouble of making it look nice, and despite the mismatched flatware, the gesture was very sweet.

  She stepped over to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down. Sergius set a filled glass in front of her, and she sipped on it as he brought over the hot pan of lasagna.

  She watched him as he cut into the steaming food and dished some onto her plate and then on his own.

  Sergius sat across from her and gave her a small smile as he sat down.

  She knew she was hungry, though she didn’t realize how much until she had nearly finished the whole plate of lasagna without even speaking. Sergius stood to cut another square for her and placed it on her plate.

  “These visions and dreams seem to take a lot out of you,” he said quietly.

  Jade stopped in midair with her fork and looked over to him. She knew they were going to talk about it at some point but hadn’t expected him to be so matter-of-fact about it when he did.

  She ate more slowly now, taking time to study the man across the table from her.

  “It’s like it takes everything out of me,” she said. Jade shook her head. “Afterwards it’s like my batteries have been drained.”

  Sergius nodded, continuing to eat his lasagna.

  When she finished her second helping, she sat back in the chair, her stomach full and happy as she sipped on her wine waiting for the man to finish.

  It was a comfortable silence. Something she wasn’t really used to with strangers or anyone really. Friends had been difficult to keep, and she cer
tainly didn’t have any family that she could be like this with.

  Sergius stood and cleared off the dishes. Then he put some foil on top of the lasagna and placed it back in the fridge.

  He stood next to her and poured a little more wine into their glasses. Then he picked up his glass and nodded into the living room.

  “Let’s move over to the couch so I can check your wound,” he said quietly.

  Jade picked up her glass and followed him over to the couch. She sipped a bit more and relaxed into the soft cushion.

  She noticed that he had some peroxide and bandages set out on the table.

  He examined the wound, his body directly in front of her and his head almost too close.

  “I think we have to talk about that dream,” he said softly.

  Jade stiffened in his hands at his words.

  He couldn’t possibly know about the dream with Anassa. There was no way. He wasn’t present at all.

  “I don’t know—”

  Sergius moved a little closer and dabbed the wound with a cotton ball. It stung but not as much as that morning.

  “Jade, you can’t pretend that dream didn’t happen,” he said. “We were together. And it wasn’t the first time.”

  Heat assaulted her face. Even though she’d realized they shared dreams, the attack had pushed some of the implications to the back of her mind. After all, they hadn’t just had sex, she had said a lot of things, emotional and intimate things, that she thought were private. Now Sergius knew everything.

  Jade struggled to stand, but Sergius was sitting in front of her, and she had nowhere to go. He finished bandaging her arm, and she forced herself to look in his eyes.

  “Hybrids aren’t like normal humans,” he said quietly, holding her gaze. “The Azilians seemed to know this, given the way they specifically seek out Vestals for their organization.”

  “Vestals?”

  “In our world, the hybrid will find a Vestal through a connection, a deep connection where they almost call to each other. A Vestal that is their one and only.”

  “One and only…?”

  “Mate.”

  Jade frowned. She’d heard the Azilians push some similar nonsense, and never thought much about it, but now Sergius was telling her all this again. Maybe the hybrids were just as insane.

  “That’s crazy,” she said. “First of all, that’s not the way things work. There is never just one person. And second of all, we haven’t… been together.”

  Sergius raised a brow.

  “We haven’t?” he asked. “We’ve been together more than once.”

  She couldn’t believe it. He was actually suggesting that them having sex in a dream was the same as the real thing?

  This was all too much. Jade turned from where she sat and tried to move down the couch to get around him.

  She gasped when Sergius leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers.

  She wanted to pull away and pretend like none of this had ever happened. But her body wanted otherwise, and when she leaned in to wrap her arms around him it just felt… perfect.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sergius pressed forward until Jade leaned back on the couch.

  He wasn’t about to let her slip away. He sensed it with her: the need to run off and the fear of belonging somewhere.

  He could understand that. Belonging had never been easy for him, but she did belong there. She belonged with him.

  He’d wondered if kissing in person would be different than when they’d kissed in the dream, and not a soft kiss like from before, but something with true passion behind it.

  The dream had a sort of waxy sheen to it, and although it felt very real in many ways, having her there in the flesh was a totally different scenario.

  Sergius nibbled her lip. She rewarded him with a moan against his mouth. He took the opportunity and slipped his tongue between her soft lips. His tongue slid against hers and swirled along the side. He hardened.

  Her fingers trailed along the tattoo at the back of his neck and then up onto his stubbled head. He loved the feel of her fingers on him, having her explore his exposed skin.

  His hands moved along the side of her waist and then down until he met her hips. He pulled her hard against his body and grunted when her center met his aching, rigid cock.

  Jade moved her lower half against him, rubbing, teasing. The heat seeping through her pajama pants and into his jeans filled him with desperation to be inside her.

  They had spent so long waiting. He didn’t want to wait anymore. They already knew how to pleasure each other. After all, they’d practiced in the dream.

  Sergius wrapped his arms around her back and lifted her from the couch. Jade moaned against him at the added pressure.

  He carried her to the bedroom and laid her back on the bed. He yanked her pants from her body, exposing her soft, lacy undergarments. Sergius lifted her up and pulled the tank from her head as well. A matching black lace bra stood out against her pale skin.

  Jade blushed and tried to cover herself. Sergius knelt down and pulled her hand to her side.

  “I want to see you,” he said quietly. “You have to understand how beautiful you are.”

  Jade let her hands fall at her sides and stared up at him. Sergius lifted his shirt from his body and tossed it across the room. He heard it hit the door and fall to the floor. He unbuttoned his pants but didn’t pulled them down.

  No. He needed to make this last. Despite his need to be inside her, he wanted to take his time. To taste her. To feel every last inch of her.

  Sergius reached around behind her and unclasped her bra before gently pulling it from her body. With equal gentleness, he slid her panties down her pale legs. He stared down at her naked form. He looked up to her face.

  “You are mine,” he said gruffly. Her eyes widened with shock at his words, but he couldn’t stop himself from claiming her. She was his Vestal, and he’d do anything in his power to show her just what she meant to him. “My bonded.”

  Jade watched as Sergius sank onto the floor and stared at her from between her legs.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  He gave her a wolfish grin as he continued staring. Jade laid her head back on the bed and panted the closer he got. Every part of her wanted him there, but having him in such a private place was both nerve wracking and exciting.

  Even if they’d been together in the dream, and she’d felt the orgasms, this was different, more exciting, and she’d been damn excited in her dream.

  His hot breath came on her thigh. She shivered in anticipation. She hissed loudly when his fingers spread her folds, and he swiped up and down with a slow leisurely pace. His thumb bumped her clit, and she groaned loudly at the feel of him there.

  “Sergius,” she whispered.

  His mouth moved to her wet center. She could hear him breathe in deeply, and knowing he was there aroused her even more. Sergius swiped along her center with the flat part of his tongue.

  Her toes curled at the quick movement. His tongue swirled around her clit as he moved over her.

  Over and over, his tongue spread her center, each time with just the right amount of pressure to make her want more without finding her peak too soon.

  He knew just want to do, just how to please. Of course, he already had in the dreams. She almost laughed. Practice makes perfect.

  She hissed when he slowly speared his way inside her opening. Her insides fluttered at the feel of him. His tongue slid in and out of her, each time penetrating farther in.

  His thumb circled her clit. Her insides fluttered with each movement. She needed him. Oh, how she needed him.

  He slipped a finger inside of her as his tongue continued to go in and out. She could feel him wiggle inside of her and cried out as a small orgasm ripped through her.

  Sergius pulled away from her, and she opened her eyes to look down her body to where he was. She watched as he stood and slid his pants down. His large cock jutted out, and she licked her lips
in anticipation.

  In her dream, Sergius had buried himself deep inside her. And although she ached to have him there, she wasn’t quite so certain she would be able to take him like she had in the dream.

  He leaned over her, their bodies touching. Her breasts pressed tightly against his hard chest. Sergius kissed her, and she could taste herself on his lips. He pulled back to stare down at her.

  “I got you, baby,” he said quietly

  Jade nodded. Despite the little time that they been together, she trusted him. Everything in her said that Sergius was the one, and no matter how much she tried to fight the feeling, he would always be the one.

  Apparently, the hybrids and the Azilians weren’t the only insane ones, but she didn’t care. Everything about being together with him felt so right, like they’d been made for each other.

  His bulbous head pushed its way into her tight channel. She looked at his face and could see he was gritting his teeth as he pressed inside her. His bright blue eyes glowed, and the tattoo that snaked along his neck glowed as well.

  Jade ran her fingers over the bright blue marks.

  Sergius pushed deeper inside of her, pulling out only slightly to lubricate and then pushing in a little bit more each time. The sensation put the feelings she’d felt in her dream to shame. Sergius was inside her and all around her, setting her senses on fire.

  With one quick, final movement, he pressed deep inside her, filling her until there was no more room.

  He stayed still, and she shifted her weight to see just how full she really was.

  Jade groaned with pleasure as his head brushed against her cervix. She could feel her opening flutter at the feel of him there and knew her own orgasm wasn’t going to be far behind. The pressure already threatened to explode.

  “Move,” she said to him. “Please, move.”

  Her fingers bit into his back. Sergius moved slowly in and out of her. At first his movements were slow, but he picked up his pace the more he pressed into her. Jade slid her hands from his back down to his tight ass and dug her nails in there. He grunted and thrust hard against her.