Cassius

by Stevens, Madison

  She leaned in to kiss him lightly. “I’m perfect. You came for me.”

  Julius jogged toward the back door. “Do that shit later. For now, let’s get out of here.”

  Kendra laughed as she and CJ followed the other hybrid. “He’s a real romantic.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Understood,” Julius murmured into his phone.

  Kendra watched from the edge of the bed beside CJ. They’d retreated to the hybrids’ motel room. The news mentioned the race being canceled and police being called in, but no details of anything else.

  Julius slipped his phone into his pocket. “I’m going to go make some more calls to check on some things. We’ll hook up with the copter in a different location, but the mission is over. Maximus doesn’t think it’s worth it to try and find Helen.”

  “She’s long gone.” CJ shook his head. “She could be in Cuba by now for all we know.”

  “I’ll be back soon. Get everything figured out before then. Maximus wants us out of New York today.” Julius opened the door and stepped out. After a final puzzled look at Kendra, he closed the door.

  Kendra lay back on the bed. “That’s about the craziest thing I’ve ever been through in my entire life. The weird part is the two hybrids involved seem almost normal.”

  CJ stroked her hair. “Now that everything’s calmed down, I wanted to ask again, are you okay?”

  “I was more pissed than scared.” Kendra sighed. “And mostly worried that you’d get hurt. I’ve heard about hybrids and those Glycon monsters the Horatius Group used, but not those NextGens.”

  “We’ve run into one before,” CJ said with a frown. “But we didn’t know what they were called.” He sighed. “The thing is the Luna hybrids might have found their peace, but my group of hybrids is still hunting Ouroboros. This is what we do, and our enemy isn’t as public as the Horatius Group, but they’re way stranger and more dangerous, as you’ve seen.”

  “And… your power?” Kendra sounded curious.

  CJ smiled. “Most of my group doesn’t have powers yet. It seems like it’s something that only manifests when we need to protect our Vestals.”

  Kendra nodded, not looking surprised in the least. She sat up. “It would have been nice if it unlocked sooner.”

  CJ laughed. “Yeah, it would have, but you might never see it again. Our boss was the first to unlock a power, and it only happened once.” He tucked a stray dark strand behind her ear. “But I don’t want to talk about the past. Julius was nice enough to make himself scarce when I know he doesn’t want to be. He was trying to give us time to talk and figure things out.”

  “Like what?” Kendra swallowed. She couldn’t stand it if CJ pushed her away after all of this.

  “There are twelve hybrids in my group,” CJ said with a serious expression. “We’ve sworn we’re going to take down Ouroboros. So far, you’re only the second Vestal we’ve found. We don’t have a town or an island like the Luna hybrids.” He furrowed his brow. “Well, actually that’s wrong.”

  “You do have a town?” Kendra asked, hiding the amusement she felt.

  CJ shook his head. “We have a small island off the coast of Maine, but it’s pretty rustic in a lot of ways. We don’t have a community. All we do there is prep for missions and train. Once we know that Ouroboros is done, it might be different, but until then it’s always going to be more like a military base than it is a community.”

  Kendra nodded. “You do a lot of training and conditioning?”

  “Sure.” CJ shrugged. “Being a hybrid’s a good start, but it’s not enough.”

  “Then it sounds like you could use someone to help supervise physical fitness and obstacle courses.”

  CJ stared into her eyes. He’d removed his contacts a while back, letting her drink in the beautiful amber color.

  “What about your show?” he asked. “It’s not like you have to disappear to be with me, but you will have to keep a lower profile. Ouroboros also knows you’re a Vestal now.”

  Kendra shrugged. “That’s all the more reason for me to disappear into the woods of Maine for a while then. Maybe we can figure something else out when everything’s calmed down more like you coming with me when I do events, but I don’t mind a vacation.” She let out a sigh. “I love being the Roving Champion, but it’s never been about the fame. It was always about the challenge, and if I can continue to challenge myself without the show, then I’m fine with that.” She squeezed his hand. “And the only way to start building a community is to have more people around who aren’t soldiers.”

  CJ shook his head. “I’m not going to lie. Every part of me wants to scoop you up and take you to the island with me, but I also don’t want to force you to give up your life or screw over your friends.”

  “Like Graham?” Kendra smiled. “He’ll be fine. He thinks he’s all cool and hiding things from me, but I know he’s passed up a lot of better-paying jobs because he’s too loyal to me and the show, and he’s already been trying to push me to move on for my own good. It’ll be the best for both of us to move on. I can take a step back from the fame and concentrate on the athletics. Once you all finish off Ouroboros, if I want to go back to the show I can, but a break for now.” She rubbed her hands together and grinned. “I look forward to thinking up crazy obstacles that can challenge hybrids.”

  CJ leaned in and kissed her forehead. “All my life I’ve been searching for you.”

  “Me, too.”

  “I never want to let you go.”

  Kendra wrapped her arms around his neck. “Then don’t.” She kissed him again. “You went through all the trouble of developing a superpower to save me. It’d be dumb to let me go now.”

  * * *

  Two days later, CJ and Julius stood in Maximus’s office on Port Winter Island. Kendra had accompanied them back to the island, and a squad including CJ, planned to accompany her when they packed up her things at her place in a few weeks. Maximus had already set up arrangements to move around her cargo after that without too much trouble.

  CJ could scarcely believe his luck. His Vestal would soon live with him, though he also kept worrying about what insane obstacles she’d inflict on the men.

  Maximus cleared his throat. “I just wanted to key you into the aftermath in case you missed in on the news. Ouroboros is now a national name.”

  The news surprised CJ. He hadn’t been paying attention to anything but Kendra since coming back.

  Julius’s brow lifted. “It is?”

  Maximus nodded. “The feds are taking control of the investigation. The guards were hired muscle, paid well to look the other way, but the survivors don’t know anything useful, and the government isn’t messing around. They’re describing Ouroboros as a terrorist organization. I don’t think they were happy with them poking around thousands of people at a major public event.”

  CJ shrugged. “Then we don’t have to do much, right? Let the government clean it up, and we can live our lives.”

  Maximus shook his head. “They’ll help more on the back end of things, but I think it’s still best we take primary point on this. All it takes is one government official who decides Ouroboros has the right idea to make our lives hell.”

  “We lost a Vestal,” Julius said with a frown.

  CJ looked his way, surprised he cared given how much he’d mocked the idea of Vestals. “Could they at least ID her?”

  “We have a name, Sophia Winston,” Maximus replied. “But she fell off the radar after the event. The government is looking for her, but there’s not much we can do on that front that they can’t do better. Just because she’s a Vestal doesn’t mean she’s going to live with hybrids either.”

  “But I think she was being mind-controlled just like Kendra,” CJ said with a shrug. “I talked a lot about it with Kendra on the way back. The only hope it sounds like for a Vestal to break the mind control is to be bonded, and there’s no way they’re going to let us get closer to her.”

  Maximus loo
ked down with a frown. “The feds are looking into the collar they found in the gym, but they don’t understand much about the technology. It’s more complicated and targeted than some of what the Group pulled off. The other devices you spotted were mostly just sensor and camera packages to record data about the obstacle runs, but a few of them have the government stumped. For now, the only thing we can do is hope we find her again and free her from their control.”

  “That Helen woman also claimed to be a Vestal.” CJ sucked in a breath. “Sophia could end up like her.”

  “If they’re mind-controlling her, that means they don’t think she’ll buy what they’re selling,” Julius said. “Helen wasn’t under control. She was calling the shots.”

  “Exactly.” Maximus gave a nod. “We’ll do the same thing we always do, look for the enemy, and save people from them. I don’t care what crazy plan Ouroboros has and what weird agents they send after us. We’ll win as long as we watch each other’s backs.”

  CJ rubbed his chin. “These NextGens are a headache. I hoped they’d all be like Quinen, but if they’re all unique, it’s going to make it harder to deal with them. We never know what we might be facing. How do you kill someone you can’t shoot?”

  Julius shrugged. “Probably the same way you beat Michael, by distracting them.”

  “I’m just lucky I had my VPA,” CJ replied.

  Julius and Maximus both stared at him, but it was the former who voiced their mutual question. “What’s a VPA?”

  CJ grinned. “Vestal Protection Ability. Just thought of it.”

  Maximus chuckled. “Funny.” He nodded toward the door. “Julius, I’d like to speak with CJ alone for a bit. I’ve shared everything else you both needed to know for the moment.”

  “No problem.” Julius nodded to both men. “Just so you know, I’m considering this a win. We stopped them from capturing another Vestal, and we took down one of their NextGens, and they told us they don’t have a lot. Plus, we know more about them now. The more we learn, the easier the final battle will be.” With that, he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  CJ turned back to Maximus. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “Is Kendra sure about living on the island?” Maximus asked. “I’d authorize visits if she didn’t want to and preferred to stay back on the mainland.”

  CJ nodded. “She wants to live here.”

  “I don’t have a problem with it. Selena’s been joking about having to go to the mainland to get away from the stink of testosterone,” Maximus replied. “And it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have someone dedicated to making our physical training more dynamic, but is it really going to be enough for her?”

  CJ shrugged. “Last night we talked a bit more. She said she didn’t care about going back to the show, but when things calm down a bit, she’d like to start hitting the competition circuit again.”

  “That could work to our advantage.” Maximus leaned back with a thoughtful look. “For safety reasons, she’d need to limit her number of competitions, but we could send a team with her. It might draw Ouroboros out and let us pick off more NextGens and find more clues.” He shrugged. “They know the government’s keyed more into them now, but that doesn’t mean they’ll take the bait. It’s also good to have a person traveling around and keeping their ear to the ground. We can get tunnel-vision here on the island. This time things worked out for us. Even if your team was the only one who found something, it was something important. Julius is right. This was a victory. No losses on our side, only losses on theirs.”

  “Do you think we really can win?” CJ frowned. “Now that they know it wasn’t a fluke we won, they might be more careful.”

  Maximus gave a feral grin. “If they want to hide because they’re scared, that’s fine by me. We’ll continue hunting down and capturing or destroying them until we can live freely. Ouroboros and their NextGens are going to understand just what our makers unleashed when they made hybrids.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Kendra marveled at how much a woman’s life could change in a week. She’d gone from caring about sponsorships to trying to come up with the best way to put genetic super-soldiers through their paces.

  All the worry and pressure from before had vanished. She’d filmed a video talking about taking time off and sent it to Graham. They had a big phone call, and the last of her worries had vanished when he admitted, as she thought, that he’d been passing over some big jobs to stay with her.

  Cozy in CJ’s warm bed underneath a blanket, she stared up at the wood of his cabin thinking about how unimportant the sponsors, likes, and subscriber numbers felt. She’d miss her fans, but she was more than happy to trade them for time with her soulmate.

  Kendra rolled onto her side. She had time for reflection and devotion to her athletics. It wasn’t a bad deal. The show had always been a means to an end, and from what CJ had told her, Maximus had no problem dropping a lot of money on whatever bizarre obstacles she could come up with as long as they offered training benefits.

  The door creaked open, and CJ entered the cabin and headed into the bedroom. He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed into a hamper before unlacing his boots.

  “Everything okay?” Kendra asked.

  CJ smiled. “Perfect. I don’t know why I was worried about Maximus having a problem with you staying here since he brought his own Vestal.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “It’s kind of weird. I never thought I’d find my Vestal going on that mission.”

  Kendra grinned. She liked offering a little surprise, but the key to enjoyment was picking the right moment. “I’m glad I chose to go to that race. I’d been thinking about not going.”

  “You think fate brought us together?” CJ asked.

  “I literally ran into you.” Kendra laughed. “Yes, I think fate brought us together, which is why I’m trying to make sure nothing pulls us apart.”

  CJ pulled his undershirt off and balled it up. He arced it with perfection into the hamper. “I won’t let anything push us apart ever again. Though the one problem with you not having your show is I won’t get to see you in all those tight outfits.”

  “I’m sure I can find some fun outfits to wear around here, but there’s also one better.” Kendra pulled back the blanket, revealing her naked body. She grinned. “What do you think?”

  He nodded with an approving look. “Good outfit choice, but I thought you’d need some rest after this morning.”

  “It’s going to take a long time until I’m tired of you.” Kendra winked. “And it’s good cardio and core work, among other things.”

  CJ’s brow lifted. “Oh, so this isn’t sex. It’s training.”

  “Why not both?”

  CJ yanked off his pants and underwear, freeing his already hard cock before lying down on the bed. Kendra licked her lips and crawled over to him, wrapping her hand around the base of his shaft. His dick twitched under her touch.

  “You know what?” Kendra leaned forward and licked CJ’s tip. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of this.”

  He gritted his teeth and moaned loudly. That only encouraged her boldness. She stroked him a few times before taking more of him in and relaxing her throat. Bobbing up and down, she twirled her tongue around him, reaching down with her hand to stroke her own clit, the warmth and pressure already growing within.

  CJ grunted, his amber eyes starting to glow. She’d been denied the full impact by his contacts during their first time together, though it didn’t surprise her during their next encounter.

  Kendra continued her careful ministrations of her tongue and hand, coating the wonderful hard cock with her saliva to ease her pumping. It throbbed in her hand, and CJ gritted his teeth.

  “Do you like this?” she asked.

  “I love it,” CJ said. “And I love you.”

  Kendra’s breath caught. “And I love you, too.”

  She stroked him a few more times before turning around and shimmying her ass until her pussy w
as right over his mouth. Without another word, she took him back into her mouth. His tongue snaked forward, probing her wet center and earning a loud moan as its reward. They stayed there, both of their mouths working the other until Kendra was soaked in her own juices.

  She pulled her mouth off CJ’s cock with a loud pop and panted. Did he lift weights with his tongue to strengthen it?

  Waiting too long was a risk. She didn’t want to become undone by his tongue alone.

  Kendra rolled up and away from CJ, bouncing around on her knees with such speed she almost would have put her hybrid’s VPA to shame. She lifted herself and shifted, hovering with the heat of her center right over the twitching cock and dropping hard.

  She arched her back as her perfect man filled her, her tight walls shoved to the sides by his massive cock. The pain spread for a moment until she was seated fully on him, and she had a chance to adjust.

  Taking long, deep breaths, Kendra braced herself and slid up and down, savoring every second her inner walls rubbing against CJ. He grunted and thrust in time with her movements, pushing him deep inside with each downward movement.

  Kendra couldn’t help herself. She increased speed, her breasts bouncing as she thrust herself again and again onto CJ. He reached up and tweaked her nipples hard before skimming down her sides to squeeze her ass.

  Wonderful. That’s the only way she could think of it as pleasure spread from her center and lit up her entire body.

  Kendra screamed as her release blasted through her and she tightened around CJ. He shouted his own release, filling her with even more warmth. She sat there, her back arched and her entire body shaking until slumping forward with short, ragged breaths.

  “I think I’m addicted to you,” she whispered.

  CJ wrapped his arms a round her. Still seated inside, he rolled until he was on top. He kissed her forehead and hammered once with his hips, making her moan.

  “I’m addicted to you and have been for a long time.” CJ pushed hard and leaned over to capture her mouth in a deep kiss. “And I’ll love you now and forever.”