Rem: #12 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Madison Stevens

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Title

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Epilogue

  Author's Note

  Thank You

  Also By

  Author Bio

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents depicted in this work are of the author’s imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locations, or events is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2020 Madison Stevens

  No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.

  Cover designed by Najla Qamber Designs

  Rem (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas #12)

  by

  Madison Stevens

  The road to freedom for the Atlantean hybrids has been long and tough. Rem escaped the clutches of the Horatius Group and met his destined mate Jenna. He led his people away from the public eye to a small town in Washington to secure their safety and privacy. Despite all the trouble they found, he’s convinced the battles are over and he can welcome his son into a world where hybrids aren’t hunted.

  Jenna is less convinced those dark days are behind them. After years of struggle, she wonders if her mate is relaxing too much. She craves safety in the closing days of her pregnancy, but what she wants and what the world delivers are two separate things when they have to face their most powerful enemy to date, Erebus.

  The hybrids and their Vestals have fought many foes, but taking down a soldier or Glycon isn’t the same thing as taking on a demigod obsessed with their destruction.

  It’s time for Rem to show his true power and rally his men in a final battle against darkness.

  Chapter One

  Rem wiped the sweat beaded on his brow with the back of his hand. There might still be a chill in the air, but at the higher elevation, he found the rays of the sun were as strong as the summer bearing down on him at full force. This was even more so with all the work they had been doing to clean up the town in preparation for the coming joint wedding ceremony. The Eagle Ridge hybrids had something to look forward to other than the next battle.

  He glanced around the main street of town and took a swig from his water bottle. It was more promise, more hope. Hybrids and humans worked alongside one another, laughing and joking as they set up for the big ceremony for the couples the next day.

  It was quite the sight and something he’d only dared to dream but was now becoming a reality. The hybrids stood out in the open, no lies, and even the humans with no connections to the hybrids didn’t turn their backs. He wouldn’t have blamed them after everything that had happened. The people of Eagle Ridge hadn’t signed up to be part of a war against forces they could scarcely believe.

  More people stayed behind than the hybrids could have ever predicted. Several people who lived on the outskirts of town who the hybrids already thought departed had started to show up after the big showdown. Many of them were curious about the hybrids or wanted to see more of the secretive Azilian women.

  Curiosity seemed to motivate them, with almost no hint of trepidation. That surprised Rem more than anything.

  The hybrids came to Eagle Ridge to escape the Horatius Group. Their destiny lay elsewhere from the Luna Lodge hybrids. The small town was supposed to be a safe sanctuary where they would be free of the public eye and the Horatius Group, but ironically, the hybrids found new threats. Even with the government and Luna Lodge’s destruction of the Group, Rem’s hybrids had been forced into a deadly battle, but they had emerged victorious with their lives and more acceptance. The town of Eagle Ridge turned out to be far more than he could have ever bargained for.

  Rem wasn’t ready to announce to the entire world that hybrids had set up their own town. If the Luna hybrids could run off to a secret island, he was entitled to a town. But Eagle Ridge represented the beginning of true freedom.

  Raw emotion swelled his chest, feelings he’d not allowed himself before almost overwhelming him. This was it. This was what he had always wanted for his people, not a life in hiding but acceptance and a chance to really belong in the world they had been so cruelly thrust into but never allowed to be a part of. He could only hope that things could stay as they were, and they could continue to thrive. It wouldn’t be easy. He accepted that, but at least they had a chance.

  Worry crept into the back of his mind, the same worry that had consumed him from the moment they escaped the clutches of the Horatius Group. Things had been terrible with the Group, but out there in the wild, there were too many unknowns, as his people found out the hard way. There were more than he could have ever imagined. Trust wasn’t something he could give easily, but at this moment, he had no choice but to trust those around him and hope it wasn’t misplaced.

  Rem let out a bitter chuckle. From one perspective, his hybrids had suffered more than the Luna hybrids despite being hidden from the general public. The problems hadn’t just been Glycons and mad scientists. Suddenly, they had been up against extinction-level evil and the sort of supernatural being he hadn’t even believed could exist.

  All the logical parts of his brain wanted to tell him that those sorts of things weren’t real, but with all they had seen, he couldn’t deny the truth. The Eagle hybrids’ role in the world came from more than genetic manipulation. Their glowing tattoos, eyes, and general connection to something larger than life was clear. Not Eagle Ridge hybrids, as difficult as it was to accept, Atlantean hybrids.

  Rem frowned. All of this brought him back to the same thought he’d faced for the last several days. Was it really all over? Jenna had her doubts, and it had become a point of contention between them, but all evidence pointed to victory. Seeing enemies in the shadows wouldn’t do anything for morale.

  Things had been quiet in town and the surrounding area. The Godsons and the Azilian brothers were all gone. The stone had taken care of that as well as itself. He supposed there could be more stones out there in the world, but Rem could only deal with the problems that were in front of him. The hybrids had only ever defended themselves.

  The remaining Vestals seemed to be gaining more and more control over their own thoughts without the stone around. Likely Anassa had been a large factor in their mental manipulation, but he still didn’t quite understand just who she and Agatha were. They seemed to have known one another, which he could only assume was from their time with the Horatius Group and clearly they had both injected the god serum, but it hadn’t affected them the same way as others.

  His mind wandered to when he first met Nero. Before being injected with a full dose of the serum, Nero had also been something different, not totally man and yet not totally Glycon. Maybe the two women had been similar with one foot in the door so they were standing on either side. There was no telling just what those sides were, and he supposed it no longer mattered.

  Anassa was dead, and for all her power, she couldn’t threaten them from beyond the grave. F
rom the moment they had first seen Anassa in the compound, liquidating the men she found to be troublesome, it was obvious she wasn’t as harmless as she’d have them all believe.

  Still, there had been no way of knowing the true terror of her plan. She wanted to eliminate all non-hybrids and start civilization over. It was madness fueled by overwrought zealot ideals that she could somehow cleanse the earth. He always wondered just what she was planning to do about Erebus. Maybe in the end, she thought she could control the dark being.

  Rem shook his head and took another drink from the water bottle. He sat hard on the concrete curb. His skin tingled from the relentless sun beating down. Of all the things out there, that was one thing he couldn’t control.

  Was Erebus a god?

  A chill zipped down Rem’s spine. That was the true crux of his worry. Erebus. The Godsons had performed their final acts as part of a dark plan. It had been helpful they destroyed themselves, Agatha, Anassa, and the brothers, but Rem suspected that it might be as part of some sort of purposeful sacrifice. In his life, it had always worked that way.

  If the plan the entire time had been to bring back Erebus, where had he gone? A powerful god didn’t run away on the cusp of victory. The obvious conclusion was the plan had failed, and that was why he vanished. The uncertainty made things wholly unbearable at times. If they were going to have it out, it would be far better to just get it over with. Rem was so tired of starting and stopping their lives.

  For once he wanted to just have some peace, and because of that, for now, he chose to believe Erebus was defeated. The hybrids couldn’t spend their entire lives living in fear of a shadow. They’d earned their victory and deserved the time to celebrate the nicer parts of life.

  “Well, you look hard at work.”

  Rem lifted his hand to block the sun and found Lucas and his woman Taylor standing in front of him. He chuckled as she elbowed Lucas hard in the ribs. Lucas grunted in annoyance.

  “Please,” Taylor scoffed. “As if you didn’t just get done taking a nap.”

  Lucas frowned at the beautiful woman standing next to him. “You know I was up at the ass crack of dawn to make sure we were all set for the delivery today. I earned that nap.”

  Rem laughed as he stood and dusted the dirt off the back of his pants. “So I take it you were able to get the meat we need?”

  With all the battles over, they’d returned to more fundamental supply concerns. More people than expected might have stayed in Eagle Ridge, but most of them had left, placing stress on the suppliers and store owners who remained, both those owned by Vestals and those not. The hybrids would have to be their main customers now for them to survive.

  Taylor grinned at him as Lucas continued to pout beside her. “Yup,” she said. “Dad is bringing it all over to the grocery store for Grace and Vitus to keep until it’s time to grill it all up for the big show.”

  Rem nodded. It really was all coming together. They hadn’t been able to get flowers, but Courtney, the owner of the local bakery, had been more than willing to make paper ones, much to the chagrin of her mate Marcus. Never in his life had he seen a man so lost as when Rem had walked into the café only to find Marcus elbow deep in colorful paper shavings and flowers. A super-soldier had been turned into a super-crafter.

  For a moment, Rem had thought the hybrid might just hop up and run out the door, but Courtney had come in sweetly before giving orders like a general during war. The hybrid snapped back to work, and Rem had quickly escaped before he too was arm deep in paper.

  “Looks like everyone really pitched in,” Taylor said with pride as she scanned the chairs that had been set up under the canopy they had erected on the grass of the square.

  As a long-time citizen of Eagle Ridge, it was clear Taylor was glad to see at least some people of her town opening their arms to the strange group since there had been plenty of others who hadn’t been so pleasant before the battles and emergencies.

  In all honesty, Rem was more than a little surprised. Their time there in town had been limited, and he could hear the whispers whenever they visited about the strange group of mostly men who lived up the mountain who wore sunglasses everywhere and didn’t quite act normal. The hybrids’ only saving grace was their sheer size and how it intimidated the townspeople. Not that they had been going for intimidation, but it did help keep people at a distance and limited trouble.

  But now things were different.

  “They are good people,” he said quietly as he watched a hybrid and human tie ribbons around the poles of the tent.

  “They are,” Lucas said.

  Rem turned toward the man. The two men shared a look. They both knew that something special was happening, and there was a chance for them to make a real life there.

  “Well, we had better move out and see if Dad needs any help,” Taylor said.

  Rem opened his mouth to respond but stopped when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out and could instantly feel all the blood drain from his face.

  Forget something?

  “Shit.”

  Lucas stepped closer. “Trouble?”

  Rem groaned and ran a hand over the stubble on his face before answering. “Yes, but not the dangerous kind. Only dangerous to me.”

  Lucas frowned.

  “Jenna,” Rem said. “I missed the ultrasound.”

  Taylor snorted. “No offense, but you’re fucked.” She slapped a hand on his shoulder. “Hope you really liked having those balls because you’re about to have them torn off and force-fed to you.”

  Lucas turned toward her. “That’s a bit harsh.”

  She shrugged. “You miss an ultrasound and see what happens to you.”

  Taylor gently caressed her stomach. They had been so busy that he hadn’t even noticed the small bump that had started to form.

  “You’re pregnant!” Rem said.

  A wide smile spread across her face. “Not that far along,” she said quietly. “We wanted to wait until everything had passed before saying anything. It wasn’t exactly planned.”

  This time it was Lucas who snorted. “I wouldn’t exactly say it wasn’t planned considering how many times we—”

  His words were quickly cut off by a firm hand against his mouth. A deep blush tinted Taylor’s face.

  “Just keep it under your hat for now,” she said quietly. “Let’s let the brides and grooms have their moment first.”

  Rem nodded. “I’m glad I get to be the first to congratulate you both.”

  “Might be the last thing you do if you don’t get home to Jenna.” Taylor laughed.

  He sighed. She wasn’t wrong really. They all knew that Rem’s mate was a force to be reckoned with. A small smile played on his lips as he made his way over to his truck. Hell, it had been one of the many reasons he’d been so drawn to her. Watching her get so pissed off was one of his biggest turn-ons.

  Rem climbed into the truck and grimaced slightly. He doubted he’d be able to twist this situation into a laughed-off mistake if the two middle finger emojis he’d just gotten were any indication. No, he was about to have his ass handed to him by a very tiny, very angry, very pregnant woman, and there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot that he could do about it.

  He started the truck and pulled out onto the road. It was time to face the music.

  Chapter Two

  Jenna had never been so happy and angry at the same time in her entire life. They had been very lucky that Doctor Myers had decided to stay in Eagle Ridge. Rachel was a decent doctor, but being so far away made it difficult to have real check-ins, especially now that the Luna hybrids had retreated to their island. Even if Doctor Myers lacked Rachel’s experience dealing with hybrid-involved pregnancies, it had been such a relief to have someone local to help with things so Jenna could know for certain everything was fine.

  Now that Rem and Jenna could be honest about the true nature of their little guy, it made her appointments much easier. Of course, Doctor Myers had been surprised to learn about some
of the more unusual aspects of hybrid pregnancy from Rachel and the other information Rem and the other hybrids had been able to collect, but now he knew the truth, and that helped him know what to expect. That didn’t do much to ease Jenna’s frustration over the baby’s father.

  All through her pregnancy, the hybrids had been dealing with one problem after another. She understood Rem’s importance as leader, but that didn’t mean she had to love how much time he spent away from her. She had hoped that the deaths of Anassa and Agatha might mean a new future for them where Rem wasn’t distracted, but there was something about the entire situation tweaking her.

  Their victory had been too easy. Not that she denied the bravery and challenges of the hybrids involved, but after all their struggles and battles, it didn’t feel like it should be over after their previous confrontation. Things were never that easy when it came to anything to do with their people, and she sure as hell didn’t think this was going to be any different. But it didn’t matter how often she said it to Rem, the fact was that things had been quiet, and he chose to pretend that meant they’d won.

  Which is why today had only pissed her off more than usual. If they’d won, why couldn’t he show up on time? They were planning weddings and celebrations, not battles. The hybrids didn’t need their leader for that.

  Jenna stopped her SUV just outside her new house and looked up at the pretty bungalow. It was strange no longer living in their compound. The hybrids had been left with half-empty days and a lot more options.

  It had been far easier than any of them expected. Most people who cleared out because of the fear of fires weren’t too keen on coming back anyways. A fat check from an anonymous buyer and the promise of their possessions delivered at no cost to them had been incentive enough for them not to reconsider.

  Although if Jenna really had to guess, most of the people who left were glad to do so. She wouldn’t be surprised if some of them thought the town was cursed. Weird things had been going on for a long time before the fire evacuation. Between people being eaten by a mysterious beast in the woods, creepy cults, and a town dying from a lack of jobs, the anonymous hybrid cash had been the escape they needed to start their lives over somewhere with more hope.