Marcus: #5 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas)

by Madison Stevens

  Marcus held the container to his nose and inhaled deeply. Nothing but the delicious notes of ginger and other spices invaded his senses.

  He slapped the lid back on and frowned to himself. Even if he wanted to pretend that there was no Vestal connection, maybe the truth was her story hit home more than he’d like to admit. In the end, he was far more like the old dead man than any of the hybrids back at the compound.

  It irritated him. He was a hybrid. He shouldn’t be so weak.

  “It was an honest life,” Courtney continued, oblivious to his internal struggle. “It’s actually why I moved out this way. My aunt needed help at the café, and all my siblings had already moved on with their own lives. It was just nice getting back to the roots of where my family came from. Simple, but meaningful.”

  Once again captivated by the story of her life, Marcus turned to stare at her.

  “Siblings?”

  Courtney gave a wide smile. “I’ve got five total,” she said. “My two older brothers and older sister all have kids of their own. I don’t see them much these days. Too busy with their own thing. My little sister will sometimes stop in town. Right now she is a nanny for a family in Spain. I don’t see my younger brother much.”

  So many siblings. He never would’ve guessed, and yet she had no family in the area and spent her Christmas alone.

  “What about your aunt?”

  Courtney smiled warmly. “I moved out here just after college. It was just supposed to be a little summer help but turned out to be so much more,” she said. “She passed on about five years ago and left the café in my care.”

  Marcus didn’t really understand much about college, but from what he understood, humans went there to train to get jobs.

  “Did you study business at school?” he asked. Was that what she needed to know to run a café?

  Courtney laughed. The sound would’ve normally irritated him, but instead it warmed him inside. The soft, husky sound of it made him only want to hear her do it again.

  “English, actually,” she snickered.

  He stared at her. “Why would you have to study your language? Did you speak another language?”

  She laughed again, pleasing him on one level, even though he didn’t quite understand what he’d said that was so funny.

  “No. It’s more about the literature, writing, and analysis of that sort of thing.” She waved a hand. “It doesn’t matter. The important thing is where I ended up. It was just luck that I was able to pick up on the baking. Everything else just sort of fell into place. What about you?”

  Marcus frowned, some of his light mood lost. He didn’t like to talk about himself. A lot of his past seemed to be gone, and he wasn’t all that comfortable in his present. Besides, he just wasn’t good with small talk.

  “What about me?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “What is your job? I know you don’t have a normal job like me, but what is your job with the hybrids?”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but he still wasn’t totally certain how to respond to her question. Rem had him on guard rotation one day, mission ops the next, and then had him hauling wood.

  Most of the hybrids seem to have a specialty that defined them, and while he was good at a lot of things, he did seem to lack that kind of specialty. He wasn’t the strongest, fastest, or stealthiest. Much like every other aspect of his life, he didn’t seem to quite fit in.

  “My job? A little of everything,” he said stiffly.

  She nodded and gave a small smile. “It must be nice having someone like you around.”

  Marcus frowned. “What’s that mean?”

  Courtney glanced over to him. “I just mean that you are able to do so many things. I’d think that would be a big asset.” She shrugged. “Especially since there aren’t a lot of you at your place.”

  An asset? Him? Aside from being able to fight well, Marcus had never really considered that maybe Rem might find his skills useful. It was hard to know what his leader was thinking.

  “Besides, people that are good with their hands can be taught,” she said. “I know I’d find that handy.”

  The corners of his mouth twitched at her words.

  A bright red blush came to her cheeks the instant she realized just how her words sounded.

  “At the café,” she said quickly. “I’d find it handy at the café.”

  He sucked in a deep breath, and her scent drifted over to him. Her arousal nearly sent him over the edge. If he spent too much time around her, he might have to change his no-human rule.

  The car jerked to a stop, and he realized they had reached their destination: a small cabin deep in the mountain roads.

  “We’re here,” Courtney said softly.

  Chapter Five

  Courtney stepped out of the car and turned to watch Marcus as he pulled the large basket from the backseat. She hurried to button her coat up to stave off the bitter cold threatening to work its way inside.

  They stepped up to the front porch. Her stomach tightened. Something wasn’t right. The front door swung open with the wind.

  Why wouldn’t Mr. Martin close his door with a snowstorm bearing down on him? He had his physical ailments, but his mind hadn’t suffered.

  Still she held out hope that nothing was truly wrong. Maybe his arms had been full as he stepped inside the house, unable to close the door behind him.

  Crime was rare enough in Eagle Ridge, and he didn’t even live in Eagle Ridge. It wasn’t like a criminal would go through the effort of driving up the mountain to kill an old man who didn’t even have anything decent to steal.

  An animal maybe? Doubtful given the weather and the fact that it was the middle of winter. The man had lived on the mountain for decades without trouble. It’d be bizarre if some rogue bear decided to ignore the season and go after him.

  Courtney knocked on the door as it swung on its hinges. "Mr. Martin?"

  The only response was silence. Quietly, she stepped inside the house but stopped when Marcus placed a hand on her arm. Her heart pounded as her worry grew.

  “If you can hear me, call out,” she said again. Only the howl of the wind broke the silence.

  Marcus tilted his head. “I don’t hear anyone.” He sniffed. “I don’t smell anything strange either.”

  She bit her lip. From what she knew, the hybrids senses far exceeded those of normal people.

  "I've got a bad feeling about this," he said, holding up a hand. "I’ll go first."

  “What if there’s someone bad in there?”

  A deep rumble escaped his chest. “I won’t fall to a human.”

  He stepped inside, his gaze sweeping the room.

  Her stomach turned as she entered the small house. She’d expected something terrible, blood, a body, a sign of a struggle. Instead, nothing seemed out of place or disturbed. Light snow had infiltrated the house, enough near the door that Mr. Martin likely hadn’t been there for a while.

  She rubbed her shoulders. The chilly temperature inside also suggested as much. It was as if he’d simply stepped out and forgotten to close the door.

  Marcus stepped over to the kitchen and placed the basket on top of the counter. She followed behind him and started unloading all the things that she had brought. It was the only thing she could think to do.

  Just because Mr. Martin wasn’t there didn’t mean anything bad had happened to him. Maybe he just had to check on something.

  Courtney placed the container of soup in the fridge and watched from the kitchen as Marcus moved around the small cabin, checking the two bedrooms in the back and the bath, his face lined with tension.

  She rubbed her hands on her arms and shivered. The whole house was so cold. Whatever he stepped out to do, it didn’t appear to be a quick errand.

  “I’m not smelling much of anything,” Marcus said.

  "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

  Marcus shook his head and frowned. "I wouldn't call that good," he said. "I wonder if all the snow is
interfering with my senses. His scent is here, but faint. But I’m not really picking up anyone else’s.”

  She shook her head. Surely, there had to be something else going on. She circled back to the idea of errands in her mind.

  "Maybe he went to get wood," she said when it suddenly dawned on her that the fireplace was now cold. It was ready for fresh wood.

  Marcus nodded.

  Courtney winced. Mr. Martin could have gone on an errand and hurt himself. She raced over to the front door and then out into the back of the house. He had to be there somewhere. Visions of him with a broken leg flashed through her mind, only making her move faster.

  Marcus stepped outside and followed Courtney. Surely, the old man had to be there somewhere. Maybe he'd fallen somewhere and needed help or maybe he’d just taken off for town before the storm hit and forgotten to lock his door.

  He glanced toward the side of the house. The man’s truck sat there covered in snow. So he wasn’t in town.

  There were too many things left unknown. If there was one thing Marcus hated, it was the unknown.

  He considered the possibilities. Human criminals were unlikely to attack such a remote location. The man’s home was well away from Azilian lands, and the cult seemed far more interested in tricking humans and messing with hybrids rather than random attacks. The most likely scenario was that a slow old human had fallen and hurt himself.

  Courtney disappeared around the side of the house. Marcus hurried after her. He wasn’t much worried about attacks, but snow had started to fall again and it wouldn’t take much for a person to get lost out here, and the heavy snow fall could potentially mask her scent.

  He cursed the contacts he was wearing and the snow. Both dulled his senses. Instead of being able to use his maximum potential, he’d been brought down, made more human in a situation where he needed his full hybrid abilities.

  Marcus stopped in his tracks as they rounded the corner to the shed. Wood lay piled in.

  The wind shifted, and he tensed. A metallic-tinged scent hit his nose. Blood. Lots of blood. Marcus opened his mouth to call out to her, but he was too late.

  Courtney dropped to her knees beside the pile of wood. She placed her hands over her mouth.

  Poor Mr. Martin lay there, a layer of frost covering his cold body. Dried splatters of blood darkened the white snow all around. The wounds on his open throat suggested he’d been mauled by some sort of large animal.

  He breathed in deeply but couldn’t get much else off the frozen dead man. Likely all the clues were trapped in the frozen blood there.

  Marcus’s instincts kicked in. He took another deep breath. He couldn’t distinguish the scent of whatever had attacked the man.

  Something had done this to Mr. Martin. More specifically, some animal had done this. Whatever the animal, it was still on the loose and had attacked a human.

  He didn’t know much about animals in the area, but given that it was winter, such a beast would have to either be desperate or crazed to attack a human.

  Rabies was a possibility. The exact details didn’t matter. The truth was something dangerous was on that mountain.

  Marcus scanned the area, but nothing stood out, although the heavy snow fall impaired the visibility, and the damned contacts didn’t help.

  Gently he pulled Courtney from the ground into his arms and let her place her head against his chest. For now, he had a job to do: protecting her.

  "Just don't look," he said and placed an arm around her back. "We need to get you inside."

  They moved through the snow back into the house. He looked all around them, watchful. If he wouldn’t let himself fall to a human, he wouldn’t let himself fall to a rabid animal.

  Chapter Six

  Marcus paced the floor as he tried to dial out once again. His cell phone was worthless.

  He looked for a landline, but couldn’t find one. Not surprising given their remote location.

  He pushed down the growing concern. The one thing he needed to do was keep his composure, especially with Courtney around, even if the beast in him wanted to go out and show the animal who the real alpha predator was.

  He stifled a growl threatening to erupt. There was no reason to lose control. Yes, an animal, maybe rabid, had killed a man, but even rabid animals weren’t immune to the elements. If anything, the animal was probably huddling in a hole, freezing to death. Just because it killed one old human didn’t make it that much of a threat.

  He slipped his phone back into his pocket and glanced out the window. Maybe they should just leave.

  The snow fell heavily outside, with a strong wind blowing. The main storm was coming. They needed to leave and soon.

  He just wanted to give Courtney a moment to get a hold of herself. Maybe it was foolish, but he didn’t want to cause her any more pain.

  He didn’t know what to do about Mr. Martin. He couldn’t get a hold of Rem. At least one small advantage for now was that no local authorities would stumble upon them until he had more of a chance to figure out what to do.

  Being a hybrid meant he needed to stay under the radar. Getting a hold or being noticed by the authorities would be trouble. Something none of them could afford.

  The plan had always been to stay out of the public eye and keep to themselves. When the men started to pair off with their human mates, he’d had concerns.

  They all knew that the Horatius Group kept an eye on Vestals. It was bad enough the Azilians, who lived practically next door, liked to collect them like fucking dolls.

  The more he thought about it, the more he thought it’d be a matter of when and not if the Horatius Group found them. They had been prisoners for a long time, much longer than any of them really knew. The Group had access to technology and abilities the rest of the world could only imagine, a pale shadow perhaps of what the Atlanteans had.

  If the hybrids were recaptured, Marcus had no doubt they’d never escape again, assuming they lived.

  And if the locals somehow sniffed out that hybrids were nearby, they would probably turn just as twisted and hateful as the humans around the hybrids at Luna Lodge.

  No, him finding a mauled body was not a good thing. The snowstorm might delay things, but they’d be lucky if they could keep this from the news.

  There was also the painful reality that Courtney was in no shape to deal with this situation.

  He glanced over to where she sat on the couch. Her small body sat slumped forward over her cup of tea, clutching it as if it were the only thing grounding her to the room.

  It made him ache. He knew he shouldn’t care. She was just some human, but he couldn’t help it. Her pain smothered him.

  Was that weakness, or something else entirely? He wasn’t sure. For now, it didn’t matter. He’d just handle the situation in front of him.

  She wasn’t like him. The life of a hybrid on the run was a life of violence. They had too many enemies who wanted them dead not to strike back. Obviously she’d known people who died, but not like this.

  Comforting wasn't something he knew much about. It was not something that he had to deal with, and it certainly wasn’t something he’d ever remembered getting. Still, he could tell she needed him, and knowing that set him into action.

  Marcus sat down next to her on the couch. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

  Courtney placed the cup on the table and leaned against him. She sniffled for a few seconds before breaking into open crying. He could feel her quiet sobs against him, and it tore at him.

  He tried to tell himself there was nothing they could have done. Mr. Martin was dead long before they arrived, but he knew that wouldn’t make her feel any better, so he kept it to himself. The only thing he could do for her now was simply be there.

  Marcus placed a hand against her back and rubbed softly.

  They sat like that for some time until her body stopped shaking, and her breathing returned to normal.

  Courtney sat back up and stared at him. Red rimmed her eyes, and stre
aks of the make-up she’d been wearing trailed down her cheeks. Marcus grabbed a tissue from the table and ran it along the soft skin there, wiping off the lines.

  He remained silent, unsure of what to say. He only hoped his mere presence provided her some comfort.

  "Mr. Martin didn't deserve this," she said. Her voice still shook with emotion. "He wasn't always the nicest man, but that's just because no one got to know him. He liked things his way. He liked being surrounded by nature."

  Marcus nodded. He didn't know Mr. Martin, and it certainly didn't matter to him that others didn't seem to like the man much, but he did matter to her and that was all that mattered.

  "Do you think it was quick?" she said.

  Marcus kept his face neutral but didn’t like this line of thinking. The man had died after a brutal attack by an animal. There was no way to tell how long the man suffered at this point.

  Still, there was no reason to upset her by telling the truth. She was seeking comfort, and a small lie would provide it. He nodded once.

  Some of the tension on her face lessened. He hoped that meant her actual pain was lessening as well. That said, they still had some practical issues she needed to know about.

  "I couldn't get a hold of Rem," he said. "The weather, the mountain, maybe both.” He shrugged.

  She nodded and glanced out the window.

  A gust of wind slapped against the side of the house, and he knew they wouldn't be able to stay there much longer. It’d do no one any good if they got trapped there. Mr. Martin was dead, and until he could get a hold of someone, there was nothing to do to follow that up. Given the frozen ground, he couldn’t even dig the man a grave at the moment.

  "Looks like the storm is coming in," Courtney said softly.

  Marcus nodded. "I think it's best if we get out of here before it really sets in. We don’t want to get trapped up here.”

  Courtney looked back to the cookies sitting on the counter, the ones she’d so lovingly prepared for the old man.

  "What should I do?"

  Marcus took her hand and helped her stand. "Just leave it for now," he said. "We'll figure that out later."