Nikon: #16 (Luna Lodge)

by Madison Stevens

  A teen couple stepped out from a bush. Their fan face-paint slightly smeared around their mouths. They had the decency to duck their heads as he glared down at them when they passed by.

  Once they were out of earshot, Leah turned to look up at him. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The way you just acted, and the fact you didn’t want me to even come tonight. You know something you’re not telling me.”

  Nikon looked down at her and grunted. It was time to just come clean.

  “We received information from a source that some of the Vestals are being hunted.”

  Leah frowned as they entered the darkened school. “Oh?”

  “There was a list, and your name was on the top of the list,” Nikon reluctantly said. “I just want to keep you safe.”

  Leah stepped to the side of the door within the shadows. “Do you believe this source?”

  Nikon nodded. As much as he didn’t want to believe Tycho, he knew the other man wasn’t wrong.

  “Is that why you wanted to come to the game?”

  Nikon opened his mouth to say something but stopped. He heard voices from around the corner. Leah’s mood shifted, and a bright smile appeared on her face.

  There was only one reason in his mind she could be smiling like that and that reason pissed him off. Her smiles were for him and him alone. He only barely fought down a growl.

  Not thinking much, Nikon pulled her to the doorway just around the corner where they couldn’t be seen.

  “What are you—” Leah said.

  Nikon did the only thing he could think of. He leaned down and kissed her.

  For a moment, he thought she might push him away as she balled up her fists against his chest. He was surprised when she relaxed them and wound her hands around the back of his neck.

  At first, he had just been kissing her to keep her quiet, but the more they kissed, the more he didn’t really care just who the hell was nearby.

  A low, deep growl filled his chest as he moved her body against the hard frame of the door. Her breasts pressed against him through the layers of fabric. He could still remember the way she felt against him naked and the way her warm body help bring him over the edge.

  Nikon tasted the seam of her mouth before dipping inside. His tongue was slow in her mouth. He moved the way he wanted to move in her body.

  Leah groaned against him, and he hoisted her leg up to his thigh, letting his lower half press firmly between her legs.

  A sort of soft whimper came from her, and for the first time he realized just where they were and what it might mean for her if they were discovered.

  Nikon pulled back with a sigh, letting her leg fall back gently to the floor. She kissed him softly on the lips and then licked her own.

  “Well, um, wow,” Leah said, her cheeks and lips reddened.

  Nikon rested his head against her as he panted softly. He wanted to say something so she would understand. Anything so she might not get the wrong idea. But he was fairly certain the large bulge in his pants that had been pressing against her center said more than he could ever hope to get out of his mouth.

  “We should get going,” he said after a moment, tilting his head. “From what I can hear, I think the game is over.”

  Leah nodded. “I’ll just use the restroom, and we can go.”

  Nikon watched as she made her way down the hall. He leaned against the wall and let his head thud against it loudly. The pain only partially brought him down from the high of kissing Leah.

  What the hell was he thinking? It didn’t matter if she smiled for another man. She might have been Alair’s Vestal, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be happy. He wanted her to be happy. It just couldn’t be with him.

  No more.

  Nikon couldn’t let his emotions cloud his actions anymore. If he were going to keep her safe, he needed to start thinking logically. He would be the man she needed him to be. No matter what it took and no matter how much it hurt.

  Chapter Eleven

  The night had been both good and disappointing, Leah thought as she lay in bed the next morning. Despite the amazing kiss, Nikon now seemed even more distant then normal. And when they got back to her apartment, instead of coming to bed with her, he decided to sleep on the couch once again.

  Talk about hot and cold. She could have handled just forgetting what had happened in bed, but after he’d kissed her, it was hard to think about putting any of that behind her. Their chemistry obviously went both ways.

  Leah sighed. She wasn’t mad, but given that he wanted her, she hoped they had made a little progress, and he’d be willing to at least sleep beside her again.

  Apparently not.

  It was just starting to get light outside when she shifted to her side to see the time.

  A little past seven. There was still plenty of time to get all her errands done before the party tonight. Even more so now she was dreading the event. Not only for what it meant, but for the basic fact that she wasn’t really a fan of parties these days.

  Something changed in her after Alair died. There were things that just didn’t seem as important as they once did. Getting drunk at a party was a big one.

  Leah sat up in bed and pushed the covers off. She’d gone back to flannel pajamas again. There was no man in her bed to impress, so she might as well sleep in comfort.

  She shivered a little as she placed her feet on the cold floor. If last night had showed her anything, it was that the winter weather was still lingering more than anyone wanted to admit.

  Leah shuffled out of the bedroom and pushed the thermostat up a little. Despite the chill, she doubted Nikon would even notice. The hybrids tended to run a little warm most of the time from what she’d noticed. It was another perk of having him in her bed.

  She made her way around the corner and was surprised to find the couch empty. She walked into the kitchen. Empty as well.

  Leah furrowed her brow, a little concern filling her. Then she noticed a pink box on the table with a small note on top.

  She peered at the note.

  Had to work this morning. Got your favorite.

  -Nikon

  Leah smiled at the poorly written scrawl and then looked down at the pink box. Only the best things came in pink boxes. She was certain of it.

  She flipped the lid and could already feel her stomach rumbling in anticipation.

  Chocolate hazelnut cream-filled donuts sat inside, just begging to be eaten.

  Each bite would be like a little bit of heaven.

  She nearly knocked the box off the table when someone pounded loudly at the door.

  Her breath caught. Nikon had warned her someone might be targeting her. Her mind drifted back to the car she thought might have been following her. What if it wasn’t paranoia?

  Leah grabbed a knife from the kitchen and made her way over to the door. She was still thinking on what he had said the day before. It could be anyone on the other side, and she wasn’t going down without a fight.

  “Let me in damn it!” yelled a familiar voice. “I need milk! I can’t eat dry donuts like a savage.”

  Leah relaxed. Unless Jamie was some sort of strange deep-cover agent, this wasn’t an attack. She flipped the lock.

  “It’s about fuck—woah!” Jamie said, staring at the large knife in Leah’s hand. “I know you aren’t a morning person, but no need to get violent.” She stepped inside with her own pink box and closed the door.

  Leah rolled her eyes and went to put the knife back on the counter. “Nikon said some bad guys could be trying to grab me,” she said. “I’m just trying to be ready. We both know the kind of people that we might be dealing with are ruthless.”

  Jamie frowned. “So you’re going to be ready by bringing a knife to a gun fight?”

  Leah ignored her friend and grabbed two glasses from the cupboard then proceeded to fill them with milk.

  “Yessssss!” Jamie said
when Leah placed a glass in front of her.

  She watched as her friend flipped open her box and pulled out a chocolate cake donut.

  “Don’t you start coveting my lovelies,” Jamie said between bites. “I’ll bite you if you try and take one.”

  Leah laughed and sat down with her friend. She pulled out one of her filled donuts and took a bite. Yup, a little piece of heaven.

  “Lucan gone as well?” Leah asked after finishing off her first donut.

  Jamie nodded, her mouth full of chocolate cake goodness. Leah watched as she took several gulps of milk before talking.

  “Something about clearing out all the old files,” she said. “I threatened them both about making sure they had better be back in time for the party.”

  A groan escaped Leah’s lips before she even had time to regret it.

  Jamie glared at her. Leah winced.

  “I’ll have none of that shit from you,” Jamie said. “I’ve been listening to it all week from everyone else. I want my last night here to be surrounded with friends.”

  A large lump formed in Leah’s throat as the full implication of the party bore down on her yet again. Two large tears rolled down her face.

  “I didn’t mean… shit,” Jamie said. “I’m sorry, Leah.” She wrapped her in a hug. “I know this isn’t easy. I’m just tired and stressed out. I need this, but I get how this is hard on you.”

  “I know,” Leah said between sniffles. “I’m just going to miss you and Wendy so much.”

  Jamie smoothed her friend’s hair down and kissed the top of her head. “I wish you’d just come with us. There’s still time. You could make a life with us and the hybrids. With Nikon.”

  Leah pulled back to look at her friend. “I want to… but how can I? He doesn’t want me there.”

  Jamie frowned. “Did that asshole say that?”

  Leah shook her head and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She reached out and shoved another piece of donut in her mouth. “I tried to do what you said.”

  Jamie nodded slowly but didn’t say anything.

  “I took a risk, and he wasn’t interested.”

  Jamie’s eyebrows shot up. “All right, details woman.”

  Leah twisted in her seat. Despite everything, she really wasn’t someone that liked to kiss and tell.

  “I sort of got in bed naked and came on to him.”

  A sort of half-laugh came out of her friend. “I’ll be damned. And he turned you down?”

  Leah frowned. “Well, no. Actually, we fooled around, and then he didn’t want to go any further and left before we went all the way.”

  Jamie frowned slightly as she examined her donut. Leah was starting to wonder if she was even paying attention anymore when her friend finally dunked the donut in her milk.

  “He wants you,” her friend said.

  Leah laughed. “And how do you know this?”

  Jamie popped the soggy donut in her mouth.

  “Simple, he wanted to stay. These men don’t do anything they don’t want to do. For some reason, he’s just worked it out in his head that you all can’t be together. My armchair diagnosis says that it’s something to do with his brother.”

  “It’s not you, it’s me,” she murmured.

  “What?” Leah shook her head.

  “It’s what he said. He was trying to explain, and that’s what he said. I had to explain why that was a poor choice of words.”

  Jamie snorted. “They are so stupid cute sometimes,” she said. “So all we have to do is show him that you are his.”

  This time it was Leah’s turn to snort. “And how should we do that?”

  A sly smile slipped on to her friend’s face. “Why I’m so glad you asked,” she said. “It’s going to involve raiding your closet, and likely mine as well. Then you need to bone up on the subtle art of flirting.”

  Leah shook her head. “Flirting won’t work on him.” As bad as it might seem, she hadn’t been so low as not to at least try.

  Jamie grinned at her friend. “Oh, you won’t be flirting with him. You’ll be flirting with one of the other highly eligible men there.” She nodded. “Yes, this will work.”

  Leah’s eyes went wide. “I don’t know. I’m really not very good with that sort of thing.”

  Jamie winked at her as she finished off her last donut. “Good thing I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  Chapter Twelve

  It had been a long ass day of combing through the files the hybrids had recovered from raids against the Horatius Group. Most of it had already been digitized, but they needed to hand feed the rest of the papers into the scanners to make sure they were properly copied over to the digital format.

  They didn’t plan to destroy any of the records, but they also didn’t want to take the risk of losing out on any information because of an accident or an attack. Even though they’d examined a lot of the records, some of the information might not be useful until they found out some new piece of information in the future.

  In the end, even though Nikon could understand its importance, the current job felt like a bunch of busy work. Still, Cato wanted to make sure the job was done right, and so had assigned the task to Nikon and Lucan.

  Nikon was surprised by how stripped down Luna Lodge had become. It was a shame, really. The hybrids had spent years trying to build up the place and make a home there, but now it was being taken apart piece by piece with no sign of any new construction. Their home was being abandoned.

  Colonel Hall had said that it wouldn’t be long now before they got their marching orders and the rest of the hybrids would have their freedom. Nikon wasn’t sure what that meant long-term, but it wasn’t his job to worry about that.

  Cato, as the acting leader of the remaining hybrids, would handle the local decision making, and their main leader, Titus, would handle everything overall. All Nikon needed to do was keep his head down and follow orders.

  He thought back to Colonel Hall. Despite being a tough soldier, he’d come to respect the older woman. She’d done more for them than almost anyone had been able to, even their first military liaison, a man who’d respected the hybrids from the beginning. They owed her a great debt.

  Nikon rode up the elevator with Lucan to the hallway leading to their apartments. Even before the doors opened, he could hear the loud music and chatting from the party.

  “Fuck,” he grunted. Going to some party was the last thing he wanted to do, even if Leah was there.

  He’d had a shit night for sleep and didn’t even care that he should stay out of her bed. He was looking forward to sleeping next to her.

  “I’ll just get Leah and come over a for a bit,” Nikon said when they’d reached the door.

  Lucan nodded and opened the door. Sweet vanilla floated in the air. Nikon turned and found Leah chatting with a group of men in Lucan’s apartment.

  Leah was wearing a black flowy shirt with beaded straps and a short black skirt she clearly wasn’t used to wearing since she kept tugging on the end.

  She had on a little more makeup than he was used to seeing her in, and although she looked beautiful, she didn’t look like his Leah.

  Not even bothering to give a reason, Nikon stepped into the apartment ahead of Lucan.

  Her eyes found his, and he watched as a smile spread across her face.

  His heart hammered in his chest. He took a step forward but stopped as a very angry Jamie came barreling their way.

  “You said you’d be on time,” she huffed, shaking her fist.

  Lucan pulled out the flowers he’d hidden behind his back. “I wanted to stop and get you these.”

  As if magic, her frown melted away as she gushed over the flowers.

  Nikon rolled his eyes and moved away from the rabid couple.

  “Hi,” Leah said.

  He hadn’t even noticed she’d walked over toward him. Her bright reddish lips stood out.

  “Did you find your donuts?” he asked. Nikon ran a hand nervously thro
ugh his hair, looking anywhere but at the pretty woman in front of him. Cleavage that should good should be illegal.

  “I did.” She smiled. “Thanks!”

  “Leah!”

  Jamie called her over to another group of people. There were far too many men for Nikon’s taste, but he had no claim on her. He’d made that clear.

  Nikon sulked over to the cooler and picked out a beer as he watched her.

  A tall, thin man stood too close to her. His body shifted in just the right way so she’d have to touch him every so often, and each time she did, Nikon could feel the growl growing inside him.

  “I’m surprised you’re not with Leah,” Cato said from behind him.

  He turned to glare at his leader. “She’s free to do what she wants.”

  Cato shrugged. “I wouldn’t be so comfortable letting my woman around so many men.”

  Nikon snorted. “You mean, like she is right now?”

  Cato frowned and found his mate Wendy now next to Leah with all the men. Nikon watched with snarky joy as the other hybrid stomped over and protectively placed an arm over his woman.

  Several of the humans stepped back as Cato clearly marked what was his.

  Nikon’s gaze shifted over to Leah as she laughed at something. He thought about doing the same thing and make sure the punks knew where they stood.

  He downed the beer he had been nursing and set it on the counter. He stepped back into the living room.

  “Okay,” Jamie shouted, stopping him in his tracks. “How about a little game?”

  Several people cheered loudly. His gaze returned to Leah who was staring nervously back at him.

  “Okay, form a circle, and I’ll break out the rules,” Jamie said.

  Nikon tried to get over to where she was but got edged out by the other men near her. Instead, he ended up diagonal from her. Their eyes locked for a moment as she chewed her lip.

  Damn that lip. It did something to his lower half.

  Jamie stepped into the middle of the circle and set a bottle on the floor. Several people groaned but stopped when she held up a hand.