Cyrus: #11 (Luna Lodge)

by Madison Stevens

  The younger hybrid’s eyes widened at the sight of Cyrus.

  April nodded to the group of hybrids as they disappeared into the dining facility. “You normally train them, right?”

  Cyrus followed her line of sight and nodded.

  He turned and walked along the path they had been on previously.

  “And what specifically do you train them for? I doubt you’re just their football coach.”

  “Asking as part of your investigation?”

  “I’m honestly just curious.” She sighed. “I mean, come on, I doubt you’re trying to get a team ready for the Rose Bowl.”

  He snickered, the first real sign of pleasant emotion she’d witnessed in the past hour. His faint smiled faded. April could almost see the wheels turning in his head. She knew it must be hard for him to find a way to answer.

  Of course, that was assuming he wasn’t trying to conceal something. She chided herself for the thought. She needed to keep an open mind and not just fall into the easy prejudices of Senator Woods.

  “When we were with the Horatius Group, we were trained to be warriors,” Cyrus said.

  April frowned. “And is that what you’re training them for now? I understand your background, and how that lifestyle might seem familiar, but now that you’re free, it’s not like you can’t take up other jobs.”

  She watched as Cyrus lifted a large-muscled arm and ran it through his short dark hair.

  He shook his head. “It’s no secret that we have enemies,” Cyrus said. “I think it’s also no secret that we hybrids are capable of more than humans.” A thoughtful expression passed over his face, and he shrugged. “Yes, we keep their skills up, but more importantly, we’ve been training the hybrids to live not as warriors, but just as men.”

  She nearly ran into him when he stopped abruptly. Cyrus stared, his deep amber eyes boring into her own.

  “We’re not bad people,” he said. “We’ve only defended ourselves from the very beginning. We’ve never wanted any trouble.”

  April shook her head. “I’m not here to determine if you’re bad people. I’m here to assess risks. No one thinks you’re bad.”

  Cyrus raised a brow and shook his head. He turned and started walking again, April following just behind.

  “Pretty sure your boyfriend Major Dick thinks we are.”

  “You mean Major General West?” April openly frowned. “Well, I don’t really care what he thinks,” she snapped back. “And he’s not my boyfriend.”

  A loud snort came from the hulking man beside her. “Didn’t look like that earlier.”

  She could feel her irritation start to rise once again. Something about this man made her both irritated and excited at the same time. He’d been so quiet during dinner, so why was he now needling her? And about Richard of all people?

  “Look…” she said.

  April stopped in her tracks while she waited for him to turn around. When he did she could see the faint light yellow rimming his eyes. For a moment, she found herself almost lost in them.

  She took a deep breath and continued. “Look,” she said, this time far more calmly. “I’m here to do my job. The general might have his own agenda, but I’m not a part of that.”

  She suppressed a wince, wondering if she’d already crossed the line by suggesting the general had an agenda. Still, it was true.

  Cyrus stared at her for a moment, everything she said sinking in.

  He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when a shout rose up into the night air.

  He whipped around, tilting his head as if listening. April leaned in a little hoping she might catch whatever it was he seemed to hear. After a moment, he turned to her.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “We’re going to have to cut this short. You’ll need to find your way back to the women’s dorm.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Cyrus looked back over his shoulder and then to her again. “Just some protesters,” he said. “If you’ll just had back —“

  “Let’s go,” she said firmly. April pushed past him in the direction she heard the shouting before.

  “And just what the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled.

  “I’m doing my damn job, which if you recall is risk assessment.” She glared at him over her shoulder. “And protestors are definitely part of that. Now let’s go.”

  Chapter Seven

  Thick smoke filled the air around them. It burned his lungs, dulled his nose, and irritated his eyes. The stupid protestors should have just stuck to signs.

  The only small relief was that he hadn’t heard any gunshots. Government assessment or not, the hybrids wouldn’t stand there and let themselves be murdered by a bunch of angry nut jobs.

  He wondered if the protestors understood that. Reverend John’s cultists were willing to use weapons, but it was rare that any of these gate protestors showed up with any weapons.

  He bit back a growl. The situation was just like he told April. The hybrids didn’t want any trouble. They’d never did from the beginning. People just kept coming after them, or were sent.

  He glanced behind at April as she hurried after him. A genuine look of concern covered her face. He wasn’t sure if she cared more about the safety of the protestors or the safety of the hybrids.

  Fuck. Of all the times for this kind of shit, it had to happen during the assessment. He doubted this would end well.

  The timing was almost too perfect. Maybe Woods had pulled some strings to make them look bad. He’d pulled far worse stunts in the past.

  They closed on the main source of smoke, the main gate visible. Even at this distance, the chanting and yelling of the dense crowd filled the air.

  Their taunts were all the standard crap he’d gotten used to during these kinds of protests. The hybrids were dangerous animals. Freaks. Monsters.

  Another hybrid ran past him, and Cyrus held up his hand to tell him to stop.

  “What the hell is going on?” he shouted over the chanting.

  “Some new report was on the news about Reverend John,” the other hybrid said, gesturing toward the crowd. “Whatever the hell it was, it got the locals worked up. They set a straw hybrid on fire and have been tossing lit bottles over the wall. Most are at the gate, but not all of them.”

  “Titus or Sol around?”

  “Not yet. Couldn’t get a hold of them, so a couple of the men went to go find them.”

  Their absence surprised him, but if they weren’t around, he was sure they had a damn good reason.

  “What about the local cops? They don’t give a shit that people are setting a place on fire?”

  The man offered Cyrus a shrug. “Barely seen any, and they mostly just seem to be watching. Not doing anything to stop the crowd.”

  Cyrus nodded. Human cops wouldn’t care, in the end, if the damage stayed contained to the hybrid compound. They could even hide behind a lack of jurisdiction.

  He didn’t give a shit. They didn’t need the cops to protect themselves.

  “Get the hose out and stop any fires,” he shouted. “We need to make sure that doesn’t spread and reach the main building.”

  He could be grateful to all of the past protestors for one thing: they’d helped the hybrids get a lot of practice at fighting fires. He watched as the man he was talking to grabbed a few others nearby and headed off to comply with his orders.

  Cyrus turned around to where April stood behind him. She frowned slightly as she looked around the area, but a lot of fear remained in her eyes.

  “You stay over here,” he said. “You might need to do your job, but we all have jobs to do right now, and you’ll just get in the way.”

  Irritation shot across her face. She opened her mouth to respond but stopped when he stepped closer and leaned down.

  “These people are crazy,” Cyrus said. “It’s dangerous. I want you safe.”

  Cyrus stared down at her pretty green eyes, her pale face framed by her auburn hair.

  A
pril nodded after a moment, and he swallowed. Somehow he’d managed to say more than he ever intended to, and there was no going back.

  She might be his enemy, but that didn’t change the fact that she was his Vestal, and there was a limit to how much he could ignore that.

  He turned from the woman and ran over to the stairs alongside the wall. Before he made his way to the top, Cyrus glanced over to where April stood just out of harm’s way. He still didn’t like the idea of her being there, but was somewhat calmed by knowing she wasn’t in immediate danger.

  For all their numbers and Molotov cocktails, none of the protestors looked like they had any chance of getting past the walls or gate. Things had changed a lot since the hybrids’ arrival at Luna Lodge.

  The hybrids had fortified the place to defend against the Horatius Group and serious threats like Glycons. Defending against protestors was just a bonus.

  Cyrus made it to the top of the wall and looked over the edge. The large and deep crowd of angry people remained gathered on the other side, signs, bottles, and the occasional hybrid effigy in hand.

  He carefully looked around for any sign of weapons, but spotted no guns. He’d take the small victory for the moment.

  After a moment, he narrowed his eyes. He recognized a few people from trips into town, even though the hybrids had been trying to avoid going there more and more because of some of the strange behavior exhibited by people there. These fools still hadn’t caught on to the fact that they had been caught up in some larger scheme.

  Lucius climbed the steps and stood next to him.

  “What a fucking mess,” the scarred hybrid said. He glanced at the crowd and shook his head.

  Cyrus looked down from the vantage point and spotted a hybrid with the hose, along with several more.

  “Run the line up here,” he shouted down below.

  The hybrid ran the hose up the stairs and nodded to the others, who then turned on the water. The roaring fire died, but that didn’t stop the protestors from tossing over more lit bottles.

  Any other time, he might have laughed. The idiots had such terrible aim that only one in four made over. Most slammed against the concrete wall.

  “Fucking animals!” someone screamed.

  “Burn like you’ll burn in Hell!”

  “Let those women go, you monsters!”

  Various people shouted other insults and ridiculous accusations at them from below. He watched as one bottle made its way over and landed near a car.

  He spotted a soot-covered April grab a wet blanket to slap out the fire. Fear shot through him, but something else caught his eye.

  A large tree outside the walls had caught fire. Most of it was far enough away, but several large branches reached over the side.

  A loud cracked sounded, and he knew it wasn’t going to hold.

  Cyrus passed the hose to Lucius and leapt from his position, landing hard on the ground. Several of the men looked up just as the burning branch made one loud crack.

  “Move!” he shouted.

  After three great steps, he launched himself at April. He tucked her against his body as he scooped her up from where she stood. He could feel the heat on the back of his body as he leapt forward and rolled on the ground with her.

  The large branch crashed loudly against the ground nearby.

  Cyrus leaned back and looked down at the small woman. A shocked expression covered her face.

  “Thank y—” she began.

  He pressed his mouth to hers in a searing kiss. The intensity of the situation still hammered inside his body. It had been too close.

  He didn’t care if she was his enemy and planning to give some bad report to the government. She was his Vestal, and he’d almost lost her.

  When he pulled away, he stared down at her pink cheeks and lips reddened from his kiss. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared up at him.

  A spark passed between them, and even through the smoke and soot, he could smell her desire for him.

  “I think I’ll leave this out of the report,” she mumbled.

  Chapter Eight

  April’s line about the report echoed in her head all night, and no matter how much she tried to concentrate, her words wouldn’t leave her. She kept imagining so many other things she might have said, but it didn’t matter. She couldn’t go back in time and change what she’d said.

  She looked up from the papers that lay all around the table and sighed loudly. She rubbed her tired eyes and took a long drink off the glass of wine she’d poured.

  Luck had been at least a little on her side. Tucked in the back of the pantry, she’d found a couple of bottles and secretly thanked whoever had left them there. Thank God for the small comforts during stressful situations.

  The slight edge of the alcohol helped settle the unease she’d suffered from since returning to the dorm. She wasn’t sure if it would have grown into something more but was more than happy to use wine to never have to find that out.

  It wasn’t the fact that she’d been nearly crushed by a burning branch but rather the silence that followed her stupid words.

  “So stupid,” she mumbled.

  In the middle of a violent protest where his own people were in danger, Cyrus had paid enough attention to save her. And then he gave her that scorching kiss.

  She reached up and touched her lips. Even though it’d been hours, it was almost like she could still feel his warmth, smell his scent, taste the inside of his mouth.

  All that danger and passion, and her oh-so-glorious response was to mention a stupid report.

  April shook her head, then slapped her palm to her forehead. Not just stupid, downright idiotic.

  After the kiss, she observed Cyrus as he returned to responding to the situation. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed while they got things under control, but he’d insisted she return to the women’s dorm.

  After that, he’d offered nothing but silence. From shouting orders to nothing but the sound of breathing.

  She let out a groan. Of course Cyrus had been quiet as he walked her back. He must have been pissed. After all, she’d just acted like the biggest asshole ever.

  It wasn’t like she really cared that much about the report in that moment, just being saved and kissed had all been unexpected. That was all.

  It’s not like her job was filled with dashing rescues and passionate kisses, let alone from genetically engineered super-soldiers.

  April again ran her fingers absently over her still tender lips.

  She knew she should have been afraid of how close she’d come to death, but that wasn’t what made her heart beat. Not even close.

  She’d never been kissed like that. Oh, the passion almost burned. The heat she still felt sparked something inside her, igniting her center and setting her senses on fire.

  Strong, fast, super-senses. Apparently, the hybrids were also super-kissers, or at least Cyrus was, no question on that. Now the real question was, what the hell was she going to do about it?

  If he was going to be the one leading her around the job, and she already felt this drawn to him, it could affect her report.

  She let out a sigh. It could, but it didn’t have to. The whole situation was crazy.

  It had never even occurred to her she might meet someone while at Luna Lodge. It wasn’t that she didn’t find the hybrids handsome. She’d have to be blind not to notice their muscled, god-like bodies when walking around the place. But romance didn’t often cross her path.

  She’d had to work hard to be noticed as her own person. With her father being a well-respected military officer, she’d had to fight not to be the person who rode his coattails.

  Instead, she’d tried her best to walk her own path, earning a Master’s in statistics and human resources. She’d done an internship with the CBO and worked with the GAO.

  Even though she’d enjoyed her work, the shadow of her father always lingered. She needed independence, and she’d spent five years working until reaching
this point, where she could be a true independent private contractor.

  All that work left very little time for men. You didn’t get auditing and organizational analysis contracts by dating.

  Many available men she ran into were like Major General West: someone looking for the right arm candy to match their ambitious nature. Someone who would take away all the freedom she’d worked to earn.

  She didn’t want to move up ranks with the help of a military man. If she’d wanted that, her father would have been more than happy to help. April wanted to carve her own path and make a good living doing a job she loved.

  That wasn’t unreasonable. At least she thought so.

  Her gaze wandered back down to the papers on the table. A sheet of notes from today glared back at her. If it could talk, she was sure it’d be taunting her.

  She didn’t love her job at that moment. Somehow writing up a dry report on what had happened seemed hollow.

  She was there for risk analysis, and she couldn’t deny the incident proved potential danger. It was unfair.

  There had been risks, but the hybrids had taken on all those risks themselves. They hadn’t created the situation, and they didn’t hurt any of the protestors despite them attempting to start fires. In the end, the hybrids had put out the fires, with no serious injuries to either side.

  She’d overheard local cops talking about how impressed they were with the hybrids’ response. They would know. The police had stood there the whole time doing little to stop people from throwing Molotov Cocktails over the wall.

  She’d heard one police officer claim they didn’t realize that was going on, but given how many had been tossed, she found that hard to believe.

  Willful blindness didn’t even begin to cover it. There were no firetrucks from town there. If the hybrids hadn’t acted quickly, the fire might have spread to the rest of Luna Lodge and the surrounding forest.