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
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 © 2018 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
Tycho (Luna Lodge: #17)
by
Madison Stevens
Mia never had a chance to tell the hybrid Tycho how she felt before he died. Now, she clings to thoughts of escape and rescuing her sister from the clutches of a vicious criminal who sees her as little more than a doll. With a forced marriage on the horizon, it’s hard to hold onto her few slivers of hope.
Tycho has been beaten, drugged, and separated from his destined mate Mia, but his captors have underestimated his intelligence and his determination. It isn’t his first time as a prisoner, but he’s ready to ensure it’s his last.
Breaking free is only half the battle. A desperate gambit to rescue Mia’s sister will force Tycho and Mia to put aside their passion and trust dangerous allies. They’ll be forced to ask themselves what price they’re willing to pay for freedom.
Chapter One
Rain fell outside as Mia lay on the comfortable bed staring at the ceiling above her. The soft patter of the rain on the roof above matched the ache in her heart. The sky above cried, but her tears had all been emptied days ago, as if she’d cried out every last tear in her body.
Tycho was gone.
She closed her eyes and placed an arm over them. Despite all her sobbing, a few more tears managed to leak out and slide down her neck to her long black hair fanned out against the comforter. The pain wouldn’t leave.
Tycho had been in such a hurry to help Nikon save his Vestal that she hadn’t even been able to tell him goodbye. If only she had known it would be the last time she would see him, there were so many things she would have said, but now it was too late, and there was nothing left to do but lay on her bed.
Mia clenched her fists in anger over her face. Tycho had risked everything to help those Luna hybrids, and they had just left him there to die, to be found by Dmitry and disposed of like he was a piece of garbage. A good man like him didn’t deserve that.
She hated the Luna hybrids. They got to run off while she was trapped like a bird in a cage, and the man she loved was likely fish food. There was nothing just or right about that. They acted like they were the victims, but they’d used Tycho just as much as Dmitry had.
Mia’s anger over the hybrids had bubbled inside her for days, ever since Dmitry had dropped a bomb into her life, ripped her from her home, and forced her to hide with him from the feds. As hidden as she was, she didn’t fully know what was going on, but she could only assume the government was hot on his tail. The hybrids had ruined the small sliver of happiness she’d been holding tightly.
The low rumble of a car engine from out back reached her, followed by the crunch of the tires on the gravel and the sound of a door shutting. Mia tensed and sat up in bed. She stared at the window as two more doors shut. Now, there was only more torment left for her.
Dmitry had returned.
Mia hissed and jumped from her bed. She raced to slip on jeans and a sweater. She stared in the mirror as she pulled her hair up into a bun. More than anything, she hated having her hair down in front of the bastard.
He thought it gave him a right to touch it. The last thing she wanted was his filthy hands touching her hair. Small acts of defiance were all she had left.
She tucked a strand behind her ear and froze. It was something Tycho used to do. Something so small, yet so familiar. She choked back the sob that ached to come out.
Mia looked at the woman staring back in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy, but they always seemed to be puffy these days. Maybe she was a little paler, but still presentable as long as she gave Dmitry no reason to be critical.
She practiced a smile in the mirror and sighed. It looked more like she was constipated than smiling.
Mia dropped the smile and leaned in a little. She needed to do this. There was only her now, and she was the best shot at saving her sister. If it was the last thing she did, she was going to save Mya.
Heavy footfalls came from down the hall. The source would be outside the door soon. She took several deep breaths trying to control her pounding heart.
Mia turned back to the mirror and smiled. A real smile. The same smile she would plant on her face when she killed that son of a bitch Dmitry. More than anything in the world, she wanted to watch the light go out in his eyes as he bled on the floor in front of her. She wanted to pay him back for all the suffering he’d inflicted.
The door opened, and she turned around, a startled look on her face as she was pulled from her dark thoughts.
“Mia, my darling.” Dmitry strolled into the room. His two goons hung just outside the door, slight frowns on their faces.
Being wanted by the feds had made the man jumpy, more so than he ever was before. A part of her hoped he got popped by them, but another part hoped that she got the opportunity to do it first. A distant revenge wouldn’t be as satisfying.
“Dmitry,” Mia said quietly. “You really shouldn’t come in like that without knocking. It scares me.”
He frowned. The one thing he hated was not doing exactly what he wanted. She needed to defuse the situation immediately.
Mia stepped forward and whispered loudly to him, “What if I had been getting dressed? Your men would have seen everything. I’m yours and yours alone.”
Dmitry turned back to his men who quickly turned to look any direction but at their boss. The last thing they wanted was to get busted checking out the goods before their boss had even had a chance.
“No,” he said quietly. “This is no good. I knock next time.”
Mia watched as he surveyed the room. It was certainly a nice enough place. Maybe not as posh as she had stayed in before, but it worked well enough. Mia was certain Dmitry liked it because it was close to where he was staying.
Not that she knew. Apparently she was good enough to marry but not good enough to divulge any secrets to. Sometimes she wondered if he could sense how much she hated him.
Dmitry frowned. “This place is a dump.”
Mia shrugged. “I don’t mind.”
She watched as Dmitry moved forward and swept her hands into his. His black hair slipped down over his brow and landed against his square jaw. In another world, she had thought him attractive, in a world where she hadn’t seen him gun down men who cowered on the floor or heard the rumors about the ones for which he’d decided to make the pain last.
He might look nice on the outside, but inside he was nothing but evil. A cruel, vicious man who lacked a soul.
“In Russia, we live as gods,” Dmitry said, his accent even thicker than normal. “You will never have to lift a finger again. The
indignity ends.”
A shiver ran down her spine. Maybe some girls wanted to hear they would never have to do anything again, but in her world, that meant she would never have any free will again. She’d be nothing but a pretty doll for his enjoyment. Her life would be centered around a monster, and she would be at his mercy.
Mia had seen his mercy. It usually ended with bloodshed.
“When we marry—” Dmitry began.
“I want to see my sister today,” she interrupted.
Mia didn’t want to talk with him about their wedding day. It seemed to be the only thing that he wanted to talk about these days, and most times it ended with how he wanted to spend the wedding night. Even just thinking about being with him made her skin crawl.
Dmitry stared hard at her for a moment, as if trying to decide just how much she really wanted to see her sister. She let a small smile play on her lips, whatever she needed to do to see Mya.
His dark eyes stared back at her, full of vague suspicion and irritation. They were nearly black, and she imagined that they reflected his cold dead heart.
“Fine, you can see sister,” he said, and turned to his men who nodded their understanding.
Mia breathed out a sigh of relief. She needed to check on Mya, to make sure that she was still okay after everything that had happened. After all, it was just the two of them now. It was hard enough to imagine a future without Tycho, but imagining a future without Tycho and Mya was unbearable.
“I have present for you,” Dmitry said.
He snapped his fingers crisply, and one of the large men entered. She’d spent plenty of time with the various people under Dmitry, and she’d noticed fewer men guarding him recently. There weren’t as many on rotation, and most looked as if they hadn’t slept in weeks.
It could only mean one of two things. People were defecting, which she somewhat doubted since that wasn’t exactly something the Russians would take lying down, or that more of them were being used elsewhere.
Although Mia hadn’t seen them, she suspected they were at the same place her sister was being held, somewhere out of sight, likely guarding the Vestals they had been able to gather. The women were to be sold off to corrupt Russian oligarchs and criminals like cattle for whatever nefarious purposes those men intended.
The thought of it made Mia just as sick as the day she’d first found out.
Dmitry offered a white box with a large red bow. “Here.”
Mia accepted the box. A feeling of dread filled her when she noticed the name of the shop on the lid. She recognized it. It was a place that specialized in sexy lingerie.
Laying it on the bed, she pulled off the bow and lid. It was hard not to stare down in horror, and she was only lucky her back was toward him, as she took slow, deep breaths.
“Is beautiful, yes?” Dmitry asked.
Mia bit back her first response. “Lovely.”
She tensed as he pressed his chest against her back and reached around to pull the white lace nighty from the box to hold in front of her.
“It will look good on you, my little Snow White,” he mumbled in her ear. His hot breath warmed her neck and made the bile in her stomach rise up the back of her throat. “I look forward to our night together.”
He pressed his lower half against her. The clear outline of his erection was too much for her to handle.
Mia stepped forward. “Not in front of your men,” she said quietly.
Dmitry stared at her for a moment before a smile spread across his face. “So modest and shy, my little virgin.” He grinned. “This is good. I only find that more attractive.”
She jumped as he shouted in Russian at his men, and they turned the other direction.
“No one watching now.”
Mia gasped as he wrapped an arm around her middle and pulled her firmly to him, pressing his mouth hard against hers. With her mouth open, he took advantage and slipped his tongue inside.
She froze. He’d never forced a kiss from her before. Maybe had her sit on his lap or something ridiculous like that, but this was different. A kiss was supposed to be special.
His lips were warm as his tongue consumed her. She could feel him as he pressed himself hard against her. She closed her eyes.
It would be over soon. She repeated that mantra inside of her head.
After a moment, Dmitry pulled back and smiled at her again.
“Soon,” he whispered. “Soon I will have all of you. I’ll show you what a real man can do.”
With that, he pulled back as she collapsed on the bed, her legs too weak to hold herself up.
A small chuckle came from the Russian mob boss as he walked away.
Mia didn’t look as he left the room and closed the door. She didn’t watch as he drove away. She couldn’t have if she’d wanted. The tears that filled her eyes blinded her.
They rolled freely down her face, and for the first time, she felt the full force of what being alone in the world was really like.
The thought only made her cry harder. She threw the wretched box on the floor and cried into the covers, cried until there was nothing left in her to cry out, and she drifted off into a restless sleep.
Chapter Two
Days had passed. That’s what it felt like to Tycho. It was hard to judge the passage of time from the cell he was in because there were no windows, and they kept him drugged most of the time, but Tycho knew it must be daytime. Otherwise Matt wouldn’t be in, and the grunts wouldn’t be rushing around.
Every detail he could glean would help in a future escape. Schedules. Forces. Any possible changes in normal procedures.
Tycho lay very still on the small cot. Sometimes it was best to pretend like he was in worse condition than he was, his own sort of Trojan Horse strategy. But instead of men springing out when the time was right, he would unleash his inner beast and rip the bastards limb from limb. They’d pay.
It was what he lived for now, revenge and the chance to kill every last one of them.
A rank odor wafted through the small cell. Every muscle in his body tensed for a moment before he forced himself to relax. At least now it made sense why the men where running around like they had actually been doing something useful instead playing poker in a back room.
Today represented the classic example of a change in normal procedure. The big boss had come to inspect his men and his biggest prize, Tycho.
Dmitry had come when they first brought the hybrid in. He let his men beat on Tycho, and the boss himself offered a few threats. But he was scared.
Tycho could smell it on him. The little rat had few places to turn to these days with the feds on his heels, and the Russians from the motherland were getting anxious to get their goods before the US government busted them all.
It was precisely how Tycho wanted him. Scared. Men made mistakes while scared.
Outside the door, keys clanged as someone turned the lock. He stayed in the same position. Eyes closed. Body limp. He needed to look weak. They needed to believe he was weak.
In truth, the drugs they gave him did dull his senses, and they did make him weaker. Right now, he didn’t stand a chance of busting out the way he was. But it was better they assumed he was worse off. He could make up for lack of strength with strategy, especially given the arrogance of his captors.
“What the fuck did you do to him?” Dmitry shouted. “They won’t buy like this.”
He could smell that rat fuck Matt as he stepped into the room. “It’s just the cocktail I have him on. Otherwise, there’s no telling what he might do. I’d rather be safe than have him kill half the men here.”
Tycho nearly smiled. He knew exactly what he was going to do. Half? No. Not half. He was going to kill every last one of them.
“Get him up! Get him on his feet!”
He could hear the two grunts as they moved past Dmitry and into the room. Rough arms grabbed him, but he kept limp as they hoisted him. He could hear their loud huffing and puffing. It was clear he weighed more than
they could easily handle. It took all his self-control not to smirk.
He heard Dmitry step forward. In Tycho’s mind he could already see the ugly-ass shiny black shoes that likely cost a fortune poking out from under the expensive suit that still managed to look cheap. You could paint rotten meat to look fresh, but it was still rotten.
A hand slapped Tycho hard on each cheek.
“Wake up,” Dmitry shouted.
Tycho slowly blinked his eyes open but tried not to really focus on the man in front of him. The more disoriented he looked, the better it was. Everything needed to go toward his future escape.
“The mighty hybrid,” Dmitry murmured. “Not much to look at now.” He sneered. “A kitten could take you out now.”
Tycho stayed silent, letting his head hang loosely.
“Pathetic.” Dmitry scowled at him. “She cried for such a pathetic man. I almost wish I could show her you now, so she could see what a waste you are.”
Tycho knew who he meant and resisted a growl. Mia. She had been on his mind the whole time. Without a doubt, she was the driving force behind him wanting to escape. He longed to see her. To tell her what he had held in for so long.
He needed to get to her and make sure Dmitry never touched her again. If it was the last thing he did, he would make it so, even if it cost him his own life.
Dmitry chuckled. “It is good. You will be sold to highest bidder, and she will become my woman.”
Tycho’s eyes focused on Dmitry, but he managed to keep his face flat. The son of a bitch quirked a brow.
Dmitry smirked. “Oh? Does that bring out the man finally?”
Tycho’s heart kicked up. Everything was telling him to rip into the fucker, but this wasn’t the time.
Unfortunately, Matt was right. At least partially. The cocktail did have an effect. He could likely take out a few guards in the state he was in, but more than that, he would be stopped.
“The wedding is in just a few days.” Dmitry grinned. “Then we will be one.” He leaned in toward Tycho. “Her kisses taste like peaches.” He licked his lips. “I wonder what her lower lips taste of. I waited to taste her pure body, but she will know a real man in the end, and she will moan and scream my name.”
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