“Are you leaving?” Mia asked.
The fear of being left alone sent a panic through her. She’d already been through that. Mia wasn’t certain if she could do it again, even if she did trust Tycho.
He stepped toward her and pulled her to his body. She breathed in deeply and leaned against his firm chest.
“I need to get hold of the Luna hybrids before I take you with me,” he said. “There are some things we need to have in place so we can get away safely. I need to make sure you never have to worry about getting captured again.”
She pulled back and looked up to him. “I can’t leave without Mya,” she whispered. “He’ll kill her. The only reason she’s still alive is because I’ve agreed to everything. Even if they don’t kill her, they’ll probably ship her off soon, along with the other Vestals. Dmitry’s made it clear he intends to take me to Russia soon, so it only makes sense they’ll be going there, too.”
Tycho sighed. They had gone over this many times before. Dmitry had all the power because he had Mya, and it wasn’t like he could ask Mia to abandon her sister.
“The Luna hybrids have resources,” he said. “They can help us.”
Mia still found herself not trusting the other hybrids. They may not have left him to die, but for two weeks, they made no move to even try to save either one of them. As far as she was concerned, they couldn’t be counted on, let alone to help her sister.
“Trust me,” Tycho said, and leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. “We’ll get out of here with your sister. Even if I have to go through all the men guarding her myself. No matter what.”
Mia sighed. She hated that phrase. It meant he might not be the one making it out. She wanted her sister safe, but she didn’t want Tycho to sacrifice himself either.
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him firmly on the mouth. “All three of us,” she said when she pulled back. “We all three leave this hell.”
He faltered a little as he nodded. “We’ll all get out,” he said finally.
It was as good as she was going to get out of him. She would just have to make sure that he made it out as well. It was only half a life without him in it.
“I’m going to a safe house I set up ages ago,” Tycho said. “I’ll get changed and talk to the hybrids. Tomorrow we make the escape.”
She shook as she nodded.
Tycho placed his hands on the sides of her face. “One more night,” he said. “You just need to be brave one more night. Tomorrow, you get the driver to take you to the dress shop. Use the restroom just before the fitting. I’ll be out back waiting on you.”
Mia nodded. She’d given the men the slip before. It certainly wasn’t the first time. However, now the stakes were much higher. She wasn’t just looking for a little freedom for the day. She was looking for all her freedom and her sister’s.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
Tycho pulled her back into his arms. “You’re going to do fine.”
Mia shook her head. “It’s not me I’m scared for.”
She stared into his amber eyes. They were just as beautiful when they weren’t glowing as when they were.
Tycho nodded. “Stick to the plan. We’re almost free. All of us.”
He pulled out a gun and thrust it into her hands. “Take this. Just in case. If Dmitry comes and tries to get you, you kill him.”
“I…” she stammered as she stared at the gun. “I don’t know if I can. Even if he’s a horrible monster, the thought of killing him…”
Tycho slid a finger under her chin. “You do what you have to, to stay alive. You hear me?”
She nodded as he stepped back from her and over to the window.
Mia was surprised with how well he was able to move considering all he’d been through. He quietly opened the window and crawled outside, disappearing into the darkness.
She shivered a little as she closed the window and placed the gun on the dresser. Mia wasn’t certain if it was from the cool night air or worry. Maybe a little of both.
The clock on the bedside table ticked loudly in the now quiet room. She glanced over to the time.
Nearly two.
Sleep seemed so far away. Although she knew she’d have to make herself sleep at some point. It was no use running herself thin when things were about to get very real.
She opened the small closet. It was mostly full of useless dresses Dmitry had tried to force her to wear. Mia hated them. She much preferred her typical wardrobe of jeans and a sweater.
Ignoring the dresses, she pulled out her favorite pair of jeans and white fluffy sweater and paired it with her favorite bra and panties. If she was going to escape, she was going to do it her way. She pulled out a pair of sturdy boots. Stylish but also sensible.
Mia stepped back into the closet. In the back she found the perfect bag. It was one she didn’t use often, but it was the largest purse she had.
“That will work.”
She pulled out everything inside and set it on the table before stepping over to her dresser and grabbing several undergarments. There wasn’t going to be much room for more than a few pieces of clothes, but she could make do if she could change the essentials. It’s not exactly like people could flee for their lives with an entire wardrobe.
She stuffed in a tank and some leggings. Anything more than that, and it would start to look suspicious. Mia placed her wallet on top of the clothes and stared at it for a minute.
Now that she had Tycho, escape seem real, tangible, and she needed to be ready.
A yawn ripped through her as she glanced at the clock again. It was well beyond her bedtime.
Mia made her way over to the dresser again and pulled out a different nightgown. Seeing the soft satin blue set she’d bought ages ago, she pulled it out and glanced over to the gun on the dresser. He was right. She needed to be ready. Quickly, she wrapped the gun in the nighty and stuffed it at the bottom of her purse.
She was ready, or as ready as she was ever going to be. Mia thought about the blue nighty and let a small smile play on her lips. Despite the dangerous thing she was about to do, for the first time in ages, she was happy.
The smile stayed on her face as she slipped on the new gown and crawled into bed. If she closed her eyes, that put her that much closer to Tycho. She sighed as she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Nine
Tycho looked over his shoulder as he made his way to the apartment he’d rented. In fact, it had been the place that Rollo had once used before all the hybrids rolled out of town to their new secret hiding place. Of course, he and Mia had been invited to come with them, but she wouldn’t leave without her sister, and he couldn’t leave her, so he continued to pay the rent on the place just in case they needed it.
Being downtown made the place inconspicuous. No one cared about anything downtown. He could have been walking naked, and it would have only caused a minor stir. It was part of what he loved about being in the big city, the freedom that came with so many people and anonymity.
When Tycho had been a captive of the Horatius Group, there hadn’t been places like this. Everything was just about his training as a tool. He might see the occasional fight ring and maybe a glimpse of places through the cracks of a transport. It wasn’t until he was sold to Dmitry that he ever saw much of the light of day.
The world had seemed abstract, distant, almost not real. Now he had an apartment downtown.
Tycho snorted to himself as he made his way up the stairs to the apartment as he thought about Dmitry. It was hard to believe, but he had actually been grateful to the bastard at first. He’d taken him in as one of the team.
Unlike most of the other hybrids, Tycho had been trained to operate solo. It was how they achieved the best fighting results with him, but with Dmitry it was different.
There was the big boss, but they all had to work together. People seemed like they actually gave him some respect. Hell, some of the men he’d killed earlier had likely been men he’d worked with.
Not that it mattered now. It hadn’t for quite some time.
This wasn’t Tycho’s first attempt to leave. When he’d heard about the Luna hybrids on the news, Tycho had wanted to leave, to go join with a group of his own people living freely. He’d grabbed his bike, but was met by Dmitry. By that point, Dmitry knew that Mia was Tycho’s Vestal. He still wasn’t quite sure how, but the bastard held it over his head.
She was his leash and fence. The situation was very clear. If Tycho left, he would never see Mia again, and a hybrid without a Vestal was half a man.
Tycho had seen enough of Dmitry’s work to believe the man meant what he said. The bastard held that control over him for months. No matter how hard Tycho tried to get Mia to leave, she wouldn’t without her sister.
He reached the door and took another look around. It was far too late for anyone to even be up. Tycho reached over the door and grabbed the spare key.
He opened the door and watched as a red string fell to the ground with a sigh. Fortunately, the apartment hadn’t been compromised. That was one less thing he had to worry about at least. It wasn’t exactly like fleeing a mobster, even when weakened and on the run from the law, was easy.
Tycho hurried inside and locked the door behind him. He hadn’t really changed much from when Rollo had the place. He had picked up his own bedding and kept some non-perishable food in the pantry. It was nothing much, but it made it easy if he ever needed to disappear, just like he soon would.
He stepped into the bedroom and pulled off the hoodie with crusted blood. Just looking at it made him think of that prick Matt. He shoved it into the bathroom garbage, imagining it was Matt’s face. A piece of paper flittered out and floated to the ground.
He picked up the paper and tilted his head as he stared down at it. It was a series of numbers, but they didn’t mean anything to him. Maybe they were coordinates or dates, but they could be anything really.
Tycho set down the paper and stepped over to the closet. Inside, there were several t-shirts and a jacket. He reached up to the top shelf and found the two guns he kept there.
His mind drifted to Mia. He’d given her the gun as a last-ditch resort, but so help him, he hoped she never had to use it. She was probably right that she wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger. He needed to be there in case she even seemed like she might need to.
Tycho set the guns on the bed and returned to the closet to pull out two phones. One was his burner phone, and the other was one Rollo had left with specific instructions to call if needed. It was hard to imagine that his current situation didn’t qualify as needed.
More than anything, Tycho hated to rely on other people. It wasn’t what he’d been trained to do, but this was too big a problem for one man, even a hybrid, especially in the condition he was in. It had only been about twelve hours since his last injection, and he could still feel weakness and a slight cloudiness in his mind from the drugs.
He sat down on the bed and just stared at the phone, trying to think over the entire situation.
Two weeks.
Tycho still couldn’t quite believe that he’d been gone for two weeks. It made him wonder just what the hell Matt had been cooking up and who the hell he really was. He’d never even seen the man before that night at the school.
It seemed that Dmitry had been keeping a few secrets from him after all. The clever bastard managed to win that round with a surprise, but the battle wasn’t over yet.
Tycho shook his head. More than anything, he couldn’t let himself overthink it all. Right then, he needed to focus on what he could do and what he couldn’t. The next day would be critical to making sure they escaped Dmitry’s clutches.
The clock by his bed read just past three in the morning. He wasn’t even certain Rollo would answer so early in the morning. Still, he had to try.
He hit the first number in the phone. The one he’d been told to call.
“Yes?” answered a man’s voice on the other end.
Tycho was surprised by the voice. Not only did the person seem alert at that hour in the morning, but he was decidedly not Rollo. Had the other hybrid programmed in the wrong number?
“I’m looking for Rollo,” Tycho replied.
The line was silent for a moment, and just as he was wondering if the other person had hung up on him, the man on the other end spoke.
“You’re Tycho.” It was more a statement than a question. “We thought you were dead after Matt drug you off, and we didn’t hear word. Glad to hear you’re still alive.”
Again, the man’s calmness surprised Tycho. He would have thought getting a mysterious call in the middle of the night would have been at least a little unnerving.
“Where’s Rollo?” Maybe it had been a bad idea to call the number. Clearly, he hadn’t reached Tycho, and the person on the other end knew more about him than he was comfortable with. He’d been out of it for two weeks, for all he knew, Rollo had been compromised. “Look, maybe—”
“I’m Maximus,” the man interrupted. “My men and I help out the Luna hybrids with certain special operations. Rollo left your information with me, and we’ve been working to try and figure out where Dmitry might be keeping you, but he’s been a pretty clever son of a bitch.”
Tycho snorted. That was one way to describe him.
“Are you and the girl safe?” Maximus asked.
Tycho cleared his throat. “I’m free, but she’s supposed to be married tonight. We’re meeting this afternoon. I’ve got a safehouse. I was drugged and kept a separate location, but I escaped and made contact with her.”
He could hear the rustle of some papers over the line.
“I’ve got your coordinates. We’ll send a man in the area to pick you up.”
Tycho shook his head. “She won’t go without her sister. She’s also a Vestal. Dmitry has her locked up. We think that, along with some other Vestals, they plan on shipping her out to the Russians in the next few days.”
The line went quiet for a moment. He could hear muffled talking before Maximus came back on.
“Right, we’ll have a team out by 2300 hours today. You get the girl and hold position. My team and I will handle the rest.”
Tycho frowned. Not only was he being taken off his own mission but was being told to hold tight. Nope, he didn’t like that one damn bit.
“If you’re going in, I’m coming with you,” he said. “I owe these assholes.”
Maximus let out an irritated sigh on the other end. “If we keep this tight, there’s less risk.”
“I know these men, and I’m invested,” Tycho replied. “I want my chance to make things right.”
Long beats of silence ticked by. “Okay, fine.”
“One more thing,” Tycho said before the man hung up. “I’ve got a list of numbers from one of Dmitry’s men. The one that had been drugging me, Matt. I can’t make out what it means, but maybe you can.” He quickly rattled off the numbers.
Maximus grunted. “Roger that. We’ll worry about that later. For now be ready.”
The line clicked dead, and Tycho wondered just what the hell he’d signed them up for. He didn’t know this Maximus, and this was not the Luna team he was used to. Still, if it meant he could save Mia and her sister, he’d do whatever he needed.
Chapter Ten
For about the millionth time, Mia stifled a yawn. Although she had tried, sleep had been fleeting through most of the night until she finally gave up and got dressed. For hours, she plotted in her head just how things would go. The facial expressions, the kinds of things she would need to say. This might be her only chance to escape.
Her stomach felt like she’d swallowed lead. More than anything she wanted to be free, but the fact was, her sister was sitting in her own prison, and she wouldn’t feel right until Mya was free as well. She trusted Tycho, but he was still just one man, and the Luna hybrids might not even want to get involved. He might be a hybrid, but he wasn’t one of them.
Mia jumped at a knock at the door. She took a
few deep breaths. She couldn’t look too frightened.
“Come in,” she called.
She tried to keep the waver out of her voice as much she could. Although she doubted none of the men would even notice. Again, she was grateful that none of them were really that smart. It wasn’t like Dmitry was recruiting the best and the brightest. If he had been, they might have caught Tycho the other night in her bathroom.
The door opened, and a man she didn’t recognize stepped in.
“Car is here,” called the man.
A small frown played on her lips as she stared at him. Usually the driver was whoever was guarding her. She didn’t know if this meant Dmitry had found some more men, or if he’d been forced to bring men from the other location.
Mia slipped the warm jacket over her bulky sweater and picked up her bag, trying to pretend it wasn’t nearly as heavy as it actually was. They made their way slowly down the hall and the three flights of stairs.
By the time she’d reached the bottom, a feeling of dread swept over her. It all started to make sense why the driver wasn’t the person guarding her. There was only one reason for something like that.
Mia stepped out into the chilled air. Dmitry stood there with a bright smile on his face.
“Ah, my Snow White,” he said. “You’ll make a beautiful bride today.”
Mia dropped her sunglasses over her eyes. He always questioned everything, and if her eyes were hidden, he might not see the fear there. Fooling him was far harder than fooling his men.
Dmitry was wearing a new suit today, likely trying to woo her before the big night. One thing she knew for certain, he wanted her to want him. More than anything else. That was one of the few levers of control she had over the man.
He moved away from the car a little and gestured for her to slide into the seat.
Mia swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat and slipped into the back of the car. She placed her bag on the floor near the door, as far away from Dmitry as she could. The last thing she wanted was him accidently sneaking a peak at the clothes inside. He might figure that it was close enough to the wedding to go farther than that.
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