Apollo
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 © 2015 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
Apollo (Luna Lodge #5)
by
Madison Stevens
Still bitter over the loss of his last real chance at bonding, the hybrid Apollo has slowly alienated his friends and colleagues at Luna Lodge. Trying to convince himself that love makes the hybrids weak, he’s decided to dedicate his life to protecting the other hybrids, even if it means he can never find true happiness.
Though he’s convinced the hybrids are ignoring the continuing dangers in their midst, including harboring the affable but suspicious Rem, his superiors seem more interested in having him babysit a security technician than putting his skills to use helping to secure their compound.
Val Hart pulled a lot of strings and committed more than a few cyber-crimes to get herself a temporary technician job with the suspicious hybrids for a mission that may allow her finally to understand why she’s felt different all her life. When her unexpected and intense attraction to Apollo threatens her focus, she has to do what she can to distance herself from the hybrid. After all, Val knows the truth about love: it’s nothing but a gateway to loss.
As the pair tangle over their emotional wounds, the enemies of Luna Lodge wait in the shadows, preparing to launch their deadliest strike yet.
Chapter One
Apollo whipped through the quiet halls. The massive hybrid with rugged brown hair might look like one of the youngest of the adult bunch, but he had grown. Being baby-faced and carefree wasn’t going to protect them. No, he needed to be hard to deal with the shit that none of them wanted to think about, even though they were still being hunted and threatened.
His brow furrowed at the thought.
But where was he headed? Another fucking meeting. It seemed like all they did was have meetings these days, and Apollo was about done with that shit. It didn’t help that they’d started letting just about everyone in on their business.
He didn’t care that they’d cleared them. If they kept blindly trusting people, more of their people were going to get hurt. Or worse. No one wanted to end up back in a Horatius Group facility.
The enemy was watching them and had struck them several times. Every time they opened the door to someone new, bad shit seemed to follow.
He might have been naive when they first tasted freedom, but a year of betrayal taught him the harsh truth. Being captured was the least of their worries with groups around like Reverend John’s people, religious zealots that thought the mere existence of his kind was an affront to God and death the only solution.
Before they had just worried about the Horatius Group, but now they knew their troubles ran much deeper than any of them expected, and the stakes were even higher. The Horatius Group was serious in their quest to recapture the hybrids, especially now that the Luna Lodge hybrids had women they had bonded with and children that had been born naturally.
Apollo grimaced at the thought of the bonded pairs living in the compound. They were just one more problem they had to deal with. Of course, none of the men seemed to think of it that way. Hell, he hadn’t either before, but the truth was the women made them weak. They had never had issues keeping a level head or protecting themselves before. The women stepped in, and suddenly it was like no one could find their head from their ass.
Lucius burned him the most. He’d been a warrior, someone the men could look up to. When Hannah chose him, it was like nothing else mattered. Then he brought that bastard Rem into the very place the Horatius Group wanted him. Just because the guy smiled a lot didn’t mean he wasn’t a killer waiting for his chance.
Apollo shook his head. They had all lost their minds if they thought bringing Rem into the compound was a good fucking idea.
A familiar voice cut into Apollo’s irritation-filled thoughts. “You going to the meeting?”
Lucius stepped from a side hall near the conference room.
Apollo frowned and kept up his brusque pace. “Do I have another choice?”
The other hybrid fell into step beside him. “Not this time,” he said and put his hand on Apollo, trying to get him to stop just before they reached the door.
Not one to be manhandled, Apollo wrenched his arm away and glared at the other hybrid.
“Lay off.”
“Look,” Lucius sighed. “I know things have been rough for you.”
Apollo narrowed his eyes. The older man might have a few years on him and had bonded with a great woman, but that didn’t mean shit in their world.
“We can’t all be so lucky to find multiple women to service us,” Apollo threw back.
He knew he’d gone too far. Anything to do with Vanessa, the crazy bitch who tortured Lucius for sexual pleasure, was bound to bring out the worst, but Apollo couldn’t seem to stop himself. In the end, Hannah, the sweet events coordinator, had chosen the damaged warrior over him. The sting from that still burned. Given how hard it was to find a true mate, he was probably shit out of luck.
For all his complaining about women, the worst part was knowing he’d probably be the strongest hybrid left eventually because he’d be the only one left alone.
Maybe that was fine. He didn’t survive hell only to die for a woman. Fuck that.
Lucius’s eyes flashed bright yellow as they stared one another down. The weathered hybrid closed his eyes and took a shuddered breath. When they opened again, the color was normal, and Apollo sighed inwardly. He might be able to take on some of the other men, but Lucius was a force to be reckoned with. Although his bond made him weaker in Apollo’s estimation, there were other aspects that made him ten times as brutal. Besides, in the end, he didn’t want to fight him. He wanted to fight the Horatius Group.
“I didn’t come to fight with you,” Lucius said quietly. “You’ve done well stepping in during the chaos when so many were poisoned. Without you, our people would have died.”
Apollo puffed up with pride. He had stepped up. It had been him that had led patrols when they still were uncertain. It was also him that stepped up to help Marius find the doctor. He’d cleared out all the men around the barn and searched day and night for the charred body of Reverend John.
By all rights, he was a hero, and it was about damn time people started recognizing that fact, instead of treating him like a hot-headed punk.
“But you need to start letting people in,” Lucius added.
Apollo frowned. The conversation wasn’t exactly going in the direction he thought it would.
“You walk around pissed off, shouting orders like you’re the next leader. Quite frankly, no one wants to work with you.” Lucius sighed and scrubbed his face. “I know you had your sights set on Hannah.”
Apollo’s face hardened at the slight. “This has nothing to do with her.”
Lucius looked down both halls. His face darkened as he stepped forward, but Apollo stood firm. He wasn’t going to be intimidated, even by Lucius.
“Look, I really don’t give a shit if it is about her. That’s over,” he growled. “But everyone is sick of you snapping at every little thing. It’s not helping the situation.”
Apollo scoffed at the idea he wasn’t helping. “Why? Because I actually take the threat seriously? Well, when the men around here want to put on their big boy pants, you just let me know.”
Lucius scoffed. “Seems like the man who needs to grow the fuck up is you.”
“Oh, I did,” he said and gave Lucius a hard glare. “I grew up when the safety we dreamed of was shattered over and over. Funny how we spend a year being out in peace before spending another year with women and surrounded by hell. The Group isn’t going to stop if I start saying please and thank you more.”
“Save your anger for them,” Lucius retorted. “Like I said, grow up.”
Apollo snorted, turned and stomped toward the conference room door.
“I’ll grow up when the rest of you do as well,” he tossed over his shoulder.
“You’re off detail,” Lucius said to his back.
Apollo halted. Every muscle in his body strained to keep under control. He turned and glared at his temporary boss. He’d worked his ass off to get his position, and he deserved it. They all knew he was damn good at his job.
“And what do Sol and Titus think of this?” he spat out.
Lucius shrugged. “I guess they think you’re being a dick, too.”
Apollo took a step forward. Ranking or not, he was going to teach this prick a lesson. He was tired of this shit.
“Don’t,” Titus said from behind him.
Apollo stopped and turned to look at his leader. Despite himself, everything in him was trained to listen to the man.
“You agreed to this?” he asked.
Titus looked over his shoulder at Lucius and gave a nod. He hated when they did that. It was like he was some child they needed to discipline.
“Temporarily,” Titus said when he looked back to him. “You’ll be dealing with the camera installation for now. That’s priority one. We have too many gaps in our defenses.”
Apollo crossed his arms.
“And after?” He raised a brow in challenge. They needed him, and he knew it. There weren’t near enough trained and experienced men, and with all the recent attacks, they were on high alert.
“We’ll reassess when that’s done,” Titus said and gave another knowing look to Lucius.
Apollo wanted to do more. He wanted to start a fight right there in the hall, but it would only reinforce their thoughts of him. Just because he was hard didn’t mean he lacked discipline.
“Fine,” he said and pushed past his leader. “I’ve got a meeting to go to,” he said. “Unless I’m too much of a dick for that.”
“Prick,” Lucius muttered.
Apollo ignored it.
Titus let out a loud laugh, which only served to piss him off more.
“Wouldn’t be a meeting if someone wasn’t,” Titus said, still laughing as Apollo opened the door to the room.
Chapter Two
A large circular table took up most of the space in the room, and men filled the spots all the way around. A number of seats were open near the front, but Apollo sneered at the thought of sitting there.
The men grew quiet as he took his seat at the back of the table. It was certain that any hybrids in the room had heard their conversation in the hall, and those that hadn’t could easily pick up on the vibe.
Apollo ignored the men around him, who chatted amongst themselves, and focused on his leader as he entered the room. Titus took his place at the head of the table. Lucius and Sol sat to one side of him and Remus on the other. Apollo glared. Letting that smug bastard in was going to get them all killed. He was surprised that Major Carter had allowed it, considering how the situation had entangled his niece.
Jenna had started attending their meetings when they realized that they were in need of better note-taking skills, something not high on the Horatius Group’s list of priorities for their genetically engineered soldiers. She sat nervously next to Remus, with her uncle on the other side, looking slightly uncomfortable.
The door opened, and Rachel stepped in with Marius close behind.
Apollo glared at the two. They might have made peace, but now he was forced to watch them play grab ass whenever they had the chance. He could only hope they kept their heads in the game during the meeting.
He fought down a twinge of guilt. He’d been obsessed with Rachel’s guilt, and he’d been wrong. Without her, a lot of them would be dead. The thought did temper his anger a bit.
“Right,” Titus said, giving them all a stern look. “Let’s get this started.”
The room grew quiet as everyone settled their attention on Titus. Each meeting seemed to grow in size. It wouldn’t be long before they could hardly all fit in. Not that Apollo cared. Might as well bring in the whole damn compound at this rate. What was the point of secrecy if nearly everyone knew about their plans?
“Let’s keep this short today,” Titus went on. “First, let’s start with how the scans are going.”