Varius: #9 (Luna Lodge) (3 page)

“I guess we should head back then,” he said. “We can come back tomorrow and finish up.”

Not really looking at her, he picked up the suitcase and stepped out the front door. He waited in the hall as she locked up the apartment. They’d be back at the lodge soon enough, and they could both relax.

They made their way down the first flight of stairs to the landing, which turned in the opposite direction. She moved in front of him so he could have room to manipulate the large suitcase.

Nearby hurried footfalls set Varius on edge. He took a deep breath and prepared to leap in front of Lena. Had he and Titus been wrong about the Reverend?

A blond woman with a microphone appeared from around the corner, a man with a video camera right behind.

“Jill Hope with Lena Parker,” the woman said. “Ms. Parker, can you tell us about your time in captivity with the hybrids?”

Varius could have groaned. Of all the people to run into, they had to run into a damned reporter.

Lena jumped back against his chest as the reporter shoved a microphone in her face.

This was the exact reason he hated heavily populated areas like this. It was hard to tell who was coming or going.

He bit back a growl. Maybe it was his fault. He’d been so obsessed with Lena’s sex toy, he hadn’t been paying enough attention to the environment and had just brushed off the vehicle as someone else coming and going. He should have listened more closely. At least it wasn’t one of the Reverend’s men.

“What?” Lena asked and turned to look at him.

“I see you have one here with you,” Jill said. “Are you being made to clean out your apartment against your will?”

The pushy reporter pressed in. Her cameraman stood right behind her, both ready to get the scoop.

He clenched his fists. He recognized this woman. The short-haired blond woman seemed obsessed with sensationalizing everything about the hybrids. She was one of the biggest reasons they had trouble with the media and people didn’t trust them.

Jill Hope didn’t even live in the area, but you wouldn’t know that given how often she showed up to report on some bogus anti-hybrid story.

Varius unclenched his fists and pressed his palm on the small of Lena’s back to urge her down the stairs. They didn’t have time to deal with an idiot. And Hope might be a fool, but she wouldn’t try to attack them at least.

“I’m just here to get my things,” Lena said and stepped forward, pressing herself against the rail as they made their way down.

That didn’t stop the reporter. She just walked backwards, microphone still out front.

“And will you be staying with the hybrids from now on?”

Lena glanced back to him for help and then to the reporter. “Yes.”

“What about this man?” The camera panned over to him, but he kept the same neutral expression. No reason to let them see just how irritating he found her. “Is he your boyfriend?”

Lena cleared her throat. “Um. Yes, he is.”

The blood rushed to his head, even though he knew she was just saying it so the reporter would move on. It would make sense in the media if she were moving into the lodge if she had a boyfriend there.

Still, he couldn’t stop his hand from moving to her side to show them all that she was his, the very woman who had been calling to his blood for months now.

The reporter glanced to him and sighed, totally disinterested in his boring demeanor. She brought the microphone back to Lena.

“Can you tell us what happened with your friend Paige and the deaths at her house? How did her fields really get set on fire? And why did she suddenly decide to live at the lodge? Did it have to do with the recent suspension at work? There’s been some talk of stolen drugs.”

He could feel Lena tense under his hand the more the reporter pushed. She shook slightly and froze on the last step.

“What can you tell us about the recent hallucinations the people in this area were having?” Jill said. “Were you a part of all that? Is that why you’ve been at Luna Lodge? Is this some sort of revenge attack by Luna Lodge against the town?”

Varius stepped in between them, his body shielding her from the incessant questions of the reporter.

“She’s not answering questions at the moment,” he said firmly.

The reporter narrowed her eyes at him.

“The American people have a right to know what’s really going on around here,” she said, her voice far more dramatic than the look she was currently giving him. “Don’t you want to answer questions and clear things up? Or do you not? Are you admitting you have something to hide?” She shook her head. “Reporters will find the truth. It’d be best for you to come clean.”

Varius stared down the women, unafraid of the threat she thought she carried. They had been attacked by everyone from Reverend John’s fanatics to the horrible mutated Glycons of their former Horatius Group masters. Some pushy reporter scored pretty low on the immediate threat index in comparison.

“If you have questions about crimes, you should talk to the local police,” he said and turned from the vile woman.

He arched his body over Lena to stop them from seeing just how panicked she actually was. With his face close to hers, he could see the small beads of sweat that had formed on her face.

“Keep breathing,” he said softly. Lena nodded. “Keep your eyes focused on me. We’re just going to get into the car and get out of here.”

She stared up at him, and for a moment, it was like it was only the two of them.

He hurried with her to the car. He opened the passenger side, and while she slid in, he tossed the suitcase into the back. After snatching a jacket he’d tossed back there some time ago, he placed it over her.

“Cover your face, and we’ll be out of here in a minute,” he said.

She stared up at him with her big doe eyes and nodded.

Not wanting to give the reporter and her cameraman a chance, he shut the door and climbed into the driver’s side.

The reporter shouted questions at him as he did so, but Varius just ignored her. She was annoying and incessant, like a mosquito.

Varius started the car and revved the engine. The woman and her cameraman jumped back. He shifted into reverse and pulled out of the parking lot.

“We’re leaving now. Ignore her,” he said. “She’s not worth worrying over.”

Chapter Five

Lena pulled the jacket off when they had been driving for a bit but kept it around her face. The smell of his aftershave clung to the collar and offered her some comfort, more than she expected.

With a quick jerk, Varius turned onto a dirt road. The car rumbled along for a few moments before he pulled beneath a tree.

He turned off the car. She looked over at him with surprise, her heart kicking up.

He slid his sunglasses up his head and stared at her with his beautiful amber eyes.

“We’ll wait here for a bit in case they tried to tail us,” he said.

“Oh.” She let out a breath and nodded, relaxing. She’d have never thought of something like that.

A loud humming grew from the backseat. She frowned. Lena glanced over at Varius, whose face grew redder by the second.

She shook her head, trying to figure out what was going on. He didn’t seem tense or agitated, so that meant there had to be no danger around. She waited for him to say something, but he remained silent.

After a few more seconds of humming, the truth dawned on her.

Lena burst out laughing, unable to hold it back any longer. The lack of sleep mingled with a heavy dose of anxiety and sexual tension, overloading her senses. Varius looked over at her as if she’d lost her mind. And maybe she had.

She shook her head and leaned over the middle of the seat toward her suitcase. Her hand easily slipped into the luggage and found the vibrating sex toy. This time she unscrewed it until the batteries fell into her hand. Satisfied that it was over, she pulled her hand out and zipped up the suitcase.

When she turned back around to slip into her seat, Lena was surprised to catch Varius staring at her extended ass.

Her breath caught in her throat as she slid her knees back down into the seat but stayed next to him, unable to take her eyes off him.

No. She wasn’t going to run. There was no way she could even if she wanted to. Lena needed him. His nearby presence soaked her, like a hunger she could never sate.

His nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath. Like so many times before, his eyes flashed a bright yellow.

In one move she closed the distance between them. Her mouth pressed hard against his, willing him to return the kiss.

His hands remained still beside him, not moving as her mouth moved against him.

She knew he had felt the tension between them. There was no way she had imagined a connection. Her attraction couldn’t be one-sided.

Lena placed her hands on his chest, feeling the tense muscles. It was like he was holding himself back for some reason.

She nipped his lip in irritation. Yes, she was totally being selfish, but the attraction was real.

Varius growled, the noise originating deep inside his chest. She could feel it down to her center.

The noise should have frightened her. After everything she had been through, it should have made her pull away and run screaming from the car. Instead the sound only increased her desire.

She gasped when he pulled his mouth from hers, lifted her and placed her legs on either side of him so she was now straddling him in the front seat.

Lena only had a moment to comprehend the new arrangement before his mouth was on hers. Hungry. Demanding.

She opened her mouth as his tongue invaded her. They twisted against one another and moved in a rhythm. She could feel herself getting wet as her shorts pressed against his very large bulge.

Fully in the throes of passion, Lena wrapped her arms around his neck and moved against him. A small amount of relief came from the movement but not enough to force the ache in her center away.

She slid against him, this time pressing against him hard.

Varius grunted, and she pulled back.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked.

He shook his head, eyes blazing brightly. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

Lena returned her mouth to his. Her mind emptied of anything but her need for Varius.

His hands slipped under her loose-fitted shirt and ran over the skin there. Deep down she wanted to stop him from feeling her soft middle, but it felt so good to have him touching her she pushed the doubt from her mind.

His hand wandered until he’d breached the line on her pants. On arrival, he shoved his hand in all the way.

Lena pulled back and leaned to the side to allow him better access. She focused on his face as his fingers slipped between her wet folds.

Varius continued exploring, realizing Lena was one surprise after another. His fingers moved along her slick, smooth skin. The lack of hair wasn’t something that he’d been expecting, but he loved the feel of it.

She tossed her head back, and he wrapped his other arm around her as one finger slid inside her. Her slick insides tightened around his finger as he pressed deeper inside.

He gritted his teeth as he moved his hand inside her mound, aching to feel his cock buried deep inside her but wary of the animal that rested just below the surface.

Pleasing her with his hands was the best solution. He still got to be with her even if it meant he didn’t get everything he wanted. No matter what, he could sure as hell make sure it was good for her.

His thumb found her small nub and circled it as his finger worked inside her. Her little moans escaping with each movement were nearly driving him crazy with desire.

He added a second finger, the pair now tight inside her. She leaned against the window and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it as he fucked her with his hand.

“Varius,” she said with a shuddering breath.

A sheen of sweat covered her forehead, and he loved knowing he was pushing her closer to her climax, that she could finally feel the need he had carried for her all this time.

She moved against his hand, urging him to fuck her harder. Unable to use the force he wanted, Varius pressed hard against the nub. Lena moaned loudly and then stilled. Her muscles squeezed his fingers, pulling him in even deeper.

He removed his wet fingers from her pants and was surprised when Lena brought her hot mouth back to his for a demanding kiss. Her mouth on his filled him with an even greater ache to plant himself deep inside her.

It took a moment for him to realize she was fumbling with the button on his pants, trying desperately to get it undone.

Varius pulled back and stilled her hands. Lena looked at him, her eyes hooded with lust.

He bit back a growl as he pushed her hands away from the button.

Lena sat back, her face scrunching up in frustration, and stared at him. Her heavy breathing matched his own.

“Why?” she said.

He hated the crushed look on her face as she asked the question. The emotion from everything they had just done was fading right in front of him.

Varius closed his eyes and tried to regain some sort of composure. This wasn’t the situation or place he thought he’d be having this sort of conversation with her.

“I can’t,” he said. “You don’t know what kind of man I am. What I’m capable of.”

Lena frowned at him. “I don’t understand.”

He nodded. She didn’t understand. A part of himself didn’t even understand. All he wanted was to take her. Make her his. But what if the animal in him came out like that night? That night the beast had protected her from men who deserved their fate, but she didn’t deserve any harm he might inflict. How would he keep her safe if he couldn’t even guarantee to keep her safe from himself?

Varius lifted her off his lap and placed her back into the passenger seat.

“I think it’s safe to head home now,” he said, averting his gaze.

Lena looked out the window and didn’t respond. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but now just wasn’t the time.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything that might make it better, but the words just wouldn’t form. In just an instant, elation had been crushed into disappointment by his own hands.