Varius: #9 (Luna Lodge)
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 © 2016 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
Varius (Luna Lodge #9)
by
Madison Stevens
Hybrid Varius has found his other half in Lena, a nurse he rescued from the crazed fanatic Reverend John. Still suffering from her attempted murder at the hands of John and his men months prior, a relationship is the last thing on Lena’s mind. When Varius is sent to help Lena pack up her things at her old place, he might have the chance to convince her that he’s the man she needs.
Lena can’t seem to get her emotions under control. One second she’s panicked over the idea of leaving the lodge, the next she wants to tear off the clothes of the super-sexy hybrid. A trip back to her parents’ place offers the emotionally battered woman a chance at recovery.
Unfortunately, spending time around a hybrid makes Lena a target, both of a ratings-hungry reporter and an old dangerous foe of the lodge.
Varius only wanted to convince Lena that she could love him. Now he’ll have to save the woman he loves or risk losing her forever.
Chapter One
Why did it feel like Lena was being called to the principal’s office? It shouldn’t, she told herself. She was twenty-six for crying out loud.
Getting called in to chat with Titus, the head of the Luna Lodge hybrids, shouldn’t be such a big deal. After all, he was her boss. People talked to their bosses all the time. It just so happened that her boss was the leader of a group of genetically engineered super-soldiers.
Unlike many bosses, Titus had been nothing but kind to her. She’d done her part as a nurse. The hybrids needed her, and she needed a job. Everyone got something useful out of the relationship.
So why did she worry so much?
Lena shook out her hands. She’d been twisting them with worry, and somehow telling herself not to worry only made her worry more. Her mind conjured all sorts of scenarios, most terrible.
If Titus fired her, she’d have to leave and go back into town. A shiver of fear passed through her.
No. She was safe in Luna Lodge. She couldn’t go back out, couldn’t face the kind of people who claimed to be more human than the hybrids but were willing to kill as a mob.
Lena folded her hands and waited for the meeting between Titus and his men to finish. A long sigh followed. Everything would be fine. It had to be.
Ava smiled at her from her desk. After her daring rescue from the clutches of a crazed criminal boyfriend in South America, the other woman had been a perfect fit as a combination receptionist and public relations contact at Luna Lodge. Telling brooding hybrids what to do and dealing with the press seemed to be exactly what she was made for. And with Kate, their normal PR person, busy with her new babies, they needed the help.
The phone rang, and Ava answered, “Luna Lodge.” She frowned slightly. “No, he’s not doing any interviews. I believe I told you the same thing yesterday and nothing has changed. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone and shook her head. “That woman is relentless,” she mumbled.
Lena gave a small nod, not really knowing whom she was talking about, but too nervous to ask at the moment. There was still so much she didn’t know or understand about the people at the lodge. Most of her time was spent at the clinic, which was slowly being transformed into an actual hospital.
It also didn’t help she was one of the few women there. Paige was the only person she knew from before coming to the lodge, a fellow nurse and friend. Although Ava was Paige’s sister, she’d never really known her that well. She seemed nice enough, if a bit feisty.
Lena tried to be friendly with some of the men, but most steered clear of her. She suspected that had more to do with the man who seemed to always be wherever she was.
Varius.
Her heart thumped wildly in her chest at the thought of him. He confused her in so many ways.
Varius had been the one to rescue her when she’d nearly died after Paige’s field caught fire. Since that day, he always seemed to be nearby, not really saying much, just conveniently around.
The door to the office down the hall swung open. Several huge men filed out, all hybrids. She was still getting used to being around so many giant men. Some of the hybrids glanced her way and then back straight ahead.
She sighed when Titus stepped out and waved her over.
“Lena,” he said with a smile. “Come on in.” He turned and walked back into the room.
Men were still walking out, so she carefully waited and moved between them. With her small stature, she disappeared into the sea of hybrids for a few seconds.
Once she made it past the column of hybrids into the room, she froze. Varius sat on the long, large table inside. His soft amber eyes came up to meet her, and a shiver passed over her despite him not even speaking a word.
He always managed to look amazing. It didn’t matter what he was wearing, even his preferred jeans and a t-shirt. The damned things hugged him like he’d been stitched into them. His dark brown hair dipped in front of his eyes, and the sudden urge to sweep it out of the way entered her thoughts. Maybe she’d trail that finger down his square jaw over his stubble.
Titus cleared his throat. Heat washed over her at being caught staring.
“Sit down,” he said. He waved to the chair on the opposite side of Varius.
She hurried over and took a seat, not trusting herself to look up again. Titus took a seat at the head of the table while Varius sat across from her.
“I’m glad you could come today,” Titus said with a smile.
She smiled back slightly and let her gaze wander over to Varius. He stared quietly at her from across the table.
“We need to talk about your things,” Titus said.
“My things?”
“Your belongings in your apartment.”
Her head snapped over to him.
This was the one conversation she had been trying to avoid. Paige had brought up the fact Lena had most of her belongings still back at her place. She’d even suggested it’d be good for her to get out of the lodge, if only for a few hours, like wandering outside of the gates would somehow cure her of the fear that had colonized her heart.
It didn’t matter. She didn’t want to go. It wasn’t crazy.
Outside of the walls, Lena was a target. She’d been threatened before by fanatics, and all she’d done was help her friend. Inside these walls, an army of hybrids could protect her. They might be gruff and full of too much testosterone, but they protected their friends. She doubted she could say that about everyone in town.
She shook her head emphatically. “No thanks. I don’t need any of those things soon anyway. I’m fine.”
Titus gave a sad smile. She could tell he didn’t like this any more than she did.
“I’m afraid it has to be done,” he said. “Isn’t the lease on your place up next week?”
She swallowed hard. It was up, and if she didn’t have her stuff out by then, they would put it all out on the curb. She doubted the belongings of a hybrid sympathizer would last long outside.
Lena found a lock of her long chestnut hair and twisted it in her fingers nervously.
“Can’t one of the guys go and get it? Not like I could pack it all up easily or quickly anyway. Plus, it’s not like I don’t have work I need to do at the clinic. Having someone else go would be the best thing for everyone.”
She looked over to Varius, hopeful he would volunteer.
Titus sighed loudly. “We’re already under scrutiny by the press.” He ran a hand through his jet black hair. “There are rumors we’ve been kidnapping women and holding them captive as our sex slaves. How do you suppose it will look if we send one of the men to get a woman’s things?”
Lena let out a long sigh. “Like you’re holding me prisoner as a sex slave.”
Her gaze briefly connected with Varius, and her face flushed at a few stray amorous thoughts. More than a few. She might be slightly intimidated by him, but that didn’t mean her eyes were broken. Lena seriously doubted she’d complain if she were his sex toy.
Varius took a deep breath, and his eyes flared a brighter yellow. It was something she’d seen a few times from him, and each time it excited her, although she couldn’t really say why. She had thought about asking someone but worried she’d slip up and admit it excited her.
Titus cleared his throat and brought her attention back to him.
“Varius will go with you to the apartment tomorrow to help get things in order,” he said. “That way you’ll have a bit of muscle to help you move things around… and help you feel comfortable.”
She bit her lip and looked away. Though she’d tried her best not to discuss her fear, it wasn’t like everyone around her wasn’t aware of it.
She glanced over to Varius and opened her mouth to object, but Titus continued on first.
“Once you get things in order, we’ll send some men over to load things up. Final loading won’t look as suspicious. That’s how normal people move after all.”
His stern expression told her arguing with him wouldn’t help.
His little talk did accomplish one useful thing. The fear she’d been feeling got stomped on by her flaring irritation.
She stood and stared directly at Varius. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.” With that, she stormed out of the room.
Chapter Two
Varius watched Lena leave. Her long brown hair fluttered behind her. The fruity tropical scent of her shampoo reached his nose. He inhaled deeply, doing his best to savor the smell.
Titus shuffled some papers on his desk. “Well, that went as well as could be expected.”
Varius shook his head. They all knew Lena was terrified to leave the compound after being caught up in the attack by Reverend John and his men against Justus and Paige. Somehow making her confront that fear just didn’t sit right with him.
She wasn’t a soldier like them. She didn’t need to be brave. All she’d done was try to help out a friend.
Still, Titus wasn’t wrong. The media was talking about the hybrids and their growing number of women. It wasn’t something they could easily explain either, even if they were willing to tell the truth about Vestals, the only women who could successfully bond with a hybrid.
No sane person outside the compound was ever going to believe such an explanation, let alone that a given Vestal was all but made for a given hybrid and vice-versa. It just wasn’t something that could even remotely be believable unless you’d experienced it yourself with everything it involved: the intensity, the longing, the desire.
Even most hybrids who hadn’t experienced it had a hard time wrapping their minds around it.
Varius had heard so many of the bonded men talking about it before and just thought they had been experiencing love mixed in with a healthy heaping of lust. Now when he smelled Lena, his heart screamed the truth at him. As did something a bit lower on his body.
“Tomorrow, you’ll need to be extra vigilant about watching for the Reverend and his men,” Titus said and pinned him with a stare. “You know how dangerous they are. If anything, now that we’ve stopped them a few times, they might be more dangerous.”
“Then is this even a good idea?”
He’d been keeping an eye on the Reverend’s men but still worried about risks to Lena. Maybe Titus received other intelligence that he hadn’t passed on yet.
“As long as you’re there, I’m confident you can get her away without trouble.” Titus scrubbed a hand over his face. “We need to get her things, and we need to get the media off our back. If you do this in the day, it should lower the chance that they try anything. Reverend John may be insane, but he’s not an idiot.”
