Chapter Two
Rollo moved around the small dingy one-bedroom apartment. He hadn’t done much to the place besides put in a couch, TV, and bed. It wasn’t great by any stretch but was still better than the hole he had been living in when he’d first left Luna Lodge.
Leaving the Lodge hadn’t been easy for him, but he accepted that it had to be. Someone needed to find out what the fuck was going on, and the only way that was going to get done was if one of them left.
They’d spent too much time on defense, just reacting all the time from attacks from the Horatius Group, the government, and crazies like Reverend John. At least if they knew what was coming at them, they could better prepare so they wouldn’t be taken again by surprise, like they had during the bombing.
Rollo stood in the bathroom and stared in the mirror, his yellow eyes staring back at him.
He frowned as he stared at the brown contacts on the counter. It was the part he hated the most. Well, that and the damned buttoned-up blue-collar shirts he had to wear for work.
Rollo placed the contacts in and looked at himself again. For what it was worth, the brown made him look… human. He shook himself. No reason to start thinking those things. Maybe he’d been living among them too long now.
Still, he had to admit that the food in the city was pretty amazing. There were so many things he’d never even heard of before and so many spices. For a guy who didn’t know shit about cooking, it was the perfect place to be.
For that matter, there were so many different types of people. Whenever they’d gone into the town surrounding the Lodge, everyone had the same general look. Forget hybrids, those people would probably be suspicious of humans who didn’t look exactly the same as them.
Rollo made his way into his living room as the news played in the background. It seemed like that was about all he watched anymore. He hadn’t been in contact with the Lodge after the explosion, and it had taken everything in him not to return home.
Titus had decided before he left that it would be best that way. He could be a true hidden asset for the hybrids, and if they could avoid him being traced, it was likely best for everyone.
He walked over to the remote, and when he went to shut the TV off, a voice made him pause. One he knew well by now. He let out a low growl.
Jill Hope.
It didn’t matter what Titus said. Rollo still didn’t trust the woman. No one could trust someone like that, who flipped their opinion on a dime because they had been pulled into dangerous shit because of Reverend John.
It all seemed forced, and he couldn’t help but wonder when she might flip back to the other side again. For all the hybrids knew, she was part of a trap.
The small woman on the screen tucked a strand of straight shoulder-length blond hair behind her ear, her face tear-streaked. Dirt and soot covered her. Fear was written all over her face, yet she held the microphone steady.
It was a clip from the church, when Reverend John had kidnapped the lover of Varius, and the hybrid had been forced to kill the man on national television.
Jill wasn’t to blame for what happened, but Rollo could certainly blame her for the frenzy that came before. She’d spent so much time and energy helping to demonize the hybrids that most people were ready to believe the worst about them.
Staring at her face on the screen, he had trouble denying that his heart ached when he’d seen her there among the carnage. He had been one of the men to respond when shit went south with Varius.
A memory struck him: her tantalizing scent tempered by the smoke that still clung in the air. He let out another low growl.
As much as he didn’t want to even think it, Rollo knew the truth deep inside. Jill was his Vestal, the woman designed to be his true mate. The universe, or whoever was running it, had a sick sense of humor.
Rollo shook his head and flipped off the TV. He didn’t have time for this. And even if he did, entertaining the idea of being with Jill was like thinking about jumping into the tiger cage at the zoo. Not a very good idea.
Even if her opinions about the hybrids had changed, it’s not like her personality had, and it wasn’t exactly secret that she’d always been an ambitious glory hound.
He had other things to do. He had his mission.
Pushing those thoughts from his head about the millionth time, Rollo made his way over to the fridge and pulled out the lunch he’d made earlier then headed over to the door. He grabbed a coat from the hook and stepped out into the hall.
Rollo carefully reached up and placed a small piece of paper into the seam of the door. When you were dealing with people who would do things like use mind-controlled villagers as suicide bombers, you could never be too careful.
The hybrid hurried down the hall and outside to the street. Somewhere over the buildings, he knew the sun was already dipping below the horizon. It was strange being in a place where seeing the sun was difficult at times. Unnatural and unsettling in a way, but also awe-inspiring.
Still, the city had been the perfect place for him, as strange as that might seem.
Sure, Rollo might be a big guy, but no one seemed to care about that as long as he minded his own business, and he even ran into humans his size in the city.
As for everyone else, they were always in a hurry and didn’t have time to notice things that didn’t matter to them, and it wasn’t a place the Horatius Group would unleash bestial Glycons. It was the perfect place to blend in and hide.
That’s exactly what he did with his blue-collar shirt and jeans. He might be large, but otherwise, he looked like any other guy going on the night shift.
* * *
Rollo made his way to the front of the federal building and flashed his badge at the day guard, James.
“They making you work overnight now?” he asked as he emptied his pockets into the bowl, handed his metal lunchbox over, and made his way through the metal detector.
“Hell no! You think my lady is going to let that shit pass? She needs her man home at night if you know what I mean.” James raised his eyebrows suggestively.
Rollo watched out of the corner of his eye as James opened the lunchbox. It never got any easier each time he had to go through. There was always the fear that one of the guards might find the secret compartment.
Still, no way in hell he was going anywhere without a gun. Even hybrid strength and speed only did so much against a gun, and he was, at the end of the day, a spy in hostile territory.
It had been hard enough to just land the damn job in the building. He had no practical skills to speak of unless they counted cracking heads. The only thing they could think of was a janitor position.
Rollo laughed as James handed him the lunchbox and his keys on the other side. “Yeah, that’s exactly what she told me last night.”
The guard let out a loud laugh. “I better not tell her that, or she might just leave me for you.” James hooted. “You know, she got a sister though.”
Rollo shook his head and snorted. “I already told you, I’ve got no time for all that.”
James eyed him up and down. “Youth is wasted on the young.”
This time Rollo laughed. “I think you have enough fun for the both of us,” he said, and clapped the other man on the arm. “Better not keep Claire waiting.”
The hybrid turned and made his way toward the back as Nick came to relieve James.
One thing Rollo hadn’t expected from the assignment was that he might actually make friends. He’d never really been one to make friends back at the Lodge. Mostly they had jobs to do, and it seemed like they were always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Friendship seemed like a distracting luxury.
Despite his mission, the world outside of the Lodge was giving Rollo more freedom than he’d ever had. It was something he struggled with as well. To do the job, he needed to make friends. But by making friends, was he letting his guard down too much? Where did he draw the line?
As it was, James was always trying to get him to come by. Rollo had met his wife Claire several times. They were a great couple, each of them giving the other just enough shit to keep things fresh.
Still he couldn’t bring himself to put them in danger like that. If things went south, they might be implicated, and it was best if he kept things friendly but standoffish.
He glanced back to where Nick stood by James. The younger man clearly had more to prove than the older guard. It was far more a concern that Nick would find the compartment, which was why Rollo worked hard to make sure he was there just early enough not to cause suspicion.
Being human was hard. Rollo had spent all his life being the guy to follow orders. He was finding that the world outside wasn’t about just doing a job. That living wasn’t just existing, something the hybrids had done far too long.
This was what he was working for. A chance for his people to have the life they deserved. To live in the open with no fear for their families. They couldn’t plan for the future if they weren’t sure they’d survive the next day.
In truth, Rollo supposed it was no more than any other group of people wanted, only they didn’t have to fight every second for it.
He clenched a fist. Tonight, he had a chance to make a difference. He could end it all and flip the tide their direction.