Chapter Eight
I guess I’m just lucky that you knew what to do.
Cato scrubbed a hand over his face as he stared in the mirror in the bathroom. He’d slept like shit the night before and looked about the same.
Why did Wendy have to say that? Of all the things she could have said, it was the one thing that still haunted him from his time before the Lodge. The wounded or dying hybrids hurt during Horatius Group training, or just as punishment.
People like him. But at least he’d survived.
He sighed loudly. It wasn’t fair to be angry with her about something she didn’t know. Cato knew this. That didn’t change the fact that the differences in their lives were right there staring him in the face.
He glanced at the time on the clock next to his bed. It was early still, but he needed to stop by and eat before heading to the ballroom to start the party planning.
He’d come home right after being with Wendy and raided his fridge. There hadn’t been much, but he’d found some bread and cheese. Not the dinner he had been planning, but it was better than going to bed hungry.
Cato shook his head and sighed. He might be uncomfortable, but he still had a job to do. Without wasting any more time, he got dressed and tossed on some shoes before heading outside.
He decided to just walk to the breakfast hall. He needed some time to think.
Chilly air still nipped at him, but he didn’t mind much. Even when things were much worse, the cold never seemed to bother the hybrids as much as it did the humans around there.
It wasn’t like they weren’t affected at all, but just much less so. It made sense. A super-soldier would be less useful if they were too sensitive to different climates. Not every fight was in the tropics.
Still, Cato was eager for the coming warmer weather. It would be good to feel the sunshine on his skin and smell the perfume of spring. The winter had been long, dreary, and filled with threats to his people.
Not to mention better weather would aid their travel to the new place. Even if this party changed the relationship with the military, it was only a matter of time before things changed back.
Some crazy would jump the fence and get shot, or some other reporter would try and whip up outrage against the evil “monsters” of Luna Lodge. They’d never win the war of public opinion, no matter how many parties Jill Hope filmed.
The breakfast hall was crowded when he arrived. People were eating quickly before heading to their jobs. He filled his plate full of food on the line and glanced around the room.
With his main job being a guard, he dealt with quite a few of the men on a regular basis, but there were only a few who he considered close friends.
Cato wouldn’t say he was a hard person to know. The hybrids all had a shared past, but he still found it hard to connect to the others.
His gaze caught a pair of hybrids in the distance: Nikon and Alair.
Nikon waved him over to where he and Alair were sitting. The two men were guards like him, and over time, they had come to know each other better than most. Although he hadn’t shared everything with them, the two seemed to understand that there was always more on his mind.
Many of the other hybrids were leery of the two men. It wasn’t often that the Horatius Group used children from the same family in their experiments, and certainly they hadn’t used a lot of twins.
Although the pair weren’t actually identical twins, most people thought they were just because they looked so similar. Anyone who spent much time around them quickly learned that, looks aside, the men were very different.
Cato liked them though. They were easy to be around, and there were always things to talk about, despite the fact that Alair could be a bit quiet at times. It was nice having friends.
It was a concept he still wasn’t totally sure about. Having fellow men in a squad was one thing, but that was something different than an actual emotional connection beyond the task or job.
“Haven’t seen you in a few days,” Nikon said with an easy smile. “But it looks like you’ve been busy.”
Cato frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Nikon gave a quick laugh and ran a hand through his blond hair. “It’s all over the news. The interview you did with that reporter and that hot soldier chick.”
Cato bristled at his comment. Rage bubbled up in him just hearing another man talk about Wendy.
He took a deep breath. He was supposed to be clearing his head, not letting himself get worked up over petty bullshit.
“Her name is Wendy,” he grumbled. “And we were ambushed. Titus and Colonel Hall set this all up. Now we’re stuck setting up a party that everyone in the nation is going to be watching. I can’t believe I have to help set this shit up.”
Nikon gave another laugh. “Well, whatever the reason, it sounds like a great idea to me.”
Cato glanced over to Alair who had remained quiet during all of this. “What do you think?”
Alair looked over to him and gave a small smile. “I’m sure it will be fun,” he said, a little sullener than Cato would have expected. Apparently Cato wasn’t the only one having a tough time lately.
Nikon snorted. “Don’t mind him, he’s just mad that he asked out the wrong girl.”
Cato frowned. “And how does that happen exactly?”
“It happens when you’re a pussy and aren’t clear with the person.”
Alair glared at his brother, a growl under his words. “What, because you have all this experience with women? You weren’t even there, so what the fuck do you know?”
The smile stayed on Nikon’s lips, but Cato could see the serious look in his eyes.
“I know that if it were my Vestal,” Nikon said, “I’d make sure I was clear with my intentions.”
Alair rolled his eyes and looked back to Cato. “You meeting over the party today?” he asked, clearly wanting to change the subject.
Cato shoveled eggs into his mouth. “After breakfast,” he said after chewing for a few more seconds.
“And how’s that going so far?” Alair asked.
Cato glanced over at him. He still wasn’t quite sure what he should say about Wendy, especially with how close they had come several times to kissing. The idea of holding out on his friends didn’t sit right with him, though.
“She’s my Vestal.” He crammed another big bite into his mouth. It gave him an excuse to not follow up right away.
It was better just to get it out. As soon as they met her, they would know what she was and likely what she was to him.
“What?” the two brothers said in unison.
Cato ignored them and took another bite.
“What are you going to do?” Nikon asked.
Cato shrugged as he finished the food on his plate. “Nothing to do,” he said. “We have a party to plan, and it isn’t exactly the right time for me to get mixed up with the other side.”
Alair frowned. “I’m not so sure there will ever be a right time. If you don’t take your chance now, you might never have another.”
Cato stood. He knew that Alair was right, but there really was nothing to be done about it. Despite what his heart was telling him, getting mixed up with Wendy was a bad idea. Whatever he felt, she was still a soldier.
“You know you can’t fight it,” Nikon said, all levity from before gone. “No one can fight it.”
“No one has yet.” Cato shrugged. “It’s not like we have hundreds of bonded here.”
Alair and Nikon shared a glance.
Cato nodded to them both. “See you later.”
It was Alair who stopped him this time. “Happiness isn’t something to try and fight. She’s not your enemy.”
Cato grunted in reply, grabbed his tray, and turned around. Neither of the other men said anything else as he walked toward the nearest stack of dirty trays.
Sometimes a man had to sacrifice his own happiness to ensure the happiness of others. There was no life with Wendy, especially when they were planning to escape the very people she worked for. The government would probably declare the hybrids fugitive and try and hunt them down.
He and Wendy came from different worlds, and trying to make it into something it could never be was only going to confuse things down the line. All the talk of love wouldn’t change any of that.
For now he needed to just keep his head in the game so he could at least be of some use to his people.