Chapter Two
Joran stalked around the edge of the humming blue dome. It cast its eerie light throughout the area, pushing back the darkness of the night. The energy from it thrummed through his body, and it almost felt like his bones were vibrating from the inside out.
The damned thing was growing. He had no doubt about that now.
The ring was barely at the forest edge before, and now it had burned a path into the deep growth of the trees. It wouldn’t be long before it reached the outskirts of town, and there was no telling just what would happen then. That might be the end of everything they’d tried to build.
The hybrids had been lucky enough to keep prying eyes from straying too far by setting up road blocks and diverting traffic where they could. It was only luck that the land was far off the beaten path.
Taylor, the mate of Lucas, had been keeping an ear out concerning the local farms. They had cleared out all her cattle and settled them at the compound since they were about the closest neighbors but still kept up appearances at the ranch. So far, the town was oblivious, but they all knew that it wasn’t likely to continue that way.
Agatha held the stone, and her strange new super-hybrids reeked of trouble. A trouble that threatened to burst out at any moment. None of them were quite sure just how they would protect the town if things did go south.
Talk was all they seemed to do at the compound. There had been some discussion early on about the Horatius Group coming, but it was clear from their communications with the Luna group and the constant news coverage that the Horatius Group had bigger fish to fry.
It was strange to think that the very group that created them and had been such a threat for so long had been diminished to just a distant blip in their minds. Not that Joran was going to complain. There were only so many eggs they could juggle before one of them cracked.
The blue dome hummed rhythmically. Joran watched from the damp ledge he was standing on as the line sizzled out slightly further. A frog in the path burned to a crisp. The acrid smell filled the air as steam from the damp earth evaporated into the air.
It wasn’t the first animal they had come across like this on the other side of the line. The smaller animals not smart enough or fast enough had become sacrifices to the blue dome.
Joran wrinkled his brow in worry. The town was in serious trouble if the hybrids didn’t figure something out soon.
His thoughts drifted to long honey blonde hair and deep green eyes. If the town was in trouble, it meant Nicole was in trouble as well, especially since she was sure to throw herself right in the middle of it all as a deputy.
The frown lines on his face deepened as he thought about it. There was no telling what Agatha had planned. All had been quiet for several weeks now, but they all knew it was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose, and Joran wasn’t sure if he’d be able to protect Nicole.
He’d kept himself at a distance. Sort of. It wasn’t exactly like he could help that she called to him through their dreams. Still, he’d made sure to keep himself physically at bay despite the primal yearning urging him toward her. The two of them called to one another, and once he found the right time, he would go to her.
Safety would have to come before passion. That’s what it meant to be a hybrid in a world with so many enemies.
Joran was still trying to work out the details as to how meeting her would go down. It wasn’t exactly like he could just show up at her door and announce they were destined for one another. Vestals might feel the pull just as much as hybrids, but that didn’t mean they’d give in to their instincts so easily.
Once Agatha made her move, there wouldn’t be much choice. He would need to be near Nicole. Everything in him said he needed to protect his woman, even if she didn’t know he existed outside of her dreams. She was his one chance at being complete.
More often than Joran was comfortable with, he’d talked with Rem about the dreams. It wasn’t always the easiest of conversations, but he knew the other hybrids needed to know what was happening. Too much was at stake for all of them.
Holding back information didn’t just risk hurting Nicole. It risked hurting all the hybrids and the town. Given what they knew about Erebus, there might even be a risk to the world. They were dealing with monsters from dreams and a possible god.
Anassa, the strange leader of the Azilians, wanted Joran to tell Nicole the truth. Despite what was going on with Agatha, the true terror was Erebus, the strange shadow being who was waiting for his chance to slip over to their realm and wreak terror.
Joran blew out a breath. Sometimes it was almost too much for his mind to process. It seemed so unreal, but he knew it all to be true. Several of the other hybrids had already had to confront Erebus. No matter how much they wanted him to be nothing more than a story, he was terrifyingly real.
It didn’t help they still weren’t sure just what Agatha was up to. The men whispered about how she’d destroyed Thrax. He might have been on the other side, but it was clear that the half-hybrid wasn’t evil. His desire for a mate was understood by many of the men, and many hybrids had felt the pain of their longing for their Vestal challenging their rational mind.
If there was one thing hybrids understood, it was their special nature, the animal side. News of the death had been particularly hard for Nero. Above all, he understood both sides of the Glycon and hybrid divide. He’d been a type of Glycon and hybrid mix when they had first met him. The wounds of his previous life remained etched deep on his soul, likely more so than the rest of them, who only remembered back to the time when they had awoken from their deep cryo sleep.
Their previous lives had been washed from their memories. There was nothing left but the half-human beings they were today.
In fact, it was the same substance from the blue stone Agatha now possessed that helped turn Nero into his current hybrid form. Just knowing that had made Joran more adamant about stopping Agatha and the cruelty that seemed to follow her.
Nero probably wanted to destroy the stone as well, but he’d been tightlipped every time Joran had asked him about it.
Anassa might be their current ally, but none of them were certain how long that would last. She was ruthless and didn’t seem to mind sacrifices as part of her own inscrutable plans.
Rem, the hybrid leader, was no idiot. He had seen, just as they all had, when Anassa used the stone to liquify the gangsters who challenged her and even some of her own followers. She was one they all needed to keep their eyes on.
The fact that Nero was behaving so off recently was likely why Rem had paired him with Joran. Someone needed to keep the former Glycon on track and stop him from doing anything reckless.
Nero’s Vestal and hybrid mate, Nyx, might have done just as well at keeping him in line if she weren’t swelling with their child. That was likely only adding to his anxiety.
“Anything?” Nero asked, appearing out of the darkness. His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings as if he were certain Agatha were lurking there in the shadows.
Joran shook his head and stepped back as the blue dome began to hum loudly again and surge forward. In another hour, his current location would be consumed by it.
“Same. No change besides the blue dome.”
Nero stared into the thick haze of the dome. Joran knew what he was thinking. His partner wanted to breach the bubble. He’d talked about it more than once, even offering to be the lead on the mission.
Rem had shot him down. They needed to hang back and figure out just what the blue dome meant. It also might just kill them as it had every other animal it came across.
Despite the dangers, a part of Joran agreed. It wasn’t outrageous to think the material that had been used to make them was a part of the blue dome, and they might be able to pass through it with no harm at all.
“Fuck,” Nero growled.
Joran reached out and clapped a hand on the other man’s arm. “We’ll get Agatha,” he said quietly.
Nero looked over to him, his eyes blazing blue with rage, the glowing light just as bright as the dome in front of them. “When we do, I’m going to tear her head clean off. It’s not like I don’t remember everything she did.”
Joran nodded his understanding. They all wanted some vengeance. Agatha’s cruelty stretched too far into the past for there not to be some rage in the hybrids. She had been a part of the Horatius Group, the people who had not only kidnapped them but wiped all memories of their past lives. The same people who had experimented on them and tortured them for their sick goals. The Group was the cause of all the strife in their life, and Agatha was connected to that.
Even though the hybrids now lived mostly freely, and they had more immediate concerns, they couldn’t completely ignore the risk of the Group, no matter how distracted their enemy was.
As long as the Group existed, their current situation was as free as the hybrids were going to get, and there was something sad about that.
Another hybrid, Alec, burst through the undergrowth on the other side of Nero and Joran. “Someone’s coming.”
Joran’s keen ears weren’t nearly as good as his friend’s, but he could hear the sound of a car on gravel making its way slowly to their location.
“Shit,” he mumbled. He recognized the sound. He knew the exact vehicle that made that sound. Nicole’s car. He shook his head and scrubbed a hand over this face. It had to be her of all people that would show up in the area.
The other men turned to look at him, confused looks on their faces. He knew why. It was rare he let his emotions show to either of them like this.
Joran sighed loudly as a wide smile spread across Alec’s face.
“Head back,” Joran said. “I’ll handle it.”
“It’s her, isn’t it?”
Joran frowned at his friend. “Just head back before she sees you.”
Alec snorted and only grinned wider. “I don’t know. It might be fun to see how she handles the real thing, the Prince Charming from those dreams you two have been sharing.”
Joran scowled at him, even though the exact same thought had been floating around in his own head. No matter what, he had to make sure she didn’t travel into the valley and spot the blue dome. It was far too dangerous. Maybe seeing him would keep her away something she from shouldn’t be meddling with.
“Let’s go, Alec,” Nero said firmly.
Joran sighed as the older man saved his ass. The last thing he wanted was an audience when he first met Nicole face to face.
The two other hybrids turned.
Alec looked over his shoulder, his eyes sparking in the light of the moon with mischief. “Doesn’t she carry a gun?”
Joran growled loudly as he flipped off the other man. His friend’s laugh carried through the air as Nero and Alec disappeared into the darkness.
He’d been left to deal with the woman of his dreams. Literally.