Chapter One
Warm breath fanned over Leah’s neck as she lay on the bed. She never felt more at peace as she did when Nikon lay next to her. His body pressed up against hers as she tried to remain as still as she could, his arms wrapped around her in such away that he cradled her.
The hybrid had been staying the night with her now for nearly a month. Each night he’d slip into the apartment and climb into the bed next to her. Nothing more than that happened, just the simple comfort of lying in bed together.
Their odd arrangement had started simply enough. Well, as simple as anything in her recent life, considering she was spending time next to a genetically engineered super-soldier.
After taking a job at Luna Lodge, Leah had been caught up in trouble because of an attack by people who had been mind controlled by someone from the evil Horatius Group, the organization responsible for the creation and mistreatment of the hybrids.
The Horatius Group seemed to have an interest in her and her friend Jamie. They’d had to deal with several near misses. After such an attack, Nikon had stayed with her, offering a bit of comfort and security.
When Leah had taken the job at Luna Lodge, she never could have guessed that one of the hybrids might be interested in her. Leah wasn’t like her outgoing friends. She tended to be the homebody of the group and was more than often dateless.
It was a shock when Alair, Nikon’s twin brother, started paying attention to her, and she found herself entranced by the attention.
The hybrids were so different from normal humans. It wasn’t just their amber eyes or superhuman bodies. Even their way of thinking was different, direct and clear. Maybe that’s why they’d had so much trouble with the outside world.
Even thinking of those early days now made her heart race. She couldn’t help but wonder what she might have shared with Alair.
But it didn’t matter. The hybrid was gone. Dead. Everything in her little world had vanished in one cruel night, when insane mind-controlled suicide bombers had attacked Luna Lodge.
Leah could still picture the way Alair looked as Nikon pulled her away from the burning building.
Her heart ached. They hadn’t spent much time together, yet she still felt a bond with Alair. It was as if her heart had been torn from her chest, as if the missing piece of her soul she’d been looking for her entire life had been found and snatched away.
Maybe that feeling was why she and Nikon had sought each other out. Both of them had been seeking some sort of peace after the death of Nikon’s twin brother.
Nikon stirred behind her. His warm hand spanned across her stomach as he pulled her more snugly against him.
Normally, Leah would have been embarrassed having a man’s hand against her soft stomach, but with Nikon, it was just part of being next to him, a sort of possessiveness she’d never experienced before.
Even though they were twins, Nikon’s personality was different from that of his brother’s. Alair had been soft spoken and somewhat carefree. His brother was far more serious and laconic.
Nikon’s hips pressed further into her bottom. A long, hard thick length twitched there.
A soft gasp escaped her lips before Leah could even think to stop it.
Nikon’s body froze behind her, and she stayed frozen. Every day it was mostly the same. At least it had been. They might wake up in a tangled mess of limbs, but there wasn’t anything sexual.
This physical sign of attraction was rarer, and Leah couldn’t say she wasn’t interested. In fact, it was very much the opposite. Despite their history of pain, she found herself falling for the hybrid more and more each day.
Nikon shifted behind her as he pulled his arm gently out from under her. Leah struggled not to let the feeling of rejection wash over her. She couldn’t be rejected because she hadn’t really offered up anything.
Not that she was planning to. Nikon had made it very clear that there was nothing between them. Whatever it was that was going on, it was purely platonic, about nothing more than comfort.
Leah stifled a yawn as she glanced at the clock. It was still early. It wouldn’t be long before she had to be up to start her new job. Her heart hammered a little in her chest as she thought about it.
A two-week trial at the prep school. It wasn’t exactly what she wanted, but it was working with kids again with the potential to be upgraded to full time. It was offering her more than her current job as a library page.
The only downside was figuring out how to handle would happen if she did get the job. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to permanently move. The job was about an hour outside of town and offered her staff housing on campus if she was hired fulltime. It was too good an opportunity to pass up.
Leah rolled over onto her back and glanced over at Nikon. His tanned skin was illuminated by the glow of his phone. She watched as he sent a text then turned his amber eyes to her.
Moving meant leaving Nikon, and he was the only real reason she couldn’t be certain about the job.
“Did you sleep well?” Nikon asked. His deep voice skimmed over her and rippled through her like a warm wave.
Leah nodded as a small smile slid onto his face.
She should have known he wasn’t going to talk about what just happened and his hard-on. It was just like the time she’d woken up with her face against his chest, their fingers woven together.
More than anything she wanted to call Nikon out on it. To ask if he wanted to finish what they started, but it just wasn’t how she worked. The words just wouldn’t come out.
“You start the new job today?” Nikon asked.
Leah nodded and sat up in bed. She glanced down at her pajamas, little fluffy white sheep with a blue background. Nothing said sexy like fleece, as if her auburn hair and freckles weren’t enough to push cute rather than bombshell.
“Isn’t it a little weird they are having you start on a Thursday?” the hybrid asked.
Leah glanced over to him as he sat up in the bed and lead back against the headboard, his tanned muscles fully on display. She turned back around, her cheeks heating with a blush.
“They want me to get used to the school before I start class on Monday. Meet the faculty and visit with the students. That kind of thing.”
Leah could hear him grunt and knew he didn’t understand why she wanted this job. She half-wondered if he wanted her to keep the same job so nothing would ever change between them.
“You got in late last night,” she said, trying to change the subject.
Nikon sighed loudly, surprising Leah. It wasn’t often he expressed much of anything. Never in her life had she met someone so hard to read.
“With Woods under investigation, the government isn’t quite sure what to do with us,” he said. “If they move too aggressively, they look like they were supporting all his illegal bullshit.”
Leah turned and frowned. “How can it be that hard for them to figure out what to do? They screwed up, and now they should let you live in peace.”
Nikon gave a soft chuckle, and she liked the way his eyes creased slightly as he did so. “You’d think so, but they are having trouble deciding. Right now, they are in a tight spot. None of them really want to let us go in the public eye, but they look like monsters if they don’t. They might think Woods’s tactics were wrong, but they think he had the right idea.”
“What about the military at Luna Lodge?”
Leah already knew Jamie had been given an honorable discharge from the service. Too many complications to keep her in. Truth be told, it was a part of why she wanted this new job. Jamie and her husband Lucan were joining the other hybrids, and there was a chance she might never see her again.
A lump formed in the back of her throat. They shouldn’t have to live in a world like this, where they had to worry about conspiracies and bombers. Each of them should be allowed to live life in peace.
“The colonel wants to ship out, but there’s still some noise from the higher-ups,” Nikon said. “Woods might be out of the game, but that doesn’t mean the Horatius Group doesn’t have some pull out there.”
Nikon’s fists clenched as he spoke, and Leah reached out to cover one of them. The act was so natural she hadn’t even thought about it. The hybrid’s muscles relaxed the longer she stayed.
Leah looked up and found his eyes glowing oddly as he stared at her.
“Your—”
Her words died in her throat as Nikon snatched his hand back and flipped the covers off them. She watched as the large expanse of muscle in his back rippled as he stood from the bed in just his underwear.
She should look away. Leah knew this, yet she found it hard to stare at anything else. The man was like a walking piece of art.
“You taking a shower?” Nikon asked over his shoulder.
Leah swallowed over the dry patch that had suddenly formed in her mouth and nodded.
He grunted in reply and slid his pants low on his hips. “Take your shower, and I’ll make us breakfast.”
Nikon padded barefoot out of the room and closed the door carefully behind him.
Shower and breakfast and nothing else. Just like every other morning.
Leah sighed and stepped out of bed. There was no point dwelling on what was never going to happen. Today was a big day, and she didn’t have time for those sorts of things. Today was the start of something new. Maybe even something better.