Chapter Twenty
Nikon opened his eyes and frowned. The bright white ceiling wasn’t at all what he had been expecting.
He turned his head looked around at the room. A machine next to him beeped, and he guessed he must be in a hospital, not that he could remember just how he got there.
The last thing he remembered was staring up at Leah as she stared down at him.
His heart kicked up.
Leah.
Nikon forced himself up. His muscles were a little sore, but it was nothing he couldn’t live with. It was his leg that he worried about. The bullet had burned like nothing he’d ever felt before. Maybe it had broken the bone.
He flipped the covers and was surprised to only find a bandage around his thigh. He pulled it back to reveal a row of stitches there. The skin still looked slightly puckered and red, so he hadn’t been there long, but the wound was still healing nicely.
That was all he needed to know.
Nikon slipped out of bed and tested some weight on the leg.
It hurt but was manageable. Next came off the stupid suction cups against his chest. The machine beeped loudly until he flipped the switch.
Likely the whole system was linked to the nurses’ station, and it wouldn’t be long before they rushed in. Ideally, he would be gone long before then.
Nikon looked around the corner. The halls were mostly empty, but a few people milled around. He watched as a nurse stopped in the room next to his before slipping out the door the opposite direction.
His thigh burned as he moved, and he was certain the stitches were pulling a little, but whoever had done the work seemed to know what they were doing.
Voices from up ahead murmured about a gunshot victim. Probably talking about him.
Nikon slipped into the room next to him. Inside he found himself in the break room. Fresh scrubs sat neatly in a rack.
The hybrid pulled off the thin gown he had been holding together and slipped on the pants and shirt. He imagined it was lucky they had his size, considering.
The voices passed by and after a moment, he stepped back into the hall.
Out of all the hospitals he had been in, this was the strangest layout yet. No windows. No exits. Only an elevator.
Nikon climbed in and stared at the buttons. Again, nothing was making sense. Barracks, Central, Garage, Armory, and other odd and very military-sounding floor names. More voices were nearby. He needed to make a choice and fast. He might have captured by the Phoenix Corps.
First floor. It seemed like the best place to start.
The doors closed, and he frowned as the elevator began to move up instead of down.
Nikon looked around to see if there was something he might use to defend himself. Something was going on, and he didn’t want to end up in a fight empty-handed.
The elevator dinged loudly and slid open. He stepped outside and couldn’t have been more confused.
“What the fuck is going on here?”
Nikon was in a home, smack dab in the library of some home. Behind him two shelves closed and sealed off the way he had just come. Nikon went over and pulled a book on the shelf.
Maybe he was dead. It was starting to seem like the only explanation.
“Looks like we’re going to need better security around here.”
Nikon spun around and was surprised to find a large hybrid standing near the door. He could only tell he was a hybrid by his smell. Everything else about him smell like some sort of rich human businessman.
“Nikon,” said a familiar female voice.
His heart kicked up at the sight of Leah just behind the hybrid.
Nikon frowned at him. Had this prick been holding her hostage? If so, he would tear the bastard apart.
His frown vanished as Leah raced past the man and into his arms. His arms wrapped instantly around her, and he held her close.
“You’re going to hurt your leg,” she mumbled against his chest.
“Fuck my leg,” he said against her hair then straightened. “More importantly, who the fuck is that?”
“Nikon, this is Maximus. Max, meet Nikon.”
Maximus. He knew the name. He was the leader of the hybrids Servius had helped rescue.
Cato and Wendy stepped out from the other side of the hall.
“Okay, now I’m really confused,” Nikon said.
* * *
They moved him back to the hospital ward. Leah sat with him on the bed as Cato explained, just happy that he was awake.
“It was Leah who brought you to the Lodge. It was clear something was wrong, and there was no way a local hospital could handle you. We did the only thing we could. We had a chopper on standby and sent it here to Max.”
Nikon frowned. “But where is here?”
“This is base here in the States,” Cato said. “Max has been working with his men and some of ours as a sort of special ops team. Thankfully they had the foresight to have a hospital put in as well.”
She watched as Nikon looked around. “Who’s the doctor then?”
Leah watched as Rachel, the Luna Lodge doctor stepped into the room.
“Me,” she said with a grin. “They brought your dumb ass to me.”
Nikon grunted but continued to hold Leah’s hand, occasionally rubbing it from time to time. “You still giving shots with glee?”
Rachel laughed. “You bet your ass I am.”
Leah snorted as she watched the exchange. From the start, she’d liked the doctor. Her no- nonsense way of deal with the hybrids reminded her of Jamie.
“That bullet contained quite the drug,” Rachel said. “We’re still running it through testing, but preliminary findings suggest it had some sort of neurotoxin meant to be administered in small doses to keep the person immobilized.”
The men exchanged looks, and Leah could only guess what they were thinking. Matt and his people were well-equipped and dangerous.
“He took Tycho,” Leah said quietly.
Cato nodded. “We’ve got a few men looking into it,” he said. “This sort of thing is what Max is trained for.”
Nikon nodded to Maximus before turning back to Leah.
“Okay, you lugs,” Rachel said quietly. “It’s clear my patient needs some rest. Everyone not mated to him needs to get the hell out.”
Leah watched as the doctor winked at him before closing the door to the room.
She turned and was surprised when Nikon’s mouth crashed down on her own.
“I thought they had gotten you,” he said after thoroughly exploring her mouth.
Leah shook her head and laid her forehead against his. “Never,” she said quietly. “I thought he’d killed you.”
Nikon smiled back at her. “Never.”
She leaned forward and kissed him softly. “I think you’re stuck with me.”
Leah laughed and pulled away. “We’ll get Tycho back. We have to.”
Nikon nodded. She knew he would want to help save the man that had saved them both.
“And when we do, we’ll go on to Isla Luna,” she said.
Nikon frowned. She had been waiting to tell him what Wendy had told her. It had all been so secret for so long.
“There’s an island for the hybrids,” she said. “A place for us to call home.” Just the idea of it made her heart swell. “Home.”
Nikon repeated the word as if he were foreign to him. He reached out and held her hand. Their fingers laced, and she could hardly tell see him through the tears in her eyes.
“A home together,” he said.
Finally, they would a chance for them both to have a free life denied the hybrids.
Leah leaned in and pressed a kiss against his lips. “I love you,” she whispered.
Nikon placed one hand against her cheek.
“My heart has always been yours,” he said. “Now and forever.”
Leah sighed as he pulled her into his arms, the safe embrace that would always be home.