Cassius by Stevens, Madison (chromebook ebook reader txt) 📕

grimaced. “That’s right. The PI thing. That’s nothing more than a cover story, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” CJ glanced at the crowd in the distance. “My people got some information suggesting a dangerous organization might be involved in this race, and so we’re checking it out.”

“But the Horatius Group got taken out. There were all those hearings and stuff.” Kendra furrowed her brow and looked around with suspicion as if a Glycon would jump out any minute and attack her.

“I’m not a Luna hybrid,” CJ replied. “And the Horatius Group isn’t the only threat out there. Another organization is involved. We don’t know why or what they’re doing, so that’s why my team was sent to check things out. We thought it was just money laundering, but there’s too many things not adding up. It’s enough to make me think a lot more is going on.”

“Like what?” Kendra asked.

“For starters, you being a Vestal.” CJ stared into her dark eyes trying not to get lost in them and crush his mouth against hers. “Although some of us believe fate guides hybrids to their Vestals, we also know this evil organization, Ouroboros, is hunting them for their own purposes. We can’t be sure you’re being targeted. They could have kidnapped you from your house or the airport or something if that’s all this is about, but it’s enough to make me worried for you.”

Kendra crouched and rubbed her temples. “Oh, man. This is getting both weirder and more logical by the second.”

“What do you mean?” CJ knelt and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Please tell me. I’ll do everything I can to help you understand.”

“I believe you about the Vestal thing even if I don’t understand all of it,” Kendra replied. “I didn’t understand why I was so completely into you when we first met and why I was falling for you. It wasn’t like me, but now it all makes sense.” She managed a smile. “And it’s not a bad thing having a superhuman significant other, but all this other stuff doesn’t make sense. There’s no way some evil conspiracy is here at the race. It’s too crazy.”

CJ shook his head and followed Kendra as she stood. “The thing is we already know they are. My partner and I were doing some recon the other night, and two guards came after us. They were expecting hybrids. There was also a weird device we found on one of the obstacles. We think it’s some sort of transmitter, but we didn’t get a chance to check out the other obstacles. Standing and fighting other than to escape would have made a big mess and brought too much attention.”

“It could just be something to coordinate with drones and wireless cameras.” Kendra shrugged. “There’s a lot of that kind of thing at these kinds of competitions.”

“It wasn’t there earlier in the day,” CJ replied.

Kendra tugged on her ponytail and cast a nervous glance toward the burgeoning crowd. “If you’re right, shouldn’t we tell the police or security? Bad guys are messing around. We can’t let them do what they want.”

“We don’t want to let them do what they want, but we also can’t be sure if Ouroboros doesn’t have some control over the local police who are at the event. If the Horatius Group could corrupt the Army, no one’s safe.” CJ frowned. “And we know for certain that security’s compromised. That complicates things.”

“But what if they’re going to like send a missile or something?” Panic filtered into Kendra’s voice.

CJ shook his head. “I’ve been thinking about that, but it doesn’t make sense. My partner’s made that clear, too, and he’s smarter about this kind of thing. Whatever this is, it’s not about just hurting a lot of people, which would attract attention, and everybody knows governments are aching to hunt down remnants of the Horatius Group, and even if these guys are different people, the government will treat them the same.”

“Maybe they want to assassinate some hybrids?”

“Nope.” CJ shrugged. “They might have worried about us showing up, but they didn’t know for certain until last night. That much was clear. Whatever they were doing was set up before that.”

Kendra sighed. “Then what should we do? It can’t be that we’re supposed to act like nothing’s going on.”

“I don’t think you should run the course,” CJ said. He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. “I can’t take the chance they’re targeting you somehow. You running and jumping around means there are plenty of places where things can go wrong that are less obvious.”

“You think they want to kill me?” Kendra sounded more offended than afraid. “I’m just a normal woman.”

“I don’t know, and that’s what’s got me worried. And you’re not a normal woman. You’re my Vestal.” CJ growled, trying to resist the urge to scoop her up and run with Kendra until he was back in Maine. “The guards the other night came from the direction of the main sportsplex building. I’ve noticed more people going in and out of it now that the race is about to start. My partner and I need to check it out.” He averted his eyes. “And you need to stay off the course. I know this could hurt your channel, but I can’t protect you if you’re on the course. I don’t know what they’ve done to it.”

Kendra nuzzled his chest. “You don’t have to justify anything. I know you only want the right thing for me.”

“You believe me, then?” CJ asked. He hoped she couldn’t hear any desperation in his voice.

“I’m your Vestal, right?” Kendra looked up with a smile. “Yes, it’s crazy, and I already all but got called crazy by Graham for admitting I fell for you, but I know what my heart says, and I know that being with you feels right.” She tugged out of his arms, her smile twitching into a frown. “But I don’t know if I like the idea of you risking your life anymore