“Maybe those bastards wanted a different type of hybrid than Titus and his guys. Something not as mindless as Glycons, but who they could control in a different way.”
“Control how exactly? I’m not following you.”
Maximus patted his heart. “How do we know they didn’t set us up to die after a few years away from them? It’d cut down on revolts, right? They could have set things up so we need a special chemical or something.”
Rachel sighed, the sound infused with deep annoyance. “There’s nothing indicating any health problems other than your inability to pick up on Vestal’s scents. If you’re supposed to be falling apart, I’d think we’d notice something else. You hybrids are special, but you’re not magic.”
“But there are differences between us and the Luna hybrids.” Maximus frowned. “You can’t deny that. You’ve told me that yourself, and I’m not talking about the Vestal scents.”
“Yes, but those genetic differences have always been there.” Rachel ran a hand through her dark brown hair. “The problem is there is still so much we don’t understand about hybrids, let alone different types. Even with all the files we’ve managed to get from the Horatius Group over the years, it’s not enough.”
Maximus gave her a thoughtful look. “In other words, you don’t know what’s going on, and you can’t help us.”
Rachel wrinkled her nose in irritation. “These things take time. Good, reliable science always does.”
“We’ve already been spending too much time on Isla Luna.” Maximus frowned. “If you’re wrong and this thing can spread, it’ll be dangerous. Plenty of hybrids here haven’t found their Vestals yet. I’m thinking it might be best if all twelve of the affected hybrids cut ties with the rest of you. I’ve already told this to the rest of my men who aren’t affected.”
Rachel snapped her fingers. “Oh, I’ve got it. I know what’s happening. It’s so obvious now.”
“You do?” Maximus’s brow lifted.
She smirked. “Yes, you’re mutating into a most dangerous creature, the wild drama queen.”
Maximus burst out laughing, the built-up irritation flowing out with the sound.
“There are worse things,” he said after calming down.
“Not many.” Rachel sighed. “There’s no evidence this is the result of an infection, and your bodies aren’t showing any signs of infection anyway. You don’t have to cut off your ties with the other hybrids. We’ll get it figured out. We just need time. And it might be the only significant difference between you Alpha Squad guys and the rest of the hybrids is a lack of ability to smell Vestals.”
Maximus stared at her. “Then we’ll never find our own mates,” he murmured. “That’s not a small thing.”
Rachel opened her mouth, a defiant expression on her face. She looked away. “I’m not going to feed you some line about how most people don’t smell out their mates. It’d be crap hypocrisy for me as a Vestal with a bonded hybrid to say something like that, but whatever weird things were done to create you, we can undo them. You were created using science, which means we can solve this problem using science.”
Maximus hopped off the exam table and stood at his full height. The large hybrid towered over the doctor. All hybrids were larger than humans to begin with, and he was tall for his kind.
“We might have to face the truth,” Maximus said. “The core of Alpha Squad’s destiny might lie elsewhere, just like Rem and the hybrids he took with him to Eagle Ridge. It’s probably safer for hybrids to be all spread out anyway.”
Rachel snorted. “If you ask me, it makes a lot more sense if you all stick together.”
Maximus scratched his small beard before grabbing his shirt from the table. “Sometimes destiny doesn’t always make sense.”
* * *
Two days later, Maximus sat in a comfortable chair in a back office rather than on an examination table. The room itself was sparse with only the desk, chair, a laptop, and a couple of filing cabinets. The only thing special about it was the fact it was hidden underground in a base that appeared to be a normal mansion from the surface.
A dark-haired tanned man stood in front of him. His large size and amber eyes made it clear he wasn’t a human, but a hybrid, like Maximus, but not just any hybrid. He was Titus, the leader of Isla Luna.
Maximus was surprised when Titus contacted him for a direct visit. Since their retreat from the United States, the Luna hybrids left their island only in small numbers and for short times, and it tended to be only those without mates. Rem, leader of the other major group of hybrids, had retreated to the Pacific Northwest and now controlled a town. It was only the Alpha Squad hybrids who still often walked among normal humans in their cities, even if hidden.
“You were just dying for a tour to see if I’d updated the place?” Maximus asked.
Titus shook his head. “Sol and I were meeting with the government, and I figured I’d stop by, because the government passed on something you might care about. It might change your thoughts on some things.”
“I always like to keep an open mind, but I’m not promising anything.”
“The Phoenix Corps is pretty much finished,” Titus said. “There’s only one major guy out there according to what I was just told. They didn’t know who yet, but I’m looking into that on my end.”
Maximus leaned back in his chair, nodding thoughtfully despite the pounding in his heart. The Phoenix Corps had been the main people responsible for his people’s imprisonment, and Alpha Squad spent most of their time targeting the Corps’ operations.
Titus grinned, the expression lupine and hungry. “Anybody who was linked with the Horatius Group directly or indirectly is feeling the heat. It’s like every government out there is trying to outdo all the others in hunting down people like the Corps and the Group, at least publicly. I’m not ready to have tourists flood my
