“From what they said on TV…” Selena laughed. “It’s silly. It can’t be true.”
“And what did they say on TV?” Maximus asked. “More stories about how we hypnotize women and drag them off?”
Selena’s smile faded. She slowed. “They used to say things like that, and it’s not like everyone has stopped, but I don’t think most people believe that, especially since some of that stuff makes more sense if everything I’ve heard about Vestals are true.”
“What have you heard?” Maximus slowed his pace, desperate to keep the irritation off his face, half-fueled by embarrassment and half-fueled by resentment over stupid rumors that demonized the hybrids.
“From what I understand, each hybrid is only compatible with one woman, his Vestal.” Selena spoke quietly, almost reverentially. “I didn’t understand everything, but they had some scientists talking about genetic links. They said you can literally smell them.”
Maximus let out a quiet sigh. “That’s all true, for the most part.”
Selena’s eyes widened. “Seriously? I mean I get mating for life and all that, but you don’t even get a choice?”
“No.” Maximus shook his head. “No choice. You mention science, but to many of us, it’s more than that. I’m not going to claim it’s magic, but it’s almost like the Vestal and hybrid are meant to be together, soulmates. That kind of thing.”
“That’s so sweet.” Selena let out a contented sigh. “That means you, what, can’t cheat on your Vestal?”
Maximus shook his head. “Not exactly, but half-way, maybe? We’re still men. It’s not like we don’t find other women attractive, but if the woman isn’t our Vestal, we’re not going to feel anything, but once we bond with our Vestal, we’ll never want any woman but them. Even before then, we feel incomplete without them.”
“Whoa.” Selena’s hazel eyes widened. “It’s weird to think about. I mean I’ve not had a terrible time with men, but not a great time either. A hunky superman who never wants to cheat on you… I think that’s every woman’s dream.”
“It goes both ways.” Maximus shot her a sideways glance, his earlier agitation gone. “It’s easier for the Vestal, I suppose. The hybrid feels that longing from the beginning, but it’s not as bad for her until she encounters the hybrid, particularly after they bond.”
“Bond?” Selena swallowed. “You mean… uh… sleep together?”
Maximus bobbed his head with an easy smile, surprised at the woman’s blush. “Yes. The scents draw them together, but once they’ve bonded, they’ll be together until the end.”
“Your wife is one lucky woman,” Selena declared.
Maximus shook his head. “Not every hybrid out there has found their Vestal. The Luna guys have gotten lucky in a lot of ways.”
“Your soulmate is still out there?” Selena offered him a bright smile. “Then she’ll be a lucky woman.”
“I’m a little different than most hybrids in that regard.”
“He’ll be a lucky guy?” Selena ventured.
Maximus laughed. “No, nothing like that. I’m attracted to women. I’m different. But I might not be able to sense my Vestal like the Luna hybrids.”
“Does that mean you don’t have to sit there and wait for your soulmate?”
“I don’t know to be honest.”
Maximus wasn’t sure why he was telling her all this. She seemed to implicitly trust him, and he felt the same about her.
Selena ran her hand over some dark green moss on a tree, before wrinkling her nose. “That’s moister than I thought it’d be. But it’d be nice for you if you didn’t have to wait around for your soulmate.”
“You think so?” Maximus asked, his doubt clear in his tone.
“I’m not going to pretend everything you said about soulmates and being together forever doesn’t sound nice, but it also sounds like it could be depressing.” Selena craned her neck upward, narrowing her eyes as she peered at the sun obscured by the branches above her. “You said the Luna hybrids got lucky. That makes it sound like you might wait around for years. Us boring old humans, we might want soulmates, but we don’t have to make the perfect the enemy of the good. I feel kind of sorry for you.”
Maximus grunted. The last thing he wanted was her pity, especially since something about the way she was nibbling on her lip in thought distracted him. He’d like to take a turn.
That didn’t make sense. The Corps had tried some forced breeding programs and while the hybrids could certainly perform, they took no pleasure from it. It was like even if their body responded to the woman’s body, their souls rejected them, eliminating anything pleasurable about the activity and any chance of pregnancy. But he couldn’t deny how much he’d wanted Selena the night before and even now.
Taking her to a hotel and making passionate love to her would be as pointless as it was impossible. Arousal wasn’t the same thing as getting past his fundamental hybrid nature.
“But you’re different,” Selena continued, a cheerful smile returning. She gave him a thumb’s up. “I hope you don’t have to wait around.”
“So do I.”
His thoughts drifted back to their little session in the hotel room. It shouldn’t have happened, but more importantly, she was the one who stopped, not him. He was more than prepared to sleep with her, and that had implications for his condition. It was a good thing she’d stopped them. Once he got past the foreplay, his hybrid instincts would have probably kicked in, and he would have had to leave anyway.
Or would he?
Maximus took a deep breath and slowly let it out, content to let the conversation drop for now as he grappled with the implications. If he was so attracted to a normal woman and ready to sleep with her, it might be that he no longer had a connection to a Vestal, a difficult prospect to wrap his mind around.
Making perfect the enemy of the good, she had said. It might be easy for humans to talk that way, but he’d lived his whole life meant for someone. Just because he
