Selena offered a playful grin. “It’s nice to know that you’ll take down a mad scientist with powers you didn’t even know you had when I’m in trouble. Maybe next time you’ll grow wings or get laser eyes.”
“I doubt that.” Maximus shook his fist. “I’m guessing this is my power. But I don’t want to talk about that anymore.”
“Fine with me. What did you want to talk about?”
Maximus walked over to her, looking down at her. He took a deep breath. The next few minutes would decide the course of the rest of his life.
“I want you to stay with me. It’s not going to be easy, and you’ll have to get used to some things, a lot of things, including things you might not like that much.”
“Oh?” Selena cocked her head. “Like what? Because I like you.”
“Like secrecy. Everyone’s playing nice in public about the hybrids, but my group, Alpha Squad, we’re keeping things even more secretive, like you’ve already seen. I thought Quinen and this island would be the end, but now we have this Ouroboros to worry about, which means the fight isn’t over. It might just be beginning.”
“In other words, you’re going to continue to do crazy investigations and raids like you have here? And you’ll probably run into murderous guards and crazy guys with powers who like to rant?”
Maximus nodded. “We can’t rest until we know it’s truly safe. From what Quinen said, this Ouroboros might not have much interest in hybrids directly, but they do have an interest in Vestals. That might have just been Quinen, but we can’t be sure.” He sat down beside her and took her small hand in his. He never wanted to let go. “Things are different between us than they normally are with hybrids and their Vestals. What we share is somewhere between what happens for humans and the bonding of normal hybrids. I’m not going to sit here and lie. I love you, but I also understand that if this is all too much for you, and that you might not feel as connected to me the same way I feel connected to you.” He let go of her hand and sighed. “And I understand the danger might be too much. Now I can promise you won’t normally be on missions with me, so you won’t be targeted like you were here, and we have our own island base for Alpha Squad separate from Isla Luna, but…”
“Island base?” Selena smirked. “Do you have a secret jet at your secret island base?”
“We’ve got a helicopter.” He shrugged. “Trajan’s our pilot.”
“I don’t think I met him yet.”
“You saw him at the warehouse, but I haven’t introduced you to him. Anyway, it’s not like it’s a secret base.” Maximus thought for a moment. “It’s just a location where we live that’s not known to the general public as a place where hybrids live and train.”
“Isn’t that like the definition of a secret base?” Selena rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. Where is it?”
“Port Winter Island, off the coast of Maine,” Maximus said. “It doesn’t look like a base. It looks like cabins gathered around a large house. We’ve tried to seed the idea of an eccentric millionaire moving there with some of his family and friends. That way we can excuse the helipad. If people poke around and found out about the armory and training facilities underground, that might be harder to explain away.”
Selena shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t. Millionaire preppers are trendy right now. You could put an entire little town under there and just claim you’re worried about the state of the world.”
“Huh. I didn’t think about it, but that makes sense.”
He looked away. It was too much to ask. She could have been killed, and it was the hybrids’ fault. If they could properly smell Vestals, they would have known how important she was. Now he was asking her to live with them on some secret island base and leave her old life behind.
Selena reached up and put her hands on his cheeks, turning his head toward her. “Most people on this planet, those billions and billions, don’t have special bonding like hybrids, in any form. They don’t worry about relying on their nose to find their special someone.” She leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips. “I don’t know the difference between bonding and love, but I do know that I’m in love, and you already said you’re in love, so I don’t see why we should waste a lot of time worrying about how you might be different than other hybrids.”
“You don’t think it matters?”
Maximus hated the doubt in his voice. He wanted Selena to stay at his side forever and knew he’d be forever empty and filled with longing if she left, but he also didn’t want to force her into anything. He, and all the hybrids, knew all too well what it was like for someone else to take control of another’s destiny.
“I don’t know how much I believe about all this Vestal soulmate stuff, but I know I love you.” Selena wrapped her arms around his neck. “And I think that’s enough.” She laughed. “Besides…”
Maximus furrowed his brow in confusion. “Besides what?”
“I’m unemployed now. It’s as good as time as any to start over in life. Maine sounds as good a place as any. It’s gorgeous there from what I’ve seen.”
“But you won’t be able to do the work you did before.” Maximus shook his head lightly, feeling terrible about it. “Because we need to keep a low profile.”
“Then I’ll find something else to occupy my time.” Selena winked. “You guys don’t blend in well, and I think you can use a nice, cute normal-sized redhead to go into town and draw less suspicion to your crazy millionaire prepper place.” She kissed him again, a bright smile on her face. “Door closes. Window opens. This time there’s a hot hybrid outside the window. I want to
