Table of Contents
Copyright
Title
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Author's Note from Madison
Author's Note from Willow
Also By
Madison Stevens Author Bio
Willow Hazel Author Bio
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents depicted in this work are of the author’s imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locations, or events is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2021 Madison Stevens and Willow Hazel
No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.
Cover designed by Najla Qamber Designs
Cassius (Luna Lodge: Alpha Squad #2)
by
Madison Stevens and Willow Hazel
Hope accompanies a new enemy.
The members of Alpha Squad now know they have a dangerous new enemy, but they also understand their fated mates are still out there waiting for them. Unlike his fellow hybrids, CJ tries to live a relaxed life, not worried about the enemy. He believes he's content with his hope for the future.
When he's assigned to a intel-gathering mission in New York, he doesn't expect anything but a few weeks away from the Alpha Squad compound. One woman could destroy his relaxed approach to life.
It's time to seize control of fate.
Internet celebrity Kendra has come to New York City to appease her sponsors. Her career has become her life and little considerations like having a boyfriend have fallen to the wayside. She never thought she'd collide with a man who'd challenge her whole life focus.
The true monsters hide in the shadows.
CJ and Kendra try their best to focus on something other their fiery attraction, the same attraction that risks blinding them to the deadly enemy closing in. Finding each other is just the beginning of winning the fight for their love.
Chapter One
CJ crept through the dense undergrowth on his stomach, his rifle in front of him. Branches cracked underneath the weight of his large, muscular body. No one fired.
He didn’t expect any shots. For such a small island, there were a surprising number of small animals. Anyone who fired every time they heard a small noise would be constantly shooting and mocked later.
Practicing restraint, even when tense, was a useful skill for a soldier, especially a hybrid. When a battle began and their aggressive animal instincts surfaced, training was what kept them in control. Their creators had sought to unleash beasts in the form of men, but that didn’t mean the hybrids needed to act like animals.
The dense trees around CJ swayed under the touch of the late summer wind, the gentle breeze nice and refreshing. Being tucked away in the far northeast off the coast of Maine, his new home of Port Winter Island never became unbearable during the summer, but constant training outdoors at the height of the season left him sweating. The price of being a genetically engineered hybrid was constant vigilance, and that included exercises like the one forcing him to crawl along the forest floor.
“Pretty smart,” Cornelius shouted, his loud voice startling the curious birds gathered in the trees. They fluttered through the air as the other hybrid continued. “Not a lot of breeze, but you’re walking upwind, huh? That narrows down your attack angles. Every piece of information is useful tactical intel. Being clever won’t always save you.”
CJ didn’t take the bait. The second he made any noise, Cornelius and Seneca would take him out. They’d already executed the trick against Decimus in an exercise the day before, but that was only because the other hybrid hadn’t taken the training seriously enough. That earned Decimus an ass chewing from Maximus and Cornelius over his attitude.
Training didn’t have to be a headache. Today’s exercise was more glorified laser tag than full tactical encounter, even if Cornelius was taking it overly seriously. The guns sounded loud and realistic, thanks to their speakers, but they didn’t fire anything other than a low-powered beam. The current two-on-two exercise involved CJ and Tiberius taking on Seneca and Cornelius.
It was a tough combo of opponents to pull. Cornelius might have a stick up his ass the size of a giant redwood, but he knew how to track and hunt. All hybrids could, and that was before CJ considered Seneca. The latter hybrid might not be using his preferred sniper rifle that morning, but that didn’t mean his trained sniper’s instincts and skills went away.
More intense and realistic training might have been in order, but Alpha Squad still didn’t know who might be watching them, even when they were away from prying eyes on their island. Boats and the occasional drone strayed too close for comfort, and while their home looked like a mansion and cabins from far away, there were dangerous enemies out there looking for hybrids and their mates, the Vestals, including the mysterious organization known as Ouroboros.
Men in camouflage running around the woods with guns wouldn’t be that hard to explain away. Their cover already involved claiming their leader Maximus was a reclusive rich man with a penchant for armed survivalism. The hybrids’ size made them stand out from the normal gun-toting sorts of humans who might infest the woods. The hybrids’ more aggressive and open military training took place in their underground training facility, but its location limited its usefulness for wilderness scenarios.
CJ continued his low crawling. His cheek brushed against the grass and leaves on the ground. He changed direction as he sniffed at the air. The familiar scents of Cornelius and Seneca flowed with the wind. They were still close together. He had to hurry. There was no telling how long the wind would remain favorable.
Taunting CJ was a mistake. He didn’t need his enhanced hybrid hearing to pick out Cornelius’s location when he was yelling. The scent clue only helped cement things. CJ didn’t need to win the engagement, just
