Alec: #11 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas) Read online

  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

  Thank You

  Also By

  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 © 2019 Madison Stevens

  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

  Alec (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas #11)

  by

  Madison Stevens

  The hybrids of Eagle Ridge sought peace, but fate sucked them into a battle against terrifying new foes, monstrous super-Glycons led by Agatha, a former member of the Horatius Group. The imminent final battle threatens everything they’ve built.

  Alec knows he needs to be focused on the security of his people, but his yearning for his true mate distracts him. With the possible end of the world looming, he can no longer ignore his attraction to Hope. It’s time for him to stop acting like a flirt and pursue his love.

  Hope joined the Azilian cult looking for a safe place in a cruel world. She liked the idea of being promised a hybrid mate, but her leader gives her an impossible choice between helping the people who saved her soul and the man who might be her soulmate.

  Time is running out. The enemy is closing in, and Alec and Hope will have to make hard choices between love and loyalty.

  Chapter One

  The air was warm and sweet, the smell of spring. People hustled through the quiet village that had all but popped up overnight. Each person had their own special task to keep everything moving along. For that moment, she had a simple task, carrying a basket.

  Purpose. That was something Hope craved, even more so now that the Azilians were working with the hybrids to turn the Azilian compound into a base for both groups.

  Hope found it strange how their new little home had come to life. Not only that, the Vestals had started to come out of their semi-trances one at a time. None of them were exactly sure why they had been so out of it, but most of the women found themselves just glad to be alive and a part of something. After all, they had all wanted to belong to something important, and now they could.

  There was something powerful about what had been going on with the Azilians before, something to do with the stone. The stone allegedly linked to their true natures as Vestals and also to their fated mates, the hybrids, but it had also clouded their minds somehow. Now that was over.

  Hope wasn’t sure if she believed all of that. It was far too easy to get caught up in the crowd. Maybe it was nothing more than that, getting caught up in the idea they were all special.

  The Azilians would provide stability and a future, just as they had already. They could lead the women to their destined mates. That’s what they said about being a Vestal.

  Hope wanted to believed that. It’s like she had always known there was a special man out there for her, but the Azilians had made it clear that soulmates weren’t a colorful metaphor, but something real.

  She let out a quiet sigh. Although none of the Vestals talked about their pasts from before joining the Azilians, she suspected many had been through more than most people in their entire lives. There was more than longing for a perfect man that had pushed them to leave behind their pasts and join up with a group some were claiming was a bizarre Atlantis-worshipping cult.

  Hope stared up at the bright blue sky above her. A soft warm breeze sifted her loose brown hair over her shoulders. She closed her eyes and breathed in the floral fragrance as it wafted by her. It felt good to finally be herself again. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t move on her own before, but more that all her thoughts were consumed by her place as a Vestal and the stone. She still wasn’t quite sure what that meant in the long run, but if she had a place in this new society, she wanted to do it as herself instead of the shell she was before.

  Anassa, the leader of the Azilians, had tried to explain to them just what the magic of the stone meant to them all. She’d claimed it would help balance the fate of the world. Hope had long since stopped doubting magic was real, but Anassa’s explanation was still out there. She couldn’t stretch her mind that far.

  Hope still wasn’t even certain she totally understood what the stone did, but the general idea was that it served as the life force of the Vestals. They were connected to the stone, and although it was fascinating, it was chilling to think they might become possessed again by the stone and lose their will. Dismissing that as mass hysteria might be comforting, but a large part of her knew it wasn’t the correct explanation, no matter how much she might want it to be.

  She licked her lips. Somehow it felt like that was how it supposed to be. Everything in her told her that she should run and get away from whatever was going with the Azilians, but something called to her. It wasn’t something she could put her finger on, and if she ever had to explain it to an outsider, she was certain they would find a nice padded room for her. But the feeling lingered, nonetheless, that calling deep in her body that stopped her from leaving every time. It wasn’t like the cloud hanging over her head from the stone before. It was deeper, as if in her soul, not her mind.

  That calling was the reason she joined the Azilians to begin with. It had brought her a future and focus in a world that had been ready to toss her aside.

  Hope wasn’t from Eagle Ridge. Like many others in the group, she had been recruited from outside the small town from an equally small town some distance away from the seclusion of Eagle Ridge. Taking anything from strange men in robes handing out flyers had seemed like a terrible idea, even for her. She’d been a waitress at the time, and normally wouldn’t have even paid them any mind, but something told her to take the flier after her shift had ended. Even then, something called to her soul.

  The Azilian recruiters spoke of the chosen and how those who were among them would be taken care of. It was crazy. She knew it was crazy, but something about being taken care of spoke to her. Hope couldn’t remember the last time she’d been taken care of. She couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t spending every second of her waking life taking care of herself or the shitstorm her mother had left her with. Life was a struggle, and she had become tired.

  As she’d headed back to her empty, tiny apartment, she kept thinking over just what that sort of life would be like. It wasn’t until she had made the trek up three flights of stairs and was standing in front of her door that she noticed the pink slip.

  An eviction notice.

  Hope had tried to talk to the manager, but there was nothing he could do. If she didn’t leave, they would have to call the sheriff, and he’d escort her off the property. In a few weeks, they were turning over the building, and the new owners wanted to renovate the entire complex into something upscale. He handed back her month’s rent and closed the door in her face, te
lling her to take it up with the new owners.

  It was a sign. Not that she believed in signs, but there was no other option. Maybe going somewhere new would offer something more than daily struggle. Even if she wasn’t chosen by the Azilians for something special, she could always set up in a new town, one that didn’t hold so many terrible memories. She could find new opportunities.

  Hope didn’t want to allow any doubt. She packed what few belongings she had and returned to the street corner where she’d run into the Azilian recruiters.

  There was something out there for her. Hope knew that she was meant for more than just dishing out food at some random diner in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere just to have friends and family screw her over. People didn’t live the sort of life that she had and not come out stronger in the end.

  It wasn’t until she reached the Azilian compound and was selected that Hope became certain about her decision. Being there with the other women and knowing she had a purpose made her certain of at least one thing. Not only was she different, she was special, something she’d never really felt in all her years. The Azilians had given her purpose. Anassa told her something her own mother never did, that she was meant for something more.

  Pushing aside the old memories, Hope opened her bright green eyes and stared at the world around her. People moved around the compound, trying to get ready for whatever was coming their way. With all the chaos lately, including invasions of the compound by outsiders who had now become allies, it was hard not to let some worry mix in with the contentment.

  Some of the women speculated that it was the end times, like something out of the Bible. Hope frowned. Even with the trouble, it didn’t feel like the end times. She’d always pictured more fire and flooding. Monsters. It felt more like everything that mattered was happening right in their backyard. But maybe that’s what the end times looked like, an average day with something brewing in the distance. Two different sides fighting to win. Good and evil. Then again, what were the Glycons but monsters?

  A large hybrid walked in front of her. She watched the man as he easily hauled a pile of lumber to the storage facility. It was still amazing to see just what they could do, the large men, and a smattering of women, with amazing skills.

  Anassa had called them gods. Hope wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen the men fight right in front of her. The way they moved was beyond anything she’d ever seen. Maybe they were gods.

  Hope blushed and looked away from the hybrid. Fate again. It just all seemed so bizarre.

  After the blue dome had vanished and the stone was retrieved by the hybrids, life had changed in many ways for the Azilians. Anassa had always assured the Vestals they would get their own hybrid husband to help welcome the new world, and it seemed as if all of that were finally coming true. Many of her Vestal friends had already paired off with hybrids. As strange as it all seemed before, the matches made sense. Both Vestal and hybrid seemed genuinely in love.

  The logical side of Hope’s brain fought to comprehend it. Meeting a man and falling in love in such a short period seemed impossible. After as many times as she’d seen her mother fall into that pattern, she knew love didn’t work that way. But somehow, the Vestals and hybrids had pulled it off.

  The image of a certain tall dark-haired hybrid crossed her mind. Her body heated just thinking about him, and she knew she was giving herself away. They could smell excitement.

  Alec. With his charming smile and flirtatious ways, Hope didn’t know how to deal with him. He was so unlike many of the other men she had dealt with before, hybrid or human. And what was more, he didn’t seem to even want anything from her in particular. Not really. Maybe that meant something. Hybrids were supposed to want their Vestals, pulled to them by a force far stronger than basic attraction. That could mean that Alec wasn’t meant for her, but she still wasn’t sure she bought into that idea completely.

  Hope shook her head. There was a big difference between love and lust. She just had to keep reminding herself of that.

  The heavy basket strained her muscles, and she hoisted it up against her hip. Clearly, she had been standing there fantasizing for far too long if she was feeling the weight. Now wasn’t the time to be daydreaming. She needed to get the basket over to the kitchen if they wanted any hope of getting the bread baked before nightfall. Everyone was doing their jobs. It was time she did hers.

  Hope took a step forward but stopped as a white-robed woman passed by, visible only in the corner of her eye. Anassa. It was hard to miss her from pretty much anywhere in the compound. Her face was always shrouded by the white robe she wore as if she were an angel floating among them.

  A snort escaped Hope’s mouth. Anywhere else, the idea of angels walking among humans would earn her some very strong medication, but in her world, it seemed just as reasonable as anything else she’d seen. She didn’t know whether to call that magic or something else, but there was no denying it was real.

  The cloaked woman stopped just in front of her. Hope’s spine straightened. She was now keenly aware of the fact that she had just snorted and possibly offended the woman in charge.

  “You are Hope?” Anassa asked.

  Hope nodded before clearing her throat and answering. “Yes.”

  She could feel the muscles in the back of her throat close as she spoke. Her mouth went dry.

  “You’ve been loyal to the cause for little over a year now,” Anassa said more than asked.

  Again, Hope nodded. This time she found getting out the words more difficult.

  “The stone has blessed you with many attributes,” Anassa said. Her voice was strained as she spoke, almost as if it were the sound of wind howling through the tree branches. It sent a shudder through Hope. Aside from her initial orientation, Hope hadn’t spent any time actually talking with Anassa. The more she did, the more uncomfortable it made her feel. There was something wholly unnatural about the woman. It was unsettling to say the least.

  “The stone doesn’t bless all of our Vestals,” Anassa continued, “but the few who do receive such a gift shall reap the glories of the beyond.”

  The beyond. It was something they had been talking about more recently. No one seemed to be certain just what was beyond, but that was what they all worked for nonetheless, something that meant more than just getting a hybrid. Something about it sent a chill through her. It was the sort of thing people said in movies before everyone said goodbye to their maker, but the other Vestals all seemed happy and dedicated. It made her want to strive to be the same.

  Hope had been with the Azilians for a year, and in that time had gotten to know the women there as much she could. No matter what happened, she wasn’t about to let anything shady go down or anyone threaten them. They had a strange way of living, but it worked, and the darkness had always come from the outside. She liked the life she had there and would do what she needed to in order to protect the others. It was almost a sisterly love.

  “You shall make a fine Vestal bride,” Anassa said. She took a deep breath, almost a rattle. “And I can see that it won’t be long.”

  Hope could almost hear the smile in the woman’s voice. A blush spread across her body and heated her cheeks. Now she found herself believing even more in her personal birds and bees story, about how the Vestal and Hybrid were of the same heart and soul, to be joined later as one, their scents calling to one another.

  She didn’t frown as she thought back to Alec. It was the one part of the story that seemed the most far-fetched. The idea of being two halves of one whole. She wanted to believe it, but people didn’t work that way. There was the one who loved and the one who received the love. Love wasn’t always the way it should be. She would know. Besides, Alec didn’t seem drawn to her with that kind of intensity.

  “I…” Hope stammered. “I really should get this basket to the kitchen so we can bake the bread before nightfall.”

  Anassa nodded slowly, and Hope felt relief at being released.

  “Y
es, you have a duty,” Anassa said.

  Hope nodded at the cloaked woman and shifted the basket to the other side of her body. She could feel the throb in her muscles as she held it too long on the other side. She put one foot forward to leave but stopped as a cold, bony hand grasped her shoulder.

  “You have an important role,” Anassa whispered. She still couldn’t see the other woman’s face, but an almost sickeningly sweet smell drifted off of her, like overly ripe fruit. “After you finish with the bread come and find me. I have something for us to discuss.”

  Hope nodded, stunned by what had been said. She watched as the white hood floated away with her guards on either side.

  An important role? She’d been told they all had an important role. It was what had kept her around. But now it seemed being a Vestal wasn’t the only thing in her future. Did it have something to do with going beyond?

  The basket dipped lower on her hip, and she shifted it back to the other side, her arms still sore from holding it for so long. Hope shook her head. She didn’t have time to think about this. If they were going to get the loaves of bread baked, she needed to put aside any other thought she had and concentrate on the task at hand. After all, it was what she had always done. That was the only way to make it through the obstacles that life threw out there and what she would continue to do until the day she died.

  She let out a big sigh and made her way over to the kitchen. Making bread took her to her Zen place. There she would be able to hopefully sort through what Anassa had just said. She would make sense of all this in her own way.

  Chapter Two

  Alec yawned at the older sheriff and Rem, his leader, standing in front of the meeting house. Whatever doubts Alec harbored about the sheriff, the man had been a real asset to the hybrids in the end. After the blue dome powered by the stone came down and Deputy Ted was found dead, there was really no going back. The sheriff’s world had been forever changed, but his priorities remained the same. His first priority had been keeping the average folks in town safe, even if that meant running them out of their homes.