Marius (8 page)

Marius stormed out of the room, making certain not to look back, even if it killed him.

“Do my job?” she said and paced her office. It hadn’t even been two minutes, and she thought she might wear a hole in the carpet. “What the hell does he mean do my job? I'll tell him what, I will do my job.”

Rachel stopped mid-walk and stepped out into the hall. The two guards looked at her with surprise.

“Out of the way,” she said firmly. “That asshole isn’t going to stop me from doing my job.”

Zeno gave a smile, but she ignored it and passed through the door and shut it hard behind her. This time she wasn’t playing games.

Rem watched her as she stomped across the room and slammed the stethoscope into place. He raised a brow in anticipation.

“My friend is sick,” she said and let out the breath she was holding. It came out shaky, and she tried to steady her nerves. “Hannah is sick.”

Rem frowned. Rachel watched as a range of emotions flickered across his face. Despite his cool demeanor and standoffish ways, this was not a man that didn’t have sympathy for the people around him. He’d spent time with Hannah, and it was clear that her illness wasn’t something that he expected.

“What are her symptoms?” he asked. His brow wrinkled with concern.

Rachel leaned forward, worried the men outside would hear and really think she was a traitor as well. It didn't seem to take much to lock people up around here, and there was no telling what they would do with her. It was clear they didn't like her. She could be in serious trouble.

"Fever, chills, dipped heart rate, and one by one, her organs seem to be shutting down," Rachel rushed to get out via her breathing.

Something brushed against the door, and she jumped. Rem placed a hand on her arm to steady her nerves.

"I don't understand," he said quietly. "She's Lucius's mate. This shouldn't be happening. They wouldn't go after her. The Group needs successes like that."

Rachel nodded. It was as they had suspected. There was no way the Horatius Group would put a healthy Vestal at risk. Not like that for no real reward.

"What about Vanessa?" she asked the question that had been burning in all of them.

Rem snorted, and they both stilled.

"It tickles when you look in my ears," he said loudly. Rem placed a finger over his lips to warn of listening men.

Rachel busied herself with actual medical work in case they entered. She stilled when Rem placed a hand on her shoulder.

"All clear," he said softly. "Vanessa was a risk. One they were hoping would end with a twisted hybrid child they could use for their own purposes. It didn't pan out."

Rachel frowned. She opened her mouth but stopped when Rem nodded to the door. They were talking, and she knew their time was running out.

“I don’t know what is making her sick,” Rem said. His eyes trained on the door, never wavering from the chance that they might be interrupted by the guards in the hall. “But I don’t think it’s the group doing this.” He glanced to her briefly. “Get ready.”

Rachel nodded. That’s all she needed to know. If it wasn’t the Group, she could deal with the problem, as it likely did not involve any sort of genetically engineered agent or peculiar lab-created toxin. She just needed to figure out the actual problem.

She scribbled a few things down on the chart she held in front of her but stopped when movement caught her eye. Justus stood in front of her. His dark face was still shrouded in the constant frown she had become so used to seeing.

“Take care of Hannah,” he said gruffly.

Rachel raised her brows in surprise as she watched the large man settle back on his cot in the corner. Despite his moody ways, he still cared about her poor little friend.

“I will,” she whispered.

The door opened, and she busied herself with gathering her materials.

“I think that about does it,” she said and smiled at Rem, who was giving her an odd look. “We’ll need another exam in a few days…” She trailed off as she turned and followed his line of vision.

“Shit.”

Titus glowered at her from the door, Marius not far behind.

“I think you’ve got some explaining to do.”

Chapter Seven

“Well, I thought you didn’t want to talk to me,” Rem said from the back of the room.

Marius frowned at the prick. If it weren’t for him, Marius would be at home sleeping by now.

Titus lifted his arm and pointed a finger at Rem. “That’s enough out of you.”

Rachel crossed her arms, and Marius could see it from across the room, the storm that was brewing. The last thing Marius wanted to do was be anywhere near this when it hit. Yet here he was. The sound of the door closing behind him only reinforced how involved he now was.

“Actually,” she said and punctuated the word by stepping forward. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if you’d actually done your job and talked to him from the start. Hell, even if you just had done your whole military interrogation thing.”

The room went silent as they waited for what Titus would say. Marius couldn’t say he really disagreed with her, but Titus was his leader, and that did mean certain things.

“What exactly are you saying?” Titus asked quietly.

“I’m saying,” Rachel said, her voice a bit quieter and in more control than he would have expected in such a situation, “I’ve got a woman in a bed sick with God knows what, and it didn’t even occur to you that we might need to question the only person who would have key information on the Horatius Group and their attacks. Maybe instead of locking him away, you could be using him to make this place more secure.”

Titus rushed forward, and, without thought, Marius raced to protect her. He stopped short when Rem wedged himself in front of Rachel, and something rolled inside him. This was wrong. Justus looked between Titus and Rem, a thin frown on his face. Marius realized he was in a ready stance. It was unclear whether the stance was preparation for an escape attempt or for protecting Rachel.

“You going after Vestals now?” Rem said and stood tall.

Titus frowned. “No,” he said firmly and glared at Rachel. “Unless they betray us.”

“Doesn’t seem like that’s the case,” Rem said and held up his hands.

“What are you doing here? Why did he send you?” Titus clenched his fists in rage, and Marius wondered if they were two alpha leaders competing for the same space.

Rem backed up and shrugged. “I’m here to betray you,” he said and smiled.

Titus let out a long laugh and cracked his knuckles. “You know I’d like to snap your neck, right?”

Rem gave a broad smile. “I think I’d like it better if we went into Rachel’s office, and you let me explain.”

Titus sighed, and Marius could see that the two were coming to some sort of resolution. Tension left Justus's body. Titus went to the door and rapped it to signal the guards to open the door. Marius watched as Rem and then Titus walked out of the room. He turned and found Rachel staring at the floor.

He walked over and nudged her arm.

“You coming?”

She looked up at him, her eyes wide and face slightly pale.

“I’m a Vestal,” she whispered.

He swallowed and nodded. They hadn’t really tried to hide the fact, but it wasn’t really something you just told someone.

“How am I a Vestal?” She leaned into him and gripped his arm. “What do I do?”

Marius cleared his throat. He’d never really thought about it.

“I don’t think there’s anything to do,” he said. “It's just what you are.”

“I've taken the birth control shot,” she blurted out. Her eyes shot to his, wild with embarrassment. Her face reddened, and she turned from him. “I mean
… 
” She fumbled to find the right words. “Not that I
…
” She trailed off, and her face turned a shade of crimson Marius had never seen on her before.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything to make her feel at least a little better, but she was already moving away from him.

“I think I better go check on Hannah,” she said, looking anywhere but at him.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “We’ll talk to Rem. We might get some information.”

She shook her head, and he was relieved when her eyes met his again. “He doesn’t know how to help Hannah, but he might be able to help you all.”

Marius nodded. In the end, she was right. They needed to exhaust all options. If something happened to Hannah, Lucius would be beside himself, and they needed all the mated pairs they could get if they were going to make it.

Still blushing, Rachel hurried from the room and down the hall. He followed her and watched as she retreated into the patient wing. Zeno frowned at him as he made his way to the office, and Marius fought the urge to toss a punch as he walked by and wondered where the aggression came from. It wasn’t as if he didn’t get angry, but it was just a tad out of character for him, but then everything concerning Rachel was a tad out of character for him.

He opened the door and was surprised to find Titus and Rem deep in conversation. He stopped.

“Should I come back?” Marius said at the door.

Titus waved a hand. “We’re finished,” he said.

“So,” Marius said and looked between the two men. It wasn’t often he spent much time with Titus, and now, he knew why. Titus was a hard man to know and be comfortable around. Seeing Titus there with Rem was like being in a room with two of him. “Did we come to any conclusions?” he asked and stepped into the room. Marius leaned casually against the wall near the door.

“You mean other than that we barely trust each other and know very little about one another?” Rem gave a broad smile and sank into the couch near the desk. Titus leaned against Rachel’s large desk, and a sliver of irritation crept up Marius. It shouldn’t bother him that they were here in her office, and yet having them in her space was pissing him off more than he expected.

“Now then,” Titus said, apparently unaware of the growing irritation Marius was feeling. “Let’s start with the Horatius Group and Romulus.”

His irritation vanished as he took in a shallow breath. This was what they had been waiting for. They knew so little about their roots. It had always been taught that the less they knew the better, but Rem was a chance for more. A chance for real knowledge. Besides, given all the attacks, it only made sense that they could improve their defenses against the Group if they knew more about them.

Rem frowned and sat up a little more straight. “You really don’t know anything, do you?”

Titus crossed his feet and frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Romulus is just a piece to a much bigger puzzle that has been going on for thousands of years,” Rem said.

Titus seemed as stunned as Marius.

“Thousands of years?” Titus said.

Thousands. They had assumed a few decades. Maybe fifty years, but thousands? It didn't even make any sense, given the type of manipulations the Group was attempting. He thought it over. Perhaps they'd been relying more on simple eugenics before, with only modern science providing them the final tools they desired.

“How do you know this?” Marius chimed in.

Rem turned to him and shrugged. “It’s documented. They have archives full of books on this.”

Titus snorted. “You could be full of shit. Actually, I'm sure you're at least somewhat full of shit. We just need to dig through all of that, and I don't want to be shoveling for the rest of my life. You're saying that they kept us ignorant of what was going on, but you could just go in and read all these books and documentation?”

Rem scrubbed a hand on his face and leaned back. “Well, most of it.” He sighed. “I’ve made my way through a good portion, but there are restricted areas that they keep a close eye on.”

The three exchanged looks. Whatever was in those books had to be something that the Group didn’t want anyone to see, which meant they wanted to see them all the more, assuming Rem wasn't, in fact, totally full of shit.

“I still don't understand how this could have been going on for thousands of years,” Titus said. “I—“

Marius turned when Rachel burst through the door of the room. She turned and grabbed his arm.

“I need you,” she said quickly. Her breathing was off as if she was out of breath and ran part of the way. “Hurry,” she said and tugged on his arm.

Despite the urgency in her voice, when her little hand slipped into his larger one, he couldn’t help feel a sense of completion. Marius wrapped his hand around hers and followed closely behind.

When they reached the patient wing, his heart pounded in his chest as worry took over. What if something bad had happened to Hannah?

Rachel pushed open the door, and she released his hand as he walked through the door. There, by the bed, Lucius sat slumped on the floor.

“I thought he might have just fallen asleep sitting on the floor,” Rachel said. Her voice was slightly high and panicked, something he wasn’t used to from her. “So I didn’t bother him at first. But after I’d taken her vitals, I went to wake him, and he’s burning up.”

Marius walked over to Lucius and could feel the heat radiating off of him.

“Is it the same thing?” He turned to look at her and was surprised to find Rachel pulling out a few syringes.

Titus and Rem stepped into the room and helped him place the large hybrid on the other bed.

“I think it has to be the same thing,” she said and stood next to him.