Lucius (Luna Lodge #3) (9 page)

“What the fuck is going on?” he shouted into the phone.

It was one of Carter’s men that answered, but he knew them to be more than capable.

“It’s not us,” the soldier shouted into the phone. “Something with the power surge caused the alarms to go off on the far end.”

He rubbed his forehead and sighed. Being on high alert, he could only assume that Titus and Sol would be watching their women. This shit was his problem.

“Get some men out there,” he said. “It’s going to have to be shut down manually until they get this figured out. Place some guards around the parameter just in case. Make sure you have some extra portable UV lights.”

It might be nothing, or it might be Romulus. He couldn’t take any chances.

Lucius watched as Hannah stood and dusted off her skirt.

He hung up and dialed Marius.

“Have you picked up the doctor?” he asked without waiting for him to speak.

“Apollo just left to take Jenna to the house,” Marius shouted into the phone. “The doctor won’t leave.”

Lucius frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Everything is off,” he said, slightly out of breath, and Lucius wondered what the hell was going on. If nothing was going on at the gate, they shouldn’t have trouble. “That means every lab experiment she had is about to be toast. Thousands of dollars lost.”

It made sense.

“Do you need help?” He glanced to Hannah who was trying to sort through papers on her desk via the light on her phone.

“I think we got it,” Marius said. “This is weird though. We’ve never had issues before.”

“Wouldn’t have this issue if we were on our own grid like I wanted,” he said tightly.

They had gone round about this one and Marius had won. Lucius wasn’t wrong. Having their own grid would mean taking control of their power. Even the major had been on board with his idea, but it was costly, and at the time, they were just planning on being a lodge. So in the end, Titus decided to get a few back-up generators and save the rest for later.

“You were right,” Marius said after a bit. “I think we’re going to have to look at the budget and start really talking about contracting. But we need to overhaul this whole place. When we first started planning, it was for a business that would make money. Now we have a small village. We need to change the way we live and that might even mean letting some people go.”

Lucius looked over to the perky little party planner. Everyone loved her. She was sweet and brightened up a room when she walked in, but in the newly changing environment, he couldn’t see how they would justify keeping her on. His chest ached, and he pushed the emotions deep down inside. This wasn’t something he should even care about. The two of them together just shouldn’t even happen.

“I agree,” he said. “Call a meeting with Titus on this. We’ve got to start going over things before someone gets hurt.”

Lucius clicked off the phone.

Hannah had turned to look at him and guilt ate at him. In one simple conversation, he might have signed off on her termination papers.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

Lucius stuffed his phone back in his pocket and leaned against the table.

“Just the power causing the breaker to trip is my guess,” he said. “Marius is helping the doctor put all her experiments on ice until the power comes back on.”

She fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

“So what do we do?” she asked softly.

He shifted uncomfortably. She hadn’t meant it that way, but that didn’t mean that his dick didn’t think that.

After pushing off the table, Lucius made his way to her and took her hand. The threat of an enemy attack still lingered in his mind, but it might also be something mundane. He thought of the upcoming baby shower and festival and bit back a growl.

“I’m going to take you home and to pick up some clothes.” He stepped closer and felt the heat of their bodies. “And then you’re going to a little slumber party.”

* * *

Hannah gathered a few things from her closet by the light of her phone as Lucius walked around her room. Though the lights were still off, but thankfully, they had been able to get the alarm shut off. Now they were left with the eerie quiet of the night. The small lantern Lucius had in his car sat on her dresser, creating shadows on the walls.

Her heart raced every time she thought about his words. Of course, slumber party didn’t have to mean sex, but she sure hoped it did.

“You don’t have any pictures of family up,” he said from outside the closet.

Hannah popped out and found him looking at her work station. She walked over to her little bag and placed the clothes inside.

“I don’t really talk with my family,” she said quietly.

He turned to look at her, surprise on his face.

“Is it because you’re here?” he sat on the bed.

She stopped packing and looked at him. This wasn’t the first time she had run into this with the men. Not having families of their own, most had a fascination with the idea.

Hannah gave a sharp laugh. “I doubt anyone knows I’m here.”

He continued staring up at her, clearly waiting for her to go on.

She sighed and moved the bag out of the way.

“It’s not really a good story,” she said and looked over to him.

He leaned back and looked directly at her. It was almost unnerving what he could get from her. Something about him made her want to tell him things that she hadn’t talked about in years. In fact, she hadn’t spoken about her family with anyone since being hired. Titus had asked a few initial questions when she was hired but after that nothing.

“We were always poor,” she said and looked off to the side. “But when Daddy died, it only got worse.”

“How did he die?” Lucius cut in.

Hannah looked up. This was the worst part. The rest she could deal with, but this was hell.

“Drunk driver,” she said

“I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Hannah shrugged her shoulders. “It happens.”

“But that doesn’t make it any easier,” he said.

She nodded.

“Mama didn’t take it well. She started drinking most of the time. What irony, right?” She looked down at her hands, still remembering her mother’s face. “And then she met Levi. I kept thinking things would get better for her. That he would make it better.”

She closed her eyes, so she wouldn’t have to see his face.

“So when he hit her the first time, I figured it was from stress and let it go.” She felt her stomach twist at all the mistakes she made. At how much she just ignored. “But it didn’t stop.”

Hannah glanced over to Lucius, scared to see the disgust that she felt. Instead, she was surprised to find him quiet.

“What did your mother do?” Anger laced his words, and she shivered.

She stared at him for a moment and wondered if her story was something he could understand.

“She took it,” she said simply. “I tried over and over to get her to leave, but she wouldn’t. She loved him.”

Hannah stood and picked up the few things on her dresser she had taken with her.

“Over the years, she became someone I didn’t even know.” Her eyes locked on Lucius in the mirror. “By the time I graduated school, I was pretty much doing it all on my own. We were strangers living in the same house. That drunk driver hadn’t just taken my father but my mother as well.”

“So you left?” He shifted on the bed as he continued to look at her in the mirror.

She shrugged.

“Nothing more for me there.” She opened the top drawer and pulled out a few undergarments. She chuckled to herself. It was funny how so many things seemed to stick with her that her mother said, and yet she was a stranger in her life now. Of course, that mother had been lost ages ago.

“Do you ever go back?” He came to stand behind her.

Hannah shook her head.

“Do you want to?” he asked softly and placed a hand on her arm.

Hannah turned to look at him.

“Sometimes.” She managed a weak smile. “Sometimes I want to go back and beat the living shit out of Levi.”

Lucius smiled at her, and she knew he wouldn’t mind going with her. Her smile faded.

“But what’s the point? She didn’t choose me the first time. Why would she now?” Hannah shook her head. “No, sometimes you have to know when to cut your losses.”

Lucius frowned at her assessment but didn’t say anything else.

“Let’s get your stuff and get out of here,” he said. “It’s getting late.”

He turned and walked out of the room.

Hannah sighed. Telling him those things should have brought them closer, but instead, it was like any other time. She still couldn’t say she was any closer to him. She shrugged and packed her bags. Some things she just wouldn’t change.

“You coming?” he hollered up the stairs.

Hannah grabbed her bag off the bed and picked up the light on the dresser.

“Coming,” she said.

* * *

They sat in the driveway, Hannah fuming next to him. Lucius knew she would be mad when she realized he had led her on, but by the time the words were out of his mouth about the slumber party, it was too late to take them back.

He doubted at this point that the power was anything other than a mundane problem. The enemy wouldn’t have squandered the element of surprise that came with the initial outage. That provided him with some comfort despite Hannah’s irritation.

“Well,” she snapped at him. “Thanks for taking care of me. I know I love being baby sat.”

He winced at her words.

“I didn’t mean it to be this way,” he said.

She climbed out to the car and went around back to get her bag. She yanked open the trunk.

“Yup,” she said and pulled out her bag.

He reached out to help but stopped when she stared daggers at him.

“It just made the most sense to take you to Jenna’s,” he pleaded with her.

She ignored him and walked up to the steps.

“Hannah,” he said.

She stopped at the stairs and turned to look at him.

“I don’t get you,” she said finally.

He thought she was going to say more, and maybe she might have, but the door opened and the moment was lost.

“Hannah?” Jenna said.

“Looks like you get a roomie tonight.” She smiled.

He watched, slightly amazed, as she started to walk in without a second glance. She stopped at the door and turned to look at him. All laughter left her face.

“Good night, Lucius,” she said and shut the door firmly behind her.

Dazed with her coldness, Lucius walked slowly back to the car. He had expected her to be mad. He hadn’t expected her to turn him away.

He growled in irritation as he climbed in. This wasn’t the time to be worrying over all this shit. Even if the power outage wasn’t some Horatius Group attack, it’d still disrupted the compound and its security.

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

“Lucius,” he answered.

“You were supposed to be home resting,” Titus’s voice came clear over the line. He opened his mouth to respond but stopped. “I’m glad you weren’t. Is everyone accounted for?”

“As far as I know,” he said and started the car. “Any clue what’s causing the outage?”

As if on cue, the lights flickered back on.

“At first they thought it was a blown transformer, but that wasn’t the case. They now think it’s linked to the substation,” he said. “Be ready, it could happen again.”

“Do you expect trouble?” Lucius asked.

Titus sighed. “I always expect trouble. Come by and see me on your way home. I think we need to talk about a few things we’re seeing.”

“Things?” Lucius said.

“Just come by,” Titus said firmly in the line.

Lucius sighed as he put his phone away. It was going to be another long night.

Chapter Nine

“Good for nothing, miserable, son of a—”

“Well that’s not a good way to start off this baby shower,” Kate said behind her.

Hannah nearly jumped a mile in the air at the surprise. Titus raised a brow and didn’t even try to hide the smirk on his face. After all, he was the one to assign Lucius to front door duty. Luckily, he wasn’t there yet, but that hadn’t stopped her from being irritated all day.

She gave a tight smile and smoothed down her dress. If he was going to tease her, she was going to make sure he regretted it. So maybe it had been a little low-cut for a baby shower. It wasn’t indecent though, and she liked the way the blue looked against her skin. It had a V that showed off a decent amount of cleavage and a wide black belt higher than her waist that made her feel slim. The dress was form fitting without looking like a second skin. She’d French-braided her hair loosely and let the little tendrils wisp around her face.

“How are you?” She set down the flowers in her hand and gave a hug.

Kate smiled and Hannah wondered when the last time she smiled was.

“Clearly better than you,” Kate said. “Sounds to me like man trouble.”

Hannah sighed and looked over to Titus who was, unsurprisingly, looking anywhere but at her.

“You mean my baby sitter?” Hannah crossed her arms, just daring Titus to look at her.

Kate crossed her own arms over her growing tummy.

“You too?”

The two women glared at Titus until they had nearly burned a hole through him.

He sighed and faced them both.

“Look, I know neither of you is happy,” he said. He paused when Kate snorted loudly and frowned. “But we’re just trying to keep you safe.”

He sounded so lost when he said it. Like it was the only thing in the world that mattered. It was hard to stay mad at him, and Hannah wasn’t the only one who found herself cracking. Kate stepped forward and pressed her hand to his cheek.

“We’ll be fine,” she whispered.

It was such an intimate move that Hannah blushed and turned the other way.

“Things start to go south, I’m coming to get you,” he said firmly.

Kate smiled up at him. “I know.”

Hannah couldn’t help it. The scene warmed her.

She turned around from her busywork at the table. They watched him as he walked out the door.