Cassius Read online

  “My instincts?” Kendra’s brow lifted.

  “Exactly. You’re been lucky, girl. You’ve dated some duds, but you’ve never dated someone dangerous or violent.” Graham shook his head. “I can’t always say the same, but I can say in every case I did, it was because I ignored my instincts.”

  “You think CJ’s dangerous?” she asked.

  “It could be. If he’s your dream guy, but you know on some level you shouldn’t go after him, that’s your instincts screaming at you.” Graham reached over and took her hands in his. “You know what he could be?”

  “A serial killer?”

  “Maybe. You never know.”

  Kendra laughed, unsure how serious Graham was being. He wasn’t above a little melodrama for his own amusement. “I don’t think CJ’s a serial killer. I bumped into him, not the other way around, and my instincts tell me he’s not a serial killer.”

  Graham looked doubtful. “If you say so, but that leaves you back in the original position of needing to get laid. I can’t help you with that.”

  “It can wait.” Kendra nodded firmly. “I have the competition anyway. I can’t worry too much about dream guys. It’s not like there’s only one perfect guy out there for me.”

  “That’s the spirit. Sample the buffet until you find the food you like best. Don’t get distracted just because they have a guy carving some beef at the end.”

  “But it’s very good-looking beef.”

  “I know. You were drooling.”

  Kendra’s breath caught. “I still have a chance.”

  “To get caught by the serial killer?” Graham clucked his tongue and shook his head.

  “CJ’s not a serial killer. I’m like ninety percent sure of that. No. Ninety-five!”

  “Already defending him, eh?” Graham took another sip of his cola. “That’s on you, but I suppose he can’t snatch you surrounded by hundreds of other people.”

  “The event!” Kendra yelled. She grimaced as some other nearby diners looked her way. She lowered her voice. “Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll show up anyway, especially if your theory about him liking a woman with a spine is true.”

  “He could, but I wouldn’t obsess over it.” Graham sighed. “I don’t want to sound like a total bitch, but this event is important. We’ve built it up for the last two months on the channel. I do want you to get laid, though.”

  Kendra frowned. “What are you saying, then?”

  “I’m not saying you have to win. We all know your brand is about challenging yourself not dominating any individual event, but if it looks like you’re not trying that could hurt some of our opportunities.” Graham licked his lips. “When I mentioned the getting laid thing, I wanted it to be a way you’d end up less distracted not more.”

  “I’ll be fine, Graham.” Kendra took a deep breath. “And you were just trying to be my friend.” She slapped her cheeks. “How about this? We knock out the Knickerbocker OCR Assault and then I worry about getting a date, if not with dream stud then somebody else.”

  “That works.” Graham gestured to her salad. “Why don’t you finish up, and we go take a look at some of the rough cuts, so you can start thinking about your voiceover?”

  Kendra smiled. She could do this. She didn’t need CJ or any man right away. It didn’t matter he was a perfect specimen of everything she’d ever wanted in my man and even remembering his voice made her knees go weak. She’d focus on the race and win, and she’d forget about him.

  There had to be other perfect stud specimens she might happen to run into while jogging. That kind of thing totally happened, or at least she could keep telling herself that until she left NYC.

  Chapter Seven

  “He made it sound so easy,” CJ muttered as he walked up the street, his hands in his pockets.

  Finding Kendra in New York City without any leads was impossible, but having a small lead only made it possible, not probable. Even if they had all Alpha Squad looking, they wouldn’t have had a chance. He needed something more, something concrete.

  CJ got the feeling that Julius was messing with him. The comment about field training only reinforced that. CJ didn’t care if Julius thought he was smarter than him, but he didn’t want to waste his time.

  There must have been some simpler way to find Kendra. He’d tried going back to the same spot he’d met her the other day, but he hadn’t exactly been right up on her and inhaling her scent, making it hard to pick it out among all the other trails present. Hybrid tracking was useful in remote battlefields, not necessarily in one of the most densely populated cities in the United States, especially when a hybrid didn’t know he’d need to find someone until later.

  He pulled out his phone. There were tracking and public records sites, but he didn’t know anything other than her name. It might be hard to zero in on her without at least one more piece of data, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. He didn’t have a lot of other options.

  CJ tapped her name into the search engine. He furrowed his brow when a huge number of hits popped up.

  “Videos? Huh?”

  CJ brought up the most popular video. He didn’t even need to start it to answer his own question. A stylized cartoon version of Kendra waved over the colorful title, clearly proving it was the same Kendra Champion.

  Aloha and Mahalo: The Roving Champion Takes On A Course In Paradise! Hawaii OCR Challenge!!!

  He checked the dates, wondering if she’d been there during their mission, but they weren’t even close. Some coincidences were too much.

  The realization was a relief. He didn’t want to worry about her being a Ouroboros spy.

  “Wait a second,” CJ mumbled. “What is all this really?”

  He scrolled, looking at the titles for video after video. Each of them featured Kendra or her and some other athlete, all apparently taking on athletic challenges, mostly obstacle courses or climbing walls, but occasionally something different.

  Brrr: The Roving Champion Takes The Polar Bear Plunge And Swears off Cold Water Forever!!!

  “She’s a damned internet star.” CJ laughed and shook his head.

  A nearby old woman eyed him before muttering under her breath. Her voice was easy to pick out with his hybrid hearing despite the traffic noise nearby. “The handsome ones are always crazy.”

  CJ found a nearby brick wall to lean against, ignoring the flow of pedestrian traffic as he continued to scroll through the videos. Kendra’s reaction made more sense now. Her entire life was obstacle courses and climbing walls. She must have thought he was challenging her skill rather than trying to maintain a low profile with his last few statements. No one liked to have their efforts dismissed.

  He brought up the most recent video and grinned. A man didn’t need to be Julius to collect intel.

  Road to NYC Glory: The Roving Champion’s Prep for the Knickerbocker OCR Assault with special thanks to David of Walls and Falls Climbing Gym in NYC!!!

  The video had been posted the night before. CJ stuck his phone in his pocket. He’d passed Walls and Falls during his recon jogs. He’d not thought much of it, given that it wasn’t the only gym in the area.

  Now, he knew who she was, why she was in NYC, and where she might be. It wasn’t bad for a few minutes of work. Not all background checks might be as easy, but he’d worry about those in the future.

  “Huh. Next time I’ll just check the internet first.”

  * * *

  CJ wandered beside David as the man rattled on about all the equipment available. Some of it sounded interesting, but a lot of it didn’t lend itself to the kind of training a member of Alpha Squad was used to. That didn’t make it bad, just different.

  Tactical necessity was a different beast than athletic necessity. Genetic enhancement and constant training made the hybrids able to conquer most raw physical challenges, but unlike the other people there, they’d always need to consider combat applicability.

  People choked the gym, lines of eager would-be athletes at many of the wall
s. The weight room was filled, with every machine and bench taken. CJ looked around slowly for any sign of Kendra in the jostle of the crowd.

  He could have been wrong. Just because she’d been there didn’t mean she’d come back.

  “Is it always this busy?” CJ asked, interrupting David in the middle of an explanation about payment plans and different pricing tiers.

  “Uh, no.” David chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “Not going to complain when business is booming, though. I remember when I first started this place. I was lucky to have a single person in during the day. Went through some lean times, but now my future’s secure.”

  “It’s a good sign.” CJ shrugged. “It means you’re doing something right.”

  “It’s the effects of good advertising.” David leaned forward and lowered his voice, a sly look on his face. “Maybe you haven’t heard, but Kendra Champion is training here before her next event. She mentioned my place on her channel. I was doing decent before, but now it’s crazy.”

  “Really?” CJ tried his best to sound surprised. “The Roving Champion herself, huh? I didn’t know that.”

  He tried not to smirk a little. Despite what Julius thought, CJ could lie when necessary.

  “Exactly.” David whistled. “She’s as friendly as she is beautiful. Great climber, not just a pretty face. I always wondered if the videos were staged to make her look good, but she’s the real deal. I know she’s won competitions and stuff, but you always wonder when it’s someone famous, but after seeing her move, I can’t doubt her anymore.”

  “Interesting.” CJ hadn’t doubted her abilities, but he didn’t know she was a minor celebrity when he met her.

  David inclined his head toward one of the larger bouldering walls. “She hit one of our most difficult problems like it was nothing. But you’re not here about her training, you’re here about your own.”

  CJ nodded. “Sure.”

  David looked him up and down before scratching his cheek. “I’m glad to see you here. There’s a myth out there that big guys can’t climb.”

  “I’ve heard that,” CJ lied. He didn’t know anything about sport climbing. Alpha Squad had their own training walls, but they were more nets and camouflage than brightly colored holds and safety lines. “But it seems like it’s great exercise.”

  “It is. Climbing’s for everybody.” David flexed a bicep before looking over at CJ’s arm and barely suppressing a grimace. “The thing is your body type doesn’t matter. Sure, reach and leg length helps, but at the end of the day, no matter your shape or size, you can become good at climbing. Somebody like Kendra who is more compact might have an easier time of sending, excuse me, that’s what we call completing a problem on the wall. Anyway, big guys like you have more weight to pull, which obviously means gravity is working against you, but you’re also stronger in absolute terms. I haven’t met anyone who couldn’t benefit from the sport, and I’d be glad to have someone like you join our gym.”

  “I’ve done a little climbing in my time,” CJ admitted, eyeing the wall. “Outdoor stuff, but not sports.”

  David nodded. “Let me guess. You’re ex-military. Afghanistan? The Middle East?”

  “Something like that.”

  “You’ve got that kind of air to you.” David pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the wall. “You want a go at the wall? I’ll have to get one of the bigger harnesses out of the back. By the way, we have a veteran’s discount.”

  CJ didn’t know if he qualified as a veteran or not. He was a trained and bred supersoldier, but his employers hadn’t been the kind of people the average American would approve of. Alpha Squad had only been lucky that the Luna Lodge hybrids had rescued them before they’d been used to hurt innocent people.

  “I’ll be honest with you, David,” CJ said. He needed to change the flow of the conversation and make sure he didn’t cut off his access to the gym without committing to anything. “I’m checking this place more for a friend of mine. She’s into climbing, and I told her I’d go around and make sure the place had good equipment and wasn’t full of creepers. She’ll be happy to know about Kendra, though. She’s a big fan.”

  “Of course. No problem.” David smiled. “We’ve got tons of women climbers here, probably about a third of our total clientele and staff. We pride ourselves on being a place where anyone, novices to experts, women and men, can all have a good time practicing the sport.”

  “You!” came Kendra’s shout from behind.

  David stared past CJ, looking confused. He pointed to himself.

  “Sorry, David,” Kendra shook her head, walking forward, her gaze sliding to CJ. “I didn’t mean to shout. Uh…” She stood there, staring at CJ, confusion in her eyes.

  He could barely look at her eyes instead focusing on her tight bright green spandex pants and matching sports bra that looked all but painted on her perfect body. His cock stirred, and he was glad he was wearing jeans instead of shorts.

  “CJ.” Kendra curled a strand of hair around her finger. “You’re a climber? That’s like really cool. I didn’t peg you for the type.”

  “Not exactly. I was checking out the place for a friend.” CJ finally tore his attention off her body to focus on her face. “But, training, huh?” He motioned to the wall. “For the OCR Assault?”

  “I’m going to hit up some walls, sure.” Kendra nibbled on her lip. “I’m sorry about being a bitch before. I think I overreacted after misinterpreting something. I’m not normally like that.”

  “Huh?” CJ shook his head. “Oh, sure. Don’t worry. I wasn’t offended.”

  David glanced between the two of them, a knowing look in his eye. He gave an approving nod to CJ when Kendra wasn’t looking. “I see someone who needs my help. Kendra, you know you’re way around. Hey, CJ, if you want to climb, just let me know. Just because you’re here for a friend doesn’t mean you can’t get in on it, too.”

  “Yeah, sure,” CJ mumbled, still focused on Kendra.

  David wandered off, and Kendra walked over to CJ.

  “Fate,” Kendra declared, her voice husky and low.

  “What?” CJ asked, his body warm from both her voice and her outfit.

  “I almost ran you over before and now you’re in my gym.” Kendra poked the tip of her tongue out of her mouth, obvious desire in her eyes. “It’s like fate’s trying to bring us together.”

  CJ took a ragged, shuddering breath. Damn it. He needed her.

  Fate might be calling. He’d thought there wasn’t any chance that she might be his Vestal, but he couldn’t help but question that now. He’d never been so attracted to a woman before.

  CJ inhaled deeply. Her herbal scent was refreshing, but nothing stood out. Not that he’d expected it to. None of them could smell anything unusual about Vestals thanks to Dr. Quinen, and Maximus made it clear that as wonderful as he found Selena, she didn’t smell differently from a normal human woman.

  No. It was stupid. He was trying to will things into existence that weren’t there.

  Kendra tilted her head and offered a confused expression. “I’m going to go get ready.”

  “You do that,” CJ managed to get out, his voice strained.

  His nostrils flared as she turned around showing off that glorious ass that he wanted to squeeze so badly. Desire warred with restraint.

  He tried to convince himself that he was right, that fate had delivered his Vestal to him before telling himself that was ridiculous. If it were that simple, every member of Alpha Squad would have found their mates long ago.

  Kendra being a Vestal might explain why Ouroboros was interested in a random obstacle course race. For all their thinking about the subject, the hybrids hadn’t come up with a convincing explanation for that. If the enemy could track Vestals somehow, coming and grabbing one when the opportunity presented itself made perfect sense. He’d even made that argument for why fighting them might help.

  CJ shook his head. It was all guesswork, nothing concrete. He was overthin
king it. Wanting to have sex with a beautiful woman wasn’t unusual for men, and the Alpha Squad’s hybrids’ weakened ability to scent their Vestals made them more like normal human men in that regard. This might have been nothing more than the first time he happened to run into someone who checked off all his boxes.

  He tried to force that idea out of his head and concentrate on ways to get her to talk about the race. Collecting intel was the point of his visit, after all. He was starting to wish Julius had been the one to come.

  Kendra started up the wall, her legs and arms moving with confidence and speed. She might as well have been a spider the way she ascended with no hesitation and concern. CJ admired her form, but his lust drove him back from that as her stretches highlighted her body, including her tasty rear.

  He swallowed. Damn it. At this point, he wasn’t sure he cared who she was. He wanted to bury himself inside her and claim her as his.

  CJ sneaked a glance at David, a low growl erupting from his chest. He cut it off before anyone could notice. The other man was obviously into Kendra, but he’d backed off when he picked up on CJ’s interest. That realization didn’t completely smother the jealousy.

  Kendra continued her climb up the wall, including a difficult transition that CJ thought might require a jump. She didn’t look his way at all. Her entire attention remained focus on her ascent. Even contorted in concentration, her face was beautiful.

  CJ didn’t know if he’d ever seen such a beautiful woman before. Excitement and trepidation flooded in, making him question so many things he took for granted. He’d been free of the Phoenix Corps for a while, and unlike many of his brothers, he’d had no problem immersing himself in human popular culture, including beautiful actresses, singers, and athletes. None of them compared to the woman now ascending the wall in front of him.

  There was one major problem with the possibility of her being his Vestal. The only way to be sure at this point was to sleep with her. It wouldn’t hurt to do some further investigation, for the sake of the mission, if anything.