Varius: #9 (Luna Lodge) by Madison Stevens

Author:Madison Stevens [Stevens, Madison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal romance
Publisher: Madison Stevens
Published: 2016-08-04T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“Your people eat their steaks cooked, right?” Lena’s mother asked, a slight frown on her face.

Lena could feel her eyelid start to twitch again. She loved her parents, but so help her God, she was about five seconds away from laying into them both.

“Mom,” Lena said and ground her teeth. Her mother frowned at her.

“What? How am I supposed to know? They say a lot of things on the news. It’s hard to know.” She waved. “It’s not exactly like I’ve known a lot of these hybrids types.”

Varius placed his hand on Lena’s in her lap, likely trying to stop her from squeezing them so hard they popped.

“Yes, cooked is preferable, Sue,” he said.

Relief spread across her mother’s face. Apparently she was happy their house guest wasn’t some raw meat-consuming monster.

The tension in the room thinned a bit. Although now that Varius had his sunglasses off, Lena caught them staring at his unusual eyes. Not that Lena could blame them for that. They were amazing, and she sometimes found herself getting a bit lost in them.

Her mother passed the food around and took one of the smaller steaks from the plate. They had always been a steak and potatoes sort of family. Nothing about that was ever going to change, and tonight was no different. Steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. Simple but still good.

And she was just sure her mom had pulled out all the stops by making her pineapple upside down cake. One blue ribbon at the county fair, and it suddenly became the only cake she wanted to make.

“So, Varius, that’s an unusual name,” her mother said as she dished out some green beans for herself.

Lena glanced over at the large man next to her.

“It was the name I was assigned,” he said simply.

She could see the looks her parents gave each other. Assigned wasn’t really something someone attributed to their name in her world.

She was sure Varius wasn’t eager to discuss the evil Horatius Group. Although she was still learning about the hybrids’ past, the little she knew was horrific: children taken from or given by their mothers, trained to be soldiers, with nothing approaching a normal life until the last few years. It was miracle they could normally function at all.

Her father cleared his throat. Apparently it was his turn to start grilling Varius.

“And, um, want sort of job do you do? Do you have a job?”

Varius looked over to her father as Lena pushed around the food on her plate.

“I’m a part of the security forces. Usually I’m assigned to recon or scout missions, since I’ve good eyesight, even for one of our kind, but right now I’ve been assigned to keep your daughter safe.”

Her mother gasped loudly. She shot a panicked look over at Lena’s father.

“Is she in some sort of danger?” she asked Varius and then turned to Lena. “Are you in danger?”

Lena sighed. She had been hoping to avoid creating unnecessary worry for her parents. Her eyes found Varius, who looked a little surprised that they were unaware.

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