𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄 | 👽 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄 ✓

Four - Zeus

He wasn't sleeping, but that was nothing new. Zeus couldn't catch a full night's sleep for the last six months. It was like every time he closed his eyes, his dreams were trying to tell him something. Despite the lack of sleep, he felt at peace, but that felt wrong.

Zeus didn't believe he deserved to be at peace. It was a common trait of mate loss. A part of him was gone, and he'd never get it back, but six months ago it felt like parts of him were snapping back into place. They shouldn't have been. Mia was dead, and it was because of his inability to protect her.

What right did he have to feel peace?

The team threw around words like closure, and moving on as if they were easy. Of course, they could use those words when they weren't the ones who felt like the other half of their soul was ripped away from them. None of them had lost their mates. Out of the five of them, Zeus was the only one who was mated when the team formed. There had been flings with females here and there. They were all young, virile males with a lot to give a mate, but there had only been one woman for him. His Mia.

So why now, out of nowhere? Why was he dreaming of a face he didn't know and waking in the night afraid of losing her when he didn't even know if she existed?

Castian was right. It had been three years since Mia's assassination. Finally, some part of his brain had said it was time to let her rest in peace. She wasn't coming back, and Zeus was the one who had to live on in her memory.

If that were the case, he felt guilty about doing it, and Zeus didn't even have control of it. Of course, if it were up to him, he would have laid down and died a long time ago. It was Castian who finally put his foot down and drug Zeus back to the living world even if he didn't want to.

Now, they had the hybrids to look after.

Those poor women.

Khole was kidnapped right from beneath their noses at K9 headquarters. Zeus thought Brock might rip the whole city to pieces looking for her. Zeus wanted to help him. More than anything, he didn't want to see his teammate go through losing his mate the way Zeus lost his. When Castian told him what had happened, the assailant was a raptodon. Zeus knew exactly what to look for.

Raptodon's were cold-blooded. He'd find them via their bio signature. All he had to do was set the program on his tech pad to search for any cold spots. When he found two that were fast moving, Zeus knew without a doubt they had them.

The personality traits of the hybrids were interesting. Zeus had spent as little time with them as he could. Khole was Brock's mate, a member of their unit now, and then there was Erika. Apart from her hybrid nature, she was completely dissimilar to Khole.

Erika was from a place called K-hal-ee-for-nee-ah. Zeus knew she understood the gravity of her situation; she was unbothered.

Or at least she looked it. Erika was like this little bundle of excitement that never showed fear. Zeus admired that about her. She was made for this life, or life had prepared her for this instance by making her resilient.

When his tech pad lit up with a transmission from the Raptodon ship. Zeus answered immediately.

"Zeus." Drex said.

"What have you got for us?" he asked.

He tapped the link sent from the Raptodon battleship. It was now being used as a satellite ship for tracking hybrids. Since Castian's news broadcast, they were getting information from all over Luna Centra and the other seven planets in its solar system.

"A man called in early this morning. The man owns a deli and thinks he may have spotted a hybrid. He wasn't able to speak to her, and he doesn't know where she ran off to, but he has a general idea. He checked out a few places out this morning and he was almost certain she was living in the location on the map. Old Lupine." The Raptodon said.

Zeus knew the place well enough. When he was a boy, it went from a library to a factory and then to a couple of different office buildings.

"We'll check it out. Castian is already going over the blueprints of the building. I'll see what I can do with the bio registration feed, see if there are any live organisms in the building."

Zeus cut the transmission as he zeroed in on the map. Something in the pit of his stomach swirling as he looked at the screen of his tech pad.

What if she was in there?

He didn't know what made the thought cross his mind, but something in his gut told him so.

It was so like one of his dreams. But every time he got close enough in the darkness to see around the twisted maze of rooms. The person he was looking for flitted out of his line of sight. And he only got a glimpse of pale flesh and long dark hair from the corner of his eye.

Every time he turned; she was gone.

⋆｡°✩

The team was suited up and on the jet within five minutes of the transmission. So far, any of their other tips on the locations of hybrids hadn't turned up anything. The bio feedback was solid. There was someone living there. Zeus had yet to specify any genetic markers for the system to pinpoint. The Wolfeen hybrids ran hotter than humans. They were a few degrees warmer than natural born Wolfeen. That could account for any species, so it was difficult to prime the system to look for them. Zeus didn't think they were going to find many hybrids by luck running around on Wolfeen.

It was a fluke they found Khole and Erika. But something about this location. Old Lupine. It called him.

"We'll land on the roof, go in from the access stairs, and work our way down." Castian said. Apollo brought the jet to a soft landing on the roof. They didn't know how sound the building still was. If there was a hybrid living there. Much less any other Wolfeen who were homeless. They weren't trying to kill anyone.

This was a search and rescue mission and K9 didn't kill people they didn't have to. They were supposed to protect their people and all people with loyalty and dignity. Zeus checked the safety of his gun and stood, following Castian and the others out of the jet. After the storms the previous night, Zeus could see puddles of water still drying out on the rooftop as Apollo moved toward the access door, testing the lock.

This building hadn't been in active use for several years. Zeus wasn't surprised. The door swung open for the youngest member of their team. Apollo's gun remained at the ready, flashlight beam scanning the stairs before giving Castian the nod.

When they weren't sure of what they were walking into, Castian, as their leader, went in first. Everything this morning was standard protocol.

Except for Zeus. Mentally he was present, but his heart was somewhere else, thinking of the woman he saw in his dreams almost every night. It wasn't Mia, and he knew she wasn't trying to send him any messages from the other side.

There was something in the air around this place pulling him forward. His glacier blue eyes sweeping over the walls and floors.

People lived here from time to time, leaving behind pieces of themselves.

A shoe in one office lay abandoned in the corner. In another, there was a dirty stuffed animal, and Zeus had to wonder at the possibilities.

"Clear."

Their call echoed through the top floor of the building as K9 moved through the offices, fanning out to check one room, then another. Zeus' nostrils flared, picking up a scent that didn't belong. A sweetness his senses couldn't comprehend mixed with the smell of mildew and trash. It didn't belong here as he moved ahead of the group. His gun pointed at the floor as his nose led him down the stairwell, his boots muddled on the molding carpet.