The Hybrid's Healer

~Gerald pov~

The alarm cut through Moonridge Haven like a blade, every light along the outer walls shifted from white to red, bathing the entire sanctuary in a glow that reminded me far too much of the laboratories, for one terrible second, I was nineteen again.

Cold steel, blood on the floor, scientists screaming, children crying from inside cages, I buried the memory immediately.

"Lock down the eastern sector," I ordered.

The guards moved without hesitation, Moonridge had survived because everyone knew their roles. Panic killed people. Fear created mistakes and mistakes got hybrids captured. Marcus appeared beside me, his breathing uneven from running.

"Thermal cameras picked up movement."

"How many?"

"Three vehicles."

Military, the answer settled heavily inside my chest, hunters rarely came in groups that small. Genesis teams did, I walked toward the security room while dozens of thoughts collided inside my head. Had they found us?

Impossible, the sanctuary had remained hidden for years, nobody knew these mountains except the rescue teams, unless— my jaw tightened, traitors existed everywhere. Inside the command center, several large monitors displayed the forest surrounding Moonridge. The cameras captured movement among the trees, black vehicles, armed men, professional formation, my blood turned cold.

Genesis.

After all these years, I would recognize them anywhere, the same black uniforms, the same tactical movements, the same people who walked through laboratories carrying needles and chains while pretending they were scientists, one of the younger guards swallowed.

"They found us."

"No."

I stared at the screens.

"They found something."

Moonridge itself held little value to them, the sanctuary housed survivors, children, wounded hybrids. Genesis wanted assets, weapons, experiments, something had brought them here, my thoughts immediately returned to her.

Ciara. The human doctor, the woman who walked into my sanctuary carrying sunlight in her smile and kindness in her hands, the woman who made the newborns stop crying, the woman the children trusted instantly, none of it made sense and that frightened me more than the soldiers outside.

Nyra entered the room.

"She's in the bunker."

I nodded once.

"Did she panic?"

"No."

Of course she hadn't, even after everything life had done to her, Ciara Monroe still chose courage, that alone made her dangerous, dangerous to me because for the first time in years, I had looked at a human and not immediately remembered pain and I hated that, because humans created Genesis, humans built the cages, humans tied children to tables, humans cut us open, the scars covering my body existed because human hands put them there, I still remembered the smell of the laboratory.

Bleach, blood and fear, at ten years old, they locked me inside a room without light for twenty-seven days because my shadow abilities became unstable, at twelve, they forced me to fight another hybrid until one of us stopped breathing, at sixteen, they called me Subject H-13 and discussed killing me while I listened through the walls, not once did they use my name, not once.

Then Ciara arrived, a human doctor, everything I should hate, yet the babies calmed inside her arms. Ezra trusted her, even the frightened children who hid from strangers followed her through the medical wing, the sanctuary felt different around her and I did not understand why. Marcus looked toward me.

"Orders?"

I pushed my thoughts aside.

"Move the children underground."

"What about the rescue teams?"

"Keep them inside the perimeter."

Nyra crossed her arms.

"You think this is a scouting mission."

"Yes."

Genesis never attacked immediately, they watched, observed and studied weaknesses, the men outside were not soldiers, they were hunters and they were looking for something, one of the monitors suddenly flickered and a face appeared, older with gray hair and cold eyes, every muscle in my body locked. Doctor William Kane, one of the men responsible for Facility Zero, one of the men who designed me.

The room became silent, nobody movef or breathed. Kane smiled, even through a screen, the sight of him made my skin crawl.

"Gerald."

His voice had not changed, I could still hear it inside my nightmares.

"Leave."

The smile widened.

"We know she's there."

My blood turned to ice and Nyra's eyes widened, Marcus cursed, the room suddenly felt too small.

"Who?" I asked.

But I already knew, Kane leaned forward.

"The human."

Every instinct inside me roared, Impossible, they had never met Ciara, she arrived only yesterday, nobody outside Moonridge should know she existed.

"She's very important to us."

My shadows stirred beneath my skin, the lights flickered, several guards stepped backward, Kane watched carefully.

"Interesting. You still lose control."

"I said leave."

His expression became colder.

"The woman belongs to Genesis."

Rage exploded inside my chest, no, absolutely not, Ciara knew nothing, she was innocent, she had spent her entire life helping children while monsters like him destroyed them, Kane continued speaking.

"We have searched for her bloodline for decades."

Bloodline? My breathing stopped, what did that mean?

"Hand her over and we leave."

The entire command center waited for my answer, I remembered another room, another doctor, another order, get on the table, hold him down, inject him again, no. Never again, not her, not the woman who smiled at frightened children, not the woman who looked at scars without fear, not the woman who made me remember I still possessed something resembling a soul, my shadows spilled across the floor, darkness crawled up the walls, several monitors shattered. Kane smiled.

"There he is."

The monster, the weapon, the experiment, everything they made me become, I leaned toward the camera.

"If any of you enter my sanctuary, I will bury every one of you in these mountains."

His expression never changed.

"You've become attached."

No, that was impossible, I had known Ciara for less than two days, humans lied, humans betrayed and they left. Yet somewhere deep inside me, something ancient and violent had awakened the moment I saw her holding that infant.

Mine.

The thought appeared suddenly and terrifyingly, mine to protect, mine to keep safe, just mine.

The camera feed died and silence returned, Marcus finally spoke.

"What do we do?"

I stared toward the underground bunker hidden beneath Moonridge, toward the woman sitting below the earth, completely unaware that powerful men had crossed mountains searching specifically for her.

A human doctor, a broken heart, a woman who should never have entered our world yet somehow she had become the center of it, I turned toward the doors.

"Prepare my team."

Nyra stepped forward.

"Gerald—"

"They came for her."

"They said they know her bloodline."

My jaw tightened, that frightened me more than soldiers, because if Genesis knew something about Ciara, something her own family never told her, then bringing her here may have placed her directly in the middle of a war she never knew existed and for the first time since escaping the laboratory, I was afraid, not for myself, not for Moonridge but for her, because Genesis only hunted things they wanted.

And they never stopped until they got them.