Chapter 5: The Hunt Begins
The gym at three in the morning was a cathedral of silence and steel. The fluorescent lights hummed their tired, buzzing song overhead, casting pale cones of illumination across the rows of squat racks and benches. Chalk dust hung suspended in the air like frozen snow, catching the light in faint, shimmering clouds. Lewis sat at the front desk, his phone propped against a stack of membership forms, thumb scrolling through the same tired feed he had been staring at for the past four hours. His shift was nearly over. Fifteen more minutes and he could crawl into his car and pretend the previous night had been a fever dream brought on by exhaustion and too many energy drinks.
He did not hear the front door open. The glass slid shut with barely a whisper, and the first sign that anything was wrong was the sudden, electric charge in the air. The hairs on his arms stood up, a primal shiver crawling down his spine. He looked up from his phone, and his breath caught in his throat.
Two figures stood at the entrance to the weight room, silhouetted against the dim light of the reception area. They moved together, a slow, synchronized prowl that was all predator and no prey. And they were green. Both of them. The unmistakable, lustrous emerald of skin that his mind had tried desperately to file away as a trick of the lighting last night. But it was not a trick. Rygell stepped into the fluorescent glow first, and Lewis felt his throat go dry.
She was still massive, still towering, though she seemed to have settled into something more stable than the frantic, exploding growth of the night before. Her muscles were cut deep, each fiber visible beneath her skin like cables wrapped in silk. Her breasts were heavy and full, barely contained by the scraps of her gym bra that had somehow survived the night, and her hips flared wide and powerful. Her thighs were pillars of raw strength, and between them, barely hidden by the torn seam of her leggings, a dark, slick patch glistened. Her eyes burned bright green, pupils wide and full of hunger.
But it was the woman beside her that made Lewis's breath hitch. She was shorter than Rygell, but no less imposing. Her skin was a deeper, richer green, almost bronze in the dim light, and her body was a symphony of lean, athletic curves and sharp, defined muscle. Her amber eyes glowed with a cold, scientific curiosity as they swept over him, assessing, measuring. She wore a white lab coat that had been torn at the shoulders to accommodate her new frame, and beneath it, her body was barely wrapped in a black sports bra and leggings that strained against her powerful thighs.
Two of them. Two green goddesses. And both of them were staring at him like he was dinner.
"Lewis," Rygell purred, her voice a low, rumbling vibration that seemed to come from deep within her chest. She took another step forward, her bare feet padding softly on the rubber flooring. "I told you I'd be coming for you."
Lewis opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His hands gripped the edge of the reception desk, knuckles white. His entire body was screaming at him to run, to flee, to put as much distance between himself and these creatures as possible. But his legs would not move. They felt rooted to the floor, as if the very ground had reached up to hold him in place.
"Who is she?" he managed, his voice cracking.
Rygell glanced at the woman beside her, a slow, possessive smile curling her lips. "This is Cay. She's a professor. A scientist. And she's going to help us understand what's happening to me." She reached out and ran a hand along Cay's arm, fingers tracing the curve of her bicep. "To us."
Cay stepped forward, her amber eyes never leaving Lewis. She moved with a fluid grace that belied her size, her hips swaying gently. "You're the control," she said, her voice calm and measured, like she was discussing a lab protocol. "A baseline human. We're going to observe you, Lewis. See how a normal man responds to the presence of enhanced individuals."
Lewis swallowed hard. "Observe me? What does that even mean?"
Rygell laughed, a low, throaty sound that sent a shiver down his spine. She closed the distance between them in two massive strides, her body blocking out the light above him. She leaned down, her face inches from his, her breath hot and thick with some strange, heady scent. "It means you're ours now. You've been claimed. And Cay wants to see how that works up close."
She reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, lifting him effortlessly from the chair. He dangled in her grip like a doll, his feet swinging above the floor. The fabric of his shirt stretched and tore at the seams, and he could feel the raw, unbridled power in her grip, the kind of strength that could snap his bones like twigs if she wanted to.
Cay circled around behind him, her fingers trailing along his back. "Heart rate is elevated," she murmured, leaning in close to his ear. "Breathing is shallow. Pupils dilated. Classic fear response." Her hand slipped around his waist, fingers splaying across his stomach. "But there's something else there too. Arousal. Fascinating."
Lewis trembled in Rygell's grip. He could feel it, the traitorous stirring in his pants, the way his body responded to the sheer, overwhelming presence of these two women. He hated it. He was terrified out of his mind. But the terror was tangled up with something else, something primal and dark that made his cock throb against his thigh.
Rygell lowered him to the floor, but she did not let go. She pressed him against the weight bench, her massive body caging him in, her breasts brushing against his chest. "You belong to me," she growled, her voice low and dangerous. "And whatever Cay wants to do with you, I get a say in it. Understand?"
Lewis nodded, his mouth dry. "Yes," he whispered.
"Good," Rygell purred. She tilted her head, her green eyes flicking toward Cay. "Show him what we are."