True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (21 page)

Grai nodded his head sadly, hoping like hell it wouldn’t come to that. He liked Leif Sr. and he would hate for the man to lose both of his parents. Not like this.

Grai nodded his head and forced a smile he didn’t feel.

“Let’s see if Lara and Mikal have made any progress with Fiorn, then we can return and begin,” he said, knowing that Thjodhild would not be happy with her mate’s condition now that Lara had released him from the energy bindings.

Mikal had expressed deep concern regarding Fiorn’s mental state since he’d awakened, and Grai was afraid that it would be hours before they had a clue as to what the unusual energy strands were.

Fiorn was in a large cell, the iron bars much thicker and larger than in a human jail cell. The bars shimmered in golden sparkles and Grai looked curiously at Lara wondering what she’d done.

Lara turned as they had walked into the room and seeing Grai’s questioning look she answered before Fiorn’s mate could become more upset.

“His strength is much more than normal, you can see where he was hurting his hands trying to break through the bars,” Lara said as she pointed to a place where the bars were bent outward.

“I reinforced the structure and added an energy disrupter so that it repels him when he tries to strike it. It will not hurt him, only make it really unpleasant to touch the bars,” Lara added when Thjodhild looked upset.

“Unpleasant how?” Thjodhild whispered as she moved towards her unstable mate.

Mikal stepped in her path, his unusual but beautiful eyes capturing her attention.

“Ma’am, his mind is not his own at this moment. He may not remember who you are and may say things that may be painful. Please, remember that this is not your mate speaking. He is ill and we will do everything we can to help him get better,” he said, hoping his presence wouldn’t scare her more.

He was surprised when she placed a tiny hand on his arm and looked at him with watery eyes and a small smile.

“I am glad you are here, Dranovian. I ask a boon and if you grant it, I will grant your father his alliance with no conditions save that he protect and care for all of my people as I would,” she said, her voice strong and unwavering.

Mikal already knew what she would ask and he could not refuse her request, no matter how much it would kill him and vilify his brethren further. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he nodded his head.

Taking her hand in his own, Mikal sent her warm and compassionate energy. Placing his other hand on her head, he did what other beast species could not do and bypassed her defenses to speak directly to her beast and her mind privately.

“I know what you will ask and I would help you to be with your mate without conditions. This is hard enough for you without bringing those concerns into this. But, I warn you now, I will not undertake this lightly, and neither should you. We both must be convinced it is the only way. And I am easily convinced of nothing. Do you agree?” Mikal asked her.

Thjodhild nodded her head and smiled at him. “I am beyond grateful to you and will ensure that this place will forever be a welcoming refuge for your kind. I can think of no better place to provide peace for those who take others pain upon themselves in the way your people do,” she said quietly before she turned to the ever present Darina.

“Make it so.”

Darina nodded her head and looked at Mikal. “Welcome to Beta Base, and thank you,” she said, her eyes tearing up at the potential loss of her friend.

Mikal nodded, grateful that he felt no fear from these women. It would have only made things harder on him if they had. Because if they couldn’t heal Fiorn, as dangerous as he was, it would be up to Mikal to kill him. And he’d just agreed to kill Thjodhild as well, so she wouldn’t have to live without the mate she’d been beside for more than a thousand years.

No matter how welcoming or forgiving these people may be, if he had to kill these two, Mikal would never be back here again. He’d barely be able to look at himself in a mirror, much less at the beauty of this place and the memories of how he added a dark stain on it.
And this
, Mikal thought,
is why my people, my brothers, remain alone.
It was their fate. And that fickle bitch didn’t care for him much.

*****

Pfc. Mikey Davis slowed to a stop at the blockade in front of him and wondered what was going on. He’d been planning this vacation since he’d gotten back from Afghanistan a few months ago and couldn’t imagine why the road to White River National Forest was blocked off by a sheriff’s vehicle, an unmarked black SUV, and what appeared to be soldiers behind them.

He waited in his car as the deputy approached him as a courtesy to the officer.

“Morning, Deputy,” he said, noting the badge number and the man’s casual stance.

Deputy John Simms tipped his hat and leaned down to look in the vehicle.

“Morning, sir! I’m gonna have to ask you to turn around and head back. We’ve had a landslide and until we know it’s safe, this area is closed to traffic,” he said, giving the same excuse he’d given anyone that had come by. Which luckily, had been pretty rare.

The hair on the back of Mikey’s neck was standing on end and the more he studied the uniforms of the soldiers in front of him, he realized they wore no badges or unit designations. They weren’t soldiers.
Not in the US military anyway
, he thought.

Looking up at the deputy, Mikey said casually, “Hey, what base did they come from? I’m on leave myself.”

John, one of the few people who knew of Grai besides the sheriff, moved to block the man’s view of the hybrid team. “Didn’t ask and don’t care. Now, please turn around and head back to town,” he said a little more forcefully than he intended.

Mikey had a knack for knowing when things weren’t right. It’d saved his life more times than he could count, especially during his two tours overseas. He knew damn well something was wrong here. It didn’t feel right to him at all.

“Is there a problem, John?” Mikey heard one of the uniform clad men call out and he knew he needed to get out of there. He didn’t know why he suddenly felt so panicked, but he was going to follow his instincts.

“I’m going,” he said, putting his car in reverse and waiting for the deputy to step back from his car.

The moment the deputy moved, Mikey began making his three point turn and made sure to get a good look at the men in the uniforms and the black SUV parked next to the deputy’s car. He waited until he couldn’t see them in the rear view mirror anymore before he grabbed his cell phone. He tried to call one of his Army buddies but cursed when the phone flashed that it had no signal.

“Damn!” he muttered as he threw the phone into the passenger seat.

Mikey calculated the distance of driving around the mountain range to get to the hotel he was going to be staying at and realized it would be closer to drive to the nearest base. Not only could he grab a bunk there, but he could ask around about who those men were that were working with the deputy.

Damn it
, he thought. Either way he was going to lose a whole day driving and that pissed him off. But, if he was going to waste a day, he was damn sure going to get some answers. He wanted some peace and quiet, time to himself, but not in his car.

Looking in his rearview mirror, he slammed on his brakes and skidded across the lane to a grinding stop. Without conscious thought he put it in park and got out. He stared in the distance, over the mountain and watched a craft shimmer in the air.

He knew it! He’d seen the same damn things before, and he knew damn well they weren’t any kind of military craft he’d ever seen. He knew they were something else, he could feel it. Mikey could never figure out why they shimmered like that and why he could see them. He’d been with other soldiers when he’d seen them before, but no one else had ever admitted to seeing them too. Even though one had been only a few hundred yards away from them.

He stayed in the middle of the road, his eyes focused on the craft when all of a sudden it was gone. He scanned the skies, trying to find it again, but after ten minutes he gave up and turned back to his car.

He was more determined than ever to find out what the hell was going on here. Whatever that deputy said, he knew damn well there was more going on than a natural disaster. Getting in his car he made up his mind that even if it took his whole three week vacation, he was going to get some answers on what those craft were.

Chapter Nineteen

Countdown Clock to Human Discovery

6:00 Hours

This is a WSBC Channel 9 News update. The United States Forestry Service shared aerial footage of the Burnt Tree Ridge landslide in the White River National Forest. You can clearly see the devastation to the area, including a mile of I-70 under several inches of debris. Experts and authorities are working as quickly as possible to ensure the area is safe for work crews to check for the downed lines to the communication systems.

They are grateful for your patience and ask that you hold out a little longer. We’ll be back with more information as soon as it’s available.

True rolled over and moaned at the stiffness in her leg. Keeping her eyes closed, she cuddled back into the warmth of the bed and sighed at the feel of the arm that came around her and squeezed her gently.

Her eyes flew open and ignoring all the aches in her body she spun around to see who was beside her and she let a small shriek before she clapped her hands over her mouth and studied the battered man still sleeping beside her.

The whole right side of his chest was heavily bruised with several medibands covering the darkest areas. The gash above his eye was much smaller than she remembered but still looked awful beneath the medibands covering it, and there were several spots where she could see that small cuts had mostly healed and were continuing to do so.

As if with a will of its own, her hand reached out and brushed his hair off of his forehead and flinched when she pulled back and saw his blue eyes looking at her.

Feeling like she was caught doing something bad, True scrambled for an excuse.

“Uh . . . I was making sure you were still alive. You look really . . . rough,” she said, wincing as she looked at his chest again.

Leif pulled a hand from under the covers to rub his sore chest and looked down when he heard True gasp. He could see the medibands wrapped around his wrist, the skin beneath them was raw and bruised.

“Yeah,” he said, trying to sit up, “the bastard had those bonds just a little too tight.”

True gently pressed down on the normal looking side of his chest until he lay back down. “Don’t get up. We appear to be very safe and if the food and drinks covering available space are an indication, we’re definitely not prisoners. Looks like Nana got there just in time,” True said, hoping she was right. Still, she tried to contact Grai through the Shengari’ as the door to the room opened.

Darina stepped inside with a large smile at the young couple. “I’m so glad you’re awake! Are you feeling ok? Do you need the doctor again?” she asked, her voice annoyingly cheerful.

True saw that Leif was determined to sit up and she helped him before turning to glare at the happy woman. “Where are we? Are we prisoners? Again . . .” True asked sarcastically.

Darina’s mouth fell open and she looked hurt. “Oh my . . . No you aren’t a prisoner,” she said looking to Leif to see if he remembered where he was.

Wrapping his arm around True’s shoulder, Leif smiled down at her. “Give her a break, firefly. This is Darina, my nana’s best friend and assistant. It looks like we’re in a summer home not far from the castle and School,” he said, hoping to calm True down a little. He definitely didn’t want her to start going all nuts on Darina the way she did Fiorn. And then he remembered everything.

“How is grandpa?” he asked, trying to slide around True to the side of the bed.

Darina held up her hand.

“Do not worry. The beast killer and a prime have arrived to help him. Your Nana and Grai are with him now, trying to find a way to help him. Your orders,” she said, looking between True and Leif, “are to remain here and away from the main area until things calm down.”

When it looked like True would argue, Darina held up her hand again.

“Those are your orders from Grai and your nana. You disobey them at your own peril as long as you tell them that I told you what I was supposed to. Personally, I think they have enough going on right now with your grandfather, an alliance, and the situation at the folly. You’d do more to help if you listened and healed,” she said, looking more at True than Leif.

By now Grai had already told True the same thing on the Shengari’ and as she looked at Leif, she realized if they couldn’t heal Fiorn, he was going to need more than a shoulder to cry on. Making up her mind, she nodded her head and looked at Leif with a small smile.

“I don’t know about you, but I could use some food and a break. I’ve been knocked out so many times I’ve probably lost more brain cells than I can afford to lose, and I wouldn’t mind spending a full hour with you, without being shot, tied up or knocked out,” she said with a dramatic sigh.

Leif snorted and shook his head. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that either. You’ve been trouble since the second you walked into the damn cave,” he said with a grin.

True sputtered and looked at him like she was going to slap him. “I’ve been trouble? You kidnapped me!” she said, pretending to still be angry at him.

Leif tsked at her. “Oh come on, I was saving you from being taken with the others. Don’t I get bonus points or something for that?” he asked as he gently tossed a pillow at her.

True laughed. “Like you didn’t have ulterior motives? That bedroom, the bras and panties . . . that duckface,” she said with a bark of laughter before she smacked him with the pillow, being careful of his eye and bruised chest.

Leif’s stomach chose that moment to growl and they both laughed. Neither noticed when Darina had slipped out. True got up from the bed, ignoring the fact that they were put in the same bed together and grabbed a tray of fruit and cheese and another of sweet breads before she set them on the bed in front of Leif.

Seeing some cloth napkins near a tray of grapes, she took three of them and then sat across from Leif. True grinned as she handed him a napkin, then popped a piece of cheese into her mouth. They ate in silence for a moment, each wrapped in their own thoughts.

True could feel his concern and fear increasing the longer they sat there and watched him slowly stop eating the more the feeling grew in his energy. She knew he was worried for his grandfather. As much as the man was obviously difficult to deal with, he meant a lot to Leif and True felt terrible for him.

Taking his hand in hers, she gave him a small smile and slid off of the bed, keeping his hand. “Come on, big guy, show me around this place. Maybe we can get through a tour without being shot this time,” she said with a grin.

Leif snorted and slid off of the bed. “I need to find a shirt,” he said as he looked around the room.

True scanned the room and not finding anything she pulled him towards the closet and gasped. Leif peeked inside and chuckled. There on one side were several shirts and pants for him and on the other side were clothes for True.

True looked at him with a quirked brow. “They sure do think of everything,” she said, checking the size on a pair of jeans, not really surprised that they would fit.

Leif laughed. “You have no idea. Nana is thorough, but when she gets together with Darina, nothing escapes the two of them. I wouldn’t be surprised to find your favorite shampoo in the bathroom along with my toothbrush,” he said, suspecting he was right the more he looked at the personal touches in the room.

Leif grabbed the first shirt and pulled the dark blue polo over his head. He hissed as he tried to pull it over his chest and flinched only a little when True took the lower part of the shirt from his hands and stretched it far from his chest before settling it around his waist.

He grinned down at her.

“Thanks, firefly,” he said as he noted the clean clothes she was wearing already and his clean pants.
Yeah, Nana was real thorough,
he thought.

True looked down and realized she had no boots or shoes. Peeking in the closet, she saw there was none there either. “They forgot our shoes?” she asked Leif with a quirk of her brow.

Leif chuckled. “No, that was not a mistake. Nana figures we aren’t going to wander far without them. She used to do that to me when I was a child to try and keep me from wandering the forests and fields,” he said, smiling at the happy memories.

True snorted. “I bet you came back with bloody and bruised feet every time,” she said with a grin, knowing she’d have done the same thing.

Leif chuckled and held the door open for her. “And a couple of broken bones,” he said as True walked out ahead of him.

They went down a short hallway with a few other closed doors before ending up in a large, open living area. Comfortable looking couches and chairs were scattered around the room interspersed with bookcases, tables and large floor pillows. Some items looked to be very old and others much newer, but the combination of the eras lent the area a very homey and inviting air.

“Wow, this place is really nice,” True said as she walked farther into the room and past carved columns to the open windows on the other side of the room.

Beautiful mosaics covered the floor beneath her feet as she stepped out onto a large terrace. Seeing water, she moved to a stone railing and gasped at the sight of the pristine, clear blue water. Much like what they called the castle, this area also hosted a family of mammoths and a wide assortment of other creatures as well.

Beneath her, the terrace led down several levels until it reached a stone pathway that led to another pathway around the lake. Just as in the main area she’d been in earlier, these paths were also made large enough to allow for the mammoths to use them as well.

Covered gazebos, benches and tables were dotted around the lake along with trees and flowers. The whole scene was breathtaking and True tried to take it all in.

Leif laughed. “It is a little overwhelming. It has a lot more of a natural feel to it since there is more trees and flowers around here than in the town farther up the lake. There’s a huge forest that lies between here and there,” he said, putting his hands gently on her shoulders as they looked out at the water.

True sighed. “It’s so beautiful. Are those boat docks?” she asked, pointing at several stone areas on the water.

Leif nodded his head. “Yes, they are. In fact, we still use them to get here from town. Since there are no boats here now, I’m assuming they took it after they dropped us off,” he said, chuckling to himself at just how thorough his Nana and Darina were. Neither he, nor True were in any condition for a hike back there — shoes or not.

True grinned and turned back around to look at where they were staying and was pleasantly surprised that this was much smaller than the buildings in town.

“Wow, this is so much more my style!” she said, admiring the stone architecture.

Leif turned around to look at it even though he knew what it looked like. It was fun for him to see it through her eyes. “This is my favorite place. Nana always said that if I ever settled down and found a mate, that she would give this place to me. I wonder if this is her way of doing that,” he said with a chuckle, pretty sure he was right.

True looked at him in shock.

“Are you serious? She’s just gonna give this to you?” she asked, thinking that would be one hell of a gift.

Leif laughed. “Yep. Nothing says, ‘Gimme grandbabies’, like an ancient stone house, on a private lake, in the middle of a place no one on Earth can get to,” he said, finally appreciating his Nana’s scheming mind.

True put her hands on her hips and snorted. “Don’t push your luck buddy, you’re in no condition to defend yourself,” she said as she pushed past him back inside the house, hiding her grin from him.

Leif sighed and followed behind her. “You know, I did specify that it was
Nana
who was thinking those thoughts. Not me. I don’t want kids for a while,” he said, jumping back when True turned narrowed grey eyes on him.

“What if I want kids now? Does what I want matter?” she asked, before turning back around to find a front door.

Leif sighed and threw his arms up in the air. He recognized this and he wasn’t about to play this game. This was where she’d twist and turn everything he said until he had no idea what he said anymore. He hated this shit. Tara did it to him all the time and he wasn’t going to take it from True too.

“Do I look ready to be a father to you?” he asked instead, catching her off guard.

True turned and looked him up and down slowly. “Ok, you have a point. I don’t want one right now either. If I get the urge, I’ll go borrow one of my nephews or my new niece for a few hours. I’m sure that’ll cure the urge pretty quick,” she said before she threw her hands up in the air. “OK, where the hell is the front door?”

Leif laughed and walked past the kitchen, through another hallway to a door. He bowed at the waist as he gestured to the door and chuckled as True huffed past him and threw it open, allowing the sunlight to stream in.

True pulled him out of the door and followed the stone walkway until she encountered a split on the path. Unsure which way to go, she turned to Leif. “Come on, show me around, and tell me about yourself. Do it quick, I’m kind of paranoid that we’re going to be whacked again,” she said, only half teasing.

Leif grinned and squeezed her hand.

“I think we’re safe here. But, let’s go this way and I’ll show you where I grew up. Nana and my dad raised me here after my mom was killed. I grew up playing in the school and riding the mammoths,” he admitted with a smile as he remembered his childhood.