True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (26 page)

“Ok, I deserved that,” she admitted. “But, I promise, I have no plans on harming you. I’m trying to get to know you so that we can stop being so awkward around each other,” True said a little shyly. It had sounded so much better in her head.

Leif wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry. Instead, he moved over to the bed and laid down beside her, covering his face with his arms.

“Am I really so pathetic?” he asked, his blue eyes peeking at her adorably through the gap in his arms.

True chuckled and turned so that she could sit facing him. “Not at all. I just think that we had a really rough start. Neither having much of a chance to be ourselves. Add in a few concussions, broken bones and world hopping while unconscious

. . . it’s a wonder we made it this far. In one piece,” she said with a soft snort.

Leif put his arms behind his head and chuckled.

“Damn, that almost sounds like an inspirational poster. ‘Kidnappings, explosions, broken bones and world hopping, all before breakfast. Join the Hybrid Army of Fun’,” Leif said jokingly.

True laughed.

“You have a funny idea of what’s inspiring. Personally, I’d rather go up against the Relians than do this crap again,” True said, stretching out to lay beside him in the bed.

Leif turned and leaned his head in his hand to stare down at her.

“Seriously? What’s it like to fight them?” he asked curiously.

True sighed. “It’s not as much fun as it sounds. But, there is a satisfaction in knowing that in killing them, I’m saving a human or a hybrid,” she admitted.

Leif looked at her curiously, sifting her energy through the growing energy bond between them.

“You hate it don’t you?” he said, surprised.

True wasn’t ready to talk about herself like this and instead rolled over to face him. Before he could react, she grabbed the back of his head and pressed her lips to his. Heat seemed to explode in her head and she felt herself melt against his body as his hand rode her thigh to her hip and pulled her closer to him.

Leif deepened the kiss and rolled her onto her back. Unwilling to break her hold on him, True wrapped her arms around his neck and curled one leg over his hip as he pressed her deeper into the mattress.

True could swear that sparks had to be flying from them, the heat and energy was so intense she couldn’t believe they weren’t on fire. So when Leif fisted the side of her robe, near her hip and it pulled away from her body, she sighed in relief at the feel of the cool air on her heated skin.

Leif pulled away, trying to control his need for her, but when he felt the silk of her skin beneath him, he couldn’t seem to breathe. All he could think of was making her his own. He took her lips in another searing kiss as his hands worked to pull her robe away from her body.

True let go of Leif long enough to pull her arms from her robe and as soon as she did, she reached for his. She made quick work of the knot at the waist and pulled at one of his shoulders, then the other until he was completely naked above her.

True groaned as he lowered his heated flesh to hers, her own body igniting at the touch of his. She looked into his liquid blue eyes and seeing the intense desire in them, she pulled him closer and kissed him, her tongue matching his in a passionate duel.

Leif knew he was losing himself in her. Hell, he’d already lost it. But, he wanted more and couldn’t and wouldn’t try to control it. Pulling from her protesting mouth, he rocked his hips against her as he licked and sucked his way down her neck. He slipped his arm beneath her as she arched her back into him, bringing a hard, aching nipple into his heated mouth.

True’s gasp of pleasure and the moan that followed only tightened the intensity Leif was feeling and he rocked himself against her core before moving to pay equal attention to her other nipple.

A small part of True’s mind warned her that they needed to slow down, but the rest of her refused to listen and threw herself into the moment with abandon. She wrapped both legs around his waist and moved her hips so that his hardness would slide along her slick folds.

She gasped as the pleasure built between them until Leif looked down at her and slid slowly inside of her. True went rigid at the initial shock of his size but quickly adjusted and pulled him closer.

Leif remained still inside of her for a moment, enjoying the intense feeling of being joined with her and giving him a chance to calm himself before he lost control. His fiery little mate had a habit of doing it to him and this was one time he wanted to move slowly.

True had other ideas. She rolled her hips, eliciting a moan from both of them. “Leif, move . . .,” she whispered near his ear, before biting his neck.

Leif moaned at the pleasure/pain and intending to get even, he pulled back and thrust deeply and strongly into her. His plan backfired though when he felt his already thin control begin to snap. Leif could feel her pleasure pulsing in her energy and distantly noted that their energies were pulsing in sync, before he pulled back and entered her again, the same way he did the first time.

True was lost. She’d never imagined how deeply emotional it could be between two mates. Leif’s emotions and pleasure beat at her own energy, increasing her feelings and senses before she bounced it back to him.

The more the pleasure built, the more intense the feelings between them. It was like a powerful drug that she couldn’t seem to stay away from and she rocked her body against his, matching him thrust for thrust as she tried to rush to the end and see what would happen when they finally did combust.

True’s wild and uninhibited response set off a primal need in him to please and claim his mate. Curling his hands around her shoulders he pulled her body down on each thrust, driving as strong and deep as he could. Her gasps and moans drove him on, making him just as wild as she to reach the end.

True gasped as the wave finally crested and her body shook with the power of her release. She clutched him tightly to her as he moaned her name, his arms shaking as he braced himself above her.

A few moments later, Leif collapsed onto his elbows, leaning his head beside hers while he tried to slow his breathing. True hugged him one last time before she loosened her grip on him and held her hands at his back.

“Are you alright?” Leif said, his voice muffled by the pillow his face was buried in.

True chuckled and almost winced as he slid out of her. Leif’s head jerked up and he looked at her with a huge grin. “Quick! Say something to head off the awkward moment!”

True shook her head slowly. “What?”

Leif looked gut punched. “Oh hell, I just created one didn’t I? Damn . . .,” he said, putting his head back into the pillows.

“What the hell?” True asked, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

Leif picked his head back up. “It was a little weird when I slid out of you and I figured it would be an awkward moment that I would screw up. So, I was trying to get you to help me avoid that. Instead, I caused it,” Leif said before putting his head back into the pillow.

True laughed and pushed him until he pulled his head out of the pillow. When she was finally looking into his beautiful blue eyes, she ran a hand down his cheek.

“It was a little weird, but nothing about what we did was awkward at all. I think, for the sake of your own manhood, we should stay in bed until we get the awkward out of you,” True teased as she leaned down to kiss him.

Leif pulled away and smiled. “I don’t think I’d mind that at all. In fact, how about we grab ourselves a little feast from the kitchen and come back in here to enjoy it?” he asked, the boyish grin on his face hard to resist.

True was about to respond when she felt a warmth spreading across her upper arm and shoulder. Looking down she sucked in a sharp breath as the Ator-Ma began to appear on her arm. She looked up at Leif with eyes filled with wonder as she watched a matching one begin to form on him.

Leif pulled her into his arms. “You really are mine now,” he said before he took her lips in a passionate kiss that left her breathless.

She was still recovering from the kiss when he hopped out of the bed, threw on a robe, that True believed was hers and headed out of the door.

With a grin and shake of her head, she crawled to the other side of the bed and picked Leif’s robe off of the floor and pulled it on. It fit the same as the other one and she realized they were the one size fits all kind of garment.

She walked into the kitchen and was surprised to see that Leif already had a ton of food, haphazardly thrown on a couple of plates that he was balancing in one hand.

“Great! Grab a few bottles of wine. Forget the glasses, we’ve swapped more than spit in the last hour,” he said as he put a loaf of bread under his arm and grabbed a bottle of herbed olive oil.

True had just gotten a couple of bottles when she turned around and he was gone. With her face scrunched in curiosity at his behavior she walked back into the bedroom to see he’d somehow covered most surfaces with candles. Unlit ones.

He bowed adorably in the fluffy robe and said, gesturing to the unlit candles, “Would you do the honors, my lady.”

True giggled and clutched the bottles to her chest for a second before laying them on the bed. With a wave of her hands, the room flooded with candlelight and the fireplace roared to life around them.

Leif grinned broadly and sighed before he lunged at True and threw them both on the bed, barely avoiding the wine bottles. True giggled and looked up at him.

“What’s gotten into you?” she asked.

Leif leaned down and kissed her passionately, his hands roaming her body until her robe was parted and she lay naked beneath him. He pulled back slightly and looked into her eyes with his passion clouded blue ones before he nipped and licked his way down her neck.

“That’s the wrong question, little firefly. It’s what’s getting into you,” he said, sliding his hardness along her thigh.

True’s giggle turned into a gasp as he pulled her nipple into his mouth. “Yeah, let’s play that instead,” True said as she wrapped her legs around him.

Leif rolled the wine bottles to the floor, vaguely grateful that they didn’t break. Then he showed his mate that there was one thing that he wasn’t awkward at. Not in the least.

Chapter Twenty Three

Countdown Clock to Human Discovery

2:00 Hours

This is a WFWZ Radio update. We have been in contact with the Colorado Department of Transportation and it could be months before the road is repaired enough for through traffic. They will first work to open one lane within the next few weeks to help alleviate some of the pressure on the back roads. Motorists are asked to allow themselves extra time to travel and to obey any traffic alerts and traffic police they may encounter along their routes.

Sarge and Mikey reached the roadblock in record time. Mikey would never admit it, but he’d spent the whole ride holding on to anything he could with white knuckles. When he’d asked Sarge about where he’d learned to drive, the tough old guy grinned and said he’d learned evasive driving overseas and couldn’t seem to get out of that mindset when he’d come home.

Sarge slowed to a stop a good 20 feet from the roadblock and cursed. Mikey immediately saw that something was different. Major different.

“They were not the ones that were here earlier!” Mikey said as he watched a group of kids in military gear standing behind the deputy car and chatting with the deputy.

Sarge shook his head.

“Slow your roll, boy. It’s obvious something ain’t right. Stay in the vehicle,” Sarge said as he opened the door and got out of the vehicle.

“Yo! Deputy! What’s going on here?” Sarge yelled out, unwilling to startle an armed man.

Two of the kids ran up to him and the tallest boy spoke.

“Sir, we’re going to have to ask you to turn around. There’s been a landslide and the area is off limits while they clean it up.”

Sarge chuckled and watched the deputy out of the corner of his eye, wondering why the man was letting the kids handle this. “Wow, that’s awful. And who might you be young man?” Sarge asked kindly, not willing to frighten a young kid.

The boy straightened and executed a perfect salute.

“ROTC Cadet Stephen Nelson, Sir!”

Sarge narrowed his eyes and nodded his head.

“At ease, Cadet. Since when are the cadets allowed to assist in natural disasters?” he asked, knowing something was very wrong here.

The young boy grinned broadly.

“We’ve got a requirement for public service and our Commanding Officer figured since the danger was over, that we could help out and get some experience at the same time,” Cadet Nelson said enthusiastically.

“Is there a problem?” the Deputy called out, his hand close to his weapon.

Sarge nodded at him.

“Not at all. Just wondering when the road would reopen,” he said, heading back to the Humvee.

He threw himself in the driver’s seat with a surprising amount of agility and executed a perfect three point turn before heading back the way they came.

“That was no damn ROTC kids when I came by earlier,” Mikey said, humiliated that they’d come this way for nothing.

Sarge shook his head.

“I’m not an idiot, boy, I figured that out already. No one would put those kids out there like that at this time of night for a requirement,” Sarge said, looking in his rearview mirror.

They drove for at least another mile before Sarge slowed to a stop and pulled off the road.

“What are we doing?” Mikey asked, a little concerned at Sarge’s change in attitude.

Sarge turned to the kid with a grin. “Come with me, kid,” he said as he got out and went to the back of the vehicle.

Opening up a hidden compartment, Sarge grabbed a Glock 9mm and Desert Eagle 45. He looked at the kid as he checked the clips and chambered a bullet.

“Don’t just stand there, boy. Pick your weapons before I take them all,” Sarge said, putting knives, a compass and full clips in the pockets of his fatigues.

Mikey grinned.

“Yes, Sir,” he said as he reached in and began arming himself.

Several minutes later, Mikey was pulling on a backpack full of water and MREs while Sarge headed across the road and disappeared over the edge.

Mikey shook his head, wondering what the hell he’d gotten himself into before he headed across the street and followed Sarge down the embankment on the side of the road. What the hell, he thought, he was already here.

“Where are we going?” he asked when he caught up to Sarge.

Sarge chuckled.

“Back to that roadblock, boy. We’re gonna get past them a different way,” he said, moving quickly over the terrain.

Mikey shook his head, surprised that the old guy was so agile at his age and he secretly hoped he’d be like that when he was that old.

“You think we can get around them?” Mikey asked after a few minutes.

Sarge stopped suddenly and turned to Mikey. “Boy, I don’t know about you but I think I can make it past Deputy Dawg and a bunch of ROTC kids. If you think you can’t handle it, head back to the Humvee and I’ll meet ya back there later,” Sarge said, eyeing the kid up and down.

Mikey felt like an idiot and just nodded. “Yeah, I meant that the other guys I saw earlier, might still be around . . .,” Mikey said and let his voice trail off when Sarge turned back around and headed off again.

Mikey snorted and headed after the man. Hell, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do for the next few weeks, killing some time on a hike wasn’t going to kill him. And he definitely wasn’t afraid of some ROTC kids and a bored deputy.

The others guys he’d seen earlier, now they were a different story. Everything about that group screamed highly trained and heavily geared. They weren’t screwing around and they were definitely prepared for anything. Overkill came to mind the moment he’d seen them. You didn’t need that kind of hardware to prevent people from going into a dangerous area. Most people weren’t that stupid and followed the rules of order with being threatened with an AR-15.

Mikey’s instincts tingled through his veins, an early warning he’d always had, that told him he was getting ready to head into a shit storm. He picked up a small rock and threw it at Sarge to get his attention.

When Sarge turned around, his expression curious, Mikey signaled him to get down. Without a thought, Sarge dropped to the ground at the same time that Mikey did, both men looking around them and listening for what had set off Mikey’s senses.

After a few minutes, Sarge shook his head in irritation and stood at the same time that both men felt a massive wave of heat and wind, like rotor downdraft. Both looked above them at the churning dust above them and Mikey immediately saw the large craft moving slowly, no more than 20 feet above them.

Shielding his eyes with his arms he looked at Sarge and knew immediately that the man couldn’t see the ship. He threw handfuls of small rocks at him until Sarge looked over at him with wide eyes.

Moving slowly to make sure Sarge could see what he was doing, Mikey grabbed two handfuls of rocks and threw them at the ship. He watched Sarge’s face as the rocks bounced off what Sarge saw as thin air, but Mikey knew was the bottom of an aircraft that he couldn’t identify to save his life.

Sarge’s eyes grew larger than Mikey thought possible and he let off a handful of rocks of his own, shocked that they bounced off thin air back to him. He was getting ready to throw another handful when Mikey hit him with another rock and shook his head, using his hands to signal that the craft had moved too far away.

Sarge sat there for a moment, the rocks in his hand, shaking his head at what had just happened. Mikey stayed low and scurried over to Sarge, sitting down beside him.

“You can see the damn things can’t you?” Sarge asked, looking around the skies above them.

Mikey nodded.

“Yeah, it helped to tip me off earlier,” he admitted, his heart racing and his blood pumping like crazy through his veins.

“What the fuck is that, boy?” Sarge asked, trying to figure out if he was having a heart attack or adrenaline rush.

Mikey chuckled softly and shook his head. “Damn Sarge, I wish like hell I knew,” he said, scanning the skies for more aircraft.

Sarge lightly threw a rock at him. “Well, tell me what it looks like you idiot,” he said in frustration and excitement.

Mikey grinned. “It looks like a UFO,” he said.

Sarge just stared at the kid for a minute, his mind trying to process what the kid had said and what he’d seen and experienced with his own eyes.

“Boy, do you think it could be one of ours?” he asked.

Mikey’s mind and senses seemed to rebel at the thought and he knew right away it wasn’t one of theirs.

“No, I don’t think it’s one of ours,” he said, wondering if Sarge would believe him, even after what he’d just witnessed.

Sarge nodded his head. “You see any more of them?”

“No, but that one went that way,” Mikey said pointing towards the direction the craft went.

Sarge chuckled lightly. “You’re pretty handy, boy. Let’s go find us a UFO,” he said, his heart pumping with more adrenaline and excitement than he’d felt in years.

Mikey nodded and stood, holding his hand out to Sarge and pulling him to his feet. They straightened their packs then Mikey led the way towards where the ship had gone. Back towards the roadblock and Burnt Tree Ridge.

*****

Grai paced behind Slate at the comm center, listening to all the reports that were rolling in, when the one he dreaded the most came through.

“We got military choppers heading our way! ETA five minutes!” Slate called out.

Grai opened his comm to Koda.

“Be careful brother, the military will be here in five with choppers. I’m assuming it’ll be their standard Blackhawks and they’ll have heavy ammo. These guys know about our people and they’re looking for a new captive, so keep your eyes and ears open,” Grai warned.

Koda chuckled.

“We can handle a few helicopters, brother. Stop fretting, it’s embarrassing,” he teased.

Grai sighed. “I am not trying to embarrass you,” he said.

Koda laughed.

“I was talking about you, not me. My new niece must be very special if she has turned you into a worrier,” Koda said teasingly.

Grai shook his head and grinned as everyone chuckled at their brotherly banter. “Yeah, that’s me. Hurry up and get back so I can braid your hair while you hold her,” Grai said to stunned barks of laughter around him.

Fiorn turned to Slate. “Put recovery craft and extraction teams on standby.”

The next few minutes passed in tense silence until they saw the lights of the half dozen helicopters over the horizon. Then all hell broke loose.

“ETA 30 seconds, sir!” Slate called out.

Grai turned to Scaden. “How much longer until our ground forces are on the transports?”

Scaden pulled up the information and shook his head. “We have six teams heading to extraction. They were doing debris retrieval and animal control. Jax is one of them,” he said, shooting Reven a sympathetic look.

Reven cursed and Grai almost winced at the thought of anything happening to his pregnant friend and he opened his comm to Koda. “Koda, Jax is still out there in middle of everything. I’m sending you the tracking info on her comm,” he said.

“On my way,” Koda said at the same time Sam broke through the general channel.

“We’ve been compromised! Get her out of here! Now!”

Grai watched in horror as the helicopter’s spotlights began lighting up the ground and he began shouting orders as he watched a tall blond male trying to cover a pregnant Jax among the trees.

“Extraction teams to Jax’s position now!” Grai barked out.

“We got fire! We got fire!” Slate shouted as they saw the telltale flashes of bullets being fired at Jax and Sam.

“I’ve got to get to her!” Reven shouted as Ivint tried to hold him there.

“You can’t get there in time! We’ll get her,” Ivint said, holding tightly to his friend to keep him from going outside.

“Koda!” Grai shouted, praying his brother could get there in time.

“What the hell . . .,” Fiorn said as they all watched the helicopter shooting at Jax and Sam, jerk violently before it appeared to be tossed onto the ground.

They watched as it rolled to a stop and a few seconds later a crewmember crawled out of the crumpled craft and hefted hardware onto his shoulder, aimed at the skies. 

“They have RPGs,” Grai warned Koda, shaking his head at the idiot human pointing the heavy weapon erratically around him.

Slate shouted an update. “The other choppers are trying to land around Jax and Sam! Another one is opening fire!”

Grai watched a line of animals surround Sam and Jax’s location as they tried to hide among the trees from the helicopters shooting at them from above.

Another chopper jerked violently before tumbling through the air as if thrown. It spun wildly, taking out the tops of trees before crashing to the ground half a mile from Jax and Sam.

“What the hell is that?” Thjodhild asked in awe of the way the choppers were being taken out.

Grai grinned, never taking his eyes off of the screens around them.