True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (18 page)

Leif chuckled and slid across the hall to True.

“It’s about time you noticed that! We have no idea,” he said with a grin as he bumped into her, then grabbed her to right them both.

True grinned a little shyly as she pulled away and looked at a jeweled dagger behind the ice in this hallway, as well as more items that she couldn’t begin to guess at what they were.

“How big is this place?” she asked, trying to peer through the ice blocking the rest of the hallway from being accessed.

Leif threw his hands up in the air and let them fall back to his sides. “At first, we thought it was just the exterior building. We had no idea that it extended into the mountain until the other hallways started melting. Now we have no idea how large it is. We could probably figure out a way to scan it, but Fiorn has never let us do anything to discover anything about this place. He’s always said it was a waste of time,” he said with a disgusted shake of his head.

True snorted and stared at the silver, gold and platinum items behind the ice.

“How the hell can he say it’s a waste of time? Look at this stuff!” she said, pointing at the golden and jeweled dagger.

Leif laughed and nodded his head.

“You’re preaching to the choir, firefly!”

True ran her hand over the ice in front of the dagger and put it back at her side. “Can’t your nana force the issue? I thought she ruled here,” True said a little petulantly.

Leif chuckled and grabbed her hand and pulled her from the icy hallway back to an area where the floor was ice free before he set a leisurely pace for them back towards the entrance.

He smiled down at her as they walked. “It’s not so much that she can’t order it done, so much as the fact that we really don’t have the personnel to spare. Not yet anyway,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her until she giggled at him.

True sighed when they left the building. She hadn’t realized how much the building affected her energy until they were clear of it. She could feel her heartbeat slow and didn’t know it had been racing while she’d been inside.

“What happened in there?” True asked as she stopped walking and put a hand to her chest to feel her slowing heartbeat.

Leif looked at her with concern.

“Are you alright? I’m sorry, I didn’t think to tell you that the place ramps up your energy and gets your blood pumping like crazy. It’s like a fight or flight instinct that goes nuts when you go inside,” he said, knowing by her energy that she was indeed alright, just a little shaken and surprised.

True looked at him in surprise. “How does it do that?”

Leif chuckled. “I hate to say it again, but we’re not sure. We think it has something to do with the ley lines that run through that building and the mountain. There’s something about the way the energy from the lines are interacting with the items in the building that causes the hyper reaction you felt,” he said, grabbing her hand back in his own and walking along a covered path towards the next building.

True giggled as several squirrels twice the size of the ones she’d ever seen anywhere else ran in front of them before tumbling into the grass on the other side of the walkway. They scampered up the nearest tree, chittering and playing happily together.

Leif pulled True onto a bench beside the walkway and sat down, putting his arm around the back of the bench while True turned to look at him.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked curiously, excited about what she’d see next on her tour.

Leif chuckled to hide his smile over her leaning back against his arm as she’d looked at him. His little fire beast was warming up to him, even if she didn’t want to admit it, and he couldn’t be happier.

He was surprised when True sighed heavily and pushed at him before standing back up and heading back towards the next building on their list to see. He launched himself to his feet and easily caught up to her.

“What the hell was that?” he asked, wondering why she’d suddenly gone psycho for no reason.

True looked at him incredulously.

“Really? You mean you really aren’t aware of when you make that silly model duckface look? That’s natural?” she asked, wondering if he really didn’t know.

Leif growled low in his throat.

“I do not have some duckface look!” he countered, a little embarrassed that he’d been caught making that face at her again. He hated to admit it was not a practiced look. Just an embarrassing one that he normally could keep under control.

True could hear the embarrassment in his voice and broke into laughter. Seeing the disgusted and slightly hurt look on his face she immediately tried to quell her amusement. Finally, she cleared her throat and looked up at him with amused grey eyes, but a straight face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make fun of you,” she said, clearing her throat a couple of more times to keep the laughter at bay.

Leif sighed heavily and grabbed his heart dramatically.

“You’re killing me. You’re making mincemeat of my pride and I think you’re enjoying it!” he said teasingly. Until he saw her blush.

Leif sucked in a breath. “You are enjoying it!” he said accusingly as he began to stalk her around the walkway as she giggled and backed away from him.

True couldn’t help but laugh at the clown. He was so cute as he pretended to stalk her around the walkway. She dodged left just as he lunged at her and she giggled as he grunted in frustration and turned on her with playful blue eyes shining.

She was just getting ready to run past him, when she stopped short at the sight behind Leif. “Leif, duck!” she said as she readied a fire ball.

Leif turned in time to see his Grandfather storming towards him with two of his pet hybrid protectors by his side, weapons raised at them. Leif held his hands up and moved to stand in front of True.

“Gramps, you need to calm down. Nana sent us here,” he said, hoping the man hadn’t tipped his oars into seriously unstable waters.

Fiorn looked at Leif and True almost blankly before he said, “The Warrior said the truth must be known.” Then shot first Leif, then True with the weapon before turning to his team.

“Bring them with us. They will be needed,” he said before he stormed up the steps to the School and flung the doors open.

Hybrids ran outside to see what the commotion was, but at the sight of Fiorn and an unconscious True and Leif, they ran back inside to hide and contact the DF. They knew better than to confront him, especially when he was obviously bat shit crazy. He had to be in order to do something like this at the DF’s favorite place.

Fiorn pulled the pack off of his shoulder as he walked through the main room of the school, past the niches to the main hallway. Without looking behind him to see if his team were following, he made his way unerringly to the newly thawed hall that Leif and True had just recently left.

He waited until his men came into the hallway before he pointed to the opposite side of the frozen hall.

“Put them in there for now. I want them both bound securely. Especially her,” he said with a snarl before he turned back to the frozen wall in front of him and the ancient relics contained within.

As the Warrior had said, it was time for the truth. And he would be the one to reveal it.

Chapter Sixteen

Countdown Clock to Human Discovery

9:00 Hours

This is a WSBC Channel 9 News special report. We’re on the roof of the station and as you can see, the dust cloud from the most recent collapse at Burnt Tree Ridge is dissipating. The geologists at Adventure Caverns will be venturing into the area as soon as it’s safe to do so and have promised to give us an update on the situation as soon as they can observe the damage.

The area remains off limits to the public. Displaced campers and residents are being assisted by the American Red Cross.

Grai and the others watched dispassionately as one of Koda’s fighters shot down another drone that had tried to enter the area. Another had been taken out earlier by one of the ground personnel cleaning up the debris from their craft. Grai had found out the hard way it wasn’t as simple as just shooting it down though.

Slate had been able to hack into one of the drones and had discovered that it had been sending visual data back to whoever was controlling it. Within minutes another group of hybrids was actively deleting and altering the data that had been collected. Finding the identity of the owner of the drone had been relatively simple and they were now hacking into his computers to determine if he was a threat or just a curious local looking to get some pictures to sell to the news.

Thjodhild turned to Slate.

“What’s the status of the debris cleanup?” she asked.

Slate didn’t bother to turn towards her.

“Ma’am, we’re at 90 percent complete. The elementals are almost done sealing the earth around the area, and we should be able to do a final sweep within two hours,” he said, his eyes focused on the screens in front of him.

Thjodhild nodded her head and turned to Grai.

“We need to start knocking out some personnel, we have too many out there. Pull your people into the folly for now, until we know everything is safe,” she said with a challenging grin.

Grai looked at Ivint and Reven, who looked a little nervous about it, but they were obviously deferring to Grai’s judgement. Grai looked at the screens showing the hundred or more personnel they had combing the forest for debris and drones. That didn’t include the dozens that were still at the cabin in the woods.

Grai sent separate instructions to David and Traze through the Shengari’ before opening his comm. “All Alliance personnel are to make their way to the nearest entry into the folly. Mountain hybrids will be there,” he said looking at Thjodhild with a smirk before continuing, “to lead you to safe areas to wait out the situation with the rest of us. Commanding officers will be there to reassign you to internal tasks that need immediate attention.”

Thjodhild grinned and turned to Darina. “Get people there immediately. I want everyone assigned fairly across the board, with each Alliance member one on one with our own. Get them where we need help the most, first. I want every one of them leaving here knowing this place as well as we do,” she ordered before crossing her arms over her chest.

Grai hid his surprise when he looked at Thjodhild.

“Open access?” he asked with a quirk of his brow, wondering why she was willing to give them complete access to their facility, information and people.

Thjodhild sighed.

“There really is no choice. For either of us. Pretending that isn’t the case, will not help either of our clans to accept it and to build on it. Besides,” she said with a laugh. “It’s not like there is a loser here. Both of our clans win. It is our enemies who should quake in fear this day.”

Ivint laughed heartily and Reven and Grai looked at him curiously before he spoke.

“I must say, this has to be the nicest war I have ever taken part in. I do believe we need many more female leaders out there among the sentient worlds,” he said with a wink at Thjodhild.

Reven looked at him in surprise before he blurted out, “We’re cleaning up out there because she blew up her own ships!”

Grai chuckled with Ivint and Thjodhild before Slate turned around with a grin and said, “You think any of those pilots will ever refuse an order from her again? At least she warned them to eject.”

Reven nodded his head at Slate in agreement with his statement, although he still thought it had been a little severe to blow her own craft out of the sky, he had to admit she had ended a tense situation in a matter of minutes. Even he had to admit he had a large amount of respect for the tiny, but dangerous woman.

Thjodhild grinned and turned to Reven. “That was kind compared to how they would have been treated in my time for disobeying an order. We’ve come a long way, but we still must maintain order or more of our people would end up captured or killed. Either by the Relians or the government,” she said simply.

Thjodhild felt no need to defend her actions further. This world was not the peaceful and simple world that Valendra was, and it was the Valendrans who needed to adapt to where they were, not her. This was her world and her people.

Grai nodded his head. “I understand. We all do and we all want what is best for our people. When this is calmer, we need to discuss the other issues that are currently affecting our people,” he said, knowing that her people needed to know of the prime and the dark prime.

Most of Thjodhild’s personnel turned worried and surprised faces to him and he almost cringed at his own stupidity. He really should have saved that snippet for a private conversation with their leader and he rushed to assure everyone.

“It’s actually good news. We have many more allies than we thought, including a large number of Tezarians and Sibiox that are a part of our Alliance here on the planet,” he said, grateful that the worry was replaced with relief and hope.

Thjodhild clapped her hands together happily. “That is fantastic news! We could really use all the help we can get. When you see Beta Base, you will understand that we also have much to share with you,” she said with a large grin.

Grai was beginning to realize that as the first reports from the team sent there were beginning to filter back to him through the Shengari’.

*****

Niklosi had stepped through the portal with his team and a mountain hybrid team 40 minutes ago and he was still shocked by the location. He’d only seen a few places like this on the planet, but none were as preserved and unique as this one.

Blade looked at Niklosi and using hand signals, he motioned to the large building that the hybrids had said that Fiorn had gone into with an unconscious True and Leif. Niklosi nodded, trying to figure out how to get into the building, other than walking in the front door. With no idea of the layout of the building they were at a tactical disadvantage.

Blade knew that the Valendran was trying to figure out how to get inside the building and although he figured the guy was going to freak out, he felt there was no choice and he grabbed Niklosi’s arm.

Niklosi felt like someone had set his mind and arm on fire for a split second before he saw the amazing images flash into his mind. He didn’t even realize when Blade took his hand off of his arm as he toured the inside of the building within the images that Blade had reaped into his mind.

Blade held his hand out in front of Niklosi to get his attention before using a few more hand signals. Niklosi nodded and sent the information to the rest of his team through the Shengari’.

Within a few minutes, they had easily knocked out the two large hybrids that had been guarding the entrance to the school. As they readied for entry into the open, main room of the building, Niklosi and the others were a little surprised to see some of the other hybrids come out of hiding to restrain and collect the downed men.

Blade nodded at his people before obviously sending them back into hiding. He looked at Niklosi for a second before using the hand signal for requesting an energy bond. Niklosi thought about it for a second and couldn’t see a downside in allowing the energy bond with the man. Hell, if Blade could reap things into his head like that, it was probably a good idea to give him a way to communicate normally with him instead. Although it had been a really interesting experience, Niklosi wasn’t quite sure that he liked the reaping and wanted to do it again.

Niklosi nodded and moments later he heard Blade in his mind. “There is nowhere to hide in that room. We need to get to the stone tables for any kind of cover. Fiorn is at the very back of the building in a newly thawed area,” he said warningly, having remote viewed inside while they had been creeping towards the building.

Niklosi nodded and sent the warning to his team on the Shengari’ and waited for Blade to give the signal for entry. They were surprised when Blade stood quickly and turned to the doorway. Keeping their weapons at the ready, Niklosi and his team watched a female hybrid come out of the door with her hands raised and already disarmed.

Blade looked her over and asked, “What happened?”

The tall blonde woman sighed and lowered her hands. “He’s lost it, Blade. I swear, I went along to try and calm him down. You know how he is, sometimes it just takes a soft voice. Not this time. I don’t know what happened, but since that child-warrior-thing touched him, he’s unreachable. What the hell did they do to him?” she asked with concern before glaring at Niklosi and his team.

Blade shook his head.

“They did nothing to him. It is his own mind and his own issues coming forward. If I were you, I would hold my tongue in matters you know nothing of unless you’d like the DF to come along and rip it out. I would have to agree with her, if she wanted to,” Blade said angrily.

The blonde put a hand on her hip and sneered at him.

“So, that’s the way it is? We know longer matter? It’s all about them?” she asked, nodding towards the Valendrans.

Blade smiled coldly before grabbing her arms and staring into her eyes. A second later he let go of her.

“Go and turn yourself in to Coranna,” he said and Niklosi watched in surprise as she nodded her head and walked over to another female hybrid who secured her and led her away.

Blade looked at Niklosi’s curious stare and shrugged his shoulders before telling him through the Shengari’, “Compulsion. It works really well on our people but more so on the humans.”

Niklosi was damn impressed with the gifts this one hybrid was blessed with and nodded his head. “How many more are there and can you do that to all of them?” he asked with a grin.

Blade smiled and shook his head. “Too many. They are in a part of the building that has recently thawed. It’s a confined area, just some hallways. We’re going to be pretty exposed in there,” he said, preparing to breech the door.

Niklosi held out his hand. “Wait, is there something we need to know about Fiorn? Has his mind deteriorated? We need to know,” he said, hoping like hell the man hadn’t gotten that bad. He wasn’t thrilled at the thought of taking down a legend. Especially, not one with a mate like the DF.

Blade sighed and looked Niklosi in the eyes. “I have no idea. He was a little extreme before the boy-child touched him. But now . . . he’s worse,” Blade admitted, having seen the strange light in Fiorn’s eye and felt the energy emanating from him.

Niklosi cursed and immediately notified Grai through the Shengari’ that Fiorn may have become dangerous. The reply was exactly what he expected it to be and he looked at Blade, wondering if the man would be a problem and hoped like hell he wouldn’t be. Niklosi liked the guy and his unique skills and was looking forward to working with him on missions in the future if all went well.

If Fiorn and his beast had become unstable, this would not be going well. Especially not when Fiorn’s mate was just as dangerous sane. He hated to find out what the woman could do if they had to kill her mate. Sending up a quick prayer, he nodded his head at Blade and followed him into the large room, quickly taking cover behind a stone table.

The bright sparks that bounced off of the tables told them that the other hybrid’s weapons were turned on a stun setting, not live rounds and Niklosi sighed in relief that at least these hybrids hadn’t lost their minds. He was getting ready to peek around the table when Blade stood up and walked right towards the three hybrids that had been firing on them.

“Cut it out guys! This shit is over and ridiculous and you know it. Get the hell out of here before the DF finds out you were here!” he said bravely. Even though, it was the fact that they hadn’t shot him already that gave him that courage.

The closer Blade got to the trio the more he could feel their indecision and confusion and knew that they were caught between their loyalty to Fiorn and for their people and this place. He knew he’d need to work on that indecision to end this quickly.

“Look guys, the DF has already gotten the folly under control. She’s coming here next and bringing more Valendrans to show them around. It’s over. Alliance is formed. Why do you think they’re here with me? You know she’d never risk this place if she didn’t think this was the right thing to do,” Blade said, pointing to the now-standing Valendrans.

One of the large males suddenly swung his fist to the right and knocked out the man standing next to him to everyone’s amazement. Kneeling down, he gently bound his fellow hybrid before looking up at Blade.

“He was never going to back down, only wait until you let down your guard. My brother needs a little more convincing, but he can get that later,” the man said.