True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (25 page)

Thjodhild stepped up behind Slate.

“You know damn well they have a sat on us somewhere. Scan all satellites and find the one broadcasting what’s going on here and kill it,” she ordered, watching the screens around them that were showing the area.

Grai ran a hand through his hair, thinking through their response to the situation to see if they missed anything.

“We need a smokescreen. Not only to blind them, but hide us from the humans,” he said.

Thjodhild grinned.

“How about another rainstorm? Quick, violent . . .,” she suggested.

Ivint looked surprised.

“You can create a rainstorm?”

Fiorn laughed.

“We can create a hurricane if we need one,” he said.

Grai chuckled.

“Nothing that drastic. Just enough to keep them out of the area if we have to,” he said, thinking the last thing they needed was anything more dramatic than what had happened already.

Fiorn opened his comm. “We need our water elementals on deck, prepare to provide cover,” he ordered.

Slate turned to Thjodhild.

“Ma’am, we scanned the known satellites. The new satellite they launched a few months ago is the one locked on our location,” he said.

Fiorn snorted. “Didn’t they tout that one as being for weather?”

Slate nodded his head. “Yes, sir. Awaiting your order to kill it,” he said, looking forward to killing another spy satellite.

“Now,” Thjodhild ordered.

Everyone looked to the screen as they switched it from a ground view to a space view where they watched the satellite light up before exploding into shards that flew out in all directions.

“Pulse weapon?” Ivint asked.

Fiorn nodded and grinned. “It was one of the first ones we created when we found compatible materials,” he admitted with pride.

Grai looked at his comm and scrolled through until he found the number he was looking for.

“Joe, we got the military coming and it’s not the good guys and they aren’t here to help,” he said the moment his old friend answered the phone.

Joe cackled with laughter.

“For such a special group they aren’t real quick. Don’t you worry about nothing, son. I got this covered,” Joe said as he hung up the phone and called his friend to get their ‘special assets’ moved into position.

Grai would never admit it, but he was nervous. This was too close for comfort. Too close, period. And it could have easily happened at Dillon. The Alliance was important to all of their people and he was going to eat his feelings for Fiorn and do what was best for his people. That didn’t mean the man wasn’t going to get a well-deserved punch in the damn face when this was all over.

Thinking of his incredible children and his beautiful mate, he easily let his anger fade from his mind and refocused himself on paying attention to how this was being handled from all different aspects, learning everything he could.

*****

Lt. Col. Marcus Ballard threw his phone across the hangar, ignoring how it skipped across the concrete floor, breaking into pieces as it went. He turned a mottled red face to his team.

“Tell me how the fuck they blew up my satellite! A billion fucking dollars gone!” he said furiously.

“We can move another into place, sir,” one of the men offered.

Marcus turned blazing eyes on the idiot.

“No we can’t! We just lost a billion dollars! They aren’t letting us use another one! Get the damn drones out there! Now!” he ordered, his fists clenched in rage.

He watched men scramble to do his bidding and he still felt like strangling someone with his bare hands. His chest heaved as he tried to calm himself and think.
We don’t need satellites now anyway,
he thought. They’d gotten a damn eyeful before they lost contact. The bastards were there. This time he was going to get one of them too.

Kyle stood behind and to the right of the Lt. Col. shaking his head.

Yeah
, he thought,
the fool is going to blow this more quickly than I expected him to.
It never failed to shock him about who got promotions and who didn’t. In the Lt. Col.’s case, he was the son of a long time senator. Came from wealth, of course, never served in actual combat and had no credentials or accomplishments other than being the son of a rich man. In this new world being created around them, by the rich, that was all that made him fit for his job. No matter how unfit he actually was.

Kyle hated men like him. They stood for nothing but themselves. In his opinion, they had no honor and were therefore beneath him. Pulling out his phone, he sent a couple of texts before walking up beside the Lt. Col.

“Sir, we should be there in another hour,” he offered, trying to calm the idiot.

Marcus turned to his irritatingly unflappable assistant.

“We need to be there now! What the hell is the hold up?” he demanded.

Kyle sighed. He hated going through this every time.

“Sir, we got here in good time, the problem is getting the craft here readied and our people to the proper location in good time. We don’t always have craft on standby at every base that we can just grab and go. Sir,” Kyle said, hiding his irritation. Barely.

Kyle sighed as the man stomped around, ranting and raving, acting more like a two year old with a temper tantrum than a Lt. Col. in the United States Army. He waited patiently, knowing the fool would calm down eventually and they could get on with it. Kyle just hoped it would be before they lost another chance to capture one of the aliens.

Chapter Twenty Two

Countdown Clock to Human Discovery

3:00 Hours

Thank you for tuning into WSBC News. We are continuing to watch the situation unfolding in the White River National Forest where an apparent earthquake has caused a massive landslide. Geologists with the USGS are now confirming that it was a 4.0 magnitude quake, though no nearby residents have reported any shaking.

The last time an earthquake struck this area was August 21, 2014, when a 3.4 magnitude quake struck about 11 miles south of Gypsum.

Leif awakened with a start, True only seconds later. Both of them were sifting through the urgent information being broadcast to them everyone throughout the Shengari’.

“Damn,” True whispered, looking at Leif when she found out they were abandoning the folly.

“Maybe we should go?” Leif asked, knowing his grandmother had given him order to stay where he was.

True shook her head, having gotten her own orders from Grai. “No, we stay here. Tricia, Tristan, Grace and Mikal are staying next door. We stay as back up to protect them and await orders,” she said with a stern look at him.

True knew that right now they’d only get in the way of the evacuation. With a quick look at his bruised chest showing through the opened shirt, she knew he was in no condition to be running around getting in the way. Even if he didn’t know it himself.

With a sigh, True crossed her arms over her chest.

“For a host, you seriously suck ass. I’m starving to death, been forced to nap on a couch and I need a damn bath so bad it’s gone way past funny to ‘my skin is crawling with fungi’,” True said with a grimace. Then added, “And maybe critters.”

Leif slid a little further away from her on the couch and True smacked him in the shoulder.

“You’re not funny! Get me a damn bath,” she said, trying not to chuckle.

Leif sighed dramatically.

“Man, I’m already being bossed around . . . does this mean I’m your bitch?” he asked with a confused look on his face.

True looked at him startled, trying to figure out if he was kidding or not. When his expression didn’t change, True shook her head.

“No . . ., I . . ., what the fuck?” she asked as Leif burst out laughing, holding his side.

True stood and punched him in the arm.

“You’re an asshole, no need to drive the point home any further. Now show me a bathroom and find my clothes. I’m assuming Nana didn’t dump me here without clean clothes,” she said, heading down the hallway they’d come down earlier, figuring she’d find a bathroom near the bedrooms.

Leif chuckled and shouldered his way beside her in the hallway. “There’s a shower and a tub in the bedroom. I’m guessing our clothes are there,” he said, leading the way to the room they’d awakened in earlier.

He went in the open doorway and moved to another door that True hadn’t paid attention to earlier. He opened the door and held it open for her as True brushed past him.

“Wow . . .” she said as she looked around at what looked like an ancient Roman bathhouse. On a much smaller scale, of course.

An already steaming bath, filled with water, was sunk into the floor in the center of the room, surrounded by a stone rail and columns. To the left was a large, trough like sink made of marble, a marble toilet on the other side of that and a shower stall behind the bath, but it was the mosaics that took her breath away.

The floor and walls were covered in various scenes showing the foliage and animals of the area. A large wooly mammoth trunk was depicted so beautifully on the wall in the shower that when the water was on, it would appear to be coming from the trunk of the creature.

The inside of the bath was depicted in water creatures that she’d never seen before and she had to ask. “Are those really in the waters here?”

Leif chuckled. “I’ve seen a few of them. Including Nessie. There’s a tunnel of some sort that we haven’t found yet, that leads to other large bodies of water. Maybe we can find out together,” he said with a wink as he opened a cabinet and grabbed a few towels and a fluffy robe for True.

He moved to the bathing pool and set them on the side, near the steps before pointing to another cabinet. “I have no idea what all is in there. Honestly, the only things I recognize are shampoo, conditioner and hair gel, but I’m sure there’s girly stuff in there for you,” he said.

True looked around and grinned. “This is perfect,” she said with a sigh as she moved to dig around in the cabinet.

Leif chuckled when she came back from the cabinet with an arm full of bottles in various sizes and colors. One look from True wiped the smirk off of his face and he backed towards the door with his hands out in front of him. Dramatically averting his eyes away from her he said, “I’m leaving now. No need to burn down all these beautiful and ancient things.”

True laughed at the comical fool and threw a sponge at his head. “Get out of here and find me some clothes!”

Leif winked at her and shut the door behind him as he strode from the room. True laughed and immediately began peeling her clothes from her body, sighing in relief when she was finally naked.

She groaned as she stepped into the steaming pool and after the first step she sunk into the water up to her neck with a heavy sigh. She sat on one of the steps and leaned her elbows back on another, letting her hair float in the water behind her.

This place is heaven
, she thought with a contented sigh.

Until Leif killed it by opening the door. He stood there staring at her before she finally reacted and moved to the side of the pool, effectively keeping herself from his view.

“What the hell are you doing?” True ground out between gritted teeth.

Leif stared at her beautiful face, the vision of her body still stuck in his mind. “I . . . yeah . . . clothes,” he said, holding out a stack of things in his hands.

“Great, men really do revert to Neanderthals when around naked women. I always thought it was an urban legend. You’re a true fount of useless info,” True said dryly.

Leif stared at the droplets of water on her lips from the steam and just nodded his head, not quite sure what she’d just said, but not caring as long as she moved her full lips again.

It was the fireball that flashed a few feet in front of him that brought him out of his musings. “What the hell was that for?” he asked, a little irritated that she’d broken the sensuous spell she’d wrapped him in.

True looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“What the hell did you come in here for?” she countered quickly.

Leif looked around the room and was getting ready to scratch his head when he saw the clothes in his hands.

“Hey! Yeah . . . clothes,” he said, feeling like the fool he sounded like.

True growled in frustration.

“You gave me a robe! I was going to get the clothes when I got out. While in the robe! What the hell did you expect to see when you came in here? Damn! What are you twelve?” she asked, a little irritated that he’d disturbed her peaceful bliss with his hormones.

Leif blushed in embarrassment. He had no idea what he’d been thinking. He wasn’t sure he’d been thinking at all. At least not with the head on his shoulders. Damn! The woman drove him crazy! She was fierce, strong, brave, and funny. And she secretly loved the fluffy haired guy. She was perfect. And he was an idiot with no idea how to act around her.

With a heavy sigh he looked around the room and finally just set the clothes on the floor beside him before backing from the room. True’s withering stare actually made his remaining, unscathed ball shrivel up in fear for its safety. 

“Sorry . . .,” he said as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

True chuckled softly and shook her head before dropping back into the water. She almost felt bad for Leif. Almost. Granted she needed to cut the guy some slack. There was no denying that she had some serious feelings for him. It was like an energy pull, drawing her to him even when she wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

She knew he was her mate, there was no doubt in her mind about that. What True wasn’t sure about was how to even get him to kiss her. When he failed at trying to get close to her, he failed epically. Not including the fact that they’d been knocked out and dragged around the damn globe like furniture. None of it was real conducive to romance or even forming a closeness between them.

Hell
, she thought,
we’ve gone from safe to danger and back again more times than I can count. Oh, and being surrounded by half the population of either hybrid clans at one point or another hasn’t helped us bond at all.
 

Yeah, she needed to cut him some slack and figure out how to break the ice between them. The more awkward he got the bigger the divide became between them. True just wasn’t sure how to get past his nerves and really bad moves.

She chuckled as she remembered him swinging his hips back and forth, his junk swinging as he tried to hypnotize her. He was adorable. And she knew it would be up to her if they were ever going to kiss. Or get beyond that.

*****

Leif stood on the other side of the bathroom door and felt like banging his head against it.

Why,
he thought,
why can’t I act like something other than an inept fool around her?

Moving away from the door, he strode down the hallway to another bathroom and pulled off his clothes. He stepped beneath the steaming water and tried to think of a way to not act like a fool around her. He leaned against the wall and banged his head lightly against it a few times, trying to think of how to romance his mate.

“It’s not nearly as hard as you’re making it out to be.”

True’s voice startled him so bad he dropped the bar of soap he’d been holding and almost slipped on it. He flailed around for a moment, banging into the shower walls, trying to get his footing. He felt True’s strong grip on his upper arm just as he regained his footing and felt the heat of his embarrassment burning his cheeks.

Bracing his arms against the shower wall and keeping his head bowed, Leif asked, “Why are you in here?”

True chuckled.

“I was bringing you clothes,” she said with a giggle as she let go of his arm.

At Leif’s dark look, True laughed louder.

“You see how weird and creepy that is? Now you know why it bothered me so much,” she said with a smile.

Leif shook his head, completely unashamed to be standing naked in the shower with her right there. It wasn’t that he was arrogant and believed himself to be all that, he just never compared himself to others and was happy with his own skin.

He turned off the water and avoided her smiling face as he grabbed a towel and started to dry himself off. “I have no idea how bringing you clothes is weird and creepy. Granted, I should have knocked, but in my defense, it’s been a rough day,” he said, stepping out of the shower and looking at the clothes she was holding in her hand. His face flamed in embarrassment again.

True grinned broadly as she held the pair of red silk boxers, imprinted with pink hearts, by her middle finger. Moving around her, he rummaged in a cabinet and pulled out a large, white, fluffy robe like the one True was wearing and put it on.

“Where did you find those?” he asked, wondering how the hell Tara’s gag gift to him last Christmas had gotten here to Beta Base.

True looked surprised.

“Oh, these adorable things? These were in the dresser in the bedroom we woke up in,” she said with another grin.

Leif sighed. He was going to kill whoever put them there when he found out who it was.

“Those were a gag gift from Tara last Christmas, I have no idea how they got here. I’ve never even worn the damn things,” he said a little defensively.

“Riiight,” True said with a chuckle.

Leif growled and snatched them out of her hand before storming off into the bedroom where they had woken up. There he saw the clothes he’d brought to her in the bathroom, dumped haphazardly on the bed and he almost cringed.

Yeah, now he knew why she’d brought the boxers into the shower like that. Somehow, he had subconsciously grabbed only sexy bras, panties, lace thongs and what else he wasn’t sure. But, they were all see through and scant in nature.

He sighed, yet another hit to his pride, but this one was less painful. Leif figured he’d fucked up so many times he was becoming immune the farther his man card slipped beyond his reach.

He shook his head and went to the dressers as True came into the room and plopped down on the bed, pushing all the lacy and barely there items to the floor.

“Come over here and talk to me for a minute. We can get dressed and all that in a little while,” True said with a grin, patting the bed beside her.

Leif looked at her with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out why she wanted him close to her. He sifted her energy, looking for any sign that she was getting ready to go flaming she-beast on him.

“It was an accident. There’s no need to get violent,” Leif said defensively, not really up for a firefight.

True sucked in a breath, feeling offended until she realized he had a reason for concern. She had set him on fire. More than once.