True Traitor (First Wave Book 7) (8 page)

The only thing that frightened Leif’s father more than his own father was Nana. Leif was hoping like hell he could get his father to remember that fear before he did something they would all regret later. Although, he really didn’t have a problem with True setting his father’s junk on fire, either.

True got the vehicle started and pulled up alongside Leif. Father stared down at his son, his chest heaving with his barely controlled anger.

“Get her away from me!” he ordered without sparing True a glance. 

Leif maintained eye contact with his father while he backed toward the vehicle and hopped on behind True. He barely had time to put his arms around her before she hit the gas and propelled them forward. Leif looked behind them and saw that his father was still standing in the same spot, still trying to control his rage.

“I got the boy; he’s safe.” Tara told him through the Shengari’. Leif was so relieved he squeezed True’s slight body closer to him and rested his head on her shoulder.

True grinned.

“Your dad and your grandfather have some serious anger issues,” she said.

True had to admit that it felt really good to have his arms around her like this, and she hoped that he would keep them where they were. In fact, she had to stop herself from leaning back into him.

Leif looked back and couldn’t see his father anymore.

“Slow down,” he said and waited until True did.

“He’s got a lot of reasons to be angry, so does Ass 1, but it’s not an excuse for their behavior. Take your first right,” Leif said, pointing in that direction and enjoying the feel of how close she was to him.

True was quiet, unwilling to ruin the moment—the first moment they had together where neither was feeling anything bad about the other. She really just wanted to enjoy it. Sadly, fate had other ideas.

“Cuz! Oh my God, I didn’t think I’d ever see your sexy red-headed self again!” True heard Traze’s voice before she saw him and Tara standing off to the right.

True stopped the vehicle so quickly the engine died and threw them both forward. Leif looked at Tara, who was grinning broadly, before sizing up the smiling boy who’d barely been saved from his father.

Leif held out his hand.

“I’m Leif Erikson. Yeah, son of
that
guy and grandson of that
other
guy,” he said with a smile.

Traze’s face lit up as he grabbed the larger man’s hand.

“Oh damn! I thought I had some big shoes to fill! You poor bastard!” Traze said with sympathy evident in his voice.

Leif couldn’t help but chuckle at the kid. He was funny and had more balls than most, coming in here the way he did. Leif liked him right away. Tara obviously did as well, because she was still standing guard on the boy.

Leif looked at Tara.

“We need to get them and the others somewhere safe until the DF gets here,” he said.

Tara nodded.

“I was thinking about that. Everyone is heading towards the old chamber hall, which isn’t far from the portal room where she’ll come in. We want everyone as close to where she’s going to be as possible,” Tara said, shrugging her shoulders. She wasn’t fond of it as options went, but their choices were pretty limited.

True interrupted.

“Wait a minute—why can’t we just walk out the door and have a chat with her when she’s got the walking steroids under control?” she asked.

Leif grimaced, and Tara smirked at him, telling True that there was a lot more going on here than they were saying.

“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Traze looked between everyone and was trying to figure out what was going on, when Leif sighed.

“Ass 2 said we’ve been infiltrated, which means protocols have been put into place that anything with even a drop of Relian blood in it, will be incinerated when they try to leave. The only people who can override those codes are the two asses or the DF. She’s our only chance of getting Traze and his brother out of here alive,” Leif admitted.

Traze gasped.

“And my nephew! And my baby niece who’s still waiting to be born! And my team,” he said angrily, gesturing to the four men with him.

Tara’s eyes widened.

“You mean that boy and the pregnant woman are your family?” she asked in shock.

Leif looked at True accusingly, she hadn’t told him that the child and the woman were also her family and also part Relian. True shrugged.

“Don’t give me that look! You haven’t exactly been real open and honest with me either!”

Tara looked at Traze and True.

“What are they?” she asked, hoping someone could explain to her what had the kind of power the child did.

Traze smiled and his face lit up.

“He’s a very special boy—a light bringer. He’s here to help the humans with the conversion,” Traze said with pride.

Tara shook her head.

“I have no idea what that is,” she said.

Leif interrupted.

“We don’t have time to learn right now either. Tara, get Traze and catch up to any of the others and try to get them to the old chamber hall,” Leif said. His deep, sexy, commanding voice threatened to send a shiver through True.

“What about us?” she asked him, unsure if it was a good idea to be alone with him again and leave Traze. She really wasn’t sure if she could trust Leif.

Leif grinned.

“We’re going to try and catch the woman, child, or the Relian hybrid before Ass 1 can get to them,” he said with a raised eyebrow and a challenging note to his strong voice.

True snorted as Traze and his four guys looked to her for their orders. True looked at the guys for a moment, wondering why they were staring at her when it dawned on her that she was the highest-ranking officer there, and she had to make a decision.

Being in charge seriously sucks sometimes
, she thought, trying to figure out if Traze and his team would be safe with the mind reaper or not. She tried to call out to Grai one more time through the Shengari’, and when she still couldn’t reach him or Tricia, she made up her mind.

True looked at Traze while she spoke to him and his team through the Shengari’.

“Go with her. Do not engage anyone unless you absolutely have to. Watch each other’s backs and stay on guard! Keep in contact with me through the Shengari’ for as long as you can and let me know the moment you find someone. OK?” True asked the boy as she brushed some dust off his tact shirt.

Traze looked at Leif with narrowed eyes as he spoke to True.

“I don’t trust him. He stares at you too much. I think we should stay together,” Traze said, unwilling to leave her alone with the big guy. Especially when he had no idea if any of them were even safe with these people.

The one thing that Grai had instilled in Traze from birth was that you learn how to tell the snakes from the mongoose very fast, “Now everything is muddy and the trails are washed out, but you’ll make it back home alive and tell no one about this,” and right now he was having a hard time doing that. So this was one time he thought they should err on the side of caution. It may be the wrong call, but at least it was the one call he felt better about.

True pasted on a fake grin and grabbed the boy more roughly around the shirt. The angry cyclops could come up on them at any moment, and they looked like fools just standing there. She stared hard at the boy.

“Listen to me, boy. I didn’t ask for your damn opinion, I gave you an order! If you can’t follow orders and lead your team, I will demote you and let someone else lead while you hang around my damn skirt!” True regretted her words the moment she saw the hurt look in his eyes and she grabbed him into a fierce hug.

Uncaring if the others heard or not, True spoke from her heart. “I love you like a brother, and I’m scared for you and the others. One of us has to find Grai and get Tricia and Tristan before something bad happens to them,” True said, squeezing the man-child to her.  

Traze hugged her close, understanding why she’d lashed out at him like that. He was glad she’d done it through the Shengari’ and not out loud. He could feel her fear and worry through her energy, and he strengthened his resolve to help her and the others out of this situation.

Traze pulled back from her and gave her one of his best grins.

“You go. We got this. You keep him safe and we’ll keep her safe,” Traze said as he motioned to Leif and Tara.

Leif snorted while Tara burst out laughing and mussed the hair on Traze’s head.

“You do that, honey,” she said as she scrunched her fingers into a heart and pouted for him.

Traze blushed and turned to True.

“Man, I’m not sure if I can handle being as popular here as I am with our people . . . my young mate might grow up jealous and that would make my life hell. For like . . . way too long,” he teased as Tara rolled her eyes and slapped him in the back of the head.

“Wake up, kid! Damn . . . these new kids we’re breeding are just nuts!” she said as she revved her vehicle.

True smiled at Traze and nodded her head as he, Tara, and his team took off down the tunnel. Leif grinned at her and she climbed on behind him, putting her hands loosely at his waist, knowing the way he drove she needed to hold him to stay on. True tried to ignore her beast, Roar, who was screaming at her in her mind.

“Oh honey, touch him! And when he takes off, accidentally grab his crotch!”

True hid her smile behind Leif’s back as he took off and she kept her hands on his waist, refusing to listen to her crazy beast. It was bad enough that she could feel his attraction in his energy like a warm blanket, and it was fueling her own.

And no matter what he may be lying about, he wasn’t lying about them being mates. True could feel the bonds strengthening between them the longer they were together. It was awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time.

Of course
, she thought,
this was not exactly the situation I expected to be in when I found my mate.

Leif interrupted her thoughts by speaking to her through the Shengari’.

“Don’t worry about the boy; Tara will keep him and his guys safe,” Leif said, trying to reassure his worried firefly.

True just nodded her head against his back.

“How do you use the Shengari’ down here if all you can do is talk to people that are only close by?” she asked.

Leif chuckled, and she loved the feel of it against her chest as she leaned against his back. He leaned back, forcing her to be closer to him or lean the other way.

She settled against him, instead.

With her closer to him, he leaned his head back slightly, putting it closer to hers.

“You have to pull the energy around you, into you, in order to use it to magnify your abilities,” he said.

“Wait!” he warned quickly. “Try it with the Shengari’ first, not your fire shit or you can set this whole damn place on fire with everyone in it!”

True hadn’t intended on trying it with her fire ability first, but she was glad to know how dangerous it could be if she did. Instead, she nodded her head and concentrated on pulling the energy from the ley lines into her, and was shocked at how fast the energy seemed to
leap
to her.

Using the energy she screamed out through the Shengari’.

“Grai?”

Grai heard the scream in his mind and he stopped short to look around the empty tunnel.

“True?” he asked.

True almost wept in relief when she heard his voice in her mind.

“You can pull the energy from around you to communicate long distances in this place. I don’t know how much time we have, but Tricia and Tristan are in here looking for you. So is Traze and a team. Some of the hybrids that live here are helping us find you. If we don’t shoot first, they won’t shoot,” True told him quickly, unsure how long she could harness the extra energy.

Grai nodded his head slightly as he stared at the armed group of hybrids that had just rounded the corner in front of him, their weapons pointed right at him. He’d grabbed a few dozen different weapons from the areas and rooms he’d passed, but none of them would get him out of this situation alive. He was quick, but not quick enough in this exposed tunnel to dodge all of those bullets.

Grai raised his hands slightly as the golden ball in front of him shook fiercely on the floor. He didn’t move a muscle as one of the hybrids took a tentative step towards him and lowered his weapon slightly.

“Are you Grai T’Alq?” the man asked.

Grai just nodded his head, his mind trying to formulate a way out of this that didn’t involve anyone dying. He was a little surprised when the hybrids sighed in what appeared to be relief and lowered their weapons.

The hybrid walked up to Grai, and the little golden ball of energy glowed with a blinding light before a golden, winged warrior appeared. Pulling a sword, the warrior faced the group of now terrified hybrids.

“I shall lead the warrior to the light bringer!” the warrior said in a booming voice that echoed through the tunnel.