Grai's Game (First Wave) (5 page)

“As I said earlier, my mother, brother and I wanted more than the brutality of my father
and his kind. And we raised Traze to be the same way. Unfortunately, our brother Dagog has always been more of a duplicate of our father and has most likely taken over the moment the first explosion went off on the mother ship.” Grai explained, evading the deeper reasons why he had done the things he had. Those were revelations for another time, if ever. Right now, now they were going to need each other… and soon. That would take precedence for now.

“So it is this Dagog that will now take over the empire? Not you?” Ivint asked curiously. The more Grai spoke, the more
the young Relian fascinated him. If this was a lie, then it was the most elaborate lie Ivint had ever seen. The problem was, the lengths he had to go through to hide all of this from his father had to have taken just as much of an intricate scheme. Ivint wondered just who was the victim of the man’s intelligence… his own people or them?

“Yes. The moment the mother ship was destroyed, he knew that my brothers and I had… defected. That and we blatantly killed part of my father’s personal forces here, in that field. When he comes, he comes for all of us. And he will unleash the dark ones on us. We all have to be prepared.” Grai admitted sadly. He had hoped that he would never be put in a position to have to choose
between his people and his brother. However, Dagog didn’t give him a choice.

“What about my daughter? If you are so damn benevolent and unlike your father, then why did you do that to my daughter?” Banatar demanded weakly, the full situation finally sinking in for him.

For almost a hundred years, if not longer, it had been the enemy giving his people food and the tools for survival. The young Relian, Traze was right. Nothing was ever as it seemed.

“My father did not begin to trust me with his breeding program until recently. In fact, the only access we could get was the little Traze was able to
hack from their communications or the girls we could rescue.”

“
Dare was my first time running one of the experiments, although they had started using my suggestions for a gentler approach earlier than that. I wasn’t part of the scheme to kidnap anyone either. I was handed Dare by my father’s people after she, and Balduen had already been taken.”

“She wasn’t supposed to be touched until Friday. The doctor took it upon himself to do the procedure a day early. Either way, I would have allowed the procedure to continue
if they hadn’t escaped or were rescued.” Grai looked away, trying to hide his shame. Only a few very sharp pairs of eyes were able to catch it flicker across his face.

“You know Tricia is my mate. Her son Tristan, is my son.” Grai waited for the gasps of shock and muttered rage to settle down before continuing. He especially watched Balduen carefully, hoping he would not have to tangle with the man again.

“Tristan is dying. The only thing we can discover is that because Tricia is human that the beast has been unable to properly bond with him. It’s causing the seizures that are destroying his body and his mind. Maggie does not believe he has much more time.” Grai’s voice cracked, and he had to suck in a deep breath to try to control his emotions. The thought of losing his baby boy too much for him to deal with right now.

“He is telling the truth, Ivint. I’ve been to see the boy
in the MedLab. He does not have much time. I had originally thought that it was Dare’s child who was creating the disturbance in the Shengari’ because I sensed the Relian presence. However, once I saw and felt the boy downstairs; I knew it was he that was the one creating it.” Dread acknowledged, slightly impressed with what he was learning about the young Relian’s in the room.

What they were not saying was just as important as what they were.
He would have to talk to Ivint later about what he could sense.

Traze replaced the image of the room of dark ones with different video footage of Tristan in various stages of seizures. Grai reached over and pulled Tricia into his arms when she broke down in sobs, unable to watch her son in so much pain.

“Enough!” Grai said gruffly to Traze. He ignored the curious stares of everyone in the room as he tried to calm and soothe his mate. Traze instead put up images of earlier times, footage he’d found when his brother finally told he and Koda about his mate and son a few days ago.

Video of his brother laughing and cuddling a happily pregnant Tricia.
His brother holding his newborn son for the first time, the tears shining in his eyes along with a pride that was unmistakable.

“I said enough!” Grai said angrily this time as he glared at his brother until the screen went blank.

“What did you hope to gain?” Balduen asked with a low, menacing growl that startled everyone.

“A cure. The
human scientists I employed privately found a genetic imbalance. Because she is not gifted or hybrid, her body does not produce the enzymes required to sustain the beast within the brain. That means Tristan’s does not either.”

“The only hope was to produce another child, with the correct enzymes
, use it to create a synthetic version and inject them into his brain. Because of the uniqueness of each beast and host, the child had to be mine, like Tristan, for it to work.” Grai admitted, his voice rough and gravelly from emotion and the grinding of his teeth.

He had always been such an intensely private person, for reasons of
survival, and it was beginning to disturb him to be sharing so much information. Even though he knew he had to in order to get their cooperation.

“And you used Dare to do it?” Balduen’s voice held a dangerous edge that made everyone
in the room immediately tense.

“What would you do for your son?
For Dare, if she asked it of you?” Tricia surprised them all with the anger lacing her usually quiet voice.

“
I gave him the idea. I had read about how parents of children with cancer would have another child to be a marrow donor to the first. We had no idea it would be Dare. That had already been set in motion by his father’s people. They had set a random trap that she happened to fall into.”

“Do you think we wanted this? We had no idea it was even possible for us to have a child!
Again, what would you do to save your son?” Tricia spoke directly to Balduen in broken sobs, her body shaking from her pain and shame.

Balduen stared at the woman sobbing before him, even the agony of the proud Relian radiated through his heightened senses. There was nothing false about what they felt about their child and their need to save him.

It didn’t help that he couldn’t get the picture of the tiny dark-haired boy writhing and jerking in agony on the bed in the video, out of his mind. He could easily imagine that being the dark blonde head of his own son, his knuckles popped from the pressure of his fists clenching.

The woman, Tricia, had a point as well.
One he hated to admit, even to himself. For Dare, for his child, he had no idea what he could be capable of in order to save them.

“The pain they are in and the pain of that child is real Balduen. I may abhor the way they have done this, but as she said, I do not know what I would do were it my child. It does not excuse it, but it makes it more understandable knowing it wasn’t out of an intention to do harm to anyone.”
Dread said through their private energy path, trying to comfort his new friend.

He could feel the warring emotions in him the longer he remained in the room with the man who had effectively impregnated his mate.

“I need to think. And speak to my mate. Let me know when I am needed.”
Balduen replied privately to Dread, before walking out of the room without a word to anyone else.

Chapter Four

“Amun, I would like you to stand by for the medical information on a child. The details will be provided with the information. In fact, I believe Maggie has all the information that you need and can answer your questions; I want you to get with her immediately. I want a report as soon as you can make one available.” Ivint ordered his chief medical officer, who was on the Adaria with his mate Jess. With Amun’s familiarity with the humans, hybrids and the beasts, he may be able to help the boy.

“I’ve notified Drago of the situation as
well, and he will make himself available for any questions that Amun may have regarding the beast that may help.” Dread offered.

“Thank you…” Grai almost growled
from emotion; tears misted his eyes as he gently squeezed Tricia’s hand and gave her an encouraging smile.

“If we can help the boy, we will.
However, we will not force Dare to do anything regarding her child. If this enzyme from the child is the only way to save your son, then you will have to get her and Balduen’s permission. It is not ours to give. Do you understand that?” Ivint warned. He would tolerate no more manipulation of their people. If they were to even consider forging a truce, it would have to be with complete honesty from now on.

“Yes… I do understand. We understand.
” Grai said squeezing Tricia’s hand in support. His heart leaped when she gave him a watery smile and nodded her head at him to continue.

“
Right now we need to turn our attention back to this situation. We have another thirty minutes before Dagog launches his first attack. It will be the ground forces, and he will unleash the dark ones, especially here in the city. Our females are beast bonded, but yours are not. You have to make sure they all have the lens and ammunition, or they will never be able to defend themselves.”

“All of your safe houses, including this one, have stock piles of them either in the basements or general storage rooms. They are the large wooden crates that were there when you moved into the buildings. And try not to shoot the people currently
acting as your first line of defense around the safe houses.” Traze interjected, pulling up a picture of the crates on one of the vid screens.

Ivint was impressed and stunned at how Grai had made sure each location was well prepared for just this kind of situation. It said a lot for the Relian that he had included Banatar and his
people in those preparations. There was a lot more to this man than anyone had originally thought, Ivint mused.

“Next he’s going to send an exploratory wave of fighters to test the defenses of the fleet. Just keep your shields up on your ships and try not to fire on my brother. Koda has a few surprises in store for them that will hopefully deter a
full-scale assault." Grai ordered confidently, forgetting that he wasn’t commanding a room of his own people for a moment. He immediately tried to soften his words.

“If we do not fight together, then we die separately. Even combined we do not have the forces that they still have, not just here on the planet but in surrounding quadrants. And it’s not just
us; we need to consider, there’s a planet full of innocent humans standing in the middle. And they deserve better than this. From all of us.”

Ivint stared at the strong man in front of him and considered his words carefully as everyone looked at him expectantly.

“And what of after this battle?” Ivint asked, cocking his head to one side, so he could study the man while he answered his question. He almost smiled when he heard Grai’s barely huffed out sigh.

“I considered becoming allies, but I’m unsure of the welcome that would receive
, considering everything that has happened. Either way, I will not allow my people to harm yours. They have not ever done so yet, and will not in the future. Nor will I prevent any of your females from staying with you. However, I will leave the choice to them. Supplies will continue, if you choose, you’re a good customer; it makes good business sense.”

“My force has only one
mission, and that is to destroy any memory of my father and his people. They either look for peace and a better life, or they will die. At our hands, if necessary. At the moment, our goals are the same. Survival.”

Grai watched the Valendran High Councilor consider what he said.
Ivint’s eyes strayed lazily to the pictures still on the vid screens around the conference room, as if they had a lot of time to consider things. Grai wished he was that calm.

*****

Dare slid slowly out of the bed. Her body screamed for rest, but something would not allow it. Something was wrong… off. She couldn’t ignore it either. It kept nagging at her mind… her spirit.

“I sense it as well. Somehow familiar… but not.
” Thorn whispered through her mind, making her smile at how comforting it was to have him there.

Dare followed the
strange scent down the almost completely empty hallways of the upper part of the warehouse where the offices had been converted into sleeping quarters.

Easily finding the back staircase, she followed it to the ground level and turned to the re-purposed rooms that were under the sleeping quarters.

Slowly opening the door, as if afraid of what she would find, she was relieved to see Dr. Maggie. It didn’t take long for Maggie’s nervousness to wipe the smile off of her face. It was then she was hit with the pain.

Grabbing her head in surprise and fear she watched through hazy vision as Maggie rushed to her side
, helped her into a bed and sat her down.

“You have to block it, Dare!” Maggie said worriedly as she ran across the room to grab some water for her.

Taking deep breaths, Dare began to separate herself from the pain emanating from behind a curtained off area in the back of the room.

“It’s another Relian beast!”
Thorn screamed in her mind, immediately afraid for them.

Dare growled low in her throat and stood, walking swiftly to the other side of the room she jerked back the curtain, prepared to face the Relian enemy hiding among their own and stumbled back in surprise.

Tristan? She thought with a puzzled frown on her face. What was Tricia’s son doing here? Where was the scent coming from then? She stood there looking down at the sweet little boy; they had all come to love the moment Tricia had brought him to meet them years ago.

He’d only been a
year-old, but he’d been a very smart and alert little guy. He had the most unusual golden eyes she had ever seen, and they always sparkled with happiness.

The diagnosis of autism a year later had broken all of their hearts, but had only strengthened the bond they had all had with the child and his mother.

Sitting on the side of the bed, she raised her hand and was getting ready to brush a lock of dark hair back from his face when her hand was grabbed quickly and jerked away.

“You can’t touch him Dare. Even the Tezarian could barely stand his pain. You have the baby to worry about.” Maggie said gently
and placed a bottle of water into the hand she was going to use to touch Tristan.

Dare stared at the bottle of water blankly for a moment before looking into Maggie’s
brown eyes. Her mind slowly processed what was going on, and she stepped back quickly from the bed, looking between Maggie and Tristan.

“It’s not what you think. I swear to you Dare…” Maggie never got to finish what she was going to say.

Dare watched in stunned silence as the bed began to shake violently. With Maggie’s body blocking the bed, all she could see were Tristan’s too thin arms and legs flailing helplessly as his body jerked violently.

Opening herself a little, out of curiosity of what was happening, she almost reeled backwards from the pain. Her heart broke at the thought of the little boy she knew hurting like
that, and she rushed to the other side of the bed.

“What can I do?” Dare yelled out to Maggie.

“Hold him for a minute!” Maggie said quickly. She waited until Dare held him securely before running across the room and grabbing a syringe.

Dare fought desperately to hold the small child without hurting him more. His
little body was very strong under the power of the seizure that had hit him. Ignoring his pain, Dare tried to open herself up a little more to him, hoping to comfort him somehow. She was more than a little surprised when she felt her son’s beasts stir and reach out tentatively to the boy.

Maggie didn’t hesitate as she plunged the needle into the boy and waited breathlessly for the medicine to work. Counting the
seconds, she was surprised that for once, it hadn’t taken quite as long to work as it normally did.

Dare held the slowly relaxing body of Tristan in her arms and
little by little scooted up the bed until she rested her back against the wall, his little body cuddled against her chest.

Now that his body was calming and the pain subsiding slightly, Dare reached out farther to the child, not quite sure what she was doing.

“DO NOT!”
Thorn screamed in her mind, forcing her to draw back in surprise.

“What is it?”
Dare asked her beast.

“He is the son of a Relian and a human. His beast is dying. Our young ones can’t go through that kind of pain. It is as we were with our little Relian beast, only it is worse for him as his beast
has been dying since their birth.”
Thorn said sadly.

“Can we help?”
Dare asked, fear for the child she knew making her squeeze him tightly to her chest as if to protect him.

“The doctor knows. I can scent it.”
Thorn said gruffly, hating that any child was in pain.

Dare looked up to see Maggie wringing her hands as if afraid or worried. She gave Tristan another gentle squeeze, sending out waves of love to the child and could have sworn she felt a shimmer of response.

She almost missed the slight wince that Maggie made when she did. As if Maggie thought she would hurt Tristan. What the hell was going on?

“Tell me everything Maggie.” Dare
said, her voice dangerously lower than she had intended it to be.

“I
will; I promise. Just please put him down? He needs his rest.” Maggie said nervously.

Dare watched her friend act strangely around her for the first time in all the years she had known her. Even when she and Balduen had come back from captivity, Maggie had been one of the few that had never shown any fear of either of them.
So what was scaring her so badly now?

Giving Tristan a gentl
e kiss on his forehead, she tenderly moved out from behind him and laid him flat on the bed. She fluffed his pillows and covered his little body with the superhero comforter dislodged during his seizure. Grabbing the stuffed rabbit that had fallen to the floor, Dare picked it up and placed it under his arm before nodding to the other side of the room to Maggie.

When they reached the other side of the room, Dare turned quickly on her friend. Pinning her with a sharp look that spoke volumes, she repeated her demand. “Tell me everything.
Now.”

*****

“Grai! They’re coming!” Traze yelled out moving to a sitting position as his fingers flew across his comm.

Everyone
watched as the screens in the room became the views from the streets that surrounded the warehouse. Each screen reflected a different view, including an aerial.

Drew, Bree and Jane gave their head gear back to Ivint, Jax and Reven. The three women looked at Grai for a moment before heading out of the conference room.
Obviously following a silent command.

“Sir, Viper and I can see them without the
lens; we have our swords and can go outside and try to prevent them from entering.” Dread volunteered, not taking his eyes from the dark figures moving slowly along the shadows of the streets toward the warehouse. He could easily pick out a dozen of them.

Ivint stared at the screens with the headgear on and sucked in a deep breath.

“Notify Balduen, we can use as many eyes on this as possible. But not Dare.” Ivint stressed the last to Dread, hoping that he would ensure that Dare would not involve herself.

“Can you make sure your people give them the weapons they need?” Ivint turned and asked Grai, surprising him
that he had been included.

“Yes, they’ve already grabbed the stores and have been handing out the head gear and weapons to the Valendrans and humans. Everything Banatar’s people are currently using is already equipped to deal with the dark ones.” Grai answered,
still shaking off his surprise that the High Councilor had asked him.

“Like the Tezarian’s I should be outside where we have the best chance of repelling them.
Traze, stay in here and make sure Risk has access to everything we have on Dagog, their forces… everything. I will be back soon.” Grai gave Traze a hard look and whispered quietly through their link that he was to protect his mate and child as well. Traze gave a hard nod of agreement before looking back to his comm and Risk.

“Here, I’ll show you how to use that one.” Traze offered, waiting to see if the hybrid would come to him. He hid his smile when Risk stood and walked towards him, eventually taking the seat beside him. Moments later the two young men were so wrapped up in the devices it would have been hard to get their attention.