Niklosi's Nightmare (First Wave Book 10) (22 page)

Bess clapped her hands once and
gave him a beaming smile.

“I knew you’d figure it out, you
smart boy,” she said proudly.

“Figure what out? Who wouldn’t
what?” Grai asked thinking everyone had lost their minds.

“Why don’t you ask the one who does
get it,” Bess told Grai haughtily before she moved back to the stove.

When BJ looked to move to the table
with Traze, Nik pulled her into a corner with him and shook his head.

“This looks like something we need
to stay out of,” Nik whispered in her mind.

BJ looked at her mom, Traze, and
Grai, and moved closer to Nik.

“I think you’re right,” she agreed.

Grai glared as Bess before he moved
to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down in front of his brother.

“What is she talking about?” Grai
asked in frustration.

“Kyle,” Traze said, still stirring
the batter. “He’s not betraying anyone. If he can’t be shown a bad future, it’s
because he hasn’t earned one. We know he’s a hybrid; what if he’s there for the
same reason we were . . .” Traze said with a shrug.

“What do you mean?” Grai asked,
shocked by his brother’s insight.

“We went into Fort Huachuca looking
for Koda. What if he’s in the military, and that unit in particular, looking
for someone too, just in a different way. We know Kyle Morris didn’t exist
until right before he joined the military, so it’s possible. Can’t show a guy a
horrible future he didn’t earn,” Traze said, his little feet swinging as he
sat.

Grai’s eyes widened in understanding,
and he turned to Bess as he stood slowly.

“He’s an innocent? He’s looking for
family or a friend?” he asked.

Bess only shook her head, keeping
her back to the room.

“I’ve already told you, we cannot
say anything. But,” she said turning to Grai, “your brother is wiser than you
think.”

Grai was stunned by the woman’s
wink before she turned back to the stove. He was more shocked by the potential
new information.

“Well, fuck!” he growled. “How the
hell can we defend ourselves if we have to worry about hitting someone who isn’t
only innocent, but is one of our own? Fuck, fuck-”

“We should try to help,” Traze
mumbled as he stirred the bowl of pancake batter.

“What? How?” Grai asked turning to
Traze again.

Traze just shrugged a small
shoulder and looked at Grai with big brown eyes.

“Contact him. Offer our help in
finding who he’s looking for. See if he wants to join us. Can’t get more
insider than him,” the boy suggested.

Nik and BJ looked at one another in
surprise at the idea, but both nodded in agreement that it was worth a shot.

“What if you’re wrong?” Grai asked,
daring to believe his brother might be right. “What if he’s here because of
another reason?”

Traze shrugged again.

“Won’t know unless we reach out.
Besides, with our technology we have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. Worst
that happens is you lose another burner phone number, and we know where we
stand with him,” Traze explained.

Bess came over and brushed the hair
off Traze’s forehead before taking the bowl from him.

“You’ve done a wonderful job,” Bess
said as she looked directly at Grai.

Grai knew it was her way of being
able to help them without helping them, and he nodded his head in renewed
respect as he considered the best way to try and contact the major without
putting any of them at risk.

“If you’re only talking about a
contact number, put a note in his pocket,” BJ said. “Or find something on him
you know he’ll look at, like his wallet.”

Traze nodded his head, still
kicking his feet as he sat in the chair.

“He’s gotta be wearing contacts;
put a note in the case,” Traze suggested.

Grai nodded his head, liking the
idea the more he thought of it.

“But he’ll know we were here,” Grai
said with a curse.

It would have been perfect if it
didn’t mean the unit would stay,
Grai thought.
We can’t take
that chance.

“Trust me,” Bess said with a laugh.
“That boy is leaving. He won’t stay even if he knows you’re living right here.”

“How can you be sure?” Grai
countered. “How can we take that chance?”

“How can we not?” Traze asked.
“Besides, the military is no match for these people, and now they know it. They
won’t be back.”

Grai looked at his brother in shock
as the small boy danced his fingers across the table nonchalantly and kicked
his feet. He turned to see Bess smiling at him.

“Your brother is a very smart boy. You
should listen to him,” she whispered in his mind.

“What did you do to him?” Grai
asked hoarsely.

“I took away the haze that clouded
and oppressed him. I freed him,” Bess told him.

“Freed him from what?” Grai asked,
unsure what the cryptic woman was telling him.

“I freed him from himself. From his
own doubt, his own disbeliefs, and his self-criticisms. I showed him the magic
and returned his faith. You gave me a boy. Now see the man,” Bess explained
aloud and with a wave of her hand Traze again sat as the man.

Traze grinned as he looked down at
himself and turned to Bess.

“Thank you, ma’am. For everything,”
his voice cracked on the last, and in a second he was out of the chair and
hugging Bess tightly as tears slipped out.

Grai looked on in shock as Bess
hugged Traze and stroked his hair as she whispered words to his brother in a
language Grai couldn’t understand. However, Traze appeared to understand
perfectly and nodded his head.

“I will, I promise,” Traze
whispered as he pulled away from Bess.

Bess reached up and dried the tears
from his face with the corner of her apron and shooed him to the table.

“You’re starving, and we’ve time
for breakfast before we must finish this,” Bess stated then turned back to
making breakfast as Mojo came into the room.

“What did I miss?” he asked as he
rubbed his growling stomach and looked around the room.

Grai stood with his mouth open as
Traze walked to the table and slowly became the little boy again with each step
he took until he sat down and his little feet began to kick again.

“The glamour remains until you all
leave,” Bess answered Grai’s unanswered question.

“You need to write a note,” Traze
said as he looked up at his brother. “Something that won’t scare him.”

Grai just nodded as he sat across
from his brother and stared at him.

BJ took the hint and ran to a
cabinet before going to the table and setting down several sheets of paper and
a pen beside Grai.

“How did you make him so smart?”
Grai whispered in Bess’s mind.

“You’re a fool, Grai T’Alq,” Bess
angrily replied. “He was always smart but too clouded by self-doubt and
self-recrimination to ever try to see what existed in himself. You didn’t help
by your own thoughts regarding his character. Do not undo what I’ve done by
thinking anything you see is new. It is only now showing.”

Grai blushed, deeply embarrassed
that the woman was right and grateful she’d chastised him privately and not in
front of his brother.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Grai
admitted, even though it hurt to do so as realization dawned on him.

He’s always assumed that because
his brother acted foolish most of the time, that he wasn’t mature and ready to
be a man. He always knew Traze was smart and wasn’t living up to his potential,
but he’d always thought his brother would grow out of it. He had no idea Traze
was hiding it under layers of doubt and pain.

“Give yourself time to understand
the true man that he is, and you will be surprised at what you find,” Bess said
softly. “Do not blame yourself either. What happened to him was not wrought by
you or any failing in raising him. I was able to save him solely because you
did a wonderful job with him. But now you need to loosen those bonds and let
him be his own man.”

BJ smiled at Nik and pulled him to
the table before sitting him down beside Traze and Mojo.

“Let’s get breakfast going,” she
said, starving as well and more than ready to get the military out of there.

Grai nodded at Bess and looked
across the table at his brother, Mojo, and Nik.

“OK, what should we put in the
note?” Grai asked.

“What note?” Mojo replied looking
around for someone to explain what happened while he’d been asleep.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Kyle suddenly jerked awake and
looked around him. He sucked in a sharp breath as he tried to get to his feet
and stumbled a few times before he finally stood. The memories came rushing
back to him, and he checked himself out as he panted in fear. When he knew he
was alright, he knelt down to the nearest man.

“Captain?” Kyle asked as he shook
Greg then checked his pulse to make sure he was alive.  

When Greg wouldn’t wake up, Kyle
moved the next person that was laid out on the pavement in front of the police
station.

“BJ?” Kyle asked, lightly shaking
the cop before checking her pulse.

When she wouldn’t wake up either,
Kyle stood again and ran his hands over his head as he looked out and saw his
entire unit passed out on the ground in front of the police station.

He looked at his watch and was
stunned to realize that it was morning and the sun would be coming up soon. He
moved through the bodies towards one of their vehicles when he heard a groan.
He turned and saw a few of his men begin to sit up, and he sighed in relief
that he wouldn’t have to call in to his commanders. He wasn’t sure how he could
explain any of it.

“Sir?” one of the men asked as he
sat up.

“Oh my god! Was it real? Was it
real?” another man shrieked in a panic as he patted himself down.

Kyle felt like he was going to
hyperventilate as each of his men awakened in a state of fear and panic. Some
were more profoundly fearful than others, and Kyle began to wonder what was
real and what wasn’t.

When he saw the cop begin to rise,
he moved through his men to her side and pulled her to her feet. He’d barely
let her recognize who he was before he propelled her into the station and
slammed the door shut behind them.

“What the fuck was that? What did
you do?” he demanded, his fear and panic taking over.

“Did you see it too?” BJ asked
breathlessly before she turned away from him. “It was so beautiful, wasn’t it?”

“Beautiful?” Kyle asked
incredulously, remembering the shrieking and heat at the giant made him watch
the creatures destroy one another.

BJ turned towards him with wide
eyes.

“You didn’t see anything?” she
asked.

Kyle just stared at her, unsure
what to say and unwilling to talk about what he’d seen before a sense of peace
had befallen him and he woke up. He was saved from answering when Greg barreled
through the door.

“Sir!” Greg said, his hands
trembling. “We need to go, sir. We need to go now. The men won’t stay. Some
said they’re quitting when they get back. If we don’t leave soon they’re
threatening to walk out of here.”

If they’d seen what I did, I can’t
blame them,
Kyle thought.

“Tell them to get everything
packed. We leave in the hour,” Kyle ordered then turned to BJ when Greg left.
“What happened?”

BJ gave him a quizzical look.

“I’m not really sure to be honest.
I didn’t count on any of that happening,” she admitted honestly.

“Was it real? Is this the shit you
have going on around here?” Kyle asked in frustration, trying to understand
what happened to him.

BJ nodded her head.

“Can you help us? Do you know
what’s going on?” she asked, knowing he was leaving.

Kyle just shook his head vigorously
and paced the office.

“I don’t know anything. But if I
were you, I’d get out of here. I’d get everyone else out of here too,” Kyle
warned, trying to stop his body from trembling at the memory of what he’d seen.

“But what I saw was beautiful!
Didn’t you see something like that too?” BJ pressed, trying to judge the
major’s mood and tone.

Kyle’s body trembled and he shook
his head.

“No . . . no, I didn’t see anything
beautiful,” he admitted as the horrible scenes flashed in his mind.

BJ stepped over to him and put a
calming hand on his arm.

“These things . . . these visions .
. . or whatever, are supposed to only be warnings,” she told him as she sent
him calming energy.

Kyle snorted, pulled away from her,
and resumed pacing.

“How would you know if you didn’t
see what I did?” he asked as he tried to control his panic.

“I heard Jacob’s story too. It was
only a warning. If you aren’t doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear,”
BJ said gently, trying to calm the panicked man.

Kyle shook his head as he
remembered the large man’s words as he took him. Traitor to his people. He
almost choked on his emotions as he turned away from the cop and put his hands
on his knees, taking large gulps of breath as he tried to calm down.

“Major,” BJ said as she put a hand
on his shoulder.

“Don’t touch me!” Kyle roared as he
quickly moved away from her to the other side of the room.

“Kyle,” BJ tried again, sending him
calming energy.

“You don’t understand,” Kyle said,
shaking his head.

“Yes, I do,” BJ rushed to say. “I
do. Sometimes things happen in order to lead you in the right direction. You
know, give you an avenue of help you didn’t think was available to you before.”

Kyle laughed bitterly.

“There is no help for me,” he
whispered as a single tear slipped down his cheek before he angrily swiped it away.

“Maybe there is,” she whispered and
cursed when Greg came barging back in the door.

“We’re ready now,” Greg said, not
even sparing BJ a glance as his eyes implored Kyle to leave.

Kyle nodded his head and looked at
BJ.

“We can’t help one another. I’m
sorry,” he said then stormed out of the door.

“Damn it!” BJ growled to the empty
office before she followed them out of the door.

She’d barely opened the door when
she saw the last of the vehicles drive past her and head down the street out of
town. She walked out into the middle of the street and watched the last vehicle
roar out of sight.

The moment it was gone, BJ saw Nik
come out of the mercantile and head towards her. His glamour receded with each
step he took until it was the real Nik that stood in front of her.

“Are you OK?” Nik asked as he
gently took one of her hands.

“I’m doing a lot better than the
major is,” BJ admitted as she walked with him down the street towards her
mother and the others who were all standing in front of the mercantile.

“I hope he calls,” Nik admitted.

“I do too,” BJ agreed as they
reached the others.

“Was the major all right?” Grai
asked BJ.

BJ nodded her head.

“I think so. There’s no doubt he
was scared, but I think he’ll be OK,” she said, hoping she was right.

“Well, I think that means it’s safe
for us to leave,” Grai said, ready to leave.

“The sibiox, Blade, and Discorian
have already been transported to your ship,” Bess assured him. “Mojo and BJ
will be ready to leave when you come back for Nik.”

“What?” Grai asked, turning to Nik.

Nik only blushed and shrugged his
shoulders.

“I was going to ask for some time
off so I could spend time here with BJ before we get settled at Dillon,” Nik
told Grai, but he was looking at BJ as if to get her approval instead.

BJ blushed and smiled up at Nik.

“I think that would be great,” she
whispered.

Grai wasn’t about to come between
the couple and knew it’d be easy to replace Nik in the team rotation while he
bonded with his mate.

“Sounds good. Why don’t you guys
let me know when you’re ready for pick up, and I’ll have someone come by?” Grai
suggested, not knowing how much time they’d want to bond before returning to
work.

“We can do that. Thanks, Grai,” Nik
replied with a grin.

Grai was getting ready to port to
the ship when Traze ran over to Bess and hugged her.

“This place belongs to you now too,
child, and you are welcome back here any time,” Bess whispered as she placed a
gentle kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you,” Traze whispered back
before he turned away from her. “Port!”

Grai watched his brother disappear
before he looked at Bess quizzically.

“He’s going to be just fine,” Bess
assured him.

“Port!” Grai said.

“Well, now that they’re all gone,”
Bess said as she turned back to the mercantile. “We need to get you guys
prepared for your trip in the cave. Now I made a map that will lead you to the
mating cottage; just follow the directions.”

“The what?” BJ asked in shock.

“It’s where all of our people have
completed their mating. The place was built as a sanctuary by Queen Lamoratri
and was where she bonded with her mate. Since then, all of our descendants have
completed their mating there. It is believed that if you are truly mates and
bond in the sanctuary, the gods will bless your union,” Bess explained. “It is
where your father and I bonded, and we were truly blessed by the gods.”

BJ looked over at Nik, not sure
what he thought about all this talk of bonding when they’d barely begun to like
each other and was surprised to see him listening intently to his mother.

“This isn’t going to be some turn-by-the-stump
directions guaranteed to get us lost is it?” Nik asked with concern.

Bess only laughed at him.

“No, I definitely don’t want you to
get lost,” she admitted.

“How come we’ve never heard of a
mating cottage before?” Mojo asked, curious where the place was located.

“You’ve never been to that part of
the cave before. You would have known if you’d found it,” Bess assured her son
as she entered the kitchen of the mercantile.

She went to the table, grabbed a
piece of paper, and handed it to Nik.

“These are the directions. If you
get lost, BJ should be able to understand it. Here are some provisions, and
there are horses already saddled and waiting for you at the river. Everything
else that you need is at the cottage. Be respectful; it is a sanctuary,” Bess
told them as she handed a heavy basket to Nik and shooed them out of the door.

“Momma! What the hell?” BJ asked as
her mom pushed her towards the trail to the cave.

“You are wasting time. If you don’t
leave soon, you won’t get to the cottage by nightfall,” Bess warned them.

“Come on, BJ,” Nik said with a grin
as he handed her the paper with the map on it. “You can be the navigator.”

BJ took the paper from him and
looked back at her mom and Mojo. Her brother just shrugged his shoulders and
waved at her.

“Have fun, guys. And for the love
of all that you hold dear, don’t name your kids like our parents named us!”
Mojo warned before he ducked the slap Bess aimed at his head.

BJ only blushed at the thought of
kids while Nik laughed and pulled BJ down the trail.

“Let’s go before he says something
that will get him in more trouble,” Nik said, hoping she’d come along with him.

He had no idea where the hell they
were going, but he didn’t care as long as it meant they could have some privacy
to get to know one another better.

They can call the place Fuck Fest
Cabin for all I care; nothing will happen that both of us don’t want,
he
thought, then wondered if that was what concerned BJ.

He stopped right before the cave
entrance and turned to her.

“I swear I won’t hurt you, and I
would never do anything you didn’t want. It doesn’t matter to me what the place
is called, nothing will happen that we aren’t ready for,” he assured her.

“I’m not afraid of you!” BJ said
with a laugh. “I was worried about you.”

“Then let’s go,” Nik said as he
turned and pulled her into the cave system. “Now where the hell are we going? I
can’t understand half of what your mom wrote on there.”

BJ looked down at the map and
sucked in a breath.

“This place was never there before.
Mojo and I were here, and there was nothing there,” she said as she looked more
closely at the map.

“Are you sure? Maybe it’s hidden
behind something?” Nik suggested. He had a feeling Bess wouldn’t steer them
wrong.

“It’s got to be behind something
that we missed when we were there,” BJ said with a shake of her head,
remembering the area clearly, but she didn’t recall a cottage. “She’s right
about one thing, it will take us most of the day to get there. Do you know how
to ride a horse?”

Nik winced at the question.

“Never,” he admitted, really
wishing he had.

“That’s OK. All of our horses are
really tame, and we won’t be running them anywhere. The terrain won’t allow
it,” BJ assured him.

Nik hoped it was true because he
didn’t think landing on his ass a dozen times was going to help him woo his
mate.