by Mikayla Lane
His stomach flipped in excitement and fear when he realized they understood him. Mikey looked between the two men, positive that they were speaking to one another in their minds. He could see that they were arguing with one another before the blond man turned back to him.
“You’re sure that you are the only one here? The only one taken from the forest?” David asked the frightened soldier.
Mikey nodded his head.
“I’m it,” Mikey said and seeing the disappointment in the man’s eyes he continued. “I’m not who you’re looking for, but please don’t leave me here. They’re going to kill me.”
Mikey was unprepared for the strong, deep voice that echoed through his mind.
“We will not leave you to them,” Grai said with determination.
Mikey’s heart leapt with hope as the two men continued a private conversation before the dark eyed man turned back to him.
“You must speak only through your mind, and when the door opens you have to hold onto my belt. The ghosting only works when we’re connected. Do you understand?” Grai asked, hoping the young hybrid did.
“Ghosting is what you call the way you’re camouflaged?” Mikey asked, trying to make sure he knew what they meant.
Grai nodded his head at Mikey.
“Yes. When the door opens, rush to grab onto me, and it’ll look like you just disappeared,” Grai explained as he held up five fingers.
Mikey watched the strange man use the five fingers on one hand to count down, and when the last finger fell, the door popped open with a hiss and Mikey rushed outside grabbing the belt of the waiting stranger.
Mikey watched in surprise as the guard and the nurse rushed into the room. He would have stayed to watch if he hadn’t been pulled forward by the man whose belt he was holding onto.
“We have to go now!” Grai said into Mikey’s mind. At Mikey’s nod, they took off back the way they had come.
Mikey was full of questions and was getting ready to ask when the deep voice echoed in his mind.
“Your questions can wait, we must leave now,” Grai said.
“How did you know . . .” Mikey started to ask out loud before he clamped a hand over his mouth.
He grimaced at the dark looks thrown at him by the two strangers and looked behind them to make sure they weren’t caught. He turned back around when he felt the tug on his hand and mouthed “I’m sorry” to the two men.
I swear I’m going to keep my mouth shut until we get the hell out of here, Mikey thought to himself as they entered an elevator.
He stole a glance at his two companions and noted their alert and dark expressions. He’d seen that look many times before. It was the look of a soldier on a dangerous mission whose entire being was focused solely on completing and surviving the task.
If these men were indeed the aliens that Lt. Colonel Ballard had thought he was a part of, then Mikey understood why the man feared the aliens so much. They were scary as hell. Whatever increase he’d had in strength and stamina would not come close to what he felt exuding from these two, and he was beginning to wonder if he’d jumped from the frying pan into a volcano.
Mikey was pulled from his thoughts by a jerk on his hand and a scathing look from the dark haired man whose belt he was holding. He quickly followed them out of the elevator and jogged along beside them as they ran through a parking garage and into another elevator.
He stood beside them as they punched the button to the top floor. The doors were just closing when a large hand stopped them.
“Be silent!” Grai warned the hybrid soldier while David held a weapon at the ready.
Mikey nodded mutely as he tried to plaster himself against the back wall of the elevator. The soldier in front of them stood right in front of him, so close that Mikey could reach out and touch him if he wanted to.
Mikey wasn’t the only one who breathed a sigh of relief when the soldier got out on the second floor. They only went a few more floors before they got out and headed to the stairs that went to the roof. They opened the door as alarms began to sound loudly throughout the building.
Mikey heard the word “Run!” scream through his mind as he started sprinting alongside the two men who were still joined at the belt the way his hand was on the man in front of him.
He felt the rush of warm wind seconds before he saw a large craft hovering above them. The shock of seeing it stopped Mikey short, and his hand fell from the dark haired man’s belt. He heard the sound of gunfire and the screams in his mind before he felt an impact in his leg, and he dropped to the roof.
He looked up at the dark haired man as he grabbed hold of him and pulled him over his shoulder while the ex-SEAL returned fire. Moments later, Mikey was looking around the inside of an aircraft while the man strapped him into a seat.
“Stay the hell in that seat!” the dark haired man yelled at him.
Mikey nodded his head mutely, a little surprised that the man’s real voice sounded just like it had in his head. He watched the ex-SEAL come in next, and he wondered how they got from the roof inside the craft.
“Go! Go!” Grai shouted at the pilot as he sat next to David in one of the seats across from Mikey.
Both men stared at Mikey until he began to feel pretty uncomfortable under their scrutiny. Not sure what to say or do, Mikey decided on the old fallback his mother had taught him when he was young. Manners.
“Thank you. For saving me,” Mikey said, hoping he didn’t just hand himself over to a worse fate.
“Who are you?” Grai demanded.
Mikey cleared his throat and looked up at the dark haired man. The one he’d determined was the more dangerous of the two that rescued him.
“Private first class Mikey Davis. Well Michael really, but everyone calls me Mikey,” Mikey said, sounding as nervous as he felt.
“I’m David Jacobs; this is Grai T’Alq. How did you end up in the forest?” David asked.
Mikey sighed heavily and lowered his head.
I really wish someone would ask me something else! he muttered to himself. When he saw the dark look on Grai’s face he settled for telling it one more time.
“I was on leave after my second tour in Afghanistan. The roadblock I came to had soldiers with no insignia. I went to the nearest base, had some drinks with a bartender, and we came back to check it out. This time, there were ROTC kids there, but I could see the UFOs in the sky. Suddenly one of them became a fireball, and the next thing I remember was being tortured in that hell hole,” Mikey explained, hoping they’d believe him and not ask him to tell it again and again.
Grai and David looked at one another, and Mikey could swear they were doing the mind talking thing again. It bothered him that he was again at the mercy of someone else, and he hoped he could get his freedom.
“Look guys, I’m really grateful you got me out of there. If you can just drop me off somewhere, I can take care of myself from there,” Mikey offered. He really didn’t want to have to try and escape these two.
Grai sat back and folded his arms across his chest as he silently stared at Mikey. Mikey couldn’t hold his gaze and turned to David as he spoke.
“You wouldn’t last a second out there, and you know it. Between all the cameras and facial recognition software, you’d be retaken by the end of the day. You’re better off with us until we can get you a new identity and papers,” David said, hoping to get the kid quiet.
“But . . .” Mikey began before Grai released his safety belt and had his hand around his throat.
“You go nowhere until I know what the hell happened out there and where my brother is!” Grai roared at Mikey while David tried to pull him away from the kid.
“Landing in 5, 4, 3 . . .” the pilot called out.
Grai shook off David and stood over an angry, scared Mikey as a small thump signaled the landing of the craft. Grai leaned down and unsnapped Mikey’s safety harness before pulling him to his feet and throwing him over his shoulder.
Mikey leaned up to say s
omething as he was carried out of the ship, but the jerking of David’s head told him he should probably shut up. It didn’t matter since a few seconds later Mikey was rendered mute as he swung his head around, taking in all the UFOs parked around them.
Mikey returned the stares of what appeared to be taller-than-average humans with the same strange swirls in their eyes that Grai and David had.
Where the hell am I? Mikey wondered as he was carried out of the UFO hangar and through some hallways before he was dumped unceremoniously onto a bed.
Mikey tried to see where he was, but he couldn’t see much of anything with Grai standing in front of him.
“Get him healed and checked. I’ll be back in an hour,” Grai ordered before he slammed out of the door.
Mikey turned from the door when he heard the beautiful voice come from beside him. He turned to see a gorgeous blond with striking blue eyes that had green swirls in them. She stood at least six feet tall, and her white coat did little to hide her killer curves.
Her black pencil skirt emphasized her curvy hips, flat stomach, and legs that seemed to go on forever beneath the hem of her skirt. The white, button-up top did little to hide the swell of her full breasts.
Is she an alien too? Mikey wondered as he stared at her with fascination, instantly attracted to her in a way he never felt before.
“David, you’re not needed unless you believe him to be dangerous,” Dr. Lauren Campbell said as she began the scans on the wounded man.
David ran a hand over his head as he looked between Mikey and the door.
“I’ll post someone outside. If you have any problems . . .” David said, wanting to get out of there so he could talk to Grai.
Lauren chuckled.
“I’m sure I can handle myself,” Lauren assured him before she looked pointedly at the door.
David gave a narrow eyed glare at Mikey.
“Be nice and no one here will harm you. Her name is Dr. Campbell, and she’s going to help with that bullet you took on the roof,” David said, making sure the kid understood him.
Mikey nodded. He’d completely forgotten he’d been shot on the roof. Either he was in shock or just in awe of the place and the beautiful doctor. He watched David walk out of the door before he turned to the doctor.
“Where am I?”
Lauren chuckled and moved closer to the bed her patient was sitting on.
“Half the time I don’t know myself. But today is your lucky day. We’re at a base in Texas. Not a military base like you’re used to though,” Lauren said as she tried to keep her mind on the scanner and not the handsome hybrid soldier in front of her.
Her first look at him had surprised her in more ways than one. He was undoubtedly attractive. At six foot four, he was well muscled, but not overly so. His black hair was cropped in a standard military fashion, like most of the hybrid men wore, but his hair was so dark and his eyes so blue that it was a startling contrast. There was a small hazel dot that she had seen in his eyes before she’d looked back at her comm to start the scans on him.
What surprised her was her reaction to him. She’d immediately felt a pull towards him that she’d never experienced with a patient before. Even after stepping away from him as she scanned him, she could feel her energy drawing her closer.
Mikey wanted to get her to look at him, needing to see her eyes again.
“How do you know what I’m used to?” he asked, leaning down to try and see her face.
When she finally looked up at him, he felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. She was the most mesmerizing woman he’d ever seen. If she was what the enemy used to get information, he was a goner.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Mikey didn’t realize he said that out loud until he heard her laughter, and he blushed a deep red.
“Don’t be embarrassed, I can tell by the scans you were put through a lot, and it probably seems like heaven here,” Lauren said, trying to ease his embarrassment.
Mikey nodded, his embarrassment fading as he thought about the last few weeks.
“They’re my people, my commanding officers, our government . . . I just don’t understand it. I told them what I knew, which was nothing,” Mikey admitted.
Lauren shook her head as she studied her comm and the results coming through from her scans.
“You aren’t their people. You’re my people—well our people. You’re a hybrid like me. There are a lot of us here,” Lauren explained, wondering what he knew about himself.
“What is a hybrid?” Mikey asked, hoping she knew something that the military doctors didn’t.
I’d really like to know what the hell I am, he thought.
Lauren whistled softly.
“You don’t know anything do you?” she asked, wondering how he could not know he was different.
Mikey threw his hands in the air and snorted.
“Finally! Someone gets it! I don’t have a clue what the hell is going on. All I know is I’ve been infected with . . . something, and the military had no idea you could be infected. I was hit with the flaming ship in the forest, then infected—” Mikey said before Lauren placed a delicate hand over his lips to silence his rambling.
Her scent was lovely, and Mikey had to stop himself from rubbing his face along her hand as he stared into her pretty eyes, mesmerized by the tumultuous green swirls that danced inside them.
“You weren’t infected. You were born this way, just like the rest of us were. Which means that your father was either an outpost survivor or a hybrid, and your mother was gifted or hybrid. We’ll know as soon as the DNA scans are complete,” Lauren said, removing her hand from his mouth. She’d been far too tempted to caress his cheek to ease his concerns and make him feel better.
Lauren leaned down and pulled up the leg of the hospital pants he’d been given to wear when they’d released him from the restraints at the fort and placed a mediband on the already healing wound.
“The bullet went right through, and it’s already healing, so you should be fine in a few hours,” Lauren assured him.
She’d used her own unique ability to scan his body and knew that the only medical issues he had now were regarding who and what he was. Since no one else seemed inclined to do so, Lauren decided to begin explaining to him about his lineage.
“Did you just put a band aid on a bullet wound?” Mikey asked in shock as he looked at the small strip on his calf, thinking it was a joke.
Lauren sighed and rubbed her temples.
This is going to be a long day, she thought.
Chapter Four
Mikey paced the room and shook his head, still trying to grasp what the beautiful doctor had tried to explain to him. It was all a little too much to take in, much less take seriously. But it also made too much sense for him to ignore.
“I’m a freak . . .” Mikey muttered to himself while the beautiful doctor studied him beneath her long, dark lashes.
“You’re different. You are definitely one of us; you have the beast which is passed down from our fathers. It’s your mitochondrial DNA which is odd,” Lauren said.
Mikey ran a hand over his head in frustration.
“Great, so you’re saying I’m a freak among freaks. This just gets better and better,” Mikey muttered, wondering what was next.
Am I going to sprout horns or crave human flesh? He wondered sardonically.
Lauren laughed and put some images on the wall.
“We’re not freaks, and neither are you. Here,” she said, pointing to a colorful image on the wall. “These markers here are common markers in the mitochondrial DNA of our other hybrids. But yours, is missing those markers.”
Mikey stared at the wall, trying to understand what that meant.
“This means my mom was a freak?” he asked, tilting his head to look at the colored dashes on the wall, hoping a different angle would help him understand it.
Lauren tried to give him her best irritated look but ended up smiling at
the charming soldier.
“Would you stop with the freak stuff already? And no, it doesn’t mean your mom was a freak either. What it means is she didn’t have these markers. Which means . . . I haven’t got a clue yet,” she admitted, looking up at him with a grin before her face fell.
Wondering what caused the change in her, Mikey turned to see the large, angry man who carried him into the medlab with the ex-SEAL standing behind him.
Mikey refused to cower now that he was feeling a little better and more grounded than he had in a while. He stood and held out his hand to the intimidating man.
“Thank you for getting me out of there. I know I’m not the person you were looking for, and I’m grateful you did what you did. If I can help you find the guy you were there for, I’ll tell you anything I know,” Mikey offered, feeling he owed them big time.
Grai gave his hand a quick shake.
“I’m Grai T’Alq. I was there looking for my brother, Koda. He was flying the ship that apparently crashed into you. Do you remember anything?” Grai asked, hoping the entire mission hadn’t been for nothing.
Mikey sighed and rubbed his hand down his face as he tried to remember what happened that day.
“Sarge and I had just come down the embankment from the road. I saw a UFO go right over us, but Sarge couldn’t see it. He threw rocks at it and felt the heat and wind of it though and knew it was there. We followed it towards the forest floor, then all hell broke loose. There were UFOs and helicopters having a firefight right there above us,” Mikey said, seeing it happen again in his mind as if it were yesterday.
“Then what?” Grai encouraged.
“The UFO was hit by an RPG from one of the choppers, and it was heading right for us. It seemed like it was in slow motion for some reason, and I saw something shoot out of it seconds before the ship exploded. Then Sarge and I were hit, and I woke up in that hellhole, strapped down while they tortured me about . . . you guys. They thought I infiltrated the military and was reporting to you,” Mikey explained, telling them everything he knew.
