by Mikayla Lane
In the middle of the aisle stood an angry and embarrassed Ranger. The one reindeer antler hung lopsided around his neck, and one bell was somehow stuck to his fur near his shoulder. His glittering eyes pierced Grai.
“I will be there for my leader, for my friend.”
Grai nodded his head, grateful they would be there for Gibly. He wanted the cat to know how much he was loved and missed.
Chapter Twenty
Indrid took in the scene around him as Lauren rushed into the small trapper’s cabin and went to the shallow breathing and ghostly pale toddler first while Mikey ran to Emily.
Lauren quickly stabilized the comatose toddler and moved to the bed with the large man who looked so similar to his brothers and began running scans on him.
“He’s bad, he’s bad! Gods, I need help! Now!” Lauren shouted around her until Disc was beside her.
Disc gasped and reached out to swat at the small bugs wriggling around the lower part of leg where it was jaggedly severed below the knee.
“Stop! They’re actually helping him!” Lauren said, smacking Disc’s hands away more roughly than she intended. “I need you to get in that ship and get me every damn piece of medical equipment you can find. Now!”
Discorian immediately sent a call to Crator in the ship and the Shengari’ lit up with the news that immediate assistance was required at the scene.
Indrid could feel the time running out for the three. Their energy was diminishing rapidly with each passing moment. He whispered words of ancient power, held out his hands, and called upon the energy around him, pulling from deep within himself for what he needed before violently expelling it so quickly he fell to his knees.
He looked up and knew that the energy was helping the three who desperately needed it, but it wouldn’t last for long. With what little energy Indrid had left, he called to the one person he knew could save them all.
“Father to my son, listen carefully as I have not the energy to repeat this. We have found your brother. He is dying rapidly and has somehow tied his energy to a baby and young woman who are dying with him. You must meet us at Beta, and you must bring your son, Tristan, or the three of them are doomed to die together. Call to Mikey,” Indrid said before he passed out on the floor, giving the last of his energy to save the brother of the man who’d saved his son.
Before he passed out, Indrid realized why Emily was so important to him. While Grai had nurtured and protected his precious son over the years, Indrid had been nurturing and protecting the woman who would go on to save Koda and become his mate.
*****
Grai received Indrid’s desperate message in mid-flight to Gibly’s location and roared in fear for the cat and his brother as he called to Mikey to find out where Koda was. He was hoping like hell he could scramble another team to Koda’s location in time to save his brother.
“I found it!” the pilot called out to Grai. “Gibly’s in a large home in a residential area that butts up against the forest. Grai, we’re only 30 miles from the military zone set up at Fiorn’s Folly.”
Grai stood and checked his gear while everyone began to release their harnesses.
“Get ready to drop!” Grai called out as everyone prepared themselves.
“Drop in 5, 4, 3, 2 . . .” the pilot called out.
Grai saw the open back door to the home as he dropped and ran towards it the second his feet hit the ground. Others ran to secure the perimeter while the rest converged on the house to secure the scene and find Gibly.
Ranger was in the house before anyone and suddenly let out a piercing yowl before they heard a crash and scrambling. Grai ran towards the sound, thinking the cat was in danger, and slid to a stop just inside the door as he saw all the stuffed animals.
A flash of movement to his right brought his eyes to the body of Gibly laying on the desk. Grai called out to Kintaq to come immediately as he ran to the cat. Grai raised his hand to the deathly still animal as Ranger lay beside him, one arm over Gibly’s stomach.
“Gibly,” Grai whispered brokenly as he looked at the blood pooled around the cat and the trail leading in the room.
Ranger growled in fury before he leaped from the desk and became a black blur as he bolted from the house.
Kintaq ran in past all of the people standing quietly in the room, waiting for any sign that their beloved cat was still alive. He reached the desk just as Grai laid his hand on Gibly’s fur, a single tear slipping down his cheek.
“Don’t you dare die on me, friend,” Grai whispered, his voice shaking from emotion.
The sadness in the room was broken and everyone cheered when the brave cat, weakly flicked his tail and opened his eyes to look at Grai as Kintaq and the vet techs swarmed him.
“Koda,” Gibly whispered weakly.
Grai looked tearfully down at the cat.
“We found him, we’re getting him now. You worry about getting better now; your job is done, my friend,” Grai whispered as he gently held Gibly’s paw.
“Go to them,” Gibly said, his voice a little stronger now that Kintaq had sealed the nicked vein and the blood boosters were kicking in.
“Grai, we’re no more than 25 miles west of where Koda is. Gibly is going to be fine. He needs rest and care. We’re taking him to Dillon now, so go to your brother,” Kintaq said, drawing Grai’s attention from the wounded cat.
Grai looked up at Traze standing in the doorway and nodded his head before both men moved to leave. They stopped just outside the door as Reven stood and fumed at the suddenly blood covered Ranger.
“Gods be damned, you crazy cat! How the hell are we supposed to hide that?” Reven demanded as he glared down at Ranger standing outside the door.
“What happened?” Grai asked, bending down to check the cat.
“He’s fine! What he did isn’t!” Reven said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Go to your brother, we’ll take care of this,” Ivint said, as he came up behind them.
Grai and Traze ported into a waiting craft as Ivint turned a heated gaze to the unapologetic cat who was leisurely licking the blood off of himself.
“I saw that room, I can guess what the bastard had planned for Gibly,” Balduen said, grinning down at the cat. “I think the prick is lucky he was dead when Ranger did it.”
“What did he do?” Ivint asked, wondering if he really wanted to know.
“He severed the guy’s head and defecated in his mouth! How the hell are we supposed to make that look normal now?” Reven argued, his frustration heightened by their close proximity to the military units still scouring Fiorn’s Folly.
“I’m with Baldy, I don’t blame him for doing it. I say we get everyone out, light stone his body, and set the place on fire,” Niklosi said, thinking the cat’s brutality and desecration was justified—this time.
Ivint sighed and shook his head. It was not something that he or any of them had time for.
“Do it! And Ranger, you’re off mission status until further notice,” Ivint ordered before he walked back into the house to get everyone evacuated to Dillon.
Ranger watched the Valendran leader walk away, then burst out laughing while rolling around in the grass on his back.
“What the hell?” Reven demanded, wondering if the cat was even sane.
Ranger’s eyes twinkled and a furry smile was plastered on his face.
“Gibly is back! This diplomat job sucks! Dealing with you people make me crazy because you are crazy!” Ranger said as he stood and bounded around the lawn in happiness.
*****
Chris, Deacon, Grant, Luca and Gunner were rechecking their gear on their way to their father. It was two weeks before Christmas, and true to his word, Chris and his brothers were on their way to take over some of the search for their uncle, Koda.
The guys knew their dad was only trying to protect them from the uncomfortable tension that inevitably came when they were near others with beasts, but they couldn’t care less if they were feared when it cam
e to family.
Their father needed help, and their uncle needed to be rescued or recovered; that was the only thing that mattered to them at this point.
The men jerked in their seats when Mikal suddenly appeared inside of the ship in front of them.
“Damn it, bro! You know we hate that shit!” Luca complained.
“My father has found Koda, and Dad has found Gibly. We must hurry!” Mikal said, ignoring the questions flying behind him as he walked up the aisle to talk to Deacon.
“Head 112 miles east of Fiorn’s Folly; there’s a tiny trapper’s cabin,” Mikal told Deacon.
“Are you kidding me? That’s 50 miles outside of the military zone they set up in the area. He’s been there all this time?” Gun asked.
“I do not know,” Mikal said, a little shaken from everything. “I felt Indrid’s energy soar and then scatter, and I can no longer reach him. But what I got was that Koda is there with a woman and child, and they are all dying. We have one of the fastest ships, and we’re already close; we need to get them all to beta.”
Everyone braced themselves as Deacon ignited the primary engines, and they were jerked back by the G-force before the craft leveled out.
“We got two minutes! We have a ship in hover . . . it’s Crator!” Deacon called back to them.
Everyone listened intently to the news coming through the Shengari’ until they knew who was on the scene. Chris reached out to Lauren.
“This is Chris, Grai’s son. I have two medics, a ton of med gear, and the fastest ship in the air. Request to port your party to our ship now!”
“No!” Lauren replied, working quickly to stabilize Koda, the worst of the patients. “Get me help down here, or he won’t make it through a port!”
Mikal disappeared as the brothers gathered to drop.
“Drop in 3, 2 . . .” Deacon called out.
The brothers dropped to the ground in front of the small cabin, and Chris and the others held back while Grant and Luca, the medics, ran inside to help.
By the time Chris walked inside, he’d already been hit by the smell of rotting flesh and forced himself not to gag as he went further inside, past the people working on the two females.
“Oh Gods!” Chris whispered as he stared at his once vibrant and strong uncle. “What happened to him?”
“Everything,” Grant whispered back as he moved around Lauren to try and stabilize the oozing and jagged stump where Koda’s lower leg had been.
“I don’t know how he’s stayed alive this long, and I don’t care how bad he looks right now! I care that at this damn moment he’s alive, and we’re going to keep him that way! Now get that infected arm wrapped up!” Lauren growled, her hands and mind working quickly to assess what needed to be done to save Koda’s life.
Luca moved into the space Lauren left in front of Koda as she moved to Koda’s head and placed a neuroband on him. Luca stopped his gag reflex as he concentrated on wrapping the arm that was crisscrossed with delicate stitches in the few places where the infection hadn’t burst through them. Maggots crawled around the rotting and diseased flesh, feasting on the dead tissue.
Someone came into the room and immediately began gagging when they looked at the bed and saw Koda with the maggots swarming his body.
“Get the hell out!” Lauren screamed in anger. She didn’t have time for anyone who couldn’t stomach this. “For those of you who don’t know, those maggots are helping to keep him alive! So get the hell over it because they’re coming with us until we can get him in stasis!”
Mikey was in awe of his beautiful mate. Even with everything he’d seen overseas, his stomach had heaved more than once while in the cabin. He didn’t think anyone could look at the man in the bed and not be shocked and horrified at his condition. But his mate was incredible. If he’d any doubts before about her becoming a mission doctor, he had none now. She was magnificent.
“Grai’s almost here!” Disc called out.
“I don’t care!” Lauren yelled, finally stabilizing Koda as best as she could. “We have to go now. Chris! Port us all now!”
Seconds later they were on the floor of the ship above.
“Brace yourselves!” Deacon called out.
Lauren gripped Koda to make sure he wouldn’t be thrown around and looked at Mikey gratefully when he grabbed hold of her just as the ship took off.
“We’re not done!” Deacon yelled out as he kicked in the secondary engines. “Three minutes to Beta! Someone get them notified that we’re coming in hot!”
“Covered!” Mikal called out, his father’s limp body in his arms.
“Is he all right?” Chris asked.
Mikal nodded his head, not taking his eyes off of Indrid.
“He used everything he had to keep them alive long enough for us to take over. He’s in a hibernating state while he recovers his energy. He’ll be fine when he’s been at beta a few days,” he said.
“You’re a lucky guy to have two great dads,” Chris said, laying a comforting hand on Mikal’s shoulder.
Mikal just nodded, overcome with pride and gratitude over what Indrid had done for Koda.
*****
Tristan still stood in the center of the stage while Tricia and the others tried to clean up the disaster left behind from their first Christmas play. His left hand was still weaving intricate patterns in the air around him until his spine went stiff and he began to tremble.
While everyone was busy talking and laughing over their disastrous play, Tristan walked out of the room, his eyes fixed ahead unblinkingly. His right hand reached up just as Tricia came up to take his hand.
“I heard, baby. Let’s go see if you can help,” Tricia said as she led him to the portal room so they could meet Koda and the others when they arrived at Beta.
To my Readers:
This is NOT a cliffhanger! Koda’s book is next and we all will get to see just how in the heck this all happened the way it did. Gibly will NOT die. So fear not for our furry friend or for Koda, things are never as they seem.
Koda will be out in February, quickly followed by Chris in April. Chris will answer many of the bread crumbs left behind in Mikey and Koda.
The new year is full of shocking surprises for not only our First Wave crew, but for our Dranovians as well.
Mac
Coming in February 2016
Saving Koda
The gift was Emily Smith’s curse, and she’d have killed herself long ago if her mother hadn’t died giving birth to her autistic sister. The baby needed her, and that was enough to keep Emily in the world. She’d never known peace in her life; the curse kept them isolated and on the move as they sought to flee the spirits of the dead.
In the middle of the night, a flash of light and loud explosion awakened her from sleep, and Emily stepped out onto her porch to the most handsome man she’d ever seen walking towards her. The only problem was that he was so close to death his soul had come to her for final release.
Caught between the worlds of life and death, Koda finds his spirit wandering in a shadow world, driven towards the one light he can see in the darkness. He never expected to find the beautiful and compassionate woman who met him in the light, and he vowed to fight with everything left in his being for the one woman who could make him fight through the agony and darkness, to live.
As Emily struggles to find and save the body that goes with Koda’s spirit, she’s caught in a race against time that could cost them all their lives, or she could end up with the greatest gift of all—a mate and family of her own.
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