Niklosi's Nightmare (First Wave Book 10)

by Mikayla Lane

  “We don’t believe in making our people do anything they choose not to. If they wish to remain unknown, we will leave them in peace,” Grai said with a nod of respect.

  He was surprised when Bess laughed at him.

  “You are an excellent ambassador for your people, but even you cannot hide your secrets from me. You will take my daughter and my son from me, and I will allow it because it is their future, but you will leave with no one else,” Bess said and ignored the gasps of her children.

  Before anyone could react to the woman’s strange statement, the door opened and two large men fought to get in at the same time, shaking the newly built wall that covered what used to be the garage doors.

  “Damn it, Irwin!” a beefy red-haired and heavily-bearded man muttered as he huffed inside.

  “You damn bastard! If you’d go on that damn diet you keep talking about!” a much smaller, dark-haired man groaned as he stepped inside.

  Both men ran a hand over their heads as they faced Bess and looked over the strangers intently.

  Dennis, the large red head was almost as large as Grai, and he quickly surveyed the room, singling out what he thought would be the greatest threat, and moved to stand near Traze. Irwin moved through the crowded room and stood protectively beside Bess.

  “A room full of talented people who can do a lot of damage to one another, but I don’t think that’s why you’re here,” Dennis noted as he crossed his large arms over his chest and looked over Grai, Blade, Nik, and Traze.

  “Are they your people?” Irwin whispered in awe as he looked at the strangers in a new light.

  “Yes, they are, and we’ve nothing to fear from one another, it’s the government coming. This is Niklosi Jevasari, our BJ’s mate. Grai T’Alq and his mate, Tricia, are the ones responsible for a lot of the things we hear in the world that we’ve always wondered about,” Bess began as she gestured to each person in turn. “This is Traze T’Alq, Grai’s impulsive but well-meaning brother, and Blade Djornav, another multi-talented one like us.”

  Blade nodded to the woman in respect, and Grai felt unsettled about the woman’s incredible abilities.

  Could she be a prime and not a hybrid? he wondered. I’ll ask Tricia later when Bess isn’t dropping in and out of my mind.

  “What happened?” Dennis asked as he eyed Traze for a moment before getting a cup of coffee.

  “Hobo-Cop over there decided—” Traze began before he felt another rough slap to the back of his head. “Damn it!”

  Nik cleared his throat and decided to throw the man-child a bone.

  “We were chasing a group of Relians who’d tried to detonate a bomb at a community daycare center. I just got the last of them, but it was right in front of BJ here, and with her energy shielding and the circumstances, our prints were ran through the system before Bess could let everyone know we were not enemies. Now the government is coming for us,” Nik decided to leave out the smaller details for later since they didn’t appear to be necessary for them to formulate a plan.

  “Oh my,” Bess said with a concerned gaze.

  Irwin’s mouth just kept opening and closing as he looked at the Valendrans in the room.

  “Well, hell,” Dennis said with a hearty laugh. “We ain’t had no fun around here in forever! Bunch of pansy ass government spooks ain’t gonna shake us.”

  Dennis grinned over at Traze and elbowed him a little roughly with his enthusiasm.

  “It’s been years since we got to have any fun with the spooks! Ha Ha!” Dennis said, surprising only those who didn’t know the jovial man well.

  “That’s the right idea!” BJ said with a huge grin. “That’s exactly what we saw! Remember back in the 70s when you guys chased those poachers and trappers off? And in the 80s when you got rid of the land developers? We need that tactic again.”

  Dennis whooped and hollered in glee as Irwin shook his head nervously and Bess sighed.

  “What exactly are you talking about?” Grai asked nervously.

  He was definitely uneasy around the strange people even if they were his own, and he didn’t like not knowing what was going on around him.

  Mojo chuckled casually and looked over at Traze.

  “All those stupid things you thought were real about us? They’re all about to come true for those poor spooks,” Mojo said.

  “Wait . . .” Traze said, struggling to understand. “You guys are going to play all crazy inbred people to the spooks?”

  BJ, Mojo, and Dennis had devilish grins on their faces as they nodded in unison.

  “I’m the inept cop; my brother is my assistant,” BJ stated with a grin. “Dennis is the district attorney and normally one of the brightest legal minds you’ll ever find, but not for the spooks. Irwin is the local mayor who loves his farm animals and all scary analogies associated with them, and the rest of our people know exactly how to play their parts.”

  Irwin made a sound eerily similar to a squealing pig, and Traze felt a shudder run up his spine while Dennis slapped him on the back and cackled.

  “This is going to be more fun than we’ve had in years!” Dennis proclaimed.

  Bess covered her eyes for a moment and looked as if she was struggling to compose herself before she looked at BJ and Mojo in turn.

  “You’re sure this is the only way?” she asked, hoping it was only one of several successful scenarios her children had seen.

  BJ and Mojo looked at one another and shook their heads sadly.

  “No, Mom,” BJ admitted. “They all ended in disaster when we tried other means. We have to play on their fears and weaknesses, or a lot of people will die.”

  “Varying degrees of disaster,” Mojo added, “with unacceptable casualties on all sides. We have to run them off; we can’t fight them. At all. No rounds can be fired, no punches thrown, or it’s over for us.”

  “How do you know this?” Grai asked until Bess cocked a brow at him. “Never mind that. Are you sure there are no other options?”

  “No. The moment your people do anything, it’s over. You can’t be here at all; you will all have to leave and let us handle this,” BJ explained.

  Nik was OK with everything he’d heard up until that moment. Their predicament was just as much his fault as anyone else’s, and he was not going to leave the pretty cop to fight the battle without him.

  “I’m not going anywhere!” Nik stated, daring anyone to tell him otherwise.

  Grai looked at Nik for a moment before he turned to Bess, the obvious leader of this little pod of his people.

  “I also do not feel comfortable just leaving you like this. There are too many things that can go wrong, and we have a way to evacuate any who may need it. It may even be wise to let us take any sick, elderly, or children while this is being resolved,” Grai suggested, not feeling right about this tactic at all.

  He was used to being the tactical leader and leaving these defenseless people to deal with the brutal military unit that would likely be coming didn’t sit well with him at all.

  Bess, BJ, Mojo, Dennis, and Irwin all laughed until Bess turned an eerie gaze to Grai.

  “I can assure you that you will sit this one out. Not all things are under your control, and you would do well to be reminded of that,” Bess said, her words were soft but the meaning hit home.

  Grai was a little taken aback by her words, and his mind stumbled for a response. Luckily, Tricia’s mind was very clear.

  “I can understand your feelings, but if you’re correct, and BJ and Nik are mates and your children will come with us, then you would do well to understand the people you are entrusting your children to,” Tricia said, carefully choosing her words. “We don’t want to run this. We just want to be nearby to lend assistance in case you need it. We can stay in the ships above you and be on the ground in seconds.”

  When Tricia saw she had Bess’s undivided attention, the lawyer in her pressed her advantage to her jury.

  “Let Mojo work with Fiorn’s people to muddle the informatio
n that went through the NCIC so he can see how we’ve been working and can do the same if he chooses to stay. Nik can be close to BJ so they can get to know one another,” Tricia added to the exasperation of both BJ and Nik.

  Bess narrowed her eyes at Grai.

  “What of you?” she asked. “Will you use your big corporate money and throw it around here to make things better for us? Is that how it works for you? Because we don’t want or need the very thing that’s corrupting and ruining this world. It’s not how we do business.”

  Grai was surprised by her vehemence and the agreement of her children and the two men. He was at a loss to respond.

  “What do you need?” Tricia asked, quickly trying to fill the silence.

  Bess turned a smile to Tricia.

  “It isn’t what we need; it’s what you need. But your mate and I can discuss the terms of trade with our people as you sit in your ships and watch the visions of my children unfold before your eyes,” Bess said with a mischievous grin.

  Grai wasn’t sure whether he disliked Bess or respected the hell out of her. He’d dealt with some hard-headed people before—Fiorn being at the top of his list and Traze not far behind—but this woman invented the term, and her abilities made her far more dangerous than anyone he’d ever encountered.

  “It’s a little of both you feel for me, as well you should,” Bess whispered through his mind, sending a shiver up Grai’s spine.

  “There is one thing you can loan us,” Bess said aloud as her hazel eyes gleamed.

  Chapter Six

  Grai paced like a caged beast in the transport hovering above the nearly nonexistent downtown area of Baker’s Creek while a group of 354 hybrids and humans thought to take on a trained military killing unit by themselves. He wasn’t happy in the least.

  The only thing keeping him sane at the moment was Bess’s request to use Gibly and any of the sibiox cats who would volunteer to help. The fact that she even knew of the cats was creepy enough, but when she wouldn’t explain what she needed them for Grai became even more curious about the unusual hybrids and their plan.

  He’d just spoken to Gibly minutes before and learned the cats were being treated like royalty among the Baker’s Creek residents and hadn’t been informed of any plans yet. Bess and the townspeople were still waiting for the military unit to arrive and had decided to determine their course of action then.

  “I think we need to be down there,” Nik said as he stood angrily next to Grai.

  Grai rubbed the back of his head, not really in the mood to try and hold back an angry mate—especially not one who was unwilling to admit he’d even found his mate.

  “Nik, I understand where you’re coming from, but we have no right to tell them how to do this. These are their people, their town and their rules—and you know it. I don’t like it any more than you do, but our hands are tied until they need us,” Grai explained.

  “You can’t expect a bunch of backwoods, inbred, nut-jobs to be able to pull off something like this! We need to be down there!” Traze yelled out in frustration.

  Grai rounded on his brother and clenched his teeth for a moment until he calmed himself. This whole damn area had his energy vibrating oddly, and it was setting his emotions on edge.

  “Do not talk to me of inbred nut-jobs when I saw the high definition footage of every part of what happened on that road through the dash cam footage you didn’t even know she was taking!” Grai growled back before he looked between both Nik and Traze.

  “Both of you handled this badly! Nik can be understood because that’s his mate, even if he is too thick-headed to admit it. You!” Grai said turning to his brother. “You were reckless and irresponsible! You should have called someone the moment the situation turned badly.”

  Nik and Traze both lowered their heads and sighed. They knew Grai was right; they’d both made stupid mistakes which led to the current situation getting out of control—and both of them were more determined than ever to get back on the ground and help fix it.

  “We need to help,” Nik reiterated.

  Grai chuckled and shook his head.

  “You will when the two of you go down there tonight. Nik, your presence for dinner has been requested by Bess. She would like you to begin courting her daughter properly,” Grai said and almost laughed when Nik’s mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Oh, dude!” Traze whispered. “That crazy bitch is going to like hold a shotgun to you or something! Or watch you have sex with her daughter to make sure the deed is done! These people are sick and weird! Don’t do it, man!”

  Grai struggled not to smack his brother in the back of the head. He didn’t succeed.

  “Ow! Damn it!” Traze snapped after receiving the hard slap.

  “If I were you, I’d shut my mouth because Bess has requested your presence as well,” Grai told his shocked brother.

  “What the fuck for?” Traze erupted.

  “She said she thinks she has much to teach you,” Grai countered.

  “Like how to fuck my cousins or weave my ass hair into coasters? Are you fucking serious? And you agreed to this?” Traze demanded angrily. He wasn’t having any more of the crazy-eyed woman. No way.

  Nik couldn’t contain his laughter no matter how hard he tried, and Grai rubbed a hand down his face as he heard Disc, Tricia, and the others on board the transport laughing as well. He had to put a stop to Traze’s mouth—and quickly.

  He had no idea if the crazy woman could be listening to them and getting angry at the lack of respect. Not that he could blame her, and not that he didn’t find himself just as leery and creeped out as everyone else appeared to be.

  “We have eight, I repeat, we have an eight strong military convoy heading our way, 70 miles out,” Disc called out.

  Grai could almost feel the tension in the craft as the countdown began to what they feared would be a disaster. They knew the townspeople weren’t going to be prepared for the brutal way the military unit would handle them, and he hated feeling helpless as the townspeople unknowingly waited on what had to be certain death or arrest and detainment as conspirators.

  Grai had tried to talk reason into Bess, but the stubborn woman had stomped her foot on the floor with her hands on her hips as her hazel eyes swirled with power. Her voice boomed out “No!” so loudly that Grai’s beast, Death, had recoiled from the energy. He immediately backed off and grudgingly applauded the woman’s ability to make him retreat so easily.

  Grai had no idea what Bess was, but he knew on an instinctual, primal level that she wasn’t a normal hybrid. She was something he’d never encountered before, and Death was prowling around restlessly in his head trying to understand what they were dealing with.

  This whole area vibrated with a strange energy and power that he’d felt few other times before, all in different parts of the world. He made a mental note—all of the areas where he’d felt that kind of power were permeated with ancient cave systems so deep and extensive that they’d not discovered even a tenth of a percent of them. It was something he felt needed more research.

  *****

  BJ sighed heavily as she pulled her hair out of her pony tail and began fussing with it. She loved and hated the times when they’d had to do this, and if the circumstances had been different, she would have enjoyed the games that were about to begin.

  “Stop, my baby girl. Do not let your mind confuse the truth with fear,” Bess said as she hugged BJ to her.

  “I’m a little scared, Momma,” BJ admitted, not thinking of the military but of Nik and her uncertain future when it was all over.

  Bess only laughed and hugged BJ harder for a moment before she pulled back and looked into eyes that were identical to her own.

  “You know there is no need. I would never let you go if I didn’t think it was what will be best for you. Even if you can’t see your future, I can, and it will be the most amazing journey you’ve ever taken. Now, get ready, we’ve not much time,” Bess said as she smiled at BJ and moved across the
station where Dennis, Irwin, and Mojo were getting ready as well.

  Buford came in the door and set a duffel bag on the floor as he grinned at the commotion around the room.

  “Everyone is ready! We’re expecting them to arrive right at daylight, so we’re good to go!” Buford said as the excitement oozed from him.

  BJ shook her head and smiled as she felt the energy around them increase with the level of excitement now permeating the town as the time of their performance neared. She couldn’t help but get swept along with it and found herself grinning as she pulled her hair back into two lop-sided pigtails, her loose curls making them stand out comically.

  “Throw me the black wax!” Dennis called out.

  Buford dug through the duffel bag, fished out a small tin, and threw it over to Dennis.

  “I need that after you!” Mojo added as he twisted his hair into odd little fluffy balls all over his head.

  “Clothes, everyone!” Bess called out as she clapped her hands together.

  BJ nodded, untucked her uniform shirt, and worried the fabric until it looked rumpled as the others also made various wardrobe alterations and Buford handed out items from the duffel bag.

  “OK, I’m ready!” Mojo said as he cracked his knuckles and began typing on his laptop. “High definition camera footage is being altered by that Fiorn guy and looking awesome; internal cameras here have been knocked out and rendered as dummies but will be viewable by the transport ship above us.”

  “Buford, did Johnny give you the ashes from that hog roast?” BJ asked.

  “Sure did, I switched out the evidence bags and gave the Relian ashes to . . .” Buford shrugged. “You know what I did with them.”

  “Excellent!” BJ said with a grin. “Everyone else?”

  “The whole community is ready to go, and all of our own security protocols have been put in place,” Buford answered.

  “This is going to work great,” BJ said as she sat down at her desk and sighed.