Expecting The Unexpected (Nakaka Book 3)

by Cree Storm

  Sighing, Throg thought about how since that time he had never taken a day off. Never allowed the ancients or their families to be placed in harm’s way. He thought of how he had done everything in his power to ensure the safety of all ancients and their families with little rest. Surely they had to see he was trying hard to make up for his mistake. However, would his transgression be more than the attempt to make up for that one error, be enough?

  “Throg, where were you when the Nakaka were attacked?” Oleander asked again, softer this time.

  Letting out another deep breath. As much as he hated to admit to his failure as an ancient guard, he had to answer the question. His ancient had ordered it, and besides, Throg was so damn tired of keeping his wrongdoing to himself. “It’s not as easy as just where I was, doc.”

  “Please, call me Norval. This isn’t a session... even if I wish you would start coming to a few.” Oleander said.

  Throg snorted. “Then you wouldn’t have time for anyone else. Because, I have to say I’m a fucked-up mess.” With a smirk that was filled with no humor, Throg said, “Not that I didn’t bring it on to myself, but it changes nothing. I not only can’t have a mate, I don’t deserve to have one. It is my punishment for failing my people at a time they needed me most.”

  “Bullshit!” Krerr snapped, but stopped speaking when Oleander... eh, Norval, held his hand up. “I didn’t ask what you can or can’t do, or what you do and do not deserve. I asked where you were at the time the Nakaka were attacked.”

  “I was getting my rocks off! Is that what you wanted to hear? While my people were being slaughtered, I was fucking!” Throg snapped.

  Norval nodded, but his facial features never changed as he asked, “Had you snuck away?”

  Throg gasped, “What? What the fuck kind of question is that?”

  Shrugging, the doc said, “Seems like a reasonable one to me. You said that instead of saving your people you were having coitus. Did you sneak off with the man to do that?”

  “Coitus? Damn that’s a prissy way to say it. What I was doing wasn’t so... clean. It was fucking... down-and-dirty fucking.” Throg hissed.

  “Fine, if that’s how you need to see it, we’ll call it fucking. However, the question is the same. Did you sneak off to fuck?” Dr. Oleander asked.

  Throg didn’t answer, but Krerr did, “No, he didn’t. Stok and I had ordered Throg to take the time off that we would be gone. He had been working for weeks nonstop and we wanted him to take some well-deserved and needed time off.”

  Nodding, Oleander said, “Okay, Throg, you were on your own time. What kind of things did you normally do on your time off?”

  “I’d do recon of sorts. The Nakaka were created to keep the people safe, and we had been drifting apart for decades. The Nakaka weren’t doing patrols like they used to and I wanted to keep up with the times. Things in this world change so fast, and it’s important to know and understand what’s happening around you,” Throg explained.

  “True. Ignorance isn’t always bliss,” Oleander said, then asked, “Was it during one of these ‘recon’ things that you met the man you were fucking?”

  Throg nodded, “Yeah. I had gone into one of the bars for a drink, and to listen in on what the people were talking about. What they were thinking was important in life, and a bar is generally a good place to get some answers. Corbin sat next to me and we started chatting, and he had me laughing and feeling... I don’t know, normal I guess.”

  “In other words, you hit it off and wanted to be with him more, and get to know him better?” the doc asked.

  Closing his eyes, Throg remembered those days, and how Corbin would tease and joke around, how Throg laughed more in that short time, than he had his entire existence. Throg had loved that feeling, and never wanted it to end. “Yeah.”

  “So, did you two fuck that night? Was that the night of the attack?” Krerr asked.

  Shaking his head, Throg answered, “No. All we did that first night was talk. However, I made a point to go to that bar on each of my days off. I found myself falling deeper and deeper for the man. The soft touches, the whispered words, slight kisses. We had been seeing each other for over a month before we truly touched each other for the first time. It was nothing more than a rub off, but damn... Anyway, once that started, we built things slowly between us, and I found myself falling hard for him.”

  “You fell in love,” Dr. Oleander whispered softly.

  Letting out a loud breath, Throg answered, “I thought I was. I thought he was... at least that’s what he said... but it was all a lie.”

  “How so?” Krerr quietly asked.

  Throg looked down at his drink, saying, “I had been working nonstop for over a month, because Corbin said he had to go out of town on business. I wanted to earn enough time off, so I could take him away somewhere. I wanted days with him, not just hours stolen here and there. I figured his time away was the perfect opportunity.”

  “Understandable. When we’re in love, it’s hard to stay away. All you want is to soak up their essence and lie within their arms.” Krerr wistfully stated.

  Throg scoffed, “I should have known he was playing me! I should have fucking known!”

  Dr. Oleander... Norval... gently squeezed Throg’s forearm. “Don’t go there. Just keep talking. You were saying Corbin went away on business. You were planning a long trip for the two of you. What happened?”

  “I was prepared to refuse Krerr and Stok’s insistence I take time off, but I got a message just before my meeting with Stok. It was from Corbin. He had said he was back and wanted us to get together. He said he had missed me... he had been thinking about our relationship and he wanted more... he was ready to take it to that last step... he wanted to...” Throg stopped speaking as his voice box seemed to lock up.

  “He wanted to make love,” Oleander whispered in understanding.

  Throg couldn’t talk, so he just nodded.

  “Was that the night of the attack?” Krerr softly asked.

  Nodding, Throg answered, “Yes. Corbin and I spent the night together. We had made... no! I refuse to call it that, when it was nothing more than a fuck to him! A means to an end. A way to get me and others like me out of the way, to leave room for an attack.”

  “You and others like you? Can you explain that?” the shrink asked.

  “It means exactly what it sounds like,” Throg snapped.

  Norval held his hand up, “I’m not trying to be difficult. I just want to make sure I have the full picture of what happened that day.”

  Throg let out another breath, and explained, “I didn’t find any of this out until after the attack, but it seems Corbin was part of a group of shifters working with the humans to take out the Nakaka. They had men willing to create a ‘relationship’ with the ancient guardians, and even some of the Nakaka guards.”

  “The idea was to get close enough to distract everyone, so they would have easy access into our home,” Krerr stated, in understanding.

  Nodding, Throg said, “Get us to fall in love, hold out sex until that one day, then take one for the team, while others stormed the clutch house and decimated our people.”

  “It was a smart plan,” the shrink muttered.

  Throg’s head shifted so fast to the damn head doctor that Throg was surprised it didn’t snap off. “What the fuck kind of thing is that to say?”

  “An honest thing. It was a very smart plan. People... military and others, have used sex as a means to an end, for as long as humans have lived. It’s one of the most productive ways to gather information to infiltrate locations all around the world,” Dr. Oleander explained.

  Throg snapped, “But it shouldn’t have worked on me!”

  “Why? What makes you so special, Throg?” The doc asked in exasperation.

  “I’m of the ancient guard. I was created by the gods themselves! It is my duty to see through shit like that! It is my duty to—”

  “You are Nakaka! You are a living breathing entity that i
s no different from a shifter or human. You may be an ancient guard created by the gods, but you are not a god! In cases such as this, you are no better than a human!” The shrink snapped, in an uncharacteristic bout of anger. “Gods, I get so sick and tired of hearing shifters and you guys trying to make it sound as if you and your kinds are the only ones that are responsible for others’ lives. Life isn’t made that way. We all have limits.”

  “But—”

  Norval cut Throg off before he could utter another word. “No! There are no buts in this, Throg. Everyone is created for a purpose. Do we know what that is? Not normally. The Nakaka and ancient guards and a few others out there are blessed to know what that purpose is... or at least part of it. However, you all need to remember, you are not the only ones created by the gods. Everyone... shifter, paranormals of all types, as well as humans are created by the gods, and each and every damn one of them are here for a reason. However, none... and I do mean none of us are perfect. As a matter of fact, we are designed to be imperfect. We are all going to fail at something in life. Some failures might be small in comparison, but that doesn’t mean the cost is less than what you have experienced. For you, it was not seeing past the mind of madmen to save your people. For someone else it was losing their house, because they gambled the money away, or they placed money in the wrong stocks and lost all of their money. Each are devastating in their own way, but just as traumatic in other ways. You say it is loss of life, so it’s worse, but a gambler or stock trader would argue he lost his life and that of his families, because he couldn’t or wouldn’t control an addiction. Maybe it’s a bad analogy, but hey, I’ve been drinking, so I get a pass.”

  “This is different. I should have known what Corbin was up to. I walked those streets, went into those bars, talked to those people for just that reason. However, I let dick get in the way of my thinking, and for that people died! I will not ever allow that to happen again!” Throg shouted.

  Krerr gasped in astonishment. “Whoa! Wait just a minute. Are you saying that you never had sex since, until the encounter with Spencer?”

  When Throg said nothing, Norval snickered, “No wonder you lost your mind with Spencer. I mean, we’re talking over two hundred years, Throg, then to find your mate, and knowing the abuse he suffered...”

  “Trying to fight the need to claim the man in every way possible... damn it was inevitable.” Krerr stated with a snort.

  Shaking his head, the shrink said, “That must have been one hell of a coming together. Not realizing what you were doing, makes a hell of a lot of sense. The thing is, refusing your pregnant mate doesn’t.”

  “I already told you why!” Throg snapped.

  Dr. Oleander nodded. “I know what your words said, but I’ll tell you what I think. You, Throg, great and powerful ancient guard... you are scared.”

  Throg slammed his hand on the table, shaking the glasses, until Oleander’s fell sideways. “Take that back! I am not scared! I am being reasonable! I am—”

  “Scared out of your mind,” Norval Oleander said with a snot. “You were lied to, and had your heart ripped out by a weasel, and you’re afraid that if you care for Spencer, if you take a chance and put it all out there, it’s going to happen again.”

  Shaking his head wildly, Throg hissed, “No.”

  “Yes!” The shrink snapped, then sat forward. “Corbin was a douche. There was no way for you or any others to know the game Corbin and other men like him were playing. Why would there be? What in all your past would have given you any idea of what these people were up to? They plotted, they planned, they used the oldest trick in the book... sex... just to get what they wanted. They were good, Throg. Hell, they were fucking brilliant... but they failed.”

  “They decimated my people. How the fuck is that failing?” Throg ground out.

  “Because, you and so many others lived!” Oleander yelled right back.

  Throg felt his anger drop and confusion build. Olean... Norval quickly continued, “Look at it, Throg. You’re here. The Nakaka are here. Yes, they have been few, but now... now look at where you stand. Mates are back, and now Spencer is expecting the first chickpea in over two hundred years. The Nakaka can reproduce again, and that means your kind will grow once more. They won that battle I’ll give them that, but they did not win the war, and trust me it was a war.”

  Throg sat up straight. Thoughts running through his mind. War? What the... is that what...? “Doc, why do you say is, and not was?”

  Shrugging, Oleander answered, “Because they didn’t win, and they know it. You said yourself that the shifters joined with the humans. The humans died, but Shifters... well, shifters live a long time, and I have a feeling that their stance on the Nakaka hasn’t changed. I don’t know why they’ve been so quiet with whatever plan they had built, but if they wanted you eradicated...”

  “They couldn’t do anything. We not only left, but we crippled them before we scattered,” Throg muttered.

  Krerr nodded in agreement, “Yes, but if you remember, the humans turned on the shifters, too.”

  “Wait. I remember the shifter and human war, but I don’t recall ever seeing a Nakaka. I’d heard of your kind, but we were told you had scattered into the wind, and left the humans to fend for themselves. How did you guys cripple them? The shrink asked.

  Sighing, Throg answered, “When I went back to the clutch house, I knew something was wrong. So many of my men, that normally stayed in house even on their days off, were walking back as well. I asked them what was going on? One by one, each said they had a date. When we arrived to see what had happened to our people we...” shrugging, Throg said, “Well, for lack of a better word, we lost it. We were on our way back to the town. Retribution was the only thought any of us had.”

  “You killed the men that tricked you,” The doctor said.

  “Most of them were on their way to our clutch when we found them, but we didn’t stop at killing every last one of them.” Throg dropped his head in shame. “We killed everyone we could find within the town.

  Oleander gasped. “You did what?”

  Throg slowly raised his head, “We didn’t know who we could trust and who had betrayed us.”

  “The children?” Oleander rasped.

  Shaking his head. “No. We didn’t touch a child. We did leave one woman alive. We told her she had until dawn to get the children and get out of town.”

  “This is why the gods stripped you of your mates and made it to where you couldn’t procreate. Not because you defended your people, but because you slaughtered innocent people,” the doc said in deep wonder.

  Nodding, Throg answered, “Yes, but they did no better than we did. They punished every Nakaka for what the ancient guards had done. It is our greatest shame. It was my greatest shame.”

  “Why yours?” the doc asked.

  “Because, I led the attack. I gave the order. I... I killed Corbin, and my anger wasn’t satiated, so I ordered the town be burned to the ground. Every man and woman was to die.” Throg rasped. “Even with all the death, I didn’t feel vindicated. Nothing worked. It was then I understood the ramifications of what I had done, and why I had done it.”

  Olean... damn it, Norval, said something that Throg was truly surprised to hear, “Throg, you weren’t completely wrong either.”

  Throg gasped, “How can you say that? I ordered hundreds of people’s deaths, all because of a broken heart!”

  Shaking his head, Oleander said, “You’ve said it so many times, Throg. You were created to protect the ancients and their families. Yes, part of what you had done was your reaction to having your heart ripped from your chest. But the other part... the other part was doing what you were born to do. Protect your people. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. But, tell me this. If things had been different, what would you have done?”

  “I don’t understand your question,” Throg said in confusion.

  The doc looked Throg in the eyes, asking, “If you had gone with Stok and Krerr, and
came back to the carnage you had come back from, what would you have done? Would you have sat passively back, saying, ‘oh my,’ or would you have stormed the town, and protected your people from further attack?”

  “I would have...” Throg stopped, and really thought about what Norval was asking of him. Then, he realized his answer. “I would have gone into the town and neutralized the problem.”

  “But, who would you have taken out of the equation? Would it have been just the men? Women can be just as deceptive as men. Hell even more so when given a reason. Who would you have let live?” Norval quietly asked.

  Throg’s eyes widened, knowing the answer. “No one. I didn’t know who I could trust. I had to protect my ancients and their families.”

  “Exactly. Yes, you went about the killing for the wrong reason, but you said yourself it wasn’t just you, it was all the ancient guards. You might have been the leader, but they had a choice as well. I don’t think the gods punished the Nakaka for the deaths, but they did punish for the reason for the deaths. It’s all about intent. The gods wanted your people to know that you are protectors, and never to use the gift they gave you as a weapon.”

  “Gift? What gift?” Throg asked again, confused.

  “Life,” Norval said quietly as he sat back. “The gods gave you life. The gods showed you they could take it away. Hell, in a sense, the gods did take away life for the Nakaka. They just left you breathing.”

  “What does that mean?” Throg asked in bewilderment.

  Norval snorted, “There is a difference between living and existing. Both means you breathe, eat, sleep, take a shit... whatever. However, if that’s all you do each and every day, without trying for anything else, then all you’re doing is existing. Living means you are embracing life as much as you can to feel fulfilled... choosing to be happy, not just what you need to do to get by. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “I think so, but that would mean you think us not having Viatas is by choice. When in fact, it was taken from us.” Throg insisted.