Drago (Second Wave Book 2) Read online

  Chris folded his arms across his chest. “We need to do that soon. Before more hybrids are trapped and turned rogue.”

  Lara looked at Grai. “What we need to do is to go back to the estate and look at the illusions there as well. Were you able to evacuate the party guests?”

  Grai nodded his head. “The teams I brought with me were able to tell the guests that the estate had somehow been overrun by the local wildlife during the last snow storm. No one was severely injured and we took care of any minor injuries on site before we sent them home.” Grai shook his head at the human fools before continuing.

  “From what the teams heard, the guests were assuming that it was all a major misunderstanding and their host had sent them the wrong date for the party. Let’s hope that Satalis doesn’t decide to finish them off any time soon, considering what I now know of the guests, I would be hard pressed to protect them again,” Grai said honestly.

  He had been disgusted when he learned that the guest list included mostly the rich and government scum who had more than willingly worked with Satalis to corrupt the political process for their own personal benefit. Chris and Mikal grunted their agreement with their father.

  Ivint cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. “Have the bodies of the rogue hybrids been sent for testing?”

  Grai glanced at Chris for a moment, surprised he had told Ivint about it, before responding. “Yes, they were loaded for transport and are heading to our research lab.”

  Ivint nodded. “Is there any way we can get one to Amun and also get him access to the research that has already been conducted?”

  Amun’s ears perked up at that. He was incredibly curious over the beast bonding process and would love to help the affected hybrids in any way that he could. The hybrids were like a physical puzzle that he was fascinated to learn about.

  Grai again nodded. “I’ll have access given to you immediately. Not only to the files but the research facility in Norway. There is access available to it through a little known portal that I will show you.”

  Ivint wasn’t done though and looked at Lara and Grai. “I would also like to go with you when you go back to the estate. I would like to see these illusions if I can,” Ivint said before Trick shook his head.

  “They are illusion fragments, only an illusionist or conjurer can see them. But, if they are still there, you can see what we suspect may be hybrids in other homes that we found around the area that also contain the same mass of illusions that we discovered in Devon Sinclair’s house,” Trick offered.

  Ivint looked stunned. “You think there are other hybrids trapped in those homes, with these illusions that are altering their minds?”

  Lara spoke up, sensing Ivint’s anger. “We have no idea what they are because their energy is being dampened by the illusions to the point where we can’t sense it. They could be regular humans, but either way we need to go back and disable the illusions. We need to see if destroying the mass will free the women of the influence. Maybe then we can find out what they are and see what impacts, that being in the homes has had on their brains.”

  Amun spoke up. “If I could see a brain of one of the women in the houses, I may be able to map how and when any changes were made to the brain structure. It could help us find a way to reverse the effects.”

  Ivint nodded his head. “I intend to go with you,” Ivint said, his tone letting them all know that he was not going to be denied.

  Grai looked at Chris and nodded his head, then Chris turned to Ivint. “My brothers and I will provide security for you and lead you to the estate and the homes that the Tezarian’s found,” Chris said, unsure if he was happy or not that the Valendran leader was taking a personal interest in the Dranovian affairs.

  Trick thought carefully before he added. “My family and I will go as well. Only we can see the illusion and you will need our assistance.”

  Chris sighed and shook his head. “There is no reason for you to put your family through it. We know from the surveillance tapes that you found the illusions in the basements. We can easily set off a small charge in the vicinity and it would still destroy it.” Chris didn’t want the Tezarian’s to feel pressured into helping them.

  They had already done more than enough to save his Angel, he couldn’t ask them for more, knowing that their own people were angry at them for working together to begin with. Chris and his brothers would never want to be the cause of anyone else being shunned the way they were, especially if it was because they were helping them.

  Trick snorted. “Oh that’s shit and you know it. Besides, we liked working with you guys and you know damn well that Dree has melded herself to Liam. You try to tell her she isn’t going, I dare you,” he said with a hearty laugh. Even Mikal snickered.

  Chris sighed and nodded his head. “We thank you for the help.”

  Dread also spoke up. “Don’t think you’re leaving our asses out either. Viper and I are going too.”

  Lara stood and clapped her hands together with a grin. “All right, let’s get the hell out of here before everyone gets out of dodge!”

  Chris and Mikal stayed back as everyone else filed out of Med Lab and into the docking bay to the transport craft they had used to get to Dillon. Drago sat quietly and held Angel’s hand while Grai put a hand on the shoulder of each of his son’s.

  “I could never be more proud of you than I already am. You know that. Keep them,” Grai said nodding towards the docking bay, before looking at each man in turn. “And each other safe. I will see you soon.”

  Mikal hugged his father and nodded towards Angel lying in the bed. “You keep our girl safe Dad, we got the rest,” he said before disappearing from the room.

  “He’s such a Drama King,” Chris muttered with a grin before hugging his father and nodding in respect to Drago. Then he walked out of the door.

  Drago looked at Grai and gave him a small smile. “If I am ever blessed with sons, I will come to you for advice. You know how to raise them very well.”

  Grai blushed slightly. “You can say that after meeting Traze?” He asked with a laugh.

  Drago laughed with him, Traze was just unique. “Even he, with all his antics, is still a good man. Viper told me through the Shengari’ that he stood beside your sons even though he had no idea who they were. You taught him the value of family, just as you did the Dranovian’s. I will proudly walk their path beside them so that Angel can remain with them,” Drago said honestly.

  As much as he would hate to leave his brothers, he knew they would understand his need to be with his mate. And her need to be with her own, unique brothers.

  Grai nodded his head and squeezed Drago’s shoulder. “I thank you for that, my friend, I truly do. But it will not matter one bit what either one of us wants. When our Angel wakes up, she will tell us what she wants and we will not have the heart to tell her no,” Grai said knowingly.

  Drago chuckled and leaned down to kiss Angel’s hand. “I fear you are right.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  Ivint was breathing hard and holding the wound in his side, when the Dranovian Windwalker, Mikal appeared in front of him. He watched the large, dark man place his body of front of his own and wished he had the breath to tell the Dranovian it wasn’t necessary, he was fine.

  The trip to the estate had gone horribly wrong, Ivint thought, as more gunfire echoed around the partially empty rooms. Where they had assumed the place would be deserted, they had been surprised when they began walking the halls, only to encounter armed resistance from over a dozen more suspected hybrids.

  Ivint had hesitated to shoot, just as the Dranovian’s had said he would and he had taken a bullet to the upper right of his abdomen from the dead eyed woman. He’d watched as these women, with soulless expressions, walked through the middle of the room, guns blazing as if uncaring if they were killed or not. Their only intent on killing anyone that they could before they died.

  Any attempt to just wound them was met with continued resistanc
e until they forced their own death. As if they had been trained to not be taken alive. Ivint had never seen such a thing before and it wasn’t just the loss of blood that had left him pale and shaken.

  Mikal turned slightly and handed Ivint a Med Pack. “We’re clearing a path to get you out of here, sir. Just do what you can with the emergency pack and we’ll get you to Amun in a few minutes,” Mikal said, ignoring his own shoulder wound as he guarded the Valendran leader.

  Mikal was damn grateful that they were giving Amun a lift to the Norway facility. He could just imagine how well they would be received if they arrived back at Dillon with the dead body of the Valendran alliance commander.

  “Clear!” Was shouted several times before Mikal raised up and without a word, threw Ivint over his shoulder before sprinting out of the door and into the large circular driveway.

  The next thing Ivint knew, he was laying on the ground surrounded by Reven and Amun. He sat up when he heard Reven and Amun’s indrawn breath and looked to where the two men stared in open mouthed shock.

  There, not more than ten feet away, lay what appeared to be a hybrid surrounded by several Dranovian’s. The hybrid crawled around the ground in front of the men, growling and clawing at them like a caged animal. Her blue eyes were wild and unfocused, spittle leaking from her lips. But it wasn’t the obviously crazed hybrid who had their attention. It was the Dranovian’s.

  Chris, Reign, Jason, Liam and Cole stood around the woman, their eye’s glowing with a strange amber light that seemed to pulsate from their sockets. Each held up both hands towards the woman and the amber light was reflected in their fingertips as they chanted something in a language the Valendrans couldn’t understand, even with their sophisticated translation devices.

  The woman began to writhe around on the ground, appearing to be in pain as she clutched at her head for long moments. She flipped around on the ground erratically, her cries weakening until there was silence. The amber light began to fade from the eyes of the Dranovian’s and they lowered their hands, each stepping back from the now silent and unmoving woman.

  Ivint thought they had killed her. He assumed that was what they had been watching. Until the woman looked up at them with wide, terrified eyes. She looked around at the men and then down at herself for a second, appearing confused.

  The woman pulled herself to her knees and stared past the Dranovian’s to the estate house behind them. Putting her hands to her mouth she let out a scream of pain and rocked back and forth.

  Cole took a step forward. “It’s ok, no one will hurt you. It’s all right now,” he said gently, trying to keep his distance from the woman as he tried to ease her fear.

  The woman looked at them with wild eyes and said, “Do you know what I’ve done? Have you seen it?” She curled into a ball and wailed as if in pain.

  Ivint reached out, thinking to comfort the young woman, but she flinched away from him. “My child, did you see it? Why didn’t you stop me!” She shouted as she clutched her stomach as if in an agony they couldn’t detect.

  The woman walked around in a circle erratically while they all wondered what to do to help her. “Do you know how that felt? To see it? To feel it? To feel my son’s skin against my own hand as I put my hand over his mouth!” The woman yelled, the tears streaming down her face. Her pain reflected in her face for anyone to see.

  She stomped in front of Cole and pointed her finger accusingly at him. “You think you saved my soul, but you left me in hell!”

  “Watch it Cole!” Chris yelled out just as the woman launched herself at Chris’s brother. Within seconds she had taken his weapon and in front of a horrified Ivint, she placed it under her chin and pulled the trigger.

  Cole was covered in the woman’s blood and brain matter and just stood there, almost as if in shock as he raised his blood covered hands. With a roar of rage and anger, he stormed off towards the estate.

  “Damn it to hell!” Chris muttered as he stomped along the driveway. He stopped to turn to Mikal. “Go get him please, get him cleaned up.”

  Mikal nodded and turned to make sure that Ivint was being cared for before he disappeared, then appeared seconds later walking beside Cole towards the estate house.

  Lara dropped down to her knees and laid a hand on Ivint’s injured side, sending bolts of healing energy into the wound. She stopped when she saw the color come back into his face and felt the wound begin a rapid healing. Standing, Lara looked towards the estate house and ran back towards the house without a word.

  Amun stood on shaky legs and stumbled over to the woman’s body with his comm in his hand. After several minutes he turned to Ivint. “She was a hybrid. The beast is dead and the preliminary scans show severe brain anomalies. The area of the brain where the beast would normally reside in harmony with the host, is scarred and in some places burned. I’ve never seen anything like this Ivint,” Amun said looking over at several of the Dranovian’s still around Ivint. He couldn’t help but wonder if whatever they had done to kill the beast had caused the severe damage found in the brain and made the woman commit suicide.

  Then he saw the fighting, scratching and biting woman that two of the Dranovian’s were struggling to bring over to him. He started scanning the woman before they even reached him and he was stunned that the brain scans showed the exact same patterns as the other woman.

  Amun shook his head and turned to a wide-eyed Ivint. “She has the exact same damage. Whatever the Dranovian’s do to kill the beast, they leave no trace. But this damage, it’s extensive. Even her normal pathways are altered dramatically,” he said moving closer to the barely controlled woman.

  “Move!” Chris shouted as Reign dove for Amun and knocked him to the ground just as the woman broke free and tried to attack the distracted doctor.

  The hybrid was able to get in several kicks to Amun’s legs before the Dranovian’s were able to pull her away. Dree growled in irritation and stomped over to the woman while looking angrily at the Dranovian’s and Valendrans.

  “You men need to learn that when you’re dealing with crazy bitches, you call a crazy bitch to help,” Dree said before she hauled back and punched the woman in the jaw so hard she immediately dropped to the ground unmoving.

  Several of the Dranovian’s looked at Dree in wide-eyed respect while others whistled low and muttered among themselves about never pissing her off.

  Dree grinned and turned to Amun. “Now you can study her without her ripping out your throat.”

  Reign laughed as he hauled Amun back to his feet and began placing restraints on the unconscious woman. Liam smiled and nodded his appreciation of Dree’s skill while Lara dragged another growling hybrid behind her in what looked to be a golden net.

  “Here’s another live one. Good luck though, she’s tried to swallow her own tongue to try and kill herself. I’ve got her jaw locked for now, but we can’t keep her like that forever,” Lara said, slightly out of breath.

  “What the hell is happening to them?” Ivint asked in shock. Even on their worlds he had never heard of an anomalous bonding producing this kind of animalistic, primal reaction.

  Lara’s gold flecked eyes met Ivint’s. “They were cold and calculating killers until we detonated the pulse charges. Then they turned into this,” Lara said as she motioned towards the growling, spitting woman trying to escape the golden energy net.

  “So the illusions are what’s making them rogue,” Ivint said quietly as he watched the woman’s almost animalistic actions.

  Lara nodded her head as the Dranovian’s and Tezarian’s gathered outside of the finally cleared estate. “We’re going to have to do the same at those houses. We can’t leave them as they are and we can’t leave the hybrids loose on the humans.” Lara knew that she was driving home the point to Ivint, Reven and Amun.

  What the Dranovian’s were dealing with regarding the hybrids was the complete opposite of what any of them had ever experienced. These women were nothing more than psychotic killers and although it was n
o fault of their own, they couldn’t be allowed to continue their murderous activities either.

  Ivint pulled himself to his feet, accepting Chris’s outstretched hand to help him. Ivint held the man’s hand for a few extra moments and looked him in the eye.

  “Your father is wise beyond his years and his respect and trust in you is well founded. You’ve never needed my permission before, to do what was best for… them,” Ivint said as he motioned to the two women.

  Ivint stiffened his spine. “I will not give it now.”

  The Dranovian’s all looked to their oldest brother Chris, wondering if they needed to protect each other from the Valendrans.

  Until Ivint spoke again. “What I will give you is my gratitude for doing something that I know must take more out of you than anyone ever has the right to ask. Your task is much more difficult than anyone could have guessed and I see why the One God saw fit to send you to this world to help. I am proud to claim you as Valendrans and will never turn a blind eye to your plight and that of your brethren again.”

  Chris and his brothers looked almost angry for a moment before they quietly dispersed to begin clean up and packing of the new bodies for the lab in Norway for study, while Amun sedated the live ones.

  Ivint was a little confused until Dree walked up to him and snorted at him. “For a famed leader, you’re pretty stupid. You just told them, in prettier words of course, that now that you realize you have a use for them, they’ll still be treated like pariahs, just at a closer distance in case you need them. Yeah, sign me up for your team!” Dree said sarcastically as she went to track down Liam.

  Ivint blushed deeply and said, “That’s not what I meant!”

  Chris chuckled. “Yeah, we’re not thinking anything that dramatic. I think that was Dree’s interpretation of your words. She doesn’t seem fond of you, although I must admit, my brothers and I adore her,” Chris said with a grin, his respect for the fiery little Tezarian growing by the second.