by Mikayla Lane
“They think it is just Freedom Enterprises. However, through the legal expertise of my mate, and all the subsidiaries and shadow companies she’s helped us create; we actually provide your food, clothing, bedding, furniture, electronics, weapons and gear. Among other things. Each is a separate company that provides something different for you. And for our own people.”
“We own farms where those who can’t or won’t fight against my father and Dagog, grow uncontaminated food for all of us, including all of your safe houses. Through our defense divisions, we create weapons and tactical gear to help keep us all alive. Not human gear, but gear that can save their lives in a fight with one of my father’s men.”
“Specialized gear like your eye lens. Night vision is not the only thing it helps you see. We developed it, specifically so that your people can see the Dark Ones. For those of us who have beast bonded, our heightened senses allow us to see the light spectrum in which they are only visible. Your people and some of the other Relian captives we released were defenseless if ever faced with one. Show them Traze.” Grai said, looking to his brother.
“Gimme a sec… there!” Traze worked his fingers over the device Grai had given him earlier and within moments, another screen came up.
It looked to be a view of a large empty room. There was nothing in it at all that could be seen. In fact, the only clue that something was not right was the inhuman growls and snarling that could be heard. And the blessing of protection uttered quietly by Viper.
“Where did you find such an abomination?” Dread asked quietly, his eyes never leaving the screen.
Gibly stood in the middle of the table, his fur standing on end, claws extended, his body shaking as he growled deeply at the screen. Ivint wondered what the hell they were seeing that he wasn’t.
Without a word, Drew, Bree and Jane took off their headgear; they were wearing that came equipped with the lens that Grai had been speaking of, and they handed one to Reven, Jax and Ivint.
Ivint looked hesitantly at the head piece for a moment before putting it on and looking to the screen with the empty room. Jax and Reven following suit.
Jax immediately pushed back from the table and reached out a hand in front of her. “Oh my God! What is that?”
Ivint watched in horror as the eyepiece that fit securely over his left eye allowed him to see clearly what a dark one was. Going by the size of the door in the room, he estimated their height to be at least seven feet.
Their bodies had no defined shape, consisting of what looked to be nothing more than a thick black smoke. Their eyes were a burnt orange color that seemed to glow from within.
Covering his left eye, he viewed the room through only the eye not using the lens and again saw an empty room. Uncovering the lens he could clearly see the dozens of dark masses gliding around the room.
Removing the headgear he handed the set to Banatar, so he could see, Jax and Reven did the same, handing theirs off to others in the room.
“This is our biggest worry.” Grai continued when he knew he had the High Councilor’s attention again.
“They are most deadly because they cannot be seen without the lens unless you are beast bonded and because of their speed and strength. To answer your question Dreadhawk, this abomination was created by my father.”
“On yet another planet that he destroyed, he found a species that lived solely underground and in the shadows. He captured a few and used them in his experiments until he created that.” Grai gestured to the screen with the empty room, which they now knew was not truly empty.
“It looks like what we would call a demon or shadow person.” Jax said quietly, still staring at the screen with the dark ones on it.
“The dark ones are not the first time that dear daddy has unleashed his experiments on the planet and its people. We have spent years trying to capture and contain them all. Koda and Grai came up with a way to count and track them and their trips to the planet. But hundreds of dangerous ones have escaped since daddy got sick, including some of the dark ones.” Traze interrupted, pulling up what looked to be census data on one of the screens.
Ivint couldn’t help but think the smart young man kept the screen with the dark ones up as a reminder as to the seriousness of the situation they were in. Although seeing the creatures had been more than enough of a startling realization to all of them.
“They seem to be a soulless species. They live to inflict pain and death. There is no reasoning with them, although they seem to comprehend languages. The records regarding the original species have long been lost along with their planet, but we’ve not only found a way for others to see them, but to kill them.”
“All of the ammunition rounds that we supply you with, come embedded with the only chemical, we have found that kills them. Surprisingly enough, its sodium. Your regular, everyday table salt will kill them. Or any projectile through an eye. Knife, bullet… hell even a pencil if you can get it in far enough to pierce their brain.”
“That is one of many containment cells on my brother’s ships. It is where he keeps most of them, and there are thousands. Because Dagog took the DNA, he can create more, but it takes time for each to mature. Usually six months from birth to what you see, and he can create fifty at a time.” Grai explained, gesturing back to the screen with what appeared to be the empty room.
“Why?” Reven asked, looking straight at Grai as if to try to judge his honesty by his expression. Grai almost laughed out loud at that. He’d grown up learning very quickly that the wrong look, that showed how you truly felt, could get you laid up with broken bones around his father.
Grai had become so good at hiding his thoughts and emotions that when he had first started to build his businesses, he’d gotten most of the money by gambling. He had the best poker face for it, the talent almost seeing him dead more than once during much earlier and more dangerous times on the planet.
“As I said earlier, my mother, brother and I wanted more than the brutality of my father and his kind. And we raised Traze to be the same way. Unfortunately, our brother Dagog has always been more of a duplicate of our father and has most likely taken over the moment the first explosion went off on the mother ship.” Grai explained, evading the deeper reasons why he had done the things he had. Those were revelations for another time, if ever. Right now, now they were going to need each other… and soon. That would take precedence for now.
“So it is this Dagog that will now take over the empire? Not you?” Ivint asked curiously. The more Grai spoke, the more the young Relian fascinated him. If this was a lie, then it was the most elaborate lie Ivint had ever seen. The problem was, the lengths he had to go through to hide all of this from his father had to have taken just as much of an intricate scheme. Ivint wondered just who was the victim of the man’s intelligence… his own people or them?
“Yes. The moment the mother ship was destroyed, he knew that my brothers and I had… defected. That and we blatantly killed part of my father’s personal forces here, in that field. When he comes, he comes for all of us. And he will unleash the dark ones on us. We all have to be prepared.” Grai admitted sadly. He had hoped that he would never be put in a position to have to choose between his people and his brother. However, Dagog didn’t give him a choice.
“What about my daughter? If you are so damn benevolent and unlike your father, then why did you do that to my daughter?” Banatar demanded weakly, the full situation finally sinking in for him.
For almost a hundred years, if not longer, it had been the enemy giving his people food and the tools for survival. The young Relian, Traze was right. Nothing was ever as it seemed.
“My father did not begin to trust me with his breeding program until recently. In fact, the only access we could get was the little Traze was able to hack from their communications or the girls we could rescue.”
“Dare was my first time running one of the experiments, although they had started using my suggestions for a gentler approach earlier than that. I was
n’t part of the scheme to kidnap anyone either. I was handed Dare by my father’s people after she, and Balduen had already been taken.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be touched until Friday. The doctor took it upon himself to do the procedure a day early. Either way, I would have allowed the procedure to continue if they hadn’t escaped or were rescued.” Grai looked away, trying to hide his shame. Only a few very sharp pairs of eyes were able to catch it flicker across his face.
“You know Tricia is my mate. Her son Tristan, is my son.” Grai waited for the gasps of shock and muttered rage to settle down before continuing. He especially watched Balduen carefully, hoping he would not have to tangle with the man again.
“Tristan is dying. The only thing we can discover is that because Tricia is human that the beast has been unable to properly bond with him. It’s causing the seizures that are destroying his body and his mind. Maggie does not believe he has much more time.” Grai’s voice cracked, and he had to suck in a deep breath to try to control his emotions. The thought of losing his baby boy too much for him to deal with right now.
“He is telling the truth, Ivint. I’ve been to see the boy in the MedLab. He does not have much time. I had originally thought that it was Dare’s child who was creating the disturbance in the Shengari’ because I sensed the Relian presence. However, once I saw and felt the boy downstairs; I knew it was he that was the one creating it.” Dread acknowledged, slightly impressed with what he was learning about the young Relian’s in the room.
What they were not saying was just as important as what they were. He would have to talk to Ivint later about what he could sense.
Traze replaced the image of the room of dark ones with different video footage of Tristan in various stages of seizures. Grai reached over and pulled Tricia into his arms when she broke down in sobs, unable to watch her son in so much pain.
“Enough!” Grai said gruffly to Traze. He ignored the curious stares of everyone in the room as he tried to calm and soothe his mate. Traze instead put up images of earlier times, footage he’d found when his brother finally told he and Koda about his mate and son a few days ago.
Video of his brother laughing and cuddling a happily pregnant Tricia. His brother holding his newborn son for the first time, the tears shining in his eyes along with a pride that was unmistakable.
“I said enough!” Grai said angrily this time as he glared at his brother until the screen went blank.
“What did you hope to gain?” Balduen asked with a low, menacing growl that startled everyone.
“A cure. The human scientists I employed privately found a genetic imbalance. Because she is not gifted or hybrid, her body does not produce the enzymes required to sustain the beast within the brain. That means Tristan’s does not either.”
“The only hope was to produce another child, with the correct enzymes, use it to create a synthetic version and inject them into his brain. Because of the uniqueness of each beast and host, the child had to be mine, like Tristan, for it to work.” Grai admitted, his voice rough and gravelly from emotion and the grinding of his teeth.
He had always been such an intensely private person, for reasons of survival, and it was beginning to disturb him to be sharing so much information. Even though he knew he had to in order to get their cooperation.
“And you used Dare to do it?” Balduen’s voice held a dangerous edge that made everyone in the room immediately tense.
“What would you do for your son? For Dare, if she asked it of you?” Tricia surprised them all with the anger lacing her usually quiet voice.
“I gave him the idea. I had read about how parents of children with cancer would have another child to be a marrow donor to the first. We had no idea it would be Dare. That had already been set in motion by his father’s people. They had set a random trap that she happened to fall into.”
“Do you think we wanted this? We had no idea it was even possible for us to have a child! Again, what would you do to save your son?” Tricia spoke directly to Balduen in broken sobs, her body shaking from her pain and shame.
Balduen stared at the woman sobbing before him, even the agony of the proud Relian radiated through his heightened senses. There was nothing false about what they felt about their child and their need to save him.
It didn’t help that he couldn’t get the picture of the tiny dark-haired boy writhing and jerking in agony on the bed in the video, out of his mind. He could easily imagine that being the dark blonde head of his own son, his knuckles popped from the pressure of his fists clenching.
The woman, Tricia, had a point as well. One he hated to admit, even to himself. For Dare, for his child, he had no idea what he could be capable of in order to save them.
“The pain they are in and the pain of that child is real Balduen. I may abhor the way they have done this, but as she said, I do not know what I would do were it my child. It does not excuse it, but it makes it more understandable knowing it wasn’t out of an intention to do harm to anyone.” Dread said through their private energy path, trying to comfort his new friend.
He could feel the warring emotions in him the longer he remained in the room with the man who had effectively impregnated his mate.
“I need to think. And speak to my mate. Let me know when I am needed.” Balduen replied privately to Dread, before walking out of the room without a word to anyone else.
Chapter Four
“Amun, I would like you to stand by for the medical information on a child. The details will be provided with the information. In fact, I believe Maggie has all the information that you need and can answer your questions; I want you to get with her immediately. I want a report as soon as you can make one available.” Ivint ordered his chief medical officer, who was on the Adaria with his mate Jess. With Amun’s familiarity with the humans, hybrids and the beasts, he may be able to help the boy.
“I’ve notified Drago of the situation as well, and he will make himself available for any questions that Amun may have regarding the beast that may help.” Dread offered.
“Thank you…” Grai almost growled from emotion; tears misted his eyes as he gently squeezed Tricia’s hand and gave her an encouraging smile.
“If we can help the boy, we will. However, we will not force Dare to do anything regarding her child. If this enzyme from the child is the only way to save your son, then you will have to get her and Balduen’s permission. It is not ours to give. Do you understand that?” Ivint warned. He would tolerate no more manipulation of their people. If they were to even consider forging a truce, it would have to be with complete honesty from now on.
“Yes… I do understand. We understand.” Grai said squeezing Tricia’s hand in support. His heart leaped when she gave him a watery smile and nodded her head at him to continue.
“Right now we need to turn our attention back to this situation. We have another thirty minutes before Dagog launches his first attack. It will be the ground forces, and he will unleash the dark ones, especially here in the city. Our females are beast bonded, but yours are not. You have to make sure they all have the lens and ammunition, or they will never be able to defend themselves.”
“All of your safe houses, including this one, have stock piles of them either in the basements or general storage rooms. They are the large wooden crates that were there when you moved into the buildings. And try not to shoot the people currently acting as your first line of defense around the safe houses.” Traze interjected, pulling up a picture of the crates on one of the vid screens.
Ivint was impressed and stunned at how Grai had made sure each location was well prepared for just this kind of situation. It said a lot for the Relian that he had included Banatar and his people in those preparations. There was a lot more to this man than anyone had originally thought, Ivint mused.
“Next he’s going to send an exploratory wave of fighters to test the defenses of the fleet. Just keep your shields up on your ships and try not to fire on my brother. Koda has a few sur
prises in store for them that will hopefully deter a full-scale assault." Grai ordered confidently, forgetting that he wasn’t commanding a room of his own people for a moment. He immediately tried to soften his words.
“If we do not fight together, then we die separately. Even combined we do not have the forces that they still have, not just here on the planet but in surrounding quadrants. And it’s not just us; we need to consider, there’s a planet full of innocent humans standing in the middle. And they deserve better than this. From all of us.”
Ivint stared at the strong man in front of him and considered his words carefully as everyone looked at him expectantly.
“And what of after this battle?” Ivint asked, cocking his head to one side, so he could study the man while he answered his question. He almost smiled when he heard Grai’s barely huffed out sigh.
“I considered becoming allies, but I’m unsure of the welcome that would receive, considering everything that has happened. Either way, I will not allow my people to harm yours. They have not ever done so yet, and will not in the future. Nor will I prevent any of your females from staying with you. However, I will leave the choice to them. Supplies will continue, if you choose, you’re a good customer; it makes good business sense.”
“My force has only one mission, and that is to destroy any memory of my father and his people. They either look for peace and a better life, or they will die. At our hands, if necessary. At the moment, our goals are the same. Survival.”
Grai watched the Valendran High Councilor consider what he said. Ivint’s eyes strayed lazily to the pictures still on the vid screens around the conference room, as if they had a lot of time to consider things. Grai wished he was that calm.
*****
Dare slid slowly out of the bed. Her body screamed for rest, but something would not allow it. Something was wrong… off. She couldn’t ignore it either. It kept nagging at her mind… her spirit.
“I sense it as well. Somehow familiar… but not.” Thorn whispered through her mind, making her smile at how comforting it was to have him there.