by Mikayla Lane
Mojo looked between his mother and BJ and headed back out into the office. He returned a few seconds later with the keys to the cells. BJ stood in front of him and held her hands up in the air.
“Wait a damn minute! I need to know what the hell is going on before I start letting murderers roam around my station and my town! Did everyone go insane? Was there something in the damn water? What the hell, Momma?” BJ yelled out.
“I ain’t going against Momma, and I want to know about that stone and what other technology they have,” Mojo said as he easily stepped around her and began opening Nik’s cell.
Bess finished cleaning up the floor and smiled at her daughter.
“These are our people, and you of all of us should be as excited as I am. I’ve waited so many years for you to fall in love and have a family of your own, and now your mate has found you,” Bess said wistfully before she gently caressed BJ’s cheek then breezed out of the holding area and into the office.
BJ stood with her mouth wide open and her left eye twitching from stress as she looked into both cells at Nik and Traze. Nik refused to meet her gaze, and Traze waggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to run into the office after her mother.
“What the hell are you talking about? Which of them is my mate?” BJ asked, desperately hoping her mother was lying-praying if it was true it wasn’t Traze.
“Tsk, tsk, child, you should have spent more time honing your gifts instead of pretending to be normal. The tall, gorgeous Niklosi is your mate. He reminds me so much of your father,” Bess said softly as her eyes teared up at the thought of her Jeremiah.
Nik and Traze had just stepped into the office area, and BJ blushed to her roots as she avoided Nik’s gaze.
“Grai, Traze’s brother and the leader of the Earth Alliance, is almost here. We can help you cover this up,” Nik said, keeping his attention on the mother.
He refused to acknowledge any talks of mates. Period. It didn’t matter how attracted he was to the beautiful cop. He wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment in his life and wasn’t going to be pressured into it just because he may have found her.
Since his beast wasn’t freaking out over the discovery, and he was not suffering any of the effects that his friends had gone through when finding their mates, he wasn’t the least bit convinced the attraction he felt for her was anything more than any other human he’d bedded and left.
“We need to get the phones back online,” Mojo suggested. “If they’ve been trying to call and can’t get us, they’re likely to just show up. Especially if they know who these guys are.”
Mojo gestured to Nik and Traze.
“We have a transport craft hovering above the station. If anything comes near here, we’ll know,” Nik said as he walked over to the evidence box and began pulling out his weapons.
BJ’s temper flared as the situation got out of her control, and she whistled loudly to get everyone’s attention.
“Everyone needs a damn time out! I need to know what the hell is going on! How did your prints get a hit in the system? What do they know about you? Do they know how to track you?” BJ demanded, her hands on her hips as she glared at Nik.
“Damn, she’s right. How did they ID you?” Mojo asked, sinking into his chair.
Niklosi shook his head, wondering the same thing.
“I don’t have a clue. They shouldn’t have our prints,” Nik said with a shrug as he looked at Traze.
As frustrated as Nik was with Traze, he knew the man-child was light years ahead of him on the technology and information side of things.
Traze rubbed his hands together as he moved over to the laptop and looked over Mojo’s shoulder.
“Here!” he said after a few seconds, pointing to the screen. “Your charges state murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. They know we can dust the corpses of the Relians; they have to be using them as keywords for their search parameters, and that’s why the hit.”
Traze turned to Nik.
“My beast is still out from the Taser. You need to tell Grai so he can get Fiorn’s people on that now,” he warned.
“The Relians are real? That was a Relian you killed out there? This close to our people?” Mojo asked in awe and fear.
“Oh my,” Bess whispered as a shiver of fear ran up her spine. “I’m calling the council.”
BJ was shocked speechless at the events unfolding around her and immediately opened herself to her gift at the same time her twin, Mojo did as well.
Chapter Five
BJ saw the white light in her head only seconds before she saw Mojo step into the light with his hands outstretched in front of him. He nodded to her, and his eyes closed in concentration. BJ opened herself up to the energy and light surrounding them and allowed the scenes to unfold before her eyes as Mojo watched with her.
Nik looked shocked as BJ and Mojo appeared to be struck by a seizure. He rushed to BJ’s side to make sure she wouldn’t fall as her eyes rolled back in her head and her eyelids began to flutter rapidly.
“What the hell is wrong with them?” Nik asked their mother, wondering why BJ’s body was completely rigid but she remained upright.
Traze backed away from Mojo, who was still in the chair in front of the laptop but appeared to be similarly afflicted as BJ.
Bess just smiled and fluttered her elegant hands in front of her.
“They’re using one of their gifts. We’ll have a plan in a moment,” Bess said with a calmness that Traze and Nik didn’t feel.
Traze looked over at Nik with concern as Mojo and BJ continued to show signs of a mutual seizure.
“What is their gift? What are they doing?” Nik asked, still holding on to BJ even though she remained standing on her own.
“Ah, my Mojo has his father’s gift of sight, and my BJ can see an outcome depending on a particular scenario. They join their energy, putting forth different scenarios of what can happen in the next 24 hours, and together they can see the future outcome of each scenario,” Bess said.
Nik was a little unnerved when Bess walked over to the coffee pot and began making a fresh one without a bit of concern for her children and their strange behavior. The more he considered her words, the more confused he became.
“Wait . . . what? They’re seeing different futures?” he asked.
“Yes and no,” Bess said as the coffee began to brew. “They are determining our best course of action through different future scenarios over the next 24 hours.”
“So they’re seeing the future?” Traze reiterated the question since he didn’t think she answered it.
Bess chuckled and began tidying things around the office as if her adult children weren’t frozen in a seizure state a few feet from her. It continued to unnerve the hell out of Nik and Traze.
“Yes, child, they are seeing what we need to do in order to get out of this alive,” she assured them.
“I’ve never seen a hybrid that needed another one in order to use a gift,” Traze muttered in confusion, not believing what was going on around them.
“That isn’t their only gift,” Bess assured them as she took a package of cookies out of a cabinet. “They can each do that independently, but the clarity, strength, and accuracy is increased exponentially when they join their energy.
“My BJ, her other gift is why she went into law enforcement. She can tell guilt and innocence by someone’s energy and can hunt the guilty. Now, Mojo, he graduated from that prestigious institute of technology and is the reason we’re so up to date here. He creates the most amazing things. I don’t understand most of it, but it’s incredible.”
Bess set a paper plate of cookies on the desk between Nik and Traze and ignored Traze’s disbelieving gaze as he looked around the sparse police station.
“Have a cookie while I get you some coffee,” she said with a smile, ignoring their puzzled looks as she turned back to the coffee pot.
Traze made a face at Nik and twirled his finger near the side of his head to tell
Nik he thought Bess was crazy.
“Child, if you do that again I’m going to break your finger and show you how crazy I am. There is no call for disrespect,” Bess said, her back still turned to them as she poured coffee into cups.
Traze put his hand down and looked at Nik like he wasn’t sure what they were dealing with.
Bess turned around with two steaming mugs of coffee and handed one to Nik before giving the other to a hesitant Traze. Nik took a sip while Traze stared down into the cup and wondered if the crazy woman was trying to poison them.
“That’s wonderful, thank you,” Nik said, trying not to overreact to what was happening around them. “How did you know how I take it?”
Bess brought two more filled cups and set them near Mojo and BJ.
“I can see things from your beast’s mind. Your memories, your hopes, and fears,” Bess admitted.
Traze paled and almost spilled his coffee while Bess winked at him and laughed.
“Don’t you worry none, child. I don’t pry on the important things unless I need the ammunition for a future fight,” Bess said while Traze paled even further.
Traze nodded and took a gulp of the hot coffee. He sputtered for a moment and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end when Bess already had an unopened bottle of water for him.
Nik ignored Bess and Traze and looked over at BJ, still a little unnerved and uncertain about what was happening to her. He convinced himself that his concern was the same he’d have for any of his people who appeared the way she and Mojo did right now.
It’s got nothing to do with her being my potential mate, Nik told himself.
“Are there more of our people here?” Nik asked.
“Of course! Not that many, but we have some. We won’t force any of them to meet you if they don’t want to, but they will help us,” Bess assured him. “She’s fine; don’t you worry none about her, BJ and Mojo are very good at what they do.”
Nik pulled his gaze from BJ and looked into his coffee cup, a little embarrassed at being caught staring at the beautiful cop again.
He should have noticed the resemblance between Mojo and BJ the moment he saw them together. They had the high, elegant cheek bones of their beautiful mother, and her full, pouty lips. Their skin was lighter than hers—more like his smooth, coffee-with-cream complexion—and they had the exact same unusual hazel eyes of their mother. They were a beautiful family.
Bess laughed and brought Nik out of his thoughts.
“When you decide to face your destiny on your feet instead allowing fear to keep you on your knees, I will answer your questions,” Bess told Nik cryptically.
Traze raised an eyebrow at Nik and made a comical face denoting his curiosity. Nik flipped him off and sipped his coffee as he went back to staring at the beautiful cop and her brother.
BJ pulled the light around them and put forth the first scenario and allowed the future scene to unfold before her and Mojo. While she paid attention to specific details of the event, Mojo would study a different set of details, giving them more information to share regarding each event.
When one scene completed, she or Mojo would put forth another scenario and another vision would unfold in their minds. The twin siblings then manipulated the possibilities until they finally shook themselves from the power and blinked at their mother.
“What did you see?” Bess asked as she handed each of her children a cup of coffee and a cookie.
“We’re going to need everyone, including them at some point,” Mojo told his mother as he gestured to Nik and Traze.
BJ took the mug in shaky hands and shook her head at the cookie her mother tried to hand her.
Bess only smiled at the news.
“It stands to reason that we would need one another at the crossroad we face. I believe we should wait for Grai and our council to arrive before discussing our options,” Bess suggested as she took Nik’s empty cup from his stiff fingers.
Traze was going to ask Nik when Grai would arrive when Bess turned to him and winked.
“In five more minutes. Six if he stops to speak with your pilot hovering above us first,” Bess said and chuckled when Traze turned white.
“She’s fucking creepy!” Traze whispered loudly to Nik.
“Hey, watch your mouth, that’s my momma!” Mojo growled at Traze as he sat straighter in his chair.
“If you guys know what’s going to happen, why the hell didn’t you know we were coming?” Traze countered, not sure if he believed they were telling the truth about their gift.
He’d seen an awful lot of amazing talents among the hybrids, but these people were just creepy as hell, and he wanted to be done and out of there as fast as they could get it done.
“Why?” Mojo asked with a shrug. “Most of the beauty of life comes from the surprises every day. We only use it when we need to.”
“It also doesn’t work that way,” BJ added. “We can’t see everything, and things for personal gain or success won’t work. We looked at what would save your people and our people, not what would save us in order to see anything.”
“Wait,” Nik said with a shake of his head. He was confused. “So you have a plan that will save everyone but the two of you? How the hell does that help?”
BJ blushed a little at the concern and vehemence that Nik displayed for her well-being, but mate or not, she had a job to do, and she would do it. Their community was counting on them.
“We’ll be fine. We can see ourselves in the scenarios even if we don’t go into it asking what happens to us. We’ll be right beside you through this; we have to be in order for this to work,” BJ assured him.
Somehow her assurances didn’t make Niklosi feel any better about the situation.
Traze’s mouth hung open in shock when six minutes passed and Grai, Blade, and Tricia rushed into the small office. Bess winked at him as she stepped forward with her hand outstretched.
“We are honored to meet you, Grai T’Alq,” Bess said with a nod before turning to Tricia. “Tricia, his mate. Blade, his . . . brain washing bitch. Your power will not work on my children, or myself.”
Everyone but Mojo and BJ almost choked on her words. Blade narrowed his eyes at her behind his sunglasses while Grai was stunned speechless. Tricia smiled and shook Bess’s hand.
“I doubt that there is any need for his abilities on the people here, but he will most likely come in handy for the military that are coming,” Tricia said gently, trying to ease the suddenly tense situation.
“She’s right, Momma. He’s really going to come in handy,” BJ assured her mother, hoping to end the anger her mother felt towards Blade’s initial intentions for being there.
Bess straightened her spine as she stared intently at Blade.
“We have an understanding, don’t we, child?” Bess said softly.
Grai and Tricia watched in stunned silence as the entirety of Bess’s eyes began swirling in hazel colors. There were no swirls in her irises like with the other beast bonded hybrids; the entirety of her eyes—including the whites—swirled like hazel storm clouds. They’d never seen anything like it.
To Grai’s astonishment, Blade nodded his head rapidly at the tall woman and removed his sunglasses, exposing his strange, green eyes with amber swirls.
“Yes, ma’am, we have a perfect understanding,” Blade said with a respectful nod before putting his sunglasses back on.
Bess’s eyes stopped swirling and returned to their unusual hazel color, and she turned to Grai and Tricia.
“Our town leaders, the mayor and district attorney, are coming; they will be here shortly, and BJ and Mojo can explain our options to you when they get here. Would you like some coffee?” Bess offered, ignoring their startled glances at one another.
“She’s fucking creepy! The three of them have to be the inbred branch of hybrids or something!” Traze warned Grai through the shengari’.
Grai shot his brother a warning look moments before Traze’s head was thrown forward b
y a vicious slap.
“What the fuck?” Traze growled as he whirled around to face who he thought would be a late arriving Lieutenant David Jacobs. No one was there.
“I warned you to show some respect,” Bess said, causing Traze to turn to her as he paled. “There’s no cause to be mean for the sake of it. We don’t cotton to bullies around here. If you can’t behave on your own, you will be taught respect.”
Grai stormed across the room and grabbed Traze by the back of his shirt.
“Do not make an already bad decision even worse! Watch your tongue, or I’ll rip it out myself,” Grai growled.
Grai had no idea what the hell they were dealing with, but the power he could feel emanating from the strange family was enough to give them all pause—everyone but his reckless brother. He had to figure out what was going on before Traze really pissed someone off.
“I got it, I got it. I’m sorry,” Traze said turning his head to Bess and trying to look contrite.
Bess laughed and waved her hands at him.
“You just need a little more growing up, and you’re going to be just fine. Just stop standing in your own way and learn when to stay silent but vigilant. Now, let’s all get some coffee and cookies. Irwin and Dennis should be here in three more minutes,” Bess said as she turned back to the coffee pot.
The odd silence that followed did nothing to soothe any of the curiosity or unease of anyone in the room, and BJ had enough of it. She cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.
“We really do want to help. We won’t let anything happen to our people. If I’d known Nik and Traze were our people, this wouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry,” BJ assured the nervous group.
“I think we all just need to share some information,” Grai said. “Are there more of our people here?”
“Of course. But not all of them want to meet you. They won’t need to in order to help,” Bess said as she set some foam cups in front of Blade, Grai, and Tricia. “I’m pleased that you will respect their wishes.”
Grai reached for a cup and tried not to be unnerved by the woman’s intuition, gift, or intelligence. He had to admit he could see why Traze was freaked out and wondered himself about the extent of their abilities.