Grounding Gracus (First Wave Book 6) (22 page)

Rebecca didn’t hesitate to kneel on the floor in front of the cat and held her palm out, allowing Gibly to place his paw in it. When he did, she took her other hand and ran her fingers through his fur, still not seeing what he was talking about.

Gibly laughed. “No, you must stroke in the opposite direction to see it.”

Rebecca did and immediately sucked in a gasp of surprise before exclaiming, “Oh Gibly! That’s so cool!”

The cat nodded and Gracus watched in stunned amazement as Rebecca fluffed his fur in the opposite direction and saw the slight shimmer in the tips as she did.

Gracus sat in the opposite chair and said, “So, it’s just the very tip of the fur? That really is amazing, Gibly. But, are you sure it will still work with whatever artificial lighting they’ve created here?”  

The cat snorted. “If there is darkness, I can blend in. An absence of light, is still, an absence of light, whether it is natural or artificial.”

Rebecca nodded. “I believe you can do it, Gibly. What should we do while you’re out? Should we go… somewhere, to keep their attention on us or stay here? We don’t want anyone to suspect you’re gone,” she said, liking the idea as long as Gibly didn’t get hurt. But, if anyone could find a way out of here, she had no doubt it would be the cat.

Gracus spoke up. “We should stay inside. If they are focused on watching us in here, they will never see Gibly leave. We’ll leave the curtains in this room open so they can see Rebecca and me sitting in here,” he said, his hopes of getting out of there rising.

Gibly nodded his head. “Yes, that is a good idea. We have only an hour to wait for the dark time,” he said with a furry grin that was so infectious that Gracus and Rebecca smiled with him.

Rebecca leaned forward and hugged the cat before quickly pulling back. “I’m glad you are here, Gibly,” she said, before turning to Gracus. “And you. I’m not sure I could have dealt with all this on my own.”

Gibly smiled and patted her cheek with a paw. “I am glad to be here.”

Gracus held out a hand, helped her from the floor and hugged her closely to his chest. “We will get out of here. If I know Grai, we’ll be back within hours. That man is a force all by himself and there is nothing that ignores his power,” Gracus said confidently.

*****

Grai wanted to rip the place apart with his bare hands. He and Scaden had spent hours trying to get the unknown hybrid to communicate directly with them and the silence was beginning to wear on his nerves. Especially when he knew the bastard was speaking to True through the private path on the Shengari’ that he’d tricked the girl into her permission to attain.

True watched Grai and Scaden with sympathy, wishing she could convince Leif to speak with them, but he was being incredibly stubborn and she’d given up wasting her efforts on asking. Instead, she tried to hide the smile from her face each time she heard his deep voice whisper through her mind like a caress.

“So where the hell are your people? I thought they’d be there by now? Are they coming by Pony Express? Carrier pigeon?” True asked along the private path, wondering why she hadn’t heard from Leif in at least an hour.

This time, when she heard the whisper of his words, he sounded as if his body were out of breath. “I have been very busy, little Firefly. Have you missed me?” he asked, with a teasing note to his voice.

True snorted and seeing all heads swivel towards her, she turned and looked away from them. She sort of felt like a traitor for not only speaking to Leif, but for actually missing the sound of his voice.
Damn the bastard, for being right
, she thought.

“That’s ok, I missed you as well,” she heard in her mind and couldn’t help but feel a rush of pleasure that he’d said it.

True pulled herself together and asked again, “Where are your people? We are very worried for ours. Can’t you let Grai talk to them? Please?”

Leif sighed. “Ah Firefly, do not have such little faith in me! I have been working on that very thing. My people are almost all here, but they are still having a minor… well, heated discussion about opening the lines of communication with your people. Until we get something definitive going, there is this!”

Leif no sooner finished speaking to her privately then a new image appeared on the screen of Gracus, Rebecca and Gibly in a kitchen, fixing a meal. His voice boomed around the room.

“To ease the Firefly’s concern for your people, I am providing live images and live medical stats. We are still awaiting the arrival of our commanders, but they are in transit.”

Grai looked at True with concern before he turned to study the screen, hoping to get an idea of where Gracus was being held. He wanted this over with as soon as he could make it happen. This entire situation had gone beyond anything he had ever anticipated and he was getting tired of being left in the dark and scrambling for answers.

He’d been able to get several men, in an out of the cave multiple times since the doors had opened back up, yet he was still not comfortable enough to go out himself. Although, most of the people in Dillon were trying to find out everything they could about Fiorn, the area, hell anything that would help them, no one had come up with anything yet.

Scaden’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “Can we talk to them?” Scaden asked the invisible hybrid displaying the images.

Leif sighed loudly. “Again… because of their location, for the safety of my people, I cannot allow direct communication with them at this time. You would do no less if the situation were reversed.”

Scaden threw his canteen at the screen and the image disappeared. Grai gave him an irritated look before he stared angrily at the now blank screen. It didn’t matter that the image was gone, he could picture it perfectly in his mind and there was nothing to indicate where the trio might be being held.

He turned to the last person that he wanted to have to turn to and spoke on their private path. “True, has he said anything useful to you?” he asked.

True smiled sadly and gave a faint shake of her head. “No, he hasn’t said much. They are still waiting for their leaders to arrive and apparently they are having a heated discussion about whether or not they even want to be talking to us,” she said honestly, wishing she had more to tell him so she could ease his mind.

Grai smiled at the young girl, who looked exhausted. “It’s alright. We just have to wait. You look like you need some sleep. Why don’t you go lay down and I’ll post someone at the door for you,” he suggested, not wanting her to be alone anywhere in this place.

He didn’t trust Leif’s obsession with her and if Gracus, Rebecca and Gibly could disappear from in here, he wasn’t taking any chances of losing True, as well.

True shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I can always pull out my sleeping bag in here when I get tired,” she told him, smothering her yawn.

She’d been at the tail end of her twelve hour shift when the call had come in for the hybrid led team on standby. Since no one had expected the mission to take very long, her team had been sent. True was exhausted, but she didn’t want to admit it. Especially when the reason she didn’t want to sleep was the reason she was here to begin with.

Grai stepped closer to her and cupped her cheek gently. “Your team has been on shift for much longer than you should be. All of you need your rest. Tell your team to stand down and get some sleep. I’m sure when their commanders arrive they can speak directly to us,” he said aloud, hoping that if True were asleep, whoever was behind this place would be forced to deal directly with him.

True was getting ready to argue when Leif’s voice boomed through her head. “Step away from him!” She instinctively listened and to cover it she tried to pretend like she was listening to Grai.

“Um… yeah, maybe we should grab some zzz’s. Promise to wake me if you need me?” True said, as she backed towards the door that would lead her to her assigned room.

Grai nodded at her strangely and before he could ask her any questions, she turned and headed into the living area, unsure how to even get to Fiorn’s room.

“Turn left, little Firefly,” she heard in her mind and she turned left. She followed his short directions and finally ended up in a nice bedroom. She sat on the side of the bed and sighed at how soft and comfortable it felt.

Decano came in behind her and positioned himself at the doorway, to make sure she was in full view at all times. “Let me know if you need anything,” he said.

True just nodded her head and said, “Thanks, Decano.”

She stood and pulled off her rifle, leaning it against the wall near the head of the bed, then put her gun under the pillow. She pulled off only what she absolutely had to, in order to get comfortable enough to sleep, they lay down on the bed.

She sat up quickly when the lights dimmed drastically, causing Decano to rush into the room with his weapon drawn. After a few minutes of nothing happening, True chuckled. “It’s probably on a sensor,” she said, trying not to sound nervous. Decano nodded and moved back to the doorway.

True laid back down and sunk comfortably into the wonderful mattress. She was just beginning to relax when she heard Leif in her mind.

“Are you really leaving your boots and all of your clothes on? You can’t rest properly like that. Besides, you do realize that what passes as your uniform, looks hideous on you, right?” Leif teased.

True tried to keep the smile from her face and rolled over to her side, putting her back to Decano, so he wouldn’t see her face. “Liar. You just want me out of my clothes,” she accused teasingly.

Leif chuckled. “Oh, you have no idea the things I want, little Firefly.”

True shivered at the sensuous tone in Leif’s voice and tried to stop the warm rush of arousal that flooded her, to no avail. Damn, if there wasn’t something about the guy that could play her like a ten year old with a game console and True wasn’t sure if she was supposed to like it this much. Or how he knew so much about what buttons to push.

“Who are you really?” True asked.

She could have sworn she felt a physical caress on her hair before she heard his voice in her head. “I am truly a hybrid, like you. And my name is Leif. I have not lied to you.”

True yawned before she snorted quietly. “Yeah, but what aren’t you telling me? I can tell there is a very large gap in what you are saying and what is happening here so how about you buy a girl a clue?”

Leif laughed. “Oh my, you are so very smart. I bet you are underestimated often. But, I still can’t tell you anything more right now. No matter how much I would like to,” he said, regret tinging his voice enough for True to believe he really did want to say more.

True sighed. “Are my people really safe? The ones you have and the ones here?” she asked, hoping to feel reassured in some way.

She was surprised when a warm rush of comforting energy flooded her as Leif spoke, “I promise no harm will ever come to you, and your friends are safe. All of them. What happens later will be determined by our leaders, none of whom are fools. So rest easy, little Firefly, I will watch over you.”

The whispered words were followed by a rush of energy so powerful, True immediately fell into a deep sleep. She never saw Decano thrown from the doorway and the door slam shut.

Chapter Twenty

Rebecca paced the living room, periodically looking at the clock to see how long it had been since Gibly had left.
Twenty-four minutes
, she thought with a sigh. It felt like twenty-four hours. Or maybe that was how long she’d been up. She was so tired she wasn’t sure anymore.

The three of them had gone outside earlier to see the artificial moon rise and was surprised at how much the small sliver above them looked like the real thing. Even the dark outline of the rest of it was just slightly visible. The only thing that killed it was the way the shadows played on the jagged rocks of the cavern soaring above them. It made it look creepy as hell and she couldn’t get back inside the house fast enough.

Rebecca was so lost in thought she was startled when she walked into Gracus. “Wha…,” she began.

Gracus held his finger to her lips. “Shh… stop pacing, stop worrying. You need to sleep. Come, I’ll take first watch,” Gracus said as he led her down the short hallway to where the bedrooms were.

Rebecca allowed him to pull her into one of the bedrooms and she looked at the immaculate bed and then her dusty and filthy clothes and sighed. She was considering her options for clean clothes when Gracus smiled.

“I have no doubt that the shower and the hot water will work,” he said, knowing that was exactly what she needed right now.

Gracus moved to the dresser and opened a few drawers, pulling out some plain, dark blue T-shirts and sweatpants.
This stuff must be universal on this planet
, he thought as he held them up for Rebecca to inspect.

“They aren’t pretty, but they’re clean,” he said with a smile as she reached for a pair and started going through the sizes, trying to find one that would fit.

“Look for mediums for me. You’ll definitely need something bigger than that,” Rebecca said with a blush as she went into another bedroom to look for something that would fit the large man.

“Aha!” he said, holding up some sweatpants and T-shirts he knew would fit him. Grai had the same kind stocked at their facilities as well. The irony that these people were stocking clothing, made by Grai’s company, was not lost on him.

He watched Rebecca’s smile widen as she gathered her clean clothes and went into the shower, shutting the door softly behind her. He wasn’t sure which was torturing his mind more, the thought of her naked body under the spray of the water, or of him taking her in one of the beds.

The rapid deepening of their bond was becoming a blessing and a curse for him as his beast, body and his soul demanded that he finish the one thing preventing the completion of the mating bond between them.

Rather than torture himself with the sounds of her bathing, he went back into the other room and assembled a set of clothes for himself to wear after his own shower. Gracus placed them in the other bathroom and checked to make sure there were body cleaners in the shower before he went back to check on Rebecca.

The water wasn’t running and he could hear her drying off from behind the closed door. Several minutes later, she opened the door and the fragrant steam that wafted out of the room had Gracus clenching his fists to keep from touching her.

The brilliant smile Rebecca gave him as she towel dried her hair in the doorway, made his knees weak. She looked adorable and sexy as hell at the same time. The sweatpants were rolled down at the waist, baring a strip of her flat stomach. The t-shirt molded to her full breasts and his mouth watered as her nipples hardened under his gaze.

Rebecca’s breath hitched in her throat as her body melted from the heated look in his eyes. She drifted towards him, like a moth to a flame and fingered the buttons on his shirt, the towel dropping to the floor unnoticed.

She looked up at him as she leaned towards his body, close but not touching. “I’ll keep watch while you shower,” she said huskily.

Rebecca smiled as Gracus just stood there, staring at her as his breathing increased and his fists clenched and unclenched. She could feel his arousal and need in his energy and knew that there was no way she could resist him any longer. Not only was her body and mind demanding it, but somehow along the way, she’d fallen in love with him. And she knew he’d fallen for her as well because he wasn’t even trying to hide his feelings for her in his energy.

With her mind made up, Rebecca pushed his hard, tight stomach, chuckling when he didn’t even move an inch. “Go get a shower! You stink,” she said dramatically, scrunching her nose up as if he was offensive.
That snapped him out of it
, she thought, as he stood straighter and shook his head slightly.

Gracus was glad that Rebecca had shook him from his thoughts and he grunted as he turned and headed back into the other bathroom to shower. He gave her one more heated look and disappeared into the bathroom.

Rebecca huffed out a heavy breath and held onto the wall for a moment while the knot of arousal in her stomach lessened.
The man was so potent, he needed a damn warning label
, she thought with a smile.

She headed back into the first bedroom Gracus had taken her into for clothes, assuming that was the one he was going to put her in. Rebecca knew by the way that Gracus and Gibly were so protective of her, that they would want her between them as she slept and this room was in the middle of the other two in the hallway.

She looked around the room and considered her options, which weren’t that many in this place. Rebecca decided that she was done wasting time and wasn’t going to leave room for doubt or error. Making up her mind, she slid her borrowed sweatpants off, pulled off her shirt and turned off the light. Without hesitation, she slid between the cool sheets and waited for Gracus to get out of the shower.

Gracus stood under the ice cold spray and was losing hope by the second that the frigid water would cool his desire for his mate. He leaned his head directly under the water and flexed his fingers against the wall of the shower in frustration.

His body was telling him to go to Rebecca and take her. He knew that she was receptive, he’d sensed her arousal for him many times and each time had almost brought him to his knees.
But, this place…
, he thought with a low growl.

Grai was right, you only get one chance to bond with your mate and completing it while captive in an unknown location, surrounded by people he didn’t know were friend or foe, was not his idea of a memorable bonding.
Rebecca deserved better than this
, he thought, thinking of how he’d rather take her to the cabin that Grai had loaned him. Or even under the stars, outside of this mountain. Anywhere but here.

Gracus sucked in a shuddering breath as his body heated all over again, thinking of all the places that he’d love to take his mate. He forced his mind to concentrate on his shower, and he scrubbed his body a little too roughly in order to keep his mind from wandering back to his beautiful mate. Who, he hoped like hell, was sleeping by now. He wasn’t sure his strength would hold out if she was still awake and he saw that sexy strip of her belly again.

He stepped out of the shower and dried off quickly, sending out his senses to see if Gibly had come back and if they were still alone in the house. Finding nothing, he dressed and stood at the door, detecting Rebecca’s energy in the room he’d wanted her to sleep in.

With a sigh of gratitude, he opened the door and headed quietly down the hall to make sure that she was ok and sleeping well before he camped by the back door to await Gibly’s return. He easily saw his way down the hallway to the darkened room and made out Rebecca’s form lying on the bed. It was her breathing that told him something was wrong. The cadence wasn’t right for when she slept.

“Hey, are you ok?” Gracus asked, struggling to remain in the doorway and not run to her.
The last thing his control needed was to be close to her while she was in bed
, he thought.

Rebecca sat up and his mouth went dry as the covers slipped from her upper body. He almost choked on his next breath as he saw her full breasts in the dim light of the moon coming through the window.

He gripped both sides of the doorframe so tightly he heard the wood cracking beneath his hands and looked at the floor to try and gain control of his desire. He panted slightly, counting to ten in his mind. In every one of the sixteen languages he knew.

He was so intent on trying to ignore her, to gain control that he flinched when she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her naked body to his. Instinctively, Gracus’s arms wrapped around her slight body and he growled in surrender as her arousal and need enveloped him.

A small, still functioning part of his brain forced him to ask, “Are you sure?”

Rebecca sighed as she rubbed her hands up his back. “I’ve never been more sure of anything,” she said, meaning every word.

It was strange, but comforting for Rebecca to feel the sexual attraction and need that she felt, mirrored in Gracus’s energy. In fact, knowing it only made the feeling more intense for her and she reached up to put her arms around his head to pull him towards her.

Gracus didn’t need any more of an invitation and his lips descended on hers in a possessive kiss that left them both panting. He easily picked her up and Rebecca wrapped her legs around his waist and she kissed him again as he carried her to the bed.

Gracus laid her gently on the bed and as he broke the kiss, he finished pulling off the t-shirt she’d been trying to take off of him. He leaned down to take her lips again, running his hands down her body, memorizing every dimple and curve and how her breath hitched when he touched certain places. Filing away the information for later, his lips traveled from her mouth to her neck as her hands frantically pushed on his sweatpants to remove them.

Knowing if they were gone, he’d lose all control, Gracus ignored her efforts and concentrated on learning the taste of her skin and the texture on his tongue, sucking and licking his way down her neck. Her increasing excitement was wreaking havoc on his body and senses and he sucked in a sharp breath as her questing fingers found the head of his manhood.

He began to pull away when Rebecca increased the pressure of her hand on him. “Please, let me touch you. We can go slow later,” she whispered hoarsely.

The need he felt in her touch and her energy, finally broke him. He growled as he yanked the sweatpants off and laid beside her on the bed, pulling her into his arms, his hands unable to get enough of touching his beautiful and naked mate.

Rebecca couldn’t believe how incredibly perfect his body felt against hers and she couldn’t stop rubbing herself against him, her feet and legs stroking his while her hands caressed his back and chest. He was all heat, muscle and strength and she’d never felt more protected, loved and alive in her life.

All of her thoughts fled when Rebecca felt the moist heat of his mouth on her breast and her back arched as she ran her fingers through his hair to pull him closer. By the time he moved to her other breast, she was panting in need and writhing under him, begging him to take her now.

But Gracus was determined to fight his own desire as long as he could and tried his best to ignore her soft skin sliding sensually against him and her moans and cries of pleasure. It was feeling her wet heat against his tongue that finally undid him and he drove in and out of her relentlessly until she exploded.

Unable to take any more of the intensity, far too sensitive after the most mind blowing orgasm she’d ever had, Rebecca pulled at his head, begging him to stop. She almost sighed in relief when he slid up her body, his hot hardness leaving goosebumps along her skin as it caressed her thighs before settling between her legs.

Gracus panted and clutched the bedsheets on either side of Rebecca’s head, trying to regain some control. But, her touch, taste and scent surrounding him was more than he could take. She had her legs wrapped around his waist and was sliding up and down his body when he felt himself slide inside of her. He wasn’t in very far, but it was enough to drive all sanity from him.

With a growl of possession, Gracus thrust deeply, finally taking his mate, fully and completely. He barely processed Rebecca’s gasp and moan, struggling to hold himself still while she tried to adapt to his size.

Within moments, her hips began thrusting tentatively against him, the slow slide in and out making Gracus desperately clutch the sheets to maintain control. It was Rebecca’s wild thrust and her gasped moan of, “Oh God,” that finally undid him.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulled out almost completely, and then pulled her towards him at the same time that he thrust deeply. Rebecca’s scream of pleasure ignited his primal instincts and he set a punishing pace designed to ensure that his mate had no doubts that he was the one who possessed her, body and soul. The way she possessed him.

Rebecca couldn’t seem to catch her breath and she couldn’t get away from the intensity. Each powerful thrust of Gracus’s hips and the way he held her body, sent her spiraling higher until the only thing that drowned out her scream was Gracus’s roar of completion. Neither saw the bright flash that occurred.

Rebecca struggled to catch her breath, grateful that Gracus was now holding his weight from her with his arms as he collapsed above her. She had expected the after part to be a little awkward, but the satisfied and happy energy surrounding them make her smile and chuckle softly.