Emergence (The Primogenitor Chronicles Book 1) (34 page)

“She’s awake. It’s time for breakfast.” His wings flared and he moved toward her door.

“I’m not unlocking it, Nickolas. I need you to handle this recovery more than Jessica needs you right now.” He held his ground when Nickolas whipped around to face him. The barely restrained violence in his eyes turned the blue into seething clouds. Maintaining eye contact, Ian raised his hand to stop Jays, but his protégé still took a step toward them. Ian flexed his hand, ordering his Second to stay still and not provoke the man. “Nickolas…”

 “I don’t want to go, Ian. Send one of the other teams.” He snarled and started to slowly stalk around the room. “Jessica needs me. You don’t understand what it’s like. She needs
me
to help… ”

“I understand more than you think, Nick.”

The door to the hall opened, and with relief Ian felt Chris enter. The Hunter paused and took a look at the situation before making a beeline for Ian. “What’s going on, Ian?”

Not giving an inch, Ian retained dominance every time Nickolas met his eyes, but it took a toll. Nick was strong and he was getting stronger the more he came into his mental abilities. Ian didn’t dare take his attention away from the pacing figure.

“I just got a call for a recovery that I need your team to handle. Everything is ready. You just need to get your team assembled.” Folding his arms across his chest, he nodded at Nickolas. “That includes your leader.”

When Nickolas’s pacing had taken him to the far side of the room, Ian said under his breath, “Chris, I need you to get him loaded up and out of here. Now. He’s deteriorated fast the last three days, and I just got a call that Gabriel’s on his way. He can’t be here with Nick like this.”

“Shit. How long?”

“I don’t know. Just get him out of here.”

“Jays, call up Flynn and Jules,” Chris said, turning to watch Nickolas himself. “Tell them to get the van ready; we’ll be there in five. Nick, come on, we’re going.”

Christoff walked up to his brother, and Ian held his breath, waiting for Nickolas to lash out, but the younger Hunter held his ground, matching him stare for stare. “We don’t have a lot of time, so don’t waste any of it arguing with me. You’re not going to win. I can get all the Flights to back me if necessary.”

“Chris…” Nickolas growled in warning.

“Not now, Nicky. Trust me, we need to go.”

A quiver ran through Nickolas, and Ian waited, praying that Chris had enough pull to get his brother to cooperate. With one last wistful look at the monitor, followed by a glare for Ian, Nickolas walked out of the Hub.

“Jays, grab the bag, we need to keep up with him. You can tell me what you know on the way to the garage,” Chris said and raised his hand in a salute as he followed in Nickolas’s wake. “See you tonight,” he called over his shoulder.

His shoulders sagging when the door swung shut behind them, Ian turned back to the computer terminals and sank into one of the chairs, letting his breath out. He placed his elbows on the table and rested his head tiredly in his hands.
Close. They’re not out of the woods yet though.
A beep echoed out of the consoles and he looked over to Jessica’s monitor. She paced the length of her cell, her movements restless, and cast expectant glances at the door.
Sorry, Jess. You’re going to be disappointed today.

You sent me on those stupid errands to the warehouse and now this? What is so important about this recovery that Ian couldn’t send another team?
Nickolas thought as he stormed through the corridors.

“Nick, stop. Wait,” Donald snapped when he passed the Hunter.

He didn’t respond and sensed a concerned Donald join up with Christoff behind him.

This is stupid.
He slammed the double doors into the garage open. They bounced off the wall, making a satisfying crash. “Do they think I’m an idiot?” he growled out, then feeling Chris and Donald, and amazingly enough a nebulous Jays, warily flank him, he turned to face the group ranged against him.

“No, we don’t think you’re an idiot, Nicky, but you need help. You asked me to, remember?” his brother placated. “That means you need to listen and trust me. So get in the van.”

He flipped his eyes to Jays and Donald, then looked back to a wary Chris.

“Nickolas, take our judgment on this. You know you can count on us to watch over her.” Donald’s eyes pleaded with him to cooperate.

He opened his mouth to argue, but Jays shushed him with a motion. “Now’s not a good time, Nick, ask later. But be careful who you ask.”

The doctor tossed the bag to Christoff, who caught it without removing his eyes from Nickolas. “Chris, the preliminary report is there with the basic gear. You’ve got a couple hour drive ahead of you, but even more wait time after that until the fledge passes out.”

When Jays turned back to him, the fear and compassion contained in his eyes jolted him. “Stay quiet, Nick, now’s not a good time to draw attention to yourself. Don’t touch anything.” And with that cryptic message, Jays turned on his heel and walked out of the garage.

The anger drained out of him as quickly as it had arisen, and Nick looked tiredly at his brother, who glared back at him, the exasperation radiating. “What’s going on, Chris? Why do I feel like I’m being forced to run away?”

Christoff threw his hands up in the air and stalked away. “You’re not, Nick, you’re overreacting. Now, get in the damned van. Before I toss you in.”

Footsteps rang on the concrete and Chris stiffened. Nickolas turned to see Flynn and Jules arrive.

Flynn looked Nickolas up and down distrustfully, then glanced over to Christoff. “Is he all right? Has he taken his pills?”

“Don’t worry, Flynn. Ian says it’s just the stress of dealing with Jessica lately and to be prepared for him to be edgy. Right, Donald?”

“That’s right. Nick’s been spending a lot of time helping in the Hub recently.”

Nickolas felt his spirits plummet as he listened to the two cover for him. He turned and crossed over to the van, climbing in.
Am I ever going to get this under control?
He took his seat, wearily leaning his head back, and closed his eyes. The conversations of the others flowed by. Absently, his mind started to range out, and after a moment, he brushed against an abyss so dark and cold he instinctively recoiled. His eyes snapped open as a half-formed memory surfaced from the contact.

Fear, desperation, and pain, the key he didn’t wish to turn to find out what that memory contained. Lack of air brought him back. He sat up with a deep inhale.

Shying away from the lock on his past, he gave his attention to his brother as the Hunter entered the van. Nickolas spoke more to hear a voice and block out the memory than out of any desire for the answer.

“Are we ready to go?” The relief that replaced the wariness in his brother’s eyes made him look away and he smiled self-consciously. “I do trust you, Chris. You know that?”

“I know, Nick.” Chris squeezed his shoulder as he passed then said, “Flynn and Jules are grabbing the last of the gear, then we’re out of here. I was just giving Donald orders for the day.”

“He called me when I passed him in the hallway. Did he tell you what he wanted?”

“Not specifically, but I suspect it might have had something to do with how you were snowplowing through the halls.”

Uncomfortable, Nickolas looked at the floor. “I’m trying, Chris.”

“I know, Nick, I know. We’ll take it one step at a time. Here,” Christoff threw the bag at him. “Jays said the folder was in there, along with a few other essentials. So what are we looking at today?”

He pulled the retrieval documents out and dropped the bag on the floor next to his seat. The van dipped as Jules climbed in, pulling the door shut. He felt his normal veneer of calm briefly return and asked, “We ready?”

“Yep,” the comm tech answered, taking his seat at the communications station. Jules turned his chair to face them, buckling up.

Flipping open the folder, Nickolas started to scan the documents as the van pulled out of the parking space. “Well it looks like we’re heading south, down to Chehalis. The target was reported an hour ago by his college librarian; apparently he was getting pretty surly over some books. They managed to get him settled and back in his dorm for the day to study. Our watcher is already on him.” Nick turned in his chair to see if Flynn had heard the report or not. “Let’s try and not have a repeat of the last recovery, shall we?”

Flynn piloted the van through the garage bay and called back, “What’s the likelihood of that, do you reckon, Nick?”

“I wouldn’t have thought it possible the first time, Flynn.”

“Well, boys, sit back and relax. It’ll be a couple of hours before we get there even with good traffic.”

Nickolas closed his eyes and settled back to wait.

Ian spent the next half hour getting Jessica fed and recording the readouts from the monitors. Her cooperation had hinged on Nick’s presence more than he had anticipated.
And here I thought she had started to settle in.
He sighed. It was becoming more apparent that a strong bond had started to form between the two.

A familiar wave of icy, emotionless energy washed across him, shattering his concentration. Like nails scratched across a blackboard. He stiffened then hit a few keys to blank out Jessica’s screen, leaving the other three fledglings active. Standing, he turned to face the door.

The man who entered a moment later always left a chill residing in Ian’s heart. When the council decided to play god and engineer the start of an evolution, the punctuated equilibrium, which brought about the first of the Valkyries, something went seriously wrong with Gabriel.

The first Alpha. The only surviving member of the original test group. The most tortured soul Ian had ever been in contact with.

And if I could put him down like a rabid dog, I would. That’s the only mercy he’ll ever see.

Silent, Ian watched as Gabriel slowly inspected his domain. The man prowled the perimeter of the room, ending the circuit in front of him.

“Hello, Ian. How are you today?”

Gabriel’s voice had a hypnotic, melodic quality to it. Ian blinked and had to work to keep his face impassive as he fought the pull. “What do you want now, Gabriel? It’s still a little early for these fledglings.”

Laughing, Gabriel tossed his head and sauntered the perimeter of the monitor island. “Where’s your manners? You should say ‘fine’ to my question, then ask me how my day is. That’s the way conversations go.”

Ian just stared at him.

Gabriel flexed his wings and shook his head. He prowled closer to the isolation room doors.

“You know why I’m here, Ian. Something’s different.” He sniffed and paused then turned his intense gaze toward him. “I came to see what.”

Ian pivoted, keeping the rival Alpha in sight as he continued to move restlessly, then shrugged, subtly weaving his mental shields tighter. “Nothing I know of is different.”

Gabriel stopped and pinned him with the unblinking stare of a reptile not sure whether it was hungry or not. After a moment, he resumed his pacing; the Valkyrie cocked his head. “Of course not. How would you know? In your pathetic, stunted glory.”

He ignored Gabriel’s slam and pressed, “So what did you sense, Gabriel?”