Manipulating Mikey (First Wave Book 8) by Mikayla Lane Page A

grew serious. “I have no loyalty to them. After what they put me
through, I’m not inclined to believe anything—or anyone—easily.”
    Lauren gently rubbed the back of
his hand with her fingers, the small action making him feel calmer and more clear
headed.
    “We’re not trying to convince you
of anything. I’m only trying to help you understand who you are before you
decide where you want to go and what you want to do,” Lauren said.
    They reached the doors to the large
building and Mikey reached out and opened it for her.
    “Thank you,” Lauren said as she
smiled up at him shyly, before she ducked under his arm and entered the main door
to the building.
    Mikey followed her inside, and
without thinking about it, he took her hand back in his as he looked around in
wonder.
    “Are all these people . . .” Mikey
began before he lowered his voice. “like us?”
    Mikey couldn’t help but smile when
he heard her laughter.
    “No, silly, a lot of these people
are normal humans doing business with the company. Come on,” Lauren tugged on
his hand and pulled him towards another elevator.
    Once inside, Lauren placed her palm
on the wall and a panel lit up above the regular floor buttons. Mikey watched in
wonder as she pressed a button and the new panel disappeared while a voice came
over the speakers.
    “Training level permission granted,
Dr. Lauren Campbell.”
    Mikey looked at her curiously and
was charmed by her mischievous grin.
    “What’s the training level?” he
asked, not really caring as long as she was beside him.
    Lauren waited until the door opened
then led him down a long hallway and into a dimly lit room. Mikey walked to the
clear glass wall, expecting the worst and was surprised to look out into a
massive urban mockup.
    There were streets, stores,
apartments, and human looking dummies scattered throughout the large area
behind the glass.
    “Look there,” Lauren said as she
pointed to where a hybrid team was practicing retrieval missions.
    Mikey saw one of the women kneel
down to the ground and moments later he saw a line of fire rush from her
fingers, travel around the corner of the street, and land directly onto the
boots of an armed man hiding behind the building.
    “Oh damn!” Mikey uttered as the man
stomped his boots and swore loudly.
    Lauren laughed and gave True a
mental high five.
    “She cheated. We’re not supposed to
use our abilities against one another when training, but that’s True and her
mate, Leif. She’s trying to help him get ready for mission status,” Lauren said
with a grin as she watched Leif walk into the middle of the street towards his
mate, voiding her flames as she giggled.
    “Mission status . . . what the hell
is all this? How did she do that?” Mikey asked as he turned from the couple now
kissing in the middle of the street while their teams moaned and groaned at the
delay.
    “That’s her ability. Most of us
hybrids have a particular ability that you easily discover when you’re young
which becomes more advanced once you’ve bonded with your beast, the parasite in
your brain that gives you enhanced senses and strength. It is also the conduit
that allows us to speak to one another’s mind along an energy path known as the
Shengari’,” Lauren explained before she switched to speaking to his mind.
    “The beast is a sentient being that
lives in harmony and in sync with us. It isn’t dangerous or bad in any way, no
matter what those government idiots tried to tell you,” Lauren whispered
through his mind.
    Mikey had more questions than
answers and felt a little overwhelmed.
    “Is that why I could see the UFOs
when no one else could?” he asked, hoping this beast was the reason he was so
strange. He also hoped there was a cure.
    Lauren nodded and smiled up at him.
    “Yes, I believe that is your gift.
The ability to see through attempts at cloaking or hiding. We won’t know more
unless we do some basic tests,” she admitted.
    Mikey snorted and shook his