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

head.
    “Great, someone hands out ‘gifts,’
and I get screwed with some lame ass ‘now you see me, now you don’t’ crap,” he
muttered.
    Lauren laughed and laid a
comforting hand on his arm, unable to stop herself from finding reasons to
touch him and feel the energy surge between them.
    “If it makes you feel any better,
most of our male hybrids have what we call passive abilities, while the females
have the aggressive. It was nature’s way of evening the odds between the
sexes,” she explained with a grin.
    Mikey couldn’t help but get lost in
her eyes as he took her hand in his own.
    “What is your gift?” he asked
softly as his heart raced, and his pulse ran amok.
    “I . . . I can see sickness and
injury in someone’s energy and can use my own to help them to heal,” she said
as she stared into his eyes.
    Mikey heard the door handle begin
to turn and he jumped in front of Lauren, pulling her behind his back as he
faced the man in the doorway.
    “Whoa, sorry. Didn’t know anyone
was in here,” Reven said as he tried to look behind the unfamiliar young man to
what or who he was hiding behind his back.
    “It’s OK, Reven. I was just showing
Mikey some of our hybrids and how we train,” Lauren said as she came from
behind Mikey’s back to grin at the Valendran commander.
    Mikey didn’t know why he felt so
irritated that the man was looking at Lauren, but he tried to hide it from them
by holding out his hand to Reven.
    “I’m PFC Mikey Davis, sir,” Mikey
said as he stared up at the tall stranger. He couldn’t help but notice that Reven
also had the strange swirls in his eyes.
    Reven nodded his head and grinned
at the kid as he shook his hand.
    “I’m Reven Debreskii, one of the
Valendran commanders. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at any
time,” Reven said before he excused himself from the room, shutting the door
behind him.
    Mikey turned startled eyes to
Lauren.
    “What the hell is a Valendran?”
    Lauren grinned and pointed at the
closed door.
    “That.”
    “Tells me nothing,” Mikey said as
he threw his hands up in exasperation.
    Lauren giggled and took his hand in
her own before she opened the door and led them outside.
    “I’ll get you a comm so you can
study our history when you’re up to it. For now, I’ll give you the crash
course. The Valendrans, like Reven, had an outpost on Mars over a thousand
years ago. The Relians, who are the enemies of all sentient beings, tried to
kill them and chased them here to Earth where they found mates and had
children,” Lauren explained.
    Mikey felt like a light went off in
his head.
    “Hybrids! So I’m half Valendran and
half . . .? Freak?” Mikey teased, knowing she didn’t like him calling himself a
freak.
    Lauren playfully slapped at his
shoulder.
    “Stop that, we’re not freaks. But
yes, your father must have been a Valendran or a hybrid of a Valendran in order
for you to have the beast in your brain. Hybrid is a mixture of Valendran and
human,” Lauren explained as she led them to the supply room.
    They had more variations of hybrids,
but Lauren figured she’d try to get him used the Valendran ones before she
confused him with the complexities of the others. Grai and his brothers were
going to be really hard to explain.
    “How many hybrids are there?” Mikey
asked.
    Lauren led him through the rows of
shelves to where the tactical attire was kept. She figured since he was a
soldier, he might feel better wearing something similar, and she had to admit
she was a little curious what he would look like in the standard tactical team
gear.
    Lauren spread her arms out and
grinned.
    “I thought you’d like to wear
something besides those scrubs.”
    Mikey looked around and smiled
broadly at her before he planted a loud, smacking kiss on her cheek.
    “You’re an angel!” he said as he
walked over to a stack of black tactical pants from a shelf labeled in his size
and grabbed a pair.
    “You need to write your