Grounding Gracus (First Wave Book 6) by Mikayla Lane Page B

the middle of nowhere, he felt exposed and walked around the wrap around porch to the back of the cabin.
    It was beautiful, he thought as he saw the river in the distance and heard the calming sounds of the water. Such a perfect place . He leaned his head back for a second and took a deep breath until he started swaying and turned to look at the back door.
    Out of curiosity he tried the back door handle and was a little surprised that it was unlocked. Suddenly concerned that Rebecca may be home but hadn’t answered because she was injured, he rushed inside.
    Gracus looked around the kitchen and not seeing her or hearing anything he began a systematic search of each of the rooms until he ended up in the living room. She wasn’t here , he thought, looking a little perplexed that the door had been unlocked. Why wouldn’t she lock it?
    Gracus shook his head. It didn’t matter, he was here now and he would protect her and keep her safe. Feeling a little tired, he sat in a chair near the fireplace and wondered what he should do now. She had to be around here somewhere, this is where she lived.
    He was considering his options when he went into her kitchen to get a drink of water for his dry mouth. Out of curiosity, he opened her refrigerator and was a little surprised that the only thing in it was condiments and a few bottles of water.
    Grabbing one of the bottles, Gracus realized that she might be in town to get food. Feeling a little more confident that he was close to finding her, he headed out of the back door and to the battered SUV still running in her driveway.
    This time, he looked all around the vehicle to make sure he couldn’t hit anything when he went back to the road. Gracus grinned and nodded his head, knowing that he could turn around in the driveway easily without ruining anymore of Rebecca’s flowers.
    He hopped into the SUV, confident that he had this, put it in gear and turned the wheel sharply to the left to begin the turn. Gracus felt like it was moving too fast and kept his foot on the brake to slow it down so he didn’t lose control. He made it out to the intersection with the main road and carefully looked both ways before jumping out too quickly and running down her mailbox before he righted the vehicle in the proper lane.
    Grabbing his comm out of his pocket, he got the directions into the town and headed slowly, but steadily that way, ignoring the blaring horns behind him and the vehicles that seemed to fly by him periodically at what seemed like overly excessive speeds.
    *****
    Scaden and Amun looked around the MedLab and realizing that Gracus was gone they immediately sent out alerts through the Shengari’ to find him. It wasn’t long before Grai was striding up to them as they were using the comm system to locate his cell signature, still thinking their friend was in the HQ building or the docking bay beneath it.
    “What’s going on?” Grai asked, even though he’d heard the alerts and knew Gracus was missing from MedLab.
    Scaden sighed and threw his hands up in the air. “He’s gone. He’s not in the building at all. Nowhere. His signature is gone. What if he wanders into the damn animal sanctuary? Would the Sibiox protect him from Jax’s other creatures?” Scaden asked worriedly as he paced the room.
    Grai laughed and shook his head. “Jax keeps her animals very well fed and they are much smarter than you think. They would not harm him unless he tried to harm them. And yes, the Sibiox are very protective of their Valendran’s. Do not worry, we will find him.”
    Scaden nodded his head, thinking that Gracus couldn’t have gotten far and grateful that Grai was here to help them.
    Amun smacked his own forehead. “His comm is gone!”
    Scaden rushed to the control center, his fingers flying across the keypad as he tried to pull up the tracking information on all comm systems and was surprised when the screen flashed, “Inactive”.
    “What the hell does that mean? It can’t be