Niko(Love Me Harder #2)(31)

“They’re here.” A young woman who may have been pretty screamed as the cops surrounded her, trying to contain her without hurting her.

“Who’s here?” The newscaster asked her. He should have said it with a mocking voice, but he seemed to care.

“Monsters. They look like men but they are not.” She screamed and broke into tears. “We have to stop them, before they kill us all.”

The cops moved in and subdued her.

One cop gave a sad smile. “Don’t worry. We will get her help.”

“Aran.” He answered his phone.

“Yeah I saw.”

“Ok I will leave it to you.”

“That was Dante. He caught the news. He has a brother who can get to her. They will be feeding her Rowl soon.”

“Who is after us?” Niko’s voice was even, but he had no doubt they were now being targeted.

“I don’t now, but we had better figure it out soon.” Aran said. “I need anything you may have seen. It may help us figure out what is happening.”

The brothers sat. Every eye locked onto Aran looking for direction.

“The night I followed Dee to that bar, I thought I caught a smell that was foreign when we came out. For a minute I thought one of us, a created one, was there. When I took a deep breath the smell was gone. Since the smell was off, I figured it was my imagination.”

“Niko.”

“I know, Aran. I let my guard down. I was so sure we were safe here. All I could think about that night was getting Dee to my house. Do you think I was followed?”

“Did you follow protocol?”

“Yes.” He wanted to say he would not ever veer away from that, but he had already let his guard slip once.

“Then no. Your base has not been compromised.”

“It’s been a while since I have thought of my home as my base.”

“We are all there Niko. Since Rena has come into my life, I see my base as my home also. I see it through her eyes. She has made changes and the place is more comfortable, but I make sure to remember to keep it a highly defensible position. Our bases truly become our homes as mates appear, but we can never let down our guard.”

The brothers nodded in agreement.

“What else do we know?”

“The bullets used came from a weapon that is only found on Yulen.” Nicolas looked around as each brother schooled his face not to show disgust. “We also know it was not a Yulen that fired the gun.”

“If a Yulen was here there would be blood running in the streets.” The Yulens were the most vicious race they had ever encountered. They didn’t take prisoners and they practiced no restraint. They killed or were killed.

“Someone pried that gun from a Yulen’s cold stiff fingers.” Hale spoke to no one in particular.

Aran nodded and went on. “There was my attack last month. Although I did not fight a created, I do think one was behind my shooting.”

“Let’s not forget the fire at the warehouse followed by the one in our office space.” Hale volunteered. “There is also the computer code. It was too sophisticated to be done by a human.”

“On that note, I am going to the other room.” Rena stood with a good natured smile, kissed Aran and left the room.

“Why would one of the created come after us?” Sergey asked, his voice quiet.

“That’s want we need to find out.” Aran looked around, meeting each of his brother’s eyes. “Until we know more, we are on high alert. Expect an attack.”

***

“Dee you better be awake.” Rena walked into her room, looking at her best friend on the bed. “You know I am tempted to roll your ass on the floor.”

“Some best friend you are.” Dee croaked, her voice sounded rough and she winced, then winced again at the pain.

“How long can you pretend to be asleep?”

“Wasn’t hard,” She whispered, “Every time I blink my eyes, I fall asleep.”

“Looks like you’re avoiding Niko. Care to tell me why?”

Dee closed her eyes. Rena leaned over her and snapped her fingers in Dee’s ear. Dee jumped a little.

“That hurt.”

“Then stop avoiding me and talk to me.”

She tried to push herself up in the large bed, but couldn’t get her arms to work. Rena came over and partially lifted her, carefully adding another pillow so she wouldn’t be flat.

“What should I say to him? Sorry, Niko. I’m not sure what happened, but someone hates me enough to try and kill me, and they almost took you with me. Want some lunch? What man stays with a woman with a price on her head?”

“Your man.”

“He’s not my man. He was just a temporary distraction. Now that I am thinking clearly, I see this would never have worked.”