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

legs almost gave out when he realized that she had been there. During his most humiliating moment, he had met his mate.
    He covered his burning face with his hands and groaned in embarrassment. How the hell was he supposed to fix this? She must think him a complete fool! he thought in a panic, before another thought occurred to him. Where the hell was she? And who was she?
    He sat on the edge of the bed, trying to piece everything together in his mind before he became frustrated and moved to the comm station in the room. He sat down a little unsteadily and began typing, hoping that Grai hadn’t ordered everything deleted.
    He easily found the pictures, not on the systems here on the planet. No he thought, his humiliation was now truly complete. It was currently being broadcast throughout the Adaria and different alliance stations on the planet. Pushing aside his embarrassment, he studied the pictures, memorizing the location so that he could find it again. And he would find it again , he vowed. And her .
    Gracus knew that she was somewhere in the forest in Colorado and he was determined to get back there. Rummaging through the room he found a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt and quickly changed out of the standard medical gown.
    Moving back to the comm, he studied the docking bay and the available craft and cursed the slowness of his mind and body as it took so much longer than it normally would have to get the information.
    He ran through the conversation with Amun and Scaden over again in his mind, knowing there was a clue he was missing. It was several minutes before he remembered that they said he had been found by a river guide.
    He easily switched over to the human internet and looked up the river guides in the area around where his cabin was and finally pulled up a website with a picture of Ms. Rebecca Carson. His mate.
    “Rebecca,” he said aloud, enjoying her name on his lips as he ran a finger down the cheek of the beautiful woman on the screen.
    Gracus felt a sudden urgency to get to her. A need so deep that he felt hollow inside and knew that only she could fill it. He had to find her. Now , he thought as a shiver ran down his spine and he began to feel a sense of paranoia overwhelm him.
    He forced his mind to focus as he pulled every detail he could find in Grai’s systems about her. Slowly, but surely, a plan began to form in his mind. Gracus thought briefly about asking for Scaden or Amun to help him, but he was afraid they would think him crazy. Or worse, that it was the drugs making him think that he’d found his mate.
    He was terrified that they would force him back to the Adaria before he had a chance to find her. He couldn’t let that happen , he thought, as his paranoia took hold of him.
    Using the comm system and his access to it, he scheduled an available transport craft to drop him back at the cabin. Scouring his memory, he remembered that his gear and clothes were still at the cabin and he could grab what he needed from there, if she was still in the forest.
    He sent all of the information on Rebecca to his comm and moved as quickly as he could, out of the MedLab and down to the docking bay, using his access to the security system in the building to ensure that he avoided Scaden, Amun and anyone else that might easily recognize him.
    Thinking of the images that Traze had plastered all over the walls of his room, he could only be grateful for the fact that his face had been covered and no one would recognize him from those pictures.
    Gracus made his way to the transport craft, slipped inside and headed directly to the waiting pilot. “I’m ready when you are,” he said, trying to avoid eye contact, somehow convinced that if he did, his plans to find his mate would be ruined.
    A part of Gracus realized that he was being unreasonable and paranoid, but he couldn’t seem to stop the thoughts from running through his head and the fear from gripping him.
    The pilot nodded and began pre-flight as