Rikki's Awakening

by Dawn Sullivan

  “I could ask the same of you,” Vixen said, raising a delicate eyebrow as she glanced in his direction. “Seems like there are lots of secrets going on around here.”

  When Rikki tried to step around him, Jeremiah kept her back with an arm, his gaze never leaving the woman who was just a few feet away. “Explain yourself, now,” he snarled. “I have no problem dispensing of one of the General’s lackeys. I don’t care who you know.”

  Vixen laughed, the sound floating around the room and pissing him off more. “Lackey? Like you, you mean?”

  “Jeremiah is one of us,” Chase said, rising to stand beside his mate. “Tell us, Vixen, what are you doing here?”

  “I was invited,” the woman said with a shrug, and a glance over at Jinx. “If you don’t want me here, I can leave. But I infiltrate in twenty-four hours by myself, then.”

  “Infiltrate where?”

  “The facility in Virginia. Ebony has decided to get rid of it and everyone in it. It being my home base, I’ve grown attached to a few of the people there. I would rather they live.”

  “I don’t understand,” Rikki said, slamming her elbow in Jeremiah’s ribs to try to get him to move. “Who are you?”

  Jeremiah refused to budge. He didn’t want Rikki anywhere near the bitch in front of him. He’d seen firsthand what she was capable of.

  “She’s one of the General’s assassins.”

  “Oh!” Rikki stopped struggling, her hand resting on his back. “Like Jinx.”

  The subtle reminder was quiet in the room, and Jeremiah felt pride fill him at what his mate was conveying in those two words. She was trying to tell him that he needed to get his head out of his ass and see the big picture. Jinx wouldn’t have brought her to the meeting if she couldn’t be trusted. But trust had to be earned, and Vixen sure as hell hadn’t earned his. Neither he, nor his bear were on board with her being there.

  “Like me,” Jinx agreed, moving to block the doorway again. “And she’s here of her own free will. She’s asking for help. We are.”

  “Talk to us,” Angel demanded, taking her seat at the table again, Chase sitting beside her. Theirs was a well-matched mating, full of a shared power like nothing Jeremiah had ever felt before between an alpha pair.

  “I found out last night that Ebony has planned to eliminate everyone at the Virginia facility,” Jinx started, his gaze going around the room. “She knows there is a leak somewhere and assumes part of it was Vixen.”

  “Since I was out of the Virginia facility, she’s decided she can’t trust anyone there,” Vixen spat, her eyes taking on an angry glow. “That bitch needs to die.”

  Jeremiah ignored the snarls of agreement in the room, one thing standing out to him. “They were sending me to Virginia. I thought it odd, because they were having me drive a Hummer there when normally they would fly.”

  “They are tracking you,” Vixen said immediately.

  “I disabled the tracking device on the vehicle.”

  “Your phone.”

  “Left it behind in the garage. Made it look like I dropped it on accident.”

  Vixen grinned, “Then, unless you’ve been to sickbay recently, you should be fine.”

  “Never been,” Jeremiah told her. “Why?”

  “They’ve started embedding small tracking devices into the base of the neck of the guards, right under the skin.”

  “I’ve never heard that,” Jeremiah snarled.

  “It’s something new,” Vixen told them, with a shrug. “So small, you wouldn’t even know it. One of the scientists in a facility in California has been working on it for the past four or five years. From what I’ve been told, it hurts like hell when they inject it into you, but then the pain goes away after a few days. They haven’t figured out a way to make it painless when they shoot it into you. You would know if you have one.”

  “I don’t.” Thank fuck. He couldn’t stand the thought of having something injected into him so he could be watched at all times.

  “They probably didn’t want to waste one on you, since they were obviously sending you to your death anyway,” Vixen said as she began to pace the small confines of the room. “They are very expensive to make.”

  Jeremiah stiffened, and a low growl filled the room from behind him. “Sending me to my death?”

  “Well, you just said you were going to the Virginia facility. Why else would they send you there if not to kill you? There are kill orders on everyone there. Guards, scientists, shifters. Why would you be any different?”

  He wouldn’t. The realization that they must have finally figured out he was in their organization undercover sank in, and he slowly turned to slide an arm around Rikki, bringing her up next to him. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m not going back.”

  “That’s the problem. We need you to.”

  “No fucking way,” Rikki snarled, her eyes going wolf as she glared at the woman. “He isn’t going anywhere near that place. You’ll have to go through me first.”

  Vixen’s gaze raked over her, and a slow smile slipped free. “I haven’t had a good fight since Jinx. As much fun as that would be, though, we don’t have time. We need to get this shit figured out. Fast.”

  “Well, you are going to figure it out without putting my mate in more danger,” Rikki growled.

  “Mate? Interesting. What’s it like having a mate? I’ve always wondered, but only one of the shifters I met in Virginia was mated, and she refused to tell me any specifics about it.”

  “What? Which one has a mate?” Jeremiah asked, horror filling him at the thought of what they and their mate must be going through. Staying away from Rikki had been hell, and they weren’t even fully mated, yet.

  “Jasmine, the fox shifter.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah, for just over a couple of years now. We need to get her out of there. I may not know a lot about what being mated to someone means, but I do understand that mates can’t survive without one another.”

  “They can,” Angel admitted, “but it’s a hell no one wants to live.”

  “She has a baby,” Vixen said quietly, turning to look at Jeremiah. “Just a year old. I know you don’t want to go back in, and I wouldn’t ask it of you if I didn’t need someone on the inside, but I promised Jasmine I would get her back to her family. Back to her baby. She wouldn’t tell me much, but she did talk about little Shayla sometimes. Said she missed her so much she could hardly breath.” Her gaze went to Rikki, and she whispered, “I don’t ask for much. I don’t like to rely on others, but I’m asking you, please help me save her. Help me get her back to her baby. I honestly don’t know if I can do it on my own. They would have changed the security codes when I went missing. Locked down tighter on security.”

  It felt as if a weight had settled on Jeremiah’s chest. He knew Vixen told the truth, could scent it. There was no acrid odor of a lie, and the pain he felt coming from her was real. It surprised him. Shocked the hell out of him. He hadn’t thought the General’s assassins could feel. He’d been wrong.

  Rikki turned in his arms, looking up to meet his eyes. Hers were wide and misted over with tears. He saw the indecision within them, the same indecision he felt. “You have to go back,” she whispered, her hand coming up to rest on his cheek. “You don’t have a choice.”

  “I can’t leave you.” It was torn from him, and he didn’t care who heard the guttural pain in his voice. He had been away from his mate for too long. He didn’t want to be separated from her again.

  “You won’t,” she promised, leaning into him. “We will be right there with you.”

  “She’s right,” Angel vowed. “We will be there, and as soon as you give us the signal, we will come in, guns blazing. We will get that little fox back to her mate and baby, and we will bring you home.”

  Closing his eyes, Jeremiah wrapped his arms around Rikki, holding her close. Resting his forehead on the top of her head, he muttered, “I promised you I wouldn’t go away again.”

  “You
aren’t leaving me,” Rikki whispered. “We are in this together this time.”

  Swallowing hard, he raised his head to look at Angel. “I need to be to Virginia by tomorrow afternoon. I will need to leave immediately.”

  “Let me help with that,” Jinx cut in. “You stay a bit longer with Rikki. Angel can fly you in with them, and I will meet you close to the facility with the Hummer.”

  “Thanks, man.”

  Rikki turned to look at the young shifter, her arms tightening around Jeremiah’s waist before she whispered, “Thank you, Jinx.”

  “You’re pack. It’s what pack does.”

  He felt Rikki stiffen in his arms as her gaze went to Chase and Angel. “It seems I have a lot to learn about being part of a pack.”

  “Don’t worry, little wolf,” Chase said, a small smile kicking up the corners of his mouth. “You have time.”

  “I thought you wanted to eliminate me,” she whispered. “You said I was a menace.”

  Chase rose, crossing the room to them. Jeremiah could feel the alpha sending some of his power to Rikki, letting it run through her and relax her. “I never said I wanted to eliminate you, Rikki. I just wanted you to get your wolf under control. You were hurting people.”

  Rikki bowed her head in shame. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I was just in so much pain, and so angry.”

  Chase settled a hand gently on the top of her head. “You are our family, Rikki. Even if you haven’t accepted me yet, you are one of my wolves to protect. I take that very seriously.”

  “You were trying to protect me, along with everyone else?”

  “I will always be here to protect you,” he promised. “Even if it is from yourself.”

  Jeremiah watched as his mate raised her head, a tremulous smile crossing her lips. “Thank you.”

  “Yes, Alpha,” he said, holding out a hand to Chase. “Thank you for claiming my mate as one of yours and protecting her. Keeping her safe.”

  “Always,” Chase promised, sliding his hand in Jeremiah’s. “That extends to you, too, Jeremiah. You are Rikki’s mate, which makes you family. Mine to protect.”

  Jeremiah bowed his head to the man, baring his neck in deference to the alpha. He knew he was being bestowed a great honor. It was a huge blessing, and one he did not take lightly. “Thank you, Alpha.”

  Bane stood on the edge of Angel’s property, his gaze surveying as far out as the eye could see. She was out there somewhere, probably terrified, fighting for her life, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. It was driving him crazy. He’d never even met her before. The others had, but he’d stayed behind to help guard the White River Wolves when they were out on missions where they ran into her. The General’s daughter. Amber. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He was mated to the spawn of Satan. He still hated the bastard, even though he was dead. Everyone said Amber was nothing like her father or her sister, Ebony. That she was kind, good, and would give her life to protect the people the General and Ebony held captive. Possibly already had. He wanted to believe them. Wanted to believe his mate had a kind, gentle soul and a good heart. But she’d been born into a family who liked to hurt and kill. How could she be so different? The General had ruined his life. How could he forget that? He knew Amber wasn’t responsible for her father’s actions, but… how?

  Bane squeezed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, closing his eyes as he thought back to how his world had changed so long ago. The General had taken his brother from them, making him do unthinkable things. When the bastard tried to make him choose between his family and pack or his children, there had been only one choice Steele could make. Because of it, the bastard came back and murdered everyone in their pack except for himself and his sister, Sapphire, who had managed to escape after killing several of the General’s men. After that, Bane had become a whole new person. No longer was he the outgoing son who loved to spend his time reading and teasing his sister. His father used to tell him that he couldn’t fight a war with words. He had naively responded, “Watch me.” After the loss of their entire village, he realized that wasn’t true. That he was living in a dream world, and it was time to wake up. He began to train hard, learning to use everything he had at his disposal to defeat the enemy. He ran, lifted weights, shifted several times a day so that he could increase the speed in which he changed. He could shoot almost as well as Sapphire, fight dirty as hell with a knife, take down a bear if he had to. He also had the ability to speak telepathically, along with a couple other gifts he kept close to his chest. Only Sapphire knew all of the things he could do, and he was keeping it that way, for now.

  His thoughts went back to his mate, and he once again raised his head to look out over the land. Where was she? Was she alive? Hell, was she evil or the fucking angel everyone said she was?

  “You have to stop, brother.” Sapphire appeared beside him, sliding her arm through the crook in his. “It’s tearing you up inside.” When he didn’t reply, she laid her head on his shoulder. “You know the girl can’t help who she’s related to. We don’t get to pick our family. Well, not our biological one, anyway.”

  “I know,” he muttered.

  “Then, why are you holding that against her? Why not believe what the entire team is telling you? What your own sister is telling you? That she is a woman worthy of you.”

  “Because,” he rasped, placing a hand on top of hers and squeezing gently. “If I do, that means I have to think about the fact that my mate, who is by everyone’s standards an angel from above, is being held and possibly tortured by her own sister. I don’t know which would be worse, Sapphire. Believing she is the embodiment of evil and finding out later that I’m wrong. Or believing she is everything that is good in this world, and finding her used and abused, a shell of the person she used to be.”

  Sapphire sighed, running a hand gently down his arm. “All I can tell you is what I saw personally, Bane. I saw her stand between Chase and the bastard who was trying to kill him. She was willing to die so that he could live. I saw her leave, walk back into the hell that was waiting for her, to save the people the General was holding prisoner. I saw her courage, but also her fear.”

  Bane swallowed hard, gritting his teeth tightly together. “She’s strong,” he got out, but barely.

  “Did you know that Chase has claimed her as one of his?”

  Bane shook his head, staring straight ahead as his eyes misted over with tears. Dammit, he was a man. Men didn’t cry.

  “So has Angel. They say Amber is family.” Hugging his arm to her, Sapphire said, “They did this before they knew she was yours. Bane, she may be the daughter of the devil, but she is not him. She is worthy of your claim. Worthy of your love. You need to put aside your hatred for a dead man and concentrate on what really matters.”

  “Amber.” Bane could barely breathe, the thought of his mate, a woman he wanted to hate but couldn’t, in the hands of someone like Ebony. “How do we find her?”

  “I’ve been trying ever since she was taken.” The voice was deep, low, family.

  Bane pulled away from Sapphire and turned to look at his nephew. Jinx. One of the General’s assassins. Proof you could live in the face of adversity and overcome it all. He was raised to be a killer. Taught in depth how to fight, torture, and kill. He’d lived his entire life with only his father and sister as a positive influence, until the year before when he met his mother and RARE, and he still turned out to be someone Bane could be proud of. He may kill for Ebony, but he saved as many lives as he took, if not more. Bane would trust the man with his life. He was proof Amber could be as kind and caring as everyone believed her to be. And if she was, that meant his mate was going through a hell that could kill her right now because Ebony would never allow her to survive.

  “She is,” Jinx said quietly.

  “Is what?” Bane asked, even though he knew the answer. With ever fiber of his being, he knew what Jinx was going to say.

  “Amber is good, kind, cari
ng. A woman to be proud of. If she were mine, I wouldn’t be standing here fucking debating about whether or not she was worthy of my love. I would know it, because my father told me the Gods would never give us a mate who was unworthy of us. I’ve seen the mated pairs around here, and I believe him. I wouldn’t be arguing with myself over whether or not I could learn to love someone like the General’s daughter. I would be moving heaven and earth to find the other half of my soul, knowing she would make me whole. Something I’ve never been.”

  Bane stared into his nephew’s eyes, eyes that they were now glowing a bright green when just moments ago they’d been a deep brown like his own. A good indicator that the man was pissed. Bane sighed, raking a hand through his hair. Jinx was right, and he had just effectively put his uncle in his place. “I’m an ass.”

  Jinx didn’t argue, his jaw hard, his eyes taking on another hue of green. “Amber gives and gives to everyone else, never asking for anything in return. She put her life on the line numerous times, trying to free the General’s prisoners, or, at least, make their lives less miserable when she could. She knew what could happen to her if she got caught. What would happen. She did it anyway. She has more heart and soul than anyone else I know.”

  “Point taken.” Bane rubbed at the ache in his chest, agony strumming through him at the thought of what Amber might be going through now. “You have no idea where she is?”

  “No,” Jinx growled, looking away from him. “Ebony won’t tell me, and she has her mind locked down too damn tight for me to get in.”

  “Get me near her,” Bane said, crossing his arms over his chest. “She won’t be able to hide the truth from me.”

  “Bane…” Sapphire whispered, taking a step forward and placing a hand on his arm. “We talked about this. There has to be another way.”

  “I’ll make it quick,” Bane promised, his eyes never leaving his nephew’s. “Get me near her.”

  Jinx nodded slowly, his eyes widening slightly.

  “Jinx?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Stay the fuck out of my head unless I invite you in.” Bane’s voice was cold, deadly. He would never hurt his nephew, but he would show the boy some manners, if he needed to.