Leap of Faith (Drekinn Book 9)

by Jana Leigh

  Leap of Faith

  Drekinn

  Book Nine

  by Jana Leigh

  Published by JK Publishing, Inc.

  © Copyright March 2017 Jana Leigh

  Rights & Permissions © March 2017 JK Publishing, Inc.

  Cover, art, and logo © Copyright March 2017 by JK Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN #978-1-370-20898-2

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales are entirely coincidental.

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  Dedication

  To real fans and friends, things can sometimes be so ugly and hard in this industry. I have seen people being stalked and hunted by people over rumors and innuendos. It is so sad, but honestly, I have the best fans in the world because they do not become involved in any of this. Thank you for your support and kindness.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Epilogue

  Books by Jana Leigh

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Sienna sat at the table with a few of her friends. Today had sucked at work, and she really needed to take a step back and chill out before she went home to her small apartment. She had no family to speak of since they had died in a fire when she was very young. She didn't remember any of it, but she had read the stories in the papers. Also, one of the firefighters who saved her had spent a lot of time with her when she was young. Some may think it was weird that he paid so much attention to her, but Sienna was thankful for it. She was a shifter, and because of that, not having guidance during those critical years would have been hard on Sienna, but Grant was fantastic because he was a shifter like her, living in the real world and hiding who he was. He helped her discover how to do the same.

  Sienna knew she was different; she was a shifter but with no Aerie. Some may not think that was unusual, but it was because most birds stuck together. She was an eagle, but after everything that had gone down in the world, Sienna had made sure no one knew it. She was used to denying what she was. Her bird hated it, though, and truthfully, she was worried one of these days she would shift and not be able to come back from the shift. Her eagle was pissed, she could feel it, she really needed to make some time to go into the mountains, shift and let her bird fly free. Eagles were a lot different than other shifters. Their birds weren't as demanding as other shifters, they were happy to fly whenever she could get out of the city into the open air and let herself go. But she had never gone this long without shifting, and she knew she it too. Because she was careful, no one knew what she was, and Sienna liked it like that. What she didn’t like was feeling like part of herself was missing, which it was when she thought about having an Aerie, it sucked, but she was used to it now.

  “Come on, girl,” her friend, Theresa, said and pointed to the door. “Two hotties at six o'clock, you take one I got the other, and we will have a magical night of hot sex. Sound like a plan?”

  She shook her head and laughed. Theresa was as human as they came, and when they had first met, Sienna hadn't been sure about the woman. She was too happy, that's right, she was too happy. No one was bubbly all the time. But Theresa had proved her wrong, and she loved her for it. The woman could be a sarcastic bitch, just like Sienna, which was good, since people tended to shy away from her because of it. She wasn’t rude or anything, Sienna just tended to be blunt and tell people what she thought. She also used a simple formula when dealing with things, that was, ‘shoot first ask questions later.’

  “Please, if we did half of the things we talked about, I am pretty sure we would be the local whores. Hey, we should get t-shirts that say that! Maybe then we could get a date. I am pretty sure at this point there are cobwebs.” Sienna laughed, and Theresa giggled. Sienna’s other friend who was distracted looking at the men whom Theresa had pointed out, made Sienna want to look over her shoulder. She felt the shiver of awareness run down her spine, and she stiffened a little. Not good, this could totally be a shoot first ask questions later, well if she had brought her gun it would be, but nooooooo Sienna left it in the dash of her car so she wouldn’t scare the crap out of the humans. They tended to be slightly wary of a woman carrying a gun. They shouldn’t be, it wasn’t like she was gonna PMS and pull it out. It was for protection.

  “Yeah, I know, but just saying right now. Either of them can slap my ass and call me a whore any day of the week if they can use their packages. ‘Cause damn, girl, they got some serious bulges.”

  “Oh my gods,” Sienna said and risked looking over her shoulder. She frowned when she saw the two men. Fuck a damn duck; she needed to get out of there, like now. She recognized them. They were from the Prentiss Agency; they had already shown up several places recently and been searching for shifters. Why in the hell were they everywhere she had been? Were they searching for her? If so, how
had they found out her secret? Too much of a coincidence to ignore. She needed to get the hell out of there, lay low, and only go to work and home for a few days. Hell, she could quit as well, she loved what she did, but her boss was a dipshit. As she mulled it over in her mind, Sienna stared at the way the two men were looking around the bar. They were searching for someone, yeah, it was totally time to beat feet out of there.

  “Yeah, they are okay,” she said and turned around and looked at her friend who was grinning. “Uh listen, I need to get home and get everything ready for that meeting tomorrow.”

  Her friend frowned, and said, “I thought you were ready.”

  “Well, even when I think I am ready, you know how the boss lady is. If everything isn't perfect, she will scream and yell until I get it right. I would rather check it now than tomorrow. I just hate getting yelled at, then I get all bitchy and wanna snap her like a twig.”

  Theresa nodded and said, “Sadly yes, I do know that Cruella Deville will most assuredly find something to bitch about, that could lead to another bitch fight, which last time was hilarious. Oh well, at least we got dinner before the show. Maybe when she finally signs this contract, we can get laid.”

  “That is a plan,” she said distractedly. Sienna stood and smiled at her friend, said goodbye and then put down her head and began to make her way out of the bar. Friends, she didn’t have too many of those, but Theresa had been a good one. It sucked to leave her. But there wasn’t a choice really, things were getting too hot. And when people asked about her, Theresa would be the perfect cover story. She would tell people how sweet Sienna was and also how NORMAL she was. To be honest, it had kinda sucked to act normal; she was anything but normal.

  Shit, she didn’t want them to see her. She would hate to kill those bastards in front of humans, they would not understand. They would never be able to scent her, being an eagle had certain plusses. Still, she had the feeling that something was going on and it worried her enough to think about something she hadn’t in a long time. It was time to move on. Even though she was entrenched in her job, in this town, it didn’t matter. Keeping away from the Prentiss, yeah that was all that was important.

  As she neared the exit, she felt someone at her back, and she almost reacted in a very violent manner, her reflexes were itching to defend herself. That was until she heard a man whisper in her ear, “Keep walking and don't look back. We will make sure they don't follow you out the door. There is a large black hover SUV parked on the corner, get in the back seat and wait for us.”

  Her senses opened, and she wanted to scream for the injustice of it all—now, now was when she freaking found him. She didn’t turn around because she knew who she would see if she did. Her mate. Sienna closed her eyes and focused for a slight second. She used her powers that she hadn't used in a long time, and projected to him. ‘Cause yeah, she didn't trust anyone, she knew her training would help if needed. For years, she had honed her skills with hand to hand combat, mostly because Grant had insisted. Being a shifter was dangerous right now, and since she didn't often shift, in fact, the last time was probably six months ago, as a human, though, she could kick ass. Grant taught her how to protect herself at any cost, which meant hell, yeah, she could kill someone.

  Chapter One

  Sienna wasn’t stupid. She didn’t give a crap what the stranger had told her, and she didn’t care if he was her mate. Not because she didn’t want a mate, she did, but she was going to do what Grant taught her to do, evade and protect. Creating a blood bath would certainly put her on the map. Shit. She almost turned around, surely the gods had been good enough to make her mate just as strong as she was. He had to have had training of some sorts, hell, no shifter these days went without training. Sienna had already read about the Drekinn and all their problems. It kinda pissed her off that she was being targeted because of them. She stopped for a second and then shook her head and kept moving.

  She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one was following her. She saw someone standing there, though. It was a man standing on the sidewalk, seeming to stare at her and she glared. “What the fuck are you looking at?” The man had looked shocked and backed off, yeah, she was a bitch, but you couldn’t be too careful. The majority of attacks were stopped by the victim. She was no one’s fucking victim.

  Besides, there was something no one knew about her powers. She had hidden it since she was young, mostly because she knew she was special. But more so because the firefighter who had saved her told her to hide it, he said she was given a special gift from her parents. She never forgot what he said that day. ‘Always make sure before you use your powers that you are using them for the right reason. With power comes responsibility. And never show your abilities to anyone unless there is no other option, then just be prepared for the outcome.’ Sienna was always prepared for the outcome, which was why she had strained to hold her temper while in the bar, it would have been bad. No, if she was going to kill someone, she would make sure she couldn’t get caught.

  She wasn’t sticking around while the Prentiss Agency was looking for shifters to pick up. She had no clue what the fuck was going on, but she did know suddenly they were searching for someone or something, they just had not come out and said it. Sienna would contact her mate later, something she pushed into the back of her mind. For now, survival was more important. So when she made it outside the door, instead of turning the way the man had told her, she moved in the direction of her apartment. If she could get there, then everything was going to be okay, why? Because all her stuff was there and waiting. If she had to leave, she had a go bag. Strangely enough, she had read that in a book once and figured it was a good idea. A laugh burst out of her mouth as she remembered when she tried to decide what she was going to put in it.

  Her bag had clothes, money, and a new ID, and of course, three knives, two guns, and a few flash bangs she had picked up in a less than savory part of town two years ago. Leaving behind her job sucked since she had worked long and hard trying to make a name for herself in the industry, but she was leaving anyway because this just nailed the coffin on her career here. She used to work for a company who primarily built towns. They put in bids to City Planners, to virtually build and maintain city buildings all across the country, sometimes they started from scratch, like a suburb who annexed from larger cities. Sienna didn’t like being in the limelight, mostly because she never wanted anyone to discover she was a shifter, so she was happy in the background. Her looks made it hard, she knew it, mostly because her hair was so unusual. And no matter how many times she tried to dye it, her hair always looked the same. She had white hair, not gray, not blond, white, and although a lot of people thought she dyed it, nope it was natural. Sienna kept her hair short and spiked, her make-up was always dark, and her tall, lithe form was oddly muscular as well. But it was her eyes that seemed to hypnotize people; they were a weird shade of blue that looked almost lavender. She was a conundrum. The contrast drew people to her, even when she didn’t want them to. When she realized people would notice her even though she tried to hide, Sienna had decided to be an ice queen, that way people just didn’t approach her at all. It worked for her, then she only picked people like Theresa and Jenny. Damn, she really hated to leave them.

  She looked behind her again and moved faster, shit, maybe she should have looked to see what her mate looked like. Right now, unless he was standing close to her, Sienna wouldn’t know who her mate was. She walked to the parking lot and unlocked her car with her remote, she jumped in and locked the doors, and only then did she take a deep breath and blow it out. Dammit all to fucking hell, she thought and hit her steering wheel, everything was going to shit. In five minutes, she had changed from being a successful human to an on the run shifter. No use crying over spilled milk, though, she needed to make a plan and stick to it. First things first.

  Thirty minutes home during rush hour, and five minutes to get to her apartment, grab her bag, and get the fuck outta there. Then she would decide whe
re she was going to go. One step at a time. Thank goodness she had enough money to actually ditch this hover car and get a new one in her alias. Then she would be able to disappear. Sienna felt a twinge as she thought about her mate. The mating call was going to drive her nuts, she already knew it, and had a plan for it. Hopefully, the gods saw fit to actually allow her projections to reach them.

  She closed her eyes and then took a deep breath as she drove out of the parking garage. Focus, think, and move. In an hour, she could be miles away and safe. With quiet determination, she drove in the direction of her apartment. Sienna watched behind her regularly, even one time putting it on remote drive to turn so she could see the driver of the vehicle behind her. She pulled her knife out of the glove box and strapped it to her leg, ready to get out of the vehicle and into her apartment quickly and have protection when she did, just in case.

  By the time she reached her apartment she was strung tight, so when she jumped from the car she ran to the elevator. Not pausing to greet the doorman, instead yelling over her shoulder, “Don't bother parking it; I will be right back.”

  Sienna literally opened the door and grabbed her go bag, which was in her front closet, and ran back out. She didn't look at anything because she was taking nothing with her. She knew this day would come when the Prentiss began becoming more vocal, putting out posters about wanted people. When the rumors started, Sienna had been scared, they were rounding up shifters who weren’t registered. She was not going to do that.

  She ran down to her car, hopped in, and sped out of the space she had been parked in, then Sienna finally allowed herself to think back to her childhood—well, what she remembered of it. Her first memory was of the fire, and Grant. Sienna took a deep breath and then gripped the steering wheel again, she hated thinking about it, but it was something she needed to remember because it was her only hope right now. The fire had changed her forever, mostly because at the time, she knew she was supposed to die in the fire. Someone had tried to kill her. It was proven someone tried to kill her, but the investigation had not gone anywhere.