by Jana Leigh
“Jaden…” Quin said and held out a hand, and Jaden shook his head.
“Yeah, sorry, I don’t want to talk about it still.”
Quin sighed. “You are going to have to sometime. I mean, there is no way we will get by this unless we all talk about it,” Quin said, and Jaden nodded but turned away and looked back out the window.
“Probably, but still, I’m not sure what to do with all this. I mean, I have no idea what the hell to feel about it. She is my daughter, but she is not yours and Cami’s. I seriously never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth. Every time I think of her, it feels like I am betraying my mates. I am worried about her, I want to get to know her, dammit, I want to welcome her into this family. But how fair is that to you? To Cami?”
Quin put his hand on his best friend’s shoulder and said, “Jaden, it doesn’t matter how she got here, the point is she is here, and she is a part of you. She is a part of us because of that. Cami doesn’t care, you know she doesn’t, all she wants is to make sure you are happy.”
Jaden shrugged and said, “Well, that isn’t happening right now.”
“Let me help you, let us help you. We are all going to need to deal with this, you know? Kira, you, and Dalton, all of you are dealing with things differently. Still, we need to come together, deal with it together. Because until we do, there is nothing that can be healed,” Quin said softly, and Jaden growled at his mate and then his shoulders slumped. He knew Quin was right, but it didn’t help him much.
Chapter Eight
“WAIT!” Sienna screamed as her mates began to advance on the shifted wolf. It wasn’t that he was a shifter, it was that he was a white wolf. That was what was shocking. There were so few white wolves. They were so rare, special, that they hid themselves.
Chase and Cameron both stopped as she requested and seemed to finally realize why she had yelled. Until then it just hadn’t sunk in. But when it did, both men backed up quickly. “What the fuck?” Chase whispered, and Sienna slowly moved forward. The wolf backed up, growling and baring his teeth.
“Hang on,” Sienna whispered. “Easy there,” she said to the wolf as it growled more. She held out her hand and smiled. “Sorry, you caught us off guard, we won’t hurt you.”
The wolf growled while Chase and Cameron watched closely. They wouldn’t harm the wolf as long as it didn’t attack their mate. If it did, white wolf or not, it was going to be dead. Sienna got down on her knees and started speaking softly to the wolf.
“You know, it would be easier if you shifted back, so we could talk. I am sorry, we were not expecting anyone to be here. When we got here, it didn’t seem like anyone had been here in a while.”
The wolf growled but didn’t bare its teeth. Progress, she thought and then looked at her mates and said, “Do either of you?”
Chase shook his head. “No, the only white wolves I know are Jo and Fredi. I’m not really sure about the history of the white wolves other than they are rare and very coveted.”
Sienna nodded and then looked back at the wolf who was still staring at her but no longer growling. “Listen,” she said, and the wolf cocked his head listening. “We are not going to hurt you, but we need you to shift back so we can actually talk because this is not getting us anywhere. I am Sienna, they are Cameron and Chase. All of us are descendants of the Chosen apparently, which means we are the Drekinn.”
The wolf sniffed and moved a little closer and sniffed again, then finally he stepped back and shifted in front of them. Sienna smiled, she loved watching that, she missed it. When the man was done, he stood and looked at them cautiously. He was tall, his hair was light, and he was built. What he wasn’t was familiar. Plus, she grimaced when she saw the soup stains on his clothes, she actually felt bad about that. Sienna didn’t recognize his scent at all, which meant he wasn’t one of the Chosen children, which begged the question who the heck he was, but she did sense he wasn’t dangerous to her or her mates.
Sienna stood, and her mates moved close to her, waiting for the man to decide he was safe and would talk to them. He studied them closely and then finally said smoothly, “My name is Axel Gillard, my parents were Jean Paul and Sarah Gillard the Alphas of the Denver Pack. I was sent here with their Betas, Julie and Charlie, who were to hide me, which they did until they were found and attacked and killed during the wars. They told me to come here, it would be safe. It took me a while mostly because I had never been here, but I found it a few months ago. I have remained here ever since, only going out to shit and run. Before that, I was living in the mountains in an abandoned shack.”
Chase frowned and looked at his mates and said, “Do any of you remember who Quin put in charge of the Denver Pack after they moved the Chosen to Milliken?”
Both of them shook their heads and then Chase looked back at Axel closely. “How did you get in here with the magical wards on it.”
Axel grinned and said, “The children of the Denver Pack were given sanctuary here as well. I figured someone would come soon since the dragon’s treasure is still here.”
Sienna raised an eyebrow. “His treasure?”
Axel nodded and said, “Yeah, I found it when I explored. I figured someone would come back soon, Charlie and Julie told me not to leave until one of the Chosen came, so here I am.”
Chase and Cameron both nodded and then Chase said, “Well since I can honestly say I have no idea who you are, would you be opposed to me contacting our Alphas and checking with them?”
Axel shrugged and said, “I would expect that, but if you don’t mind, I will make something to eat because I have been out for a run and am starving.”
Sienna smiled and said, “I will join you since I threw my dinner at you. I am still a little hungry.”
Axel looked down at his clothes and grinned. “Yeah, I should probably change as well, but I will wait until you are done checking me out.”
The two men nodded and then looked at Sienna, and she rolled her eyes and motioned for them to leave. They needed to understand right off the bat, she could take care of herself. Although it was kinda nice that they were ready to defend her. It had been a long time since she had really felt like she could count on someone. A really long time.
Chase and Cameron only moved to the other side of the room where they could watch Axel and their mate while making the call. “What do you think?” Cameron muttered as he pulled out his link.
“Not sure, but I don’t think he’s dangerous, at least not to us,” Chase said. “Hopefully Marcus and Cassandra will remember who he is.”
Cameron clicked the link, and they waited for one of their Alphas answer their link. When no one answered, Cameron tried Simon, Lexie, and Phillip. Simon picked up on the first ring. “How is my sister? Is she ready to talk to me? We’re planning to come there and get her soon.”
Chase opened his mouth, but Cameron spoke first, “Simon, we have a visitor, we need confirmation of who he is.”
Simon leaned forward, and he said, “Who?”
“His name is Axel Gillard, says he’s the son of Jean Paul and Sarah Gillard, the Alphas of the Denver Pack.”
Simon frowned and leaned back. “The Denver Pack? I would need to ask Quin about that. I don’t remember anything about the Denver Pack really.”
Cameron nodded and said, “Can you do that now; we don’t want to leave him wandering around here unless we know he is safe.”
“Hang tight, let me check, and I will call you back,” Simon said, and Cameron nodded and then looked back into the kitchen where Sienna and Axel were cooking together. She was laughing.
“Why is she laughing with him?” Chase growled.
“I don’t know,” Cameron muttered. “He better not get any ideas, though.”
Chase nodded and said, “That is right.”
Sienna laughed loudly and then raised a hand in the air and Axel high-fived her. “What the fuck was that?”
“HEY!” Chase said loudly, and Sienna turned with a raised eyebrow, whi
le Axel looked back and smiled.
“Yes, you bellowed?” Sienna said.
Chase frowned but looked at Axel and asked, “Do you have a mate?”
Axel shook his head and said, “Nope, still looking, but then of course since I don’t leave here much, I pretty much figure I won’t find my mate anytime soon either.”
“So sad,” Sienna said, and both of them frowned at her.
“Yeah, well, let me give you a little of advice when you’re talking to someone who isn’t mated but met her mates, touching them is not a good idea,” Chase growled, and Axel’s eyes widened.
“Or you may be missing a hand,” Chase followed up with.
“What is wrong with you? I am having a C..O..N..V..E..R..S..A..T..I..O..N!” Sienna growled. “It is not polite to be a jerk when people are talking.”
“Polite? You want polite? How is this, please, stop chatting up my mate because if you don’t stop, I may kick your ass.”
“You could try,” Axel said.
Simon came back on the line and snapped, “He is fine, Quin said he was indeed the son of the Denver Pack’s Alphas. Now, back to my sister.”
Cameron looked at Chase, and his eyes widened as he said into the phone, “Call you back, we have a situation right now.”
“Situation, what the fuck are you talking?” Simon bellowed into the phone as Cameron hung it up.
“Shit,” Chase whispered. “We need to figure this out because we are so getting chopped up into little pieces if we don’t.”
Chapter Nine
Mak walked back to where the Chosen men were still meeting, when he entered he looked directly at Sol and said, “You are definitely an anomaly.”
Everyone in the room froze, and Quin asked, “What?”
“Okay, I have been focusing on changing things to make the shit stuff that happened not happen. However, there is one thing I was a little confused about, and that was Sol,” Mak said.
“Okay, why?” Quin replied.
“Just think this through. Jo and Tey met Sol after they had kids, which means he was their step-father,” Mak said slowly.
“And?” Sol snapped, and Tey put his hand on his mate’s arm.
“Let me get there,” Mak said softly, Sol nodded and then Mak continued. “Okay, so Jo and Tey already had the kids, right? But what if, even though I was changing shit, like finding Sol, I was missing the mark. What if whatever the fuck happened actually happened years before, and it was the reason that Jo and Tey never met Sol to begin with when they should have. What if it was meant to be that Jo and Tey were supposed to meet Sol when they were younger.”
“Okay, but I am still not understanding how that is screwing things up now, and we have people dying. Why would when we mated cause this much turmoil?” Sol asked, and Mak was quiet, and he shrugged.
“I’m not sure, but that’s the only thing making sense right now. Unless you can figure something else out that could have caused this big of a shake up, I’m all ears. But right now, that is the only thing in my mind that stands out. Of course, there is still all the other stuff with the Ulfers, and the Prentiss that aren’t making sense either.”
Quin nodded and then looked around the table. “Okay, for now, that is what we focus on, what was happening when we discovered Sol and Solei.”
Tey leaned forward. “Firebirds.”
“Okay?” Jaden said slowly.
“We didn’t know about the firebirds until they joined us. So realistically could they have something to do with it? Not just Sol and Solei, but the fact that firebirds were also not known to be alive.”
Mak walked to the window and looked out and tried to think of something, anything that would make sense. “Until we can figure it out, and find my sister, we can’t go back, I can only deal with what I know.”
Sienna stared at the two men who were her mates and wanted to slap them upside the head a few times to see if it would help with their manners. Dear gods, she really hoped that this wasn’t a peek of what she was going to need to deal with in the future. They had eaten dinner and been rude to Axel. Jerks, she was shaking her head when the prisoner yelled from the magical cage.
“Hey, I’m hungry,” the man snapped, and she turned and glared at him.
“Hey, I don’t give a shit,” she snapped and then rolled her eyes when she saw that the asshole was staring at her intently. “And stop staring at me, ‘cause I have knives out here, and I’m not afraid to use them.”
Cameron smiled and Chase frowned at her tone, both men had been sitting with her for the last hour and completely entranced with the way she communicated so well everyone. She did remind them of Simon, but not in the looks department. Chase had earned a smack a few minutes ago when he said that aloud, and Sienna thought he meant she looked like a man. Yeah, that didn’t go over so well.
“You can’t starve me to death,” the man grumbled, and Sienna turned and glared.
“Do not tempt me,” she said and then sighed. “So, Axel, tell us what you know.”
Chase and Cameron nodded and looked at the man. So far, during dinner, he had avoided all conversation about him and his situation. He was the son of the Denver Pack Alphas, but still, it didn’t make him safe. They were going to be staying here a while if the last call they received from Mak was true, which they knew it would be. Fuck, knowing that the rest of the children of the Chosen wouldn’t be able to go to the compound in Drake was somewhat disconcerting. Mostly because they were in a cave, and although it was very nicely decorated, it still was a cave.
“I don’t know much,” the man admitted and stared at them closely. Cameron stared right back, as did Chase, Sienna was the only one who rolled her eyes, but she did look at Axel and waited for him to continue. “Charlie and Julie told me to make sure I remained hidden because the Prentiss was looking for me as well. I have no idea why other than I am part of the Denver Pack itself and their white wolf, but to me, it makes no sense. The Chosen had turned over the Pack a long time ago, and it’s not like I am the only white wolf around, right? My parents had not spoken to them in years. Seriously, it makes no sense. There is no reason for them to go after my parents or me. We weren’t a threat.”
Everyone was silent as they stared at Axel who was clearly upset. What could they say, he had every right to be pissed. The Chosen had disappeared so long ago, their connection with the Denver Pack was investigated a long time ago. The Prentiss had cleared them of having anything to do with the Chosen. He was right, it didn’t make sense. However, he was a white wolf, and that could be the reason for it. They all turned to the man who was glaring at them from the cage.
“You aren’t going to say anything about that either?” Sienna snapped, and the man smirked and shook his head.
She stood, and Chase reached for her but missed as she moved quickly to the edge of the cage and just stood there. She stared, and by the time Cameron and Chase got there, the prisoner was on the ground, and he was moaning holding his head.
Chase asked with a grin. “What are you doing to him?”
Sienna shrugged. “Soul pain, I discovered a long time ago if someone was evil, I could make them feel the pain they gave to others. Physical or emotional. It comes in handy when assholes piss me off.”
Cameron grinned and shook his head. “That is awesome.”
“Like I said, comes in handy when someone is an asshole,” Sienna said, walking away from the cage as the man rolled around holding various parts of his body.
“Um, sweetheart,” Chase said chuckling. “How long can you make him feel like this?”
Sienna turned and frowned. “I’m not sure. Usually, I just give them a little hit to make them think twice, it works, and I just let up.”
“She is totally Simon’s sister,” Cameron whispered, and Chase nodded.
Sienna turned back to Axel, picked up the dirty plates, and wandered back to the kitchen when she called, “I heard that.”
Both men chuckled and shook their heads. Then they focu
sed on Axel again. “Okay, so you are a white wolf?”
The man nodded and said, “Yep.”
“Well, they are rare,” Chase pointed out, and Axel shrugged.
“They may be rare, but there are still others out there. If they’re planning on rounding all of them up, then yeah. But as far as I know, they aren’t. So being a white wolf may be unusual, but the Prentiss have ignored us. I mean, I get we can feel people, and soothe emotions. It’s not like I can give someone soulful pain or something. Hell, if anything, it’s a weakness, sometimes my head feels like it’s gonna explode. It makes me sick when there’s a lot of emotion in the Pack. When my parents were killed, I went down for a week, Charlie was sure it was going to kill me. Then when I woke up, and the Denver Pack was basically in shambles, I started to feel other people. I have had some bad days.”
Cameron nodded and then Sienna came back into the room and sat down next to Axel and said sympathetically, “Wow, that sucks.”
Chase and Cameron sat up straight, and when she touched his arm, both of them growled. It was impossible not to, and so they did, and Sienna turned and shook her head. “Stop it.”
Axel smiled and said, “It’s because you aren’t mated yet, they can’t help themselves.”
She rolled her eyes, “Yeah.”
Axel stood, slapping his hands on his thighs and he said, “On that note, I will leave you for the night.”
“You don’t…” Sienna started, and Chase stood.
“See you in the morning!”
“Yeah, in the morning, like late, maybe more toward lunch,” Cameron growled, and Axel laughed and then walked down the rock hallway toward the bedrooms.
She turned back to them and snapped, “No need to be rude.”
