by Jana Leigh
“Who are you?” Spencer demanded.
Trinity snuck a look around her father"s hip and almost squealed. It was the guard from the gate. The one who had sniffed the air. He was beautiful. Tall, long dark hair that was tied back so she could not see how long it was, and from what she could see blue eyes that glittered with amusement. His body was all solid muscle with arms the size of her waist. His face was long and lean with cheekbones that stuck out and accented his long, perfectly shaped nose. His lips were full and she wanted to rise and kiss the man.
Where had that come from? She thought and then hid behind her father again so she could gather herself.
“My name is Blaze Hamden. I am the Beta of the Pride of the North. I was at the gate as a favor to my friends, Jordan, Romy, and Larkin. I am a cat shifter; my cat is a Siberian Tiger. I accompanied my leaders to Milliken to bring Jordan and her mates. We are staying until further notice, but I assume I will now be staying longer. My parents live up north and will be thrilled I have found my mate. They are lawyers, and yes, I followed in their path and have my degree in law also. I am healthy and can provide for your daughter. So did that about cover all the bases? I wanted to get the parental grilling out of the way.” Blaze said smiling.
“Uh,” Her father said and stood there.
Spencer cleared his throat and said, “Young man, I am not sure if you know what is going on here.”
“Yep, Quin just told me. My mate is part of the Council. And although I have found her first, we still have another mate out there we have to find. All the Council has tri-mates but one, Jo. Trinity was born in October, which makes her the Pack Builder.” Blaze said off handily as if he was ordering off a menu.
Spencer nodded slowly, not quite sure what to make of the cat. Her mother grasped her hand, leaned over, and whispered in her ear. “My, he is a big one.”
“Mother.” Trinity said and whispered back. How embarrassing. Cats had great hearing. He had probably heard her mother say that. As confirmation, she heard a deep laugh come from the other side of the room.
There was more commotion as an older man pushed his way past the man claiming to be her mate. He stood in the doorway looking disheveled and thin. “Spencer.” The man cried and went to her boss and grabbed him in a tight hug.
Spencer allowed the man to hug him and then stepped back and bowed his head.
“Alpha, it is good to see you. I am sorry we have taken so long and for all the anguish which we played a hand in. Our only explanation is that we had to protect Trinity.” The man smiled and laid his hand on Spencer"s shoulder and said. “Of course, I would not expect anything different. Quin and Jaden say that you have come to exonerate me.
I was set to try to retrieve my memories tomorrow morning with the help of a witch. I think I will still do that. I need to learn of the betrayal. It seems so farfetched that my Beta and friend was the one to betray me.” Trinity assumed this was Oliver, the Old Council leader.
Her father went to Spencer"s side, bowed his head, and bared his neck as a sign of respect. “Alpha.” Her father muttered and then the man touched his shoulder also. “My friend, you do not have to apologize, you were protecting your family. Now let me see the new member of the New Council.”
Her mother stood and bowed her head. “Alpha, this is my daughter Trinity. Trinity, this is our Alpha, Oliver.”
Trinity stood and bowed her head and waited.
“My dear, you don"t bow your head to anyone.” Oliver whispered with a smile and then reached over and caressed her head. “But, I see that you have become a very beautiful wolf.”
Trinity felt herself blush and she smiled. The man who claimed to be her mate came forward and said, “Trinity.” In an almost reverent whisper. “Please to meet you.” It was all too much. Trinity backed up until she hit the chair and fell back down with a stunned expression on her face. First, she meets the most powerful shifters in the world, as well as finding out about her past. Now she had a huge, gorgeous man standing in front of her saying they were mates, and she was one of the Chosen. How much more bizarre could the day get?
Chapter 4
Casey sat with her mates rubbing her stomach. She was not sure, but she thought she might be in labor. Hell, not today, she thought and looked around the room. Everyone was talking about what was going on in the other room. Today had been so full of surprises. Last night, Jo had been ready to have a break down and now she looked carefree and happy again. It was amazing what the truth could do. She was happy for her friend, but right now, she did not think she would be able to show it.
Jordan sat across from her; she looked stunned at the things that had happened this morning. Her mates where whispering in her ear. She assumed that she was feeling very confused. A lot had happened to her in the last few weeks.
Devon leaned around her and said to their mate. “Sid, so how are the plans coming for Jordan"s house?”
Sid"s sister, Jordan, had finally relented and allowed her brothers to design her new home. They were building it farther away from the other houses, on the other side of the compound, because Jordan said she wanted her space still. It was understandable, but thank the Gods that Oliver had not killed her parents. It would have made for very tense meetings. Jordan just had to be given time to adjust to all of this. She felt comfortable with the cats right now, much to her adoptive parents and brothers" surprise. The Pride leader was still at the bed and breakfast with his mate.
“Really, we are going to act like nothing just happened?” Jordan said tightly.
Everyone looked at her in silence and then Quin stood up, went to her side, and knelt down beside her.
“I know you are confused and hurting, we are. Right now, we have to focus on certain things. First, we need to make Trinity feel like she is safe and one of the Chosen. She is gonna need a lot of help. Second, we have sent people after Braden but there is not much to do there until we find out exactly how he is involved with this whole mess. We have people who are looking into that. Third, Oliver was released, and allowed to see Spencer, because he was a pawn in this whole mess. I hope you understand we are trying to be fair with all parties.” Quin said softly but everyone in the room heard him.
Jo stood, came and knelt on the other side of Jordan. “I am so sorry that my happiness has caused you pain yet again. I truly want to understand this whole thing just like you.
I promise, we will find the one who killed your parents and bring them to justice. I won"t lie and say I am glad it is not my father; however, I want you to know that I would have approved of his punishment. Taking another person"s life is deplorable.” Jordan looked around the table and then sighed a deep breath. “Okay, sorry, just kinda felt like sitting here eating breakfast seemed a little odd.” Everyone laughed and Dalton piped up. “Well, we gotta eat sometime.”
“Well not right now.” Casey ground out and then grabbed Devon"s hand and panted.
“What?” Devon said grimacing. “I was eating with my mouth shut this time, woman.
That hurts!”
Sid laughed and then paled when she grabbed his hand too. “Hey, I didn"t do anything.”
“You bastards are the ones who got me pregnant and now I am in pain and you are sitting there cracking jokes?” Casey cried out.
No one moved for a second and then the room burst into action. Cami stood up and began ordering everyone around. Cloe ran to get the birthing room ready with her mates close behind. Jordan went to her sister-in-law"s side and held her hand gently.
Devon and Sid just sat there with a stunned looked on their faces.
“Dude, you better snap out of it if you don"t want your mate to snap you in two.” Jaden laughed and finally the men stood up and grabbed their mate together and carried her up the stairs into the room they had named the birthing suite.
Jaden and Quin laughed with Tey. They had already gone through this and felt sorry for the men. A shifter that was in birth was not a good thing. Both of their mates had scratched their cl
aws along their arms. Quin had been in pain for a week.
“It seems we are going to have a new member today.” Quin said and then watched as the wolf that was in charge of the compound security came into the room.
“Where is Devon? Or Darien?” Thomas asked. Thomas had been one of the wolves that came over from Europe with him. He was strong and faithful. Quin and his Council relied on him heavily over the last few months.
Quin smiled and said, “Sorry Thomas, they will be busy for a while. Casey went into labor. Devon is with her and Blaine is helping Cloe like always. What"s up?”
“Alpha. I found something. Can you come and look at it? It may explain a few things if I am reading it right.” Thomas said and stepped back to allow Quin to lead the way to the security room. Jaden whispered to Blaine who followed with them. Blaine may be the Seer, but he was one hell of an Enforcer too. He had planned a lot of the security with Devon and Darien.
“When I first saw it, I thought I was being paranoid until I took a closer look at things.” Thomas said and quickly went to his chair and pointed to the computer screen that was in front of him. “Do you see this? This is our security system. It tells us where people are in the compound. It"s like a heat sensor. We keep records for twenty four hours. On this screen is the actual security system with each check point. The front gates, the back gates, and the walls. Each house has their own security also.” And continued to explain and point to each computer screen. Quin was impressed as always that they had this much technology at their disposal. In the old days, they would have had to have a wolf stationed at each place. It made for long days and unhappy wolves.
“Sorry Alpha, I got a little ahead of myself. This is what I want you to see; it starts with just numbers on the screen. This is the anomaly I was talking about. As far as I can tell, someone wrote a program overriding our security. They were smart; the numbers are not easy to spot. If I would not have ran back through the security tapes we never would have caught this. They know where we are, who lives where, and when we are in residence. Basically, someone hacked our security system. When I first noticed this, the signal was coming from inside the compound. Now whoever is monitoring our security is no longer here, but they are still able to see what I mean.” Thomas explained.
Quin stood up and ran his hands through his hair. “You gotta be FUCKIN" kidding me.” Thomas said quickly, “Alpha, I can fix this. It will take me a few minutes to reverse everything that has been done. I was wondering if Devon and Darien wanted me to trace the signal.”
Quin looked at Jaden and Blaine. “I think it is obvious who it is. Braden.” Jaden nodded. “So the question is, should we fix this little bug, or should we wait and see where this leads us?”
Quin nodded and Blaine said, “I say we delete it. They could be planning another attack.
We can find the son of a bitch later. He"s not going far. He wants something.” Quin told Thomas to delete the program and make sure that every trace of it was gone.
He also ordered the rooms be swept for bugs, since the heat signature said someone was moving through the house at odd hours last night.
Satisfied that they had stopped the attack, Quin, Jaden, and Blaine turned to leave.
Thomas followed them to lock the door behind his Alphas. He needed to work alone.
When they reached the door, Quin and the rest turned and frowned when they heard a laugh coming from behind them. On all the computer screens was a picture of Braden and under it said, „Don"t mess with The Master".
They all sucked in a breath a second before the room exploded into a fiery ball.
Chapter 5
Trinity sat and listened as the same story was told and Oliver and Spencer talked about what they had to do. Trinity kinda spaced off a little and stared at the man who called himself her mate. He was listening and still holding her hand. He felt her gaze on him, turned, and smiled.
“Well, little one, what do you think? Do I pass inspection?” He teased and smiled at her.
Trinity blushed and looked down. She was such a dork, she thought. She did not even know what to say to a man. And he was supposed to be her man.
“Well, I guess I don"t really have a choice.” She whispered.
Blaze frowned and looked at her closely. “Of course you do, little one. With me, you will always have a choice. But you can"t deny the pull we have. We are mates.” He said confidently.
She raised her head and sniffed. She smelled cat, and started laughing. “You know, cats and dogs fight an awful lot.”
“Little one, I can guarantee I"m not thinking about fighting right now.” He growled into her ear and she felt her face heat up again.
She laughed nervously and looked at the bulge in his pants and she almost ran away. He was huge. She had seen bulges before, but never this large. She looked up at him with a panicked expression. Uh, well, that is… I don"t think this is gonna work.” She said quickly.
Blaze raised his eyebrows at her and smiled. “Don't worry, little one. I think we are gonna get along fine. You were made for me.”
Her mother who was standing with her father looked over at her and smiled. Trinity smiled back and then said, “What am I supposed to do now?” Blaze laughed and said, “Well, you are one of the Chosen. You will take your place on the Council with me at your side; we will find our other mate and settle down, make beautiful babies and live happily ever after. If that is too much for you right now, how about breakfast?” Blaze said, stood, and held out his hand.
The rest of the people in the room turned and nodded, apparently agreeing that they needed to get some food. Oliver came to her and smiled gently. “My dear, you are more than I could have ever hoped for in a Chosen one. Give yourself time to get used to it.” Trinity nodded and they walked toward the doorway that would lead them to the front foyer and they felt the ground shake before they heard and felt an explosion. The wall on the far side of the room burst into flames, and Blaze turned Trinity and fell on her to protect her from the falling ceiling. She knew she was screaming but could not hear her own voice.
***
Cloe and her mates readied the birthing room. They smiled at the trio who were on the other side of the room. Devon and Sid were holding Casey"s hands as she cussed them out for getting her pregnant. Cloe felt her stomach and smiled. She hoped when the time came that she would be a little calmer, but she knew that she wouldn"t. Darien and Teagan were just gonna have to suck it up.
The rest of the group was in the huge waiting room that they had designed. It had televisions and computers as well as gaming systems for the men. Gods knew that they could not be cooped up for more than a second without some sort of entertainment.
The children were in the suite down the hall. Cami announced that she had checked on them a few minutes ago and they were sleeping with their nannies watching them. Well, they were going to have to add on a few more rooms to the nursery. The way this Council was growing, they could make their own preschool soon. Cloe smiled and thought about all of their children growing up together. It was going to be fun, crazy, and eventful. Their children were the future. Oh, the Prophesy had been about the Chosen, but over the last few months, they had discovered that their children were special too. Their power was like nothing they had ever seen before. What that meant, they had no clue. But they all believed that it was going to help them in the future.
Cloe turned to her mates and got ready to have them bring the carts across the room.
Casey had been in labor most of the morning they discovered when they got her up here.
She would deliver soon. They knew she was having twins, a little boy and a little girl. So far, everyone of the group had multiple births, keeping them straight was fun! So far, they had six books on baby names and Ruby and Kira were arguing over a male name.
Casey screamed loudly and Cloe turned. “That is our cue boys; I think they are almost here!”
Cloe grabbed a cart and her mates followed her, they made it half way across
the room before they felt and heard the explosion. Everything went in slow motion as the room began to shake. She froze in horror as she saw the floor begin to open up.
***
Cami and the rest of the Council sat in the waiting room listening to Casey yell at her mates. “You go girl!” She called out and laughed.
Ruby looked up at her mates and smiled. “I promise I will not call you dirty ass bastards when I go into labor.”
Levi laughed and hugged her. “Thanks, baby, that means a lot.” Reggie snorted and said, “Yeah, I bet she thinks of something more colorful.”
“What are you talking about? Jo practically went through the dictionary of cuss words when she was in labor. Then she decided that I needed to feel some pain like she was and pulled my hair so hard I think I still have a bald spot there.” Tey said and ran his hand over the back of his head.
Jo laughed and hit him in the stomach. “You try and push out two bowling balls through a hole the size of a quarter normally.”
Everyone in the room laughed and they began to talk about the rest of the pregnant women and their unusual cravings.
Kira had sent Dalton to Chicago last night since he could pop in and out of places for a deep dish Pizza that only one restaurant in the United States had. He had done this, of course, after she had burst into tears and cried that he didn"t love her enough to provide for her. Blaine had been panicked and begged Dalton to go. Quin and Jaden heard the conversation and they ended up ordering a dozen pizzas to the house. Dalton had grumbled the whole way, claiming they were using him for his popping ability.
It was nice that they were all becoming so close. Cami looked around the room and felt peaceful. She had told her mates just yesterday how blessed she was to have come into their lives that day in Denver. These people were her family, and she would protect them with everything in her. Each of their personalities brought something different to the house. She could not imagine not having them in her life. When they found the rest of the chosen, Cami knew that everything would be complete. The unsettling feeling of not being complete weighed on them all.
