by Jana Leigh
Rissa nodded absently and put it in her phone, so she wouldn’t forget. “Now can we get down to business?” Calli said and stood up.
She held out a hand for both of her friends and pulled them to their feet. Rissa held up her paper and said, “I have some things to show you. Let’s get to the computer.”
Not too difficult since that’s all there were around them. They walked to one of the lab computers, and Rissa found her way into the security section and began flipping through films.
One of their greatest advancements had been in the technology field, not even the humans knew how much they had advanced. The humans had been so paranoid; they installed monitoring computers everywhere. They ran on a huge system the Drekinn Agency designed, well that Rissa had designed. It took years to be able to make it work; basically they had their cameras, which went to the humans, all strategically placed so they would see anything. Then Rissa developed a program to tap into the cameras, as well as any com link in the vicinity of the cameras, so they would be able to have multiple views of what they wanted.
Technology was amazing, everything was developed to make their lives easier, and sometimes the humans didn’t realize with their arrogance, the shifters could use their technology against them. They thought the shifters were not as smart as they were; after all, they were just animals. That was what they heard on the cameras the most. Rissa and the others laughed when the people said that because they could usually tap into their personal information and fuck with them. Legal, no, but fun. As long as no one caught them, they were fine, and no one caught Rissa.
“So this was caught yesterday,” Rissa said and pulled up the video.
There were two men, one of them they could not see his face. For someone to stay hidden on their surveillance could only be one person, Mr. Twisted, it was like he could sense where the cameras were and hide. Plus he didn’t carry a com link, so they couldn’t trace him. Rissa tried all the time, but she had never found him.
They were talking. “We need to get these bitches under control. The King is worried they will figure this out,” Mr. Twisted said.
The other man was tall and thin; his face was familiar to Cherri, she just couldn’t place it. “I will have the formula soon. We still need more testers. You should get your people on that, instead of pulling me away from my research. I have been nothing but compliant, first you want to have to one formula, and now this other one. They are both complex and difficult. I can’t snap my fingers and have them done. The shit you want me to do is time consuming. Keeping secrets from humans and shifters is becoming difficult when I need both to experiment on.”
“I don’t care about the DNA thing; we need to try to get some of the shifters who are opposed to us gone, without question that is your job. We only have a few weeks before the vote, and I will not let our King down,” Mr. Twisted said.
“I will have it by tomorrow, then you can use it all you want,” the other man said and turned to leave. “Why are we here? You know that the Agency probably just heard everything we said.”
“Of course I do, and that is why we are here. Calli, I know you will hear this,” Mr. Twisted said softly as the thin man shook his head and laughed. “I thought for a time that you and I were destined to be together, then the thought of torturing you with your mate watching appealed to me more. I am coming for you, but that is not why I made sure you could all hear this. My lovely Cherri, I think maybe there is much we could do for, and to, each other. While I may kill your friends, I think you would make the perfect mate for me.”
Mr. Twisted walked away whistling after just threatening them on camera. They could both feel the Alpha power rolling off of Calli—someone threatened her Pack, and her best friends.
Calli growled and Rissa shook her head. “There's more, this was recorded this morning.”
Once again, there was a man who they couldn’t see, but Calli leaned closer to watch his mannerisms and walk. She had to find something to be able to find the fucking asshole. A smaller strange man stepped out of the shadows and handed Mr. Twisted something.
“Sir, here is what you need,” the smaller man squeaked and stepped back after handing the bag over.
“And is there more?” Mr. Twisted said.
The small man nodded and then said, “Yep, and the trap is set, by this time next week they should find out that their best friend is dying.”
Mr. Twisted nodded and laughed. “Rissa, can you feel the hours clicking away? Hmm, when and where? Both of your friends will be devastated, and then they will come for me. I am ready, my lovely ladies. One of the torture chambers is ready for you, Calli, and the bed chamber is also ready for Cherri. Oh, what fun I intend to have.”
The shorter man backed away and stammered, “Yeah, well I suppose we're even now. I will, uh, just get moving.”
Mr. Twisted laughed, like him talking to himself didn’t scare the shit out of the little man.
Calli growled louder and then Cherri turned to her friend and said, “Hey, I know the first guy that the sick fuck was talking to. He spoke at some convention or another about DNA manipulation. That little shit is working on the injection the King wants to turn them into Breyting. Whatever else he was talking about doesn’t sound good either. I mean I know this guy; he's a pompous ass who thinks it’s fun to create new diseases. If he has created one, we're gonna have to watch out.”
“Rissa, from now on, you don’t go to the bathroom without taking someone with you. I swear this fucker is going down,” Calli said and flipped open her com link. “Kade, we need to talk, there's a lot more going on than we originally thought. We'll be there in a few to talk about all this. Trina, we're going to have a change in plans here.”
“Wait, I just have to load a few things in the computer, and if I'm right about Kiki, we will wake him up today,” Cherri said, getting pissed that her morning was going to hell in a hand basket so quickly. She had to get busy.
Over the years, the technology wasn’t the only thing that had improved. With the shifter anatomy as well as the humans being compared, they had found the cures for many diseases, and made inoculations for almost every allergy and disease imaginable. When children are born, they only received one shot now, it covered everything. Even those children born with problems have been able to overcome many of the obstacles.
Allergies themselves were no longer an issue, but an allergic reaction to certain drugs still was. Kiki had to be allergic to one of the medicines that they were giving him. The medicine was a combination of drugs they developed for regeneration, synapses building, and infection. It was the drug they were using for infections that Cherri thought Kiki was having the problem with. Since shifters didn’t generally need an antibiotic because of their natural immune system, when introduced to a shifter, it sometimes proved to be a problem. Unfortunately, because of all the stress and everything they had been through, she missed it. Cherri was pissed at herself because she didn’t realize what was going on.
Calli rolled her eyes and then went to talk for another few minutes to Kade while she loaded the results into the computer and then waited. The ding made her crow with happiness because she finally figured out why Kiki wasn’t waking up. Now she just had to fix it.
Chapter 4
“Cherri found a way to wake up Kiki; we are all going to the med ward and wait,” Calli said through the com link and Kade grinned. Finally, he missed the cougar that seemed to take up all of the space around when he was awake. This shit could wait; his wolf wanted his Pack healthy and whole. He felt a change coming and something was going to need to be done.
When Kiki was shot, they all thought the worst. Kiki was a sassy Drag Queen who they discovered was a part of the Pack even though he was a cougar. It had been a surprise but a welcome addition; he was the only one of them who actually knew how to cook the most amazing dinners. Plus, if he woke up, Thomas could stop feeling so fucking guilty and actually become a member of the Enforcers team again, without spacing off at shitty
times.
“Sabrina,” he said to the woman who was standing at the door just waiting to be told to go to the medical ward. She was anxious to get back to her detail of guarding Cherri and also find out about Kiki.
Kade felt Declan’s gaze heat up on him, wanting to know exactly what was going on. Kade turned to him and said, “One of the Pack members I was telling you about was hurt last week. He has been in a coma since then. Cherri has barely slept trying to figure out why. Apparently she figured it out. Wanna come?”
Kade watched as the man nodded and stood up. He had to give it to him; he was definitely going to make a fun addition to the Pack. If what he said was right, he was going to be the newest member of the Pack, and his new Beta at that. Now Kade just had to figure out what the hell a Beta was supposed to do. Declan seemed to think that taking over the lab was going to be his first priority. He hadn’t broken it to him yet that it was not going to work out like that.
They all walked together to the next level where Cherri had helped build a state of the art medical wing. There were fifteen beds in the facility designed to service the shifters and magical creatures that could not get the proper care at a normal hospital.
Although shifters healed quickly and were not very often in need of medical care, there was the exception. Cherri obviously took her job very seriously and made sure she had every medicine on hand to treat shifters. If she didn’t have it, she could fabricate it in her lab. She was a genius, whether people seemed to know it or not. However, Kade and the others knew.
When they hit the doors to the medical wing, they could hear a commotion in the hallway. Kade quickened his pace, and Declan was right on his tail. He wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong. Kade instantly thought of Kiki’s parent’s, they had called them to let them know he had been hurt. But since they had disowned him for his choices in life, they didn’t think it had really mattered when they said they would not be coming to the hospital.
But there in the hallway stood a strange man and woman, going head to head with his mate and Rissa, who were both yelling at them to back off.
Kade stopped and roared, “What the hell is going on here?”
Everyone stopped yelling and Calli turned to him with a scowl and pointed at the man and woman and ground out, “Mr. and Mrs. Parents of the Year showed up this morning insisting on ‘pulling the plug’ on their son who was in a coma. They didn’t have enough decency to actually call one of us and talk to us first.”
The man stood up straight and looked at Kade like he was a piece of gum under his shoe. “I am Kristopher’s father, and this is his mother. We have every right as the next of kin to do what we think is right.”
Rissa stepped forward and snapped at him, “You are not his family. As of last week, he became a member of our Pack and is under our protection. By Drekinn Agency guidelines, you gave up those rights when you kicked him out. By the way, he is still the same amazing man he was before you kicked him out.”
Kade stepped in between the girls who seemed ready to tear Kiki’s parent’s apart limb-by-limb. He said over his shoulder calmly to Declan, “Can you please take my mate and Rissa into the room and sit with them to make sure they don’t come back out here?”
Declan nodded and held out his hand to the two women indicating they were to go into the room first. Calli growled over her mate's shoulder at Kiki’s parents one more time before walking with her head held high into the room.
***
His mate, she was in the room. Declan stood in the doorway shocked for a moment before he remembered that Kade asked him to do something. Feeling the need to follow orders, he shut the door and leaned against it so no one could get in or out, unless he moved. Thomas and Sabrina were in the corner whispering as Cherri moved around the bed checking the IV’s.
She was amazing, he thought, and watched her move with grace. He wanted to laugh when she bit her lip in concentration, and mumbled to herself, something about dosage sizes. Finally, she turned and seemed to notice for the first time someone else was in the room. Her gaze connected with her friends first and then swung to him. Her eyes widened as she took in his appearance, and he grinned.
It was the first time she actually looked at him for more than three seconds. He knew what she saw; his dark brown hair went to his collar. His eyes a deep green, and he could feel them changing with his wolf riding him so hard. He was muscular because of throwing hay and working the cattle on the ranch. Declan knew he didn’t look like a Lab nerd.
“Uh, I need a nurse to come and assist,” Cherri said and looked at her friends.
“I can help. Thomas, can you guard the door? Kade doesn't want these two let back out into the hallway,” Declan said with a commanding voice. He saw Cherri shiver at his tone, interesting.
Thomas stood straight up and followed his directions. Wow, something was going on. Although he was used to the people he employed following his directions, to have an Enforcer and a stranger jump to do his bidding was a little unsettling.
“Oh, well, that would be fine, I suppose,” Cherri said a little out of sorts, he thought, and grinned.
He walked to the bed and looked down at the man who laid there, he was handsome. Declan could tell how being a Drag Queen would have been a good place for him to work. He had a classic beauty that even Declan, who was very straight, could appreciate.
“What do we need to do?” Declan said, crisply falling into his doctor mode.
"I have determined that the drug we gave him to help regenerate was causing him to have a reaction. I need to flush it out of his system and then reintroduce this other drug. The regeneration has already worked, so now we can put him on the synapses building, I believe he will wake up quickly once it is flushed. I wish we would have thought of this sooner, I'm not sure if there will be any damage because of it,” Cherri said just as briskly, like she was referring to a colleague not her mate. For now he would allow it. But later, he would be talking to her about the reaction she had to him. Declan was a little concerned that she really didn’t want a mate, well, he had been waiting for one hundred and thirty five years, so like it or not, here he comes.
“Which would you like me to do, there has to be some type of overlapping so that the brain doesn’t totally reject what has already happened,” Declan said.
Cherri nodded. “You take that side and begin the flushing, when you reach eighty percent then tell me and I will start the new drug. Calli and Brina, you may have to come up and hold him. If Kiki wakes up, he will be disoriented and we need to keep him still until we're done.”
“Hey, what about me?” Rissa said.
Cherri rolled her eyes. “Right, you pass out at a little paper cut, I don’t have time to deal with your sorry ass too.”
Rissa frowned. “That was only one time you bitch, and it was a little more than a paper cut, remember, I had a knife sticking out of my thigh.”
“Whatever, you remember it your way, I will remember it mine. Now are we all ready?” Cherri said and looked at everyone to make sure they were on the same page.
Declan nodded and started to gather the things he needed. Although Cherri had set out a tray with all of the instruments on it, he had to have it a certain way. He caught his mate smiling when he rearranged things.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing, I just did the same thing before you came in. We move things around similarly,” Cherri said shyly.
“Girl, flirting time is not now,” Calli muttered and Cherri flipped her off over her shoulder.
Declan shook his head, life was certainly not going to be boring, if this morning was any indication what his new life was going to be like. “Ready.”
Cherri nodded. “Begin,” she said and watched as he began to flush out Kiki’s system. She watched the monitor closely, making sure they were not putting too much of a strain on his system. But Kiki was doing fine. Declan moved with smooth and confident movements.
“Sixty…seventy…eighty,” Declan said an
d then Cherri began to give him the different drug. It was only moments before Kiki first began to move around, moaning and groaning. Calli and Sabrina each took a leg and they held on, while Cherri and Declan made sure that his arms were held firmly.
Neither of them heard Kade knock gently on the door and enter. He came and helped his mate and Sabrina hold Kiki’s legs. The man was thrashing around good now.
“Hold him,” Cheri said and looked down at her friend and Pack mate and frowned. He seemed to be fighting waking up. “Kiki?”
She spoke to him softly. Finally, he opened his eyes and Declan saw the cloudy look of confusion that most patients had when they woke up. “Kiki, you're fine, we’re at the Drekinn Agency in the med ward. We're here and want to help you. But you have to try and stop moving. We're changing the meds a little; you had a reaction to one of them. That's why you were in a coma. Do you understand what I'm saying?” Cherri said softly.
The eyes of her friend fixated on her. He frowned and then opened his mouth, and nothing came out. “Thomas, get us some ice chips,” Declan asked softly and Kiki’s eyes flew to him. He frowned again and then looked back at Cherri.
Chapter 5
Ms. Praton and Brooks arrived back to the Drekinn Agency in silence. When they finally reached her office and they could talk, Brooks didn't waste time.
“So, what do you really think is going on?” Brooks asked and looked at his boss. He had known for some time the older woman was hiding something from him. During meetings, he would feel a burst of energy coming from her, and he couldn’t quite explain it. Also, he felt something else, something he had not been ready to actually define. It seemed like at times they were closer than they should be. Not surprising, since they had worked together for so long, but she was older than him. She had been here for a lot longer, and had a lot more power than he did with the humans.
