by Jana Leigh
Mr. Twisted walked down the street and looked up. The Drekinn Agency building was under lockdown, there was no way to call the boss until they decreased security. Then he could ask when he could finally come home.
Chapter 10
For twenty-four hours they had all been holed up in separate little rooms, each going a little crazy. The Enforcers had to sweep the entire building of eighty-seven floors before they could go out. Ms. Praton had disappeared into her office and was making phone calls.
Calli and Kade had worked on trying to identify the marking on the machine that attacked. They received a picture hours after the incident. Kade had also filled her in on the problems that Brooks had informed him of—Calli had been pissed. The Drekinn Agency was the best at what they did. If someone wanted to take over to change shit, they were in big trouble. All of these things coming together at the same time was beginning to make more sense.
Rissa and Trina sat in the corner on the computers trying to find a vid of something that would help them understand what the hell was going on. Obviously, another attempt on their lives, but this time Cherri and Rissa had been the target on the vid they watched. Rissa was trying to piece together why this fucking asshole, Mr. Twisted, had such a hard on for them. Yeah, they were the head of the department, but it had to be something more. Hell, even Ms. Praton didn’t have this many death threats.
Too much information coming in at once, things were changing all over the place and Rissa was helping Calli and Kade with the backup plan. Cherri was gonna be pissed she missed out on this, but her little meltdown could not be avoided. Thank the gods they had the money in reserve they needed. This could turn out to be a very costly move, but one that couldn’t be avoided. If she could find the missing piece of this fucking puzzle, at least they would have some answers, and something to fight. As it was, attacks out of the blue were becoming the norm.
Both of them kept an eye on Cherri, who was still sleeping off the drugs that Declan had given her. They had turned on the surveillance video so they could monitor her. They also watched the two men talking, while Sabrina stood guard and worked on the computer. Hopefully Declan was filling Nik in on what he knew so far about what their future held.
Calli and Rissa only talked briefly about Cherri having two mates. Both of them thought it was weird, and they were waiting for Ms. Praton to come and explain what the fuck. There was more to this story than what the old woman was telling them, and it was time to come clean. Calli and Kade were both getting pissed at the seemingly resistant flow of information they were getting.
They were all tired, except for Cherri, and grumpy. Calli was beginning to think she would never get a shower when they heard the lead Enforcer who was in charge of sweeping the rooms call on the com link that all was clear. They heard the doors unlock and Calli and Rissa’s eyes met, they moved at the same time to the door. Both of them heading to their friend. Kade and Trina followed, and by the time they hit the lab they were all running.
Cherri was still lying down on the bed, although her eyes were open and trying to focus. The two men knelt beside her and were talking softly to her. Calli stopped and waited. She knew her friend too well. Rissa came to a halt right beside her and did the same. Both of them folding their hands across their chests and waiting. It only took a few moments.
“You fucking drugged me? Me? The head of the fucking Lab Department and your gods damn boss, you drugged me?” Cherri bellowed, and both of the men jumped up and back. Calli and Rissa watched their friend rise from the bed like the little princess she was. “I want an answer, who gave you the authority to drug my ass?”
“I did,” Calli said quietly and Cherri stopped and turned toward her friend and narrowed her eyes.
“Really?” she said in a soft dangerous voice. Both of them had heard it before, and they went in to their defensive stance. Cherri was pissed off about a lot of stuff and needed a release. They would give it to her like they always did.
“Uh,” Kade said behind her and Calli held up her hand never taking her eyes off the pissed-off woman in front of her, who was walking calmly toward them.
Calli heard more people enter the room and then Kiki said, “What’s going on?” in a loud whisper.
Thomas shushed him and the three women squared off in the large open part of the lab that the men had cleared out while they were on lock down. Declan’s boxes were now stacked neatly in the corner out of the way.
“So, since you are the big, bad, Alpha bitch, you think you can tell people when to drug me?” Cherri said softly, coming to stand right before the two women she called best friends.
“When you're freaking out and scaring the god’s damn natives, yes, I do. By the way, you are a slut, now we have verification,” Calli said, goading her friend into action.
Calli heard Nik and Declan say, “Hey!” at the same time, trying to stand up for their woman, but they didn’t know her like she did. Cherri needed to get centered, and they couldn’t go to the fuckin' spa right now for a hot, stone massage.
Cherri growled and launched her tiny frame at Calli, who turned and grabbed her around the waist and held her while Rissa grabbed her flailing arms. She wasn’t really fighting or Calli would have been worried about weapons. Cherri was a master with a knife. Also she was as skilled as she was in defensive and offensive fighting. This was more like three best friends getting into a slapping match just to release tension—although Rissa may have disagreed when Cherri grabbed her hair and pulled hard.
“Shit,” Rissa cried out and then grabbed the hand she was holding and bit her friend.
Cherri screamed in frustration and began to kick back, hitting Calli in the knees. Calli reached up and put her in a head lock and bent over. “Bitch, don’t make me do it.”
“Oh, I'm gonna make you, then I'm gonna put Nair in your fucking shampoo one night while you're sleeping, you treacherous bitch,” Cherri growled.
The group of people in the room, stood with their mouths open, watching the three females that were powerful wolves and leaders wrestle. They all fell to the floor as the two women tried to get Cherri under control. She was scratching and biting them, and finally, Calli yelled and grabbed Cherri's hair, and with both hands, messed it up until it was a tangled mess. Rissa joined in by pulling her panties up in a wedgie, crowing her victory.
Finally, they all fell on the floor and were panting. Cherri looked like she had been in a wind tunnel, and the others had battle marks from the scratching and bites.
Kade cleared his throat and said, “Okay, are we done? Ms. Praton needs to talk to us before we are escorted back to the building for lock down.”
Calli jumped up. “Well, when the hell did she call? Why didn’t you tell us?” she demanded of her mate.
Kade rolled his eyes and watched the other females get up and straighten themselves out. Cherri tried to pull a brush from her purse and get her hair back in order but was having a hard time. Shrugging, finally she threw the brush down and walked behind Calli and Rissa as they led the group back down to the conference room.
Kade held out his hand to Nik and looked at both men and said, “Welcome to hell.”
***
Everyone walked to the conference room where Ms. Praton was waiting. Calli and Kade nodded to her and smiled. While the others took their seats, this had just been a stupidly long few days and all they wanted was to go home.
Kiki/Kristopher stood in the doorway hesitantly waiting as if he didn’t know if he should come in or not. Brooks pulled him and Thomas in and put them in a seat against the wall.
Cherri sat down and her mates sat on either side of her. She leaned forward and looked at her friends who were laughing. Cherri frowned and looked at the towering duo around her and rolled her eyes. They were both dominant, they had another thing coming if they thought they were going to control her.
Ms. Praton, in her ever lovely tweed suit, stepped forward and smiled. “Hello people, I am sorry we are meeting under such stressful
circumstances. As you all may know, I have been gone the last few days trying to get information that had been buried for many years. Well, I was successful, and this should explain a lot of what has been going on. But first Cherri, would you like to introduce me to the men on either side of you?”
“Umm, not really, cause if I say it out loud I will be a slut. So this is Declan the lab dude, and Nik the Enforcer, who both seem to be attached to me at the hip, but I refuse to accept anything else,” Cherri said smartly and leaned back in her chair before sitting up again. “And also boss lady, for your information, I was drugged without my permission by those biotches and I want them reprimanded. Look at my hair? I have to go to the spa practically three days before my normal appointment.”
Ms. Praton smiled a small smile and then turned. Cherri was pissed that she seemed to be holding in her laugher. This was some serious shit. She couldn’t take two men home to meet her mom.
“Let’s dive right in. If you all have read the history of the Chosen, their Senate, and their children, you will all realize that in only certain circumstances there were only singular mates. What I mean by that is they were a traditional couple, as we have all come to accept as the norm. Back then it wasn’t. The powers they were all given required them to have two mates to help deal with all that energy,” Ms. Praton started and Kade growled.
“There is no fuckin' way I'm sharing my mate.”
Calli laughed and said, “Ahh, sweet cheeks, that's so nice.”
The room laughed and Ms. Praton said, “I believe you two are the exception. I will tell you why. Calli, you are a descendant of Jo and Tey, the White Wolf. They were a singular couple because of Jo’s powers. I think soon you will find that you will be receiving some of their powers; I think they are latent in all of you. But Jo in particular couldn’t have more than one mate because of her psychic abilities to feel the Pack.”
“What the hell? I'm gonna be a freaking psychic? Do you know what the humans do to people who claim they have visions and shit?” Calli roared.
“This is why we are going to be keeping this all under wraps. And I don’t know if you will be getting their abilities or not, or if you will receive some of your own. It is all up in the air, so calm down.”
Calli had a right to be panicked, Cherri thought. They had imprisoned anyone who even showed psychic abilities in a crazy ward for life. Many shifters had gone mad because they were denied their animal to run. It was fuckin’ scary. Staying under the radar was a good thing right now. How the fuck would she do that with two mates? That was illegal too, when she said illegal, she meant like lifetime-jail-sentence-separated-from-your-mates illegal. Though no one had been jailed in years because there had been no tri-bonds.
“Nikolas, do you by any chance know any of your family history?” Ms. Praton said.
“A little, I can get you back to my great-grandparents,” Nik said.
“Tell me,” Ms. Praton said.
Nik began to tell him the names of his relatives and Ms. Praton was using a small handheld computer to input them into the computer. When he was done, she hummed and then smiled. “You are not a wolf, I knew this.”
“Hang on, not a wolf?” Cherri said and lifted her head and sniffed. She hadn’t checked, she just assumed. But she couldn’t identify what his animal was. Declan patted her on the arm and whispered, “Just wait”.
Calli grinned and Kade shrugged, they were the head Enforcers, they knew what Nik was.
“No, no, NO!!! My mother will never ever, like fuckin’ ever, handle this.” Cherri cried.
“Yes she will, because your mate is one of the most revered and elusive of the shifters,” Ms. Praton said, and Cherri popped up and looked at Nik and narrowed her eyes.
“Spill it,” Cherri demanded.
Nik opened his mouth but Ms. Praton interrupted. “There have only been a total of six in existence as far as we can tell. I realized when we procured your employment that you must be a part of this, but I had to wait to see where you fit in. I am so glad that you are Cherri’s mate and a Beta of the Pack. I think Kade will find you very useful. Cherri, your mate is a Gryphon. Half eagle and half lion.”
Cherri sat back and stared around the room open mouthed. She had heard, of course, of Gryphons, they were one of the most amazing creatures in their existence. She loved reading about them as a child, hoping to see one someday. Now he was her mate.
“Okay,” she said dazed and then felt both of her mates take her hands. She looked at Nik who was staring at her with a look of uncertainty. She was a bitch; she made him think she wouldn't accept him. Cherri leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “I'm sorry, I would be proud to be your mate.”
Nik let out a sigh of relief, and then turned his head and kissed her. She didn’t care if the rest of the room or the world was watching when their lips met, it was like fireworks, the same as it had been with Declan. She felt Nik turn them so he was hiding her from view and then he deepened the kiss briefly. Swiping his tongue in her mouth for a quick taste and then he pulled back. The room was erupting in whistles and cat calls.
“Fuck off,” Cherri said when she sat up and patted her still messed up and matted hair. He had kissed her when she looked like the bride of Frankenstein and she smiled.
"That, unfortunately, is not all. I have spoken to Kade and Calli about this, now I will tell the rest of you. The humans have called for a vote on the Drekinn Agency and its duties. Apparently, there is another firm out there who seems to think we are not doing our job, and they can do it better. From everything I have gathered, all of this is related. They want us out and them in. And it looks like it could very well happen,” Ms. Praton said and the people in the room went silent.
Brooks stepped forward. “For many years, you know we have done things under the radar. We know what's going on in the streets, the drugs, but they are not using them for what we thought. Our best guess is they are trying to turn humans into shifters, and the Ulfer more stable, all with the intention of building an army. An army we assume they will use to take over the humans. The gossip we are hearing is that they have some serious political pull and are convincing the humans that it's the Drekinn Agency who is doing this.”
“Well go and tell them we are fucking not,” Calli yelled and her mate put his hand on her arm.
“I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, I believe that the Ulfer have situated themselves just right in this situation. They have the ear of some of the most powerful humans. Even with all of our knowledge, we would not have the resources to fight this battle. We never thought we would have to again and I refuse to wage war on the humans until we know what we are dealing with. This conversation stays in this room. For now, we go about our business until we get more information. We act normal, they're watching.”
“What are the plans?” Thomas said from the corner.
“We are working on an alternative if we have to leave. I just want you all aware, this is your choice, and we can’t make this for you. I know what my decision will be. Know if we lose the vote, I will no longer be the head of the Drekinn and I will take my place as part of the Pack. I know not all of you realize this, but I am part of the Pack,” Ms. Praton said and watched as the confusion filled the faces of her employees. There was too much going on to tell them everything right now.
“As am I,” Brooks said. “So I would guess you could say we are all on equal footing in this room. From now on, unless Kade or Calli give us strict instructions to do so, we will not speak out of the Pack.”
Everyone nodded and Cherri held up her hand and said, “I'm just fucking wasted, can we go home and process?”
Chapter 11
Cherri was exhausted as they made the decision to transport the girls secretly back to the apartment. It was crazy stealth and Cherri had found it exciting for thirty seconds until she realized the hassle; she was going to be separated from both her mates until they got home. What if they arrived first and found all her clothes lying around? Shit,
she hoped today the cleaner had come in.
They were taken down to the lowest level of the Drekinn building that she had never been to. By the looks of her friends, neither had they. Who the hell worked in the dank basement? It seemed like they could have known that these people were here. When they exited the elevator, they could hear and see the machinists working. Sparks were flying as the welded metal together and hoods of strange looking cars were open.
The girls paused and looked around. Kade was standing with Kiki, Sabrina, Trina, Thomas, Declan, and Nik. They were on what looked like a launch pad, it was red and white striped and bunches of warning signs were everywhere. Calli ignored them and walked to the pad and said, “How the fuck did we not know this was down here?”
Thomas laughed. “I don’t know what's on half the floors here. Ms. Praton and Brooks have their hand in everything. Apparently, this is the invention lab.”
The girls looked around and smiled. “Cool," Cherri said and nodded.
They all agreed and then Kade pointed to the row of shuttles that were smaller than the ones they usually had. “They have access to the old tunnels they used to use for transportation back in the day. They had been long shut down due to the wars when some of the tunnels collapsed. However, the Drekinn had shuttles in place to every one of their buildings, now that includes ours. We are going to use this for transport from now on so we aren’t out in the open. But because we're gonna get the shuttles home for today, we're flying them. We have a huge security detail, so don’t worry. We'll be in constant contact through the com link,” he explained and saw the frown on his mate's face. She was not going to be happy about this and go down without a fight. But he figured her out, Cherri knew when he said, “I have you guys all down here guarding Kiki, we have to get him back to the building and secured, because they took a big chance trying to kill him.”
