by Jana Leigh
With a sigh, Sabrina grabbed her cell, shoved in her back pocket, went to the door and slipped on her black boots, prepared herself, because apparently they were all going. Even their pregnant leaders, which of course made them all laugh as they argued about it. No shit, they were just freaking cute, Sabrina thought and shook her head. Since their meeting with the mayor, which had left them all a little baffled, they hadn’t been out in the town much. Mostly because they were still setting shit up, but still, maybe showing themselves out in public would actually help the residents of the town see they weren’t dangerous.
Since Calli, Cherri, and Rissa had all become pregnant, their mothers had also become overprotective, which drove them nuts. However, apparently there was some kind of bet amongst the mothers that none of them actually knew about, and the moms wouldn’t tell. It was those times where Sabrina really missed growing up in a family. She had always felt alone since as far back as she could remember, though after joining the Drekinn had it eased. Even with all the crap swirling around, it was better than she ever had.
She stepped out onto her porch and grinned. Trina was already there, she was gorgeous, Sabrina thought and shook her head. Her friend was a total girl, like she was the picture perfect friend that pissed you off. Even when they were fighting she had looked slightly flushed and not a hair out of place.
Sabrina knew she wasn’t gorgeous, she was too much of a tomboy, she had always been like that, mostly because in the foster care system—you either learned how to take care of yourself, or you totally became the bullies’ whipping post. She refused to do that so she learned how to fight. She also downplayed her looks, well if she had any, she wasn’t sure, truthfully she hadn’t had time to worry about her hair or make-up and as she grew older it was easier to pull her hair back into a ponytail than to learn how to burn herself with a curling iron.
“Ready?” Trina bounced up and down on her feet. Sabrina rolled her eyes and nodded.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“It is really coming down now,” Trina said as they walked to where the others were meeting.
“It came up so fast too,” Sabrina said softly.
“Well,” Trina said as she looked up to the sky, “hopefully since we have the SUVs it will make it easier to drive. We won’t stay late.”
“Yeah,” Sabrina said. “The SUVs will do okay.”
Sabrina looked around the bar and grinned. It wasn’t much of a bar, more like an old-fashioned western saloon, yeah, that would be more accurate. The floor was wood, worn in places and scuffed, and she loved it. It was awesome, and even as most of the people in the place were from the Drekinn Pack, it still was cool. Not that she didn’t like her pack, more like they had all figured they would meet some of the locals while they were here. Especially Kade, he wanted to get in with the locals so if something happened they would actually realize the Drekinn wasn’t gonna hurt them.
There were several things they liked about this town, one of them was the lack of communication with the rest of the country. It was like a small little country in the middle of the mountains. Plus, there were shifters here, but the humans of the town all knew about them and accepted them, it made it easier.
The bartender looked familiar to them all, but none of them could actually place him. It was strange, half of the people they ran into they all thought they had met before, but none of them could actually explain where. But it made them feel safe here at least, it was one good thing.
“Really?” Calli laughed when she heard the song they were playing. It was an oldie but one of their favorites. The songs in the early 2000’s were popular everywhere. Mostly because during that time they had such a huge variety.
Rissa was clapping and laughing. She turned and looked at the floor and grinned. The dance floor was in the middle of the bar, surrounded by wooden railing like you would use for a fence of sorts, it was very cool. There were only three or four couples on the dance floor.
“Come on.” Rissa laughed and held out her hand to Simon who was just walking up to the table. “Dance with me, big guy.”
Simon frowned and looked at Rissa and then turned and looked back at Phillip who was sitting with the other guys and talking.
“Um,” Simon said and Rissa stomped her foot and glared at him.
“Okay, mister I-am-a-reformed-killer-who-refuses-to-dance-with-his-pregnant-mate, if you deny me there will be consequences. Which means you will be sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Simon rolled his eyes. “Ris, you and I both know you like my cock too much to actually make me sleep on the couch.”
Calli was taking a drink of soda and she spit it out on the table laughing. Cherri put a hand over her mouth to stop from laughing. Sabrina shook her head and then looked around the room again, as Rissa and her mate continued to argue.
She was surprised really that more of the towns people weren’t here. There was little else to do in the small town, except for the diner and a restaurant in the hotel. That was pretty much it. There was a playground, but as of yet none of them had seen a small child play on the jungle gyms. It was odd really, it was almost as if the town was stuck in time.
Kiki was whispering to Trina when Sabrina finally focused back on her friends. Shit, what had she missed? Trina looked a little confused as she looked at something just over her shoulder, Sabrina didn’t want to turn and make it obvious they were looking at something.
“What?” she said as she leaned forward.
“Two men at your six who just walked in. They are like heaven on wheels,” Kiki whispered furiously.
Sabrina sat up and took a sip of her drink and then looked around the room like she had been and turned in her bar chair a little as if she were going to get up and go somewhere. Holy shit, they were huge. Sabrina turned back, frowned and leaned forward. “Shifters?”
Kiki shook her head. “I don’t think so, I mean usually you can tell ‘cause of the size, but even though these two are fucking buff, I can’t sense shifter.”
Trina continued to stare, still looking slightly confused and then she whispered, “There is—”
“Something familiar,” Sabrina finished and Calli interrupted.
“Okay, serious as shit, does anyone else wonder why the fuck everyone in the town reminds me of someone who I just can’t place?”
The group at the table nodded and Kade walked over from the other table and whispered into Calli’s ear. Her face began to flush and they all rolled their eyes. That was their leaders, and they all loved them. Kade pulled Calli up and walked to the dance floor and Sabrina almost sighed out loud. She wanted that.
Declan came and took Cherri and Simon rolled his eyes and grabbed Rissa and dragged her on the floor. Thomas came and took Syd who was giggling at Kiki who was also whispering.
“Do you feel like a sixth wheel?” Trina smirked and Sabrina laughed and nodded.
“And seventh.”
Trina leaned back and then looked back at the two men who were at the bar now. “Why do you think we keep having feelings that we have met these people before?”
Calix slid up to the table and winked at Pilar who held her hand out. She leaned over and motioned to Brooks who was now staring at the two newcomers intently.
“Do me a favor?” Pilar said and Sabrina looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Make sure Brooks doesn’t get into a bar fight.”
Sabrina and Trina nodded and stood, grabbing their drinks they went to sit with Brooks who was now almost glaring at the two men. Once they were a little closer, they could tell the men weren’t young, nor were they old. But they were much older than them.
“What’s up, Brooks?” Sabrina said and Brooks turned to her.
“Huh?” he said.
“What’s up?” Sabrina chuckled and Brooks shook his head and turned around so he was facing them now.
“I don’t know,” Brooks said seriously. “There is something going on here, I can feel it, the whole place is fucking brewing with magic, like t
he whole damn town. It doesn’t make sense because I can’t tell if any of the locals are actually shifters or magical beings, I mean, we KNOW there are some here, but shit, where? But there is something here. And what is it with the whole blood thing in order to stay here? Isn’t that weird?”
“Well,” Sabrina shrugged and said, “Calli and Kade are pretty sure these people are legit, I mean, this is the first time we have been out in the town like all together, I would assume when the word begins to trickle out, more people will begin to arrive. Maybe those two are the Enforcers of the group and came to check us out. That is what I would do.”
Brooks looked over his shoulder and shrugged. “Maybe. Just don’t like it.”
“You don’t like anything in the unknown,” Trina teased and Brooks chuckled.
“True. I bet the storm keeps them from coming out themselves.” Sabrina laughed.
“If they want to, they will totally be here,” Brooks said firmly.
Chapter Four
“They are in town,” Evan, their group’s Enforcer, said.
Rayne and Storm hadn’t been in town yet. The strong magic had bothered them. Shit, tonight with the storm, they hadn’t expected the Drekinn Pack to go into town. The others in their group had been in town, telling them they were tourists looking to hike in the National Park.
They had heard about the mayor’s rules, but so far, they hadn’t had to actually give their blood like the Drekinn Pack did. They’d been avoiding most people, they didn’t want anyone to know about them, they had so far been able to dodge the people in town who asked questions.
“Where?” Storm asked and Evan grinned.
“The Bar.”
Rayne groaned and looked at his brother. “Really? A bar?”
“You want to know, right? It will be perfect; we can meet on neutral ground,” Storm said.
Rayne nodded and sighed. “Okay, okay, The Bar it is.”
They had stomped in the bar as the snow fell heavily. They had all commented on the snow, but the good part was, so far, it wasn’t sticking to the streets. The visibility was still halfway decent. They had all already decided if it got worse they would leave.
Kiki was dancing on the dance floor with Syd, and Thomas was standing on the side grinning at the pair when it happened. Sabrina was certain they were going to be kicked out of the place, hell, out of the town. Calli and Kade were also dancing still, while the others had sat down.
One of the men they had noticed earlier come in was watching as well. If she had been paying attention Sabrina would have stopped it. But she had been too busy laughing at Rissa and Simon’s banter to actually pay attention.
“Seriously? I just want a soda,” Rissa whined and Simon shook his head.
“No, it is bad for the baby.”
“Okay, the kid is like the size of a peanut, I am pretty sure that just because I have one soda, he/she will be fine,” Rissa snapped and Simon stared at her without responding.
Rissa held out her stare for about a minute before she yelled, “Phillip, he is doing it again.”
Phillip turned around and laughed. “Simon, stop giving our mate the ‘I am a serial killer’ look, you know it freaks her out.”
Simon snorted. “You and I know she is not afraid of shit; she is just being a pain in my ass.”
“Yeah?” Rissa snapped and growled at him. “How about this, get me a fucking soda or I will rip your head off and shove it up your ass.”
Simon leaned back and then whispered to Phillip, “Her hormones are getting wacky again. Get her a soda.”
Sabrina laughed, they had been like this all evening, hell, take that back, Calli, Cherri, and Rissa had all been fed up with their mates three days after they had found out they were pregnant. It seemed someone had gotten their hands on What to Expect When You Are Expecting a Shifter, the guys thought everything written in that book was the gospel. The women, didn’t like any of it.
“OH MY GOD!” Kiki screamed and they all turned and looked as he left Syd and ran off the floor to Thomas, which was his first mistake, because one of the men looked at Syd and walked right to her and asked her to dance.
When Sabrina saw that she had stood. Kiki was too busy saying something to Thomas to see the man grab Syd’s hand and pull her gently toward the floor with a soft smile. Later, Sabrina would realize the man hadn’t been hitting on Syd, he had just wanted to dance with her for some reason.
Trina stood with Sabrina and they both moved slowly, as not to draw too much attention, they didn’t want all the guys freaking out and beating the shit out of a local their first night out.
When they made it halfway to the dance floor, Sabrina froze and looked around. Her body was shaking in anticipation, holy shit, her mates were here, she could feel them. She swung in a circle and stared at every man as she did. None of them were who she was looking for, dammit.
She heard Thomas yell, she heard Kiki snap, and she still didn’t turn around. She was so focused on her mates she didn’t want to miss them. Sabrina really hoped that Trina could take care of this.
They had been right; the crowd had grown since the word got out they were there. Hell, the whole town could be in there for all she gave a shit, the only thing she was focused on was her mates, how long had they been here, and where were they? Had they been in Drake, CO, their whole lives? Had they actually been close enough to her this whole week, had they been trying to call her?
“How dare you!” Kiki snapped and Sabrina looked over her shoulder for a second to see Kiki step up to the older man and poke him in the chest. Oh shit, she thought but then she felt something brush her. They were close, so fucking close. She turned back around and searched the crowd.
“Hey,” the man said and held up his hand. “I meant nothing by it, I get she is yours, I just wanted…”
Kiki apparently was having none of that because he pushed the man and said, “Oh really, what did you want?”
Sabrina saw Thomas there and figured he could help take care of it, she also saw that Kade and the others had already gotten up. The town people had as well, and she could feel the tension in the air. Dammit all to hell, she thought and looked one last time for her mates. Grrr, she thought as she turned around and began to push back through the crowd, that was when she heard what the real issue was and hell, if that man knew anything about shifters he had better back the hell off, like fast.
“What did you want?” Kiki snapped again and pointed at Syd whom was now in Thomas’s arms. “Did you want to hit on my PREGNANT mate?”
“Oh shit,” Kade muttered and the whole place went completely wired. Sabrina wanted to groan.
The man stood there and whispered in a very strange voice, “Pregnant?”
“Yes,” Kiki snapped and then cocked his hip, well shit, she thought, here it comes. “Pregnant, is that a problem with you? I mean, you being all up in our business and shit.”
The man shook his head and then made the mistake of stepping forward slightly. Sabrina pushed harder, she was just too far away. Kiki had enough and instead of punching, which would have been a smarter thing to do with a dude that big, he slapped him. The man looked at Kiki with a shocked expression but then laughed.
“Oh no you did not,” Kiki said and then slapped him again. The man held up his arm and Kiki used his other arm, and Sabrina would have laughed if she hadn’t been trying so hard to get to the dance floor and defuse the situation. What can only be described as a windmilling, Kiki began to fight, well if you wanted to call it that. Sabrina wasn’t so sure she would actually refer to it as fighting, especially since she had personally been working with Kiki in training, to actually make a fist. The damn man just didn’t want to break his nails, which she totally didn’t get.
The man was trying to protect himself, and it looked as if he was trying not to hit Kiki at all. But Kiki was just not thinking or paying attention. Because apparently, he thought he was winning or something. The crowd was moving closer to the spectacle called Kiki and
she grimaced, crap, this was totally gonna turn ugly.
Thomas yelled at Kiki who was snarling and swinging while the man was attempting to bat him away without hurting him, it was obvious the older man didn’t want to hurt Kiki. However, Calli, Rissa, and Cherri stood and pushed into the mix, which was when things got real. Because the other man turned and accidently pushed Cherri who fell on her ass.
Sabrina lost sight because Declan and Nik moved in unison to their mate. Calli and Rissa were growling dangerously at the stranger. Everything went to hell in a hand basket from there. The local people as well as the Drekinn began arguing and pointing fingers at who started what. Punches started getting thrown all around her and Sabrina still tried to get to the dance floor where Trina was trying to get Kiki away from the man.
Sabrina felt someone bump her and she went sprawling on the floor. Sweet baby Jesus, she thought as she hit the floor. This was gonna hurt. She tried to get up but there were too many people, and they were either trying to get out the door, or they were fighting. Someone kicked her in the side and she winced, fuck that hurt. She was gonna be sore tomorrow because of this. She healed fast, but broken bones took a few days. And she was gonna have broken bones, she thought as she got kicked in the ribs again. Yep, she was gonna.
Sabrina needed to get up, there was no option. She rolled over, got on her hands and knees, she had no clue which way she was facing but she tried to move. Someone stepped on her fingers and she winced, yeah, not cool. She moved slowly, trying not to get stepped on, which proved to be impossible and also painful. Two people fell over her back, knocking her sideways and kicking her as well.
She grunted and fell down on the floor again and curled up. Minutes passed as she tried to protect herself but she could feel each kick, step, and shuffle above her. Damn it hurt.
