by Jana Leigh
“I, for one, hope like hell it was no one here, ‘cause if they are involved, seriously I will tear this fucking place apart,” Rayne said looking out the window. The snow they had created was still falling, and they knew they could get out of here if they really wanted to, but right now, they were both focused on their mate. She was here somewhere; they could both feel her.
“Just play it cool, I am pretty sure if we make one wrong move they will be on us like flies on shit,” Storm said.
“Like that would stop us,” Rayne growled and then they both jumped up when they heard someone say ‘She’s awake’ from the hallway.
Slowly they moved to the door, opened it, everyone was moving into the room across the hall and a door down. Rayne and Storm followed, staying in the back, hidden but still listening.
But when she came into view they both froze, all of the conversation swarming around them, all of the people they felt a connection with no matter why, all went to the wayside, it was only them. Their mate and them, the connection was almost palpable as it shot through all them. The woman’s eyes narrowed for a second but then she was unable to deny what they all felt, finally a coming home.
Rayne and Storm both wanted to knock these people all aside to get to their mate but they paused, trying to focus on the situation that had their mate freaked out. They could see that too, the look of panic, the desire to run. Shit, she was gonna run, they both saw the move, the motion, and neither would ever let that happen.
Storm stepped forward and accidently bumped into Rissa who turned and smiled until she saw who it was, then she growled, “Hey!”
He didn’t take his eye off the woman who seemed to be currently looking for a safe escape route. Nope, she was not going to get away. Storm felt someone grab his arm as if to pull him away from his mate, wrong fucking thing to do. With a loud cat’s cry, he pulled his arm and barreled to his mate. He felt his twin behind him, but he didn’t turn, hands were reaching out and Storm avoided all of them.
He knew he needed to get to his mate but when he was hit in the back with at least two hundred and twenty pounds of pissed off protective eagle, yeah, things got a bit hairy. Storm turned when he heard the screech coming from their mate. The man who stood next to her had grabbed her arm stopping her. That pissed him off more.
But then another female went to their mate’s aide, jumping on the man’s back, Storm chuffed in appreciation, but then was turned and struck in the face. This was a damn clusterfuck was all he could think of as he fought Simon back. He could see Rayne out of the corner of his eye making headway and then he was taken down into a pile of people already rolling on the ground fighting. What the hell just happened?
Storm heard the Alpha mates howl, and he grimaced, damn he pissed them off, which sucked, but oh well. Soon guards and Enforcers were pushing in the room as well, fucking hell, this room didn’t have the size needed for a shifter brawl. Apparently the tensions had been running high like they had suspected. Mostly he thought this when he saw Rissa and a blond woman standing there arguing about shit.
Another punch to the face and Storm had decided that was enough. He sucked in a breath and then let loose. Rain fell inside the room only, drenching everyone who was arguing and fighting. It only stunned them for a sec, then they renewed their arguments with vigor. Storm wanted to roll his eyes, just like when they were kids, wait what? he thought and then literally stopped fighting. He remembered these people, how, why, he didn’t know but suddenly he grinned with blood in his teeth and sneered at Simon and whispered, “Pussy.”
Simon’s eyes widened and then he looked pissed off because he reached back and held nothing from him. He felt his nose break as he went down, it was that fucking fast, bastard, he had been a sneaky fucker when they were kids too.
He saw a woman appear behind Sadie as she pulled on her arm and she was grinning. His eyes narrowed when he saw her tattoos. Shit, he knew her too. Hope, two men popped in, shit this was going to fucking go really bad.
Chapter Eight
Victor pulled the large SUV into the yard of the pack house, seeing all the vehicles there could really only mean one thing. Everyone was here to hear what they had to say, shit. He looked in his rearview mirror at Richard, Paul, Shelly, and Brenda. Damn, he really wished they had all been able to be here, because this was gonna suck.
They couldn’t tell the kids a damn thing, they had to fulfill their destiny on their own, hell, they were already cheating by doing what they had done. Now they wanted explanations? There was no way they were gonna get that, not until the end, then they would answer everything, not that it will matter by then, everything will be set in stone.
Vivi sighed loudly. “So we are all clear right? We divert, side step, and outright ignore the questions. If any of us get secluded away from each other, we fake getting sick, and quickly leave the premises.”
“Yep, but I gotta say, this is so not going to work. If they want information, they are gonna get brutal,” Shelly snorted.
Vivi snorted and turned round, “Worse than Cami?”
Brenda laughed, “Not gonna touch that other than to say, that is not even possible.”
“Yeah, well we are totally fucked right now,” Shelly said.
Vivi opened her door and they could all hear it. The loud screams of anger coming from the pack house and they all piled out of their SUV and moved to the back of the building. They paused as they saw a young woman hanging out the window of an exam room. They frowned, and squinted looking closer.
“Oh my gods!” she whispered.
“What?” Shelly snapped.
“We are so fucked, so very fucked. Call Cami, get her ass here like now, we have a huge problem,” Vivi said.
“But?” Brenda said.
“Fuck no,” Vivi snapped. “Someone has been fucking with us in a huge way, they know, somehow the Prentiss knows we are alive.”
“What the fuck are you all doing,” Vivi snapped as she waded into the room where there were all…ALL…of the Drekinn Council were fucking brawling with each other. She reached down, grabbed Rissa and Calli from the ground by their ears, and pulled them out into the main room.
“Ma!” Calli bellowed. “Ma, dammit, let go,” she yelled, trying to hit her mom’s hand as she moved her and Ris.
“Sit your ass down,” Vivi snapped. When Calli would have bounced back up, she snarled, “Stay!”
“Come on!” Calli growled and her mom pointed at her.
“Fucking stay,” Vivi snapped and then she turned and went back in. One by one, the parents dragged out someone either by their hair or ear, apparently depending on who was still fighting. The rain that had appeared drenched them all and Victor ran and grabbed stack after stack of towels and threw them at each one of them as they exited. Vivi came out with Sadie who seemed to be terrified, her eyes wide, but Vivi set her in a chair and whispered to her quietly. The young girl nodded.
Then Paul came out with Storm and Rayne who went to their mate and sat down next to her, not saying a word, providing not only protection, but also support. Apparently, Sadie didn’t think so though because her head went down instantly and she stared at the floor.
When they were done, Vivi stood in the middle of the room and said, “What the fuck is wrong with you people? I have never in my life…”
“Yeah don’t finish that, I am pretty sure you have, ‘cause let’s face it, you have a crop and leather, you have done everything,” Calli drawled.
“Really? You wanna go there?” Vivi snapped.
“IT’S EMBARASSING!” Calli bellowed.
Victor shook his head and held up his hand. “Calli, what did I tell you?”
She frowned and shrugged. “Lead with my left?”
“No, that was your mom,” Rissa said.
“Oh, sorry,” Calli shrugged.
Cherri grinned, “Men are vile creatures?”
“Nope Aunt Vivi too,” Rissa almost sang.
“Yep, sorry,” Cherri said and then Ki
ki snorted.
“Cross your legs when you’re wearing a skirt?”
Rissa laughed. “Yeah, that was MY dad!”
Victor appeared to lose patience but before he did, Calli grinned and said, “Never, never, never speak about Mom and yours sex life. EVER. Or I will go blind!”
Victor shook his head and leaned over and kissed his daughter’s head and whispered in her ear, “Give her a break, she is worried about all of you. Try to work with us a little.”
Calli sighed and took in a deep breath and nodded to her father. She watched as the parents went around and tended to everyone. Her gaze fell on Sadie and her mates again and then she wiped the water off her face and stood. Vivi turned, ready to yell again, but she saw the look on her daughter’s face, she was the Alpha bitch right now, and she was not going to mess with her at all. Vivi grinned at Victor as they both watched their daughter, proud of the woman she had become.
Kade stood with his mate and all of the parents sat down and watched. Obviously something more had gone on since they called. They needed to wait to see what was going on before they said anything. The duo walked to the trio and stopped. Calli tilted her head and she said, “Rayne? Storm?”
Calli grinned and turned to Kiki who was nodding and had a hand to his lips trying not to cry. They were his brothers, he knew it and still he hadn’t said anything to them. He was afraid, what if they didn’t accept him?
Both men nodded at Calli but then they both looked at Kiki and grinned. He held his breath while they stood and walk to him. His mates, Syd and Thomas, stood on each side of him. Storm and Rayne stopped, it was Rayne who chuckled as he took in his brother. Yep, skinny jeans, a magenta silk wet shirt, platform heels, and dangly earrings on both ears, plus full make-up, the only thing missing was his Ms. De Laru hair.
“Shit,” Rayne laughed and everyone in the room tensed, Storm turned and frowned at the group behind them, what the fuck was their problem? Kristopher was their brother. “Kris, we missed you so much. Good to see you again, you look just like you did when we were young. Hell, Storm and I still laugh about the time we let you dress us up for a fashion show. Could never figure out how the hell you walk in those shoes.”
“What?” Kiki sniffled.
“Come on, you gotta remember, Mom called all the aunts over. You wanted to show off your dress designs. Hell, even Simon the pussy dressed up to help you out. You designed a whole line of clothes.” Storm chuckled.
“I did?” Kiki said focusing. “Oh shit, I did,” Kiki said, bouncing up out of his chair hugging his brothers. “I missed you too.”
“Fuck you, I looked good in the teal dress,” Simon grumbled as he wiped away some more blood from his face.
Storm turned and shook his head, “Man, it totally looked like shit, Kiki said blues were not in your color wheel, you pitched such a fit.”
“Awwww,” Rissa said, laying her head on her mate’s shoulder. “I remember that now, you totally can’t wear teal, Kiki is right, not in your color wheel. Well, if you wore it to kill people it would be like a scary signature.”
“Oh my gods,” Simon growled. “Let it go why don’t ya!”
Storm and Rayne walked back to their chairs and sat down. Both of them looked at the Alphas warily, but didn’t shy away from their gaze.
“So,” Storm said easily. “Why do we have big blank chunks of memory? I am assuming you all know.”
Kade bowed his head and shook it, grinning. He missed all these people, it sucked knowing they missed parts of their lives because of the Prentiss. He hoped soon they would all be together.
“Yeah well, you can thank our parents for that,” Calli snarled and looked at Vivi, Shelly, and Brenda who looked unrepentant. In fact, they looked kinda smug, bitches. All eyes swung to Vivi and the girls.
“Stop whining, there is a reason, we keep telling you to trust us,” Vivi said.
“Oh, trust you?” Calli said and opened her mouth to lay into her when the front door opened. Everyone’s gazes turned to the door. The loud waitress from the diner stood in the doorway looking pissed off.
“Really, you summoned me? Me? Summoned?” the woman snapped and Calli frowned, she was going to ask what the fuck was going on, but Hope stood and walked to Kade, then Stephan stood and joined them, the room was silent.
“Mom?” Hope whispered.
The waitress looked at the three adults but all she could see was her babies. She sniffled and walked into the room. “You are so beautiful, all of you,” she whispered, looking at everyone. Her gaze landed on Sadie though and her head tilted and smiled. She walked to her and touched her head. The young girl looked up at her, looking terrified.
“Sadie,” Cami said and the girl jumped up into her arms and held on tight and sobbed. “Oh, pretty Sadie, what happened?”
Vivi stood and came to her friend’s side and whispered, “That’s why we asked you to come out here, we have a problem.”
Cami turned and frowned. “Obviously.”
Chapter Nine
Calli looked at Vivi and whispered, “What in the hell is going on? We have a right to know.”
“I don’t know, honey,” Vivi said softly to her daughter, “All I know right this second, is Sadie, the girl right here in front of you, is Kira, Dalton, and Blaine’s ONLY daughter.”
Calli frowned and nodded. “Okay, I get that but, surely.”
Vivi shook her head, “ONLY.”
Cami was hugging the woman, trying to get her to calm down and to stop crying, when Hope stepped forward and looked at the new Drekinn member, she reached out and put her hand on the back of her head and closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Sadie stopped crying but remained in Cami’s arms. Everyone watched intently as the minutes ticked by. Slowly, Sadie began to relax, but she remained clenched in Cami’s arms, the Denver Pack Alpha sunk to the ground as the door opened again. Two large men stood in the doorway and Cami’s eye snapped up and she looked at her mates with tears in her eyes. She shook her head slightly and Quin and Jaden looked around the room. Their eyes landing on their children with a hungry gaze, taking in every inch of them, making sure they were safe.
Brenda stood and snapped her fingers and everyone froze, literally froze, well, all but Vivi, Victor, Shelly, Paul, Brenda, Rich, Cami, Jaden, and Quin. They remained unaffected.
“Cami?” Jaden said and the Denver Pack Alpha Bitch moved a little, and both Storm and Rayne sunk on the floor to take over holding their mate, as if they were in a trance, but even with that, the need to protect their mate came natural. Cami pushed herself up and then straightened herself up and smiled sadly at all of the children. Then she turned to her mates.
“Okay, let’s get this done,” she said and Vivi held up her hand.
“Wait, before you do, we need to talk about something.”
Cami frowned and looked around and then she shook her head. “You know we can’t, and you know what you have to do as soon as we leave.”
“Sabrina!” Vivi snapped.
Cami turned and pointed to the floor and said, “Yes, there is a problem, but you can handle this.”
“Not that Sabrina,” Vivi snapped and then turned and pointed to the back of the house. “The other Sabrina, the one who we have been with all this time thinking she was Sadie.”
Cami frowned. “Huh?”
“This is not that Sabrina we have been with,” Vivi said patiently.
“How is that possible, that is Sadie, there is no way you would have been fooled like that. Her scent, her looks, hell, everything. What the hell?” Cami said confused.
Viv sighed. “Come here.”
The group walked down the hallway leaving everyone quietly frozen. They reached the room Sabrina was in and Vivi opened the door. Quin took a deep breath and frown.
“Excuse me?” he whispered. “Not possible.”
“That’s what I said, but it was how they masked her scent from us. I never would have thought they could do any of this,” Vivi whispered. “We h
ave to find out how this happened.”
Cami had a hand to her mouth and she was shaking her head. For once, her best friend was speechless. Vivi understood the reason, but still it didn’t help with the facts that were right in front of them. The Sabrina in the room, was a descendant of the Chosen, there was no disputing it, but whose? Her scent was mixed, like strangely mixed. Kira, Jaden and Dalton, impossible.
“Okay,” Quin said and looked around. “We need to get out of here, you know it is their quest, although this is a surprise, it is also their destiny to solve it. We took a huge chance coming here but, Brenda, when we leave, wipe them of the last thirty minutes, reset the conversation. We can’t do this again, each time we do the original spell weakens. We meet back at our clubhouse. I hate to say this but the time has come for us to let them figure it out. If we interfere, we will fail. We talked about this.”
Victor stepped forward. “Listen, we thought we knew but even you need to admit, this is way beyond what we thought this was.”
Quin nodded and then looked at Jaden who hadn’t said a word but was staring at the prone woman anyway. “Jaden?” he whispered and then Cami put her arms around him. “Honey?”
“How?” Jaden growled. “She is mine, Kira’s and Dalton’s, how is that possible? She is mine!”
“I don’t know,” Quin said softly. “We need to trust that they will figure it out.”
“But are there more?” Jaden whispered. His gaze swung to Victor who stepped forward and Jaden growled at him, “Find out how this happened and find out what the fuck we do,” he said and then turned and looked at the woman and said, “She is mine, nothing will happen to her.”
Victor said, “Of course, nothing will happen to her. But we have to know if she is a traitor.”
Jaden’s eyes flashed and he turned to glare at Victor. “Nothing happens to her.”
Cami frowned. “Jaden?”
He turned and looked at his mates and shook his head. “She is mine,” he whispered and then he shifted. With a long tortured howl, he ran away from his mates. None of them understood what was happening but whatever it was. It was not good.
