by Jana Leigh
The Alphas left the clubhouse silently. Vivi looked at her friends and whispered, “What have they done?” Though the group was shaken a bit, they returned to the living room where Brenda did her magic and they were right back in the thick of things.
“Well,” Calli said as she looked at her mother. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Vivi sniffed. “Nothing, we told you all we could tell you. The rest is up to you; we cannot tell you more.”
Rissa laughed loudly. “So what you are saying is. We have Sadie who is the real Sadie, Sabrina who is the fake Sadie, we don’t know how it happened, but they were switched or some kind of fucking dramatic 20th Century soap opera storyline. The real Sadie’s mates show up, crack the spell. Stephan comes back all, ‘hey, didn’t you all know this shit’, like we should know everything that has happened just because woo woo the spell was broken. Did anyone think that maybe the ones caught in the middle of the spell took a bigger hit than the ones who were hidden on the outskirts of it all and that’s why it is taking us more time to remember shit. We are in Colorado not fucking Kansas. Then the twins show up, talk about a cross dressing fashion show, which apparently I missed somehow, and your answer is, ‘we can’t tell you?’.”
“Ris,” Brenda said warily.
“Hell to the no,” Rissa said, holding up her hand. “No more bitching about my serial killer mate, ‘cause this shit is not right.”
“None of us bitch about Simon, you do.” Cherri snorted.
“Whatever,” Rissa sniffed.
Sadie was still sleeping in her mates’ arms, neither of them cared about anything else right now. They had listened, been brought up to date on everything. It was a clusterfuck to say the least but they did find their mate, and something terrible had happened to her.
Hope stood and walked to where Sadie was and she looked at her mates. “May I?”
“What?” Rayne asked suspiciously.
“I just want to see her scars,” Hope said softly.
Rayne looked at Storm who shrugged and then he nodded. “We need to know.”
Hope pushed her sleeves up and gently turned her wrist. Criss-crossing scars on the inside all the way up. She laid her hand over the scars and then closed her eyes. The pain, was awful, Hope actually flinched as she felt every experiment, every cut, every shock they did to Sadie. Tears streamed down her face as she bore witness to the awful things the Prentiss, and more specifically, Rebekka did. Hope was angry this had been done to Sadie all in the name of science. What the fuck?
Her eyes snapped open, “Sadie was the only one they caught, and they took advantage of having her. They took her blood, to compare it to the Chosen. They were looking for something.”
“What?” Calli snapped.
“I don’t know,” Hope said.
Sadie moved a little. All of them watched as she once again fought to wake up. She already knew why, the last few hours were probably the safest she had felt in years. Finally, the nightmare could be over, even if she did keep panicking.
Rayne and Storm looked up at Kade and he seemed to understand what they wanted. “Take her to the second floor, pick one of the suites. Until we are able to figure out houses, it is yours.”
Both men nodded and stood. Rayne muttered as they walked by. “We have to contact our pack too. In a few hours, you may or may not have people showing up at the gate.”
Cherri laughed. “Like that is a surprise.”
The group watched as they went up the stairs and then Kiki stood. “Well I for one want to ask Sabrina what the hell is going on. I do not give two shits what our initial shock says, she is not from the Prentiss, she is one of us, I can feel it.”
Hope shrugged and looked at Calli and Kade. “You’re the Alphas, figure it out. We are going to need to get back to the east coast. Mak and Gio have the trail of a few guys who have seen the Bondi King. We need to chase them down.”
“Go, keep in touch,” Kade said and kissed his sister on the forehead and she leaned backed and grinned.
“What?”
“Keep in touch!” Kade growled.
“Aww look, my brother is feeling all kinds of protective of me.” Hope laughed.
Rebekka walked down the hall irritated as hell. The little mouse had not followed and given her an update, or coffee. Little wimp, it was time for a new lesson, the chick just needed a reminder every few months of who owns her. Her heels clicked loudly on the hardwood floors as she entered her office space. She reached the front desk and no one was sitting there. Impossible, she growled in her head and then walked to the back hallway and screamed down it.
“Sadie!”
Silence greeted her and she felt her anger begin to grow and flood over. Little bitch was so going to pay for this. Stomping down the hallway, she flung open her office door expecting to see mouse and Stephan. She stopped suddenly and her mouth dropped open as she took in every single detail in the room. Empty, no mouse, no Stephan. What the fuck?
She turned and walked back down the hall, grabbed the phone on the fucking traitorous cunt’s desk, and dialed. She could not believe mouse had even a drop of rebellious blood in her, it had to be Stephan who overpowered her, but now she had lost them both and she was going to have to answer to their leader. Fuck.
“What is the problem now?” the male voice who answered the phone snapped at her. Shit, this was not going to go over well but it was necessary.
“They are gone,” Rebekka said waspishly, hoping to divert this little drama a little by following up with. “Our asset is still in place and should do what we intended. So soon we will have their exact location.”
“You said that last time and it took months,” he snapped.
Rebekka rolled her eyes, they were all so short-sighted, because of her father she never fell into that problem. He was a visionary cut down in the prime of his life by a jealous sycophant. She already had plans for him as soon as she finalized the plans for that.
“And we found them, it just took us a little longer than what we thought.” Rebekka ignored the man’s growl. He knew nothing of what it took to end the Chosen. Shifters and humans did not mix, and soon everyone would know why.
Humans have been allowed to make decisions for them for too long, they knew nothing of the real power they had, nothing. There would be a reckoning though, a huge one.
Chapter Ten
Sadie sat in the chair of the large luxurious suite that her mates had brought her to. She wasn’t used to such decadence, at least since her parents died and she was left on her own. The tiny two room hovel Rebekka assigned her had just enough amenities to say she lived in a loft apartment. Living room, kitchen and bedroom were all together and a closet bathroom was the rest. Not that she needed a closet since she had literally five changes of clothes. All provided by Rebekka who thought she looked good in drab green and brown, which was what she was currently wearing.
Her long dark hair pulled back in a messy ponytail since she had never learned how to do her hair, or if she did, she didn’t remember. No make-up, sensible brown shoes, and a boxy shaped business suit, which looked awful on her. But the twins still stared at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the room, well that’s what she liked to think, that is.
She wasn’t sure what was going on right now. Of course she had listened, being partially awake, when the group was talking but she had a lot of questions. The twin hunks though were distracting. Both had gleaming short blond hair, a muscular build, and yes, dimples. They were perfection. She felt a little sorry they didn’t have a choice of women, but hey, they were her mates.
Currently Rayne was on the phone speaking to someone named Brock, and Storm was making a light lunch to eat. She apparently looked a little peaked they said. Sadie wasn’t going to tell them she usually only ate one meal a day, and that was usually leftovers from Rebekka’s lunch.
Sadie just leaned back and looked around the room. Heck, it was amazing. The whole suite decorated in creams and golds.
The large main room where she was sitting had a huge deck, which looked like it may go around the whole building connecting all the suites together. The kitchen was off to the side and there was a bar separating the rooms, but she had caught a glimpse of the large kitchen when they walked in. She would love to cook something for once. The suite had two bedrooms, one of them being the master, which the guys told her she would use. Sadie couldn’t wait to slide into the huge down comforter covered pillow mattress bed, she almost had cheered when she saw it, and the master bath had a bathtub, a real huge tub, which Sadie had eyed lustily when she saw it. Since she only had a shower in her loft, that tub was an amazing gift. The second bedroom had two beds which were larger than a twin, thank goodness. Since none of them had clothes, the huge closets were empty.
Rayne hung up the phone and said, apparently on the same train of thought as her. “They are bringing our bags. All of them want to remain at our site for now, at least until we have had a chance to talk to the Alphas about them. They are a little gun shy since the Colorado Springs incident.”
Storm snorted and said, “Did you remind them the weather was only going to get worse, this has nothing to do with this blizzard now. It is all natural.”
“Sure did.” Rayne laughed. “He said Anna was having a blast.”
Sadie just listened, thinking they forgot she was here but then she noticed both of them sneaking glances at her while they spoke, trying to make her feel comfortable. Wow, how cool was that?
“I still want to spend some time with Kris and his mates, Syd and Thomas seemed awesome,” Storm said.
“Sadie?” Rayne said softly. “Do you remember your sibling?”
She frowned, no one had asked her that. She actually had to think, she remembered Stephan when she saw him, it was still fuzzy though. But as she thought her memory was shifting, but she didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. She was confused, she looked back at the floor, dammit, she was defective. None of this was going to work.
“Whoa, hey, Sadie? Come on, it is okay, I was just asking, you know in case you didn’t remember, ‘cause I do, well a little,” Rayne said and then Storm was there too, both of them leaning over and trying to soothe her.
Sadie nodded and looked up. “Sorry, I guess I am just a little emotional.”
“Babe, can you tell us what you have been up to?” Storm asked.
Sadie bit her lip, she had never discussed this before, but they were her mates, they would understand, right? She didn’t know, and she was too scared to actually chance it. They must have realized it because Rayne smiled and said, “It’s okay, you need time to get to know us, and them. Just know we want to help you.”
She nodded slowly and Storm got up and kissed her on the forehead and said, “Lunch.”
Sadie nodded and they both gave her space. Storm went to finish cooking while Rayne busied himself setting the table, with that little action she felt a crack in her heart. For so long she had protected it, mostly because of self-preservation, she didn’t want to trust someone and then regret it. She had already done that.
She looked at her arms and grimaced; besides, how did you explain to them how a shifter scarred, it was complicated and even she didn’t understand it completely. She only knew what she had overheard and Sadie wasn’t sure right now if that was truth or not.
Sabrina came to and moved quickly. She needed the fuck outta here, something wasn’t right. She had no idea what but she wasn’t going to hurt her family. Right now, that was what she felt like doing.
“Well now,” Cherri said softly. “Good, you are finally back with us.”
Sabrina hissed and everyone in the room paused. “Something is not right, I can feel it, something inside me is like cracking and opening. I can’t explain it.” She struggled with her restraints. “Let me go,” Sabrina snapped.
“Okay, I know you don’t want to sound like a crazy bitch and snapping at your Alphas. Calm the fuck down, I do not want to get into another fight today,” Calli snapped. “We are trying to help you, just explain what is going on here.”
“Let me go,” Sabrina hissed again and Calli threw up her hands. “I need to go.”
“Okay, you all deal with Miss Multiple Personalities. I am not gonna put up with this shit,” Calli said.
Kade stepped up and then looked Sabrina in the eye. “No, we are not letting you go. Explain to us what the fuck is going on. Are you one of the Drekinn, an ancestor of the Chosen or not. Are you a spy? Do you work for the Prentiss Agency?”
Sabrina glared at him and then relaxed and closed her eyes, shutting them all out. How could they ask that? She had done everything they asked without question. She had no idea what was going on with her but it was like she was out of control. Nothing felt right. She wanted to scream and yell, explain to them this was all a mistake but she couldn’t, like literally couldn’t. When she opened her mouth, nothing came out right. Shit, it was almost like she was possessed.
“Sabrina!” Cherri snapped. When she didn’t answer Sabrina heard her sigh and then say, “Fine, Dec, get the samples of her blood. I will find this out the hard way.”
Sabrina tensed but didn’t fight it when she felt someone take her blood. She was going to get out of here, it was only a matter of time and when she did—then she would prove her innocence, until then she was on her own.
Kade stepped closer, she could feel him, something she had never been able to do before. She could feel the Alpha, and she frowned, he was worried about his mate, and he should be, given the chance, Sabrina would kill her. Oh my gods what the fuck is that shit. What the hell was wrong with her? It was like her thoughts were the opposite of what her actions were and vice versa. She loved these guys, she would never turn on them, would she?
She silently listened as they bustled around her, she heard the clicks and the beeps of the computer. Oh sure, Rissa had already gotten that up and running. All of the files from the Drekinn Pack and also the Drekinn Agency were now on one mainframe. She knew everything, she had been silently watching, making notes to give to…who? She needed to contact someone.
“Magic, there is a binding spell on her, a big one,” Cherri muttered. “Um, how in the fuck have we missed this? Her records at the Drekinn were nothing like this sample. I know we checked them all. This is not the same blood.”
“Excuse me?” Pilar said, stepping in the room. Sabrina opened her eyes and glared at her. Bitch had withheld info from all of them for years, she was a liar anyway. She recruited them for one purpose all those years ago. Sabrina wanted to cry, the thoughts she was having were so wrong, maybe she was crazy.
“It is not even close to the sample the Agency had,” Cherri said quietly.
“How is that possible?” Pilar said. “We were careful, you know that. How could something this big slip by us?”
“It can’t,” Cherri said. “Like literally can’t, those protocols were enforced. Blood taken every single year to check for abnormalities. We tested everyone, no exception, so how after five years does blood suddenly change fucking DNA? I will tell you it doesn’t. So, either, this woman is not the same one your hired.”
“She is, I promise you this is the same woman who has been with us since the beginning,” Pilar said as Brooks and Calix walked into the room.
“Okay, then she was somehow providing samples of someone else’s blood every year. Which seems impossible since they were random, but somehow she did, but to what purpose? Because there have been tons of times she could have tried to hurt us, run, hell, put a beam of light in the sky and announced where we were. So why now?” Cherri said.
“Oh my gods,” Rissa said from the corner.
“What?” Calli said warily.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers. This is just like that old movie. People were replaced by emotionless creatures in this town, it turned out they were snatching…” Rissa whispered.
“Really?” Cherri said.
“It was a good movie. But what if it was partly true.
What if they made a bad Sabrina and exchanged her for our Sabrina?” Rissa said.
“Yeah but Sabrina was Sadie, and we never had Sadie to begin with,” Calli said with a frown.
“No, but we didn’t know that,” Rissa said.
“But we have records of her for five years. No way can someone randomly know when we would check her out. And what if she were injured?” Calli said.
“Ummmmm,” Dec said from the computer terminal. “This cannot be right. I mean, it is right because I ran it like five times but still.”
“What now?” Kade said, running a hand down his face.
“According to this, she is a descendant but of Kira, Dalton, and Jaden. Which should be impossible because three sets of parental DNA is a medical improbability,” Declan said. “And Kira Thronegood had one female child, Sadie. There is no record of this woman ever being carried to term in Kira’s body.”
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers!” Rissa yelled.
“No,” Cherri said, looking around the room. “Someone is playing god with our parents’ DNA. We need to know exactly what their end game is supposed to be here; this is turning into something completely demented.”
Sabrina opened her eyes ad looked at them and whispered, “Please, you need to let me go, before I do something I can’t take back.”
“Like what?” Pilar asked.
Sabrina turned her head and closed her eyes, she couldn’t tell them, but something was not right, and she needed to be far away from here before she exploded.
Calix made a noise and she turned quickly and stared at him, he was focused on the screen. “I have seen that before.”
“Where?” Brooks asked.
“When I was captive, they constantly were comparing our blood to something. Patient A,” Calix said.
“Who is that?” Pilar asked.
