Challenging Love (Drekinn Book Five)

by Jana Leigh

  Kade pulled Calli to his side, glared at Gio again, and said, “Yeah, what the fuck are you doing here now?”

  Kiki laughed, clapped his hands, and went to his vampire friend. “Looking mighty fine, Giovanni.”

  Gio laughed, hugged Kiki, and then stepped back. “Blackie and I are here to help. How is Calix?”

  “Stop calling me that,” the woman in black growled and walked into the room fully.

  “Once again, tell me your name and I will stop.” Gio laughed.

  “Shut up,” the woman growled.

  “As fun as this is to watch, what the hell are you doing here?” Kade snapped.

  “There is much we need to talk about,” Gio said. “About the Prophesy.”

  “Well shit,” Thomas muttered and they all turned and looked at the normally stoic and silent man in surprise.

  “Nicely said,” Kade laughed. “Why don’t we table this discussion until tomorrow morning? Declan said that Calix should be well enough by then to at least attend for a short time. Then we decide from there what to do.”

  The woman in black rolled her eyes. “Yeah, and where would you like us to stay tonight?”

  Rissa popped up, wound her arm through the woman’s, and smiled up at her. “We can have a slumber party, all girls. You know, paint our toe nails, tell each other our deepest darkest secrets.”

  “Plan the perfect murder,” Calli whispered loudly.

  The woman turned and glared at Calli who was looking up at the ceiling whistling. “Really?”

  “What?” Calli said.

  Kade growled and said, “We have plenty of guest rooms. Please go up to the main house and they will show you where you will sleep.”

  Gio laughed as he watched the mysterious woman trying to get out of Rissa’s grasp. These people were so fucking entertaining.

  The group waited until Gio and the woman were gone before Cherri piped up. “Damn that was a buzz kill. I have a hangover without the benefit of sleep.”

  “Me too,” Kiki complained and looked toward the kitchen. “Coffee, coming up.”

  “Back to old school.” Syd laughed and followed her mate. It was 2554 but of course, where they were, they didn’t have the creature comforts of the times. They were roughing it; of course, some of them were better at it than others.

  “Make sure you actually use something to catch the grounds this time,” Thomas yelled to his mates who flipped him off on their way into the kitchen. “Okay then.” Thomas laughed and turned back to the room. “They will be right back.”

  The others shook their head and Calli looked at the ceiling again. “I haven’t heard anything coming from the room. Do you think they are having issues yet?”

  *****

  “So what you are saying is that all of the leaders of the Drekinn Pack can trace their linage back to either the Chosen or the Council?” Calix said slowly.

  Pilar nodded and looked at him intently. Brooks is the one who spoke though, “Exactly. We could name them all but it is easier to use a family tree we have on the wall of the main house. It is huge and a little confusing unless you actually look at it.”

  “Good to know, so what exactly does that have to do with me?” Calix said.

  Pilar looked at Calix and frowned. “Did you get hit in the head or something? We have been standing here telling you all of this because we are part of the leadership—we are part of the Council. You are our mate; therefore, one of your ancestors was a part of the New Council or the Senate.”

  Calix closed his eyes, shit. He was going to have to explain, because he knew exactly where this came from. “Uh.”

  “We already know, we just don’t know which one,” Brooks said slowly.

  “Know what exactly?” Calix said slowly.

  “You are part vampire,” Brooks stated with a blank face.

  If Calix had been shocked, he covered it well. Pilar thought and stared at her wounded mate. She held her breath as she waited for him to say something. In the past half century, vampires had gotten a bad rap from the humans, they were afraid of shifters, yes, but vampires? They were almost wiped out in the wars if the records were correct. The humans considered anyone with even a trace of vampire blood, dangerous, it was silly; however, it was also the reason why most people hid the fact they had vampire blood in them.

  “And shifter,” Pilar said.

  Calix nodded slowly and then looked at the two people the fates had chosen for him. A dragon, a warlock, and a vampire walk into a bar…it sounded like a joke.

  “Who?” Brooks asked.

  Calix sighed and then said slowly, “Freddie, Bane, and Marshall.”

  He wasn’t going to lie to them, they already knew and because of that, he was certain they would think twice about accepting the mating with him.

  “Hmmmm, makes sense.” Pilar smiled. “Jo’s sister? You and Calli are related in a roundabout way.”

  Calix frowned and looked at them for a sign they were going to reject him, when he didn’t see it, Calix relaxed a little. “So it doesn’t bother you?”

  Brooks and Pilar looked at him surprised and then laughed. “In case you didn’t notice. We don’t really care too much about protocol here.” Pilar laughed harder as she said, “Besides, you are our mate, we have waited a long time for you to come.”

  Calix looked surprised and then said, “You know each other? For how long?”

  “We found each other more than fifty years ago,” Pilar said grimly.

  “Oh,” Calix said and looked between them. “But you haven’t claimed each other?”

  “No, we couldn’t,” Brooks said just as grimly.

  “Why?” Calix asked.

  “Because you are part vampire,” Pilar said.

  “I know?” Calix said and then it dawned on him. “Wait, I have to claim you before you claim me.”

  “Yes,” Brooks said and nodded.

  “Shit, I completely forgot about that. Wow, that must have sucked for you guys,” Calix said. “Wait, why isn’t the mating pull more intense than it should be. I mean, I know I am your mate.”

  Pilar snorted and looked at Brooks with a deadly glare. ‘Yeah, it kinda sucked. And we won’t feel the frenzy until you have gotten the silver completely out of your system. Then it will be there. Well, maybe for two of us, the other has nerves of steel apparently.”

  Brooks groaned and put a hand to his face and said, “In the past, now is what I am concerned about.”

  “Keep living in your dream world, Gandalf,” Pilar said and turned back to Calix. “Now that we know who, you need to know what you are getting into if you decide to mate with us.”

  He sat and listened as they explained about what was going on with the Prentiss Agency. When they came to the family books Calix cleared his throat. “That may be a problem. They have mine.”

  Pilar looked up started and said, “What?”

  “They have it, when I was captured they tortured me until I told them where our family kept it. I didn’t understand why it was so important and so I told them, it was in a storage shed my family had. They went and got it, and then left me alone for the most part, well except to torture me for no good reason other than to try to find out how to kill a vampire/shifter mix. See, my blood works a little differently, and they are scared of me,” Calix said.

  Brooks nodded and then looked at Pilar. “We should let Kade and Calli know about this. Also, we need to figure out what our next move is, we need to figure out where that book is. Unless we have all of them, we will never figure out what the hell we are missing.”

  Pilar sighed and agreed. “Calix, we are going to move you to the main house.”

  He nodded slowly and looked at the two people who were destined to be his, they were so caught up in what was going on around them, they didn’t realize they were missing out on what was important, each other.

  “Where will I be staying?” Calix asked quietly and both of his mates froze. They hadn’t thought about it.

  “Oh…
well…” Pilar stuttered.

  Brooks rolled his eyes. “We need to get to know each other. I mean if you are willing to accept the claim we have.”

  Calix wanted to laugh, but he didn’t. His wolf was riding him hard on the inside, pacing, and waiting to claim his mates. He was going to have to wait though. It was not the time or the place. But he was not going to walk away.

  “I figured that.” Calix smiled.

  “Good, you can stay with me,” Brooks said and frowned when Pilar made a noise in protest. Brooks grinned and shook his head.

  “What?” Calix said and looked between the two.

  “He is gonna turn you into an asshole like him,” Pilar growled and the men laughed.

  “Let’s get you ready to move to the big house. Trust me, you need all the strength you can get.” Brooks laughed.

  Pilar rolled her eyes, then stood and walked to the door. “I am gonna tell the girls you said that.”

  When the door was closed, Calix looked at Brooks and said, “Should you be worried about that?”

  “Nah, I sleep with one eye open these days. You will get used to it. Mostly they like to scare the crap out of ya, it is only if you do something really stupid you need to worry.” Brooks laughed.

  “I am not into guys you know,” Calix said slowly and Brooks turned around and laughed loudly.

  “That’s a good thing, my ass is off limits,” Brooks said.

  “As long as we are at it. Maybe we should talk about…you know,” Calix said.

  “Over the years I have seen a lot of mating. I don’t know, the men seem to click as well as the women. With us, it will be as friends,” Brooks said.

  “With a vampire, our bond will be strong,” Calix said.

  “Closer than brothers.” Brooks nodded.

  “Well, I am an asshole anyway, I don’t need to have lessons.” Calix laughed.

  “Good, it would take too long.” Brooks grinned.

  Chapter Five

  Vivi looked at her friends and said, “It is a plan, we know what we are supposed to do right?”

  Brenda and Shelly nodded and held up their bags. It looked like they were carrying around knitting supplies but in the bottom of the bag was what they needed to get them what they wanted. They dressed in their black outfits so they could blend into the corners. Who knew who could be patrolling the halls?

  “I will go first,” Vivi said and they nodded and walked into the meeting room where everyone was assembled. Their mates held chairs for them at the end of the table and they smiled. “So, who are we planning on killing today?”

  “Is that why you are wearing black? Gods, ma, you look like you are going to a wake,” Calli snorted. “What happened to the rainbow phase.” Referring to the bright colors their mothers loved to wear since Kiki had shown them how to match.

  “Things change.” Shelly shrugged.

  “Yeah, tomorrow we will be wearing our normal stuff, this just seemed appropriate since our guest likes it so much,” Brenda said nervously.

  Kade rolled his eyes at the older women, then turned and asked the mysterious woman in black, “What do you know?”

  “Besides how to kill someone without being caught?” She laughed.

  “Or how to dress like a prostitute every day without looking too cheap?” Calli said sweetly and propped her head on her hands looking interested.

  “Calli…” Kade growled and the woman laughed.

  “What? It is an honest question,” Calli said and Calix shook his head. He thought possibly yesterday he had caught the whole group of women on a bad day. But since breakfast this morning, the women had continued to sharpen their tongues with each other.

  “Whatever,” the woman said and waved at Calli, then walked to an open seat at the table. Gio put his hand to his mouth as if to cover a smile, but Kade wasn’t amused, Calix thought as he watched the Alpha.

  “I am going to go and get some tea for everyone, does anyone need anything else?” Vivi announced suddenly and stood. Calli looked at her mom and frowned.

  “Ma, really?” Calli asked.

  Vivi shrugged and walked out of the room. Calli was going to open her mouth and say something when Brenda and Shelly both popped up and said, “We have to go to the bathroom and help.”

  “You forgot to raise your hands!” Cherri said sarcastically.

  Shelly glared at her daughter and then picked up her bag and walked out of the room.

  “Cherri, we need to check their meds,” Rissa whispered loudly and then smiled at Kade innocently.

  “Hey, we forgot to introduce the newest member of the mad house. Calix Preed is Pilar and Brooks’s mate,” Calli announced and smiled.

  “Your parents didn’t like you, did they?” Simon asked Calix who was frowning.

  “Of course they did, why?” Calix asked.

  “They named a dog…a cat.” Simon laughed.

  “Fuck you,” Calix growled and looked around the room. “I may be a psychologist, but I can kick anyone’s ass.”

  “Psychologist?” Rissa laughed. “Hell ya, we have a head shrink to help you, honey,” she said and patted Simon on the arm.

  “I don’t think there is any helping him.” Calix grinned. “Seriously, I am a psychologist, I have been working with shifters to deal with the abuse of humans.” Calix shrugged.

  “Do you have a personality test we can give Simon?” Rissa asked.

  “Ris, you need to get over that shit.” Calli rolled her eyes. “You mated him.”

  “I know, and I love him. It is the whole, he is gonna snap and kill me in the middle of the night that has me stuck.” Rissa laughed.

  “Get over it.” Calli laughed.

  “Back to—” Kade growled and Calli interrupted him and turned her attention to Blackie.

  “You know enough with the niceties, what the fuck do you know? Spit it out. And what the hell is your name, I mean I can call you bitch all day long but Kade seems to think it is disrespectful,” Calli growled.

  *****

  “Real smooth,” Vivi glared at her friends.

  “What?” Brenda shuffled. “Kade was looking like he was gearing up for one of his long speeches, we needed to get out of there first.”

  “Whatever, okay, Cherri’s rooms first, stash the bags, and only take what we need. Let’s go and get you some grandbabies.” Vivi smiled and the women grinned.

  *****

  “Call her Blackie, she likes it,” Gio said with a smile, which earned him the finger from the woman.

  “Good, okay, Blackie.” Calli smiled knowing it pissed her off. “Now what do you know?”

  Kade put his hand over his eyes and then slammed a hand down on the table making everyone but Calli jump a little. “Damn it, I got this.”

  Calli raised an eyebrow at her mate, then grinned, and leaned back, folding her arms across her chest. “Please, by all means continue.”

  *****

  “Damn it, would you get in here,” Vivi growled at Shelly who was in her daughter’s bedroom.

  “Who would have thought though, I mean Cherri is a little wild, but really? They have cuffs attached to the bed. I am really proud of her,” Shelly said and then came into the bathroom. “Brenda is the lookout, she said that if she ‘hoots’ once it means to be quiet someone is in the hallway, if she ‘hoots’ twice, then someone is coming into the room and to hide.”

  “They are shifters, I am pretty sure if they hear a hoot they are checking it out,” Vivi said dryly.

  “Well, it is the only thing we could think of.” Shelly laughed.

  “Where is the needle?” Vivi said and pulled out a box from under the sink.

  “Wow, ex-large and ribbed?” Shelly grinned and held out her pincushion that held their weapon of choice for the day.

  “Make sure you put enough holes in so it leaks but doesn’t break,” Vivi warned and she pulled the first condom from the box. “They may throw them away if they think the box is defective.”

  “That’s
why we are only doing half, remember. I mean I will give them a sporting chance not to figure it out.” Shelly shrugged and pulled a needle from the cushion and began to poke holes in her son-in-laws’ condoms.

  *****

  Kade glared at his mate and then shook his head in frustration. Calix wanted to laugh; Pilar and Brooks had explained the strange relationship of the Alphas. He understood it, both of them being so independent and strong, they would butt heads all the time, if it weren’t so obvious how much they respected and loved each other, Calix would have questioned the fates decision. It was like their sparring was an indication of their love.

  In the last twenty-four hours, Calix had tried to get used to the atmosphere in the compound, but it was impossible, just when he thought he had a hand on it, it changed. The people here were strong and sure of what they had to do, nothing seemed to phase them in their dedication, Calix knew firsthand how dangerous this was, but the people here just kinda assumed they were going to prevail. Calix hoped that was the case.

  Pilar and Brooks were another situation all together. When they had arrived to the room Brooks and Calix were to share, he had been shocked. It was more than a room; it was a damn apartment with all the bells and whistles. Calix had enjoyed actually taking a shower and cleaning himself up. He had explored and enjoyed feeling free.

  The suite had two bedrooms; both were huge and decorated in masculine colors of gold and red. Pilar had stayed long enough to make sure he was going to rest and then Calix had fallen asleep until this morning when he woke up completely refreshed.

  He had found breakfast laid out for him, and had just finished eating when Brooks came in and told him about the meeting. He was just trying to get a grasp on what was going on. He knew the basics but not the details. As he looked around the room at the people who were seated, he wished he had more time to study them, the dynamics of the group were interesting, and that was something Calix actually enjoyed, plus it was his work. Something he hoped to continue. He was a shifter psychologist, his practice had boomed over the last few years, especially since humans targeted the magical beings.

  His job was important, especially since so many shifters contained their anger about the way they were treated. It was scary how the humans had no idea that a lot of the violent crimes committed by shifters were really due to the way they were treated. He would never blame the victim; however, Calix would blame society, and the way fear was instilled in young humans of shifters. It was a sad by-product of their fear of the unknown; however, it was not something they could change until they could get the Ulfers under control.