Challenging Love (Drekinn Book Five)

by Jana Leigh

  Shelly laughed and said, “She had to be.”

  “Hey, that is what Calli said to you when she found your high heeled black boots, you agreed,” Brenda protested.

  “No, I smiled and nodded and then when she went to take a shower the next morning her hair turned blue, remember?” Vivi scowled.

  “I thought that was for getting a wheelchair and putting it in your room.” Brenda laughed.

  “No, that was the hot sauce on her bagel.” Vivi rolled her eyes.

  “Whatever, fine, go, we will follow. But if they get pissed at us, then you are the one going into the old folks' home,” Brenda warned.

  Vivi smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I would like to see them try.”

  Shelly pushed her friend out of the hiding space with a laugh. “You know, one of these days I'm gonna write a book about some of this shit. I mean, we would make a fortune as the moms who have done some of this stuff.”

  “Don’t kid yourself, no one has done the things we do, we are unique,” Brenda whispered. “See.”

  Shelly grinned when she looked up and saw Vivi standing in the middle of the clearing, she stumbled a little, acting like she was drunk and then began to sing.

  When I get mad

  And I get pissed

  I grab my pen

  And I write out a list

  Of all the people

  That won't be missed

  You've made my shitlist

  For all the ones

  Who bum me out

  Shitlist

  For all the ones

  Who fill my head with doubt

  Shitlist

  For all the squares who get me pissed

  Shitlist

  You've made my shitlist

  Shitlist

  Shitlist

  When I get mad

  And I get pissed

  Shitlist

  I grab my pen

  And write out a list

  Shitlist

  Of all you *******s

  Who won't be missed

  Shitlist

  You've made my shitlist

  Shitlist

  Shitlist

  “What the fuck is she singing?” Brenda laughed.

  “Shitlist, by L7, a band in the 1980s you know on the oldies list she made years ago,” Shelly said. “She loves that stupid trivia, plus apparently way back then, they were allowed to actually sing what they wanted.”

  “Oh my, I forgot about that one,” Brenda said.

  “Here they come,” Shelly whispered.

  They watched as all five Ulfer descended on Vivi who was swinging her arms and singing loudly.

  “What have we here?” one of the men said.

  “Oh hey, big boys,” Vivi slurred. “Just in time for a party.”

  Vivi pulled at her top a little like she was going to pull it off, and the men laughed and nudged each other.

  “Hey, I am doing all the work here,” Vivi whined.

  “It is the mother of the Head Bitch in Charge according to the files,” another one said that held a communicator.

  Brenda watched closely, if she could get ahold of one of those, they would know better what the hell they actually knew. It seemed they had a lot of information.

  “Let’s take her in, should get us a night off at least,” the first one said.

  Vivi snarled and swung when one tried to grab her. They grinned as they watched her struggle a little, a very little, even drunk, Vivi could have kicked their asses.

  “One at a time, boys, there is plenty to go around.” Vivi laughed and struggled a little more.

  “Tranq her, she is gonna get us caught,” one of them said.

  Shit,” Brenda whispered and watched helplessly as one of them pushed a syringe into Vivi’s neck. “That is going to turn out bad, you know how she hates getting tranq’d”

  Chapter Nine

  “You did what?” Kade roared when Brenda and Shelly came back to the compound and told the group that Vivi had been taken.

  “Hey, let’s not worry about what we were doing now. You can spank us all you want when we get Vivi back,” Shelly said crisply.

  “This is great, just great.” Victor, Calli’s father, said and ran a hand through his short hair and growled. He was an Alpha as well, and when he felt his mate in pain a short while ago he had almost gone over the edge. It had taken Kade and Dec to hold him back from running to rescue Vivi.

  “She is fine,” Brenda said dryly. “Vic, you know as well as I do when she wakes up, she is going to be pissed.”

  “Pissed?” Calli snorted. “More like homicidal. We should just wait, she will kill them all and be back.”

  “Calli,” her father warned.

  “Dad, come on,” Calli whined.

  “Find her,” Victor said and Kade rolled his eyes, then talked to Brenda and Shelly.

  “Explain again what happened. How far did you follow them?” Kade said.

  “To the edge of the city, they have a facility there. Shouldn’t be too hard to break in, I saw at least three weak areas along the fence.” Shelly shrugged after she explained once again what they had done, minus the drunken spree of course.

  “Which side of the river?” Calix said quietly.

  “It was on this side, we never had to cross,” Shelly said.

  “That is where I was. I know that place inside and out. I tried to escape so many times, and each time I found something new. If I could have, I would have destroyed it,” Calix announced.

  “What did they do?” Rissa asked and Pilar looked around the room, they hadn’t really talked about what had happened to Calix, everyone had been walking on eggshells about the specifics.

  “I was working in Colorado. I had a practice that catered to the magical community. Over the years, so many of us have dealt with the hatred of misinformed humans that I wanted to help those who had been abused. Also, I was involved in helping the humans develop a test to give us, it would determine who was an Ulfer and who was a Breyting, when we are born. They don’t understand the Ulfer are like psychopaths, born without a conscious, they are dangerous. As children if we could treat them, we may be able to save them. It is a thought, but the humans really wanted nothing to do with it. They just want us caged. So, when I became outspoken about their misconceptions, they captured me,” Calix said and Pilar took his hand in comfort.

  “At first, they just wanted to know specifics about the difference between both Breyting and Ulfer. I tried to explain, but they didn’t like the answer I gave them. A missing part of DNA is like telling someone they are defective. I tried to explain our history, about the Rogues, but it infuriated them. They asked how I was so sure the Rogues were the ones who were evil. Now I realize the humans were not calling the shots. Anyway, I pissed them off, yes on purpose, because I saw how fruitless it was to try to explain things. I just wanted it to end. They didn’t realize that I was a freak also. I mean, most people thought that Vampires were wiped out.” Calix paused and then looked around the room to Gio.

  “They don’t know about you, I am sure of it or they would have tried to get information. They asked about every shifter and magical creature but never a Vampire,” Calix said. Gio nodded but didn’t relax.

  “We are easily hidden, the ones who still live. We can walk in the sun, it makes it harder to pick us out.” Gio shrugged.

  “Yeah, didn’t want to share that bit of information. I figured you all had a reason to hide that during the ‘coming out’,” Calix said. “Anyway, the first few times they beat me I fought them. Then I just kinda gave up. I mean, they were using everything they could think of on me to see how I would die. I knew it wouldn’t work quickly, they were going to have to bleed me dry. But I never gave up. I knew I would get out. It was a matter of time.”

  “What did you see?” Kade asked.

  “The facility is large, and has a lot of levels on the outside it may look like a one story building, but it goes down, way down. When I was first taken there and was usefu
l, they had me on the top level. I tried to break out of there twice. Once I made it to the laboratory section, I was shocked to see them experimenting on magical people. The second time, I made it to the back gate. It is through their garage, I can tell you that is where they are the weakest. They barely had any guards there, if one of them hadn’t been out smoking, I would have made it. I did notice they had cameras, but the back gate faces the river, I am sure they think it is safe not to guard it. I mean, there are rocks and the river, it is wide open and you can’t really be secret if you want to enter there. I believe with the right people though it would be the best place to breech their gates,” Calix said and then continued, “When you enter the torture phase they move you to another level, apparently they don’t like seeing blood and shit every day. The woman who came into my cell all the time complained I was bleeding all over the place.” Calix laughed.

  “How rude of you,” Cherri drawled.

  “Anyway, the cells with equipment in them to chain you are one floor below the main floor. It is harder to escape but if you can make it to the elevators, you are golden. The problem is, who is working the cameras in this area. I figured out pretty early on, each floor had their own security room, with a wall of cameras in each. As you become less useful, the farther down you are caged. One of the guards was talking one time when they thought I was passed out. They were talking about a guy they needed to bring up. They said it was his yearly interrogation. I felt bad for him, but I got the feeling the guards hated him.”

  “Do you know how many people they have held there?” Kade asked.

  “No, I wish I did, and I don’t think we will be able to rescue everyone. I would bet we will be able to get Vivi out, and make it out by the skin of our teeth,” Calix said.

  “I don’t know if I can leave them, the prisoners,” Rissa said.

  “We will have to until we can get a good picture of how they work. One thing I do know, you don’t want Vivi to have to be there too long. You don’t know what they will do to her,” Calix said.

  “Mother can take care of herself,” Calli said firmly, as if she was trying to convince herself as well as everyone in the room. “She will probably tell them what they are doing wrong if they try to torture her.”

  “We will get her out,” Pilar said and stood. “Even if I need to resurrect Mrs. Praton.”

  “Oh hell no,” Brooks said. “We killed her.”

  Calix shook his head. “When you told me you were her, I almost freaked, I mean, we have all seen Mrs. Praton speak about the Drekinn. People respect you, but the Prentiss fears you, if you show your face, you will be captured and killed. They won’t ask questions. They will just kill you, as an example. I won’t let that happen.”

  “Listen,” Pilar said slowly.

  “No, you listen,” Calix said and looked at Brooks. “When I was there, being tortured, I knew I was going to get out of there. I had to, I had to find you. I will not give you up, and that is what will happen, they will take you from us. There is no doubt in my mind. So we will think of something else.”

  “We need to figure out something, and fast,” Shelly said.

  “We need a plan,” Kade said grimly.

  “Well,” Blackie said slowly. “We have abilities they don’t know about.”

  “Oh yeah,” Brenda said, rubbing her hands together.

  “We still need a plan. They aren't going to let us waltz in there and take Vivi out of there without creating a huge stir. If she escapes, sure, but us going in. We are going to have to be sure none of us get caught, they would love to show everyone one of us on a freaking captured poster,” Calli said.

  “I still have some contacts, maybe they don’t all know that I have defected,” Simon said.

  “For once, being a murderous bastard will work in our favor.” Rissa clapped. “Good thinking, honey.”

  “Yeah. Good thinking,” Phillip drawled and then looked at Kade. “I will gather my friends in the other compound. They may have contacts as well.”

  “All this sitting around and planning is wasting time. You don’t understand!” Brenda yelled.

  Victor stood and put his hands on her shoulders. “Bren, we need to be patient, they are going to rescue her. Richard, Paul, and I will help, we will make sure Vivi comes home.”

  Calix was the only one who noticed that Brenda wanted to argue but her mate, Richard, who was sitting next to her, grabbed her hand and held on tight. He forgot it as Pilar stood and walked to the large board in the middle of the room.

  “Fine, if Mrs. Praton is dead, then Pilar is not. My dragon will be the perfect cover. They will be more interested in me than guarding the gates, I would be a good prize,” Pilar said.

  “Me too,” Phillip said. “Hey, how many of you have seen two dragons so close together.”

  “Well, it would be a good start,” Kade agreed.

  “Wait,” Calix said and looked around the room. “I don’t like the thought of Pilar as bait.”

  “Hey,” Pilar said. “I do realize I have let the whole scary older woman persona go. However, I am still a cold bitch when I want to be.”

  “It's hard to think of that when I look at you,” Calli admitted. “I mean, you were my boss and I respected you a lot when you were Mrs. Praton. Pilar is my friend whom I respect but I also would totally give you a wedgie and get drunk with you.”

  “Looks can be deceiving. Just because I am not old anymore, doesn’t mean anything,” Pilar said slowly and then took a deep breath and let it out.

  Rissa cheered and clapped when fire shot out of her mouth and circled the group in a controlled stream. No one moved. Brooks just sighed and looked at the ceiling.

  “Another side of our mate you have yet to experience,” Brooks drawled.

  Calix grinned. “I can’t wait.”

  “I'm just saying. Since Mrs. Praton disappeared, I have taken a back seat as not to draw attention with the sudden appearance of a dragon. However, it is time for me to take my place in this pack. I am a descendant of the Chosen, we are all Alphas and strong in our own way. Kade and Calli are our leaders, but we are each a force of nature. It is time they learned exactly who they are dealing with. The Drekinn is not going to hide in the shadows forever,” Pilar said.

  Calli stood and looked around the room. “No, we are going to go on the offensive. They have been torturing our people, and trying to ruin our name. It ends now. I am sick of putting up with this shit. Daily we hear of things they are doing. Cruel things. The time has come for us to take control.”

  Kade stood and held out his hand to Calli who grabbed it and smiled. “Hell yeah, the time has come. No more waiting and watching. We need to find out exactly where the people are and quit waiting for them to show up. We are going to complete the Drekinn, and we are going to defeat these bastards once and for all. We deserve to live in peace.”

  Chapter Ten

  Vivi shook her head and looked around, where the fuck was she? She remembered drinking with the girls and then running in wolf form for fun, chasing the little sprites in the field. Now she was here, and had a hell of a hangover. The memories began to flood back, shit she had chosen to come here and find out what the fuck was going on. Well, they never should have tranq’d her, it is tacky.

  One man sat in the corner glaring at her and she frowned. Not good, an Ulfer cat shifter in the same room with her, she had planned on being alone. How in the fuck had things gone so wrong? And where were Brenda and Shelly? They had been with her; they were going to get Calli and Kade.

  “Hey, snaggletooth, what the fuck am I doing here?” Vivi groaned out.

  The man hissed at her, actually hissed, the asshole. “Just shut up and wait, the boss will be here soon.” He grinned menacingly at her.

  Right, sounded like a meeting she would want to miss. Vivi looked around the room and wondered what she could use for a weapon. This was not somewhere she wanted to be for too long. If the asshole thought she would sit here waiting while they got ready to
torture her, they were sadly mistaken. She needed to get the information and get the fuck out.

  Calli would be pissed about right now, they knew the Ulfer took her; her pregnant daughter seemed to have the hormonal issue going on. She was fluxing between murderous, and slightly civil, which was good for Vivi. Her mate, Kade, didn’t seem to think so, since he was wearing a nut cup a lot. But Kade can harness her anger.

  “I need a drink of water. I am hung-over,” Vivi grumbled.

  The man snorted and didn’t answer; instead, he reached for his water bottle and took a long pull from it. Fucker. She rolled a little and felt something poking her in her side. Oh yeah, her pocket. Now she remembered, when they were at the house Brenda, Shelly, and her decided they needed to keep small weapons with them at all times. Things that would not be noticed if they were captured. Vivi had chosen an oldie but goodie. Visine, just a few drops in someone’s water, and they would be violently ill.

  Well, they hadn’t chained her. They thought she was harmless, they really didn’t know her. “I need to go to the bathroom, I am serious, unless you want to be smelling my shit for the next few hours, you are gonna figure something out,” Vivi warned.

  “I said, shut up, and wait. They will be here soon,” the guard growled and ignored her again.