Drekinn 3 - Reaching Rissa

by Jana Leigh

  Pilar told him to come here and wait. When the large compound to the north became filled with activity, Phillip was thrilled, something at least to do, he could spy on the neighbors. That was until he realized his sister was among them. Phillip wondered what the hell was going on, she had not contacted him, and so he waited, and waited. Soon, his dragon would be pissed and fly right into the courtyard and announce himself, secrets be damned.

  The history of the Chosen and their children were the stuff legends were made of. Phillip and Pilar lived it. When they didn’t meet their mates, their friends encouraged them to go and search. They continued their positions, but left the Pack and began to look for their mates. So much was different now, many friends died, and others just lost. Now they had a second chance, possibly a way to make things right again. Phillip and Pilar unfortunately had to live through the change, and they knew where things had gone so wrong.

  He wished he could tell everyone what they were up against, but the magic law bound Pilar and him until the ancestors were found, they couldn’t say a word. Phillip knew they were going to have to tell Kade and Calli that soon. Now it was time to tell them the truth.

  During the days of their parents, and then their rule, the world had been a different place. Humans were accepting of the Magical community, and embraced their differences. Then something changed, Pilar insisted on becoming an important part of the Drekinn Agency so she could find out what the facts were, while Phillip worked in the background, searching for descendants and friends. It was frustrating because they worked so hard, and had been through so much to have it all go to waste now. Sitting in this compound, with the wards around them, they were safe. However, it was still boring and impossible to keep himself busy while he waited. His sister better seriously have a good explanation for making him wait this long.

  As he walked, Phillip looked up and saw the eagle flying above, and smiled. He knew who he was, a descendant of Trace and Bama. It was funny thinking the man flying above him was once a friend's kid. He hoped they could be friends as well; it was the way of the dragon.

  Phillip paused and felt a ripple of awareness run through him. What the hell? He took a step closer to the wall and then reached out with his magic to see if he could identify what was calling to him. Someone or something was, his dragon could feel it, and was currently making grumbling noises in his head. Weird, usually his dragon stayed in the background and never really came forward unless Phillip wanted him to. With so many years of practice, he could bring his dragon fast.

  Someone was on the other side of the wall and he could feel whoever it was. Phillip was curious. He was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. He had never felt like this. He walked to the wall and laid his hand on the wall. They were right on the other side. He could feel it. The pull, shit, his mate, he knew it, finally, after all these years he found his mate.

  “Hello?” Phillip called, hoping that through the wards they would be able to hear him. He waited anxiously with thoughts of his future finally exciting him. With his mate, everything would fall into place, no more wandering, no more waiting, and no more being lonely.

  No one answered. Phillip felt a rise of panic as he wondered if his mate could hear him and was refusing to answer, or whether they just couldn’t hear him. Either way, it was unacceptable. He needed his mate to acknowledge him. His dragon began to push against him, demanding they find their mate.

  “Phillip?” someone called and he turned.

  It was one of the Shifters—part of the descendants he knew. His name was Knox, and he was a Tiger Shifter. Kitties were humorous.

  “Over here,” Phillip called.

  “Dude, what the fuck, it's totally your night to cook dinner.” The cat laughed. “I want a nice steak, potatoes, maybe some greens.”

  “I'm coming, just give me a few.” Phillip laughed and turned back to the wall, his mate was still there. He just had to get them to answer.

  “What’s up?” Knox said, walking up to him looking at him curiously.

  Phillip sighed and looked back at the wall again and frowned. “I think my mate is here. Whoever is on the other side. I don’t know why the hell they won't answer me.”

  “Do you think the wards are preventing you from communicating?” Knox said looking up. They all knew his story, about finding his mate. All of them would move heaven and earth to help him out.

  “I'm not sure, maybe, but I just can’t leave until I find out who it is,” Phillip said and then frowned when he heard laughing coming from the wall.

  He leaned closer, and Knox came with him and they put their ears to the wall. Both of them smiled as they listened to a female yelling at herself, from what it seemed. She sounded pissed. Waiting until she was done with her rant, Phillip began to hit the rock, making it vibrate, there had to be a thin place in the wall, there was no way they could hear her otherwise.

  ***

  Rissa was walking around her new home, yelling at the computer screen. Her friends had left and she was still pissed. How could they? Rissa planned to talk to her parents, she hoped they found the note she left them and would go to her room soon. Her father had to be trying to figure out what was going on. No matter what, he would always be on her side, apparently her mother too. Although, she seemed to think the murderous bastard who claimed to be her mate could be redeemed.

  How many times over the last hundred years had she seen Shifters, who were Ulfer, try to change themselves? They couldn’t, it was something with the DNA. Sure, Cherri was working on something, as were the Ulfer. However, their new medication apparently turned the Ulfer into Breyting with a twist, they still had issues with sanity and consciousness; however, the humans would not be able to tell they were Ulfer. It would be tragic if they actually got the medication out to the public. It would change the way things were handled. And the people who were the Breyting would no longer be able to actually tell who was psycho and who wasn’t. Which for the Drekinn, was not a good thing.

  Wait. Was that a knock somewhere on her wall? What the hell? She walked to the back of her bedroom and waited, yep, a knock. Hmmmm, she pressed her hand to the wall and felt a surge of awareness. Shit, seriously? Was this Twisted Mate, or the other one? She knew it was a mate, she could feel the same pull she felt with the asshole. This was a little different, Rissa decided, as she slowly felt the power coming from the wall.

  What the hell, it was her other mate, she felt warm and happy, something she hadn’t felt since they left the city. Whoever it was on the other side of the wall, they were projecting feelings to her. Well, fuck a duck, this was crazy. Rissa stood and put her hand against the farthest wall. She could feel the energy coming from the other side.

  Maybe she should call out and see if they could hear her. However, she paused—they were on the other side of the wall. She would never betray the Treacherous Bitches, no matter what they did. This thing they had going on was too important, and if the person on the other side of the wall was not a Breyting, which at this point, she would guess he was a three-headed snake named Bubba. Slowly she withdrew her hand and she felt the instant break in contact. Maybe she could see over the wall with one of her cameras.

  Over the last few weeks, they discovered a small compound on the other side of the wall. No one had gone over to investigate yet. Kade and Calli were planning on sending a few of the Enforcers over to see what they were doing. When they ran near the wall, they could feel the spell covering the compound. They were either like them, on the run from the Prentiss Agency, or they were the Ulfer, and they were planning to attack.

  Shit, shit, shit, she couldn’t talk to her best friends right now, and calling her mom and telling her that she found her other mate was out of the question. Hell, she would start knitting baby booties or something. Not that she knitted, but Rissa was sure the crazy woman would try.

  She went back to her computer and opened up the cameras, none of hers were placed where they could see over the wall. They were positioned to ca
tch the bitches if they tried to find her. She already had seen Kade and Kiki running by. Rissa chuckled as the two sniffed in the air thinking they caught her scent, and then couldn’t follow it. Her hunters spray was working. She wanted to howl, but then they would have found her. Instead, she did her happy dance in the cave by herself.

  Rissa sat back and rolled her fingers across the small, wooded plank desk she made. Her people were smart, but she was smarter, if she snuck in the back door she put into the program, only one or two of the men she trained would be able to figure it out. Finding out about her mate was something she was willing to take the risk for.

  She booted up the program she wanted and then quickly sought the cameras she was looking for. Slowly, she made her way through the maze of security until she got where she wanted to be and then made the turns she wanted. The small yard was warded with magic, however, the cameras still worked. She could see the tips of two men’s heads, damn it, they needed to move. She could feel her wolf pushing at her and she began to talk to herself.

  “You need to calm down. I am doing the best I can,” she growled to her wolf. “If you should be mad at anyone, it should be the Treacherous Bitches; they are the ones who are at fault for this whole mess. Can you believe what they did? After all these years, and they totally side with a crazy ass, murdering son of a bitch. I mean, really.”

  Rissa waved her hands around as if she was talking to someone. Dammit, she hated it when she did this, but her wolf drove her nuts when she wanted to. All the pushing and shit, as if she could just get up and go find her mate. One was a psycho, and the other was unknown, but he couldn’t be much worse than Mr. Twisted, could he?

  ***

  “WHERE IS MY MATE?” Simon yelled. They all returned to the conference room they were in before, after they spent the last five hours hunting for his mate, and no one could even catch a decent scent of her.

  Calli growled, stood up, and then walked around the table slowly, her eyes narrowed a little. He knew this Alpha female look. He was about ready to get smacked down, but Simon didn’t give a shit. For the last month, he risked his life and limb to wrap up his assignment for the Drekinn Agency. During that time, he did a little research on the three women who were such good friends. He knew more than what he was letting on. They were thrill seeking, danger hungry, dangerous women. He was impressed and a little afraid his mate was who she was. Her intelligence was frightening and her mad computer skills were legendary.

  When he arrived back at the compound to claim his mate, he was ready to accept the good, the bad, and the weird. However this, this was way more than acceptable. His mate was going to have to learn that he didn’t play these games. He wanted to lighten up, but this was not cool. His wolf was clawing at him, demanding he find his mate, and all he could do was stand there and yell because he had no clue where she was.

  “Now, I know you have just come in from deep undercover, and transition can be hard. I worked with this before, you know, when we were in the real world,” Calli said calmly, trailing her hand across the table, slowly rounding around the edge until she was standing next to him. Then she slapped him on the back of the head, hard, bent over and yelled into his ear. “Now you are in my world, and you will not yell at me, or anyone in this room.”

  Simon grimaced and refused to cringe when she walked to his other side, and only then he noticed that Cherri had gotten up and joined her friend and was now on his other side. Shit.

  “Sir Twisted, I will remind you that thus far, we have tried to help you with Rissa, because we really think she needs her mates with her. We are willing to give you a chance and let you prove to us that you are worthy of her. I mean, she is special, and she is our blood sister. However, there are a few things you need to remember—you hurt her, you hurt us, and honey, you really don’t want to do that,” Cherri purred in his ear.

  Simon looked around the room to see the men, who were the strongest in the Pack, lower and shake their heads in shame at him. What the fuck, were they serious? Had he stepped into an alternate universe or something, because it was seriously not what he envisioned when he came in from the undercover assignment.

  Kade put a hand over his face, rubbed it up and down before growling and letting his hand fall. “Babe, you're doing it again.”

  Calli narrowed her eyes and looked at her mate. “And what am I doing, baby cakes?” she said sarcastically.

  Kade glared at his mate and then said the one thing he knew would make his point. “You are acting like your mother.”

  Calli’s eyes widened, Cherri sucked in a deep breath, and stood back. “How could you say that?” Calli whispered and then looked at her best friend. “Did you hear that?”

  “I did, and I am sure he didn’t mean it,” Cherri soothed and then glared at her Alpha before looking at her mates who were trying not to laugh. “Hey, you funny boys, is there something you would like to add?”

  Declan took point and smiled at his mate. “Honey, you have to see what you two are doing, hell, if Ris were here, you three would be like little Mini MEs of your moms.”

  Cherri let out a cry of outrage and put a hand to her chest. “That hurts, and I hope your ass gets used to sleeping in the spare room, both of you.”

  “Ditto here for my asshole,” Calli said and then turned to the camera and looked up. “Sorry, Ris, I thought we were doing what was right. Now I see—our asshats have woven a sexual spell around us.”

  Kade snorted loudly and said, “Knock it off. Now let’s get down to it, we really need to find her. Give it up, where the fuck is she?”

  “Did you just call me a liar?” Calli asked. “I told you we had no clue where she was. I was doing what you wanted me to, which was try to convince her that Sir Twisted over here was not what we all thought. I was not convinced and I went against my best friend. You showed me the facts that he wasn’t who we thought, but that has nothing to do with character. Maybe he has been undercover too long and is a psychopath. What this all boils down to is, the one connection I have protected and trusted for over a hundred years has been broken, by me! Damn it, I hate this. I don’t know where the fuck my best friend and sister is, and if I did, I would be joining her at this point, you asshole.”

  Kade raised an eyebrow at his mate, how had he gotten in the hot seat? Cherri growled, stood next to her friend, and whispered something, then looked at her mates and glared. “Yeah, what she said, ASSHOLES!” Cherri cried and then linked arms with Calli as they stormed out of the room.

  All of the men sat there staring at one another with a confused look on their faces. Kiki leaned forward, put his hands on the table, and looked at the men who were sitting there with a thunderstruck look on their faces. “Well, you guys suck. I don’t want to point this out to you, but you screwed up big time, and if I were you, I would be thinking about how I am going to make this up to them.”

  Kiki slammed his hand down on the table, and it made even the Alpha flinch a little. Sabrina and Trina followed in suit, sticking their noses up in the air and walking out.

  Rissa noticed none of them told the males about the cameras. She smirked and then leaned closer as Kade let out a breath and said, “Fan-fucking-tastic.”

  Simon nodded his head and Rissa glared at him, knowing he should be able to feel the hot anger of her stare. He took everything from her, and she would be damned if she was going to go down quietly. Dumbass, she thought, and then looked around her little cave. She would stay here until she was sure she had her friends in her corner, and then she would go back. Maybe by then he will have been killed, or at least severely maimed so she wouldn’t have to mate with him. If someone cut something important off, it would work.

  In the meantime, she had another mate to meet; maybe he would be better than the other. The Gods certainly wouldn't have given her two crazies as mates, would they?

  ***

  “What should we do? I need to find Rissa now,” Simon asked slowly as he looked at his Alpha and fellow Betas for help.
Surely they had lived with their mates long enough to know what the fuck just happened.

  Kade glared at him and threw his hands up. “What is wrong with you?” his Alpha roared.

  “What?” Simon asked in confusion, what the hell had he done?

  “Listen, I realize you are just back in from assignment and all, but don’t you know anything about females? Man, you are supposed to nod, apologize, and look remorseful,” Kade said, throwing up his hands in frustration again.

  “Me? Why the fuck should I be apologizing?” Simon asked and stood up as well. “I am the victim, you saw it. Hell, none of their files said they had fucked up woman logic. How hard is it to tell a guy where his mate is and back the fuck off?”

  Kade walked around the table shaking his head in shame. Simon had no clue what the man was talking about. Since he had come to this place, he witnessed his mate being terrified of him, his Alpha catering to his female. The Betas not really far behind, and to top it all else off, now his mate ‘escaped’. What the hell kind of loony bin had he joined up with?

  “Dude, seriously? Everything you do is wrong, and you better get used to it. These three women are three extremely, high maintenance women, who could, by themselves, kill you in your sleep without batting an eyelid. They are fierce warriors, and their intelligence is off the charts. I have seen them plot, plan, and carry out missions with ease. They are not to be messed with. To be honest, if I wasn’t convinced that Calli was my mate, I would follow them anywhere, just for the sheer pleasure of watching them work. Now with that said, yes, I am the Alpha of this Pack, yes, Declan and Nik are the Betas. Because of this, we have developed…well…I guess you would call it a keen sense of self-preservation. What I am saying is, there is a time to argue, and a time to retreat. Dammit, man, when they’re talking about each other—RETREAT! I haven’t been laid in two weeks because of your ass,” Kade yelled.