by Jana Leigh
This is where he was about to lie to his mate. It sucked, sighing deeply he looked around and then looked back at his mate who was staring at him closely. Lying to her wasn’t going to be easy. He wished for a moment that his sister were here. “Well…”
Rissa held up her hand and said quickly, “Please don’t lie, if you can’t tell me, then say you can’t tell me, but don’t lie. I have to tell you that for the last month I have been avoiding our other mate. He was apparently undercover with the Ulfer, as the Bondi King’s right hand man. I don’t know if some of the things we saw he did, or it was as he claimed and the King used a lot of men to act as the man we called Mr. Twisted, but basically I can't trust him. I need a mate to trust.”
Phillip frowned, he had no clue what Rissa was talking about, she said things so fast it was hard to keep up, but he did get the desperation in her voice and knew that trust was a huge thing right now to her. Making a decision, he decided that he needed to trust his mate. Taking her hand, Phillip pulled her toward where there was a bench looking over the garden. He looked at the large castle in the distance and frowned. It didn’t sit well with him that one of his mates was in pain.
“Listen,” Phillip said as they sat down. He kept a hold of her hand and Rissa was staring at the physical connection they had. She could feel her hand tingling, it was so cool, nothing like her mother or her best friends told her. The connection was so strong, she felt herself leaning toward him. “I want to tell you the truth—it’s just that none of us have told anyone who or where we are for the very reason that we don’t know who will find us. We grow our own food, and we have only one person leave to get us fresh supplies. That is me, and the only reason I can do that is because I can cloak myself when needed.”
“Cloak? What the heck, no one has that power,” Rissa scoffed and looked at her mate and then sucked in a breath when he disappeared and then reappeared before her eyes. “Fuck a duck!” she whispered. “Oh shit, you're a cat!”
Phillip chuckled and said, “You know, you sound a lot like my mom and her friends. Yes, I am a cat, a tiger to be precise, and also a bit of dragon, which is why I can cloak.” Phillip tilted his head and looked at his mate. “How about we get to know one another? Why don’t you come into the house and meet the others. By now, they are all pressed against the windows trying to decide if we are going to have to move again or not.”
“As long as you know that I will not be waiting for long for that explanation. I only know one dragon, which begs the question, do you know one another?” Rissa looked over his shoulder and bit her lip, there were people in the windows, and she smiled and waved. “Okay then, let’s meet the others,” she said and let the subject drop for the meantime.
Phillip grabbed her hand and drew her to the brick home. He took a deep breath in relief that he dodged that bullet for now, there would be more time to talk about what he was when the time came, but damn it, he needed to talk to his sister before that happened.
It was just like the Blankenforth castle. Rissa wondered if at one time they had been a part of the same property. There was the feeling of power on both lands she wondered what it meant.
Phillip opened the door and pulled her through. A tall man stood in the entrance looking as if he was guarding the place. Rissa looked at him and nodded, she wasn’t sure what these people expected. When she took a deep breath, she could scent various different animals, including one she just couldn’t put her finger on. The man guarding the door though, he was a wolf, and a powerful one at that, she wondered how he came to be here. With the power he was emitting, he should have been found by the Drekinn Agency years ago and put into the Enforcer training.
“Rissa, this is Knox, he is a wolf and our protection,” Philip said slowly and then watched as Knox walked forward and shook her hand.
Rissa stiffened when she saw the man sniff, and then freeze. Crap, he is going to eat me now what? Her life cut short just because she wanted to find her mate. How would her parents react, they would be crushed, especially her mother when she found out she died wearing her sock monkey slippers. Shit.
Phillip stepped forward just as Knox knelt and put his forehead on Rissa's hand and whispered, “It is true, you are here.”
“Uh… well, yeah… I just got here, came through the wall,” Rissa said confused and looked at Phillip who was standing there with a confused look on his face as well. He shrugged to her and Rissa looked back.
“The prophecy will come true this time,” Knox said and stood up beaming at his friend.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Phillip said. “What prophesy? As far as I know, the only ones told by the Seer have come to pass.”
Rissa shrugged and pulled her hand back, “Well, there is the one about the blood oath.”
“Blood oath?” a woman said and walked out. Rissa could tell she was Fae and she grinned. It had been a long time since she met a fairy.
“Hey, a Fae. Do you have wings? I always wanted wings, I mean how cool is that, you can fly whenever you want, and you have those sweet magical powers,” Rissa babbled as the rest of the people poured into the entrance of the home.
The woman looked startled and then laughed. “Yes, I have wings.”
Chapter Five
Calli and Cherri felt the instant their best friend left the compound. They both looked at each other and frowned. She hadn’t gone far, they could feel her.
“What the fuck?” Cherri mumbled.
“Yeah, I can feel it, too, that is something new. Let’s go get her,” Calli said with a resigned tone.
“Oh boy, this ought to be fun.” Cherri laughed and followed her friend out the door and through the woods.
“What the hell?” Calli said awestruck when they came upon the small cavern that Rissa had hidden in, they stepped into the entryway and paused. “Shit, she could have stayed here for weeks.”
“Holy shit,” Cherri muttered. “She was seriously pissed.”
Calli murmured her agreement, this was the first time any of them had been this pissed at each other. The Alpha female frowned, over a guy? That was unacceptable, especially since they were on the run. They needed to be strong together, not divided. “We need to talk to her.”
“Yeah, but we have to talk to her in Rissa talk.” Cherri agreed.
Calli turned and rolled her eyes, “Butt ass crazy, you mean.”
“Well yeah, she doesn’t respond to anything else.” Cherri laughed and slapped her friend on the shoulder and pointed. “I believe this is the way out.”
“Yeah,” Calli sighed and then took a deep breath and walked into the tunnel and through the door.
On the other side, they saw the same thing Rissa had, a fully functioning compound—interesting. They looked as if they had been here for longer than the Drekinn Pack, which was interesting. Why would they be here, Calli pushed her power out and felt it bounce off the wards. Well hidden too, this would be a fun conversation when they found their friend. Hell, it was probably a cult and Rissa had joined. Brainwashed and already singing and chanting with the rest of the loons.
“Rissa, get your ass out here before I drag you out by your hair,” Calli bellowed as they walked up to the door of the home.
There was silence, and Calli shrugged at Cherri who stood next to her. They could feel she was right on the other side of the doorway, their blood called to her and Calli felt her getting pissed.
“Ris, I am serious, I will give you to the count of three and then I am calling your mother,” Calli yelled.
“Treacherous Bitch Number One, I will not be treated like a child. I can go where I want and be with whom I want. They happen to think I am interesting here,” Rissa said stomping out the door to face her friends. She paused, cocked her hip, and folded her arms across her chest and growled at them.
Calli raised an eyebrow, was she serious? “What the fuck are you doing? Don’t growl at me or I will put you down.”
Rissa laughed and Calli saw the people from the h
ouse begin to file out and stand behind her. “Oh really, you and what army TB1, cause TB2 over there won't want to break a nail. Besides, they think I am a Princess, just like I told you I was, so fuck off.”
Calli frowned and looked at the people. She could scent a wolf, a cat, and a Fae maybe. What were all of these people doing here, she could feel their power flowing off them. Shit, this was worse than she thought. Rissa hadn’t stumbled across a group of cult members, they were magical beings, and she had no clue if they were Ulfer or not, she wasn’t that close.
“Get your crazy ass over here, I told you we would get you a crown already. Now, thank the nice cult people and let’s go back over to the other side,” Calli said calmly.
“Good idea!” Kade said coming up behind her.
Shit, her mate sounded a little tense and pissed.
“Never leave without telling me again,” he whispered into her ear. Calli shivered. Tonight she was going to pay for this, yay!
Phillip stepped up to Rissa's side and held up a hand. “Before we get all growly on each other, we are not the enemy, in fact, we were told to come here.”
Kade looked the tall man over, took his mate's arm, and pulled her back. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Well, Cherri and I had this freaky ass feeling and we suddenly knew that Ris had left the estate, so we followed our new tracking ability and found her. Told her we were going to drag her back by her hair to rescue her from the cult here, and she is arguing,” Calli said and growled at the man who suddenly put an arm around her best friend. “And Mr. Feely over here is a second from getting his arm ripped off if he doesn’t stop touching my friend.”
“She is my mate,” Phillip said slowly and then felt his cat pushing against him. These people were trying to take his mate.
“Oh shit, cats and dogs fucking each other, told you the end of the world was coming.” Cherri laughed and Calli growled at her friend.
“Hey, why are we all over here? I followed Kade, who was walking fast and he came here, what’s up?” Kiki yelled from behind them. Kade rolled his eyes when he came into sight. He was wearing his bright, satiny, red jumpsuit, which he used to practice his 'drag routine’ in. Fucking embarrassing.
“Kiki, I found my other mate, and he is not a crazy ass psycho. Instead, he was in the compound we thought contained drug dealers or cult members, but we were totally wrong. They are a bunch of shifters who were hiding as well,” Rissa called happily, like that was supposed to explain everything.
“Huh?” Kiki said and paused.
“No, she is my mate, and you should take your fucking hands off her right this second,” Simon yelled and tried to get around his Alphas, as Declan and Nik held him back. They followed Kiki through the doorway. Everyone was standing there looking at Rissa with expectation.
“Hey, you don’t get to tell anyone who can put their hands on me. You don’t own me. If I want to take off my clothes and dance naked around the fire, I could,” Rissa yelled, getting toe to toe with Simon before any of them could do anything.
“Oh shit,” Cherri muttered.
“Is that all you can say?” Calli hissed.
“Yep, pretty much covers the situation, don’t you think?” Cherri laughed. Her mates came up alongside her and she stopped laughing.
“I am your mate, and you will certainly not be running around with other men and naked,” Simon growled down at her.
“Oh really, well it so happens that Philly is my other mate. And one that I think I may actually let see me naked in the near future. Therefore, Sir Murdering Scum, fuck off,” Rissa yelled and pointed back to where Phillip was talking to Kade quietly.
“Hey, hi,” Phillip smiled and yelled. “Give me a second.”
Simon frowned and then growled at Phillip. The other man looked at him in surprise and walked over to where the two were standing with aggressive postures. “What is going on?”
Simon took a deep breath and they could see he realized Phillip was his mate as well because his eyes changed to a deeper gold. Rissa smirked and laughed when the son of a bitch held out his hand to Phillip. Then she frowned when Phillip took it with a grin and they both whispered, “Brother.”
“Really?” Rissa screamed and threw her hands up. “Are you freakin’ kidding me? Brother? What the hell is wrong with our society when a perfectly nice guy and a wonderfully innocent woman is mated with a psycho; where is the fucking fairness in that? What's next?”
“Cats, dogs, and birds fuckin!” Cherri laughed.
“Shut up!” Calli growled at her friend.
Simon looked down at Rissa and gritted his teeth. “I am not a murderer, what you saw was what the King wanted you to see.”
“Suurreee, next you will be telling me the Easter Bunny isn’t real,” Rissa scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“What the hell are you talking about? Don’t you mean the Easter Bunny is real? At least get the insult right,” Simon yelled in frustration and Calli jumped forward, pushed both of the men back, and stood in between them while Cherri and Kiki jumped to either side of Rissa.
“That is what she meant!” Calli ground out. “Duh, everyone knows the Easter Bunny is real.”
Cherri murmured to Rissa, while Kiki glared at the men. Simon looked shocked, then shook his head in frustration, and opened his mouth.
Kade stepped up, did the headshake of shame, and said, “Dude, you are digging a hole and you will not be able to get out.”
“What the hell….” Simon said.
“Wait a minute,” Phillip said holding up his hand. He knew this was getting out of control and felt a kinship to Simon. He wanted to make sure he didn’t screw this up. “Let’s get back to the facts.”
“Yeah, we really should. The facts are he is an asshole, and you are his sidekick and I am not mating with either of you,” Rissa said.
“OKAY, ONE OF MY MATES IS HERE, TOO. I NEED TO FIGURE THIS OUT, EVERYONE STAND IN A LINE AND LET ME SNIFF YOU!” Kiki yelled at the top of his voice. They all turned and looked at him with a shocked look on their faces.
Kade lifted his hand and slapped his forehead, while Calli and Cherri began laughing. Rissa didn’t find this even a little bit funny. Damn it, this was her fucking life, why did it have to be so damn difficult? Stomping her foot she walked back to the wall and stepped on the pebble, locking them all in the compound. Figure it out for yourselves assholes, she thought.
She went to her apartment and gathered all of her things, it took a lot, but she had them in a wheelbarrow and began to walk back to the castle muttering to herself.
Chapter Six
Pilar knocked on Rissa’s door, Billy B wiggled in her arms, and she waited. Rissa had come home and the place was in an uproar. Pilar tried to remain out of it, but when Phillip showed up, she had little choice but to step forward. She just wanted to talk to Rissa before she did.
If anyone was being deceitful it was her, and she wanted a chance to explain to Rissa before they all knew the truth, she owed it to her new sister-in-law.
“Come on, Ris, I know you are in there, I have Billy,” Pilar called and waited. She could hear furniture being moved and waited.
The door opened a crack and when Rissa saw it was only Pilar, she opened the door a bit more and pulled Pilar and Billy inside quickly before slamming the door and moving the dresser back in front of it. Without saying a word, Rissa held out her hands for her puppy and waited.
“Damn it, Rissa, I wanted to talk to you for a second before you find out a few things, I don’t have much time because they are probably going to be looking for me soon,” Pilar said quickly.
Rissa rolled her eyes, took her dog, and went to the corner where there were two chairs and a small table. She talked to Billy softly before letting the puppy down and smiling when it began to sniff the room. He was finally home.
“Speak,” Rissa said gruffly and looked up at Pilar.
Rissa was pissed about the whole situation, Pilar got that she knew the Simon th
ing had been weighing on her. She had no clue how she would feel if one of her mates wasn’t what he appeared to be. It was kinda fucked up, and she was the one who put Simon undercover all those years ago. If she had known, she would have chosen someone else. It would have saved a lot of heartache.
Simon appeared in the training and Pilar saw potential. She hated her job, because of all the stuff that came along with the responsibility.
“Simon came to the Drekinn Agency seven years ago. He was amazing during training, rising to be first in his class. I was so impressed I thought about having him become Calli’s second. However, at the time, you three were so close and went on missions together. Even though Cherri was in charge of the Medical wing, and you were in charge of the Tech wing, you went with Calli because you were a team. One that we did not want to lose or disturb, and then the opportunity to send someone undercover came and I thought Simon would be perfect. He checked in every other day, I can show you the logs if it will help,” Pilar said softly.
“You know, not really. All these years watching the man we called Mr. Twisted, he was my mate. Do you remember when we saw him on the vid killing one of our informants? I went back and looked you know. It looks just like him from behind, how can you be so sure he didn’t do some of the things we thought he did?”
Pilar sighed and looked at the woman who sat in front of her, so deadly and yet so innocent. “I trust him, just like I trust my brother. Shit, this is gonna suck. Okay, Phillip is my brother, I know you are mates, he told me. One of his and my things is we are able to read people. Simon is good—his aura is clean. I know this sucks, and I know that I should have told you all this long before now, but we were waiting for Kade and Calli to come into their power, and then all this shit with the Prentiss Agency happened and basically it was a mess.”
Rissa sat and looked around the room, digesting all of the information that Pilar gave her. Damn, she was going to be Ms. Praton's sister-in-law, when had her simple world become so far out of control? It didn’t change things; nothing was different, was it? She could look at the logs, but who knew if Simon stepped over the lines? There was no way to prove it, even if Phillip and Pilar saw auras. Basically, it came down to Rissa and trust. She only trusted two people with her life, she didn’t know if she could actually trust someone with her heart.
