Revelations: The Shifter Series: Volume Three

by Cari Schaeffer

  When Dimitri and Christopher returned, Peter and Anna were close on his heels. Oksana brought up the rear and placed a steaming cup of tea in Kat’s hands.

  “Drink all of it,” she instructed. “It will speed your healing.”

  Kat looked at the tea and Oksana with suspicion. “I remember the last time you gave me tea. It knocked me out but good.”

  Oksana smiled. “Yes. It is good for you.” She pointed her finger at Kat. “Drink.” Then she pivoted and left.

  Everyone else took a seat; Dimitri right next to Kat with Christopher on her other side. Peter and Anna sat across from her.

  Dimitri nodded at Kat. “First of all, your tracker went completely blank shortly after you were taken. We still don’t know why.” He dipped his head. “It was not pretty for us.” Christopher chuckled darkly. Dimitri leveled his gaze at his battered niece. “What information do you have, Kat?”

  Kat set the tea aside. She would drink it when she was done. “I met Vladimir and...” she started but stopped when Anna gasped.

  Anna looked sheepish. “I’m sorry. I did not realize you met him personally.” Her eyes widened. “Did he speak to you? Did you talk to him?”

  Kat nodded. “Yes. We had tea.”

  Anna’s jaw dropped.

  Kat frowned. She sat up straighter. “That reminds me. Anna, your sister Julia is a shifter, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “What kind of shifter? I remember both of your eyes were glowing when you rescued me.” Kat’s gaze bounced on the floor. “She said something to Boris in Russian right before we left. He was...frozen.”

  Anna nodded. “She can make people believe they can’t move, or that they feel pain, things like that. She can also plant thoughts in their minds. She told Boris that you disappeared into thin air. He will not remember us being there.”

  Kat blinked. “Well, that’s interesting.”

  Christopher snickered. “Very. The girls are shifters now, too.”

  Anna shot him a look. “Only us, as far as we know.”

  “So only our bloodline then. Huh.” Christopher rubbed his chin.

  “Never mind that now,” Dimitri interrupted. “Kat, what information do you have?”

  Kat adjusted in her seat and winced. She looked at her uncle, then told him everything she recalled about Vladimir’s rant regarding DNA research, vaccines, genetically modified food, and how he referred to people as sheep. She left out the part involving Boris; she didn’t want to upset Christopher more. When she finished her tale, four sets of jaws were wide open. She picked up the cup of tea and blew on it, then took a sip. Oksana had put quite a bit of honey in it. Kat licked her lips and took another sip.

  Dimitri cleared his throat and sat on the edge of his seat. He rubbed his hands together and glanced meaningfully at Peter. “What about Boris?”

  Kat’s eyes shot to Christopher, who glared at the floor. His jaw was tight, his cheeks crimson.

  “Kat.” Dimitri’s voice was soft. “We need to know. All Julia could tell us was that you were to be paired with him.”

  Kat frowned and tried again to take a deep breath. Sharp pains shot through her middle and she bit her lip. “Vladimir said that I was a gift from God because of my abilities. He...thought I was an ideal’nyy rebenok and if Boris and I were...paired, then our...um...children would be ideal’nyy rebenok, too. He wanted us to rule.”

  Christopher scratched his fingers across the back of his neck.

  “Of course.” Peter’s eyes lit up with excitement. He glanced at Anna. “They couldn’t make it happen artificially, but with Kat not being constrained to one type of shifting...” He quelled his excitement when Dimitri gave him a look. “Sorry.”

  Kat stared past them and finished her tea. “He said something about how America had declined, and that Mother Russia would rise again. He also mentioned the Bear of the East.” She looked at her uncle. “What does that mean?”

  Dimitri blew out a deep breath. “It is an old reference to Russia. Russia is known as the Bear.”

  “Oh.” Duh, she thought.

  Dimitri stood up and paced. “This is all connected. All of it.” He turned to Kat. “He said ‘our time has come’, correct?”

  “I believe so, yes. Something like that.”

  Dimitri resumed his pacing. “Then they are planning a move very soon.”

  Peter stood up. “It’s the financial markets, Dad. I’m telling you. That’s the key.”

  Kat looked puzzled. “Still?”

  “The global financial markets are in utter chaos,” Dimitri replied. “The S&P is swinging wildly, currencies are just as crazy, and there have been several cyber-attacks, too. Peter has done his best to protect our assets, but we’ve had to liquidate most of it and put the rest in whatever safe havens we can ferret out. It hasn’t been easy.”

  Peter took a deep breath. “And it’s getting harder.”

  Christopher leaped up. “We have to put the pieces together, and quickly.”

  “Agreed,” Dimitri murmured.

  “Dimitri?” Anna’s quiet voice broke in. Dimitri turned to her and waited. Anna looked at Kat as she spoke. “They’ll come for her. If what she said is true, and I have no doubt it is, they will come for her.”

  Kat’s blood ran cold. Perhaps she wouldn’t get the opportunity to feel safe again. She also believed the Barotkoffs wouldn’t be so accommodating to her next time, either. On the heels of the coldness, Kat felt the heat of rage.

  “I will not be their pawn!”

  Dimitri held his hand out to quiet her. He looked at Anna. “Why do you say that?”

  Anna blinked like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “They need her to complete their plan. She is the only shifter in either of our families that can do anything, other than Uncle Vladimir himself. The Barotkoffs shift outside. The Wolffs shift inside. She is an ideal’nyy rebenok.” She looked at Christopher with sad eyes. “And because she is natural, she can procreate. You know how he is about continuing the blood line. With her, the blood line will be the strongest it could ever be. That makes her the highest of treasures.”

  Christopher stiffened, and a low growl erupted from him. “They will not take her.”

  Dimitri’s eyebrows drew together as his mind worked. “We won’t stay in one place for very long.”

  “Is that why you bought the RV’s?” Kat asked.

  Dimitri nodded. “Yes. After you were taken, we realized the Barotkoffs had already found us, even though we weren’t in Idaho very long. We can’t risk that again. I still don’t know how they found us.”

  Kat shifted and grimaced. “Vladimir did say something about us not being as cautious as we thought. He said he knows where we are all the time.”

  Peter shook his head. “That reminds me.” He rose and walked over to Kat. “Let me have your arm.”

  Kat lifted her arm and he turned it over in his hands to examine the tender skin underneath. Peter ran his fingers gently over the small scar where he had inserted her tracking device. He palpated it gently.

  Peter frowned. “The tracker is still there. I don’t know why it didn’t work.” He looked at Kat. “We tried to locate you as soon as we found Dad’s abandoned car and knew you had been taken. The only signal we got before it disappeared was you at the airport. Do you remember what happened?”

  Kat shook her head. “The last thing I remember was sitting by that stream. I felt a pinprick, then woke up in a very nice bedroom.” She hurried to reassure Christopher. “By myself. I was a prisoner, but for weeks they just kept me in the bedroom. My meals were brought to me on trays, they gave me a television, I had a bathroom...everything. There were no windows, of course.” She shook her head. “I about lost my mind from boredom.”

  Dimitri interrupted her. “I’m sorry, Kat. We must focus on the problem at hand. We need to discover their ultimate plan and stop it. Thank you for the information.”

  Kat nodded and tried to stifle a yawn. The tea was kicking in. />
  “You need to rest.” Christopher waved away her protests, carried her into the bedroom and gently placed her between the sheets.

  She clutched his arm. “Stay with me. Please.”

  “I’ll be right back.” He nodded and disappeared.

  Kat closed her heavy eyelids and barely heard murmured voices. Soon, the bed shivered, and Christopher’s warm, strong arms gathered her close. She nestled her head into his chest and sighed at the sound of his heartbeat.

  “Home,” she murmured, then gave herself to unconsciousness.

  WHEN KAT AWOKE, SHE felt almost normal. The light that filtered through the closed blinds was very soft. She stretched her muscles and several joints popped. She scooted onto her back and turned toward Christopher, who was awake and staring at her.

  “My Kat,” Christopher murmured and kissed her ear lobe.

  She shivered and reached over to run her hand through the hair at the back of his head. “Christopher,” she breathed. Her voice didn’t sound as hoarse as the day before.

  “I am so sorry, Christopher. For everything. I can’t believe I...”

  He pressed a finger to her lips. “No. Never speak of it again, Kat. It’s over and done.”

  “All right, you two. That’s enough,” Anastasia clapped her hands and whipped the covers off the pair. “We have a lot of work to do. Christopher, you’re with me. Kat, you can lounge in the living room if you’d like. We have satellite television.”

  Christopher chuckled, sat up, and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Kat made a gagging sound, sat up, and took stock of her body. “I never want to watch television again! I feel fine. I can help.” She stood up and felt only slight soreness in her ribs. “Seriously. I feel fantastic. Oksana’s tea is crazy good for healing.”

  Anastasia apprised her cousin through narrowed eyes. “Are you sure? You’ll be on light duty.”

  Kat rolled her shoulders and ignored the twinge she felt from one of them. “What do you need me to do?”

  “Kat,” Christopher warned, but she held up her hand.

  “I’m fine. I promise.”

  Anastasia shrugged. “I’ll have Claire check you out.” She curled her fingers at Christopher. “Come on. Let’s get started. Tick tock.”

  Christopher straightened out his t-shirt, gave Kat a peck and a wink, and hurried after Anastasia, who was already outside.

  “Wait for Claire!” Anastasia called back right before she slammed the door closed.

  Kat sighed and got dressed, marveling again at the restorative powers of Oksana’s magic tea. Just as she was pulling on her tennis shoes, Claire walked in and looked down her nose at Kat.

  “Just where do you think you’re going, young lady?”

  Kat stood up. “Out to work.”

  Claire clucked her tongue. “You have cracked ribs, a bruised...everything to include an almost crushed neck, and you think you’re just going to waltz out there like nothing. Lie down.”

  Kat’s shoulders slumped, but she complied.

  Claire felt along Kat’s arms and shoulder, her gaze darting up to Kat’s face every few inches with her eyebrows raised in question. Kat continued to shake her head that it didn’t hurt until Claire started palpating her ribs.

  Kat winced slightly. Claire noticed.

  “Lift your shirt.”

  Kat did as she was told, then relaxed.

  Claire examined the spot and pressed in several areas to gauge Kat’s reaction. Kat winced again.

  She turned pleading eyes on Claire. “Yes, that’s sore. But it’s nothing like it was before. I swear! Please, let me help. I spent too long being cooped up already.”

  Claire frowned and considered as she looked over Kat’s torso. Finally, she sighed and crossed her arms. “I will bind up your ribs again, but you have to promise to take it easy. You do look remarkable considering what your injuries were.” She pressed two fingers to her mouth. “I have got to find out what is in that tea.”

  Claire wrapped Kat’s torso with efficiency, then declared her fit for light duty.

  Kat shimmied her shirt down. “Cool.” She rose in a fluid motion. “Let’s get going.”

  When Kat stepped out of the RV for the first time, she smiled. These woods looked familiar. The barren majesty of Idaho had been replaced by the dense canopy of green trees that were Georgia in the heart of summer.

  “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I thought we couldn’t come back to Georgia.”

  Claire nodded. “We’re in a different part of the state and keeping a very low profile. The only ones who go out in public are those that wouldn’t be recognized. Basically, Oksana and Anastasia. Sometimes Rebecca, too. Anastasia shifts into whoever she wants. The rest of us stay here. Now, come on. Let’s get moving.”

  The day’s task involved packing up their current campsite and moving to the next one. Kat saw that all three RV’s were slightly different from one another, but all were luxurious and outfitted with the latest gadgets and technology. She discovered they had purchased them within days of her capture and the family had been on the move ever since. To accommodate all the family members (to include the various couples and their newest guest), they had also purchased several pod-looking contraptions. They were self-contained queen-sized beds that hooked onto the back of the RV’s or any of the other vehicles the family had. Kat marveled at it all. She also felt a sense of shame that she had taken Dimitri and Oksana’s bed.

  When the group broke for lunch, Kat sidled up to her uncle. “Uncle Dimitri, thanks for letting me sleep in your bed, but I’m okay now. I can sleep somewhere else.”

  Dimitri smiled and piled spaghetti on his plate. “It’s all right, Kat. You need to be comfortable to heal.”

  Kat nodded at Oksana who poked at a peach cobbler with a spoon. “Her tea took care of that. Really, I’m fine.”

  Kat convinced her uncle to take back possession of his bedroom. Dimitri was too preoccupied to put up a fuss and acquiesced. Kat would sleep in the same RV as her uncle, along with Christopher, Anna, Peter and Julia. Christopher insisted on staying close to Kat for protection.

  Kat sat at the picnic table across from her uncle. She speared a forkful of salad. “So, any movement on the whole puzzle of this mess?”

  Dimitri twirled pasta onto his fork and frowned. “Well, the big picture is what Vladimir revealed to you. They plan on ruling humanity. I am quite sure that involves taking down America somehow and with us goes the rest of the world. They’ll step in and take over. But they can’t do it as themselves, they’ve got to be using either government or corporate puppets or shell companies, or both.” He stuffed the fork into his mouth and chewed.

  Kat’s fork froze in mid-air.

  Christopher placed his plate on the table and sat next to Kat. He stared from Kat to Dimitri. “I’m guessing this is a heavy conversation.”

  Kat placed her fork on the table. “That’s a safe assumption.” She addressed Dimitri. “How do they plan to take us down? All Vladimir mentioned was the genetic modification of people through food and vaccines as well as the decline of America under the last president, but beyond that...” She shrugged. “I just don’t get it.”

  Dimitri took a long drink of sweet tea. “The markets, currencies, technology. Plenty of things are going on. Knee jerk reactions by governments are causing the markets to be skittish, which ripples into the currencies.”

  Peter joined them and sat next to Dimitri. “I think technology and oil are the keys.”

  All three heads turned toward him.

  Peter continued. “The world is a very small place now because of technology. You can’t even sneeze on Wall Street without someone in Tokyo hearing it. Cyber-attacks are on the rise. A Russian company was blocked from purchasing the largest oil provider in the EU. Markets don’t like uncertainty and that is providing a lot of uncertainty. Europe gets most of its oil from Russia. If they aren’t allowed to control the entire European oil market from ground t
o pump, Russia may stop providing it all together. They’ve been emboldened the last few years. Putin took back Crimea and we did absolutely nothing to stop it. He also got involved in the Syrian civil war and, again, we did nothing.”

  “Yes, they have been emboldened. No oil, no energy, no civilization,” Dimitri murmured, his lunch forgotten.

  “This is all sounding very post-apocalyptic.” Kat laughed nervously. Nobody joined her.

  Peter rubbed the scruff on his chin. “You said Vladimir said that Mother Russia would rise again. That may be what he was talking about. I wonder if he’s got operatives in the Russian government?”

  Dimitri turned to Christopher. “Are there other family members?”

  Christopher thought, then shook his head. “I don’t think so, but I don’t really know. I didn’t know about Bonnie and she must have been right under my nose.”

  Kat pushed the food around her plate. “There are enough that we do know about for us to worry about.”

  Christopher noted the food on Kat’s plate. “Eat, Kat. You need it.”

  Kat sighed and put a forkful of salad in her mouth.

  Anastasia ran over to the group. Everyone stopped and looked at her.

  Her face was flushed and her eyes wide with panic. “There’s been an assassination attempt against the President!”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kat pressed a hand to her mouth and forgot to breathe.

  Dimitri leaped to his feet. “What?” He was flustered. Kat had never seen him flustered before. It was unsettling.

  “Come on! Come on!” Anastasia waved at her father and hurried back toward one of the RV’s with most of the family hot on her heels. The only ones to stay behind were Julia, Oksana, and Granny with her animal entourage. Stanley McBarker stiffened and barked at the retreating group.

  They all gathered around the outdoor entertainment section of one of the RV’s. Anastasia grabbed the remote and turned the volume up. The group gawked at the blanket news coverage. They watched as the President waved to a crowd, several loud pops were heard, and the people around the President scurried like ants to rush him into a waiting vehicle.