by Jana Leigh
When she looked down she saw Kiki's blood on her clothes, the rest of them had as much as she did. They hadn't even stopped to clean up, they were focused on getting here. This sucked, she thought. They had a Pack for like three days, and she had already fucked up. How was she ever going to help her mate build anything?
The doors swooshed open and they all looked up expectantly and instead of Cherri, Ms. Praton stood there looking like the old dragon that she was. Wearing her normal mid calf length black business suit from another century, she walked toward them.
"Cherri is still in surgery; it is very delicate, and Kiki has lost a lot of blood, but she is hopeful. The bullet missed the kill spot of a shifter, but it did a lot of damage. She is using everything she has to help him," the old woman said, and they nodded. Rissa then began her pacing again.
"Can I talk to you two for a few minutes please; we have to discuss some things immediately," she said and then walked into the small conference room without waiting for a response.
Kade pushed her toward the door and said to Rissa, "Honey, come and get us if there's any news."
Rissa nodded and Kade gently patted her on the shoulder. She was falling in love with the big oaf already. Calli always thought it would take a long time for her to fall for her mate, but everything that had happened over the last few days had solidified her feelings.
When they entered the room, their boss was standing, looking out the window. Calli and Kade were just exhausted, and they fell into two of the chairs and held hands as they waited for the woman to speak.
When she turned from the window, there was a shimmer, and for a second Calli thought the old woman was going to shift. But instead, she changed from the dumpy old woman to a gorgeous woman with long red hair and porcelain like features that seemed to glow because of their perfection. Her green eyes were bright and clear, nose and mouth perfectly dainty; she looked like a fucking doll. She was taller than she was before, and her clothes had been changed to this classy green power suit.
"Well fuck me sideways," Kade said and Calli hit him on the arm.
"Uh, wanna tell us what the holy hell that was about, Ms. Praton? Although I gotta tell you, it was almost spiritual watching you change. I can tell you I have never been attracted to women before, but you are like the perfect woman; I think I could actually turn for you." Calli said honestly, and then Kade hit her in the arm.
The woman laughed, and it was sexy; Calli pointed at the woman and then looked at Kade as if to say, see? Her match laughed and shook his head, yep, not enough sleep, they were fucking hallucinating. And they were taking things way to calmly.
"Calli and Kade, what you see must never leave this room," Ms. Praton started and Calli held up her hand.
"You know, we have heard that phrase a lot in the last few days, and I'm starting to get pissed about it. Why the fuck do we have all these secrets? It's like we're in an old spy movie, I mean, really. Who the fuck am I gonna tell? My best friends who would never betray us? Oh wait, my family who apparently is into secrets as well. No, it must be the fucking shifters and magical people we keep adding to our Pack, which we knew nothing about until yesterday, officially. Excuse me for having a little melt down here, but seriously? We just saw our Pack member shot in the head, and all the other shit that has happened, like having a fuckin' bull's eye on my back. And our boss changes from like a sweet grandma to a fuckin' beauty queen, how was that even possible? And why is my voice so high, I sound like freaking Trixi Mouse." Calli finished, and her mate was kneeling before her.
"Honey, take a deep breath, we're going to sort this all out." Kade said, taking her face in his hands and talking softly to her. At least, Ms. Praton had the smarts to stay away from her. Calli wasn't sure what was going on, but she was certain she was going over the edge. This was all becoming too much.
Finding her mate, great, finding out they have a Pack together, uh, a little overwhelming. Discovering they have some sort of mystical purpose, teetering on the edge. Watching Kiki get shot in the head by Mr. Twisted, she was sure pushed her over the edge, but now? She was bathing in craziness, and not sure she really wanted to come out. No one would blame her for pulling out the old gun and going, to use an old term 'postal', although in the recent years they called it by another name, 'bysu' which in some freaking language means 'gun'. Too many foreigners were moving here.
Calli focused on her mate, and she took deep breaths, holy shit, she was having a panic attack. Calli had never had one before, and she was certainly not prepared to have one now. It was crazy. Finally, she was set and prepared to listen to what the old woman had to say, shit, she wasn't old anymore, now how was she going to refer to her?
"Uh, sorry," Calli said and her mate took his spot next to her and held her hands tightly, as if he was holding her sanity in the palms of his hands, and he refused to let go.
Ms. Praton smiled at them and said, "It's okay, I shocked Brooks when I did this for the first time, but only Brooks knows what I truly look like. So if we could just keep it between us. I know it is hard to distinguish between my two forms. But as you can tell, dragons can use glamour to change their appearance. I learned a long time ago the older version of myself seems to be taken more seriously by the humans."
Calli looked at Kade and frowned, "Do wolves have any cool things like that, I can only shift, what the hell, glamour?"
Ms. Praton laughed, "Dragon magic. Though I think, you will find that over the last hundred years or so, some wolves have managed to figure out how to tap into other powers, like glamour, and shape shifting while in your human shape. Each of us has a little magic in us. We just have to find it to tap into it. But that's not why we are here or why I am showing you my real self."
Calli stopped the envious moment she was having about Ms. Praton having cool powers and listened to what the beautiful woman was saying.
"It was decided a long time ago by the Council of the Chosen to reveal ourselves to the humans. The documentation has not been found about how it all came about, but we are looking. Many people were involved, so finding all their information takes time. What we do know, and what I remember, is when it changes. There was some catalyst that changed the human thinking, another thing we are still trying to pinpoint. But the ways of our people have been changed drastically by the human laws to fit what they want. It seems the time has come for us to take back our old ways and figure out why the humans essentially turned against us. When you two found each other and were mates, it set off a series of events that we can't stop, nor control. This Pack is just the beginning, but no other will form until we figure out what is going on. Your Pack is the key," Ms. Praton said.
Kade looked at her warily and said, "I don't get it, why us?"
"You are the descendants of the Chosen and the first in your line to mate with each other. Your ancestors were powerful, and so will you be. The Chosen changed our world, as you will change the new world. We need to figure out what happened to the old Packs, and other magical communities. How this all came about. Then we have to fix it. So we have a lot of work ahead of us, and the humans must not know that you have formed a Pack, for now, we are putting your building under Drekinn property to hide the fact that you are all living together. We are calling the building a housing for Enforcers. You have to accept our members as they come, many of them are descendants also, but they will have the power we need to make this change again," Ms. Praton warned and looked at both of them.
"And you keep saying 'we', why?" Calli said slowly.
Ms. Praton took a deep breath and looked at them closely. "Though Praton is sort of my family name, I am a descendant of one of the Chosen also. So therefore part of your Pack as well, my name is Pillar, and I am related to Trinity, Lagon and Blaze of the Chosen. I am not as old as I appear to be, and I hate to tell you all that I am not the first Ms. Praton. There have been several before me, this is a family business started by ancestor's years ago with the approval of the Chosen Council. They had to establish co
mmunities in different countries in order to make the reveal Worldwide go as smoothly as possible. So the Council appointed Ambassadors to many of the different races. The Drekinn Company was first designed to help with the reveal. It did its job for many years, and the Council half owned the company. We abided by their rules and laws."
"Damnit, you have to move in too?" Calli said and flung her hand around. "That is just creepy, how are we going to introduce Ms. Praton to the Pack?"
"You don't, I will continue to be Ms. Praton at work, but at home I will be Pillar," she said.
Calli growled in frustration, "We seem to keep adding more people to a Pack that we have not even really claimed."
Pillar cleared her throat, "That was another thing I wanted to talk to you about. This is delicate, so let me say I am sorry, first of all. But you two need to claim each other, like now."
Kade looked at her with confusion and then anger, "I will not force my mate to claim me, unless she is ready. This is bullshit. I will go along with anything but this. My mate asked for time to get to know each other, and that is what she is gonna get."
Calli felt her heart swell at his words; she already knew she loved him. Just because of his actions today. But she was of course waiting for the right time to ask him to drop trow and claim her. Calli laughed to herself, that would probably shock the shit out of him.
She stood up and went to the man, she would spend the rest of her life with and placed her hand on his arm, "What is your favorite color?"
"Huh, what, why do you want to know?" Kade asked looking at her and frowning. He probably thought she had gone off the deep end again.
"Just answer the question," she said softly.
"Fine, red, my favorite color is red," Kade said with an exasperated tone.
"Mine is purple," she said and Kade's look softened, and he said, "I know."
"Favorite food?" she said.
"Anything homemade," he said and took her in his arms, regardless that Pillar was watching with interest.
"Me, too," Calli whispered. "And finally, how many kids are we talking about?"
Kade laughed and said, "Whatever you want, sugar."
"Good answer," Callie said and then kissed his lips gently.
Kade smiled down at her and said, "I love you."
Calli pulled away from him and stomped her feet angrily. "Damnit, I was setting all that up to tell you I loved you first, and you went and said it. I was totally planning on using that for blackmail later, now it's all ruined."
Kade grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back to him. "I take it back," he whispered and kissed her.
"You can't," she said grumpily. "But I'm saying this first, we are going home to claim each other tonight, fuck the ceremony. It would draw too much attention. Small party for the Pack later."
Kade's eyes widened, and he stared at her. "Uh, Pillar, we are going to have to discuss the rest of this later, we, uh, have a meeting to attend."
Pillar laughed and said, "I will send you updates about Kiki."
"Shit, I forgot about Kiki; we can't leave until we hear something," Calli said.
There was a knock on the door, and Pillar changed back into Ms. Praton in an instant. Calli went to the door and opened it, it was Rissa.
"Cherri is coming out. I called Thomas," she said and then looked over her shoulder as Thomas came running down the hallway. "We're all here."
Calli nodded and the Alphas then exited the room, hand in hand, with Ms. Praton following.
Chapter 16
The news from Cherri had not been terrible, but not good also. The bullet had lodged in the back part of his brain, and they had used special technology to get it out. Calli didn't understand all of it. The bottom line was Kiki was currently in a coma, and Cherri was giving him reconstructive drugs to repair the damage. No one knew how long it would take. They had called his parents who asked to be notified by telephone of the progress. Calli had to be held back from screaming into the phone at them.
Rissa suggested a nighttime raid, but Ms. Praton/Pillar had nixed that idea. Thomas asked quietly to be able to sit with him. Cherri had given him permission, and the man had walked away. Kade was a little confused about that, but Calli rolled her eyes and said she would explain it later.
Sabrina and Trina arranged for transportation to the Pack building. And Ms. Praton said she would be by in the morning in her other form. Kade and Calli nodded. This was gonna be a little freaky, but hey, everything had been in the last few days, so what the fuck.
The man they arrested was currently cooling his heels in the jail. They said he was asking for his rights, and he was reminded that Ulfer don't have rights when they go Rogue.
They did have a quick meeting to discuss what needed to be done. Kade slipped out briefly to talk to Brooks, who wanted to be updated. Calli was getting more and more impatient as the day wore on. She made the decision and wanted to claim her mate in the worst way. Since they had been in the office, her body had drummed with anticipation. Even the slightest touch made her shiver. She was becoming a little bitchy, as Rissa liked to say.
Calli called her mother after the meeting just to be polite and tell her. Bad idea.
"What do you mean we will not be having the official claiming ceremony?" her mother screeched into the phone at her.
Calli had to explain certain things, and then her mother calmed down, but she still kept sniffing like she was crying.
"Okay, fine, we will just have a party. But I get to organize it. I mean since I don't get to have the big ceremony for my only daughter," her mother said.
"Nice guilt trip, but not gonna work," Calli had replied and hung up the phone.
Calli laid her head on her desk and sighed; she wanted her mate to walk through the door and say they were ready to leave. Everyone had arranged for transport to the building. And after last count, they only had three floors still occupied, which left plenty for the new Pack members to move into as soon as the cleaner swept them. It was going to be a busy few weeks coming up. So much to do, and still work.
Her door opened and she looked up, ready to blast whoever dared to walk into her office without knocking, and she saw her mate. Standing there, looking way too yummy for words.
"Ready?" he said in his sexy voice. Calli had learned the changes in his tone in the very short time they had been together.
"Hell yeah," she said and jumped from her chair and practically ran for the door, grabbing her communicator and ID on the way.
Kade laughed and grabbed her around the waist as she was ready to open her door again. He swung her around to face him and captured her lips in a heated kiss. One that held promise for the night ahead. She was tingling all over, and her wolf was riding her hard. Mate.
Calli gave herself over to him, sinking into his embrace and opening her mouth. She wanted to taste him; he apparently agreed because he pulled her closer and intensified the kiss. She could feel his desires through their now stronger link. She wondered what it would be like when they claimed each other, how close would they be?
Kade pulled back and looked down at her with passion filled eyes and smiled, "Now we can leave."
She laughed and grabbed his hand and opened the door. "Let's make a run for it, no one is stopping us on the way out the door."
***
Kade flew the shuttle once again, faster this time. He needed to get home to claim his mate. They barely landed the shuttle, and both of them were running for the pad to take them to their apartment.
Calli grabbed the back of his head and kissed him with unbridled passion. The pad seemed to take forever to reach their place, Kade refused to undress his mate yet; they could still be seen, and no one saw her ass but him.
But when they reached the apartment, all bets were off. Calli was shirtless before they reached the living room, then Kade's shirt followed before the door to the bedroom was flung open.
The pants and shoes followed in a flurry of excitement. Then Kade paused and allow
ed his mate to see their bedroom. He called earlier and asked Rissa to come in and make some special changes for the night.
He heard his mate gasp; candles were spread around their room, giving the place a soft romantic glow, and there were flowers, purple and red, scattered around the room. In the middle of the bed sat a small box, and she looked at him with a shocked expression.
"That's my mother's ring, the only thing I have left of them. She left it in a safety deposit box whenever we were traveling. I held it for my mate," Kade whispered.
Calli felt tears gather in her eyes, shit, she hated to cry. She walked to the bed and picked up the box slowly and opened it. Inside, nestled in the small paper was a purple amethyst ring. It was perfect.
"My mother's favorite color was purple also," Kade said and took the ring out and held it in his hand. "I promise to take care of you, protect you and lead with you."
Calli sniffed and said, "I promise to try not to piss you off, to never cook, and always love you."
Kade laughed at her words and pushed the ring on her finger and smiled when he realized it was a perfect fit.
"Now claim me," Calli demanded and wrapped her naked body around his and kissed him.
This was something Kade could do easily. He gently laid her on the bed and kissed her lips, and then trailed down her neck and to her breasts. Gently teasing each of the peaks with his mouth. Then he moved lower, spreading her thighs gently and kissing his way up one thigh and then stopping before he reached her heated pussy, and then kissed his way up the other.
She was panting and moaning, gripping the sheets to keep her patience. Kade wanted to smile. She had a lot to learn in the next hundred or so years. Finally, he was done teasing. He parted her folds with his hands and then licked her fast, zeroing in on her clit, wanting to make her beg for it.