by Jana Leigh
Kade stepped in again. “We have discovered the hierarchy of the Pack. The humans also buried this many years ago, so we wouldn’t form what they consider a functioning Pack again. When I read this, it was like a piece fell into place. I always knew I was somehow missing something; I thought it was my mate, which don’t get me wrong, Calli was my missing piece too. But this is something more basic, like knowing this, I somehow belong again.”
Declan looked curious. “So what's this hierarchy?”
“There are the Alphas who lead the Pack. Their jobs are the general well-being and safety of the Pack. They make the rules and the laws of their Pack, as well as appoint people jobs to ensure the survival of the Pack. Then there are the Betas . They are the Alpha’s right hand; they work to make sure the laws and things are being followed as well as advise the Alphas. Then there are the Omegas, some Packs had them, some didn’t, we think this is what the White Wolf does, they are in tune with the emotional well-being of the Pack. Then the Enforcers who are just like they sound, they are the strength and power of the Pack, the guardians and protectors. There will be one that stands out and is the Head Enforcer of the Pack, and he will lead the others. There are rumors that some Packs had even more, but we are still uncovering,” Kade said and pointed to a board in the corner which held the structure as they knew it, some of the names had been filled in, and Declan walked over to the board and pointed.
“So Cherri is a Beta?” he asked. “I would have thought she would be the Medical Advisor.”
“They're not exclusive, she probably is. But her mate will be a Beta also," Kade said slowly, waiting for Declan to realize what he was saying.
“Hang on, like I said, I'm pretty sure none of my family was part of this Chosen thing,” Declan said, holding up his hands. This was a lot to take in; he was basically having a history lesson of a world he knew nothing about. Everything he thought had been over the years was not the same as what they were explaining. His Pack had been his parents and him, that was all. Now he was supposed to help with a Pack that clearly is larger than anything they had ever seen before. He would be helping with all of this. What the hell?
Brooks held up his hand. “Wait, if you look here I will help try to explain this. These are the members of the Pack right now. You have to remember that at the end of their Era, the Chosen had thirty-six members of the Council and their Senators. Each of you will have some connection to a part of them. Kiki is related to one of the members of the original Chosen, the human that couldn’t be changed and black Panthers. Although he is a cougar, you can tell the families have intermixed. Rissa is a descendant of the Chosen Betas, while Sabrina is a descendant of the Seers. Ms. Praton has been looking into the special gifts they had, possibly some of them could be latent in you all. Kade and Calli are Alphas through and through, they both have the commanding personalities that the old Alphas had, in fact, I don’t think I have met two stronger wolves. When they claimed each other, the power only increased.”
Declan nodded. “I could feel it since I met them. Each time they talk to me, my wolf bares his throat and bows. I'm pretty sure he's acknowledging you as the Alpha.”
Kade smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. “Your wolf may be acknowledging me, but I can feel your strength too. You and Cherri are Betas, and Rissa and her mate will be also.”
“The others in the Pack, so far, who I have not mentioned, are Trina, who was a descendant of a witch, and Thomas, who was a descendant of a trio of lions. Each of them have their own jobs. Also, Kade has told me about another female named Pillar, I'm not sure yet what her story is, we're waiting for the details. Right now, the Pack owns the building where each of the members has their own floor, you and Cherri will also have your own floor, and we'll figure it out. We're not leaving anything out in the open. According to the documents, the building is a housing unit for the Drekinn Agency; we'll keep it that way for now. They decided to revamp the whole building, so there's a lot of construction going on. The top floor is now a meeting area for the Pack; it has a dining room and kitchen, so that you can all basically come together if you want to. The next floor is Calli and Kade’s. Then there is Cherri’s, which you will share, Rissa’s below. Calli, Rissa, and Cherri insisted on their floors being connected by a staircase, the others are connected by elevators. We have com links to all the apartments, state of the art security, as well as other features. Kiki is staying with Rissa, but he has a floor below, just not decorated. The others are all kinda sharing and waiting until things are complete, like I said, a lot of construction,” Brooks said and looked around the room. “Now to your history.”
Declan nodded and looked across the table. He was sure that nothing would show on the papers that would mean much. “This is the book my mother gave me before she died.”
“If you look right here, you will see there is a highlighted area. It says Reggie, Levi, and Ruby. Those are part of the Chosen; we find their names here also. Levi was an Enforcer and Reggie was a financial wizard, so you are part of the Pack,” Brooks said, and Declan looked at the names and then up at Kade and Brooks.
“What does all this mean?” Declan said.
“Well, here's the rest of the story. Ms. Praton has uncovered a lot of documents, but we have yet to make heads or tails of them. Something happened right before the second war that changed everything. If we can find out what that was, we'll be able to clearly see what our purpose is. Right now, it's clear we're destined to bring back the old ways of the magical community and try to establish peace again. There are those who are going to try to stop us. The King Bondi knows something; he has put a hit out on Calli, Cherri, and Rissa. I'm not sure why the three girls, there's something there we haven’t yet discovered. But regardless, that's the case. We are on high alert, and all the Enforcers are guarding the Agency as well as all of you. So you will have an assigned guard. Sabrina is assigned to Cherri and has expressed her wish to remain in that position, even though she is part of the Pack and needs protecting herself. She feels that's where she needs to be, so we are allowing it. Your Enforcers will help her. But Cherri and the girls are all in danger, and until we figure out why and erase the threat, this is the way it has to be,” Brook said, and then stepped back letting all the information sink in. “There is more, and since you two are the Alpha and the Beta, you need to know.”
Declan looked at the papers and also some of the things that Ms. Praton had dug up. He was an intelligent person but couldn’t help but notice that some things didn’t make sense. This was going to take a while to go through. Since all of it was on paper and not in the computer that was going to take manpower.
“Okay, what is it?” Declan said, knowing that he was just stepping into this role without real questioning. It felt right.
Brooks looked at the two men and sighed. “Drekinn is under a threat. One which could possibly change the course of all of this shit. Ms. Praton and I had a meeting this morning with the human President.”
They continued their meeting, and Declan became more and more convinced that although he had been hesitant at first, he was truly a part of something now. He felt the feeling of the Pack click into place while he discussed things with Kade, and knew he was the Beta and the right hand of the Alpha. They seemed to be able to connect and agree on things while making plans.
***
Cherri busied herself in the lab while her friends followed her in and stood silently while she worked. Rissa had her palm computer out and was working, and Calli was talking to Sabrina in a low voice when she came into the room to guard Cherri.
She couldn’t talk yet. Cherri needed to work things out in her head first. She had been like this since she was small, which is why her best friends were standing there waiting while she thought. They knew she was going to talk when she was ready. They had been through this a lot.
Cherri thought about her family and her life. Her parents were great, although her mom was a little bat shit crazy, but who’s mom wasn’t? She had two
brothers, both older; she loved both of them, but she had been born so many years after them that they really didn’t have much in common. Her mom called her the 'oops' baby because she truthfully hadn’t planned on having more children. It was like fate when all the parents seemed to meet and the girls found each other.
They had clicked right away, Cherri couldn’t explain it, and it was like they spoke their own language that no one else could understand. They each had certain roles in their relationship. Calli was the leader, when they had moved out on other own into the apartment, she had become their Alpha, there had been no question about it. Then Rissa, she was the computer geek and also the one who made them all the money. They had created a dummy corporation many years ago called the “TOD Corporation”. They made it legit in the human world; there was even an office front in the downtown area that humans ran. They had no clue who actually owned it. As far as they were concerned, it was run by the woman they hired via satellite, Debbie something or other. It really didn’t matter; she was their cover, and they gladly used it. They made all the decisions and emailed or called her occasionally. It was an investment firm, and so they took on humans who wanted to invest. Scary, if they knew that the shifters actually were giving them advice and helping them make money, they would probably die of embarrassment.
They were rich, but didn’t flaunt it. It was not common knowledge that they had this much money; all of them planned this when they were young. It was like they knew they would have to help and support their Pack from an early age. They bought the building they lived in that was now the Pack house, and invested in several more. Rissa kept it all straight.
Cherri was the wild card of the group. She was a jack-of-all-trades, though no one seemed to notice how talented—she was glad her friends did. She was a doctor, a brilliant financier; she was the one who spoke to the manager of their firm when needed. She was also the organizer, and could control Calli’s temper and Rissa’s lack of focus all-in-one. How would this work with a mate, would he expect her to turn her back on the girls and only pay attention to him? Because although she was the stable one of the group, she was also the highest maintenance. She liked being pampered; she went to the spa weekly for different things. She had her food catered just like she wanted it, and a housekeeper. If she could have a little puppy, she would, Calli just refused to have one in the apartment. But now that she was on her own, she considered it. Strange though it may be for a wolf to have a pet, she really wanted to have one of those little teacup puppies that you could take out in a bag and dress up. It would be fun.
“I want to dog!” Cherri said firmly and turned around. “What if he doesn’t like animals?”
Calli stepped up and said, “He came from a fuckin’ ranch, duh, animals. Now if that's the best you can come up with, quit wasting our time standing here and go and mate.”
“Bitch, that’s not all. I'm just worried that he won't understand our relationship,” Cherri said.
Rissa laughed and looked up from the computer. “Do we even understand our relationship? Because as I see it, we're three women who have been inseparable since practically the womb, we're not gay, but we live together. Hell, we had million-dollar apartments retro-fitted so we could still technically say we're living together. That's fuckin’ weird. Who gives a shit if he understands it? It is what it is.”
Calli looked at Rissa in surprise. That was probably the most profound thing their friend had said in years. “Bitch, nice!”
Cherri laughed. “Wow, okay, so not much support here.”
Calli and Rissa both turned to her and frowned. Calli said, “What we're trying to say is that he was made for you. So I'm pretty sure that he will get that you are like the princess of your universe, and we are all your subjects."
“I hate you,” Cherri said and hugged her friends and laughed.
Chapter 7
They day had been exhausting and yet Declan could still feel the hum of anticipation flowing through his veins. He was going to be with her; his wolf was clawing at him in excitement. Declan never knew it could be like this, his mother had tried to explain, but he had never really gotten it. Although, he had great examples growing up. His parents were in love with each other until the day they died tragically in a freak accident. The explosion had been so hot since the propane tank on the farm exploded, no one could have survived. Not even a shifter.
He was on his way to pick up his mate. After hearing the stuff that Kade and Brooks told him, he was anxious to see his mate and make sure she was safe. He was certain she was or the alarms would be sounding. But his wolf demanded they protect their mate. He felt the same way. He knew that his wolf could take on any threat and win. This whole thing that was going to be going down though was gonna suck. He knew that Kade was planning on telling his mate tonight and the others tomorrow when they talked about their plan. His new job was not turning out like he expected.
After listening to Kade explain the girls' relationship a little, he also knew where to tread lightly. Although he, Kade, and Brooks determined that Declan also had Alpha qualities just like the three women, he was looking forward to letting his little mate know who was boss.
Calli and Rissa were standing outside of the lab when he approached. Both women looked at him warily, and it was Calli who said, “She's freakin' a little, go easy on her.”
Declan nodded and walked into the lab. Cherri was standing in front of one of the computers, talking to herself about Kiki. He stood there waiting for her to notice him. Sabrina was sitting behind the desk reading some kind of magazine and nodded at him.
“What am I missing, his blood levels are fine, and everything seems to be on track. Why is his memory so far gone?” she muttered and bit her lip. He smiled. She was so cute when she was working.
Declan looked forward to seeing her every day in her doctor's lab coat, with her sexy clothes peeking out from beneath. She was wearing a pink and black dress today; he had noticed earlier but had not had a chance to actually appreciate what she was wearing. Her stiletto heels made him want to groan. All he could picture was her wearing them while he claimed her. He already loved her rich, dark, long hair that flowed down her back; it would look nice against some silk pillows. Shit, he had to stop thinking like that. He had gotten rock hard in a matter of seconds from walking in the lab. All he wanted to do was lay her out on the lab table and strip her naked. Then he could examine every inch of his mate and get to know what she liked.
Cherri turned around suddenly and stared at him. Her mouth in a surprised ‘O'; he could think of more than one thing he would like to do to her mouth. Declan grinned at her and waited. Cherri’s eyes darted around the lab in a panic before settling back onto him. Then her eyes narrowed and she said, “I want a dog.”
Declan opened and shut his mouth, trying to figure out what the hell his mate was talking about and what exactly the proper answer would be. He somehow thought this was a test of sorts. He decided to play it safe. “Uh, okay.”
Cherri’s eyes narrowed more. “A little teacup puppy who I could dress up in cute little clothes that match mine. And I get my hair and nails done weekly, plus we have a housekeeper and a cook. Well, Kiki was the cook, but now she's not Kiki anymore, so maybe we'll have to do the whole ordering out thing.”
Declan stepped forward and put a finger to his mate's lips and whispered, “I don’t care if you want a fuckin’ monkey that will sit on your shoulder while you're at work, or if you need to have a personal stylist come in every morning. And I can cook; my mom made sure I knew how to. As long as you're in my arms every night for the rest of our lives, I'm pretty sure I'm okay with most anything. Plus, just so you know, I hate cleaning and I had a maid in Texas too. I can afford it.”
***
Cherri sighed and looked into her mate’s eyes and saw what she had hoped to, acceptance for who she was. Declan leaned down and kissed her gently, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Damn, he was tall, she thought, as he lifted her off the floor
again so they could be at eye level. She liked it when he did this, acting all he-manly.
When he lifted his head up, he said, “Can we go home now? I'm beat.”
Cherri laughed and nodded, “I need to think about this thing with Kiki; something just doesn’t seem right.”
“Send the results to the home computer, Kade told me we were all connected with the Agency from home. We can look together over a nice glass of wine and some food.”
Sabrina cleared her throat, and Declan turned to her. “Sorry, don’t know if they told ya, until the threat is completely over, I'm living in your spare bedroom.”
“I heard, don’t worry; I don’t plan on embarrassing you tonight,” Declan said and watched as Cherri walked around the room and gathered her things.
She paused and pushed open her communicator and said, “Da princess is leaving the nest.”
Declan laughed when he heard Kade's growl over the com link. “Cherri, we'll meet you at home. And stop using that spy code shit.”
Cherri laughed when Rissa came on and said, “Hey, those are our code names, it took us like thirty minutes to think of those, so back off. Now, Da geek is leaving the nest too.”