by Jana Leigh
Everyone in the room paused and looked at her as she turned quickly and glared at Kiki who was with his mates blocking her exit.
“What am I doing? What the hell are you doing, sneaking up on a person like that? I could have had a heart attack, or something.”
Kiki smirked and shook his head. “Shifter,” was his only response, which really was valid but still pissed her off and so she snapped.
“You never know! How did you even get over here anyway, you were I don’t know, over there somewhere!” Trina waved her arm in the vicinity that Kiki had originally been.
Kiki threw his arm around her and whispered, “You had that deer in the head lights look, I figured you were gonna make a run for it, so I stopped you.”
“Really?” she snapped and he laughed.
“Well yeah, ‘cause you made sure to laugh at all of us when we found our mates and had a few issues. I figure, turnabout is fair play.” Kiki laughed and then said, “Now, stop being a weenie and get your ass over there. You have information, remember?”
Trina groaned and then nodded and slowly walked forward, ignoring the two men who were staring at her intently. When she reached Calli she held out the paper she had found and cleared her throat.
“Okay, well I found that in the library, it is only the Chosen and the Senate; however, there are notes that refer to another document that I am still looking for. But this one has names and dates of the Chosen children; I didn’t quite realize what it was until I saw some of the notations at the bottom. They, um, look like some sort of reminder, but if you look at the corresponding letters to the numbers above, most of them match up. A few of them, I don’t know what the deal is with them, of course, one of them is Sabrina.”
“How many more are we talking?” Calli whispered and Trina shifted on her feet uncomfortably.
“I don’t know, we are going to need to figure that out somehow, but that is not what puzzles me the most.”
Kade swung his eyes to hers and he said, “What else?”
“Okay, I am just gonna say this, and I know it sounds crazy and I know you are all gonna think I am wrong, but look at the dates. Seriously, look at them. We have been going on the assumption we are somehow descendants of the Chosen.”
“Right, because we are,” Rissa said and stepped forward.
“We are, but we are first gen descendants,” Trina snorted and the room went electric.
“What?” Cherri said.
“Okay,” Trina said and took the paper back. “We have all gone under the assumption that because the Chosen were reported dead, our parents were like their grandchildren or something.”
Calli nodded slowly and said, “That is what they told us that day, remember, we were like their great-great something or another.”
“Yeah,” Trina said and then pointed to the paper. “But we never questioned it, like ever, why?”
“Uh, ‘cause they would know!” Rissa growled.
“You are right, they would. All of them would know, everything. But look at it from another view. How long can a shifter live?” Trina said and Calli snorted.
“If they are not killed? A couple of hundred years.”
“Okay, and a vampire?” Trina said and the room went silent again.
“But…” Kade started and then the towers of doom spoke and Trina jumped.
“We have partial vampire blood, we are hybrids. We cannot die unless we are killed in very specific ways, or we kill ourselves,” Nian said slowly.
“Okay,” Trina said and turned back to the others and widened her eyes, letting them know they needed to help a sister out here.
Calli rolled her eyes and waved her hand. “Bitch, we can have a breakdown on your issues later over a bottle. Get to the point.”
Trina took a deep breath. “Fine, so if you have looked at all of the names here, for example. Because it is truly the most prevalent. Hope.”
Everyone turned to look at her and she shrugged. “Hey, they called me Blackie for years before I shared my name.”
Gio smirked, “This is true.”
Hope rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I just didn’t tell people my name. To be perfectly honest, there were some days, I knew my name, but I knew if I said it out loud, it would be dangerous. It wasn’t until I found you guys that I finally felt like it was okay to share.”
Trina grinned. “Right, and see here. There is a notation from someone, it says. ‘Discover hope in your hour of need.’ Which yeah, could mean like a lot of shit, but then we need to look at this one, right here. ‘Look for a ray of sunshine in all you do.’”
Calli growled. “Okay, not getting it, can you please get to it?”
Trina snapped, “You are no fun, I have spent hours figuring this out, just a little bit of dramatic pauses and you get all cranky and shit. Is the bundle of joy needing some snacks?”
Kade pushed between the two women and looked at Trina. “Please, for the love of the gods, get to it.”
Trina nodded and said, “Fine, no more dramatic pauses. So, anyway, there are phrases at the bottom, which coincide with all of our names in one way or another. Most of them are the meanings of our names, but some of them like Hope’s, are blatant, I think it is because, if you look at the birthdates of all that were born, and the dates the war began, they are fairly close, which would make some of them too young to pick out their play names or whatever we did when we were young. I have gone through and matched those, and then I have also begun to look in one of those name registry thingys online to figure out the names we are missing.”
“Back the fuck up!” Calli growled and everyone in the room who had been whispering and staring all took a step back when she bellowed the rest, “WHERE THE FUCK IS MY MOTHER!”
Kade shook his head. “Why?”
“Because this reeks of drama and let’s face it, my mom, yeah a drama queen. Someone find her furry ass and get her over here, in fact, get them all over here, they have some explaining to do, dammit,” Calli said and Hope snorted.
“Come on, I know what you are talking about, but why would they hide this? It doesn’t make sense. I mean, sure, the wars, and if what you are saying is right, I could understand how they would try to protect us, but why not come clean later on? It doesn’t fit.”
Rissa backed up slowly and looked around the room. “Do you think we are really pod people like Sabrina, I mean, what if they did that to all of us? What if, their whole plan was to…”
“Okay, Lady Paranoid, tone that down a notch. We really need to get some answers and it appears the only way we will get them is to talk to the parents. Let me go and call them.” Cherri sighed and she looked at her mates and said, “While I do that, go and grab some of the supplies in the medical rooms, we are going to need them.”
“For what?” Declan said.
“Because if Vivi, Brenda, and Shelly are involved,” Kade said dryly, “there is gonna be some serious shit going down here.”
Chapter Two
Vivi and Victor were walking into the diner when they heard the commotion from down the street and they turned to see several of the townspeople who were moving with a purpose right toward them. They stopped and waited as they drew closer.
“What is wrong?” Vivi asked when she saw the looks on their faces.
“It is time,” one of the woman said and Vivi shook her head and gasped.
“Not yet, they aren’t ready, they don’t have…”
“It doesn’t matter; the time has come. You knew there was a possibility it would be sooner rather than later.”
“But they haven’t found them yet,” Victor said slowly.
“That may be, but it doesn’t change the fact that there is some serious shit going down, and we need to figure this out, and fast. Because if we don’t, then we will lose everything,” the woman said.
“Shit, just what we need, another freaking curveball, haven’t we had enough?” Vivi said.
“Nian and Reese are here,” the man said.
&
nbsp; “I know,” Vivi said.
“It is time to give them the tools they need and then take a step back and let them do their thing, we always knew this was going to happen, and always knew, no matter how much we wanted to help, we couldn’t. This is not our destiny, ours lays on another path, but until we get to that path, we have to wait or it will damage everything else,” the woman said softly and Vivi nodded.
“Doesn’t make it suck any less, they are gonna be pissed, and we will have to tell them until this is done, we took a chance to give them this loophole here at Drake, but that was about all we could do to help them without fucking things up even more,” Victor said.
“Come on, let’s go find Cami and the others, we will do it like a Band-Aid and rip it off fast, and then maybe it won’t hurt as bad,” Vivi said and the group walked into the diner.
“Where is she?” the Bondi King said into the intercom. The man didn’t go out into public anymore, mostly because if he did, everyone would know what he had done all those years ago. It had been a simple decision, which had elongated his life like he had intended, but it had also had side effects. He didn’t care, he was getting exactly what he wanted anyway, and if he wanted company, he could always arrange it like he had over the last few years. Especially with Rebekka’s help, but then the bitch thought she owed him, and he let her think that, because it suited his purpose. It should have kept her in line but she had been going off on her own lately, doing what he was not sure.
Rebekka was just like her father, and mother. Both of them couldn’t be trusted, they were only out for themselves, and when Diavolo had assured him he would take care of her parents, Geoff had allowed it. They had played everything right. Diavolo remaining out of the public eye until he could slide into his place in the Prentiss Agency, and then moving slowly and obtaining everything they needed to make sure the Chosen would never be able to fulfill any prophecy.
Fortunately, Diavolo had tried to take over, but he had realized the error of his ways, but still it didn’t deter from the fact, they could have lost everything. Instead, Geoff had made the one play he knew would keep the asshole in line, and it had worked. And it was still working, however, it may not continue to work if he couldn’t find Rebekka.
“I am sorry, sir, we have sent messages, and she has yet to reply. We have called everyone,” the secretary said. He could feel his anger growing, if this was another one of her goddamned schemes, Geoff was going to kill her himself.
“When you find her, tell her to call me immediately,” Geoff said and hung up the phone with a sigh and looked out the window behind him. One of the side effects of being a guinea pig was that his skin couldn’t handle direct sunlight. He had special windows and clothes to help with it, but the chance was always there if something were to go wrong, he would die.
He leaned back and then picked up the phone again, he dialed and waited and when Diavolo came on the line, Geoff snapped, “Where the hell is Rebekka, this is no time for her to be fucking around, we are close, damn close, and if you want to remain in your position, you would do well to listen.”
“Geoff, I will tell you one more time, I have no idea where that harpy is. We are close, and we will not need her anyway,” the man growled into the phone and Geoff wished he were standing in front of him right now, the bastard would not live.
“We have already lost one of them, and with the break in at the Prentiss building yesterday, they have to be close to knowing the truth.”
“Maybe, but by the time they figure it out, it will be too late. I told you, we only need one, everything we have been working for is right at our fingertips, we have finally perfected the serum, we only need one more,” Diavolo said smoothly.
Rebekka knew which buttons to push on Diavolo, then of course she would, after all, she was his mate.
“You have got to be kidding me?” Trina whispered and looked around the corner at the two men who were still standing with Kade and the others. They had agreed to break until the moms got to the compound. She was supposed to be looking through the stacks of papers to see if they could find some more information. She had found the Chosen Family tree, and the Senates, but they really needed the key to them the notes had to be referring to.
“What?” Sabrina said and looked around the corner as well and grinned. “Wow, they are kinda hotties.”
“Stop,” Trina groaned and hit her head gently to the wall a few times. “I wanted you to come over here for your support, not to check out my mates.”
“Ha, you said mates!” Sabrina laughed and Trina glared at her.
“Oh shut up,” she said and then turned and walked back toward the library. “Come on, I need some help with all of this, and I am not asking anyone else.”
“I am not sure…” Sabrina said and Trina rolled her eyes.
“Come on, you know Kade and Calli have already told you that regardless of anything, you are still part of the Drekinn.”
“I know, but this is sensitive information, they may not want me…” Sabrina started and Trina stopped and looked at her best friend.
“Okay, I get that this has thrown you for a loop, but you are still you, and you have always been a part of the Drekinn, you know that! Now, no more about that, I need help and you are helping me. Especially if Rissa is running around here checking people’s stomachs for scars and shit. Last time she did that she hid in my closet to get a picture when I was undressing, scared the crap out of me.”
Sabrina laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, they hid the movie Signs remember, she obsessed over the way they could blend into their surroundings in that movie. Walked around for a week throwing flour into every room she entered to make sure they weren’t waiting for her.”
“Seriously though, I want to make sure you are okay with all this. That really sucked, we haven’t had too much time to just sit and talk about everything.”
“I am not sure really, I mean in some ways I am torn, it’s like I know who I am and everything but then, I look around and really where do I belong? I mean, I am not on the family tree, but yet I am part of the Chosen. It is all so confusing, right when I think I have a handle on it, suddenly everything seems to be a mess. And I can’t help feeling like someone is watching me. I know Kade and Calli said they trust me, but twice I have had the feeling I was being followed, and when I look, nothing. I did see some fresh wolf tracks in the woods, but they could be anyone’s, I couldn’t figure out the scent that was lingering,” Sabrina said and Trina stopped again and turned.
“No one is following you from the Drekinn, Kade and Calli both said they trusted you, they said it to everyone. They weren’t going to lie and then turn around and make someone follow you,” Trina said. “Have you told them about it?”
“No,” Sabrina sighed. “I figure someone in the pack doesn’t trust me, and really I am okay with that, because I don’t trust me either right now. I keep having dreams where someone whispers a word in my ear and it triggers something and changes me into some weird psycho who is hell bent on killing everyone in the compound. If I think that, why wouldn’t they?”
Trina frowned and said, “Really? We are riding the crazy train again.”
“Gah, I don’t know, I will tell them okay? Now, let’s go see if we can find anything else to help figure this stuff out,” Sabrina said and shrugged.
They resumed walking and Sabrina looked over her shoulder one more time as they turned the corner. She hadn’t told Trina she felt like someone was watching her right now. It was too weird of a feeling, and honestly, she wasn’t sure she wasn’t losing her mind. But once again there was no one there, she looked for a second and then she followed her friend. She didn’t see the man who stepped out from the doorway he had been hiding in. She didn’t see the tortured look in his eyes as he stared at her. And lastly, she didn’t see the anger that surfaced and flowed through him when he heard the way she was feeling.
Damn those bastards to hell and back, he thought and looked around. Jaden hadn’t bee
n home in days, he had talked to both Cami and Quin, but he just needed to work things out on his own. Knowing he had a child out there, one who wasn’t born to Cami had devastated him, it had been too much. When he had run the first night, he had come right to the compound and to Sabrina’s little cottage, he had stood outside the windows and watched as the young woman, who he had never known was his, hugged herself to sleep because she had been so confused.
It broke his heart, and he knew Kira and Dalton had to be feeling the same as him. He could see it in their faces, and he was having a hard time dealing with that too. Looking at her, and her mates, it felt wrong somehow. Jaden couldn’t explain it, but he knew he was going to need to work this out. Right now, though, he just didn’t know how.
Chapter Three
Nian and Reese both waited while the others looked at the collars on their necks and tried to figure out how they were going to get them off. Both men had announced they would rather leave them on and keep their heads as long as there was a chance they would get killed if they tried to take them off.
Pilar and Phillip were staring at their collars though. “They look like they were made specifically for the wearer. Look at the little needles in the front, if I were to guess, I would assume somehow they are relaying your DNA into the collar itself.”
Calix and Brooks both walked around the two men and Calix said, “They had these at the place they were holding me.”
Brooks frowned and said, “A witch helped make them, I can see the spell coming off, but I have never seen anything like this.”
“Until we can safely get it off, I just don’t know what else we can do,” Kade said.
The two men nodded and Nian said, “Is there a possibility they could still set the fuckers off?”
“Well, my best guess is no since the trigger is destroyed,” Calix said.
“Good to know,” Reese growled and then looked at Nian.