by Jana Leigh
Mak cleared his throat and said, “You said the family trees were complete?”
Tara turned and looked at the papers on the wall and then counted. “Yep, twelve and twelve. Twenty-four groupings of the Chosen and Senate. Some of the missing are obviously listed on a separate sheet, I mean, we are all missing siblings, at least one of them. Some of my memories are faint when I see the names, like I know them, but I need to see them in order to fully remember. Everyone is on here I thi…” she said and then turned her head to the side, first one way and then another. There was a mark there she hadn’t seen, it was faint, and when it was held up to the light she could see it. Weird, there were a few more, they didn’t seem to go to anything other than the names they were listed under, which didn’t make sense really.
“What?” Cassandra said and came to her side and looked at the paper. “What is that?”
“Not sure, I don’t think I have seen that before, have you?” Tara said and Cassandra shook her head.
“Nope.”
One by one they came up and looked at the paper, there had been more than one small little mark, which Tara was still looking for in the library. Reese and Nian came to her side and they looked and then shook their head. “Nothing.”
“I will need to look in the library…” she said.
Both of the guys said, “We will help.”
Vincent groaned and ran a hand down his face. “Great, do you need a chaperone?”
Marcus laughed. “No they won’t. Okay we need a plan.”
Everyone took their seats again and Cassandra said, “We are going to need to get a handle on all of this. Finding the missing, figuring out the clues, and finding the books.”
“Cassandra, Lexie, Brinn, Malia, you are all benched. Which means you will all be here working with Tara in the library and also getting things ready for more people to arrive. Don’t open that mouth and say one damn word,” Marcus snarled to Cassandra who was indeed opening her mouth to argue. “This is non-negotiable, I told you that, I would do what I had to in order to make sure you all remain here and safe.”
“Fine,” Cassandra gritted out. “But stop the football team shit, we were kids and I seriously never liked the Steelers.”
“Whatever,” Marcus said. “So that will leave the rest of us to search for the missing.”
Reese swore in Nian’s head and he nodded. “Yeah, okay, sorry about this, I totally forgot until you said that, one more thing. The unmated children of the Chosen are in the most danger, that Rebekka chick, she was laughing in her head when we passed by her because they were getting close to having everything they would need to do something.”
“Why unmated?” Marcus asked.
“Well, it was more like she was thinking, they were looking for the one to mate with someone else to give them more power,” Nian said and looked apologetic.
“Great, so in other words, none of us go alone, none of us take any chances that would cause us to be captured. So, with that being said, Nian and Reese, you will take the second wave, for now, uh, well, do whatever it is you need to do,” Marcus said, waving his hand. Tara’s face had to be burning bright red, really?
“Bowchickawowow!” Lexie said and began dancing in a circle.
Cassandra threw a wadded up piece of paper at her and said, “Sit, stay.”
“Aww, Billy B,” Lexie looked under the table. She looked at her brother and said, “Look, he wants his Uncle Tony.”
Anthony grinned and bent down and picked up the tiny little dog. “My gods,” Simon whispered loudly. “He needs to get laid.”
“Shut up, criminal!” Anthony growled.
“Okay then,” Marcus said loudly and looked around the room. “Lexie and Anthony will work to get a closer look at the groupings of the last known address for everyone. We should be able to handle one or two at a time. Hopefully more, so we can get everyone here and safe and then figure everything else out. Hope, go deliver our message and when you come back we should be ready to have all this sorted. You and your mates will need to help with moving people, to help facilitate it faster. Tara and her mates are gonna be back in the library to find us any document related to this shit, well after you know.”
“Bowchickawowow!” Lexie said.
Chapter Eleven
“We have the day, then tomorrow we need to start getting into the books,” Tara said slowly and looked at Sabrina who winked at her. “Her, Sadie, Rayne, and Storm will cover for us today. I showed them what they are looking for, but that place is so big, they will barely touch the surface.”
They had left the main house and were walking past the training field where Vincent already began working with a partner sparing. Her brother paused and glared at the two men and when she rolled her eyes and waved, he nodded and then looked at Nian and Reese and pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at the two men. They chuckled and nodded to him.
“You know; I’m not sure I’m so used to having Vincent back yet. I mean, I remember when I was young, and he was always there when I fell and stuff, but dang,” Tara laughed and Nian put his hand on the small of her back and she sucked in a breath. Dang it, she felt a zing right to core when he touched her.
“I am pretty sure we all need to get used to it because I don’t think he is gonna change. And I don’t blame him. I am feeling a little over protective now anyway. Knowing my siblings are still out there, and knowing you could be in danger as well, I feel a little like I am on edge.”
She nodded and then pointed to a large area under a grouping of trees on the ground. They walked in silence as they all contemplated the morning’s events.
“Do you remember your sister, Nian, and Reese, your two brothers?” she asked when they reached their destination. Reese pulled out a blanket and covered a portion of the ground and they all sat down.
“I do and I don’t,” Nian said. “I know her name is Margaret, I know when we were younger we were close, but that is it.”
“My brothers, I have a sense of closeness, I can’t remember specifics quite yet but I think it will get better when I see them,” Reese said and Tara nodded.
Vincent and she had twin brothers, which they hadn’t found either. They had talked about it already, and that was where Vincent was going to request he be able to go when the time came. The other Drekinn were doing the same. Tonight at dinner, Marcus will be giving everyone a schedule.
“It sucks knowing that there are still so many out there,” she said and the guys nodded.
“I wasn’t surprised; I did remember the Enforcers using football team names when we went out. I figured when everything came out, we had to have a large number. Can you imagine though, a huge gathering of the Chosen and the Senate? It would have scared anyone who saw the large group. Plus, add in the fact all of the power obviously we and they all had, I bet people steered clear of us when it happened,” Reese said.
“I just want this to be over,” Tara sighed and Nian moved to comfort her. Getting behind her and pulling her back against his chest so she was leaning on him. It was an intimate move and she almost pulled away. But then it felt so right.
Reese took her hand and tangled his fingers in hers. Damn, she thought, both of them touching her. “So um,” she stuttered and both of the guys chuckled a little.
“What is wrong, sweetheart?” Reese said, running his hand up down her arm leaving her with tingles every place he touched. They knew what they were doing. All magical beings know when they meet their mates, the more physical contact between them the stronger the mating call is. Which right now, she figured her awareness was off the charts.
“Stop it,” she snapped.
“What?” Nian laughed and she felt his stomach move, suddenly she was wondering what it looked like. She wondered if he had a six pack, she was sure he did, both of the men were fit.
Tara sat up abruptly and glared at them. “This is wooing?”
“Come on,” Reese smiled. “The gods have deemed us mates, we were made for each oth
er. When we finally become mated it will be like we are complete. All shifters dream about finding their mates. Honestly, with all the crap going on, swirling around us, it has been hard to believe we actually found you.”
“Did you always know you would share a mate?” Tara asked and Nian nodded slowly.
“I think we did, I mean, it is not uncommon for shifter males to share a mate. Even though we aren’t shifters, one of our parents is, so it stands to reason we had about a fifty/fifty chance of sharing. When we were young, we were best friends, as we grew older, we continued to bond. When we hit our teens and began to mature, it was evident we were destined to share a mate. Especially when our powers were amplified. It just kinda clicked, made sense.”
Reese said, “There is no one in this world I trust more than Nian. I believe that will not change, I may add more people whom I am close to, but realistically, we have been together for a long time. All of the kids of the Chosen were close, I remember that, and I will look forward to getting to know them all again with time. Even seeing the ones already here, it has brought back so many memories. Lexie and Anthony are exactly the same as when we were younger, and they have always been the ones who could turn any situation that is tense and maybe uncomfortable into something we could laugh at. We have balance, the Denver Pack, the Senate, and I am assuming the Drekinn. It is something people strive for years to achieve and it is just handed to us because of the group of people we all are. We were made to be together, and regardless of the Prophecy or something a Seer sees, when we are together, we will be able to handle it.”
Tara nodded. “You know when I was an Enforcer with the Drekinn Agency, it was like we were all magnets to each other. Somehow we all seemed to end up working together, thrown into situations that we all had to deal with together. It seemed right, and now, even with all of the new people coming, it is like they fit right in where they are supposed to.”
Reese grinned and gripped her hand. “Just what we were saying.”
She shrugged and then looked at the training field that was now empty. “Okay, I am gonna say something, and don’t take this the wrong way okay?”
Both of the men nodded. “Well, when you showed up I kinda freaked.”
“No shit?” Nian laughed and Reese smiled.
“Whatever,” she said, shaking her head. “Anyway, I freaked and not because of you at all, it was more because I had so much I wanted to do in my life yet, before I settled down you know. I saw the others fall one by one, and I got worried. What we do, what we are, it is not simple. I guess I was a little worried that my mates wouldn’t understand my need to continue to do what I do. I enjoy being with my friends and didn’t want to give that up.”
“We would never ask you to,” Nian said and she nodded slowly.
“We are overprotective, sorry that is how we are made, however, that being said, we are also very aware of our situation and what we are facing. We will do it together; we will work on getting used to it,” Reese said and she nodded.
“Come on,” Nian said, pushing her up gently until she was standing. He followed and looked at Reese and laughed.
“What?” she asked and Reese shook his head.
“He wants to show you something. Last night after we got back to our cabin we were talking about everyone and everything we could remember. At first it seemed to take forever but then it was like the flood gates opened and we could see everything. Anyway, while we were talking we saw something and we really wanted to show you how serious we were about the whole wooing thing. Yep we are shifters and magical beings, but we are also more than willing to make sure our mate has everything she wants.”
She frowned and looked around. “Okay?”
“So come on,” Nian said, holding out his hand and waiting for her to take it.
Reese fell in beside her as they walked and Reese took her other hand. They moved easily back to the main area of the compound and it wasn’t until they got closer to the cabins that she realized they were taking her to their cabin. They were only a few away from hers, but it faced in the opposite direction. So the back of hers, faced the back of theirs.
“One of the things we remembered was some of your favorite things, so we got up early and asked Sabrina if she could help us out briefly. She was happy to make sure this was perfect,” Reese said and she looked at them with a frown but they moved up the steps to the door.
“Okay,” she said hesitantly.
Nian smiled and turned the knob. “So we remembered that your favorite thing to do when you were young was pick flowers. But not any flowers, the ones you loved to find were the columbine.”
She nodded and when she walked into the room she smiled. There were little cups everywhere with flowers filling them. “We went out last night and found them, that is why we didn’t get too much sleep, but it was worth it. Sabrina had to get us the glasses, there were no vases around here.”
Reese pulled her toward the kitchen. “Not only did we remember the flowers, we also remembered your favorite food.”
Her eyes widened and she looked and saw the table was set for three and it had plates with covers on them. As they led her to the dining area she couldn’t help but grin, they had gone to a lot of trouble for her.
Once they had her seated Reese lifted the top off the plate and she laughed loudly.
“You love it so we wanted to make sure you had it,” Nian said and pulled the cover off their dishes as well. “And of course, we are eating the same in a show of solidarity.”
She giggled and looked at the pretty table, the food seemed out of place. Her favorite food since she was small was macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs in it and ketchup on the top. And for dessert? She looked around and there it was. She could see the ice cream and bananas. Woot, banana splits!
“My lady,” Nian smiled formally to her as he held out a bottle of her favorite soda and said, “It has a full bodied taste that will simply be lovely on your pallet.”
Tara laughed and shook her head. “Come on, sit down.”
The guys chuckled and sat down. She picked up her fork and said to them, “So you guys are what, finance geniuses?”
Nian shrugged. “Pretty much. Not to sound big headed or anything, but we were really making a name for ourselves when they came for us.”
“You know the worst part?” Reese said and she shook her head. “The worst part is our clients. We didn’t take care of the fat cat billionaires, we took care of mostly retired and families who were looking to set up a savings plan or to stretch their retirement. These days it is so hard for anyone who is not ‘faithful’ to a big bad establishment. It is whacked, and even worse, we left them hanging. When we were on the run, we at least had a chance to call the office manager, she secured our clients’ accounts already. But ours, they froze, which is complete and utter bullshit. They claimed we had been illegally working with companies to deflate their stocks and then inflate them and sell.”
Tara said, “You know the Prentiss has been in the background for years. Lexie hacked their company and we got a ton of information. Most of it was bullshit stuff they were showing the public about what they were doing. You know how they were regulating the Ulfer so much better. Well of course they are, they are also leading the fuckers. So they would set up times and places for them to get some free media; the public, especially the humans, were duped. I don’t blame them, they are good. It is really just fucked up that no one sees them for who they are though.”
They talked through dinner about everything they could think of. Tara watched as they laughed and joked with each other and her, and the whole while, she began to relax and seriously have fun. For the first time in a long time she didn’t think about tomorrow, only tonight, and being with them.
They cleaned up the table and kitchen and when she leaned back on their couch, she sighed and watched as they moved around her, making sure she was once again in the middle. Another thing she had wondered about, but they were friends and that was all. T
heir love for each other was brotherly and nothing else.
“So,” Nian said and picked up her feet and put them in his lap.
She groaned when he pressed her instep, shit that felt good. “So what?” she said softly and Reese chuckled and then pulled her across his lap until she was sitting on him and her feet were with Nian. She snuggled back just a little, wanting to bask in the moment.
They were quiet, it was comfortable, and yep, she fell asleep.
Chapter Twelve
“Good morning.” She heard a man growl into the back of her neck. Her eyes popped open and she looked around. Shit, where the fuck was she? Her head was on a bare chest, and someone was spooning her from behind. Tara tilted her head and she saw Reese staring down at her, smiling.
“Uh,” she muttered and then fought raising her hand and making sure she wasn’t drooling on him. Oh my gods, what if she was drooling on him, she would die.
“Hey, sweetheart,” Reese said and she moved a little, just to casually make sure his chest wasn’t wet. Whew, it wasn’t.
“Morning,” she muttered and he grinned at her bigger and then leaned down as if to kiss her when they heard the banging on the door.
“YOU BASTARDS, OPEN THIS DOOR, YOU PROMISED SHE WOULD BE HOME AT A REASONABLE HOUR LAST NIGHT! I WOKE UP AND SHE ISN’T EVEN THERE. YOU PROMISSED TO WAIT.” She heard Vince yell. Her eyes widened and then she felt Nian groan and the weight from her back left her.
“Shit,” Nian said and crawled out of bed, when she looked back at least he had shorts on, no top, but shorts and whoa there big guy, look at his freaking chest. She had been right, he was gorgeous without clothes on, well without a shirt on, she really wished he were naked right now.