by Jana Leigh
“Enough,” Nian commanded before lifting her up and throwing her on the bed, but instead of falling on top of her, he spread her thighs, burying his face between her legs, causing her to cry out as he pushed his finger inside her.
Reese took the moment to get on the side of her, sucking her breast into his mouth. Shit, his mouth was fucking amazing, she was going to have bruises on her breasts because of the amount of play they had gotten in the last twenty-four hours. But she didn’t care, she would walk around like a cowgirl who had been rode hard and put up wet for the sensations they were giving her. Oh my she was turning into a slut.
Nian tasted her like she was a fine wine, making sure she felt each pass of his finger and flick of his tongue on her clit. They were mated, and he and Reese had already shown her what their life was going to be like when this mess was over. And she loved it.
Flipping her over, Nian positioned himself at her opening and gently pushed all the way inside until he was balls deep. Reese moved in front of her quickly and she automatically grabbed his cock, sucking him down. She swallowed around his thick cock and was rewarded with a moan. Reese gripped the back of her hair and held her in place.
“Fuck,” he swore.
Tara moaned around his cock in agreement. She couldn’t wait, this time one of them was going to come in her mouth. Mates, she wanted to make sure when they left this place they were covered in her scent, her bear was driving her to it.
Nian kept his momentum slow and steady, enjoying the feel of her heat around his shaft. She was hot and tight, and it was pure heaven. He could stay inside her forever. He watched as she hollowed her cheeks, sucking Reese down with earnest and his friend grunted and groaned with each pass. He knew what her mouth felt like, a hot furnace that could drive a man insane.
Nian picked up the rhythm a little as he collected her juices that flowed and took his thumb, playing with her backside. The thought of both of her mates inside her almost sent her over the edge.
She began to get excited, tightening her lips around Reese’s cock. She wanted them to come together, shooting inside her at the same time. Nian continued to play and push inside her until he hit the sweet spot. Whatever he did, it set her off because she hummed and it set Reese off as he called out her name, increasing his speed.
Tara waited until they were pounding into her to use all her muscles in her mouth and pussy to squeeze them at the same time. She wanted to make them crazy, and she succeeded. Nian pounded into her fast, and Reese used two hands to hold her head as he moved, and she began to picture them in her head
“Fuck, I can’t last much longer, help push her over.” Nian seemed to know what she needed, he reached between her legs and started to rub her clit. Nian removed his finger from her ass and grabbed her hip to hold her steady. Within seconds, she screamed around Reese’s cock as they both emptied deep inside her.
Quickly rolling to the side, Nian pulled her with him as Reese pulled his now soft cock out of her mouth. He left the room only to come back with two warm cloths. He threw one at Nian and then cleaned her face and her body then wiped himself clean as well before tossing it in the hamper in the corner of the room.
“I say we take a nap and then deal with the world. Mmm, okay?” Tara said, half dazed as she rolled over and rested her head on Nian’s chest. Reese joined them in the bed and pulled the blankets over the three of them, soon they all fell to sleep.
Reese’s last thought before he dozed off, finally they had their mate.
Hope stepped onto the porch of her parents’ cabin, her mates were right behind her. They had insisted on coming so she wouldn’t have to face this alone. She knew this had been hard on them, but she also wasn’t happy with how they handled the whole situation. They should have been more forthcoming, they should have come to them right when the Prentiss Agency had taken over the Drekinn, it would have made things much easier.
She raised her hand to knock on the door when it was suddenly opened, her father, Quin, stood in the doorway and he looked relieved she had actually showed up. When she had called earlier, she had been hesitant to come to the house.
“Honey,” Quin said softly and then stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. At first she was stiff, but then the feel of her father’s arms around her made her suddenly long for them to remain there and take all of the crap away. She heard shuffling and Hope lifted up her head. Her mother and her other father, Jaden, were there waiting. As Quin pulled back, Jaden swept her in his arms and hugged her tight.
“Hope,” he whispered into her ear and she closed her eyes to fight the tears. She could feel the anguish coming off him. Sabrina, she thought and sucked in a breath.
When he let her down, her mom was right there. “I am sorry, sweetie,” she said and Hope hugged her. “I swear, we never meant for anything bad to happen. But they were…”
Hope nodded and just hugged her tighter. “Just let me hug my mom.”
Cami sobbed and nodded and they stood there for a second. Hope heard Mak clear his throat and he said, “Sirs, sorry, I am…”
“Mak,” Quin said brusquely. “And Gio, I should have known you three would mate.”
Hope lifted her head and saw the men shaking hands. Shit, it shouldn’t have been like this, at all. They should have known them, all of them as they were growing up, they had missed so much.
“Come inside,” Quin said and motioned with his head. The six of them walked inside and Hope saw all of the pictures that littered every single surface available. Hope wandered and looked at them, she saw the faces of her brothers, all of them, even the two that were currently still missing.
“Your mom hates that she can’t see you,” Quin said quietly and Hope nodded and turned to face him.
“I’m sure, but really it’s your own faults. For all of this, we were kids, and you just gave us away.”
“You were in danger,” Quin argued.
“We are always in danger,” Hope shot back.
“Not this kind. You have no clue,” Quin said and Hope shook her head.
“Sorry, no, I remember distinctly you telling all of us kids that if we stuck together, we would be okay. Well, we tried, and it was you who separated us,” Hope said.
Quin ran his hand down his face and he said, “You need to understand.”
“No really they don’t,” Cami said softly. “We did hurt them and rehashing it will not change anything.”
Hope nodded and looked at her mates. “Okay, well let’s get on with it.”
Jaden sighed and nodded. “Before you give us your spiel about not wanting to see us or talk to us until this is all over, can we actually have a conversation that will help you.”
Mak looked at Gio who was frowning and Hope just slowly nodded.
“You see,” Cami said going to stand next to Jaden. “There are things we discovered that will be important to you when going through this. Things we didn’t find out until it was too late. By then, we had already made too many mistakes and our course had changed.”
Quin nodded and motioned for them to sit. They all settled around the room and Quin continued. “When we all first discovered the Prophecy, it seemed pretty simple. Yes, simple, and I realize when I say it out loud it sounds a little weird. But that Prophecy was clear, seat the New Council and we were good. When the time came of course, when we were all together, we wanted to make sure we were strong. So we formed the Senate, and by doing so we felt it would strengthen our grouping because we would be able to help the magical community everywhere, not just here in the states. We thought that was the issue with the Old Council, they hadn’t taken into account other countries forming and getting more of our community. The Senate was designed to be our eyes and ears but also to bring more of the magical community out of hiding. There were visions sent by the gods telling us we needed them, we just didn’t understand until it was too late, what they meant. Because of that, we discovered that not only would having them be present in Europe like the Old Council ha
d been, but that it would bring us more and more people who needed sanctuary. The Rogues had gone too far across the world, even the twelve of us, with the Prophecy behind us, weren’t going to be able to defeat them fully. Good and evil are always present, but they are balanced. Somehow, we lost that balance. Looking back of course we can see where it happened but still, that will not help us now. But it will help you.”
Mak leaned forward and looked at Quin. “Are you sure? Because really, we don’t need any more mistakes to get in our way.”
Quin stared at him intently, his eyes narrowing slightly and then the look of acceptance on his face, he said, “Do they know?”
Mak paused and then nodded. “Of course they do, they are my mates.”
He nodded and said, “I really hope that will help you in the coming weeks, knowing and being able to do something about it are two separate things. Your gift, even as powerful and amazing that it is, still could be more. And in order for it to become what you need it to be, you have to find the rest of the children.”
“Okay, enough circle talking, lay this out for us,” Hope said and her father looked at her and smiled.
“You know, one of the most annoying things about the damn Prophecy is that it didn’t say ‘hey, do a, b, c, d, e and you are done. Voila,” Cami snapped. “Everything is like a puzzle for them and trust me this is totally something I will be complaining about when I meet them.”
Hope rolled her eyes and motioned with her hands to move on. “Fine,” Cami snapped and said, “we missed two key things when we were trying to accomplish our goals. One of them will not help you right now, and the other one will, every action has a reaction so if you get one you will eventually get the other. We didn’t get either until it was too late to do a damn thing about it. The Rogues by then had already made their play, which we couldn’t counter.”
Gio said, “Okay?”
“Why do you think we are still alive?” Quin said and all of them looked confused.
“Well, I am assuming it was because of my parents and their clan’s blood,” Gio said.
Quin nodded. “Partly, and by that I mean yes, the clan did help us with that, but that isn’t the only thing. Vampires cannot change shifters into vampires, just as shifters cannot change vampires into shifters. They can be born, but not changed. Hybrids were unheard of for the longest time. And, we didn’t know the Rogues had already begun playing with DNA and playing gods. We have all believed our presence in the world was a gift, not something to hold over full humans, nor something to use in order to gain power over anyone. They did use it, and we were so focused and learning we missed one of the Chosen, we didn’t catch it. You know, everyone thinks that good will triumph evil but really that isn’t true, sadly it is a lesson we learned. Anyway, there are a few things you need to focus on when doing what you need to do. We had always assumed vampires are the only creatures whose blood had qualities that would extend someone’s life. Once again, not the case. If you do a little bit of research and you find reference to what we call a ‘firebird’ you will see what we mean. These creatures have abilities the likes we have never seen, essentially they are the fabled phoenix, but they are real. They have the ability to die and come back to life, as well as some other fun abilities. It is the blood you need to focus on. Firebirds are not common, they are almost extinct because one, they can mask themselves to other shifters, and two, there aren’t enough of them around to purely mate with each other. The ones who are partial firebirds, whose one shifter parent mated with a human, only has a trace of it in their blood. Which slowly depleted the line much like you would see in evolution. But the fact remains, the blood is still there. The gods chose who the gods chose for your mate. A mating of pure firebirds hadn’t been seen in so long, they remained a secret, to protect themselves. I can safely say at this point, there was only one such mating of this kind. Thankfully, they were on the Senate. That being said, that is who you are looking for. Why? Because if the Prentiss get their hands on her, she will not survive, and she is the only one of her kind. If the Prentiss gets her, they will win, there is nothing any of us can do to stop them. What they are doing is manipulating genes in order to ensure their strength and survival. They overlooked what we have come to learn as well. We couldn’t chance anyone finding the documents; therefore, they look fairly unimportant and only contain small symbols that will help you. Especially since you have already found so many, the process of elimination is how you must look at it. Trust me, even if we pointed to her with an arrow, you would walk right by her. She is able to camouflage herself that well. So right now, they do not know about her, but they will and soon, it will be impossible to hide it.”
“Wait, what? Firebird? We don’t have them on the…” Hope asked and Quin smiled.
“Because once they find out she survived, they will hunt her, and they should be finding out soon if Kira is right,” Jaden said and Hope’s eyes widened.
“That is not all,” Quin said, leaning forward. “There is something else we overlooked. It is an egregious error, which cost us the war. We missed something else, we do not know what it is, because we didn’t realize until after the war lost. If we had found everything we would have won and we didn’t. We thought we had found it, we convinced ourselves it could be the only thing that made sense. That is what you need to find out, because for some reason, even when we did everything right, we still failed. The good part is that the Prentiss doesn’t know either. There is one last thing we are all missing, which would tip the scales to one side or another.”
“So you don’t know why you lost?” Mak said slowly. “Because my gift…”
“Is invaluable, I know, and so do the rest of the Chosen and Senate. However, still changing something that even right now we don’t know to change, is going to be damn well impossible. There is only a certain amount of time given to us, to you, to fix this. Just like the wars, once we hit the point of no return, we will lose. Your gift, Mak, once the future is set in stone, they will not allow you to go back and change, only observe,” Quin said and Mak look confused.
“How do…” he asked.
“Once again, it is the fine print on the job applications the gods give us. I swear, we need instructions,” Cami said shaking her head. “Sorry, we know because that is what has already happened to us. We made the mistake already, please do not follow in our footsteps.”
Hope nodded and then looked at her mates. “Is that why you have not interfered?” Gio asked.
Cami tilted her head and moved it back and forth saying, “Kinda, there are a lot of things we have discovered over the years, things we didn’t know, and things no one should ever know. Interfering with events and time can change not only what you want but many other things as well. Your future is unknown as it should be, but with that said, given the chance, would you go back and change something that made you the person you are? If you do, will it change who you are? So many deep thoughtful questions that really I don’t have the time to deal with. We know we can’t waste time dealing with every single mistake we have ever made, that is not living. You can’t worry about everything. Which is why your gift is awesome, but it also has limitations on what it can do and not do.”
They all nodded and then Quin said, “Okay, we have given you what you need, we understand why none of you want to talk to us yet, and in fact we encourage it. I made another mistake by thinking we could all be together and interact and still get what was needed, and we can’t. So until this is all over, we are going to remain in the back part of the compound that we will keep, we will also remain in the town but please, make sure if someone comes into town, we are notified. We will not seek you out, and if any of you are in town we will not approach you.”
Hope nodded and then Gio and Mak stood. Hope did so slower as she looked at her parents and smiled. “I miss you,” she said and Cami’s eyes teared up a little, she nodded and then hugged her one more time, as did her fathers and they left.
It wasn’t until they
were away from the cabin when Hope stopped and looked back. They were standing in the doorway watching them leave and Hope felt a sense of longing she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Chapter Fourteen
“Right, so here is what we have. Everyone has been assigned an area to go to. It is the last known clusters of the children we are missing. There was a pattern and Anthony and Lexie are currently working to find if there is anything else we can send with you that will help you pinpoint where they are,” Marcus said and pointed to the map.
“We can’t afford to send too many people out as we have more and more people showing up here who are running from the Prentiss as well. So, for the time being, our teams will go out and come back on a regular basis to make sure everyone is safe. Enforcers will be going with you, no questions asked. We need to be smart, they know we are still trying to find…”
“Yeah we are but something more as well,” Hope said from the doorway and Marcus turned and looked at his sister. “Sorry, I would have waited but since we are currently under the gun so to speak, I figured I needed to at least share what our parents said.”
Everyone’s attention turned to her and as Hope, Mak, and Gio explained what they had just learned, the room became tense when they finished. “Now, Tara, where is the family tree things again?” Gio asked and she stood, went to the table, and pulled them out from under a stack of papers.
“Process of elimination,” Hope muttered and stared at the paper.
“All of the missing are important,” Cassandra said and everyone nodded.
“They are, I know that. But her, if we don’t at least get her here we stand to lose everything. We can’t afford to wait, she is only the tip of the iceberg. There is more, and we need to focus on one thing at a time,” Hope said and then began to read, she was pointing at small symbols that were on the paper. “This is what they were talking about, but I don’t know what they are.”