Challenging Love (Drekinn Book Five) (6 page)

*****

“Damn it, would you get in here,” Vivi growled at Shelly who was in her daughter’s bedroom.

“Who would have thought though, I mean Cherri is a little wild, but really? They have cuffs attached to the bed. I am really proud of her,” Shelly said and then came into the bathroom. “Brenda is the lookout, she said that if she ‘hoots’ once it means to be quiet someone is in the hallway, if she ‘hoots’ twice, then someone is coming into the room and to hide.”

“They are shifters, I am pretty sure if they hear a hoot they are checking it out,” Vivi said dryly.

“Well, it is the only thing we could think of.” Shelly laughed.

“Where is the needle?” Vivi said and pulled out a box from under the sink.

“Wow, ex-large and ribbed?” Shelly grinned and held out her pincushion that held their weapon of choice for the day.

“Make sure you put enough holes in so it leaks but doesn’t break,” Vivi warned and she pulled the first condom from the box. “They may throw them away if they think the box is defective.”

“That’s why we are only doing half, remember. I mean I will give them a sporting chance not to figure it out.” Shelly shrugged and pulled a needle from the cushion and began to poke holes in her son-in-laws’ condoms.

*****

Kade glared at his mate and then shook his head in frustration. Calix wanted to laugh; Pilar and Brooks had explained the strange relationship of the Alphas. He understood it, both of them being so independent and strong, they would butt heads all the time, if it weren’t so obvious how much they respected and loved each other, Calix would have questioned the fates decision. It was like their sparring was an indication of their love.

In the last twenty-four hours, Calix had tried to get used to the atmosphere in the compound, but it was impossible, just when he thought he had a hand on it, it changed. The people here were strong and sure of what they had to do, nothing seemed to phase them in their dedication, Calix knew firsthand how dangerous this was, but the people here just kinda assumed they were going to prevail. Calix hoped that was the case.

Pilar and Brooks were another situation all together. When they had arrived to the room Brooks and Calix were to share, he had been shocked. It was more than a room; it was a damn apartment with all the bells and whistles. Calix had enjoyed actually taking a shower and cleaning himself up. He had explored and enjoyed feeling free.

The suite had two bedrooms; both were huge and decorated in masculine colors of gold and red. Pilar had stayed long enough to make sure he was going to rest and then Calix had fallen asleep until this morning when he woke up completely refreshed.

He had found breakfast laid out for him, and had just finished eating when Brooks came in and told him about the meeting. He was just trying to get a grasp on what was going on. He knew the basics but not the details. As he looked around the room at the people who were seated, he wished he had more time to study them, the dynamics of the group were interesting, and that was something Calix actually enjoyed, plus it was his work. Something he hoped to continue. He was a shifter psychologist, his practice had boomed over the last few years, especially since humans targeted the magical beings.

His job was important, especially since so many shifters contained their anger about the way they were treated. It was scary how the humans had no idea that a lot of the violent crimes committed by shifters were really due to the way they were treated. He would never blame the victim; however, Calix would blame society, and the way fear was instilled in young humans of shifters. It was a sad by-product of their fear of the unknown; however, it was not something they could change until they could get the
Ulfers
under control.

That was one of the reasons why he was taken as well. The humans didn’t like how outspoken he had been about testing shifters to determine if they were
Ulfer
or Breyting. Calix believed that shifters who had the missing DNA the
Ulfer
had were just as much victims as the humans were. Of course, nothing was infallible, just as some humans were also inherently bad, but if they were allowed to keep track of the
Ulfer
, it would go a long way to make the humans more accepting.

“The books from all of the original Chosen and their Senate have a piece of the puzzle that will help you figure out one, what you need to defeat the
Ulfer
, but also what information you are missing. The humans didn’t wake up one day and hate us. There is something going on in the background that we are not aware of,” Blackie said.

*****

“Hoot…Hoot…” Shelly and Vivi heard and froze as they were walking out of the bathroom.

“Shit,” Vivi whispered and looked around the room. They ran for the curtains and hid behind them as an Enforcer they didn’t know came into the room and looked around frowning.

They could see Brenda laying flat on the floor under the dining room table. Vivi held back a growl. If he turned just a little to the left, he would see her. The dumbass.

“Hey, what was I supposed to get?” the Enforcer called.

“Declan said the schedule was on the coffee table,” someone else said from the hallway.

The Enforcer in the living room looked and then smiled. “Got it,” he said and bent over and picked up a piece of paper on the table.
Thank the Gods he was a blonde because he didn’t even notice the woman under the table
, Vivi thought.

Once they left the room, Vivi swung out of the curtain and stomped over to where Brenda was struggling to get out from the chairs surrounding the table and whispered, “Are you fucking crazy? Couldn’t you find somewhere else to hide?”

Brenda huffed, stood, and looked at her friend with an angry stare. “Listen, they came fast, and he was gorgeous, all I could think of was, he is so hot, so I dropped. Back off.”

“We have been out of training for too long. When this is done, we are so going to have classes again,” Vivi grumbled.

Shelly laughed, “Can we use one of the Enforcers to train with.”

*****

Rissa raised her hand and said, “I beg to differ, I am pretty sure I have figured part of that particular puzzle out.”

Calli grinned and leaned further back while Kade shook his head and said, “Really? And when did you figure this out?”

Rissa grinned and said, “Last night, I was running a search Calli asked me to run, it was stupid really that we hadn’t thought about it before.”

“Thought of what?” Blackie said.

“Well, it is simple really. I mean, who were the biggest opponents of the Chosen?” Rissa laughed.

Gio leaned forward and said, “The Rogues, but they were all killed when the Chosen fought the final battle.”

“Okay, really? We all know history, but look at us, who are we? Descendants, so yep, I dug and dug around until I finally found a small little thread we were missing.” Rissa smiled and patted herself on the back. Her mates were staring at her. “What?”

“Secrets?” Simon growled and leaned over and whispered something in her ear, which made her roll her eyes and giggle. Then Phillip whispered something else to her she frowned and looked around the room to her friends.

“Eeekkkk,” she said and then shook herself a little before continuing, “Umm, yes…well…. that is…”

*****

“What the hell is wrong with your daughter?” Vivi growled.

They were staring at the little dog Rissa was completely enamored with roll on the floor of their apartment and play with what looked like a butt plug.

“He likes it, besides it is not like they ever used it, he stole a package. They haven’t found all of them yet, he only brings one out at a time, they can’t find his stash.” Brenda laughed.

Shelly was at the door, “Hurry up.”

“Fine,” Brenda said and patted the little dog’s head. “Let’s get this party moving.”

“Where is the needle?” Vivi said and looked at her friends who were staring at her blankly.

“What?” Brenda said evasively.

“The needle,” Vivi said slowly.

“I thought you had it,” Brenda said.

“No,” Shelly hissed from the door, “I handed it to you when we walked out of Cherri’s room.”

“Shit, I dropped it,” Brenda said with a horrified expression on her face.

“Where?” Vivi sighed.

“I don’t know, duh,” Brenda growled.

“Find it,” Vivi said.

It took them three trips back and forth to Cherri’s room before they finally found the little needle sticking up from the little carpet in front of Rissa’s door.

“Hurry up,” Vivi whispered.

“Fine,” Brenda rolled her eyes and followed her into the bathroom.

“Dayum,” Vivi whispered.

“What?” Brenda said.

“Everyone has x-large packages. I mean did everyone in this pack get hit by the cock fairy?” Vivi said.

“Ewwwwww,” Brenda said and closed her eyes and grabbed a condom from the box and began to poke it with the needle.

“What are you doing?” Vivi asked.

“I am focusing on the sex of the baby I want. You know like that magazine we found from the 20
^th
Century. Positive thinking and all that," Brenda said and then whispered, "it works.”

“We need to keep busier,” Vivi said and shook her head.

*****

“Oh, come on, don’t let them distract you,” Cherri snorted.

“Shut up,” Rissa grumbled and then glared at her mates and continued, “Okay, we know the president's wife is not what she seems. We know that somehow, she is in control of the Prentiss Agency. What we don't know is why.”

Blackie sneered. “And this explains what?”

“I am getting there,” Rissa snarled. “Jeeze, just trying to lay the shit out. Quit rushing me. Okay, so my program picked up on something that didn’t seem right. I mean her parents were listed as humans, and we know she is not. So I manipulated a few of the factors and finally came up with the true heritage of our esteemed first lady.”

“And she would be?” Kade said.

“The leader of the Rouge faction is her father. Roarke Grand was his name. He was a violent man who assaulted many women in an attempt to have a child. The president’s wife is an
Ulfer
, a creation of a violent union between the man and a female lion shifter. Her real name is Rebekka Frank,” Rissa said with a smile.

“Well shit,” Blackie said and leaned back in her chair and looked around the room until her gaze landed on Gio who was looking extremely pissed. “I thought they were all found?”

“As did I,” Gio said and the people in the room stared at the two of them with curiosity.

“Okay, so we know who she is. But why would she care about a man who fathered her that way?” Kade asked.

“Why do the
Ulfers
do anything they do? They don’t have a conscience,” Simon said. “Regardless, it does explain why they have so much power. What is the ultimate goal? To take over? Why would we be in the crosshairs, they took over the Drekinn?”

“They must have some kind of information that we don’t know, plus they are looking for our history as well. They are trying to find something,” Declan said and once again they saw the silent looks Blackie and Gio were giving each other. Kade was beginning to get agitated.

“Okay, what aren’t you telling us?” Kade asked Gio finally.

The man sighed and looked at Blackie and kept eye contact with her as he spoke, “Listen, we can tell you as much as we can, you know that some things have to play out, the fates will not allow us to intervene without making a huge mess. I have told you where to look.”

“Yeah,” Rissa snapped. “And that was so much help. We have part of some kind of message, and can't make heads or tails of it.”

Gio sighed and shook his head. “You need the rest of the books.”

“Oh thanks, Capt. Obvious, I wasn’t sure if that is what we needed or not. Wait, oh yeah, we are trying to find them but you know, it is kinda hard when your face is on every "Most Wanted" poster from here to the other side of the world,” Cherri said. “We are pretty much confined here so they have to come to use. We put the word out, and they are coming in slowly, but yeah. We have no clue how many we're looking for in the first place.”

Blackie grunted. “Do you know anything about your history?”

Calli snarled and said, “Of course we do, we have read through everything we have.”

“Well then, you should realize by now, with everyone that is showing up. You will have your Alphas, and then, eleven triads who will form to represent the Senate and New Council. So far, you have five of the twelve. You’re making headway,” Blackie said.

“Oh look, we have a cheerleader.” Calli laughed and clapped her hands manically.

Blackie rolled her eyes. “We are trying to help.”

“Yeah, okay, you won't tell us your name, you show up and leave freakishly, and talk in riddles when you are here.” Rissa laughed. “Go us!”

Calix looked at his mates. Neither had made a comment or spoken up since the meeting began. He had a feeling they knew something the others didn’t, and for some reason they weren’t sharing. Plus, Pilar and Phillip were looking at Blackie with too much familiarity.

Apparently, someone else noticed the situation as well. Calix sat back and waited to find out what was really going on.

“Hey,” Calli said and looked around the room with a shrewd gaze. Everyone in the room paused and waited while the Alpha female got up and pointed at the people around the table Calix had noticed as well. “You, you, and you. Why are you so quiet, something you wanna share?” Calli sneered and pointed to Brooks, Pilar, and Phillip who suddenly began to look uncomfortable.

“Hey, you, dragon boy, she is talking to you,” Rissa said. “Are you hiding something?”

“Oh, this is gonna get good. Sweetie, do you have popcorn?” Kiki leaned and muttered to Thomas.

“Shhh,” Rissa hissed. “Mate…is there something you have been hiding?”

“Rissa,” Phillip said slowly.

“Phillip,” Pilar said quietly.

“No, I can’t do it,” Phillip said to his sister. “They are my mates,” he said and stared at Pilar imploringly.

Pilar frowned and then looked at Brooks who shrugged. “They are gonna find out anyway. We should at least be the ones who tell them.”