A Time for Change (3 page)

James could feel the other shifters a few blocks behind them. He knew the shifters couldn’t smell him because of the emergency potion from Aishe, but they could still see him. He had to come up with a plan to ditch them before he got to the airport. James knew they would be safe in the secret plane only he and Charity could see, but they had to get there first. He also knew if he stayed on this road then the shifters would know exactly where they were going.

James turned right instead of driving straight ahead toward the airport. As he turned, the shifters turned their car onto the street he had just turned off. It took him twenty minutes longer to get to the airport, but it was well worth it.

James held up the plane for twenty minutes making sure everything was okay with the plane and his bike before taking off.

“James, why didn’t you let me go in the house? Where are we going?” Charity asked as the plane took off.

“Charity, they found mom and dad. I was too late to save them, but I have to do whatever I can in order to save you. We are going to the Isle of Paradise, so Aishe, Eli, Eli’s mate, Jadelyn, Jake, the Alpha Baron, and the rest of Isle can help me protect you. I
will
find out who killed mom and dad once we are on the Isle. We are going back to where it all began to discover what happened to them,” James answered as he closed his eyes. Charity’s eyes filled with tears. Sobs escaped from her mouth. James could see how scared she was, how lost she looked since she found out their parents were dead.

James hated when his sister cried and felt bad he couldn’t do anything to soothe her. If he could bring his parents back just to comfort his sister one last time, he would.

“It’s okay, Charity, I will protect you now with my own life,” James said as he pulled his sister into a hug.

“I know, James. You always have,” Charity said through her sniffles.

***

As the plane landed with a soft thud, James said, “Get on the back of the bike and buckle up just in case I have to gun it.” James used his magic to start the bike since he had to drain the gas and oil before the plane took off. He knew the plane ran by magic and he didn’t have to drain his bike. On the other hand, he didn’t want to take any chances with Charity’s life—she was all he had now.

James put his hand over his bike, zapped it, and the engine quickly began to purr.

James’s heart began to pound out of his chest when he noticed the two shifters standing next to Eli and Eli’s mate, Jadelyn. His mouth went dry, he couldn’t believe what was going on. He had found his mates! He didn’t believe Eli when he said he would have two mates since his father was an Enforcer and his mother was a Beta. He took in everything about his mates from the distance he was at. He could see them, but he knew they couldn’t see him.

Everything around him disappeared as he rode his trike toward his mates.

Chapter Two

Eli, Jadelyn, Ace, and Chelsea were on their way to the Alpha’s house after the battle to set up for the celebration party they were having. Eli noticed his voicemail beeping, so he played the message. It was from Eli’s shifter friend, James, who still lived on the human side of the world.

“Dammit, the party will have to wait, guys. Turn the car around and let’s get moving. I grew up with James, and this can’t be good,” Eli responded to his best friend’s message.

They turned their car away from the Alpha’s house to head to the airport to help Eli’s friend, James, and his younger sister, Charity. Chelsea signaled for the Enforcers to follow them once they turned around and hoped they could get there in time.

Both Ace and Chelsea felt this weird connection with the voice on the other end of the phone. Neither of them knew what it meant, but they would soon find out.

“Did you get that eerie feeling when James’s voice came on as well, Ace?” Chelsea asked as she reached over and grabbed one of Ace’s hands.

Chelsea and Ace were always just as close as Jadelyn and Eli when they were younger. It was no surprise to anyone on the Isle when Ace and Chelsea discovered they were mates. When they were younger, neither went anywhere without the other one, unless Chelsea was with Jadelyn and Ace was with Eli.

Ace nodded his head from the driver seat and smiled as he admired Chelsea. To Ace, Chelsea hadn’t changed much over the years, just mostly grew taller and into her looks. Ace chuckled under his breath when he remembered all the crazy things they did as pups and how Chelsea always got them into trouble.

Ace didn’t realize Chelsea was the reason they always got caught when they were younger, sneaking out of the house to go to their secret place for a while. At first he thought his or her parents caught them sneaking back into their rooms in the Beta/Head Enforcer house through the windows. Until he realized Chelsea was blabbing to their parents the next morning since she just had to tell them how much fun they had when they snuck out of the house.

To this day, Chelsea still blabbed everything they did to their parents unless he made her swear not to tell anyone. Ace loved her with all his heart and she truly grounded him. Sometimes Ace thought he would be injured or dead if it wasn’t for Chelsea. She stopped him from doing some of the craziest things anyone could imagine.

Like the time he thought it would be cool if he could jump his car from one mountain cliff over a river to the next cliff. He thought he could make it—without a doubt—quickly dismissing the sharp rocks at the bottom, until Chelsea talked some sense into him.

Both Chelsea and Ace were outgoing and the life of every party. All the shifters on the Isle around their age group said at least once in their life that ‘
the party didn’t start until Chelsea and Ace got there
.’ Ace hoped their mate was more reserved than they were so he could pull the both of them in when needed.

Ace turned into the Isle of Paradise airport parking lot ten minutes after listening to Eli’s voicemail, hoping they weren’t too late.

“Do you smell that, Chelsea?” Ace asked. He thought he was going crazy when he smelled the scent of their tri-mate and he wanted Chelsea to confirm if it was their other mate. It felt as though his heart was mending with each breath that he took as he pulled in his mate’s scent. Ace thought this day would never come and he still felt as though it wouldn’t. He wouldn’t believe it was his mate he scented until he saw him.

“Yes, it smells like a mixture of cinnamon, vanilla, and honey, and it is the scent of our lost tri-mate,” Chelsea said as she looked around trying to spot their mysterious mate.

Chelsea wondered if he looked how she and Ace pictured he would some nights before bed. They would lie in bed together and each say a different feature they thought their mate had until they could see the whole picture of their mate, somehow giving them comfort at night, if nothing else.

They all got out of the car when they heard the sound of a plane door opening and stood next to each other ready for battle, if necessary, along with Baron, Jake, Chelsea’s father, Gabe, and Ace’s father, Cornelius, standing behind them and the Enforcers behind them.

Chelsea and Ace could feel the hairs on the back of their necks lift. They knew they were being watched but couldn’t quite see who the culprit was. Ace didn’t feel like there was an immediate threat to them or he would have had Chelsea back in the SUV protected. Ace scented the air and could only pick up the scent of curiosity from the shock at what was unfolding.

The sound of a bike revving up could be heard but couldn’t be seen, which confused them all, until they saw a man and woman moving toward them on the trike from across the runway. Ace and Chelsea whispered ‘Mate’ as James drove closer, making Eli’s ears perk up.

“What? James is your missing tri-mate?” Eli asked. He couldn’t believe his three best friends were mates.

Neither Ace nor Chelsea paid too much attention to what Eli had said, let alone answered him since their primary focus was on their mate. Eli wasn’t really a factor in their mind at the moment.

Everything disappeared around Chelsea, Ace, and James as they made their way toward each other.

Chelsea and Ace looked straight at James as their eyes took him in. He was beyond tall, six foot five, yellow blonde hair with black streaks in it. He had a strong, firm face, sea green eyes, he was so fit there was no denying he worked out.

When Chelsea looked at him, she saw everything that was missing in her life. She had dreamed of this day for so long but didn’t like the circumstances surrounding it. Just smelling his scent made her think about their pups running all over their chest while she, James, and Ace would lay in bed.

When James made it to them, he pulled them into a hug when he got close enough because he needed to pull some strength from them. The adrenaline he had in order to protect his sister was now wearing off. He could still hear his parents’ muffled screams and see their ripped body parts all over the living room floor. He was more pissed than hurt that he couldn’t rip the rest of the shifters apart who were part of the plot, just as the shifters had done to his parents.

Ace could feel his mate needed him just from the way he hugged them. It was as if he was hugging them for life support. It angered Ace that someone would kill his mate’s parents the way they had.

Ace wanted to get his mates and new sister out of danger and home as quick as he could. It was time for him to take control. He knew James was strong from the stories Eli had told him over the last few days, but despite how strong James was, he had to grieve the loss of his parents. Ace waited until James pulled back from them before turning his attention to Eli.

“Eli, could you drive my car home, I am going to ride with James,” Ace said.

“Yeah, no problem,” Eli answered.

James growled, capturing everyone’s attention around him. Out the corner of his eye, James could see Charity in an embrace with a male he didn’t know. He turned to his mates immediately. “Who the fuck has his hands on my baby sister?”

“That is my cousin, Trevor, and I think he is Charity’s mate,” Chelsea answered her mate.

Trevor was Chelsea’s cousin; his father and Chelsea’s father were brothers. When Eli’s father, Jake, left the Isle, and Chelsea’s father moved up from Head Enforcer to Second Beta, Trevor’s father was moved up from Second in Command Enforcer to Head Enforcer. Trevor was two years younger than Chelsea’s thirty and was a good but passionate man.

“James, I am going with my mate. I will be meet you at the Alpha house in the morning,” Charity yelled as she pointed toward an SUV.

James was just about to tell her no when Chelsea interrupted him.

“She needs her mate just as much as you need yours right now. I know you want to protect her, but she needs him right now. I will make sure a couple of the Enforcers stay with them the whole time. His father is the Head Enforcer and already has two of his Enforcers with him at all times, but I will make sure at least five more are with them,” Chelsea said before heading over to her uncle and Baron to arrange for five more Enforcers to follow them.

James watched his sister until the other five Enforcers joined them. He knew she needed her mate but that didn’t stop him from wanting to protect her from the world. James knew he couldn’t drive his trike as flashes of his mother’s and father’s dead bodies continuously flashed before his eyes as their screams pierced his ears. He wouldn’t wish this on his worst enemy to see their parents the way he saw his.

James already knew his mates’ names from the letters and pictures they had sent to Eli over the years.

“Ace, can you drive my trike for me?” James asked.

“Yeah, just toss me your keys and get on the back with Chels,” Ace answered.

Ace waited until Chelsea and James climbed on the back of the trike before heading over to Baron.

“Baron, I think it would be better if we waited until we arrived at home for James to tell us what happened. I’m not sure but I think he is having flashbacks of whatever he saw,” Ace said as he watched James out the corner of his eye.

The Alpha agreed with Ace and told everyone to meet him at the Alpha house so they could find out what was going on and formulate a plan of action.

Ace hopped on his mate’s trike and drove them home as Eli followed closely behind them.

***

When James had pulled Charity into a hug on the plane, she had seen and had smelled everything he did when he walked into their home a while ago. It was times like this when she hated having the power of visualization. Sometimes when she touched someone, Charity’s power allowed her to see what they were thinking or picturing in their head. Sometimes she could see and smell the things they were seeing or smelling at the time, if they didn’t block her from their mind or she forgot to block her power before touching them.

The first thing she noticed when James drove out of the plane was the scent of her mate—he smelled of honeysuckle. Charity would know that scent anywhere since she had smelled it in her dreams for the past nine years. She waited until her brother was with his mates before letting her nose lead her to her mate. She hadn’t realized she was crying until her mate wiped her tears from her face before pulling her into a hug. Just his scent alone as he held her in a tight hug was comforting. Charity didn’t like crying, especially in front of others because it made her feel weak, but she couldn’t help it.

Charity knew her brother wouldn’t have let her leave with her mate alone if it wasn’t for his mate, Chelsea. She didn’t know what it was like to go anywhere without either her parents or James being around. The only time she was ever alone was during school, and still James walked her to and from school and took her home for lunch with their parents. She knew if she told her mate this he would be shocked, being as she was twenty-five. It was a major shock to her friends. Charity felt as though it was time to learn what being on her own meant.

Trevor helped Charity into his SUV. After a few minutes of driving, Charity turned in her seat to get a good look at her mate since she hadn’t when they were at the airport. When Trevor turned his head slightly, she could see his deep-set smoky gray eyes. She had never seen anyone like Trevor in her life. His hair matched his eye color and he had a dark olive skin tone. Charity was so caught up in staring at him while comparing the shocking difference between Trevor’s looks with the humans that she never noticed he had stopped the car until he got her attention.