Drekinn 3 - Reaching Rissa (13 page)

***

“WHERE IS MY MATE?” Simon yelled. They all returned to the conference room they were in before
,
after they spent the last five hours hunting for his mate, and no one could even catch a decent scent of her.

Calli growled
,
stood up
,
and
then
walked around the table slowly, h
er
eyes narrowed a little. He knew this Alpha female look. He was about ready to get smacked down, but Simon didn’t give a shit. For the last month
,
he risked his life and limb to wrap up his assignment for the Drekinn Agency. During that time
,
he did a little research on the three women who were such good friends. He knew more than what he was letting on. They were thrill seeking, danger hungry, dangerous women. He was impressed and a little afraid his mate was who she was. Her intelligence was frightening and her mad computer skills were legendary.

When he arrived back at the compound to claim his mate, he was ready to accept the good, the bad
,
and the weird. However this, this was
way
more than acceptable
. Hi
s mate was going to have to learn that he didn
’
t play these games. He wanted to lighten up, but this was not cool. His wolf was clawing at him, demanding he find his mate, and all he could do was stand there and yell because he had no clue where she was.

“Now, I know you have just come in from deep undercover, and transition can be hard. I worked with this before, you know, when we were in the real world
,
” Calli said calmly
,
trailing her hand across the table
,
slowly rounding around the edge until she was standing next to him. Then she slapped him on the back of the head, hard, bent over and yelled into his ear. “Now you are in my world, and you will
not
yell at me, or anyone in this room.”

Simon grimaced and refused to cringe when she walked to his other side, and only then he noticed that Cherri had gotten up and joined her friend and was now on his other side.
Shit
.

“Sir Twisted, I will remind you that thus far,
we have tried to help you with Rissa, because we really think she needs her mates with her. We are willing to give you a chance and let you prove to us that you are worthy of her. I mean, she is special, and she is our blood sister.
However, t
here are a few things you need to remember
—y
ou hurt her, you hurt us, and honey, you really don’t want to do that
,
” Cherri purred in his ear.

Simon looked around the room to see the men
,
who were the strongest in the Pack
,
lower and shake their heads in shame at him.
What the fuck, were they serious?
Had he stepped into an alternate universe or something, because it was seriously
not
what he envisioned when he came in from the undercover assignment.

Kade put a hand over his face
,
rubbed it up and down before growling and letting his hand fall. “Babe, you're doing it again.”

Calli narrowed her eyes and looked at her mate. “And what am I doing, baby cakes?”
s
he said sarcastically.

Kade glared at his mate and then said the one thing he knew would make his point. “You are acting like your mother.”

Calli’s eyes widened
,
Cherri sucked in a deep breath
,
and stood back. “How could you say that?” Calli whispered and then looked at her best friend. “Did you hear that?”

“I did, and I am sure he didn’t mean it
,
” Cherri soothed and then glared at her Alpha before looking at her mates who were trying not to laugh. “Hey, you funny boys, is there something you would like to add?”

Declan took point and smiled at his mate. “Honey, you have to see what you two are doing, hell, if Ris were here, you three would be like little Mini
MEs
of your moms
.”

Cherri let out a cry of outrage and put a hand to her chest. “That hurts, and I hope your ass gets used to sleeping in the spare room, both of you.”

“Ditto here for my asshole,
” Calli said and then turned to the camera and looked up. “Sorry
,
Ris, I thought we were doing what was right. Now I see
—
our asshats have woven a sexual spell around us.”

Kade snorted loudly and said, “Knock it off
. N
ow let
’
s get down to it, we really need to find her. Give it up, where the fuck is she?”

“Did you just call me a liar?” Calli asked. “I told you we had no clue where she was. I was doing what you wanted me to
,
which was
try
to
convince her that Sir Twisted over here was not what we all thought. I was not convinced and I went against my best friend. You showed me the facts that he wasn’t who we thought, but that has nothing to do with character. Maybe he has been undercover too long and is a psychopath. What this all boils down to is
,
the one connection I have protected and trusted for over a hundred years has been broken, by me! Damn it, I hate this. I don’t know where the fuck my best friend and sister is, and if I did, I would be joining her at this point, you asshole.”

Kade raised an eyebrow at his mate, how had he gotten in the hot seat? Cherri growled
,
stood next to her friend
,
and whispered something
,
then looked at her mates and glared. “Yeah, what she said, ASSHOLES!” Cherri cried and then linked arms with Calli a
s
they stormed out of the room.

All of the men sat there staring at one another with a confused look on their faces. Kiki leaned forward
,
put his hands on the table
,
and looked at the men who were sitting there with a thunderstruck look on their faces. “Well, you guys suck. I don’t want to point this out to you, but you screwed up big time, and if I were you, I would be thinking about how I am going to make this up to them.”

Kiki slammed his hand down on the table, and it made even the Alpha flinch a little. Sabrina and Trina followed in suit, sticking their noses up in the air and walking out.

Rissa noticed none of them told the males about the cameras. She smirked and then leaned closer as Kade let out a breath and said, “Fan-fucking-tastic.”

Simon nodded his head and Rissa glared at him, knowing he should be able to feel the hot anger of her stare. He took everything from her, and she would be damned if she was going to go down quietly.
Dumbass
, she thought
,
and then looked around her little cave. She would stay here until she was sure she had her friends in her corner,
and
then she would go back. Maybe by then he will have been killed, or at least severely maimed so she would
n’t
have to mate with him. If someone
cut
something important off, it would work.

In the meantime, she had another mate to meet; maybe he would be better than the other. The
G
ods certainly wouldn't have given her two crazies as mates, would they?

***

“What should we do? I need to find Rissa now
,
” Simon asked slowly as he looked at his Alpha and fellow Betas for help. Surely they had lived with their mates long enough to know what the fuck just happened.

Kade glared at him and threw his hands up. “What is wrong with you?”
h
is Alpha roared.

“What?” Simon asked in confusion,
what the hell had he done
?

“Listen, I realize you are just back in from assignment and all, but don’t you know anything about females? Man, you are supposed to nod, apologize
,
and look remorseful
,
” Kade said
,
throwing up his hands in frustration again.

“Me? Why the fuck should I be apologizing?” Simon asked and stood up as well. “I am the victim, you saw it. Hell, none of their files said they had fucked up woman logic. How hard is it to tell a guy where his mate is and back the fuck off?”

Kade walked around the table shaking his head in shame. Simon had no clue what the man was talking about. Since he had come to this place, he witnessed his mate being terrified of him, his Alpha catering to his female. The Betas not really far behind, and to top it all else off, now his mate ‘escaped’. What the hell kind of loony bin had he joined up with?

“Dude, seriously? Everything you do is wrong, and you better get used to it. These three women are three extremely
,
high maintenance women, who could
,
by themselves
,
kill you in your sleep without batting an eyelid. They are fierce warriors, and their intelligence is off the charts. I have seen them plot, plan
,
and carry out missions with ease. They are not to be messed with. To be honest, if I wasn
’
t convinced that Calli was my mate, I would follow them anywhere, just for the sheer pleasure of watching them work. Now with that said, yes, I am the Alpha of this Pack, yes, Declan and Nik are the Betas. Because of this
, we have developed…well…
I guess you would call it a keen sense of self-preservation. What I am saying is, there is a time to argue
,
and a time to retreat. Dam
m
it
,
man
, w
hen they
’re
talking about each other
—
RETREAT! I haven’t been laid in two weeks because of your ass
,
” Kade yelled.

Simon frowned at his leader and shook his head. “What the fuck are you talking about? Why am I getting blamed for your lack of sex? Shit, she is your mate, command her.”

Declan sighed and put his head in his hands and groaned, “Are you really that thick in the head? Dude, it is the rule for our women. Let me explain a few things, when they say they are blood sisters, they mean literally. When they were young, they did the whole childish, blood bond thing, thinking it was a promise, but because of their ancestors, when they did that, they were bonded instantly. We have to respect and understand their bond. When Calli went to bat for you with Rissa, it was
as if
she cut off her fuckin’ arm. We have had to live with the fall out for weeks, so suck it the fuck up, play nice with your mate, and learn the goddamn rules!! We have been celibate for too long, man, if one of the girls is pissed off
—
then they all are.”

Simon raised an eyebrow at the wolves’ growls of frustration. “Okay, so tell me what the hell I am supposed to do to make this better. It's not like I am the warm, fuzzy type. Hell, my idea of romance is a six pack and some chips.”

“For starters, you could actually try to appease our mates, and maybe go talk to her family. I mean, so far
,
all you have done is come in here and yell, then insult your mate
,
” Nik said smoothly from his chair.

Simon sighed and ran a hand down his face in frustration. He had no clue how to deal with this, he had been undercover for a long time; everything was handed to him on a silver platter for the last year. Granted, he had only done what he had to, and not accepted most of what was offered; there were certain lines he would not cross. Still, it had been too long, and he wanted his mate.

Chapter
Four

Rissa laughed from her place of hiding. She was thrilled her friends finally stood up for her. However
,
she was pissed, and they would have to bow to the Princess of Blankenforth, her name for the compound, because it needed one and she really thought they had to have some kind of formal name. It only made sense. Now, she had time on her hands until her friends were properly chastised.
Hmmmm… what to do
?

She could work, but that would require her to actually think, and right now
,
her brain was going a mile a minute, she couldn
’
t sit and concentrate, both her mates were found, and she was
not
happy with the situation. She had one mate she didn
’
t trust, and the other she didn
’
t know. Rissa needed a plan. Damn it, Calli and Cherri usually kept her from planning too much, since her plans always seemed to get them in trouble.

She frowned to herself; it was a quandary
why
though. Her plans were well
-
thought
out, and usually they had entrance and exit plans, okay, so sometimes her exit strategies involved a little bit of acrobatics and fighting than necessary. However, if you looked back on it, it really wasn’t her plan, it was more of the external factors that got in the way. Like the time they rescued that shifter child from the abandoned tire factory. Sure, she had the plans for the building, but how could she ever have known that dry rot would cause the floor to collapse under them, or that a group of
Ulfers
had taken the underground room as a hiding spot. Jeeze, like she could tell everything that was in the world out there.

They should have been grateful for her planning, but no, they were like vultures picking
at
a bunch of dead bones
—r
elentless. Every time in the last few years
, when
she said she would plan something, they would totally take over and remind her of
that
time and time again. Like they were better, hell, the last mission they went on, all of them had been kidnapped and almost slaughtered. They weren’t pointing out her bad points when she kicked that guy’s ass and then hotwired the car.

Rissa stood up from the small desk and stretched, she just needed a good plan. Really
,
if you thought about it, she reasoned, why wouldn’t she totally be happier in this cave
?
She had everything that she needed
—f
ood, computer, vibrator, and her stuffed monkey. What more did she need? Shit, who was she
kidding?
Rissa kicked a leg out and made the dirt fly.
She needed her friends
,
their f
uckin
'
weird connection was like a live wire
—a
ll of them could feel it. When they were apart for a long time, they could feel the pull
. T
he
sad part is a long time was only a few hours. How would she ever deal with living apart from them?

They planned this when they were younger, as innocent children often do
. T
he three of them were going to live together forever. Damn it, that
’s
when they did the blood oath. The fateful overnight they had when Calli said they should have been real sisters, and by doing the blood oath
,
they would be. Since then, the three of them had not been separated for more than a day. They lived, worked, played, and yes, trained with each other. When Calli found her mate, they knew things were going to change
. H
owever
,
they never thought they would live apart. Their mates would have to realize they were just close, and they had so far. Of course, her murdering mate would be the difficult one.

She had too much time on her hands, thinking like this made her crazy, it was like replaying things over and over in her head. She needed to move on. Rissa looked at the wall again
—
a plan was what she needed.

The wall was only a few feet thick at the weakest
point. She could tell the natural rock decay would
n’t
have made this huge hole in the side of the wall this way. She looked closer at the rocks and she grinned. There was a tunnel here before. She put her hand out
,
ran it along the large, gray stones
,
and
began to hum. She could make a tunnel to the other compound.

Rissa clapped and laughed, oh yeah, this was totally cool. What would the owners of the Blankenforth Castle need a tunnel for? It could be anything
.
Rissa’s mind began to wander as she pulled the stones free from the already built-in tunnel. It was genius
—
whoever wanted to hide this did a damn fine job. The tunnel was built in sections, you had to move one section and enter a hollow, small doorway of sorts, then you had to close one part to open the next.

She looked for a small latch that would help and then smiled when she saw a well-placed rock that didn
’
t move on the ground. Rissa bent over and inspected it; the small rocks were pressure releases. It was ingenious, the small rocks would never have been discovered unless you knew what to look for. The brush she had cleared out hid the tunnel from view.

Her brain slowly began to work out the plan they must have had to make this happen, her little home was once the tunnel that degraded because of age and no upkeep. She could still do this, make the tunnel move and still stay hidden, the branches from the bushes and trees would keep her away from the cameras, and unless someone were walking by, they would
n’t
be able to hear. She had a plan, and now she was gonna execute it, she was seeing her second mate before the day was done.

Rissa grinned to herself and was ready to take control of her destiny. She moved her belongings she placed against the part of the wall that would have to be moved. When she was done she looked closely, hopefully
,
the wall would open away from her small apartment not into it. Crossing her arms over her chest Rissa studied the wall before slowly walking to where the small pebble was. She stared at the wall and then shrugged, in for a penny, in for a pound.

The crackling of the rocks as they began to move made her wince. It was like fingers across a chalkboard. The tall wall began to move and shift, she laughed as she watched it
—j
ust freaking crazy. It folded itself back into the other part of the wall
. S
he could tell the part of the wall that was missing would make it easy to actually get the tunnel open.

Rissa walked to the next pebble, taking a deep breath she stepped on it. Either it was going to knock her little cave apartment to the ground or it was going to create an opening from which she would be able to move from one side to the other. The thought of more freedom had her wolf growling and barking inside.

The wall shook and slid and she gasped, awesome, it went the other way. Soon she was going to meet her mate, how exciting. She worked her way to the back part of the wall. When she finally made it to the last part of the wall, she paused, her excitement was building, she didn’t want to look like such a freaky dork, popping out of the wall and saying ‘hi’.

Damn it, she wanted to make a good impression to her second mate. The other one was an ass
. M
aybe this one would be the one she would be able to depend on. Taking a deep breath and brushing the dirt from her clothes, she walked, and stepped on the last pebble.

The wall opened to the other side and she grinned. This was so freaking cool. Looking behind her
,
she made sure there was no one following her. Hell, with her luck, Calli and Cherri would pop out and yell
‘
surprise.
’

Rissa stepped out of the tunnel. This side of the wall was just like the other, with a smaller castle in the center. Although it looked
as if
most of the brush had been cleared and a small garden planted. They had been here for a while, perhaps as long as they had. Which begged the question
—
who were these people?