Drekinn 3 - Reaching Rissa (14 page)

***

Phillip watched as the wall moved. They had all been in the dining room for lunch. He could feel the pull to his mate. He had been waiting forever it seemed. He wished his sister would totally call him. Pilar was like that, cryptic and serious, whereas Phillip was more lighthearted and easy going. He could be fierce if someone was threatening his family or Pride, but right now, he was feeling twitchy.

Knox came up to his side again and looked where Phillip was staring. “Your mate?”

“Yep, I am wondering if I need to go out and make myself known. You know, just see what the hell is going on
,
” Phillip smirked and looked at the wall again.

Hearing his mate yell and mumble to herself had been quite entertaining. He knew he would have a handful with this one. There was another, he knew it. As he and Pilar were growing up, they talked about their mates
. T
hey both knew from their family history, they would have two of them. At the time, Phillip was sure he would have two females
. H
owever
,
as he grew up, he realized that having a male and female mate would be okay. He wasn
’
t
bisexual;
however, he was open to many things, especially when he found his mates.

Phillip envisioned having a close relationship with his male mate, like he would a brother, and together they would protect and keep their female mate happy and safe. He had seen so much in this world, maybe too much, and soon he was looking forward to seeing the final step, finding his mate, and settling down.

He looked back at the wall again and laughed when he saw it move a little, suddenly there was a small walkway in the wall, the magic flowed around it, surrounding and protecting the small compound. Then he saw a head poke out and look around briefly before receding back into the doorway. Then she jumped out and did this crazy, little happy dance and looked around before jumping back into the doorway
—h
is first glimpse of his mate. Phillip rubbed his hands together and then clapped loudly.

“Everyone stay inside the house for now, my mate has made the decision for me and has come to our side of the wall. I will go and approach her
,
” Phillip called and the others in the group laughed and responded. Their leader had found his mate, many wondered what this would mean for them, but they were happy.

For years
,
he had traveled and taken in the wandering magical creatures that had no pack, pride, or coven. It was amazing to find they were abandoned or chased
away
from their home
—t
he humans were not as forgiving in some areas of the world.

Phillip walked out of the house and laughed when his mate once again peeked out and looked around. She had short, black, spiked hair with what looked like blue tips, she was adorable, with a small pixie
-
like face, and when he stretched his neck he could see she was a little on the short side, with a gorgeous, hard, physically fit body. He wanted to laugh when he saw what she was wearing
. A
pparently
,
she wanted to be comfortable
,
since she had on dark sweatpants and a black tank top that showed off her muscular shoulders
. However
, it was the small picture on the tank top that he found funny
—i
t was a pink monkey with a crown and under the animal it said, ‘Princess in Charge
.
’

“Hello?” Phillip called and watched as his mate froze and then searched for him with her eyes until she finally located him. Her eyes widened and he grinned, she could feel the pull. His magic was old and powerful. He knew he could be an Alpha if he wanted, but Pilar explained in a letter a few months ago what the situation was. If he was not mistaken, this was one of the three women
,
whom Pilar wrote about. She was strong, but since she had two mates, she was destined to be the Beta of the Pack. A place he was more than comfortable being in.

***

“Shit,” Rissa muttered and stepped back. Her mate was right there, and he was like a fuckin' Adonis. Her first glimpse of him made her almost fall to the ground and thank the gods for him. He was pretty, his face a classically, beautiful, chiseled face, with high cheekbones and a perfectly straight nose. Peeking out again, she saw he was tall and thick
;
his muscles were sculpted perfectly as the t-shirt he wore stretched across his chest beautifully. Damn, two handsome mates
—o
ne more handsome in the powerful sense, and then other model like.

“Umm…Hello
?” Rissa called out and then slapped her forehead with her hand. Stupid, she should have been coy and seductive like she had seen
Cherri
do so often.

“Are you gonna stand in the doorway all day or come on out?”
t
he sexy deep voice teased. She could feel the arousal already pulling her toward the man destined to be hers.

“Uh
…y
eah. Well, that is… I kinda need to know what you are doing over here first. I mean
,
you could be a drug dealer who wants to capture innocent maidens and sell them into slavery where they will be tortured until a sexy man comes and rescues them
,
” Rissa called.

She heard the soft chuckle and shifted a little. When she peered out, she could see him looking at her with an amused expression on his face.

“I think you are safe with that one. We don’t seem to have any chains with which to keep you secured. I am Phillip, by the way
,
”
h
e called.

Phillip, hmmm, sexy and cute, she could call him Philly for short and he would definitely be on her side, she could tell. Mr. Twisted Mate wouldn
’
t stand a chance with the two of them. Her plan began to look up.

“I am Rissa,” she called
,
stepped out
,
and she could tell he was hiding another laugh by pressing his lips together. She frowned and looked down, nope, no food on her shirt. She looked up and frowned deeper when she realized his gaze was focused on the slippers she stuck her feet in before she explored. The pebbles may be the trigger, but the other little stone cut into her feet.
Before
leaving, she had slipped on her favorite blue monkey slippers.
Duh, she had a thing for monkeys.
Looking up and glaring, she continued with dignity. “I would appreciate you not laughing at my Shamaroo Monkey slippers, by the way.”

Phillip let his gaze travel up her body slowly, she felt like he was undressing her with his eyes and she shifted uncomfortably. Wow, just being this close to her mate made her desire skyrocket
. S
he wondered what it felt like to be with both. Damn it, she didn’t care about Mr. Twistfuck
. H
e was probably planning her capture anyway. She needed to plan.

When his gaze reached her eyes, he grinned.
“Oh, I wasn’t thinking they were funny. I was thinking they were adorable, just like you.”

Rissa blushed and looked down. She sucked at this
. S
ince she was young, flirting and the other stuff that goes along with dating
,
didn’t really come easy to her. Even her friends knew she was still a virgin because she chickened out when it came to taking off her clothes in front of someone else. Not that she was ashamed of her body, no she wasn’t, she actually was proud of her slim and tight build.
Heck no, it was the thought of being naked
, she thought and shuddered, what if something jiggled when it should have been perky and tight.
Hell no.

“Thanks, uh, what is this place?” Rissa asked. “I mean, you are right next to the Blankenforth Castle and all, none of us had a clue who was here, we never see any movement.”

Phillip frowned and she wanted to reach up and touch his long, black hair. It was tied back with some kind of leather piece that was resting on his shoulder. “Blankenforth Castle? I didn’t know it had a name!”

Rissa smiled, “It does now, I had to name it, you know, it was just calling to me. A proper castle should have a proper name, you know, like it was a requirement or something.”

Phillip looked at her and saw she was completely serious. Well, his mate was a little quirky, he could do quirky, in fact, it may make life interesting. “I agree, a castle should have a name.”

Rissa relaxed and looked up at him through her eyelashes. Just a few more feet and she would be standing before her mate
. S
he wanted to run and jump in his arms and have him take the last month away. The stress of being mated to the Ogre in the castle had been enough to drive her batty. “So, you never answered my question. What are you doing here? Your compound seems a little close to where we are.”

“Is that a problem?” Phillip threw back at her. He wanted to tell her who he was
,
but he also wanted to protect his sister.

Rissa frowned and she looked at him again closer. Damn, what if he was a psychopath and she just delivered herself to him like a stuffed turkey on a platter? Calli and Cherri would kill her if she
were
murdered. Lose
-
lose, situation for her.

“Not really a problem. I mean we are warded as you are. I was just wondering since we were so far from the city, why you would need a ward. Most people don’t worry about it unless they want to be hidden
,
” Rissa said slowly.

“Well, since you are warded, I am assuming
all of
you want to be hidden.
Our compound does as well;
there are fifteen magical creatures here. We have been running and hiding from the
Ulfer
for a long time
,
” Phillip said hesitantly.

Rissa nodded and looked around the smaller compound. It held a large building, she assumed was the main house, and then a barn and small shed. She couldn’t see around the house, so she wasn
’
t sure if there were more buildings. Smiling
,
she said, “Why here?”

This is where he was about to lie to his mate. It sucked, sighing deeply he looked around and then looked back at his mate who was staring at him closely. Lying to her wasn
’
t going to be easy. He wished for a moment that his sister were here. “Well…”

Rissa held up her hand and said quickly, “Please don’t lie, if you can’t tell me
,
then say you can
’t
tell me
,
but don’t lie. I have to tell you that for the last month I have been avoiding our other mate. He was apparently undercover with the
Ulfer
, as
the
Bondi King’s
right hand man. I don’t know if some of the things we saw he did, or it was as he claimed and the King used a lot of men to act as the man we called Mr. Twisted, but basically I can't trust him. I need a mate to trust.”

Phillip frowned, he had no clue what Rissa was talking about, she said things so fast it was hard to keep up, but he did get the desperation in her voice and knew that trust was a huge thing right now to her. Making a decision
,
he decided that he needed to trust his mate. Taking her hand, Phillip pulled her toward where there was a bench looking over the garden. He looked at the large castle in the distance and frowned. It didn
’
t sit well with him that one of his mates was in pain.

“Listen,” Phillip said as they sat down. He kept a hold of her hand and Rissa was staring at the physical connection they had. She could feel her hand tingling, it was so cool, nothing like her mother or her best friends told her. The connection was so strong
,
she felt herself leaning toward him. “I want to tell you the truth
—
it
’
s just that none of us have told anyone who or where we are for the very reason that we don’t know who will find us. We grow our own food, and we have only one
person leave to get us fresh supplies. That is me, and the only reason I can do that is because I can cloak myself when needed.”

“Cloak? What the heck, no one has that power
,
” Rissa scoffed and looked at her mate and then sucked in a breath when he disappeared and then reappeared before her eyes. “Fuck a duck!” she whispered. “Oh shit, you're a cat!”

Phillip chuckled and said, “You know, you sound a lot like my mom and her friends. Yes, I am a cat, a tiger to be precise, and also a bit of dragon, which is why I can cloak.” Phillip tilted his head and looked at his mate.
“How about we get to know one another?
Why don’t you come into the house and meet the others. By now
,
they are all pressed against the windows trying to decide if we are going to have to move again or not.”

“As long as you know that I will not be waiting for long for that explanation. I only know one dragon, which begs the question, do you know one another?” Rissa looked over his shoulder and bit her lip, there were people in the windows, and she smiled and waved. “Okay then, let’s meet the others
,
”
s
he said and let the subject drop for the meantime.

Phillip grabbed her hand and
drew
her to the brick home. He took a deep breath in relief that he dodged that bullet for now, there would be more time to talk about what he was when the time came, but damn it, he needed to talk to his sister before that happened.

It was just like the Blankenforth castle
.
Rissa wondered if at one time they had been a part of the same property. There was the feeling of power on both lands she wondered what it meant.

Phillip opened the door and pulled her through. A tall man stood in the entrance looking
as if
he was guarding the place. Rissa looked at him and nodded, she wasn
’
t sure what these people expected. When she took a deep breath
,
she could scent various different animals
,
including one she just couldn’t put her finger on. The man guarding the door though, he was a wolf, and a powerful one at that, she wondered how he came to be here. With the power he was emitting, he should have been found by the Drekinn Agency years ago and put into the Enforcer training.

“Rissa, this is Knox, he is a wolf and our protection
,
” Philip said slowly and then watched as Knox walked forward and shook her hand.

Rissa stiffened when she saw the man sniff, and then freez
e.
Crap, he is going to eat me
now what?
Her life cut short just because she wanted to find her mate. How would her parents react, they would be crushed, especially her mother when she found out she died wearing her sock monkey slippers.
Shit.

Phillip stepped forward just as Knox knelt and put his forehead on Rissa's hand and whispered, “It is true, you are here.”

“Uh… well, yeah… I just got here, came through the wall,
” Rissa said confused and looked at Phillip who was standing there with a confused look on his face as well. He shrugged to her and Rissa looked back.

“The prophecy will come true this time
,
” Knox said and stood up beaming at his friend.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Phillip said. “What prophesy? As far as I know
,
the only ones told by the Seer have come to pass.”

Rissa shrugged and pulled her hand back, “Well, there is the one about the blood oath.”

“Blood oath?”
a
woman said and walked out. Rissa could tell she was Fae and she grinned. It had been a
long time since she met a fairy.

“Hey, a Fae. Do you have wings? I always wanted wings, I mean how cool is that, you can fly whenever you want, and you have those sweet magical powers
,
” Rissa babbled as the rest of the people poured into the entrance of the home.

The woman looked startled and then laughed. “Yes, I have wings.”