Drekinn 3 - Reaching Rissa (17 page)

When the room was cleared, Rissa put her hands on her hips and looked at Simon expectantly. Simon looked around the room and frowned
,
looking
f
o
r
backup. Phillip shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what is going on. Why do you have to take off your pants?”

“Yeah, why?” Simon said.

“Don’t argue, just do it
,
” Rissa demanded and then folded her arms across her chest.

“Man, this is what I was talking about. You won’t be right, just do it
,
and get it over with.” Kade laughed.

Simon glared at his Alpha and Beta males who were both grinning. This sucked, what the hell were they up to?
FINE
, he thought
,
turned around
,
and unbuttoned his pants. He grimaced when he heard Cherri whisper, “Damn girl, he could be a psychopath, but he does have a nice ass.”

“Hey,” Nik growled and then glared at Simon.

“Not my fault
,
man, those crazy women wanted this
,
” Simon muttered.

“Hey, this crazy woman is trying to help your sorry ass, so drop them and let us see your ass
,
” Calli barked and Rissa put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

“Whatever
,
” Simon said
,
dropped his pants
,
and showed them all his
birth
mark
free ass.

“See
, he
isn
’
t the man whore we thought, so maybe he isn
’
t the murdering bastard either.” Cherri clapped.

“Man whore, who the hell thought I was a man whore?” Simon demanded
,
pulled up his pants
,
and turned around
,
glaring at Rissa.

“We all did
,
” Kade said sheepishly
.
“Well, until I met you. See, we had these tapes.”

“Surveillance vids?” Simon demanded.

“Yep,” Kade said.

“I told you, I wasn
’
t even in half the places they said I was. A lot of times I was doing something else for the
King
,
” Simon yelled. “I was undercover, that does not mean I actually did anything illegal to make them trust me. I made sure to note every instance. Seriously, did you think I could be in, like, three places at once? The
King
had seven men who they called the Second in Charge, or your Mr. Twisted
,
” Simon said.

Rissa rolled her eyes
,
went to the wall
,
and punched in her access code and brought up all of the surveillance. “Really? How about this one, cause I am pretty sure this is you, and that is a whore.”

Simon walked to the wall and frowned. “I was gathering Intel
. I
didn’t fuck her or anything.”

“She has her damn tongue down your throat, and you look happy as a clam.” She accused.

“Well, I couldn't say ‘ewe gross’ and push her away
,
” Simon said.

“Just saying, there are parts of your job you seemed to enjoy a little more than others
,
” Rissa said and went back to where her friends were standing and glared at him. Cherri and Calli put their hands on her as if they were consoling her.

“What the fuck, like you have never kissed anyone before
,
” Simon yelled and then instantly regretted it when he saw tears form in Rissa’s eyes. “Shit
,
I am
…
I'm sorry.”

“As you should be, young man
,
” Rissa’s mother said from the doorway. “I will have you know I raised my daughter right, she saved herself for her mate.”

Calli let a small noise escape but then recovered and nodded solemnly. “Yeah.”

“
Ummm
, okay, sorry Rissa. I was just trying to say we all have a past
,
” Simon said
,
looking nervously between the women.

Phillip nodded and then frowned at Simon
.
“What were you thinking?” he said and shook his head in shame playfully.

“Dude, really?” Simon said.

“Every man for themselves in this situation.” Kade shrugged.

“Come on!” Simon yelled.

Kiki stepped into the room and yelled, “I can scent them, they were here, are you all trying to drive my ass nuts?”

Calli rolled here eyes and Kiki stormed back out of the room
.

Rissa sniffed some more and looked up through her eyelashes at her mother. She wasn
’
t certain how long she should play this. Crap, her mom was in the room and she wasn
’
t going to announce she was not quite a
s
pure as her mother thought. Out of her two best friends, she was the one who didn’t sleep around, she just couldn’t do that.

“We know that Simon here wasn
’
t the man you all thought he was, so let’s move on. I think it would be more productive if we allow the three of them to have a few minutes together
,
” Declan said and held out his hand to Cherri.

Calli and Cherri leaned in and whispered to her, “Do you want us to stay?”

Rissa looked at Phillip and Simon and then shook her head and sighed. “Nah, I will deal with it
—o
ne way or another.”

Kade walked up to her
,
gripped her by the shoulders
,
and then did something totally unexpected, he kissed her on the forehead
,
leaned in
,
and whispered
,
“Cut them some slack, but we will always cho
o
se your side. You have to know that.”

Tears formed in Rissa’s eyes for real this time
. She
looked up at her best friend's mate
,
smiled
,
and nodded. Finally, someone sided with her. Calli slapped her on the back of the head and added, “Duh, we were always on your side, you just didn’t want to hear it.”

Her mother came up to her and hugged her before whispering,
“
Every
day of the week and twice on Sundays, darling. Now, be nice to your mates, I think we have tortured them enough.”

Rissa nodded
,
heard Simon make a noise of impatience
,
turned
,
looked at him
,
and
then
frowned.

Chapter
Seven

Everyone was
gone and they were left in the room alone. Simon struggled to think of what he wanted to say so he didn’t send his mate into a psychotic fury again; it was a crapshoot according to Kade and the others.

Phillip made it easy on him and stepped up. “Rissa, would you like to sit down and get more comfortable?”

She looked surprised at his politeness and Simon wanted to kick himself, he should have thought of that, but he wasn’t like that. His personality was hard and not necessarily the nicest in the world. Even before going undercover
,
he had been told he was an asshole by a lot of women. It shouldn
’
t affect him, but for some reason it did. He wanted his mate to lay with him. It had been a month
,
and he wanted her. However now they had Phillip, Simon wasn
’
t sure what that meant.

“Yes, thank you
,
” Rissa said softly and sat down.

“I am sorry we had to find each other like this
,
” Phillip began. “I always thought I would find my mate and we would be nice and happy. I grew up with three parents, so having another man is not a problem for me. I would like to say up front, not into men
,
other than feeling a brother
-
like bond with Simon.”

“Ditto,” Simon said
,
holding up his hands and Rissa laughed.

“Anyway, I know we are all new to each other, but the only way to get to know one another is to spend time together. Can we at least get you to promise not to make a decision until we have had a chance to hang out
,
and talk? Maybe spend alone time together
,
” Phillip said
,
wiggling his eyebrows and making Rissa giggle even more.

This explained a lot to her. Cherri explained to all of them when they asked about having two mates how she felt. Declan was more playful
,
while Nik was a bit harder. It seemed like this was going to be the way in this relationship too. Rissa felt attraction to both of them, intense unsatisfied attraction. However
,
she could see the differences in them also. Simon was way too serious, while Phillip was more playful. She knew they were going to try the patience of Simon.

“Fine, but I want your assurance that if I decide that we are not compatible, that's it
,
” Rissa said, knowing that it was a weak excuse, she knew one way or another these two men would be her mates.

Simon stepped up close to her and smiled at her, she felt like he was stalking her with the predatory way he was looking at her. Shit, she felt her panties get a little damp because of his
gaze. It was hot and intense;
his eyes changing colors to a deep golden brown as he approached. Then she felt Phillip alongside of her, the opposite side that Simon finally settled into.

“Sweetheart, we just want a chance
,
that is it. Can’t you feel it, the pull
,
the connection between the three of us, it is like a live wire
,
” Phillip whispered into her ear and she shivered.

“Shit,” she whispered and pulled back a little to give them distance. “You don’t even know my favorite food, or been introduced to Billy. I mean
,
how can we possibly mate unless Billy likes you, he could hate you
,
and then he would cry all the time.”

Rissa began pacing and worrying. Simon and Phillip looked at one another
,
shrugged
,
and then Simon pointed to Phillip and mouthed, ‘you ask her’.

“Sweetheart, who is
this
Billy? I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend or anything.” Phillip stepped in front of her so they would get her attention again.

She looked up at the two men with a confused look and then shook her head
as if
they were stupid. “Duh, Billy is my dog. I mean
,
you are part cat, and he is a bird, it’s like a huge doggie treat rolled into one.”

Simon stared at her open
-
mouthed and then began to laugh
—
Rissa looked at him and frowned, “Not funny.”

Phillip burst out laughing also and said, “Yeah
,
sweetheart, it kinda is.”

***

Two weeks they had been doing this dance, two weeks, and Simon was getting irritated. Oh
,
the meeting with the dog had gone off splendidly, much to Rissa’s dismay. In fact, the little dog was Simon and Phillip’s shadow most days, which pissed her off. At least it was a reason for her to have to stay in the same room with them so they could woo her.

That was her mother’s idea
—a
slow dating process, which was driving both of the men mad. They had bonded a lot over the last few weeks since all of them had moved into a suite, which Rissa insisted on staying in one bedroom and them in another until she was ready. The first night was a bit uncomfortable
,
considering there was only one bed in the main bedroom.

Phillip and Simon flipped for which side they would sleep and then made a barrier of pillows down the center that Rissa would one day occupy. It had better be soon
,
since both men now had constant hard
-
ons when they were in their mate's presence and it was getting damn uncomfortable.

Cold showers sucked and they were getting more and more grumpy when they had to take one three times a day. Rissa was oblivious to them it seemed. She ate with them, talked with them, and even went as far as pecking them on the cheek, but so far that was it. Nothing more, it was not fuckin' normal, a shifter who found their mates should be excited and turned on to see one another, their time apart would be agony for the first few months, but Rissa looked like she was cool as a cucumber.

Phillip found it easy to fall in love with Rissa
. S
he was so happy and quirky. It made him laugh every time he thought about the snotty tricks she played on both men. One day
,
Simon came into the living area of their room and found an extremely sharp knife on the table with a bow on it and a nice note from Rissa. It said, “A present to help you plan your future kills.” Wow, had Simon been pissed at first and then they had a good laugh about it.

The next day, when Rissa didn
’
t receive the rise out of the men that she wanted, there was a cane with a bow for Phillip
,
telling him he would need it soon as his age was going to begin affecting things. Phillip had just laughed.

In turn
,
they began to leave little presents for her. She became easily frustrated when they were nice and sweet, flowers they picked out in the garden, and
a
plate of brownies she loved, and a new laptop computer to replace the outdated one she had. Each time she stomped her feet
,
glared at them
,
took the presents into her room
,
and slammed the door.

It was a long, seductive, crazy ass dance that they were all caught up in and the whole compound was witness to the show. Calli and Cherri found it humorous that their friend had held out for so long, and began to encourage her, much to the men’s dismay. They tried talking to their mates to get them to back off and received a laughing shake of the head and advice to ‘suck it up.’

The last incident had just happened and Phillip fell a little more in love with the woman as she had come to lunch with them and shared some more about herself. They were getting to know her in spite of her reluctance to tell them anything. Both men discovered that Rissa was a bit of an airhead genius. As she had gotten up and given them their peck on the cheek, she winked at one of the guys across the room and waved. Simon made the mistake of snarling and Rissa laughed and walked away.

Simon glared as she walked back out of the room with her little skip and grinned at both of them and waved. Damn it, he never thought he would fall in love with anyone, even his mate, he didn’t think he was capable. “How the fuck is she doing that? I was gonna start humping her leg when she was standing right next to me for a minute there.”

Phillip laughed. “I have no clue, but she is good. I gave her some flowers this morning
—
she just smiled happily
,
and smelled them. No other reaction at all.”

“Do you think she is even attracted to us? I can’t even smell her arousal when we are together
,
” Simon grumbled and pushed the food from his plate around. They were in the large dining area since that is where Rissa liked to eat at lunch. She had been busy planning the infiltration into the Prentiss Agency. Simon and she had gone rounds on what exactly was going to happen with that.

“Man, I am getting desperate. What the hell are we gonna do? I don’t smell it either
,
” Phillip said miserably.

Kade, Declan, and Nik walked up to them and laughed.

“Seriously, you two are still doing the whole wooing thing.” Declan laughed.

“Fuck off
,
man
.
I swear she is immune to us
,
” Simon growled and looked at his friends and wondered if they were just going to have to have a guys
’
night and get fucking drunk to take the edge off, maybe they would be able to help them with what they were doing wrong.

Kade laughed and slapped Phillip on the shoulder and said
,
“Man
,
it is, it's the oldest trick in the book, and your mate happens to have all the stuff. She is using hunter’s scent to throw you off. You won't be able to smell if she is aroused or even in the same room sometimes
,
depending on where she sprayed it. I swear, you two are so gullible, she is totally playing you.”

“You need to get this under control before she turns out to be the one who wears the pants in the family. Men, the time has come to go and claim your mate
,
” Nik said and pointed a finger in the direction their mate went.

“Gods damn it, that tricky bitch
,
” Simon said.

“Ya gotta love her
,
” Phillip laughed
,
clapped his hands
,
and rubbed them together.

“Like an annoying bug that flies around your head
,
” Simon snorted and then grinned. It had only been the two weeks, but he felt like he knew both of his mates a lifetime. Simon was surprised he could feel the connection with both of his mates. Phillip and he talked for hours about their lives
, even
what they want out of a relationship. They argued and compromised until they were both on the same page.

Rissa refused to talk to them about mating, she would just smile
,
turn her head
,
and change the subject. It was amazing the conversations they had because of the change of
topics
. Simon had to admit
the
last few weeks have been almost foreplay with their mate. She was smart, funny, a bit crazy, and a lot sexy. He wanted to strangle her half the time and the other half
,
kiss the breath right out of her.

“So she was messing with us, huh?” Phillip mused and looked at Simon.

“I think maybe we should flip the situation a little more in our favor, don’t you?” Simon said and Phillip nodded.

“Our little mate is in for a surprise tonight. We are gonna even up the playing field and our little mate is going to be mighty surprised when we call her bluff
,
” Phillip smirked and the men began to plan.