Challenging Love (Drekinn Book Five) (7 page)

“Tell us what?” Calli yelled and Kade stood and went to his mate.

“Calm down,” Kade said.

“Deceit!” Rissa yelled and stood. Calix just sat back and watched it unfold, if anyone needed his help it was these people. He knew this was where he belonged.

“Rissa,” Phillip said.

“Don’t you Rissa me,” the overwrought wolf growled. “Tell us.”

“Fine,” Phillip said and looked at Blackie and grimaced. “Pilar and I know her. We grew up together, but we haven’t seen each other in years. When we saw her a few weeks ago, it was like something clicked, and we knew who she was. But for some reason our memories are still not all there, it is like something is blocking us from remembering something.”

The room exploded in yelling. The Alphas yelling, trying to calm everyone down. Rissa screaming and crying at her mate, while, Simon, her other mate tried to grab her as she tried to run from the room.

“I can’t believe this. Why wouldn’t you tell us, you were hiding shit from us? This is not acceptable. And you know her…how? Is she an old lover or something?” Rissa cried. She dodged Simon's hands and jumped on the table and ran its length before jumping and doing a summersault mid-air and landing in front of the door. Gio laughed and clapped his hands while Cherri and Calli banded together to prevent anyone from approaching Rissa.

Vivi and the others chose that moment to open the door and carry in a tray with tea. When they saw what was going on they frowned.

“What did we miss?” Vivi yelled.

“Treachery.” Rissa growled.

“Simon, what did you do this time?” Brenda groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Not me this time,” Simon said with a grin.

“Where have you been?” Cherri demanded. “We could have used backup.”

“Brenda had the runs and so we were helping her sort out her situation,” Shelly said sweetly.

“Really?” Brenda growled.

“Ma, drink more cranberry juice.” Rissa stopped, growled, and looked at her mother with a worried expression. “You need to remain regular at your age.”

Blackie stood and whistled loudly making everyone in the room stop. “Cut the drama, and talk about bowel movements, I told you there were some things that couldn’t be revealed yet. But apparently, I was wrong about this. Let’s just sit down and talk calmly.”

“I am not sitting with him,” Rissa yelled and pointed at Phillip who looked like he was going to throw up.

“Whatever,” Blackie said.

“Who are you?” Calli demanded.

The woman looked around the room and then said, “My name is Hope. Hope Gevaudan.”

Chapter
Six

“Well that was fun,” Brooks said as he sat down on the couch in his room. Pilar and Calix just stared at him and shook their heads.

“Really?” Pilar said.

“They were going to find out.” Brooks shrugged. “Better now than later.”

“This could divide the Drekinn,” Pilar whispered.

“Or pull them closer together,” Calix said and both of their gazes swung to him. He had remained quiet throughout the drama in the meeting room.

“They are so pissed at us,” Pilar said quietly.

“There was nothing we could do, I mean we didn’t even know if Hope was alive until she showed up a few weeks ago,” Brooks reasoned.

“We knew,” Pilar said.

“How?” Calix asked.

Both turned their gaze to the man who would complete their mating. They hadn’t even had time to get to know one another before the shit hit the fan. Calix looked better than he had before but he was still pale. Pilar hated that he had to find some of this stuff out right now.

“Where to begin?” Pilar said.

“How about at the beginning,” Calix said softly.

Brooks let out a deep breath. “I met Pilar decades ago when the wars had just ended. I was young and stupid, thought I could change the world at that point. You see, the wars were devastating to the magical world. So many people died, and many of them innocents. The Chosen had fought alongside of them.”

“Of course they did,” Calix said.

“Many shifters were wounded severely. It is hard to kill a magical creature, and the humans knew it. But they could hurt people, hurt them bad. All in the name of control, they needed to make sure the Chosen were not able to rise up again, gain the following they had. The memories are fuzzy and incomplete, Phillip and I have pieced together as much as we can, but some of it is missing, huge gaps of time,” Pilar said with tears in her eyes.

“Packs, prides, covens, were broken apart. They were unable to get back together, we saw it, but for some reason never questioned where our family was. Phillip and I were just there, and we were together. We had been traveling in Europe, trying to gain support for a new law the Council was proposing when all hell broke loose. We have no idea where they are, our families, if they are even alive. It was like someone was blocking us, hell, even at first I couldn’t remember my family, only Phillip, then little by little I remembered bits and pieces, until I saw Calli's and the others' books, then I could remember them, but not clearly. Do you know how hard it is to know you have a family but not remember them? It was like the only thing we knew was what we witnessed or read. We came back to the United States, and were drawn to Colorado, Phillip and I were just doing what we could to help people, it was like we knew what we were supposed to do but just not why, so we did what we thought was right,” Pilar said.

“I met Pilar while she was searching in Colorado for something familiar. They had heard about the Chosen compound and knew they belonged there but not why. There are clues the Denver Pack had survived and were there at one point, but we lost track,” Brooks explained. “I seriously went there to join them, the Chosen, because I thought I could help. However, when I arrived, I found the humans had destroyed the Milliken compound. It was only months later the humans had claimed victory. Pilar and Phillip arrived one night late, they were almost caught going into the compound,” Brooks said grimly.

“If Brooks wouldn’t have stopped us, I have no doubt we would still be imprisoned,” Pilar said.

“I knew she was my mate, I had to save her.” Brooks laughed.

“Afterward we hid in the mountains. They had a training facility there where we were all trained, you know, the children of the Chosen. It was a flicker of a memory that helped us stay safe, that’s the way it has always been, when we are in trouble, something clicks. Anyway, no one was there either, but the wards of protection were still there. Brooks made them stronger, and we put the word out that it was a safe haven. Soon people began to arrive. Phillip and I decided we needed to figure out how best to help. He needed to stay with the people who wanted to hide, get them new identities and wait for anyone to show up we knew. While Brooks and I decided to hide in plain sight. I mean what better way to gain information. We went to New York with our new identities, we couldn’t remember the old ones. Applied to work for the enforcement of the magical community, worked our way up until we were about to start the Drekinn, we just told the humans what they wanted to hear until they trusted us. We knew something was going on, we just couldn’t get enough information. Even after all these years, there are still things about that time we don’t know. Files that have been sealed. We just knew that we needed to be in a position if the information was ever to be released, we would be there. We need answers just like everyone else,” Pilar said.

“I get it, but why hide it from your friends?” Calix asked.

Brooks looked at Pilar and said grimly, “We didn’t know in the beginning, and then it was a matter of trying to figure out who they really were. So we made personas to help. The prophesy that Pilar and her brother had come to believe their entire lives was not correct. We didn’t see the clues until Rissa found them. Pilar’s own history book has been lost. We had a bunch of pieces to the puzzle that didn’t fit, none of it made sense. Well, until now. We know that whatever the Seer foretold was only part of the story; our parents were not able to help us plan for what happened. Something back then, effected what should have been.”

“You didn’t fail,” Calix said softly. “Life is never clear, things happen. My mother told me a long time ago, the Seers can predict what they want, but they never take into account our choices. Everything can change in the blink of an eye if only one thing changes. Which is why the Seers are so unpopular, why many of them refuse to admit they have the power. I mean the future is just that, something that lies ahead. It’s ever changing.”

Pilar leaned back and thought. “That may be, but I could really use someone to guide me in the way we are supposed to be going. You know.”

“I think maybe we need to think about how we go on from here. Trust has been questioned, and there is going to be a lot of healing going on before we can move forward,” Brooks said.

“How do you feel about all this? We haven’t even had a chance to talk about it all?” Pilar asked Calix warily.

“The silver is almost gone, I can tell you that,” Calix said and felt his fangs lengthen a little.

“Really?” Pilar said with disbelief.

Calix laughed and then moved a little. He had begun to feel aroused a few minutes ago when he was looking at Pilar; he knew the silver was almost gone from him then. But Calix had ignored it. He wanted to hear the story, but as the minutes wore on, he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Something they were going to have to talk about.

“Uh…yeah,” Calix said and then laughed harder when Pilar’s eyes were drawn to his pants.

*****

Two weeks, three hours, sixteen minutes, and thirty-four seconds since Pilar had announced to Calix and Brooks she needed to get to know Calix before they mated. Both men had respected her decision, but as the days went by, they both were finding it harder and harder to concentrate. The mating call was pulling him in every direction.

For the first few days he had been fine, so had Brooks. They had spent every waking moment with each other. Getting to know one another, and trying to work through the mess that was now the Drekinn Pack. The members of the Pack were divided and the situation was going to come to a head soon. There was no question in Calix’s head.

Pilar and Brooks tried to talk to everyone, and as of yet, nothing was settled. The arguments had been loud and messy. It was going to be interesting. However, it had made it easier to get to know each other. The emotions were high, and more than one evening, Brooks and Calix had insisted on keeping Pilar out of the stressful atmosphere and in their apartment.

They had been able to talk about each other, and what they wanted in the future as opposed to the yelling and screaming they could sometimes hear. Brooks and Calix had worked to assure Pilar there was nothing to be done until everyone calmed down. The worst was seeing her brother, who was staying in her apartment currently, so depressed.

Rissa had kicked him out of their rooms, and Simon had been working to make things right. Which led Pilar to hang out with them more since Simon had to visit Phillip in her rooms; it made for an interesting time.

His only regret, he was not able to woo Pilar like he would have if they had not been limited on where they could go. Kade had issued an edict that no one was allowed off the compound grounds until further notice. Basically, he wanted Gio and Hope to remain there until they figured everything out.

“What are we going to have for dinner tonight?” Brooks yelled as he walked in the door. It had been this way since three days after he moved in. Calix discovered Brooks was completely inept in the cooking department. He had no clue how the man had survived for so long without learning how to cook. Calix enjoyed working in the kitchen and had taken over cooking for the three of them easily.

“We are having steaks, twice baked potatoes, and asparagus. How was the great room today?” Calix said from the kitchen where he had begun to prepare the food. The great room was where everyone generally met daily. Since the blow up, the room had turned into a sparring center.

“Very quiet. It seems that everyone has actually run out of names to call each other. This is a good thing, Calli has a long list, if she is out already, we may stand a chance actually seeing the end of this soon,” Brooks said from the doorway.

“How is Pilar?” Calix asked slowly.

“Quiet. The mating call has to be riding her hard. If she feels even an ounce of what we are feeling, we are going to have to talk about why she is holding back,” Brooks said. “I think she is freaked out about something.”

“Is it because everyone seems to be pissed that you were hiding something?” Calix asked. “They are going to have to come to terms with it, the Council.”

“I think it is because everything we have been through and to find out that Pilar and Phillip actually are children of the Chosen and didn’t tell them is the problem. I mean, no one knew they survived. If the Prentiss find out, it is going to get so much worse. They will hunt us relentlessly,” Brooks said.

“Like they aren’t doing that now?” Pilar said from the doorway and smiled a little and walked in.

“How are the girls?” Brooks asked.

“Kiki, Syd, Trina, and Sabrina are actually talking to me. However, Calli, Cherri, and Rissa are not, they leave right when I walk in a room,” Pilar said sadly.

“Oh, baby,” Calix said and opened his arms. Pilar walked to him and allowed him to comfort her. Brooks rolled his eyes and shook his head; if he would have done that, she would have spit at him.

“I can’t get them to listen,” Pilar whispered.

“You could have asked for help,” Brooks snapped.

Pilar pulled back from Calix and looked over her shoulder. “Like you have been there for me all these years?”

“Damn it, when are you going to let it go?” Brooks ground out.

“Hey, let’s have a nice dinner and talk about it,” Calix said.

“Using your therapy voice again?” Pilar laughed.

“I think it is time to have a talk about all this.” Calix shrugged.

The three proceeded to get everything ready, once they were all settled and had their food in front of them. Calix continued.