Healing Cherri (18 page)

“
What are you talking about? I was just in the lab and they weren't there,” Declan demanded, not caring if he was talking to his boss or not. His mate was not where she was supposed to be and he could feel the anger in and pouring off of Nik.

“
Gentlemen, although I appreciate you are their mates, they are also my employees, and while they are here, I will be in charge of them. They are safe and sound and will return shortly. I suggest you go and gather your things for when they return,” the old woman said and then looked at them sharply.

They all grumbled but walked out of the room. Pillar sighed and hoped she was telling the truth. But they had a small opening and these three women were the best at what they did when they were a team. She couldn’t have chosen anyone else for this sensitive mission.

***

“
Okay ladies, we have a possible. The waitress is sitting one of them now; it has to be the sidekick because he's not nearly as tall as what the lead freak is supposed to be,” Calli said and walked by Cherri who was sitting in a small booth by herself with a little book eReader propped up and a glass of wine on her table. She looked like the lonesome old lady she had been hoping for.

Calli was being a waitress with an attitude. So far she had told several of the people in the club that they were drinking too much and were probably an alcoholic. Shifters digested alcohol different, so it was very hard for one to become an actual alcoholic. Although they could drink too much and get a horrendous hangover after drinking about a keg of beer, most shifters were smart enough not to do that.

Rissa stood in the corner. She was posing as the executive who was waiting impatiently with her head buried in the com link. Sad but it was true. So far, no one seemed to notice the three women who had slid into the bar and seemed to take over. One of the servers had questioned Calli, but she had explained it gracefully. Acting like a new girl who was confused, she frustrated the server who finally just threw up his hands and walked away. Calli had snorted at the human.

The after work crowd was beginning to show up, and they were going to be hopping, so Cherri made sure she was turned in the right direction. The man who came in sat and ordered a beer before looking around the place. She sniffed and tried to sort out the different scents she could smell. One of them was Rissa, and the other Calli, but there was another, a shifter. And it was not a wolf. She looked at the screen in front of her and smiled. Hyena, oh this was going to be fun. The squirrelly little dogs were vicious and unpredictable. They were the one race that contained mostly
Ulfer
.

Cherri had not figured it out yet,
why them
. But the only thing she could tell was that they definitely had the missing link they needed to be a
Breyting
. Touching her earpiece, she whispered ‘hyena’, and then reached up absently and flipped the page on her eReader and looked around. The man had not even checked around him. So sure that no shifter would dare to come into this bar, he was complacent. All the better for them.

She felt her com link buzz on the table next to her and turned it over. It was Nik, the third time in less than an hour he had tried to call. He was pissed now. She could see by the messages he was leaving that tonight she was going to be in big trouble. But she had to.

Cherri heard the tap in her ear, which was the signal from Rissa that another shifter had entered the establishment. Cherri looked up again with her vid glasses and made sure she caught the woman who was now walking her way. Hmmm, what was this? The woman was dressed to the nines. She seemed out of place for the human establishment.

Wearing a black, A-line, sparkly dress, she seemed to flow across the floor. The woman was tall, almost as tall as Calli. She had bleach blonde hair tied back into an intricate knot that left the long hair to flow down to her ass. And she had a body, shit, Cherri would be jealous if she wasn’t so sure the woman was a cast iron bitch. Her face was beautifully made up, but the cruel eyes and lips were a dead giveaway.

Cherri snorted, no matter how bitchy this woman was, she couldn't hold a candle to her and her friends, so Cherri relaxed and watched as the server led the woman to the table with the hyena. Shit, another one? She wondered and watched as the man practically fell over himself to actually stand up and greet the woman. Pussy whipped dipshit.

Cherri sniffed again, she was the closest to the table, Calli was at the bar looking over her shoulder, waiting for the right time to walk by. Rissa was furiously typing into her link, trying to identify the new player in the game. Something big was going on here and Cherri was feeling the tingling of apprehension at the situation that they were in. Out on their own, in a human bar.

Calli walked over to the table and smiled, Cherri could hear her perfectly. “Hey ya’ll, what can I get for ya?” she said in a southern accent. Shit, she didn’t even sound like herself. Cherri wanted to laugh. She loved it when they did this stuff because they played with the accents and facial expressions that fooled others.

The woman looked directly up into Calli eyes and grinned. “Hello Calli. I just wanted a chance to meet you before all this shit goes down. You know, over the last few years, I really thought you were going to be a formidable opponent. You have surprised me a little, I mean, if you would lose the excess baggage of the other two, what’s their names Sherry and Tressa? Whatever. The fact of the matter is I have a proposition for you. One time only, with a limited time offer that expires in a few minutes.”

Cherri and Rissa both moved in unison as their friend's cover had obviously been blown. Moving to stand in back of their friend, they blocked the aisle so no humans would accidently come in front of what could be a nasty, little fight.

“
Oh look, the sidekicks. I knew you were around here, I could smell the dog.” The woman glared.

Cherri lifted her head and then laughed. “Lion’s, I should have guessed. Now, be a good pussy and tell us what you need to and go play with your ball of yarn.”

The woman glared at Cherri, and Calli stepped forward and leaned over the table. “So you clearly planned this, would you like to tell us what the fuck you want?"

The woman took a napkin and patted her mouth with it, taking her time and looking at the three friends with distaste. “You are interrupting my plans and I thought we should get a few things clear. We have come to an impasse. Now, I am going to let you in on a little secret. Your little, pathetic Pack shit is not going to do what you think. You will not stop us and bring together the humans. We have heard the rumors already of the great Chosen ancestors.”

Rissa made a little noise and turned, she saw the other
Ulfer
who were coming into the building. Shit, it had been a set up. Rissa hit Cherri on the side, Cherri looked up, and her eyes got wide. Moving her hand slowly, she hit her com link and called Nik. Hopefully, he would get what was going on.

“
I really don’t give a shit what you think you know. Our only plan is to kick your sorry asses back to where you came from, and make sure that the humans and the shifters don’t have another war,” Calli said and flipped a look over her shoulder. “And all this trying to change DNA is just dumb, what the hell are you trying to prove with all of that?”

The woman laughed and she said, “Is that what you think we are doing? Like any of us would want to be mindless freaks like you. No, we are doing something much more important. I will leave that for your sad mates to figure out. When you are dead, I will be able to move along a little easier.”

***

Nik felt his com link vibrate and he pulled it out. “Fuck a duck; they are in a human bar downtown. You gave them a mission?” he yelled at the older woman.

Ms. Praton raised her eyebrows and said, “Really?”

The men growled and all three began yelling orders to the Enforcers who were in the room and they ran out. They all had to get to their mates. The need to protect was too overwhelming.

“
I'm gonna beat that pretty, little ass tonight,” Nik said and Declan grunted in his approval.

Kade looked over his shoulder and said, “Hell, Calli won’t be able to sit for a week after this stunt. What the fuck was she thinking?"

They made it to the shuttle just as they heard the woman Calli was antagonizing announce who she really was.

***

“
Since I really don’t think you will be alive to stop me, I will let you in on a secret. And if you are, well then all the more fun when I kill you. The
Ulfers,
you well know have a little flaw, I personally don’t think it's a flaw, but whatever. We just need to control our abilities so we can be taken seriously among the humans. And my ancestors left us the clue. You know you should look up the name Roarke when it comes to the Rogues, who fought your ancestors. He made one fatal mistake, one I have learned from.”

Calli stood up and frowned. “And what would that be?"

“
He tried to keep everything a secret, working in the background, never really getting the attention that they deserved. I am a much more of an upfront kind of girl. So I am putting the Drekinn on notice. That Agency is acknowledged only by the humans since they are the only ones around, they are outdated and living in a dream world. The humans will never allow us to actually live freely among them, unless we force them too. Well, we are bidding for the spot to take over the regulation of shifters. The Prentiss Agency will be the new regulatory agency. This is what I love the most about it; the humans love the idea too. We are pushing to have every single one of the shifters and magical people tagged with markers that show their little Packs. We have a nice new Warlock who can tell the bonds that you have all formed. Nice, huh? So when you all have to come before us and be marked, then they will see what you are trying to do. We will be forced to out you and then put you into prison for breaking the human law of no more than family and two Loners in a group. I know for a fact that right now you have many more than you are supposed to.”

Calli laughed. “You think you can take down the Drekinn?”

“
Oh no, I am not taking it down, just retiring it. We can’t shut the agency down, but they will be forced to stop their meddling in the regulation of the magical community and have to go back to being just another powerful Agency we have to monitor. I am sure they are going to be very happy to see the plans we have for making sure they follow the rules as well. From now on, they will be like the bastard children of the shifter Agency. Forced to answer to us, on the housing, health, and communications they know and deal with.”

Cherri swore beneath her breath, this was not good. Rissa had turned her back so she stood back to back with Cherri on either side of Calli, the
Ulfer
were approaching quickly, and they were not going to get away without a fucking battle. The humans seemed to realize that there was something important going on. The owner of the restaurant was moving the humans slowly out of the bar. Making sure they didn’t come into direct contact with the
Ulfer.

Soon the bar was going to be empty, and the human police would be called and they would all end up in front of a stupid judge. This time it may not go the same as it had in the past. Before, Ms. Praton had been able to smooth things over since she was the leader of the Agency and the boss. It seemed like maybe they had been outplayed this hand. The world they had been living was about to change, and not for the better.

***

There were four cars of Enforcers who were following Kade, Declan, and Nik. They all had their orders, get in and out, and not to engage with the
Ulfer
, that's what they didn’t need. Kade was pissed after listening to what the crazy woman was saying on the com link. It seemed like there was a possibility that they ran out of time faster than they thought.

The cars skidded to a stop and the men poured out of them, running for the front of the bar. When they entered, they were shocked. Their mates were sitting at a table talking calmly to each other.

“
What the fuck is going on?" Kade roared.

Calli shrugged and then looked at the men. “They left. Made their nice, little speech and then walked out the door with her head and nose held high. I'm pretty sure we're going to need that backup plan soon.”

“
And you didn’t take her out?” Kade said incredulously.

“
Uh, no, I can show restraint, duh. She told me if I made a scene, they would take me in right now to the humans. I wasn’t willing to take the chance and so I figured we would wait. I'm pretty sure that I'm offended that you think I am that stupid,” Calli yelled.

Kade looked repentant and said, “I'm sorry.”

Cherri laughed loudly and said, “Are you nuts? Of course Calli took a shot at her, duh. But the chick had too much backup, she never landed the blow. However, the woman got a graphic description of what Calli was going to do to her when they finally meet again.”