Playing the Game (Drekinn Book 7)

  “Shit where is she?” Storm yelled over the mayhem before them. They had walked into the bar and within minutes a fight had begun. It caught them both off guard because shifters were generally well manner in public. Apparently, the Drekinn Pack didn’t think they had to be, because they tagged their brother yelling when they first walked in.

  “I don’t know,” Rayne said, looking around and trying to focus on not only their mate, but their brother as well.

  “Listen,” Storm said. “Let’s split up, one of us finds our mate, the other goes to get our brother to stand the fuck down. This is a mess.”

  Rayne nodded and said, “I got our brother.”

  Storm nodded and they separated. He pushed his way toward where he last saw their mate. She had to be here still, he could feel her. Storm and Rayne were both tall, they had golden brown hair, and were basically identical. The only difference was that Storm had a scar on his right cheek, he had gotten it from a magical blade, the only thing that could cause a shifter to scar. An Ulfer had been chasing them a year ago when they first went on the run. The bitch almost caught them too, but they had gotten away.

  He was getting frustrated because he really wanted to know her name so he could call to her. Finally, he saw something, a flash, a woman on the ground. As Storm pushed closer he could see it was her, their mate, and she was hurt. He refused to take his eyes off her as he fought to get closer to her. Slowly he neared and when he finally broke through a small opening and he was next to her, he wanted to sigh in relief.

  Storm maneuvered against the wall and bent so he wasn’t in danger of getting knocked over. He put his hand on her shoulder and she didn’t move. Her hair had been in one of those ponytail things but was now holding onto maybe a third of her hair. He pushed it gently out of the way and saw the gash on her forehead.

  With a growl Storm pushed the earnest person out of the way and picked her up into his arms, she didn’t even stir, their mate had been injured. He looked up and saw Rayne nearing their brother. And he wanted to yell at him to hurry because she was hurt, but he didn’t. Mostly because right now, he wanted to get her out of here, and the people she came with wouldn’t allow it, he could tell. With one of their own in a fight, they would be overprotective, and since Storm and Rayne could be considered as enemies, they would take her from them.

  So he stood and waited. He watched Rayne get closer to their brother and he held his breath when he got within arm’s length. The larger man who was fighting their brother seemed to back away when he saw Rayne’s glare. If he wasn’t so worried about their mate, he would have grinned. He loved it when Rayne scared the shit out of people, it was kinda funny.

  He saw the moment that Rayne touched their brother because he froze. The man who had been fighting him didn’t notice because he lifted his hand and swung as if to block their brother. But with his arms no longer moving it made him a perfect target. He saw their brother take the punch right in his jaw and go down. Rayne snarled and clocked the man who went flying backwards into the crowd and he bent and helped their brother up. A woman and another man rushed forward to help and Storm looked around. It seemed like the crowd was thinning, most likely because people were getting the fuck outta here. Sounded like a good idea and so he motioned to his brother when they finally caught each other’s eyes.

  Rayne leaned down and said something into the woman’s ear and she pulled away looking shocked, but Rayne walked away. They reached the door at the same time and Storm said.

  “What did you say?”

  “I told her we were taking our mate, and we would contact our brother soon to meet,” Rayne said.

  Storm laughed and shook his head. “Nothing like dropping a bomb and leaving.”

  The duo walked out the door and froze. What the fuck? There, in the middle of the parking lot, was a man bending over a woman. Both of the twins were shaking because they could feel the draw, something bringing them close to the pair, so much stronger than anything they had felt before. What was it?

  “Hey,” Rayne yelled and moved quickly. Storm had no choice but to follow, even carrying the woman they had thought was their mate, he didn’t want to admit they had been wrong, but they had been if what they were feeling was anything to go by.

  The younger man looked up at them and memories slammed into the duo like a freight train. “Holy shit,” someone said behind them and the twins turned. The people from the bar, all of them, without all the other distractions like the fight, they could see clearly the people.

  Confused, Rayne and Storm backed away, holding onto the female. “Wait,” Kiki said, stepping forward and holding out his hand. “Please.”

  Chapter Five

  “It was him,” the waitress said into the phone. “I swear, it was both of them. I only caught the sides of their face for like a second and they were gone.”

  She heard sniffles and said in the receiver, “Come on, it is fine. They are finally coming home.”

  “I know but they still don’t know us,” her friend said and she closed her eyes. She heard shuffling and opened them. People from the town were moving into the diner, some of them had ice bags on their faces. Well fuck a duck, this was so not gonna be fun. They all knew it would be like this, and even though none of them liked it, it was something that had to be done.

  They had received a gift, albeit one they weren’t sure they actually would have to use, but it had become apparent all those years ago that it was something they would need.

  The waitress sighed loudly and looked around the now filling diner. Apparently there had been some excitement at the bar. “Listen, I gotta go, something happened at the bar. Everyone is buzzing here.”

  “Please,” her friend said. “Call me back if there is an issue. I will see if the others know what is going on.”

  Sabrina moaned and tried to move but she couldn’t without feeling serious pain. Shit, it was worse than she thought. She remembered the bar, remembered the fight, and remembered feeling the kick in her head, making her see spots. Damn that boot seriously hurt.

  “Just lay still,” she heard someone say, shit a man, she thought and then tried to open her eyes. Who the fuck was that? she thought as she became instantly aware she wasn’t in her bed like she thought when she woke up. Where the fuck was she?

  Her eyes opened in slits and the bright light instantly hurt them, her head, shit, she could feel that to her toes. What the hell had happened to her besides getting kicked in the head?

  Sabrina tried to wet her lips but her mouth was dry. She struggled to open her mouth, even that hurt but it was because she could feel the pressure on her cheek, the movement.

  “Hang on, honey,” Kiki said and she relaxed, someone familiar.

  “Dammit,” the first man said. “I said stay still.”

  Sabrina frowned and then waited for the straw to be placed in her mouth and she sucked the cold water greedily, when she was done she croaked out, “Nice bedside manner.”

  She heard them both chuckle and then the one to her left, the one she didn’t know, said, “Not really a good nurse.”

  Sabrina sighed and she allowed herself to relax, she hurt, and she knew she needed to heal and would do so in the next twenty-four hours, but until then she was gonna be miserable. Hell, where was Cherri and Dec, they could give her something at least.

  Sabrina fought to get her eyes to stay open and get used to the light, even though it hurt. She really needed to make sure everything had been taken care of, and then she needed to make sure Kiki actually listened to her training next time. Damn that boy was all over the place last night, seriously, he couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag apparently.

  “Where is Cherri? Who are you?” she muttered and there was silence. Shit, Sabrina thought and once again tried to open her eyes, had something happened to her? Because damn, Declan and Nik would be pissed off.

  “Who is she asking for?” the stranger whispered and then Kiki replied.

  “Cherri, she is the pa
ck medic, her and her mates, they are with the others right now. Honey, this is Cameron, he is one of the people we rescued while you were here. Trust me he is cool, right now he is training with Cherri.”

  Sabrina finally forced her eyes open and looked at Kiki and the man who was with him. Why did he look familiar? She knew him by sight but not by scent, strange. “Oh okay, whatever.”

  “Well finally we have opened eyes,” Kiki said. “Hey, sleepyhead, it’s about time you came back to us.”

  Sabrina grimaced and pushed herself up in the bed and looked around. “Where the hell am I?”

  Kiki looked at the other man and bit his lip. Something was wrong. “What?” Sabrina asked.

  “We, sweet cheeks, we are in the pack house. We have a bit of a situation,” Kiki said.

  Sabrina frowned and look around the room, she recognized it. She was in the pack house in the med wing. Since arriving they had held meetings at the house, she knew some of the others who were meant to be with the Drekinn had been discovered when they raided the facility before coming following her and Trina to Colorado. She hadn’t met any of them, because she had been too busy getting things organized.

  “What is that?” Sabrina asked.

  “Well,” Kiki said slowly. “I’m not sure, I was kinda kicked out of the other room when I, uh, lost my temper a little and may or may not have hit some dude who says he is my brother.”

  The man snorted loudly. “You so did.”

  Kiki rolled his eyes. “Well, anyways there is a situation that is being sorted, we are to remain here while the grown-ups talk or some shit like that,” Kiki said and all but strutted to the sink and got a clean towel and brought it to her. “It is not my fault people are sensitive.”

  “Okay,” Sabrina said cautiously.

  “Yeah well, we have more new people and the others are sorting shit out. So in other words, I am to be taking care of you, which I am perfectly happy to do mind you, but right now, there is so much shit popping up and out it is like a fucking toaster around here.”

  “Who else?” Sabrina said.

  “Well,” Kiki whispered as if he was sharing a secret. “At the bar when we walked out, not only were twin hunks holding you, but there was also some little tiny chick laying on the ground with some hottie over her trying to get her to wake up or something. Anyway, so double hotties got all pissed and shit at the guy, and they were saying something about their mate. Kade ran to the single guy, got up in his grill like no one’s business and shit just went downhill.”

  Sabrina listened, she felt a tingling at the thought of being with those two men, she knew it was who she was thinking of, they were her mates, or she thought they were her mates.

  “What did the twins look like?” Sabrina whispered.

  Kiki’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  Sabrina didn’t know, but she felt like they were her mates. But the look on Kiki’s face told her something was up. Like something really big. “Um, well, I think they might be my mates,” she said slowly.

  Kiki’s mouth dropped open. “Oh shit.”

  The man who was with him looked at Kiki with a confused expression and then back at her. He cleared his throat and said, “Oh shit does not even begin to cover this.”

  She was theirs, they were certain of it, but it didn’t explain why they had thought the other girl was theirs too, how could that be, it didn’t make sense, and they were both too fucking stressed to figure it out. Since they had met the group, their brother tried to punch them, only succeeding in clipping Storm who was pissed off, and they had tried to claim two women. What the holy fuck was going on?

  They were in a room together with a trio who called themselves Rissa, Simon, and Phillip, and damned if they didn’t look familiar too, it was fucking confusing.

  “So,” Rissa said as she paced in front of all the men. “You two have been living where?”

  Storm looked at Rayne who shrugged. “Arizona,” Rayne said and Rissa swung back around and went the other way.

  “Okay,” she said, talking to herself. “And who exactly do you have with you?”

  “We met several groups of shifters on our way here. We all just kinda were drawn to Colorado,” Storm said and Rissa nodded.

  “And between here and there, how many dead did you leave?” Rissa asked and the man named Simon snorted loudly, her gaze snapped to her mate and she said, “Hush you.”

  Phillip leaned forward and whispered, “It is easier just to answer her, she thinks everyone is a serial killer.”

  Rissa stomped her foot and growled, “Phillip, we have discussed this. Simon was a suspected serial killer. It could still all be a ruse; the jury is still out.”

  “Woman, you are pregnant with my kid.” Simon laughed.

  “Yeah, but I will raise he or she right. With a mother’s love our child will not be psychotic.”

  “Not if they take after you,” Simon snorted.

  “Shut up,” Rissa ground out. “Now back to the interrogation.”

  “Wait,” Rayne said, holding up his hand. “We are being interrogated?”

  Rissa sighed and nodded. “Yes, I realize I am that good where you didn’t know, but now you do, and please don’t think badly of me. If you are who you say you are we will be fabulous friends once we find out if you are murdering wonder twins or not.”

  “Listen,” Storm said. “We just want to see our mate.”

  “Sorry,” Rissa shook her head. “No can do, the bosses said to watch you while they figure shit out. Now back to it, how many bodies were there on your path up here?”

  Rayne rolled his eyes. “Zero.”

  Rissa stared at them both intently before she paced some more. “And why exactly did you decide to come here? To this spot, did you see someone who you followed, did you plan on kidnapping, torturing, and killing our sweet Sabrina?”

  “Sabrina?” Storm asked.

  “Yes, that sweet number you were holding last night, duh!” Rissa snapped.

  “No,” Rayne snapped. “You got it all wrong. We thought she was our mate, because you know we felt this pull, then when we saw the other one, the woman on the ground, we realized she was our mate, well, we think. It is all confusing and fucked up.”

  Chapter Six

  “Get your ass to the main house now,” Calli growled into the phone.

  Vivi sighed and looked at Victor and the others when she answered, “Calli, what do you need? We are a little busy.”

  “Oh really? You are a little busy? Well so am I, Ma, you know I am so busy because I have strangers showing up out of thin air, twins who don’t know who their mate is because they are so confused, and Kiki cat fighting again. So, I get you are a little busy, Mom, but since you and the other parental assholes won’t give us a straight answer about any-fucking-thing, we are stuck asking for you to come help. Now, I don’t give two rat’s asses if you and Dad are humping on main street, pull it out, tie it off, and get here now! And bring those other traitorous bitches with you,” Calli snapped and Vivi’s eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth to speak and she heard the click.

  “She hung up on me!” Vivi said and pointed at Victor. “I told you a long time ago you were too soft on her, now look at her, she is a right little bitch.”

  Victor smiled and shook his head. “Baby, you taught her to be just like you.”

  Vivi rolled her eyes and looked back at the others. “Well, anyone like to join us?”

  The waitress grinned and stepped forward. “I don’t think they are ready yet, but would you consider wearing a camera?”

  Shelly laughed when Vivi’s nose flared from taking deep breath. “Seriously?”

  The waitress grinned. “What?”

  “So not fucking cool,” Vivi said.

  “Come on, I just want to see…” the waitress pouted.

  The bar owner walked into the room, he looked around until he saw the waitress and then he said, “Stephan is home.”

  “Then I am going,” the waitress said fi
rmly.

  Vivi shook her head. “You know you can’t.”

  “Now, almost all of our children have come home, I know the spell will not lift until they are all together, and I know until then we are going to be put in the position of guiding them to where they need to be. So figure out something, I don’t give two shits what. But figure it out, because I think we all want to see our kids, as well as be there when they come home,” the waitress said.

  “We have been waiting long enough,” the owner of the hotel said.

  “What are we supposed to say?” Shelly asked firmly when she stepped forward.

  “This sucks,” the waitress muttered and ran her hand through her hair.

  “We just need to play this right, baby; you know it as well as I do. All in, we all decided this. We have to wait for the others as well, hopefully everyone will be back together soon,” a handsome man said to the waitress, wrapping her in his arms.

  “Can you at least wear a camera?” one of the ladies in the back said and Vivi nodded.

  “Yeah, get it set up.”

  “Orfeo, can you give the others a call, we should all be here for this. It sounds like something is going on,” the man who held the waitress said.

  Kade stood with his arms over his chest as he watched Cherri look over his brother. He wished Hope were here, he had already tried to send word to her Stephan was here. He knew she had been looking into Stephan’s disappearance. He wanted her back here now, because something weird was going on, he just didn’t know what.

  “So, Sadie?” Cherri muttered under her breath while looking in Stephan’s ears.

  “Oh yeah,” Stephan said and his gaze left Kade’s where it had been focused. “Um she is Rebekka’s assistant apparently. I am not sure of everything, I didn’t have a chance to talk a lot to her, just knew we needed to get out of there and damned if she did pop us here. I had no clue where we were. Hell, if she would have asked me, I would never have said here. When did everyone come back?”