The Mating Call: Drekinn Series (6 page)

Cherri walked around the end of the table; she loved lecturing. Calli wanted to laugh; it was like being in bio 101 again. She kept a straight face for her friend, or later she would probably try to kick her ass, or put hair remover in her shampoo. Don't laugh, she had done it before.

"Whereas the
Ulfer
have a piece of their DNA that's missing. We know the part that's missing is the part that allows them to control and have a conscience. As you all know, this is a bad combination. According to a few sources, whoever they have working for them is still working on the formula. We need to stop them ASAP. I'm sure you all know what will happen if this hits the streets," Cherri finished and sat down.

Ms. Praton took the front of the room again. "So we need protection for these ladies," Calli went to protest and Ms. Praton glared at her and then looked around the room. "Kade, I believe you are more than capable of doing double duty. You have Calli. Cherri and Rissa, I will have Enforcers sent up. Make sure you have room in your palace; they will be staying with you."

Calli wanted to scream. How could she actually do that to her? The rest of the meeting she listened half assed. Until, of course, she heard mention of investigating the men at the Drag Queen Bar. The waitress was the only person still alive that could identify the assholes. Her name was Kiki De Laru, and she was a cougar shifter. If they could get to her, keep her alive and get her to look at mug shots, they might have a shot at getting these bastards. Calli raised her eyebrows when Ms. Praton paused, before assigning it to her and Kade. She wanted to groan out loud.
Was she being punished for something?
Callie wondered.

Chapter 5

Calli was silent as she gathered her stuff up and then walked with her friends to her office. Kade at least had the decency to leave her alone to get shit; she noticed that he stayed back with Brooks to get his gear issued.

For an Enforcer, the gear was the coolest thing about the job. He would get an amped up taser gun, which could knock out a linebacker on crack. Also, he would get the cool vest with all the pockets, filled with ammo for his newly issued Track 12 guns, which could shoot both pellet and real bullets. You never know when you need to shoot a human. Some of the radicals were dangerous, and since they didn't want to cause a WAC incident, pellets had to be used on humans. Also, the knives and sprays, those were necessary. Her favorite was the NG3 spray that would cause a shifter to shift and become a pup. It was entertaining.

Focusing on the matter at hand, her friends, she sighed and walked into her office and shut the door behind Rissa. Cherri calmly walked to the other side of the room and crossed her arms over her chest and smiled at her sweetly. She should have seen it coming, but she was thinking about being in her shuttle with Kade for a long period of time.

Rissa smacked her upside the head and then grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back and pushed her to the ground. Calli didn't resist; she hated bruising up her friends, there were too many questions.

"Bitch, how could you not call us the second you found your mate? Do you even remember the whole blood sister promise? I cut my fucking hand for that, and you know how I hate blood," Rissa screamed into her ear. She could see Cherri's black boots come into view and worried for a second she was going to get kicked in the face.

Cherri bent down though and got on her level and grinned evilly, "You know what this means?"

"Damnit, we were pups when we made that deal, I will not be forced into walking nude down the street just cause ya'll have your panties in a wad," Calli ground out.

Cherri frowned and looked up at Rissa, who applied more pressure to her arm. "BLOOD!" Rissa cried, and put a knee in her back.

"Now, we don't want to hurt you, but we will. A blood oath is a blood oath. And we also need to have all his info in ten minutes, so we can do the required background check. Including his email, so we can send the required form for him to fill out. You know the drill; we all agreed," Cherri said calmly then grabbed her hair and pulled. "Damnit, you promised."

Calli groaned into the floor, pushed backward and laughed when Rissa began to screech and crab crawl back away from her. Cherri rolled her eyes and held onto her hair and said, "I will pull it out by the roots."

"Fine, but he's gonna think you're all crazy and then what?" Calli sniffed and put her hand up to her face. "He's my mate, my one true love. What if you scare him away?"

Cherri let go of her hair; Rissa quickly crawled back and they both hugged her and tried to soothe her. Calli was biding her time, and peeked through her hands.

"We were just kidding, honey, of course we would never embarrass you like that. We would wait until he knew us before we did that," Cherri crooned.

"Dumb asses!" she cried and grabbed them both around the neck and squeezed. Both girls screamed; they ended up on the floor in a heap. That's where her new mate found her. Boy, could she make a first impression. Wait, not mate, new Enforcer. He entered without knocking. She growled and stood up.

"Seriously, GI Kade, this is how it works. You knock on the closed door, wait on the other side for me to politely tell you to enter or fuck off. If I allow you to enter my office, you will wait until I open the door. Are we clear?" she yelled.

Cherri and Rissa still sat on the floor gaping up at her. While Kade grinned and held out his hand to each of the girls. "Hi, I'm Kade Milgren, please call me Kade; I'm pleased to meet my mate's friends. I understand we will all be sharing a home. So I would like to get to know you more."

Cherri and Rissa both fawned over him. Really? Asshole, he knew just what to do; they were her weak spot. She growled at him, and he looked at her with a surprised expression. What a fuckin' faker. Both of her friends glared at her, and she knew they were going to yell at her later.

"Guys, we have to get going," she said and pulled her vest from the back of the door.

Cherri and Rissa both flipped her off and then said a nice 'see ya later' to Kade. She laughed and turned toward the door; Kade blocked her way out. Damn it, she just wanted to work; she had so much to think about. Someone wanted her dead, and all the other shit. She did not have time for a knock down drag out with this guy. She hated shifter men. They thought just because they were your mate; women would fall on their backs with their legs open wide and cry 'do me'.

Well, she had a surprise for him. Not happening. She refused to be like all the other women and kiss his feet. "I said we are leaving," she ground out.

"I heard you, but we need to settle something first. We are mates, and partners, where you go, I go. Brooks warned me you would try to ditch me the first chance you got. I already knew that. But I want to be real clear on this. If you try to slip past me at anytime, or think you are leaving me somewhere or any other crazy-ass plan you have in that head of yours because yes, I have read up on you, I just didn't realize you were my mate, or to be honest, a female. Thank goodness I actually didn't know you, because I would have had a heart attack when you went to disarm that bomb at the WAC by yourself. Now, I can tell you that if you do anything that dangerous again without me present, we are gonna have a problem," Kade said smoothly.

Calli stared at him in amazement. She didn't just hear him tell her that she had to be careful. She was one on the most highly trained Enforcers in the world; kids looked up to her and shit. Totally not going to happen.

"Before you decide you are gonna argue, please note that I said with me there. I know your job is dangerous, and I know you are gonna do it. I would never try to take that away from you. I am just saying that I am your back up now. So, before you try to take my head off, please stop thinking the worst of me before you know me," Kade said and then stepped aside.

Fucking A, he threw her for a loop. Now she couldn't say anything bitchy without looking, well, bitchy. That totally sucked.

***

Kade grinned as he followed his mate to her shuttle. Brooks and Ms. Praton told him how to handle the three girls. Rissa was the most flexible, while Cherri the most intellectual. Calli was the whole package, and as Ms. Praton put it, too smart for her own good. She needed to have things spelled out for her. Once she got something in her head, then it was hard to change it. They told him to let her be in charge at work. But when they got home, all bets were off. He was going to be the King of that domain. She was going to have to listen to him. Calli carried too much on her shoulders. He was just the one who could help her with that.

They got into the shuttle, and she programmed the address they were going to. The Drag Bars were in one area of town, so it would be easy to find the one they were looking for.

They drove in tense silence for a few minutes before Calli's communicator rang. He grinned when the ID was marked, Alpha Bitch. It had to be her mother, that was the only Alpha she would have; besides Calli groaned and hit the answer button.

"Not alone, Ma," she said briskly. "And I'm working; you know I can't talk while I'm working. I will be over this weekend for dinner like always. And yes, the girls will be there too."

There was silence on the other end of the line. He thought for a moment that her mother had hung up on her since she had answered the phone that way, but then he heard the threatening growl.

"DO NOT TALK TO YOUR MOTHER LIKE THAT! How many times have I told you that? Now, I would like to know exactly when you were going to call me and inform me that I had a new son-in-law?" her mother yelled and then changed tones and finished off nicely.

That's when you had to be really careful. When her mom was nice and sweet as pie, she was actually plotting your murder or your wedding. In her case, it could be a toss-up. They fought like cats and dogs since she was in the womb, or so she liked to say.

"Those treacherous bitches," Calli muttered. Rissa and Cherri called her mother.

"Now don't call your blood sisters that," her mother mocked, and she closed her eyes. Seriously, they told this story over and over, it was not a surprise that her mother pulled it out. "They were required to call me, remember? You made it in the oath that they were responsible for notifications. You may be Alpha of your little pack, but I'm still your Alpha mother, stop being a bitch and give me some details."

Kade put his hand up to his mouth to hold in his laughter. Calli gave him the evil eye and then said, "Whatever. He is not my mate yet; we are in negotiations, so don't go planning anything yet. You can get the details from him yourself. I don't have the time for twenty questions."

Kade chuckled at that statement, and her mother must have heard him. "Kade, honey, dinner on Sunday at three and then the guys watch football. My husband says to bring your shorts too, cause they may have a game of basketball out back."

He looked at Calli in horror. He had no clue how to act with his future in laws. He had been alone for a long time, never wanting to have any family after his parents died. Now, it sounded like he was joining a freakin' team.

Calli smirked and said, "Ma, he is so excited; I don't think he can answer right now. The tears are welling up in his eyes because he's so happy. See ya on Sunday," she said and hung up the phone before her mother could say more. Four days, they had four days to come to terms, because her mother would expect no less than a happy couple when they arrived. Unless of course, one of them was killed in the line of duty, then they would all console her. The thought had some appeal.

***

The rest of the ride to the bar was made in silence. Although Kade chuckled a few times when he could scent her arousal that was going off the charts for being so close to him. Her damn wolf was being a total bitch about this. Demanding that she mate and do it now. Calli actually had to push her wolf back several times when Kade's own arousing scent drifted to them. It was pissing her off the mating heat was riding her so hard. She was a grown wolf, with a lot of practice. One simple mate should not be this hard to handle.

They pulled up to the parking top in Drag Row.
Such a catchy name
, Calli laughed. A human had named the segments of streets that lined the next few miles. Basically, it was the one controlled area the shifters allowed. It was so humans wouldn't roam into their area and find themselves in a place they did not want to be.

So, Drag Row lasted for three blocks, next there was Pack Row, and after that Pride Row, and so on and so forth. Stupid, yet true. Calli jumped out of the shuttle and checked her vest. Everything was in order. When she went in a bar on official business, she looked the part. She was the Commander of the Drekinn Enforcer Group; and no one should interfere with her job.

Kade did the same and then came around to her side of the car.

"How are we gonna play this?" Kade asked seriously.

"We start from the beginning and work our way through. The tape said she was in a bar called Queenside. It's the third bar to the left. But in my experience, people can work at many different bars to make ends meet. We are just gonna have to search. And don't be scaring her either. Try and tone down the masculinity," Calli said gruffly.