The Mating Call: Drekinn Series (9 page)

Rissa stood and wrapped her long arms around both of them and said, "I love a happy ending." Both of her friends groaned and let go. When they were finally gone, Calli sat at her desk, she would sort out her feelings later, right now she had to find a place for Kiki. She was currently down the hall with Brooks and Ms. Praton talking about what was going to happen over the next few weeks. That was not her job. She brought in the bad guys and people that needed protecting. After that she moved on. No attachments, other than her friends. And well, now her mate. Although she hoped, he realized that she was not going to do the whole mating thing until she was comfortable. Fuck him, yeah, but biting? Definitely, no.

Chapter 8

"What do you mean she's coming home with me?" Calli said to Kade, who had come into her office as she had just finalized the deal with one of the Enforcers to guard Kiki for the rest of the week and weekend. She would have to give him three cases of brews and tickets to the football game next month. She hated giving those up, but Cherri and Rissa hated going with her because they always got blood on their dresses.

"Well, apparently, Ms. Kiki has taken a shine to you and me. She insists she will not cooperate unless we are her guards. We are the only ones she feels safe with, according to her," Kade said uncomfortably and shifted from foot to foot.

"Well, tell her to find a new bestie, I already have two high maintenance ones as it is. I really can't stand another one," Calli said and covered her face with her hands. She knew this was gonna suck; because Rissa was gonna find out, and subsequently, she would feel all sorry. Then Cherri would find out and want to meet Kiki, and they would bond over nails; it would be a done deal. Damn her life.

She sighed and lowered her hands and looked at the hunk standing in her office. She still felt the tingle in her pussy from earlier. She wanted so bad to throw him against the door and screw his lights out. The mating heat was beginning. This is what it was like for a shifter when they found their mate. At first, the arousal would be huge. And they would feel like they constantly needed to get laid, it didn't matter who it was. That was the first stage, when you scented your mate. If they just walked by in a crowd, and you couldn't find them, you went crazy with lust.

That's what happened to her brother, it had driven them all nuts until they had put an ad in the paper for another shifter who was in heat just as bad as he was. Her father had to lock him in the basement for a day until she finally called. Calli said they should put him out of his misery and shoot him, but her mother had insisted.

The second stage was the courting. You still felt the need to mate, but you also wanted to connect with them on another level. Her mother called it the cooling-off period. She hoped that was coming soon. Some shifters didn't wait for the cooling off and just mated. She was not going to do that and tie herself to a douche bag her entire life. No, even though they were part animals, they still had a choice. That is probably why Mother Nature put in the stages of mating into their DNA.

After the second stage, then there was the claiming. This was where the wolves kinda took over. The need to bite became impossible to ignore. If she could go by what her brothers went through, she should have at least two weeks before her wolf insisted on the claiming. That should be good. If he was an asshole, she would have him transferred to the arctic post and let him freeze his ass off. Although she had never heard of anyone actually denying their mate, she had seen what being mated to an asshole could do.

Her mother would insist on the whole enchilada. She would want the
Breyting
ceremony and everything. Shit, she was stuck, because she knew Kade was not an asshole, and would probably not fuck up bad enough for her wolf to turn her nose up at him.

The
Ulfer
were different; they mated whoever they felt like, because they couldn't make the connection with each other. It was sad, but still kinda cosmic. She wished she could not feel anything for just a second.

The heat was still riding her hard. She could tell it was Kade too, because he stood so close to the door.

"Shit, what do we have to do? Are they putting her up in a hotel?" she asked hopefully.

"No, Ms. Praton said our building was perfect. We have security. So we are staying at our place. The girls have their private Enforcers, so it will be us and the guy you just assigned for Kiki in our apartment. Brooks and Ms. Praton had furniture, and stuff moved in that they had in storage, until we can replace it with our own," he said quietly.

This just got better and better. Not only was her mother going to be a pain in her ass, but her bosses were also. Why the fuck did they all want her mated so bad? Shit, it wasn't like she walked around all the time being a bitch to everyone because she didn't get laid. She was a bitch because she liked it, and that wasn't going to change. Calli hoped they realized that.

"Fine, let's get this over with. I'm going to call the girls down here to meet Kiki, and then we'll all be leaving in separate transports to the building. I don't want anyone following us. We have worked hard keeping our address a secret. So we will take the long way around. Only a handful of people knew the exact address, and we are keeping it that way. I have handpicked the Enforcers; they would not betray me. And don't think I didn't hear the 'our' thing," Calli said, stood up and pushed the link on her desk that went to her friends' offices.

"Meeting now," she said.

"Oh yes, my master," Cherri said sarcastically.

"On my way," Rissa called.

Chapter 9

It was like a fucking sorority all over again. Calli wanted to pull her teeth out. She had gone that route the first time through college because Cherri and Rissa wanted to experience it. It had been a nightmare. She had never seen so much pink in one place before, besides Cherri's closet, but that didn't count. Cherri proclaimed her signature color as pink in the earlier part of the century. That changed many times. Now her color was red. Calli wasn't sure that anyone should have a signature color at all; it seemed weird, but if anyone were to ask her, it would be black. Duh.

When they got to her shuttle, Kade opened her door before going around to his. He had not done that before.

"What was that?" Calli said.

"What?" Kade said innocently.

Calli narrowed her eyes and said, "The door thing; you didn't do that before."

"That was because we were at work. I would never make you seem less than the Commander of the Enforcers by opening your door. I figured it would piss you off."

"Damn right," she muttered and waited.

"But, it's after hours, and now you're my mate, not my boss. I'm guarding you, yes, but you're still off the clock. I will treat my mate with the respect she deserves." Kade said simply and strapped himself into the seat.

She had been surprised in the first place that he had not wanted to drive at all today. She figured it bugged the shit out of him that she took the wheel all the time. He seemed to be relaxed when they drove, and didn't constantly tell her where to turn or to slow down. And never once did he grab the 'oh shit' handle, which was still installed in every shuttle to this day.

"Fine, but only after hours," she grumbled, and Kade smiled.

"So, what would you like for dinner? Ms. Praton said the kitchen was stocked, and the automeals maker had been serviced," Kade said.

For about the last fifty years, that was one of the newest and greatest inventions ever made. The Automeals. They were full and complete meals in a little tiny capsule. They came in a jar that was once used for medicines. There were hundreds, if not millions, of choices to choose from. Cuisine from all around the world was at your finger tips. Of course, the restaurants and diners still actually made fresh food, but for nights at home, the automeals were awesome.

Cherri and Rissa still liked to cook every once in a while. They would go to the local markets, get the ingredients and have a day of cooking. Calli loved sitting and watching them. She hated to cook. Her mother found it a flaw, since she refused to use her automeals unless she was desperate. That's why Calli hated to go home, she was constantly reminded what a terrible wife she would make. She wondered if Kade was going to expect her to cook.

"Take out?" she said hopefully, her favorite Greek place was just down the block from her place and could send the hover craft delivery right to the balcony.

He chuckled and said, "That's fine, but tomorrow we cook. I haven't had a good home-cooked meal in years; I can't wait to get into the kitchen. I missed it."

Calli looked at him sideways and said, "So you cook?"

"Sure, my favorite thing to relax," Kade said and wanted to laugh out loud when he saw the look on his mate's face. She obviously thought he was helpless, and would expect her to cook and clean. He hated to tell her the only thing he hated to do was bathrooms. That was from being in the military for so many years, they made each of the grunts clean the latrines, considering that was before the personal home cleaners were invented, that said a lot.

"How old are you exactly?" Calli asked. She had read his report, and knew about his parents. But she could never find a date of birth.

"How old do you think I am?" he teased. She looked at him and smiled. This easy rapport was better than the tense shit they had been doing all day. Maybe they could come to a common ground.

"I'm one hundred and thirty, and you can't be much older than me, maybe one hundred and fifty?" she said.

The magical beings all had a prolonged life, which pissed off the humans too, because when some young buck thought, he could change shit, he would die before he could actually do it. Calli thought it was humorous. The humans would never learn. Although in the last few decades, the human's lives were prolonged through technology. It was like throwing a bone to a starving dog. They jumped all over it.

"Nope, I am one hundred and forty three, but thanks for saying I still looked older," Kade teased.

"Compared to me; you're an old man. Hell, you should be arrested for robbing the cradle," she laughed.

They pulled up to the apartment building, and Kade looked around with interest. She wanted him to love the place. She, Rissa and Cherri put so much into the building. They had made sure the security was updated, even if was a little underhanded since Rissa wrote a back door program into the security agent's program. But they wanted to make sure their home was bullet proof, literally.

Calli jumped out of the shuttle and saw the two other shuttles had already arrived and were in the slots next to her's. She laughed to herself; the Enforcers were probably going to make her give them another case of beer, after they had been with her friends. Cheri talked nonstop, and Rissa was a terrible backseat driver when in the car.

Kiki was supposed to be in her old apartment waiting for them. "So this is it," she said and spread her arms. If she could only live on the parking top, she would be happy. The view was amazing. A three sixty view of the entire town with no obstructions. It was beautiful. Kade turned in a circle and smiled. She knew he felt the same way.

"Best view I have had since I arrived," he said and then followed her through to the elevator pads that would lead to her floor. The entire parking area had different pads, so no one would go to the wrong floor by accident. There was a code they had to enter in order to make the pad move.

"Ms. Praton gave me our code," Kade said, and Calli raised her eyebrow to him. The old dragon moved fast when she wanted to. Calli and her friends could get to the floor below, if they had the code. This was good, so they would not have to come back up.

Calli entered her code, and the pad moved slowly down; they didn't have that far to travel since they lived on the top floor, one of the things she loved about their apartment was they had access to the roof of the building. There was a small patio they set up with plants and shit, Cherri had insisted, but it was a nice place to go when she needed to be alone in the fresh air. No one else could access the roof either. It was their own little garden.

Calli explained the security as they moved. "Rissa hacked into the security. I'm sure she already included your new place." She stated.

"Our," he said firmly.

"Huh?" she said breaking her focus.

"You said your apartment, it's our apartment, as in you will be moving in there with me," Kade commented and looked around, not meeting her eyes until she didn't answer. His gaze swung to hers, and he challenged her with just a look.

Calli felt her hair bristle on her arms, really? So demanding already? She slowly spoke to him, so they were clear. "I understand that we have a few things to work out."

Kade grunted and stared at her intently, waiting for her to admit they were mates and going to live together.

"For now, we will be staying at your place. It remains to be seen if we are compatible enough to mate," she stated.

The pad arrived at that moment, and her words were echoed across the apartment. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them with interest.