Playing the Game (Drekinn Book 7) Read online

  Playing the Game

  Drekinn

  Book Seven

  by Jana Leigh

  Published by JK Publishing, Inc.

  © Copyright March 2016 JK Publishing, Inc.

  Cover, art and logo © Copyright March 2016 by JK Publishing, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN#978-1-311-54400-1

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  The author has tried to recreate events, locales, and conversations from his/her memories of them. In order to maintain their anonymity in some instances he/she has changed the names of individuals and places. He/she may have changed some identifying characteristics and details such as physical properties, occupations, and places of residence to preserve the privacy for the individuals involved.

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  Dedication

  To the readers who have stayed through Denver Pack, Chosen Wars, and Drekinn, patiently waiting for the next to be released, thank you. This book was a major turning point to tie the three together and I hope you enjoy it. With eleven books left to bring an end to them all, I find myself happy on one side while feeling bittersweet on the other because the characters have become almost like family over the past five years.

  I’ve enjoyed sharing my characters with you and thanks again for sticking around to be a part of their crazy ride and mine.

  Best regards,

  Jana Leigh

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Books by Jana Leigh

  Excerpt from Boots, Chaps, and Cowboy Hats

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Sabrina walked out of her log home and took in a deep breath. Training, training, and more training. That is what her last few days had involved. Since the others had arrived, and they took over the old training camp of the Chosen, the others had been intent on getting everyone in shape and on the right page. Both Kade and Calli were pushing to get everyone ready, like they knew something no one else did.

  Sabrina was certain that it was only for the best they all were in fighting form, to be honest. When they were in the other compound it had been easy to find something to distract them, but here? Yeah, this place was all about training, and they all knew it. The houses were awesome, that much was true, although they hadn’t had a lot of time to explore, which was a bummer really. The views alone would be worth it.

  The snow had stopped the day the first of the Drekinn Pack had arrived. Now she was able to look around at the area and see the mountains that surrounded them and enjoy the mystical beauty of the mountains. Sabrina needed to rejuvenate, she thought and took a deep breath, she hadn’t been feeling right, kinda out of sorts really for a while now.

  The hair on the back of her neck stood up straight and Sabrina froze, that was the same feeling she had when she had been driving up the mountain. Cherri said it was because her mates were close. But something was still bothering her, she couldn’t put her finger on it quite yet, it would come to her though.

  The tension in her body felt like it was reaching maximum levels right then, Sabrina felt like someone was going to jump out and scare her, weird. She turned and looked around, no one, what the hell?

  Kiki stepped out of his home that was right next door and called, “Hey, girl, what are you doing this lovely morning?”

  “Getting ready to go to training,” Sabrina smirked.

  “I was thinking about going shopping in town, wanna come? I was gonna call all the girls and have a day. Kade is just gonna have to give everyone a little bit of a break, this schedule is wreaking havoc with my beauty time. I need to see if they have a hair dresser in town for Syd,” Kiki said and Sabrina grinned. She loved him.

  “You go and tell our Alpha we need a girls’ day and I am all in, how does that sound?” Sabrina called.

  “I am on it!” Kiki called.

  Sabrina really needed a day off. As she walked inside, she didn’t notice the two identical men who were staring at both her and Kiki. They were hidden by the trees, but she still could have seen them if she looked close enough.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Storm said to his brother.

  “I don’t know,” Rayne said. “But the woman is our mate, and the male, well, he is our brother.”

  “Are you sure?” Storm asked warily. “Just saying with everything going on, it sucks we would find our mate when we are running from The Prentiss. With the protection spell all around my senses are muffled and fucked up.”

  “The fates don’t work on a timetable,” Rayne said with a shrug. “Let’s figure out how we are gonna find out if she is our mate, come on.”

  “Great, maybe we should try…” Storm said.

  �
�No, the diner is off limits, too many vibes coming from there, I don’t trust it,” Rayne said.

  Vivi, Shelly, and Brenda walked into the diner. Everyone turned and they grimaced when the waitress glared at them and then motioned with her head to head into the back. The meeting at the true compound had gone well, and they were currently planning to add more to that area in the canyon. At least it was protected enough the other Drekinn pretty much left them alone to do their thing.

  Calli and Kade were still pissed at them anyway for not telling them what they knew. It didn’t matter now, they had to do what was best, this plan had been working so far, it kept all of them safe, well relatively safe, of course there were the ones who were actually captured and tortured. But they knew the risks and it was a bad time for them.

  Vivi and her friends walked to the back and saw the meeting area the diner had apparently made. It was a large room with no windows, thank goodness. Coming into town was a risk, but they knew Calli and Kade were on their way to the mayor’s office.

  The woman who ran the hotel stood and walked to them with a grin. She opened up her arms and hugged the women, when they had the meeting a few days ago she hadn’t been able to be there. Everyone leaving the town would have been suspicious. After being separated for so long, it seemed almost strange to finally be together again.

  “I missed you,” the woman said and hugged Vivi tightly. “It seems like forever since we have been together.”

  Vivi sniffed, she missed her family, all of them, as she looked around the room she really just wanted to cry. All of them finally together.

  The waitress walked into the room and said, “I am not waiting on your asses, figure out what you want to eat and put your order in. Jimmy will get it for you,” she said and then turned and smiled at the three women.

  “Well, what’s the news, and where are the pictures? We have seen a few of them, even talked to two, we have been on pins and needles waiting, dammit. The fucking spell worked almost too good, the scents intermingled enough even we got confused, hell, if I didn’t know who they were I would have sworn they were someone else’s kids,” she said and Brenda pulled out a bulging photo album.

  “Here you go.” Brenda grinned. “I have all the pictures separated on the kids for you. Just like you requested. And the spell worked wonderfully, I just wish we would have been able to…”

  The waitress shook her head. “No, we are not doing regrets, I have a ton of them. We move forward because come what may, we are in this together.”

  The women all smiled and nodded, then opened the books. “Oh my goodness,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I missed them so much.”

  The others in the room gathered around, asking about the kids. The waitress sniffled when she saw Hope and her mates in various poses.

  “She is a badass,” she whispered and Vivi grinned and put her arm around her.

  “Trust me, she is a totally badass and there was this one time…” Vivi started and the rest of the people listened closely as the three women told them stories about the younger council of the Drekinn Pack. It had definitely been too long.

  Chapter One

  Calli and Kade sat across from the Mayor of Drake and listened as he spoke. He was human, of that there was no doubt, but both Kade and Calli felt like there were more shifters here, although so far none of them had made it known. And the Mayor, well there was really something weird with him. Not like it was a surprise, fucking everything lately was a surprise. Siblings appearing suddenly, parents spouting mysterious shit, basically it was driving them nuts. For the last few weeks nothing made sense yet it did. Drake, CO, population five hundred seventy-six, was the strangest town they had ever been to. With all the people the Drekinn had doubled the population, and it was almost as if the town members were avoiding them, weird.

  “This town was built by the Denver Pack, the Chosen, the training grounds which you have now claimed were once used to train their Enforcers. Since you all have passed the testing, the town doesn’t have a problem with you all being here. For years we have stayed under the radar from the Ulfer in order to make sure when the time came, this place was still standing. The last orders we were given was to make sure that Breyting who came to this town knew it was a safe haven, that is what we have always been used for. We don’t want that to change, so I am sorry if we seem like we are a bit harsh, but when we don’t know who people are, we tend to lean on the side of caution.”

  Kade nodded and said, “Understandably, and trust me, we want nothing more than to remain off the grid as much as possible. You have to know what has been going on. The Prentiss Agency had all but declared shifters and magical people a menace, everyone is in danger. We will have more people coming, we are hoping to offer a safe haven for any Breyting that needs protection.”

  The mayor frowned and said, “We don’t have that kind of room here.”

  “We will figure it out, but we need to know if you are going to be able to handle this many people here. You have a small town, only one store, that may be difficult to actually support the large group of shifters who may need sanctuary,” Calli said.

  “Well, we have been doing this for a long time, trust me, if the people come, we can supply them,” the mayor said confidently.

  Kade looked at his mate and widened his eyes. Calli knew he was trying to figure out if he should ask some pertinent questions at their first meeting. Hell, she didn’t give a shit, these people already knew who they were, what the hell did they have to lose. She was beyond over this shit, annoying. Everyone speaking in fucking code, she was so over it.

  “Okay,” Calli said and then stared at the mayor intently, wanting to see if he would lie. “You said the Chosen and the Denver Pack made this place. So how exactly are you checking our blood? I mean, it is not like the Chosen’s blood is still available to compare. Also, these books you have somewhere here, can we see them? Some of us are still looking for some information about our pasts. They can’t remember for some reason, which we are also a little curious about. Perhaps there is someone in town who would have known the Chosen personally. Perhaps, all this bullshit is another mind fuck with us, I am just asking flat out. Who the fuck are you?”

  The mayor leaned back and seemed to think for a few seconds before answering. He wasn’t pissed and didn’t deny anything, and Kade’s eyes narrowed, not a-fucking-gain. “How about we do this a step at a time? I know you have a lot of questions, but before I talk to you, I need to check with some of the town council to get permission to actually share some of this stuff.”

  “How about we cut the bullshit,” Calli said sweetly. “There is shit we need to know now, not later, and that stuff is gonna help us in our decision making.”

  “Now listen here,” the mayor said, his face turning red. “We have been doing this for a long time, we made an oath, and I don’t care who you are, until I speak to the town council, my hands are tied, you are gonna have to be patient. However, you are also going to need to make sure anyone who comes here is also a Breyting and not an Ulfer, the first sign you have brought one in here, you are gonna be out on your asses.”

  Calli growled and stood. “Don’t threaten us. We have already vetted our group and we intend on continuing that, we are not stupid, nor are we willing to lose this war we have going on. The shifter community has been repressed for too long, we were not meant to live in fear, we were meant to live with the human world peacefully. None of our people would turn against us, asshole.”

  Kade stood and put his hand on his mate and looked at the mayor. “Set up a time for our next meeting, we will make sure our council is there as well.”

  Calli glared at the mayor and walked out of the office with Kade following, looking around to see if there was anything there they could use to explain how the hell they had gotten into this situation.

  When they got outside they saw the snow and Calli frowned. “What the fuck is up with this weather? One second it is sunny and gorgeous, the next it’s
fucking snowing. Hope and the others will be back soon, maybe they will have some answers.”

  Kade looked up at the sky and frowned, it seemed unusual, but they had never been in Colorado before, this could be normal. He shrugged and then led his mate to their car. After arriving here, they decided to send several groups out to find if there were more in captivity and exactly where. They were also looking for Stephan whom had disappeared.

  Block, turn, punch, duck, uppercut, pivot. Sabrina was breathing heavy; she had been sparring for an hour at least. Their training had increased, and with good reason, they needed to be prepared for the Prentiss to find them. Granted they had moved states, and were currently in the mountains at a magically protected ‘Chosen’ compound. She had to admit, even though they had left the east coast, which was where Sabrina had been born and raised, she wasn’t missing it at all. Step back, drop and sweep the legs before popping back up quickly. She was still feeling a little unsettled like something was gonna happen, something important, it didn’t give her a warm fuzzy either.

  The winters were harsh, and the summers hot, but apparently here, the harsh conditions wouldn’t prevail. Even when it snowed, it melted in a few days. She was really looking forward to this. Dodge, punch, turn.

  Kade and Calli, their Alphas, had told them their training would increase, and Sabrina hadn’t cared, she was the training specialist, one of the team leaders. They had all been working to figure out what had happened in the past. Everything was completely crazy, and Sabrina knew, she knew that things were going to get worse. However, she had no clue how bad, none of them did. She grunted as Trina connected with her stomach. Damn, she could hit.