The firefighter who had saved her life, Grant, had done so much more than save her life. She had been placed in the apartment with a foster family. They had been nice, but Sienna still hadn’t really warmed up to them. She couldn’t put her finger on it; maybe it was because she was missing her parents. Apparently, she had been involved in some traumatic experience that she couldn’t remember. The foster parents had almost seemed afraid of her.
Sienna looked around and then turned her vehicle in the direction of a place she never thought she would have to use. She turned the car toward Colorado, to the one place Grant told her to go if she needed to hide. She was going to the cave; she only hoped it was where he told her it was, and that she found it. Sienna knew someone was looking after her. After the wars, a lot of stuff had been destroyed. Sienna had nowhere else to go.
“Uh, where did she go?” Chase asked Cameron slowly. They had been out there for a month searching for Sienna. Simon was gonna kick their ass soon. He had wanted his sister found, and now. It had taken a while to track her down, and then Chase and Cameron had to take care of a few of the Ulfers they stumbled across that were also looking for her. But every time they took care of one team, another would appear. Finally, they decided they just had to approach Sienna and get her the hell out of town, or they would have if she had been cooperative. Now they were looking for her again.
“Dude, I don’t know, I told her to come out here. When I realized she was our mate I kinda just thought about that, and since I have never felt like that before, it was literally like every coherent thought flew out of my head. I needed to get her out so I could take care of the Prentiss Agency assholes. They were looking for her again. How in the fuck do they keep finding her?” Cameron groaned and leaned back.
“Yeah, well, you already know we are getting our asses kicked because she is our mate. Now we have to tell him not only is she our mate, but she is missing. I am pretty sure he is gonna kill us. You should have at least sent me a message letting me know she was coming out without you. Now we have to track her down again, and that wasn’t easy the first time, so the second, is gonna suck!” Chase snapped.
When they all remembered their pasts those weeks ago, Chase and Cameron had finally remembered how close they were growing up. It wasn’t just being separated from his parents, it was also being separated from his family that hurt. They had all grown up together, they had all been through a lot of shit together, and knowing their parents had taken that away from them? Well, let’s just say that reunion was a mixed bag. They had all agreed though to focus on what they had to do, rather than focus on what they had lost.
Nian and Reese had been the ones who remembered Sienna. So Chase and Cameron had been sent out and damned if they had been chasing their tails for weeks. Sienna was good at hiding. But they finally found her and just in time, but she had run from them. Shit, how in the hell were they going to tell Simon they lost his twin.
“Dude, really? Don't remind me we are gonna get the shit kicked out of us. Seriously, we need to find her like now. I told you the Prentiss was in there, and they have to have been looking for her, there was no other shifter in the place,” Cameron said.
“Where else would she go?” Chase asked, and Cameron closed his eyes. He felt something come into his head. It was strange like he had known all along where she was heading. He frowned and then let the image flow over him, and he knew, Sienna had wanted them to find her.
“When we were young, where did they tell us we would always be safe?” Cameron said, opening his eyes, and Chase grinned.
“Fuck, I hope it is still there.”
“Well if it not, we can always make a run for it and hide on a deserted island. I mean, that is the only way we are going to actually survive when Simon blows.” Chase laughed.
“We could always have Anthony tell him,” Cameron suggested.
“Oh yeah, that would go over really well.”
Ever since discovering the truth about their past, and everything their parents had been trying to protect them from, all the Drekinn had fallen right back into their old friendships like they had never been apart. Marcus was still an arrogant ass, Cassandra was still a badass, and Lexie and Anthony? They were still butt ass crazy. It was entertaining to see them in action, they had to admit.
When they were young, Chase and Cameron had been drawn together. Their parents were both in the Senate, but that wasn’t really the reason. They had similar powers, and because of that, they were drawn together. They were hybrids, and the Vampire had won out in them both. They had speed, strength, and could erase people's memories, which was ironic considering what their parents had done.
When they were younger, the boys had liked all the New Council and Senate children. They had been mischievous, they liked to mess with their siblings as well as their friends. Remembering all this had brought them closer, and they had spent many hours talking and reacquainting themselves again. Now they were closer than ever again, so when Cameron had gone into the bar looking for Sienna, Chase had waited patiently. Now, though, knowing that Sienna was their mate, it made him angry he hadn’t been there for her. She had to have run because she was scared.
The need to protect was overwhelming, and when Chase hit the accelerator, Cameron sighed and leaned back. “Okay, we have about six hours to get there. I am going to call Simon before he has a coronary, and also to see if anyone has been found yet.”
“Great, looking forward to that call,” Chase drawled, and his hands tightened on the steering wheel.
Cameron grinned and then pushed the button on the screen of the car. He waited while it attempted to call the compound. It only took one ring, and they saw Simon’s face on the screen looking like he wanted to reach through the screen and snatch them out of their seats and shake them.
“WHERE IN THE FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN? Do you know the wacky shit going on around here? I do not need this shit, everyone is nuts!” Simon yelled, and Cameron rolled his eyes, and Chase stiffened until they heard Lexie in the background.
“Are you being an asshole? I told you not to use your serial killer voice; it puts people off. And we are not nuts; Cassandra is merely having a slight mental breakdown because she was pregnant yesterday and woke up today not pregnant. Personally, I think it is her imagination, and she is just overworked. We just need to focus and get her some meds, maybe a nice cocktail of them, you know.”
“Woman, what the hell are you talking about now? Serial killer voice? Weird pregnancy? For one fucking day can we actually have something normal happen? Like maybe blow something up, or I don’t know, something, anything normal!” Simon snapped. They saw a hand push his shoulder and both men sighed.
“Hey, guys,” Phillip said into the screen, and he sighed, “Sorry about Simon, he is kinda tense right now. We will fill you in when you get back. What is going on there?”
Cameron nodded and then said, “Okay, here is the rundown. We found Sienna, but we had a slight hitch. She was in a bar, and the Prentiss was there as well. Her name was added to the ‘must find' list; they stopped just short of saying she is wanted like we all are, happened just a day or so ago from what we can tell. We are trying to get the rest of the list, but we were lucky to see what we did. Anyway, I told her to go directly to the car. I waited to make sure the assholes didn't see her leave, and when I came out, she was gone. We went to her apartment and nothing, the doorman said she had been there and gone by the time we made it there. But we think we know where she is headed, I mean, we know where she is headed,” he finished firmly.
Phillip frowned and looked over his shoulder at his mates still arguing. “Okay, I will break the news, you just work on finding her.”
When Cameron hung up the phone, Chase said with a grin, “You didn’t tell them she was our mate.”
“Well yeah, I figured we could live another day or two. I mean, did you hear him, something is going down, and I am not gonna poke the bear. He is going to go batshit crazy, or crazier, so we better ta
ke advantage of his distraction, find Sienna and mate her before he finds out, then he can’t do a damn thing,” Cameron said making Chase laugh.
“Yeah, well, as long as we make it to the train before it closes today we will be there, if not, we have to wait until morning. I don't want to wait until morning, so we need to move,” Chase said.
Cameron said, “Whatever it takes, man, we can’t wait, and if it means we climb a fucking mountain to find our mate, then we will.”
Chapter Two
Sienna dumped her rental at the bottom of the mountain. She smiled when she looked at the train that would take her to the top. Of course, she wasn’t going to stay on the tour, but hey, it was a way to get up there, unnoticed, and without shifting in the busy city. She wasn’t leaving her bag either, so she needed to carry it the shortest distance possible to make sure she wasn’t seen. Sienna had fit everything in the small bag she would be carrying, no extra room. She would need to make due with her weapons she brought, and a change of clothes, low maintenance. The ride was right around three hours up to the peak. She smiled and looked around, maybe she would get a snack to take up for the ride.
She remembered this place; Lagon had brought them here several times, one of them when the pack house had exploded. Sienna froze and looked around panicked. What the hell was that? Who was Lagon? She felt a pain pierce her head and she reached up and grabbed it. She fought to remember the scene she had just had in her head. A group of kids, laughing and playing in a cave. Kids, who were the kids? Shit, what was happening?
Looking around, Sienna focused on the building in front of her. She felt a little woozy, and she fought the need to run. Deep breaths, she thought and then she felt herself calming a little. In and out, she breathed deeply and focused on the building in front of her. It was the ticket office; on the side, there was another small stand that had drinks, snacks, and newspapers to buy. She could see it in her mind’s eye, or she was the one going crazy. Taking a deep breath, she walked to the platform, looked and saw the small little shop and wandered over and grabbed a water and a bag of chips.
A crowd of people began arriving at the platform to the train they would be getting on. She took a deep breath and stood steady; she could fall apart later when she was safe and hidden. Sienna shivered, it was going to be cold up there. She may need to get supplies later, but she could shift and do that. It would just take a while, but then she may be there a while.
Sienna tucked the food in her bag, as well as the water, and then she moved to the platform. She was thinking about everything else she would need while waiting with the growing crowd. Sienna looked at people cautiously, waiting to see if they paid too much attention to her or not. She just wanted to find somewhere she could relax and think for one second. Her thoughts were running wild. Mates, Prentiss Agency, all of them swirling in her head. She heard the train and looked up. At least she would be able to sit while she tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Standing in the open, she felt exposed.
The train doors opened and the people all filed in slowly, Sienna among them, head down, and not looking at anyone, only opening her senses to make sure there were not shifters there as well. Sienna was careful as she moved, checking with people around her to make sure no one was paying too close of attention to her. By the time she was in the train car, sitting down and staring out the window absently, she was exhausted. The whole day had been weird, and she needed a place to sit and think, rest, just feel safe. Sienna had no idea why right now, the Prentiss have been targeting certain people. It was as if some kind of tide had changed and suddenly the Prentiss Agency was desperate to get things under control, none of the shifting community knew why, though. It really didn’t make sense. Maybe she should have paid more attention to the shifting world, but why? Sienna wasn’t into politics like some of the shifters were, she really didn’t give two shits about anyone accepting her. She hid because of self-preservation, not because of a cause or anything.
It only took a few minutes for everyone to board, and then the train began to move. No one was looking at her, so she was able to focus on her situation. The scenery was breathtaking, and if she had actually been paying attention, Sienna would have loved it. But she had too many things on her mind, especially what that memory was when she had arrived at the station. Sienna knew she had never been there, like at all.
Sienna closed her eyes for a second and remembered the scene she thought of while standing in line. The laughing children, there were a lot of them, maybe it was a daycare? She fought to get the picture back in her head. Finally, it came, and Sienna frowned. Hope, Cassandra, Christopher, Marcus, Uncle Lagon? Who were they, she knew them and yet she had no idea how. This was frustrating. They were real enough that Sienna actually felt like she could reach out and touch them somehow. With her mind, she let her senses open, and she searched. But there was nothing there, nothing that felt right. With a frustrated noise, Sienna knew she wasn’t going to remember right now.
When the train jarred a little, her eyes popped open, and she looked around. Dammit. Sienna stared at the humans; they were all so normal, none of them seemed to have a care in the world, and yet she felt like she had the world sitting on her shoulders. The weight of it was huge.
She heard a little girl in front of her yell loudly. “Look, mama, there is a bird following us.”
Sienna turned quickly and stared out the window. She had been followed, dammit, she really didn’t think she had. How in the hell had he slipped past her senses? Fucking Ulfers. Right when she turned his eyes narrowed as he stared directly into her eyes. Impossible, she thought, and yet he was doing it. What in the fuck? she thought but she refused to look away, it was a challenge. The shifter was an eagle (not her kind, Sienna was a Harpy), shit. His intent gaze freaked her out a little bit, his eyes dead, hell, Sienna could look the same way, she knew it since she had practiced in the mirror. The difference, this guy was actually a fucking lunatic with no feelings. At least she had feelings.
She glanced around the cab of the train, and there was no one looking at her, they were all staring out the window at the eagle. She looked back out the window and closed her eyes and concentrated. She needed to figure out how to get out of this mess. She couldn’t wait until they reached the top or they would have her, that was clear seeing the look in the eagle’s eyes. He was prepared to kill her.
Shit think, Sienna growled to herself. She pulled out the little brochure they had given all the passengers before they took off. She studied the platform for tourists to look out on and dismissed it. She had to move to the north, then she would be able to see the mountain where the cave was. No one would go that way, which meant she would be vulnerable because she would be alone, without witnesses but people would still hear a gun shot. She needed her bag, which meant if she shifted, she would need to carry it, or she strapped all her weapons to her body and fought. Fuck a duck, she thought, it would draw too much attention.
She hadn’t done that before because she would have looked suspicious, but the farther up they moved into the mountains, the less chance of being seen. She turned and looked at the route; there were two places, which if she did escape from the train, she could hide until the eagle passed. Sienna began thinking of a plan, she would need to shift. Which first and foremost allowed her to get out of this train without being noticed.
Looking up and down the aisle she saw the bathroom signs, so she stood, taking her bag with her, then moved toward the bathroom as quickly as she could without drawing attention. One of the places she could hide out was only a few miles away. If she could get out, then she would, but if she didn’t, she was seriously going to need a good plan to get out of this mess.
Sienna made it to the bathroom and opened the door. She calmly looked around and then locked the door, no windows, which meant the eagle couldn’t see in. She looked up and saw there was a vent, another plus. Sienna dropped her bag into the sink and began to look around the small little room. Opening the under the
sink storage, she wondered if there was something she could use. Nothing but toilet paper and towels, well that wouldn’t do anything for her.
She opened her purse and took out her small little tool case she carried at all times. Then she climbed on the toilet and used her tool to get the vent off. It would be a tight fit, but at least she was thankful the bathrooms on trains had larger ceiling vents. When she was done, she got down carefully and then looked at her watch; she could go now, or wait for another fifteen minutes and get closer to the peak. Nope, she was going now.
Chase parked the car and looked around. “Well shit, we actually made it in time to get the last train. I hope she made it here; I would hate to think we wasted this time for a dead end.”
Cameron laughed and said, “Of course we got here in time, it was because of my superior driving.” Then he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath and let it out. Trying to feel if his mate had been there and he shook his head. “I can’t tell; we will find out soon enough.”
Chase smiled and pointed at the hover car and shook his head. “Too bad we can’t take that up the mountain. It would make things a lot easier.”
“Yeah, well, the tallest mountain in Colorado, the elevation affects everything. I don’t feel like crashing into the side of a mountain, do you?”
Cameron rolled his eyes. “I know, jeez, you would think at this advanced age they would figure something out.”