Fated Redemption [Kindred of Arkadia 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (11 page)

kidnapping you. All because they didn’t listen when I told them you were just being your normal psycho

self.” Abby threw her hands in the air.

“Are they okay?” Rebecca asked quietly. Abby sighed and collapsed into the chair next to Rebecca.

“Gray stayed put, though I had to threaten his ass. He’ll be here as soon as he hits state side. He wants to

make sure your mate is good enough for you,” Aleks huffed.

“Cassandra pulled strings and covered for Meg, they are both waiting to hear from me. Camille is still

hell bound and determined to find out who was dumb enough to kidnap you. You know her family adores

you. Uncle Vinnie has been cracking his knuckles for weeks.” Rebecca’s face took on a dreamy expression.

“Hmmm cannoli. God that man can cook.”

“Seriously! Seriously? That is all you have to say?” Abby demanded. Rebecca nodded, grinning, then

stopped. She stared at Abby.

“How did you find me? I didn’t put a return address because I couldn’t tell anyone where I was. How

does Cassie know about Sentinel?” Rebecca’s eyes narrowed to purple slits.

“You’re a shifter, aren’t you!”

Abby rolled her eyes. “We all are, well except for you.”

Rebecca gasped.

“Cass, and Meg, and Gray and Camille and you? All of you?”

Rebecca looked shocked.

“Yup, short stuff, you were the only human in the bunch, but surprisingly enough you fit in so well that

we never really made an issue of it.” Abby shrugged.

“Hey what are you?” Rebecca asked, leaning forward, her eyes excited.

“Hasn’t anyone here taught you yet that to ask a shifter that is bad manners?” Abby asked. Rebecca

nodded.

“Yup.”

“You don’t care, do you?”

“Nope. Now. What are you?”

“She smells canine,” Kate said, sniffing the air. Abby shook her head.

“Coyote. I’m a field biologist. I was between assignments, which is how I got tagged to be the one to

track your ass down. Now. You said you were kidnapped. Are they dead?”

“Yup, shot him between the eyes. Do you know our instructor was right? In close quarters blowback is

a bitch.” Rebecca scrunched up her nose.

“Wait, instructor?” Aleks asked. “Rebecca and I took firearms courses in college instead of Health.”

Aleks stared at Rebecca.

“You know how to handle a gun?” His eyes stared at Rebecca, who was looking everywhere but at

Aleks.

“She won almost every competition our college entered,” Abby volunteered.

“Is that so?” Aleks’s voice was flat. Rhys could almost see every instance where Rebecca nearly shot

him going through the Alpha’s mind. Rhys couldn’t help but grin.

Emmett and Liam were clearing their throats behind them. Aleks flipped them off. Liam started

cackling, even Sebastian was grinning from ear to ear.

“I take it I missed something?” Abby looked around. Rebecca shook her head.

“Nah, just having some fun with my mate is all.”

“Mate?” Abby raised an eyebrow. Rebecca jerked her thumb over her shoulder to where Aleks sat

glowering at Rebecca.

“That’s my honey bear.” Aleks nipped her shoulder.

“We knew it was a bear shifter because we could smell it on the Christmas card. We honestly thought

you had snuck off with Gray until we learned he was deployed. He always had a thing for you. Then I

checked in with the polar family south of the town where you were living. Did you know your ex married

that bimbo he dumped you for?” Abby reached across the table and plucked a french fry off of Rebecca’s

untouched plate.

Rebecca looked at Abby, and then together they both said, “Skank.”

“Anywho.” Abby looked up at Aleks.

“I’m Abby Wright, college roommate. You are?” She held out her hand. Aleks smiled warmly and

shook hands with her.

“Aleksander Arkadion, mate and husband.” He grinned. Abby’s smile died on her face.

“Arkadion? The Arkadion? The Alpha?” She turned to look in horror at Rebecca, who was now happily

dipping her fries in ketchup and munching on them.

“You made her the most powerful female in the paranormal world? What in the hell is wrong with

you?” she demanded.

“Hey!” Rebecca yelled.

Behind the counter Emmett couldn’t contain his laughter anymore. Around Rhys everyone started

cracking up.

“She really does know you,” Rian said.

“It was the ‘psychotic midget’ comment that gave it away huh?” Abby laughed.

“You’re not funny.” Rebecca pouted.

“Go ahead and let the bottom lip stick out, chickie. Remember, you and I shared a room for four years.

I know how you think, which is exactly why I am scared for paranormals everywhere.” Abby grabbed

another fry.

“She’s actually helped us come together. She’s doing a great job,” Sebastian interjected. Rebecca blew

kisses in his direction.

Rhys couldn’t help but agree. Rebecca had her zany moments, but she had done a lot of good. He

would forever be in her debt for saving him.

Abby turned to face Sebastian and whatever she was going to say died on her lips.

“Oh my god your baby is so freaking cute!” she gushed. Sebastian sat up straighter and turned his body

so that Lucian was more visible.

“He takes after his fathers,” Sebastian said happily. Abby nodded then stopped.

“Huh?”

“I’m a hybrid. I gave birth to Lucian. My mates are Kent and Liam.” Sebastian indicated the two men

sitting on either side of him. Abby’s eyes bugged out a little.

Everyone around the room made their introductions. Rebecca stood up and went to Ma who handed

Aidhan over to her. She walked back over to the table and handed him to Abby.

“Hello Aunt Abby, my name is Aidhan, pleased to meetcha,” Rebecca said in a high-pitched voice.

Rhys watched as Abby’s eyes filled. She lay Aidhan down on her legs and let him wrap both hands

around either one of her forefingers. He cooed and giggled.

“Oh, Rebecca, he is perfect and look at those eyes. He has your eyes.” Abby sniffed and leaned forward

to blow raspberries on his tummy.

“Rhys, I’d like you to meet one of my oldest friends, Abigail Wright. Abby, this is Rhys. He belongs to

the local vampire coven and has the most beautiful singing voice I have ever heard.” Rhys smiled at Abby.

The woman smiled back at him. Leave it to Rebecca to notice that he had stayed in the background.

“Hybrids and vampires. How long have you been Alpha Mother?” she asked. Rebecca thought about it

for a second.

“Coming up on a year.”

“Well it looks like I’m moving to Arkadia.” Abby sighed.

Rebecca perked up. “Really!”

“Yes really. Did you really think I was going to leave you here by yourself to have all the fun? Besides

you’ll need help in your lab. I bet Meg will want in on it too.” Abby made funny faces at Aidhan. Rebecca

started to look nervous at the mention of a lab.

“Lab? What lab?” Rebecca asked with a nervous laugh. Rhys watched as Abby took in Rebecca’s

anxious expression and Aleks’s frown.

“Right. Well if you don’t have one, we need one. I can continue to do small trips here and there but I

would need a lab to do my research.”

“Right, I’m sure we can work something out,” Rebecca said, letting out a breath.

“Becca, baby, I thought you weren’t allowed in labs?” Aleks asked, still looking concerned.

Rhys was torn between wanting to see what this tiny woman could come up with and being terrified of

living in any proximity to her lab.

“Arkadia is off the grid. The US government can’t see me here, so I can work in a lab.”

Abby laughed.

“Meg purged your records last year. So you’re good.” She handed Aidhan back to Rebecca, who

cuddled him close.

“Awesome! I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on.”

“Working on?” Aleks asked.

“In theory only, baby,” Rebecca said, and shared a look with Abby.

“Oh, okay.” Aleks nodded.

“Did she ever tell you about her napalm experiment?” Abby asked Aleks. His eyes went wide.

“Ix-nay on the A-palm-nay!” Rebecca hissed.

“Or how about the bioluminescent rectal lubrication she invented?” Abby smiled slyly at Rebecca who

began choking on her french fry. Aleks scooped up Aidhan with one hand and pounded her on the back

with the other.

“The what?” Bethy asked, leaning forward.

“Please, please let me tell, please!” Abby begged.

“Fine, it is kinda funny,” Rebecca said after taking a sip of soda.

Abby turned in her chair until she faced most of the diner. Rhys smiled at how animated she seemed.

“Okay, so we all met pipsqueak when we were freshman. All of the other humans instinctively stayed

away from Cassandra, Meg, Camille and myself. The four of us stuck together because we had figured out

we were the only female shifters on campus. One day this runt comes walking over, sits down and just

starts talking. Whatever instinct ‘normal’ humans have that raises the little hairs on the backs of their necks

around us, she doesn’t have. Bold as brass, she just plops on down, compliments Camille on her sweater,

snags Meg’s iPod to look at her songs, asks to borrow Cassie’s class notes and lays her head in my lap. We

couldn’t get rid of her.” Abby smiled at Rebecca.

“Y’all were always alone, so I figured you needed more friends.” Rebecca shrugged.

“After a while it became apparent that this tiny human had adopted us, but we quickly figured out she

wasn’t like the normal vapid humans around us. One day we were walking across the quad after lunch

when Rebecca here spots the swim team harassing this smaller looking guy. As we get closer we hear that

they are calling him names like “Queer Boy” and “Butt Boy.” The cheerleaders are making up gay-bashing

cheers and heckling too. The poor kid looked devastated, crying and trying to pick up his books as they

kept swatting them out of his hands. Before Cassie and I could do anything, Tiny Tim over here marches

right up to the swim captain and kicks him as hard as she can in the shins. She starts ranting and raving

about how big of a jerk he is and how would he like it if someone made fun of him. That’s when he loses

his temper and open palm slaps her across the face. Of course she weighs like two pounds so she goes

flying. Cassandra had to restrain Camille, her hands had shifted to claws, so I was the one who went to

defend Rebecca, that’s when I saw it for the first time. When she looked up, she wasn’t crying or even

breathing hard. She stared down the swim captain, I mean stared him down. Everyone had gotten quiet, and

by this time, her just staring at him was starting to freak them out. She was acting so much like a shifter I

thought for sure we had pegged her wrong. The swim captain’s nerve broke and he ran. He freaking ran

from her, of course the rest of the team followed and the crowd broke up. That’s when I saw what he had

seen.”

“Oh Abby really.” Rebecca sounded exasperated.

“No, seriously. It was the first time I ever saw your ‘baby psycho eyes,’ but not the last.” Abby laughed.

“I do not have baby psycho eyes!” Rebecca protested.

“Yes you do,” Sebastian, Kate and Nic disagreed.

“See, they know you too, now hush, I’m getting to the good part.” Abby turned back to the crowd.

Rhys leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. This was getting good.

“So we don’t see munchkin here for like a week. Then, one day she says, ‘I think we should go to the

swim meet.’ Of course I’m like, ‘Oh God what has she done and are the batteries in my video camera

charged?’ We all go to the swim meet and this one here keeps checking her watch. All of a sudden the lights

go out and all around the pool we see faint glowing objects moving around. Then Rebecca stands up and

with a lung capacity I didn’t think someone her size had she yelled, ‘Glow in the dark anal lube!’ She had

swapped out her invention to whatever they kept in their sports bags. The entire crowd goes nuts and the

lights come on, just in time to see the mortified faces of the entire swim team. But she’s not done yet right.

She made sure the swim team captain could see her and she screams, ‘Make fun of homosexuals now,

asshole!’ The guys ran to the locker room leaving the girls there crying looking absolutely destroyed. When

they saw the guys bolt, leaving them alone, they ran from the heckling crowd to the girls’ locker room. That

was when we knew that whether she could shift or not this woman right here, was more dangerous than

most shifters. We’ve loved her ever since.” Abby blew kisses at Rebecca, who blew them back. Rian shook

his head.

“Why were the girls destroyed? I mean no one likes their business put out there but it’s not that same as

being outed, right?” he asked. Rebecca began laughing hysterically.

“Because it wasn’t their asses lighting up like Christmas trees, they had glow-in-the-dark lipstick,” Abby

said between laughing fits. Rian and Kate gasped.

“Oh my,” Ma murmured.

“Oh my god that’s terrible and hilarious at the same time. Can I say again, how much I love you?” Rhys

managed to get out. He hadn’t laughed this hard in decades.