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  Hope and her siblings and Christian and his twin, had an arch of color coming from them. Cami"s children had gold, and Jo"s children had silver. They were giggling and wiggling like they were happy. Casey cried out when she saw a shower of green sparks join the children"s colors, it was coming from her. No one had been paying attention, and suddenly Cloe swore. “Damn it.” And they all turned to see a small glow coming from her stomach; it was red and very small, but still there.

  Cami clapped and said. “Told you so!”

  “Dude.” Levi said and looked around the room. “Your kids are glowing like a frickin"

  beacon.”

  “Uh Levi?” Reggie said in a panicked tone and looked at Ruby, who was standing there looking around.

  “What?” She said and laughed nervously.

  “Baby, look down.” Reggie said calmly and then braced himself for the screeching.

  Cami, Jo, Casey and Cloe all began talking at once, because a tiny purple spark was erupting from Ruby.

  “Seriously?” Ruby said and then fainted.

  Reggie and Levi jumped to grab their unconscious mate before she hit the floor, and Blaine walked in.

  “Do you know what is going on?” Quin demanded.

  “Uh, your kids are freaks?” Blaine replied and laughed at the chaos. “Which one is gonna do the next trick?”

  “I am gonna kick your ass.” Jaden said and walked toward him with his fist clenched and then the most amazing thing happened. A shield of color separated Blaine from Jaden. It made a bubble around him, like it was protecting him.

  “Hope, honey, let your daddy kick the stupid man"s ass.” Quin said and bent over the crib.

  “Ha, your kids like me more than you.” Blaine said and turned to move, but the shield would not allow him to.

  “Really, looks like maybe they are keeping you prisoner.” Cami drawled and laughed when the big man tried to pop the bubble without success.

  “Okay little ones, fun and games are over. Let Uncle Blaine go.” Sid said looking at his son calmly.

  The colors began swirling and flowing, but did not let him go. Blaine groaned and fell to his knees and gripped his head. Cloe tried to get to him but when she touched the bubble, it only flexed under her fingers.

  “What is going on?” Cami whispered and picked up Hope and held her close.

  “Any ideas?” Devon said.

  Blaine opened his eyes and said. “Yeah, they seem to want to think that I am one of the Chosen, and you were going to hurt me.”

  Jaden went to his daughter, kissed her gently and said, “Daddy was just playing with his big stupid friend. He promises that he won"t hurt him for being an ass.” Cami laughed when the energy in the room flashed and disappeared. “Can we recap here? So Blaine is one of the Chosen. Cloe and Ruby are both pregnant, and our children have amazing powers. Let"s have lunch, shall we? It"s nap time, I bet they are exhausted from being so cool. Nanny Frieda, can you lay them down?” The small Alpha clapped her hands and pointed to Blaine, who was still on the ground.

  Jaden and Quin rolled their eyes, went and gathered him up.

  “I guess the meeting has been moved up.” Quin said and led the way to the meeting room while Cami called to have lunch delivered.

  Chapter 2

  Kira took a deep breath when she entered her apartment. Two days she had been hanging around the alleys of the city, waiting for the opportunity to get past the men who were guarding that building. In order to know when the guards were going to take a break and leave her door unmanned, she had watched for the last few days, getting their schedule down. The entire time she remained invisible and it was wearing on her.

  She had never used her powers for this long and she knew she would not be able to hold it up for much longer. She just needed to get into her apartment and get her important stuff out then she could go to a hotel.

  Laughing she looked around her apartment and thought they had not been able to find anything. She knew she was a slob, clothes and paper strewn everywhere. It was a mess, but she knew exactly where everything was before and now things were moved.

  The idiots that had searched her room had not, that was obvious.

  She quickly got the things she needed to have while looking at her watch every few seconds. She had exactly five minutes to get out of here, or be trapped until the morning. Who knew when the men were going to get tired of waiting, come and search her apartment again, they had been in here at least three times that she counted.

  Last night Kira slept on the roof of the building across the street. She wished she had time to take a shower, but that was not in the cards. Prying up the board where she hid her money and valuables, Kira was happy to see that they had not searched the apartment too hard. It was probably because they could not figure out where to start.

  This money would at least help her hide until someone showed up. She had seen in a dream where they were going to find her, but not when. So she had planned accordingly, taken all of her money out of savings, and put it with the rest of the things she wanted to take with her.

  For all she knew it could be years or months until they came to find her. She could not be on the run that long. Kira prepared for this day because she had known it was coming. It did not make it any easier knowing it was finally here. Her parents would have received her cryptic message by now and would know that she was hiding. They would also know to stay away from her until she called them. When she had this dream the first time, she had seen her father get killed when she tried to go home for help.

  When she made the decision to stay away from home, the dream changed.

  It is strange what free will can do for you. Kira discovered when she was very small that decisions that we make change the future, and by changing that choice, you can change the outcome of poor decisions. Not that it stopped her every time, but when it mattered, it did.

  Three minutes she thought, looked around, grabbed her computer and her bag that she kept packed in the closet and then slipped out of the door.

  Kira was going to go to a hotel tonight, and get rested before figuring out what her next move should be. Hell, hopefully she was going to have a dream tonight to tell her where to go and stay. Right, she snorted to herself, her powers never worked that way. She was ready to get away from the danger that lurked outside her door, she just needed one more thing.

  Looking in her jewelry chest, she pulled out the long chain that she only wore when she was doing something for the den or the Sidhe. It was a gift from the Seer when she was born. Her mother said when she met her mates the stone on the necklace would combine all of their powers making them whole. Blah, blah, blah, she thought, but still took the necklace just in case her mother was right.

  Okay, time to get the hell out of here. Kira was not as large as most bear shifter women.

  Her mother was a full-blooded bear shifter and was just short of six feet tall. Kira was a measly five foot five and had a small stature. When she shifted, her bear looked a little like a cub instead of a full-grown bear. Not that she couldn"t do damage. Her claws could still rip apart anyone who challenged her. She had long curly hair which she had tied up into a messy ponytail last night. Her green eyes and pixie shaped face made her look unassuming; however, when forced to, she could be mean.

  Kira stepped back for a minute. Who was she kidding? She was not mean, she would not hurt anyone. Damn it, she was the nice girl, the one who smiled and nodded to people when they insulted her. She really hoped that no one was outside the door and going to make her attempt to kick their ass. It could be embarrassing for her and them.

  Swearing, she dug in her purse, pulled her new smart phone out and threw it on the floor. Now she was really pissed. It had taken her a week to figure that thing out and link it to all of her emails and facebook accounts. Now she was going to have to start all over. They could trace the GPS signal if they knew her number.

  Peaking around the door, she sighed with relief to find the guard had not retur
ned. She scurried out the door quickly not even bothering to lock the door. She had everything she wanted.

  She hit the roof and breathed deep, thanking the gods for making sure she was able to make it out before someone saw her. She did not need any more problems. Looking around the rooftop, she walked to the edge, climbed down the fire escape and hit the street. Now she just had to find a place to stay and wait. Her dreams were never wrong.

  Someone was coming for her, she just had to wait.

  Chapter 3

  They had all settled in the room when the phone rang.

  “What now? The four horsemen are coming to announce the apocalypse? I say we go for the gold.” Jaden said and stood up and answered the phone. “Hang on Oliver, I am putting you on speaker.”

  “Jaden, I am assuming the rest of the Council is there? I found a few things out. The child born in March was from a couple in a different Pack. Their last names were Orel.

  I only met them once, they were very happy to have their child be one of the Chosen.

  They were traveling back to their Pack when they disappeared. None has seen or heard from them again. We assumed they heard about the kidnapping and they went into hiding. The child was a male. That"s all I know. Now if you want to verify that you have found a Chosen, there was a rumor many years ago. There was a Bear and Sidhe mated and produced a female child who can see the aura of people. The Chosen have their own special aura. One only you share. If you find her, she may be able to tell you if someone is a Chosen. That"s the best I can do.”

  “Thanks Oliver, but we may have already gotten our answer; of course Mr. Negativity may need more proof.” Jaden said and hung up the phone.

  “Okay, I think the children proved that they think you are a Chosen. They wanted to protect you. But if you need more proof, we need to find this chick.” Devon said.

  “Yeah, do we just knock on the doors of people and ask if they have heard of a Sidhe and Bear mating?” Reggie said.

  “Nope, we call Dalton.” Quin said and stood up and looked around to his friends waiting for the one person who recognized the name.

  He was not let down when Darien stood and yelled. “Oh, hell no!” His mate Casey leaned and put her hand on his arm to calm him down. “Who is Dalton?”

  “A little bastard who my father used from time to time to find things out. The little shit is a sneaky bastard, and I wouldn"t trust him any farther than I could throw him. He once was supposed to find a missing member of the Pack that dad was worried about.

  Back then you had to make sure that you had formal permission to cross other Were"s land. Dalton is a Sidhe and can flash in and out of places easily and so, therefore, we did not have to go through all the protocol. That shithead found our missing Pack mate and then charged double for the exact location. The man was hurt in the mountains. He had lost his way, and if we had not paid, he would have frozen to death. All he wants is money. He would charge his own mother to do something for her.” Darien said in disgust.

  “That may be true, but he is the only Sidhe that I know will help. Most of them will not even admit to having any powers. They keep to themselves and don"t broadcast that they can do certain things. A Sidhe can move through space very easily, they can also tell a shifter's species at one look, it is kinda creepy. Some have other powers but we don"t know much about them, like I said they are very secretive. Dalton is a rare breed.

  He loves the greater comforts in life and will do anything to get them. I think it is worth the risk.” Quin said.

  Jaden stood and smiled, “If nothing else we can get a good laugh out of the dumb ass.

  He is like a hyperactive kid on a pound of candy. It is hilarious to listen to him.” Blaine looked around at the table. They were all watching him to see his reaction. I guess if it would answer the question once and for all, then sure he would be willing to go along with this. He wondered how this Dalton was going to find someone that they did not know.

  “So are we in agreement. I can"t call him unless the Council all agrees. Another one of the rules that we have to follow if we use an outside source.” Quin said and waited while they all nodded.

  Blaine wanted to know if he were one of the Chosen, he hoped he wasn"t and everything would go back to normal. That is all he wanted. To go back to the way it was. He could handle the dreams and the premonitions, but he did not want anyone to take his family or past away. When he found out if he was a Chosen, he worried that is what would happen. Then he would feel like he had to find his parents, or what happened to them at least. His mother would insist on it. Right now, they all assumed that he was abandoned. If he were one of the Chosen, then he would deal with it. He just needed an answer.

  They voted and Quin picked up the phone and called his father. After the call, he sighed and said. “All we have to do is call his name. Since we are the New Council he must appear and answer.”

  Jaden laughed and rubbed his hands together in glee. “I get to kick his ass first. Darien you grab his arms and Devon his legs.”

  The women laughed and shook their heads as the men planned on calling the Sidhe.

  Cami was excited because she wanted to meet the new magical being. Every time they encountered a new shifter, she asked a million questions until she felt comfortable. It drove Jaden and Quin nuts, but she did not care. Once she sat with a fox for three hours talking about their tricky nature. Cami explained to her friends that she felt that as the Alpha, she needed to know all there was to know about the shifters and magical creatures she never knew existed. Quin laughed and said it was because she was nosey.

  Quin finally called for Dalton loudly as the men stood prepared to pounce. The women stood on the other side of the room with Blaine, who had his arms crossed, laughing about how the men were acting.

  “Dalton Thronegood of the Thorne Sidhe clan, the New Council requests your presence.” Quin said loudly and then took a defensive stance.

  Blaine laughed loudly when there was a flash and a tall handsome man appeared behind Quin and the others. He looked around curiously and then tapped Quin on the shoulder and smiled at the women. “Hello, Quin.”

  Their Alpha jumped, which made the women laugh even harder and the men stood frowning at the man who had appeared. They seemed upset by the way the man had thwarted them. Jaden growled and the others surrounded the man.

  He was tall and lanky, not what you would call buff, like most of the shifts in the room.

  He had long black hair that was tied back into a ponytail that was wrapped with a thick colorful rope. He had a long smooth face with sharp cheekbones, a long regally pointed nose and thick full lips. Blaine looked closer and thought that he resembled someone he had seen before; he just could not place him. Regardless, he was possibly the most beautiful man he had ever seen. Blaine felt his cock stir in appreciation, then get harder when the man smiled and laughed at the men in the room.

  “Jaden, don"t tell me you are still pissed about that little bet we had a few years ago. I told you that you should never bet a Sidhe. Besides, she wasn"t that good, so you didn"t miss out.” Dalton said in a deep voice that made Blaine shiver a little.

  “That is not what this is about and you know it, you slimy little shit.” Jaden growled as Devon held him back from rushing the man.

  “Darien, it"s good to see you again. Before any of you get bent out of shape, listen, my brother is the one who was asking for the money, not me. If you remember correctly, I came and told you where your Pack mate was. I never took money, that was all his doing.” Dalton said holding up his hands. “You wolves hold grudges for way too long. I never got a dime of that money because my brother had to pay for the surgery to relocate his shoulder that you damaged, Darien. You know, Sidhe don"t heal like you do.”

  “I should have broken every bone in his body, the little shit. And don"t give me that shit about not knowing. You were in constant contact with us. You could have told us where our Pack mate was before your brother demanded the money and you know it,
” Darien growled.

  “You say potato, I say patato. Whatever, water under the bridge. Now, what may I do for the New Council?” He said curiously.

  Blaine stepped forward a little and then groaned when he caught the man"s scent. Not now, he thought and looked around the room. No one had heard him, thankfully. Crap, he needed his answer first, and then he would be able to claim his mate. He just could not deal with all of this together.

  Dalton turned quickly and looked at Blaine. The Sidhe must have some sense of mates also, because he saw the knowing looking in the handsome mans eyes as he smiled at him. Well, this was going to be a little interesting.

  “We need you to help us find the child who was born a shifter and a Sidhe.” Quin said and then frowned when the man began to laugh again.

  “What? A shifter and a Sidhe. You know as well as I do, if such a child had been born the shifter world would have been turned on its ear.” Dalton said looking at the serious faces around the room. The man looked from one to the next before landing on Blaine again, and he held his gaze.

  “Dalton. We know that one was born. We just need to find them.” Quin said looking for the man"s reaction to see if he would agree. Then they would know for sure that such a person exists.

  Dalton never broke his eye contact with Blaine and he said, “Quin, I am telling you, I have made it my business to know everything that goes on in the Sidhe world. I would know if a child of such heritage had been born. You know how we love to gossip.” Blaine began to feel uncomfortable under the man"s scrutiny. His eyes were intense as he looked at him, it was as if there was no one else in the room. Blaine had no intention of drawing attention to himself until he knew the truth.

  Quin watched the interaction with some interest between the two men and then smiled.

  “Dalton, let me introduce you to the New Council.”

  ***

  Dalton nodded, and for the first time allowed his eyes to be drawn away from the man in the corner of the room. It was bad enough the Alpha of the New Council discovered that because of his power as Council leader he only had to call the name of a Sidhe and they would come. The compulsion was overwhelming, and it sucked. He had hated it since he was a small child.