Destiny of Three (9 page)

Star lay awake all night waiting for Jansen and Banks, but neither one of them came home.  She wanted to give them a piece of her mind, but how could she?  They didn’t owe her anything.  So what, they said she was their mate, it wasn’t like it was official.  Still, she felt they owed her some explanation of where they had been. 

She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Jonas was cooking eggs.  “Hey sweetie, do you want your eggs scrambled, fried, or boiled?”  Jonas asked as he scrambled some eggs. As she sat down she glanced over at the bar where Jonas had plates piled high with food.  She loved this kitchen, with its dark wood cabinets and the biggest granite counter tops she’d ever seen.  She loved sitting around the bar top watching Jonas cook in front of them.  He was a wonderful cook, and the room made you feel comfortable in it. 

“It doesn’t matter.  Hey Jonas, where are Jansen and Banks at?”  Star asked, trying to sound like she wasn’t really interested.  Jonas turned around to meet her stare. 

“They’re doing something for the Unit.” 

“Oh… Well, are they coming back today?” she asked.

“Don’t think so.  They said they’d be back for the dance tomorrow night, though.”  Jonas continued putting the platters on the table. 

They didn’t even call her; that infuriated her the most.  Who cared that they didn’t owe her a phone call, it was the right thing to do.  Dammit, they could have called so she didn’t worry about them.  They were her friends — or at least she’d thought they were.  Her mind reeled thinking of every type of situation they could be in.  This was why she didn’t need a mate. 

You’re always wondering when they’re going to call, and when they do, you’re left waiting for them to call again.  The worst is when they don’t call and all kind of ideas are in your head.
  River had already said that the girls were flying all around them. 
What if they went off with a couple of them and they’re trying to hide it?  That’s it — no mates for me.  Too much damn worrying and wondering.

“I’m going to see Sky.  I called him, and he said stayed in the loft last night.  Said he was working all night,” Star said bitterly. 

Jonas just continued to cook until River came in with Reece.  She watched as he kissed both of his mates then sat down to eat.  This is what she wanted, but Jonas and Banks couldn’t even give her a freaking courtesy call. 

“River, I’m going to see Sky for a few hours.  I didn’t know if you wanted to come with me.  I know he has some new pieces he just made he wants to show you.”  Star hoped her sister would take the hint and agree.  She hated making up stories to River’s mates.  Last night while she was asleep she’d another nightmare, and this time she thought she’d figured out how to harness more power out of her hands. 

“Sure.  I’ll be late to work,” River’s voice was low as she spoke to her mates. 

“Okay baby.  Just take the detail with you,” Reece suggested.  Well, it was more of an order, since they were going to follow her no matter what.

“You got it,” she answered, then winked at Star.

Thank God River understood what she was trying to say without her having to say it in front of her mates.  She ate quickly, then ran up to her room and brushed her teeth before leaving.  But then she was in her bathroom, brushing her teeth and wondering if Jansen and Banks were safe or not, and that bothered her more then she wanted to admit.  She was done with them, but she still worried and cared about them. 

Star decided that when they got home she’d sit them both down and tell them that she only wanted to be friends with them.  That it wasn’t anything personal; but it was, and she couldn’t stand the jealousy she felt creeping up inside her every time she thought about them. 

Quickly, she ran downstairs where River was waiting for her. 

“You ready?”  River asked.

“Yep, let’s do this.”  Star got in the car and turned around to see River’s shadows pulling up behind them.

“Okay, spill it.  Tell me about your dream,” River demanded as she pulled out of the driveway.

“This one started out the same way, then it changed on me.  This time Banks was there, and he was in his bear form.  He was staring straight ahead, staring at Sky.  His eyes looked funny, River.  It was as if he was under a spell.  One of the guards had you this time, and he had a knife to your throat.  He’d already started cutting into your skin when he told me to kill these men who were members of the vampire council.  I didn’t know them, but I had to or he was going to hurt you.  He said if I didn’t follow him then he would much rather see the Powerful Three dead, and you would be the first one.”  Star gasped, clamping a palm over her mouth as she furiously shook her head.  “I had to…” 

“Star, look at me.”  She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at her sister.  “This can be changed, Star.  We won’t let him win.  Remember, the three of us have to stick together and plan for this.  It’s like our dreams are warning us and giving us an opportunity to prepare.  Don’t you see, we have a chance to have a plan in place so we can defeat this vampire.”  River smiled at her. 

“Do you think so?”  Star asked.  She wanted to believe that they could somehow change the outcome of her nightmares. 

“Yes, I do,” River said.  Star could hear the confidence in her sister’s voice.  She needed to get on the bandwagon too.  Thinking good thoughts and believing they could do this was a start.

“Then I do too.  We need to get this down on paper and plot out every detail.  That way we can figure out a plan and put it into effect once the vampire shows up.  There has to be some way for him to get us all together, and we need to figure out how he’s going to do it.  Then we need to bring in certain people to carry this out.  He probably thinks we have no clue and that he can catch us off guard.”  Star pulled her notebook from her bag and started writing down what they needed to do.

“I like how you think, little sister.  Now, who can we get to help us out?  If we include my mates they’ll just take over and try to keep us under lock and key, which will screw up everything.  I want them included, but I know how they think, and if they know ahead of time they’ll hide us, and then we’ll be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our lives.  This way we get the plan together and get our powers working while he has no clue we know he’s coming.”  River smiled.  “It’s a perfect plan.  We just have to be on top of every single detail.”

“Okay, then who do we get to help us out?  I know the first person should be Lilly.  She knows how to keep a secret and she knows how to handle herself.  Plus, I’ve trained with her — she’s sneaky as hell and stronger than you’d think. She’s kicked my ass several times,” Star suggested.

“I agree.  Her brothers have taught her all their tricks and she has no problem using them.  But most of all, I think she can bring people together without them realizing she’s putting them there for a reason.  She’s a strategic planner, that’s for sure.”

“Now, let’s tell Sky, and then we all need to practice our powers.  Also, if we use Lilly then Sky can practice on her since she’s a wolf.”  Star smiled.  She loved it when a plan started coming together.  She wasn’t going to cry anymore about what-ifs.  Today she was going to start kicking ass and taking names; and that included Jansen and Banks.  They should’ve called and let her know that they were going to be out of town and that they were okay.  They lived in the same house, for goodness sakes.  But once she did finally talk to them she’d drop the bomb on them about only wanting to be friends.

****

“How does that look?”  Sky asked as he wrote down the details they could all agree on.

“Looks great.  Lilly, do you understand everything?” Star asked.

“Yes.  When do we bring in the Unit and my brothers?”

“Not until we have our powers worked out, which brings us to Sky getting to use you as his guinea pig,” River suggested with a smile. 

“You’re loving this.”  Lilly’s voice was teasing.  “The stuff I do for my friends.” 

Star smiled as she glanced over at Sky.  She could tell that he was happier today for some reason.  She’d heard that Sullivan had left town, but River had told her last night that he said he was coming back, so she figured that might have something to do with it.

“Hey, you know you need to shift so he can try to talk to you and use his mind control on you,” Star pointed out.  “Come over here and take your clothes off behind the door.” 

Lilly was such a good sport.  She jumped up and went over to the bathroom door, changed clothes, and then trotted out on all fours.  She was such a beautiful wolf, with black fur and a white spot that looked like some type of symbol on her stomach. 

“Pretty wolf,” River teased, and Lilly bumped her as she walked past.  She was still a good-size wolf even though she was such a petite person. 

“Lilly, if you would, stand right there and don’t move.  I’m going to try and talk to you; without speaking, of course.  I’ve never done this, so I really don’t know if it’ll even work.”  Sky took in deep breaths then released them.  He tried to clear his mind and think of nothing but Lilly, then closed his eyes and imagined saying her name.  ‘
Lilly, Lilly, can you hear me.’
  Sky opened his eyes, and watched but nothing happened.  He shook out his arms then focused again on the black wolf.  Concentrating, Sky said her name in his head,
‘Lilly, if you can hear me, then bark.’

He watched as Lilly’s black eyes got wider before she barked.  Sky jumped up, excited.  “She did it.  She heard me!  I told her to bark if she could hear me.” 

Star and River ran over and hugged him.  Star had the feeling that their plan was finally coming together, and just maybe they’d all live through it.

“Now try making her do something that she doesn’t want to do,” Star suggested.  “Remember Lilly, you need to fight whatever Sky tells you to do.  We want to see if he can do that, and if he can make you do it then he should be able to do it to anyone.” 

Lilly barked again, then sat down on her hind legs and waited.

Sky had to think of something that Lilly wouldn’t want to do.   It needed to be something that she’d get mad at him for making her do.  If he could do that he’d be ahead of the game.

Without hesitating, Sky reached out in his mind to Lilly and said,
‘Lilly, get up and shift right here in front of me.’
  Sky knew that it would piss Lilly off to shift in front of him without having any clothes on, even though he’d close his eyes as soon as her shifting started.  She wouldn’t be
really
mad—wolves were used to shifting in front of each other—but she’d never shifted in front of him.  Jonas shifted in his wolf almost every day when he went into the woods behind their house to run.

Lilly started fighting it, but Sky clenched his teeth together, reached out again, and demanded,
‘Shift now, Lilly.’
 

Sky watched as Lilly started to shift, then closed his eyes. He heard her yell out, “Dammit.  How did you do that?” 

Sky put his hand over his eyes.  “Get dressed and I’ll tell you.” 

“Shit, Sky.  I don’t care that you’ll see me nude.  It’s the fact that I couldn’t stop myself from doing it.”  Lilly’s voice was angry, but he knew she wasn’t mad at him; she was upset at not having control over her actions.

He could hear Lilly walking toward the bathroom. 

“You really did it,” River whispered.

Sky opened his eyes and looked over at his smiling sisters.  The only one who wasn’t smiling was Lilly.  She jerked her shirt down and walked over to him.  “How did you do that?”

“To be honest with you, I don’t know,” Sky admitted.  “I just pictured you in my head and then spoke to you as if I was talking aloud. I did the same when I told you to shift.” 

“Do you know how dangerous you would be to all shifters—and even some vampires, I suspect?  We’ll need to try that out, because if you can control vampires with your mind then you may be able to shut this vampire down before he even thinks of doing any harm to you.  It would make you safe,” Lilly answered.  She sat down in the chair, looking up at him in awe.

“I can understand shifters, but how could I control vampires?” he asked Lilly.

“Well, from what I’ve learned though my studies and talking to Reece, if you come from the lineage of the king of vampires, then you may have the power to control others with your mind.  Like you, Sky.  But only the ones who come from his line can do this.  You see, back in the old days, Sindrid Abner, the king, made his own family, and choose only certain people to be part of it.  These are the ones who would be able to use mind control on other vampires.  But like you said, we just don’t know enough about you and your powers.  Hell, you may be able to control us all, but I think that’s going to take a lot of practice,” Lilly commented.

“I guess the only way to tell is to find a strong vampire, one like Reece,” Sky said as he looked over at River.  He knew once her mates found out what they’d been planning they’d be mad at her.

“Let’s make sure Star can accurately shoot lightning out of her hands and I can read people’s minds.  Might as well try now.”  River glanced at Lilly.  “You up for a little bit more fun?”