Rikki's Awakening Read online

  RARE

  Rikki’s Awakening

  Dawn Sullivan

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by means mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission from the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events or persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or featured names are assumed to be the property of their respective owners and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement of any of these terms used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or in part, mechanically or electronically, constitutes a copyright violation. Published in the United States of America in March 2019; Copyright 2019 by Dawn Sullivan. The right of the Author’s Name to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by them in accordance with The Copyright, Designs, and Patent Act of 1988.

  Published by Dawn Sullivan

  Cover Design: Dana Leah- Designs by Dana

  Photographer: Shauna Kruse-Kruse Images & Photography

  Model: Chandra Holt

  Editors: CP Bialois and Jamie White

  Copyright 2019 © Author Dawn Sullivan

  Language: English

  For Kathy. My friend, my sister, my partner in crime since kindergarten.

  Contents

  RARE: Rescue And Retrieval

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  A Note from the Author

  About the Author

  Other books by Dawn Sullivan

  RARE: Rescue And Retrieval

  Extractions

  Angel: RARE alpha, wolf shifter, strong telepathic

  * * *

  Nico: Angel’s right-hand man, wolf shifter, telepathic, has the ability to see glimpses of the future

  * * *

  Phoenix: Human turned wolf shifter, telepathic, complete badass, loves anything that goes boom

  * * *

  Rikki: Human, kick ass sniper, touches objects that others have touched and gets visions of the past, present, and sometimes the future

  * * *

  Jaxson: Wolf shifter, telepathic, RARE’s technology expert, dream walker

  * * *

  Trace: Black panther shifter, telepathic, badass sniper

  * * *

  Storm: Wolf shifter, strong telepath, has the ability to see into the future

  * * *

  Ryker: Bear shifter, telepathic

  * * *

  Flame: Telepathic

  * * *

  Bane: Wolf shifter, telepathic (other gifts unknown at this time)

  * * *

  Sapphire: Wolf shifter, telepathic, has the ability to see into the future (other gifts unknown at this time)

  1

  Rikki cried out in agony as fire raced through her veins. Her back arched off the bed, and she dug her fingers into the stark white sheets she lay on. A thin layer of sweat coated her skin and tears streamed down her face as she felt an inferno of heat ravage her from within. She struggled to figure out what was happening while the pain slammed through her.

  “What’s going on? What’s wrong with her?” Rikki heard a soft voice question urgently right before she let out another loud, piercing scream. Fear consumed her as it felt as if her body was being turned inside out.

  “She’s trying to shift,” another voice said harshly. “Dammit, Angel is gone on a mission. Hurry! You need to get Chase. We need an alpha here, now!”

  Distantly, Rikki realized she recognized one of the voices. Doc Josie was the doctor for the White River Wolves, which meant she must be in their hospital. That would make sense with the amount of pain she was in. It seemed like her body had a mind of its own as she once again arched up, her body twisting and turning in agony, almost throwing her off the bed. She cried out when a sharp jab of pain sliced up her spine, her chest heaving as she fought to bring air into her lungs. Groaning loudly, she turned on her side and curled into a ball, wrapping her arms tightly around her legs. Her breath came out in short spurts as she tried to pant through the pain. It was a struggle to open her eyes, but she finally managed.

  The bright lights in the room blinded her and she looked around wildly. What was going on? What was wrong with her? She had never felt this kind of intense agony before in her life.

  “Stop this, Rikki,” the doctor ordered, taking a step closer to the bed. “Get control of yourself.”

  Rikki gasped, closing her eyes to block out the light. “Hurts,” she managed to snarl, followed by what sounded like a low growl. What the hell? Shaking her head, she spat, “The light, it hurts. Shut it off.”

  “I’ll get it.” There was that soft voice again. Rikki’s brows furrowed in confusion when a deep, acrid scent hit her. What was that smell? As the scent grew stronger, she opened her eyes and her gaze connected with a frightened nurse standing in the doorway. The woman stood immobile, clutching a clipboard tightly to her chest.

  “Thank you,” Rikki rasped quietly, not wanting to scare her any more than she obviously already had. Slowly turning her head to look at Doc Josie, she took a deep breath, trying to understand what was going on. Suddenly, her eyes widened and met the doctor’s in terror when a sharp pain slammed up the back of her neck and into her skull. Her gums ached, and she swore when she accidentally bit into her tongue.

  “You need to calm down,” Doc Josie ordered as she placed a gentle but firm hand on Rikki’s arm. “The change will come so much easier if you just let your wolf take over. Stop fighting her, Rikki. All she wants to do is protect you.”

  Wolf? Rikki thought as she fought the urge to throw up. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut against the pain in her head, she moaned when she felt something digging into the palms of her hands. Glancing down, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the claws that had sprouted from her glove-covered fingertips.

  “Rikki, look at me,” Doc Josie ordered, grasping one of Rikki’s hands. “You need to calm down. You are going to hurt yourself.”

  A growl erupted from deep within Rikki’s chest, and she turned to glare defiantly in the doctor’s direction. “You don’t get to tell me what to do,” she spat angrily. Ripping her hand from the doctor’s, Rikki snarled lowly, refusing to bow down to the other woman.

  “No,” a deep voice interrupted, “but I do.” Swinging her head around, Rikki curled her top lip up, baring her teeth at the male. Chase Montgomery, the alpha of the White River Wolves, stood just inside the doorway, watching her calmly.

  Rikki froze when she felt his energy begin to build throughout the room as he pushed his power in her direction. She knew he was trying to help, but it just pissed her off. “Stop it!” she demanded loudly, growling lowly at him. She would not allow him to control her. She would cower down to no one, dammit.

  “Enough,” Chase commanded roughly, taking a step closer to her. Against her will, Rikki whimpered in pain and confusion when Chase pushed more of his power her way. She had never felt anything like it before. “You will not fight me, Rikki. I am your alpha and you will stand down,” he demanded. “Do you understand?”
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  Shivering in fear at the sheer power radiating off the formidable male, Rikki collapsed back onto the bed, sobs tearing from her throat. “What’s going on?” she whispered raggedly. “What are you doing to me?”

  Rikki stiffened when she felt a hand stroke down her long, dark hair gently, soothingly. “It’s going to be okay,” Chase promised her in a quiet, comforting voice. “I’m here now. You are going to be just fine.”

  Shivering again, Rikki cried softly as the pain continued to ravage her body. “It hurts. It hurts so fucking much. Please, make it go away. Please.” She had never felt so weak and vulnerable before, and she hated it. She’d been on her own since she was a child. She’d gone through hell and back and survived, but she had never been in the kind of agony she was now, not even when she took a bullet meant for Nico.

  As Rikki lay there fighting the need to lash out at someone or something, she suddenly felt the pain slowly start to ebb away, her body once again becoming her own. After several minutes, she opened her eyes and whispered softly, “I don’t know what you did, but…thank you.”

  Chase continued to gently stroke her hair as he told her, “Your wolf just wants to protect you, Rikki. One of these days, you are going to have to let her. For now, I have pushed her back down and told her to wait. There is nothing to be afraid of. Your wolf would never harm you. She’s a part of you. To harm you, would mean she would harm herself.”

  “My wolf?”

  Chase’s eyes narrowed, his hand coming to rest lightly on her shoulder. “Do you remember what happened?”

  Did she? Rubbing a hand over her face, she tried to recall how she had ended up in the hospital this time. It seemed as if it were becoming a recurring habit. One she needed to break. “It’s all so foggy,” she admitted finally.

  Chase sighed deeply as he ran a hand roughly through his dark hair. “How much do you recall?”

  Frowning, Rikki’s hand drifted down to cover her neck and she stiffened, her eyes widening in horror. “I was shot. Again. This time in the neck.”

  Chase nodded. “Yes.”

  “I was dying.”

  “Yes, you were,” he agreed quietly. “Jinx and Angel saved you.”

  “Saved me how?” Rikki asked in confusion. Even though she could remember being shot, everything after that was a blur.

  “The only way they could.” There was silence, and then, “They cheated death by turning you, Rikki. You are now one of us.”

  One of them? That could only mean one thing. Letting her eyes close in exhaustion, Rikki whispered, “I’m not ready to hear anymore, Chase.”

  “You don’t really have a choice, Rikki. Your wolf won’t wait much longer.”

  “Please, not yet. I’m not strong enough. The pain, it’s excruciating.” She started to shake as waves of coldness began to rack her body. She felt so weak, so sick.

  “The first shift will hurt,” Chase agreed quietly as he pulled the blankets up around her shoulders, tucking them tightly around her. “Once you get through that first shift, though, it will be so much easier. You and your wolf will work together. You won’t be fighting each other. You are very blessed to have her with you, Rikki. To share a soul with her.” Running his hand gently down her hair one last time, Chase said softly, “Sleep now, little one. Sleep.”

  Burrowing deep into the covers, Rikki sighed as the last of the pain finally receded. Utterly exhausted, she let herself drift off to sleep, a pair of dark brown eyes flashing through her mind. Right before she went under, she murmured, “Jeremiah.”

  Chase watched as Rikki slipped back into a deep sleep before walking over to sit in the chair by the window. The young woman had been through so much since she and her team came to help his pack the year before. First, shot and taken prisoner by the General’s men. Then, shot again a few months later. A fatal shot that required she be turned into one of them or she would have died. After that, they almost lost her to one of the General’s assassins who was able to slip into people’s minds and manipulate them into doing whatever they wanted. That bitch Ashley had Rikki close to giving up on life. Luckily, they’d been able to track her down and eliminate the problem before Rikki actually left this world for the next. Since then, she’d been in a deep, healing sleep. No matter what they did, they were unable to wake her. Until now.

  “What do we do?” he asked Doc Josie quietly.

  “We wait,” she said, her eyes on Rikki in concern.

  “You think she will go back to wherever she was before? Refusing to wake again?”

  The doctor shook her head thoughtfully. “No. I’ve never dealt with anything like this before, but if I had to guess, I would say Rikki’s wolf won’t allow her to drift away from us again.”

  “I agree.”

  “I think it’s important to have her team near her right now. The people she considers family. She’s going to be frightened and will need all of the love and support she can get for a while to help her through the transition from her human world to our shifter one.”

  Chase nodded, taking out his phone and sending a quick text. “RARE is on a mission, but should be back in the next couple of days. Phoenix stayed behind because Serenity is close to giving birth. I’ll get them both in here.”

  “Sounds good. I want someone with her at all times, just in case…”

  “You don’t have to worry about her being alone,” Chase interjected. “I’m not going anywhere.” He knew what the doctor was thinking. Rikki’s wolf was strong, and Rikki had no idea how to control her. They didn’t need anyone getting hurt on accident. He had a pack to protect, and that pack included Rikki. She was one of his wolves now, and he would keep her safe, even if it was from herself.

  2

  Jeremiah Black rubbed a hand over his face in exhaustion, ignoring the conversation going on around him. He really didn’t give a shit how much the little prick in the corner wanted to jerk off to the image of one of the prisoners they had in Virginia. Or how another one of the guards thought they should take turns beating a powerful lion shifter they’d captured the month before, because he refused to bow down to anyone no matter what they did to him. Then, there were the rumors of the General’s death and Ebony’s takeover. Speculation on how it happened, and what to expect now. He didn’t have to wonder what happened. He knew. He was there when RARE infiltrated the facility he was stationed at. He’d heard the gun go off. Heard Ebony was the one who pulled the trigger. He’d also seen Jaxson, a RARE team member, tear out the General’s throat. Yeah, he knew it all, but right now he didn’t give a fuck about any of it.

  His mind was consumed with thoughts of his beautiful mate, who was currently in the hospital at the White River Wolves compound in a deep sleep, from what he’d been told. What the hell did that mean, anyway? Was it similar to a coma? Angel told him Rikki wasn’t in any pain. That’s what mattered. But… what had happened to her? The thought of his strong, courageous mate, fighting for her life while he was working for the bastard who hurt her in the first place had him wanting to rip out the heart of every soldier in the room with him. The General’s men, now Ebony’s.

  Gritting his teeth, Jeremiah glanced around the small area that he and five other guards were crammed into. They each had a cot, a tiny dresser with two drawers to keep their clothes in, and that was it. They shared a bathroom that was just big enough to walk in, turn around, and sit your ass on the toilet. Or take two steps to the right and climb in the shower. Lucky for him, none of the other men seemed to think cleanliness was important, so he never had to fight for a shower. His shifter genes protested the stench that filled the room he had to sleep in with the filthy bastards, though. And they thought shifters were the animals.

  “Yo, Jer, what do you think of that little hottie in Virginia? You know, the feisty one with the long red hair.”

  What Jeremiah thought was that he wanted to punch the little fucker in the face. That poor little fox was hurting, no matter how sassy she might be to them. And the betrayal in her gaze
when she looked at him with those large amber eyes was like a punch in the gut every single time he saw her. He knew she couldn’t understand why a shifter would work for someone like the General. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell her the real reason he was there. All he could do was treat her the same way he did all of the other prisoners he came into contact with. With indifference. If he acted as if he gave a damn about any of them, even in the slightest, the other guards would pounce on him. He couldn’t afford to have that happen. He’d worked his way too deep into the organization to have his position second guessed by anyone. So, with a shrug, he said, “She’s okay. Not really my type.”

  “Not your type? Shit, man, she’s fine!”

  “Exactly what is your type?” Jerret Kyle, one of the other guards, asked. “I’ve worked with you for months now, but as far as I know, you haven’t dipped your dick into any pussy since I’ve known you. What, you prefer guys or something?”

  Jeremiah stood and walked over to him, staring down at him, his face a hard, cold mask. Jerret was a cruel son of a bitch. From what Jeremiah had been able to find out, he’d been with the General’s organization for close to three years now. He loved to mess with the prisoners — shifters and psychics both; he didn’t care. They were all beneath him in his opinion. “Do I look like I prefer guys?” he growled, getting right up in the other man’s face. Hell, he didn’t care what anyone’s sexual preference was. He had a female cousin who was bisexual, and he fully supported her. Would kick anyone’s ass who spoke out against her. But he couldn’t let these bastards know that.