Siren's Secret

33. New Home

The ride down to Santa Cruz was uneventful. Pierce  and Jason talked most of the way down while Georgia put on her headphones to listen to music while catching up on work. This gave Rieka some time to rest since she was still sore and tired from her injuries. After a little over an hour of banter with the guys, she laid her head on the window and fell asleep. 

Pierce grabbed a jacket and bundled it up.  He motioned for Jason to help lift Rieka's head enough so he could put the jacket under her head for a pillow. With Rieka situated, Jason grinned at Pierce knowingly, "You know, I never would've pegged a Jaguar for Ri, but you seem to be really good for her." 

"I am her loyal general, Alpha Jason, and I will be until she decides otherwise."  

Jason smirked, "Uh huh. Of course. I've never seen a general be so affectionate to his leader, but maybe jaguar-kind are different than wolves."

"Most cat shifters are affectionate to their partners and tolerate everyone else." Pierce met his challenge head on, "Though my feelings for your sister are present, I will not presume she feels the same way, nor will I pursue them until she is ready.  I'm also not naïve enough to think that she would choose me over her goddess given mate either."

Jason sighed, "You know, Ri was never sure if she had one. Angels don't have mates like wolves do. Since she's a hybrid and has traits of both, it's always been an unknown variable." 

Pierce furrowed his brow, "Do you believe she has a mate out there?"

Jason shrugged, "I'm not sure. Unfortunately we only know when we meet them. Part of me always assumed she did because she shifts into Rayna as I do to Jax. Other than the wings and her gifts in human form, she and Rayna act no differently than Jax and I do. I know it used to bother her growing up.  Ri would see other mates find each other and be so happy. She wanted what they had so badly and she even would draw pictures of her and her mystery wolf mate as a young kid.  As we got older, I think Ri realized that she might not ever get that, so she threw herself into work and training and decided to put all of that on hold indefinitely." 

Pierce grew silent as he considered Jason's words.  He knew that his feelings with Rieka were ones he had never felt before- He wanted her more than anything. He knew the risk was high that he might lose her to her mate, but Pierce decided he didn't care. If he could have her for even a short time, he would be happy to have been with the most beautiful woman in the world. Pierce decided right then that he would be by her side no matter what- even if she was in love with someone else.

The city grew closer and once they were in the outskirts of Santa Cruz, they turned towards the foothills.  The SUV's pulled onto a small side road that had trees lining either side of the pavement. About forty feet later, a large stone wall with an iron gate came into view. The stone wall had two large lion statutes, snarling mouths agape, front claws out as if defending the wall from invisible enemies. 

Near the gate was a small guard booth. As the SUV's neared, two shifter guards came out to inspect them. The window of the back seat lowered so Pierce could talk to them. As soon as the guards saw Pierce, they stood at attention and saluted. Pierce waved them off and they scurried to the booth to open the gates.  

Past the gates, the pavement wound up the side of the tree covered hills. Jason leaned over and gently shook Rieka, "Hey Ri. Wake up. You're going to want to see this." Rieka inhaled sharply as she stretched and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.  When she opened her eyes and stared out the window, her breath hitched in her throat.

Coming into view was a breathtaking modern Spanish mansion the size of a small palace-easily four times the size of the pack house at Nocturnal Eclipse. It had a clean, modern square design with archways and columns accentuating the already luxurious architecture.  A dark brown Spanish style roof topped off the look as they drove up to the round about driveway that had a fountain in the middle of the circle.