Pounding Earth

by ERIN BEDFORD

  “I agree, of course.” Jack placed a hand on my waist, his voice low beside my ear. “If I had any siblings, I would want to make sure they were happy as well, but do you think right now is the time to worry about that? We’re on the brink of war and need to be preparing for the upcoming battle.”

  Twisting around so that I faced Jack, I pressed my chest against him. Looking up at him beneath my lashed, I licked my lips, making my voice go low and husky. “And if I said I wanted you to take me right here on the bookshelf, would you insist we go back to training?”

  Jack swallowed visibly, the heat in his eyes making my nipples harden. “I would say …” He leaned down so his mouth hovered over mine and I inched up on my toes. “Train first, fuck later.”

  I dropped back onto my heels and pouted.

  Raiden chuckled and shook his head. “You are a better man than me, Jack. I wouldn’t have hesitated to pound our lovely mate into oblivion no matter who would hear us.”

  I pressed my thighs together at the visual, my heat slick with need. My gaze turned to Raiden, and I trailed my fingers along his chest. “Well, I’m not dead set on who does it.”

  Raiden grinned at me wolfishly, his hand covering my own. Unfortunately, before he could make good on his word, Jack stepped between us. “Hey, come on now, you passed,” Raiden said with a frown.

  “As much as I would love to let you exploit our mate, I would remind you of the incident that just occurred in the bedroom.” Jack raised a knowing brow, and both Raiden and I slumped in defeat.

  I’d been trying my best to forget about this morning, but of course, Jack had to bring it up. Though, he had a point. I really shouldn’t be having sex with so many flammable objects. Or beds. Or walls. Really anywhere until I got my powers under control.

  “I’m sad to say he’s right.” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t want to have to explain to Lord Fafnir why I burned down his library like I had to explain this morning with the bed covers.” The memory of the bed catching on fire as I climaxed was fresh in my mind now. It was bad enough the babies made me a walking time bomb, now I couldn’t even get my freak on without worry about blowing up something.

  A smug grin on Jack’s face he laced his fingers in front of him. “Should we adjourn to the training grounds now? Or did you want to continue to spy on your sister a bit more?”

  I glanced between the books toward where my sister and the twins sat, but they were gone. Brow furrowed, I searched the library for where they could have gone until I felt a tap on my shoulder. Frozen in place, I took a moment to put a glowing smile on my lips before turning around. Aeis stood behind me with the twins in tow, curious looks covered their faces while Aeis just looked annoyed.

  “Aeis! What a lovely surprise.” I pulled her into my arms for a tight hug. “I didn’t know you liked the library. The guys and I were just looking for some books on …” I squinted at the books on the shelf next to me. “Ice fishing.”

  “Ice fishing?” my sister repeated, her hands on her hips with a disbelieving look on her face. “I didn’t know you liked to fish.”

  “Oh, yeah. The guys and I love fishing, isn’t that right?” I chuckled nervously, glancing back at Raiden and Jack for help, but they remained silent, amusement glittering in their eyes.

  “You must be the fisher, because Raiden couldn’t catch a fish a day in his life.” Fujin nudged Raijin with a snicker.

  Raiden pushed forward and pointed a finger at Fujin. “I’ll have you know, I’m a great fisherman. I caught plenty of fish for us while we traveled around, didn’t I?” He looked to me for approval. I should have left him high and dry like he and Jack had done me, it would serve him right.

  “Oh yeah, Raiden’s a great fisherman.” I nodded my head a bit too enthusiastically. “In fact, it was Jack here who told us we should try ice fishing.” I clapped a hand on Jack’s arm, giving it a tight squeeze. “Said it would help me relax a bit.”

  Raijin grinned mischievously. “You mean cool off, right?”

  I frowned. “No, why would I need to do that?”

  “Well, we heard someone who will remain nameless destroyed an entire bed set because things got a bit too hot in the bedroom,” Aeis smirked, and my eyes narrowed.

  “It’s not funny,” I snapped, my face heating up and my hands balling into fists. “And how the hell did you find out about that so fast?”

  “You would be surprised how fast gossip can spring to life around here, Maya, and you have to admit, it’s a little funny.” Jack ran a hand down my back in a soothing manner. “Remember to breathe.”

  His low reminder made me force my hands to relax and take a deep breath. When I let it out, all the building heat slowly released with it. I shook my head slightly and sighed.

  “I’m sorry, it’s getting increasingly harder to hold my temper. I can tell you, I’ll never get on to Firestar again for being a hothead. I understand now what it’s like to have this much balled-up energy inside of you on a daily basis. It’s overwhelming.” I gestured at my chest, earning me a sympathetic nod from everyone.

  “Speaking of Firestar,” my sister started, “have you heard from him lately? It’s been a few days now since I’ve arrived, and I would imagine he’d have made it home by now.”

  Aeis had a point. Firestar had left several days before Aeis had arrived, he should have arrived by now. The fact that we hadn’t heard anything from him was troubling. More so for the fact that he’d gone alone.

  “We haven’t heard anything.” I glanced at Jack and Raiden for confirmation, and they shook their heads. “Do you think something may have happened to him?” As I asked, panic began to well up inside of me. I knew it was a bad idea for Firestar to go alone. I’d told him and everyone. I had even felt something bad would happen. Now, I feared it had.

  “I’m sure he’s fine.” Raiden placed a hand on my shoulder, drawing my eyes to him. “He probably just got delayed or forgot to send word back.”

  “Yes, I’m sure that’s it,” Jack agreed, closing in on my other side, the hand on my back moving in soothing circles. “But why don’t we send a message to the South and find out for sure?”

  I nodded slightly, letting them lead me out of the library. My sister and the twins followed, but I didn’t really notice. I was too preoccupied with what might have happened to Firestar. Was he alright? Was he even still alive? And finally, why did I ever agree to let him go alone?

  My mind reeled as Jack penned the note to Firestar and gave it to a passing servant to be sent on the fastest messenger bird they had. Even with the fastest bird, it would still take a few days to get a response and waiting would be torture.

  “I don’t know if I can do this,” I whispered, sitting on the edge of my bed a few feet from Jack and Raiden discussing our next move in front of me. My words interrupted their plans, and they both sat beside me.

  “Maya,” Jack said softly, taking my hand in his. His thumb moved along the top of my hand, sending pleasant tingles through it. I tried to focus on it and not the hollow feeling in my chest. “Everything will be fine, I promise.”

  “Can you though?” I glanced up from our joint hands. “Can you really promise me everything will be fine? That Firestar isn’t dead or worse? Because right now I can’t see it. Since I came back from Earth, everything has been one disaster after another.”

  “Now, that’s not true.” Raiden brushed a hair away from my face. “There have been some good times too.”

  “But everything that’s happening is because of me,” I countered, my eyes welling up with tears. “First, Firestar’s men betray him. Then your mother betrays you. And I don’t even want to get started on the whole Gretchen scenario.” I paused and then remembered something. “And Ned! My favorite cousin in the entire world has turned into a rotten dirty murderer. Now tell me how my coming back was a good thing?” I let out a bitter laugh. “My sister isn’t the one who’s cursed, it’s me.”

  The guys were quiet for a fe
w moments, and the sinking feeling started to overwhelm me. They couldn’t even tell me I was wrong. They knew it as much as I did. Everything horrible that has happened has been because of me. I should have just stayed on Earth. I could have helped Ryan finish making Waesigar 2 and just daydreamed about the day I’d come back. Though, I’d have known it never would happen. It had been simpler then. Better.

  “Maya,” Jack said my name once more, his hand cupping my face, turning it to look at him. “It’s true. Those things happened, and they happened because of you.” I opened my mouth to snap at him, but he shook his head. “But none of those things were your fault. You didn’t make them do what they did. Nor did you force me to leave Gretchen to be with you, which I will admit was the best decision I ever made.” His pale eyes locked with mine making sure I saw how serious he was.

  “He’s right,” Raiden said, his hand caressing my arm. “My mother was corrupt long before you got there. You only made me see what she’d been hiding. Which I’m grateful for.”

  “But I ruined your family.”

  “No,” Raiden shook his head. “You gave me a new one.” He placed his hand on my stomach with a small smile. “And I feel blessed every day to have you and our babies. Even Jack and Firestar.” He cracked a grin over my head, and I felt Jack huff. “They are a part of me now as much as you are. I know that as long as I have you all, everything will be fine. More than fine, great.”

  “But what about—”

  “What nothing,” Jack interrupted me. “I could list my transgressions until you looked at me like I was a stranger, but that would not change anything. We are in this together. For better or worse.”

  “Fatness and not.” Jack and I shot Raiden a look, but he only chuckled. “What I think we are saying is that we love you, and no matter what happens, that won’t change.”

  “Right.” Jack nodded and pulled me into his arms, my face pressed against his chest, the beat of his heart calming me. “We will always be here for you, and if something did happen to Firestar, we would be there for that too.”

  “To save his ass, of course,” Raiden added, striking a silly fighting pose that belonged in a cartoon and not in real life. But it made me smile, which was what I needed.

  “See?” Jack said and kissed my forehead. “We’re not going anywhere.”

  I sagged into his arms, letting him hold me, Raiden closing in on my other side. I rubbed my face into Jack’s chest, inhaling deeply. Raiden’s hand stroked my thigh, causing zings of pleasure to my core. Jack stiffened beneath me, and Raiden’s hand moved higher, teasing the crease of my thighs. I leaned my head up as Jack moved his down. Our lips barely brushed when the door burst open.

  Jumping in place, we jerked away from each other as if we were teenagers getting caught making out in our parent’s house, which I guess we were. Raijin stood in the doorway, his chest heaving, and worry etched on his face. Fujin came crowding in after him, a matching look of concern in his eyes.

  “What is it?” I asked, stepping away from Raiden and Jack. My eyes drifted from their faces to the paper clutched in Raijin’s hand. “Is that …?” I took a half step forward and then another until I was standing before them, my hand outreached.

  “It’s a message from Lord Amun,” Raijin explained as I hurried to open the note. As my mind processed the words, everything that Jack and Raiden had said to calm me went out the window.

  “What does it say?” Raiden asked, and I could feel the anxiety in his words because it was rampaging through me.

  “Firestar never made it to the South,” I murmured not quite believing it. “In fact, he never even made it to their borders.” I met Jack and Raiden’s gaze all the air slipping from me. “Firestar’s missing.”

  9

  Raiden took the note from my hand, and I let him without a word. My mind reeled. There were so many possibilities of what could have happened to Firestar.

  There were plenty of people who would love to see Firestar dead, almost as many as those after me. If he didn’t even hit the border, there’s a high chance that Lady Nariko’s men found him, or even the men that had betrayed him before. They could have been watching the border, waiting for just this opportunity and we’d given it to them.

  The guys were talking about something, but I couldn’t hear them over the panicked beating of my heart. My feet moved on their own, my hands ripped open my dresser drawer, and I was pulling things from it without a mind for what I was doing. I could hear some muffled conversation behind me, someone saying my name, but I didn’t answer. I had to move. I had to find Firestar.

  “Maya,” I vaguely recognized Jack’s voice near me, but I waved him off. I grabbed the bottomless bag the twins had given us and shoved the clothes I’d pulled out into it. Jack said my name again, but this time his hand latched onto mine pulling me around to face him, my hands still full of clothes. “Maya, what are you doing?”

  “I’m going to find Firestar, what does it look like?” I jerked away from him and turned back to my bag. Jack sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Raiden left his brothers and moved in on the other side of me. I forced myself to ignore both of them as I continued to pack my bag.

  “Maya, sweetheart.” Raiden reached out and took the bag from my hand. Or tried to. I clutched it in my hand, tugging it back toward me. “You can’t go off by yourself.”

  “Then come with me,” I snapped back, jerking the bag out of his hands. “It’ll be easier to find him with more people.”

  Raiden huffed and looked at Jack over my shoulder. Jack placed his hand on my shoulder, turning me slightly toward him. I glowered at him, my patience wearing thin. “Think about this for a moment, we do not know where Firestar even is, and do you think that it is wise for you to go chasing after him in your condition?”

  “I’m pregnant, not a cripple!” I could feel my face heating up, and I forced myself to calm down before I blew something up. My hands tightened on the bag, and I growled out a breath. “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself and our babies.”

  “I know that,” Raiden argued, his hand on my arm, “but you shouldn’t put yourself into these situations on purpose. If you were the one who was captured, that would be one thing, but we have plenty of men who are waiting just outside who could and would die to protect you.”

  “But it’s Firestar,” I whimpered, my eyes burning. “He wouldn’t even be in this position if not for me.”

  “First, off,” Jack growled, impatience in his voice, “none of us are your responsibility. We are here because we want to be, not because you or anyone else made us. And that’ll be enough of the self-pity and blame.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he held his hand up. “The next time I hear anything like that out of your mouth, I will put you across my knee.”

  My mouth dropped open at the implications of Jack’s words. I would have expected that kind of talk from Raiden or Firestar, but Jack? He had never really been the type.

  “But what am I going to do waiting around here? I’ll go out of my mind.”

  Jack looked pointedly at my stomach. “I could think of three things that could keep you busy.”

  My hand went to the swell of my belly, and I remembered specifically why I hadn’t gone with him in the first place. As much as I hated to admit it, they were right. Chasing down Firestar wasn’t the best of ideas. If we had an idea of where he was, it would make more sense to go after him personally. Since we were in the dark, well, it was hard for me to argue their point, no matter how much I wanted to go after him.

  My feelings were in such a state of chaos, I had a hard time picking one out from the other. Anger. Worry. Desperation. Love. Sometimes, I just wished I could shut them all down. Have a clear head for once.

  As if some genie had heard my internal wish, a numb feeling started to spread from my center and down my arms. I let the emptiness take over, taking solace in the nothing. For one of the first times in a long time, I felt completely at ease. A crackling jerked me out of my
serenity and made me glance down. My hands were cold, and everywhere my fingers touched, the bag in my hand froze over. Shocked, I dropped the bag promptly. It fell to the ground, the ice that had begun to form on the side of it breaking into shards on the ground.

  I really needed to get a handle on these powers.

  “See?” Raiden took my hands in his with a soft expression. “You should stay here and train. Get control of your abilities and keep our babies safe.”

  “But what about Firestar?” I shook my head, unable to just let it go. “I can’t just leave him to die.”

  “And we won’t,” Jack reassured me, pulling me into his arms. “In fact, Raiden and I will go after him make sure he’s safe.”

  “And if he’s not?” I pushed away from his embrace, my hands wringing in front of me. “What if he’s dead? Or worse?”

  Raiden barked a laugh. “I highly doubt that stubborn ass is dead.”

  Jack shot Raiden a chastising look. “That’s enough of that.” He glanced back at the twins who stood awkwardly waiting at the doorway, concern etched on both of their faces. “Can we send some scouts out to see if we can find out anything about where Firestar might have gone? Where he was last seen?”

  Raijin nodded. “I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Aeis brought some of the best trackers in the West with her rather large army.” The grin on his lips made me wonder if that’s all that Aeis had divulged to the two of them.

  The twins took off to find Aeis or the trackers, I wasn’t sure which. They hadn’t been too clear, and I was too worried about Firestar to care. I pushed out from between Jack and Raiden, needing some space to think. I paced the floor, beating my fist against my hand. “How long do you think it will take?” I asked, anxiety making me twitch.

  “To find Firestar?” Raiden cocked his head to the side and then shrugged. “Who knows. Could take hours or even days. Hell, maybe even weeks- ouch!” Raiden glared at Jack who had smacked him on the chest. Jack gave him a warning look which made Raiden clear his throat and scratch his ear. “Uh, I mean, I’m sure it will be fine. Like my brother said, your sister brought some of the best trackers in your region. They’ll find out what happened to him in no time.”