by A. C. Arthur
“But don’t you see how all of that had to happen for us to be where we are now? Without that shaman’s smoke, without what you went through with Acacia and then Leanne, you and I would not be here together at this moment. And you would not be the Seer that Rome needs by his side at this time.”
“They have Magdalena,” he replied.
“She was for the Elders and the old ways of the shifters. You,” Nivea said, poking a finger into his chest, then rubbing her palm over that spot. “You are here for us, during the Stateside Shifters’ time of need, you are here and you have a power that I have no doubt will help us through this.”
Eli shook his head. “I don’t know how to control it. When I was searching for you and wanted a vision desperately, it wouldn’t come. And then when I was in the medical center and Rome was ready to tear down the walls…” His words trailed off as Eli sighed, remembering how intense that moment with Rome had actually been, for both of them.
“The power you needed to calm Rome’s worst fears appeared. You assured him and most likely saved the walls and everyone else in that room from his wrath. It was perfect timing,” she told him.
Eli kissed her forehead then, hugging her even closer to him. “You are perfect timing for me, Nivea Cannon. I couldn’t do this without you, couldn’t embrace—”
His words were cut short once again as she moved until she was completely straddling him, leaning down to cup his face in her hands. “You can and you will,” she said seriously. “Together, we can and we will. Together, Eli, that’s all that matters.”
“Yes. That’s all that matters,” he agreed, readjusting himself so that his now awakening arousal was closer to her warmth.
“And just so you know, I won’t be promising not to protect you either. You may be very important to the Assembly as our new Seer, but to me, you’re much more. You’re my mate and I’ll be damned if anybody or anything past, present, or future, will ever come between us.”
Eli smiled. He couldn’t help it. She was tenacious and headstrong and beautiful with her hair a bushy halo around her face, lips swollen from his kisses. She wasn’t soft and dainty or privileged and high-minded. She was simply the female that, at some point in these last few years, Eli had fallen in love with.
His hands went to her hips, his fingers kneading the soft skin there as he looked up at her. “I think you’ve got it twisted,” he told her. “I’m your mate so I’ll be protecting you.”
She smiled then, a wide and gorgeous smile that lifted her already high cheekbones and brightened her eyes. Eli’s chest filled with warmth at the sight, his body reacting in a similar way.
“Don’t forget I’ve been highly trained to protect shifters and humans,” she said, then lifted her hips slightly so that her wet folds rubbed seductively over the tip of his length. “My mate would be first in line to reap the rewards of my training.”
“Oh, I’ll reap the rewards all right,” Eli told her, grabbing her hips and thrusting upward until the tip of his dick was at the entrance of her hot pussy.
She purred and Eli felt the vibration throughout his entire body. The sound touched every nerve ending, rubbing along his cat with a tender familiarity that had it chuffing in response.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” she told him before leaning over and sucking his bottom lip into her mouth.
Eli let her control the kiss while he held firmly to her hips, bringing her down hard each time he pumped upward, filling her so completely and loving the feel of her warm essence dripping onto him.
When she pulled her mouth from his, Eli whispered, “I’m never gonna get enough of you.”
Nivea licked his lips again, moving out of his reach when he attempted to trap her tongue in his mouth once more. She sat up straight, an act that increased the depth of his length inside of her and solicited a deep groan from him.
“That’s good to know,” she told him, settling her hips over him so that their bodies conjoined. “Because I don’t tire easily.”
With that she began pumping him with hard, rhythmic thrusts. Up and down, up even higher, until nothing but the tip of his dick remained in touch with her, then down until his balls rubbed against her plump wet folds. Over and over until they both were struggling for breath. When Eli’s hands went to her hips this time, he moved in farther, using his thumbs to part her folds so that when he looked down, the puckered hood of her clit was bared for his view. Licking his lips he touched a thumb to the nub and rubbed. Nivea arched back farther, her hands going back to grip his thighs for leverage. Eli lifted slightly off the pillows so he could see her better, see the desire on her face, the rise and fall of her breasts, the glistening bud of her clit and the in-and-out motion of his dick still driving deep inside of her thanks to her continued pumps.
His breath came in thick, heavy pants, hers in shallow little sounds that made him harder, his balls tightening in anticipation of release. She continued to move, her hair brushing his knees as she did. Eli pumped into her, matching her already established rhythm thrust for deliciously deep thrust. He felt the moment their cats met, the pounding inside his body as it welcomed yet another entity—his mate. He felt as if he’d jumped off a cliff and landed on a cloud, a puffy thick cloud that was now carrying him to the sweetest abyss ever. Nivea jerked forward, her palms slapping into his chest, her extended claws cutting with a sting into his skin. Her body had begun to tremble, her release pouring out, covering his dick. She leaned in farther, licking the cuts she’d inflicted on his chest and that’s when Eli erupted, his release shooting into her with the force of every emotion he felt for her.
Minutes later, after they’d just begun to gather their wits, Nivea rolled off of him as they were startled by the loud voice coming from the television. Apparently when they’d come out of the bathroom from their earlier shower, their hands and mouths still affixed to each other, they’d forgotten to clean off the bed. The television remote control was what Nivea had rolled over when she’d moved, turning on the TV unintentionally.
“The Advanced Technology of Defense Convention seems to come to the capital at a time when defense discussions are most needed. With the recent uptick in violence throughout the city and the continental U.S., it is apparent that we are not doing everything we should to protect our citizens from our own, not to mention not protecting us from international threats. Hopefully, this weekend’s joining of top defense experts will develop some new strategy to the unknown evil that has recently plagued our streets.”
They’d both paused and listened to the reporter standing outside of the Gaylord National Convention Center located at D.C.’s National Harbor. As she spoke there was a huge banner advertising the ATD National Conference—a conference to discuss defense techniques with all the world leaders.
“Oh no,” she whispered, sitting up in the bed.
“Oh yes,” Eli followed, rising up beside her. “That’s what this has all been leading up to. It’s why those hybrids are here and most likely so is Crowe.”
“He’s going to sell the hybrids to the highest bidder,” Nivea continued, a hand raking through her hair.
Eli nodded. “And Boden will finally get his chance at revenge.”
“Boden?”
“Yeah.” Eli sighed. “He’s the middleman. Dammit! I should have seen it sooner. Crowe doesn’t have the resources to pay Cannon for the shifter specimens. Hell, he wouldn’t have even had a clue as to where to get them. Only someone—only a shifter—would have known about the children being taken from the Gungi. And only a sadistic shifter with a grudge against the entire tribe would know what was going on with those children and not open his mouth or try to save them. He would hold that information until it was of use to him, until … the time was right.”
“I don’t understand,” Nivea said.
“Boden had a box delivered to my shop with a necklace that was meant for his mate, Acacia. She’s the Lormenian that Ezra and I were involved with. I told the others about the necklace, b
ut I didn’t mention the note that was also inside. He said the unveiling was coming soon.”
Nivea was no longer looking at the television, but was staring directly at Eli now. “The unveiling of what? The hybrids?” she asked.
“The unveiling of the Shadow Shifters,” Eli told her, the vision flashing through his mind as plainly as if it had just been on the TV screen. “He plans to tell the world about us and take out as many of the Shadows as he can so that he will become the new leader. That would be the ultimate revenge for what the Elders did to him so long ago.”
“Then he would become the rogue leader,” Nivea added.
Eli shook his head. “Not as long as I live,” he told her with a certainty that had his cat roaring deep inside.
* * *
This time in the conference room, Eli did not stand behind Rome. He was sitting next to Nick, Nivea on his left. Ezra sat across from his brother, X on his right, Caprise next to him. Rome and Kalina were at the head of the table. Baxter and Elder Alamar both sat at the other end of the table. Priya and Bas were there in person this time. Jace and Cole were on speaker.
“How is Boden Estevez connected to Crowe and these hybrids?” Nick asked.
Eli shook his head. “I believe he’s the one who connected Cannon to Comastaz.”
“So Crowe could get the shifters and the money he needed to continue with the Genesis Project,” Rome added, solidifying what Eli had told Ezra the night they’d rescued Nivea’s sisters—that Rome and Nick had gotten some information out of Cannon, but hadn’t told them.
“Right,” Eli said, deciding now was definitely not the time to question the Leader about his tactics. “But Boden’s no middleman. He’s in charge, of this operation at least. My thought is that all of this spawns from the fact that a dominant shifter like Boden would hold a grudge against the Elders and the tribe for running him out of the jungle. He would want to get back at them, just as he’d want to get back at Ezra and me for what he feels we took from him as well.”
“So whoever helped my father escape did so for a reason. I’m guessing they needed him to get more unwanteds so they would be prepared for Boden’s big showdown,” Nivea added when everyone in the room was looking at Eli, trying to digest all that he’d just told them.
Eli and Nivea had been up most of the night talking about how they would approach the Assembly Leader and lay out the plan they had to thwart whatever efforts Boden and Crowe planned to make at the conference. He waited a beat for any questions or comments, but they all remained silent.
“It makes perfect sense that Crowe will be at the ATD conference this weekend,” Eli continued, looking at X. “Can we check with the hotel to find out who is registered to attend?”
“Maybe not the hotel since the attendees are bound to be high-level security officials, U.S. and foreign. They may not even be privy to that information. I’d have to reach out to someone at the Department of Defense maybe,” X told him. “But what Crowe is doing may be totally off the grid. This isn’t something he would keep to himself. A hybrid supersoldier would draw bids from all across the world.”
“So the bastard has an auction planned at a national event. Clever sonofabitch,” Nick added.
“Not clever enough,” Nivea told them. “They have no idea that we know about this convention or their plan. We have the upper hand.”
“So what do we do now? Do we try to stop Crowe before this event starts?” Jace asked.
Priya, who had been typing on her tablet while they talked, looked up then and added, “The Gaylord has two thousand rooms. Its atrium overlooks the Potomac River. Three thousand, one hundred and twenty-three people are expected to attend the ATD conference. There are also two weddings booked for this weekend, which will probably bring in another thousand guests. Collateral damage would be huge.”
“It’s exactly what Boden wants,” Eli said. “Thousands of people, humans, to see what he wants them to see about us.”
“He’s a shifter too,” Cole interjected.
“He is a rogue,” Elder Alamar replied. “He should have died years ago.”
“Like the unwanteds,” Rome said slowly. “The Elders ordered him killed and he survived to come back years later and threaten all that we have built. You segregated him because he was different and instead of protecting the tribes from him, you left us all vulnerable to the monster you created. He can hurt us more than anyone else because he knows exactly what we are and what we’re capable of. He also knows our weaknesses, which he plans to exploit.”
“What are you saying?” Alamar asked, flattening his palms on the table.
“He’s saying you fucked up!” Nick said, frowning as Rome gave him a warning glare.
“The Elders protected the tribes in the forest the best way they knew how,” Baxter began quietly. “The rules are different in the forest than in the States. I admit they realized that too late.”
“Good of you to admit it,” Nick chimed in again.
“That’s enough,” Rome said this time.
“We know now that unity is key. Magdalena has already predicted that you will need to band together to get through this,” Baxter insisted.
“Magdalena is also in the forest,” Rome said. “If we’re going to rely on any Seer’s powers and predictions, it’s going to be Eli’s.”
There was silence once again in the room. Nivea reached for Eli’s hand as he watched the other faces in the room, hoping the announcement was well received. Then again, Eli didn’t really give a damn how anyone accepted the announcement. It was simple, he was a Seer. He had embraced that fact as well as his mate. Anybody who didn’t like that could go straight to hell, exactly where he planned to send Boden’s sorry ass.
Still, when Cole replied with an enthusiastic, “Amen to that!” Eli relaxed a little.
“The conference begins tonight,” he said, getting back to the business at hand.
Not that he dismissed the wrongdoings of their ancestors, or the right they probably assumed they were doing. It happened in history over and over again. Leaders made decisions based on the information they had at the time, the remedies the situation call for in that moment. Years later, the next generation had to deal with the fallout. It was what it was and now they would do what they needed to do.
“We’re not going to have a chance to strike before it begins. I think we need to find out the schedule, figure out when and where Crowe is likely to appear, and meet him head-on.”
“And what about Boden?” Ezra asked, his expression that of restrained rage. “When do we get a chance at his ass?”
Eli shook his head. “I know that he’s planning something, I just can’t pinpoint what. I can’t see it, but I feel it.”
All eyes were on him now as the new Seer. They probably wanted to rely on his visions now, to be guided or forewarned by them. But Eli hadn’t had one of this particular incident and he’d convinced himself that it was better not to try and force it. He would wait to see what would come to him, letting his senses do what they needed to get him the information that was required to help the shifters.
“He will be there,” Eli said with confidence. “What he will do I do not know. We just need to be prepared. And once we take Boden and Crowe down, the rest of the Genesis Project will crumple.”
“We should go in heavy,” Nivea began, squeezing Eli’s hand beneath the table. “Four teams on Crowe, four ready for Boden, and additional backup for the unexpected. Everyone should be versed in how to take down the hybrids and whether or not to take Crowe dead or alive. We need to hit hard and fast to keep exposure to a minimum.”
“There’s a picture of the lion found at the police station on YouTube,” Priya told them. “Three-million-plus views already.”
Nick cursed.
“She’s right. We go in hard and fast, conceal what we can but remain focused on the ultimate goal of taking Boden down once and for all. As for Crowe, we take his sorry ass alive because he’s a human,” Kalina stated. “
There’s really no other choice.”
Caprise nodded. “I agree.”
Rome had visibly flinched as Kalina talked about the plan and Eli knew exactly what the shifter was feeling. He’d felt it too each time he’d looked at Nivea and known without any doubt that she planned to be a part of this battle, regardless of how he felt about it.
“Baxter, send the jet for Jace and Cole. I want them here ASAP. Bas, Nick, and X will work with Eli to sort out the teams. Ezra, you and the Sanchez brothers get down to the Gaylord and familiarize yourself with the layout. Priya or X can get you blueprints I’m sure. I’ll meet you down in the training center in half an hour,” Rome said, standing from his seat, his hand extended to Kalina.
She looked at him with mild questioning, but stood anyway, taking his hand. When Rome was gone, Nick’s heated glare went to the end of the table where Baxter and Elder Alamar still sat.
“You two are something else,” he said. “All this time you’ve known that this day would come and you never thought to tell any of us. Aren’t you supposed to be overseeing Rome’s safety? How could you let this sneak up on him?” Nick asked Baxter.
The older, thinner man stood slowly, squaring his shoulders as he met Nick’s tumultuous glare.
“I have done everything in my power to prepare him for this very day. That was my job all along. You, of all people, should not doubt him now,” Baxter said vehemently.
Nick stood then as well, Ezra immediately standing beside him.
“I don’t doubt Rome for one minute, nor do I doubt what this newly formed Assembly can and will do in the face of danger. But I would have never kept this from him. Part of the preparation should have been to tell him that this would one day become an issue.”
“That is not how life works, Mr. Nick,” Baxter said in his solemn yet authoritative voice. “I have watched the three of you grow and learn, make mistakes, and grow some more. That is what life is all about. This situation will take Mr. Roman to another level.”
