“No,” I state before I can even think about it. There is no way I will let her be put in that danger. An Elemental turning is feral. His energy is out of control. Even other Elementals find it difficult to contain them.
“Bion.” She places her hand on my arm to appease me, but I will not change my mind.
“No,” I state. Leaning forward, I kiss her lightly on the lips and then stand. I hear her huff in annoyance, but I won’t change my mind where this is concerned. Turning, I make my way out of the kitchen and towards where my brother is still being held.
I’m nearly at the entrance to the cells when I hear running feet behind me. Looking back, I see Brie hurrying towards me. “What’s wrong, beauty?” I ask worriedly as I see her distress. What could have possibly happened in the few minutes I’ve been gone?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she says as she draws closer.
“Tell you what?”
“That your brother is one of them,” she whispers as her eyes fill with anguish. Fuck, I didn’t want her to know about this. She has enough pain in her life without thinking about mine.
“I didn’t know what to say,” I confess as I pull her against me. I tuck her head close to my chest and stroke her hair gently. “Who told you?”
“It doesn’t matter who told me. It should have been you telling me. What kind of relationship are we going to have if you can’t tell me things as important as this?” she grumbles as she pulls her head back.
“I know. I’m sorry, but I was trying to spare you these kinds of details,” I confess, my heart tightening at the look of hurt on her face.
“I want to be there for you when you go through things that hurt you,” she states with a determined glint in her eyes, and even though initially I didn’t want her to know about it, I am now touched at her offer. Taking her hand, I bring it to my lips and kiss it gently before I turn and enter the cell with Brie behind me.
There’s a roar as we enter, and I can feel Brie tense, but she doesn’t show any other outward emotion. “How touching,” comes the sarcastic words from my brother.
Looking at him, I can see his feral gaze, the withdrawal symptoms obvious from the red-rimmed eyes and the blotchy skin. We haven’t given him any blood since capturing him, which has the same effect on Keres as withdrawing drugs from a drug addict, except that a Keres will die without his usual intake.
“I came to see how you’re doing,” I say, my heart constricting at the sight of the man before me. This man may look like my brother, but my brother died long ago. There is nothing left of him inside this man. The feel of my woman’s thumb stroking my hand grounds me, brings warmth to my soul. The thought that one day something could happen to her as it happened to my brother’s mate fills me with dread.
“Ha, how am I doing? I’ll tell you how I’m doing. Just peachy. Can’t you see?” And with that, he roars in anger. I feel Brie jump in surprise next to me at the sudden fury emanating from him. Placing my arm around her waist, I bring her closer to my body, feeling her softness mould to my hardness like a glove.
“Do you need anything?” I ask, knowing that it’s useless to give him anything, as Caelius is just waiting for me to say my goodbyes before he finishes him.
“Fuck off,” he grates, his eyes a pitch black as he stares at the two of us.
“Do you want me to give Mom a message?” At my words, he laughs a grating angry sound and flicks me off.
“Goodbye, Brother. I wish you peace.” I can feel the emotions choking me as I look at my brother one last time before I guide Brie out of there. Outside, she stops and turns. Placing her arms around my waist, she hugs me close, her head on my chest.
“I’m so sorry,” she murmurs. The heat of her embrace and the care she shows me brings calmness to my angry mind and hope to my tired soul. Maybe, just maybe, my woman will be a part of the end of what we just saw in there. If it is at all possible and if we can keep the women safe, maybe the Elementals have hope of never falling into darkness like so many already have.
We stand like that for a few minutes, taking comfort from each other before I pull back and guide Brie to our room. Once there, I sit on the edge of the bed and pull out my phone. This will be the most painful call I have ever had to do in my life. Before, I thought it was painful to talk to my mother, but today, I know that nothing compares to what I must do.
“Hello?” Her voice comes over the line, and my heart constricts in anguish.
“Mom,” I say.
“Bion?” I hear the catch in her voice. “Bion, is that you?”
“Hi, Mom,” I greet.
“Oh, Bion, I’ve missed you.” I can hear the tears in her voice.
“I’ve missed you too. How are you?” I ask, prolonging the inevitable. I can imagine her twisting her blonde hair around her finger as she speaks to me.
“I’m fine, love, but I want to hear about you. What have you been up to? How are you?” she asks. I want to tell her about Brie, about how happy she makes me, but I need to let her know about Slade.
“Mom,” I start, and then take a deep breath before I continue. Brie places her hands around my waist from behind and then lays her head on my back as she sits on the bed. “Did you know that Slade turned?” I hear a sob, and my throat constricts with pain.
“How did you find out?” she asks. I can hear the sadness in her voice, and it breaks my heart to know that my mother is going through this pain. I don’t answer her, but ask another question of my own.
“How long, Mom?” I hear her sigh in sadness.
“Just over a year. He bonded to a nice girl. They were together for about seven years, but then there was an accident and we couldn’t save her.”
“Slade is gone, Mom.” I know my voice is gruff, but I hate hurting her. I can’t imagine what it must be like having both your children taken away from you.
“What do you mean, Bion? Gone, gone how?” Her question is a mere whisper, but I hear her.
“You know what I mean, Mom. I’m sorry.” I hear her sob, her pain reaching out and surrounding me with its intensity. I want to be able to be with her, hug her, help her over this tragedy in her life, but I know I can’t.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper.
“At least he isn’t in pain anymore,” she murmurs.
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, Son.” I disconnect the call and sit staring down at my phone, my mind a jumble of memories of when I was young. Memories of Slade and me getting into trouble, of the pranks we played on my mother. It’s so unfair, but I know there was nothing I could do for him; once his mate died, he was doomed. I feel Brie’s hands stroking my stomach in comfort while she rubs her face against my back.
I find peace in her touch. My heart is still heavy, but I know that my woman is next to me, and with time, the pain will diminish. Brie and I are still sitting like that when there is a knock on the door. Getting up, I walk towards it to open it.
“It’s time,” Celmund says when I open the door. He doesn’t have to say anything else; I know that he’s talking about James the FBI agent who attacked Brie. We were waiting for him to go to his house before we were able to attack. Celmund and Burkhart went over to his home a few days ago and placed bugs for Celmund to be able to know when he was back. Apparently, he has finally gone home.
“Will be with you guys in a minute.” He nods before he turns and leaves. I sense Brie behind me.
“Are you leaving?” she asks. I turn to see her a few feet away from me. Taking a step towards her, I stretch my hand and pull her against me. I kiss her forehead while I stroke my hand over her soft hair.
“Yeah, but I’ll be back tonight.” Lifting her chin with my finger, I kiss her lips gently before I turn and leave. When I reach the garage, I see that Draco, Burkhart, Celmund, and Bjarni are already sitting on their bikes, waiting for me.
“Are you ready for this?” Draco asks with a raised eyebrow. My thoughts take me back to the day James and his colleague too
k Brie and how we found her. I feel my fury rise.
“Yes, let’s go,” I rasp as I place my two guns in their holsters and then draw my kutte on to hide the weapons. Draco doesn’t ask anything else; he revs his bike, and then he’s off, all of us following him out of the compound and towards our destination.
Forty-five minutes later, we pull up a block away from where he lives. Parking the bikes, we take off on foot until we’re in front of his house. I can feel the fury coursing through my body as I stand outside his two-story house. All the lights are off except for one upstairs. From what Celmund says, it’s his bedroom.
“Celmund, Bjarni, you go through the back. Burkhart, stay out here in case he tries to get away. Bion, you’re with me,” Draco orders. Celmund and Bjarni take off around the house, and I follow Draco up to his front door. Draco places his hand against the doorframe and the door handle. A minute later, the door swings open. Looking at the frame, I see that he melted the lock with his fire bending.
We step inside. Looking around, I see the steps to our right. I start to make my way towards them when Draco stops me with a hand on my upper arm. He signals to his ear, and I realise that James is talking upstairs. He must be on the phone, because Celmund assured us he was alone.
I see a shadow move to my left. Looking around, I notice that Celmund and Bjarni are standing opposite us, awaiting Draco’s go ahead. We wait for a couple minutes before we hear him finish his call. A minute later, Celmund, Draco, and I are upstairs and quietly moving towards his room. Bjarni stays downstairs, going through his stuff, trying to find any clues to where the FBI’s warehouse where they do their experiments here might be.
As we draw closer, we see that the door to his room is slightly open. As I’m about to push it open, Draco pulls me back just as a shot rings out and a hole appears on the wood of the door. Son of a bitch, how did he hear us?
“You might get me, but you assholes will go down too,” he roars. From next to me, Celmund lifts his hand, and a second later, the door flies back and hits the wall with the force of the wind that Celmund sent against it. I see James standing against the far wall, a shotgun in his hand as he points it at us.
“Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?” Draco asks in a calm voice with a raised eyebrow.
“Fuck you,” he roars.
“Okay, the hard way it is, then.” Before he finishes his sentence, he’s beside James and has him in a headlock. His shotgun falls out of his hands as he brings his hands up to try to break Draco’s hold. Celmund and I step into the room, approaching a gasping James.
Draco loosens his hold and then steps away as I draw up to them. “Do you know why we’re here?” I ask, my voice deceptively calm but the fury flowing through my body fighting to explode.
“Because of that bitch we roughened around,” he grunts. At his words, my fury finally explodes. The thought of this man’s hands on Brie makes me want to kill him straight out, but I know that we need information from him. That’s the only reason he’s still breathing. My arm shoots out, and I punch him in the same place he punched Brie. His head snaps back with the force of my punch. His cheek splits open, and blood starts to run down.
With a roar, he charges, but before he can punch me, I kick his knee. As he starts to go down, I bring up my fist and punch him under his jaw, snapping his head back. He falls to the ground, knocked out. I move over him to punch him again, but Celmund holds me back. “He’s out, Brother. Give us a chance to interrogate him. Then he’s all yours.” At his words, I stiffen. I know we need to keep him alive for a little longer, but the memory of Brie bloodied and swollen keeps flashing in my mind, driving my anger.
“Bion,” Draco calls. I look up and see him scowl. “Are you okay or do you need to take a walk?”
“I’m fine. Let’s get this over with,” I grunt as I bend down and help Celmund pick this asshole up and place him on a chair that he has next to the door. He starts to come around as we set him down. Celmund stands behind him and places his hands on his shoulders, holding him still. “Now that you’re more comfortable,” I say sarcastically, “who ordered Brie to be abducted?”
I can see by his unfocused look that he’s still groggy from the punch, but my patience has left me. “Hey, asshole, answer me,” I say angrily as I punch him in the gut. He splutters as he tries to double over in pain, but Celmund holds him still.
“Agent Burg,” he grunts. I look up at Celmund and see him shrug. That is one name we haven’t come across yet. Looking over my shoulder at Draco, I see him shake his head.
“Who’s Agent Burg?” Draco asks.
“Who do you think?” I punch him in the gut again, hearing his breath whoosh out of him. “My fucking boss,” he grunts in answer when he regains his breath.
“Where can we find him?” The questioning continues for a couple hours until we’re sure we have all the information we will be able to get from him. He even gave us a location for the warehouse where they do their experiments. His face is swollen beyond recognition, his arm is broken, and I’ve cut his leg exactly where he slashed Brie’s.
“Why are you interested in our women?” Draco asks.
“Don’t know,” he murmurs. His head is down, and his breathing laboured. I’m sure I’ve broken one of his ribs. We’ve asked this question over and over, and it’s the only question he can’t answer.
“He’s all yours,” Draco says from next to me. I pull out one of my guns and point it at him.
“Look at me,” I growl, waiting for him to raise his head so I can look into his eyes before he dies. He slowly raises his head. When he sees the gun pointed at him, he starts to struggle. “You made my woman bleed. For that, I made you bleed,” I rumble. “You put your hands on my woman and hurt her. For that, you will die.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I shoot him between the eyes.
This is a message. They will know why we killed him, and they will know never to touch our women again. “Have we got eyes on the other one?” I ask Celmund. We need to see where he will lead us. He will be running scared after he finds out what we did to his colleague.
“Yeah, everything has been set up.” Just as Celmund responds, my phone starts to vibrate. Taking it out of my back pocket, I frown when I see it’s Jasmine’s number.
“Jas, what’s wrong?” I answer.
“It’s me.” Brie’s voice comes through the line, instantly calming me. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
I walk out of the room and into the corridor. “You can interrupt me anytime you want, beauty. You will always be my priority.” I can hear the catch in her voice at my words.
“Gabriela apparently has been having pain, but she hasn’t said anything because she didn’t want to worry Bjarni,” she reveals, instantly placing me on alert. I’ve been worried about Gabriela ever since I found out she had been feeling less than perfect.
“Fuck,” I grunt. This is the worst time. Bjarni is going to flip his shit, but I’m going to have to tell him. “Keep her still. I’ll be back in the next hour.”
“Is there anything else I need to do?” I can hear the worry in her voice.
“Just try to keep her calm. If she stresses, it could get worse. I’m going to go get Bjarni, and then we’ll be on our way.” With those words, I disconnect the call. When I turn back to the room, I see that Celmund and Draco are standing in the doorway, looking at me.
“How bad?” Draco asks with a worried look on his face. I’m sure they both heard what Brie said and are now asking what I think.
“It’s bad,” I answer. “I have to go tell him.” As I turn and start to make my way downstairs, I hear both follow me. When I get downstairs, I find Bjarni sitting on one of the couches with his head in his hands.
“Bjarni.” He must have been so distracted that he didn’t even hear us approach. His head snaps up, and he looks around at us.
“It’s about fucking time,” he growls. “Let’s go.” He stands to start making his way outside when Draco s
tops him with a hand on his bicep. His head turns, a questioning look on his face. When he sees our serious faces, I see his eyes change to an ungodly gold colour. “What?” his voice is hoarse when he asks.
“Gabriela isn’t feeling well.” At my words, his whole body tenses, and then he’s hurrying out of the house, the three of us following him. Draco asks Burkhart, who is still outside, to make sure that there is no evidence of us in the house before he follows us. I see him nod from the corner of my eye as I hurry after Bjarni.
I hope Gabriela is fine. If not, I’m going to have to make sure that somehow all three of them pull through, because there is no other option. We can’t lose her or the babies, because then we will lose Bjarni too.
BRIELLE 18
It has been a week since the day Bion went to see his brother. Sometimes I can see the pain in his eyes when he thinks no one is noticing, but otherwise, he has been fine. Today, most of the men left early. They didn’t tell us where they were going, but they took their weapons, so I’m guessing they went into danger. That is something that still unsettles me, not knowing if Bion is going to get hurt or not come back at all.
There’s a knock at our bedroom door, interrupting my morbid thoughts. Opening the door, I find all four women on the other side with big smiles on their faces.
“Hi,” they greet, and proceed to enter. I notice that they are all carrying different plastic bags with them, making me frown.
“We come bearing gifts,” Jasmine says as she places two huge bags on the ground.
“I’m so excited. This is going to be awesome,” Gabriela says as she walks towards the chair and sits.
“What exactly are we doing?” I ask, confused.
“We’re giving you a makeover,” Nova replies as she turns one of the bags over and I see tubs of creams and makeup fall onto the bed.
“Oh boy,” I murmur. I don’t know if I should run or stay and see what they will do to me.
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