CASSIUS

by Alexi Ferreira

  “Yes”

  “Nothing can be done then.” He murmurs, I can feel Caelius and Cassius eyes on me as Draco snaps his eyes towards me, I nod, apparently if we have the right frequency and code we can deactivate the device and then it will be fine to be extracted. I bring my hand up to Cassius hand and pull gently to let him know that I need to tell him something.

  They won’t know what to ask him if I don’t tell him. He leans down towards me as Caelius moves and blocks us from the doctor. “Ask him what frequency, and what the code is?” I whisper

  “What frequency do the devices work on?” Draco asks, how did he hear my whisper? Wow, I must really be careful when talking around them.

  “What?” the doctor asks surprised.

  “You’re wasting my time doc,” Draco places his hand on the doctor’s leg.

  “No, wait.” He says hurriedly with a grimace. “How do you know about the frequency?” he asks

  “That isn’t an answer.” Draco growls

  “I’ll give you the frequency, wait. I’ll give it to you.” The doctor yells, “I need a pen and paper.” Caelius walks out of the door and then Celmund walks in with his tablet in hand. He moves to stand before the doctor and then hands him the tablet. The doctor works for a minute, and then hands the tablet back.

  “Did you give us the correct frequency?” Celmund asks with a frown as he looks down at his tablet.

  “Yes.” Truth

  “Now that we have the frequency what are the codes?” Celmund asks

  “I don’t know, each device will have a different code.” The doctor gasps as Draco latches onto his leg again. “I promise, I don’t know. Whoever programed the device has the codes; I will never be able to give you the codes.” Truth, there goes our hope of getting the devices deactivated soon.

  “Who did you give the devices to?” Cassius asks

  “I didn’t, our team was tasked with it.” He says hurriedly, “three bikers from the Keres MC came in and I was tasked to teach them how to work with it.”

  “How long do the people have when the device is activated?” Celmund asks

  “Seconds.” I sigh at his answer; I can feel Cassius tenseness behind me.

  “Who were the Keres that you briefed.” Draco asks

  “I don’t know,” part of it is true, but he knows that they’re in Cape Town.

  “Where in Cape Town are they?” I whisper softly, wondering if any of them heard and just as I finish Celmund asks the question. Wow, okay at least I know now to keep my mouth shut when around them. I see the doctor look at Celmund with wide eyes as he shakes his head. Draco places his hand against his leg again and this time the doctor yells in pain.

  “Please, please . . . stop.”

  “Where?” Draco’s voice is low and commanding as he waits for a reply.

  “Goodwood,” he shouts, “please, they’re in Goodwood.”

  “Are you sure there is no other way of neutralizing the device without the codes?” Cassius asks, as the doctor gasps in pain.

  “No other way.” He murmurs.

  “Who gave the order?” Draco asks as he stands.

  “Santra . . . Agent Santra.” I see Draco scowl and then his hand is on the doctors’ hair and he’s pulling his head back until his eyes are on him.

  “Are you telling me that Santra is in bed with the Keres.” He rasps, I can see the muscles in Draco’s back are tense.

  “Don’t know,” he doesn’t, but interestingly I pick up that he suspects that this agent Santra is taking bribes from the Mafia. Draco turns slightly and inclines his head to Cassius, at that I feel Cassius hand on my bicep as he helps me up and ushers me out of the room. As we walk towards the steps I draw closer to Cassius and whisper about the Mafia.

  Cassius doesn’t say anything just nods and continues to walk. I see Caelius at the bottom of the stairs as we start descending. “Can you also do that?” I ask curiously, surprising Cassius that looks at me with raised brows.

  “Do what?”

  “That barbecue thing that Draco has going?” at my question both men start to chuckle.

  “Never thought about that, maybe we can get some chops and ask him to barbecue them.” Cassius says as he looks at Caelius.

  “Or, I can just barbecue your chops.” Draco says as he starts to descend with a questioning look as he looks at Cassius.

  “Nope it’s fine; I like his chops raw, tender and bloody . . . but thanks.” I quickly interject before he actually does decide to burn Cassius. At my muttered comment the men look at me in surprise and then roar with laughter. As the laughter dies down Cassius guides me outside, Caelius before us with Draco and Celmund behind. I’m curious to know what they did to the doctor but I’m not going to ask. Once we’re in the car Cassius leans down against my ear and whispers.

  “Can’t wait to get you home.” My cheeks instantly warm in embarrassment as I know that the others heard what he said. I turn my head and wink at him in response instead of answering, and then I turn forward and try changing the subject by telling the others about knowing that the agent the doctor was talking about is working with the Mafia.

  “That motherfucker.” Burkhart growls as he slaps the steering wheel.

  “At least we know the area where the Keres are in Cape Town,” Celmund says, “we can contact Tor and get him to start scouting.”

  “We’re all going to Cape Town, the sooner we find them the better.” Draco says

  My eyes snap up towards Cassius in surprise, “we going now?”

  “Yeah baby, the sooner the better. I want to get that out of you as soon as possible.” He murmurs as he nuzzles my hair.

  “But I don’t have anything with me.” I state, and see the guys smile.

  “Don’t worry; you will have anything you need at Tor’s compound. The fucker lives like a king.” Cassius persuades.

  “Did you see that massage bed he had their last time we were there?” Celmund asks as he shakes his head with a grin.

  “Yeah, he tried to get me to try it.” Caelius growls, “Fuck that.” I smile at his words. Caelius is the last guy that you would see pampering himself. He’s the real rough to the bone kind of guy; his t-shirts are usually black or dark grey, jeans always indigo blue. His dark blond hair is long, usually covering his features, with stubble that looks like he never shaves. I can just imagine his face when Tor offered for him to use the massage bed.

  I lean against Cassius resting my head against his bicep as I hear the guys tease Caelius, I know that we have a possibility that we might not find the Keres with the codes, but having met Cassius and being able to know this absolute overwhelming connection that we both have is worth everything I went through even if it means that I die because of being his mate, but at least I die knowing love.

  CASSIUS 17

  We arrived in Cape Town two days ago and still no leads, my patience is growing thin. I’m sure that if it wasn’t for having my woman next to me I would have killed someone already. Knowing that Scarlett has a ticking bomb in her body is not helping me calm down either.

  Brandr phoned Draco this morning and let him know that the women tried to pin point where the Keres are staying here in Cape Town with no success. The only thing they managed to see was a green wall. The problem is that most of the houses are behind high walls therefore we can’t even see if any of them have a green wall.

  We have been combing the streets since we arrived, Tor has all his men scouting for these Keres but there’s no energy spikes where we’ve been. I arrived back at the compound about two hours ago because Scarlett needed to rest, if it was only me I’d still be out there but Draco insists that I rest.

  Tonight, they are organizing a party, it’s the last thing I want now. Scarlett is excited as she’s never been to one of our parties, I’m not sure if I like the idea of her first party being here at Tor’s compound. The guys are wilder than at our compound and I don’t have a kutte for Scarlett yet, not that it will be a problem as I’m not planning
on having her out of my sight.

  I hear her sigh as she moves her leg over mine making me groan. I look down at her head that is laying on my chest and smile, when we got back to the compound I told her she needed to rest so she could be awake later for the party, she took it literary, pulling at my hand and bringing me to our room for a nap. I don’t remember the last time I slept during the day, but she convinced me when she started to undress. As soon as I grabbed her hips, she forgot all about the nap until I had exhausted her. She’s now resting peacefully against me while I’m agonizing about not finding those fuckers.

  If it is Leif that we’re looking for it will be difficult to pin point him, but not impossible. Celmund hasn’t slept in the two days that we’ve been here, his obsessed with finding Leif. I have confidence in Celmund’s hacking abilities, that is why Leif has such hate for him, because he doesn’t want to be second best.

  He’s been running every possible code he can think about through the frequency the doctor gave us to see if somehow, he can find a pattern, but up to now there’s been nothing. I know he’s feeling responsible, because if Leif is alive he failed by not killing him. Therefore, allowing for these devices to be programmed by him.

  We also need to figure out how the FBI is involved in all of this. Agent Santra is the highest-ranking agent here in South Africa, if orders are coming from him, no wonder we’ve been having so many problems with them.

  “You’re not relaxing.” Scarlett murmurs in a sleepy voice, as she raises her head to look at me. Her honey coloured hair is falling around her, covering half her face. Her sleepy eyes looking up at me in query. I can feel my cock hardening at my woman’s movements against me, her breasts stroking against my chest. “Relax, I want you to last a long time not have a heart attack before we’ve even had time to enjoy each other.”

  “Baby, we don’t have heart attacks.” I murmur as I place my hands under her arms and pull her up my body until her face is in line with mine. “If you’re not careful I’m going to start thinking that you care about me.” I tease.

  I see her eyes widen in surprise, “I do care about you. You make me feel alive for the first time in my life and I know this is quick, but I know that I love you.” She whispers as she looks into my eyes. I feel my heart thud at her words, I never realized how much I wanted to hear those words from her until she finally said them.

  I know that she deserves so much better than me, but I promise to do everything in my power to keep her safe and healthy by my side. These fuckers will not win, now that I have finally found a sliver of light in my life I will not let anyone take it away. Placing my hand around the back of her neck I bring her closer until my lips are a breath away from hers. “I love you too baby.” I say before kissing her with all the passion and love in my soul.

  Before we can get carried away there is a knock on the door of our room, “Who is it?” I call out irritated at the interruption.

  “I have clothes for Scarlett.” A woman’s voice says from the other side.

  “Fuck,” I grunt making Scarlett laugh as I slip out of the bed and stand, “cover yourself” I say as I look back at her. She looks around and then pulls the sheet up to cover her nakedness, I’m not taking the chance of any of these fuckers to be walking past and looking at my woman.

  “What about you?” she asks just before I open the door. Stretching out my hand I wait for a surprised Jezebel to hand me the clothes.

  “Well now, aren’t you a sight for hungry eyes.” The woman murmurs as her eyes rove over my body.

  “I will close them for you if you don’t stop looking at him like that.” Scarlett says angrily, before the Jezebel can answer I take the bag from her hand and shut the door in her face. “You think it’s okay to be parading naked for all the women?”

  “It’s not a problem baby, it’s not as if I’m going to touch her.” I appease, but as soon as the words are out of my lips I can see that that was the wrong thing to say.

  Her body is tense, and her eyes are flashing in anger. “Oh, is that so? You should have said so earlier, seeing as you don’t mind that I open the door when I’m naked to the guys.” At her words my muscles tense and my anger rise at her words. There is no way in hell any of my brothers is seeing my woman naked.

  “If you want them to die.” I rasp

  “Oh, why’s that? It’s not as if I’m going to touch them.” She snaps back. I scowl at her, realizing what she’s saying.

  “Noted, no more showing my goods to anyone.” I growl, I’ve never been one to worry about my nakedness, but now that she’s put it that way I realize that as much as I won’t allow for anyone to see her naked except for me, she has every right to want the same.

  Fuck, this mating business is complicated. Huffing she stands from the bed and makes her way to the bathroom, a few minutes later I hear the shower running. Why the fuck is she still upset? Striding into the bathroom I hear her muttering to herself. When I hear what she’s muttering about I hold back my chuckle because I’m sure she will be more upset if she catches me laughing.

  “She’ll be needing glasses if I get hold of her.” She continues to mutter as she angrily shampoo’s her hair. I’m about to join her when I hear the beep of an incoming message, walking out of the bathroom I pick up my phone and see a message from Draco. I sigh when I read that they might have found something, this business with the women has messed with all of us.

  Even though some of the brothers aren’t mated they’re just as angry as the rest of us. They’ve all grown attached to the women at our compound and the idea of them being in danger is unexpectable to us. After replying to Draco, I’m placing my phone back down when Scarlett walks out wrapped in her towel. She doesn’t look at me as she walks towards where I placed the bag with the clothes. I shake my head in frustration as I go and take a shower.

  As I’m switching off the shower I hear a knock on the door, “Hey sweetheart, you’re looking good.” I hear Celmund compliment.

  “Thank you, you don’t look bad yourself.” At her reply I scowl as I wrap the towel around my waist and walk out of the steamy bathroom.

  “Celmund?” at my voice Celmund turns to face me, a smile on his face.

  “Did you get Draco’s message?” he asks with a raised brow.

  “Yeah, do you know what it is?”

  “They picked up on an energy spike, they don’t want to get too close in case they are monitoring the area. Draco asked that I place sensors and cameras around the area so that we can pin point the correct location before advancing.” Finally, a breakthrough.

  “Need help?” I ask as I pull on my black jeans, only then glancing at Scarlett. “Oh, fuck no!” I growl as I see the clothes she’s wearing. The skimpy black and silver shirt she’s got on barely covers her breasts, the short little skirt that they gave her shows off her ass and her shapely legs.

  “What?” she asks as she places her hands on her waist, and I nearly jump towards her when I suspect that her breasts are going to jump out of that piece of fabric that she’s wearing.

  “Why the fuck would they give you clothes like that?” I growl and see Celmund grinning from the corner of my eye. “What the hell are you grinning at?” I snap.

  “I think she looks great.” He quips, making me snap my head around and glare at him. He starts to chuckle as he lifts his hands in the air and retreats towards the door. “I’ll meet you at the bar.” He says before he leaves.

  “What’s wrong with these clothes?” she asks with a frown as she looks in the mirror.

  “That’s the problem, there is hardly any clothes.” I rasp

  “There’s more than what you were wearing when you opened the door.” She snaps, “besides, I think it fits fine, a bit short but it’s doable.”

  “Fuck, are you still upset about that?” I growl and see her shrug as she looks down at her clothes. I walk behind her and place my arms around her midriff as I lower my head to her shoulder. “Baby, you’re the only woman to see me naked fro
m now on, okay?”

  She nods as she leans her head back displaying her neck to my lips, looking down I can see her breasts encased in a black lacy bra. “But baby, if you don’t want me to be fighting my brothers tonight, please change clothes.” I plead, I see her grin as she looks sideways at me and then kisses my lips before stepping away.

  “I was going to put my jeans on anyway.” She murmurs with a twinkle in her eye.

  “What about the top?” I ask as she removes the short skirt and starts to wiggle into her tight low waisted indigo blue jeans. Her ass teasing me as it wiggles from side to side making me harden immediately.

  “I’m afraid you will have to live with this, my t-shirt is dirty.” Fuck, looking around I see my clean t-shirt that I was about to put on. Grabbing it off the bed I hand it to her.

  “Here, you can wear my t-shirt” I say in relief until she starts to shake her head.

  “I can’t wear your t-shirt, it reaches me to my thighs. Besides you need it.” She mumbles, “This is fine for a few hours.”

  “This isn’t going to end well.” I warn as I pull my t-shirt over my head and down my body. When we’re both ready I take her hand and stride out of the room with her following me. “Keep close to me.” I grunt as we enter the bar, music is already blaring and the Jezebels are dancing provocatively for the guys that are already here.

  “There you are, I thought you two had changed your mind.” Celmund teases as he hands me a beer and Scarlett a coke.

  “Thanks, are the others here yet?” I ask as I look around and don’t see them.

  “They came in a few minutes ago, went to freshen up and should be out soon.” He says as he winks at a Jezebel that is dancing a few feet away from us.

  “Who’s the guys by the door?” I ask as I see a table with five guys that I don’t recognize but can tell they’re not Elemental’s. They look like fighters, and even though they’re not Elementals I’m sure they can hold themselves in a fight.

  “They the street gang that Tor has looking into the trawlers that smuggle the women that are being kidnapped.” Celmund says as he inclines his head, “The one with the blue headband is their leader, the guy with the skull tattoos is his second in command.”