The Men of Elite Metal: Platinum, Zinc, & Francium

by Rebecca Royce

  “What’s your…kink?” Since he’d said his was more pronounced than simply pulling her hair. She suddenly saw the flogger in her minds’ eye and a sour pit formed in her stomach.

  “Ties. The way you’re holding onto the bedpost, I’d enjoy roping you up the same way. Or maybe with silk scarves. I’m a Dom, honey. I want to give you what you need. If you have a kink, and it’s something I can give you and think you should have, which won’t harm you, I want to give it to you.”

  Her mouth watered. Millions of women read 50 Shades of Grey. She hadn’t. What was the point? She’d hated the flogging. Lying on the bed in front of Eli, she wished she’d read the book or something akin to it. Never had she felt so out of her depth.

  Tonight was new…and she liked it.

  “For tonight.” He kicked off his shoes. “We’re going to be really simple. Red. Yellow. Green. I’m going to ask you periodically if you’re okay and you’re going to give me a color. Green means go. You’re happy. Red—”

  She nodded. “Not happy. Stop.”

  “All stop.” He placed a hand on her thigh. “Yellow is you’re unsure. You can also call out at any time. Red. Yellow. Green. Whatever you want. Tonight, you can speak without permission.”

  Rose gulped. “There might come a time when I can’t?”

  “Unless not talking turns out to be a red.”

  “I don’t know. You remember how I enjoy speaking.”

  He kissed the top of her clothed knee. “And you know how I enjoy listening.”

  “So then the not talking bit…”

  “Not for tonight.” He was a towering figure of male hotness standing in front of her bed. “What are your words? What instructions did I give you?”

  “Red for no, I hate what you’re doing. Green for good, let’s go on. And yellow for I’m not sure how I feel.”

  Those hadn’t been his exact words, except they would have to be good enough for their first time. This had to be the strangest conversation she’d ever engaged in. Yet, her heart beat rapidly in anticipation. She couldn’t deny her excitement.

  “Great.” He moved over her, and she guessed the conversation was over. His mouth met hers, and although she longed to lower her arms and stroke the back of his neck, he told her to keep her hands on the headboard. She’d obeyed.

  Rose lost herself in the heat of his mouth on hers. She squirmed from the need to do more than stay still, and he raised his head to look at her.

  “Color?”

  He wanted to be told how she felt about kissing? “Green. Definitely green.”

  “Good.” He rubbed his thumb over her lips. “Because I really enjoy having you like this.”

  “Totally at your mercy?”

  Eli shook his head, the side smile she’d come to think of as both happy and sad crossing his face. “As you’ll soon understand if you don’t already, I’m entirely at yours.”

  He kissed her again. She had no idea how much time passed. Elijah seemed to have no interest in hurrying things along, and since her hands were holding the headboard, it left her with her legs free to run against him.

  Over time, they seemed to find a rhythm where he would kiss her and grind his still clothed hips against her still wearing too much fabric pussy. Every time he did, a jolt of pure pleasure travelled up and down her spine.

  After a bit, he lifted his head again, his eyes heated. Not that she was surprised. She could feel how excited he was, his bulging cock pressed against her with each rub they made.

  “Color?”

  “Green and frustrated.”

  Eli actually grinned, no sad smile to be seen on his face. “Frustrated is good. Green is better. I’m going to have you let go, only for as long as it takes you to remove your shirt. Okay?”

  She nodded. Anything to put his hands on her. Besides, the longer they kissed, the more comfortable she’d gotten with not having control over her hands. It was kind of…amazing. The way Eli kissed her with her hands on the headboard, it made her feel worshiped.

  Rose got her shirt off, and he took it from her before throwing it aside.

  “Eli?”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, darling?”

  “Green.” He hadn’t asked, yet she’d wanted to tell him just the same.

  Now

  Rose sat up fast. Her heart raced. When was the last time she’d dreamed of Eli so vividly?

  She rubbed at her eyes. It was still black outside and darker in the cabin, except for the slight embers still burning low in the fireplace. Kent breathed deeply—the sleep of children.

  Despite almost being killed, he trusted her enough to go deeply into dreamland. Kent expected her to take care of him the way kids did before they knew better.

  It was why she decided to teach elementary school and not high school. In ten years, without the world being so unkind to him as to murder his grandmother and shoot at him, he’d learn better than to trust every person around him.

  “Enough, Rose,” she spoke aloud and rose to her feet.

  Dreaming of Elijah, something she managed to stop doing for about a month, had thrown her off more. Then again, she’d holed up in her parents’ cabin with Kent. The last time she’d been here was with her vanished lover. In a weird way, Kent reminded her of Elijah.

  There weren’t many people walking around with the platinum blond hair they both possessed. Kent was too young to be bleaching his hair, and Elijah would have scoffed at the idea.

  He’d been very basic when it came to grooming. Soap, toothpaste, aftershave, razors, deodorant, shampoo plus conditioner. No dye anywhere in his bathroom.

  They were both lucky when it came to hair color genetics. Very unusual, very beautiful. Although Eli always scoffed when she told him how attractive she found his hair. Silky, too. He’d told her once how much he hated the color. It made him stand out.

  She sighed loudly, breaking the silence of the cabin. Once upon a time, she’d run her hands through his hair for hours while he’d slept on the same floor.

  Until he’d woken up in a cold sweat, a bad dream darkening his eyes and his mood sour. For a fleeting moment, she tried to reach out to him, but as with any subject touching on his past, he hadn’t wanted to talk about it.

  Her ex possessed demons and wherever he disappeared to, she hoped he managed them. People should not have to suffer alone.

  Or maybe her cabin simply brought out the worst. The walls were cursed. Her parents had loved it, and they were dead. She’d brought Eli here, and then he’d vanished. She’d taken refuge with Kent and…

  No. She refused to go down such a dreadful path in her thoughts. Nothing could happen to him. Rose would simply not allow it.

  The sound startled her, and she whirled around. Someone tapped on her door, then tried the doorknob.

  Her heart rose into her throat. Oh hell, what was she supposed to do? She had no weapons and no idea how to use them. Why oh, why had she counted on the four walls of her parents’ old place to do anything at all?

  If the person after them wanted to come in, they’d simply open the door and enter. Of course, they would.

  Well they’d have to go through her to Kent.

  She rushed forward at the same time as the door opened. With her hands out in front of her, as if she were some kind of banshee, she launched herself at whoever the lunatic after them turned out to be.

  “No,” she shouted. If it woke Kent, so be it. He needed to run.

  “Rose.” The man grabbed her hands before she could successfully claw at him. “Rose, stop. I knocked first. Someone here to hurt you wouldn’t.”

  It took her a second to recognize the voice. Funny, because she’d been dreaming about him. Yet it did take a full second for her to realize she launched herself at Elijah.

  “You,” she breathed out, yet relief didn’t fill her at seeing him. What were the chances he’d show back up? Slim to none.

  “Me.”

  She pulled back, and he let go of her hands. “You’re invol
ved. I should have known. My crazy boyfriend who vanishes would be shooting at me on the street. Coming after my student. I’ll…stop you. I’ll kill you, Eli, before I let you hurt him. I swear I will.”

  In the still way only Eli could pull off, he didn’t move at all.

  Finally, he spoke. “Few things. If I were going to shoot you, I wouldn’t have missed. I realize you don’t possess knowledge about this part of me, and for good reasons. You have no reason to trust me. I get it. More than you’ll ever imagine. I’ll tell you a single thing. I’m here to protect you and The Boy.”

  With so many horrible things happening, she couldn’t make sense of any of it. “Why did you say it the way you did? The Boy? As if you’re putting capital letters on it?”

  “It’s a thing I do.”

  “You.” Kent’s voice caught her attention, and she whirled around to see him. He pointed at Elijah. “I used to see you on the street. Sometimes. You look like me. I told Maw Maw. I told her, and she laughed. You’re my father.”

  Her ex nodded. “I am actually.”

  Oh, hell.

  5

  Now

  Platinum expected anger, rage, and accusations. Dreaded telling his son the truth, who he was, and why he’d been absent from his life. Walking in the door detonated an emotional IED inside.

  He met his son’s wide eyes. Eyes he recognized, because he saw them in the mirror every day.

  “Look, Kent. I understand. No one understands how shitty a bad father can be better than I. And some day, you and I will talk about how we got here. The only thing I can tell you is I would have handled it differently if I could have. My priority is your safety. You and Rose. Okay?” He said the next sentence as much for Rose as for Kent, “The rest we’ll figure out as we go.”

  He clenched his jaw so tightly, his ears hurt. In a kinder world, he’d have been able to see Rose again under far different circumstances, to hold her in his arms, to explain to her his disappearance had nothing to do with her at all.

  In a better existence, he wouldn’t be a stranger to his son.

  Plat dealt in facts. Not fiction. Truth, he’d chosen to join Elite Metal, albeit having been kidnapped to have the option to do so. Truth, his conscious decision to do so cost him the only two people he loved in the world.

  The whys would have to wait.

  “We have a very sloppy would-be sniper after you. I’m going to have to ask the two of you to be patient while I get control of all the factors involved here. I only came in because I don’t want you panicky if you hear gunfire. I have no idea if sloppy shooter out there has a silencer on the gun he or she is using.”

  He glanced from Kent to Rose. Her eyes were huge. She didn’t seem to be looking at him, not really—shock. Still, she spoke to him through trembling lips. “How do you propose to deal with the sniper out there? What are you going to be able to do about it? Shouldn’t you call someone, and how do you know about this anyway?”

  Plat held up his hand to silence her, and she stopped talking. He’d missed the sound of her voice so much. The pleasure and soothing he took from the lyrical quality of her tones were too much of a distraction. A temptation.

  “I learned about the present circumstances because I hired a private detective to keep an eye on Kent. When Kent went missing, I started trying to find out what happened. I don’t know how long it’s been since Kent went to school. Was he missing before you went on the run?”

  The timeline bothered him. Rose hadn’t been missing very long. Why had Tony lost Kent if they’d only been in the cabin for what seemed a very short time? The sniper only missed shooting them the day before.

  “He missed a little school. His grandmother wasn’t feeling well. Why? It’s not relevant.” She put her hands on her hips. Rose wouldn’t have yelled before he’d left. If he’d stayed quiet, she would have done as he asked.

  Of course, he’d lost the right to her submissive behavior. His heart panged with the disappointment. Saving her life came first. Seeing if there was any possibility of fixing things could come afterwards.

  And Tony clearly did not earn his retainer. He lost the boy because Kent’s grandmother got sick. Utter incompetence.

  “Eli?” Rose’s voice held enormous frustration. He’d gone off into his own head again. Too long passed since he’d last worked on his communication skills. His team had a verbal shorthand. They didn’t need a hell of a lot of words.

  “That’s not actually my name. It’s fine if you want to call me Elijah. Only it was never real.” She deserved to know.

  Her eyes went suspiciously moist. No way could he deal with her crying. On his best day, women’s tears befuddled him. Right then didn’t count as his best anything.

  “To answer your question, darling, I’m going to do what I do. I’m a sniper. I used to do it for Uncle Sam. These days, things are a little less clear. I am going to shoot whoever it is who is out there in the head.”

  Her mouth fell open. He supposed he really bumbled the exchange. Either he’d blown it, or there was no really good way to manage it at all. How did you tell the woman you loved yet abandoned you were really a sniper, and not the med student you tried to be the whole time she knew you? The simplest answer was the one he’d relied on before someone tried to kill his son. You don’t.

  “Keep your head down. Stay flat on the floor, you and Kent. Whatever crap we have to deal with, we’ll sort it out. Everyone stays alive.”

  “Wait.”

  He paused. Being so close to Rose again and actually speaking to Kent played havoc on his nerves.

  “Yeah?” She hadn’t aged a day. The wariness in her eyes was new. While he was sure the lousy sniper who tried to shoot her played a large role in her hooded gaze, he’d bet money his presence was the reason for her guarded eyes.

  “What should I call you? Since Elijah is not your name.”

  “These days it’s Platinum.”

  “As in the metal or your hair?” She coughed, and he watched a shiver wreck through her body. They’d have been okay in here when the fire blazed, except the chill had won. The longer Rose and Kent stayed, the worse it would be for them.

  “Both. One led to the other.”

  He wanted to leave, tried to again, this time nearly stopping when Kent called out. “Please be careful. No one is bullet proof.”

  Plat nodded at his son. He knew better than most. Likely, the person would miss. Then he’d be able to track their direction easily. The bullet didn’t come, and he wasn’t surprised. Oh well, he’d have to track the old fashioned way.

  Of course, he might also take one in the head.

  The nip of the night struck his cheeks. He processed the temperature as he did the direction of the breeze and the air speed velocity. Digging into himself, he sought the stillness vital to his job. The Silence. When he’d first been coming up in the Marines, his commanding officer described what it took to excel at his job.

  Plat’s ability to hit a target accurately notwithstanding, his skills with a rifle hadn’t been why he kept getting promoted, and they’d not constituted the reason why Marine special forces wanted him along.

  He blended, disappeared into his surroundings in a way which simply couldn’t be taught. If he really wanted to psychoanalyze the damn thing—and fuck, he did not—he could take it back to the days he’d needed to vanish because his abandoned and divorced mother entertained her male friends in the apartment he’d been too young to flee.

  Better to simply disappear. If they didn’t notice him, he could pretend the whole thing wasn’t happening.

  He needed to perform his inner checklist. More than his life was at stake. He wouldn’t lose the two souls he’d left behind in the cabin. Ever.

  He was good at his job. Plat sharpened his focus. He’d find the fool, and with a single pop, the whole mess would be over.

  Two years earlier

  He never thought about the night everything went sideways and got completely fucked. Elijah couldn’t let though
ts of Operation Phoenix cross his mind.

  So of course, the memories visited him when he slept.

  Vulnerability didn’t work for him. Not even a little bit. Which was how he found himself lying in the dark next to a sleeping Rose with his arm flung over his eyes, as if he could block out his dark thoughts as easily as he could the light from the street.

  Operation fucking Phoenix.

  Rose murmured in her sleep, and he let his arm fall down so he could stare at her in the darkness. Her eyes were closed, and he could see small movements beneath her closed lids that indicated she’d reached a dream state.

  He should leave her alone. They’d engaged in quite a workout, and she needed rest. His cock twitched at the memory of how they both came hours earlier.

  Naked and trembling, only not with fear…

  His Rose liked to hold on to the headboard. She’d come beautifully around his cock. His balls throbbed as blood pooled back into his dick, leaving him immediately erect again.

  Would she want to be tied?

  He’d not expected to reach such a place with her, not yet. The chance to find out made him put the silk ties into his bag, along with the condoms.

  Elijah was always in control. Except he wasn’t. He needed Rose, and though vulnerability should have scared the shit out of him, it didn’t.

  He wasn’t a sniper anymore. Circumstances left him living a civilian life. Medical students got to fall in love. They didn’t have to worry the fucking world was going to end the next day if the Iranians got plutonium from Russia.

  Eli eased closer to Rose. With a swift move, he tugged her tighter against him until her mouth was close to his. Her eyes fluttered open, and he kissed her before she could speak.

  This was how he wanted to wake her, with kisses for the rest of her life.

  She moaned against him, her body squirming with impatience. He loved her small movements, and he loved how he was going to help her to control them. She’d come harder when he did.

  He reached over the bed and pulled his bag closer.