by J. Kearston
“Let’s go find the others and see if they found any leads.”
We walk upstairs in silence, the three of us trapped in our own tumultuous thoughts. The Veles brothers aren’t back yet, and none are answering their phones. When Soren comes downstairs, hair still damp from his shower, it only takes him a fraction of a second to read the room.
“What now?” he demands.
Ezra has her feet curled underneath her on the couch, sitting between Yri and myself. When she answers him, her voice is still numb with shock, and I see so much of Vyrian in her right now. He gets the same way when discussing his past; emotionally detaching himself, able to pretend it happened to someone else or in another life.
Soren wastes no time lifting her up and stealing her seat, situating her on his lap so that she’s straddling and facing him. “There’s no way a single injection could permanently block your abilities, Ezra.” He speaks with conviction, leaving absolutely no choice beyond accepting his words as fact. “His words were a desperate last shot at hurting you, since it was clear we were never going to let him go alive. You’re still feeling weak, correct?”
She starts to relax, latching onto his words, and releases a heavy breath as she tries for humor. “I look weak to you, Ren?”
He leans forward and kisses her before pulling back just as quickly. “Never, little dragon. But you know what I’m implying.”
She sighs, tilting her head up to the ceiling in a silent plea for patience. “You’re not wrong.”
Yri steals her hand and kisses the back. “Not the end of the world, angel. Now you see how the rest of us have to live. So close, yet just out of reach.”
She scoffs, a small ember flickering to life inside her. “Well it sucks. I must say, not a fan.”
I lean back against the couch, strumming my fingers across my knee. “Do you have any idea how many years you’ve shaved off of my life this week? First the Gauntlet, and then getting Ren’s call? Seeing you lying in that bed for days and not able to do a damn thing to help?”
My voice starts to gain an edge to it that I can’t keep out, frustration and worry taking over. My fingers strum a quick rhythm, restless energy needing an outlet. She’s our goddamn mate, ritual or not, and we didn’t protect her. If that had been anything other than an ability suppressing tranquilizer, she could be dead.
“Let’s back this up a minute here, because I think there’s something you aren’t getting,” she snaps from her perch on Soren’s lap, eyes locked on my face. “The first time I came to and realized I was on a bed? Scared the shit out of me, and if you repeat that, I’ll stab you in the kidney. But then Soren was there and I was so relieved I could have puked. Because I trust you guys, and knew it’d be okay to pass back out with you three looking out for me. So wipe that look off your face, Cai, because it’s clear as day where your mind is at.”
I groan, closing my eyes. “You’re not going to make me feel better, so save your energy.” An instant later I sit up as the wind is knocked out of me, Ezra flopping over onto my lap like dead weight.
She bats her eyes at me, a smile on her face. “I mean, I could always make you feel worse if you want?”
I release an amused breath as she elbows me a few times while twisting. She ends up with her thighs outside of mine, straddling me before putting her hands on my shoulders.
“You’re so benevolent,” I deadpan.
She nods. “It’s true, I am. But seriously, Cai, don’t go there; it won’t do anyone any good.”
I know she’s right, but it’s hard to temper down the raging thoughts. She leans in to kiss me, deepening it until the only thoughts that cross my mind are involving her. She rolls her hips and my chest rumbles with need, pulling her closer.
I’m vaguely aware of Soren and Yri leaving, feel the dip in the couch as they get up, but Ezra quickly recaptures my full attention as she grinds against me. I put a hand on her hip to still her rocking, trying really damn hard not to embarrass myself here.
She takes the opportunity to come up for air, discarding her shirt. She bites my lip and I hiss, rolling us so that I’m hovering above her.
“You get off on torturing me, don’t you?”
She lifts her hips as she shimmies out of her pants beneath me, kicking them aside. “A little, yeah,” she admits unrepentantly, and captures my lips once more.
Her fingers hook in the waistband of my jeans, but when they flick the button open, I freeze completely. The four of us have kept a firm rule in place so we don’t get carried away; if one person’s pants come off, the other’s stays on. Orgasms are one thing, but there’s a line we all know better than to cross.
“Well, now I know you’re trying to kill me.” I force a teasing air into my voice, but it still comes across breathless.
She bites her lip, holding my gaze as she slowly drags the zipper down. “Or maybe I just know what I want?” Her voice betrays her nerves, lacking the self-assured confidence I’ve come to expect from her.
I groan. “You vastly overestimate my self-restraint here, Ezra.”
Her tongue darts out to lick her lips. “That a no?” she asks, vulnerability bleeding into her tone.
I curse, whipping off my shirt before kissing her harder than before, more desperate, more frantic. I pull back long enough to get to my feet, stepping out of my jeans.
“You’re sure?”
“I’d have hit you by now if I wasn’t,” she teases and I climb back on top of her.
Her leg wraps around my hip, pulling me closer as I get lost in her. Every kiss, every touch, sends fire through my veins, burning away rational thought. I push her panties to the side, slowly starting to press into her. I keep my gaze trained on her face, searching for any sign that I’m hurting her or she changed her mind.
I pull back a few times, working my way in slowly. By the time I’m fully inside her, I’ve bitten the inside of my cheek until blood fills my mouth. She hisses once sharply and I stay still, giving her time to adjust as well as to keep myself from coming already.
When she starts squirming beneath me I start to move, movements slow and controlled. I snap my hips a little harder and she gasps, clenching around me. With a groan, my movements become more erratic until I can’t hold back anymore. I have the good sense to pull out despite the primal need to lose myself inside her completely, my cum staining the couch beneath me instead.
“Shit,” I pant, scrubbing a hand down my face.
I think I lasted all of five minutes. I don’t think she even came; I should have done that before I ever pulled my dick out. Oh fuck, what did I just do? The others are going to kill me.
“Cai?” She’s pulling herself into a seated position, giving me a strange look. “I shouldn’t have pressured you, I’m sorry,” she starts rambling.
“No, fuck, I’m an idiot,” I rush out, leaning forward and kissing her once, hard, and leaving no room for doubt. “Just enjoying my last few minutes of life before I’m murdered.”
She smiles, relieved and starting to gather her clothes. “Want me to distract the others so you have time to make a break for it?”
I pull on my jeans and help her up. “Well, you are pretty fucking distracting,” I tease and she flicks my arm.
“Excuse me, but I am a goddamn delight,” she retorts.
I grab her wrist and tug her in for another kiss, making sure she knows I just enjoy provoking her. “Absolutely. You alright?”
Her eyes soften, but she nods. “Honestly, with a big of a deal as everyone made out of it, it feels sort of anticlimactic, you know?”
“Ouch, brutal. Tell me how you really feel, why don’t ‘ya?”
She snorts. “Not like that, you know what I meant. Everyone made it into such a big deal, but I don’t feel really any different . Relieved, maybe? That it’s not hanging over my head anymore?”
But that’s as far as the conversation goes before Soren is there, looking pissed off. Vyrian, on the other hand, looks positively thrilled, so it’s
hit or miss how this is going to go.
Yri skips over to her and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her into his side possessively. “See? I told you guys we were going to need to kidnap her and skip town.”
She furrows a brow and looks up at him, confused. “What are you talking about?”
At that, Yri’s expression hardens and he pins me with a look. I rub the back of my neck, repentant. We’ve got her up to speed with so much so quickly that I forgot she might not understand the full implications of what we just did.
“I asked if she was sure,” I throw out in a pathetic bid to defend myself, but I don’t even attempt to block the punch Yri aims at my shoulder.
Her expression becomes guarded and I hate that it’s completely my fault. “It just means we need to up the schedule to go make everything official, is all. By having sex, we just kicked it off a little early.”
She sighs. “Okay, I should have expected something like that. Kahl already told me to keep it in my pants, so not really a surprise. Besides, that’s what I get for saying it was anticlimactic.”
Soren snorts, but doesn’t make any jabs. “Kaiden called, they’re on their way back and will fill us in when they get here.”
I nod, taking a few minutes to scrub the couch while we wait. Yri and I head back to our house to pack some bags, because after we get updated, we’re going to have to start making our way to the Sanctuary. Despite whatever information the Veles’ bring back with them, I’ve forced our hand now. I don’t regret it, but if we thought the pheromone issue was bad before, it’ll be nothing compared to sending her into heat early. The birthday deadline is a thing of the past now, and at best, we have a week.
“Sorry to add another thing to our plate,” I apologize, feeling like a dick.
But Yri just waves me off. “Am I jealous it wasn’t me? Fuck yeah. But I wouldn’t have turned her away either, Cai; definitely not going to find me complaining. Now it just means that she’s that much closer to being officially ours and the rest of the world knowing it.”
We toss our backpacks in the trunk and head back to her house, figuring everyone should be back by now. “She’s going to be okay, right?” I finally ask, voice barely more than a whisper.
I don’t look at his face as we drive, don’t want to see any of the fear there before he manages to stow it away. Yri wears his heart on his sleeve most of the time and the rest is locked in an iron box in the back of his mind. But that brief flash before he manages it is still too much for me to handle right now.
“Of course she’s going to be alright. Soren’s right; he was just trying to throw her off balance. Besides, anything they could have done will be undone when she has her first shift; you can’t be a dragon without your fire. And Ezra? That girl is all fire, it’s just trapped inside for a little bit.”
We park and head in, her brothers looking ready to murder me, so at least I missed that awkward conversation if nothing else. I don’t cower, not before them. I may want to stay on good terms for her sake, but no one is going to make me feel bad for loving my mate.
“Bring me up to speed?” Vyrian tosses out there, trying to break some of the tension.
Kahl grits his teeth, arms crossed and leaning against the wall. “You guys need to go. Now.”
I blink at his words. “What happened?”
Kaiden whips a knife at my shoulder that I catch before it can find its mark, flipping it in the air casually while holding his eye, waiting for him to speak. He storms over and steals it back before he starts barking out the abridged version.
“We picked the right side in that feud, so that gives us a leg up. They know about Ezra and a group from that town has rallied enough support they’re going to make their move. And now, we can’t even hole up and ride this out because of your fucking dick. So you four are going to need to slip out of town discreetly while we cause a diversion and buy you time for a head start.”
My stomach sinks, the war that we fought so hard to escape haunting us even here. It may not be as widespread yet or as brutal, but here nonetheless.
“Breeder or lab?”
I’m not even sure which fate is worse and I’d wish neither on anyone. It hurts to voice so casually, but knowledge is power. The more we know about who we’re up against, the better of a chance we’ll stand. The men advocating to strip away women’s rights and use them as breeders are more crude, thinking with their dicks and looking for an excuse to rape women without consequence. They make rash decisions, more brutes than anything else.
The people pushing for genetic experimentation are more dangerous. They’re cunning, analytical. They don’t make any decision without careful planning and manipulation, exploiting any weakness to get what they want. Those are the ones primarily occupying Omisha right now. Whether the ones here belong to the same organization as the ones we fled from is the real question. Are we running from one interconnected group or are there smaller rival factions across the globe? How widespread is this? And these are just the problems we know about; who knows how many countless others are cropping up?
“The leaders in that city have ties to the whole ‘breeder’ campaign, but because of whatever they injected Ez with, we’ve got to assume there are ties to both,” Kinsley growls, pacing.
Ezra’s face is a blank mask. “I still say you should just abandon ship with us.”
Eli pokes her cheek several times. “Stop it or it’ll get stuck that way. Trust us, Ez, it’s going to be fine. But until you’re better, you’re at even more risk than usual; you need to go.”
She frowns, turning to Eli with worry. “But what if something happens to one of you?”
He shrugs. “Then I guess when you come back you can terrorize the town and bite faces off for revenge.” His voice is light, but the corners of his eyes are tight with worry.
She hugs him and we all pretend we don’t see the tears she’s fighting to hold back. “You better be fine when I get back here, or so help me, you’ll be grounded for a month.”
He laughs, holding her tightly for a minute before finally letting go. “Deal. Be safe, okay?”
Kinsley goes to sit on the couch, reaching underneath for something, but he pauses. “Why the hell is the couch wet?”
He makes it nearly thirty seconds of no one speaking before a horrified look overtakes his face. Without wasting another second, he practically jumps out of his jeans, throwing them across the room and marching to his room. When he comes out, he’s in a new pair and carrying a gallon of bleach that he promptly dumps all over the cushions, gagging the entire time.
Only when it’s empty does he go back to what he was searching for, pulling out a thin metal box. He opens it and pulls out a manilla envelope, tossing the box aside, and offers it to Ezra.
“Here,” he says, not looking her in the eye.
She opens it and her eyes widen as I peek over her shoulder. “There’s got to be several thousand dollars in here!” she shouts, incredulous.
He shoves it back at her when she tries to refuse. “If we can’t go with you, this should at least help make the trip easier, okay? Quit making it into a thing.”
She nods and hugs him before going down the line, everyone having their farewell while Yri, Soren, and I step outside to give them privacy.
“But really, why stay behind instead of coming with us?” Yri asks of Soren, since we came late to the game.
He frowns. “They were followed back to town. Turns out, Hadeon is better than we gave these men credit for, a few exceptions aside. While other cities knew there was a female in the area, they didn’t know where she actually lived. Rumor had it they scoured the other towns and were just sending out feelers to start scanning Hadeon for her.
“Kaiden killed the men, but they were almost to the house before they noticed them. One of them made a call before they took him out, so we have to assume people are coming straight here.
“They blame themselves, and we’d have to take two cars anyway; it’d be harde
r to leave town unnoticed. There are only two roads in or out. We aren’t even sure how many people we’re up against and a head start could mean life or death; it’s a smart call,” he finishes, grimacing.
My jaw is tight and I try to settle down my guilt. “If one of them dies, she’ll never forgive herself.”
Vyrian gazes off at nothing, lost in his head. I clap him on the shoulder, making sure he knows we’re here if he needs it, but not prying. We all have our scars, so the best we can do is support each other, since some things never fully heal.
Ezra comes out with a backpack slung over her shoulders and red rimmed eyes. “Your car or mine?”
Kahl makes the decision for her. “Theirs. The people around town know yours on sight by now and we can’t swear who might be against us or flip sides when the fighting starts. Weak men always lean towards whichever side they think is winning, no matter what they’re fighting for.”
Ezra nods and climbs into the backseat with Yri while I take the driver seat and Soren slides in beside me up front. “Don’t look so bleak, beautiful. They’ve been preparing for this their entire lives. If anyone is going to come out on top, it’s those cheating bastards.”
She cracks a smile. “And they always have the panic room if they need to fall back.”
“Exactly,” Soren consoles, always able to make her feel better no matter her mood. “So let’s just focus on getting your fire back, little dragon.”
A glance in the rearview mirror shows her sitting up straighter, a determined air about her. “And then I will burn that city to the ground.”
Chapter 17
Ezra
“Way to sound like a psycho,” Cai scoffs from the front seat as we pull away from everything I’ve ever known.
I just need to take all that fear for my family and stuff it away. I can’t let my worry constantly distract me or none of us will end up surviving this. Kinsley made us leave our phones behind, paranoid someone would be able to track them. No calls in or out, complete radio silence. Dwelling on what ifs will only cause us to make mistakes, so I’m going to box that all up until we get through our current trial.
