DRACO'S WRATH: Elemental's MC (book 11) Page 7

  “But it’s supposed to be a surprise, so keep your mouths shut,” Gabriela says as she points her finger at Bjarni.

  “What?” he says, surprised. “I keep secrets.”

  “The others are coming. Are we going to have that cake or not, because it’s soon going to be gone,” Ceric suddenly says, which has me shaking my head and smiling. He and Nova are so well suited for each other. I pull the cake towards me and start to cut it into slices. Talia places plates next to the cake and then takes her seat again. After serving the men their slices of cake, I sit down. Leaning back, I relax as I listen to the conversation and the bantering. If this is what the rest of my life is going to be like, I’m going to be happy.

  DRACO 10

  Looking at a dead Jenkins, I frown; humans are a mission to dispose of. Keres disintegrate naturally, but with humans, the body stays behind. “This asshole deserved a long, painful death,” Brandr says as he comes to stand next to me. I place my hand on his shoulder and squeeze in understanding. None of us thought when we went after this fucker that he was one of the perpetrators in all the turmoil that everyone has been through, but knowing that he at least is now dead and won’t be able to come after anyone any longer gives us some peace.

  “How should we dispose of him?” Celmund asks as he looks up from Jenkins’s dead body.

  “I will incinerate him.” I will make sure that there is nothing left of this evil piece of shit. I will turn him to ash, and then I will think of him no more. “Why don’t you guys take a break?” I say, and wait for everyone to leave except Wulf, who is leaning against the door. I know he won’t leave until everything is done. Wulf always has my back no matter what, even if I don’t want it. He will make sure to be there for me.

  Lifting my hand, I send a burst of flames that has the force of all my rage now towards the body on the floor. He bursts into flame, the smell of scorching flesh pungent in the air, but I stand here and wait until I’m sure that there is nothing more of him except ash.

  “This is more involved than we thought. We need to get Katya and question her,” Wulf says as we both walk towards the kitchen.

  “We need to get into that underground, but I think there are more levels than what Jenkins knew.” I have a feeling this project is bigger than what we think. I know they were planning on killing us, and it might even be because our powers frighten them, but I’m sure they could have found a way of managing us if they wanted. Why kill us?

  “If the women could use their gifts to look inside, we would have an idea, but they are blocked from seeing anything. We need to find out how they blocked them,” Wulf mutters angrily.

  “Celmund will work on that database, and hopefully we will find something of value,” I state. Fighting the Keres is one thing because we know they are evil and their purpose once changed is to kill and hunt. We aren’t prepared to go to war with humans because we have always seen them as needing protection. We aren’t naïve. We know that there are evil humans just as there are evil Keres, but to go to a level of subterfuge like they did to kill off the Elementals and Keres is extensive. That’s why I suspect there must be something else to this plan that we aren’t seeing yet.

  “What if we create an earthquake strong enough to shake the foundation of the underground. That will get them scurrying out,” Wulf suggests.

  “I would, but we don’t know what they have in there.” I had thought about that, but if they have bombs or innocents in there, I don’t want to be the cause of unnecessary deaths. “We will talk about it with the women too. They might come up with some kind of plan that we can’t.”

  “Yeah, they seem resourceful that way,” Wulf grunts as we walk into the kitchen.

  “I hope there is still cake,” I state, and Katrina’s head turns towards me, a relaxed look on her face. I know she loves being around everyone and that everyone has become the family she has never had. I sit on the chair next to hers and pull her onto my lap, hearing her gasp in surprise.

  “Draco,” she whispers as my arms slide around her waist and I pull her closer. She can feel my hardness underneath her, and I groan when she moves her bum slightly. “Serves you right, you rascal,” she murmurs, which has me grinning.

  “Here you go,” Jasmine says as she places a plate with a slice of cake before us.

  “He doesn’t deserve any. He stole mine,” Nova quips as she sticks her tongue out at me. I stretch out my hand and take a forkful of cake and bring it to my mouth.

  “Mmm, but not as nice as the piece I had earlier,” I tease, which has her grinning.

  “Do you know how the Keres are doing?” Talia asks as she leans back in her chair. Celmund takes that opportunity to slide his arm around her shoulders and twirl his fingers through her hair.

  We were just torturing a son of a bitch who was one of many responsible for making our lives difficult, but looking at all the men, no one would ever guess it, as they are relaxed and content with their women and children.

  “It looks like they are still calm. We will start to look into their mates, and if they are ready in about two weeks, we will let them know that we have found some of their women,” I inform the women, which has them all smiling that their plan to heal more than one Keres at a time seems to be working. “There is something else I want to speak to you about,” I say, and the men frown in question.

  I feel Katrina’s hand cover mine around her midriff and her thumb start to stroke my hand. The simple caress as if she’s supporting me in whatever I’m about to say makes my heart lurch with emotion. “As you know, we interrogated someone who had some information about the underground where Katya is. We need to get to Katya, as she has information we need. We have established that the plan to set us against the Keres and the Keres against us is in fact true, but it seems like there may be more.” I see the scowls on some of the men’s faces, as they don’t realize the reason for why I’m involving the women.

  “The reason I’m telling you this is that we will practically be going in blind, as for some reason, you aren’t able to look into the underground, and we don’t have enough information to know exactly what is in there. Therefore, if any of you have any ideas of a way that we might be able to get any information about the underground, let me know.” I see that my explanation has appeased the men and that they have relaxed.

  “Well, I don’t know if it will work,” Alaia says, and then looks at Caelius, “but the underground is surrounded by earth. If I can get close enough to touch the ground, it should be able to talk to me, and I could sense the inside.” I knew that somehow we would come up with a solution if we all put our heads together. These women have repeatedly shown us how resourceful they can be, and once again, they don’t disappoint.

  Caelius is frowning, and I know that it’s the idea of having Alaia anywhere near the underground, but he nods and kisses her forehead.

  “That’s it,” Talia says. “If you can lead this one, we can use your energy like we do with the healing and use our gifts like that.”

  “This could work,” Celmund says as he sits forward and looks around. “If Talia can find the main frame, she can short-circuit the cameras and alarms. All we need to worry about is walking in and neutralizing any agents we may encounter.”

  “I can find the main frame for you,” Katrina says as she looks over at Talia, and then her eyes turn towards me, a excited look in them. “And after that, I can see where Katya is.” I take her hand and bring it to my lips, caressing it with a kiss.

  “But if Talia cuts the cameras and alarms, we need to advance immediately,” Bjarni says with a frown. “How are we going to know that it’s done if they’re in a trance state?” He’s got a point, because once that is done, we can’t wait around or they will figure out that something is going on.

  “That’s easy,” Aria says with a cheeky smile, and points at herself. “I won’t be part of the group but will sit near them and read Talia and the others’ minds.” Brandr leans towards her and kisses her cheek with a
grin on his face.

  “She can then tell one of us, who can pass the information to the group on the ground,” Brandr says, and then winks at Aria.

  “And you don’t need to kill anyone unless absolutely necessary,” Nova states. “I can persuade any guards I find to help you, or I can tell them to go to sleep, whichever way you want.”

  Ceric places his hand on her forehead and frowns playfully. “Hellcat, are you okay?” he says with false concern in his voice. “I thought at least you would make them crow like roosters.”

  She smiles at him sweetly, and I can just see her mind working. “Why make them crow when you do it so well for me already,” she quips, which has everyone laughing, including Ceric, who takes hold of her face with both hands and kisses her hard. When he pulls back, I see Nova wink at him, a happy smile on her face.

  “Once Katrina finds the main frame and Talia trips the cameras and alarms, we need to go in immediately. I think that we need the guards at the main gate neutralized before those cameras and alarms are down,” Wulf says as he looks over at me.

  “We can neutralize the guards outside. Nova will concentrate on the ones inside,” I state. “Celmund, you will have to work your magic on the gate so that we don’t need to destroy it, as that would call attention to what we’re trying to keep quiet.” Celmund lifts his hand, showing me a thumbs-up “I want two teams going in. Wulf, Caelius, Bion, and Burkhart, and the other team will be Bjarni, Brandr, Cassius, and myself.” I try to have the different elements in each group, as we don’t know what we might encounter and they have been studying us for various years. We need to be prepared.

  “Celmund, I want you to head from here and be our eyes. Ceric, you’re going to guard the women who are going to be on the field, and report back what Aria tells you. Gunner will stay here and make sure that you ladies who stay behind behave yourselves.”

  “Well, no more cake for you,” Gabriela teases as she lifts and moves the empty plate of cake towards her. Bjarni takes that opportunity to spank her bum, which has her straightening in surprise and then turning with a laugh. “No more hanky panky for you.” She exaggeratedly pouts. Bjarni winks at her and then grins as he pulls her into his lap and kisses her.

  “Hey, there are children present,” Scarlett says as she covers Cassius’s eyes with her hands. Cassius laughs at his woman’s playfulness, which has me thinking back to a time when we were all worried that his rage was becoming stronger and soon would overwhelm him. Now when I look around, the heaviness that I used to feel, wondering if any of my brothers were going to change and that I would have to be the one to end their lives, has lifted. Peace is in its place.

  As Elementals, we aren’t just blessed with finding our mates but with strong women who in many ways are just as strong as we are, who haven’t just helped us by bringing us peace but also aided in our fight to maintain and uphold our beliefs and values.

  “Why so pensive?” Katrina whispers in my ear, her index finger moving provocatively up and down my neck. Before she has time to react, I turn my head and take her finger into my mouth. My teeth bite gently into her finger and hold it as I suck it. I see her eyes darken with passion as she looks at me, and then her tongue flickers out and moistens her luscious lips.

  “Wow, what did we miss?” Gunner says as he walks into the kitchen with Sara next to him. “There is so much sexual tension in this kitchen, anyone can bite into it.” I let go of my woman’s finger and look over at him.

  “That’s lame,” Ceric quips, but his grin says the opposite.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Gunner says as they approach the table. “Anyway, I thought you would all like to know that there is a visitor out front.” I frown when he pulls out a chair for Sara and then takes the one next to her. I raise my eyebrow in question when he doesn’t tell us who the visitor is.

  “Well?” Burkhart grunts as he frowns at Gunner.

  “Well, I’m not sure if I should ruin this moment for you guys. After all, as soon as I tell you who is outside, your women will all be gone.” At that, I groan, knowing exactly who it is, and also because the prospects let the person in without warning any of us.

  “Who the fuck would make . . .?” Burkhart starts to say, and then groans loudly when he also realizes who it is.

  “Sam’s here?” Nova asks excitedly as she stands. Sam, her very gay best friend since childhood, has deemed to visit the compound periodically, to all of our disgruntlement, except the women of course, because I don’t know what he has, but all the women love him. “You want to come see Sam?” Nova asks Ceric, and I see his muscles tense in displeasure as he shakes his head.

  “I think I’m going to have another cup of coffee,” he mutters. Ceric doesn’t like the closeness between Nova and Sam, but he understands that even though they’re not related, they consider each other siblings. The women all start to stand. As Gunner predicted, they’re all going to go see Sam.

  “Come on, Katrina, come meet Sam. You’re going to love him,” Brielle says happily as she waits by the kitchen door. At her words, I tense. I’ve always found it amusing that the men were annoyed with the women’s excitement at seeing Sam, but now that Katrina is one of those women, I understand. The thought of her anywhere near Sam has me wanting to throw him out, and I know he is harmless, but he is still a man, and I don’t like the idea of her anywhere near another man.

  “I’m coming,” she says as she stands. My hand shoots out and takes hold of her bicep before she can take a step. I see her surprise at my hold, but before she can say anything, I pull her down and kiss her. When I let her go, her lips are moist with my kiss and her eyes are soft with passion.

  “Can we go now?” Brielle quips playfully, which makes my vixen gasp as she jumps off my lap and then lightly slaps my shoulder as she wiggles her finger at me before she hurries towards Brielle. When the women have left, I look around and see the disgruntled look on the other men’s faces. Caelius is looking at me. When our eyes meet, he inclines his head towards the kitchen door.

  “Do you think you could incinerate him too?” he mutters. I grin. We all hate the situation, but none of us will do anything to Sam, as we all want our women happy, and for some unknown reason, he entertains them.

  KATRINA 11

  “Wow, who’s this new goddess among so many other beauties.” I grin when I see the man hugging Nova. He is good looking. Nothing like the men at the compound, but handsome in his own right.

  “Sam, this is Katrina, and she belongs to Draco.”

  His hand dramatically moves up to his chest, and he throws back his head and groans loudly. “Nooooo,” he says. “Not that piece of decadence too.”

  We all laugh as he meant us to. He then lets go of Nova and approaches me. Taking my hand, he pulls me towards a couple chairs. “Well, if I can’t find out first hand, there is nothing stopping us from finding out from you if all that maleness is just a show or if he lives up to his aura,” he says. Letting go of my hand, he sits and then pats the chair next to him. The other women laugh and also start to take their seats.

  “You want me to tell you if Draco is good in bed?” I ask with a laugh, and his eyes widen dramatically as he shakes his head.

  “No, girlfriend, I don’t want to know just if he’s good in bed. I want juicy details.”

  I can’t help myself and start to laugh. “Well, let’s see,” I say, dragging it out theatrically. “He’s really good with his hands.” I lift my hands and start to wiggle my fingers playfully. “I have also noticed that he is very talented with his mouth, as I have a tendency to forget everything when he uses it.”

  Sam playfully slaps his forehead and then drags his hand down over his eyes. “Not another perfect one,” he mutters, and then drops his hands and looks at me. “Tell me he at least kisses like a washing machine.”

  I frown. “What kind of kiss is that?” I ask curiously, and burst out laughing again when Sam opens his mouth and deems to demonstrate by rotating his tongue dramatically round and round o
utside his mouth.

  “It’s the type that your tonsils get washed and you practically gag on his tongue down your throat. You also don’t need to brush your teeth for a week because he does it all for you.”

  I shake my head, not able to answer, as I’m laughing too hard at his comical demonstration. “Darn, I just knew it. Would you like to share your fortune?” he mutters playfully.

  “Sorry, no sharing,” I say as I shrug.

  “You know, you are all so stingy,” he says teasingly as he looks around at all the women. “You’re so fortunate, but meanwhile, you won’t share your good fortune with the less fortunate.” And then he points his finger at Nova. “And you, you are the worst. You are supposed to be my best friend, but you won’t even let me get a little nibble.” Just imagining Sam trying to take a bite out of Ceric has me roaring with laughter. I double over as I try to catch my breath. I now understand why the women like Sam so much. He is comical.

  “Anyway, I came all this way to see my godson. Where is he?” he says as he waves his hand at Nova.

  Nova grins as she shakes her head. “He’s sleeping at the moment, so I left him with his daddy, and I don’t remember nominating you my son’s godfather.”

  “Well, sweetheart, you don’t need to. We both know that if I didn’t like your husband in that way more than I like you, I would be the father of that son of yours,” he says as he thrusts his hips in his chair. “Where are those handsome men of yours, anyway? Especially yours. He’s a real morsel,” Sam says as he looks at Alaia.

  “You’re going to get yourself into trouble one of these days if you carry on picking on them,” Gabriela says as she leans back in her chair.

  “Promise?” he asks as he wiggles his brows at her. “But even though you ladies aren’t nice to me, I came bearing some gifts that I think you’re going to love.”