The Unrepentant- Part Three

by Grace McGinty

  I gasped out a breath. Thank god.

  “Charlie next.”

  Charlie sucked in a big breath and nodded. He leaned over and kissed me deeply, like it might be the last time. I didn’t want to watch but I couldn't look away.

  Romanus grabbed him by an arm and a leg. “Sorry, kid. This is gonna be weird.” He spun, whirling around like an olympian doing hammer throw. He turned and turned and then at the last minute, let Charlie go. My heart was in my throat as he flew in slow motion across the gap. He cleared the drop and Naz and Charlie caught him mid air, all three of them going down in a heap. I huffed out a relieved breath.

  They were fine.

  Romanus cocked his head to the side. “I can hear them coming up the stairs. We need to jump.” He stood in front of me. “Wrap your arms and legs around my body and do not let go.”

  My heart hammered overtime. At this rate, I was going to have a heart attack. I jumped, circling my arms around his neck and wrapping my legs around his waist like a baby koala. I hope he didn't need to breathe, because I couldn't loosen my grip.

  “Do you trust me, my Queen?”

  I nodded against his back. “Implicitly.”

  “Close your eyes, Rella. It will be over in seconds.”

  He took the same length run up as Naz, and leapt. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and prayed. Prayed to every deity I could remember. He jumped and there was the weightless feeling of flying. The only other time that was comparable was when I was on Romanus’ back in dragon form. But then he had wings and it was a thousand times less terrifying.

  We landed with a thud that shook me loose from his back, and I fell onto my butt on the rough surface of the neighbouring roof.

  “Lets not do that again anytime soon, okay?” I said as Romanus reached down and helped me to my feet. He planted a quick kiss on my lips.

  “We gotta go,” he said, and pulled me along the rooftop to the door. We took the stairs all the way down to the parking lot, slightly staggered apart so we didn’t draw attention. The guys weren't masters of blending in at the best of times. We finally all made it to the alley beside the hotel and walked quickly toward the nearest train station.

  “What now?” All our carefully laid plans flew out the window when we got busted by the cops. Our element of surprise was gone.

  “We head to Calais, to the big refugee camp there. Shine will have a presence for sure, because it would be several ways of moving them out of the country. It's the ideal location to snatch desperate people from an unrecognized refugee camp, where there's very little governance,” Charlie said. “We go there as representatives of the NRH. The time for stealth is gone, and we will get an element of protection that way. They won't be able to just bury us all quietly.”

  “Sounds solid to me,” I told him, looking from Romanus to Naz. They both nodded.

  “Separate, and meet at the coach station ASAP,” Romanus ordered, snagging my hand. “You're with me.”

  Shocker. I pulled my cap down lower over my face, and we walked quickly toward the train station. Everyone else peeled off in different directions. I hated them being out of my sight, but understood the reasoning behind the order.

  Romanus reached out and entwined his fingers through mine, pulling me closer to his side.

  “Estrella?” The sound of his voice close to my ear startled me, and I jumped a little, bumping into a man talking on his cellphone.

  I resisted the urge to apologize. “What?” My eyes searched the crowd for any hint of threat, but no one seemed to be paying us any attention, most either looking at their phones or with earbuds in listening to who knows what.

  “I feel a great affection for you. I am glad you chose me as Alpha.”

  Shock stopped my feet, but Romanus’ hand in mine tugged me along, making me quick step to catch up.

  “I didn’t choose you for Alpha, Rom. You won that one, fair and square. Are you okay? Did you hit your head or something when we jumped?”

  A small smile curled his lips, and I loved that smile. Romanus wasn’t the most smiley of guys, he was the epitome of tall, dark and broody. But when he smiled, it was like a gut punch every time. Even a tiny grin warmed my insides.

  “I’ve been alive a long time, well of a sorts anyway. I’ve experienced the full tumult of emotions available to a person. I guess, what I am trying to say is that I think I may love you, Estrella.”

  He didn’t look at me as he said it, his focus in front of him as we made our way through the late afternoon foot traffic, and I was kind of glad because he would have seen me gaping like a cod. “This is hard for me, because for the last five hundred years, the only person I’ve had to care for is Rouen, who is gargoyle, and not fragile human.”

  “I’m not human anymore either,” I blurted out.

  “Perhaps not, but you are still more fragile than a normal Gargoyle Queen. You are different, and beautiful in your fragility and it drives my beast wild that we could lose you if you are hit by a car, or trip down the gutter wrong, and I have to resist the urge to drag you into a den and worship your body so you never want to leave.”

  The bus station loomed in front of us, rows of buses loading and unloading passengers like cattle trucks during peak hour.

  I tugged him to a stop. “What are you trying to say, Romanus?” I stepped out of the flow of pedestrians, and he followed along behind me.

  “What I am trying to say is that I am sorry if I am too suffocating. I am fighting the beast, because I know you would not do well caged, but I have lost a Queen before and it is a pain I would not wish on my worst enemy. The breaking of a bond to the queen is crippling. But I didn’t love my former Queen the way I love you. I had a great respect for her, and she was safe and soft and gentle, but I did not feel for her half of what I feel for you. If anything were to happen to you, I would not survive it. Neither would Rouen.”

  I blinked like an idiot for what seemed like an hour. Finally, I shook my head, shaking out the shock.

  I knew how I felt. I knew what he wanted me to say. But for some reason, I couldn’t make my lips move. It was too much. Too soon. Rational people didn’t fall in love in three weeks. Rational people did not enact deadly vendettas against international criminals either. Rational people didn’t fall in love with four completely different men.

  So instead of saying those three little words, I leaned forward and kissed him hard, praying he could read my emotions, to know that I loved him too. He kissed me back equally as fervently. He poured his feelings into that kiss.

  “I promise to try and be safe,” I whispered. It sounded lame even to my own ears, but I couldn't make my lips form the right words.

  He straighten his shoulders and gave me one of his rare smiles, the one that curve his cheeks and crinkled his eyes and lit up my world. Then he released my hand, turning to continue walking toward the bus station.

  As I watched him walk away, this strong, proud man, I got mad at myself. Charlie's words kept rolling around in my head, how I have the emotional capacity of a frat boy. But Charlie was wrong this time.

  “Romanus?” I shouted. He turned, and the people parted for him like the Red Sea. He looked back at me, but didn’t move toward me. I swallowed hard. “I love you too, okay?”

  The smile he gave me made my heart stutter in my chest. “I know, Red. Now come on, our pack needs us.”

  Chapter Two

  I huffed out a relieved sigh when I saw the guys on the bus to Paris. From there, we would catch a connection to Calais. They were all sitting in seperate seats close to the back, and we walked straight towards them. Rouen took up a whole seat, and Naz sat along the back row, his dead eyes warning away anyone stupid enough to bypass the seats toward the front. Romanus pushed past him and took up the opposite end. I stood next to Charlie's seat.

  “Is this spot taken?” I said coyly, and Charlie smiled.

  “This seat is always available for you,” he replied and moved his case, shifting it beneath his feet. I pushed my
pack into the luggage rack and sat down beside him.

  I wondered what it would be like to meet Charlie like this, two strangers on a bus, without all our baggage and back history. Just a girl meeting a cute boy on a bus. Not that I would change our past for anything. I loved Charlie so much because I knew everything about him. I knew the very fabric of his soul.

  With the sun streaming in through the window, making his hair shine like rose gold in the light, made me catch my breath. I didn’t know if it was Romanus’ declaration, or the last week, or the fact he made my heart race, but I didn’t want to wait any longer.

  “Charlie?”

  He had his head resting against the window, his eyes closed. “Mhmm?”

  “We should get married.”

  His eyes snapped open so fast I thought they’d roll back into his head.

  “What?”

  This was how I must have looked thirty minutes earlier.

  “I wanted to know if you would marry me?”

  His eyes were glued to my face, and I let the little smile I felt at his shock creep onto my face. The bus pulled out of the station, and Charlie was still silent. His eyes hadn’t left my face, and his mouth kept opening and closing like he was gasping for air. My heart pounded in my chest in his silence.

  “What about…?” He tilted his head towards the guys. Rouen had the stupidest big grin on his face where he sat directly behind us. He looked like he was watching the climax of a rom com or something.

  I shrugged and sent them all a questioning looks. “Is this okay with you guys?”

  Romanus gave a disparaging grunt. “Of course we are okay with it.”

  Rouen clapped his hands like someone's grandma, all palms. “We’re gonna be sister husbands, finally!” he said way too loudly. I sent him a mock stern look, and Charlie looked puzzled. He didn’t remember his declarations, but apparently Rouen was never going to let it go.

  I raised an eyebrow at Naz. “‘Bout time,” he said, sending my a grin that pulled at my heartstrings. How’d I get so damn lucky?

  I smiled at them all, and turned back to Charlie. “What do you say?”

  He looked between us. “Are you sure? I mean, how? When?”

  I laughed. “I’ve never been more sure of anything ever.” I leaned forward and kissed him. “Tomorrow?” he asked.

  I blinked. I didn’t think you could even organize a marriage that fast, but it wouldn’t matter anyway. It wouldn’t be legally binding Stateside until we hit up a courthouse, so why not?

  I looked at Romanus, and he gave a small nod. We might not have a wedding with a priest and our families with us, but we could have a ceremony that was far more personal, and permanent, than anything humans could make up.

  I leaned my head against Charlie’s shoulder. “Tomorrow it is.”

  Tomorrow he’d become mine, and we would all be complete.

  As we stepped off the bus in Paris, the first thing I did was contact Hope. The rush of love and warmth that came through our bond made me smile.

  Rella! I was worried about you.

  Of course she was. That’s what Hope did, worried about everyone and everything.

  I’m fine, Sis. We’re making good progress.

  By getting arrested? She sounded amused, and I groaned.

  Did Ace tell you? Crap, my parents were going to chew me out about this. From Cop to Criminal in less than a month.

  No, the paparazzi turned up asking Mom what she’d been arrested for in Geneva. At a foundation luncheon. She was mortified.

  Laughter bubbled from my lips, and the guys gave me a strange look. I waved at them to continue walking.

  She can blame Ace for that one. I did try and talk her out of it. Anyway, I just wanted you to know that we want to head to the refugee camp in Calais in an official NRH capacity. Can you set it up? We think that the traffickers might be moving them from some of the less governed camps.

  I could all but hear the cogs turning in Hope’s mind. It can be done, but it might take a day or two to get in touch with the right people, go through the proper channels so you can talk to people you can trust.

  Hmm. I really wanted this to be over now, so I could go home, but we could probably all use a day or two of down time.

  That’ll be fine, Sis. Besides, Charlie and I are getting married tomorrow, kinda, and I’m gonna make him Pack, so a couple of days would be good.

  WHAT?!

  Hope's squeal, even mentally, made me wince. And then I laughed.

  It’s time, Hope. If this whole thing has taught me anything, it’s that I should take my happiness where I can. And I love Charlie. This has to happen. I feel it deep down in my soul, you know?

  I could feel the happy hum of Hope's emotions. It definitely mirrored mine and Charlie’s.

  Of course it’s time. I just didn’t imagine you, of all people, rushing into marriage. You are like the world’s biggest commitmentphobe. You agonized about getting a goldfish.

  I laughed again, and Charlie wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. Naz had gone into the hire car place attached to the bus depot, and the guys were keeping watch. Charlie and I just stood in the shade of the ticket office, looking like nothing more than two kids on a honeymoon, with our stupidly large grins.

  I know. But it’s like the Gargoyles started chipping away at the wall, and once they made a hole, all this emotion I’d been bottling up just poured out. It was true. Romanus and Rouen had been like a battering ram to my emotional defenses. Very sexy battering rams.

  Duh, Rella. Empath, remember. I’ve known you’ve loved Charlie since you were twelve and he let you use his new skateboard before he’d even had a turn. You just needed to get there yourself.

  I rolled my eyes. Sometimes being twin to an empath had its pitfalls. I know, Hope. I better go. I love you.

  I sent my own wave of love and appreciation down the bond. She was worth every heartache I had to suffer on this journey. I love you too, Relly. Stay safe, okay? Kiss my new brother-in-laws for me.

  I leaned over and kissed Charlie’s cheek. “Hope is happy for us.”

  He pushed me back against the wall and nuzzled my neck, peppering little kisses down my collarbone. “Of course she is.” He pulled back and looked me in the eye, a brief flash of uncertainty on his face. “You haven’t changed your mind, right?”

  I kissed him softly, reverently, finally enjoying the ability to just kiss him without worrying about everything that would come with us being together. His family, mine, the rest of the guys.

  “Never.” Worry crept into my gut. “Are you still sure? You are taking on a lot more than you wanted. I know your dream didn’t include-“ he kissed my lips again, silencing my doubts.

  “I’m sure. It won’t be exactly what I had in mind all these years, but as long as you are there, it’ll be perfect. Besides, the demons are growing on me, and Naz is Naz. We will make it work.”

  I tried not let the doubts take control, but it was hard. I gave him one last kiss as Naz drove up in our new SUV.

  “Need a ride?”

  I gave him a saucy wink. “Just say the word.” He laughed, but the heat in his eyes was anything but humorous.

  We all piled into the luxury SUV, and I took a moment to appreciate that new leather smell.

  Once we hit the road and were on an arterial highway out of Paris, I relayed what Hope told me about our “official” visit to Calais.

  “We’ll need a place to lay low for a couple of days until Hope sets it all up,” Naz said absently to the car. Romanus’ hand twitched every time Naz swerved between cars. He wasn’t a great passenger.

  “Somewhere out of Calais. Somewhere away from people,” Romanus added. “We’ll need… space for a couple of days.”

  I raised my eyebrows at Rouen, who just grinned back at me, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. I went online and booked us an out of the way cabin on the banks of the Somme under a fake name, and gave Naz the address. We sat in silence for awhile, and I let
the sun lull me and my thoughts into a contented daze. Pressed between Charlie and Rouen, I was as close to heaven as I was ever likely to get. Rouen's hand wrapped around my thigh, his fingers teasing the seams of my jeans absently. I desperately wished I wasn’t wearing pants in that moment.

  Rouen's nostrils flared, and he turned to look at me, heat making his eyes molten. Such beautiful eyes. He slid his palm up further, and I held my breath as he rubbed his hand firmly against my pussy through my jeans. I let out a tiny whimper, and suddenly everyone's eyes were on me. Feeling a little self conscious under the scrutiny of every male in the car, I wiggled away, but Rouen’s hand travelled with me, gently petting, coaxing me back. He looked over my head back at Charlie, and some kind of unspoken guy code thing must have passed between them, because Charlie hooked his fingers under my chin and turn my face to his so I was staring into his crystalline blue eyes.

  His gaze ran over my face, taking in my features; features he knew as well as his own. “Damn, you are just so beautiful. I kept waiting, and waiting for any other woman to compare to you, and every single one was lacking.” He leaned forward, kissing the corner of my mouth, then my now parted lips, running his tongue across their fullness. His hand came up to cup my cheek, and he stroked the rough pad of his thumb over my cheekbone as he deepened the kiss.

  Rouen's fingers deftly unclasped the button of my jeans, and I lifted my ass so he could wiggle them down over my hips and part way down my thighs.

  I wanted to turn to look at him, but I was transfixed by Charlie's eyes. They were burning with an indescribable heat, the kind that made you want to jump into their depths and burn alive. “I can’t wait to make love to you, Rella Rua. I can’t wait to hear you scream my name when I fuck you.”

  I threw myself into the kiss, even as Rouen’s fingers skittered through the folds of my pussy, flicking lightly over my clit, making my body jerk towards his hand. Charlie's tongue flicked in my lips, an echo of what Rouen was doing with his hand. I moaned against his lips, plunging my tongue into his mouth, dancing with his own. I pulled back and bit his bottom lip, making him groan. He dropped his hand from my cheek to my hip, sliding his hand up under my shirt and to my lace covered breast. He sucked in a little breath as his fingers skimmed over my already taut nipples.