“I’m sorry,” I say, but she doesn’t acknowledge me. “I couldn’t tell you as it’s their secret. Also, I wanted to keep you safe for as long as I could, because knowing they have this gift could be dangerous.” I try to think of the right words to explain my decision at the time not to say anything. “You haven’t seen Caelius’s back, but it is scared badly from a group of vampire hunters who thought that because they are different, they need to be ended.” At my confession, I see her eyes widen in surprise.
“You know that I would never have said anything,” she mutters.
“Not even if you thought I was in danger?” I ask, and she tenses before she looks at me fully.
“What do you mean in danger?” she asks.
“You know that the women all have gifts like we do. Well, I have been helping them because together, we can find other women who have gone missing and help heal certain people in the Elementals. What you don’t know is that all the Elementals can bend an element, and they do this because they all are different like we are in a way.” At Sara’s confused look, I continue trying to explain without actually telling her that they aren’t really human.
“They have many enemies because of the way they are. The Keres who were after us are their main threat. I didn’t want you to think that I was in more danger because of this and try to get us out, because, Sara, I really love Caelius.” As the words leave my mouth, I realise that I do love Caelius, and it’s not a simple love. It’s a deep, soul-shattering love that takes up my whole body, mind, and soul.
“I can see you love him, but I can also see that he loves you, and that is why I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me. I would never try to take you away from someone you care so much for.”
I move over to the bench and sit down next to her. “I know that Joshua will still try to take us away if he thinks we are in danger, and I didn’t want you to say anything to him that could lead him to do that.”
She nods. “I know that you have been worried about Joshua, but so have I, and I would never do anything to harm him in any way. Contrary to what you might think, I’m not completely stupid, and I know that if he has to try to take us away again, the guys here will not take it lightly, especially not Caelius. Therefore, I would never do anything to hurt you or Joshua.” I wish I could tell her the whole truth, but that I will leave to the men’s discretion, as that is not something I can tell without them knowing.
“I love you, Sara, and you know I would never do anything purposefully to hurt you.” At my words, she nods and then leans forward and hugs me. As her arms enfold me, I feel the knot in my stomach start to diminish until we hear a roar and then quiet.
“What the hell is going on?” she asks as she sits back.
“You know how I told you that the other women and I have been helping the Elementals with healing?” At Sara’s nod, I continue. “Well, some of the guys don’t want to wait, and they have come here insisting on being put at the top of the list. I think you can guess that the men here are not the type to be blackmailed.”
“Are you saying that they are fighting?” Sara asks with a frightened look on her face.
“Yes, they are, but don’t worry, they can take care of themselves.” I see her face lose all colour. “What’s wrong? Don’t worry, nothing will happen to us. We are safe here,” I insist, trying to calm the fear I can see.
“Is Gunner with them?” At her question, I realize that her fear is for Gunner and not so much for herself.
“Are you in love with Gunner?” She starts to shake her head but then stops and nods once.
“Oh, Sara.” I pull her towards me again, hugging her close. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, he will be fine.”
“I’m being silly. It’s not as if we are even together,” she mumbles. “And he’s so frustrating.” At her grumbled reply, I smile in amusement.
“You want to tell me what’s going on?”
She lifts her head and looks at me for a moment before she shrugs. “Gunner has kissed me a few times, but he’s so frustrating,” she mutters. “One minute he’s hot, and then he’s cold. I don’t know what to think.” I can see the frustration on her face. I figure that he’s most probably like that because of what he is and doesn’t know how to tell her. Caelius told me about how Gunner was at death’s door and Brielle saved him by giving him Draco’s blood, but in doing so, it changed him. He isn’t an Elemental, but he isn’t human either, and that might be why he is reluctant to be with Sara.
“Have you asked him about it?”
“No. What am I supposed to ask him?” she says as she lifts her hands in defeat.
“Don’t ask him anything. Just tell him how you feel.” At my answer, she looks at me with a surprised look.
“You think I should? What if this is just him playing around?” I shake my head at her insecurities; never have I seen Sara insecure before.
“Where has your courage gone? The Sara I know would go right up to him and tell him what she thinks.”
She smiles at me and then nods. “You’re right. I will go up to him and ask him what he wants.” She stretches out and hugs me again. “Thank you, Sis,” she murmurs, which warms my heart knowing that I was able to appease her.
CAELIUS 16
“Six of them, Draco. We killed six fucking Elementals,” Burkhart grunts as he slaps the flat of his hand on the table. “Couldn’t they see we were trying to help them? Damn selfish bastards.” Burkhart has been raving ever since we got back into the compound. We are all upset with today’s outcome. We knew that there might be brothers who would want preferential treatment or give us some trouble about it, but to blatantly challenge Draco, that is something new altogether.
Draco has been sitting back in his chair, watching everyone for the last ten minutes that we have been here; I know that his fury is being contained by his willpower alone. Having to kill those men today was torture for everyone, but for Draco, it’s a betrayal of all the things he fought his whole life for.
“Burkhart, enough,” I say, hoping that he finally settles down and lets us begin. He mutters but sits back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest. The rest of us are all sitting in silence, each one in his own turmoil.
“We need to let Diesel know,” Celmund suddenly states. This is going to be a blow for Diesel too, because those men have been with him for centuries like we have with Draco. “I can call him if you guys want.”
“No,” Draco states. His words are low and intense, the same as his eyes. We all know that he’s struggling with his temper, and that just makes us respect him more. If it was anyone else, they would have succumbed to their inner turmoil long ago, but not Draco. This man before us will fight himself until he can’t fight any longer before he will give in.
“Do you think there will be more?” Brandr asks as he rubs his forehead.
“I fucking hope not, because killing brothers is not cool,” Ceric mutters.
“How many have been booked?” Wulf asks.
“We have one every day of the fucking week except for weekends as we agreed,” Celmund states angrily. “The women are fully booked for the next eight weeks.” From everyone, he is the one who has been dealing with the men as they try to get earlier bookings.
“What happens if we have an emergency? Do you think it will be a problem?”
Celmund shrugs. “I have thought about that, and the only way we’re going to get away with slotting someone else in is if the women do the two in the same day.” There are grunts around the table, as none of us want the women to do more than they should.
“This is becoming a fucking problem,” Cassius mutters angrily. “We try to help these fuckers, and they give us grief.”
“Do you need help?” I ask, looking at Celmund. It can’t be easy for him having to deal with all the men and then still trying to find the mates of the men the women heal.
“It will become difficult to find these women if there is a new one every day.” He looks at Draco and then b
ack at us. “We need to see what we’re going to do when we find the mates. Are we going to bring them here—”
“We don’t bring anyone here,” Draco interrupts. “You find them; give the brother the information, and he can go get his mate himself.”
“What if they need more help? You know our women aren’t like other women,” Celmund says.
“They all belong to a chapter. The others there can help them,” Draco states with a deadly look at Celmund that dares him to challenge his decision. Celmund lifts his hands in acquiescence, knowing that there is no use arguing with Draco when he has that tone of voice. “I want the gates closed; no one comes in without prior approval.”
“Are we expecting problems?” Bjarni asks as he punches his fist into his hand.
“We always expect problems,” Draco grunts.
“What do you want to do about what happened today?” Wulf asks as he sits forward. “There will be talk as soon as it is known that we killed six brothers.”
“There is nothing to be done, is there?” Draco asks. “They attacked us, and we defended ourselves. If anyone has a problem with that, they can come talk to me.” The meeting continues in the same kind of vein for the next hour until it finally draws to a close. As I’m about to walk out, I hear Draco tell Wulf that he’s riding into town.
“I’ll come with you.” Draco looks over at me with a frown. “I need to go pick up Alaia’s kutte anyway,” I say before Draco can give me an excuse. I see Wulf’s mouth kick up at the corner at my underhandedness.
“Fine, I’m leaving now.” He makes his way towards me. When he’s next to me, he stops. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing,” he says with a raised brow before he walks out of the computer room. We are nearly by the garage when we see Celmund coming towards us from the bar.
“Where are you off to?”
“Town, and I guess you’re coming too,” Draco mutters as he continues to walk. I want to throw back my head and laugh at Draco’s sarcastic reply. He knows that we will never let him go out on his own, like any other brother isn’t allowed out on his own, even though he’s more than capable of taking care of himself. Celmund looks at me and smirks as he shrugs, but he, too, walks with us to the garage.
“What is this, a fucking intervention?” I hear Draco mutter as we reach the garage. I look around him and can’t help myself as I throw back my head and roar with laughter when I see Brandr and Ceric already sitting on their bikes, waiting for us.
Draco looks back at me and raises his brow. “I don’t see how this is amusing, asshole.” But there is a twitch to his lips as he walks towards his bike. “Seeing you all tagging along, who’s paying for the drinks?” he asks as he sits on his bike.
“I’ll pay first round,” Ceric offers with a grin as he starts his bike.
“Well, then, what are we waiting for?” Draco asks as he accelerates and is out of the garage and towards the main gate. Draco takes the lead as we ride towards town, but just before town, Draco turns into a pub we haven’t frequented in a while. Before the men started to meet their mates, we used to come here often, as we didn’t really cook much, and our meals were taken wherever we could find them.
We used to have Jezebels at the compound, but they weren’t much good at cooking as they were at other things. After we started to find that the mates didn’t like the idea of the Jezebels around, we got rid of them to other chapters. In all the years that we have lived together, never have I seen the men as content as they are now. It is amazing how at peace and content we feel just because we have found someone who understands us, who we can open up fully and talk to with no thought of being judged.
When there is unconditional love, nothing else can compare. I feel Alaia’s vulnerability sometimes when she speaks of things, but she has realized that nothing she can tell me will change the way I see her or think of her.
“Are you coming?” Brandr asks as the guys start making their way inside and I am still sitting on my bike.
“Yeah,” I grunt as I dismount and make my way after them. When we walk in, the smell of food and drink accosts me, also the noise of the rowdy clientele who usually frequent the pub.
“I can’t believe it,” Suzy says as she sees us. Suzy is one of the waitresses who has been working at the pub for as long as it has been open. She’s a bit of a tease and always happy to lay with the guys, but a good woman in general. She rushes up to Draco, who is the first one in the door, and hugs him before kissing his cheek. “I thought we had done something wrong. None of you ever came back in here.” She moves towards Ceric, but he quickly rushes towards an empty table, which makes me grin, until I see her coming my way.
Fuck, the last thing I want is for her to kiss me. The thought of her touching me has my skin crawling. The guys weren’t joking when they said that we have a repelling effect when women touch us. “Caelius, I’ve missed you,” she says as she hugs me.
“Hi, Suzy,” I mutter. “How have you been?”
“Okay, but I’m much better now that I have you guys here.” I give her a smile but also make my way towards the table Ceric arranged for us.
“Chicken,” I mutter as I sit before him, and he shrugs.
“Rather be chicken than have that creepy feeling running over my skin,” he says with a grin. “I’m feeling fine now, and you are trying to get rid of that feeling of having cheated on your woman.” I’m about to answer when I shut my mouth and realize that what he is saying is true. There is a feeling as if I did something I wasn’t supposed to do, a feeling of having cheated on my woman. I shake my head.
“This really sucks,” I mutter, and he laughs as Brandr and Celmund sit down as Draco drags a chair from another table towards ours.
“What sucks?” Celmund asks as he looks around. As Elementals, we are always prepared. As soon as we enter a place, we make sure we know who and what is around us.
“He just had his first encounter with a woman since bonding,” Ceric quips, which has Brandr and Celmund grinning.
“You have all turned soft,” Draco quips as he smiles at Suzy as she approaches. I can see by the charm he is exuding that she will be spending the night with him tonight; maybe we should have left him to his own devices today. After Suzy takes our orders, I sit back and look around at the other clients.
I notice a table with five men sitting at a corner table. My instincts tell me that they are not regular customers. Their shoes are way too clean for this area, and their clothes clearly state that they are carrying weapons. I’m about to mention it to the others, when Draco catches my eye and shakes his head, letting me know he has seen them.
“Ceric, what are you going to do now that you’re going to become a dad?” Celmund asks with a twinkle in his eye.
“What do you mean? Do about what?” Ceric asks with a frown.
“Well, you don’t want your kid to see that your woman beats you, do you?” Celmund teases, which has us all grinning. We usually tease Ceric about Nova because of her being such a spitfire, but she’s a good woman and he’s lucky to have her. He shows Celmund the finger with a grin of his own.
“You wish your woman had the fire mine has,” he teases as he winks.
“No, it’s fine; at least I’ll still have hair, as yours seems to be receding with the heat.” We all laugh at that, as Ceric had to cut his hair shorter a few days ago because of one of Burkhart’s fire-bending experiments, which he was not impressed about.
“Yeah, yeah, very funny,” he mutters as he rubs his shorter hair. “Nova was not impressed.”
“I noticed. Even Burkhart stayed out of her way that day,” Brandr says with a laugh.
“Yeah, she hasn’t got much patience lately,” Ceric says, “but I have found a way to calm her.”
“We have noticed with the boxes of marshmallows arriving every day at the compound,” Draco mutters.
“What?” Ceric says as he raises his arms in defeat. “Bion said that we must give pregnant women whatever they want.”
“Yes, in moderation, dude,” Brandr grunts. “You bought a whole truck. Everyone is eating marshmallows to try to finish them.”
“Well, then, you should say thank you,” Ceric quips. “You’re the one with the sweet tooth. I’m sure you have a packet in your pocket right now.”
“Nope. If I don’t see a marshmallow in the next century, it will be too soon,” Brandr grunts with a grimace.
“Here you go,” Suzy says as she places our drinks on the table, and then she leans over Draco’s shoulder and kisses his neck, but before standing again, she whispers in his ear. I see Draco tense, and then his hand lifts and pulls her down again, and he takes her lips in a blistering kiss.
“Thanks,” he grunts as he lets her go. As she starts to walk away, we all look at him, waiting for him to tell us what has placed him on alert.
“The group of guys in the far corner are very interested in us. Apparently they just had one of the guys place a tracker on one of our bikes.” At his words, Celmund pulls out his phone and starts to text.
“Sons of bitches. Who the fuck are they now?” Ceric mutters angrily.
“Caelius, you’re in the right angle to take photos of them. I’m not. Try to get a picture of each one of them.” At Celmund’s request, I take out my phone, making as if I’m texting, and start to take photos. When I’m sure I have one of each of them, I send them to him.
“Cassius will see if they pop up in the system. In the meantime, I think we should start heading back. I will scan the bikes when we get outside and see which one has the tracker.” We quickly finish our drinks and then make our way outside. Celmund stops by each of the bikes, talking to each one of us as he scans the bikes, making so that if anyone is watching, they won’t know that we have realized what they have done.
“Guess who the lucky winner is,” he says as he sits on his bike and stretches forward to start it. “Me.” He grins as he shakes his head. I smile, as I can image how he’s going to scramble that tracker to lead them to somewhere else. We all head back to the compound to go figure out who those assholes who were so curious about us are.
CAELIUS: Elementals MC (book 9) (Elemental's MC) Page 12