ALAIA 17
“Are you all ready for him?” Bion asks as he walks into the room next to where the man we are going to help today is waiting. We had someone this morning, but this guy came in as an emergency. Apparently his rages are getting out of control. Bion walks towards Brielle and hugs her close, kissing her forehead.
“I think so,” I murmur as I lean back against Caelius. To be honest, I’m slightly tired from the previous healing, but I won’t confess, or the men won’t let us continue. I also know that the man we are about to heal will drain us, as his energy is peaking with fury. I know Brielle is feeling as drained as I am, which will make the healing more complicated, but we will manage.
“Well, then, it’s time to start, as I don’t think he can hold on much longer. You sure you’re okay to do this?” he asks Brielle, which has her smiling at him and nodding.
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” She lifts onto her toes and kisses him lightly on the lips before moving away towards where we usually sit to start the treatments. Caelius lowers his head and kisses my neck before stepping back; he turns me around in his arms until I’m facing him.
“If it looks like he’s draining you, I’m stopping this,” he mutters with a frown.
“You know you can’t interrupt a treatment. Don’t worry, the other women are supporting us with their energy.” I try to appease with my words even though I know that the others are just as tired as me from having these treatments every day. He lifts his hand and strokes my cheek gently before nodding even though I can see that my words have done nothing to quieten his worry. He turns and leaves. I know that he will be in the computer room with some of the other men.
I walk towards where I usually sit, and groan as I touch the ground and feel the anger vibrating through it. “This one is going to be hectic. His energy is vibrating through the ground,” I warn everyone as I wait for them to take their places.
Closing my eyes, I feel the other women’s energy start to flow through me. I relax my body and then connect to my surroundings, feeling the vibrations of the earth around me. I find the connection with the man and start by sending our energy through to him. As soon as our soothing energy touches his soul, there is an explosive thrust of anger rushing towards us. I hear murmurs of pain as the others feel his energy.
I call for help from Mother Nature, who surrounds us to help soothe this man’s fury, help calm his rage, and once again send another vibration of love towards him. Once again, his energy attacks us with a burst of its own negative energy. I hear someone gasp behind me in pain, and then the link with all the women is broken. I can feel myself tumbling through a void as I try to pull myself away from this negative energy that surrounds me.
When I finally open my eyes, I hear laboured breathing. Looking around, I see Jasmine lying on the floor as if passed out, Aria is gasping for air, Brielle still has her eyes closed and is as white as a sheet, and then I hear a whimper. Looking back, I see Nova hunched forward, holding her belly.
“Nova?” My voice is raspy from the energy I can still feel coursing through my body.
“Something is wrong,” she murmurs. She doesn’t open her eyes but continues to hold her stomach as if in pain. My head is spinning as I try to move. It feels like my muscles won’t cooperate, and then I hear a roar, and the door to where we are snaps back and hits the wall as Ceric rushes in.
“Hellcat?” he says as he kneels next to Nova, but still, she doesn’t open her eyes, but I see tears coursing down her cheeks. “What’s wrong? Talk to me,” he mumbles as he pulls her into his arms, and then she cries out in pain, which has him freezing, all colour leaving his face.
I’m seeing everything as if from afar. Wulf is picking up Jasmine, trying to awaken her, but she’s lying limply in his arms. Bion is talking to Brielle, but she still has her eyes closed. Caelius has his arms around me and is talking to me, but I can’t hear what he’s saying as my mind starts to spin. I try to focus. I need to know what is happening and how the others are doing, but my mind doesn’t want to cooperate.
And then I feel the tremors start deep within me, and my body starts to shake. “Fuck, Bion, what the hell is happening to her?” I hear Caelius shout, and even though I want to calm him, I can’t stop the tremors. I feel Caelius’s lips close to my forehead as he murmurs to me, but I can’t tell what he’s saying, and then everything darkens, and I feel myself lose consciousness.
I don’t know how long I’m out for, but suddenly, there is a roar that has my heart pounding. I try to open my eyes, but they’re still not cooperating with me. “Hold him the fuck down,” I hear Burkhart mutter. I wonder what’s wrong. Who is losing control that they have to hold him down? Maybe the guy we are supposed to help finally lost his fight and is turning Keres.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Celmund grunts.
“Calm down or I’m going to knock you out. Think of your woman. This isn’t helping her.” At those words, I hear a scuffle and then another roar.
“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch.” That is Ceric. Then everything comes back to me, and I remember that Nova was in pain. Did something happen to Nova? To the baby? My eyes slit open, and I realize I’m in the infirmary. Burkhart and Celmund are holding Ceric down while Caelius and Draco have Wulf against the wall. I turn my head and see Bion standing over Nova as he monitors her vitals.
Jasmine is in the bed opposite her. I see a pale Saskia and Talia standing near her bed. “Are you okay?” I look down and see that Brielle is sitting on a chair next to me. If I have to guess, I think she looks as bad as I do. I think we are both drained. I don’t know what happened, but whatever it was, it knocked us all out.
“Just tired,” I murmur.
“Kitten.” I turn my head at Caelius’s call and see him looking over his shoulder. “Are you okay?” I can see the strain on his face as he exerts himself to hold on to a furious Wulf.
“Yes.” My voice comes out in a rasp, but I know that he heard me, as he closes his eyes before turning his head again to look at Wulf.
“Shit,” Bion suddenly mutters, which has me looking at him. He’s looking over at Ceric, who has a scowl on his face. “Ceric, your woman needs you. Fuck . . .” He places his hand over her stomach.
“Do you need me?” Brielle asks as she tries to stand from the chair.
“Stay there. You’re in no condition to help, and I can’t worry about you now, beauty,” he mutters as he rushes to get a tray with medical equipment on it.
“Hellcat,” Ceric roars from where he’s face down with Burkhart holding his arms behind him.
“If you want to go to your woman, calm the fuck down,” Burkhart says angrily as he pulls at his arms.
“Ceric, she needs you now,” Bion roars. I look back at Bion and see him holding a scalpel. I feel my stomach turn at the thought of him cutting into Nova. I quickly turn my head again and see Celmund and Burkhart lifting Ceric off the floor and dragging him towards where Bion and Nova are. I hear Ceric’s roar of pain, but I don’t look, as I can feel the tears filling my eyes.
I hope the baby is okay, and Nova has to be fine, because things won’t be the same without her. Looking at Caelius, I see Wulf falling forward and Draco helping him to the floor. Caelius shakes his head and then says something to Draco before he turns and walks towards me. When he’s standing next to the bed, I can see the lines of stress on his face. “I don’t want you to do that again,” he mutters as he strokes the hair away from my face.
“I’m okay,” I say, but he shakes his head, a frown appearing on his face.
“No, you’re not okay. None of you are okay,” he grunts. His hand goes up and pulls his fingers through his hair. He looks towards where Bion and the others are, and I see a concerned look on his face.
“What happened?” he asks as he looks back at me.
I shrug as I think back to what happened. “We were healing him the same way we always do, when he used the same method to send a flash of rage our way.” I think
of the impact of that rage, of how it filled my senses and how it must have reached the other women too. “I think one of us must have cut the connection when that happened.” That is the only explanation I can think of. If the connection was cut between our energy, then it might affect us this way, as we didn’t have time to centre our energy again.
“Are you in any pain, kitten?” His hand is moving over my body to make sure I’m still in one piece, his eyes following his hand.
“Yes, I’m fine. Just still a bit dizzy. I just need to rest a bit and I will be fine,” I promise just as we hear Ceric muttering. The worry is stronger than me, so I turn my head to look to see what is happening. At first, I can’t see anything, as Burkhart and Celmund are standing in the way, but then Celmund moves slightly, and I can see Ceric hunched over Nova, his head next to hers as he talks to her even though I see that she’s unconscious.
I can’t see what’s happening with the men standing before me, but I know that Bion is working on Nova by the sounds coming from the other bed. “Bring me the incubator,” I hear Bion say suddenly, and then there is a rush of activity.
“Come, kitten; let me take you to our room so they have more space in here and so you can relax,” Caelius says as he picks me up against his chest. He kisses my forehead as he turns to walk out. “Let me know what’s happening,” I hear him say to someone as we walk out. I know that today was a step back from everything we have been trying to do, but it’s only with the mistakes that sometimes we can better things. Therefore, I’m hoping this will make us stronger and more capable of helping. I’m also praying that this setback doesn’t hurt us in a way we will never recover from.
“How is Jasmine?” I ask as Caelius enters our room and places me on our bed.
“I’m not sure; Bion hasn’t had a chance to look at her, as Nova needed his help. That’s why Wulf was losing his shit.” I can hear the concern in his voice. “This can’t happen again, kitten; you women are the most important part of our existence. We will not have any of you in danger or hurt again.”
“This is just a setback. Once we figure out what happened, we can prevent it,” I state as I feel my eyes closing once again in exhaustion.
“Good luck convincing us, because I can tell you now I for one don’t want you to do that again,” Caelius mutters. I want to argue with him so he can realize that what happened today doesn’t necessarily mean that it will happen again, but sleep pulls me under.
CAELIUS 18
I pull at my hair in frustration; we have been going around and around with this meeting, and it’s getting us nowhere. It has been a week since the incident, and we now have the men who were booked complaining, and even though the women have insisted on continuing with the healing, we will not approve it. Ceric and Nova’s baby is still struggling to survive, Nova nearly died, and Jasmine took two days before she woke up.
“Is it possible that was the reason for what happened?” Draco asks again as Celmund plays the video of what happened on the day of the incident.
“The women seem to think it is, and I think that according to the way their energy works, it is possible that when Nova pulled back and broke the connection with all of them, they didn’t have time to rein in their energy, and that is the reason for what happened.” I know what Celmund is explaining, as Alaia has been saying the same thing for the last few days, but that doesn’t calm my mind or any of the others’ minds either.
“Is there any way of stopping that from happening again?” Draco asks.
“Fuck, Draco,” Brandr mutters as he throws up his hands.
“No fucking way,” Cassius grunts as he stands.
“I want to have all the details, because we have the women insisting on continuing, and we have the brothers up in arms because now they want the treatments. I know you want to protect your women. I fucking want them safe too, but for that, we need to make sure that we know everything we can, because you all know that they will go ahead sooner or later and try to heal even without our permission.” At Draco’s words, I tense, knowing that what he says is true. I have asked Alaia not to tire herself out, as I can clearly see that she’s still tired even after resting for the last week.
She has been staying in bed, but I think that’s because she hasn’t the strength to get up, but I know that as soon as she’s able, she will want to continue, because as she says, this is their calling, and we can’t stop them from helping if that is what they want to do.
“That’s not going to happen, Draco. Jasmine’s not going to be doing this again,” Wulf states angrily.
“How many times have you tried to stop her, Brother? It has never worked before. Do you think it will stop her now?” What Draco says is true. Wulf has tried to stop Jasmine from using her gift many times, as he didn’t want her being hurt in any way, but every time, she has gone against his wishes and used them again, and usually to our benefit.
“Nova nearly died, Jasmine was out for three days, and the others are still trying to recuperate,” Wulf growls. “How the fuck can they want to carry on with this?”
“They say it’s their calling,” I mutter.
“Well, they can fucking change that calling,” Bjarni states as he bangs his hand on the table.
“You all know as well as me that they are not going to stop just because you tell them to. Isn’t it better to try to prevent another incident like what happened?” Draco asks as he leans back in his chair. “I gave them my word that they could help us. I can’t go back on that. If you can convince them to stop using their gifts, then so be it, but if you aren’t able, then I can’t stop them either.”
I know what he says is true, but that doesn’t make it better, because I know that Alaia is going to try to help as soon as she’s able.
“What if we get some kind of ties that will tie them to the woman they are supposed to be touching until they’re ready to let go?” Bion suggests, which has the men glaring at him. “What? Do you think I want Brielle to use her gift again? Well, I don’t, but as it has been stated here, that is part of who she is, and I won’t ever be able to stop her, so I might as well try to figure out the best way to help her.”
“What kind of ties were you thinking about?” I ask, and Burkhart shakes his head in anger.
“I was thinking something leather that would hold the one’s wrist to the other one’s arm or leg,” Bion says.
“I’ve seen something like that,” Gunner says. “You might have to adjust it, but the ones that are used in sexual play to tie a person down can work.” At Gunner’s response, we all look at him with raised brows. Well, guess we know what he’s into.
“You don’t perhaps have one lying around, do you?” Celmund teases.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he jokes with a wink. “But I’m sure I can find a place that would have them.” After that, the meeting centres on how we’re going to protect our women from getting hurt and not so much on how to stop them. We all agree that we will try to stop them, but we are also all fairly certain that we won’t be able to get that right.
“I’ve stopped the bookings until we see what is happening, and have contacted the ones who are scheduled for them to know that there might be a delay,” Celmund informs everyone.
“What happened with Diesel? How did he take the news that his men turned on us?” I ask. It has been so hectic these last few days that I had completely forgotten about the brothers we killed.
“He didn’t take it well, but he understood. He will let me know how the others take it. Also, I have informed the other chapters and am awaiting a reaction from them,” Draco updates with a shrug.
“We have another problem,” Celmund says. “The guys who placed the tracker on my bike belong to a private organization.” I had forgotten about those fuckers. Why would a private organization be interested in bikers? The thought has chills rising over my skin as I think of the assholes who grabbed me before. I know it can’t be them because we eradicated the whole group who thought to hurt me.
“What private organization?” Burkhart asks as he sits forward with his elbows on the table.
“One that has mercenaries working for them, and for some reason, they have been sniffing around, trying to get information about us.” That is all we need right now, another complication.
“Do you know why?” Wulf asks with a frown.
“The only thing I found that would link them to us is that Alaia and Sara’s brother works for them.” At my woman’s name, I tense. Is her fucking brother trying to cause problems?
“What does he do there?” I ask with a frown.
“He’s one of the mercenaries, but he wasn’t one of the guys we took photos of at that table.” At Celmund’s comment, I shake my head in confirmation. “They have been looking into the club, which I’m guessing is on their brother’s behalf.”
“Should I speak to him?” I ask, and look over at Draco, who is frowning.
“I think he’s worried about his sisters’ welfare. Has he been speaking to them?” Draco asks.
“He won’t answer their calls. Alaia tried, but he’s rejected every call,” I state in anger. I have asked Alaia if she would like me to have a word with him, but she insists that she doesn’t. I know that her brother ignoring her is hurting her deeply, but there is nothing I can do if she doesn’t want me to get involved, but if he is digging into club business, that is something completely different.
“They won’t find anything,” Celmund promises. “I don’t think it’s necessary that you talk to him unless you want to, or unless he starts to become a problem.” I know that no one will be able to find any trail regarding our connection to the Bratva Mafia and the agreement we have. There is also nothing that they could possibly find regarding us being Elementals, as Celmund has made sure to keep us off social media and any other platform that could reveal us.
CAELIUS: Elementals MC (book 9) (Elemental's MC) Page 13