“Open!” Ceric grunts from outside my door. I have never seen Ceric upset, but he isn’t smiling at this moment. When we unlock the doors, he rips mine open. “Where the fuck did you think you were going?” he rumbles in anger as he frowns at us.
“Do you want your men to freaking lose their minds?” Cassius asks angrily. “If they knew that you pulled this stunt they would already be on their way back, instead of concentrating on what they’re doing.” That was a low blow, and Cassius knows that.
“And you!” Ceric says pointing at Jasmine “Where do you think you going in your condition Woman?”
“We were just going to the pharmacy, but the car broke down, it’s really not a big deal,” I say. I know they worry about us being attacked by the Keres, but we can’t live our lives in hiding.
“It is a big deal when I’m responsible for your wellbeing and you put yourselves in danger, and the car didn’t breakdown. It’s got a tracking device that allows us to lock the wheels if need be,” he growls angrily.
“Well Damn! Have you got any that don’t have a tracking device?” I know I shouldn’t incite their anger, but their overprotectiveness is starting to irritate me.
“Damn women!” Cassius grunts. “Get back in the car and follow us back.” He’s already walking back to his bike, confident that we will follow his orders.
“No!” Gabriela answers. “I need to go to the pharmacy, so unlock the wheels or whatever you do and let us go. We will be right back, or you can always accompany us. I’m sure that the women in the town would love to see you riding in like that, hot stuff.”
I see Ceric’s cheeks redden, I’m just not sure if it’s in anger or embarrassment. “I was training,” he grumbles.
“Why can’t we just order whatever you need online like we usually do? Or we can get Sven to go pick whatever you want up,” Cassius calls, already sitting on his bike.
“That won’t work, we need to go there ourselves,” Jasmine answers, a stubborn lift to her chin.
“Fuck me!” Ceric roars, turning around he starts pushing his bike to the side of the road. “Get in the damn car, I’m driving.”
A few minutes later we are making our way into the town, Gabriela and Jasmine sitting in the back while I sit next to a very grumpy man. Cassius who has been following us on his bike parks next to us when we reach the pharmacy.
“I’ll be quick,” Gabriela calls out as she opens the car door. Cassius is already at the door to the pharmacy waiting for her, a woman walking out stops to stare at him. From what I have heard Cassius is a lady’s man, he offers the woman a panty-melting smile that has her flustered. I smile to myself imagining what she would do if she had to see the beautiful half-naked specimen sitting next to me.
“What’s so important that the three of you would put yourselves in danger for?” Ceric asks, his voice calmer his eyes searching mine and then Jasmines in the review mirror when I don’t answer.
“We needed lube,” I lie, trying to keep a straight face when Ceric chokes on his next breath.
“What the fuck for?” he asks gruffly.
“Oh wow! … I thought that being a stud and all, you would know what lube is used for?” I answer, keeping a straight face. At the back, I hear Jasmine burst out laughing, it is taking all my self-control not to laugh at his shocked face.
“I know what the fuck lube is used for. Why would you want … you know what? Never mind, I don’t want to know,” he grumbles, shaking his head as if trying to shake an image out of his head.
Gabriela rushes out of the pharmacy, Cassius close behind her, with a concerned look on his face, as he follows her to the car. Opening the door he helps her in before moving towards his bike. Ceric starts the car, not saying a word until we reach the compound.
“Okay ladies, I don’t know what the hell you are up too but please be good until your men arrive and stay in the compound,” he says, with a more relaxed look to him, now that we are back.
“We will, and thanks for caring about us hotness,” Gabriela says. Leaning over the seat she kisses him on the cheek, before sliding off the back seat straight into Cassius arms, she stretches up and kisses his cheek too. I can see a surprised look crossing his face at her kiss. Jasmine does the same as she pulls herself out of the car, first kissing Ceric and then Cassius.
I hesitate as my fears surround me. I haven’t touched a man willingly since being rescued by Brandr. Before I can lose my courage, I lean forward and kiss Ceric on the cheek, pulling back swiftly. “Thanks, you should consider always coming to our rescue like this. It keeps us quiet.” I reveal, as I climb out of the SUV.
“Why is that?” Ceric asks, a frown marring his forehead as he looks down at his bare chest and then up at me.
“We’re too busy appreciating the view to think about stuff to say,” I tease, seeing a red flush rise to his cheeks, and then his naughty smile is back. I have noticed that Ceric is a real softy, every time I’ve been around him he has tried to please me or the people around him, but I see that under his joking façade is a real sensitive guy who gets hurt when he sees one of his brothers is upset. His big mouth is to cover his sensitivity. Since figuring him out, I tease him every chance I get, not because I want to get back at him but because I know that he appreciates my sense of humour and that it pleases him to think that I’m happy.
“Yeah, I am kind of irresistible,” he jokes, climbing out of the car.
“Oh, my word! Why did you have to go and tell him that? You do know that the poor man isn’t going to sleep tonight, he will be too busy looking at himself in the mirror the whole night, don’t you?” Jasmine calls out teasingly, as we start making our way into the compound.
Ceric’s phone beeps just as we reach the door to the garage. When he looks down at the message he received his face clouds over in anger again. “Why the fuck are they here?” he grunts, stopping in his tracks. I see him take a deep breath before he lets it out and he turns back to go outside again.
“Who’s here?” Cassius asks from besides me.
“Brandr’s parents,” Ceric growls. At his words my breath catches. Brandr had never spoken about his parents; to be honest I had thought they were dead. The only person he had mentioned to me was his brother. By Ceric’s reaction and Cassius tenseness I’m guessing this isn’t a good thing or a normal occurrence.
“That’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Jasmine asks, looking just as surprised as me.
“No, it’s not a good thing. His parents haven’t been here in over a century and the last time they were it was to leave Brandr more destroyed than he already was,” Cassius replies, anger radiating from his words.
The thought of these people hurting Brandr fills me with anger. They remind me of my own parents who were willing to lock me away because I wasn’t the perfect daughter that they wanted. My stomach tightens when I see the car coming towards us.
“Ceric! Cassius!” Brandr’s father calls out as he walks around the car to open the door for Brandr’s mother. Brandr looks just like his father, except for the air of arrogance that surrounds him. The eyes are different though, Brandr has green eyes while his father has brown. Looking over at the woman standing by him, I see that he has got her eyes, but where Brandr’s are warm and caring, this woman’s are cold.
“What brings you here?” Ceric asks. His usual smile is missing as he greets them.
“We heard that he bonded?” his mom asks, raising her chin in challenge. I see both men tense at her question.
“Where did you hear that?” Cassius asks with a forced smile.
“Does it matter?” the father replies. He lifts his chin and nods at the three of us that are still standing in the doorway to the garage. “Is she one of them?” he asks while running his eyes over the three of us in a disdainful way.
“Why do you care if your son has found his mate?” Ceric asks sarcastically. “It’s not as if you care about him.” At Ceric’s words, the father tenses, frowning at him.
“What we
care about or don’t has nothing to do with you. We want to meet his mate!” he demands angrily.
“It’s the one with the long black hair, she has his stone,” the mom states, moving towards us, but before she can reach us Ceric is standing before me. “Move out of my way, I want to talk to her,” she mutters.
“Why would you want to talk to your sons’ mate, when you don’t want anything to do with him?” Ceric asks, standing his ground.
“We want to see what kind of woman is going to carry our grandchildren,” the father answers, as he moves to stand next to his woman.
“Why would you care what kind of woman I am or about any future grandchildren, if you don’t care about your own son? I would have thought that you wouldn’t want anything to do with us either?” I answer stepping to the side, so I can see them around Ceric.
“Oh, we don’t care about you. But any children you might have will carry our blood, therefore we need to make sure that they are brought up right. We have heard some disturbing things about you, that you are not all there.” I feel like scratching her pretentious face. How dare she judge me without even knowing me. “But that was to be expected after all you are a killer’s mate.”
“After meeting the two of you, I’m surprised Brandr didn’t kill you!” I say sarcastically. How dare they talk like that about their own son, it is unbelievable. “I will make sure that any children that Brandr and I might have learn the values that their father and I believe in!” I state forcefully. “And thank you for coming to meet me, I now know why Brandr never mentioned you. I would also be embarrassed to have parents like you.” With that I turn around and hurriedly make my way inside. I can hear the two of them complaining behind my back of how rude I am.
“You go girl,” Gabriela says from right behind me, a tight smile to her lips.
“Hold up, I can’t keep up with you,” Jasmine huffed from behind us. We both turned to see her hurrying towards us, an angry set to her shoulders. “Can you believe those people? I’m surprised that Brandr turned out as great as he did with parents like them!” she grumbles, stopping when she reaches us, breathing hard as if she had just run a marathon.
The look of anger on both these women’s faces who have become my friends, is heart-warming, I never thought that I would have friends or a man that I love and who loves me back, but here I am with everything that I once thought was lost to me.
“Oh … I think we have a problem,” Jasmine says suddenly, with a grimace on her face.
“What now? I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day,” Gabriela grumbles, looking around.
“My water just broke,” she whispers, looking down at the floor.
“Oh … Oh damn!” To say I’m in shock is an understatement. I have never been around a pregnant woman before and now here is one that is about to have a baby. “Oh damn!” I say again.
“Ceric!” Gabriela screams, rushing towards Jasmine, she places her arm around her shoulders in a hug. “It will be okay,” she murmurs as if she’s talking to herself. Bion went with the men so there is no one here who will be able to deliver this baby. I can see the scared look on Gabriela’s face when she looks over at me.
“It will be okay,” I say, just as Ceric rushes towards us.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, a worried look on his face as he looks at Gabriela.
“Her water just broke,” I answer, seeing the horror come across his face.
“Fuck … now?” he asks, looking down at the floor as if to make sure that what I said is true. “Fuck!”
“They’re gone,” Cassius states as he walks towards us, tensing when he sees the horrified look on Ceric’s face. “What’s up Dude? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost?” he teases with a cautious look in his eyes.
Ceric points at Jasmine. “It’s coming,” he murmurs looking at Cassius and then back at us.
“What’s coming?” A confused look on his face.
“The baby, her water broke,” Gabriela answers just as Jasmine groans and bends over holding onto her stomach.
“Oh fuck!” He rushes towards her. “Isn’t it too soon?” he asks, as he bends down, lifting her into his arms. Finally, there is someone who does something, because the three of us are just standing here in shock, like idiots.
“Just by a few weeks,” Jasmine murmurs a scared look on her face.
“Fuck! I’m going to call Wulf,” Ceric calls out, as he takes his phone out of his tracksuit pocket.
“No, don’t phone Wulf he will flip his shit. Talk to someone else, and make sure Bion comes back,” Cassius says, as he starts to walk towards the infirmary.
“Fuck me! I’m not prepared for this!” Ceric grumbles, a worried look on his face as he looks after Cassius, Jasmine and Gabriela.
“Would you like me to phone Brandr? I will ask him to get Wulf and Bion here. He will know how to tell Wulf.”
“Brandr? Yes, Brandr is good,” he says, nodding. If he is this shook up with Jasmine I can only imagine how he will be if ever he finds his woman, and she goes into labour.
I pull out my phone and dial Brandr’s number; it rings three times before he picks up. “Sunshine?” his voice is gruff as if he’s holding onto anger.
“Hi,” I answer feeling my anxiety calm at his voice. It still amazes me how he can calm me just with his voice, a touch or just his presence.
“Is everything okay?” he asks a worried tone to his voice.
“Is Wulf with you?”
“Yes … Why?”
“Jasmine’s water just broke and her contractions have started.” I hear him swear as I continue, “We need you to get Bion and Wulf back here as soon as possible.”
“Okay, we should be able to get them there in about an hour. Alexei has a Helicopter, Caelius can fly them in.” He pauses, “Aria, let her know it will be fine, they will be there soon. I have to go, love you and I will phone you when they leave.”
BRANDR 17
When I see Aria’s name on the screen of my phone my breath catches, since leaving Natures Valley, all I wanted to do was turn back and make sure that my girl was fine. If it wasn’t for Bjarni I most probably would have, he told me that this was the norm and that we always worry about them, when they aren’t around. If you ask me, it sucks. I’m not used to worrying about others now I have this tightness around my heart and the only time it lessens is when I speak to her.
We left early this morning riding for just over five hours, reaching Johannesburg just before lunch. We made our way to this coffee shop called Sweet Addiction, owned by Alexei. We are having lunch while we wait for him.
The pickup of the guns is set for tomorrow at the supplier. We will transport them to one of our chapters in the Drakensberg, which will take them into Lesotho. Then they will be flown out of Lesotho and into Sierra Leone. If everything moves ahead as it should, we will be home in two days. From what Aria confessed to me after hearing Alexei’s thoughts, he considers this a test, therefore we can’t let anything go wrong.
“Sunshine?” I answer.
“Hi,” her voice is strained, and there is a hitch to it. What the fuck is happening?
“Is everything okay?” I ask gently, knowing from what she has told me that my voice always calms her.
“Is Wulf with you?” she asks. Instantly I tense, drawing Draco’s attention, as he is sitting next to me. Why would she be asking for Wulf unless something has happened to Jas, and if something has happened to Jas we are going to be in a pickle, because Wulf will lose his shit and most of us too. Jas has become family and if anything happens to her it happens to all of us. I move the phone closer to Draco, knowing that he will be able to hear the conversation from where he’s sitting.
“Yes … Why?”
“Jasmine’s water just broke and her contractions have started.”
“Fuck me!” I growl. It’s too early. I hear Draco grunt, next to me looking around at all the men who had come with us. Bion and Wulf will have to go back. We will need to fly them
back as soon as possible.
“We need you to get Bion and Wulf back as soon as possible,” she says quietly.
“Okay, we should be able to get them there in about an hour. Alexei has a Helicopter, Caelius can fly them in.” I see Caelius, opposite me raise his brow questioningly, at his name. “Aria, let her know it will be fine they will be there soon. I have to go, love you; will phone you when they leave.” I place my phone back in my pocket, looking at Draco who is frowning.
“What do you want to do?” I ask him, knowing that he already has a plan by the look in his eyes.
“Let’s first organise everything before we tell him. Phone Vlad; tell him what happened and ask if we can use their Helicopter. As soon as we get the go-ahead we will drop them off there. Burkhart will ride Wulf’s bike and Celmund will drive the SUV, instead of Caelius.” I don’t say anything, I am already dialling Vlad’s number, I make my way outside so no one can hear my conversation.
“Da.”
“Vlad, I need a favour.” I explain what has happened. When I’m done I hear him talk to someone, guessing it must be his brother Alexei.
“Instead of meeting you at Sweet Addiction, we will make our way to the hanger and meet you there. It will be waiting for you,” he states. After getting directions to the hanger, I make my way back inside the coffee shop, nodding at Draco as I sit back down.
“Listen everyone,” Draco calls, getting the men’s attention. “We need to go, get a move on I will wait outside.” I have only eaten half of my lunch, but my burger doesn’t look as great as it did a few minutes ago.
I walk out with Draco, filling him in on the plan as we go. “We will tell him when we get to the helicopter,” he says, already mounting his bike as we hear the door open and the guys join us.
“What’s up?” Bjarni asks. I shake my head as I start my bike. We make it to the hanger in fifteen minutes. As we turn in, we see a black mustang parked by the helicopter that we will be using. There are another two cars with Alexei’s guys standing around. In total there must be about seven of Alexei’s men, not counting Vlad and Alexei who are standing by the Mustang, talking.
BRANDR_Elemental's MC Page 14