Cassius and Celmund rush towards the computers as Brandr and Bion close in from the other side. “Fuck, they’re fire benders,” Celmund calls. I see Cassius stop and look around, and then he drops to his knees and places both hands on the floor.
“Bion, over here! Use this water,” he says in our earpiece. Both Bion and Cassius are water benders, and it looks as if they are going to cool down the two fire benders who are even now starting to destroy the computers. Bion moves to stand behind Brandr as Brandr continues firing to try to distract the Keres. Bion lifts one hand, pointing at the water rising around Cassius, and with the other, he points at the two Keres and then opens his hand with the palm facing them. The water rises in a wave towards them and the fire. Cassius continues to produce water as Bion maintains a steady waterfall on the guys. Brandr and Draco rush forward, tackling the two men to the ground.
Celmund rushes towards the computers, trying to save the information. Bjarni and I make our way towards the first metal cell where a woman is sitting on a chair with her head covered with a cloth bag.
As I’m about to touch the cell to bend the metal to open the door, Brandr roars, “Stop!” Looking back, I see him rushing towards me, his eyes on the door. “The cells are rigged. Look at those micro lights on the ceiling. You see how they are facing each cell?” Bjarni and I look up at the ceiling at the same time, and in fact, there are tiny blue lights. Fuck, if I hadn’t been looking for them, I wouldn’t have seen them. The sons of bitches always have a fucking plan up their sleeves.
“What now?” Bjarni asks.
“Those lights are sensors. Anyone moves inside that cell, and I would bet”—his voice lowers—“that there are explosives under the chair and it will blow.” Each cell I look at looks the same. All three women are strapped to a chair and blindfolded. I see Brandr looking around as if he’s looking for something.
“Fuck,” he says as he walks towards a concrete pillar that looks as if it was plastered not long ago. “These beams work by remote, but there has to be a main box somewhere, and it looks like it’s in this fucking concrete pillar.”
“Move over. See a master at work,” I joke as I walk up to the pillar. Placing my hands flat on the concrete, I imagine the concrete dissolving and running down to the ground. Soon, I see the concrete start to disintegrate into small particles and run down like water, forming a puddle on the floor. After a minute, there is a hole the size of a head in the pillar where a black box with a red light can be seen.
“There you go. Don’t say I never did anything for you,” I tease as I move over to let Brandr look at the box.
“Yeah, yeah, asshole, we’ll give you a medal when we get back to the compound,” he chirps as he starts to work on the box.
“We need to move. Hurry it up,” Draco states as Celmund carries the two computer boxes, one under each arm. Wulf and Cassius have tied the Keres and are now ushering them out as well.
“This isn’t a fucking game. If I cut the wrong wire, we are all going to blow,” Brandr warns as he continues to work. “Okay, as soon as you hear a beep, you can open the cells, but don’t move the women. Let me check the chairs first.”
A minute later, there’s a beep. I hurriedly dissolve the steel of the latch, letting the door squeak open. I move towards the other cells, repeating the process as Brandr walks in and kneels on the floor, having a look under the chair where the woman is sitting. “Okay, this one’s good. Unstrap her,” Brandr calls to Bjarni as he moves towards the other cell.
I’ve opened the last cell when I hear Brandr asking Bion to unstrap the second woman. He then makes his way towards me, a scowl on his face. “Don’t you think we make a good pair? I think I will start helping you from now on instead of Burkhart,” I tease, trying to lighten his mood. Burkhart and Brandr have partnered together for decades when disarming bombs. I know that there is no way Burkhart or Brandr would willingly partner with anyone else.
“I think you’re wanting to get strapped to one of these chairs. How would Nova feel when you pitch up with burnt balls?” he replies, moving towards the last woman. I’m about to answer, when he stops, looking around carefully. “Don’t fucking move, or you will have more than burnt balls.”
“What?” I ask. Brandr isn’t the type to alarm easily, but at the moment, he’s looking fucking twitchy.
“She’s fucking dead for one, but I have a feeling something else is going on in this cell,” he states.
“Fuck.” Looking over my shoulder, I see Draco hurrying towards us with a concerned look on his face.
“What’s going on?” he asks, stopping a few feet away.
“I need you to look under and on top of the bars of this cell and see if you can see any lights,” Brandr asks. I see Draco’s eyes lighten to an ungodly light blue with anger before he lowers to his stomach and looks under the bars of the cell. After a few seconds, he stands. Walking around the cell, he looks to see if he can see any light on the top.
“There’s a red light on the bottom by the door and one on top in the righthand corner in front of you,” he reveals angrily.
“Fuck,” Brandr booms. He looks back at me to see where I’m standing. One of my feet is inside the cell, and the rest of my body is still outside. “Fuck, we can’t move. The bomb has been activated. Any movement and this fucking place blows.”
“How do we disarm it?” Draco asks.
“Motion detectors can be reset by pointing a source of light of a certain wavelength—infrared or near infrared—at them. This blinds the sensors for as long as the light source is pointed at them, plus an additional few seconds. These sensors also rely on magnetic fields to work, and if you hit them with a high enough magnetic field, they trip,” Brandr explains
“The magnetic fields I can do. Don’t have infrareds, though. How’re we going to do this?” Draco asks.
“Darn, Draco, here I thought you were all powerful. Are you sure you don’t shoot infrared out of your ass when upset? I swear I can see some sparks,” I tease, trying to lighten his mood. The way he’s going, we won’t need the bomb. He will fry us with the heat radiating from his body. One thing that can guarantee Draco’s anger is one of us being threatened, and one thing no one wants to do is anger Draco. As the oldest Elemental in the MC, he has powers beyond anything any of us can do.
“I swear, asshole, as soon as you’re out of here, I’m going to toast your ass,” he promises but there’s a slight lift to his lips.
“I don’t know about you two, but I would love to get out of here. Can we get less talk and more action, please?” Brandr states sarcastically.
“Okay, how do we do this?” Draco asks.
“There’s a flashlight in my backpack. You need to point it at the sensor on the top. As soon as you see it flicker, I need you to hit it with a magnetic field. Once the field is down, we only have a few seconds,” Brandr informs us. Draco is already searching in the backpack for the flashlight. Drawing back, he holds out two of them.
“Which one?” he asks.
“The blue one.”
He throws the other back and then moves towards the cell again. “As soon as I hit it with a magnetic field, I want you two to make a run for it,” he orders.
“No fucking way,” I state. “We all make a run for it.” There is no way in hell I’m leaving one of my brothers behind to save my ass.
“I’m not leaving without you, either; once the field is down, we have a chance to make it,” Brandr says.
“Now listen, fuckers, I’m way faster than both of you together. Even leaving after you, I will probably make it outside before you. You are going to leave as soon as I tell you, and I will follow,” he commands. There is a thread of steel in his voice that leaves no chance to argue. “Now, are you ready?”
We both grunt in reply, still rebellious at his command. I see the light from the flashlight come on, and then he’s shining it up. A few seconds later, the red light starts to flicker, and then I feel the pull of the magnetic field.
Brandr and I are both running by the time the words are out of his mouth. We’re through the tunnel and nearly at the outside door when I feel heat behind me. Looking back, I see Draco running towards us, a shield of fire behind him. Fuck, he is quick. We are charging through the door when the ground shakes with an explosion.
“Fuck, that was way too close,” Bjarni calls out from where he’s standing on the other side of the alley. “We need to move. This explosion will bring the attention of the cops.” We hurriedly make our way to where we left our bikes. The others are all waiting there for us, except for Gunner and Caelius, who have taken the women and the computers in the SUV. I’m about to get on my bike when I feel a burning sensation in my upper thighs, and then I notice a burning smell. Looking over my shoulder, I suddenly feel my ass on fire.
“What the fuck?” I start to hit at my jeans as I look over my shoulder, seeing the back of my jeans by my ass completely burnt away. My brothers all laugh uproariously. Looking at Draco, I see him sitting on his bike, roaring with laughter.
“I told you I’d toast your ass,” he states, and then he’s laughing again.
“Very funny, asshole.” But then I’m also roaring with laughter.
NOVA 14
“You know being the only one who drinks around here sucks,” I grumble. The five of us and Orion have been sitting at the bar for the last hour; I’m becoming restless, as there’s only so much we can do here.
“That’s what I thought when I first arrived here and Jasmine was pregnant,” Gabriela states.
“What do you usually do around here?” I ask curiously. I’m sure there must be something I can do to keep myself busy.
“Well, I have my vegetable garden outside that keeps me busy. Gabriela still decorates wedding cakes for the bakery when required, and Jasmine has her paintings,” Aria discloses excitedly.
“The only thing I can bake is pancakes, I definitely don’t have green fingers, and my drawings are stick figures,” I grumble. “What do you like to do, Brielle, when you are not at the hospital working?”
“I make my own natural products with herbs and flowers. This place is perfect for all the stuff I need. I’m going to miss this place terribly when I have to leave, and all of you have been great. I’ve had so much fun since being here,” Brielle divulges. “Not to mention the eye candy.”
“Yeah, that is definitely one of the perks of being here,” Gabriela jokes, “but I have noticed that your eyes are usually glued to one specific candy.” I see Brielle’s cheeks heat with colour and her eyes lower in embarrassment.
“What!” Jasmine squeals, frightening Orion in her excitement. He starts to whimper, but I stretch out my fingers, wiggling them before him. My two semi-precious stone rings catch his eyes, making him stretch out his chubby little hands to grab mine. “Who is she ogling?” she asks quietly, not to frighten Orion again.
“I’m not ogling anyone,” she states quietly, looking around to see if Gloria and Tina heard. Both Jezebels are sitting by the bar, looking at their phones, ignoring us completely. That’s good with me. Knowing that Ceric has slept with both drives me crazy. Every time they are near him, I want to scratch their eyes out, and I’m not even a violent person. The first time I saw the two of them no one had to tell me what their function was here, but Jasmine and Aria explained about them and how they serviced the brothers. The good thing is that they keep away from me, but most importantly they keep away from Ceric.
“Of course not,” Gabriela continues to tease, a twinkle in her eye as she winks at me. “You nearly tripped over your own feet yesterday when he asked if you wanted a drink.” She then looks at Jasmine and continues. “But it’s not only her. I saw a very impressive bulge when he was staring at her before he got the courage to ask her if she wanted a drink.”
“Ohh, just tell me already!” Jasmine mumbles.
“Bion,” Gabriela states with a wide smile on her face.
“Really? You go, girl. He’s hot.” I have only known Bion for a short time, but he has always been very supportive with anything I ask him. “You think they’re mates?” I ask curiously. I know that the men have been looking for their mates for centuries, and now in the last two years, four of them have found theirs. If Brielle is Bion’s mate, then it will be five of them.
“Don’t be silly. How can such a hot guy want someone like me?” she protests, her hands nervously sliding down her voluptuous hips.
“What do you mean? There is nothing wrong with you.” I state angrily. One thing that upsets me is when people get put down for their weight. Brielle is a beautiful voluptuous woman with curves in all the right places. “Bion will be very lucky to get someone like you. Don’t cut yourself short.”
“Nova is right. You’re beautiful, and the way I have caught Bion staring at you with that intense look of his, it won’t be long until he jumps your bones.” We all burst out laughing at her words. Brielle is blushing to the roots of her hair, but a laugh is lighting up her face now instead of the insecurity that I saw there a few minutes ago.
“How long do you think the men will be? Maybe we can go out,” I suggest. I’m tired of being cooped up here. Maybe the five of us can go out to a beauty salon or shopping or something. Gabriela snorts at my suggestion as she shakes her head.
“We can see you haven’t been here long. The only way we’re going out is if we have an escort,” Aria enlightens me. “We tried it once; they have trackers in the cars that block the wheels. Your mate and Cassius blocked the wheels of the SUV we were driving and came out to get us.”
“You’re joking. Are you telling me that we can’t go out unless they babysit us?” All three women nod at my question. “What if I manage to get us out? Maybe we could call a taxi. They wouldn’t know where to find us then.”
“We could try, but not today. Wulf sent a text about an hour ago saying that they would be home soon,” Jasmine reveals. “And how do you think you’re going to manage that? You do know that your persuasion doesn’t work on the men. How are we going to even make it out of the compound?”
“Leave that to me. The next time they go out, we will go on an outing,” I promise. The idea of getting out of here even if just for a few hours lightens my mood. The others seem a little wary. I know that the guys will probably be upset, but they can’t expect us to sit around and do nothing the whole day.
“I need to go get Orion’s bottle,” Jasmine states as he starts to fuss, and she gets up from her chair. She’s about to leave when I ask if she would like me to hold him while she gets his bottle. “He can get really loud until he gets what he wants. Are you sure?”
“Of course. Give me the little guy.” Taking him from his mom’s arms doesn’t help the situation; he looks up at me, and instead of mewling as he did with his mom, he starts to howl in anger.
“Wow, your mom isn’t joking. You are loud,” I say quietly in a calming voice. I pull him up against my chest and start to sing to him as my mother used to sing when I was small. A few seconds later, he hiccups a few times and then quietens. I close my eyes as I sing, enjoying the feel of him against my chest, his sweet baby smell, and his chubby hand playing with my face. When I sing, I’m transported into my own world. There is nothing that can hurt or worry me in this world. I sing a few songs before I open my eyes at the stillness around me; I come to an abrupt end when I see all the women and now the men, too, staring at me with awe.
When I stop singing, everyone continues to just stand there as if in a trance for a few seconds before they all start talking at the same time.
“I could listen to you the whole day,” Gabriela states with a dreamy look on her face.
“Your voice is so calming, beautiful, really beautiful,” Aria declares.
“Well, now we know how to quieten Orion. Just give him to Nova,” Wulf suggests to Jasmine, who is now wrapped in his arms with a content smile on her face.
Ceric is still standing in t
he doorway, a smirk on his face as if there is nowhere else he would rather be. When I lift a brow at him, he simply gives me that sexy smile of his. I’m about to ask them how everything went, when Orion starts to fuss again, but this time, his mom is there with the bottle in hand. She lifts him into her arms, thanking me as she places the bottle against his lips. Instantly, he quietens and all we hear is gulping.
From the corner of my eye, I see Ceric leave his place by the door and make his way straight towards me. As he walks past the Jezebels still sitting at the bar now accompanied by Gunner and Cassius, I see them look at him, and then their eyes widen, and huge grins adorn their faces. Gunner bursts out laughing and shakes his head; Cassius grins and then winks at me.
Something is going on. Why’re they all acting so funny? Looking around, I see all the guys grinning as they look at him, and Bjarni is whispering in Gabriela’s ear. Her eyes widen, her head shoots towards Ceric who has just passed her on his way to me, and then she starts to giggle uncontrollably as Bjarni covers her eyes.
“What’s going on?” I ask, suspicious.
“Well, you see, Nova, it’s quite a disturbing story,” Brandr states. “We were all ready to mount our bikes and make our way back here, when suddenly, Ceric’s pants start to smoke. When we realized what was happening, he was already spanking himself. We were so shocked at his actions and then his lily-white ass that we had to take a few minutes to get over the shock of seeing something so ugly.” The guys are all chuckling uproariously, so I know that what he’s saying can’t be true.
“Just you wait, asshole,” Ceric says with a chuckle. He must have seen my confused look, because he turns his back towards me to show me what everyone has already seen. I’m sure my mouth must have fallen open in surprise, because at my look, the guys laugh louder. The back of his jeans are burnt away, exposing his ass cheeks and parts of his boxer shorts.
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