CASSIUS

by Alexi Ferreira

  “You have such beautiful tattoos.” I say as I kiss the one side of his chest, and then I move over to the other side and start to kiss the phoenix that is across his chest. His cock twitches again and I smile as I start to stroke my hands down his hard stomach. Before I reach his erection, I feel a burning sensation across my shoulder blades. It feels like someone is taking a flame to my skin.

  “Ow . . . Ow, ow.” I gasp as I lift my hands trying to rub the heat from my back. Cassius eyes snap open and his looking at me with concern.

  “What’s wrong baby?” he asks worriedly as he stands and places me on my feet.

  “My back is burning.” I answer trying to turn my head to see what’s wrong with my back. He moves around me and then he swears, and I feel his hands over the area that’s sore.

  “Fuck, I’m sorry.” He states as I feel his hands against my skin. And then I feel cold radiating from his hands soothing the burn.

  “Sorry about what, what’s wrong with my back.” I ask worriedly. Is this because of my injury, did us having sex somehow aggravate that area? The feeling of being burnt is diminishing, the coolness of Cassius hands helping.

  “It’s the mating mark, the pain will go away soon.” His voice is strained as he explains, looking over my shoulder I see him scowling.

  “What do you mean, mating mark?” no one has spoken about any mark.

  “When Elemental’s bond, their mate is gifted with the same mark as him, so everyone will know that you belong to me.” He says, “See this one on my arm,” he pulls his arm around me but all I can see is tattoos.

  “What mark?” I ask, as I take hold of his arm and start to turn it around trying to find a mark.

  “The tattoo baby, the one that starts on my shoulder down to my elbow.” At his words I stare at the tattoo and only then do I notice that it’s not as dark as the other ones. It’s a beautiful pattern that when I had first seen his tattoos I had thought it was the phoenix’s feathers.

  “Are you saying that I have this tattoo on my back?” that’s just not possible, how can a tattoo appear out of the blue? I know I’m sounding shocked, but what the hell? Suddenly I’m being lifted off the floor and Cassius is carrying me into the bathroom. He sits me on the counter and then his holding my hair away from my back as he opens one of the draws and pulls out a hand mirror.

  “Look” he says, giving me the mirror, I hold it up, so I can see the mirror behind me and then gasp. He wasn’t kidding, sitting across my shoulder blades is the tattoo identical to his one. “Say something,” He murmurs I notice his muscles are tense and his got a worried look on his face. I don’t know what to say, I’m still stunned, what can I say?

  I shake my head, as I look into the mirror. “You don’t like it,” he says, and I hear sadness in his voice.

  “No, no, I like it. It’s beautiful, I’m just surprised, I never thought something like this could happen.” I mumble, “Is it magic” I ask

  “No, not so much magic as the reaction of your DNA to mine. You now have my semen and my blood in your body and that transforms certain things.” He explains

  “My DNA? Is there anything else that’s going to change, or grow or fall or something?” I ask worriedly. “I’m not going to grow a dick suddenly, am I?” I joke but my heart is beating erratically with worry. His eyes widen with shock at my question and then he grimaces.

  “No, nothing else is going to change. I promise.” He states, I look back at the mirror and then shrug.

  “You know, it’s actually pretty cool.” I reveal, “I always wanted a tattoo but was to chicken to get one.” I hear his exhale of relief and nearly smile. “It’s a shame about the dick though. Imagine what I could do with one.” I tease.

  “What!” he roars in shock making me burst out laughing hilariously. When he realizes that I was joking he shakes his head and then a smile adorns his face. “You’re evil.” He says but then his picking me back up and carrying me back to our bed. I could get used to this, I have always dreamed of having this man as mine, but my dream doesn’t compare to the reality.

  “Cassius”

  “mmm”

  “The sex wasn’t phenomenal,” he tenses at my words, “It was out of this world.” And I know that our relationship will be the same.

  CASSIUS 7

  I wake up with a jerk at the banging on the door, Scarlett laying half on top of me. Her head on my shoulder, one of her legs over mine and her hand way to close to where I want it. I’m tired, we only went to sleep about an hour ago, and then I feel myself smiling at the memory of how we spent the night and most of the morning.

  The banging comes again, bringing me back to the present. I quickly move from under Scarlett and make my way to the door before whoever is on the other side can wake her up. Opening the door, a crack so they can’t look inside I see Burkhart. “Why the fuck are you waking us up?” I whisper angrily, opening the door wider I step outside.

  “You have to fucking come with me to the training room; we need to calm Gunner down.” He says, “I could just knock him out, but I don’t think the women would be too happy with me.”

  “Where are the others?”

  “Just go get dressed, I’ll tell you on the way.” He grumbles as he turns, just then Aria and Nova turn into the corridor seeing me standing there stark naked. I see them stop and their eyes round as I hurriedly step inside and close the door.

  “Oh, come on, don’t be shy.” I hear Nova say, “did you see the ass on that man.” She quips, and I can hear Aria laugh, as I pull my jeans and t-shirt on.

  “How did you get him to come out naked?” Aria asks

  “I knocked.” Burkhart grumbles

  “So, if we go around and knock on doors do you think more of you will step out like that?” Nova teases

  “Sure, until your man finds out what you’re doing and then you won’t be leaving your room ever again.” He quips playfully.

  “Oh, you such a spoil sport, you had to ruin it.” She grumbles as Burkhart and Aria start to laugh. Looking over at the bed I see Scarlett still sleeping peacefully. I still can’t believe that I bonded with her, but there is no way I can let her go. Walking back towards the door I step out and close the door behind me.

  “Aww” Nova and Aria say at the same time playfully, as their eyes twinkle as they look up at me.

  “Sorry ladies, I know that I’ve just destroyed the image you two had of your men, but that’s what happens when you look at perfection.” I tease as I hurry after Burkhart. I hear Nova comment but I’m concentrating on what Burkhart is saying and miss what she says.

  “I was warming up when Gunner walked in, he started by pacing, but I could see he was agitated. When I asked him what the problem was he said that he felt odd, and that he was going to work out a bit to try and get rid of extra energy. That’s when I came for you, we both know what that means.” He says as we enter the training area.

  The first thing we hear is Gunner grunting, and then we see him lifting weights. If he was normal he should never be able to pick up the amount of weights he is, but because his DNA has been modified he can now pick up double or even triple what he used to before. We both know that in a few minutes he’s going to start to lose his shit. This is usually the peak before the crash, because he isn’t Elemental he needs to ingest Elemental blood once a month.

  Gunner was lucky, usually only women live through the transition. That he was able to live through it shows how strong and special he is, but because he’s still new at this every time he drinks blood he might have different reactions that might need us to restrain him.

  “Hey Gunner,” I greet as we approach, he doesn’t stop lifting just grunts his greeting. “We need you to stop; it’s time for you to get some more blood.” I say

  “Fuck no . . . I’m fine.” He says as he continues.

  “No, you’re not, and if we don’t do this now it’s just going to get worse.” Burkhart growls angrily. Burkhart isn’t known for his patience; his temper rise
s at the slightest provocation. “And I can tell you now, I’m not here to mother you, so fucking put the weights down or I’ll make you.”

  Gunner drops the weights and stands up glaring at Burkhart, but his clever and doesn’t say anything as he walks towards us. No matter how good anyone of us is at fighting, Burkhart is better. He can disable anyone in a matter of seconds. “Fine, but I’m telling you now I hate this shit.” He grunts.

  As Elemental’s we don’t have an issue with ingesting blood as we were born like that, but we have learnt, especially since the women joined us, that humans have a big problem with drinking blood. Nova is one of them, Ceric was desperate to try and find a way to give her his blood when they bonded because she insisted that she didn’t want it. I still don’t know what method Ceric uses, but it looks like she finally accepted it.

  “We know brother, but it’s the only way.” I answer as I punch him playfully on the arm trying to lighten the mood. Only then do I realize what I just did, I’m not feeling so angry, so filled with rage like I always do. Is it possible that the bonding actually helped? Did some of the fury I’ve been constantly fighting within me diminish? I see Burkhart look at me with a raised eyebrow, but he doesn’t mention anything.

  “Okay, let’s do this.” Burkhart brings his wrist to his mouth and tears at it until his bleeding, he thrusts it before Gunner, I can see Gunners shocked reaction before he starts to shake his head. “What?” Burkhart shouts.

  “Not like this.” Before Burkhart can say anything, I place a hand on Gunner’s shoulder.

  “I’m afraid it’s the only way, now don’t make this difficult and don’t insult us. After all, we do this all the time.” I say to try and appease him.

  “Motherfucker” Gunner roars before he grabs Burkhart’s wrist and lifts it to his mouth. At first, he gags but he persists and finally manages to drink what he requires. Finally, Burkhart pulls away, I’m standing behind Gunner just in case he need some persuading to drink, and it’s a good thing that I am because suddenly he starts to convulse.

  I pull my arms around him from behind and hold him tight as I slowly lower him to the floor. Burkhart holds his feet, so he doesn’t kick out. We hold him like that for a few minutes until he starts to calm, “Maybe we should call Brielle to come check him?” Burkhart suggests

  “Where are the others?” I remember that Burkhart didn’t get to tell me where the other brothers were.

  “Draco and Wulf went to see Alexey, apparently he has info on how the Keres are trafficking the women.” Burkhart reveals, “The others are out patrolling or fixing shit.”

  Pulling out my cell from my back pocket I quickly text Brielle, a few minutes later the door to the training room opens and in walks Brielle. When she sees Gunner on the floor still twitching slightly she runs towards us. “What happened?” she places her hand on his forehead as she squats down next to us. My hands are still holding onto his shoulders, therefore when Gunner lifts his fist and swipes his hand sideways against Brielle I don’t see it fast enough to stop him.

  Burkhart roars as he sees Brielle sprawl on the floor, “Son of a bitch” he let’s go of his feet straddling his hips he grabs his arms.

  “Brielle, are you okay sweetheart?” I ask worriedly as she sits up, when she looks at us I know Bion is going to lose his shit. “Fuck” I grunt, when I see her bleeding lip.

  “It’s okay, I’m fine.” She murmurs as she crawls towards Gunner again and places her hand on his head once more. A few minutes later Gunner starts to calm, Burkhart and I don’t let go of him until he opens his eyes and looks at us.

  “What happened?” he asks as he looks up at Brielle.

  “You started to convulse, we called Brielle to calm your ass down and you slapped her.” Burkhart growls with a scowl on his face. He walks towards Brielle and lifts her from where she’s crouching. Turning her towards him he lifts her face with a finger under her chin, “Let me see”

  “What?” Gunner murmurs, “Fuck, I’m sorry.”

  “Not yet, but you’re going to be as soon as her man sees her.” I grunt, as I look at her wince when Burkhart presses lightly around her lip.

  “I’m okay; it was just my teeth that cut my lip. It will heal in no time.” She murmurs.

  “Yeah, I suggest you hide because all Bion will care about is that you slapped his woman. And you know what, that fucker knows of a lot of ways to kill someone painfully. I know if Brielle was my woman you would be buried.” Burkhart snaps, I know he’s twitching to punch Gunner. Even though he slapped Brielle by mistake we Elemental’s do not accept any kind of violence against women, especially our women, even if unintentional.

  “Brielle, are you okay?” Gunner asks worriedly, as he looks at her. “I really am sorry; I would never slap a woman, Bion will be right to want to hurt me.” Brielle steps towards him but Burkhart holds her back.

  “Just let it be sweetheart, I’m still twitchy about letting you go anywhere near him. Come, let’s go and ice that lip before your man loses his shit when he sees you.” Burkhart guides a protesting Brielle out of the training room.

  “Burkhart wasn’t joking; I suggest you stay out of Bion’s way for a day or two until he calms down after seeing her.” I suggest as I walk out. I start to make my way back to my room when I see Kade, a big smile splitting his face.

  “Hey kid.” I call

  “Cassius” he says happily as he hurries towards me, “Can I tell you something.” He whispers when he’s standing before me. He looks around to see if there is anyone around before looking back at me. I nearly laugh when I think that no matter what, if there are any of us in the kitchen they will hear him even if he whispers.

  “Sure, what’s up?” I can tell his excited about something, maybe Draco decided to let him clean his bike. The kid has been romancing that bike ever since he saw it when he arrived.

  “You guys are so lucky; it was the best day of my life when Draco decided to let me stay.” He says excitedly. “You have everything that any guy could every want, you even have women at your beck and call just for sex.” At his words I tense.

  “What?” I ask quietly,

  “Yeah, do you believe it.” He says with a proud smile.

  “Believe what?” fuck, I hope I’m wrong. The kid looks around once again before he leans towards me.

  “They popped my cherry today.” He says proudly. Motherfucker, I have a feeling Scarlett is not going to like this.

  “How did this happen?” I grunt

  He gives me a surprised look but then shrugs and starts to talk, “Well, Gloria was kissing me while Tina unbuckled my jeans. Then Gloria pulled off my . . .”

  “Stop” I grunt, “I don’t want to know what they did, I asked how they got to . . . you know what, never mind.” I grunt as I pull my hands through my hair.

  “Are you angry? Shit, I didn’t think you liked one of them. Wait!” he gasps, and his eyes widen as he looks at me angrily. “Didn’t you say you liked my sister? I can tell you right now that she’s not going to agree to see someone that is having sex with other women.”

  “What?” I yell, in surprise at his comment “I don’t give a fuck about any woman but your sister.”

  “Well, I hope you right because when she finds out that you had sex with those two and they are still around for you to get it on again if you want too, I can tell you she’s going to get mad.” He suggests, “And you don’t want to see my sister mad, she gets really mean.” He reveals.

  “Who said I had sex with them?” I ask suspiciously

  “They did, they said I shouldn’t worry because now I am one of you and they are here to service all of us when we want.”

  “Fuck, they should never have touched you. You too young, your sister isn’t going to like this, is she?” I ask

  “I’m not too young, and yeah maybe we should keep this a secret.” He says as he looks around again as if worried that Scarlett is going to appear. “But you must know, I can’t lie to her she always knows the
truth.” My anger at the women is rising with each word that he speaks. Why the hell would they go and have sex with him?

  “Well let’s not say anything, unless she asks. Okay?” I suggest

  “Yeah, good luck with that. She has always been able to sense when I’m hiding something, and then all she has to do is ask and you’re screwed.” He grumbles as he turns and makes his way back from where he was coming. “I’ll just keep away from her for a while.” He mumbles.

  Will she be able to know that I’m keeping secrets, no, the other women can use their powers on us unless two of them touch us, therefore it should be the same with her. Sighing I turn and then stop when I find Ceric’s smiling face right behind me.

  “Don’t start.” I snap as I start to go around him.

  “What?” he asks innocently, “I was just going to ask if you wanted to go for a beer?”

  “No” I say as I continue to walk, headed for my room.

  “That’s a shame, seeing as the women took yours to the bar a little earlier to present her to everyone.” When I snap around and stare at him there’s a smirk on his face.

  “Are you fucking with me?” I ask angrily

  “Nope, sorry” I hear him chuckle as I hurry towards the bar.

  SCARLETT 8

  Looking at Nova I laugh, as she helps me along to the Bar area. I woke up this morning with a knock on the door and Cassius missing from my side. Would have been nice to wake up in his arms, but from what Nova and Aria said he was needed somewhere. When I managed to drag myself out of bed wrapped in a sheet to answer the door Nova and Aria marched right in insisting that it was time that I met everyone.

  “I know that you might be feeling a bit weak on the knees this morning, after all who can blame you?” Nova teases as she holds on tight around my waist. Even though I’m still feeling weak from all the weeks I was in a coma, I’m excited to meet everyone.

  “Jasmine and Brielle should already be there, Gabriela’s in her room but we promised to take you there after you have met everyone.” Aria suggests as she walks next to us, her hand stroking her very pregnant belly. Gabriela and Bjarni’s twins have finally been taken off the incubators, from what Aria said it was a difficult pregnancy for Gabriela and the twins as they nearly died.