CASSIUS

by Alexi Ferreira

  “Why would Tor invite them here?” we don’t usually invite outsiders to our compounds, a party is for the guys to relax and let go. If there are outsiders around the men can never relax. I see Celmund shrug as he looks back at me.

  I had pulled Scarlett between Celmund and myself when we got here, now I look down at her to see her sipping at her cola and wiggling her sexy little figure in time to the music. I just knew this was going to be a long party, I already want to drag her back to our room and indulge in all her curves, but I know she was looking forward to this therefore I will smile and bear it.

  I see her tense as her eyes snap up to mine, she inclines the top of her cola bottle to her right and yells above the music. “There’s your friend.” Looking over I see that it’s the Jezebel that dropped off our clothes. Celmund looks over his shoulder to see who she’s referring too and then I see him grin as he looks back at us. Taking her wrist in my hand I pull her against my body as my lips lower to her lips. I kiss her until we’re both breathless and have forgotten why I started to kiss her in the first place.

  “Finally, I was thinking of getting some water and throwing it on you guys to cool down.” I hear Burkhart tease as he joins us. “Hey sweetheart, you’re looking particularly ravishing tonight.” I grunt in irritation which makes his grin widen.

  “Cassius!” I hear, “I didn’t know you were here with these fuckers.” Glancing behind Burkhart I see Eirik, one of the brothers from Tor’s men. Eirik is the Sargent at Arms for the Cape Town chapter, a big son of a bitch, not as big as Bjarni but nearly. Eirik and I have had some good times in the past, hopefully he won’t go into retelling some of our stories.

  Eirik was married once, many centuries ago. The daughter of one of the stable men at the time was ill and he knowing what Eirik was, begged him to take her to wife and keep her alive. Even though she wasn’t his mate, Eirik gave her small portions of his blood trying to maintain her healthy but in the end she died. Eirik never loved her but he was fond of her and her death devastated him, making him promise himself never to look for his mate.

  He confided in me once that if he ever had to lose his mate he was sure he would lose his mind before anyone could do away with him. Therefore, he would rather not find her and spare everyone the pain.

  “Eirik” I greet as he clasps my forearm in greeting a wide smile on his tanned face. I see him glance at Scarlett as he lets go. “Well now, look at this sweet morsel that you are hiding.” He says with a wink at her. I see Scarlett blush at his attention and my anger rises even though I know that he doesn’t know she’s my mate.

  “Scarlett, this is Eirik a friend and brother.” I introduce, “Eirik, my mate.” I see his surprised look before he hides it behind a smile.

  “Well, well. Never thought you would get caught, but she’s a beauty.” He says as he takes her hand and kisses it. “Take care of my friend here Scarlett.”

  “I plan to Eirik,” my woman says with a smile.

  “Eirik, where have you been hiding, I haven’t seen you since we arrived?” Draco says as he joins us, followed by Tor.

  “He’s been following up on the trawlers.” Tor replies from next to Draco. “Hello, their pretty lady, we haven’t been introduced yet.” He says with one of his smiles.

  “She’s mine Tor.” I state before he can start having any ideas.

  “Oh, I know. Don’t worry I don’t steal brothers woman.” He teases with a wink at Scarlett, “Doesn’t mean the woman aren’t tempted.” Tor was a Viking many centuries ago and he still thinks like one many times. He also fights like one, if he or his men are threatened his berserker comes out. I was around once when that happened, and I can say that it’s quite a sight, I was impressed.

  From the corner of my eye I see one of the Jezebels slide up to Celmund and whisper in his ear as she places her hand on his chest. He smiles and places an arm around her shoulders but doesn’t do anything else. Now that I have Scarlett I can’t imagine having sex with any other women. I had always felt empty and distant even when in the act, with Scarlett its fire and all consuming.

  Looking up I see Caelius enter from outside, a frown on his face as he approaches. Draco looks over at him and lifts his chin in enquiry. “Aria’s in labour.” He grunts, Burkhart that is talking to one of the Jezebels a few steps away snaps around.

  “Is she okay?” he grunts, Burkhart has become very protective of Aria because of his close relationship with Brandr, I can see the worry by the tense set of his body.

  “Yeah, sounds like she’s fine but Brandr is taking it hard worried about the chemicals in the device leaking with the pressure her body is under.” Caelius grunts, I hadn’t thought about that before but it’s possible that that could happen.

  “Draco” Burkhart asks as he looks at him, it’s understandable that Burkhart would want to be by Brandr and Aria when they need him.

  Draco nods, “Caelius take him, when it’s all over come back. Don’t forget to keep us informed.”

  “Let’s go” Burkhart grunts as he starts to make his way outside Caelius following close behind. Fuck, I need to make sure not to get Scarlett pregnant, there is no way I will take the risk while she still has that crap in her. I feel her hand on my forehead as she starts to stroke the frown away.

  “Don’t worry, she will be fine. Women have been having babies since the beginning of time and I’m sure the device won’t erupt that easily.” I place my hands on her hips and pull her flush against me.

  “Do you want kids?” I ask and see her eyes widen in question.

  “Well, umm . . . a bit late for you to be asking me that question isn’t it?” I see the flush on her cheeks as she looks around at the others quickly. I bring up my hand and place it around the back of her neck as my thumb pulls her chin up so that she’s looking at me. “Yeah, but not necessarily now.” She murmurs.

  If she’s not already carrying my child I need to make sure to protect her from getting pregnant. “What’s wrong?” she asks with a frown, “Don’t you want kids?”

  “I do, but not when it will put you in danger.”

  “Everything will be fine, don’t worry about it. You will see, soon you will find a way to get this thing out of me.” She persuades, I lower my head and kiss her gently on the lips.

  SCARLETT 18

  This party is wild, I know I’m staring, but I never thought this could be true. Two Jezebels are kissing as they rotate their naked bodies against each other. There is another one that is giving one of the brothers a blow job as he sits next to others. True, Cassius moved the chair where I’m sitting on his lap around, so I don’t see what they are doing but I can’t help glancing back to make sure that I didn’t see things.

  “Are you enjoying the show?” I hear Cassius growl against my ear. My head snaps back around and I flush at being caught, Cassius had been talking to Celmund therefore I didn’t think he would notice my distraction.

  “Are the parties always like this?” I ask

  “Sometimes” he replies

  “Hey Tor, how about sharing that piece of ass that has been sitting on your man’s lap the whole night.” I feel Cassius tense under me as his head swivels towards the group of guys that are sitting at the table across from us. These are the guys that I heard Celmund say belonged to a street gang, they have become more and more rowdy as the night progressed.

  “Choose one of the others, that one’s taken.” I hear Tor comment teasingly, but I can see that he’s tensed.

  “Hey Doll, come here and show me some loving?” The one says boisterously, “Come on, he won’t mind.” Cassius pulls me up and then stands, his muscles tense, his jaw chiselled and ticking in anger.

  “Sit” he grunts as he inclines his head towards the chair.

  “Don’t listen to him, they’re drunk.” I persuade but he’s already walking towards the guy.

  Suddenly Tor is before him, “I told you she’s taken, choose one of the others and leave that one alone.” His voice is gravely, and hi
s shoulders are tense. Cassius had stopped behind him, Draco is standing next to him with a hand on his shoulder and by the white knuckles I would think he’s also exerting pressure in keeping him there.

  “I’m not looking for trouble.” The lie hits me unexpectedly, I start to stand but Celmund takes hold of my arm to hold me back, I look at him and he shakes his head.

  “I have to tell them that he’s lying,” I say hurriedly, “he is looking for trouble. The idea is that once everyone is distracted looking at the fight, one of the guys is to go inside the compound and place listening devices. They not helping the Elemental’s they are getting information from them.” I reveal to Celmund.

  Celmund grins at me and indicates with his head towards where the men are, looking over I see Draco and Cassius looking at me. “They heard you, now please take a seat sweetheart.” I keep on forgetting how well these guys hear.

  Tor suddenly lifts his hand and a minute later the music goes quiet. “You guys won’t mind that we frisk you, now would you?” Tor asks deceptively low.

  “I do mind,” the leader says angrily as he stands, “what kind of hospitality is this Tor?”

  “I’m afraid I will have to insist.” He grunts as he moves forward, I see Cassius rush the guy that was commenting about me. Darn, but his quick, one minute he’s standing next to Draco the next his punching the other guy, breaking his nose. I start to take a step to stop them when strong arms hold me back by my waist.

  “Nope, that’s not going to happen.” Celmund says against my ear.

  “You have to stop them, they going to get hurt.” I say worriedly as I see Draco stroll up to the biggest of the guys, pulling back his arm he punches him. Well, nothing to worry about there the guy falls and doesn’t get up again. I see that Cassius is also standing over the one he was fighting with a scowl on his face.

  “These guys don’t even give us time to get our heart rate up.” Tor grumbles as he looks at the two guys he knocked out. Bending he lifts something the size of a button from the floor and shows it to Draco. “Eirik, take them to the cells. I think we going to have ourselves some fun.” He looks around at everyone and grins as if nothing happened. “Shall we continue with this party?” at his words the music starts to blast again, and everyone goes back to doing what they were doing before the fight.

  Cassius walks back towards me, taking hold of my upper arms he lifts me against him taking my lips in a blistering kiss. I can feel the anger start to dissipate from him as he continues to kiss me. When he finally lets me down, my heart is racing, and my panties are soaked.

  “What I would like to know is how did your woman know about the devices?” Tor asks as he sits and takes a swing from his beer.

  “She can tell when someone is lying.” Cassius replies as he also sits and pulls me back onto his lap. “If someone lies then the truth is revealed to her.” I see Tor’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise and then a grin splits across his face.

  “Well brother, I don’t know if you’re one lucky son of a bitch or unlucky.” Tor teases, “In one hand you will never be deceived in another you can’t keep stuff from your mate, because she will know.”

  “Actually, our women can’t use their gifts on us unless there is more than one of them that touches the other.” Cassius replies as he starts to stroke my neck.

  “Do you mind if she listens in on the interrogation?” Tor asks, and I can feel Cassius tense below me.

  “She doesn’t have to be there brother,” Celmund intervenes, “she can do what we do with Aria, I will set up a mic and she can sit in your room and listen to the interrogation.” Cassius places his thumb under my chin and lifts my head until I’m looking at him.

  “Do you want to do this?” he asks with a frown. I can see the concern in his eyes, I know that he doesn’t want me to be around violence after the interrogation with the doctor, when we visited the FBI doctor the other day I had a nightmare where I dreamt that his skin was blistered all over his body. His eyes sightless staring at me, I had woken up gasping for air. After telling Cassius about my dream he had blamed himself for taking me there.

  “It will be fine, besides I’m not going to be there, I will just be listening in. But how are they going to know what to ask if I hear something?” Cassius grunts as Celmund explains that the guys will have a listening device in their ear that will enable them to hear anything she says.

  We sat and talked for a couple more hours, Cassius even relaxed and laughed when Celmund started to tease him. There was one slighter hiccup to the evening when the Jezebel that brought me my clothes came to our table and sat on Celmund’s lap. Kissing his neck, she looked over at Cassius and winked at him which made me tense ready to jump her and pull her hair.

  “You wanna dance baby?” Cassius says against my ear when I glare at her, at his words I move away from him surprised.

  “You want to dance with me?” I ask suspiciously, wondering if he’s just trying to get me away from the table and the Jezebel.

  “Oh Scarlett, are you in for a surprise.” Celmund laughs, “Cassius here, from what I’ve heard has all the moves. He was even thinking of stripping for the women at the compound once.” I see Cassius smirk, is it possible that my man can dance. Who would ever have thought that someone that is so tough and dangerous has this side to him?

  “Come baby, let me sweep you off your feet.” He teases as he guides me to where some couples are dancing. He brings me close to his body and then to my surprise starts to move sensually against me. Oh man, can he move! It doesn’t take him long to have me breathless with want, if we were alone I would be jumping his bones.

  His muscular arms hold me with a strength that makes me feel safe, his hands stroking my back, as his hips brush, thrust and retreat against mine over and over until I want to scream with desire. Well two can play this game, when he comes close again I place my arms around his neck, lifting on my toes I kiss him with a passion that won’t be denied.

  I hear him grunt before he lifts his head and looks deep into my eyes, “I thought I was lost, that it was too late for me, my life was a void of darkness and then you exploded into my life and colours burst all around me. I will not allow for those fuckers to hurt us again, now that we have found each other you are my biggest treasure, the air that I breath and I will not let them win.” He promises, I can feel the tears clogging my throat and burning my eyes.

  “I love you” I confess, he closes his eyes for a few seconds when he opens them again they are filled with such emotion that I can tell I have touched him deeply. He pulls me even closer to his body as he nuzzles my neck.

  “I love you more.” He grunts which makes me laugh

  “Is that so, how do you recon that?” I quip with a smile as I entwine my fingers in his hair.

  “Because I know that I will be lost without you, you are my reason to breath.” My heart tightens at his words.

  “Hey lovebirds, time to work.” Celmund calls from a few feet away from us which makes me groan at his interruption.

  “Cockblock” I hear Cassius grunt as he pulls away reluctantly, which makes me laugh. He guides me towards Celmund and then the three of us make our way towards the room that Cassius and I are using. In the room Celmund hands Cassius and I an earpiece each for us to be able to hear what’s happening when they interrogate the others.

  “I’ll go set up now.” With those words he leaves, closing Cassius and I in the room.

  “Come sit with me baby, this won’t take long.” Cassius is sitting on the bed leaning against the headboard. Climbing onto the bed I sit between his legs and lean back against his broad shoulders, his arms come around my waist holding me close.

  “Can you hear me?” I hear Celmund say in my ear.

  “Yes” I answer

  “Yeah” Cassius confirms. A few minutes later we start to hear Tor and someone else talking.

  “Are you ready sweetheart?” we hear Tor ask, at my confirmation we hear a noise and then rustling.

  �
�What the fuck Tor, what do you think you doing?” one of the guys says.

  “Interesting that you ask, why don’t you tell me about these listening devices that we found on you guys?”

  “We just wanted to make sure that we could trust you.”

  “That’s a lie, they trying to find out what you know about Death Wish.” I say, I feel Cassius tense behind me. Looking up over my shoulder I see him frowning, “What is death wish?” I mouth, but he shrugs and shakes his head.

  “Are you working on Death Wish?” Tor grunts

  “What? Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Another voice says, I gasp when I hear his truth.

  “They don’t know what Death Wish is either, all he knows is that it’s a secret FBI project. They were tasked by them to place the listening devices here.” I hear a grunt in my ear as I lay my head back against Cassius shoulder.

  “So, you don’t know,” Tor says, “then why are you working for the pigs?”

  “What the fuck, you think we’re snitches?” I hear a scuffle and then grunts. Cassius strokes my arm soothingly.

  “The FBI, have information on them. If they don’t cooperate they will be incarcerated.” I reveal

  “We know you working for them, what have they got on you?”

  “Fuck you.” One grunts and then I hear groaning. There’s a soft knock at the door and Cassius calls for whomever it is to enter. Celmund steps inside and then closes the door behind him, he inclines his head for Cassius to come to him. In one hand he’s holding his laptop while he types with the other.

  Cassius places his hands under my arms and lifts me over his leg until I’m sitting next to him. He approaches Celmund and looks at the screen of the laptop. I see Cassius tense at whatever Celmund is showing him.

  “What else are you hiding from me?” Tor roars making me wince.

  “Fuck you, we’re not hiding anything.” I throw my hand over my mouth when his truth comes to me. Cassius looks over his shoulder at me and raises his eyebrow in concern.