Or more extraordinary than what his little witch always gave to him.
Sometimes it was good to give so that what you took later could be so much better.
He didn’t explain that.
He gave her an alternate explanation that was nonetheless true.
“You’ll learn, sweet, that I take pleasure in pleasuring you.”
She pushed closer and snaked an arm around his middle. “I’ve already learned that.”
He smiled at the ceiling.
“Are you…eventually are you…” She lifted up and caught his eyes. “Are you ever going to, you know, um…feed from me?”
His heart thumped and his still-hard cock jumped.
“Do you think you’re ready for that?” he asked.
“I’ve heard that it’s…well, nice.”
“It is,” he confirmed.
“You’ve given me a lot of nice things, Yuri.”
He was delighted she thought so.
He gathered her closer, pulling her up his chest, and lowered his voice when he said, “I intend to continue giving you a variety of nice things, Aurora, for a very long time.”
Her face warmed, those big, blue eyes telling him how she felt about that idea.
“So, will you…soon?” She didn’t spell it out, but Yuri understood.
“Tomorrow morning,” he told her, and she relaxed into him.
“Good. I like the idea of getting something nice.” Her hand slid up his stomach, his chest, to the base of his throat. “And I like it more that I finally get to give something nice to you.”
“My sweet, if you don’t think that watching you take pleasure from me, which means you’re allowing me to give you pleasure, isn’t giving me something nice, you’re very wrong.”
She bit her lip and dipped her face closer.
Letting her lip go, she whispered, “Good.”
“Now kiss me, Aurora, and let’s get some sleep.”
A smile hit her eyes before she bent to him and pressed her mouth to his. Her timid tongue touched his lips and he gave her access, allowing her to taste him before he tightened his arms on her and gave her the good-night kiss she deserved.
Her heart was slamming in her chest when he released her mouth and pulled her back down his body.
“Settle in, my sweet,” he murmured as he reached to turn out the light.
When the room was swept with darkness, she did as told.
But she didn’t sleep.
He allowed this for some time before he called, “Aurora?”
“I’m not a seer,” she said strangely.
“Pardon?”
Her arm around his stomach went tight.
“I’m not a seer, Yuri, but I still can’t get it out of my head that something is gonna happen soon. I’ve never had this feeling before.” She took in an unsteady breath. “And it kind of scares me.”
He turned into her, keeping her close, and when he settled on his side, he tucked her closer.
“This is just a feeling?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“No visions with it?”
She shook her head on the pillow and said, “No.”
“It isn’t a stretch, button, to have anxiety about what’s happening.”
She was silent, thinking on this, before she said, “I hope that’s it.”
Yuri hoped the same.
“Try to set it from your mind so you can sleep.”
“Okay, sweetheart.”
He gathered her closer at the same time she snuggled deep into him.
Having given her concerns to him, she found sleep quickly.
Smelling her, feeling her tiny softness pressed close, her warmth, listening to the steady thrum of her heart, even with all this, Yuri did not do the same.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hope Is Powerful
Delilah
“Let me get this straight,” Cain started over breakfast three days later. “You’ve got some crazy Mexican witch in the back forty sacrificing a yak, or some shit, in order to get visions of what might happen, doing this either to put your minds at ease or so she can tell you what you’ve got to stop. You’ve got six other witches, my mate included, chanting over a bowl you hope will guide you to the leader of this mess. You’ve got a lock on one, and maybe five other, training camps that, right now, teams of immortals and mortals are setting up to go in and take down. And if any of this is successful, it’s going to seriously anger the enemy. You’ve also got a vampire you trust who’s cornered an enemy vampire, rescuing the concubine he was set to rape and murder but detaining him. Because of that, even though the security in this place is so tight it’s a wonder anyone can breathe, you’re planning to put The Three in danger to take all of them over two thousand miles just so Abel can interrogate this guy. A guy, mind you, who might not know anything or anything you can use.”
He took in a breath, his eyes scanning the people at the table, which included all of The Three, the rest of the family, Gregor, and Yuri, but none of the witches.
Then he finished, “Do I have that right?”
“You do,” Abel, sitting beside me, confirmed.
Cain’s eyes narrowed on his brother. “Are you insane?”
I felt Abel get tense so I put my hand on his knee and squeezed.
“No,” my man clipped.
“You are, brother. You’ve totally lost it,” Cain returned, and I squeezed harder.
We’d learned, not surprisingly, that Cain was born first.
And we were now learning, also not surprisingly, that even though he was about fifteen minutes older than Abel, he definitely had big brother tendencies.
“What do you suggest we do?” Abel shot back.
“I don’t know,” Cain retorted. “But not that.” He shook his head in frustration. “Dammit, you got all of me, why didn’t I get all of you so I could go instead?”
I understood this.
Cain didn’t have Abel’s mind-control abilities.
That was just for the last of The Three.
“I wouldn’t want you in danger either, brother,” Abel bit out.
“Yes, well, I didn’t spend a century keeping you safe, and the century before that watching our parents do it, for you to go on a suicide mission,” Cain bit back.
It was me who got tense at that.
Needless to say, when Abel shared this plan with me, I wasn’t gung ho on it either.
But he was my man, my mate, the one destined for me.
I had to have his back.
This meant at the current juncture, I had to keep my mouth shut.
Abel felt my tenseness. I knew it when I heard his voice get tight as he said, “It’s not even close to a suicide, man. We’ll be covered.”
“You sure about that?” Cain returned.
Abel’s voice was still tight when he answered, “Nothing’s sure in war. That doesn’t mean you sit back and wait for devastation to occur before you do shit about it. We need as much information as we can get, considering we don’t have that much of it, and even if this guy doesn’t have much either, what we get will be more.”
“I understand that, so have the people who’ve got him work him,” Cain suggested.
“They are,” Gregor butted in. “Cosmo and Stephanie are both skilled in interrogation. They just aren’t succeeding.”
“So bring him here,” Cain said to Gregor.
“They’re chipped,” Callum told him something that Cain, having been fully briefed on the situation, already knew.
“So?” Cain asked. “A chip is not going to erase what he knows on his way across the country.”
“If we move him to this location, they’ll know we have him. Currently, he’s being kept in his home, which won’t arouse suspicion,” Lucien pointed out.
“And I’ll repeat, a chip is not going to erase his memory,” Cain stated.
“Yes, but if he is, indeed, important, whatever he knows and can share they’ll also know, and they might m
ake moves to change plans if they believe he’s been compromised,” Yuri put in. “We must know what they’re planning, not what they planned and aborted because we captured one of their men.”
Cain sat back in his chair and I watched his jaw get hard.
It was a little freaky seeing the spitting image of my man, who was sitting beside me, also sitting across the breakfast table from me. I knew I’d get used to it. It didn’t make it any less freaky.
There was a sharp rap on the door and all eyes went there. But before anyone could call the invitation to come in, the door opened and a vampire stood there.
He was looking at Gregor.
“Sir, if I can have a word,” he called.
“Nothing you say cannot be heard by those in this room,” Gregor called back, circling a hand in front of him. “Come in, Terrance.”
The vampire stepped in and started to close the door, but he also started talking before he accomplished that feat.
“We’ve had a communication from Gastineau,” he declared.
I pulled in a breath and leaned closer to Abel, who, in return, draped an arm on the back of my chair.
“His rescue attempt of Serena was unsuccessful,” the vampire Terrance went on.
“Oh no,” Sonia whispered.
“Phantom losses were significant,” Terrance stated. “He’s requesting reinforcements.”
“So he found her,” Gregor noted, tossing his napkin on the table and pushing his chair back.
“Indeed,” Terrance agreed.
“Did he report that Etienne was at that location?” Gregor asked, moving along the table to the door.
“No, sir, he didn’t report that. He didn’t report anything except their failure and his desire to make another attempt. He’s on Skype right now. He wishes to speak directly to you.”
Gregor nodded, not looking back to the room as he said, “I’ll return with news.”
He walked out the door, followed by Terrance, and Terrance closed it behind them.
“Not good news,” Leah murmured.
“Phantom losses were significant,” Cain stated in a way that got everyone’s attention.
But his attention was solely on his brother.
“Do me a favor,” he went on quietly. “Wait. A day. You want to give me a gift, wait two. See if that witch gets a vision. See if the others can locate the leader. Just wait, give it a little time, so maybe we’ll know what we’re facing, or when you go in, you’ll have a target that’s worth the risk.”
“The Three have to agree,” Abel replied, and I felt something loosen inside me.
Maybe he was giving in.
Cain pushed back his chair, his gaze moving around the table, before he said, “Then you’ll all be doing me a favor. I finally have my brother. I don’t want to lose him.”
On that, he tossed his napkin on the table and stalked out.
“Shit, I need a cigarette,” Jabber muttered, pushing his chair back.
“I’m with you, brother. It’s time for a smoke break,” Hook stated, getting up to follow Jabber.
Moose did the same.
Poncho stayed seated.
“Any way you can get your auntie to speed things up?” Abel asked him.
“Not good to interrupt her when she’s working,” Poncho answered.
I sighed.
Abel’s jaw got hard.
“Is she really sacrificing a yak?” Leah asked.
“Ox,” Poncho told her.
Her eyes got big and they turned to me.
I gave her a lip curl but shrugged.
“I would agree with Cain,” Lucien interrupted his bride’s and my nonverbal communication. “A day, two, we can wait. Cosmo is working that vampire. Perhaps he’ll break him.”
“Abel?” Callum called after Lucien finished giving his vote.
And when Abel gave his, I knew it not only came from the fact that he wanted to give his brother this, but he also wanted to give it to me.
“Two days. Then we go,” he said.
“Agreed,” Callum finished it.
It didn’t escape me that they didn’t ask for Sonia’s, Leah’s, or my opinion, but since the vote went the way I wanted it to, I kept my mouth shut.
“We should train,” Abel announced.
“There’s little else to teach you, brother,” Callum told him. “By the fates, you’re a natural.”
“Then we should attack each other to blow off some steam,” Abel returned.
Callum held his eyes and nodded slowly. “All right, Abel.”
The men pushed back, including Lucien, his eyes to Xun, which meant they were training too.
Considering I didn’t think I was destined to karate chop my way to saving the world, I stayed where I was and reached for the silver coffeepot.
I had it by the handle held up in the air when I felt Abel’s hand curl around my neck.
I tipped my head back, he bent in to give me a short, soft kiss, then he was gone.
With similar gestures for their mates, Callum and Lucien were gone with him. Without bitches to kiss, the rest just filed out.
Leaving Leah, Sonia, and me with Poncho.
“Don’t you smoke?” Sonia asked him, and he grinned wickedly at her.
“I do, beautiful, but I do not when I got a shot at sittin’ at a fancy-ass table with three gorgeous women, drinkin’ coffee, and shootin’ the shit.”
That was Poncho. He was a flirt.
I gave him a smile.
He returned it.
Then I poured my coffee, sat back with mug in hand, and while the world continued to hang in the balance, I shot the shit with my friends.
* * * * *
I moved through the grass toward the wolves doing what they’d been doing for days and days.
And I did it enjoying what I saw.
Callum was an incredibly handsome wolf, Ryon, Calder, and Caleb weren’t slouches either, but Abel was glorious. Big. Beautiful. And his fur was amazing. I’d touched it and it was thick and soft. Seeing him as wolf, I hoped one day I’d have a chance (or many of them) to go out with my mate while he roamed.
Abel sensed me, separated from the pack, and leaped to man.
Okay, more glorious.
I turned, walking backward, giving them all time to do the same and get decent before I made it to them.
“We’re good, Lilah,” Abel called, and I turned back.
“Sorry to interrupt,” I said loudly since I still wasn’t that close, “but Gregor’s chat with Gastineau is done. He reported to us girls and I’m here to report to you.”
“Leah go to Lucien?” Callum asked.
“Yes. And Sonia’s with the witches,” I told him, now close enough to stop so I did. “We decided to ask them if they could give Gastineau and the immortals that Gregor is sending to him a protection spell.”
“So Gregor is giving him reinforcements,” Ryon said, and I nodded.
“Etienne wasn’t where they’re holding Serena,” I shared. “It’s in a bunker, three stories down under a vampire-owned skyscraper, apparently where an old Feast used to be held. Hard to breach. They’re gonna try again anyway.”
The men had no response to this.
“Gastineau is, um…antsy,” I told them. “The second attempt is gonna happen soon.”
“He should wait,” Ryon muttered.
“Maybe, but a second attempt done quickly after so many losses were sustained would be unexpected,” Callum replied. “Perhaps that will aid their cause.”
Abel got close and curled a hand around my neck.
I looked up to him.
“You good?” he asked softly.
Two days of him safe, The Three safe, my friends and family safe, before we started to take risks in order to save the world?
I knew it made me chicken, but I was good.
“Yeah, honey,” I replied.
He studied me like he was attempting to see if I was fibbing, must have got the correct answer (since I wasn’t)
, and slid his arm along my shoulders.
“Think I’m done,” he told Callum.
Callum lifted his chin.
Abel looked down at me. “Let’s go see what the witches had to say.”
It was an unnecessary errand. They’d do whatever we asked. They might hate vampires, but they dug us. Not to mention, they kinda liked the world as it was.
Even knowing this, and knowing Abel knew it too, I replied, “Yeah, let’s go see.”
With waves to the others (from me, Abel did a chin lift), we walked to the house.
And when we got to the witches, we found we were right.
* * * * *
Late that night, everyone was crowded in Gregor’s office. Most people were lounging in the copious seating available (he had a serious big office), including me. I was sitting in Abel’s lap.
Aurora was up and pacing.
Although she was the only one pacing, the air in the room was thick with tension.
Suddenly, Aurora stopped pacing, looked to her mother, and asked, “Did we do all we could do?”
“Yes, sweetheart,” Barb answered. “With the time given and the distance between us, we did all we could do.”
“Teona ain’t no newbie,” Ruby put in. “She’s got serious mojo. We gave it to them good.”
This loosened a bit of the tightness I felt in my chest and I looked to Teona. When she felt my eyes and looked to me, I smiled.
She winked.
I totally liked Abel’s sister-in-law.
“The operation began three hours ago,” Abel declared, eyes to Callum before they moved to Lucien. “Your gut, what does it mean that we haven’t heard anything?”
Callum looked to Lucien before both men scanned the room, their gaze stopping with meaning on any woman it touched.
There you had it. Protective vampires and wolves.
I rolled my eyes.
“Give it to us straight, darling,” Leah encouraged Lucien. “We can take it.”
“As you wish, my pet,” he replied, then looked to Abel. “It could mean they were successful, but just barely, and are currently securing a safe place in which to hide and see to Serena if, and this is a good possibility, she’s been harmed.”
That wasn’t great, the good possibility of Serena being harmed, but the possible outcome was, so I relaxed against my man.
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