“We will have to get him when he’s away from his apartment so no one can link us,” I say to Celmund as I close the file. “I will also have to tell Alexei that we have him. We might have to pay his debt, as he won’t be leaving here.” I don’t mind paying the bastard’s debt if it means that I can kill him slowly.
“He walks to a bakery close to his place nearly every day. I think he is sweet on one of the waitresses. We can snatch him as he walks through an alleyway to get there.”
“I want Burkhart, Cassius, and Wulf to go,” I state as I look at the image of Katya and the driver still up on one of the screens. Soon we will get all of them and then find out everything about their plan regarding the Keres and us.
“I will clear their way; the cameras won’t catch anything. Also, he goes quite early to the bakery, which is good, and there shouldn’t be anyone around, but even if there is, we will use an unmarked vehicle.” We have quite a few vehicles in our possession just for things like this. Once the work is done, it will be torched and there will be no evidence available.
“I will go and talk to the three of them. I want this to happen soon,” I say as I walk out of the computer room. Finally we will be able to start with our plan to end the injustice that was done against us.
KATRINA 7
“Has he told you?” I turn to see Alaia entering the kitchen. We had a healing this morning of one of the Elementals, and will have another one later this afternoon. Since leaving my room this morning, I haven’t seen Draco, which I assume is who she is talking about.
“Has who told me what?” I ask as Alaia comes to stand next to me to make herself a cup of coffee.
“Has Draco told you that they have one of the men who kidnapped you?”
I tense. I don’t think Draco would tell me, as he would assume that it would upset me, and it does, but it means that if they have one of the men, then Draco is going after who attacked Caelius and myself, and that means that he’s looking for answers to the plot that they had against the Elementals and Keres.
I’d hoped that because we haven’t been attacked yet, Draco would forget about it and let them be, but I should have known better, as he would never leave a threat out there. “He hasn’t mentioned it yet. When did they get him?”
“He was brought in this morning when we were busy with the healing,” Alaia says, and then takes a sip of her coffee.
“You mean he is here, at the compound?” I ask, surprised. I never thought they would bring him here. I’m going to have to try to convince Draco not to kill him. They have enough on their plates without giving the FBI a reason to hunt them down.
“Yes, apparently they have him in the cells where they keep the Keres,” Alaia says.
“I have to go stop Draco from killing him,” I state as I place my coffee mug on the table and turn to go, but Alaia’s words stop me halfway to the door.
“Caelius said the guys are all there. Don’t worry, you know they will stop Draco from making a mistake,” she says as she comes to stand next to me and places my mug back in my hands. “Come and sit down with me. Let the men do their thing.” She smiles. I would rather go make sure, but I know she’s right. I’m going to have to trust that Draco knows what he’s doing. After all, he has been fighting and leading these men for centuries. Everyone was furious that the agency was behind everything that happened to the women. I was surprised that the men didn’t go for retribution immediately after finding out about the plan, but when I asked Draco, he said there were other things they needed to attend to first.
After all this time, I believed that they had decided to bide their time and see what happened. Well, I guess I was wrong, as they now have one of them here. “I wonder if he knows about the plan. I got the impression at the time that Katya was the one who knew more about the plan than the others.”
“I understand that knowing about the Elementals can be worrisome, but the Elementals were helping the government with terrorist problems and anything else they asked. Why try to end them?” Alaia says angrily.
“I think they feel threatened,” I say.
“I understand that, but going after us and the children to get to them is low,” she says, and I completely agree with her. Our conversation is cut short as Talia and Scarlett walk into the kitchen.
“There you are. We were looking for you,” Scarlett says as she looks at me. “Come on, we’re all outside. We managed to get a bike to practice on, and don’t ask how.” She rolls her eyes. I can just imagine what they have gone and done now to get the bike, but I’m not going to ask. If they went to the trouble of getting a bike, I will take the time to teach them to ride. Alaia and I place our empty mugs in the sink and hurry after Scarlett and Talia.
“Except for the prospects outside, the men are all occupied with their new prisoner, so we shouldn’t be stopped soon,” Talia says as we walk out of the garage. I see the women standing a few feet away, some with guilty looks, others with excited looks, but whichever it is, it’s evident that they all want to do this. I look over to my right and then stop. No way. They have one of Draco’s bikes outside.
“He’s going to kill all of us,” I say, and some of the women start to laugh at my comment.
“No, he won’t,” Nova quips with a grin. “As long as we don’t dent it.” I throw up my hands and cover my eyes.
“Besides, he’ll forgive you for anything,” Saskia says.
“And if he does punish you, do you really mind?” Gabriela teases, which has me shaking my head in defeat.
“Okay, let’s do this,” I say as I move towards the bike, the others happily following me. I sit on the bike and take it off its stand; all the women stand around the bike as I start to explain how everything works. “So, who’s going to be first?”
“Oh, me, please,” Alaia says, practically jumping in excitement. I place the bike back on its stand and get off. Inclining my head towards the bike, I look at Alaia. She claps her hands and hurries to sit on the bike. I help her through the different steps until she is pulling away and stopping. Alaia, Talia, and Jasmine have had their turns, and Saskia is about to start the bike when we all jump in surprise at Burkart’s roar.
“Fuck no!”
Saskia loses her balance, but before her and the bike can fall towards me, Burkhart and Draco are there. She is off the bike and in Burkhart’s arms and the bike is straightened by Draco before any of us can move.
“What the hell were you doing? Do you have a death wish?” Burkart says angrily as he looks down at Saskia as she wiggles herself out of his arms.
“I was doing fine until you came along,” she mutters angrily.
“Fine? You could have broken your neck.”
“She would have been fine. I went and I was fine. So did Alaia and Talia,” Jasmine says as she comes to stand next to me.
“She was doing really well; she would have been perfectly safe,” I say. Burkhart’s glare moves from Jasmine to me. I see that Draco has now placed the bike on the stand and has turned to look at me. From his expression, I can tell that he’s not happy.
“You went on the bike?” Wulf asks as he stands before Jasmine with his hands low on his hips.
Jasmine looks up at him and smiles cheekily. “Yes, I did, and I loved it,” she says, which has him looking at me, too, and glaring.
“What the fuck, Draco?” Burkhart mutters.
“Don’t blame him. This has nothing to do with him. And what’s so wrong if the women want to learn how to ride?” I say as I cross my arms. I feel someone behind me but don’t want to look back, but then I hear Nova and realize that it’s her.
“Exactly, why can’t we ride? You do,” she states.
“Well, I rode, and I can tell you I will do it again,” Talia says, and I see Celmund shake his head in defeat as he comes to stand next to where Burkhart and Saskia are. Only then do I realize that all the women are standing behind me, except for Saskia, who is still glaring up at Burkhart.
“That bike is way too pot
ent for you to learn how to ride. Someone could have gotten hurt,” Brandr says from where he is standing now with the other men.
“Well, no one got hurt, and I think we were doing just fine even with such a potent bike,” Aria says sarcastically.
“Brandr is right; if you want to learn, we will get you a 125cc and one of us will oversee the lessons,” Bion says.
“Really, you too?” Brielle mutters angrily. “I thought you would understand. We’re not kids, and Katrina was doing just fine.”
“Yes, she was. We don’t need any of you to oversee us. Thank you very much,” Nova states. Ceric throws up his hands in the air in defeat. “What? Don’t you start.”
“Enough,” Draco says. His voice is low, but everyone can hear the anger in it. “Whose idea was this?” he asks, and most of the women call out, “Mine.” He shakes his head in annoyance and scowls. “I guess it was also all of you who decided that this was the best bike for this.” At various confirmations from the women, he looks at me and raises a brow in question. No matter how much I want to say yes, I can’t lie to him, so I do the next best thing. I look away.
“You clearly want to learn how to ride, but our bikes will not be used for it for the simple reason that they have been boosted. They’re not just normally fast; they are excessively fast.” He looks around at all the women, and then his eyes land on me and stay. “You are all lucky that you didn’t overaccelerate, because this bike is very responsive, and you would have lost control very easily and, yes, could have gotten badly hurt.” He then takes a couple steps until he is standing before me. “These lessons stop now.” My chin lifts, and I’m about to argue, when he raises a hand. “Until we get a more appropriate bike, and only then will you continue with these lessons, and if Katrina wants to teach you, then she will teach you.”
When he finishes talking, he looks towards the men. Some are looking disgruntled, but none go against his decision. He gets on his bike and starts it. “Get on,” he orders as he looks back at me. I raise my brows at his order and lift my chin in defiance. “I want to show you something. Get on.”
I walk towards his bike and get on behind him, placing my arms around his waist for the simple reason that I don’t want to undermine his authority before his men. As soon as I’m on the bike, we are off down the road. Before we get to the main gate, he turns up a pathway and then stops the bike. I let go of him and then get off the bike. Taking a few steps back, I wait for him to switch off the bike and get off. I don’t say anything until he turns towards me.
“Did you really want to show me something, or did you just say that?” I ask as I purposely look around in question.
“I want to talk to you away from everyone,” he says. “Did you decide to use my bike, or was it someone else?”
I throw up my arms and turn around. I thought this was over, but I guess not. I start to walk back the way we came, but I don’t take more than a couple steps before he’s before me, his hands low on his waist, a scowl on his face. “You know the difference between the bikes. I don’t think you would have taken any of those bikes to teach anyone,” he says.
“Well, if you think that, then why are you asking me?” I ask as I cross my arms and glare at him.
“Stop being on the defensive. We are just talking. Either way, no one got hurt, but I’m not playing around, vixen. Our bikes have been modified. They are way too powerful for a beginner. They were lucky they didn’t overaccelerate and lose control.”
“I understood the first time you said it,” I mutter. I see his exasperated look, and then the next second, his lips are on mine and he’s kissing the breath out of me. When he finally lifts his head, all I can do is stand there catching my breath.
“Now, the reason I actually brought you here . . .” he says, his index finger stroking under my lip, his eyes following the movement as if he’s hypnotized. All my senses are centred on his touch, my body calling to his. “We have one of the men who kidnapped you.” It takes me a few seconds to realize what he said.
“I know,” I say.
“We have interrogated him, but now we’re going to ask Aria to read his mind while we ask him questions, and see if there is anything else he might be hiding. We will also ask Scarlett to sit in and see if he’s lying.”
“I want to be there,” I say, and his frown returns.
“That isn’t a good idea,” he says as he drops his hand and steps back.
“Why not?” I want to see which man it is, and I want him to look at me and see that they didn’t break me.
“Because, Katrina, I’ve been holding on really tight to not let go and kill the son of a bitch.” His voice is now low and angry, his eyes that magnetic blue that appears when his emotions are high. I walk towards him. Lifting my hand, I stroke my fingers over his jaw as I look up at him.
“I just want to see which man it is, and I want him to see that no matter what, they didn’t win.” He squeezes his eyes shut for a few seconds, but then his arms lift and he pulls me against him, enfolding me in his arms, my head against his chest, his jaw resting on top of my head.
“Fine, you can come in when we’re finished,” he grunts. I know that he would rather not have me anywhere near the guy, but he is doing this to please me, and for that, I am touched by his caring and consideration.
DRACO 8
All I want to do is place my hands around the fucker’s throat and squeeze slowly until I see the life leave his eyes.
“What do you know about the plan for the Keres against the Elementals?” Wulf asks.
We have been through these questions a few times, and he always answers the same, but we don’t expect anything different. They are trained for this, after all. His face and body are bruised from previous questioning, but now that the two women are present, there won’t be any more violence.
“For the hundredth time I don’t know what you are talking about,” he mutters.
“You were one of the men identified as giving the Keres the information to be able to undermine the Elementals,” Aria interjects, which means that she picked that up from his thoughts.
“Yes, you were quite proud of being selected for this task,” Scarlett says, which means that from his lie, she picked that up.
“What the fuck would you know? You’re delusional,” he says angrily.
“You’re worried that we will know everything that you told Vercin and Merdor,” Aria states, and then she gasps. “You’re wondering if we know that you were the one who gave them most of the information regarding the Elementals’ women.”
I tense, and I can feel the tension in the room rise. If that’s true and this motherfucker is one of the main culprits for what our women suffered, he will die a very painful death, as all the men in this cell would want a piece of him for what was done to their women.
“You know nothing. That’s a lie!” he screams angrily.
“It’s not a lie, and you were one of the agents who helped capture Aria and gave her to the Keres to torture her. I bet you’re regretting that now,” Scarlett says angrily.
I hear a growl and a commotion to my left. Looking towards Brandr, I see that Bjarni and Ceric are holding him down. I can’t fault him for his fury. When we found Aria, we thought she was dead. They had her locked up in a room underground, her body bruised, her mind nearly broken, but she survived and she’s here before this fucker. I can see that this information has upset Aria, and she’s worried about Brandr, as she’s looking at where he’s being held down.
“Would you like to stop?” I ask. Her head turns around towards me, and she frowns, but then she shakes her head and looks again at Jenkins.
“That’s not very nice,” Aria says to Jenkins, but doesn’t elaborate on what he was thinking.
“How did you know about which women belonged to us?” Wulf asks. We know that the Keres acquired a machine that we then also acquired for the purpose of measuring the women’s energy levels. What baffled us was how they then linked their energy levels to u
s. We know that they acquired our DNA from certain items of ours and this somehow linked to the women’s energy levels, but Bion and Celmund could never successfully pinpoint exactly how they linked it. They stopped investigating it when our women started to find the other Elementals’ women with their gifts.
“Fuck off,” Jenkins grunts, and looks down.
“Which data base is that?” Aria asks as she sits forward in her chair. He must be thinking of some kind of data base that they have on the women, but how did they get to it? Aria looks around until she finds Celmund. He is leaning against the far wall, his arms crossed, a bored look on his face. “Celmund, can you find a data base called Siren’s in their system? It looks like we are all on that data base and that’s how they found us.”
“Sure, sweetheart,” he says as he walks outside the cell to pick up his laptop that he left there. Knowing Celmund, he will soon have the information.
“You are all freaks,” Jenkins says angrily.
“Oh, it looks like he was the one who contacted Sven when it was time to apply another explosive on one of the women,” Aria says angrily, which has the tension in the cell rising another notch. This fucker is definitely suffering. When I remember the turmoil that everyone was under because of the explosives hidden in the women’s bodies, all a macabre plan to end not just us but the Keres too. All because people feel inferior even though we have always stayed out of sight and helped whenever there was a situation that was dangerous or tricky.
DRACO'S WRATH: Elemental's MC (book 11) Page 5