“Ben, what was your role in all of this?” At Wulf’s question, I see the man snap out of his contemplation of the two women and look at him.
“Don’t tell them anything,” Katya warns as she glares at Wulf.
“I was studying the Elementals and the Keres and what makes you tick,” Ben says. “I must say, it’s fascinating to be able to see most of you finally.”
“You should forgive him,” Katya sneers as she glares at Ben. “He can’t help himself. He has a crush on the Elementals.” I can see by what Katya says that it’s true and Ben does seem to be captivated with the men.
“Why did they have you studying us?” Wulf asks, which has Katya grunting rudely.
“Um, I’m not too sure.”
“He’s lying,” Scarlett states. “He was studying the Elementals because he was trying to create a perfect fighting machine that they can control.” Ben stares at Scarlett, his eyes huge with awe.
“I’m sure that guy hasn’t got all his marbles,” Nova mutters from where she’s sitting next to me.
“Can you read my mind?” Ben asks. I see Cassius stand before Scarlett and glare at Ben.
“How many of those fighting machines have you created?” Wulf asks, the question that Ben asked going unanswered. Ben looks back at Wulf and shrugs, not answering.
“Nineteen have survived and went for further testing, but apparently he can’t get them to be as strong as the Elementals.” Ben’s eyes snap to Aria’s, and he grins with pleasure. “Ew, that’s disgusting,” Aria mutters, which has Brandr tensing.
“What!” Brandr asks.
“He was trying to mate his experiments with women who had gifts, but some of the men weren’t able to perform. You’re sick!” Aria states angrily. “He liked to watch the men abusing the women.” At Aria’s words, the women in the computer room comment furiously at his perverseness.
“She is impressive,” Ben says.
“Why try to kill off the Elementals and the Keres now?” Draco asks, talking for the first time since entering the cell.
“Because you are too dangerous to have around,” Katya says.
“But you haven’t perfected your enhanced fighters, so why try to kill us now?” Draco asks again, but this time, Katya turns her head away and doesn’t answer.
“That’s not possible. How would you know that?” Aria suddenly asks as she sits forward in her chair, a frown on her face, proof that she’s unsure of what she might be hearing. “They wanted to kill you off because apparently you can take our gifts when necessary, and they believe that once you learn about that, there is nothing that will be able to stop you.” The women once again start to talk excitedly, curious on how that is possible.
“Do the women lose their gifts?” Wulf asks.
Ben shakes his head. “No, they don’t lose their gifts,” Ben says, and then points towards Aria. “Come and I’ll demonstrate.”
Brandr walks to stand behind Aria and then places his hands on her shoulders. I see her shrugging off his hands and know that it’s because of Brandr’s nearness. Our men tend to block our gifts when they touch us or are close enough. She won’t be able to read Katya’s and Ben’s minds if he continues to hover over her. Brandr scowls but takes a couple steps back, but not many.
“He transferred the women’s gifts to those men with the women’s blood, but it only lasted more or less one day, and then the men would lose those powers and the women would be drained and some would die.” At this revelation, most of the men in the cell comment angrily at the perverseness of this man.
“We believe that with you, it will be different,” Ben says quickly. “You won’t need to take as much blood from the women, as they are already linked to you, but I’m eighty percent certain that you will be able to acquire your women’s gifts, and for longer than the others could.”
“You were searching for yourself,” Draco suddenly says, and I can hear in his voice the anger vibrating through him. “You have made countless people suffer because of your insatiable thirst for a power that you will never be able to acquire. You hide behind the agency, creating these fighters, when in reality, it’s for you.”
“You don’t know anything,” Ben mutters.
“That’s a lie,” Scarlett states. “It is for him, but there is something else he’s hiding.”
“Yes, there is,” Aria says, and then stands and takes two steps towards the cell bars before Brandr is standing before her, looking down at her with his arms crossed. “You don’t understand, babe. He’s sick. He wants our children. This thing with the men, it’s all a pretence. They have been testing all these women and everything they could get about you men because of our children.”
“What do you mean?” Bjarni asks in a growl as he walks closer to where Aria and Brandr are standing.
“The Keres and you were supposed to kill each other. We would obviously die because of our bond, but our children would live, and that’s who they have wanted all along. Our children have both of our genes, and apparently they will have a gift like ours of their own and be as strong as any Elemental.”
“How long have you known about this?” Wulf asks.
“What’s wrong, lover? Are you feeling betrayed?” Katya says sarcastically. “Now you know how it feels.”
“Stupid cow,” Jasmine mutters as she stands up and starts to pace agitatedly.
“Upid ow,” Orion repeats as he runs from where he’s playing towards his mom. Luckily his words still aren’t clear. Jasmine stops and leans down to pick up the little boy who looks so much like his father.
“Yes, Orion, she is,” Jasmine says as she kisses his forehead. It is quite amazing how even this small, they already have the notion of protection installed in them. I have noticed that anytime Jasmine is agitated, Orion always tries to appease her. “Why don’t you go play with your toy? Mommy is fine.” As I look at the little boy running back towards his toy, a feeling of longing blooms within me, a longing for a little boy like Draco or a little girl who can twist her daddy around her little finger.
“What do you know about our mates?” I hear Wulf ask, and look back at the screen to see him with his back towards Katya and Ben.
“We know that they are your weakness. Get to them and you are done for. The only problem is that you guard them obsessively, but that’s understandable, as you know how it would affect you if they were captured.” I see Katya turn her head and look at Draco. “If we had known at the time that we had captured your mate instead of Burkhart’s, we would have dealt with it differently.”
I can see Draco’s countenance change. “And what would you have done differently?” he asks quietly, but I can see by the rigidness of his shoulders and the stillness of his body that she should be very cautious of the way she proceeds. I think she must sense the danger she has placed herself in, because she shrugs and looks down.
“You’re not going to like this,” Aria says, which makes Draco look over his shoulder at her, and I can see an unsure look on her face. Whatever thoughts she has heard, she is worried that Draco and the other men are not going to like it. “Their plan in finding your mates was for you to impregnate us, and then they would get the children, but as that didn’t work, they were thinking of capturing us and then forcing you to impregnate us, and once they had the children, kill you off.” At Aria’s revelation, I see the men’s noticeable anger and hear the women behind me gasp and comment angrily at their morbid plan.
“If they were not able to capture you, they were going to mate us with their experiments, as they have your DNA and presume that it would work.” At that, Draco stiffens. Some of the other men swear. The women who were commenting behind me have quietened and are now staring avidly at the screen. Draco has turned back to Katya and Ben, his hands fisted as he takes a step closer.
“If you had known that Katrina was my mate, would you have experimented on her?”
Katya looks over at Ben and then again at Draco. “I don’t know. It wouldn’t be my call,”
she states.
“Who’s call would it be?” Wulf asks as he comes to stand next to Draco.
“I don’t know,” Katya mutters.
“That’s a lie,” Scarlett says. “It’s some guy called Elrik Groot.” At Scarlett’s revelation, the response is explosive. The men seem to know whom she mentioned; Draco is looking at Wulf, who has a surprised look on his face.
“This Elrik Groot, how does he look?” Draco asks.
“Fuck you,” Katya states.
“Ben, what does he look like?” Draco asks, which has Ben looking over at Katya and then shrugging.
“He has longish dark hair, with blue eyes and a star tattoo on his neck,” Aria states, a frown on her face as she looks at Brandr in question.
“Son of a bitch,” Burkhart roars angrily. “I’m going to kill that motherfucker.”
“How is this possible? Why would he do something like this?” Bion asks no one in particular.
“Because he knows that sooner or later, you will turn against the humans. He was trying to help us,” Ben states.
“Find out everything you can from them. Then, Katya is all yours,” Draco says to Wulf before he turns and walks out of the cell.
“Is the Elrik they are talking about the one with Tor?” Jasmine asks with a shocked look on her face.
“Yes, it is, but it doesn’t make sense,” Celmund answers as he shakes his head, still not believing what was revealed. Just then, Draco walks into the room. If I didn’t know him, I would be running the other way. The danger radiating off him is palpable. His eyes capture mine as he nears. He doesn’t say anything as he takes my hand that is resting on the table and helps me up. Then he guides me out of the computer room without a word.
I decide not to say anything and let him be the one to talk first. He guides me outside and then down a footpath covered on both sides with wild yellow, white, and pink flowers. The surrounding area is breath-taking, and I am amazed and thankful every time on how beautiful everything is and how lucky I am to be part of it.
DRACO 16
To think that a stranger has been plotting against us and wanting our downfall was infuriating and disappointing, but now to find out that this was all actually a plan from one of ours, it is heart-wrenching. At the moment, I don’t know if I want to go out and kill him for betraying all of us or grieve for someone I considered a friend, whom I knew for centuries and is actually not who I thought he was.
Elrik has been with Tor nearly from the beginning. How can Tor not know about this? Is Tor involved? It is hard to believe that someone could go against their own kind, against their beliefs, against their family and friends. I don’t believe that Tor knew; he will be as devastated as I am.
I had to get away and think, try to calm my mind, but I needed to have Katrina with me, to have her arms around me, her energy and presence calming and grounding me. The best place to think is in the quiet of nature, surrounded by the goodness of the earth. I walk down the well-known path until I reach the mouth of a cave that has a waterfall covering its entrance. I take a seat against an old oak tree that has been here for many, many years and pull Katrina down between my legs.
She leans her back against my chest, her head fitting perfectly under my chin as my arms slide around her waist. I don’t know how long we sit here without saying a word, but it’s perfect, as her nearness in my arms has calmed me. “I don’t want to believe that he would do this,” I say quietly as not to disturb the stillness around us. “I trusted him; he has been with us through most of it. We have fought together, drank together, and stood by each other’s side many times. Why, why would he betray everything and everyone like this?”
I feel Katrina’s fingers stroking my arm in comfort. “I know it’s hard to find out that someone you trusted, someone you thought would always be there, has been hiding a side of himself that you never suspected,” she says. Her voice is gentle and caring, and I can imagine her using this tone with our children to calm their fears. “But, Draco, you can’t berate yourself for this. There is no way you could have known that one of your men, one of your friends, would turn and deceive you.”
“I know, but when you know someone for as long as I have known Elrik, you tend to believe that you are right about them and a certain bond is created. If one of my men passes, it is heart-breaking. We mourn them, but it’s over. With this, he’s still here, but the pain of loss is the same, because I have lost a friend, or someone I thought was a friend.”
“I wish I could take your pain away,” Katrina says, which has my heart racing.
“I’m going to have to make him pay for what he did.” But the last thing I want to do is hurt one of my men, and what angers me is that even knowing that Elrik has betrayed us, I don’t want to kill him, but he was the mastermind behind everything that happened. All the pain the women have gone through. Why? That is what I need to ask him, what I want to ask him.
“Why don’t you let the men decide what to do with him?” Katrina asks. I kiss the crown of her head before lowering my head until my lips are touching the underside of her ear. All decisions are always put to a vote, and this won’t be different. I know they will feel like me, but they will want him to pay, and then he will have to die for everything he has made so many go through.
“I might have to go to the Cape Town chapter for a day.” I don’t like leaving my woman for long periods of time, but I know that in my position, sometimes it is necessary.
“I will come with you.”
I tense. Ever since she was abducted, the thought of her being out there has every protective sense in me on high alert. I know that I will be with her, but there will be times that I’m not and she will be in a different place without any protection, because now I don’t know who I can and who I can’t trust in the Cape Town chapter.
The thing is that I also can’t keep her under lock and key, especially now that everything is calmer and the Keres are being treated. “If you come with us, you need to listen to what I tell you. No galivanting around without protection.”
She leans forward and half turns until she’s facing me, and then she crosses her heart like a kid. “I swear,” she says with a radiant smile, which has me shaking my head on how naughty she looks doing the whole innocent act.
“I mean it, and you will have to wear the kutte I gave you at all times.” When she wore the kutte for the first time with the “Property of Draco” on the back, it had me fucking hard the whole ride. I was uncomfortable, as all I could think about was how she was showing everyone that she belonged to me.
“Sure. I’ll even wear it to bed with nothing else on,” she quips with a teasing smile that instantly has me wanting to lift her around and straddle her over my lap so that I can bury myself deep inside of her. If it weren’t for being out in the open with cameras all over, I would take her right now. Instead, I place my hand behind her neck and pull her lips closer to mine. The sweetness of her mouth engulfs my senses like it always does. I deepen the kiss until we are both breathless, and her hands are stroking up and down my chest in a clear sign that my woman wants me.
Pulling back, I look deep into her eyes and see the passion there, but I also see the love she has for me. “I love you, vixen,” I state, and her eyes widen in surprise, and then they are shining with happiness.
“It’s about time,” she murmurs. “I thought you would never get around to saying it.”
“Cheeky,” I mutter, but I grin at her playfulness. She lifts her arms in the air and throws back her head as she laughs in complete abandon. When she quietens, she looks at me, her face soft with pleasure.
“Here in this beautiful wilderness, I want you to know that even though you drive me crazy sometimes, I love you.” Her hand lifts to cup my jaw. “You have brought me so much that I still believe I’m dreaming sometimes.”
I’m so fortunate that she was prudent enough not to let them know that she was my woman when she was captured. If they had taken her to the underground, they would
soon have known, and then this wouldn’t have been happening right now.
“This is reality, our reality,” I state just as I hear footsteps heading our way. By the energy, I know it’s Wulf. He will want to talk about what we have found out and the way forward. Wulf, as my righthand man, has always been more than that. He is my brother, and we treat and love each other as such.
“Wulf is coming,” I warn Katrina so that she isn’t surprised when she sees Wulf. The women always complain about how quiet we are and how we surprise them all the time.
“I’ll go and leave you guys to talk.”
I frown. “You can stay. There is no reason for you to go.” The women have helped us in a few of our missions. They have sat in on the questioning. There is no reason to keep anything from them, as they are just as strong as any of us but in a different way, and they deserve to know what is going on. This concerns them too.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind,” she says. I turn her back into the position she was in and pull her against my front without answering just as Wulf comes through the trees.
“Are you done?” I ask. I thought Wulf would have taken his time with questioning Katya, as she has been a pain in the ass for a very long time and a wedge that came between him and Jasmine in the beginning. Wulf shrugs, which tells me that Katya and Ben are still alive.
“What’s on your mind?” I ask. Knowing Wulf for so long, I know that he has something on his mind, and if he isn’t still questioning those two and is here with me, it’s because he wants to talk about it.
“I think that going after Elrik, we might need more proof to cross-reference in case he has an alibi. I can’t believe that it’s him. Maybe it’s just someone else with a name like him. I’m sure Celmund is looking into it.”
I wish it was true, but we both know that it’s highly unlikely. That name is not a common name, and especially that he would be working on a case against the Elementals and the Keres.
“He will look into it, but we need to go talk to Elrik. We’re heading to Cape Town tomorrow. I want to tell Tor about this face to face because I know that he’s going to be devastated, and you know that he will act before he thinks and then regret it later,” I say, knowing that Tor is a hothead and one of his pet peeves is betrayal. He will kill Elrik first and then regret not having listened to why he did it. I’m not looking forward to my talk with Tor, and even less with Elrik.
DRACO'S WRATH: Elemental's MC (book 11) Page 11