"He's meeting us for dinner. We're leaving at six and he informed us it was a semi-formal place." Elena told me softly. She didn't stay, just informed me, and then she was gone. Her mind was somewhere else and I didn't need to be a genius to know where it was.
"Wait, Elena." Nick was sitting up, almost jumping off the bed as he tried to grab her. "What about me? Can I come?"
Elena paused as she turned around.
"Clayton and you will be in the car outside. Reece is coming on his behalf while Lucas and Paige sit nearby." Elena said, softly, and Nick stiffened. "You're coming. But we need everyone to stay calm and Reece has been trained by Clay. I can't have anyone loosing their cool tonight."
"Have you decided?" I asked and wished I hadn't. She didn't answer, just turned, and headed away quietly.
Nick stood there for a few seconds before he shut the door and turned, crawling back into bed with me, crawling over the top of me and flopping there. For a long time neither of us spoke, just lay there, the relaxation of sleep gone now. We were both tense.
"Think she'll do it?" I asked Nick, as he lay there, his head on my chest.
"I don't know." Nick said, the soft vibrations going into my chest through the sheet, a hand stroking my hair. "I wouldn't have thought you'd do it."
The words hung there for a while. I shut my eyes, that regret coming through me again, and he seemed to realise he'd upset me again. Nick stiffened and lifted his head. "I didn't say I was angry. I think I understand. I ...just was surprised."
"I wanted to protect everyone."
"Yeah. But I'm supposed to protect you too. I didn't want you to go through that on your own." He muttered, against my chest, breathing slightly faster with the reaction. He hadn't said this to me, hadn't really spoken about it, but he was now. I didn't want to stop him but Nick didn't say anything else for a while.
"You stayed away though." I said, finally, eyes shutting as the pain and betrayal of that came back. How he didn't look at me, didn't touch me, that emotion cutting me as he stayed away.
"I know. Sorry. I wasn't coping either. I came back the next day, got to JFK and realised how stupid I was being, so I turned around and came back. You were already gone. I looked everywhere. Even flew to Australia."
"Seriously?"
Nick nodded. We heard one of the twins stir, start to wake, but he tightened his hand in my hair as he went quiet.
After a few minutes Reece settled and he spoke again, softer. "Even Australia. When you want to vanish, you do it well, no one knew where you'd gone. Daniella too."
"Clay told me off too." I muttered. "Sorry. I panicked. I figured if no one was around while I got larger, no one would get attached to the babies, and ...when I returned, it'd be easier. I'd have the cure for everyone and no one would be too attached to the twins."
"Except you."
"Except me." I had to admit it. Even when I'd ignored the pregnancy, I'd gotten attached, even as I tried to pretend it wasn't happening.
Reece woke again, his soft sound of distress and his stomach rumbling meeting my sensitive ears, and I pushed at Nick gently. "We've got to get up now."
"Already?"
"He's hungry."
I changed Reece, then Nick fed him as Rose slept peacefully, anotehr difference to the triplets I wasn't used to. The twins had their own feed and change schedule... or at least, they didn't depend on each other... where as the triplets had more or less hit us with three empty stomachs and three stinking nappies all at once. These days they weren't as linked, weren't as synched, but they still were preditable with most things.
"Got to pee. Here." Nick, suddenly, dumped Reece in my arms with the bottle. I stared in horror as he vanished out the door, Reece starting to cry, face going red, as his arms flailed.
"Nick..." Too late. He was gone and Reece was upset.
I felt like I wanted to cry too, suddenly, as he refused to calm down. I sat there, trying to get him to drink, helpless as I heard Rose pipe up too, mirroring her brother's distress. Picking her up didn't help. They lay there on the bed in front of me, crying, Reece refusing to eat even as his stomach rumbled.
This time no one came to help me. No one. It kept going, they kept crying, the minutes dragging by as I tried to comfort them, as I changed their nappies, as I cooed to them, almost crying myself as it just kept going, and going, and going. After a restless night, I was exhausted, and angry and upset... because no one came to help me. Nick had vanished, apparently having fallen down the toilet, and I felt fleeting panic that maybe there was trouble. But I heard nothing. No yells, no fights, nothing, just an empty house. Where was everyone?
Was it a nightmare? I pinched myself, even as I cooed to the babies, the pain real, the reality there.
The hours ticked by, as they cried, and I cried, and Reece barely touched the milk his stomach was screaming for. I rocked them, I stroked their scalps gently, changed their nappies as they needed it, I tried everything. The resentment and grief returned, the guilt, that maybe I'd done this to them. Hurt them by the way I'd behaved during the pregnancy, made them feel unloved, all illogical things but …
With nothing else to do, with no other ideas, and after three hours of them bawling their eyes out and breaking my heart, I opened the laptop and put music on. Sang, not really for them, but to calm myself down.
And suddenly, Reece was quiet, staring up, his blue eyes opening and surrounded by the dampness,his mouth open in mid cry. Rose calmed down too, and when I stopped singing, I saw them both start up again.
Then I tried it again, sang, and they went quiet. Calm. Reece actually accepted the milk, even though it was cold now, and I blinked through my own wet eyes down at them. That was it? They just wanted me to sing to them?
Suddenly the door opened, Nick's head ducking in, and he grinned.
"Knew you'd do it. Want some more milk?"
I glared at him, upset, and he vanished for a few minutes. Then he was back with two bottles and slid beside me.
"Do you want ..."
"Sing to them and feed them." Nick shook his head, his hands going up. "Don't look at me."
I did that, Nick helping me get them into my lap, and to my amazement they drank the bottles, calm, as I sang Adele or some cheesy eighties song, or ...whatever Nick put on.
"Do you sing to them?" I asked, when they were full and falling asleep, side by side on the bed in front of us.
"No." Nick shrugged. "They just like you."
The words made me breathe in slowly, eyes shutting, tears coming for a different reason this time. God. "I thought I'd hurt them. By the way I was in Australia. I thought ..."
"You'd screwed them up for life?" He snuggled me against his side then. "You were just upset when you held them. Maybe they notice when you're upset because you had a hard time alone. We all agreed though. From now on, if they cry and they don't calm down in your arms, we back off till they do."
"You all agree?"
"We all discussed it." He squeezed my side. "No one wants them to get used to depending on us and being afraid of you."
I watched them sleep, relieved that I'd managed to do it on my own, but I nudged his side. "I still need some help. Twins..."
"Never said I wasn't going to help. But they have to calm down in your arms only." He nuzzled my neck. "They're my kids too now."
I looked at him then, sudden, and only met that serious face. "Your kids?"
"Claimed them. Mine." He growled, softly, leaning over to nip my neck gently. "My mate's puppies, so mine too."
"You never wanted kids." I muttered, and he laughed, pulling my legs so I was under him, Nick pinning me down beside the babies.
"I didn't. You didn't want more kids." Nick kissed my neck slowly, teasing me with his teeth on the sensitive skin, that hungry look back. "I'm not complaining but I have to admit, I am tempted to get that vacetamy."
I snorted as he nibbled on my neck, eyes shutting when I felt his hand slide up my top, hips grinding gently against mine between my legs.
"We can't with them there."
"I know." He groaned, softly, but he glanced at the sleeping babies. "We can't move them either. Look at them. So cute. So peaceful."
He slowed his grinding, relaxing on me, and we watched them sleep, arms and legs curved in the way tiny babies always did, their dark hair on their pale scalp. I reached out to touch Rose's leg, a birthmark on her ankle, as she slept peacefully.
"I have to give them back."
"Only for a week." Nick reminded me, voice soft, as he watched me admire the birthmark. "We'll get some sleep, have sex, have some fun, and then be all rested to do it all over again."
"Sex?"
"Yeah. It's this thing people used to do." He teased. "I'll teach you."
"Nick, we've still got triplets to duck around." I reminded him, as he shut his eyes, almost exactly the same moment I heard a tiny fist on the door. Someone was looking for us and had found us.
Nick lifted his head as the door opened, Susie on her tiptoes to twist the door handle, a mixture of pride and exasperation as she got it open. It was the first time she 'd reached the door handle. The first time any of them had reached the door handle, I realised, and stared in wonder as Dominic and Lily followed Susie inside.
"She's getting taller than the other two." He slid off me, as she raced into the room ahead of the other two, opening his arms for them. "So tall now. My babies are getting so tall."
"Baby?" Dominic asked, softly, as I helped him onto the bed. He crawled onto his belly beside the sleeping babies, touching them gently as I watched, and I wondered how much he understood now. They played with baby dolls, so they knew something.
"This is your little brother and your little sister." It was the first time I'd introduced them as that, unsure of how to explain it, how to explain why they vanished ...but Dominic seemed to not care about the complexities of how or where they'd come from. He accepted it and watched them sleep.
"Daddy told me." Dominic let me know. He patted their chest. "Gentle." He gazed up at me, those wise brown eyes meeting mine, and when I smiled he mirrored it, relaxing on his arm as he patted their chest so gently, as if they'd break.
"I told them all about the new babies." Nick informed me, as he lifted both girls up with a oof, the two of them crawling over to stare too. "You touch them very gently. They will be here with us sometimes and go somewhere else sometimes."
"Why?"
"Because they have another daddy who wants to see them." He explained, softly. "He lives somewhere else."
"Where?" Susie asked, touching a foot, Rose kicking gently against her hand.
"Far away." I said quietly. I didn't know anyway.
Nick answered their questions then, about where babies came from, and I lay there watching him handle the questions like a pro. Or at least, like a guy who'd had more sleep than I had.
I'd missed breakfast, so busy trying to calm the babies down, but Nick pushed me to go get some. We needed to eat to stay in control and tonight, with what we had to do, I needed that control more than ever. The house was empty when I went down, except for Clayton, who was sitting in the kitchen reading a book. Seeing him read was always interesting- he read fast and never seemed to need to re-read anything.
He slid a cup over to me, coffee, and I gladly accepted it without question. While I made breakfast, he read, but he was watching me too.
"Got them to sleep?"
"They just wanted me to sing. Guess they like music." I replied as I sat down to eat the plate of leftover stuff.
He nodded a fraction. I ate as he read, the two of us going quiet, and I yawned. Long night, anxiety, babies waking up all the time... god, as cute as they were, I did not miss this part. The sleepiness nights. I would have gladly taken them all on, if I could have the babies all the time, but …
A fist lunged at me, sudden, and I just barely moved out of the way, the edge of Clay's knuckles grazing my cheek. I barely had time to think before another fist came and slammed into my side, as he attacked, the book dropped.
"Wha-"
There was no time to finish the word, I ducked, and tried to evade, or lessen the blows, but after a minute there wasn't really much choice than to attack back. Something crashed to the kitchen floor as I tried to match him, blow for blow, no time for sleepiness either.
He was training me again, I saw that look of intense concentration and apathy in his face, a sudden lesson that I had not been anticipating. Testing me. It had to be that- Nick would have been down in a second otherwise- we were making enough noise to be heard from the second floor.
The funny thing was though, as the minutes went by, as his fist crashed into my body, my head started to spin, and it got harder to anticipate, or to move a different way, or to concentrate on pointing feet in the 'wrong' direction. Clayton didn't let up as I got dizzy. I swore he got even more brutal then, his training agony, and only when I tipped over, head spinning too much to stand up straight ,did he stop and grab my shoulders to stop me from hitting the ground hard.
Last thing I was aware of, he was lowering me to the ground carefully, and then stepped away back to his book, as if he'd done nothing.
I slept, I suspected, because when I woke the light in the kitchen was different and my dishes were gone. The broken china was gone too, and Clayton was reading a different book, sitting somewhere else, glancing up as I sat up and reached for my aching head.
"What was that about?"
"Attacks aren't always organised times of the day." He replied, shutting it, and twisted around to face me. "And you've gotta learn to check your drinks for drugs."
Oh. Shit. That explained the nice 'here's a coffee for you' greeting that wasn't exactly Clayton's style.
"How'd I do?" I felt like I'd failed somehow, breathing hurt, I felt a bruise on my arm, though he'd avoided the face.
"Good reflexes for a while. Bad drug detection." He strode over to help me up. "It's just a mild sedative. You should be good in half an hour."
"Did Nick know about this?"
"It was his idea." He smiled somewhat, glancing up.
I made a mental note to hit Nick and flopped beside Clayton, rubbing my light head, a slight sense of nausea in the pit of my stomach. Mild sedative or not, I felt like shit. Clayton offered a glass of water and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Nothing in this one."
Carefully I sipped it, but tasted nothing but plain tap water, so I drank a little and waited.
After half an hour, Clayton brought over two glasses of coffee and pushed them in front of me. "Here. Tell me which has the drug."
"If I taste them-"
"You might feel a bit strange. Don't drink too much." He sat back down and waited, nothing in his face giving away which had it, blue eyes fixed on me.
I sniffed them both first, inhaling each, my sensitive nose working through the complex tangle of scents that was inside the cup. Usually, when we heard or smelt the world, our brain would mix it all together unless we concentrated. If I concentrated though, if I was aware of it, I could untangle that 'mixture' into different things. It was difficult to explain, humans had no clue, but scents had information. That was why dogs marked trees- not just because they smelt differently, but because their marking contained all kinds of information, what they ate, how healthy they were, if they were in season if they were a female, who they were, how strong they were, how old they were... it was like a facebook profile, filled with details that other dogs could smell. Some 'profiles' were interesting to dogs, some weren't, which was why sometimes a dog wanted to spend a really long time sniffing another dog's pee or behind.
The two cups of coffee had their own information to give. If I had been a wolf I would have read more into it, smelt more, but I still had the ability to separate the sugar, raw sugar, the milk- full cream, just about ready to go off, and the coffee beans- the extra strong Brazilian ones. The really strong smelling ones. They covered all the other scents better than the mild roast beans. It should have been easy, to detect drugs, but I didn't just smell today's coffee. No, I smelt traces of a cup of tea, of soup, other coffee from some days ago... we really had to wash it better. Mostly we just rinsed them to save time.
But I found it. The one in the blue mug had something else, something a bit strange, and I wondered if the milk was fresh after all. When I pushed it at him he nodded.
"You got to do it faster than that." Clayton pushed it back at me. "Look like you are just enjoying the aroma. Or the taste. Here. Taste it."
"I thought you said not to drink it?"
"Just put it in your mouth and then spit it out." He waited.
I did that, tasting it, the taste of coffee easily overwhelming anything else. To really smell or taste the drug, you really had to concentrate, get through all the stronger smells. Then I spat it out and Clayton went to tip both cups down the sink.
He stood there for a few minutes, making two more cups, and then brought them back.
"Now, same deal, but you have ten seconds to pick. Then you drink it all."
"Ten seconds?"
"You'd get two seconds tonight at dinner. Ten seconds. Ten, nine, eight-"
I bent over them, fumbling a little as he rushed me, trying to hurry the 'find the drug' thing. He counted down, anxiety building in me as I struggled to get through the smells of the beans, until I thought I might have found the right now. Just as he stopped counting. They both smelt odd, sort of, but I wasn't sure if that was because one had the older milk or had juice in it once or something.
"Drink the clean one."
I drank the one I thought was the 'clean' one, as Clayton watched, the hot coffee a little hotter than how I usually had it. Did he put Elena through this? Probably. He'd probably put the kids through it too. If he didn't, I would, he was right. It was important to know how to use your nose.
When my head started to spin again, that increasingly familiar 'the world's spinning', I frowned and he shrugged.
"They both had it. Nearly."
"Bugger." My forehead met the counter as the sedative overwhelmed me again, maybe on top of the other one, eyes shutting.
This went on till lunch, three hours of him giving me drinks and having me identify them. Clayton didn't let me drink any other drinks, though, he wanted me to be perfectly awake that night when I had to be. He went through wine, tea, plain water, drumming in the smell of chemicals into my head until I more or less could pick it out in seconds, the smell of something faint that didn't belong there. Nick had to do the changing of the twins after all, Clayton wouldn't let me have a break, but that didn't bother him so much. He was probably more afraid of what would happen to me if I got drugged again, tonight, than of bad smelling nappies and three demanding toddlers.
We didn't discuss Elena. I saw her briefly, as she came out for a coffee, but she vanished into the study again, and I heard Jeremy in there. A phone. Clayton didn't say a word to her, just reached out as she stood there to make the coffee, his hand brushing her arm. I could tell, whatever she decided, he was going to accept it. Like it? Probably not, particularly if she agreed to the trade, but he was going to back her up no matter what she decided.
I wondered if Demetruis had any clue what kind of enemy he was making in Clayton. Or in the pack.
Finally, Clayton stopped 'training' me, and we had lunch. Real lunch. Nick brought the babies down and the toddlers followed behind, sitting at their little table to eat their sandwiches, while we sat and ate quietly.
"That resistance group wants hybrids, yeah?" I asked it softly, watching the babies dozing in their 'daytime' crib in the corner, the mobile dancing overhead in slow lazy circles.
"Seems like it."
"What if he's apart of it?" It struck me suddenly that if he was apart of it, what better way to get power in it than to have children that they wanted? I didn't know. He'd had hybrids years ago. Maybe they'd contacted him first.
"He might be." Clayton agreed softly. "Thought about that. Babies aren't good warriors though."
"No." Whatever he wanted with his kids, whatever expectations he had, Demetruis would have to wait a long time. "But they're good blackmailing tools."
Nick reached out to grasp my hand under the table.
"They are." He agreed again, Clayton's eyes moving to the two tiny bodies, probably thinking of the agreement I'd had to make just to get them like this. Or maybe not. I had no clue- it was hard to tell what was going on in his head.
I couldn't see him able to let go of Elena's baby, if she did have one, even if it wasn't his. By default, whatever was hers, was his, and the offer was as much going to tear at Clayton as it was her.
Just like it had with Nick.
I squeezed Nick's hand, unable to know what to say now, the sense of 'trapped' still closing over me. Trapped, netted, caught, and it set my teeth on edge. "It's one hell of a trap we're in."
"Yeah." Nick muttered.
"You ever seen a wolf in a trap? They'd rather chew their own leg off than surrender." Clayton reminded me, as he stood up, picking up the two books. "Drink a lot of water and pick something out for tonight. Low. Distracting. He's still a mutt and you're both still got that scent on you." There was a small smile, suddenly. "There are some advantages to being a woman that we don't get. Distraction is a good tool."
"Leave that to me." Nick grinned, somewhat, relaxing a little. "She'll look distracting."
"I'd like your help too, Nick." That was Elena, coming back out, rubbing at the shadows under her eyes. She looked buggered- exhausted, her silvery blonde hair in a messy ponytail that had probably been in the same place for the past day, her clothing crumpled. We both looked like a mess, I realised, as I caught my own reflection.
"Any luck finding him?" Clay asked, softly, as he made his way to her and wrapped his arms around her.
The words shocked me. Of course they wouldn't just sit on their ass here and wait for the meeting tonight. That was where everyone was. They were looking for him. I didn't know why I'd assumed the pack would do anything different.
"Got him located in a hotel." She replied softly. "The men watching the property are being watched now. None of them are werewolves but Lucas believes they are supernaturals, any high ranking family in the Cabal would have them for guards and nothing else."
"How high ranking is his family?" I asked, finally, as she sat down. I had wondered, vaguely, but there had usually been bigger problems to ask about than that. Right now, he was mutt first to me, the sorcery nothing more than a problem. Like an annoying fly that kept darting around my head.
"There's four main families in the Cabal. Luca's father is the head of one family. Demetruis's own father, who is alive but sick, is the head of one of the other families. His mother acts on his behalf."
Demetruis's mother was the head? Of one of the four main families running the whole Sorcerer show?
"She's running one of the main families?" I remembered her. Little old lady, cared for Nick, and the Cabal gassed her by accident when they were going for Aaron. Out of the entire world, I might have never thought ...but then, who ever did think a little old lady was dangerous?
"She is. Demetruis is her son. Her only son. His younger and older brothers died of accidental causes over the past forty years." Elena's lip twitched at the word accidental. "He's around sixty, which for a sorcerer, isn't a humans idea of sixty. More like forty."
"He looks old." I muttered. He was only a bit older than Nick then, I thought as I reached for Nick's hand, Nick stroking the back of my hand with his thumb as he listened and stayed quiet.
"Not many people look their age." Clayton reminded me. "Not in this world."
I nodded, eyes going over him – muscular, blonde curls, the faint trace of a few lines, but looking like he was in his mid thirties, and hten to Nick, who wasn't as muscular, but he also looked around that age. Like they'd only just started to get a few creases in their face, a few white hairs, nothing close to the real age they were. Antonio was in his seventies now and he looked mid forties, as did Jeremy, and Elena... I wasn't even sure how old she was. She didn't look it, whatever age she was, she was stunning. Even right now with the shadows under her eyes and the exhaustion, the woman was stunning, strong, leggy, tall...
"Yeah, not many people look their age."
We heard the cry of one of the babies, I wasn't sure who, and I got up as Nick did.
"I'll get bottles, you get babies." He offered and I nodded.
As we sat there and fed them, I leaned against Nick, relaxing. Stupid domestic stuff. Babies. Cleaning. Cooking. Sewing. All stuff I treasured, really treasured, because outside this property... I had to go super ball busting werewolf chick on them. On the mutts. On the world. I wondered how the ex-alpha would react if he saw me there sewing something for the toddlers to wear. He'd probably think he was hallucinating.
"How old do I look?" I finally asked it, giving in, and Nick reached over to brush the hair out of my face.
"Barely eighteen. Could pass for younger depending on what you wear." I snorted and he shrugged, grinning, an arm draping over my shoulder. "Seriously. You look eighteen. Don't you see the looks I get when we're kissing in public?"
"You don't get looks." I was suddenly tempted to go find a mirror and really look. Didn't beauty creams claim to take off ten years? Get a bite and you really looked ten years younger. "How old did I look when you married me?"
That grin got wider, and he leaned over to nibble on my neck. "Sixteen."
"Really?" I wasn't sure if I was shocked or not. He had to be kidding.
Nick shook his head, nuzzling against my ear as he brushed the hair out of his way, teasing the sensitive curve of it with the edge of his teeth. I shivered and shut my eyes. "You looked unhappy and scared and your age was the last thing on my mind. I didn't notice till you started to smile again. You looked the same age you do now. I met you before though, remember? I knew how old you were."
I shivered, as his arm slid further, so his hand could slide down and stroke the skin just above the bra. "Babies. Not now."
"No, in about..." He twisted that arm around so he could see the watch on his wrist. "An hour. I've paid Elena and Clay to take care of them for a few hours."
There was that intense look, that hungry look, breaking through the grin for just a moment. He was serious. It made heat swim in my stomach, pool there, breathing go a bit faster, I and I wanted to kiss him so damn hard right now... I knew I was giving him the same hungry look. Babies. Feedng. I had to change the subject. "What kinds of looks do you get with me?"
He broke the eye contact, the energy between us not fading as fast as the contact, and his arm moved back up so his hand was on my shoulder. "The kind you give a thirty year old man groping a barely legal girl." He chuckled, softly. "Lillian, my mum, she had trouble believing me when I told her you weren't a teenager when I got you pregnant."
I suddenly couldn't wait to age a bit more. Look a little less …innocent. No wonder why I got away with pretending to be interested in mutts. They had no clue how not innocent I really was. "Shit. Can I borrow your wrinkles?"
He frowned, reaching up. "I have no wrinkles."
"If you rush off for botox, I'm killing you, I love them." I nipped his hand, gazing at him, again wishing the hour wasn't an hour. He was sexy. I couldn't help it. Something about him, I just couldn't get over, even after all this time. Maybe it was because our sex life was delayed, and interrupted, and put on hold ...but when we got the chance...
Nick caught my gaze, his smile faltering, and then he gently tried to get Reece to drink just a little bit faster.
It was an hour before they were done and asleep, another half hour as we tried to convince the toddlers we were going to be back and they were napping down here with the babies, and then we were upstairs, rushing, laughing and shoving each.
"Why right now?" I asked, as he stripped me so fast that fabric gave, and he grinned. Nick didn't answer, he picked me up, dropped me on the bed and stepped back to strip as I watched every last inch of his olive skin appear, imagining in my mind how that spot felt, so familiar with him that I knew... knew without touching... how it felt, how he smelt right now, everything. Shirt gone, the pants went with it, his body as toned as his arms were, every inch of him. Nick took care of himself. I resisted the urge to laugh, as he didn't just do that, he also trimmed himself. Down there.
He climbed onto the bed, tugging my pants off, or tried to, because I was holding onto them. Teasing him. Nick growled, we struggled, battling with the clothing, more fabric giving way, more ruined clothing, laughing and growling at each other... and when he'd gotten the last of my clothing off, he paused above me.
"Because you're mine. I want him to smell me all over you tonight." He replied, shifting up so his body was over mine, Nick's eyes fixed in mine as he entered me slowly. He smiled, brown eyes in mine as he watched my breath get faster, my eyes half closing, I know he was as much in love with my reaction as with the sex itself. "All over you."
Afterwoods, I lay there exhausted all over again, panting against the bed, Nick half asleep against my back. He hadn't been kidding about it. He'd made sure he'd been 'everywhere'. Even where I thought I'd never let anyone, which had amused him, but he was so careful... it wasn't like the rape, as strange as it was for him to go back there, it hadn't really hurt. Only a little. I could smell him all over my skin. Everywhere, even in my mouth, and I knew... or I hoped... Demetruis would notice it too. Was that sick? Twisted? Wanting him to smell my lover on me? Maybe. I didn't really care.
He kissed my sweaty shoulder, his leg over mine, hips against my behind as his body softened and relaxed. "You ok?" The hand that'd made sure I felt good was still there, relaxed between my legs, and he moved it so he could hug me closer.
"Yeah. Why hadn't we done that before?" I rolled onto my back, gazing up at him, seeing the splash of red against the sheets.
"Because you got hurt there. I wanted to wait." Nick followed my gaze and he frowned. "Guess I didn't do as well as I thought."
"You did good. Come here." I kissed his neck, pulling him against me, my smell equally covering him. Best perfume ever.
"You ready for tonight?" He asked, against my neck, shifting his body so that he could lie there.
"Nope. You?" I wanted to relax too, I wanted to shut my eyes and go to sleep, but I was suddenly aware that I needed to see the twins. The sex was good- it was a release, a comfort, a feeling and a smell I could take with me to tonight... but ...now it was time to be with them.
"Nope." Nick relaxed for a few seconds. When I didn't, he sighed, slid up, and helped me stand up with him. "Ok. Shower, twins, then you dress."
"You ordering me?"
"Of course." He grinned, lifting me up in his arms, the effort a little more now without his strength.
Then, suddenly, time sped. I sat with them, treasuring every last second as if this was the last time I'd see them, while Nick tried to keep himself from stressing by taking the 'distraction' part seriously. Maybe a little too seriously. He wanted Elena and I to match, or contrast, or whatever he'd put it. A double-distraction.
I suddenly wondered why it was so important to distract Demetruis but no one told me a reason, except that we had to stay calm and keep as much control tonight as possible. If my breasts were going to do that, or Elena's stunning looks, then I'd go with it.
Lifting Rose onto my shoulder, I yawned, eyes shutting, her own tiny mouth copying mine. Or had I copied her? Who knew.
"Is peanut asleep?" Nick asked, as he came in, holding up another knee length dress, a pale one that was just a touch warmer than white, a few shades lighter than my own looked a bit innocent too, bare arms, low cut neckline, I wondered if he was playing up the 'you're just barely legal' crap he'd told me about earlier.
"Peanut?"
"Reece. Peanut."
I smiled at that, chuckling softly, as I gazed at 'Peanut' beside me. That was right, America had some kind of peanut butter thing, and it was probably weirding Nick out to call the baby Reece when Reece himself was here. "Yeah. Both happy. Both asleep. If they wake, I sing, then they go back to sleep. Do I have to wear a dress?"
I'd seen Elena was wearing a short dress and pants, apparently, black pants and a turquoise dress that ended high up on her hips. Or it was a long top. I didn't know how to tell the difference. She was already wandering around in it, her long silvery hair loose, looking fairly scary and powerful. At least to me. Maybe that was because of what she was walking into.
"Yeah. You're looking innocent, she's looking powerful."
"He knows what I did to his son, Nick." I reminded him and he shrugged.
"Yeah and he thinks he has a hold on you. So you're playing victim." He held it against me. It had flowers on it, just tiny green stitches making the shadows of flowers on the fabric, and nodded. "Okay. Here, pass me Rose, and you get dressed."
I changed there, not caring if anyone walked into the living room, as Nick watched and patted Rose's back gently. It was a bit short for me, I bent over, plucking at the hem, and knew he'd gotten an eyeful with the low cut neckline.
"Yeah, that's distracting." Nick grinned. "Is that the blue bra I bought you?" He reached out to pull it down more. "Cute."
I stuck my tongue out at him, yanking the neckline out of his grasp, hiding the baby blue thing. He bought them all for me now, I didn't mind so much, so it was a pretty pointless thing to ask. "Isn't it a bit short?"
Nick ran his free hand up my bare legs, right up to where it stopped halfway up my thighs, and shook his head. "It's fine. Relax. You want to be able to move without a dress ...how do you Aussies put it? Buggering up your legs."
I was tempted to tell him that 'buggering' could be several things, including what he'd done with me earlier, but resisted. That could be for another time. Instead I headed upstairs and shaved, tugging on the dreaded heels, glad at least to see they were just slip on. So they could be slipped off.
Elena came into the bedroom as I was staring at the cork heel things, shaking her head, her own black heels in one hand. She looked gorgeous, her silvery blonde hair brushed till it shone, a touch of make-up, the blue-green setting off her eyes in an incredible way, and the top low enough for just a tease of her chest. Like mine. Nick knew exactly how to show us off. "Can't put them on yet?"
"We can delay it till the last second." I decided, throwing them on the bed beside the bag, and she smiled somewhat and did the same thing. "So what's the plan?"
"There'll be a car waiting outside and a nanny, to collect the children, apparently. We hand them over, we go inside with Reece, and he'll be waiting." She reached out to touch my arm as I flinched. "Just a week."
"Yeah. Then what?"
"Then Nick and Clayton sit outside and watch. And we talk." She sat down on the bed and I sat down beside her.
"Then what?" I wanted to ask her if she had agreed or not. I couldn't ask though.
"Savannah is going to be here with Adam and the kids." Elena didn't tell me her decision. "The rest, trust me, it's under control."
"Is it?" I wasn't so sure. I didn't feel like it was. It felt like we were going in, Elena's entire world at the end of a 'gun', and she had to decide.
"Yes. Now get that shit on your face and practice smiling." I was so busy being shocked at her swearing, that she was already up and out of hteb edroom, as Nick came in. He handed me a box out of his pocket.
"What is it?"
"Open it. It was something for Valentine's day but ...well, I didn't find you." He sat down beside me, leaning against me, an arm wrapping around my waist.
I opened it and found myself staring at a thin long chain, diamonds ...or something sparkly... along it, and something about Tiffany. The urge to ask how much it had been came, then I shoved it down, hoping it wasn't expensive.
"I know you don't like lots of big flashy things." He asked, softly, waiting.
"It's beautiful." I counted the shiny stones. Thirteen of them, so delicate, but so ...sparkly, catching the light so easily, as if they themselves had light inside them. They had to be the real things. "Are they diamonds?"
"Not telling you. If I do, you'll never wear it." He grinned and lifted up my hair, brushing it to one side, before taking it out of the box. "Wear it tonight."
"I didn't get you anything."
"Not yet." He agreed, kissing the nape of my neck as he did it up. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you get. Wrist?"
I blinked. Nick tugged another box out, amused at my surprise, and carefully strapped something that had a lot more sparkly stone and was a lot more flashy. Three strands of them, these shiny stones, in incredible detail on tiny chains... the bracelet itself wasn't large or obvious but when I stared at my wrist, it was clearly not cheap.
"How m-"
Nick kissed me then, hard, pushing me back onto the bed, cutting me off with determination as I tried to ask. "Shh. Wear them for me. Let him see them."
It struck me, suddenly, that he really was nervous. Or jealous? Or angry? It was hard to tell, he was kissing me so hard it made my lips bruise slightly, his body pressed against mine.
"It's okay." I murmured against his lips. "Everyone's there. Savannah's here."
"I know." He breathed out, slowly, tension still in his body as he kept me there. "I know. But forget the cost. Just wear them."
"You gave them to me. I don't care if they were two dollars at walmart." I meant it too. Somehow, though, I suspected neither cost two dollars. "I wear anything you want."
Nick laughed and slid up. "I know you do. Come on."
I made him hurry with the make up part, staring at my reflection and suddenly realising he was right, that I did look like a teenager, and prodded my face. How strange. I didn't feel like a teenager and I had never thought about how I'd look to others, not really, or how people would react to me with Nick. It didn't put me off, exactly, instead I sort of felt tempted to provoke them more.
Whatever thoughts I had about that had to go though as I headed downstairs and realised that everyone was getting ready to go. Savannah and Adam were here now, the car seats in the car, and Nick's arm tightened around me as I froze.
Suddenly, it was really happening, not just a vague 'in a while'. I had to give them back.
I sat in the back with them on either side, no one tried to suggest I do anything different, hands on their tiny bodies as they slept. So unaware right now, so happy to sleep and have their needs met, it was a peace I wished I could have.
We arrived, the resturant full, but no 'nanny' outside. I stood on the outside of the car, armss crossed, waiting, trying to convince myself to not attack them on site. This was how it worked. I had one week, he had the other, and the last thing I wanted to do was make myself get into worse trouble over this. Reece strode over, in his suit, a relaxed hug as he came to stand on one side of me, Elena sliding out to stand on the other side.
I shifted from foot to foot, leaning against the door, my anxiety over handing them over shifting to something else. Where was he? Reece checked his watch, I glanced over to see it was already seven thirty, and I could feel the car shift as one of the babies started to stir for their next feed. They'd have to feed them in the car.
Two people came out of the restaurant, Lucas and Paige, and they came over to us as Elena waved.
"What's going on?"
"Not sure." Elena answered.
I checked my phone. No messages.
"What time did you agree to the trade?" Lucas asked, softly, as he moved to stand beside me.
"I don't know. Why?"
"You're supposed to forefill your turn, before exactly a week passes, so you want them to be in his care before them." He glanced at Elena/
"If he doesn't show?"
"He's here. Somewhere." Lucas muttered. "Watching. I'm sure of it."
I wondered how he knew. I inhaled, slowly, trying to smell him. Nothing, just the smell of humans, perfume, chemicals, food inside the restaurant, sweat in the hot night, and it was difficult to tell who was who beyond the ten metres I could see around me. "If he doesn't come here?"
"It's your duty to deliver them. The agreement would be broken by you." He didn't need to tell me again what that meant.
The words hung in the air, heavy, and I tried to not panic. Tried to not see his suggestion for what it was supposed to be.
"What if he's intimidated by Clayton and Nick being here? If it was just the two of us?" I asked, as I glanced at Elena, her eyes already in mine.
"You want us to wait with them, and no one else?" Elena asked, softly, glancing back at the tinted windows.
I nodded.
We tried that. Half an hour, as they slept in their car seats, now freshly changed and fed from inside. Paige and Lucas went inside, Clayton took off with the car, but there was again nothing. They all returned and by now I felt my heart race just a little bit more.
I could see him taking any advantage over us he could get right now. Particularly if he was with the 'resistance'. Taking me every second week, while it wasn't the same as fucking with our Alpha, was a slap in the face to the pack.
Elena checked the time I'd called her a week ago, trying to figure out how long we had, and the man only had twenty minutes before he showed.
"What kind of things can he ask me to do again?"
"He can't make you change your mind. You can't be told to like something you don't like. But you have to do things, even if you don't like them, unless they harm you." Lucas said softly. "The trick is to convince yourself that what he's asking you to do will harm you."
"Convince myself?" Like hypnotherapy. On myself. That wasn't impossible to do but I'd rather we didn't break it. "Can we locate him?"
"We're already on it." A voice came from behind me, the window down a crack, Clayton's voice soft enough so that only I and Elena was able to pick it up. "He's around. We've picked up traces of his scent."
"The bastard's fucking with us." Nick growled softly.
Ten minutes.
"I have to go with him?"
"If he requests it. But only every second week." Lucas nodded a fraction. He was on the phone now, moving away, speaking softly into it. "It will only work every second week."
The bastard showed up two minutes before the time was up, a nanny in hand, acting as if he had no clue why he was receiving glares. We put the babies in his car, trying to not hurry, but the act of doing that broke my heart. The nanny ignored me, ignored us, just slid into the front seat as the car pulled away with them. I swallowed, shutting my eyes a moment, as I heard one start to cry. Poker face. Had to stay calm. It was Elena's turn to need support.
"The reservation was at ten. Not seven." He seemed surprised. "Did my personal assistant give you the wrong time? I'll be sure to take action."
Again, it wasn't his fault, it was someone else fault. And it was more or less just after the time we'd made our agreement. I repressed a soft growl as he headed into the restaurant ahead of us. An old woman met him there, one I recognised from a while back, and I froze in surprise beside Elena as I realised who she was. His mother.
"This is my mother."
He made introductions. Apparently she knew Lucas by reputation, through his father, and there was a similar polite stiffness on his end. She barely looked at me, the mother of her own grandchildren, but somehow, I wasn't sure how, it was difficult to be angry with her. I'd always assumed Demetruis was old, based off his 'salt and pepper' hair, but compared to his mother he was youthful. She was bent over, silvery hair in a neat bun, diamonds winking around her neck and on her finger, well dressed, soft spoken, and gentle mannered. She took greater interest in me when he informed her I'd been the one to assist him in the two children, but only a fraction, before we were sat down. Lucas and Paige sat some distance away together.
Reece stayed on the other side of Elena, barely speaking, not there to be nice or friendly. I was so used to his friendly side that I'd never seen this side of him, this cold slightly intimidating side, with an expression that I wondered if he'd copied off Clayton.
It was a strange thing, to be sitting there waiting for food, discussing random topics that had no meaning whatsoever. Small talk when he was waiting for Elena to hand over her body, more or less, it made no sense. Demetruis insisted that we save 'business' for after the meal.
My eyes kept going to his mother though, who didn't speak much except for brief sentences in Greek, sometimes in English, barely looking at us. She was fragile, it seemed, compared to him. Demetruis, however much an asshole I thought he was, was a mother's boy completely. There was always one eye on her. Could she really be the head of a 'big' family in the Cabal? I had no clue.
Like Clay taught me, I made sure what I was drinking and eating wasn't messed with, and from the slight pauses from Elena and Reece, I knew they were also doing the same.
Reece flashed me a brief smile though, when they weren't looking, probably trying to get me to relax. I didn't return it. Maybe I had my own version of that face on. After the bullshit- waiting for him to show up, feeling those shackles tighten more and more- and having to watch the twins get taken away... it wasn't going to happen.
The dinner stretched on, too long, the tension in me building. I felt Elena's leg brush against mine, gently, her own stress hidden in everything except for the tense muscles in her leg. She was worse than I was and hid it so well...
Finally, it was done, coffees were out, bill paid and he straightened.
"We can discuss this in my hotel room."
"We discuss this here." Elena replied, stiff, as she kept in her seat.
Demetruis raised an eyebrow and remained where he was. "We speak alone though. You and myself. Not my mother will be here, nor these two, though they may stay close by."
Neither I or Reece liked that, I suspected, but Elena nodded a fraction. We got up as his mother got up, guided by a quick conversation with him in Greek, and went to sit near Lucas and Paige.
Lucas looked a bit surprised. "What's going on?"
"They're discussing it alone."
Demetruis's mother had vanished. So too, I noticed, had everyone else. The entire restaurant was empty. No one in the kitchens, no one in the room, no other patrons. It was just us. I stiffened, Reece sliding across, glancing at me. He was still human, technically, and I'd forgotten that. He was depending on my ears.
They all were.
I leaned back, yawning, as I scribbled it down. Paige read it and stood, saying something about needing the bathroom before the long drive back, and she headed off. Reece agreed and went too. Lucas and myself stayed there, stayed still, and I listened beyond the building. Cars were going past outside. I couldn't tell if Clayton and Nick were outside though- if they were, the car was off.
I saw the flash before the sound reached my ears, a fraction, a blinding flash outside. And then the explosion, an explosion so loud that it shattered the windows inside, my mind suddenly slowing down the entire world. I saw it. The dark car, Clayton's car, and the sudden flash underneath, then the blooming red of flame explode up and out and around, enclosing it, a sense of pain and panic flooding me, but not my own. Elena was standing too, suddenly, shielding her head and body from the flying glass, Demetruis sitting there sipping his coffee calmly as he seemed to be missed by every last chunk. So was she, I thought, not a bit was touching her. They were in a bubble.
This thought hadn't left my mind as I saw the glass fly at us. I felt a body shove me down, Lucas shielding me behind the table as glass flew over our heads into the wall behind us, exploding all around, raining down on bare arms and bodies.
Everything suddenly sped back up to normal, Luca's heart racing against my head, my arms around him and the two of us under the table. I wasn't sure when we'd gotten there, it seemed like I'd dragged us there, but it felt as if I'd only watched myself do it.
When we got up, another explosion, closer by, another car, tore into the wall beside us, bricks and stone and furniture exploding with it, and we dragged each other back under the table, crouching, I was aware that something was shielding us too. A bubble. Lucas's face was taunt with concentration. I stared up at him, as things flew around us, seeing the sweat, the anxiety, and ...my own face mirrored in his face, streaked with blood, fear in my expression that I didn't yet feel.
Then the roof caved in and I felt the fear crash through the odd numb feeling, all light and vision crashing away with it.