I was suddenly glad I hadn't eaten before coming down. Only a few got to see Clayton's handiwork and there was a reason for that. If people did, they might and did assume he was sadistic, cruel, a bastard of a man. And he could be, if a mutt threatened his pack, he could be all those things and was more than happy to make sure the world knew it.
It made me suddenly glad that I was pack now.
The cell had never been so full before. Demetruis was there, blindfolded, his skin shiny with sweat. He probably hadn't seen a thing but his ears and nose, however much he tried to ignore the fact he was a mutt, would not have hidden this from him when it was so close. It was apart of the intimidation, I guessed, let him hear and smell what he might be in for. The less Clayton had to actually do with a knife, the better. Easier. He only acted the sadistic cruel bastard, I had this feeling that he loathed drawing out kills, tormenting prey, because this was not something a wolf did. This was something a human did. Clayton always preferred the wolf's approach to life and I couldn't disagree.
The man I'd savaged in the bedroom was more or less untouched, aside from the wounds I'd inflicted, and unconscious. Drugged, from the smell of him, probably not having heard or seen a thing. The woman and the other man were not drugged and were semi-concious for a whole other reason. They stank, stank of blood, sweat, urine, the man had shitted himself at some point, but I suspected Clayton got what he wanted.
"Help me clean them up." He took a towel and I did. It looked worse than it really was, as blood usually did, his technique more about fear than causing a ton of damage. Reece was told to clean up the cell a bit.
"Get answers?"
He didn't need to answer. He just nodded, a quick jerk of the head, as I tried to get shit off them with a hose connected to a tap down here. It was crude, to hose them down like this over the tiny drain, but it was the best idea we had. I leaned on the crutches as I did it, Clayton more or less helping, his disgust of them evident. Mutt or witch or demon or human, nothing had proven itself to be worth much to him.
"You gonna be okay with those?" Clayton's eyes went to the crutches and I nodded.
"No problem."
"Good. Go let them know they're ready for delivery." He nudged at me and took the hose, turning it off, leaving them soaking wet.
I went upstairs and knocked on the door. When the other bodyguard came to answer, the same one as that'd stayed near us in the apartment, Tony or something, I repeated the message and he nodded, shutting the door again.
Clayton hadn't said 'stay upstairs' so I went back down and let him know the message was delivered.
About five minutes later they came for them, as we leaned against the wall, but Clayton stood between them and Demetruis, leaning against the wall, arms crossed, making it clear that he was not going anywhere. Not yet. We watched them cart the soaking wet pair upstairs, then the injured man who'd apparently helped us, Reece leaning against the wall, Clayton staying near Demetruis, and I on the crutches.
There were more arguments upstairs, soft ones, Elena and Benicio Cortez discussing something, but we waited patiently. Clayton refused to budge. I had to admit, I was on his side with this, we'd been waiting for our turn for a long fucking time.
Finally they left us alone, taking the other captives with them, and we were left with the prized one. Elena called down the stairs, "You only get him for one day. He has to be alive at the end," and then shut the door and left us to it.
"Go get the tool. And some alcohol." Clayton's eyes met mine and Reece and we nodded, heading upstairs, slipping something out of the drawer as the rest of the house were distracted by Benicio Cortez's little procession vanishing down the driveway again. I headed back down with it in one hand, Reece with a glass of something, him heading ahead of me down the stairs so that if I slipped with crutches... I had to assume that why he rushed ahead, anyway.
Demetruis was only allowed to see when we got back but Clayton had the tool hidden now. He blinked, blinded by the sudden light, trying to look defiant even now. I swore his hair was getting lighter by the hour, as if it was turning white, his face looking ten years older than whatever he was. He narrowed his eyes as the first thing he saw was me, leaning on crutches, fumbling with the box of pills Clayton had given me.
"You." He hissed. I shrugged at him.
"Just half a pill. We want him awake." Clayton instructed me softly, I nodded, and he moved up to the older man who refused to take his eyes off me till Clayton was between him and myself. "You wanting to make this easy for us?"
He spat at Clayton, or tried to, but he was so dehydrated that ...it failed and dribbled down his chin more than anything. I made a face at the sight and Clayton shook his head.
"Give the man his drink." He stepped back and I moved forward. Whisky or something. I didn't know. The pill was more or less dissolved inside it now and Demetruis glanced at it suspiciously.
"Drink it and relax." I muttered. His eyes met mine, as he drank it, the burning alcohol making him splutter a bit.
"I can't tell you anything worthwhile. Cortez tried, remember?" Demetruis's voice was rough, raspy, and he struggled against the ropes.
"Out of the cell for a few minutes." Clayton ordered and I backed off with the glass, Reece helping me get across the slippery surface with the crutches, as he approached the man. A foot hit where the bullet had and I heard a low grunt of pain behind me.
He barely needed to touch the man to bring the horrible stench of fear back into the basement.
"You were told to keep me alive." Demetruis hissed, as blood started to trickle back down his pants, down the path it'd originally taken. His eyes were half open, shoulders tense, vision foggy with the pain in his leg.
"That's not hard. You'll wish you were dead in a day." Clayton was so cold now, so fucking sadistic looking, the malevolence on his face giving me the chills. Reece's arm brushed against mine as a slight shudder went down my back. "You want to have a talk with Anne now, or should I bring her back in a few hours?"
"Fuck you.." He hissed.
"Anne, come back in two hours." Clayton ordered us, his eyes not leaving Demetruis.
I headed upstairs obediently, checking the time as I came out, knowing I'd be expected more or less on time. Reece stayed downstairs. While I usually did 'assist', from time to time, there were things I knew he didn't want anyone to see him do. The only reason Reece was down there was because he was expected to learn.
Nick joined me in the kitchen, not speaking, but he slid his hand into mine as I sat there and tried to not stare at the clock. I leaned against his side, stressed out, not even sure what it was I was stressed about. I heard it, from time to time, the reactions downstairs. Nick didn't, not without his hearing, but he saw me flinch and tightened his grip on my hand.
The two hours dragged by slowly. I ate, I paced, Nick stayed close until he had to go help triplets go to bed. They were refusing to calm down without one of us. So he vanished again and I tried to make the last half hour go by, by ...I didn't know, going to the bathroom, having a drink, pacing.
Finally, when two hours were up, I went back downstairs.
Demetruis looked fucked. It was the only word for it. Like he'd been here for a week. Clayton didn't meet my eyes as I came down, just nudged him so his focus came back to me, his eyes clouded again.
"You want to answer her now?"
Demetruis scowled, shook his head, and I was sent back out for another two hours. This time I was ordered to bring water after the two hours was up- Clayton needed to keep him somewhat hydrated.
Another two hours of pacing, Nick not coming back as I heard him struggling to calm the triplets down, Matt sneaking down and finding me there. I didn't dob him in- I just gave him food, his second dinner for the night, gave him a fork, and he grinned as he hurried back upstairs. He was hungry and I didn't blame him. Apparently dinner was a good idea. I'd have to try it later.
I heard people gathering in the living room when I went down again, the TV on, some kind of activity around it. Not normal- we weren't really that interested in the news- and Reece was glancing at his phone when I came down.
"Clay, something's going on." Reece ignored Clayton's growl, staring at his phone, prodding at the screen.
"Something directly affecting Stonehaven?"
"Not for a while, no." Reece admitted.
"Then turn it off before I break it." A low growl, his eyes going up as if he was going 'Bloody kids' or some such thought, and he turned back onto Demetruis. "Ready to talk now?"
"You're all barbarians." Demetruis hissed, eyes shut, sweat running down his face and shoulders, I couldn't look at the bloody bits or the contorted fingers. Ow. Ow. Ow... "Why not just make the hypnotherapist bitch force me?"
"There's no fun in that." Clayton handed me the long metal pole thing, and took the glass of water. "Drink."
While he gulped the water down, I gazed at the pole, aware that the drug was probably working in him now. So he wasn't feeling it all, which was a relief. I was shocked it was a relief. I didn't know why, I was struggling to hold onto the ' Demetruis is an asshole thing', and made myself replay every single second. The rape, however drugged I'd been, and then the disease, and the way he'd forced me to carry children and then taken them away, with as little regard for me as he might a favored dog who could make him profit with puppies. And Elena. What he'd tried to do with Elena, even if it hadn't been physical rape, forcing his 'material' into her like that, that was just messed up. And trying to kill us. Taking her away for a week, a week where no one knew what had happened, not even Elena. She acted like it wasn't important but … if it were me, if I'd have been a captive for a week, I would have been in a state of anxiety every night about it. Looking for clues. Wondering if the nightmares I was having were memories or my brain making things up.
I saw his eyes shut and knew now, knew the drug was more or less taking over, because he slumped, breathing slowing, his mind fading under the effects of the date rape drug.
"It's time." Clayton's eyes met Reece's eyes who nodded.
Demetruis's eyes tried to open, as if he was fighting it, but Reece came over then, his hand brushing across my arm, before he forced the man to bend, yanking his pants down.
The last thing I wanted to see was Demetruis's ass again, after having seen it several times over me, but I pictured Elena, and remembered what he'd been doing while I'd seen it. Remembered the anger, the violation, and suddenly this part? Not so hard. I ignored his scream of pain, struggling, wondering how the hell men could find this sexy. Reece grimaced too, his body close to mine, but when he and Clayton shared a glance, he nodded a fraction and kicked it in. Not just shoved. Kicked it in, blood welling up, then he pulled me backwards and we let Demetruis dangle back down, his face drained of blood, eyes wide and the whites of his eyes showing as he struggled against the restraints holding him there.
"Barbarians." He hissed through gritted teeth, eyes shut, but Clayton ignored this.
"He's all yours." He stepped back for me, as Demetruis struggled, no trace of sleep left now.
"I was just getting you pregnant. Feel helpless yet? Vulnerable? Admit it and we'll take it out." I forced any other emotions, regret, or guilt, or horror, I made them all go away. Now I was dealing with a villain. A pure villain. He was an adult, he had free will, and whatever 'nice' things he tried to do, they didn't excuse what he did to us.
"Fuck you. That thing will make me bleed to death."
"Talk."
"It was my mother."
I struck him so hard, the suddenness of it shocked even me, the slap ringing out. I was tired of him making excuses ,making other people pay or take responsibility for his choices. Did I like Demetruis's mother, Rose? She had tried to keep the twins. But then, she was a grandmother, maybe she was afraid she'd never see them again. I put her in the back of my mind. Whatever her problem was, it wasn't fair that he blame her this time. "Stop blaming everyone else."
He grinned, a crooked half-mad grin, teeth red with blood. "Fine, it was my brother."
Another hit, which made him shut his eyes, and he was gone for a little while.
"Ask him what happened to Elena." Clayton said softly, as he stepped closer. I nodded. This was my questioning, I knew Clayton could have asked, but if he wanted me to ask I would.
"And the resistance?"
Clayton nodded a fraction, woke Demetruis up with a kick to the balls, and he struggled, the veins standing out in his agony, every muscle tense. "Get talking."
"Elena was with you for a week." I said softly, grasping his head, making him look at me. "What did you do with her?"
"Eggs. We took her eggs." He snapped. "There. Happy?"
"What else?"
Demetruis leered, just for a moment, but it faded when his eyes went past me to Clayton. Right now, I knew it, I knew that Clayton was struggling to stay 'enforcer' and not slip into 'mate'. I didn't have to look back to guess the kind of look he was giving Demetruis. "This, and that."
We went on like this for a while. Demetruis refused to be detailed, not with Clayton staring at him from just a few feet away, and finally I had to turn around and suggest that they leave and I hypnotise him.
I didn't need to. The second Clayton wasn't there, Demetruis admitted he may have 'had a few goes', but he didn't harm her. She was too precious. He'd just had a taste, his words, like he had with me. Reece inhaled slowly, shutting his eyes, as that last part slipped out. Apparently he hadn't really thought about where the twins had come from. Now he knew.
"You didn't know?" Demetruis, maybe half-mad with his own agony now, leered at Reece. There was no smoothness left, no manipulative charm, just the madness that maybe had always sat underneath. It just took a lot of pain to expose it. "We did it in her husband's garden. Made babies there."
"You did it," I replied, lowly, making him look me in the eyes. ", to an unconscious woman. We did nothing. Therefore we haven't had twins. I've had twins. Fathering children requires more than what you did."
"You agreed to help." He growled softly, angry now. "Agreed."
"Then I turned out to already be pregnant, didn't I? Our agreement fell through." I was realising this as he said it, that whatever I'd agreed, IVF or something, it hadn't worked. I didn't have to fill his agreement. "You're not seeing them again."
"My mother won't allow it. She's it, you know, she's the one giving orders. Second I get out of here, I'm going to take them."
He was back to blaming someone else, I noticed, but the threat of taking the twins bothered me. It wasn't me that hit him now. It was Reece, his fist striking Demetruis' face, his breathing faster as he stared at the man with more loathing than I'd seen in any face in my life, including Clayton. The nose broke under it.
He flinched as I touched his hand, drawing him away a few feet, crossing his arms. "There's a few problems with your plan, asshole."
"What contact have you had with the resistance?"
I didn't expect the reaction I got. Laughter. So much laughter, hysterical, blood spraying from his nose. He laughed, almost mad, and I wondered if we had shattered something in his head. If we had driven him mad. For a second I saw his son in him, the ex-alpha, saw the sadistic cruelty in the madness.
"They are the future. I was going to save you." He finally spoke, through laughter, his body shaking. Maybe he was in shock from what we'd done to him. "Now I'm going to let them kill you all. Laugh. Let them torture you."
"Save me from what?"
"Humans. You see what the human world does to us? You think my brothers had accidents?" He coughed, spluttering on his own blood, his eyes shutting as I saw a well of grief and rage there. "They weren't fucking accidents. They found out about us. The government's been killing us off, one by one, big families, powerful families, trying to capture us. They're trying to kill us. Our children are going to help put the humans where they belong." Demetruis' eyes opened, suddenly, as he stared up at me. He was slumped now, like he couldn't find the energy to stand, slumped down on the chains holding him. "Maybe I'll still save you. I like you. You're a warrior. A fighter. You'll see. You think we're the bad ones now but you'll see. It wasn't us who captured Elena first, it wasn't us who want to use you as slaves and weapons. When your kids are leading the army, when you're saved from the humans, you'll see who's right..."
I wasn't sure what he meant by 'captured Elena first'. I knew she'd been captured, at some point, but not much more than that. I heard Clayton come back down the stairs from where he'd been standing.
"You-" His eyes locked onto Clayton as he came down. "-your twins. They're going to lead the army. You can keep them as long as you want. But one day, they're leading their army. The prophesy says it." There it was again, that madness, that flood of madness in his face. Demetruis was already loosing it.
"Go." Clayton moved between us, his back to Demetruis, his cold face defrosting somewhat when Demetruis couldn't see it. "This is where I take over. Reece- take her upstairs and come back in three hours."
Reece nodded and led me upstairs, careful.
We ate dinner in silence. Nick came out of the living room, I heard Jeremy in there still with Lucas, and came to sit with us, the three of us quiet, my arms and legs shaking. I had to let go of that horrible frame of mind, that 'hurt him' mindset, get back into my usual one. The one where I wasn't even able to step on a spider.
"You okay?" Reece asked softly and I nodded, trying to smile. "Sorry. I didn't know how the twins were made. Shouldn't have hit him."
"He spoke?" Nick said, finally, and when we both nodded jerky nods, I saw a little relief there. "About fucking time. You've got my permission to hit him anytime, Reece."
"Yeah, but not Clayton's permission. He's gonna be pissed." He laughed softly, trying to relax, and when he offered us that whisky, no one argued. Just enough to calm down a little. "Showers might help. What's this about an epidemic, Nick?"
I remembered, suddenly, that Reece had been looking at something on his phone. Nick glanced up.
"Something about that disease in dogs suddenly tripling in rate. Quadrupling. Doubling. Depends on what channel you're on. There's official government advice now. It's not important to us, not really, but they're not sure why suddenly so many dogs are getting sick."
"I thought it was in dogs ages ago." Reece muttered. "What's the panic?"
"Mostly shelter dogs and wild dogs.. It's spreading through house pets now. We'll watch the news when you two have showered." Nick's eyes were on my shaking arm. I saw Reece nod again out of the side of my vision.
"Come on, Aussie, I'll help you get into a warm shower. Is she meant to go back tonight?"
"If she is, I'll tell Clay she needs a rest." Reece replied, standing also.
"I'm fine. You two don't need to protect me all the time." I muttered, grabbed the crutches, and lifted myself up. "I'm just tired."
While in the shower though, Nick nearby so I could lean against him, I stood there in the hot water as it pounded on my skin and realised I wasn't sure why I was so upset. I wasn't sure what I was, to be honest, it wasn't like Demetruis had said anything particularly upsetting. Except for claiming 'we' had sex, when it was rape, and what he'd admitted he'd done with Elena, that upset me more than I wanted to admit. I wasn't sure why. Deep down I knew that this was a possibility, that she had been raped, I always knew that. To hear it straight form her though...
"What he say?"
I told Nick, as he helped me dress in the big tshirt I wore for bed, so big that the neckline fell over one shoulder. He didn't say a word till I was done and hugged me closer, arms around me, breathing in and out slowly against my bare neck.
"Good job." He said, finally, softly. "You did it. He admitted he knows them."
"He raped Elena. I think." I still wasn't sure if that was what he meant exactly by 'had a go'. Probably.
"Yeah, and he's now in the basement with Clay." He reminded me. "Let it go. Clayton will handle it."
Of course he would. I knew that. I sighed, shut my eyes, and let Nick hold me for a while. I was too tense to go to sleep through. No matter how much he tried to stroke my arms or back, I stood there stiff like a board, unable to relax.
"Come downstairs. We'll watch the news, it'll bore you to sleep, and we'll deal with tomorrow when it's light." Nick offered, stepping back, and I nodded.
"Sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me." I muttered as we went back downstairs.
When we came down from the showers there was no one around. Everyone had gotten bored of the news, apparently, and had gone to bed. Reece came down a few minutes after we did, hair damp, and Reece headed straight for the fridge.
I wasn't tired or hungry though. Nick seemed to see this, as yawny as he was, and he flopped onto the couch and turned it back on low for us to see the news for ourselves. It'd gone from 'that disease that spread through the shelters and the dogs on the streets' to 'The EPIDEMIC'. I suspected it'd been an epidemic amongst the dogs and wolves for a while- it'd just taken for some powerful pooches to get sick and suddenly they stopped pretending it wasn't a problem.
"So it's spread far in the dogs?" I didn't tease them though. Dogs, cats, huge part of people's lives. They were incredible with people who were sick or had mental illness. When Susie's husband had been in hospital, there'd been therapy dogs that would come in to the chemo area and cheer them up, so I knew that it was a problem. Not to mention sniffer dogs at airports would start to be in short supply, farms would struggle...
Nick shrugged and glanced behind me to Reece, who came in with some kind of chocolate, standing near me as he watched the TV.
"Is it just America?"
"It's hard to tell." I muttered. That was one thing I had to fault. American news- it was all about America. All the time. Day and night. There'd be some amusing youtube videos that were sometimes not American, if you were lucky, but in general.
It wasn't a small thing though. I saw this as I stood there, too strung out by downstairs to relax, because for all the hysteria of the news it seemed it was actually spreading a bit faster and a lot less controlled now. Lots of dogs were getting it. Mostly pure bred dogs, apparently, which meant a lot of cancelled dog shows. The mutts had better statistics and survival rates. Vets were struggling with the amounts and some were refusing to take the dogs if they showed signs of the disease in an attempt to avoid spreading it to the dogs that weren't sick. It was kind of hard to remember that this disease in the pet dog world and in the wolf world, it was the same one as the one we'd all had. Some expert came on and claimed that wolves who survived it, four out of five, were stronger and breeding faster. Claimed it'd changed them. They got thirty seconds at two in the morning- probably the only time they were offered in the whole day. Who wanted to hear about stronger wolves that could breed faster?
Arms slid around my waist, slowly, sudden, and I suddenly realised that Nick's attention wasn't on the TV. He sat on the couch, looking amused, as Reece came up from behind. That 'I'm up to something' look was back on his face again.
It wasn't him pressing against my back though. I glanced back, Reece grinning at me, and it was while my attention was shifted that Nick got up and moved to wrap his arms around me from the front.
"You're supposed to be shirtless." Nick hissed at Reece, who let go with one arm, shrugging his top off, and threw it to one side.
"Why?" I asked, suspicious, as the two of them pinned me between them.
I got it the same second Nick kissed me hard, and Reece's hands slid up the bottom of the long tshirt, up my thighs, resting on my hips. I got it now. They were trying to convince me it was fun. I couldn't protest either- Nick's mouth was refusing to let mine free, Reece's shoulder behind my head- and there was something pretty incredible and overwhelming about being pinned by two warm bodies, the scents of my love and my best friend on either side of me, like …
This was pretty stupid, I tried to tell myself, and way too effing complicated. Much to... I flinched, as Reece's knee slid up between my bare legs, the rough fabric of his jeans teasing the sensitive skin there, Nick's hands cupping my face.
"What are you two up to?" I hissed, when Nick stopped distracting me with kissing, his mouth tracing down my neck.
"Giving you a sample." Reece answered, from behind me, Nick pulling hair over one shoulder so Reece could nip at a bare shoulder. His knee ground against my back, while Nick removed the crutches so I couldn't move, his body pressing harder against mine. "Like?"
"And relaxing her." Nick reminded him, Reece echoing it, his breathing a bit faster.
"Are you drunk?" How much had they drunk while I was dazed? I tried to move Nick's head to mine, in my direction, and he grinned and shook his head.
"No." Reece shook his head.
"No." Nick agreed.
"This is too complicated. What if ..." I didn't know what to say, suddenly, as one of Reece's hands tentatively stroked across my lower stomach, very low, Nick's hand cupping a breast through the fabric. Slowly, his attention on me and Nick, I felt Reece's fingers brush against the hem of the panties, and forced a soft moan right back down. Oh my god. I really wanted them to keep it up. I wanted them to do it. The need for it shocked me. This wasn't me. I wasn't a slut. I didn't ...my hips pushed backwards against Reece, Nick moving with me.
"Whatever you're complaining about, Nick's got rules to prevent it from happening." Reece replied, amused, but his breathing was a bit faster now. A lot less controlled. I smelt the arousal from both of them, overwhelmed for a second by the smell of it mingling with their scents, their heat, their bodies rubbing against mine. Nick's eyes met mine, and I saw it, the triumph and the amusement he always got when he was corrupting me a little more when he saw that I was just as turned on as he was. Holy crap. What was I doing! I felt Nick's hand grasp the top, starting to pull it up, felt myself want him to...
"Okay, I'm going to bed. Alone." I muttered, trying to push them back. I'd realised my own body had kicked into gear big time for this. "You two can grope each other while I'm gone." They didn't argue, Reece handed me the crutches back, stepping back. Cold air replaced his warmth and I whined softly, I couldn't stop it, I didn't want them to stop. Instead, I moved away upstairs, face bright red, ignoring the urge to ...drag them both back. Argh.
"Next sample could be any time!" Reece called behind me, soft, and I heard the laughter in his voice. My face went redder. In other words, this wasn't going to be the last attempt.
After that, I lay there, frustrated, turned on, and unable to sleep for a different reason. Nick tried to get into bed and I kicked at him.
"What?" He tried looking innocent and failed. "It didn't turn you on, right? So we can snuggle?"
"I need to go for a run." I muttered. Or did I want to do that? If I wanted sex, then the wolf in me wouldn't understand 'complications'. It'd just suggest we go for it. "Or a walk. Nick, what the hell. You won't even let men dance with me."
"They were grinding you, they were human, and I know where Reece lives." Nick stood back, undoing his pants, and watched me as I watched him undress, watched a little too intently, unable to tear my eyes away. He was turned on. Maybe as badly as I was.
I groaned, turned over so I couldn't stare, and felt him crawl across the covers, nuzzling my shoulder, kneeling beside me. "I'm not a slut."
He froze. Then he slid closer, lying down, his body pressing against mine, I felt his gender against my back through the sheets. Nick nibbled the side of my neck. "Liz, this doesn't make you a slut. He's your best friend. Not some random stranger I pulled out of the streets for you. Enjoying this doesn't make you a slut. Shesh."
"What if I fall in love with him?" I twisted around, Nick blinking at me. "Sex isn't the same for girls. I read that ...we fall in love with them. During sex. A chemical reaction or something."
Nick laughed, kissing me hard, pulling the sheets off me in one quick motion. "Is that why you fell in love with me? I had sex with you?"
"Well, no." I admitted. He slid over me, pinning me there, and there was no hiding what it'd done to me now. "I loved you before that. What if..."
Nick cut me off, pulling my legs around his waist, ignoring the panties and pushing himself in me with a rough fast thrust, making me inhale sharply as he groaned softly. There was no way of hiding it now. "So you did like it?"
"Shut up." I tugged his head down to mine, kissing him hard, and he didn't argue with this idea. He yanked my legs up higher, grinding against me as our bodies pushed against each other, too turned on to talk after a few seconds, soft growls and moans filling the room as Nick helped me better than any walk or run.
I cried out against his neck in what felt like seconds, body shaking, arms around his neck as he joined me, and we collapsed there in the dark room.
It did relax me. I fell asleep against Nick's chest, as he waited for me to fall asleep.
I woke a few hours later, saw it was just after five, and got up while Nick stayed fast asleep. My body was back to being tense, anxiety again making my heart race, skin sweat, body want to move, the brief 'relaxation' over now. I just wasn't tired. I slipped out, tugging a skirt on, and went downstairs to the kitchen in search of some tea or something.
It sounded like Clayton and Reece weren't in the basement anymore but I wasn't sure and somehow couldn't bring myself to look. He'd never said 'don't come back down' but I felt unable to go near the door.
Elena was at the table. She smiled weakly at me, only the light of the living room lighting the kitchen, sitting there in the dim light. She looked fine, there was no obvious sign to me that she was anything but just awake, but I felt like she was tense. Something deep down said she wasn't fine.
"Clayton has gone to bed." She let me know as my eyes lingered on the door. "Do you want a cup of coffee?"
"I can get it." I offered and she shook her head.
"I was going to make another one anyway. Sit down." Elena stood up and started the machine as I sat down. "He told me what information you got."
Everything, I suspected, I never saw him as hiding anything from her without reason. Elena's lips tightened, just a moment, but it was so fast that I wondered if I'd imagined it. "I think he's starting to go mad."
"Yes, that's another thing Clayton said." She agreed, leaning against the bench, eyes darting to the clock on the microwave for just a moment. "Do you want milk?"
I nodded and Elena made the coffee as I got up to get us some cookies from the hiding place. When we had everything we sat down, breathing slowly, Elena's shoulders still tense. Elena sighed, glanced at me, and then sat down with the two coffees. She pulled something out of her pocket. A pregnancy test? I got it now. The tenseness, the restlessness, the glances at the clock.
"Clayton know you're testing?" I asked softly.
She shook her head and put it on the table. "I got a positive before. I was double checking." Elena said quietly. "This one says negative."
"They don't really work well early." I remembered having one done, right back on the morning of the wedding, but I'd been a little along by then . "It might be too early."
Elena nodded and slid it back into the box and back into her pocket. "You're probably right. After the confirmation, I wanted to find out, but I may have to wait." She smiled, a weak tense smile, and didn't pull back when I squeezed her hand.
"Whatever happens, remember what you told me." I muttered and she nodded. There it was, that iron stubbornness in her, that will I hoped she'd hold onto if something did happen. "It's not his child. Neither are the twins. We didn't make them together. So they're not his. He dropped them off and I found them."
"Interesting way of seeing it." Elena laughed softly. "There's going to be a fight over it though. Lucas told me the grandmother had threatened legal action."
I tried to shrug it off. We went quiet, staring at the steam rising off the coffee, hearing feet coming down the stairs. Nick stared at me, looking exhausted, his curls all over the place.
"You not tired?" He yawned, stretching, stumbling over to flop between Elena and myself.
"Not really." I admitted. But he looked buggered. I stood up and leaned over to hug Elena, who looked as tense and awake as I felt. "But we'll go to bed."
"So will I." Elena agreed, standing, the cups of coffee more or less abandoned as we went back upstairs.
I crawled back into the bed, careful with my injured foot, and Nick literally just flopped face first. He barely had to scoot up. He grinned at me, kissed me, and fell asleep within a few minutes, pulling me up against his side.
I lay there against his chest, listening to his body, but nothing happened for me. No sleep, no need to sleep, and I couldn't even think. I just lay there, listened to his heart near my head, watching the light in the bedroom slowly change from black, to a slightly lighter grey, then a little lighter again, watched the objects in the room come into view one, by one, by one, till the early morning light was strong enough to see the room.
Leaning up, I gazed down at Nick, his face relaxed in the soft light, curls messed up everywhere, the faintest growth under my thumb as I stroked his face. The man was beautiful, incredible, and I felt almost afraid under the weight of how much I felt for him, how much my life depended on Nick being apart of it. Even if he was away for a few days a week. I didn't need or want anything else. Maybe that was it. Maybe that was why adding Reece to our fun made me anxious. What if it upset Nick? What if he started to think I needed Reece like I needed him, or thought I needed a younger husband, or some other stupid what if? What if ... I groaned softly, flopping my head against his chest, my arm going across him. Maybe it was silly to worry about 'what if'.
I heard feet outside. Nick slid across into the warm gap I'd just left, onto his side, and opened one eye.
"You still don't wanna sleep?" He muttered, then opened the other brown eye, eyes going to the clock beside our bed. Then, his slightly hungry look returned, and that grin cut through the sleep in his eyes,"Want something else?"
"Sorry. I just can't get to sleep." I smiled weakly down at him. "You can sleep."
"Nu uh. Not with you staring at me like that." Nick suddenly flopped me over onto my back. "We co-"
Whatever he'd planned on doing was cut off as I heard the twins wake.
Holy crap.
The twins had slept through the night. I blinked, Nick blinked, and we grinned and slid up fast, Nick going over first.
"Before you complain," He commented ash e glanced at me, yawning a huge yawn, "I did check them. That's why I kept waking up."
"I trust you." I wondered if that had something to do with why I couldn't sleep. Waiting for the babies. I didn't know. Once the crutches were under my armpits I went to stand next to him, Reece in the crib looking as sleepy as Nick had seconds ago, and maybe even a little startled to see the light. "They slept through. Incredible."
"I'll put the blanket on the bed and you change them while I get meals. Okay?" I nodded, Nick kissed me, and I went to sit on the bed as he lowered each of the babies onto their changing blanket, threw me what I needed, and vanished out the door.
"Hi peanut, rosy." I greeted them, as I tried to change them both in a hurry, the two of them calming down now that we were paying attention. Their eyes fixed on me and when the smelly things were off, when I was cleaning them, I finally saw their first smiles of the day. "You slept in. How's it feel?"
Now that they were changed, apparently it felt great, because they were both beaming at me. I saw it, the warning wriggle from Reece, and snatched the towel before his morning pee got both me and the bed. Something else no one told me about, but I'd learnt from Dominic- boys didn't need to put effort into sending pee everywhere. It just went everywhere without a quick reflex and a towel.
"Good catch." Nick commented, returning with the bottles, and crawled across to the other side.
Once they were dressed in their matching outfits- Nick's idea, of course- we let them back into their crib and Nick vanished with the dirty things. I watched them amuse themselves, Rose with her foot in her mouth, and Reece watching her as if she was performing some incredible acrobatical stunt, looking at me every few seconds as if to say 'Well, look at that!'. When she tried to put her other foot in her mouth, as it waved around, he laughed. Laughed for the first time. I stared at him, Reece blinked, looking startled by the noise coming out from him, and burst into tears all over again.
"Peanut..." I laughed, lifting him up, Rose letting go of her feet as she stared up at her twin. "It's a laugh. It's not a bad thing." Joy filled me at the sound. Not just their first all night sleep but Reece's first laugh. I suddenly wanted to get a book. A facebook page for them! I wanted to write this down and document it. Why hadn't we got them abook? We had one for each of the triplets. I had to get them 'first year baby books'.
"What is it?" Nick jogged back.
"Reece laughed and scared himself."
Nick shook his head, coming over to take him, jiggling him up and down. "You gotta get used to that. I want to make it happen more." He commented lightly to the baby, who calmed down easily with the man he adored, thumb in mouth. "Sure it was a laugh?"
"It was a laugh." I smiled somewhat and reached down to pick up Rose before she started to fuss, balancing against the crib. She rested against my neck, trying to grab hair and pull that into her mouth now.
Nick made a face at Reece, being silly, and again there it was, that little laugh and that startle look on Reece's face as if he had no clue where on earth that sound had come from. He was about to burst into tears when Nick laughed. Then he froze, as if he was putting this together, like he was putting the sounds together. It took a little while before the laugh came back, matching Nick, Reece copying him.
"Silly baby." Nick made another face at him, got the same silly laugh and shock, but no tears now. "Just like your mum. Scared of everything new."
I kicked for Nick, who easily stepped back, blowing me a kiss. The smile faded though. "Clayton says you're going in at six, so he said you should eat. Then bring him some breakfast downstairs and the first aid kit."
Going in? To the basement, in other words, and Nick's smile faded when eh saw me sigh and lower Rose back.
"You can say no, you don't have to do agree. It isn't an order yet." He moved closer to snuggle up against me.
"I know." I smiled, trying to make Nick feel better now, but it wasn't working. He nipped my lip, kissed me, and lowered Reece back down into the crib beside his sister.
"What's she doing to her foot?" Nick asked, I turned around, and saw she'd managed to get her foot back in her mouth.
"Eating it. I better get dressed and eat." I sighed, Nick helped me with the task while my foot refused to be reliable weight bearing material, the concern back in his face. "Nick, can you write it down? Their first sleep in and Peanut's first laugh."
"We need books for them, don't we? I'll write it down." Nick promised, following me downstairs, and as usual, hurried to go before me on the staircase.
Breakfast was a hurried thing, Reece there too, looking as groggy and sleepy as I probably should have felt. We headed back downstairs, Reece balancing the food, me with the first aid kit under one hand.
I wished I could say it was fun, that morning, or that it was exhausting. It was neither. Clayton had me fix his fingers, snapping bone into the right position and splintering it, Reece helping. Demetruis was sedated, apparently, Clayton wasn't confidant about how he'd have been overnight or if he'd harm himself.
"How much did he talk?" I asked, finally when we'd cleaned up various wounds, removed the pipe, and re-dressed him.
"He's not some important figure." Clayton scowled, arms crossed, leaning against the bars. "They contacted him when they found out about his sons getting arrested, and that they were hybrids. He's funded them a lot, promised them your twins when they're older as long as he's involved, but they've not contacted him much. Kept rambling about his mother."
"She's apparently running the family." I said softly. "But she's harmless."
"Yeah, I saw her." Clayton wasn't as convinced about this as I was. "Don't care how old she is, old doesn't mean harmless."
I wasn't sure about that. Old usually meant stubborn, sure, but it didn't mean she was bad. I knew she'd tried to keep my twins but that may have had more to do with the fact that she'd lost her grandsons, all her sons except this one, and now even he was in trouble. Any woman would cling to her grand kids. I would have done exactly what she did. I hoped I'd never be in that position, hoped I'd never see my own kids go bad like these ones had. A mother's love didn't fade just because her kids were assholes, sadly. It made mothers do a lot of strange things.
But I didn't argue with him, just waited as he re-questioned Demetruis with the same questions, Demetruis now sedated. Same answers. Truth was, as big as he was with us, he barely knew a thing. He had genuinely wanted to have some more children, not just because he wanted heirs, but because he had an agreement going with the resistance people to allow them to be apart of the army. He believed in them, had as much faith in this resistance as any fanatically devoted follower could have, and actually believed that the government had played a part in the accidents that had killed his brothers over the years.
That was it. That was the whole story, right there, the story of his life. He'd grown up believing this to be true, and maybe he'd always been somewhat mad underneath, I didn't know. Then the resistance found him after his sons were imprisoned and got one hell of a loyal ally in a heir of the four Cabal families. Now he was cracked. Humpty Dumpty cracked. Clayton's mental, psychological and physical threat had more or less thrown him off the wall.
Clayton had us leave when we'd made sure he was more or less treated and fed, and Reece and I sat upstairs, both a little stunned. Out of all the answers. Aaron, Demetruis's son, had wanted power and a pack. Demetruis wanted to help a resistance group overthrow the government and thought that by impregnating Elena, he'd have the best weapons in the world. My twins were the backup.
I flopped onto the couch. "Bloody hell."
Reece just rubbed his head. "No kidding. If I hear Reece junior talk like that, I'm kicking him in the bum."
I slid across to lean against him, shutting my eyes, hearing the toddlers outside with Nick and Jeremy, playing in the leaves. Elena was upstairs near the kid twins and the baby twins. They were trying to make sure we had the freedom to help Clayton, I knew that. I wasn't sure what else he could get out of Demetruis.
"I hope madness isn't inherited." I muttered.
"They've inherited your madness first. That's what counts." Reece muttered. "Fuck. The man's insane."
Now I felt tired. I shut my eyes, exhausted with all of it, Reece's arm coming over my shoulder. The entire thing. It felt like it should be over. We'd captured the bad guy. Captured him and now Clayton just needed to somehow get his hands on the cure.
"You enjoy last night?" Reece's voice came, softer. I blinked, memories of the 'sandwich' running through me, memories that did stir something. Even now, they were stirring something.
I didn't answer for a while.
"If you don't like the idea, don't worry about it. I'm still a little stunned." He shook his head.
"Me too." I admitted. "I don't know. I didn't say I didn't like it. I just... Demetruis. I guess it's overwhelming. Demetruis and Nick's idea. And you liking it."
"I never said I didn't like sex. I just figured it was off the cards if Daniella wasn't interested. No one else is really interesting." Reece admitted. "I've tried a few times, had a good time, but it wasn't really that much fun. Nick's idea is ...interesting."
So was I, apparently, interesting enough. He stroked my arm, slowly, as I relaxed into a doze, using his thigh for a pillow.
"I've only slept with Nick." I admitted, sleepy, feeling then Reece's body tense slightly. "I mean, willingly. I didn't have sex before him."
I heard him breathe out, a soft 'Oooh' come from him, as if he suddenly got it. "You look buggered. Come on. Come upstairs, we'll have a nap."
"Twins in my room. No napping."
"In my room." He prodded my side. "Clean bed. Sheets changed this morning. No funny business."
I gave in and followed Reece upstairs, unable to resist the idea of a nap now, my arms aching where the crutches had started to rub, and crawled on top of the clean sheets. Reece got me one of Nick's pillows, and I clung to it and passed out finally.
I woke to the smell and feel of Nick beside me, sitting there, the sound of pages turning as he read to three interested sets of ears. 'The very hungry caterpillar' was starving, apparently, because he repeated it several times before the triplets were satisfied. Dominic, I knew it without looking, was using one of my calves as a pillow. Lily and Susie were bouncing around eagerly. I smelt a pear somewhere, probably their snack.
"Mama's awake." Nick announced, as I shifted over, lifting Dominic up into my arms. He yawned, looked a little less stressed than the day before, but was very happy to resume his snuggle. "You're in the wrong bed, Mama."
"I needed some sleep." I smiled sheepishly. "Hi."
"Read it again!" Susie pushed at Nick, pushed the book at him, so he started all over again. To my amusement, this time he read it in Italian, and all three babies seemed to get it .
For the rest of the day, Clayton didn't need me, not until an hour before Benicio Cortez was due back. I helped him clean up the older man, who really looked old now, as best we could. Made him drink a drink with a sedative, re-dressed him, and had only just got the job done before Benicio's people came downstairs and Clayton had to let them take him. We watched them cart him off, the limp body between them, and then he joined Benicio Cortez, Elena, Jeremy and Lucas in the study again for a meeting as the van took away the asshole who'd more or less screwed up my life and tried to hurt my kids.
"We're going for a run tonight." Nick told me, as he got pizzas out of the oven, that faint concern still on his face. "Elena's orders. You need to sleep tonight."
"I think I just need to sleep tonight." I smiled weakly as he frowned. "Sorry. If you need to go..."
"No, I can wait a few days." Nick shook his head. "Just thought it might relax you."
The next few days, we discussed what had been found out, sat, and waited for news. Benicio Cortez had let us know that he'd find out the cure and would give it to Elena, Clayton had been unable to get much out of Demetruis about that, except that he hired people to worry about it for him. Made a huge profit out of it.
And in the human world, it seemed, the disease was finally making ripples. It was more serious than I'd given it credit for, spreading throughout the world, and it meant that it finally reached Pav. She got sick months after the rest of us, as did a few other members of the Russian pack, the illness finally making its way into the European supernatural community.
Vi reassured me that they were coping. I stayed in touch when I wasn't hobbling around, able to abandon the crutches more or less now, and she let me know that everything was fine. Pav's boys had gotten sick but they recovered just as fast as they got sick. They were amazing kids, dark brown hair and green eyes, toddlers that looked suntanned because of their mother's beautiful skin. The green eyes apparently came from the Russian Alpha's grandfather, or something.
Elena and I started to spend more time together, waiting for the right time to test for her, and she finally started to let me see the stress there when she wasn't acting as Alpha. Maybe it was helping for her to see how much I cared for the babies, I didn't know, I didn't know how I could help her face this reality that she might or was carrying around children that didn't belong to Clayton. If Clayton felt anything I didn't hear about it. He went right back to being dad, protector, and didn't say a word once the news had been spread. No one else needed to know yet about what Demetruis had tried to do with her body... and yet somehow, everyone knew.
The second she found out where and when the disease was being given out, Demetruis free again and back trading in Miami, Elena was already packing, Clayton right there.
"Are we all coming?" I asked as she packed, and she shook her head.
"This is something the Alpha needs to do now her arm can work." Clayton said, soft, but firm. This was, in other words, something Elena had to do. Prove herself. It could take a few years before the mutts really took her seriously as Alpha, I knew that, but this was one hell of a way to start the 'education'. "Adam and Savannah are there to provide backup. The Cabal are staying out of it on her request."
"So we stay and guard the kids?" I asked and he nodded. Not a small task either, if not quite as exciting as 'go and bash people', and I would have to take it pretty seriously. Jeremy wouldn't be going with them. Only people who were physically able to defend themselves and, as sharp as Jeremy's mind was, he wasn't able to do that yet. Not till she got her hands on the cure. Treatment. Whatever it was.
"We'll be back in time for you to go to New York for that tour." Clayton nodded. I'd completely forgotten about it all over again. "But yes. Guard our kids." An order and, I realised, one hell of a compliment from him if he still trusted me with his kids.
We watched them, tense all over again, knowing that whatever they were going into... it was not going to be pretty. Bunch of drug addicted people fighting to defend their drug source? It was not going to be pretty at all. Elena would be spectacular. Now we just had to go back to the worst part of all of this- waiting.