25. ~Emilio~
25
~Emilio~
Rocco and I had finished up bolstering physical security around Charon Manor.
Everything was in place.
Security had been tighter than it had ever been.
And yet I was still concerned.
We weren’t just dealing with mafioso soldiers this time around.
Erebus was another level altogether, unlike anything we’d come up against before.
It meant that no matter how strong security was, how intense our protection protocols were, there was no true safety. Not while they remained active.
And as much as I was glad that Caterina was back with us, the stress of worrying about her being so with her still a target was very fucking real.
They’d already gotten too close the last couple of times.
Hell, beyond that. They’d killed our child and nearly killed her and Nico, too.
I really couldn’t stand the thought of another situation like that playing out.
She’d been through too much as it was. And the three of us had also, right along with her. It was something that had finally really gotten to Nico.
But it was being compounded by his fear of losing her.
Something that was being further complicated by Stover being in the picture now as her true biological father.
Sipping at my coffee with a few drops of brandy in it, I stepped out onto the patio to take a beat. Julian and Levi were sparring again and Nico was making calls from his office, strategizing his rule once the final leg of this war was over. Basically, he was doing everything he could, using any excuse he could in order to avoid all three of us—and Stover. The only one he’d allowed close had been Levi. Talk about things shifting, big time.
The morning that Nico had taken off while Caterina had been in the bathroom, Julian and I had spent time with her when she’d finally emerged. Some good, quality time. But it hadn’t felt right without Nico also being there, something Caterina had been upset about. We’d told her he was busy and run off his feet with everything going on, but it had been clear that she’d only bought that to an extent. She knew Nico. She could see through one of his smokescreens.
The problem was, him doing that had actually seemed to put Caterina off voicing what remained unspoken between the four of us. Like it had been a setback.
Now was the time to see to all of this because we had to wait on tracking Erebus with Levi and Caterina working together until certain parts and devices came in. Caterina had run a complicated idea by Levi and they’d both determined that they’d needed more power to pull off what they intended. I didn’t understand the specifics, because their skill level and know-how were way beyond mine. What I did know was that it would take several days for the parts, devices, and whatever the fuck, to be delivered. Acquiring them at all was apparently extremely difficult, and it was something that Stover was assisting with via his black ops contacts.
As I ventured further onto the patio, I caught sight of him and Caterina in the distance, over by the trees of the surrounding gardens.
They were training.
No. More than that, I realized, as I zeroed in on them.
Caterina’s movements were too wild and powerful to be merely sparring.
She was in her monstrous state. Unleashed.
Dammit, this was something Nico had promised her that he’d be a part of.
Honestly, it was something he needed to be a part of. Especially because he’d finally found a way to control it and pull back during the takedown of Elia. Caterina didn’t even know that yet, and neither did Stover. Nico could really help her with this. Even better than Stover.
Not to mention, Stover should be resting his fucking injured arm.
His care for this daughter was clearly outweighing his commonsense.
Well, we were all guilty of that when it came to those we loved.
I put my mug down on one of the patio tables, and drew closer as I saw Stover wince when he had to use his injured arm to block her attack, when they became more vicious and rapid-fire, as she obviously reached the height of her animalistic state.
Their voices gravitated toward me as I got closer.
“I was protecting you, Caterina.”
“You took me from my men! And now look at everything! It’s a mess! Our relationship is fractured! I can feel it! I shouldn’t…. I shouldn’t have let you! I shouldn’t have left! I just… I couldn’t handle it! I couldn’t handle the guilt of it, the failure! Being around them… it would’ve made it worse! That’s what I thought, what the grief had me believing! But I should have trusted in them! In us!”
“It can be resolved. They love you very deeply. You just need to—”
“Argh! Argh!”
He narrowly missed her blow, dodging just in time, and her fist plunged into the trunk of a tree instead.
The miss only enraged her more and fueled her state.
“Try to regain control now. Re-anchor yourself.”
“No! It’s better like this! Get away. Get away from me! I’m gonna hurt you!”
“I’m not leaving you like this.”
“Go!”
I went to step in when movement coming from around the house caught my attention and pulled me up short.
And then Nico came into view, sprinting into the fray.
“Caterina!” he called out when he was about twenty feet away.
She stilled at the sound of his voice, then spun toward him.
As he kept coming, she pulled from Stover, who then slumped against a nearby tree for support, and watched like me as Caterina ran at Nico.
Definitely not in a lovey-dovey romance movie sort of way.
No. She came in hot, screaming in animalistic fury and pain.
An unmistakable snarl escaped Nico as he hit, indicating he was in his feral state, too.
Both of them at the same time… fuck me.
He snagged her around the waist and used her momentum against her to toss her onto the grass.
She landed on her back, but only for a moment, before she literally rolled with it and came up in a primed crouch.
“Say it!” she yelled.
He started.
“Say it!”
He shook his head and took an unsteady step back, clearly fighting himself.
And then she was launching herself at him, slamming her hands into his chest and knocking him back.
Her hits came hard and fast, snarling and growling sounding from them both as they met blow for blow.
Nico managed to snag her around the waist.
He took her hits as he drove her into a tree, a grunt escaping her as it winded the hell out of her.
“You left us!” he roared down at her. “You fucking left us!”
“No!”
“You gave up on us!”
“No!”
“Then why?”
“To keep you safe!”
“We could’ve done that together! Could’ve kept you safe together, too! There was another way. There’s always an alternative! But you couldn’t even wait for us to find it, could you? You didn’t give us a fucking moment to breathe after losing the baby, after almost losing you for good as well! You fucking left us there in the dust!”
She slammed her hands up and out, dislodging his grip, then kicked him back so brutally that it had him stumbling a couple of feet, before he managed to regain his footing.
“You fucking ran, Caterina! Like you used to!”
“That’s not it!” she screamed at him, completely irate.
As she ran at him in her animalistic state, and he hauled her around and away from him, wherein she hit the grass on her hands and knees this time, I caught sight of Julian coming out of the kitchen and onto the patio, zeroing in on what was going on. The two of them going head-to-head in their dangerous states.
Although, it was clear to me that Nico was severely holding back in a way I’d never seen from him before when he was like this. He'd only pushed her away from him. He hadn’t hit her—and he never fucking would.
Julian cursed at the state of Caterina and shook his head in utter dismay for her, hurting for her.
Meanwhile, Stover hovered nearby, keeping an eye on the situation carefully.
“All I do is cause you pain!” she cried suddenly, more than rage breaking through this time.
“What?” Nico barked at her.
She grimaced and clenched her fists, clearly trying to fight the emotion that was setting in and starting to impact her, starting to pull her from her state.
“No! Stop!” she yelled aloud to herself. “No one and nothing can hurt me when I’m like this!”
I saw him suck in a couple of breaths and squeeze his eyes shut for a moment.
When he opened them, he was back to his regular self, and he told her calmly, “For me, it was about having power over my own life. At least that was how it made me feel, while I was far from in control because of those around me keeping me beneath their boots, forcing me and manipulating me. But for you, it’s self-preservation. And fear too, it seems.”
She held up her hand, not wanting to hear his words, to have them impact her.
But he persevered and stepped closer to her.
“I can control it now. You see? After all this time fighting my humanity, that was always the key, Caterina. Holding onto what makes me feel the most human. I thought it was a weakness, especially in battle. To care, to love. To think about any of that in battle, I thought it would compromise me. But it doesn’t. And it’s what enables me to walk that line now, to control it rather than it being the other way around.”
It happened then.
It fucking worked.
She slumped to her knees.
“You did it,” Nico breathed, crouching down beside her.
She reached out and grasped his biceps, urgency spilling from her as she told him in a broken, unsteady tone, “We lost the baby because of me. Because I was too stubborn to agree to be sent to a safehouse. You almost died because it was my idea to venture out to Stonewell. Your home was broken into because of me, because they wanted me. With me not around, I just… I guess I thought it would be a reprieve from all the shit I bring, all the pain. But I hated it. I hated being away from you all. There was a hole. There always is when I’m not around the three of you constantly. But… all of this… all that I bring to you… I can’t… I can’t have the three of you hurting. I love you. I love you all so much. And now it’s ruined. It’s all fucking ripped to shreds.”
I walked over there, watching as with shaking hands she pulled out her ring from her pants pocket and held it on her palm. “I missed this. I… I found it on the nightstand. But the three of you just left it there. You didn’t give it back to me, and I thought… I thought it was because you knew it, too. That now with me back here, you could see it as clear as day. That all I bring the three of you is pain, despair, and a whole lot of insanity.”
Nico clasped his hand over hers, sealing the ring between them, and drawing her gaze to his. “I’m upset because we can’t bear to lose you, Caterina. Because the idea of you pulling away is what’s fucking painful. The idea of you feeling better off and happier by being away is absolute torture.”
“I wanted to tell you how that’s so far from the truth, how much I missed all of you and regretted that it’d needed to be that way in the moment at the hospital. But then I hesitated when I felt you waking up next to me, because I was scared that putting all that out there would just sweep everything away with a whole lot of fucking poison. I could feel the strain between all of us, and I was afraid with it so fragile, that unloading things would shatter everything completely. That’s why I avoided it that morning.”
“The poison set in when you didn’t talk about any of it,” Nico told her.
“I’m sorry. That was the opposite of my intention and—”
“You don’t bring us pain, principessa.”
Julian jogged over just as I reached the two of them.
“Far from it,” he added.
“Not pain, but we do all bring our fair share of shit to the table,” I said. “It’s part of being together, bolstering and loving one another—accepting that and incorporating it into our foursome.”
“It’s what real family does, Cat.”
Nico nodded, watching as she looked between all of us, trying to take our words in. “And none of what happened is your fault. External forces, our enemies, were responsible for that. They have been since this started. We all agreed on you staying instead of heading out to a safehouse. It was a collective decision. But that wasn’t what caused the accident. Angelo and Erebus did. End of story. There was nothing we could have done. We didn’t see them coming and we couldn’t have. Not at that stage of things, especially. It just happened, Caterina. It was brutal and tragic and fucking agonizing, but it was something that was done to us, not something we’re responsible for. And what’s more is that we can’t alter any of that. All we can do is move forward.”
“And when you feel like this, feel overwhelmed and in such deep pain, share it with us. We want you to, we need you to, and you need to as well,” Julian told her, coming to crouch down on her other side. “Believe me, I’ve learned my own lesson there.”
I leaned down and laid my hands on her shoulders from behind, and she craned her neck to look up at me. “When you first came into our life, I thought it was going to be hell. I saw you as a threat, as a massive headache, in all honesty. But I was wrong. About you, about all of it. You’ve changed things for us. You’ve filled a hole for the three of us in a way we’d never imagined possible. You’ve brought a peace to us that we’ve never experienced before. You’re one of us and you always will be. Nothing and no one can change that.”
“You’ve changed everything for the better,” Julian said.
Nico lifted his palm and took hold of the ring. “No more unilateral decisions from any of us in the name of the supposed good of us all. Let’s make that agreement here and now. We fight together, we hurt together, we’re together on everything. I know it’s hard for you because you’ve never had the support of a familial unit like you do in us now. But can you do that for us going forward, principessa? Can you make us that promise?”
She nodded, emotion taking her over. “I promise. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“No apologies,” Julian said, stroking her hair. “You’d been through a severe trauma, and you dealt with it how you believed was best.”
“I love you all so much,” she uttered.
We smiled out at her as Nico slid our ring back on her finger, the symbolic nature of it not lost on any of us.
As we all rose back to our feet with her in the middle, us surrounding her, I looked out to see that Stover had gone. He was nowhere to be found. He must’ve headed back into the house while we’d been in the thick of it all, realizing he’d no longer been needed to assist, that we had it, that we had her.
She moved in a slow circle, looking out at each of us. “I’m never leaving again,” she vowed. “And while we’re putting things out there, you don’t need to tread so carefully around me. My first night back with you all, it was a good call, an easy way to sink back into things. But I’m good in that respect now.”
“Are you saying—” Julian started.
His words caught in his throat as her demeanor shifted and her eyes hooded, as they darted up and down our bodies. She was almost salivating over the sight of us.
“I want your marks all over me this time.” Darkening emerald eyes locked on ours. “Fuck me up, boys.”
God-fucking-dammit. She had us.
All the fucking way.
The three of us exchanged a nod of agreement.
And then I snagged her around the waist and hauled her off her feet.
I carried her deeper into the forest; the guys following.
When we were secluded enough, I pushed her up against a tree and ripped open her jeans. I dropped her down to her feet, and then I was yanking them and her boots off her in the next moment. Nico was there, too, pulling off her jacket with a sexual ferocity that bled into all of us, turning the intensity up several notches.
As he managed that, Julian moved in and sucked on her neck, making her moan out and sink her fingers into his hair.
When he pulled back, there was one hell of a hickey left in his wake.
Nico pulled a flip knife from his pocket and then he was stepping up to her and cutting through the straps of her tank and bra, then yanking both down roughly to expose her breasts.
She panted with erotic excitement as he cut the rest away, then crouched down between her thighs.
I slapped at them and she spread wider for us, just as Julian scraped his nails over her breasts, circling around and around, before dragging them down her stomach, then raking them up and down, making more blood-red marks over her soft skin.
“Shit,” she cried, throwing her arms out above her and digging her nails into the bark of the tree to brace herself.
Her whole body shuddered as Nico cut through one side of her the silky black panties and purposely nicked her a little.
He moved to the other side and did the same thing until pearls of blood formed.
He brushed the ruined fabric away, and then I spread her cunt open, and he smeared the blood through her folds, paying extra attention to her clit that had her crying out and bucking her hips.
I wanted a taste of her there this time.
I signaled Nico, and he stepped aside, pocketing the knife.
Taking in the highly arousing sight of her completely naked while we were still fully clothed and surrounding her as she sank against the tree for us like some sort of exquisite offering, I kept her cunt spread open and vulnerable for me as I crouched down and licked the length of her.
The taste of her dripping cunt mixed with the blood Nico had drawn had my cock reacting almost violently, straining against the zipper of my jeans.
I teased her with slow and long tantalizing licks that had her rolling her hips with sensuous movements while she slicked her tongue over her lips.
“Milo,” she uttered, her calling my name in such a needy, raspy tone doing things to me.
So much so that it had me diving into her sweet cunt and becoming fucking ravenous, sucking, licking, biting, and savoring every moment of her taste.
She grasped my hair and started grinding against my face, taking her pleasure in that hot-as-sin way we all loved from her.
“Yeah, there it is. Ride that tongue, darlin’,” Julian uttered, turned on as fuck. In my peripheral vision, I saw him open his pants and shove them down, pulling out his cock and fisting it roughly.
“Ah! Shit!” Caterina cried, her whole body shuddering as she came all over my face.
As I pulled back, she sank against the tree, boneless.
But then Nico was there, yanking her off it.
At the same time, Julian shoved me onto my back.
In the next second, Nico carried her over to me, making her straddle me. Then, with his hold on her hips, he rammed her down onto my cock, making the both of us roar out into the surrounding forest.
He released her, then started slapping her ass cheeks in turn, rapid-fire with hard, jolting slaps that had her crying out, and getting the message to ride me wildly.
She dug her nails into my pecs and slammed up and down, her breasts bouncing in my face as she worked her sexy little hips.
Julian worked with Nico. As he continued slapping her ass, Julian smacked at her breasts, making her grunt and hiss, but fuck me ever harder, as the rough treatment got her off as usual.
Nico stopped, then spread her ass cheeks open, and spat inside. “No lube. This will have to do.” He spat again, a groan coming from her as she felt it dripping inside her. “Are you gonna be our filthy little princess and take a big, thick cock up your tight ass, baby?”
“Oh fuck,” she gasped, trembling with need at his dirty words. “Yes… God .”
He signaled me, and I grasped her hips, holding her still on my cock.
Little whimpers escaped her at the friction being cut off.
Nico chuckled darkly, then gestured at Julian, who came over, stroking his cock madly.
Julian reached around where Caterina and I were joined and gathered her wetness that was dripping all over both of us, then spread it over his cock.
Then he stepped behind her.
Nico held her ass spread open as Julian sank inside. With her angled a little, I was able to enjoy the erotic sight of his cock pushing into her spread hole. It had me groaning and straining not to move to it, especially when he drove deeper and I felt him rubbing against me.
“Ungh… yeah,” Caterina choked. “Those fucking piercings.”
“I know, darlin’. Feel them teasing the fuck out of your tight little ass, huh?”
“Yes,” she gasped. “Shit.”
Nico released her and stepped back, opening his jeans and pulling his cock out, stroking himself off as he walked around to Caterina’s side.
“Almost there,” Julian told her. “You’re welcoming my cock like our filthy little whore. Ungh… fuck, Cat… yeah, that’s it.”
The moment he was fully seated inside her, Nico fisted her hair and twisted her head toward his cock. He slapped it against her cheek and she opened, then he thrust in deep, making her splutter around her mouthful of him.
Julian and I started to move.
I rammed up into her rapid-fire and Julian pressed his hand to her back, keeping her steady as he alternated his own deep, stabbing thrusts with mine, giving her the fucking of her life, while Nico plundered her throat.
She gave as good as she got, slamming back and forth against us, lost to it all, wanting more, more and fucking more.
Nico released his hold on her hair and she took control, fucking her own throat with his cock like a wild thing.
Our wild thing.
As Julian reached around and clawed at her breasts, she did the same to me, scraping her nails over my pecs and down my abs, drawing deep-red grazes all the way along that heightened every fucking thing for me.
Pleasure, pain, and a whole lot of intensity engulfed us all.
Our groans and curses collided with Caterina’s muffled screams, echoing through the dark night like a twisted sexual symphony.
I reached out and brushed my thumb over her clit.
I’d barely touched her there when she came, so much other stimulation already overwhelming her.
“Damn,” I grunted as she clenched down around my cock.
It was so fucking intense and that, combined with all the buildup… I just couldn’t hold it, and I came deep in her sweet cunt.
I cursed and threw my head back as she kept riding me through it, working her hips with a mad pace that had Julian squeezing her breasts, then roaring out into the night as he came, too.
“Fuck,” he rasped against her cheek, her mouth still full of Nico. “What you do to us… damn, darlin’.”
Nico pulled out of her mouth and she sputtered as she drew in a couple of ragged breaths. “You’re gonna come again and I want to hear your screams, principessa.”
He slid his cock between her breasts and Julian leaned in and squeezed them around him, holding them steady and making her gasp at the sensation, the two of them taking control of her at once.
Nico started thrusting roughly and like a fucking beast, and she dipped her head and swirled her tongue around his crown, whenever he thrust near her lips, while she continued milking every last drop out of me and Julian still buried inside her.
Nico took hold of her breasts, while Julian and I played with her cunt together, dragging our fingers through her folds, teasing her clit.
“Fuck! Fuck me!” she cried, rolling her hips and grinding against our wandering fingers. “Oh my God!”
Her thrusting faltered just as Nico cursed and came all over her neck and lips with a bellow.
She drenched my cock and our fingers, then collapsed back against Julian’s chest.
“Holy shit,” she breathed, looking out at us as she coyly licked Nico’s cum off her lips.
She looking sexy as hell.
Covered in cum, in our marks, her eyes shining with carnal satisfaction, her bare body slick with sweat and her own juices.
Hot fucking damn , she was really something.
Our special something.
Now and forever.