LAILAH
TEN
"Traitor!" I yelled after Hudson.
Micah leaned forward, looming over me and that's when the fun and games ended. I could see in his face when he saw the change, and quickly jumped off of me, pulling me into a sitting position holding my shoulders.
"Are you good?" Micah asked, eyes full of worry. "Please tell me I didn't trigger an attack."
I closed my eyes, placing a hand on his chest so I could feel his heartbeat thundering in his chest, not as helpful as Hudson was in this situation, but it was a connection to the here and now.
Taking a few deep breaths in through the nose out through the mouth, I was able to center myself before the panic set in completely.
"I'm good," I sighed, leaning forward to rest my head on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up over this, I was fine and then I wasn't."
"Lailah," Micah started, seemed to think better about what he was going to say. Instead, he pulled me up so I was in his lap, legs wrapped around his waist and held me. "Every time I think I have things figured out I fuck it up."
Pushing back on his chest, I sat back looking him in the face. "What does that mean?"
"How the hell can I be a guardian for you when I keep doing things wrong?"
Frowning, I tilted my head as I looked at him. "You're going to need to explain that more?"
"Look at the others, they can hold their temper around others, Hudson pulls you out of panic attacks, Jay makes sure you eat and don't get lost, Brayden is your soul mate and gets you in a way only he can, hell even Parker gets you to try new things.
What the fuck do you even need me for?" Micah ranted.
"You done?" I asked, sarcasm heavy in my voice. He opened his mouth to continue but I covered it with my hand. "Would you like to tell me what the hell this is really about? Does it have anything to do with what made you so upset yesterday?"
"Of course you wouldn't forget about that," he muttered. "I found out my aunt is trying to steal the company from me while I'm here and out of the country."
Not having expected that answer, I blinked at him for a moment, trying to remember what company his parents had. "I thought it was a country, not a company?"
"It's both, I guess. My parents own the land and almost all the businesses in that country, thus holding a large sway over everything.
They have a leader who is, I guess you could say, a king that makes the laws and such, with a group of advisors, to help in maintaining the country.
When my parents died, everything got put in a trust, as well as a parent business, to collect everything my parents own in that country into one place.
Once I take hold of everything, I can change how it's done, but it was the best they could come up with on short notice.
My aunt wants to make a move to take that business over from me permanently, by showing that I'm unfit to handle the responsibility," Micah explained.
"What a bitch," I muttered. "I should have done more than knock her on her ass at that Christmas Party."
"Once I get her out of the picture, everything will be fine," Micah assured me. "I have no idea why my parents picked her to be my guardian in the first place."
"Are you sure they did? I mean, with all the shit she’s pulling it wouldn't surprise me if everything was manipulated from the start," I asked.
Micah looked at me like I had just told him that the best news he's ever heard, as a smile bloomed on his face. "How could I not have thought of that?!"
He pulled me to him kissing me soundly, sliding one hand into my hair to deepen the kiss as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Falling back on the bed, he slid his free hand up under my sweatshirt, letting it run along my skin, sending shivers up my spine.
"Lailah," Micah said in a breathy voice as he broke the kiss, "I'm ready to be yours wholly and completely. It's time that I stopped running from the best thing that's ever happened to me because I'm an idiot."
Gazing down at his deep blue eyes that were so vulnerable in this moment, I slid my hands up to cup his face.
"Micah Knight of the fire element, do you swear to love me, protect me, and always be by my side no matter what happens in our lives?
That we will fight for each other every day, even if we argue and butt heads about things? "
"Yes," Micah agreed, his features resolute in his statement. "Everything I have to give I will, until the day my life is taken from me."
Our powers burst forth at our personalized version of the Oath, since he'd experienced it once before.
His red energy glowed around us like an ember, while my golden power sparkled like the sun.
Not able to hold back any longer, Micah yanked my hoodie over my head, taking my t-shirt with it.
Running his hands along my sides, he pulled me up so his mouth could latch onto my breast, groaning like he was eating some magical desert.
A moan was pulled out of me as I tried to get his shirt off him, needing to feel his skin against mine.
We'd waited for this moment for far too long and it was going to be raw, rough, and needy.
My hand was furiously working at his sleep pants while he dragged my shorts off, tossing them aside.
I was going to ask him once more if he had second thoughts, but I stopped breathing when he entered me.
The feeling was so addicting that I didn't want him to stop.
Micah found his way to my neck, biting down hard enough to leave a mark, but it only fueled our fire.
His hips worked hard into me as I ground on him to drive him deeper.
My hands found his hair, needing to hold on as he bucked underneath me.
He was pounding into me with all his strength, and I could feel it in every part of my body.
Neither one of us could catch our breath, sounds coming out in short pants and moans.
His hand moved between our bodies to find my clit and I shattered apart.
My walls pulsated around him, and I was sure he was close to his own release.
His hand snaked down, grabbing my ass and lifted us both into a sitting position, changing the angle.
Thrusting a few more times, I felt him swell inside of me before he growled in my ear and buried his head in my neck.
I felt his body shudder under me, filling me with his power along with other things, making me cry out as another orgasm exploded within me.
Running my hands up and down his back as our powers settled within each other, I reveled in the knowledge that Micah was now fully mine, I didn't want to let go.
"I love you," I whispered, feeling it deep in my soul.
"I love you, too," he whispered back before kissing me softly. "Now and always, my beautiful sexy Cookie Monster."
Rolling off of him, I curled up against his side, resting my head on his chest as he lazily stroked a hand over my skin.
This was a different side of Micah I'd never seen, but when I pulled on our bright new shiny connection, I found he was at peace.
Not just the sated and happy high that came with having sex, no it was deeper than that, almost like I was able to help balance out his power level making it easier to control.
"Are you spying on me?" He asked, frowning at me. "Got to admit, that’s an odd feeling, having someone in my brain. What are you so curious about?"
"Since I've met you, I've wanted to know what is going on in that brain of yours and now I can feel your emotions. You can't blame a girl for peeking when she finally gets the chance," I answered with a smirk.
Micah chuckled, shaking his head. "Guess I have to admit I did the same thing. Do you have any idea how much worse things are going to get for you once Jay can do this?"
The thought hadn't even crossed my mind but now that he said it, I groaned. "Brayden and Hudson do so well respecting my privacy, but I know he won't give a flying fuck about that if it will keep me safe and healthy. We actually argued about that this morning after the whole gardener thing."
Micah shifted so he was now propped up against the headboard with pillows.
"As your newest husband, allow me to give you some advice.
If Jay doesn't feel right about someone, then I would trust his instincts on it.
I don't know if it's part of his elemental power or what, but he is a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out suspicious people.
Ubel impersonating Mr. Creed has been the only person to sneak past him, and even then, he felt like something wasn't quite right. "
"I know," I muttered, sitting up. "I'm gonna go take a shower… you wanna join me?"
Micah flashed me a smile, grabbing me around my waist and tossing me over his shoulder as he headed for the bathroom. "Like I would turn down that offer."
When we finally made it downstairs, after testing out a few different options in the new bathroom for later use of course, we found the rest of our group at the table finished with breakfast.
"Your food is in the oven, Beautiful," Jay said the moment he saw me. "Micah's, too."
"Oh, did someone work up an appetite this morning?" Cami asked, wagging her eyebrows. "From the reactions of Hudson and Brayden, I gather we have a new fully bonded member of the family?"
I expected Micah to have some snarky comment in reply to that, but instead he just cupped my cheek and kissed the ever loving shit out of me. Cami hooted and hollered, while the other guys laughed at his display of dominance.
"Yeah, you could say that," he murmured against my lips.
Stunned, I stood there like an idiot as he grabbed out plates and set them down at the large table, putting me next to Brayden and himself on the other side. Shaking off the lust he'd just provoked, I took a moment to give Brayden a quick kiss as I sat down.
"Breakfast looks great Jay, thank you," I shared, giving him a smile, hoping things were okay between us.
Jay gave me a half smile in return and nodded as he turned back to something he was watching on the tablet.
"So, I called the HOA and we do in fact have a grounds crew that comes on Mondays to take care of the yard," Hudson informed me.
"They did ask if we had a key that we would be leaving with the guard up front, but I told them what Jay said about unlocking the gate for them.
" I gave him a thumbs up, since my mouth was full of eggs.
"This does, however show how important it is that we get the wards up around the house today so all of us can feel more relaxed and prepared. You feeling up for the task?"
Along with weapon and combat training, we'd also been working on using our powers together. So far, we had been doing everything on instinct, not knowing what I was able to do, but since we'd discovered a few things it gave a direction to follow.
"Absolutely, I'm totally ready to make it happen," I answered. "I'm more rested than I've been in months, add in the power boost from bonding with Micah, and I can't think of a better time to do it."
"Excellent, once you're finished eating, we can all gather in the back yard and get to it. I want to look over the books and other things Nona gave us," Hudson said as he got up from the table.
Nona was Cami's half-sister, and our resident know it all when it came to the 'magic' of the Elementi knights.
She'd been working with me since the beginning to channel my powers and test what they could do.
It wasn't until I'd fought with Tabitha that I was able to unlock the next level of my powers, but it seemed to grow each time I Bonded with the guys.
Now the only two left were Jay and Parker, but I wasn't in a rush; this wasn't Pokémon.
I didn't have to catch them all right away.
"Okay, so when you guys are done working your voodoo magic on the house, what are we gonna do next?" Cami asked, resting her chin on her hands.
I perked up thinking of an idea. "We could go to my parents' diner for dinner."
"Oh yes! I like this plan, then we can figure out what to do tomorrow," Cami clapped her hands excitedly. "Should we invite your brothers and Phoebe too?"
Not sure how to answer that, I looked over at Parker for some indication of what he thought. Cami hadn't been there for the whole conversation last night, but really it was a matter for us to deal with anyways.
"Should be fun," Parker agreed, giving me a reassuring smile. "Your brother is only here for the week, so we should make the effort to spend time with him."
Reaching across the table I squeezed his hand in thanks, before getting up and taking my dishes to the sink. Since I was one of the last ones to breakfast, I figured it was only right that I help in cleaning up. Then it was time to ward the house—if everything went like we planned.