LAILAH
ELEVEN
The guys had been gone all of ten minutes and I was a nervous wreck. “How will we know if something goes wrong? There is no way for us to reach out to them without causing problems.”
“Angel, please come play cards with us. It’ll take your mind off of things and help you settle,” Brayden suggested, waving me over.
“Do you really think I can focus on playing a card game right now?” I grumbled as I sat down with a huff. “It better be something simple like Go Fish or I’m never going to have a chance.”
Hudson chuckled. “If you want to play Go Fish, then we can play Go Fish.”
“How are you both so calm?” I demanded, tossing my hair up in a messy bun, tired of dealing with it. “It’s like you don’t even care that this is crazy dangerous and we are sitting here playing kids games?”
Brayden grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the face. “I understand you’re worried but don’t take your feelings out on us. Neither of us deserve it.”
He was right. I was anxious and lashing out at them because they were here and safe. I knew they would forgive me if I snapped at them, but Brayden was right, they didn’t deserve that from me. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like us being apart.”
Pulling me with his hold on my chin, Brayden brought me to his lips where he kissed me slowly and deeply.
I moaned into his mouth, reaching out to him, needing this contact, to know that they were here with me.
When he pulled back, he grinned at me, knowing he’d managed to settle my nerves somewhat.
“Angel, trust in your men. We’ve been training for this all our lives and they will come back to you. ”
“You really believe that?” I asked, surprised at Brayden’s confidence.
“Without a doubt. Those three will come back to you no matter what,” Hudson assured me as he moved to stand behind me.
“Three of them… so you don’t think all is lost with Parker?” I inquired, pulling out of Brayden’s grip, and looking up at Hudson.
Out of all my men, Hudson had been the one to keep his thoughts on Parker to himself. I knew he had an opinion but Hudson wasn’t one to share his thoughts until he clearly understood all the facts and could make a judgment.
“This is my humble opinion, but yes, I believe that things between you and Parker can be worked out. He did something that hurt you down to your very soul, but I don’t think the connection between you both has been severed completely.
The wound will take time to heal but the man I see Parker turning into is willing to wait and work for your forgiveness.
The old Parker would do anything and everything to bribe you back to him, using his charms, money, or whatever means he could get ahold of.
Now, I’m not you, my sunshine, but I do know how big your heart is,” Hudson explained, kissing my temple.
“The choice is yours, whatever you decide to do. We will follow your lead.”
“Yeah, some more willing than others, but if you choose to give Parker another shot, we won’t get in the way,” Brayden agreed. “It’s your relationship and no one else can tell you how it should work, not even the angels. So if you don’t think things can be fixed, don’t feel pressured either.”
Both of them were presenting me with opposing sides of the same argument, but they were trying to support me either way. “I’ll keep what you said in mind. Right now, I just need us to get through this next part so I can have them safe and sound where I can see them.”
With that settled, they talked me into playing a few rounds of Speed with them, the fast-paced nature of the game forcing me to give it my full attention. My focus was so fixed that when a booming knock came at the door, I almost fell out of the chair that I was kneeling on.
“Police! Open the door!” a man shouted.
I gaped at the guys as I felt like my eyes would pop out of my head. I was so shocked. “What is going on?”
“I don’t know but I don’t like it one bit,” Brayden said through clenched teeth. “Stay back. I’m going to take a look.”
The man pounded on the door, repeating the same thing over again, his voice even louder, if that was possible. Brayden peeked through the peephole in the door and swore. “Shit, it is the police. Don’t say anything and let me handle this.”
Hudson wrapped an arm around me, holding me tight to his side as Brayden opened the door.
No sooner had he turned the handle then a swarm of men dressed in blue uniforms with police written across their Kevlar vests entered.
One grabbed Brayden, slamming him up against the wall, pulling cuffs out and slapping them on his wrists.
“You’re under arrest for the bombing of Pride Resourses. ”
“What?” I blurted, not understanding. “Was there a bomb there? Do you know if everyone’s alright? Did everyone make it out?” I demanded as I was dragged away from Hudson and had my own hands cuffed behind my back.
“Shut the fuck up. We don’t owe you any answers,” the cop snarled, dragging me out of the room.
None of this made sense. Why would they think we were the ones to set a bomb off there?
How did they even know we were here in this hotel?
The guys had used fake names for the booking and we’d flown in on a private jet.
Nothing we did should have been traced that fast...
unless. There had to be someone in the Elementi spilling our secrets, and they had to be extremely high up in the system to do it.
Beth and Cami were the only ones we’d talked to, but I refused to believe it was either of them.
This had the Dark Lord written all over it.
He was pissed that his plan didn’t work to just kill me off.
Now he had to get rid of me another way, and it seemed he found it.
“Where are you taking us? I’m an American citizen,” I stated, hoping that would mean something here, but I didn’t put much hope in it.
“I believe I already told you that I wasn’t going to give you any answers. Now move it or be dragged the rest of the way, your choice,” the officer barked, shoving me forward.
Knowing this was a losing battle, with so many of them against the three of us, I complied.
They led the three of us out of the hotel and shoved us into the back of a van with police written on the outside.
Two officers got in the back with us, making sure we didn’t cause any trouble while two more got into the front seats.
They put the sirens on and blasted out onto the streets as if the hounds of hell were coming after them whi,ch made no sense to me.
If they were the police, there would be no need for them to make a mad dash from the scene like that... unless.
“Who do you really work for?” I demanded, glaring at one of the men sitting in front of me. “I know it’s not the police, so my guess is the Dark Lord or one of his minions.”
One of them just gave me an evil grin as he chuckled, but didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to. That told me everything I needed to know.
Instead, I turned to Hudson and Brayden who looked furious to be sitting there unable to do a damn thing.
If these people were actual humans, then our spirit weapons wouldn’t do anything to them, but if they were hosts for demons, it might give us the upper hand.
First, we needed to create a distraction or throw them off their game.
“I’m really impressed that there aren’t any major potholes in the road.
One would think with the ocean so close the salt would eat away at the asphalt,” I mused, looking out the front window, trying my best to catch Brayden’s eye.
“Wow, we’re heading for the coastline. It’s so pretty.
You know, we didn’t get much time to explore before you came to kidnap us.
” If Brayden couldn’t catch on maybe Hudson would.
“Shut the hell up before we make you,” the driver growled.
I just clicked my tongue in irritation. “Sorry, I’m just nervous. An enormous wave or a crack in the ground might open up, killing us all. It’s the PTSD from the fun times I had with the Dark Lord.”
For some reason, I was channeling my inner Cami right now to keep from losing my shit as I tried to get us out of this mess.
I’m not sure I could have made my point any clearer but neither of the guys seemed to show any sign of understanding.
In fact, Hudson had his eyes closed and was relaxing as we flew down the coastal highway to God knows where.
Just when I thought all hope might be lost, the ground rumbled and rocks from the cliffs we were driving next to pelted the van, making the driver swerve to avoid crashing into a boulder that landed in the road.
“Fuck! Someone, knock them out! They’re trying to use their powers on us.
The Dark Lord warned us they were tricky,” the driver yelled back.
He seemed to be the leader of the bunch.
Before the guards across from us could make their move, I lunged forward, crashing into both of them.
It was a mess of limbs as I kicked out, clipping one of them in the jaw as the other tried to shove me off him.
I’d managed to hook my hands on his utility belt, clinging on for dear life as the van jerked to the right, slamming me into the bogus cop who got smashed up against the wall of the vehicle.
“No, no, this can’t be happening! There is no way they could do that!” the man in the passenger seat screamed. He tossed his door open and leaped out of the still moving van.
What had gotten him so freaked out? Then I saw it as the road curved—a massive wave was rushing toward us and there was no way to avoid it.
Looking around the van, I tried to see something I could grab onto but with my hands behind my back it made it all that more challenging.
There was a bar running along the length of the van for them to hook cuffs to.
It wasn’t the best idea, but it was the only one as I lay on my side and gripped the bar with both hands.
This was going to hurt, but there was no way I was going to let them kill us to make way for the Dark Lord.
Hudson opened his eyes and when he saw what was coming, he gulped. “Brayden, you better hold on to something. It seems my powers are a lot stronger than I anticipated.”
“Fucking hell,” Brayden muttered as he turned to grip the honeycomb metal sheet keeping us separated from the front of the van.
The wave rocked the van to the left before the wave picked it up and slammed it into the cliffs.
My arms ached as they got wrenched by the impact as I clung to the bar for dear life.
The wave seemed to carry us as it swept back toward the ocean, taking us off the road and tumbling under the water’s surface as we rolled.
Unable to hold on any longer, I face-planted on the chest of one of the guards while the other landed on top of me, creating a cushion each time we slammed into the side of the van.
Finally it stopped, and before I could even think about how glad I was to survive, water started to fill the van.
I was trapped with a body on top of me but using every bit of strength and determination I had, I shoved him off.
My fingers brushed something metal on his belt, and I discovered it was a key for the cuffs secured to his belt by one of those retractable cords.
Fumbling for what seemed like an eternity, I got one cuff undone so I could flip around and see what I was doing this time.
Now free, I ripped the key off his belt and went for Brayden who was unconscious, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead.
Getting his hands free, I shook him. “Brayden, you need to get up. Please, my love, I need you to wake up and save us one more time.”
With a groan, his eyes fluttered open. “What the hell happened?”
“No time to explain. I need you to use your power to lift us out of this water before the ocean becomes our permanent resting grounds. While I love the beach, I’m not planning on dying here,” I said, speaking as fast as I could, feeling the water sloshing around my ankles.
“Is Hudson okay?” Brayden asked as if he didn’t hear what I just said.
Grabbing his face I forced him to look at me. “Brayden, get us out of the water.”
“Right, okay, give me a sec. My brain is pretty rattled,” he muttered, bringing a hand to his forehead and hissed when he touched the wound.
I left him to pull himself together, and I freed Hudson and tried to wake him up.
If Brayden couldn’t get us out of this, then I hoped to God Hudson had some power leftover to use.
This was the first time either of them had used so much.
I didn’t know how I knew but both of them were running low.
As I checked over Hudson, I couldn’t see anything wrong with him but he wasn’t waking up no matter what I tried.
“Lailah, I don’t think I’ve got it in me to do this. My head is killing me and I can’t tell up from down, with how dark it is,” Brayden whispered, anger tinging his words.
Reaching out to him, I could feel the self-loathing that he couldn’t do this for me. He couldn’t save us and we were counting on him to do just that. My white knight was convinced that he was going to fail us when we needed him the most.
Crawling over to him, I straddled his legs and pressed my body against his everywhere I could, then I wrapped my arms around his neck before sealing my lips to his.
I poured my power into him. This was my purpose.
I could give and take energy from any of them, doubling the strength of our combined powers.
As I shoved as much power into him as I could, he clung to me, drinking it all in and sending it right back out into the earth below us.
The water was around our waists now but it didn’t matter, because together, Brayden and I were going to do this.
The van groaned as it started to be pushed up out of the water.
It moved steadily, but I didn’t stop our endless loop of power as I charged us both full of power.
This was how we were going to beat the Dark Lord, together as a team supporting each other, making us that much stronger.
If I could create this much power with one of my bonded men just thinking of what it would be like with four of them was crazy.
The angel had been right. I’d been holding back, not trusting myself or these men of mine to push things to the limit.
When the sun flooded the van once more and the water receded, I opened my eyes and pulled back from Brayden just enough to see us once again above the water. “You can stop now. You saved us,” I murmured against his lips.
“No, we did it. There was no way I could have done that on my own,” Brayden corrected as he rested his forehead against mine. “Holy shit, I can’t believe that just happened. Hudson created a tsunami.”
“Yeah, he sure did, and it was awesome.” I chuckled.