21. Finley
Finley
All my men stared at me in shocked silence as I told them what I had learned from Delilah and Tabitha.
The moment we got back to the house, they demanded to know everything that happened, but I made them wait for me to take a quick shower.
It was a ritual that I needed to cleanse myself from the mission I’d been on and bring me back to dealing with normal life.
“You want to tell the whole world that elves are real and you’re their queen?” Zander questioned. “I’m just asking because I wasn’t sure if I’d lost my mind and ended up in some alternate reality where my mate wanted to bring down the wrath of all her enemies all in one fell swoop.”
I shouldn’t be shocked at his response. It did seem like a horrible idea at face value.
“Does that change anything? The way I look at it, they have been after me since I was born. James even ensured he had a child that he could use to infiltrate the Organization. They know where I am. They’ve attacked the pack and Peggy gave them all our secrets.
Safety is an illusion they are choosing to let me believe in right now.
What I want to do is call them out and force them to act before they are ready. ”
Zander just groaned and put his head in his hands in response.
Lane looked thoughtful while Colt looked pissed, and the twins just seemed to be still absorbing everything I’d said.
Rath was pacing behind the couch, chewing on his thumbnail, more agitated than I’d ever seen him.
Derven watched his friend with a concerned expression but let him be, telling me I should leave him alone for now as well.
“Have you been to this gala before?” I asked Zander.
He shook his head. “No, but I tried to avoid all those things like the plague. It was all about making friends in the right places to get you what you wanted. There was nothing I needed or was willing to offer to make anything happen. Mother needed to be there and Father ate that shit up like candy. He loved being able to barter his soul away to get the power he wanted.”
“Look, I know this isn’t what you guys signed up for, so if you don’t want to do this with me, I’m more than capable of doing this on my own,” I offered, knowing what I was planning put all of them in a gray area most people weren’t comfortable with.
“I’m the trained assassin who’s already got more blood on her hands than anyone should.
You don’t have to join me in this just because we are mates.
If you want to keep clear of the fall out I get it and won’t hold it against you. ”
Lane got to his feet, took my hands in his, and kissed them.
“These hands hold the future of our world as we know it, and I’m honored to be at your side, making the world a better place for all of us.
That might sound cheesy, but it’s the God’s honest truth, Finley.
Tell us what you need and we will do everything we can to help and keep you safe.
We are a team as well as a family. We won’t abandon you just because we might get a little dirty. ”
A tear rolled down my cheek at his words. I know I said I wouldn’t be upset but to know they would stand behind me was more powerful than anything else they could have done or said. These men loved me and believed in the future we could build together if we managed to pull this mission off.
“Okay, then let’s make this happen,” I said, my voice cracking a little as I spoke. Looking past Lane to meet Zander’s gaze, I took a deep breath and made my first request. “Any chance you can call your reporter connections and get us a press conference?”
“Yeah, little dove, I can make that happen,” he answered. “How soon do you want to set it up?”
“I’m thinking the sooner, the better, but let’s shoot for two days from now so I have time to talk to the pack and the elves under my protection. I don’t want anyone caught off guard about this,” I reasoned.
The twins got up from the couch and pulled me from Lane to make me the center of a twin hug.
They wrapped me up so tight I wasn’t sure I could breathe, but it was comforting to have their reassurance.
“We will win this fight, snuggles,” Mason stated.
“We have an army of vampires, magical elves, and werewolves who have more than enough hatred of the Senate to take a stand if they need to.”
“There will be more elves,” Rath interjected.
“The elders will come and so will more of our people. Soon we will have a whole new city of elves teaming in these woods. Our people have been waiting for someone to pull them out of the shadows, but those in power feared what might happen. Anytime we were discovered, they kidnapped, tortured, or enslaved us, causing them to fear life outside the safety of our communes. All that will change now.”
Colt ran his hands through his hair as if he was struggling with something. I tapped on Noah’s arm to let me free and he instantly stepped back. When I knelt in front of Colt, I could feel his fear and sadness. “Talk to me,” I whispered.
“Why does it have to be you?” he asked. “It’s almost like this whole thing has been set in motion since the beginning and I just can’t wrap my head around it.
I lost one of the most important people in my life, but at the same time, he gave me you, who’s become my whole world.
” Dropping his hands, he pulled me up onto his lap, wrapping me in a tight hug as he nuzzled his face in my neck.
“Why do I have to keep watching those I love get put into dangerous situations? I know you’re not Cory, and you are strong, trained, and brilliant, but that doesn’t stop me from imagining the worst outcome. ”
“Anytime we love someone, we give them the power to hurt us, but we also have the ability to heal as well,” I shared, combing my fingers through his hair.
“All of you saved my life when I didn’t know I was dying inside.
This might not help make you feel any better about this, but I know this is what I was meant to do.
The reason I was born and put on this earth was to come to this point and overturn everything so we could start again. ”
“I know,” he agreed. “You say that, and I know in my mind that it’s the truth, but it doesn’t stop my heart from fearing it might break. Because if I lose you, there won’t be any of me left.”
“Then I suppose it’s a good thing that we are soul bonded, and no matter what, we won’t have to live a life without each other,” I said, pressing a kiss to his neck.
“If anything happened to any one of you, it would shatter me beyond repair. Nothing else would matter, so in a way, I hope what they say about soul bonds are true. Let’s just take this one day at a time, hmm? Make the most of each moment.”
Colt’s response to that was to start purring and slide a hand behind my hair, letting his thumb rub across his mate mark on the side of my neck, making me gasp.
“I think that sounds like a brilliant idea,” he murmured.
“We’ve been so busy we haven’t been tending to our omega the way that we should.
I believe it only makes sense to take advantage of the here and now, don’t you? ”
“You never know what the next day might hold,” Elias agreed, coming up behind me, slipping his hands under my shirt. “I also know for a fact, you didn’t bother to put on a bra or panties after your shower. Such a little tease.”
I arched into his touch as his hands slid up my ribs, bunching the shirt up as he went.
Colt dropped his arms, giving Elias the space to yank the shirt off me in one swift movement.
The second my chest was bare to Colt, he descended upon my breasts with his mouth and hands, continuing to purr, sending vibrations throughout my body, adding to his touch.
My head fell back as I let out a soft whimper of pleasure.
“Louder,” Elias encouraged, grabbing my hair and making me look at him as he spoke. “We all want to hear how good he’s making you feel. There’s no need to keep it quiet here in our home.”
As if they had planned this moment beforehand, Colt bit down on my nipple, making me scream as my sleep shorts were flooded with my slick.
Elias captured my mouth, tongue fucking it as Colt slipped his hand not supporting me, into my shorts, circling my clit.
I let them own my body, relaxing as they laid me out on the large padded ottoman.
Colt tugged off my shorts, then cupped my ass, dragging me to the edge so he could get between my legs easier as he devoured my pussy.
“You taste so good, little one, spicy and sweet. I could stay here all day,” he shared, licking his lips dramatically.
Noah walked over, undoing his sleep pants, kicking them off before he knelt by my hand. Then, taking my hand, he wrapped it around his cock.
“Don’t forget about me,” Mason teased as he did the same thing with my other hand. “Twins get jealous if you don’t pay attention to us both.”
“Alpha’s feel the same way, too,” Zander informed me as he cupped my chin and had me lean my head all the way back so I could take his dick in my mouth easier.
There I was in the middle of the night, after having tortured and killed two people, getting gangbanged. Could my life be any more perfect?
“That’s a good girl,” Zander encouraged. “Let’s see just how little of a gag reflex you really have.”
With that as my only warning before Zander used my mouth as his own personal fuck toy.
While I didn’t gag, getting railed down the throat still made my eyes water as he shoved it all the way till his balls hit my forehead.
I’d swallow a few times, making him snarl at the sensation before pulling out and letting me breathe.
It was hard to remember to keep stroking the twins, but they weren’t bothered as they would thrust into my fist to remind me.
“I want her ass,” Derven announced. “Let me slide under there out of the way and you can continue on as you were.”