The Fire Road Read online

  Elain couldn’t afford stupid mistakes. It would get someone killed who she didn’t want to be killed.

  She had to slow down enough to let them catch up, and by the time they had her surrounded and started closing in, she was in her mom and dad’s backyard.

  Excellent.

  She counted eight and needed to make sure that was all of them. She feinted a couple of times and when they didn’t try to shoot her, she realized they wanted her alive. At least for now, until they got whatever it was they’d come for.

  They were certainly going to get more than they bargained for.

  “There’s eight of us against you, lady,” one of the guys said. She realized he must be their leader. “We’re looking for a baby. That’s all. One of you people adopted him. His birth parents want him back.”

  Fucking Aliah.

  Ooooh, when Elain got her hands on that bitch, she was going to boil her alive from the inside out and make her wish she’d died on top of the rock pile that day.

  “No,” Elain said.

  “Don’t make this hard. You’re pregnant. We can see that. You really want to do this the hard way? No one has to get hurt.”

  Elain felt a peaceful smile fill her face. This was all of them, including wherever their hideout was. She could tell. She didn’t know how she knew it, but she was sure.

  “Oh, I’ma gonna show you what hurt means, buddy,” she softly said.

  PART III: GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD

  Chapter Twenty

  Sorry to skip ahead, but you already saw how that all worked out for them…

  Elain sat at her kitchen table and stared at the accumulation of armaments and phones and wallets and keys and stuff that she’d taken off the men and brought back with her to her house. She knew she needed to text Lina that it was over and she’d come get them shortly.

  But she couldn’t deal with her or that quite yet. She still felt like energy was boiling in her veins and looking for an escape. Probably adrenaline boosted by her magick powers. Definitely needed to calm herself the fuck down first.

  She’d kept the one cell phone back, the one with the video of what she’d done, and tucked it into the back pocket of her shorts.

  Brodey and Ain rushed through the sliders in the living room without bothering to shut them behind them, their guns drawn.

  “Elain!” Ain screamed.

  “Yo,” she said.

  They ran into the kitchen and slid to a halt, Ain and Brodey both looking around with more than a little bit of a wild expression in their eyes.

  “Are you okay?” Ain asked.

  She nodded. “Yeah.”

  The men focused on her, more than just a little intently. Ain had started to step forward, but Brodey put out an arm to stop him.

  Then Brodey took a slow, cautious step forward. “Babe?”

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “I said I’m fine.”

  Cail rushed into the living room through the sliders. “Elain!”

  “Shut the damn door,” she called back. “We’re air-conditioning all of Arcadia. That shit ain’t cheap.”

  When he came barreling into the kitchen, it was Ain who held out an arm to stop him. “Where are the fuckers? Is she okay?” Cail asked.

  “She is just dandy, thanks for asking,” Elain said, propping her chin in her hand, elbow on the table, as she stared at the accumulation of crap in front of her. “And problem solved, thanks for asking.”

  Brodey holstered his gun and took another cautious step forward, stopping next to her, squatting so he could look up into her face. “Babe, please look at me.”

  “What?” She lifted her head and met his gaze.

  She also didn’t miss how while he didn’t recoil, he looked like he was forcing himself not to.

  She frowned. “Brod, you okay?”

  “I’m going to ask you that same question, sweetie,” he said, his voice sounding…odd.

  Now she felt confused. “What? I’m fine. Can’t you see that? Look, Ma, all ten fingers and toes, and no extra bodily orifices I wasn’t born with.” She waggled her fingers in front of him.

  He stood and held out a hand to her. She finally took it and let him lead her to the powder room in the hallway, just off the living room. He flipped on the light and stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders, as she stared into the mirror.

  Her eyes were now an eerie, deep electric midnight blue. It almost seemed like an inner light glowed, illuminating them.

  She blinked. “Huh. That’s…weird.”

  Cautiously, he turned her around. Ain and Cail had followed them and stood crammed together in the doorway.

  “Babe,” Brodey said, “what happened to those guys?”

  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and willed herself to calm down. What’d she’d really wanted to do was rip the cockatrice limb from limb, but that would have been…

  Overkill.

  Just a little.

  When she glanced into the mirror again, her eyes were back to their normal blue color.

  Brodey noticed. He had to notice, because he met her gaze in the mirror, but didn’t comment.

  She raised up onto her toes to brush a kiss across his lips. “They’re gone.”

  “Gone where?” Brodey asked.

  “Did you see which direction?” Ain asked.

  “We need to follow them before they get away,” Cail said.

  “No.” Brodey slowly shook his head, his gaze never leaving hers. “She means they’re gone.”

  She nodded.

  The other two brothers frowned. “Gone where?” Ain asked.

  “Gone,” Brodey and Elain both said.

  “Meth-house gone,” Brodey said as he pulled Elain into his arms and tightly held her. She melted against him, Ain and Cail crowding in to also envelope her in their group hug.

  “Yeah,” she whispered.

  Brodey’s chin rubbed against the top of her head. “You just startled me, sweetie,” he said. “That’s all. I’m not scared of you. None of us are. I was worried for you, not scared of you.”

  She closed her eyes and shoved her face tightly against his chest but didn’t respond.

  Ain pressed a kiss on the left side of her neck, just below her ear. “What he said. We were scared for you when we came in, and then I wasn’t prepared to see you like that. I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me for life.”

  “Ditto,” Cail echoed, kissing the right side of her neck.

  She shivered in their arms, but not with desire. It felt like a fever, despite the day’s warmth. “I don’t feel so good,” she said before a loud hum filled her ears, rushing in toward her and taking her away to blackness.

  * * * *

  When Elain opened her eyes, she found herself in their bed, all three men gathered around her, and a cold, damp washcloth on her forehead.

  The men looked relieved.

  “How long was I out?” she asked.

  “Just a couple of minutes,” Cail said. “What’s ‘sheol’? You kept saying that. That, and something about a cornfield.”

  She sat up, all three of them reaching in to steady her. “That’s where their bodies are,” she quietly said. “That’s where I sent them.”

  “And the meth house?” Brodey asked.

  She nodded. “I think so.”

  “What’s the cornfield, though?” Ain asked.

  “Old Twilight Zone episode,” Elain said. “Kid had mental powers and could wish things and people ‘into the cornfield’ and make them go away.”

  “Ah. Okay, I remember that episode.”

  “I thought that was the movie?” Cail asked.

  “Dudes,” Brodey scolded. “You call me the bonehead? Focus on her right now, please?”

  That finally brought a smile to her face. “I’m okay. I think I just needed a reboot. Or a hard reset. Or…something.”

  “But you’re okay?” Ain’s grey eyes were filled with worry and Elain felt horrible that she’d thrown
multiple scares into them.

  At least her Alpha was curled back up into a ball inside her. A wary, alert ball, but satisfied that the immediate threat was over.

  “I’m okay. The babies are okay.” She looked at Cail. “Please bring me my tablet.”

  He didn’t even ask why. He jumped up and ran out the bedroom door.

  She reached out and stroked Brodey’s cheek. “Can I please have some mint tea? But a glass of it on ice, not hot. Sweet, please.”

  He turned his face to kiss her palm. “Coming right up.” He, too, bounded out the door.

  That left her with her Prime. Ain brought her hand up to his lips and feathered his mouth across her knuckles. “I need better communication from you, sweetheart. Unless you want to go scaring a few decades off my life every time something like that happens.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “Where’s everyone? The kids? Lina and Mai and Mom? Are they safe? And who were those fucking people? Who sent them?”

  “Safe at Lacey’s. With Zack and Jasper. They were cockatrice, and I’m not sure exactly who sent them. Didn’t Lina text you?”

  “Just that we were under attack and to bring guns.”

  “Okay. I—” Ain’s phone rang, interrupting him. He fished it out of his pocket. When he answered, he couldn’t even get a word in edgewise before Lina was screaming at him.

  Elain held her hand out for it.

  “—so give me the fuckety fucking idea what the goddamned hell is going on there, you dickless wonder, or so fucking help ME when I get the fuck back there, there won’t be enough left of your furry ass to—”

  “Hey, sis.”

  Lina’s rant cut off in midstream. “Elain? What’s going on? Is everyone okay? I can’t get my guys on the phone.”

  “We’re cool, now. Everything’s copacetic.” She was desperately glad Lina wasn’t there to see her say that. She wasn’t sure how strong her mental barrier was at that moment to hide her thoughts.

  “Um…hey, sis? Tell me the truth.” Lina’s voice dropped. “You under a gun or something?”

  “Nope. Crisis over. As soon as we find Rick and Jan and Kael, we’ll wave them in.”

  “What about the armed goonies?”

  “They’ve been…neutralized.”

  “Dead-dead? Or shortly gonna be dead? Or already wishing they were but not quite dead yet? I don’t want to miss out on the fun, yo. I’m kind of hoping for option two or three.”

  Elain thought about how she’d imploded the skulls of the seven men, the sickening creaks and cracks as she’d crushed them like soda cans, and then the last man whose head exploded with satisfying effect.

  “Dead-dead. Sorry.”

  “Damn. Oh, well. And everyone else is—”

  “Fine.”

  “Uh, okay. Seriously, then. What the fucking hell?”

  A wave of exhaustion settled over her again. “I should have called Ryan. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “You didn’t call him? You handled them yourself?”

  “No I didn’t call him. And yes, by myself. Everything happened so fast. I grabbed you all and wanted you out of here.”

  “Oh, and FYI, sis. Next time, ask before you ship us out, mmkay? I love you, but we really wanted a piece of those assholes.”

  “I’m sorry. I reacted.” She thought of something. “If you two would work on your poofing, I wouldn’t have had to.”

  “I—” Lina bit back her words and started laughing. “You bitch. I love you so fucking hard. I can’t do this without you. You know that, right?”

  Elain smiled. “Love you, too, sis. Tell Mom that Jasper earned a steak for dinner. He was warning us. I heard his bark and understood what he was saying.”

  “Will do. So can you please come get us?”

  “It’ll be a little bit. I just need to rest first.”

  Concern returned to Lina’s tone. “What happened? Did you get hurt? Are the double burritos of doom okay?”

  “No, I’m fine, and yes, they’re fine. Seriously. Just the adrenaline crash hitting me now. I’m okay. Really. Brodey’s getting me a glass of mint tea. I need a little while to recharge is all.”

  “All right. Then we’ll hang out here until you come get us. Love you.”

  Elain fought back tears. “Love you, too.”

  She ended the call and returned the phone to Ain. All these people she loved, people she couldn’t talk to.

  Secrets she had to hold.

  That as much as the actual fight exhausted her. Drained her.

  Threatened to tip her carefully and precariously balanced pile of secrets in the wrong direction.

  She’d deal with everything, including the cell phone in her back pocket.

  But right now, she needed to get her family back together.

  Then they needed to go hunting.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  It actually took Elain over an hour to feel strong enough to bring everyone home. She poofed herself up to Lacey’s to do it. After a lot of teary, strangling hugs—and not a little scolding from Lacey about sending Lina and Mai and not using them to help—Elain brought them all back in several batches. Something that, for some reason, drew a lot less energy from her than sending them on without her.

  Now wasn’t the time for her to try to figure that out. She felt too brain-dead to do that.

  Once everyone was back, and Lina had just about choked Elain out with another grateful hug, Elain’s mom tried to coax Jasper to come home with her so she could give him that steak.

  He firmly sat at Elain’s side and refused to budge.

  “Should we be jealous?” Cail joked.

  “No.” Elain reached down and petted him. “He’s a good boy.”

  “I’ll bring it over to him,” her mom said. “Would he like it cooked or raw?”

  Elain looked at him. “Well?”

  The dog cocked his head. “Hot and pink.”

  “Rare,” Elain said.

  Everyone stared at her, making her face heat. “What?”

  Ain arched an eyebrow at her. “That whole thing about better communication?” He pointed at Jasper. “Want to tell us what’s up with him?”

  “I don’t honestly know.” She stroked the dog’s head. “But he’s on our side, and he’s a very good boy, and like hell will I make him leave. If it wasn’t for him, they would have been on top of us and probably had guns on the babies. Or worse.”

  Ain knelt next to Jasper and held out a hand to him. “Thank you.” Ain’s choked voice nearly brought Elain to tears. “As long as you want to be here, you have a home with us. I promise.”

  Jasper wagged his tail and lightly chuffed before putting his paw in Ain’s palm.

  “He said thank you,” Elain said.

  Ain smiled. “I kind of figured.”

  * * * *

  After dinner, Elain took a nap. When she awoke, she discovered her men had sent everyone away and put the babies down for the night.

  She also awakened to find her libido screaming for relief.

  Ain was in the living room. She grabbed him without a word and kissed him, hard, shoving him back onto the couch and climbing onto him, straddling him. He didn’t waste time trying to argue with her. He kissed her back, lifting the hem of her T-shirt and pulling it up and off over her head.

  Brodey walked in. “Oh. Oh!” He walked over, standing behind her and cupping her breasts in his hands. She felt the hard outline of his cock pressing against her back through his jeans, while under her, she was rubbing herself against the hard bulge of Ain’s cock pressing through his.

  She lifted her lips from Ain’s. “Get naked, boys.”

  Brodey was a flurry of movement, and in seconds, it was his naked cock rubbing against her flesh. He helped her up and Ain got her shorts and panties off her before shucking his own clothes.

  Cail took that moment to emerge from the office. “I—oh!” He hurried over to join them, stripping as he went.

  Elain needed them, now
. And hard. It was as if the energy she’d expended earlier had rebounded and slammed into her, changing into need she had to satisfy or feel like she was going to burn up inside.

  She rocked on Ain’s cock, enjoying the way it filled and claimed her, pressing against all the good places inside her pussy. She heard Cail step away for a moment. When he returned, she felt Brodey start to work lube into her ass.

  Moaning, she leaned against Ain to give Brodey better access. Cail climbed up onto the couch, next to Ain so she could reach his cock with her mouth.

  Yeesss!

  She wanted this.

  Scratch that. She needed this.

  Within a few minutes, Brodey had her ass loosened with his fingers and had sheathed his cock in a condom. When he pressed the thick head of his cock against her ass, she thrust back, hard, impaling herself.

  She lifted her head from Cail’s cock. “Fuck me!” she growled before swallowing his shaft again.

  They listened, taking over and using her, making her moan, Brodey’s arm draping around her, his fingers working between her legs and finding her clit.

  He stroked her clit as he and Ain fucked her, Elain’s mind spinning into that blissful, peaceful place where she loved to be.

  And when the first orgasm hit her, so did a vision.

  She saw the guy talking to the old woman again. Not a long vision, just a repeat of the one she’d seen before. Only it wasn’t tinged blue this time, so that meant it had already happened.

  The next orgasm slammed Elain back into her body, and the force of her squeezing the two cocks inside her started triggering their orgasms. As Ain and Brodey started to come, Elain sucked Cail’s cock harder, trying to get him over with them. She cupped his balls in her hand, gently squeezing as she licked and sucked and was finally rewarded for her efforts with a mouthful of cum.

  Elain flopped over sideways on the couch and tried to catch her breath as her men started to untangle themselves.