Promises (Blood Brothers #1) (14 page)

“Well, young lady. You must be Kayne’s girl I’m Clara and I do most of the cooking around here.” Clara’s motherly arms encircled Chayle and pulled her against an ample bosom. “Welcome and come give me a hand. These boys all have two left feet and several thumbs but they can help, too.” Clara handed Chayle the large spoon she was stirring the sauce with and moved over to one of the ovens.

“I have no idea how to cook much besides boiling water and making mac and cheese. God, Kayne is getting a real package with me, isn’t he?” Chayle’s forlorn whisper was barely a breath, but all of the males in the room heard it. Their sensitive would pick up a cricket at a hundred yard. Her painful whisper was nothing. Clara who came up to her and gently took her chin.

“You keep a smile on my boy’s face and I’ll cook you anything you ask for, darlin’.” The Texas drawl was soft and motherly, bringing tears to Chayle’s dark eyes.

“That’s not a hardship, Clara,” she whispered, swiping her cheeks.

“Then don’t worry. If you want to learn how to cook, I’ll teach you. If not, there are plenty who can do the deed.” Clara left Chayle to stir the pot while she directed others to help get the meal ready.

One of the younger men came over to assist her in taking out several large sheet pans of what smelled like garlic bread and Chayle’s stomach growled again. In less time than it took to set the table, the bread was cut and ready for dinner. The sauce and pasta was plated with drinks poured. Just as everyone was washing up Kayne and Gabriel came in the back door.

Gabriel was sporting a black eye and a split lip but he had a smile a mile wide when he saw what was for dinner. Kayne didn’t look much better. His clothes were ripped and muddy where Gabriel’s were not and his mouth looked swollen.

“Oh no you don’t, scamps. You are not sitting at my table all muddy and bloody. Off with you and wash!” Clara made shooing motions with her hands to both grown men.

“Well, are you happy now?” Chayle said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Both men looked embarrassed for only a minute before bursting into laughter. She only shook her head and sat down.

It was a unique experience sitting at the large table with so many huge men eating in companionable silence at first. Clara sat next to her so she wouldn’t feel awkward at the table. However, talk of weapons and training, programs and sports soon started. Typical testosterone-type conversation, to say the least, but once everyone had eaten Rafe motioned for silence.

“We need to double security for a bit, and check on the other outposts to ensure no one has tried to breach them.” He looked around the table as everyone nodded except Chayle, who was stunned by the silence.

“What outposts?” she asked but no one answered.

“Kayne, you need to keep a closer eye on your woman. She is a handful, to say the least. Especially if they still want to get their hands on her!” The grin Rafe shot Chayle was payback for the foot stomp, she was convinced of that, but she refused to take the bait.

“No worries, brother. She’s mine and they’ll have to go through me to get her again!” Kayne growled, pulling her off her own chair and into his lap.

“Good, because I’m afraid we haven’t heard the last of the one creep, and we still have to figure out what they wanted with Chayle and those other young girls.”

Everyone agreed as they helped clear the table and drifted in their own directions for the evening. Kayne and Chayle found their way to their suite of rooms and the minute the door closed Kayne had her pinned against the door.

“What were you thinking?” he growled, his huge body pressed against her. His breath tickled her neck and the slight scar where he had bitten her the one and only time. His tongue caressed it, licking it long and slow and a shudder racked her body with need as warm juices flooded her folds and panties. Need, deep and soul wrenching, tore through her as her knees buckled but Kayne easily held her against the door. A thick thigh slipped between her knees, forcing Chayle to spread her legs as he lifted her and instinct had her riding his leg as her body sought release. The sensuous slide rocked her soul as she rolled her hips and begged for his touch as Kayne continued to suck her neck and the soft skin just below her ear, almost purring as Chayle lost what little mind she had with his assault.

“No one touches you but me. No one threatens you without going through me!” Kayne growled, as he plundered her slowly, igniting once again the fires that were always burning since the first time he had taken her. Chayle knew this man was the other half of her soul, her destiny. “You are my Heart, don’t you know that?”

“Kayne…” she managed to whimper as he finally took her mouth in that soul-sucking kiss of his that left her mindless. It took only a matter of heartbeats for the two of them to find the bed. Kayne was an expert at getting her clothes off and Chayle never remembered feeling them fall to the floor, only of him moving between her naked thighs.

“I love to smell your need,” he whispered just before his mouth settled on her drenched folds, his dark eyes holding hers. His tongue was the devil and his lips the fires of hell as he drove her to the peaks of ecstasy over and over until she was mindless. She begged, screamed, and twisted until it was impossible to feel anything other than pure wickedness coming from her lover’s mouth. And then, he added the mental feedback loop that their fragile connection had forged and Chayle came unglued.

“Kayne…” she screamed as her body fractured, her mind grasping his thoughts and feelings, reaching out for him. He tormented and tantalized her slick entrance, licking and devouring every drop of the juices that slid from her until Chayle was certain she would combust. Her thighs were slick with sweat, both of their bodies gliding as they moved. Then he would back off, just a bit before starting all over again, driving her even higher.

Chayle came unglued in his arms over and over again but now he had to have her, bury himself deep in paradise or die of thirst. Just before he slipped the head of his engorged cock into her moist entrance, Kayne stopped. He waited and whispered her name.

“Look at me, Chayle,” he whispered, watching as those beautiful eyes finally met his. “I love you. You are my heart, my soul, and my life!” he whispered, and sank to the hilt into her depths. Both of them gasped as the psychic connection instantly slipped into place, each feeling the heat and depth of the other’s emotions looping back to their partner, consuming them, making them fly higher, deeper. He watched her eyes clear and then darken as he lifted back out and slide back into her depths, the muscles of her passage clenching around him, her heat like a furnace as his cock began to swell with his impending climax. He felt the muscles of Chayle’s passage around his cock spasm once again, sending him over the edge. He desperately tried to wait. Kayne loved watching his woman come apart in his arms, but this time it was too much. Sensory overload hit them both, and the muscles of her moist channel clamped down on his steel hard shaft, making him totally lose his mind.

Chayle’s scream mingled with Kayne’s roar of completion as their fluids mingled and Kayne felt the flow of life as it settled deep within this woman he loved more than life itself. The very thought that his child would grow in the safe haven of his mother’s womb both elated and terrified him. Kayne knew Rafe would protect Chayle with his very life if something were to happen to him, but it was his job to protect his family.

Once they had regained some semblance of calm, Kayne rose and brought a warm washcloth and towel from the bathroom to clean his now sleeping mate. He tossed them back toward the dark bathroom and pulled Chayle against his chest. He cupped his large hand protectively over her small stomach where he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt that his child was beginning to grow.

Chayle woke from her dreams tired but tucked protectively against her mate’s strong chest. If she was honest with herself, the events from the training room had haunted her more than she realized but a deep foreboding settled in the center of her chest. Something evil was coming this way. She could feel it, sense it deep in her bones and it was going to be something terrible.

She had learned long ago that family wasn’t about the blood you shared with others. It was about the people willing to bleed for you to keep you safe. Chayle knew she could never be anywhere safer than with Kayne, with his Team spread around them. She could only hope that the other young woman who had been with her was as lucky.

Chapter 19

Not many were allowed to venture into the private command center where Gabriel Sorrel had his haven. His tech toys were displayed in all of their glory, his babies running quietly in the background, guarding the compound in ways that most had no clue but were forever thankful since the last infiltration attempt by whomever was after Chayle. Now, Gabe sat reviewing the latest data he had uncovered concerning the monster they had called The Master, and was glad no one was there to see the tremors that shook his hands. Memories, dreams, and nightmares from when he was held during their enlistment rarely surfaced, but tonight he fought to keep them behind the brick walls he had built long ago so that his brothers-in-arms would never suspect just how damaged he really was.

He looked back down at the reports in front of him and Gabe fought to steady his breathing. “In, out. In, out: He kept up the mantra for well over ten minutes until he could concentrate on the reports without it affecting him or any sign showing. Anyone looking would see the Ice Man, as the guys called him.

It was much worse than they believed, and even his gifts hadn’t warned him about this. His first priority was going to be to fill in the team - soon. More young people had been missing than was first thought, and it wasn’t just from homeless shelters or the streets. Universities had lost track of students. Young people with no one to miss them disappeared from communities, the same MO: no family, no close friends to report them missing until it was too late to track it back, and eventually reported as a cold case. He had over two thousand cases just in the southern United Sates alone, and he hadn’t even heard from all of the agencies yet.

As Gabe continued to meticulously analyze the data, a pattern formed and he realized something else… someone in the U.S. government was helping these monsters. It was the only explanation for how this massive amount of “lost” individuals could be hidden for so long and so deep. The person or people involved had to have access to public and private records, the ability to delete or change files to make it look like the cold cases were sidelined without being solved and no one had bothered to dig deep enough to uncover the scheme. It allowed the perpetrators to literally steal human beings and sell them into trafficking rings right under the nose of the very government officials he and his team worked for. Gabe’s temper was off the charts and he rarely lost it.

Struggling to regain his breathing and temper, he realized his hands were shaking again as he reached for the secure phone to call Kayne and Rafe. He could have reached out to them telepathically, but Gabe knew they would instantly pickup on just how upset he was and he needed the time it would take for all of them to gather for a meeting to regain his composure. They were in a fight that they couldn’t afford to lose.

The large room in the command center could hold all of the team members and still leave standing room. Currently it was eerily silent after Gabe had dropped his bombshell on the group and outlined what he had uncovered. These men had fought and bled for their country thinking it was to benefit the greater good and now found themselves betrayed by those same government officials. Yet, they still fought on to protect the innocent and defeat those who would use the same technology against those who had no idea what it could do. Evidently someone out there had a God Complex and was trying to use it to create their own army in order to create a slavery cartel the likes unheard of to date.

“So, now we realize that this is bigger than just the few nests we’ve managed to take out so far. Our goal is to find out who the mole or moles are within the system so we can protect our backs. We also have to make sure who we can and cannot trust.” Gabe’s final assessment rang over the conference room as a couple of hands came up.

“Davy,” Kayne pointed.

“How the hell can we know who to trust, Sirs? We couldn’t figure that out when we were enlisted. That’s why we left. We thought we had someone who had our backs now.” Davy’s young face was ashen as he looked at the whiteboard; he’s dark eyes reflecting his distrust and anxiety.

“I know, Davy, and I promise you that we’ll figure this out. I’ve already talked to Commander Derek and he’s not only furious but he’s on his way here, alone. Not only does he not trust anyone around him right now but he’s not taking any chances until we figure this out.” Rafe’s statement took everyone by surprise except Kayne. The men had never actually met Derek and it would be interesting to see how they reacted to him once he got there.

Rafe liked the man and trusted him with his and Kayne’s life. Derek had been the one person who had saved the twins from the horrific lab where the Commander had found them, exposing the unsanctioned experiments on military personnel that had finally brought down the entire operation. However, not many knew the specifics about that time, and the twins rarely discussed it with anyone outside of a few close to them.

“Let’s just say that we can trust Commander Derek with our lives. You have my oath on it.” Rafe promised. The men and few women all watched the three of them standing up in front of them and finally began to nod. Rafe knew it would take more than his say so to get them to trust Derek but he had faith in the Commander so he let it go.

“Ok, let’s get some assignments out and see what we can do. We need to lock this down and figure out where these assholes are getting their Intel from.” Kayne began making assignments as Rafe watched the group. It was going to be interesting to see how they handled this from here on out.

Chapter 20

Six Months Later