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“She’ll be okay with bonding with you, though?” Drew followed up. He had the most to lose if this went south, and his worry was clear. If she wouldn’t bond, we weren’t going.
I looked at him, in his eyes. “I sure hope so. She married me, after all.”
The wind blew around us, whistling around the building and the trees. The temperature had dropped a little once the boys had gotten me talking and I’d relaxed a little. The boards below me weren’t smoking anymore.
Grace was the first to come out of her stupor. “I’m sorry, but did your brother just say he’s married?”
Dalton shook his head while Chris knocked the heel of his palm against his head in a gesture like he was clearing cobwebs so he could hear better. Carmon just blinked at me while Drew’s brows furrowed.
Hurt filled Cal’s expression before he turned away and grabbed hold of the railing around the porch.
“I’m sorry.” My shoulders fell. I should have told my brothers sooner, but I couldn’t bring myself to. “She and I married when we were both seventeen. You guys and I, we were different then. We were hard, cold toward each other. None of you would have been okay with my marriage.”
Carmon shook his head. “The last six months—"
“Have been awful watching not one, but most of the women here, almost die.” My voice was a growl from fear. “Not to mention Tessa and Jeff are at that creature’s mercy. No, I wanted Brynn far from this for as long as possible.”
“That’s her name? Brynn?” Jazz asked. She smiled at me. “I can’t say I blame you for waiting. No one expected Mount Pickett to fall.”
Sophie pushed herself away from Chris. “Adam, let’s go find your wife. We won’t stop searching until we find her. Oh, and Jeff and Tessa, and Sylee’s brother, too.”
Sylee’s eyes were red, and she’d been unusually quiet. The fear for her brother, a cadet at Mount Pickett, was obvious in the way she wrapped her arms around herself and her shoulders slumped. Why was Cal not comforting her?
“What about the babies?” I asked Jazz and Drew, who’d moved closer to me.
Jazz blinked a lot and bit her lips together. Sylee moved then to wrap the small woman in a tight hug while Drew answered me, his eyes welling with tears as well. The babies had brought out a different side of Drew no one had known existed. He hadn’t even known this part of himself.
“Life has promised to protect them. The other Elementals will help her. She knows we’re leaving. Even if you didn’t have a wife there, Jeff and Tessa need saving. Lord Healing and Love can tell us to stay away all he wants, but the truth is, we can’t leave them. We need them both. Though, the Mindolin will expect us to come, so everyone watch your back and the backs of those around you.”
Dalton stared into the house as he spoke. “We need to leave quickly if we plan to do this. Our uncles won’t allow us to hide out here forever. They’ll want to push Adam to bond with anyone like they’ve already suggested. They won’t care who she is or that Adam is married. If we’re doing this, we need to leave now and together. I’m sorry, Drew and Jazz, but we need to go without saying goodbye to the babies.”
“We know,” Jazz sniffled. “Let’s go before I change my mind.”
“You just gave birth, Jazz. No one would blame you if you wanted to stay behind,” Sophie offered, but Jazz shook her head.
“This isn’t about me not being helpful the past few months, though that does bother me,” the small girl said. “This is about me helping my family save my siblings. I’ve lost one set of siblings and my parents. I refuse to sit back while one brother’s wife dies and my other brother and his mate are tortured and killed by that monster. Plus, Sylee’s brother is there, and I won’t go down without a fight saving him. So let’s go.”
Jazz pushed forward and led the way off the deck.
“Better move faster,” Drew said as the rest of us followed around to the front of the house. “By faster, I mean run.”
He scooped Jazz up into his arms as the rest of us took off toward the vehicles at a much faster pace. Lord Healing had fixed Jazz up after her delivery, but she’d take some time to completely be back to normal. At least, that’s what Uncle Alex had said.
Our uncles, Lords Fire and Lightning, rushed out the front door of Drew’s house as the last of us climbed into my SUV, Drew’s truck, and our team’s SUV. Drew and Jazz were in their truck with Chris and Sophie. Carmon and Sylee were with me, while Dalton and Grace drove the last vehicle. We’d need the space for those we rescued.
The ground rumbled as we put accelerators to the floor and took off down the driveway. Tires screeched and rubber burned against the pavement as our uncle, the Earth Lord, Marcus, made to halt our escape.
Carmon looked calm beside me, but his calm was exterior only. His mate in the row of seats behind us kept the same appearance as her mate, but I had no idea what she felt. I hadn’t known her long enough.
Drew, can you counter Marcus’ attack?Carmon had taken on his role as our Commander. He led us both as a Light warrior and as an Elemental.
Working on it.Drew’s voice was a clenched growl as he fought our uncle’s power. Whether we were a mile from our compound or one hundred, it didn’t matter. Marcus had control over all the earth. Drew did as well, but did he measure up to our uncle? We were about to see if our Earth Lord brother could at least come close to matching Marcus in strength.
See if Jazz can help you.Not that Drew needed more suggestions, especially from me, in this endeavor, but if he couldn’t beat Earth, then we wouldn’t be driving to Rusolo today. Or any day after today.
You cannot go up against him, the Mindolin. Not yet.Lady Life, the reigning power of the world, and our Aunt Mercy, spoke into our minds.I will draw my siblings’ powers back in, but they will not be happy. Do not fight the Mindolin. Your priority is Adam’s mate, Jeff, and Tessa.
We understand,Carmon answered for all of us. He turned and gave Sylee a nod. They still planned to find Archer against Life’s wishes. I didn’t blame them. Archer was a good kid.
