Running in Fear: New Beginnings Jubilee (5 page)

Nikola gently ran the soft sponge over her back, as the blood colored the bath water. The four claw marks down the center of her back were now healed. He wanted to throttle her for leaving the safety of their world, but he couldn’t.

“Lissa, you’re safe, baby. Please talk to us. Yell at me for giving you hell earlier, but talk to us.” In an instant the water was clean once more. “I owe you an apology Lissa, and I can’t give you a proper one if you’re not talking to me. I was told, no correction, I was ordered to inform you that Queen Isabel would like to have lunch with you next week. She knows that you and the other women want to have a nice Christmas party and she thought it might be a wonderful time to introduce you to our people. To open the door, allowing what will take place.”

Very slowly Lissa sat up in the tub and gazed around the room. “I’ll talk to Jaycee, but won’t it be risky opening the door since we know some of your people are helping the other side? They could slip in here.”

He shook his head. “They are already here, at least one of them is. How else would they know that you would show up looking for the doctor? No, I believe if we open the door it would be better. Plus, I don’t really think many will leave their home. I’m afraid even the Goddess and her sister won’t be able to keep it from ‘our’ people soon.” He lifted her swollen hand and kissed it. “Do you know who betrayed you?”

Tears filled her eyes, and she drew her knees up to her chest, nodding. “But it can’t be, Nikola, she wouldn’t do this. She just found her mate. What they did to her, to all of us…It can’t be Della.”

“Come here Lissa.” He picked her up and sat her on his lap. “We’ll find out who it is. You’re very lucky you’re alive. They were only playing with you.”

She rested her head on his chest. “Are we going to live here or at the palace?”

Castor leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Nikola has agreed, we’ll fix this place up and live here. We’ll use the palace for guests, special occasions, and meetings, but we also want our privacy. We will be required to stay there occasionally, but our main home will be here.”

Lissa reached up and pulled Castor down, trying to kiss his lips, but flinched. “Sorry, guess I’m not fully healed.”

“Sweetheart don’t apologize for someone attacking you.” Castor stood and the water dripped down his muscular form, as Nikola’s gaze met Castor’s. “Come, Lissa you need to feed and I know you want to see the babies.”

“Are the babies and Jaycee okay?” Lissa looked at him, worried.

“She’s fine and so are the little ones.” He rose out of the tub, Lissa leaned over and ran her tongue over his nipple, licking the drop of water off him.

“I didnt attack those women, Nikola.” He tilted his head and frowned at her.

“What are you talking about? They broke out with Poison Ivy all over them, no one else could have done this.” He took the towel from Castor, drying her body, careful of the injuries.

She shook her head. “Remember when we were all in the forest and the plants wrapped around us? When you guys, well, you know.”

Nikola laughed and squeezed her ass. “Silly, you mean when they made us come?”

Lissa’s face turned a nice shade of pink and she nodded. “Well, when that happened the plants adopted you more or less. Any threat to you or me and they will attack. They considered both women a threat to our joining. I have a feeling we were lucky they didn’t do worse.”

Clothing her in a long skirt and sweater, Nikola groaned. “This isn’t good Lissa. We can’t have these plants attacking every female that comes near us. They didn’t attack Jaycee?”

Lissa pulled the sweater off her and replaced it with a silk blouse. “Sorry, but the sweater was sticking and it itched.” She smiled and tried to button her shirt, but her fingers wouldn’t work right.

He pushed her hands away and started to button her shirt. “They aren’t going to attack someone who isn’t a threat Nikola. You know damn well what those two were trying to do. If Adonis hadn’t caught me when the blond bimbo pushed me out of the way, I would have landed on my ass,” She said, trying to brush his hands away.

Clothing him the way his people did, Nikola shook his head. “I didn’t see that, and if it did happen, I’m sorry.” He regretted the way the words came out the instant they left his mouth.

She stepped away from him and glared at him. “You think I would lie about this? Then I guess you really don’t know me, do you Nikola? You might want to get to know your mate before the coronation, because right now I don’t want to be your queen or anything!” Lissa snapped and disappeared from the room.

“You really did it this time! She wasn’t lying, Nikola. I thought for sure Adonis was going to rip that girl’s head off, he was so furious, but he didn’t get a chance, the plants beat him to it.”

Black dress pants and white Ralph Lauren dress shirt covered Castor’s toned body. Nikola pulled Castor into his arms. “Do me a favor, kick me the next time I start to open my mouth before thinking.” Nikola pulled Castor’s head back, covering his lips with his own.

Their tongues dueling inside his mouth before he broke the kiss. “Eat Castor, you need to feed too.” Nikola opened his shirt and pressed Castor’s head down towards his chest.

“You’re going to talk to Della, aren’t you?” Castor sank his fangs into his chest and drank from him as he ran his hands down his back, cupping his ass.

“Yes. Della is an important part of Lissa’s and Suzanne’s life. Dominic is taking care of those who attacked Lisa. I will take care of this. If we are all going to live here in this new world, then we must share in protecting it. We are lucky Lissa healed quickly, thanks to Gaia’s touch today, not to mention the fact that our babies are safe.”

Closing the holes in his chest, Castor nodded. “You might want to pay more attention to Della’s mate. Dominic swears by this man, but something isn’t right about him. I’ve seen him before Nikola, and something doesn’t sit right with me. When our paths crossed the other day, he made sure to stay away from me.”

“Why would he use his mate as a decoy, unless…” Nikola clenched his hands. “These women have been hurt enough. To use innocent women? Where are the old days where we fight with honor and not hide behind a woman’s skirt,” he snapped, furious at what he now believed to have happened.

“If what we think has happened, Lissa will want Della here with us, and right now I don’t blame her.” Nikola reached back and started to braid his hair. It always helped him concentrate. “We still haven’t found anything about Leda’s children and parents either. That has me worried, the four of them just wouldn’t vanish unless…” He stopped braiding his hair and turned to Castor.

“Go stay with Lissa, and send Adonis to me, also see if Leda has anything that was her children’s with her. Have her give it to Adonis, before he joins me. When Lissa is done visiting, I want all of you to join me at the palace.”

Castor nodded and disappeared from the room. Nikola walked into the master bedroom and sighed.

“
May I have a moment of your time Nikola?
” Tor, one of his captains, asked as Nikola made his way down the stairs and into the large living room. A fire burned in the fireplace, warm coffee and breakfast buns sat on the mantle.

“What brings you here, Tor?” Nikola turned and offered him a cup of coffee, but the grizzly man shook his head.

“I wanted to warn you now, if this human, Leda, your mate’s friend, puts herself in harm’s way again, I will personally take it upon myself to stop her carelessness.”

Taking a sip of his coffee, Nikola burned his tongue and cussed as he glanced at Tor. Never would he believe the old bear would find someone who would interest him, but he and his friends might have been wrong.

“I’m afraid all women have this tendency to throw themselves into the thick of things without thinking first, but why take a personal interest, Tor?” Nikola set the glass down and glanced at one of the few mountain warriors still serving their queen, and now him.

Tor looked straight at him without blinking an eye. “She is mine, my companion.”

“Have you informed Leda of this?” Nikola actually laughed inside as the man before him actually blushed.

“That is another reason I have come. She is hurting now, with her children missing. If this wasn’t the case, I would take her to my home and claim her, but I cannot do that to her now. I want to give her this courting, that the humans do, but if she keeps throwing herself in the middle of dangerous things, I’m going to tan her ass. No matter what the consequences.”

“Tor, you do realize Leda will not be happy cut off from her friends, if you take her up to the mountains? That woman loves her job and she is quite good at it. We need her here.” Nikola waited for the eruption, but nothing came.

He grinned. “Confused, aren’t ya?” Tor laughed, and for the first time, sat down, running his hand though his long black hair. “I would never take her up there, Nikola. It’s gotten bad up there. Men are stealing wives and killing their mates. They believe they can still have children, but the elders won’t take the time to explain to them that this will not happen. I’m even afraid to introduce her to my brothers because of this.”

Nikola frowned. “Why wasn’t the queen made aware of this? We could have done something before this got so far?”

Tor shook his head. “The only reason I came down here to serve was because of you, my friend. I do not mean to disrespect our queen, but she hasn’t visited or even given our people a second thought. I just think it was too much for her. Slowly, with you at her side, things got better for many, but still nothing was done for the mountain people.”

“How many men are up there, Tor? Last count that I’m aware of, which was taken over fifty years ago, was twenty thousand.”

With a shake of his head, he stood and started to pace. “No, we are triple that now. I have sent word of you becoming our king and the men are starting to line up to fight for you now. I was hoping this would help our people. Maybe you could send them out into this Earth world.”

“Excuse me, but could I offer a suggestion?” Lissa smiled, and moved with grace to stand next to him. “I wanted to come and apologize for my outburst earlier. I needed some time alone, so I took a walk, but when I came back in, I couldn’t help hear what was going on, and I might have a solution.” She stood on her toes kissing his cheek.

He slid his arm around her waist. “You shouldn’t have been out there by yourself, Lissa. Castor is searching for you now.”

“I know and I’ve told him where I’m at. I just needed some time, Nikola, I went to our spot and just talked to the plants.” Lissa cuddled up to him and rested her head on his chest. The scent of fresh flowers and wild grass drifted up and calmed him.

“What’s your idea?” Nikola moved her in front of him, facing Tor.

“It’s hard for me to speak of this, Tor, so if I stumble, forgive me. The last few days I was held captive I overheard a conversation with the leader of the New York Bloods and the Cleveland Chapter. From what I understand there are a total of thirty of these houses like the one in which I was held throughout the US alone. I have no idea how many there are, or if there are any overseas. Also, Cecil was telling me there are many labs still open, and that with this war, these labs have been put on the back burner. Do you know how many families have been taken to these labs, Nikola? We have to do something. Maybe with the help of these men, they could focus on these areas. Who knows, they might find their mates, but it would also give them a purpose.”

Suzanne and Cecil cleared their throats and came into the room followed by Blair, Archer, Tug, Rory and Clayton. “I’m afraid Lissa is right. Half of our men are just trying to keep their areas protected. They can’t go in search for these labs or these slave places right now.” Clayton frowned and sat down in one of the chairs, pulling Cecil onto his lap.

“Even the council won’t budge or waste men to search for the labs.” Cecil buried her head into Clayton’s chest as Suzanne held onto Blair tight.

“Nikola, Della even has a list of all of the houses in the US, if they haven’t moved them.” Leda came in the room with her papers and spread them out on the coffee table, once stopping and staring at Tor, before she shook her head and spread out a map.

“Cecil drew this map and I had my sources send over the area surveillance of these properties. They are still full of women, well at least half of them.” Leda glanced up, as a tear slipped down her cheek. “The station was bombed yesterday. I don’t know who survived. They are getting stronger.”

Nikola watched as Tor reached down and picked up Leda, sitting her on his lap. She squirmed and tried to get down, but he held her tight, until she gave up. Lissa glanced up at him and he smiled. “She is his companion, you can’t interfere.”

Lissa’s smile got real big and she nodded. “What do you think, Tor. Do you think your men will do this?” Nikola pulled Lissa down onto the couch and looked at the map that Leda had.

“My brother Norris and his best friend are waiting. They would like a meeting with you.” Tor smiled as he ran his hands down Leda’s arms.

“They want a meeting now! Let’s get this moving, I have a feeling these people can’t wait any longer for help to come.” Nikola sat back, turning Lissa to him. “I take it you haven’t fed, since Castor didn’t find you?”

She shook her head and he sighed. “Lissa, you need to take better care of yourself. You’re carrying our children now.”

Lissa smiled, but he got a real bad feeling this wasn’t going to be good. “Do you mean you don’t mind if I feed from others?” She kissed his neck and scooted into Castor’s arms when he appeared sitting next to them.

“There will be no feeding from others, ever! If one of us is not around you will call out to us and we will come at once.” Castor snapped and opened his shirt. “Now feed.”

Nikola stood as Tor’s brother and his friend appeared before them. He had met Norris before, but his friend was new to him. At once he liked the man as they both bowed and pledged their alliance. One thing he knew: once mountain warriors pledge their loyalty, they always kept their word. “Welcome Norris, please introduce me to your friend.”