Damn but my girl is sexy. If I could I would keep her in our room the whole day but as I’m about to suggest that we have a long relaxing bath together, Draco calls insisting on our presence at breakfast. As the Elemental’s MC President Draco wasn’t someone a person usually ignored. He commands attention with his presence alone. Draco is a force on his own. He’s also the only Elemental in our chapter that can bend more than one element.

Draco would lay down his life if need be for any of the brothers; everyone respects and trusts his judgement. He’s also the oldest Elemental in the MC. All of us worry that he will lose himself soon without his mate, but Draco isn’t just physically strong he’s emotionally and mentally strong. He’s our rock the pillar to our club, so when he called and said it’s time everyone met Aria, I obey.

I know my girl is nervous. She is holding my hand so tight I’m sure there is no more circulation making its way to it. I have noticed that since she met Jasmine and Gabriela she makes sure that they are by themselves before she goes to meet them, and always only stays for short periods of time so she won’t run into anyone else. She has been here for just over a month and the only brothers she has met are Bion and Burkhart.

I know that Bion has told all the brothers about her PTSD and not to touch her as she usually shows signs of slipping back when either Bion or Burkhart come to see me and get too close to her. Burkhart warned me yesterday that Draco wants to know what had happened to her and if she might have seen anything that might be useful to us.

I know that I should already have asked her about her captivity, but just imagining what she went through makes me want to go out and gut everyone I find. Before we walk into the kitchen, I can hear the brothers talking, so I stop, turning Aria towards me. “Don’t be nervous, you have already met Bion and Burkhart. The others are like them; they will all accept you just like I do.” I see the frown marring her forehead; gently I stroke it away until she gives me a slight smile.

Even though a forced smile it is better than the frown, turning we walk into the kitchen. Our kitchen has a huge table where we all sit and have our meals. Since Jas and Wulf’s bonding we all started to take our meals together as she is a great cook and she preferred us all at the table at mealtimes; also because she had never had a family and we all wanted to give her one. Needless to say, we had all started to enjoy our mealtimes and now we very rarely miss mealtimes unless we’re on a run, patrolling or staking shit out.

As we enter the kitchen everyone grows silent, looking around, I see that everyone is present except for Sven our prospect, and Cassius. The rest of the brothers are all sitting at the table while Jas is sitting on Wulf’s lap, Jas is about twenty-eight weeks pregnant and we all worry. I know that sometimes we drive her crazy with our overprotectiveness, but she either smiles and goes ahead, ignoring us or she gives in and tries to please us.

Looking across at the kitchen counter I see Gabriela piling food on a plate. I smile, knowing that she must be plating for Bjarni. We always joke around about how much Bjarni likes his food; he doesn’t like anything to disturb his meals unless it’s Gabriela. Bjarni as our Sergeant at arms is the biggest and strongest of all of us.

“Well look at that, I was starting to wonder if you would ever let us poor souls feast our eyes on your girl.” Ceric teases from his place at the table. When I show him the finger everyone starts to laugh.

“I’m sure you can find a better use for that finger.”

“As you can see Sunshine, That’s Ceric, just ignore his comments. He doesn’t know what to do with a woman that’s why he has to ask.” At my comment all the men start chuckling. Ceric is always teasing everyone so whenever anyone has a chance we try to get back at him. I can feel Aria relaxing next to me as everyone laughs. I even see a genuine smile on her face.

“Oh yes, he’s the one who came out a few months ago.” I had told her about when Gabriela first came to the compound and how she had thought that Ceric and Bjarni were gay because of something that Ceric had said and how shocked Ceric was that she thought he was gay.

“What!” Ceric gasps, at her words everyone quietens and then there are peals of laughter throughout, as everyone chortles at Ceric’s expense. “Yeah, yeah very funny,” he says but he is smiling at Aria.

“Good one,” I whisper in her ear seeing a shiver move over her body at my words. My girl seems to have a teasing streak in her. I guide her towards my seat at the table and see that a chair has been placed next to it. My brothers must have been told that Draco had asked that we join everyone for breakfast. Looking around I see that everyone is observing us, I can feel Aria tense next to me and I know that if I don’t do something her fear will start to take over her body.

“Jas, how’re you feeling sweetheart you are looking tired?” I know that this will get everyone’s attention off my girl. Jas has a special place in my heart she is caring and extremely giving, not that I don’t like Gabriela, but I haven’t known her for as long as I’ve known Jas. As Elemental’s, we are naturally protective of women, but when they belong to us or to one of our brothers we go out of our way to make sure that they are always protected. Not just for them but for their mate too, because if anything happens to our women we are nothing without them.

“Thanks, Brandr!” she says sarcastically. I see Wulf is nuzzling her neck in concern, a hand stroking her extended stomach. Wulf is one tough son of a bitch, but when it comes to Jas he is unreasonable. If he could, I know, that he would be by his woman’s side twenty-four-seven.

“Aren’t you feeling well?” Bjarni asks with concern in his voice. Bjarni considers himself Jas’s protector, when Wulf first met Jas and had to go away Bjarni was usually the one to look out for her. Even though she doesn’t say it, we all know that she sees Bjarni as an older brother.

“You are looking a bit pale,” Ceric adds. “Bion, is she okay?” We all look at Bion; as our medic he has been monitoring Jas closely as she is the first human woman to mate with one of us in our chapter.

“Her vitals are normal, but maybe I should check you again Jas, just to be safe.” Bion is already starting to stand when Jas interrupts him.

“Seriously, I’m pregnant, not sick!” she huffs in irritation. “And how can anyone think I look tired if all I do is rest,” she huffs, looking around at all of us in frustration.

“Come on guys, give her a break. She is looking great for someone that is as far along as she is,” Gabriela chips in. I see her punch Bjarni on the arm in annoyance.

“What!” Bjarni growls. “What did I do?” but he is already pulling Gabriela towards him. Lowering his head, he takes her lips in a blistering kiss. I look at Aria and notice that she is looking around at all of us with a stunned look on her face. I pull her chair closer until it is touching mine, and lower my lips to her ear. “Why so surprised Sunshine?” I whisper so the others don’t focus on my girl again. Even though I whisper I know that Ceric beside me, had heard what I said.

“You all act so normal … not that you aren’t normal, it’s just after knowing about what all of you can do I thought you would be different.” Even though she didn’t talk loudly, all my brothers heard what she said.

“Oh, we are different, especially, where it counts.” Ceric chirps as he wiggles his eyebrows. Instantly Aria’s cheeks burst in embarrassment. “Brandr my man, you must be doing something wrong if she hasn’t noticed anything different about you. Maybe I should give you some pointers.” He teases with a wink at Aria.

“You wish Asshole. I can’t wait for you to get a mate. You are so going to pay for all your chirps,” I grunt, shoving him back playfully.

“Enough!” Draco says, just loud enough for attention. “Aria, I welcome you to our club. Even though your man hasn’t introduced us, I am Draco.” At Draco’s comment I promptly present everyone to Aria. All the time that we had been together in our room while she recuperated I had talked about the brothers at the compound and even though she hadn’t met them she knew about them from everything I had told her. When I’m done with the formalities Draco continues.

“So, Aria, Brandr tells us that you can read people’s minds.” Well, so much for subtleties; Draco wasn’t one for beating around the bush. I can see the shock on her face as she looks at me, she’s not sure if she should confess to her gift or not. I place my hand behind her neck and bring her towards me, “Don’t worry Sunshine, we are all different here; no one will judge you.”

I see the hesitation on her face before I kiss her forehead. Pulling back, I place my hands under her arms and lift her onto my lap. I know that Draco will start to question her, therefore I want her on my lap so that she can feel as safe as possible.

Once she is sitting comfortably I feel her hand grip my arm in agitation as she looks straight at Draco. One thing I have discovered about my girl is that she is courageous. Even though she has gone through hell she hasn’t given up.

“Yes, I do.” She responds quietly, leaning back against me.

“Can you hear anyone’s thoughts right now?” Celmund asks with an excited gleam on his face. Celmund is our tech guy, and a damn good one at that. I usually don’t say anything about it, but he has some crazy skills.

“No, I can’t hear any of your thoughts. It is the first time that I have found people whose thoughts I couldn’t hear.” I’m stroking her midriff under her top; I can feel when she slowly starts to relax.

“Trust me, I think you would be scared if you had to hear Ceric’s thoughts,” Burkhart says teasingly. Ceric shows him the finger as he continues to eat his breakfast.

“You say that we are the first people you can’t hear. Does that mean that you heard all your kidnapper’s thoughts?” Draco asks. I can practically see the wheels turning as he looks at Aria. At his question I feel her tense again; maybe it’s too soon to go into this; I don’t want her agitated. She takes a while to respond. I’m about to interfere and stop the questioning when she answers.

“Yes, I heard their thoughts,” she answers in barely a whisper.

“Did you tell her who her kidnappers were?” Before I can answer Wulf, she nods at him. “So, you know about the Keres MC?” she nods again. I know I’m looking at her in surprise, but I have never told her it was the Keres that had kidnapped her. I did tell her about the Keres but not that it was them.

“What?” I know that I sound shocked but if she knew that it was them then she knows it was because of me that she went through everything. She turns slightly in my lap looking back at me; her dark blue eyes are filled with pain with the memory of what had happened to her.

“When they took me from my house one of the men thought that the Elemental’s thought that they are so high and mighty, but that the Keres will obliterate them. At the time I didn’t know who the Elemental’s were but when you told me the name of your club I figured the rest out.” Even though we aren’t by ourselves her words are directed only at me. I expect condemnation, but I don’t see any. How can she not blame me for this?

“Also, one day when one of the guys came down to feed me he thought today is the beginning of the end for your mate, thanks for helping.” A tear slips down her cheek as she says that, but she shows no other reaction.

“I’m sorry, this was all because of me.” She looks surprised at my confession. “They wanted to get back at me and my club, so they used you.”

“No. This is because they are evil, not because of you. Or are you saying that it’s also my fault that you were shot with the dart with my blood on it.” My girl is amazing! With everything she went through she doesn’t blame me; she humbles me with her goodness.

“Did you hear anything else while you were there, about us?” Bjarni asks. I see that he has pulled Gabriela’s chair against his and has his arm around her shoulders while he strokes her neck. She seems to be napping with her head against his chest but then I see a smile light up her face and know she is just enjoying his attention.

“When they first took me, one of the men phoned someone from the car.” She stops and looks at me as if unsure if she should continue. I squeeze her waist lightly in encouragement. “I got the impression that they had acquired information about me from someone as he said that the information was correct. And …. ‘She is coming in handy.’ I don’t think that the ‘she’ he was talking about was me.”

At her words I see all the brothers tense, when Wulf bonded with Jas we had found that one of the Jezebels was passing on information to the Keres but since we had disposed of her we believed that we didn’t have any more rats amongst us, but from what Aria had just said we might be wrong. We do suspect that they are somehow watching us, but maybe it’s someone closer to us.

“Did you hear any names while you were there?” Gunner asks from the end of the table. Gunner has recently been patched, he may not be an Elemental but he’s just as deadly as any of us. He also knows who we are and what we can do, I trust Gunner completely. He doesn’t shy away from danger.

“I don’t know, I think I was there for a long time. I can’t remember specific names, it was mostly one man who came down with my slice of bread and water and mostly all he thought about was how he could hurt me.” As soon as the words are out of her mouth I wanted to know who the fucker was that hurt my girl. “Son of a bitch I hope he isn’t dead, because if I get my hands on him I’ll make him squeal like a pig.”

“It’s okay Sweetheart, if you remember anything let Brandr know okay?” My girl nods at Draco leaning further back into me. I feel her body relax as she realises that no one is going to ask her anything else.

“Celmund, is there any chance that we might have missed something from one of the Jezebels?” Wulf asks gruffly. I understand his worry; with Aria at the compound I needed to be more careful than before. “If we still have a rat in our midst we need to find it before that person can get close to any of our women.”

Celmund is shaking his head, a frown marring his forehead. I know that he has investigated all the Jezebel’s backgrounds, financials and what they are up to now. Gabriela had touched Gloria one of our Jezebels a few months ago and seen that someone was trying to kill her. Since then we had had eyes on all three Jezebels that we looked out for at the club.

“I don’t know Brother, I have looked at everything. I don’t know what else to look for,” he replies in a frustrated tone.

“What about family or friends who might be around?” Gunner suggests. “I know that Lidia lives with two other girls. Tina has a brother I think she said and Gloria I’m not sure about; she doesn’t talk much about her personal life. They might not even know that they are passing on information if the person is crafty enough.”

Celmund is already striding out of the kitchen at Gunner’s words. In an hour we will most probably have a list of family and friends belonging to our Jezebels.

“Let’s see if that gives us any leads,” Draco says quietly. He always takes it hard on himself when anything happens to one of the brothers. “Brandr, is Aria fine for us to take her energy levels?” he asks, looking directly at me.

“I don’t want my brothers to go through the anguish I did when I was shot with the dart and didn’t think I was going to find my mate in time before I lost my mind, and in the process my life. I have asked Aria about her gift. She has explained that if it’s only one person or two she can deal with the noise level in her head. It’s when it’s a crowd that she can’t deal with it. She is fine, just let us know when you want to do it.” I had discussed it with Aria and she was all for helping.

“Let’s do it tomorrow,” said Draco. “Celmund can set up at the bar.” I nod in acknowledgment. “Also, I believe Burkhart has told you about the missing person case?” Fuck! I had hoped that he wouldn’t bring that up in front of Aria; I hadn’t said anything to her yet.

“Yeah, he did,” I say dismissively.

“You need to go into the town with Aria and sort this out at the police station before they find out that she is here.” Instantly I feel Aria tense in my lap, her head turns slightly so she can gaze into my eyes questioningly.

“Don’t worry Sunshine everything will be fine, they have a missing persons file for you. We need to go in and show them that you aren’t missing.” I kiss her forehead trying to appease the fear. I can feel her tensing her muscles. “They will ask you about what happened, we need to come up with a story that keeps you out of their suspicions regarding your Gran’s murder.”

“They think that I killed her?” she asks.

“No, they are just looking for you now, but as soon as you appear you will have to tell them what happened.” I try to make my voice as soothing as possible, knowing from what she has told me that my voice sooths her. “Don’t worry I will be with you.” I say trying to calm her fears.

“Maybe Jas and I can also go, not to the police station of course but into town. We have been meaning to go for a few days now as Christmas is coming up and I can also see how everything’s going at the bakery,” Gabriela chirps in excitedly. I see Bjarni frown next to her. Looking over at Wulf, I see he’s already shaking his head in denial. Gabriela doesn’t go into the bakery as often as she used to since she employed someone else to help with the baking and has Jenny managing everything.

“Oh, that’s perfect. Great idea Gabriela,” Jas replies before any of the men can answer.

“You shouldn’t be going into town in your condition, you will tire yourself,” Wulf growls with a concerned look on his face.

“Oh, nonsense! it’s not as if I’m going to be running a marathon I’m just going to look for Christmas presents, it’s a great idea.”

“It’s a fucking bad idea having all three women in town at the same time,” Bjarni grumbles with a stubborn set to his shoulders.

“Well isn’t that why we have you?” Gabriela says sweetly looking up at Bjarni innocently. Oh, she is good, I can see Bjarni giving in the moment she starts to stroke his neck.

“Fuck, I don’t like this,” he grumbles but we all know that he will do anything to please his woman.

“Does that mean we’re going to have a Christmas party?” Ceric asks excitedly, at his words all the men look at Draco in confirmation but before Draco can answer Jas interrupts him.

“Christmas is for family!” Draco is looking at Jas thoughtfully. Ceric, Burkhart and Caelius are looking at her as if she lost her mind.

“Okay we will have a Christmas party,” he states. Ceric whoops excitedly. “Only for family,” he continues. I can’t help it, I start chuckling at the men’s crestfallen faces. Even Bjarni and Wulf are grinning, as mated men we don’t mind not having women around but from their faces they don’t like the idea.