The men were all in the garage getting ready to leave. Only Celmund was staying behind so he could guide them. Wulf had asked her to keep out of the computer room today, he didn’t want her to have to see or listen to the fighting that would be going on. Celmund would be keeping a close eye on everyone, after much pleading she had agreed to keep away.

She stood facing Wulf as he put on his jacket over his blades, and a gun that was tucked in the back of his jeans. There was also a holster with two guns at his sides, which the jacket covered. She was scared for these men, they might get hurt or worse, killed.

“Breathe. Don’t worry it’s going to be fine, we’ve been doing this for a very long time.” He assured her seeing the fear in her eyes.

“Don’t you dare get hurt. You come back to me Wulf, without a scratch.” Taking her face in his hands he kissed her lovingly.

“I will. I promise.” Turning he mounted his bike. Ceric and Wulf pulled away on their bikes. The others followed in Caelius’s black Jeep wrangler and Bion’s Dodge charger.

“Come on Honey, let’s go inside I’m going to lock this place down now. The prospects are by the gates and the Jezebels aren’t here today.” Celmund placed a hand on her back and guided her inside. Reaching the courtyard Celmund stopped, facing her. “Don’t worry okay Honey, your man will be fine. He’s a skilled warrior, a legend with his blades. And he’s got a great reason to come back to all of us.” 

“Thank you Celmund, but I worry about all of them. Can you promise that they will all be back without getting hurt? You know that I have never been able to change the outcome of one of my visions. What if those bombs still go off, and they get hurt, or worse killed.”

“Well, something has changed already you saw special agent Jack in your vision, he won’t be there he is in jail. So, you see, maybe there will be a different outcome.” Stepping forward she hugged him knowing that he was trying to appease her worry.

“Thank you.”

From all the guys Celmund had the darkest eyes. From close-up, she could see the dark brown, but from far he looked like he had dark orbs that penetrated your soul. From the time, she had arrived here at the compound Celmund had always kept his dark hair short. Like all the other men he had a body that would make any woman stop and stare, but from what she had come to know of him he did not pay much attention to women. Not to say he didn’t enjoy them. She had seen the Jezebels with him before, but she noticed that once he was satisfied, they were out of his mind. Turning, she made her way to a painting she had been busy with, hoping this would keep her mind occupied. 

Celmund stood there for a few seconds, watching her paint. After a while he left to go and guide his brothers through the fighting. The men had positioned themselves around the building. Wulf and Ceric were two buildings down, waiting for a go-ahead from Celmund. Celmund had reported this morning that the feds had stopped the trucks with the children and women and that there had been a lot of movement since then. They were hoping that Merdor would make an appearance. Burkhart and Bion were in the tunnel under the building. They would make their way inside while the rest of them would distract them from the outside.

“I see a black SUV making its way towards you, Draco.” Celmund reported. Draco was on the north side of the building with Bjarni. A few seconds later they heard Draco confirm.

A minute later Wulf saw the SUV nearing the building then stopping. The two front doors opened and Keres men got out looking around. A few seconds later one of the back doors opened and Merdor stepped out of the car.  In his ear Wulf heard Celmund say, “It’s a go, guys.” Wulf and Ceric started moving down the road towards the back entrance of the building, keeping to the shadows. He knew that Draco and Bjarni were doing the same from the other side. They were going in via the main entrance. Bion and Burkhart would wait in the tunnels until they knew that the others were inside before they made their move.

Brandr and Caelius were in the air to pick them up from the roof of the building once this was all done.

“Celmund,” Wulf started, but Celmund cut him off.

“She’s fine, and don’t worry she’s not anywhere near the computer room.” Wulf relaxed. He had been worrying about Jas since he had left. He had an uneasy feeling that he usually got, when something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it could be.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t want her anywhere near this fighting. If she heard or saw any of the fighting, her anxiety and fear would distract him. They moved on until they reached the back entrance.

“We’re going in,” Ceric reported, as he picked the lock. Wulf stood behind him, making sure no one saw them.  Hearing the lock click, they entered a big open warehouse. There were a few crates, two white trucks, and a table on the far end where three Keres were sitting. One was cleaning a gun, the other two were playing cards.  They had a radio playing in the background. As Wulf moved stealthily he noticed there was a bomb strapped to one of the pillars. He indicated that so Ceric would keep his eyes open. 

“We’re in,” came from Draco in their earpieces. Wulf and Ceric moved towards the men, keeping behind the crates, and downwind so the Keres couldn’t pick up their scent. They would have to make a move soon or the Keres would pick up on their energy.

Ceric was positioned behind one of the crates taking aim. Wulf was on the other side; climbing to the top he pulled out his two blades. The Keres who was cleaning his gun lifted his head and looked around suspiciously. Wulf aimed and threw his blades. Both hit their targets. Ceric shot at the same time. All three went down. They made their way quietly towards the steps leading up. The Keres who they had just killed were already starting to disintegrate into their elements. One was air the other two were water. Wulf walked towards them and pulled out his blades. He had hit them both dead centre through the heart.

“Warehouse is clear. We’re going up,” Ceric reported.

“Foyer clear,” they heard from Bjarni.

“Basement clear, we found a woman. She’s in bad shape, we are bringing her up,” Bion reported. Wulf and Ceric shared a look. They hadn’t expected to find anyone except the Keres in the building. As they reached the top of the stairs, Ceric bent down to pick the lock on the door.

“Wulf, there is someone walking down the corridor towards you guys,” Celmund informed. Ceric stood next to the door flush against the wall. Wulf pulled himself over the railing of the metal stairs and stood flush against the wall on the other side of the door, hanging in the air holding on by one hand and a foot on the frame of the stairs. The door opened and as the man stepped out Ceric punched him across the face towards Wulf.

Grabbing the Keres by his shirt as he fell towards him, he pulled him over the railing. The Keres yelled as he fell, hitting the ground but still breathing. Ceric looked over the railing and shot him through the heart. Stopping the heart was the only sure way of killing Elementals. They made their way down the corridor towards the room at the end that was supposed to be their server room.

“I have a visual on Merdor. He’s on the top floor with two other Keres. They are going through some type of plans,” Celmund reported.

“We’re on it,” Draco came back. Wulf and Ceric entered the server room. The first thing they noticed was another bomb strapped to the server.

Ceric plugged into the server and started the process. “Celmund I’m in, can you see it?”

“I’m in,” Celmund reported a minute later. Wulf went to stand by the door while Ceric went to look around the room waiting for Celmund to finish.

“Wulf.” He looked back and saw that Ceric had found something. Approaching, he found a folder which Ceric was looking at with various photos and notes on all of them. They had a photo of him on his bike at a stop street; one of Draco and Ceric leaning against a building.

“Bring it.”

How could they not have known that they were being followed, they would have sensed the Keres energy a mile away. They would look into it later when this was over. Now he just wanted to get out of here.

“Okay boys, I’ve got it.” Ceric unplugged his gadgets and they made their way to the roof. Hearing a gunshot, they realized they had been made. They all had silencers on their guns tonight so it wasn’t one of them. There were more shots.

“They’ve seen us, Merdor is moving,” Draco reported.

“Which way?” Ceric asked hoping to intercept him.

“He took the back stairs, we’ve got five sons of bitches here.” Wulf and Ceric started running towards the stairs. As they broke through the door, they just missed Merdor’s head going around the bend of the stairs. They chased him down. Wulf pulled out one of his blades leaned over and threw. He heard a grunt so he knew that he had hit him.

“We’re on the roof, it’s clear,” Burkhart reported. Wulf and Ceric reached the foyer right behind Merdor. Merdor turned, shooting at them. Growling, Wulf leaned down to punch his fist on the ground. A fissure the width of a door opened, running the length of the foyer from Wulf to where Merdor was. Merdor saw it coming, diving to his right behind a pillar. Ceric had been shot, but it looked like a flesh wound to his leg.

“You okay?”

“Fine,” Ceric responded sounding Irritated.

“We are on the roof,” Draco called.

“Go! We will leave through here,” Wulf stated. They were on the ground floor; no reason for them to go all the way up again. Wulf could see Merdor’s left leg peeping out from behind the pillar, just enough for him to throw his blade at.

“You son of a bitch!” Merdor yelled, as the blade sank into his lower leg. They heard a whine before they saw a ball of fire heading their way. Merdor was the element of fire, but because he was a Keres, his power wasn’t as strong as one of the brothers, but even so, Wulf was surprised, at how big and quick the flame was. He lunged to his left, just as Merdor jumped through the glass door in the entrance and made his way to his car parked outside. Looking to his other side, he inspected Ceric to make sure the flames had missed him.

“Hurry, we need to get out of here!” Ceric called.

“We’re in the air!” Draco called to them.

Wulf and Ceric made a run for the entrance. Just as they got outside a bomb exploded then another one. They were thrown across the road by the force of the blast.

At the compound Jas felt a prickling by her shoulder, where she had the tattoo, then it became a burning sensation. She felt her heart constrict, knowing that something must have happened to Wulf. Dropping her paintbrush, she ran. Reaching the computer room, she heard Celmund talking into his headphones agitatedly.

“Wulf, respond!” He waited, then. “Ceric come in my man.” There was no response from the other side. On a screen, she saw the building on fire.

“Celmund, we landed, I’m going back to get them. Where were they when it went up?” She could hear the concern in Draco’s voice.

“Main entrance,” Celmund responded. “Wulf. Ceric, respond!” Celmund said again. 

“Cel!”

“Ceric, is that you?”

“Yeah!”

“Are you injured?” he asked, with concern in his voice. “Just banged up a bit, shot in the leg. Will survive.” He was breathing heavily as he spoke. “Wulf is fine, just lost his earpiece.”   

“Draco’s on his way, hang on, should be there in the next five minutes,” Celmund stated, reassuringly.

“Set up the infirmary, Ceric needs medical care,” Draco instructed about ten minutes later.

“On it.”

As Celmund turned, looking at Jas, he could see she was shaken but was hanging in there. She was sitting on one of the couches against the wall, he was about to speak when a shrill alarm went off.

“Fuck!” Celmund turned back to his screens and started punching into his keyboard. Looking up at his screens Jas noticed the images of the compound appearing instead of the building they had just attacked.

On one of the screens it showed the main gate, he could see the prospect on the floor. “Fuck! Guys we have been breached!” Celmund reported into his headphone, letting the guys know that they were in trouble.

“We will be there in half an hour. What do you see?” Jas could hear the anger in Draco’s voice as he requested the information. Celmund was scanning all the cameras and typing away on his keyboard.

“Over there. Look!” Jas had seen movement on one of the cameras. At first it didn’t seem like there was anything out of place but then they both saw the movement behind the brush. Celmund zoomed in on that camera moving it to the left. They, could see the top of someone’s head. Whoever it was, was crouching behind the brush, trying to go undetected.

“Draco, I’m sending the feed through from one of our cameras. It’s on the left side of the compound by the horses.”

“What the fuck are they doing?” Jas could hear the men talking by the swearing coming through, she knew they were all ready to bash in some heads. “Where do you want us Celmund? We are coming up to the compound; will be there in ten.”

“Burkhart, Cassius take the east side. Bjarni, Brandr take the west. Bion take the south. I haven’t seen any movement on that side and it’s more difficult to penetrate coming from there. You will be on your own seeing that Ceric is hurt. Wulf, Draco you on the North. Caelius come into the compound and make sure we’re not breached.”

Feeling her heart race. What could they possibly want with them? Why would they want to come into the compound? It was a good thing that none of the Jezebel’s were around, but she couldn’t see the other prospects in the cameras, except for Gunnar and he was still motionless by the gates.

“Celmund. Look there.” On another screen, they saw another two men creeping through the trees. 

“Cel … where’s Jasmine?” On hearing Wulf’s voice, Jas’s nerves calmed, it was amazing what the sound of his voice could do. She hadn’t realised how stressed she was after having felt that Wulf was in trouble, but now she relaxed, knowing that he was fine. Celmund handed Jas headphones, motioning for her to talk into the mouthpiece.

“Wulf!”

“Jas, I want you to listen to everything that Celmund tells you, we are nearly there. Everything will be fine!”

“I will. Love you.”

“Love you too Angel.”

Nearing the compound, Wulf could feel the rage engulfing him. How dare they attack their compound. How did they know to attack now, when they were all out? He had a suspicion that they were being watched but they hadn’t been able to catch anyone yet.

They were supposed to have gone to collect their bikes and cars, but at Celmund’s communication they had come straight here. Caelius would land on the other side of the main gate and they would make their way around. It wouldn’t take them long at all, Wulf just wanted to get going, the sooner he got rid of the attackers the sooner Jas would be safe.

Landing, they took off, spreading out throughout the area to make sure that they caught the intruders.

“The two that were crouching are moving towards you Bion,” Celmund updated, rotating the cameras to make sure that he caught the most coverage. Wulf had picked up another earpiece on the flight, so he could hear what was going on.

“Shit! There are two more by the air vents at the foot of the mountain, right ahead of you Bjarni, Brandr.” Celmund and Jas could see the men closing in on their prey. “Draco, Wulf the wolves have found the two that were creeping around, they have them cornered. Head to your right.” Looking at the screens Jas wondered what the hell they were up to.

Celmund tensed next to her. She couldn’t find anything different on the screens until she heard Celmund warn the men.

“Fuck! They are all earth elements, they are preparing to attack. Wulf, Bjarni, Draco you are stronger than them. Try and stop their momentum or they are going to destroy everything.”

Jas remembered Wulf telling her that Bjarni, Ceric and he were all earth elements. Draco was a fire element but he could also bend air and earth. Seeing that Ceric was wounded, she hoped that just the three of them would be able to stop whatever the attackers were planning to do.

They crouched placing their hands on the ground. The ground around them started to vibrate, any attack done by these Keres would be muffled by the vibrations. The other warriors continued on their way to attack the Keres. All the Keres MC attackers went down simultaneously banging their fists on the ground.

The ground trembled, wide grooves opened but the vibrations stopped them before they even started. Bion had reached the two that had initially been seen. He shot one right through the heart before he could even straighten up. The other jumped to the side so he was only able to nick him. The attacker started running, Bion chased. The ones by the air vents were also retreating with Brandr on their tail. He had shot one on the leg, slowing him down. The wolves were after the other two men. Bjarni, Wulf and Draco got up from their crouches, joining the chase.

“Try to capture one so we can interrogate him,” Celmund requested. Burkhart had cornered one and was now fighting him. Celmund knew that the man he was fighting wouldn’t be one of the survivors. Burkhart was hot- headed and deadly with nearly every form of combat. He wouldn’t even think about saving him for questioning. Celmund shook his head, the attacker was down. Damn Burkhart was impressive in a fight. Yip and there he goes. He plunged a knife right into his heart.

Cassius had the other man in a death lock, that one wasn’t going anywhere if Burkhart kept away from him.

“Cassius, bring that one back,” Celmund instructed.

“Caelius, prepare to chain him and place him in the cell.”

Bjarni had caught up to the one Bion had nicked. They were fighting. The man had Bjarni from behind, but Bjarni reached over and pulled his head forward. Jas saw the head fall forward. Bjarni had broken his neck.

“Bjarni you can bring that one in too.” His neck would mend. Bjarni hadn’t yet injured his heart.

“Damn Cel! We already have one!” Bjarni grumbled wanting to kill this one. The man stood up trying to run. 

“Come here you slippery fuck!” Growling, he subdued him. Draco and Wulf were after the ones the wolves had cornered. When they caught up to them the wolves were attacking. One of the intruders was fighting off two wolves one wolf had the one man by the leg, the other was biting into his upper arm. The other was fighting a wolf by holding it around its neck, trying to hold it away from him. 

Draco pulling out his forty-five, shot the man that was fighting the wolf. He fell back, not moving again. Wulf called to his wolves, moving in when they let go and moved back. He was in a rage; these damn bastards had brought the fighting too close to his woman. He stabbed the man in his neck, lifting him off the floor.

“What were you doing here?” His voice came out in a deep growl, he was moments from losing the grip he had on his temper. The bastard smiled at him in a condescending way.

“What were you up to?” His voice had lowered. Draco was standing to the side keeping an eye on the area.

“We are going to end your bitch!” he snickered. Wulf’s vision blurred into a red haze, he growled, losing any control he had had over his temper. His eyes radiated rage, such dark Amethyst that they looked black. The Keres knew he was dead. The ground started rumbling. When one of the Elementals changed you didn’t really see a change in their appearance but the energy that radiated out of them, and their animal instincts became more pronounced. Wulf was fully centred on protecting his woman. He drew back his hand and plunged a blade deep into the man’s chest, twisting. As soon as the Keres died Wulf dropped him. Immediately he started turning to dust. The ground was still rumbling and heaving at Wulf’s fury.

“Wulf, you need to calm down!” Draco was standing close to him. Wulf was breathing deeply, trying to calm his inner beast. Slowly he started to calm down.

“Keep me away from those fuckers Draco or I’m going to kill them. I don’t want them anywhere near Jas, you hear me?”

“I’m with you My Man. We will lock them up then try and get as much information out of them that we can and then dispose of them,” Draco stated. His voice was so low you could hear a rumble even after he had stopped talking.

“We’ve been breached!” Draco and Wulf stopped talking when they heard Celmund on their earpiece. The rest of Celmund’s communication was cut off. Wulf didn’t look back, he started running towards the compound he had to get to Jas, his heart pounded in his ears. If anyone touched her he would kill them slowly. He had believed she would be safe. They had the latest technology in maximum security and still they got in. He would never let her out of his sight again, she had to be safe.

He could hear Draco in his earpiece calling to all the others to get to the compound. He had tried calling Celmund a few times but his calls went unanswered.