“Everything’s set.” I hear Brandr call out in my ear piece.  Brandr and Burkhart were placing explosives on the three cars and five bikes that are parked outside the mansion. We had received Intel from our source in the FBI that Vercin was about to move out. Our plans were to only attack in another week’s time but we had to bring it forward and move in.

Ceric and I are waiting for orders from Draco to approach. We are both at the back of the property, the three guards that had been patrolling this side have already been eliminated. The strange thing is that two of those guards were human. Something doesn’t feel right! The Keres MC don’t usually allow humans into their club unless they’re up to something and need the extra manpower.

“We’re in place.” This comes from Cassius. Bion and him have climbed to the first-floor balcony. They are going to go in through the top as Draco and Caelius rush the front entrance. Ceric and I will enter through the back.

“There are explosives on this balcony door, we can’t get in.” Cassius reports.

“I’m coming.” Brandr is our explosives guy, if we want something to blow up Brandr is more than happy to do it.

“Fuck! Bjarni, Ceric, be careful when breaching the back entrance. It might also be rigged.” Draco’s in a foul mood. He didn’t like to be rushed when it came to attack, he’s our strategist. Everything needs to be planned and checked. As this attack had been hurried, our plans weren’t one hundred per cent fool proof as Draco likes them to be.

“Draco, there is something off about all of this. Celmund is not capturing any body heat within the house.” This from Wulf who is at the compound with Celmund. The two of them had set up cameras and heat sensors when they had been staking the mansion out a few months ago. Therefore, Celmund could monitor everything that was going on while we attacked.

“Burkhart, I am catching slight movement to your right in the trees.” Celmund reports.

“I’m on it.”

“Brandr, how’s it looking?” Draco asks sounding irritated.

“Dude this is a bomb not a … Fuck! Motherfuckers! We have a fucking big problem. These bombs are remote controlled.” Brandr didn’t have to say it, we were already retreating. I could see Cassius, Bion and Brandr jumping down from the first floor balcony and starting to run towards the end of the property. 

Just then an explosion went off at the front end of the mansion, then another, we’re all running to get away from the explosion, when we hear Burkhart in our earpieces.

“Son of a bitch! Press that button once more and I’m going to make you swallow that!” Burkhart had an explosive temper, he was a demon at hand to hand combat. We could hear a scuffle going on, if someone didn’t stop him there wouldn’t be anything of the guy left over.

“Burkhart, we need the fucker alive!” Draco commands. I see him and Caelius approaching the vehicle where Ceric and I are already waiting.  I can feel his fury from where I am standing. Draco is the oldest of all of us. He’s also the strongest, not just with bending his element which is fire, but he is also able to bend air and earth. 

“Celmund, see if you can find any other movement around this area. How is it possible that there is no one in the house without us seeing them leave?” Draco doesn’t like being surprised, and this was starting to look more and more like a setup.

Hearing a noise, I see Bion approaching the other vehicle that we had brought, carrying Brandr over his shoulder. “What the fuck happened?” Draco asks as we all make our way towards them. Reaching them I help to place Brandr on the ground as Bion starts to examine him. There is a deep gash above his eyebrow that is bleeding profusely, but other than that he seems fine.

“The explosion knocked us to the ground. When I got up he was already like this. He’s losing too much blood. We need to get him into the SUV so I can give him some and get him patched up.” Before Bion can move I have picked Brandr up by his arms. Ceric slots himself under one of his arms and I take his other side carrying him the short distance, we place him in the SUV.

Bion is already opening the emergency kit that he insists on bringing with us every time we go out. I turn my back just as he pulls out a unit of blood. Looking up I see a furious Burkhart stomping towards us. Cassius is behind him with a gun pointed at the guy that Burkhart was fighting.

“The fucker is human!” Burkhart growls as he moves towards the SUV to check on Brandr. I take hold of the guy and guide him towards the other SUV. He will be sitting between myself and Ceric. Let’s see if I can make him talk before we even get to the compound. 

Just then I feel my phone vibrate with an incoming message. As we start on our journey back to pick up our bikes at the warehouse we have just outside of town, and drop off the SUV’s, I check my phone before I start in on the guy.

I see the message is from Gabriela asking if I’m okay. Looking at the time I see about five hours have gone by since I left. She must be starting to feel my absence, I know I have felt her absence since the moment I left. I don’t know how Wulf does it, since the moment I left her my thoughts have been constantly on her, even though Wulf and Celmund are with her, I still worry that something might happen.  

Looking at the fucker sitting between Ceric and myself I pull back my hand and punch him square in the face. The guy instantly slumps on the seat losing consciousness. “What did you do that for?” Ceric asks, looking at me perplexed as he pulls the guy’s head back by his hair and looks at his unconscious face.

“I need to talk to Gabriela and don’t want him listening.” At my words Ceric starts grinning, I just know that he was about to start teasing me.

“Oh, of course. After all we don’t want him to know how your woman has you by the balls.” I show him the finger while dialling her number.

“Do you want me to knock you out too?” I ask just before Gabriela answers.

“Bjarni?” I can hear the anxiety in her voice, the knowledge of it being my fault that she could possibly one day get hurt because of me, makes my insides twist. As soon as I hear her voice it feels like my world is all coming back into focus. I hadn’t even noticed how wound up I was. Her voice soothes my soul.

“Hey Baby Girl!”

“Sorry for sending you a message, but my tattoo was burning and I got worried that you might be hurt.”

“I’m good, we are actually on our way back you will see me in a few hours. How’re you doing?”

“Missing you, but I’m fine. I’ve been hanging out with Jasmine” I hear a groan coming from the guy I just punched bringing me back to where I am and what I’m in the middle of. Fuck this woman is dangerous, she can so easily make me forget everything but her.

“I have to go, will see you soon Baby Girl.” Disconnecting the call, I see the fucker open his eyes. I notice he has an air force tattoo on his bicep, this tells me this guy is ex-military.

“So, asshole, you like bombs, do you?” Ceric asks from the other side of him.

“Fuck you!” The guy grunts apparently still in pain, going by the tensing of his body.

“Oh, I’m sorry but you are just too ugly for me to want to fuck!” Ceric replies with a punch to his stomach.

“Let’s leave it until we’re at the warehouse.” Draco commands from the front of the SUV. Shit, I was hoping to grill him and get some answers before we arrive at the warehouse, which is just going to delay our departure back to the compound. Sitting back, I close my eyes, instantly an image of Gabriela appears behind my lids. I feel my cock harden. My eyes pop open before I embarrass myself in front of my brothers. Fuck this was going to be a long day.

After arriving at our warehouse, I tie the asshole’s arms up, letting him hang for a bit. I leave Ceric with him while I go outside to check on Brandr. I encounter Draco, Burkhart and Caelius walking towards me. “How’s he doing?” I ask, seeing the worried look on my brother’s faces.

“Not good. He is still losing too much blood and he hasn’t woken up yet. Bion and Cassius are on their way back to the compound with him. Brandr needs more blood and Bion wants to get him stabilized as soon as possible,” Caelius responds in a gruff voice. Turning back the way, I came from, we all enter the room where Ceric and the guy are waiting.

Draco makes his way towards our prisoner. “What’s your name?” he asks. The guy just stares back at him without responding. “Okay, I guess this is going to be done the hard way.” He suddenly kicks the guy’s leg with such force that I hear the bone split. The guy screams in pain, as he swings back and forth. “Let’s try this again asshole, what’s your name?” his voice is low in anger.

“Mark, my name’s Mark.”

“So, Mark, how did you know we were coming?” Draco askes in a growly voice.

“I don’t know.” He screams, but as Draco takes hold of his injured leg he decides to talk. “I swear I don’t know. The Keres MC hired us to protect that Mansion. Vercin their president used to pop in every so often. Yesterday he came through and told us to place explosives throughout the place and that when you guys appeared we were to detonate them with you inside.” His breathing is erratic; his body is tensed in pain.

“How did he leave? We didn’t see anyone leave?” I ask, from what he’s telling us it’s clear that someone is betraying us. 

“There’s a tunnel, he leaves through the tunnel.”

“Motherfucker!” Burkhart explodes kicking one of the chairs that are around the warehouse with such force that it hits the wall, breaking into pieces.

“Who told him we were coming?” Caelius questions, from one of the chairs where he is sitting.

“I don’t know, when he got there he already knew you were coming. I did hear him speak to someone the other day, asking if the information had already been leaked. Then yesterday he said you guys were preparing to attack.” He was agitated his voice portraying his pain. “Please I have told you what I know, please I need a doctor.” He implores, but it wasn’t over yet. I’m sure there is more that he isn’t saying.

“Not yet, we are going to get comfy and find out everything you know about Vercin and what has been going on. Bjarni let Wulf and Celmund know about the tunnel. I want to know where it goes.” Draco commands.

Nodding, I make my way outside to make the call. As soon as I hear Celmund answer, I start speaking. “He says there’s a tunnel under the house. That’s how they manoeuvre, that’s why we didn’t see Vercin leave. Draco wants to know what it leads to.”

“I’m on it,” he replies, I can imagine him typing away on his keyboard.

“This was a set up brother. We need to find out how.” I state, so he knows what we have found out so far.

“Damn, I thought that was sorted. Is it someone inside?” Celmund asks. Since we had found out that one of the Jezebel’s had been leaking information about us to the Keres MC, Celmund had tightened security but it seemed like there was still someone that knew way too much about what we were doing.

“I don’t know yet, we know that the Intel that was given to us was a setup and that it came from our connections at the FBI.” I enlighten him. The idea of someone being able to infiltrate our home was a worry. 

“Have the guys arrived with Brandr yet?” I ask, worried that my brother might be seriously hurt.

“Not yet, they are about ten minutes out. He hasn’t woken up yet.” At Celmund’s reply my heart tightens. Fuck! He should have woken up by now. He has been given blood and Bion has checked him out. What could be the problem?

“Fuck! Keep me updated.” I hear the worry in my voice. We have all been together for centuries; there is no way we are going to lose a brother now. Before Celmund can answer I ask him what I wanted to ask right at the beginning of our conversation.

“How’s my girl holding up?”

“I haven’t seen her since you guys left, but Wulf has been keeping an eye on her. He mentioned that earlier on she was starting to stress but then when you phoned she calmed down.” I let out my breath; I hadn’t even noticed I was holding it in, waiting for his reply.

“Cool, I will keep you updated. This might take a while longer.” I disconnect the call and make my way inside just as Draco punches the guy in the stomach. I don’t know what happened while I was away but the guy isn’t looking to great. I see Caelius go to hold Draco back. Fuck! I’d better go and help, there is no way Caelius can hold him by himself.

“Fuck! What’s going on?” I ask just as I reach the two of them. I put my arms around Draco pulling him back with Caelius in front of him, pushing and trying to calm him. Looking to my left I see Ceric holding Burkhart against the wall as he swears and tries to get free.

“Stop! Fuck Draco! What the hell is going on?” Draco doesn’t usually lose his cool like this. I can feel the energy crackling around us. If he loses his shit we are fucked.

“Draco, Burkhart calm the fuck down. We need him more than ever now. We need to find out what was in that dart and let Bion know as soon as possible. You guys are delaying us from helping Brandr.” At Caelius words my anger rises, Caelius mentioned a dart. Did that mean that they had shot Brandr?

“Ceric, outside!” I call out to him so he knows I want him to guide Burkhart outside. I pull with all my might, lifting Draco off his feet, as I half-walk half-drag him out the door. I can feel his rage calming. There was no way he would have let me manoeuvre him.

“I’m going back inside, keep them out here,” Caelius informs me as he turns. Caelius is the peacemaker in the group, no matter what you can always expect him to keep his cool.

“Let go!” I hear Draco growl. “I’m fine now.” I slowly loosen my hold to make sure he’s not going to make his way back inside.

“What the hell did I miss? What’s going on?” I ask as Draco takes out his phone and starts dialling.

“Bion, they shot Brandr with a dart. You need to find out what they shot him with” Draco was pacing as he listened to Bion on the other side. “I don’t fucking know! I will send Ceric and Burkhart back to try and find the dart.”

Disconnecting the call, he turns towards Ceric and Burkhart, but they are already making their way towards their bikes after hearing Draco’s statement. “Be careful, they will more than likely be waiting.” Draco calls after them.

As they rev their bikes and pull away I hear the door behind us open. Looking back I see Caelius walking out, a strained look on his face. “We have a problem. We need to get back to the compound and take this motherfucker with us. He knows more than we first thought!” Caelius states, already making his way to the SUV. The guy is tied and draped over his shoulder. “I will drive; you guys can follow on your bikes.” He declares, after placing the guy in the front seat next to him.

We don’t question him as he pulls away. If he says we are taking him, then we take him. We make our way towards our bikes, preparing to follow him. I have a feeling that our lives are about to change.