Damn woman. Of all the docile women I have known throughout my long life, my mate had to turn out to be a vixen. If I hadn’t left when I did, I would have thrown her over my shoulder and spanked her ass for her smart mouth. I have only been around her for a couple hours, and already she’s driving me mad. How the fuck am I going to bond with her and live with her for eternity?

“Hey, Brother, how’re you doing?” Celmund claps me on the back before he sits down beside me. When I left the computer room, I only walked as far as the bench in the courtyard. From here, I can still see when Nova leaves. The damn woman is too sure of herself for her own good.

“Have you heard?” I ask. I’m sure by now everyone has.

“Yip, and I hear she’s a handful,” Celmund says. I can see he’s trying to keep a straight face.

“Go ahead, laugh, asshole,” I grumble. “The damn woman has only been here for a couple hours, and she’s already driving me crazy, but darn it, is she hot when she’s chirping,” I confess.

When she told Camille to get away from me, it made me so hard that I could have drilled holes in concrete. I was ready to grab her and haul her to my room until she called me a man whore. To be honest, I can’t defend myself, as I have slept with lots of women, but I don’t want my mate to know that. I had never worried about it before, but what if she never wants to bond with me because of my wild life?

As Elementals, we only have one mate, and from what I have heard and seen, all the brothers who have bonded are happy, ecstatic actually. I have always wanted to find my mate, and now that I know who she is, there is no way I will ever let her go. The woman drives me crazy, but she is one hot firecracker. She has a quick mind and a sharp tongue, and damn if that doesn’t make me want her more.

I see Bion and Nova leave the computer room and start walking towards where Celmund and I are sitting. Fuck, but she’s hot, with her long wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes that seem to penetrate my soul. Her tits are full, just right for me to bury my head in. I sit forward to hide my hard-on that has a mind of its own when she’s around, and groan as my zipper bites into it.

I hear Celmund laugh next to me. “If you don’t be careful, the way you’re sitting, you’re going to cut off the circulation to your dick and then it’s going to fall off.”

“Piss off.” I groan once again in discomfort just as they reach us.

“Meeting,” Bion states as he continues to guide Nova away. I see her look over at me and then hurriedly look away. I know she also wants me, but I need to know if she wants to bond with me or not before I touch her, because once I do, there is no turning back. To be honest, I’m a hair’s breath away from throwing caution to the wind and just taking her as mine, but from what I have seen of her, she will fight me all the way if I do that without her consent.

“I guess we’re going after this friend of hers. I wonder if she’s hot?” Celmund quips, winking at me as he gets up. “Would you like a hand getting up, or are you just going to sit there a little longer?” Celmund starts to walk towards the computer room where the meeting will be held.

I know my brothers are thrilled with me finding my mate, and especially because she’s so spunky. They have wanted to get back at me for years because of the jokes I play on them, but to be honest, I don’t mind. Even though she’s driving me nuts, the whole camaraderie between my brothers who are finally getting one on me is amusing.

Getting up, I adjust my hardness as I make my way towards our meeting. Most of the guys are already sitting when I arrive. As Cassius and Brandr are staking out the bar and can’t make it to the meeting, they are facetiming. As I approach my chair, I see a cup with ice in front of where I sit. What the fuck is the ice for? As I sit, I notice that all the brothers are looking at me.

“What?” By the smirks on their faces, they are up to something.

“We thought you might need to cool off,” Bjarni commented from in front of me. I grab a piece of ice and throw it at his head, laughing with them.

“I think you’re mistaking me with you. With the number of times your balls get handled, I’m sure they need some cooling down.” All the brothers laugh. We all joke around about how Bjarni is a glutton for food and how Gabriela is a glutton for him.

“Okay, let’s settle down. We have business to discuss,” Draco calls from the head of the table. When we’re all quiet, he continues. “As you know, Ceric here has found his mate, Nova. I had a talk with her earlier, and she had a few interesting things to say.” Draco updates the guys on what happened to Nova and how she managed to get away.

“Does she know where they are keeping her friend?” Brandr asks.

“That is one of the issues. Nova will not tell me where her friend is unless she can go with us.” At his words, my heart constricts in anger. Darn woman doesn’t know when to quit.

“I will talk to her,” I say roughly.

“I told her she can come,” Draco replies.

At his words, everyone quietens. “Why the fuck did you do that?” I roar. There is no way I am going to let that foolish woman get herself into danger again.

“Mainly because she asked me to, and she still isn’t your mate. As far as I know, you two haven’t bonded, or did I miss something?” Draco’s eyes shine dangerously, but I can’t give a fuck. How can he send my woman into danger? “When she was held captive, she acquired information that she will not share unless she accompanies us. She will also not tell us what her friend looks like.”

“Foolish woman,” I say in anger. “She doesn’t know what’s good for her and has no sense at all.” I continue to grumble until I hear Draco confess to the men that he only allowed her to accompany us if she stuck by me and did everything I told her to do.

“Jasmine had a vision this afternoon,” Wulf reveals suddenly. “She says we’re going to need Nova to persuade one of the guys to give us the code to the door where her friend is held captive. She also suggested that maybe someone take a camera, so Aria can read what they’re thinking.”

“You know, guys,” Brandr says, “if you think about it, one of these days, we will be staying at the compound and our women will do everything for us. We won’t have to lift a finger.” The women have been trying to persuade their men to let them help us. I actually think the men enjoy fighting with them, as they disappear for a long time right after their disagreements.

“It’s a good idea,” Caelius says. Caelius doesn’t talk much, but when he does, we all listen. “We have them; they are dying to help, so why not utilize them?” I see Wulf tense at Caelius’s words; Bjarni shakes his head in denial.

“No fucking way my woman is going to be put where there is danger,” Wulf growls in aggression. Wulf is a fierce fighter, but when it comes to Jasmine, he loses all sense.

“I’m not saying they must go into danger, but think about it. If you have Jasmine see the danger before we go, and Gabriela see if anything bad is going to happen, we can then have Aria read their minds from wherever she is. I might be wrong, but Nova will probably be able to persuade people from afar once she bonds with Ceric.” At his words, my gut tightens. If she is able to persuade people from afar, there will be no stopping her. The woman is already incorrigible as it is. Fuck, but I love her spunk.

“Wulf, what do you think?” Draco asks. Wulf doesn’t respond for a few minutes, but finally, he nods in agreement.

“Bjarni?”

Bjarni looks unsure as he continues to sit on his chair with his arms crossed. When Bjarni found out that Gabriela was expecting their child, he went a bit overboard, wanting to carry her everywhere. Gabriela being Gabriela didn’t let that go on for long. There was a massive fight between them, ending with Bjarni picking her up and carrying her to their room. They were locked in there for a whole day before they made an appearance. Gabriela had a big smile on her face and was walking by herself, with Bjarni frowning behind her.

A month after that, they found out she was having twins. That freaked him out completely, but after long conversations with Bion assuring him that she was fine, he finally calmed slightly. “This is a fucking bad idea, but Gabriela will be happy,” he grumbles.

Draco looks over at the screen where we can see Brandr and Cassius. I see Brandr nod in agreement. He then looks at me and raises an eyebrow.

“It’s not as if I can fucking stop her,” I grumble. There are some snickers as the men hide their amusement.

“Hey, Ceric, so what does your girl think about your room?” Brandr asks.

“She hasn’t seen my room.” I need to get rid of some stuff before she goes into my room, or she will definitely give me a hard time.

“Actually . . . I kind of took her to your room to get comfortable,” Bion reveals reluctantly. “She is your mate, after all; I thought you would want her there.”

“Fuck, she is definitely going to think I’m a man whore now.” My room is littered with sex toys. Mostly presents from the guys to tease me, but others I bought.

“I wonder what she’s going to think about the inflatable doll of that guy we gave you. Is it still hanging from your ceiling?” Draco asks with a twinkle in his eye. My eyes widen slightly, as I forgot about the doll. Even though I see it every day, it has just become one of many things in my room. On one of Draco’s birthdays, I gave him an inflatable doll, teasing him about it. A week later, I enter my room to find a male version on my bed.

I groan in dejection. I don’t know how she’s ever going to believe a thing I say after seeing my room. The guys laugh uproariously at my dilemma. I lift my hand, showing them the finger as I slump back in my chair.

“Okay, guys, now that we have had our fun.” Draco smirks, looking over at me. “Bion and Celmund have found something interesting about the women’s energy levels. They think that they have finally found the way that the Keres are finding our women.” Draco nods at Celmund to continue.

“When we finalized the testing on Jasmine, as you know, we were more confused than before.” After Jasmine had Orion, she did tests to see her energy level, but her results were different from the other two women, confusing Bion and Celmund and throwing their theory out the window. While Gabriela and Aria’s energy levels increased when they had an episode, Jasmine’s were constantly high.

“After further testing, we have concluded that Jasmine is what they would call a level five. That’s why they were so anxious to find her. She has the highest energy level, which explains why she’s overwhelmed with visions sometimes.” He looks around at us to see if we follow what he’s saying. “Gabriela is a level three, as she will only have a vision if she touches someone or if someone touches her, and Aria is a level four, as she is able to hear everyone’s thoughts all the time unless Brandr is with her or unless she’s in the compound. In Jasmine’s case, even if she’s in the compound or with Wulf, her gift doesn’t diminish.”

“Now that we have Nova here, it would be great if we could test her too,” Bion suggests, looking over at me.

“That is, of course, if she hasn’t run away after seeing your room,” Brandr teases.

“Or maybe she likes his toys so much she won’t need him,” Bjarni jokes.

I get up slightly from my chair, grabbing myself. “The only toy she will be playing with is this, and soon.” Even though I have used sexual toys before when with a woman, I don’t intend to start off with them when it comes to my woman. Maybe in a few years when I get her used to the idea, she might consider experimenting.

“Settle down,” Draco calls. “Let’s continue. Ceric, you keep an eye on Nova and try not to bond before we get back to the compound, okay?” The guys snicker at that comment. I simply grin. Now that the surprise of having finally found my mate is wearing off, I’m looking forward to our bonding. “Brandr, I want you back for this fight. Gunner, you take off after the meeting and take over for him. Caelius, you will be carrying the camera. Make sure you focus on someone long enough for Aria to be able to read what they are thinking.” Draco continues laying out the plan until we know what our tasks are.

“Katya also contacted Wulf. Apparently there is a situation brewing in Zambia that she thinks might require our help. It’s something about a terrorist group that’s popped up there,” Draco reveals gruffly. As an FBI agent, Katya has been helpful when we need information, but sometimes they need our assistance to neutralize situations like apparently this one.

“Does Jas know that you are talking to her?” Cassius teases. When Wulf and Jas first bonded, they had a huge fight about Katya, but with time, Jas has accepted that Wulf doesn’t want anything to do with any woman except her, but Katya’s name when mentioned still gets her angry.

“Fuck off,” Wulf growls, scowling at Cassius on the screen. “She doesn’t get the message and continues to contact me.” Even after Wulf told Katya to stop contacting him and liaise with Draco, she continues to be stubborn and only talks to him.

“We need to find ourselves another agent; she’s starting to become a pain,” Burkhart states.

“I will talk to Benson, see if he will have a word with her,” Celmund suggests. Benson is Katya’s superior, and we usually don’t communicate with him unless absolutely necessary. I see Draco nod to Celmund in agreement.

“Vlad phoned. He wants to meet. Apparently they have information about Merdor,” Brandr informs us. After shooting Merdor when we were collecting a supply of weapons for Alexey, we haven’t had any information about him. As the Bratva mafia boss, Alexey has a wide reach. Because the Keres got involved with Salazar, the Castilian mafia boss and Alexey’s biggest enemy, he has promised to help us end the Keres MC.

He has also gone out of his way to try to find where Salazar and the Keres are taking the women they’re kidnapping. For now, we’ve only had the one lead, and that’s the bar we’re staking.

“When does he want to meet?” Wulf asks.

“Tomorrow at noon at the old factory.” The old factory is an abandoned paper mill about an hour’s ride from the compound.

“Celmund, you and Ceric accompany Brandr tomorrow.” After asking if there’s anything else to discuss, Draco dismisses everyone, giving us two hours to get ready.