Romeo Alpha Blood Lines Romance Series - Books 1 to 5

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Sarina stood in the dark room, waiting for whatever Dankar was going to throw at her. After her alternate reality visions, she figured there wasn’t much that could scare her. She knew her twins were safely snuggled inside her womb and she also knew her family was searching for her. They’d find her eventually, everything else she could survive. “Do your worst, you son-of-a-b***h!”

“You’ll wish very soon that I hadn’t,” the small man said. Sarina had no idea how he’d come within inches of her, but she knew when the needle pricked her arm that things were going to go from bad to much, much worse. She felt her body going weak as the black abyss of unconsciousness sucked her down into its hard depths.

>>

“Sarina?” She heard her name as it was called again and again. “Sarina?”

Sarina opened her eyes to the noise, seeing her bedroom as she remembered it. She reached down and felt a flat abdomen, her heart kick-starting in her chest for a minute. “Mama!” she called back, tossing back the covers.

“There you are,” her mother chuckled. “These two want their mother.”

“Oh!” Sarina gushed, grabbing both of her babies and nuzzling them. She planted kisses all over their faces until they started to protest. “I’ve missed you babies. I feel as if I’ve been sleeping forever.”

“You and Brody had a night out and from the looks of things, you didn’t get to bed too early,” Amanda said grinning. “After ten years together, however, I suppose any couple might want a special night out once in a while.”

“Ten years?” Sarina asked, her mind reeling as two young boys ran into her room.

“Mom!” they both called.

“Slow down,” Amanda demanded, halting both the boys in their tracks. “How do you expect your mother to hear you if you can’t even stand still to talk to her?”

“Yes, Nana,” the boys said in unison.

“What is it?” Sarina asked, trying desperately to grasp that these two beautiful handsome boys were the first set of twins she and Brody had made together. Different as night and day, it was stunning to know they were twins.

“Bradley called me a pussy.”

“Did not!” the smaller of the two said, his face so much like his father’s that Sarina grinned. “All I said was that Derrick acts like a p***y sometimes. He’s always so damn sensitive about everything.”

“First of all, young man, we don’t talk like that. You will apologize to your brother and from now on, you’ll keep your opinions to yourself. And since you think you need to share them so freely and with disrespect for your brother; you can also clean both bathrooms.”

“Aw, Mom!” Bradley complained and he gave his brother a half-hearted apology. Sarina watched him trudge off to do his chores as if someone had stolen every ounce of his happiness.

That night, after she’d put her children to bed and tucked all of six of them in, she climbed into her bed next to Brody.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are lately?” he asked.

“Not today,” she smiled.

He leaned over and kissed her, whispering it against her lips. “You still take my breath away.”

Their second kiss turned things up a notch as Sarina melted into him. Just as his hand cupped her breast, Sarina was yanked violently back to the dark room, her body reeling. She squatted low and lost the little food she’d eaten, vomiting in a can on the floor.

Standing back up again she went to cuss out Dankar when pain radiated through her abdomen. Within minutes her water broke and Sarina felt the babies in her womb move into position. “Help me!!” she pleaded.

>>

Brody led the way as the trail veered hard to the left as the trees gave way to acres and acres of grassland. Slowing down, Brody followed Sarina’s scent into the mountains, fighting to keep it in front of him. It ended up against a flat face of the mountain that spiked high into the clouds and Brody scraped at the edge of the rock face, whining as he did so.

“It’s alright,” he heard Romeo say as his father-in-law laid a hand on his back. Brody sat on his haunches, both in submission and as a way to keep his impatience from showing. “We’ve found her now and we’re not leaving without her. However, we need to be smart about this. If we mount a counter-strike, it’s got to cripple their leader. After that, I can take over this band and add them to the Delta, if they’re so willing. If not, we kill them. Anyone who stands against us is an enemy and not to be trusted.”

Brody sensed movement on the other side of the rock face and gave a low growl, standing back up and pawing the ground again.

“Let’s move back off to the woods and see what comes out of this thing come dawn,” said Romeo.

Brody hated the waiting. Without any clothes to speak of, he was forced to stay in his wolf even as hunger clawed at him. He’d eaten all the food anyone could spare and still wanted to rip someone apart just to devour them. He sat at Romeo’s side, whining with impatience. “Easy boy,” Romeo said. “It won’t be long now and I can guarantee you if I see someone who looks like you step out of that cave, you have first dibs.”

Dawn finally came with a strong sun peaking over the mountains as the Delta pack waited. Brody was thankful to have nearly all of Sarina’s entire family with him. Her parents, siblings, aunts and uncles and most of her cousins stood with him as he waited anxiously to get his mate back. He prayed he was fast and stealthy enough to keep her and his twins safe and healthy.

“She’s hurting,” Amanda said, stepping up to Romeo and Brody. “Wherever she is in there, she’s in pain. I can’t tell what from.”

Brody gave a low, feral growl just as the rock face opened up. Werewolves, in the form of men, clamored from the cave, seeking the light and the freedom to stretch their legs. Brody and Romeo, in wolf form, took out the two who moved furthest from the cave and worked their way inward until they caught the two standing guard. Before they could give warning, Brody leapt on one, baring his teeth and pressing his massive black paw against the man’s throat. Romeo had tackled the other one, standing over the stunned guard, baring his teeth just inches from the man’s face. They waited for Amanda to join them.

“My husband and alpha of the Delta pack, would very kindly like to know where our daughter is. You have thirty seconds to tell us before he rips out your throat.” When the man took too long, Romeo raked a claw across the man’s windpipe, ending his life.

“Well?” she said to the man who was under Brody’s heaving body.

“Brandt brought a woman in the other night. She looks like you only she’s with child. I heard someone say this morning that she’d gone into labor. If that’s true they would have taken her to Dankar’s quarters at the back of the caves.”

“Thank you,” Amanda said, touching Brody’s coat. Brody let the man up and growled at him. Then he chased the poor kid halfway through the woods before he returned to work with Romeo.

“We need to do this as stealthily as possible,” he said.

“I can’t do a locator spell necessarily, but I can get a look at the caves from here. Maybe I can work out a map of sorts for you two to follow.”

“Let’s do it,” Romeo said, giving a regal shake of his head to denote his leadership for anyone who might think to question him.

>>

Romeo ordered everyone to give Amanda space, except for the other Radiants who joined her without needing to be prompted. “Your powers will work better with all of us here,” Penelope said, her voice brooking no argument.

“Powers of the earth,” Amanda started.

“Powers of the wind,” Penelope added.

Briana and Lucia added fire and water to the mix as their powers stretched out to the four corners of the earth. He stood in awe, as always, when Amanda took hold of her powers. Her body began to glow white as she etched out in the dirt a detailed map of the caving system where Sarina was being held. Quick, jerky movements of her eyes laid down tunnels and chambers that coursed through the elaborate system this pack used to house their members. When she stopped and their powers came back to them, it was like sucking the air out of a room before everything returned to normal.

“She’s back here somewhere,” Amanda pointed, showing the alternate routes the men could take to get to her. “I don’t know whether it’s best to go in as wolves, or try your luck as men. I’d say though that you’re likely to be known as Romeo the man. Not too many here would recognize you in your wolf.”

“She makes the best argument for it,” Romeo said, looking at Brody.

“I won’t control my wolf if someone’s hurt her,” Brody warned, nearly growling as he talked.

“No one’s asking you to, son,” Romeo assured him. “You can bet your a*s, I’ll be taking my time with the ones responsible for my daughter’s suffering. Not to mention that of my grandchildren.”

“Shall we?” Brody asked, stepping up to the opening of the rock face. “How do we get in?”

“Let me see if I can help,” Amanda said. She touched the rock face and commanded the mountain to give up its secrets. The mirage fell away and showed a dark hole. Brody shifted with Romeo and followed his alpha inside.

The dark gave way to a huge open area where men and women sat around talking. Several couples occupied some of the alcoves tending to more carnal needs as Romeo walked past them. Brody followed, keeping his urge to attack under control. It was likely that none of these pups had anything to do with Sarina’s k********g.

Straining, Brody listened for Sarina’s moans. If she was truly in labor, she’d be panting by now, especially if her delivery went anything like her mother’s had twenty-five years earlier. They made it past the large gathering place and headed down the furthest tunnel, running past chamber after chamber. Brody heard a couple in their room engaging in what could only be described as passionate i*********e. Even in his first encounters with Sarina he wasn’t sure he’d ever been that rough with her. Shaking his head to clear it, he headed on, catching Romeo’s tail as they turned and headed down another corridor.

This one was danker, the musty smell irritating his nose. He sneezed but continued on. The floor under their paws turned cold and damp as they headed further and further into the mountain and it occurred to Brody that getting to Sarina would be a cinch compared to getting her back out again. He’d voice his opinion after they made it to her and secured both her and their babies. As they turned once again to the left, Brody heard the ear piercing sound of a woman in severe pain. Her scream turned to a grunt as Brody stopped outside a chamber that wasn’t guarded in the least. His ears listened for the number of voices inside.

“You’ve got to push now, Sarina,” came a soft, female voice. “These babies want to be born now. You can do this. You’re an alpha’s daughter.”

Brody wanted to lick the woman for being tender to his mate, even as he wanted to rip her throat out for being here at all.

“She’ll deliver them or I’ll cut them out of her. Either way, she’ll give birth today,” came a nasty, edgy voice. Brody bit down on his growl even as his muscles bunched to attack. “She’s got fifteen minutes to get that first brat out, or I’ll do it for her.”

Brody heard Romeo’s growl of warning, but could no longer sit and hear this man berate his mate. He burst through the door, overwhelmed by the flood of lights that blinded his eyes. In an instant his eyes adjusted enough to see a very small man pointing a g*n at him. “Down doggy,” the man said, his voice grating on Brody’s last nerve.

His low, feral growl was met with a silver bullet to his shoulder that all but crippled his leg. Yelping, he backed up two steps. Joined by Romeo though, Brody found the strength he needed. Growling loudly now, he charged the small man, who wouldn’t have been half his height if Brody had been in his human form. Another silver bullet to his chest did nothing to slow him down and with one swipe, Brody ended what had passed for the smaller man’s life.

His teeth sank deep into the man’s throat, but unlike the rich flavor of human blood, all Brody tasted was the rancid flavor of death and darkness. The blood that poured over his muzzle was as black as coal and Brody tried desperately to get the taste out of his mouth. The smell assaulted his nose as he turned to see Romeo cornering the woman who’d talked to Sarina.

Immediately his eyes locked with hers and the man inside the wolf wept for her relative safety. Then he was changing back, to be the man Sarina needed. “You can do this baby.”

“He’s coming so fast,” Sarina said. Another contraction caused her to bear down, her growl of exertion making Brody grin. Here was the woman he’d fallen in love with. Here was his mate. “Come on, Sarina,” Brody said, moving down by her feet to catch his first born.

“Can you ask Amanda and Penelope to come?” inquired Brody as he looked at Romeo.

“On it,” Romeo said, stepping discreetly from the room. Within a matter of minutes both Amanda and Penelope were there, moving everything where it needed to go.

“Brody, you just stay right there son,” Amanda said in the most maternal tone he’d ever heard. “Pen and I will make sure everything’s ready when that little guy comes along. Push now, Sarina.”

One more contraction and Sarina delivered a beautiful, dark haired baby boy she readily named Brody Andrew Duscene. His brother, as light as Brody Jr. was dark, came along swiftly behind him. His given name was Jedidiah Bryan Duscene. Brody marveled at them, the complete and utter reliance they had on him and Sarina. At Amanda’s instruction, Brody held baby Brody against his chest while Sarina took Jedidiah. Within an hour of delivering, Sarina was able to sit up and nurse both babies, surrounded by her family. Fenris and the remainder of his pack were nowhere to be found and while the moments following the twins’ arrival were surreal, everyone felt the underlying current of tension that never quite went away. There would certainly be a war now and both Brody and Sarina knew they’d do whatever it took to protect their babies.