Romance: Sports Romance: ON SIDE (Secret Baby Pregnancy Football Romance) (Contemporary New Adult Fiction) (14 page)

Chapter Eighteen

ELIAS

I knew I couldn't follow them all the way. I was supposed to be dead, they couldn't be expecting me. But to leave Ava in the hands of the enemy? That was going to be hard. We walked in silence, down a dirt road that seemed to be going nowhere.

“How close are we?” I asked Gabriel.

“Getting pretty close,” he said, scanning the area and looking nervous. “Too close.”

I knew what that meant.

“Listen, Ava,” I said, pulling her to the side. I grabbed her by the hand and she didn't resist, but she also struggled to meet my eyes. “You know I can't go up to them with you.”

“I know,” she said. There wasn't even the slightest hint of fear in that voice, even though I knew she had to be afraid. She looked up at me and smiled. “Be careful, Elias. Don't let them see you.”

“I won't,” I said, licking my lips. The clock was ticking. We were getting close. This very well could be the last time I ever saw Ava again. “I have a plan they won't expect. They think I'm a lion, they have no idea about what else I can do. They'll never see me from overhead.”

She nodded, looking relieved. “Good. You need to stay safe. No matter what happens down there, you need to get back to Deacon, you here?”

That wasn't going to happen. If something happened to her, there was no going back. I'd either finish the job or die trying. “You're going to be just fine, Ava.  I promised your uncle that I'd keep you safe, and I intend to keep that promise, at all costs.”

Even if it meant I died doing so. Not only might I die killing that bastard, I might die protecting Ava. But she was worth it. I may not have known her very well, but the little I did know of her, I knew she was a good woman. One worth fighting for. Hell, she might even be one worth living for, if we could both make it out alive, that is. Yeah, I actually planned to do just that now. Before I met her, well, things were different. But now... the possibility of carrying on with life didn't seem so shabby.

“We need to keep moving,” Gabriel said.

Ava turned to join the other two men, but I held tight to her hand. She looked down at our hands, entwined together, and then back at me as if to say, “You need to let me go.”

But instead, I pulled her into me, embraced her. My lips met hers before I could stop myself, but she didn't fight back either. This time, when we kissed, there was something there. Something I hadn't felt before. She wasn't merely kissing me to win a challenge, there was nothing to win here.

Her tongue snuck into my mouth, and her lips tasted so sweet. I never wanted to let go, but I had to. I had to.

Holding her face in my hands, I whispered, “You come back to me, you hear?”

She nodded. “I'll do my best, but you better do the same, Elias.”

“I'll do my best.”

We parted ways, and my heart ached as she walked away from me, leaving me to stand there alone. I watched her for a good long while before transforming into my true form.

It was easier than shifting into a lion, more natural. Less violent. It was like slipping into your comfortable clothes after a long day in a business suit. My eyes adjusted, allowing me to see more around me. My wings heavy at my side trembled with the urge to fly, and as I took off, high above the tree tops, I watched down below.

I could see Ava and the others, walking. But they didn't look up to see me. Sometimes I could be loud, thunderous with my wings and bring about lightning with my flight, but other times, I could soar through the air as silently as the wind. I had to fly pretty high due to my size, but other than that, no one below would see me coming.

That was the plan, at least. Come in from above, attack them when no one would expect it and take him out with my talons and my beak. Take out the leader, then grab Ava and run for our lives. Where would we go? I don't know, but somewhere far, far away, that's for sure.

One El Monstruo was dead, both of us could finally move on with our lives.

I just had to make sure we both came out of it alive.

Chapter Nineteen

AVA

Gabriel and Juan stopped walking, and I could hear rustling in the bushes around us. They both froze, their eyes wide, and they recited something in Spanish. The same phrase Gabriel had said on the phone.

“Drop the heads,” a voice demanded. “Roll them over to me.”

The two boys did exactly as they were told, dropping the bags and kicking them toward the bushes. I pretended to be out of it, leaning on the two of them for support, pretending to nearly fall to my knees.

“Can she walk?” the voice asked again.

“I don't believe so,” Juan said quietly. “She's too hurt to walk.”

That's when he stepped forward, showing himself from the bushes. He was tall, taller than I remembered, with tattoos covering his arms, chest, and neck. His chest was bare, and my eyes narrowed in on the tattoo right away.

El Monstruo.

It was him.

He was all muscle, built like a brick house. Bigger than Deacon or Elias by a lot. His dark eyes looked black, almost evil. His head was shaved bald, and from here, he didn't seem to have any eyebrows, which only made his eyes look even more sinister than I remembered them.

He walked over to me, lifting my head up with his filthy hand. As he smiled, gold teeth showed from his mouth. “Ava, do you remember me?”

I nodded, swallowing hard and praying I didn't show any emotion with my eyes.

“Good. Because I remember you. I remember you very well. I've heard a lot about you, Ava. About what you can do. Your unique abilities.”

I fought the urge to spit in his face.

“It's why I didn't kill you like I did your parents. I figured keeping you alive would hurt your uncle more than killing you anyway, especially with what I have in store for you.”

He dropped my chin and turned to the other two men. “Carry her. We need to get back to the clubhouse.”

“What are you planning to do with her?” Gabriel asked, his voice soft.

“What's it matter to you?” El Monstruo said, picking up the heads. At any moment, he could look in the bag, see that those heads were of his own members and this whole plan would go to shit. Where was Elias? Why wasn't he attacking? I knew there were others around us, others who didn't make their presence known except by the shifting and movement in the bushes. Maybe they caught him? God, I hoped not.

The men continued speaking in Spanish, and I regretted taking French in high school instead. If only I could make out what they were saying... But I couldn't. I prayed that I could trust Juan and Gabriel to not betray me. I caught Juan's eye, but he looked away, shifted to not look at me. Something wasn't right.

Something wasn't right at all.

This was a trap, I thought. Juan and Gabriel held my arms, forcing me to walk between them. I fought and struggled to break free, but El Monstruo turned and slapped me hard, his hand knocking my head back with such force, I feared he might break my neck.

“Do you want to live, Ava?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I muttered, a coppery taste filling my mouth. “Very much so.”

“Then stop struggling and come with me.”

Where was Elias? I couldn't look to the sky, I didn't want to give anything away. But the further we walked into the woods, the less sky I could see overhead and the more I feared we'd lost him. We came to a cabin, a ramshackle piece of shit, and they were walking toward the front door. Once inside, there was no way he could come at us from overhead. He needed to strike now. Either that or I needed to.

Closing my eyes, I focused all my energy on the lion inside of me, feeling the animal growing and growing until I thought I might burst, but something clamped around my neck and that feeling left me as quickly as it came on.

“You think we'd let you shift, sweetie?” El Monstruo said. “Nah, we have ways to stop that. We have ways to control your kind.”

The chain at my neck burned into my flesh, causing me to scream out in pain.

“Silver. Works every time on your kind.”

The kids continued dragging me toward the cabin, but I resisted. I no longer moved my leg, I went limp in their grasp. I had no weapon, I couldn't shift and there were more of them than there were of me. Damn it, Elias, where the fuck are you?

That's when I heard it.

It started out as wind, a harsh wind that caused the trees to shake in the ground. Gabriel and Juan fought to keep a hold of me, but both dropped to the ground as what felt like a tornado rushed through the area, tree limbs flying every which way. I also dropped to the ground, covering my head. I ripped at the silver at my neck, fighting to release it, but it was locked. It only burned my hands as I touched it.

“Here!” Gabriel yelled at me. He threw something at me, but in the wind, I couldn't see anything. It landed somewhere near me and I tried to search for it.

“What was it?” I called out, but that's when my hand discovered it. It was a key.

I hurried up and removed the silver collar just as the rain started pouring down. Dropping the collar to the ground, I looked up and saw El Monstruo making his way toward me. It only took me a second to pull the lioness back up, breathing fire into me. But Elias was already there, behind El Monstruo. His talons came down onto the man, lifting him into the air. I knew Elias could rip him apart if he wanted to, but he didn't. Instead, he flung him around.

I shifted into a lion, in remembrance of my father. The man he killed. Rushing toward him, I bit down as hard as I could on his leg, thrashing my head around as I ripped it off, the cartilage and bone cracking between my powerful jaws. The taste of blood mixed with my own blood from earlier, and I almost couldn't tell the difference. Almost.

“Stop!” Elias yelled, back in his human form.

But there was no stopping me. I lunged forward, aiming for his face this time, but before I could do anything, there was another lion blocking my way.

It wasn't Deacon. It was Elias. His other form.

He wanted to kill him. I knew he did.

But I wanted to kill him too.

“Both of us,” Elias growled.

And I knew that's exactly the way it had to be.

Together, we turned toward El Monstruo - The Monster - and showed him exactly what sort of monsters we were.

His men, those from earlier, fled. The only two that remained were Juan and Gabriel, both watching as we tore open the abdomen of their leader. We took turns biting and gnawing, not eating his flesh, but destroying it. Killing him slowly. He fought against us, screamed out in pain, just as I imagined both of our parents had done as he killed them too.

Finally, his body stopped moving, the ground was soaked in blood.

He was dead.

The monster was dead.

And Elias and I were both alive.

Chapter Twenty

AVA

There we were, on our hands and knees, naked and covered in blood. Yet, my eyes fell on him and all I could think about was how badly I wanted him. I'd heard that after a kill, the excitement can be too much, that it can make you crazy to mate. And it was true. Very true.

The look in his eyes conveyed the same feeling. Animalistic, raw, and full of lust. We stared at each other for a long while, blood dripping from our chins, before Gabriel said, “We should get back.”

He was right, but my body quivered with need. Glancing down, I could see Elias' erection, proving that he was just as hard and ready as I was.

But the boys were right.

I stood up, feeling a bit wobbly, but Elias caught me in his arms before I fell.

“Thank you,” I said, staring up into those green eyes. “For everything.”

“Thank you for not dying,” he said, winking at me.

Cocky son of a bitch. But I smiled and so did he.

He helped me to my feet, and that's when I heard a sound coming from the cabin.

“What's in there?” I asked, looking to Gabriel and Juan.

“I don't know,” Juan said with a shrug. “We've never been here before.”

Another sound. A baby crying. Before anyone could stop me, I rushed toward the cabin, pushing open the door. It was locked, but it was so used against my lion/bear strength I kicked it open and stepped inside to find women chained by their necks with silver, babies in some of their arms.

I looked at Elias and he looked at me.

“Are you here to help us?” one of the women asked, staring up at me with such fear in her eyes.

Kneeling down, I asked her, “What was he doing to you?”

But there was no time for answers. Men would be coming back, more men than we'd dealt with so far. And we needed to get all of them free.

Chapter Twenty-One

Elias

Arturo was dead when we got back. He bled to death from Ava's bite. Deacon was pacing the warehouse when we came in, and when the door opened, he appeared ready to shift.

But when he saw it was us, his eyes lit up and filled with tears. I can't recall ever seeing this man cry, not like this, but in that moment, he rushed the room and embraced us, not even paying attention to the women and babies coming in behind us.

“We should go, just in case they try to find us,” I said.

Deacon nodded, finally seeing those who came in behind us. He gave me a questioning look, but I didn't say anything.

Ava nodded. “He's right.”

She walked away from us, and at first, I couldn't figure out where she was going. But she went over to her bag, the one she packed earlier when we set out on this mission. “I'll be quick.”

She rushed into the bathroom with a handful of clothes. I couldn't blame her, being naked in front of everyone was probably uncomfortable for her, even if she looked amazing. I was almost sad to see it covered up. God, I wanted her. That girl knew exactly how to drive me crazy.

I also needed to throw some clothes on, but not because I felt insecure or uncomfortable, but just to make it easier to get around. “Me too,” I said, reaching for my bag. “Gabriel can fill you in on what happened.”

Deacon turned to the Gabriel and Juan, and I slipped into the bathroom. As the door opened, Ava protested until she saw it was me.

“Shhh,” I said, sidling up next to her in the cramped bathroom.

“What are you doing, Elias?” she said, laughing and slapping my chest playfully.

“I needed to see you without your clothes on more time?”

She rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face. After that kiss earlier, I couldn't wait to get with her again. Even with our bodies covered in blood, there was nothing more that I wanted than to kiss her again. I had my chance, and I took it.

Leaning down, I pressed my lips to hers. I feared she might pull away, but she didn't. Instead, she grabbed me by the back of my head and pulled me closer. My body was pressed against hers now, my erection harder than before. Her rubbing up against it didn't help matters either.

“Ava--,” I said, pulling away, but she nibbled my lip and pulled me back into her.

“I thought I might have lost you earlier today, Elias,” she said. “And it killed me. When you didn't come to save me, I feared they had you.”

I pushed her hair away from her face and looked into those dark, but beautiful eyes. I don't know what I did to deserve it, but this woman cared about me. And I cared about her.

“I had to be careful, I watched for the others, made sure they were far enough away,” I whispered, kissing down the length of her neck. “I couldn't risk it, but if there was any sign of him hurting you... I was there.”

“I know you were,” she said, grabbing my hair and forcing me to look at her. “We should get cleaned up.”

There was a shower in the far corner of the small bathroom, and Ava stepped inside, giving me a glance. “Shouldn't we--?”

But as I stared at her, naked and waiting, motioning for me to join her, how could I say no? I stepped into the shower with her, the warm water rushing over our bodies.

“We'll have to hurry,” she said, taking the bar of soap left from the last person who showered here, and running down my chest, my abs and finally, her hands grasped at my cock, cupping it in her soft hands as she washed me down. My head went back as she stroked me and washed me at the same time.

“I need you, Elias,” she whispered.

“I need you too, Ava.” I stepped forward, pressing her against the shower wall, and kissed her. Her legs wrapped around my body and I was thankful for non-slip flooring in the shower because I was holding her up.

She pressed herself into me, and I felt her opening. I rubbed up against it, teasing her, but we had no time to tease. If we wanted to do this, we needed to be fast. Without a second thought, I let my primal side take over, plunging myself inside of her. She wiggled against me, gasping for air as I buried myself deep inside of her. It was such a relief to finally be sheathed inside of her - after all the teasing earlier and then the animalistic killing leaving us both feeling high and horny.

It was about fucking time.

And we were going to make the most of it, even if we did have to hurry.