Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

Amelia hurried to the area where glass pitchers and fresh-cut fruit to infuse water was kept. The smell of lavender increased the closer she got to it. The scent was overpowering on purpose. At least that was what Tina had told her once. She said it kept supernaturals from being able to easily smell anything else.

As she turned the corner, she ran right into Brian. He caught hold of her and raked his gaze over her.

“Fuck, Amelia, you’ve been hiding a body like that all these years?” he asked, his very voice making her uneasy. He skimmed the backs of his fingers over her arm before gripping her once more.

She tried to squirm free of his grasp, but it didn’t work.

Brian sniffed her, putting his face close to her neck. “You haven’t done what was expected of you. You haven’t fucked the Bringer. Cal is going to be disappointed, and we all know what happens when Father is upset.”

“Let go of me, Brian,” she said firmly, pushing on him, careful to only use a small portion of her strength. No sense tipping him off.

“Is there an issue?” asked Susan as she entered the area with papers in her hands. “Amelia, why are you out of the room? Do not tell me that you already managed to screw up making the VIP happy. Really, Amelia, it was a simple task. How hard could it be? Massage him everywhere, make him find release either with your hand or mouth. We were very clear in the training sessions.”

Amelia’s face reddened. The last thing she wanted to discuss was what she did and didn’t do behind closed doors with Gram. Mostly, she just wanted away from Brian and his grabby hands. She tried again to break Brian’s hold, but he didn’t let go.

He glanced at Susan. “I could show her how it’s done. But this time, we won’t need one of you to demonstrate. She can learn on her own with me.”

Susan arched a brow. “Taggert won’t be pleased with you. He’s already looking for excuses to attack the Bringer. You don’t want to end up in his crosshairs too.”

“He won’t find out,” said Brian. “You owe me, so you won’t say a word. After all, I’ve not said a word about your little pets, have I?”

Pets?

Amelia wasn’t sure what Brian wasn’t talking about. Susan didn’t have a pet that she was aware of. Or did she?

Susan grunted. “And you won’t.”

“Hey, what you do with a dozen Flock-fucks is your business. For now. But push me and Cal will find out you’ve been enthralling them and getting them to do your dirty work.”

Amelia stiffened.

Brian grinned as he focused on Amelia once more. “I think we both know you hate Taggert.”

She nodded. No point in denying as much. She hated Susan and Brian too, but she held that part back. Amelia knew better than to rock the boat this close to launching her escape plan.

Brian put a hand on her hip, and the idea of letting him go onward twisted her gut and physically caused her pain. She didn’t know why it hurt so much when all he was doing was making contact with her hip, but it did.

As much as she wanted to hide what she could do, there was no way her body would permit Brian to go forward with what he wanted.

Drawing upon her resolve, she yanked her arms free from his hold and stood tall, shaking her head. “Not happening. You even try it and I’ll rip off anything that comes near me.”

Susan’s eyes widened, and the color drained from her face. For a female Flock member to speak to a ranking male in such a way wasn’t just forbidden and not done, it was punishable in the worst way. Amelia wasn’t sure if her position as Cal’s daughter would protect her from Brian’s wrath, and she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to back down.

“Back up. Last warning, Brian.”

She expected to be struck.

When she found Brian looking at her as if he was proud of her, she couldn’t help but be confused.

“Lass, there you are,” said Gram, appearing in the doorway, wearing nothing more than a towel around his waist. His entire body was chiseled and the scars only served to make him look more rugged.

More manly.

More delicious.

When she’d first entered the massage room and saw him there, on his stomach, his back on display, her dream of running with the man who had scars on his back came to her. It was then she’d fully understood that she’d been dreaming about fleeing with Gram.

Susan put on a fake smile but not before she’d looked her fill of Gram’s nearly nude form. The scars did nothing to take from how spectacular he was, and Susan clearly noticed. “Mr. Campbell, my apologies that Amelia is lacking in the skills department. I’ll call for Tina. She’ll be able to see to your needs. Or, if you’d prefer, I could handle them.”

“Like hell,” snapped Amelia, surprising herself at her tenacity. She clenched a fist, ready to sock Susan a good one if she even so much as exhaled any closer to Gram. No way was the woman going to handle anything for him. Gram was hers.

Mine?

Gram’s jaw set as he glared at the woman. “The lass is seeing to me just fine, thank you. I’ve no need or want of yer services. She’s what I want.”

Anger flashed quickly through Susan’s gaze, but she hid it well. “Of course. I was told you had a certain fondness for her. I just assumed when I found her here that she’d somehow managed to displease you. Here at Caladrius, we want only the best for our guests. Especially ones of your caliber.”

Gram’s eyes slid to Amelia. He licked his lower lip, appearing pained for a moment. “Aye, I’ve the best already. And the lass is only here to get water for me because the verra sight of her in that gown had my throat dry and my dick hard.”

Amelia stiffened.

Brian crowded Amelia’s space ever so slightly, in a way that left him inching closer and closer. It was a threat and she knew it. With as crazy as her body was reacting to him touching her, she was likely to sock him a good one too.

Gram bristled with anger as he glared at Brian. “I’ll thank you kindly to back away from the lass afore yer head is removed from yer neck, boy.”

Boy?

Brian was at least a hundred years old, maybe more. If Gram thought he was a boy, just how old was he?

She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Gram’s eyes flashed from blue to brown as the air in the room thickened. It took Amelia a second to recognize there was magik around them—and it wasn’t hers. Susan didn’t possess any, as she was born from a shifter union but couldn’t even shift forms, and Brian wasn’t a magik.

That meant it was Gram’s power.

Brian must have sensed it as well because he stepped back fast, giving Amelia a wide berth. She may be the daughter of a nutty cult leader, but she was no fool. Seizing the opening to get away from Brian, she hurried to the refrigerator and retrieved a pitcher of infused cucumber and lemon water. She held it to her and moved quickly toward Gram, who held his towel with one hand and put his other out to her.

Every muscle on his body rippled with the action and suddenly it was her mouth that was dry. Goodness, the man was downright sinful and wearing nothing more than a towel was hardly helping her control her lustful thoughts.

The front of his towel lifted on its own somewhat. When Amelia realized what was causing it, she instantly thought of what it had been like to stare at him completely naked. She hadn’t been kidding when she pointed out exactly how well-endowed the man was. As intimidating as that may be, she found herself curious and craving everything on him.

It was easy to imagine herself doing to Gram all the things she’d watched the women doing to Taggert and Brian in the training sessions. Before meeting Gram, the very idea of having her mouth on any part of a man did nothing for her. The thought of taking a man’s shaft into her mouth had seemed downright ludicrous. That had been when the man was Taggert. Gram was an entirely different story.

She very much wanted to taste every single inch of the man.

Gram’s eyes flashed colors again as he sniffed the air. A low grumble started deep in his chest that quickly became a full-blown growl. The sound wasn’t threatening as she’d heard him do around Taggert. No. This growl held the promise of maybe getting to taste him after all.

At the thought of losing her virginity to Gram, she accidentally splashed water down the front of herself, and Gram’s gaze moved to her chest. He gulped loudly, looking pained.

“Are you okay? Did I hurt you when I was giving you a massage?” she asked. “Did I rub you wrong?”

“Dear gods above, lass, yer trying to kill me,” he said, his voice tight.

She shook her head. “No. I would never try to hurt you.”

He snorted. “I do nae mean in the literal sense. Come. You rubbed me just right. We’ve a massage to finish—and no one is to interrupt.” He glared at Susan and Brian.

Neither dared say a word.

“Gus, don’t you yell at me again. Just because you don’t like people touching you doesn’t mean I can’t get stuff done to me,” said a man with a rather loud voice.

Bill came storming out from the hall that led to the colonic hydrotherapy rooms. He had a magazine and was fanning it behind his bottom. “I can’t help I have gas now. I told you my pipes needed cleaned but no. You won’t let anyone touch you, let alone your bum so you ruined it for everyone.”

“Bill, what are you doing now?” asked Gram.

He looked Gram up and down and then set his gaze on Amelia. His bushy eyebrows raised and met in the middle, forming one giant brow that looked a lot like a moving caterpillar. He inclined his head. “Hi, Amelia. Glad Gram-cracker found you. I’m not sure if you know but your dress is wet and see-through.”

“What?” she asked, looking down at herself. He was right. She yelped. She’d known the material was thin but now it might as well have not been there at all for all the good it was doing.

Bill made a move to remove his robe. “Here. You can cover yourself with this.”

Susan shot past Amelia. “Bill, we had a talk about you getting naked where guests could see all of you.”

He shrugged. “What’s the big deal? You know, for a hippie commune, you’re really uptight about nudity. I once joined a commune. We blew glass, smoked a ton of weed, and dropped acid.” He worried his jaw. “Wait. That wasn’t a hippie commune. It was the military. And a lot of LSD. There was glassblowing though. Had to make our own bongs and shit. You’d think Uncle Sam would be kind enough to supply those. Uncle Sam gave me the LSD so there is that. Then again, they didn’t give it to me to be nice. They tested on me. Serves them right I blew glass then. Assholes.”

Amelia stared blankly at the small man. Was he mentally ill?

Chester, who worked in the colonics room, came running out into the hall. He glanced at Susan. “Sorry. He’s faster than he looks like he’d be.”

“And Gus?” asked Susan.

“I had no luck with him.” Chester shook his head. “He spun in a circle, clutched a helmet with a doll head in it to his chest, and proceeded to repeat ‘no bum cleaning’ over and over again. Then he ran off in the other direction. The last I saw of him, he was racing down one of the paths headed toward the staff cabins. I can send someone to look for him.”

“That won’t be necessary. I’m sure he’ll be fine,” said Susan.

Bill groaned. “He’s with our friend, making sure she’s okay. He forced Mac and Car to help. They weren’t happy. They were trying to get laid. Gus was macking on their game. I told him as much. He never listens to me. He’s already got himself a woman. He doesn’t remember what it was like to be single before Mona.”

“Mona?” asked Susan.

Chester groaned. “Doll head in the helmet. Don’t ask.”

Gram lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “Come, lass. Let’s go back to the room. You do nae need to be on display for all to see. Susan, see to it she’s brought a dress that is dry and nae see-through. Place it outside the room and do nae bother us when you do. And you,” he said, looking back at Brian, “if I ever see you near her again, you will become a missing person.”

Bill grunted and then picked his nose. “That happens a lot around this place. Want me to deal with him, Gram-cracker? I ain’t scared of a punk-ass shifter boy.”

Brian growled.

Bill narrowed his gaze on him. “I’ve been bound-up for decades. I was so close to relief. Do not push me, shifter boy. I’ll kill you and then shit on your dead body.”

Amelia cringed at the vivid picture the small crazy man painted.

Gram shook his head. “Bill, go back to the room and finish what was being done.”

“Gus keeps yelling at me,” said Bill, before looking at the wall and falling silent. There was several seconds’ worth of pregnant pause before he spoke again. He looked right at Amelia. “He says your sister is fine and wants you to spend time with Gram. He says it’s meant to be. It’s time. And that you’re the one. Says Gram-cracker will know what he means. And the twins can reach him if anything changes.”

Gram held her closer to him. “Aye. I figured it out.”

“Took you long enough,” said Bill as he rolled his eyes and flicked his booger at Brian, as if daring the shifter to attack him. “Alphas are thick-headed.”

Amelia couldn’t stop a laugh that bubbled up. The man was insane but in the best possible way.

Bill faced Chester. “All righty, let’s get this shit moving. Pun intended. I’m pretty sure a burrito I ate back in ’92 is still lodged in there. There is an extra twenty in it for you if you can get it out in one piece. If you do, we can get a picture and send it to my friend Striker. He once got a ten-inch…never mind. There is a lady present and then that mean chick who keeps making me put a robe on. I’ll tell you about it when we’re alone. It was epic from what I heard.”

Amelia wrinkled her nose. She did not want to think about anything coming out of Bill’s backside.

Chester looked tired but led Bill back in the direction of the colonics rooms.

Susan and Brian shot her dual warning looks but she didn’t cower or cry like she normally would. Next to Gram she felt emboldened, like she could take on the world and live to tell the tale.

It was foolish but how she felt.

“Come on, love,” said Gram, as he walked her down the hall, holding her hand. He led her into their room once more. When they were inside, he shut the door, and then took the pitcher from her with his free hand, still clutching his towel with the other.

His blue gaze roamed over her chest and then lower. His breathing increased and sweat beaded on his brow.

She reached for him, worried he’d overexerted himself. “Gram, are you okay?”

Lifting the pitcher, he began drinking straight from it, spilling some down the front of himself, still looking at her chest and body the entire time.

It was then she remembered what Bill had said.

Her dress was now totally see-through, not that there had been a lot to it to start with.

Amelia blushed again and was about to put her back to Gram when rivulets of water running down his steely chest caught her attention. Her gaze fixated on the action, tracing the path the water took before it vanished under the towel.

Moisture formed at the apex of her thighs and she felt the need to shift her legs slightly, back and forth, trying to alleviate the pressure. Need made her body ache.

Gram inhaled deeply, his eyes flashing to brown once more. He gulped even more of the water before lowering the pitcher and staring right at her. “Lass, I can smell your arousal. You should go now. Run from me. Yer nae ready for everything I want—everything I need from you, and I’ll nae take yer choices.”

She didn’t make any move to run. In fact, running was the last thing on her mind. Licking the lines of water from his chest consumed her thoughts. Amelia found herself stepping toward him and pushing his hand and arm with the pitcher away from his chest. Once he moved it, she touched just above one of the scars on his torso, positive it was smaller than it had been only minutes before.

Absentmindedly, she traced a finger over another line of water, and then did something that stunned her—she stepped even closer to the man and licked the water from his chest.

Heat flared through her as her tongue swiped over his salty skin. She moaned and slid lower, with her tongue on him the entire time.

Gram fell back against the door, still holding the pitcher outward. “For fuck’s sake, woman. Did you nae hear me? I cannae control myself around you! I want to ravish you. I want to put you on that table, climb on top of you, and sink into you.”

She glanced at the massage table and then back at him. While she hated knowing she was doing exactly what Cal wanted, giving her body to the Bringer, she wanted the man more than she’d wanted anything before.

With her escape plan in motion and the knowledge she’d be gone from the compound in a little over twenty-four hours, she threw caution to the wind. She wanted to get lost in reckless abandonment just once in her life. She wanted to know pleasure. Gram could give her that.

“Okay.”

“Come again?” The man looked scared of her, which was amusing.

“You can put me on the table, climb on me, and sink into me,” she said, staring at another rivulet of water on his chest.

Gram dropped the pitcher and caught it again quickly before it would have hit the floor. He stared at her with wide eyes before he went to the side table and set the pitcher there. Facing her, he started to speak, only to stop and start several more times. He blew out a frustrated breath.

“Lass.”

“Yes?”

“You do nae understand what yer giving me permission to do,” he said softly, though he looked to be straining as he gripped the towel around his waist for dear life. “We need to have a long, long talk. I need to prepare you for what will happen when we join.”

“I may be a virgin, but I understand fornication,” she said.

He closed his eyes tight and said something in a language she didn’t know. When he looked back at her, he sighed. “Lass, do nae make me beg. Go.”

“But you said you wanted to sink into me. I want you too. Why should I go?” she asked.

He closed the distance between them in one big step. He then cupped her face and dipped his head, his lips capturing hers. His kiss was hot and branding, making additional moisture flood between her legs.