DAG 14
Finding Esmeralda unharmed was like being reborn. I never want to go through the worry and helplessness that I felt when I found her gone. The feeling of loss that filled my being was like a pit of darkness and pain. After parking the bike, I needed to get away before facing my woman. I can’t believe that after everything that we have shared, she was capable of running away.
Why would she leave me? I have treated her with nothing but kindness, never pushing her as I know the life she has had before. I’m nearly by the trees when I hear Tal approaching. “Leave me alone,” I growl, not wanting to talk right now.
“I’m just along for the walk,” he says, but knowing Tal, he will have something to say. We start to make our way down the path in silence when he suddenly says, “You do know that Tor was inside, don’t you?”
I grunt, and then stop. Fuck! I didn’t even think about Tor confronting Esmeralda. But as our leader there is no way that he is going to let this slide.
“Fuck,” I mutter as I turn and start hurrying back towards the building. Tor doesn’t know how vulnerable Esmeralda is. He will rip her apart with his words if he’s not happy with her actions. I can’t let him hurt her feelings; I know she did wrong, but he needs to realize that she’s not used to being among people that actually treat her well.
As I approach, I hear his voice. Stiffening, I stop at the door and hear Esmeralda telling him that she left because she doesn’t want anyone to be hurt. My heart feels like it has a vice around it when I think about the lengths my woman would go through to save those around her, even though she still doesn’t trust them. Even though she has nowhere to go and is being hunted by the Desperados, she left.
I know that her answer will appease Tor. In some small way it appeases me, but I still haven’t got over the fact that she placed herself in danger, and that she was able to leave me even after everything we have been through.
When Tor finally decided to leave and Esmeralda looked at me, I could see the pain and regret in her eyes. I want to go to her and hug her close, but after what she did, I need to think. When she walks away to our room, I take a seat at one of the tables, taking a swig of the beer that Tal places in front of me.
“She had good intentions,” he says as he takes a swallow of his beer, too. At my grunt, he continues, “I don’t know what it’s like to have a mate, but from what I have heard, it’s the strongest bond anyone could ever dream of having with another. All I can say, Brother, is that your woman has been through hell and she is running scared. This must all be overwhelming for her.”
I know what he is saying is true. I know that I need to make exceptions for her past, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy knowing that she could just up and leave me. “Have you told Tor about Sean being alive?” Since arriving yesterday and finding Esmeralda gone, I haven’t had a chance to tell Tor about what we have found out, or that I want to be the one to kill the bastard.
“No, I’ve been out with you,” Tal says as he sits forward, placing his elbows on the table as he looks at me. “What are you thinking of doing?” he asks.
“Tor and the others need to know, but I want to be the one to kill him.”
Tal nods as Asgar and Einar walk in.
“So, how did it go with the Desperados? With everything going on I didn’t even ask,” Asgar says as he sits down opposite us.
“Let’s just say, that they are going to take a while to rebuild, and all the product in that place has been diluted,” Tal says with a grin. “How about with you guys?”
“We had quite a good fight as there were more of their men there than we expected. But by the end, there was nothing that they could save from that building,” Asgar says.
“I heard that Colborn and Haldor found information that could help us with their next victims,” Einar says as he lifts his hand, holding up two fingers to Monica for her to bring beers for Asgar and himself. “I just want to get to Aldor and make him suffer the same as he has made all the women suffer.”
What he says is true. Because of Aldor’s evil network, lots of our women have now been sold and many are probably dead. Even though Esmeralda has been traumatized, and has lived in physical and mental pain for so many years, I’m glad that she was with the Desperados as I’m sure that anywhere else might have been much worse for her.
Ulrich and Dane walk in, a grin spread across Ulrich’s face. “Just in time. Looks like we have started to celebrate early,” he says as he walks towards us. Dane stops at the bar to get their drinks. Unlike Ulrich, he doesn’t seem as excited.
“I’m guess things went well with you?” I ask, noticing Ulrich’s exuberance.
“Of course, we finally got to kick some Desperados ass. What couldn’t go well?”
“What he means to say is that he completely pulverized their crack house, and as they were running out of the burning building, he knocked them out. All I did was stand by and watch,” Dane says sarcastically, which has Ulrich looking back at Dane that is now making his way towards where Ulrich is sitting with two beers in hand.
Ulrich shrugs as he answers, “I didn’t stop you; you could have got a few punches in.”
“Why, when you were having so much fun?” Dane replies with a raised brow.
“Fuck, it had been a long time that we had ourselves a good fight,”
I frown at Ulrich’s statement. There must have been quite a few, because for us, two or three human men is hardly a fight.
“You find it a good fight with a couple of humans?” Einar asks, as he shakes his head in amusement.
“That’s where it became interesting. There were Keres there.”
I tense at Ulrich’s revelation. We haven’t seen that many Keres for a while. Ever since Draco and his men found a cure for turning, all Elementals went out to find as many Keres as we could to help them change back into Elementals, so that they will still have a chance to find their mates.