The Breed Casstiel's Vow (11 page)

Tessa’s heart stopped in her chest as her eyes popped
open.

He brought one finger up to his own lips, then grabbed
her hand and rushed her towards the exit as she clumsily pulled down her shirt.

She was so overheated she could hardly process what had
just happened between the two of them, all she knew was disappointment from not
being able to continue was settling down deep in her bones.

~

Casstiel’s pulse was finally starting to calm down when
they made it to the Defense building. No matter how vivid his dreams had been
they did nothing to prepare him for what it would really be like to have Tessa
in his arms.

It was like every nerve ending had come alive in his
body, one taste of her sweet moist mouth and he was putty in her hands. He
hadn’t wanted it to end, and couldn’t wait to have it again.

Once they were inside, she shyly pulled away from
underneath his arm and put a foot of space between them. For a moment he
thought about grabbing her back, but decided to let her have her space.

Forcefully he reminded himself that she was a human,
they fell in love slowly, their hearts fragile and broken easily, their
emotions constantly changing. He needed to have patience with her.

He also was coming to the realization that she was a
totally different person sexually.

In the time since she had come to the embassy she had
been shy and awkward, trying not to make eye contact and blushing easily; but
when he had gotten her aroused a whole different side of her had come out. She
had been every bit as wild and willing as he had been, she had utterly taken
him by surprise and he couldn’t get enough of it.

 He knew she wasn’t very experienced, but he loved
that she was little more than a virgin. No matter how hot and wanton she had
seemed he didn’t miss the fact that she was surprised by how good everything
felt. Who ever had made love to her before hadn’t done a very good job, and he
relished the opportunity to give her
her
every
desire. He would stop at nothing to have his woman fully sated and completely
spent in his arms.

He cared less about her sexual experience than he did
about her heart.  It was more obvious to him now than ever that she had
never loved another man.

Good…
The word
exploded inside of his mind so aggressively it startled him.

The thought of her having loved another man would tear
him apart. A past lover he could deal with, he would make love to her so
thoroughly she would forget about any other, but a past love? He would have
been devastated.

He was so distracted by his thoughts he didn’t realize
that she was quietly holding open the elevator door for him. Once the passion
had ended she had gone right back to being timid around him, something he would
have to figure out a way to break her of.

For right now it was time to get back to the squad room;
time to be the boss again.

He shook his head hard and pushed the thoughts of what
had happened between them to the back of his mind.

  “So did you finish the tour?” Nora asked
cheerfully as they stepped through the door.

“Yeah we… we hit a wall and decided to call it a night,”
he gave Tessa a small wink.

 
The
corners of her mouth twitched into a half smile, before she stifled it.

“Before we go I’ve got to show you around,
there’s
some really nice kids working in the food court down
stairs, and their medical wing is amazing. I even met another human,” Tessa
sounded truly in awe as she spoke, and it made his heart soar.

“The healer right?
I’ve heard
about her, I’d like to meet her,” Nora replied.

“Did you call Memphis and get all that out of the way?”
Tessa walked closer to her friend, and he had to remind himself to focus on the
task at hand, and not the way her narrow hips swayed.

“Yeah, everything’s good, we’ve just been waiting for
you two to get back,” she gave Tessa a sideways glance that made her blush.

After a few minutes of awkward silence Ghost cleared his
throat, “I have the voice analysis match.”

“Alright let’s play it then,” Casstiel looked to her,
praying to the gods that they actually got something off of this. He had shown
her he could lead her down the road of ecstasy, now he wanted to prove to her
he could provide for her, needed to show her that he had could take care of her
in every case.

 “You ready?” he asked, not wanting to push her.

“Oh yeah,” she replied with a conviction so strong even
he was caught off guard.

Ghost hit the play button and an audio recording came to
life through the speakers of the dual monitors. At first the male voice, which
had been instructed to recite his name and origins, was unidentifiable.

Tessa closed her eyes and listened hard, focusing all of
her energy into his voice.

 His accent was thick and hard to understand, was
it Scottish, or maybe Irish? After a few moments however, Tessa was certain.

She popped her eyes open and sought out Casstiel’s
glance, “
its him
, I’m sure.”

 “Who is he?” Nora asked.

“His name is Balor; he was born in Scotland in 1300 AD.
He and his twin brother Roderick immigrated to the United States in the late
1800’s and shortly after started their own wolf pack. The very same pack that
went missing after Quinn’s disappearance,” Casstiel sounded grim.

“So what does that mean?” she asked feeling like
identifying the voice had suddenly added more questions than answers, “They
kidnap my brother then disappear completely with him?”

“There’s no way,” Kain spoke up, “we know these guys,
they’re good men,
they’ve
even helped us on cases.
They would never kidnap someone.”

“So what are you saying?” she asked, shooting Casstiel a
pleading look. For some reason she felt like he would take her side above all
the sudden doubt.

“Tessa if you’re sure that the voices are the same, then
I’m sorry but I don’t think your brother was kidnapped, I think he was
voluntarily coming into the Breed and you walked in on it,” Casstiel spoke, his
voice gentle but honest, he wouldn’t sugar coat it for her.

“When you join the Breed you have to give up your
family, Quinn would never do that,” she defended viciously.

“No one knows the truth except for Quinn, and hopefully
we will find him soon so we can get this all figured out. My team and I are
going to scour the subway lines tomorrow because we have a pretty solid idea
that he’s staying in the abandoned parts. I’m going to find him for you, and
when I do everything will get cleared up,” Casstiel soothed, shocking everyone
around him. He wasn’t exactly known for his empathy.

“I’m sure it’ll all make sense then,” Nora smiled,
following his lead, “don’t get upset until you talk to him.”

“Yeah you’re right, we’ll never know until we ask him.
Maybe he was going to ask us to join the Breed with him,” she looked up
hopefully.

“Yeah maybe,” he replied, giving her a small smile.

Tessa didn’t care that no one else agreed, the thought
that Casstiel was on her side seemed to give her strength and lift her spirits.

“At least you know he’s safe and alive,” Nora reassured
her.

“You’re right,” she nodded her head in agreement,
“compared to the last two years that’s a miracle in itself.”

“Hey you know what?
Me
and the
guy’s were talking about going out tonight. It’s been such a stressful week for
you, let’s go and shake the stress away,” she suggested, clearly wanting her
friend to forget about the negatives of the day.

“Clubs aren’t really my thing,” Tessa wrinkled her nose
at the idea.

In truth she wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed
and worry about her brother, but they were all right, no one knew the answers
but Quinn, and sitting around worrying about him wasn’t going to help anything.

“Come on,” Nora groaned, giving her a playful shove.

“Isn’t it to late anyway?” she voiced the only excuse
that she could think of, already feeling nauseated by the idea of dancing in
front of strangers.

“Are you kidding? It’s only eleven thirty, the parties
just starting to heat up,” Jax rubbed his palms together and axed her excuse.

“Alright alright
alright
,” she
cried, barely believing what she was agreeing to go.

“Ghost you
commin
man?” Jax
asked slapping him on the back.

“No,” he replied solemnly, zipping up his leather
trench, “I have other duties outside of this job that I have to attend to.”

“It’s more important than having fun?” Nora winked.

“Far more important,” he replied simply. Whatever it was
he needed to do he wasn’t going to be telling them about it any time soon.

“We’ll meet you guys down here in a half hour,” Nora
called over her shoulder, instantly shrugging Ghost and his mystery off.

Tessa gave Casstiel a last glance as she walked toward
the glass double doors, their eyes locked for a split second and then she was
gone.

~

As soon as the girls were out of sight Casstiel’s team
turned to face him.

“Cass man this does not look good,” Jax whispered in a
low voice.

“I know, I fucking know,” he growled.

His men all wore identical looks of concern.

“I mean it looks pretty fucking bad that this kid joins
up with Balor’s pack right before they all mysteriously disappear,
then
two years later he’s popping up all over the grid on
the run,” Jax went on.

“The thought didn’t slip my mind. Look we’re gonna
proceed with this as though it were a regular missing persons case ok? Just use
a little extra safety precaution, and when we find this guy I want him brought
in and questioned before anyone even tells Tessa we found him ok?” he demanded.

“There’s quite a list of questions we need to ask him,”
Ghost shook his head.

“Yeah and the first ones gonna be what the hell is he
doing on a subway in New York City while his pack is still missing out there,”
Cass growled.

~

“So how was the tour?” Nora winked, as she pulled
clothes from one of the eight suit cases she had packed.

Tessa’s face immediately turned flame red as she tried
to think of a way to accurately describe what had happened.

Finally, in a rush that would make an auctioneer proud,
she spilled everything.

Nora stared in wide eyed shock, random articles of
clothing clutched in each of her hands as she finished the story.

“I should have known, the quiet girls are always the
kinky ones,” she teased.

Tessa picked up one of the pillows off the bed and threw
it at her as they both laughed.

“I never thought you’d get laid on this trip before me,”
Nora sighed, then began searching feverishly through her suit case, “we’ve got
to pick you out something really sexy for tonight.”

“No way, I don’t even know him,” she threw off the
suggestion as Nora began holding up dresses, “I just got caught up in the
moment. I will not be getting laid on this trip.”

“You didn’t seem to care about not knowing him two hours
ago in the hallway,” Nora looked her up and down, “here put this one on, black
will go
good
with your hair.”

Tessa held up the scrap fabric in front of her.

“There’s no way in hell I’m wearing this,” she said
firmly, “I don’t have any boobs to put in this thing, and its way, way too
short.”

“Will you just put it on,” she sighed angrily, “You’ve
got plenty of boobs, and the dress is corseted in the back so we can tighten to
fit your bony behind.”

“Nora,” she said warningly, ready to argue to the death
over the skimpy dress, and the idea of sleeping with an almost complete
stranger.

“Just put it on,” she cut her off, “it won’t kill you to
not wear jeans for once.”

Tessa heaved a great sigh and begrudgingly began to
change.

 “You know there isn’t anything wrong with having a
‘friends with benefits’,” Nora suggested coyly.

She rolled her eyes, “yeah that’s exactly what I should
be doing,
sleeping
with the guy who’s in charge of
finding my brother, there’s an excellent idea.”

“It’ll probably get you better results,” she laughed as
she tossed a sequined mini skirt into the ‘no’ pile.

 “You are SO funny. Anyway, stop worrying about my
sex life and figure out what you’re wearing,” she chided, still trying to
figure out how she was going to get the microscopic black dress to cover at
least some part of her body, “may as well go with your favorite red one.”

 “You’re right,” she agreed after dumping an entire
suitcase onto her bed, “Wow, look at you!”

Nora
drug
her over to the full
length mirror in the closet, “You need to show your legs off more often.”

“Oh my god I can’t wear
this
,” she cried out in
embarrassment, “my boobs are practically falling out, and you can see my
panties.”

“That’s the point,” she winked.

She stared at her friend in open mouthed horror.

“I wish you had brought more than just plain white bras,
but they’ll have to do,” she sighed pinching and pulling the fabric to hug
around every curve of Tessa’s body, “You look amazing, and this is a perfect
one night stand dress.”

“Why do you think he did
kissed
me?” she blurted out the question that had been on her mind since she left the
medical building.

A man had never gone after her like Casstiel had today.
She had noticed boys staring at her
before,
once or
twice she had been hit on in college, but nothing like today.

“Because he’s a man honey,” she replied, while putting
on a shade of lipstick that perfectly matched her dress.

“I just don’t understand why he picked me,” Tessa
sighed, fidgeting with her dress.

“Stop it,” Nora snapped, “You’re beautiful and he’s
attracted to you. Tonight I’m going to go out to the club with the guys, and
you’re going to stay here alone with him.”

She walked into the bathroom and took a long look in the
mirror, really trying to find herself. She wasn’t the little girl who was too
scared to let people in anymore; she was a grown woman who was free to make her
own choices and decisions in life. Her gift couldn’t always control her.

She needed to stop living her life imprisoned by her own
fears and insecurities.

He wanted her and she wanted him, and in the long run of
things that’s all that really mattered.

“Nora, do my make up too,” she said for the first time
in her life.

~

Kain and Jax were playing a game of paper foot ball as
Casstiel paced the floor and wondered how he was going to survive a night at a
club with her.

Without killing every other man in the
building that is.

“Man girls take a long time to get ready,” Jax sighed as
Kain successfully flicked another football through his fingers.

“Only about half as long as you take,” Kain shot back.

Casstiel heard the grinding of the elevator cables as
they lowered the car down.

“Finally,” he sighed, mentally steeling himself for the
long night that was ahead of him.

A night filled with pretending like he was having a good
time with everyone, when really all he wanted was to be alone with her.

He stiffened into stunned silence as both girls glided
into the squad room.

Well that solves that problem, there’s no fucking way
we’re going to the club
he growled to
himself. It was bad enough that Jax and Kain were getting to see her looking so
sexy.

Jax let out a low whistle as Nora sashayed through the
door in a bright red dress.

“We clean up pretty good huh?” she
laughed, playfully striking a pose.

Casstiel was very happy to see that both his men avoided
looking at Tessa like she was the plague.

She was wearing a fitted black dress with a neck line
that made his blood boil, and a skirt short enough to make him wish they were
back in the medical wing.

“We ready?” Kain asked checking his watch.

“We need to take separate
cars,
”
Nora replied matter of
factly
, “having five of us in
the same car is going to be too cramped.”

“We could just take the-” Jax began to say but was cut
off quickly by the sharp looks from everyone else in the room; as usual, he was
the last to catch on.

 “Me and Casstiel can ride together and meet you
guys there,” Tessa’s quiet voice seemed to thunder through the room.

It took everything he had in him not to scream aloud in
victory. He made a mental note that he owed Nora big time, he knew this had to
be her doing, and he loved her for it.

“Sounds like an excellent idea to me,” he murmured,
rolling up the sleeves of his black silk shirt.

“Ready?” Nora asked, giving Tessa an appraising look.