Jaded Hearts
Chapter 101

Matt

The ladies were sneaky, and I’d had a feeling they’d been planning this for a while. They’d pulled all of us guys to the living room for their “Vamp Eradication” proposal. I wanted to dismiss it immediately and keep them all safe and sound, but that didn’t appear to be an option anymore.

“So, here’s my thought. We need a believable reason for the three of us to be alone, without all the muscle around. Preferably in an open space, with little to no humans,” Taylor began.

Alaia stepped in. “As you know, my brother and my best friend, Jordyn, are expecting their second child in a couple of months. With a baby shower in a couple of weeks, that’s the perfect reason for us to go, and for you guys to stay behind. Men hate baby showers.”

Morgan nodded, then pointed to an area on a map of our territory. “The area between Blue Moon and Opal Moon is almost totally deserted. Just empty fields and hills as far as the eye can see. That the perfect place for a human-free m******e. And, we could hit them from both sides. I’m sure Aaron would gladly help out and send his guys from one direction while we strike from another.”

“You’d be defenseless in the car. We wouldn’t be far behind, but not close enough to help out if you get ambushed,” Xander said.

“Not true. I would be with them. Neither Lancaster nor Andrew know who I am. They would think that I was just another lady ready to ‘ooh and ah’ over tiny socks with the rest of them,” Aires countered.

“Wouldn’t Aaron and Jordyn be a little pissed off about you guys planning a war in the middle of their baby shower?” Alexi asked.

“Jordyn isn’t having one; the first one scarred her for life. But the vampires don’t need to know that,” Alaia replied.

“Air, I know you’re the one who started all this s**t. This has ‘you’ written all over it,” Tyson said pointedly.

“All I did was offer a perspective, Oso. These are very smart and capable women here, and they made up their own minds regarding what they wanted to do,” she sweetly replied.

“Bullshit. Anyway, how do you expect to get Lancaster and Drew to believe the story? How are you going to tip them off to it?” he asked.

Aires shrugged. “We spread the word. Maybe Alaia posts how excited she is to see Jordyn in a couple of weeks on Facebook, and I’ll have my connections within the coven start dropping hints around the house as well. It’s not hard to lead an i***t to slaughter.”

I hated to admit it, but it was a really good plan. One of the best I’d heard since we began working towards the ultimate solution. They wouldn’t be completely vulnerable with Aires with them. She could take out Drew with her eyes closed. And with both packs on board, there was no way the vamps would win.

“I’ll talk to Aaron and see what he has to say. As a wolf, I know he’d be more than willing to help us take down this coven, but he may not be so keen on his baby sister being used as bait,” Xander said.

“We’re twins—I’m not his ‘baby sister.’ And he’ll do it; I already asked him,” Alaia replied.

“Please don’t do that anymore, little one. This isn’t asking him to dinner; this is asking him to put himself and his entire pack at risk. That’s something I handle, Alpha to Alpha. Understood?”

Alaia crossed her arms and didn’t answer. She was a stubborn little thing.

“Alaia, do you understand me?” Xander walked over to her and pulled her face up towards his.

“Answer me.”

“Yes, Daddy, I heard you.”

“I’ll deal with this attitude of yours later tonight, but I’m still calling Aaron. If I’m even going to consider this plan, I want every single possible scenario thought through.”

“Yes, Alpha,” she replied sarcastically.

“My Luna and I need to have a talk. We’ll circle back later this afternoon. Upstairs. Now,” he firmly told her.

Alaia sent the girls a wink and small smile before she turned and headed upstairs. Just like I thought, sneaky little bastards. She’d just played my Alpha like a fiddle, and he didn’t even realize.

Damn women.

* * *

Taylor

A couple of hours after our proposal, Alaia finally returned, wearing a huge smile on her face. “Hello, girls! I told you this would work!”

We were screaming, laughing at how easily we’d made them fall into our trap. We knew that once we’d gotten Xander on board, or at least considering the idea, it wouldn’t be hard to get the others to follow. And like any good wife, Alaia knew exactly which buttons to push to get her husband to do what she wanted.

It was a thing of beauty.

“So, what happened? I want details,” Morgan said.

“I won’t sit straight for a few days, that’s for sure. I was thoroughly punished for being such a bad girl.”

“Damn, that’s hot. I wonder if Henry’s into that sort of thing?” Aires thought out loud.

“The point is, he’s partially on board. After he talks over everything with Aaron, he’ll make a final decision. But Alexi, Kade, Matt, and Tyson also have to agree. He refuses to make a decision to put us in danger if the guys don’t fully agree. If any one of them refuses, then the entire plan is shot.”

“I can get Kade to agree. That won’t be a problem,” Morgan giggled.

“And Tyson.”

“And … what?”

“You have to get Tyson to agree as well. You’re his b***d, and he loves you. That’s important to Xander. So, we all have got to convince two stubborn-a*s men to let us help our pack, rather than sit on the sidelines,” she said.

“You ladies can do this. Convincing two is easier than convincing five. They shot me down as soon as the thought left my mouth. I have faith you can get it done, though,” Aires added.

“I’m going to get to work on mine now. Being pregnant is really going to work against me here, but maybe I can flip it on them. Wish me luck, ladies,” I said as I left the room to searched out my loves.

I remembered that Matt had a conference call to get on that was going to take the rest of his afternoon, so that meant Tyson was up first. I found him in his office, doing work of his own.

“How’s everything going at the office? Are things running smoothly yet?” I asked when I walked in.

“Pretty good. Daniel, the office manager, has an extensive background in both tech and security, and he runs the place like it’s his own. He’s really particular about who he hires, which makes things less stressful for me. We should have a full staff in a few weeks.”

“Nice! Any contracts yet?”

“We’re about to close with a very large government agency next week, hopefully. Our bid was low enough but included way too many perks for them to pass up,” he proudly said.

“I’m really proud of you, babe. This little one in here will have a strong foundation to build on when it’s their turn to rule the world,” I said while patting my stomach.

“I haven’t fully decided, but I’m still leaning more towards no.”

I turned from the window and looked at him. “Huh?”

“No. That’s my answer at the moment. That is what you came over here for, isn’t it? To get me to agree to the plan you ladies came up with? To agree to send you and our unborn child out in the middle of nowhere to lure out crazy-a*s vampires?”

“No! I wanted to talk to you. I missed you.”

“I miss you too, baby, always. But it’s still a no for me.”

He went back to typing on the computer all nonchalant like, so I picked up a pen cap and flicked it at him. He easily dodged it, like I knew he would.

“We’re throwing things now?”

“I didn’t throw it; I flicked it. You taught me how to do that, remember?”

Next was a paper clip that soared right past his face. He locked eyes with me, but before he could retaliate, I straddled his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“You used to tell me how strong and capable I was all the time. You wouldn’t ever let me doubt myself when I felt there was something too hard or too scary for me to do. You would push me to do it, then be right there afterwards, telling me how proud you were when I succeeded. Where’s that Tyson now?”

“Wow, you’re really playing dirty right now, angel, and it’s not fair.”

I gave him my best pout. “I’m just reminiscing on old times. What’s dirty about that?”

“Fine, I’ll play along. The things I pushed you to do were simple: stand up to a bully, audition for the cheer squad, join the debate team. They may have been scary, but none of them were dangerous. What you want to do now is dangerous, and I don’t want you hurt.”

“And I don’t want you hurt either. This plan is the best way to protect our pack and finally be done with Drew and Lancaster. Besides, Aires can shimmer the girls and me back to the house if things get too dangerous. It’s not that far, so she should be able to do it without it draining her too much.”

That seemed to have softened him a little. We honestly hadn’t spoken about being shimmered out, so I really hoped Aires could do it.

“I need to replace out if that’s safe for the babies. If it’s safe, if Aires can actually pull it off, and if the four of you stay together the entire time, I’ll agree.”

I was so excited that I’d finally convinced him, I jumped up and landed on his crotch. The whoosh of air that escaped him told me that I’d probably landed right on his d**k, and not in a good way.

“s**t! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“Definitely not okay, sunshine. Just give me a minute. You might have ruined our chances of having any more kids,” he g*****d.

His head was tilted all the way back, eyes squeezed shut, and his breathing was labored. Poor guy. I stood up, then dropped to my knees and began unzipping his pants. When I reached in, and my hand touched my prize, I felt him twitch and begin to harden. He may have been in pain, but he was still a man.

I pulled him out and licked my way up the shaft before taking his head in my mouth.

“f**k!” he yelled out. He was battling both pleasure and pain at the same time, but I knew which would win out.

“Just sit back and relax. Let me k**s it and make it better, baby,” I soothed, then expertly filled my mouth and throat with him and proceeded to suck and lick all the pain away.

* * *

Matt

“Hello, handsome. How was the call?”

“Long and boring, and I’m happy it’s over.”

“Me too, I missed you,” Taylor replied as she walked around and sat on my desk.

Little did she know, I already knew what was going on. Tyson sent me a text as soon as she left his place, plus I was well aware of the girls’ scheming earlier this morning.

“You missed me, huh? How much?”

“So much. Do you want me to show you?” she asked seductively.

Any other time, I’d jump at this opportunity, but at least one of us men had to be strong and resist their feminine wiles.

“Nah, I can probably guess. Have you had a good day?” I asked, throwing her off for a second.

“Uh, yeah. It’s been okay. Better than okay, actually. I haven’t been overly exhausted for the first time in days.”

“I’m happy to hear that, baby. My mom will be bringing Gigi back home tomorrow. I’m sure you miss her.”

I knew she couldn’t seduce me when our children were on her mind. The way her face scrunched up in frustration proved my thought to be correct.

“I do miss her. She’s my sweet girl.”

I smiled at her, then began to type out an email.

“Ugh! What the hell is going on? What game are you playing? You never ice me out like this,” she yelled.

“Me? Playing games? Oh, tesoro, I believe that it’s you and your friends who are doing the playing. I saw the way Alaia handled Xander earlier, and I can only imagine how you got Tyson to agree to all this. Kade’s had a block up for two hours, and I’m sure Morgan has everything to do with that.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, then rolled her emerald eyes.

“I knew one of you would figure it out eventually. You guys don’t listen to reason; you’re hardwired to protect us all the time, regardless of the situation. Even when there is a better option on the table.”

“Your life for mine is never a better option, Taylor.”

“I’m not going to lose my life. Alaia can heal us if we get hurt, Aires can shimmer us home, and I’m a protected wolf—the Moon Goddess herself told me. Me and my babies!”

How could I have forgotten about her protected status? All things considered, she would be in very good hands, and we could finally be done with all of this with minimal loss to the pack. Maybe it was time to agree to let them help.

“Stop trying to seduce me to get your way. I don’t like making big decisions with my d**k, and you know I can’t resist you.”

“I wasn’t seducing you, and you resisted me just fine.”

“Nope, I was just delaying then inevitable.”

I pulled her shorts and underwear off and positioned myself between her legs before dropping my own to the floor.

“I’d like it to go on record that I’d already agreed to the plan before I got you naked.”

“Noted.”

“Good, now show your husband how much you missed him.”