Play the Music.

Roger:

“Boys.” JR spoke firmly, snapping my eyes open to both men leaning against the desk with panicked expressions, side glancing my brothers, noticing the smoldering stench of plastic and wood as puddles of bubbling leather and foam pooled under their chairs.

“Jesus Christ! He raped her in front of them.” JR hissed lowly under his breath, catching Dad off-guard with his words.

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!!! Which one hurt my daughter?” Dad’s aura shifted into an eerie swirling black mist as his voice dropped to a low octave of creepy smooth.

“All three tortured and taunted her, but Bain touched her. Dad, it crushed us not being able to protect her.” Peeling the melted chair from my exposed flesh, slipping out of my sweats and t-shirt fused with melted remnants of leather and foam. Accepting the fresh shorts and shirts from JR, pushing backing the melted chairs with confused expressions painted across our faces.

“You spontaneously combusted.” JR pointed to the melted heaps of leather and wood formerly known as chairs, answering our silent questions as Dad handed us bourbons with fresh ice.

“Seems to be a trend when they’re under extreme stress involving Elicia.” Dad paced slowly, looking us over one-by-one as he silently conversed with himself.

“What happened before we arrived at that facility?” JR leaned forward with a curious glint laced across his stoic face.

All those years raised inside that living hell, passed around like luggage trained to kill and torture for someone else’s enjoyment, finally coming full-circle with the grim reality of facing years of emotional and mental torment packed into a tight ball of imploding rage.

“Our refusal to obey that bastard’s commands.” Elias growled out in a hissing snarl, clenching his fists tightly as blood dripped to the floor in hollowed plips. Gripping his shoulder along with our brothers as Dad studied his expression with a scary glint etched darkly across his deep crimson orbs.

“What did he command?” JR stood from his desk quickly, walking over with a predators grace clenching his jaw tightly with balled fists at his sides.

“To whip her until she cried for us to stop.” Ben spoke in a whispered growl, looking down at the floor with a snarling exhale.

“What would happen if she cried out?” Dad stood shoulder-to-shoulder with JR as they visibly shook in rage.

“The next stage of breaking her in…water boarding under extreme sexual stress, if she survived the first stage of breaking.” Chris gasped loudly as his words triggered a flood of emotions to overtake our links.

“Knowing my daughter-in-law, she would have passed out before crying out.” Nodding to his comment, choking on the knot stuck in my throat as memories of her flashed through our links.

“Titan let our refusal slide, normally he would snap the trainee’s neck and bring a new one in to start all over again, but this was different. They made comments about our off-spring being Frankenstein’s, not knowing she was already pregnant. She caused Bain to bite off his finger after he touched her as a reminder to us if we continued to refuse. Cocky bastard thought he was so smooth sucking his fingers clean right next to her head, the snarling screams, bone crunching as her head snapped back violently, slicing that bitch’s finger clean off.” Chuckling lightly at both men smiling with a proud posturing.

Sorry old men, but this next part will hurt deeply.

“They cut the lights, leaving her chained sitting on that wooden sawhorse. Our sight could only adjust to make out shadowy silhouettes, but our other senses kicked in full-force.” Inhaling sharply, reversing the roles as we quickly grabbed JR and Dad’s shoulders to subdue their raging beasts.

“That’s enough. I don’t think they can handle any more.” Elias growled softly through our link, struggling to subdue JR as Goki and Brutus refused to back down with snarling warnings.

“JR, calm your beasts. We know this slices deep, but something happened after we were knocked out by the sleeping gas.” That got their attentions. Goki and Brutus slowly pulled back enough to feel his body relax with a shaky exhale. Dad looked a little wild but smoothed out his shirt with a few silent curses.

“Iron seems to be our weakness, so they knew we couldn’t fight off the sleeping gas. I’m still confused about a few things, but the dream was real. The emotions, the sensations, it was like we were experiencing an out-of-body moment, but the energy shared was mind-blowing.” Licking my dry lips tasting her sweetness as images of her glowing flesh flashed behind my eyelids, inhaling slowly to control the rolling wave of heat that crept over my body.

“I can smell.” JR sniffed the air with a creepy smirk, looking down with a perked brow causing dad to laugh brightly.

“When we woke-up, she challenged Bain to a fight. At first we were freaked out, but the look in her eye and the supercharged energy that filled the air was enough to put our fears at ease.” Elias smirked evilly, remembering our little mate handing Bain his ass on a ‘Silver Platter’ with those sexy curves tempting our demons lurking deep within.

“Easy Big Boy. Whatever happened in that cell got them juices pumping. I saw the aftermath, not to mention the fire show before we left. Mei and I barely got out of there before ‘boom’.” JR patted mine and Elias’ shoulder, turning to grab his bourbon from the desk.

Accepting dad’s hug with a chesty laugh as we relaxed into a comfortable silence.

“That was all Elicia. She was adamant to destroy all traces of that place.” Turning around nodding to Lexi leaning against the doorframe with his hands shoved in his jean pockets.

“Everything okay?” Studying his amused expression with my brothers as JR and Dad motioned to follow them.

“Oh yeah. The arena is ready, the stooges are simmering with rage and the ballroom is turning into a pre-New Years festival.” Lexi laughed over his shoulder as we made our way down the long corridor thumping with laughter and music.

Stopping mid-step as giggling toddlers floated through the air, twirling ribbon streamers as they performed an acrobatic dance with Elicia to ‘HandClap’ by Fitz and The Tantrums. Smiling up at the giggling faces as they clapped and weaved through the floating candles that gave the vaulted ceilings a warm ambiance.

“Daddy, we’re flying.” Lea giggled excitedly as she flipped through the air, draping the ribbon streamers along the wooden beams, dive bombing JR as he happily caught the giggling bundle of red hair. Following those beautiful curves as they twirled and floated down to the polished marble floor, catching a stray toddler that floated around in giggles.

“I hope you don’t mind. The ladies needed extra hands while the arena was being prepared, so me, Miss Lea and the other kids here decided to have a little fun while decorating.” Tossing a playful wink to my gorgeous mate, shivering in delight as her radiant smile erased every dark emotion lingering in the shadows.

“Play the music. Play the music.” Lea squirmed out of JR’s arms as she skipped happily to the center of the ballroom with the other toddlers clapping their hands excitedly. Sharing questioning looks between us as Elicia swiped her finger in mid-stride, skipping two steps before the upbeat rhythm of ‘Fireball’-Pitbull started playing through the built-in sound system.

Lea grabbed more ribbon streamers, tossing them out to the floating toddlers in passing as Elicia spun Lea around by her finger, salsa dancing through the air tossing out confetti and ribbons to decorate the remaining wooden beams that were still naked in places.

“Boys!” JR warned Nikola, Micah, and Akai fixing to do something from behind the grand chandelier, causing the girls to spin around with scowling snarls.

“Dad! You ruined our surprise.” Akai stuck his tongue out with a butt wiggle, floating around like they were ice skating through the air, spinning, diving with bright giggles.

“I still can’t get over how developed their speech is.” Lexi chuckled happily, accepting a kiss to the cheek from Astoria as she floated by acting like she was swimming.

“Hope you guys don’t mind heights.” Elicia laughed brightly, waving her hands through the air as our bodies lifted from the ground, snarling at the fact our bodies refused to cooperate without the guidance of gravity.

Ben and Chris seemed natural at weightlessness, while Elias and I struggled to keep our heads above our feet as ‘Feel It Still’- Portugal. The Man began its intro, causing the toddlers and Elicia to squeal in excitement.

Turning around watching them clapping, side stepping through the air like professionals as JR, Lexi, Dad, and Lexi floated around lazily like they were floating on water, tickling toddlers that got close enough to grab.

“You make this look easier than it really is.” Elias laughed brightly, noticing he was getting comfortable with his movements, playfully spinning or air cycling.

Zeroing in on my target as she tossed Akai over to Dad with his arms making a hoop, smiling at Akai curling into a ball swooshing through dad’s arms. Noticing we had an audience filming from below, figuring out this was like skydiving without the falling part.