He left Cain standing at the table and asserted his dominance in the house position as Damali's current lover. Uh-huh. Terms of endearment. Watch a brother from the barrios work.
Carlos stood before Damali and sought her embarrassed gaze, loving that she'd blushed when he told her she'd blown his mind. That wasn't a lie. She had.
"D, every day you change, learn something new... that's what I love about you. This last thing you did . . ." Carlos shook his head and looked at the floor as though pulling back from a moment that was too private to share with the team. That was some of the sexiest shit I have ever seen, he murmured to her in his mind--but left the channel open for Cain to also hear it. / had to take a walk after it was over. Was in... a condition, so when the new brother said anything to you, I wasn't rational. Baby, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted like that.
When her expression became warm, he reached out to touch her cheek, but didn't, just let his hand fall away to capture hers. "I am so proud of you. The Caduceus? I don't even know what that was, where it came from, how you got it, or how it works. That's awesome." He again caught her gaze. "When things settle down, will you tell me about it? I'm really trying to learn, D. Even when I go off and get all stubborn. But you got mad-skills."
She stepped in a little closer. Carlos could feel Cain's heat-seeking glance score his back. Good. That's right, motherfucker, you don't hold check here.
"Listen," Carlos said on a weary sigh. "You're right about us having to help him." He could feel Damali almost fall over but steady herself. Oh, hell yeah, queen nearly down--king in checkmate position. "Baby, the brother helped us, big time." Carlos lifted his chin and turned toward Cain, giving him a nod of genuine respect as a worthy adversary. The team's eyes widened enough to split. Jose actually stood up slowly.
"With honor, man," Carlos said, sending a double message. Cain nodded, his expression stoic but his eyes nearly went silver, Carlos could feel it. Damali placed her hand in the center of Carlos's chest.
"He was just trying to help us," she said quietly.
"I know," Carlos said, pulling her into his arms for a hug while keeping Cain in his peripheral vision, in case the brother snapped. Slowly and calmly, he pressed Damali's head to his chest, and then kept a steady line of vision on Cain in a deadlocked, quiet standoff. "Damali, you're the superior healer on this team. If this brother's energy is waning, if he's unable to jettison himself back to the other side, what can I do to help? Maybe the rod with your power... I don't know how to help him, and we owe him, a lot."
Damali lifted her head from Carlos's chest. "Cain, what can we do to help you?"
Cain hesitated. Carlos almost laughed. Yeah, that's right, she said 'we.'
"One team," Carlos said, slyly, rubbing it in and not giving Cain a chance to respond. His adversary's throat was exposed, and now was the perfect moment for a sudden beheading.
"In fact, you know the old Neteru code," Carlos murmured, stroking Damali's hair, and bringing her focus, along with the team's, back to him. "If my brother has a realm to defend, I've got his back. I trust him, because you trust him, and your word is good enough for me." He kissed Damali's forehead with a gentle brush of his lips. "Baby, you've been leading this team in the right direction for a long time, are truthfully still the better warrior, better healer. Then raise your Isis, baby, like I told you that first battle we did together in Hell. Stand with the family. Protect them. I'll go over to Nod with Cain and help him restore order there. That's the least I can do."
Carlos looked up, his jaw set hard, determination blazing in his eyes as he made them go silver just to knock Damali's head back and then stared at Cain. "For the cause, man. I got your back. Me and you. We do this on your side, get your house in order, and we make sure, as one team, that nothin' slithers over the wall to the human side. Cool?"
"Much obliged," Cain said through his teeth.
"Good," Carlos said, nodding as he returned his gaze to Damali and let a palpable ripple of desire rock her system. "I know some people that know some people in Mexico. La Paz, which is by the ocean, gives us port access and is off the main congested city route." He allowed the information to torture Cain, knowing his adversary didn't know the new cities, towns, or sections of the world like he did. Yeah... this was his yard.
"La Paz?" Damali said, her hands creating a warm tingle as they rested on his arms.
"Yeah, baby. I have cash stashed, and know how to get lost within some places that even the CIA don't wanna go. These boyz got ammo out the ass, too. They'll be cool. Know I ain't in the distribution life no more, but we go way back. Mike, 'Bazz, Rider, and Berkfield would approve of the gear they can drop." He slid into the easy street patois, making Cain have to struggle to decode what he was telling Damali. "With the right amount of dinero, I can raise an army for you, baby... they'll be under your command, but you have to be comfortable, before I make the call."
"I don't see where we have a whole lotta options at the moment," Berkfield added right on cue, building and helping Carlos's cause without realizing it. "The man is making perfect sense to me, D."
"Works for me," Rider chimed in.
"True dat," Shabazz said with a weary sigh. "Here, we're sitting ducks."
"One thing we know for sure," Big Mike said, nodding, "our boy Carlos knows how to get out of a tight spot."
If it weren't for the rules of the game, Carlos would have walked over to Mike and hugged him. "I trust his judgment to Hell and back, man," Jose said, finally sitting down again. "Rivera definitely got da moves. This way, if something goes down, Krissy and J.L. don't have to feel like they have to take the weight."
"Yeah," Berkfield said, going over to his daughter to stand by her side. "That's a lot of responsibility for a kid. I know where he's talking about, from those old maps and info from back in the day. We never tipped our hand that Rivera bled 'em out; in fact, we did it like he was trying to help them, in case we had to double back and send him in as a double agent."
"I'd feel safer going to some of Carlos's old haunts that Richard already knows and where Carlos has allegiances, than allowing the kids to surf the Net to deal with people we've never dealt with before," Mar-jorie said, gaining a weak nod from Marlene.
"Carlos takes care of family," Juanita said quietly. Her furtive gaze went between Carlos and then Cain, returning to Carlos. "I just wish he didn't have to go by himself... what if something happens to him over there in this place we don't even know about?"
He could have kissed Juanita on the spot. The damsel in distress with worry about this team's king going off to battle to help another sovereign, weaker king was practically making Cain's eyes glow.
"You know me,'Nita. I'll be all right. The main thing is Damali go: this on lock, here." He had to walk the very careful line. Give Damali her props, gently rebuff Juanita, and quietly kick Cain's ass. "The brother's world is falling apart. That has implications for what's going on over here. If he's weak, he won't be able to handle his business. I have to go help him, simple as that. Friends don't leave each other ass out... and, if something happens over there to me, then, hey. It was my time. But you'll still have the baddest Neteru on the planet over here--Damali."
"Baby," Damali said. "I agree with Juanita. I'm worried. I don't want anything to happen to you over there. The things die differently. You'll need a blade. If anything were to go down wrong... if you didn't come back, I don't know what I'd do. You hear?"
Carlos smiled. Check. Fucking. Mate. "Yeah, baby, I hear you," he said, dropping his voice to a low, sensual rumble. "But we've gotta do what we've gotta do, right?" He looked down into her eyes that held worry and then kissed her slowly... long... gentle... and deep. The hair on the back of his neck rose as he felt Cain's incisors threaten to break through his gums. Carlos pulled out of the kiss and sent a hot message into Damali's mind. After what I just saw you do in the yard, now this... my focus is getting messed up. I definitely don't want to leave you tonight. But I will. We have to help our boy... even though battling demons is the last thing on my mind, right through here.