Monsters & Guardians

by Kay Elle Parker

  With a breath deep enough to make that sturdy chest rise impressively, Dubhlainn nodded slowly. “My head, some other stuff. There’s some changes coming, and others are already in effect.”

  Raine stiffened, waiting for some decree to fall on her head that she wasn’t going to like. Finn’s presence inside her was waning; a minute or two more and her body would be her own again, but for how long? How long before that door opened and Cabhan or Malachi strutted in? How long did she have before the growls started and wrenched control of her hormones out of her grasp?

  Panicked, she struggled. Pressed between two powerful wolves wasn’t comforting, what the fuck was she thinking? It was oppressive, overpowering, a prison of flesh holding her captive as effectively as any chains.

  “Raine, relax. No one’s hurting you.”

  “Quinn, growl.”

  “We need her to calm down, not rev herself up,” Quinn argued.

  “Your growl calms her,” Dubhlainn stated matter-of-factly. He sat, set his hand on her head. “Mine arouses. Growl for her before she hyperventilates. I’d like to know what set this off.”

  She was already straining for breath, claustrophobia stealing it from her lungs as fast as she could fill them. She kicked uselessly, bucked, and somehow managed to dislodge a weakened Finn with an uncomfortable pop. But even after he rolled to the side, opening her skin to cooler air, she couldn’t take more than desperate sips of oxygen.

  Quinn’s chest thrummed, his growl reverberating into her until it loosened the constriction, allowed her to wheeze in a breath. Then she was in Dubh’s arms, lifted off Quinn and wrapped in the Alpha’s warmth, his scent, his strength.

  And she was home.

  He rocked her, humming in time to Quinn’s growl until she stopped squirming in fearful movements and surrendered to the cradle of his arms. Still he rocked, still he hummed. Until she was loose and compliant, her mind empty.

  “What scared you, precious?”

  Her fingers wrapped around his thick wrist. “Don’t make me take them. I can’t take any more—”

  A finger pressed to her lips, cutting off her desolate pleas. “There will be no more, Raine. I promise you. Quinn, Finn and I are your mates. We alone will be the only ones to tend to your needs now, in heat and out.”

  “Alpha?” Quinn demanded.

  Seemingly oblivious to the growing flood of his brother’s seed leaking from between her thighs over his, Dubhlainn rubbed Raine’s back in soothing circles. “The run gave me time to think, to come to several conclusions. Malachi’s attitude, Cabhan’s behavior...they are not suitable mates. They’ve adopted Fergus’s view on females—bitches to fucked, bred and made to submit, nothing more. I don’t find this acceptable, yet this is what we’ve done to you, precious. I want to make amends, and I will as soon as I figure out a way to do so that you can believe I regret the decisions I made.”

  She swallowed hard. The Alpha surprised her at every turn, and this was no exception.

  “Malachi has left the pack. Not under pleasant terms, I might add.” Dubhlainn cleared his throat. “Cabhan, however, has asked for a chance to redeem himself in order to be considered as Raine’s final mate. Whether he can remains to be seen, but I had to give him the opportunity. For the considerable future, Raine will be kept from having any intimate contact with him.”

  “Wait, so Mal’s gone on his own? Where the hell is he gonna go?” Finn slurred, still half-blissed on his orgasm. He lifted his head to peer over Quinn’s torso, his gray eyes dark and barely focused.

  “Killian has been following us. You were right,” Dubh admitted to Quinn. “I collared him in the woods, stalking Mal and Cabh back from their scavenging trip. Fergus wants us to return home now he knows I have a mate. Obviously, he isn’t aware that my mate is our mate. I refused but said I would make the offer to the rest of you.”

  “So Mal’s taken it?”

  “I don’t know. It’s there if he wants it. Cabhan refused. You and Quinn have the option if you want to take it.”

  Quinn’s hand joined his brother’s on Raine’s back, pressing gently to her spine rather than stroking. “You’re my Alpha, Dubhlainn. Raine is my mate. I go where you go, she goes where you go. If you say we stay here, then we stay.”

  Finn nodded. “What Quinn said.”

  “Good. That brings us to the next thing.”

  “No, you missed the rest of what happened with Killian. That fucker wouldn’t just take no for an answer and skip merrily away through the trees to report to Fergus.” Quinn’s tone darkened. “He’ll be back, no doubt with orders to take us all down.”

  “More than likely, although I did send him off with a warning shot. Fergus will need to find himself a new mouthpiece.”

  There was a brief silence Raine tried to interpret, but Quinn’s voice broke it. “What the fuck did you do, Alpha?”

  “Can’t talk without a tongue, can he?” Dubh said casually.

  “Ah fuck, they’re not going to like that.”

  “No, they won’t. Maybe it will make them think twice before coming after me, or you, or the family we’re building between us. If not, we deal with whatever comes, Quinn.”

  “And if he shows up with twenty wolves at his command?”

  Finn yawned. “We kill them all.”

  “Pretty much. We fight to the death and protect the pack.”

  They were speaking of war, of battles between wolves that would only end in blood and death. Raine’s heart pounded dully, imagining her men—because, fuck it all, she couldn’t fight anymore—dying horrifically to keep their freedom.

  “But, that’s a depressing conversation for later. We need to find more suitable accommodation. Raine is not a prisoner, she is our beloved. This place is a cage, and I ruined the one spot of respite. So we look for something more appropriate. Out of state if we have to. Preferably, actually. We put some distance between us and here before Killian recovers enough to sit on our asses.”

  Quinn nodded. “I can see the logic in that. We can get packed up, jack a car if needs be. Leave tomorrow and travel around a while, find a suitable new house. Where you go, we follow,” he repeated loyally. “I trust your judgement.”

  “Thank you, Quinn. I appreciate that. Appreciate all of you.” Dubhlainn sniffed Raine’s hair. “Finn, go get a shower. Leave it on when you’re done so I can clean our little one up. Quinn, some food for Raine. Cabhan brought some clean linens so we can strip the bed.”

  Finn laughed. “You want to put big brother in charge of food? I hope Raine likes the taste of charcoal.”

  Their banter bounced back and forth over her head, but she didn’t care. She snuggled closer to Dubhlainn’s warmth, growing sleepy in the comfort of his embrace. Her stomach turned slightly at the sensation of cum oozing from the heart of her, but she steadfastly ignored it and breathed in the Alpha’s scent.

  She didn’t know how or why her mind had succumbed to him, but it had. She had. Body, mind and heart had colluded against her somewhere over the last couple days and decided he was the one. The one to hold authority over her, the one with the power to make her body respond with only his presence, the one who could make her feel...this.

  Like a woman in the arms of a man who loved her.

  And wasn’t that just all kinds of fucked up?

  The conversation continued around her as she pressed her face to Dubh’s skin, resisting the sudden compulsion to lick him. Lick him all over and for hours. Her hips shifted uneasily; the Alpha stiffened muscle by muscle.

  “Easy, precious. We’ll have you cleaned up as soon as Finn gets out of the shower. Quinn’s offered to change the bed and make it more...inviting for you to rest in. No more sleeping in the bathtub, Raine. No more hiding under the bed.”

  “We should stay,” she murmured, arching under his hand. Her skin prickled at his touch, tiny nips of electric skimming over her flesh and sending her whacked-out hormones into a feeding frenzy.

  Just one lick wouldn’t hurt, rig
ht? Her eyes focused on the pulse in his throat, beating steadily away under tanned skin like a sexy beacon, drawing her in. Half of her resisted, backpedaling as fast as she could from gleefully surrendering to his masculinity. The other half already had her face pressed to his neck, her tongue lapping over the throb of his heartbeat.

  His stunned groan made her wet.

  “Raine.”

  His taste was all male, musk and sweat and man. Her monster grunted softly as her teeth scraped over his throat. “When did you become the aggressor, precious? Feeling that way out tonight?”

  She didn’t know. An internal war raged inside her as though her body fought an infection. Never had she ever behaved this way, like a wanton hussy, but something about being so damned close to Dubhlainn was frying her inhibitions.

  “Are you growling?” Quinn demanded from downstairs, shouting up the steps if she was correct. “If you are, stop it! I can smell her from down here, and I’m fucking hungry enough to eat her into next Sunday.”

  “No one’s eating her but me!” Dubh shouted back, his hand resting on her thigh. It instinctively parted for him, and her reserved side recoiled in horror at her brazenness. She didn’t do this sort of thing, offering herself to the monsters after all they’d done to her. They’d bewitched her, obviously.

  Raine scrambled back, tumbled off Dubhlainn’s lap with a thud hard enough to rattle her bones, then just sat on the floor wondering what the hell was going on. Some of the intense feelings waned once physical contact broke, and she blew out a long breath as her faculties returned from half-mast to full attention.

  “There she is,” Dubh murmured and reached down for her. “Wondered where my hellcat had gone then. For a minute you turned into a soft, seductive pussy cat. Not that I didn’t like it, but that inner fire of yours is delicious.”

  She slapped at his hand, not trusting him, definitely not trusting herself.

  “Back to that, are we?” He tsked and calmly lowered himself to the floor in front of her, sitting cross-legged and resting his arms on his thighs so his hands dangled between. “You know, once snuggling commences between two people, there’s no reverting back to that awkward stage. And after you’ve licked a man...precious, you own him down to the soul.”

  Damn him, she wanted to laugh. Felt it bubble in her chest. “Don’t do that.”

  His head cocked to the side. “Precious?”

  Her fingers itched to run through his dark hair as it skimmed over his eyes—eyes watching her with concerned curiosity. “Working your way inside me with jokes and niceties. It’s not fair.”

  He smiled. Sweetly, sympathetically. “Ever resistant. Has no one ever been kind to you, Raine? Shown you sweetness, wooed you with, ah, jokes and niceties?”

  No, there’d never been anyone interested in her enough to pay her attention that way, never mind convince her to shed not only her clothes but her dignity. From what she’d seen of Fredrich’s activities, sex stripped a person of everything, down to their sense of self.

  Dubhlainn and his brothers had proved that.

  “No, obviously not,” he murmured. “That’s going to change. A lot of things are going to change, precious, because you need them to. You need us to. Will you come to me now, Raine?” His hand extended to her, palm up, steady and sure.

  “I can’t touch you,” she blurted and blushed so hard the heat seemed to scorch her skin.

  “Why not?”

  She squirmed and drew herself into a defensive shell. If she told him, he’d have untold power over her. Her biggest weakness stood to be his weapon against her, her absolute downfall into accepting this new future, this new and frightening life.

  But he already had her where he wanted her, didn’t he? On the precipice of submitting to him, to Quinn, to Finn. A triumvirate of sexual predators intent on keeping her safe, building their futures, their world, around her. Eager to please, keen to ravish, they had her bound in a web of dominance and arousal.

  “Tell me, Raine. Why can’t you touch me?”

  “Because I forget myself. I forget I’m supposed to hate you. I want to rub myself all over you, live in your scent, never leave the warmth of your arms when they come around me and hold me tight.” Raine swallowed hard. “You make me forget my independence, my sense of self.”

  Hand still outstretched, eyes filled with thoughtful sympathy, Dubhlainn nodded slowly. “I can see why that bothers you. Do you believe that yearning the comfort of me makes you a lesser woman, Raine? Wanting someone to hold you doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human. We all want that; even those of us who are something more than human.”

  “Giving you control of me, surrendering to you, makes me weak,” she snapped, feeling as though she balanced on a line she couldn’t cross over again once she fell. “Letting you take everything I am makes me a fool.”

  Dubh sighed heavily. “Actually, both those things makes you the strongest person I know, precious. Submission can only be given freely—for three days, you’ve fought us. One lone mortal woman defending herself against five primal males, and you’ve dealt some damage. There aren’t many males I know who could achieve such a thing, yet you have us on our knees.”

  The line tipped, her feet slipped. “I’m tired, Dubhlainn. It’s the only reason you’re winning.”

  “Are you a game now?” he demanded crossly. “No, you are not. You may be tired down to your core, Raine, but don’t use that as an excuse. Exhausted, you’ve battled us, gouged holes in us, nearly cost Malachi his ability to reproduce. If you wished it so, you would keep the feud going, fatigued or not. You want to submit because you’re realizing what you could have. What we offer when we’re not being primitive animals humping you without thought or care.”

  Her lip curled into a snarl. “You got that last part right.”

  His eyebrow flicked up. “Estrus is coming to an end, precious. Your heat is pretty much gone—all the growling I can offer won’t bring it back until it’s time.” Yet the fucker started that noise again, a melodic hum that set her insides to quivering. Slickness joined the cum still leaking down her legs. “But because your body is in tune with mine, you’re ready for me nonetheless. Come here, Raine,” he added softly and patted his knees. “Stop fighting me. Stop fighting yourself. Let me take care of you.”

  Raine ran her gaze over him, from the shaggy black hair still falling over those unfathomable blue eyes to the muscled torso and thighs, the erect cock damn near kissing his navel, and made her choice.

  She knew once she made the step, a match would strike the bridge she stood on and the existence on the side behind her would be left to rot. There were no friends to wonder where she was, no family to question her disappearance. The life she clung to so desperately was empty, barren, and not worth the effort it took to hold onto.

  She unraveled herself, crawling the few feet left between her and Dubhlainn. Crawled straight into his arms, onto his lap, and immediately felt lighter, as though he lifted the weight of every thought and action clear off her shoulders to bear on his own.

  “There she is,” he murmured delightedly, kissing the shell of her ear, her temple. “This is our turning point, precious.” He urged her to look at him, dark eyes serious. “Anything you need, I will provide. Anything you desire, I will find. My brothers will offer you similar pledges, but this is mine: Your life is mine, and mine is yours. I breathe for you, will die for you. I will give you your fantasies, even the ones you haven’t yet dreamed of. I will stand by your side when you need me to, at your back when you don’t, and step in front to keep the heart of me alive even if I don’t survive. You are the reason for everything, Raine.”

  She allowed him to settle her into him, his erection nudging her hip, his skin like a balm against hers. Battered and bruised and sore beyond the telling of it, her body forgot every ache and twinge. Curled into him, the world slipped away, and she couldn’t remember why she thought this was a bad thing.

  Dubh started to talk, but his voice wasn’t dir
ected toward her, so she ignored the words and fell into the cadence of his accent, the lullaby he wove. Head and hand rested over his heart, lulled by the strong beat, and her fingers kneaded his flesh absently.

  Then she was flying, lifting up weightlessly, and the repressed child inside her gave a high, laughing wheeee of delight as she flew from one room to another, strapped to the front of a Boeing Dubhlainn.

  The broad chest beneath her cheek rumbled with a chuckle, and she realized stupidly that the wheeee hadn’t just been in her head. “I’ve not heard you laugh before, precious. Need to find ways to make it happen more often.”

  Raine hummed happily, clinging to him when one of his supporting arms shifted and left her feeling vulnerable. Then heat and water washed over her in a flood and she basked in the glory of it. It beat into her muscles, sluiced away sweat and saliva and cum. She hadn’t realized her skin was suffocating until the grime swept away and let it breathe.

  “Put your feet on the floor, precious. I’ve got you.” Dubh’s grip on her changed and she slid down him like a fireman on a pole. Another giggle echoed in the enclosed space; something about him made her feel light and floaty. “Feeling good, Raine?”

  She leaned into him and sniffed deeply. Earthy, wild, male. Three perfect elements combined into one buff man. She moaned in approval when hands slippery with fragrant gel set to work on her shoulders, massaging at the knots and aches.

  Tilting her head back, she stared up into his eyes, baffled by the adoration she saw there. She’d literally tried to kill him not a few days prior, stabbed him without thought or restraint, and yet he was looking at her like she could hack him into pieces and he’d still worship her.

  His hands slid up her neck, into the wet straggles of her hair, and held her still. Eyes dark with lust—not black with the wolf’s passion, but a ridiculously deep cobalt blue—roamed over her face with intensity. They dropped to her mouth, then lifted to meet her gaze.

  “Mine,” he murmured, and lowered his head so his lips brushed softly over hers. They parted in shock, a squeak of surprise leaving her before his mouth closed over hers and stole her breath.