by Setta Jay
That was the likeliest time for a mated pair to go unnoticed. Those years were dark. He remembered the image of the people in her mind and the simple leathers could have easily been from then.
“Not as old as you,” she drawled, but it was more breathless than she was probably hoping for. With the way her eyes dilated and flickered to cat, he knew she was fighting the arousal that scented the room. He inhaled and growled at how fucking sexy it was.
Her cat knew she belonged to him. It was all there in her eyes. Ileana licked her pouty lower lip and his eyes caught and held at the sight of her wet tongue and the shine left behind.
“No running now unless you want my beast to have you, kitten.”
Her breath caught.
“Choose. I pin and fuck you in the forest or here.”
She snarled fiercely, in need, not anger. Her beast finally slipped its leash.
The clothes were gone in seconds and she was in his arms. His hands filled with her round ass as she tried to take charge. Her fingers pulled his hair as her demanding mouth met his. He took control of the kiss with a slight groan, loving his kitten’s aggression. He nipped at her lower lip and slammed her back into the wall. He felt the wall quake and heard his kitten’s moan, felt her pussy slick his cock. Fuck, she was perfect. He lifted and held her up as he slammed inside, lost in her greedy noises. She met him, using her strong thighs to meet each demanding thrust as she milked his dick. She gasped and cried for more. Her sharp nails scored his back as his hips slammed hard. The wall would be destroyed.
“Take it. Take every inch,” he growled. “Mark me all you want, kitten.” He knew his own eyes were flashing. Fighting the need to mark her like she was doing to him. Pain wasn’t his thing, but fuck if those scratches weren’t getting him off. He slammed harder, deeper, until she was screaming and pulsing around his dick.
Her pussy gripped him tight as her gorgeous neck arched back in pleasure. Animalistic roars slid from her throat and he barely held back from pounding into her like he wanted. A few measured thrusts was all he allowed himself, until he was emptying deep inside her. His harsh groan rent the air as release and the energy of his mate racked his body. Fucking incredible.
Her hips jolted against his as she murmured something incoherent. “That’s it, kitten. All that come’s yours,” he whispered against her lips. Her cat was sated, her supple body warm and snuggling closer to his chest, her eyes glazed in pleasure.
“We aren’t done,” he growled.
Chapter 10
Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm
She wasn’t sure how long she lay there; the blood wasn’t warm anymore. She was cold, so cold. No animals rustling in the bushes, no birds in the trees. She was alone as tremors racked her small body. She tried to make the shaking stop, fought to be the warrior her papa expected her to be. She yowled, unable to hold it inside; at least no more tears came.
All that was left of her mama and papa coated her fur, they were gone. Her stomach ached. Everything hurt, including her throat, making it hard to breathe. Her chest felt like it was split in two. But she couldn’t be afraid or broken anymore, she was her papa’s warrior, and no matter what he told her to do, she planned to avenge them. The scent of death was all she could smell; it surrounded her, filled her.
The sun was high when she looked around at the bodies all over the ground. Everything had been taken from her. She had nothing, not even her parents’ bodies.
Alone.
Left by herself with a dizzying hole in her mind where everything had been ripped away.
She panted, refusing to let the pain come back; warriors didn’t feel pain. She got up on shaky legs and tilted her chin high, letting the hate fuel her.
She needed to search for anything that would tell her where to find the ones who took them. Why had they taken her mama and papa and not their own dead?
She jolted and looked around. Alert. Maybe they would come back. Wouldn’t they want their dead?
Her heart thudded in her chest as her cat roared. She would wait for them. They wouldn’t be able to scent her. She could sneak up and kill them one by one. It didn’t matter that she was small, her papa had taught her well. If only he’d trusted her. She would have killed them all. Would have saved her family. Why hadn’t he let her?
She roared into the skies. Silence greeted her.
Weapons. She would take the weapons they’d left behind and climb into a tree. Wait.
She bounded through the bodies, ignoring the smell as she transformed into her child’s body and took the smaller blades, hid some and took others with her. She itched from the dried blood on her skin. She hadn’t concentrated on keeping her clothes when she ran out of the cave, so her clothes were probably in a pile, ruined. It didn’t matter, she didn’t care, she didn’t need them, and she wouldn’t wear any from the bodies below. She climbed the closest tree and sat, watchful as the bark dug into her skin.
The sun started getting lower and she watched as the beasts came and tore into the bodies left below. She listened to the flesh tearing and the grunts of the animals enjoying their food. The noise sickened her as much as it satisfied her. Her enemy would be denied their dead family too.
She held the blades tight in her small hands. Her fingers started tingling, but she wouldn’t set them down. She had to be ready.
The sun set and the air got colder. She stayed huddled in her perch, shivering as the wind kicked up, her hatred and anger fueling her, making her strong.
Ileana jolted awake, disoriented. A warm arm lay over her back, her face and body snuggled tight into a hard male body. She snapped up in the bed, out of the blankets, and saw the Guardian’s eyes on her as her heart pounded and memories surfaced.
“Nightmare, kitten.” His deep voice was low and did things to her body. That sound mixed with his scent, which was completely covering her. She felt dazed, warm. After the dreams, she always felt cold, no matter how many blankets she piled around her body at night.
She stared at the bed. Daylight flickered onto the bedding as she sat shocked that she’d fallen asleep with him. Never had that happened to her, not that she’d spent much time with males. It was rare that she sought the company of one. She’d go decades or more without seeking the pleasure of another’s hands and mouth, and it had never been like what she’d experienced with the damned Guardian.
What he’d done to her was completely out of her realm of knowledge. It was too much. Good enough to enslave any other female. Enough that a small part of her wished she were another female.
She tried to slow her heartbeat. He watched her without saying a word, and she was grateful that he stayed silent instead of starting in with the questions again. Taking deep breaths, she worked to throw off the effects of the memories that had haunted her dreams for centuries.
The remnants of the nightmare bled away, but not the uneasiness of her new reality. Not as bad as the dreams, but not good. Her life was upended by the male lying comfortably in the bed they’d shared.
He tucked a hand under his head as he watched her, seeming lost in his own thoughts. There was a hard glint in his eyes and tension in his muscles. Why? She wouldn’t ask; she had her own issues.
Memories of the night flooded her mind. He’d held her down and ramped her body and beast into a frenzy more times than she could count. He’d spent the night alternating between gentle and demanding, keeping her completely confused as he pushed more and more pleasure on her, forcing orgasms on her that racked her body and made her cat keen for more.
She mentally shook her head. The damned male seemed to get off just having his mouth on her. And yet, even with all that pleasure, she still felt like he’d been keeping himself in check, holding something back. Unbelievable. He’d ruled her body with only a fraction of what he was capable of. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, she just did.
She was sensitive everywhere, yet she still craved more. It had to be because his scent covered her; she smelled it. He’d made sure
of it, marked her with it, rubbed his come over her ass, her thighs, her breasts, and she’d let him because she’d been mindless to stop it, weakly allowing it all. Her nipples peaked with the memory of how he’d looked massaging her skin as if in a trance. Looking at her like she was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen and a small portion of her traitorous mind liked that look way too damned much.
That brought her thoughts full circle. She hadn’t left and slept somewhere else. What was wrong with her? She’d never spent the night in a male’s bed. Not. Once. In her entire existence.
She shook her head at what an idiot she was when faced with the Guardian and the damned frenzy taking away all her rationality. She needed to get out of there if she was ever going to have full use of her mind again. The scent was keeping her in a state of constant arousal, always wet and wanting. She needed to claw her way to sanity before she ended up back in that bed, never leaving again. Trapped.
He eyed her, waiting… She couldn’t read his mood, but he seemed pensive.
Shit, she didn’t want to know. “I’m going for a run. Don’t follow.” She didn’t want to appear as if she were running, but, damn, she was. She bolted to the balcony and transformed while jumping the two stories down and out to the forest below.
*****
Jax forced his breathing to even out, agitation was eating away at his gut as wind filtered in from the open balcony doors. He ran a hand over his face. She’d somehow broadcasted her dream to him.
Memory.
What he’d seen hadn’t just been a nightmare, he’d felt it, and his mate was too skittish for him to bring that shit up.
He shook his head.
His kitten challenged him at every fucking turn. She’d fucking demanded he not follow, forcing him to fight back the instinct to chase, hunt, dominate her in a way that insured that she understood just what her demands unleashed. She was damned fortunate he fought the instinct now, so was he. She wasn’t ready for that from him, no matter what her cat wanted.
He wouldn’t go after her until he made sense of what he’d seen and settled his beast the fuck down.
His female was strong and proud, which meant she wouldn’t appreciate any form of comfort from him, yet.
He felt for their mental link. The connection was a bright light in his mind, so much stronger than it had been, and it told him exactly how to find her. She’d already gone far to the north. Good. She’d be alone running in that direction. His scent covering her would deter any beasts living out there. Even the most aggressive ran when faced with him and his brethren.
He left the balcony open and strode to the shower. Much as he loved her scent, he needed to clear his head, and that wouldn’t happen unless he aired the room. The shower kicked on and he let the steam fill the space as he rubbed a hand over his face. He’d been awake all damned night.
After he’d finally fucked her into unconsciousness, he’d lain there with her supple body cuddled into his side, pacing her heartbeat as his mind tried to make sense of what she’d done for him. Relief and awe waged a war inside him; he’d never felt so damned incredible. She had the ability to ease him, to level his energies and give him a sense of peace he’d never experienced in his long life. She eased a need that he’d never been able to quench.
The difference in his body had been so damned intense all he could do was hold her to his chest and feel it ride over him. The sensation surpassed anything he’d ever experienced, even the moment when the Creators had given him his Guardian abilities hadn’t been so intense. It was like she’d somehow freed him from a thousand-ton metal box.
He’d been wide awake when her dream had started. He clenched his teeth hard, remembering what he’d seen. She’d been a child, alone, covered in blood, brandishing daggers in both small hands, grieving, and so damned cold he’d felt her body grow icy against his chest. He saw the dead littering the forest as he’d tucked the blankets around her sleeping body.
He swiped a hand over his face again. His young mate had been alone in the world surrounded by death, covered in the blood of her parents. And he hadn’t been there to take her away from it. He would have known she was his if he’d met her, the frenzy wouldn’t have started until she’d reached majority, but he’d have made sure she was cared for until she was old enough for his claiming. He would have ensured her safety, cut down any who upset her, anyone who dared stifle her fiery nature. She would have been pampered and protected.
His muscles pulled tight at those thoughts.
How long had his mate suffered alone?
He was the first Ailouros Apollo had ever made. The very first warrior class Immortal created fully formed by the Creators before the bastard God had experimented on him and made him a beast. He was the oldest of his kind, which meant he’d been alive while she suffered, and could have saved her if he’d known she needed him. His fist slammed into the tile shower. Tile shattered to his feet and he didn’t care that the reinforced walls were nothing in the face of his anger. He needed to vent his fury, and shards of stone and blood did nothing to ease it.
He let the water slide the blood and shit away, and the cuts healed. Maybe even faster than before.
He should have woken her from the horrors, but he’d needed to see it. Jax wasn’t sure whether it was his furious growls or the strength of his hold that had woken her up. He’d forced his fury aside as she snapped awake. She had no idea the protective possessiveness she unleashed in him, and wouldn’t, not yet.
They may not know each other, but that would change. Soon. She was his. That may scare the shit out of her, but not him. The minute she touched him their fate was sealed. And he’d allowed that sweet first touch. He ran his hands over his head.
Until his brothers started getting their mates, he’d never imagined having one of his own. Now he had her and needed to figure her out, figure out the whole damned thing.
There was every chance she’d be a damned flight risk the minute she got his teleporting ability, not that he wouldn’t be able to find her, but if she somehow found Elizabeth first, things could get ugly. Bloodlust and personal vendettas like hers made even the best of warriors reckless.
He wished he knew when she’d get his teleporting ability. All his brothers’ matings had differed on when the powers started melding together. That brought another question, would her lack of scent transfer to him? He’d have to have his brothers check it out, because as far as he was concerned she had a scent, so if his was masked, would either of them even know it?
He made quick work of washing off, hating that he’d cleared the scent of her from his skin, but if he saw Mia, he’d rather not make shit more difficult for the wolf or himself. She and her sisters spent their mornings sparring with the other females in the gym, so he shouldn’t see her, but he wasn’t taking a chance.
Jax wouldn’t have even stayed at the manor if he’d thought he could withstand another teleport with Ileana and still be fucking gentle on their first night together. He’d take her away after he spoke to his brothers and gave her some more time to come to terms that this was fucking permanent. He hoped she worked through the denial quickly. Patience was not his thing, and his hellcat had no idea how she was torturing him.
He grabbed a towel and dried before slipping on some jeans and a tee.
Bastian, you at the manor?
Can be.
Meet in a few?
Yep.
Since his mate was now sharing his Guardian mental link, it was a good idea to keep conversations with his brothers face to face. He wasn’t about to divulge any Guardian secrets. Not yet. She was his mate, but he didn’t know enough about her yet to trust her with anything she didn’t need to know.
Chapter 11
Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm
Ileana’s beast practically flew over the ground, paws barely grazing the leaves and foliage with the speed she ran through the trees. She felt faster, maybe even stronger.
Her senses had cleared some with the fresh mounta
in air, and she was grateful for the ability to sort through her thoughts, to have a reprieve from the arousal. It was still there, just under the surface, and building with every mile she put between her and the male who called to her beast in dangerous ways. At least she was out of the confining room filled with the scent of sex.
For the first few minutes she’d expected the Guardian to chase her. When he hadn’t, she finally started relaxing into her beast. She was most comfortable in her animal form. Probably because of all the time she’d spent in that form through the years.
She was getting higher on the mountain. The need to run some of the anxiety and agitation out of her system was driving her.
She needed to find answers. So much had happened, her own damned doing, but berating herself was accomplishing nothing. She needed to find a way to deal with it and move on with her goal. The only thing that mattered, had ever been important, was vengeance. Distance was helping.
The mental links caused the most pain and panic, so she needed to find a way to get a handle on them. Her steps had faltered hearing the Guardian speaking to his brother in her mind. Why had she gotten links to the Guardians? It was difficult enough dealing with the permanence of having a link to Jax, but to have all his brethren there too. It was a damned free-for-all in her mind.
She clenched her teeth, fighting the need to somehow erect a shield against them. If she managed it, she wouldn’t hear them anymore, but the problem was that she might need the information she could gain there. All the threads in her head were driving her insane, but the one to the Guardian was so strong, so bright her legs faltered. Her heart rate sped when she glimpsed just how much stronger it had gotten in one night. She wanted to hate him for it, but it had been her own damned actions that caused it. And fate. Instead of running at the first hint of him, she’d made a choice, salvaging the meeting instead of saving herself.
