by Setta Jay
She eyed Jax as he stripped off his blades and clothes before diving in. When his head cleared the water, he turned and slicked his dark hair out of his face. “Get your ass in here,” he demanded and she smiled. Fire lit his eyes as they rode over her bared breasts to the juncture of her wet pussy as she finally shimmied out of the pants. She smiled as she dove in. The water sluiced over her tense muscles and revived her. She stayed under for a while longer, loving how it cooled her cheeks, her body. Perfect.
She deserved a reward for the hell of the day, truly comprehending his reason for not taking her with him from the beginning. But they’d done it.
She broke the surface and barely had time to slick her hair from her eyes before he had her in his arms. “Come here, kitten,” he growled before his lips were on hers, his hands kneading her ass. She sighed into his mouth. He tasted so damned good as his tongue owned hers. It demanded and gave in rolling sweeps, one hand dug into her wet hair, pulling and moving her head exactly how he wanted it.
Taste so damned good.
The other hand was busy grinding her over his stiff cock, riding her clit to the point that she moaned and used her legs to try to leverage up. He slammed her tighter, halting her movements, and she fought him. She ached to be filled. One hand fisted her hair and the other slid between the mounds of her ass.
His finger pressed at her back entrance as the water flowed around them. The current was moving and she realized that he was moving them. Her nails dug in his hard back and she lost herself in the kiss, the sensation of being in his arms. He’d imprisoned her, kept her locked down with almost no effort. Just that finger caressing her ass as he held her tight to him. It was perfect. The last week with him had been intense, and this wasn’t ever going to end. He was her male, a powerful, strong Guardian who couldn’t seem to get enough of her. A male who’d rather have her at his side causing him agony than let her hunt with anyone else. She grinned to herself.
She tried to buck her hips, and he growled into her mouth. His finger added pressure and she felt his cock pulse into her sweet spot.
Soon. She almost came from the promise in that one word.
After the day with too much time to contemplate their situation, she realized she needed more. That maybe the need was so great because they were holding back. She had been. If she didn’t take steps to appease her cat soon, the damned thing was going to take over out of sheer desperation. She’d never been one to hold her animal back. Not until him. It was time that changed or they’d both go insane, and they needed clearer heads for the hunt, if nothing else. The question was whether the animal would take control and force the blood bond. That had been her only hesitation and at that point she was beyond caring.
She closed her eyes and moved her nails from his back to trail into his wet hair. She gripped some strands and tugged as she tried to take over the kiss.
Fuck me.
Is that a demand, kitten?
She nearly grinned as she purred back, Yes. Do it.
Water rushed between them as he lifted from the water.
Good.
She was flipped around and her bare feet felt wet stone as her hand found the rock at the side of the fall.
“Spread your legs.” The demand sent tingles running over her skin as her cat mewled for more.
Spray dotted her skin as her fingers dug into moss and stone. He’d positioned her in a spot where her upper body bent forward half over a large rock. She looked over her shoulder to see his face, a muscle in his jaw was ticking and his eyes held a hard glint. He was lower, on another rock maybe. It didn’t matter. “Spread them now. Offer me your cunt,” he demanded, and her pussy clenched as she bit back a moan.
One hand settled between her shoulder blades, firmly pushing her breasts into the rock so that she was in a precarious position, off balance.
“Tilt your ass higher. I want to see what you’re giving me.”
A moan slipped from her lips as she complied. Shivers trailed her body and she anticipated what he’d do to her next. His hand at her back didn’t ease; it held her prone. Seconds trickled by as her pussy wept for him. She wiggled her hips and felt his fingers caress her swollen lips.
“Wet and waiting, because you’re trapped, kitten. You don’t get my cock until I decide.”
She growled, knowing he was going to tease her. She was maybe two hard thrusts from coming, if he would just give it to her. She rolled her hips into his fingers and they pulled away.
A sharp smack landed on her ass and she jolted in surprise. She whipped her head back to look at him.
He grinned wickedly. “Don’t move. No matter what I do to you.”
Her eyes flashed, her cat keening for more, but her pussy was pulsing, and staying still was less and less an option. She assessed him as the sting on her ass morphed into heated pleasure. His palm caressed the flesh and her hips tilted higher to get more of his touch.
Another sharp smack landed, making her gasp and still.
“I can do this for as long as it takes, kitten,” he growled, and she felt almost dizzy from the sensations racking her body. Her nipples pushed into the stone from the firm strength of one hand at her back. Her cat was euphoric and so was she.
His fingers moved back between her thighs. “Your juices are spilling down your thighs.” She was tempted to roll her hips again, but she wasn’t sure she could take another spanking. She needed to be filled.
His fingers moved through her slickness and carried some to coat between the mounds of her ass. Such a light touch, meant to torment, to deny her. To see if she’d move.
“Stay still.”
She did, but had to bite her cheek in order to do so. She felt his finger, possibly his thumb, push to gain entrance to her ass, only giving her a fraction.
“I’m going to have this ass, kitten. I’m going to bury my cock in here and make you take my fingers in your pussy. I want you coming so hard you lose your voice from screaming my name.” He pushed deeper and her thighs tensed. She needed to move, needed him to take her. “You’ll only take my fingers now, but soon, kitten, I’ll bury my cock in here. I can’t wait to claim every sweet inch of you. To be inside you any and every way I can so that you can’t move, talk, sit… without imagining my mouth… fingers… cock,” he said almost as a vow.
Before she could completely process his words, his cock slammed deep. She cried out in shocked excitement as he filled her and stilled, buried all the way to her womb. She tried to push, pull, anything.
“I didn’t say you could move, kitten,” he growled.
She was panting too hard to yell at him for holding her down, impaled yet offering no relief.
She growled and partially shifted, her nails scraping into moss and stone. She was losing her mind.
“Who do you belong to, kitten?”
Creators, yes, her cat loved this, was keening out for more.
“Whose cunt is this?”
She sucked in a deep breath, but didn’t get the words out before a sharp smack landed on her ass. Air sawed from her lungs and she held her tongue. Her cat wanted more, she wanted more, just one more.
His palm landed again, and this time she moaned deep when the sting left and heat filled her. Her walls clamped down on him and he growled low.
“That’s it, kitten. Tell me and I’ll slap your clit.”
She dug harder into the rock. She was dizzy with desire now. “You,” she breathed out.
“I what?” he demanded.
He was really going to make her say it. “Submit fully, kitten, and you’ll get everything you need.” His voice was harsh and she felt his cock pulse inside her.
“You own my pussy.”
“Good. Now tell me who you belong to.”
Her cat purred. Goose bumps trailed all over her wet skin as she stood there.
Another slap, this time to the other side of her ass, and she was a second from coming all over him, but she needed more for that to happen.
“You.”
His hand at her back added more pressure as he pushed his hips tighter to her ass. The wet stone abraded her tight nipples, and she felt owned, possessed and something more she couldn’t begin to describe.
Seconds trickled as she allowed her animal what she needed, a hint of a fight. His large palm caressed her heated ass and then trailed through the valley and circled the tiny hole again.
“Beautiful.” His voice was a deep rasp running over her nerve endings. “Say it, kitten.” The slight pressure on her ass was driving her wild. She wanted him to push in again, to feel full of him nearly everywhere. “Push against my finger. Take it all this time,” he demanded.
She closed her eyes and felt the digit filling her slowly before pumping. It was good. Her fangs lowered; she wanted to bite. Wanted his blood on her lips as she marked him.
“Watch.” An image filled her mind. Her back arched, chest against the rock with his palm spanning her upper back. She looked small in comparison to him. Her ass was red and then the image panned to her ass, where his hips were tight against her and his finger was slowly thrusting in and out of her body.
She cried out, needing to come more than she needed air.
“Who do you belong to, Ileana?”
“I belong to you.” Just as he belonged to her.
She keened when his finger left her and barely felt him lean forward before the quick smack landed on her swollen clit. Two more times it landed and she came apart as he started riding her. A slow thrust and retreat that rode her through one climax only to shoot her over another. She was lost, pinned and claimed, and her cat was enraptured as she screamed his name to the trees. His breath met her ear, and she felt his teeth capture her lobe, tight, but not making her bleed. His harsh grunt nearly toppled her over again. Warm jets of come filled her body, and it felt good as she lost her grip on the rock, knowing he’d never let her fall. She groaned in disappointment when he eased from her, come sliding down her thighs.
He lifted her with an arm under her legs and one at her back. She was limp and too comfortable to do more than cuddle into his chest. She absently rubbed her face over his warm skin and listened to her cat purr. She was back in the water, the current flowing softly around them.
At some point he’d found a place to sit. She settled into his lap while one of his arms still cradled her back. Her eyes slitted when she felt a palm caress her breasts. “Are they sore, kitten?”
She looked down at the pink flesh and she grinned wickedly at him. “No.” Her nipples ached, but not in an entirely bad way. She felt good, and it only got better as he massaged them softly and moved to her shoulders and neck. She felt his breath against her temple, and then he kissed her. Not wild and frenzied. Sweet and gentle for her big male.
“Your cat’s content,” he said, and she felt the grin in his voice.
“Yes.” She might have been purring again. In all the millennia of her lone existence she never remembered purring, but with him the sound seemed to constantly slip free. She smiled and stretched her arms and back, without his losing his hold on her. Being in his arms was a simple pleasure she’d grown addicted to. The fear of caring for him was long gone.
He watched her, was assessing her. She’d never felt better or stronger. She wondered if fighting with her beast had somehow been stifling the mating progression. It didn’t matter now. She’d made her decision, and it appeared to be the right one. The blood bonding hadn’t started, and she felt incredible.
They’d spoken on and off during the hunt. He’d shared some of his past, some about the other Guardians, but it was mostly antics and some about the other females his brother Guardians had mated. She lay in his arms, pondering those relationships. And she’d already met Dacia and Rain, so she had a clearer picture already.
The Guardians were a family. They had mental connections and common goals. They also kept themselves separated from the other Immortals in the Realm, which probably only made them tighter knit. The only ones permitted around them for any length of time had to submit blood memories or they didn’t work for them.
“Why haven’t I had to submit blood memories?”
He stiffened and growled. “Because I’d kill Uri if he got his fangs anywhere near my fucking mate.”
“How do they know I’m trustworthy?”
“Because I say you are.”
She stared at him for a second and stated the obvious. “You don’t really know me.”
“Kitten, I’ve lived thousands of years. Within days I knew your character well enough to know you wouldn’t sell us out.”
“How?” She was pleased, but curious. Until hours ago they’d only had the frenzy and had known very little about each other. She’d had the advantage of having read about him, but he hadn’t had the same.
“Anyone who’d spend millennia on a mission to avenge the only family they had wouldn’t sell out the new family they were given.”
She sucked in air as her heart clenched. She felt too many emotions at that. It wasn’t that she hadn’t already been considering the bond in the same way, but she felt sorrow and guilt because she was happy to have it. She guessed that the old habits of staying cold and alone hadn’t died completely.
“Ileana, having us… me, doesn’t make you disloyal to them. They loved you. Would they want you to be alone, to live only for revenge? Or would they be happy you have a male that cares for you and a family that would die for you?” He kissed her forehead as she lay in his arms. Emotions ran strong, yet she somehow felt light.
He was right. Her parents would have been happy with her life now. Not only had she become the best possible warrior, but her mate was the strongest of their kind. She felt her chest tighten; she was proud of her male.
She changed the subject because she wasn’t sure what to even say to him and the silence was a little too much. “What happens if or when Apollo gets free?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Will he be bound by the Realm’s confinement spell?” she wondered. The Guardians were the only ones who were supposed to be able to get through to the other Realms. Would the God be able to move through it?
“I hope to hell he is. I hate to think of the fucked-up mess the bastard would create in Earth Realm.”
She had read plenty of books from that Realm. “Could he hide, blend in with all the humans?” After finding Astrid she’d absorbed knowledge and had gone through any writings she could get her hands on. Starting with histories and anything she could find on Tetartos Realm, and spell books the Mageia compiled. Later she picked up books from Earth, crimes and mysteries that settled her mind when she was alone at night.
“He’s an arrogant dick at best, but he’s smart, so who knows,” Jax mused.
They stayed there for a while, just enjoying the water. Night would fall soon enough, and she wasn’t looking forward to losing the calm after the storm of the frenzy. Teleporting home would set them both on edge again.
“I never even thought about having a mate,” she said. It had never even entered her sphere of possibility. She’d always been alone, thought if she stayed that way she’d stay strong and focused. Having him added a level of vulnerability, because nothing would take him from her, but as much as he was her weakness, he added even more strength.
He looked down at her for a second. “I imagined it.” She looked up at him, suddenly wondering if she added up to his expectations.
“What did you imagine?” She couldn’t help but ask.
He shook his head and grinned. “Nothing like what it is.”
She stiffened. Was she lacking in some way? She hadn’t truly considered that, even though she’d known he was a male who’d enjoyed variety. “In what way?”
“I knew the frenzy would be strong, but it’s all the other shit. The protective, possessive instincts hit harder than I thought they would.” He paused.
Her stomach clenched along with her chest. She nearly whispered, “And?”
He grinned down at her. “Fishing for complimen
ts, kitten?”
She considered it. “Yes, I think so,” she said honestly.
He laughed hard and cuddled her closer as she smiled up at him.
His eyes were bright with mirth, and she loved the way he sounded when he laughed. He was always beautiful, so that wasn’t new. She yawned as she rocked against his chest.
“Let’s put it this way, kitten, you give me something I never thought to have,” he said and kissed her nose of all things. She wrinkled it, and now she was too curious to let it go.
“Tell me.”
“Why didn’t you want a mate?”
She considered him. He just cocked a challenging brow. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want one as much as I never considered it. Keeping to myself ensured I’d stick to my goal: avenging my parents’ death. I assumed attachments would cause weakness.”
“The goal’s still the same.”
“It is. Cyril had my parents hunted. They were the first mated pair. A fact that Apollo learned right before the Creators came back. After the exile Cyril tried to have them captured, so they were forced into hiding.”
*****
Jax watched her as she spoke. She was content in his arms, staring up into the darkening sky as she shared with him. The water would get cold soon, but he wanted to know what she would finally tell him.
“And they had you.”
“Yes. Eventually.”
She fell silent and he didn’t push for more. They would be hunting again the next day. The odds of finding Elizabeth were slim, so as much as it was sexual torture being in her constant presence, he’d enjoyed it. It gave them time to truly get to know each other. She was smart; instead of fighting her cat, she’d finally accepted the needs and didn’t seem to dwell on it or fight it after. There was so much more he wanted from her.
They stayed in the cooling water for a while longer, comfortable in the silence, but he refused to let her be cold. He hated how her dreams made her cold.
Water streamed around them as he lifted her up before porting them home. Her soft moan got under his skin. He’d never get used to the blending and the sweet noises she made when she was aroused. She was intoxicating.
