by Setta Jay
She scooched down to lay her head against the supple nubuck of the couch, forcing her eyes to one point in the sea beyond the windows.
Her mind went back to him as if it had a will of its own. She’d felt small and cherished in his powerful arms.
She had to remind herself that he could likely seduce any female he wanted at five hundred paces. He was that gorgeous. One hot look from that Guardian and she could see panties melting for miles. Tonight hers had been the ones within range and damn if she didn’t regret a second of it. She mentally amended that with a small contingency; as long as the dizziness stopped she had no regrets. If she could only get a little bit more of him. Just a taste.
“Wipe that look off your face right now!” Nastia bit out. “You will not see him again unless you figure out a way to fog his memories yourself.” She cringed as she raised her hand. “I just can’t right now… Just don’t,” she said with one palm in the air. She disappeared behind the bar a second later. Was there a crash of glass? She honestly didn’t care if the entire place came down; she couldn’t move if she wanted to.
How much liquor had her twin consumed, anyway? Nastia popped back up from behind the carved wood with another bottle in her hand. “Why does it take so much to catch a damned buzz? I’d fucking take heroin right now if I thought it’d bleach my mind,” she bitched as she drank deeply straight from the bottle.
“Just stop. It’s not like I haven’t seen my fair share of your conquests,” Tasha groused.
Nastia stilled for a second before slowly bringing the bottle down to stare at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Don’t even think about comparing it. How can you not understand that I was in his mind! I feel like I was a part of that. Like I was on top of my own sister!” Her twin actually shivered before taking another long pull from the bottle. “It was completely traumatizing. And why haven’t you showered? Fuck, Tasha, go clean that shit off while I medicate myself into forgetting memories of him getting you off.”
“You weren’t in there long enough to have been traumatized,” Tasha snapped back in annoyance. She couldn’t have seen that much.
“Long enough!” Nastia bit out and started on a roll. “I can’t believe this. We need to finalize things at the club for Brigitte and lure Apollo so we can kill the asshole. Why does your libido pick now to work? We’re so close. We don’t need the Guardians getting in our way or capturing the bastard.” She slammed the glass down. “I want Apollo dead, not in some Guardian prison. Don’t fuck that up by going back for seconds. We can’t play with them. At least not now of all times.”
“Please get off my ass. I had a minor lapse.”
“Minor lapse? You screwed a Guardian! Do you not see the fucked-up irony of me lecturing you? The world has completely tilted because I’ve become the responsible sister? What the hell, Tasha? Sleeping with him just set us up. He was too powerful for me to hold his mind long enough to clean up the clues in the club. And you were just standing there all doe-eyed and useless. I get that he’s marginally hot.”
She nearly growled. “Just stop, Nastia. I made one mistake. Let it go.” The dizziness was getting worse. She couldn’t chance standing up to snarl at her sister like she’d like to. Staggering would only clue Nastia in that something was wrong. Her ‘tired’ excuse would only get her so far. But she sure as hell didn’t have the patience to listen to a lecture, and she hated admitting that her damned sister was right. With all of the scents and clues left in the club, they’d be lucky if the Guardians didn’t figure out something more happened there. Did it really matter in the end? Yes, ideally it was best to stay off the Guardians’ radar, but they were more than capable of hiding out in any number of places. The Realm was huge and packed full of mortals for them to hide amongst.
And it wasn’t as if they could be traced.
Damn it. She’d always been the vigilant responsible one. Was she really trying to justify another encounter with the male? She wanted more, craved more even though something was obviously wrong with her. Red flags couldn’t drop fast enough and she was ignoring them.
She had never felt this out of her mind in her life. She breathed through it, thankful that her twin was too busy downing more liquor to pay any attention. She mentally took stock of her body. If sex with a Guardian caused the strange effects on her body, it would pass. Once she could get up and shower it off, she would.
Her mind completely rebelled at removing his scent, just another thing that didn’t make sense.
She was hit with an even more frightening possibility. Could she be pregnant? Notus, who’d gotten them away from Apollo, had told them it wasn’t possible to get pregnant. Nastia hadn’t.
She felt the world tilt again.
The pair of Lykos that escaped Apollo with them had eventually had children. They’d had many young through the centuries that she and Nastia had secretly checked on. Their children hadn’t procreated, but they had.
She felt a jolt when the ward tripped at the club.
“Son of a bitch,” Nastia bit out. “I’m guessing that’s another fucking Guardian popping in on your boyfriend.” Her twin paced. “It’s not like they can find us even if they realize they have two Immortals in Earth Realm,” her twin pointed out, talking more to herself than Tasha.
If the Guardians did figure it out, they would try to find them to exile them. Try being the operative word, but they had numbers and unknown abilities. Tasha and her twin were powerful, but against twelve Guardians?
The dizziness finally eased and she could finally see clearly, but the nausea and arousal were still riding her.
Tasha sat up and was relieved it didn’t hit again. She stood and wrapped the blanket tighter around her half-naked body. Nastia looked over at her, and Tasha could almost feel her twin’s nervous energy as she balled her fists on her hips. “I’d go check it out, but if it’s the Phoenix, he’ll just sense me.”
“It’s not worth it. We were going to leave anyway.” That thought just made her depressed. She was glad her twin seemed lost in thought. Her emotions were all over the place.
She’d miss the club, but it was more; now the place had memories of her time with the Guardian. She shook off those thoughts and added, “Brigitte can access everything she needs to run the club already.” That didn’t mean she felt good about leaving without saying goodbye, but if the Guardians were onto the fact that two Immortals were loose in the Realm, then she and Nastia would be better off disappearing.
“We should get out of here, just to be sure they can’t track us,” Nastia said. They had several homes, but going somewhere else was probably overkill.
The problem was that they didn’t know the full scope of the Guardians’ powers, but Apollo had been very proud that he’d made it impossible for the other Gods to follow her and Nastia back to him. If the Deities couldn’t track them, she doubted the Guardians could, but she wasn’t feeling up to arguing. Nastia was already heading for the bedrooms, bitching about getting stuff they wanted to take to an island home they kept in the South Pacific.
She closed her eyes for a moment and headed for her own suite. She couldn’t stop imagining herself pregnant. The nausea and arousal weren’t easing; in fact, it seemed like it was getting worse with each passing minute. Which only fueled the fantasy of being with child. Warmth curled in her chest and she touched her flat stomach. It had always been just her and Nastia. What if she were truly going to have a child? Her mind went back to Bastian, his hips circling and pushing, holding her tight. Damn. It felt like her mind was short-circuiting as she thought of all the pleasure he’d given her. She mentally shook her head. The pull of having a family of her own was strong. But a Guardian’s child? She was sure her twin would lose her mind if Tasha was carrying Bastian’s baby.
Nerves were ruling her as she went through the motions of tossing some of her favorite clothes in a bag. She knew Nastia was doing the same.
She obsessed over the male as she tossed on some loose pants and a tee shirt.
Her mind started playing images of Bastian’s eyes as he looked down at her. He’d looked at her as if she were the only female in the world. His arms had been shaking when he held himself back, taking her slowly at first, then rough and frenzied. It had been the most intensely perfect feeling of her life. She’d let go completely, allowed her body to rule instead of her mind for the first time ever. She’d given herself up to him, relinquished all thought and trusted that he’d take her to mind-bending ecstasy. And that trust hadn’t been misplaced.
In those stolen moments she’d been his. She stifled a moan when her aching body clenched in desire. It was definitely getting worse. The images kept replaying and her concentration on packing was quickly becoming nonexistent.
Bastian had known just how to make her loose herself. Make her feel special… She clenched her thighs and wished for just one more encounter. Her hand clenched against her stomach and she forced her mind to packing. Her twin would be in her room any second.
Her hand went to her stomach when a pang of pain hit. Shit. She may have the male’s young inside her now. She actually wanted that to be the reason she was feeling odd. But what would that mean in their quest to kill the God? It meant she would have to wait to lure him until she wasn’t physically impaired.
She stared off into the night, a chill running through her. It also made her want Apollo dead that much more. He was a monster, and nothing was safe with him loose in the world.
Tasha went into the closet for a few more things, letting her mind drift to her Guardian again, that safe warm haven he’d made in her memories.
He’d gotten under her skin, seduced her to the point that she’d considered staying in his arms for eternity. He knew all the right words to melt her, words the world hadn’t heard for centuries. He’d molded them to the perfect advantage. And they’d only made her want more.
“Are you ready?” her twin snapped from the doorway.
“Yeah.” But she really wasn’t.
Chapter 9
France, Earth Realm
Bastian stood half naked with his head spinning violently. Music that sounded like sex played in the background, making his cock pulse.
What the hell? His mind was offering up memories that made his head pound.
He’d gone to the club and ended up fucking one of the Mageia employees. More spinning. The pretty brunette had just left him to lock up. She’d wrung her hands and asked him to leave out the front before her boss came out after doing the night’s paperwork. He’d felt her nervous energy as she pleaded for him to be quick and quiet.
He set a hand on the nearest table.
No, that couldn’t be. He didn’t sense anyone there at all. It was silent except for the music that was making his pulse match the throbbing of his erection. The song teased him with different images, a beautiful lush female, tall with incredibly deadly curves and silky bronzed skin. Her exotic eyes called back memories of ancient times, of golden sphinxes and pharaohs.
Bastian grabbed his head as pain splintered his thoughts, sending them spinning away. His beast, normally dormant, was raging in his head, but there was no danger. He felt the ward on the building and nothing else. Just dizziness. Confusion.
Deep breaths weren’t helping. He needed answers.
Why was he here? Because of the odd feeling he’d gotten earlier when he’d met Sander to look for the God. He’d felt a compulsion to return, to find out what had set him off.
He looked around, but everything was wrong. The need to leave. The Mageia female. The lack of noise, of people. He was alone.
The club spun and he knocked over a table, toppling the chairs that sat flipped on top.
Something was very wrong. He looked down at his still-erect cock as his gaze slipped to the bar. Bright flashes snapped in his mind. Hungry moans. The Mageia’s skin and face changed, his dream female replacing her in his mind. She was the most gorgeous being he’d ever laid eyes on. He growled; it felt like a knife was digging in his head and the vision was gone. He nearly bent in half as his stomach pitched and his beast roared.
More flashes nearly landed him on the ground. The same mystery Kairos dancing for him, writhing on a pole in unabashed bliss. No, not a Kairos. She was something else.
His eyes shot to the ceiling, to a platform with a stripper pole. He ported there and steadied himself. It felt like a dream.
Another flash. The back of his fighting shirt being ripped apart by eager female hands. Cool air on the heated flesh of his spine, soft hands on his skin, nails biting deep and making him harder. His cock pulsed and his vision blurred as he looked at the long bar. He ported to it and dug his fingers into the hard wood. The scent was intoxicating and stronger there. He heard the lacquered surface splintering in his hands.
Images flew threw his mind. As if he was seeing through someone else’s eyes. He saw himself looking down. Heard his own voice, the words he was speaking were in the old language.
His dream female. He was in her mind? Another sharp pitch and black dots spotted his vision. He needed to know what was happening.
His memories of the Mageia were a lie. Some kind of illusion.
“Uri, I need you here.” He sent the mental image of his location. Uri was the only one who could see into his mind and fix it. Ever since his brother had mated Alex, the daughter of Athena, their mental abilities had gotten stronger, and would only improve in their first year as a bonded pair. He only hoped Uri could untangle this web and figure out what the hell had happened to him.
Bastian looked down at his hard cock and swayed as he worked to stuff it into his pants. That’s when he saw it. Smelled it.
He stumbled and bar stools crashed to the ground. Blood. Small traces on his cock.
His mate’s blood. He growled low.
“What’s going on?” Uri asked as he reformed in front of him, but Bastian couldn’t speak through the raging in his mind.
“Bastian, man, what is it?” his brother asked again, closer now, but his ears were buzzing too loud.
“Someone’s been in my head.”
He felt Uri use his power. The invasion set Bastian’s jaw tight enough to break teeth. He needed answers too much to care about how much he hated the violation. It set off things, other memories of times that needed to stay buried in his past.
“What the fuck?” Uri growled and Bastian wasn’t sure if he was hearing it inside or outside of his head. The world was tilting and spinning too wildly to get a grasp on reality.
His gut pitched again when a fucking curtain opened in his mind and the memories became clear. Bastian growled low, furious.
Bastian took a deep breath, trying to ease the tension in his muscles as the world stopped moving. He vaguely heard Uri telling him that he was going to call the others there, to the club.
He shook his head. “Not yet.” He needed to think, make some sense out of what happened, but it was nearly impossible with the pounding of his pulse and flood of awareness. The clawing of his beast to mate was driving him insane. He forced himself back under control.
He was in her head; it was a side effect in the mating bond. She already knew Uri was in the club, more that the ward had tripped when his brother entered. She didn’t know anything more specific. She didn’t think they could find her.
He searched his mind and felt the block he’d put there. He needed to thank his mated brothers for informing him that his mind would be wide open the minute he and his mate touched. He remembered creating the block as she put her hands on him. It had been a test of his strength of will to protect his mind when his mate was wet and needy and pulling him in for the first taste of her lips.
He was hearing her thoughts, but his were safe. If they weren’t, he’d have scared the hell out of her already, because he wanted nothing more than to strip her bare and paddle her ass. His control was gone. The beast that lay dormant for centuries had woken and was clawing his insides, demanding his mate.
She fantasized about him coming for he
r.
He would. Very soon. Just as soon as he worked through what her sister had done to his mind and had a second to form a plan. His beast beat against his mind, but the animal wasn’t in control, he was.
He needed to know more, so he listened to her thoughts.
He wanted to go to her, would go to her, but not yet. Her sister was dangerous. His mate could be too. He’d have to deal with his brothers because he wouldn’t put them in danger.
He needed his logical mind, and it was barely holding in the wake of finding her. His female. His fucking mate was out there and he’d touched her. Been inside her. He growled again. He needed to hold out for as long as he could to learn what was going on with her. He wasn’t going in blind to have his head fucked with again.
He slid into her thoughts again. She’d been dizzy. It was his dizziness she’d probably been feeling.
She was also imagining him and feeling the effects of the mating frenzy, but she just didn’t know it.
A baby. He closed his eyes as his dick pounded in his pants. The need to get to her was making him nearly come out of his skin. He ran his hands over his jaw and tried to back it down. If she wanted his young, he’d give her one. The thought of his beautiful mate round with his babe nearly toppled him. She was fucking killing him, making him irrational.
Uri’s mental voice interrupted his thoughts. Fuck, he’d nearly forgotten the male was there. Sit down. We need to get Sirena here. Bastian could hear the urgency in his brother’s words.
“Not yet. We need to check the cameras.” They’d both teleported in and that needed to be erased.
Uri eyed him with swirling silver eyes, hesitating. “If they can fuck with a Guardian’s head so easily, we need to contain them. Soon.”
His brother looked at him for a beat and then ported away, likely to deal with the cameras while Bastian got his shit together. His beast was clawing inside him at his brother’s words. Drake would want to cage his mate and that wasn’t going to happen. He ran a hand over his face. But it was exactly what was happening to Drake’s mate.
