by Setta Jay
He nodded. Fully aware of how fucked he was.
Alex shook her head. “Good luck and call us if you need us.”
He inhaled and tried for more calm, but he didn’t think it was going to happen. After a few minutes only he and his mother were left in the living room.
“Alex may be right,” Sacha said. Through the centuries their relationship had become a warm friendship more than mother and son. The fact that they were both Guardians was what started the shift, and it had been challenging at first. They rarely spoke of their relationship because she’d made it clear that being a Guardian had to come first. That he couldn’t protect her any more than he would any other Guardian or she, him.
“I know,” he admitted.
“I don’t envy you this decision.” She gazed at him thoughtfully. “I only wish I had some advice to give, but I don’t know what you’re going through.”
He nodded. Would his mother find a mate? He didn’t know what he’d do. At one point he thought he’d just be happy if she found a male to cherish her. She deserved to be happy. But now he wasn’t sure how he’d deal with a male around her, the frenzy was wild and out of control. He shook his head, trying to get those thoughts out of his mind.
Her next words pulled him out of his thoughts. “Have you ever noticed that every mate has had one thing in common?” There hadn’t been that many pairs throughout the millennia, but he considered them now.
After a moment he shook his head. “What’s that?”
“They weren’t evil. Sirena told me once that it was like only the good, the worthy seemed to get a mate. Aside from Cyril, who’d used a drug to mate Delia.” Her eyes grew hard as she spoke the words.
“Then we haven’t been all that good. Others mated long before the first Guardian.”
Her lips curved. “I’m not saying all who are good get a mate.” There was a hint of sadness in her eyes, and he imagined it was for Sirena. If a female couldn’t mate a less powerful male or one of a different race, then there weren’t any foreseeable options for the healer unless it was another dangerous hybrid mating.
Her eyes warmed when she looked at him. “I like to think that it’s true. That only good people find a mate, and that yours will be worthy of you, Sebastian.”
Chapter 14
Earth Realm
We only get one mate… once we touch, the mating frenzy starts. Those words were playing on constant repeat in Tasha’s mind. Frenzy. What exactly did that mean? Was it the crazed sexual need that left her wet and wanting no matter how confused or angry she was? That had to be what the hell was going on, and it pissed her off all over again.
She wanted to rail. They’d just spent hours searching for any answers they could. The Lykos they’d escaped with weren’t anywhere, and Nastia searched last known aliases and found a report of them dying in a plane crash decades ago. It was a jarring revelation, but wolves couldn’t teleport, so it was definitely plausible that they’d been trapped in that plane. All Immortals could die if incinerated or decapitated.
Not only had they died, but their children were gone from any known addresses. Her stomach turned. She and Nastia wanted some kind of confirmation that she wasn’t pregnant, and now they had no one to ask.
“We’ve gotten too damned lazy in the last few decades,” Nastia bit out in frustration as she stared at her laptop, furiously typing, searching for information to find the Lykos. Her sister was right. They hadn’t checked on the wolves for a while and started getting close to the Mageia they trained. Now Apollo was loose and Tasha was linked to a Guardian, permanently.
The only other Immortals in Earth Realm were the three siblings they’d spied on because they always had the most information on the Guardians. One liked to hack the Guardian computer systems when that technology came about. But those three hadn’t been in any of their homes either. It was eerie that all of a sudden Immortals in Earth Realm were missing. Their personal items were mostly gone, but Nastia couldn’t find any hint of them moving. Had the Guardians exiled them, or had something else sent them into hiding? Apollo? Were they with the God? That didn’t seem right. They’d all assimilated into the mortal Realm and kept a low key. And the Lykos escaped Apollo’s warrior camps. They wouldn’t band with him now unless they didn’t have a choice. Another possibility she didn’t like considering.
She was going to enjoy killing that bastard.
“The properties are all listed under the same corporations as before,” Nastia snapped as she frowned and continued typing. She didn’t like it.
“I’ll keep checking. If they’re still here, I’ll find them.” Her sister was worried. She was just too serious, and somehow that was making Tasha even more agitated.
Nastia was dealing with the fact that her ability hadn’t worked on Bastian. She couldn’t imagine what her sister was feeling. They’d never doubted their abilities, and Nastia’s power had been a constant since the moment they’d turned twenty, the age of their Immortal majority.
Everything was turned upside down.
She’d end up going to him, but not until Nastia went to sleep.
She kept stealing mental glances at the link in her mind; it told her exactly where he was and appeared nearly as bright as the one that connected to her twin. It should have felt like a damned noose, but instead was oddly comforting, which only added to her anxiety. She tried pulling on it, yanking, but nothing moved.
The link was definitely permanent.
Eternity. He’d said that in the old language. He’d said a lot of things, sweet things that made her want to curl up in his lap… sexy things that made her wet and achy. She closed her eyes to blot out those memories. She wanted to be angry, to blame him, but the sexual frustration was messing with her mind. She felt an intense compulsion to go to him, she wanted his warmth, and the whole thing was leaving her with knots twisting in her stomach.
“How can he just mate you? He should have told you. Given you a damned choice!” Nastia said for the tenth time as if expecting a different answer.
She nodded absently. She and her sister had talked about it over and over. They’d considered the link in every way and couldn’t find any way to get rid of it. It wasn’t going anywhere.
“I touched him,” Tasha said as a confession. She, the ever-responsible twin, had made the first move with a male who they were supposed to stay away from. Tasha would have lectured the hell out of Nastia for doing what she had, and that was part of what was killing her. If she’d ported away, or maybe even waited, what would have happened?
She remembered the intense look on his face, how he’d leaned in, and she’d been so caught up that she’d pulled him to her lips. It had felt so damned perfect, so right, and now she knew it was some unseen fate messing with her.
He could have told her, could have stopped her, but that didn’t change the fact that it was her irresponsible actions that were the catalyst. Unless he was lying. She’d love that to be the case, but it hadn’t felt like a lie.
“You didn’t know.” Her sister sighed loyally.
She rubbed her forehead to get her brain to work, but all she could do was own that mistake. “Do you remember what happened when I saw him in the club?” Tasha paused for a few minutes. One of the things that bothered her most was the fate part, that they both hadn’t had any choice in this. “On paper this would all be romantic. Some hot male as my soul mate for life.” She grabbed a bottled water just to have something in her hand. The guilt was getting to her. Her sister was freaking out and Tasha just… wanted. Wanted even more than his body. She wanted a child. She was being selfish.
After a moment of staring off into nothing, Nastia looked up at her, seeming a little lost in her own thoughts. “Yeah. Maybe.”
“If what he said is true—and seeing as I have this blinding thread in my mind connecting us, I’m inclined to believe him—that means I’m not just bound to him, he’s bound to me too.” That somehow made her feel better… worse… She had no idea what she was
feeling at this point.
“Tasha, I’m not sure we can make wards strong enough to keep even a couple Guardians away. And even if I could fog every damned one of them at once, Bastian would still remember.”
“I know,” Tasha said as guilt ate just a bit more of her stomach. She was a blinding beacon to him. “You need to sleep, to go stay somewhere else.”
Her twin didn’t need to be caught in the web if the Guardians rained down to exile her.
“I’m not leaving,” Nastia bit out.
“Then I talk to the Guardian and hope he’s honest with me?” Tasha raised an eyebrow at her twin. “Maybe hope that he won’t exile us because I ask nicely?”
There was a long pause as her sister stared at her. “You want this?”
She did, but how did she say that out loud without being a selfish bitch?
“Maybe.” She took a sip of the cool water. “It’s too new. Too unknown.”
“I know.” Her twin ported to her side and rested their heads together. “If it’s what you want, I’m okay with it. If you don’t, I’ll end him. Problem solved, connection gone,” Nastia murmured.
Tasha snorted. “Yeah, the Guardians wouldn’t notice that.”
“It wouldn’t matter. They’re not the ones connected to you, and that’s the only other option I can come up with.” There was a hint of sadness in her sister’s eyes that wrenched Tasha’s heart. Why did it feel like she had to choose a male or her sister? Because that would never happen.
“Always so bloodthirsty.” She smiled.
“Is there any other way to be?” Nastia sighed. “I’ve gotten soft, because he should already be dead.”
“And why isn’t he?”
Her twin got serious. “He let me into his mind. As much as I want to believe his thoughts were faked, I don’t,” her twin said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s a fucking dick for not giving you a choice.” A beat passed. “I also think he’ll give you the baby you want.”
Tasha stilled. “Why do you say that?”
“I saw you with him, and I saw raw hope on your face when he told you mated pairs could have children. At some point we have to either believe what I saw in his mind and what he said. Or we don’t.”
“And you think it’s true?”
“It scares the fuck out of me, but I do. I also noticed that we haven’t been descended on by Guardians. He came to you alone. He could have kept me out of his mind and he let me in instead. If you don’t want to be with him, we always have plan B.”
Tasha shook her head; her sister’s words were helping her. It was a role reversal of epic proportions. “What about Apollo?”
“He still needs to die. Maybe more now that you could have a mini-me in your belly at any moment.”
She agreed and would gladly end the bastard.
Chapter 15
New York, Earth Realm
Bastian had been losing his mind steadily for the last few hours. Her thoughts of sex were mingling with his to create one massive orgy in his mind. He fed his brothers the rare blips of information that actually made it through and forced back the guilt and anger that he was forced to share her thoughts. The others may not have known the personal worries and fears she was experiencing, but it didn’t matter. Having to share any of her was pissing him off. Even knowing that he was doing it to protect her didn’t help.
He looked over his frosted balcony and knew it would be light in a matter of hours. He’d started the fireplace but was too agitated to sit and wait for her. She was coming. It was in her thoughts and he couldn’t fucking wait to get her under him.
After a few minutes more, he walked inside and sat on an overstuffed chair facing the open fireplace. Just on the other side of the flame lay his bedroom, his bed. He gritted his teeth as need surged through him.
He’d left the wards down to make it easy for her when she came. A clear message that he wanted her there.
His cock throbbed the minute he felt her presence.
Her voice was silky. “I expected you to be in bed.”
She hadn’t. She had, however, hoped to catch him off guard. It was all there in her mind. Along with the aching desire.
Her eyes went to his hair, and those dark indigo eyes flared and heated. He’d left it loose because it was what she wanted to see. It had been in her head more than a few times and now he could hear just how much she wanted it in her hands, running over her tits. He watched as her gaze slid from his hair over his chest. She sucked in a breath and he was pleased with the reaction.
“You look beautiful, Psihi Mou.” Beautiful didn’t truly describe her. He could barely take his eyes off her face, but when he did, he felt his muscles tighten. She’d dressed in a sheer black dress that flirted with the tops of her thighs. He could see the low panties and skimpy bra beneath and his cock throbbed against the loose pants he wore. Her long shapely legs seemed to go forever in the sky-high heels that glittered in the soft light.
“Take off your pretty dress.”
She’d intentionally dressed to torture him.
Her lips parted and her tongue darted out to wet her glossed lower lip. “So sure of me getting naked?”
“Sure that I love the dress. And that if you make me remove it, it’ll be destroyed.”
She sucked in a breath but didn’t move, defiant, and a hint hopeful that he’d do what he threatened.
He ported behind her and tilted his head to her hair, inhaling her arousal along with the intoxicating sweetness of her skin luring him in. “I’ll buy you another dress,” he said before ripping the material away.
She moaned when his fingers swept over her stomach and pulled her back against his chest. Her head fell back, but she was trying to fight it. “I have questions.” Her words came out breathy and seductive; his mate was losing the fight, giving in to the frenzy that had been steadily worsening for the last hour.
“And I will answer them, but I need you now, Psihi Mou,” he whispered as his palms caressed her stomach, savoring the way her muscles twitched under his hands, the way her breathing sawed out, ragged with need. He slid his fingers beneath her shorts and into the warmth of her wet pussy. Fucking perfect and so achy she pushed into his touch. “And you need me to make this feel better, don’t you.”
She moaned and he couldn’t think beyond making her come all over his fingers.
*****
Tasha’s dress was in tatters on the ground and she couldn’t care less. She’d wanted him to rip it from her. Ached for him to need this as much as she did. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t even think. She’d come there thinking to make him suffer while she asked her questions. She’d been determined, and now nothing mattered beyond what his hands were doing to her.
His fingers slid to either side of her clit, caging it, but not touching until she was begging for more. He was teasing her pussy and she couldn’t take much more. He tapped her clit and her entire body jolted. God. She needed it again. Harder. He didn’t, though. He curled his fingers instead, pushing two just inside her entrance, pulling her body back so her ass was tight against his cock. His palm grinded slowly against her, and she tried to move for more contact, but he held her firmly. She whimpered for more.
He growled in her ear, “You’re going to come all over my fingers.” The soft vibration sent gooseflesh over her skin.
It was impossible to speak as he started moving, pumping and grinding his cock against her ass while his palm worked her. She didn’t last long. She couldn’t. The climax hit and she cried out, but the second his fingers were gone, she felt empty like nothing had happened. It wasn’t enough.
“I’ve got you. I’ll make it feel better.” The whispered words were a promise she needed. She felt unhinged by the time he lifted her in his arms. Her head found his shoulder and she rubbed her cheek against it as he carried her into his room. She loved the soft flicker of the firelight that sent a romantic glow over the darkly masculine space.
She squirmed as he neared the bed. It
felt like days had passed since he’d been inside her, and waiting was torture.
He kissed her forehead and laid her down on soft sheets. She writhed over the silky material as she watched him move. His pants hit the floor and she savored the first full look at his gorgeous body, his strong thighs and the narrow vee of his waist. Her eyes got distracted as she followed the soft trail of hair leading to his hard cock. It bobbed against his stomach as if reaching for her. She groaned and licked her lips.
His eyes flashed and held hers as he crawled between her thighs, slipping off her shoes as he went. One hard tug and her boy shorts were ripped from her body and tossed to the floor. His eyes moved over every exposed inch before leaning down to suck her clit. You taste so damned good.
Her back bowed and she cried out. “No. Not enough.” She hoped her words made sense to him, because she couldn’t take another tease. She needed to be filled.
A split second later he was above her. His jaw was set tight and his chest heaved as he demanded, “Are you wet enough to take all of me?”
She groaned. “Yes. God, yes.”
She felt him position the silky head of his cock at her entrance and tilted her hips.
He growled and slammed deep, brutally taking, demanding she open for him. His fingers tangled in her hair, pulling it back until her throat was offered up to his lips. His facial hair abraded her skin as she dug her nails into his back. She cried out at the pleasure of being stretched so fully. It bordered on pain as he relentlessly took what he needed. His mouth found hers and she could taste herself on his lips. She bucked to meet him, but his weight held her down as he slammed into her. The bed hit the wall and it was all she could hear beyond their heavy breathing and her whimpers for more. Her legs went around him; it was the only movement left to her as his hips thrust wildly.
I’ll never get enough of you. Of this. You destroy me, Psihi Mou, he growled softly into her mind. He pulled her hair tighter to lift her jaw so he could kiss and nip at the flesh there. She dug her hands in his hair and loved the feel of the strands over her shoulders. Sexy. He looked like a warrior of old and she couldn’t get enough.
