Binding Ecstasy (The Guardians of the Realms Book 6)

by Setta Jay

  She met Sacha outside in the alley and then went through another couple of tailors on the list before she couldn’t handle the silence anymore. “Why did you agree to this?” She couldn’t imagine that any Guardians would be all that comfortable knowing she could mess with their minds.

  “Why wouldn’t I?” Sacha countered.

  “You just saw why,” Nastia said.

  “You have no reason to fog my mind.”

  She nodded. The female had a point. “I’m surprised Bastian is okay with this.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re his mother.”

  “I’m also a Guardian,” Sacha pointed out.

  Nastia frowned. “Okay, so he’s not protective of you?”

  “He is. As I am with him. But we both know you don’t have any reason to mess with my mind. We’re looking for the same thing.”

  Nastia nodded. “Do you usually partner with him?”

  “No. We do some diplomatic tasks together, but we patrol with other partners.”

  “Then who do you patrol with?” Nastia was curious.

  “Lately, Sander.”

  Nastia hadn’t expected that. “Bet that’s fun,” Nastia said with no lack of sarcasm, though she had another thought. Did they have a thing? Sacha was very beautiful.

  She caught sight of the female’s shaking head. Sacha was smiling as she spoke. “You two will be good together, and he and I have never had sex.”

  She didn’t like being so transparent. “Wouldn’t have mattered. He and I are not going to happen.”

  Sacha eyed her for a while and she felt like the Kairos saw too much or maybe she was getting paranoid. “We all have pasts, Nastia. I don’t think they make us unworthy of happiness.” Before Nastia could think of some sarcastic response, the Kairos smiled and added, “Next on the list?”

  “Yeah.” She wasn’t touching any of her other words. They felt too close to the truth for her. Was she avoiding Sander because she didn’t feel worthy of the Guardian? Or had Sacha even been talking about her? Those were the questions that stayed with her for the rest of the night.

  Chapter 31

  New York, Earth Realm

  Natasha woke cuddled against Bastian’s warm shoulder, with his thumb massaging the wrist that lay on his chest. She let everything slide over her. He’d had her in every way possible after the mating, and she remembered coming so hard she’d actually seen stars.

  “Are you sore, Psihi Mou?”

  “I’m perfect.” She’d never felt so good in her life, strong, focused. It was incredible.

  She looked up and saw him gazing down at her as he murmured, “Yes, you are.”

  Reality finally descended. “Did anything happen?”

  “No. Everything was fine while we were out of commission.”

  She moved to get up and he pulled her down over him. “I want a kiss good morning.” He growled and she couldn’t help smiling at him, and then they were kissing and it was a hot melding of lips that stole her breath. She sighed when the kiss broke off. They had too much to do or she’d gladly stay in his arms for days.

  He lifted her up and carried her to the shower, and she smiled, wondering if this would be something he did every morning.

  “I’ll need to get more clothes.” She groaned. “Do we have a list of more homes to check?”

  “Should be in my email,” Bastian said.

  We found the tailor and have a location, Nastia said, and she heard the same thing echo from Sacha through the Guardian link. Had her sister and Sacha been working all night? The sun was just coming up there in New York.

  Sacha said the Guardians want to meet. I’m going to teleport over there in mist just to check the property. Apollo’s probably long gone. The last order was shipped a week ago… to a home in Paris.

  Just wait until we have a game plan, Tasha bit out.

  I’m only going to check it out. I wouldn’t take any chances with Brigitte, her twin snapped. You know that.

  Give me ten minutes to get dressed, Tasha ground out. She knew her twin was anxious.

  “Us,” Bastian growled. “I only got half of the conversation, but I’m guessing Nastia is going over there. She’s sure Apollo wasn’t able to see her in mist at the club?”

  “Yes. Nastia said he just looked around and ported a few times as if unsure where she was.”

  “Okay, but she didn’t know he had safeguards against your power, and we have no idea what traps he might have planted. Odds are he moved on after Uri took his blood memories, but we’re not taking chances. I’m going with you.” He growled. “We stay at the end of the property and watch. Nothing more.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  “If Nastia’s wrong and he detects us, we could lose a chance to get Brigitte,” he warned.

  “I know and so does she. Trust me, we won’t take that chance. But I’m going to need clothes first,” she said and ported to her house. She was just putting on shoes when she saw him in the doorway, dressed and serious.

  She heard him telling Drake the plan. The dragon snapped and ordered them not to go onto the property and to relay what they saw immediately.

  Sander’s angry voice sounded right after the dragon. “Fuck no!”

  She had the visual from her twin and finished communicating the plan to Nastia. Within seconds they were porting away, and she could only imagine how pissed the Phoenix was going to be when they met up again.

  She felt him at her side once they arrived at the destination. He floated beside her as they moved through the tree-lined street to move higher than the stone fence that surrounded the home. The streetlights filtered down through the trees, but they were invisible.

  I don’t sense any wards, Nastia pointed out.

  Neither do I, and the house looks empty, Natasha added in disappointment as Bastian sent what they were seeing in images to the other Guardians.

  Conn spoke. It’s a summer home. The place has been vacant for months.

  Go in and check it out, then, Drake snarled.

  They entered and sensed only the faintest hint of the God’s power in the home. More Guardians immediately descended and started searching the place for any slight clue of where the bastard had gone. Sander was fuming when he got there. Tasha could actually feel the heat directed at her twin. He bit out a few choice words to Nastia, and Tasha saw his nostrils flare before he snarled at the other Guardians that he would search outside.

  Hours later the sun was glittering over polished wood furniture and they all looked frustrated and disgusted.

  “Now what?” Nastia ground out as she paced as far from the glaring Phoenix as she could. The sexual tension between them was sparking back and forth, and obvious anger still showed on Sander’s face. He’d been ditched when her sister’s hunt went to the tailors’ homes. Sacha just stood to the side, watching the tableau play out. Tasha just hoped the Phoenix wouldn’t snap at Bastian’s mother for taking his place as Nastia’s partner. He didn’t even look over at the Kairos. No, Sander’s eyes were all for her twin.

  “There’s no shortage of expensive homes sitting empty throughout the Realm,” Conn pointed out.

  “Get me a list of ones you haven’t checked yet,” Nastia bit out.

  “No.” Sander growled and everyone looked over at him. He ignored them, focused completely on Nastia.

  Her twin glared at him. “Don’t piss me off, Phoenix. I can do an Internet search just as easy as Conn can.”

  “Then do it and take the chance that you’re looking at a house that we’ve already fucking searched.”

  Tasha stared at them.

  “Or?” She could hear Nastia’s irritation.

  “Or you hunt with me.”

  Drake’s lips started smoking, and Tasha began to speak when Bastian’s hand met hers. Trust me, Psihi Mou. Let him try to court her.

  Court her? Are you kidding me?

  No.

  “You are going to regret this,” her twin snapped at the male.


  “I have no fucking doubt about that, Nasty,” Sander bit out and somehow he made ‘Nasty’ sound sexual and sarcastic all at once. The Phoenix turned to Conn. “Email the list to me.” And then Sander was gone before anyone knew what just happened.

  Nastia just stood there with her skin flushed as she glared at the now vacant spot as the Guardians all got moving. Her twin’s lips opened and closed a couple of times before she practically growled, “Did he just call me Nasty?”

  Tasha caught a glimpse of Sacha’s smiling face. What the hell just happened?

  She’ll be fine. She knows where to find him, Bastian pointed out. So the male was taunting her twin? And why did she get the impression that her twin wasn’t upset by it?

  Tasha stepped over to Nastia and asked, Are you going to be okay with this?

  I’ll be fine. But he might be missing a few pieces in the end, Nastia bit out and was gone.

  Chapter 32

  The Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm

  Drake reformed at the manor and stormed to the infirmary after Sirena summoned him there about Alyssa. They’d spent the last several days mindlessly searching homes for the fucking God and now something else was wrong?

  “What the fuck happened?” Drake bellowed as he entered the infirmary with P not far behind. He worried for Gregoire’s mate and wanted to know why Sirena had called him if she was supposedly fine. Alyssa was pregnant, only months along, but he was imagining the worst.

  “She’s fine,” Sirena said without looking up from examining Alyssa.

  “You didn’t call me here for nothing,” he bit out, not liking the sight of the small female on the exam table any more than he liked the look on Gregoire’s face. The male’s auburn hair was sticking up like he’d pulled at the short strands, which was likely the only thing he could do while one hand was in his mate’s. Of all the Guardians, Gregoire was the most overly protective asshole where his mate was concerned, and her being pregnant had already been making the Hippeus, half warhorse, completely lose his grip. If she was hurt, Gregoire would be a fucking nightmare. He growled anytime someone touched Alyssa; it didn’t even matter if it was another female. Alyssa was the male’s world.

  “It felt like my power surged… Sirena says the baby is fine,” Alyssa said, but Drake could tell her mind wasn’t eased as she watched the healer.

  “What do you mean by surge?” he demanded.

  “It means that the south side of the manor has a fucking hole in it.” Gregoire growled.

  Drake stilled. “Was anyone hurt?” he demanded. They had staff and other Guardians and mates and an entire fucking pack of Lykos staying there. The place was big, and usually there was plenty of open space, but they had more damned occupants than they’d ever had.

  “No one was hurt,” Sirena soothed as she ran her hands just above Alyssa’s flat stomach, not quite touching her. “It’s a shield. That’s all I can come up with,” Sirena mused, more to herself. “I can feel it buzzing over her skin. Can you feel it, Gregoire?”

  The large Guardian nodded as he trailed his fingers over Alyssa’s cheek. “It feels warm.” The male wasn’t having any trouble touching his mate, but Sirena wasn’t even attempting skin-to-skin contact. Maybe she couldn’t.

  “To me it feels like electricity. My power is getting through, so I can see what’s going on with her organs and the baby, but I don’t know that I could touch her,” Sirena said as she moved her hands down a few inches above Alyssa’s legs.

  “Wouldn’t electricity be bad for the baby?” Alyssa demanded, and he saw her squeeze the fingers of Gregoire’s hand. The tiny Hippeus was probably the most mild mannered of the new mates. She was small, but she was strong and powerful. Something he had trouble remembering when looking at her.

  “It feels like it’s actually coming from the baby,” Sirena said and continued, “It’s definitely a shield. It’s all over you.”

  “Have you ever seen anything like this, Sirena?” Drake demanded from the healer.

  Sirena stopped scanning the female’s body as she shook her head. “I haven’t.”

  “What were you doing when the surge hit?” Drake commanded, ignoring the hard look Gregoire gave him for the tone. He didn’t care; this wasn’t sitting well with him.

  “I was just waiting for Rain. We were going to the pool.” Alyssa frowned. “I was just sitting there and I got a weird burst of anxiety and that’s when I felt the jolt.”

  “What made you anxious, angel?” Gregoire whispered with a frown. The tenderness was almost too much for Drake to watch when his own mate was contained in a cage.

  She shook her head. “No. I still feel it. Not as strong, though.”

  “Was the jolt painful?” P asked.

  “No. It jerked my body, but it was mostly just shocking. The force of it blew the windows out along with the furniture and most of a wall.” She sucked in a breath and Drake knew she had to be scared, but she was trying to keep it together, probably for her mate, who was barely holding on.

  “I’m going to need blood samples to see if anything is going on in there. All of your organs are running perfectly. The baby is growing, and nothing looks out of sorts. I swear, you and the baby look perfectly healthy,” Sirena assured them. “Gregoire, you’ll have to take her blood. I don’t think I’ll be able to, and I would like to see if anyone else can get near her.”

  Gregoire’s eyes flashed and he growled. “No.”

  Sirena blew out a breath and Alyssa shook her head. That would have been Gregoire’s reaction even before this.

  “They wouldn’t have to touch her. I want to see if anyone else can feel the shielding,” Sirena bit out.

  Alyssa’s fingers gripped Gregoire’s hand and she looked up at him. “I need to know.”

  Gregoire gave a curt nod as his knuckle ran along her cheek.

  “Drake?” Sirena requested, and he noticed P didn’t volunteer.

  Alyssa put her arm out, but Drake’s senses were strong, and it was enough to get within a foot of her body to feel it. “I don’t need to get any closer. I can sense it from here. It’s strong enough to potentially hurt someone. No one is to touch her.”

  Drake and P left after he instructed Sirena to give him updates, and telling Gregoire he was off duty. The male would be useless in the field while he was worried for Alyssa and the baby.

  He didn’t like any of it, even more so because he’d been feeling odd for the better part of an hour.

  Rain and Dorian were just outside, and he could see the blonde was worried for her friend. “Is she okay? Is the baby?”

  “She’s fine, but no one can touch her. Sirena thinks the young is giving her some kind of shield.”

  Rain’s mouth gaped open. “So what does that mean?”

  “It means no one’s allowed to touch her until Sirena knows what’s going on. You two can go see her.” Alyssa would probably want to see her friend, and Drake needed to get to his office. Apollo was loose; Guardians were mating and getting more powerful. There was a reason and he wondered if the baby felt it too.

  “I don’t like it,” P said as they headed toward Drake’s office.

  “Do you feel something?” Drake asked.

  P nodded. “I do.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Go get energy and get the word out about Alyssa.” Drake growled. He just wanted to see his mate once more before he refueled and went to check the sleeping Gods again. It was the one duty he’d never given any of the others. The Gods had done too much damage for them to be anyone else’s responsibility but his.

  He sat at his desk and powered up the screen, and there she was, pacing. She looked up and brilliant green eyes met his in the camera. He had a moment when he heard her voice in his head. Just a whisper. “Something’s happening?” He felt her anxiety.

  Nothing could have prepared him for her to link with him. He snarled and flames rained out. He forced it away from the walls and furniture, but his heart rate spiked at having her soft voice in his
mind.

  He traced the link, a bright light in his mind, and the implications made his dragon snarl and snap. They hadn’t touched; they weren’t in the frenzy. Links had formed before without a pair having touched, but it had only happened twice. Both times it was because one mate was in danger.

  He breathed out, trying to rein in the raging dragon without lighting the place ablaze.

  He wanted to go to her, but he fucking couldn’t. The one time he’d smelled her in that cell, she’d been in pain, reacting to his scent, suffering for how much she’d wanted to mate him. At least the pain was gone, but it had taken fucking weeks. The whole time Sirena kept warning him that his Delia might die if he tried to fix it. His back itched, his wings almost breaking through.

  “I have to get out of here,” she snarled.

  “To do what?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know!” she bit out as she paced.

  “Does it feel like danger?” he snarled as he contacted Uri and Alex. Get to my fucking office now. They had the most intuitive powers.

  “Don’t you feel it?” she snapped.

  He did. And he was warring with the dragon about letting her out.

  Chapter 33

  San Francisco, Earth Realm

  Nastia had a love-hate relationship with the Phoenix’s scent. Searching homes for days was so much more exhausting than the tailors had been. Maybe because he refused to give her the list and he went inside every damned one with her. She knew Tasha could get the information for her, so why hadn’t she asked her twin? Why the hell did she go to sleep every night wondering who Sacha meant when she’d said they were all worthy of happiness, no matter what their pasts were. Was the Kairos talking about Nastia or Sander? What was in his past that made him the way he was?

  “Sacha said she’s your partner.” She was tired of the snipping and maybe she was curious.

  “Sometimes,” he bit out and rolled his neck. He was just as affected by her as she was him. He’d been using images on a phone to give her each location. She could snatch it from his hand, but the look in his eyes said she’d pay for it, not that that stopped her from considering it.