by Lexi Ostrow
He was pulling the words straight out of his ass due to the changed circumstances, but he could tell from the rage flashing across her face, they were hitting home. He heard the chilling sound of splintering ice and barely flashed out of the way as a hailstorm of sharp icicles flew at him. One slammed into the lens of the glasses, stopping centimeters from his golden eyes.
With a snarl, he jerked them off his face, hearing them shatter and break as they slammed into the wall. Ice climbed the white walls like ivy, invading every space and dropping the temperature in her small living room. Marie’s body seemed slick and shiny as if a shield of ice had formed around her. Fury emanated from the depths of her crystal-colored eyes.
She knew.
“How did you come to be here?” Her breath showed like a tiny puff of air, the only warmth in the slowly freezing room.
Leering, he dropped down onto her couch, ignoring the growls of the dog still too chicken to protect its owner properly. “I watch my brother, and he watches you.”
“That is not an answer. What are you doing here?” A blast of icy rocks slammed into him painlessly.
“If you are quite done, I will tell you. By the way, your attacks don’t harm my brother, don’t be foolish enough to think they could do so to me. Not after you just impressed me by seeing through my guise.”
The look on her face was an interesting balance of anger and fear, one he liked seeing on his enemies faces. It meant they knew their odds and wouldn’t likely try anything stupid. The air grew dense as the icy mist continued to spawn, but she did not attack him again.
“Smart woman. Beautiful, intelligent and with such intriguing powers.” He mused aloud. “I have an offer for you. One I think you might like, given your predicament with the man my brother clearly knew you’d fall for.”
Her look of shock amused him. “Oh please, I know my brother better than anyone alive. We’ve had millennia together. Longer really.” He leaned back on the couch, placing his left foot nonchalantly over his knee. “I meant what I said. My brother won’t accept you if you don’t do exactly what he wants with this game of his. You think he just wanted to mend broken souls. He wanted to repair yours, make you useful again. Because you see, damaged souls almost always belong to me.”
“I am not damaged any longer. I have removed that aspect from life. I am useful to him now that I have realized I need to be around others like me if I’m to ever move forward instead of stalling in an emotionless pit. That doesn’t mean I need to fall in love or bond with a man he chose for me.”
He was looking at his nails rather than at her, seeing as they were slowly tingeing blue from the cold. “I recommend you stop your parlor trick, or your beloved pet is going to be dead in a matter of minutes.”
Rapidly, she jerked her gaze to the dog lying in a tiny ball behind her, body wracked with cold and shakes. “Duke!” she screamed as she covered his body with hers and pulled back seconds later.
Far quicker than it had taken over the room, the mist vanished, and he could see rivulets of water trickling down the wall as the icy room began to melt without her keeping it cold and the ice growing. He was rather unimpressed with the way she ignored him like a common stranger, but he was impressed by how much control her author had written her with.
“I don’t care what you want,” she hissed as she looked up from her dog. “Either kill me or get the fuck out of my way. I have places to be and a dog that desperately needs to get out of the ice box you forced me to create.” She pushed up from the crouched position she was in, anger burning hot in her eyes.
Nothing about the encounter had gone as he’d planned, but he wouldn’t consider it a total failure. He’d learned quite a bit about the woman and her gifts. Though the idea of simply killing her and moving on was less work, he’d rather strengthen his side. As far as he knew the war was not coming anytime soon. A Guardian like Marie would be immortal, the perfect addition to his side and one well worth wooing over the course of time. His brother would throw her out on her ass or cast her back into the lifeless world of her book when she declined to be healed completely. He just needed to be patient and swoop in when the time was right.
“Much as I would enjoy killing you, I didn’t get to do what I came here for. Killing your pet would be something I’d do. However, I’ve learned fear and torture only work on those who care. You, my dear, strike me as someone who would be vengeful and not cower at anyone’s feet for such an act. So for now, I will do as you ask. I will get out . . . for now. Just know I’ll return, and the next time, we will finish this conversation, whether it ends in blood or a very satisfying bargain.”
In an instant, he flashed out and to a quaint demonic bar in a novel about Las Vegas that his most recently activated Word Speaker was reading about. Marie was going to be an excellent addition, and he was so very glad he’d learned to control himself and work people differently based on the situation.
“Bourbon . . . on the rocks,” he said with a smirk, wondering if when Marie joined his side if she’d make ice cubes to entertain him when he drank.
9
“All clear, Bender,” Captain Jerome said, his voice haggard.
Sean blew out a breath through his nose and felt the tension drain out of his body with it. Rolling his neck, he nodded at his mentor. It was impossible not to miss the bags under the man’s eyes or the way he stood ever so slightly slouched. It had been a very long mission.
“Thank you, Sir.” His hand pulled away from his face in salute as he turned on his heels to exit the briefing room.
Every muscle in his body ached from sitting crammed together in the cargo hold of the plane on the way back to the states. His mind was a sleepy mess, barely able to process the events of the past week. What had been a simple rescue mission had damn near exploded in a political backdrop once they’d learned the person holding the Airedale’s was none other than the region’s fucking President.
They’d been ordered to fall back and maintain space with all the fucking red tape the US Government could muster. Each and every one of the eight in his unit had grown antsy with every passing day they couldn’t get to their men. In the end, the warriors had been surrendered after an arms deal was brokered. An agreement that would most likely blow up in the United State’s faces if they weren’t careful where they tread.
“Such a fucking waste,” he muttered as he tore the cover off his head when he got to his Jeep.
Logically, he knew what had happened was a blessing. No one was hurt, and they hadn’t had to do any serious maneuvers to get in and out. The part of him from the books wasn’t satisfied with easy. That part of him lived for the thrill of jumping from a plane or holding his breath as he snuck around a corner not knowing what he’d find there. He was written that way, and despite being free from the author’s shackles for over five years, some personality traits remained.
Don’t forget there’s also the small fact that you missed Marie. He snorted at the thought as he put the car in reverse and started to head home. The snort didn’t make it any less true.
Every time he’d closed his eyes, her ice-cold beautiful face had materialized in his mind. Her nearly clear eyes haunted him the same way her delicate lips and upturned nose made him want to pin her to a wall and taste her. It had driven him to distraction enough times that he knew only one thing for certain, the Guardian to Guardian bond could be just as intoxicating as the ones shared with Word Speakers.
Nothing had happened between Marie and him. Nothing had even come close to transpiring, save for the heated moment when he’d nearly kissed her outside the shelter. In fact, everything had been utterly platonic prior to that moment. Conversations were lame and filled with small talk and basic getting-to-know-you bullshit. They’d only interacted in person the day they met, and the day he had been called away. Yet, that hadn’t mattered. It hadn’t stopped him from feeling a pull to the Ice Demon he couldn’t ignore. A pull that was going to land him in a frozen lake if he tried anything with
her she wasn’t comfortable with or desired.
“Never going to happen, Bender. She made it abundantly clear about fifty times that she has no interest in your dick, let alone you.” Not that he hadn’t said similar things and enforced an identical mindset when it had started. That had been before he’d known the same tug of fate would be present between them. Before he’d seen the woman hiding beneath the ice and itched to get to know the person she’d hidden away, to be the one to fracture the cold and bring her back to life.
Something he hadn’t even wanted for himself until he’d been laying on a cot in the dark of night in a remote African location and could do nothing but think about the woman he’d left behind. A woman who was not his dead wife, god rest Stacey’s soul.
“It’s what he wanted. It fucking has to be,” he said to no one at all as he drove uneventfully down the ninety-five toward home.
After accepting that he was certainly drawn to Marie in a way that wasn’t natural, everything had clicked into place. The man in charge might not have known if two Guardians could be brought together, but he had to have known, once started, the process would take on a life of its own. Just like any other connection Guardians made once they were woken up from the darkness of being nothing more than content on a page.
Which had meant he’d known there wasn’t anything he could do to fight the connection and less than nothing he could do to stop the desire coursing through him from the mere thought of being involved with someone, loving someone, the way he had loved his Stacey.
At the next red light, he leaned over, digging through his bag as best as he could for his phone. He wanted to talk to Marie, to get everything out in the open and see if she was experiencing the same thing he was, or see if it was possible it could be one sided.
“Son of a bitch.” The growl filled the car when the light changed to green just as his hand captured the phone. “Well, you might as well fucking wait now. It’s only a five-minute ride to the house, anyway.”
He looked at the phone screen for the third time since reaching out to Marie and officially felt like a card or a dumb teenager, and that was impressive since he couldn’t have possibly remembered being a teen because he’d never been written as one.
The house felt unusually empty as if the comforting feeling of Stacey was gone now that he’d admitted to himself he wanted to move on. There was no one to greet him, and for the first time, he felt utterly alone. He didn’t like the way the loneliness seemed to creep up next to him on the bed and snake fingers around his body, holding him tight in an unwanted embrace.
Just sleep it off, man. It’s been a while since a mission, and you’re likely just tweaked about it. Get some rest, and everything will be normal in the morning. Zach liked the thought and shucked his boxers off before turning back the gray comforter and slipping into bed. His body practically purred with happiness at sleeping on a regular bed, it felt almost as happy as it had during the thirty-minute raging hot shower to unknot himself from the flight.
His head hit the pillow, and the terrible sleep he’d gotten caught up to him, slamming into him like a battering ram and sending him spiraling into the comforting arms of the dream world.
The chill of her hand as it slid over the hot silken skin of his cock drew a moan past his lips. Nothing had ever felt as deliciously perfect as the contrast of Marie’s icy touch against his throbbing erection.
“Fuck, Marie. I didn’t realize that trait of yours could be used for this kind of evil.”
She grinned wickedly at him, wrapping her other hand around his shaft and pumping both hands up and down his entire length. He felt the muscles in his neck tighten as his hips bucked off the bed. With a gentle squeeze of her hand, he growled with desire, watching her through pleasure-lidded eyes, relishing every pass over his dick.
“Never used an ice cube?” Her playful tone was laced with barely bridled lust. “Such a shame. It feels fantastic everywhere . . .. Absolutely everywhere,” she said with a dastardly gleam in her eyes before shifting so her face was next to his cock. “Which brings up a fantastic idea on my part.”
Her hands fell away from his hardened length, and he swore he saw stars the moment the sinful touch stopped. Snapping his eyes open, he barely had a moment to register her core sliding over his face, barely an inch away from him but not touching. His mouth watered as comprehension tore through him, stronger than any aphrodisiac he’d ever experienced He didn’t hesitate before he reached his hands up and wrapped them around her hips, jerking her down to his lips as he thrust his tongue into her waiting folds.
Her body twitched in his hands as her sweet taste coated his tongue. He couldn’t imagine why he hadn’t demanded to taste her sooner, but that was neither here nor there. Her body was his to devour. Slowly, he began to rock her hips backward, shifting her tight core back and forth over his thrusting tongue as he licked and thrust it into her as effectively as if he was seated to the hilt with his dick. He loved that she didn’t flinch as his fingers bit into her thighs. She merely bucked her hips and ground her core against his mouth, seeking all he had to offer her.
Tasting her was unlike any treat he’d ever known. She was sweet like honey but as refreshing as water. Not to mention she was as needy as she was seductive. Relishing in the taste of her, he used his tongue to swipe over her swollen clit before returning it between her folds to spell her name.
Her cry of pleasure was music to his ears, but she hadn’t come, and he wasn’t about to stop fucking her like this until she shattered like ice, screaming his name.
To which she had other plans.
Her sinful tongue slide over the engorged head as she moved down his length. His entire being spasmed at the coolness inside her mouth, and he vaguely realized she’d used her gifts to intensify the situation. Growling against her folds, he slipped his finger over her sensitive nub and pushed against it as he ravaged her with his mouth. Sensations wrapped so tightly around him, he was starting to question up from down. All he knew was the softness of her folds against his tongue and the incredible suction of her mouth as she moved up and down his cock with no remorse.
He could hear the sound of blood rushing in his ears, and he fought back his rising release to make certain she came first. He wouldn’t allow himself to find release until the stunning beauty seated on his mouth and fucking his dick with her mouth found everything she’d been waiting for.
The barest scrape of her teeth sent waves of pleasure through him, tightening in his gut like a rubber band being stretched thin. Licking and flicking his tongue in and out of her wet center as fast as he could, he reveled in the whimpers and groans coming from them both. But not more than the feel of her body tightening around his tongue just as her release dripped into his mouth.
“Sean!”
His name tore past her lips in the most satisfying breathy tone he’d ever heard. Her body lowered, sinking his tongue farther into her and drawing a scream as her release likely shot to another level.
It was all it took, his body exploded into her mouth as hers had done in his mere seconds before. He felt his seed release more powerfully than ever. It felt as if she’d drained him dry in a way no female had ever been able to, and she continued to suckle him, taking everything he had given her.
He wasn’t about to let her sweet release go to waste. Swirling his tongue inside of her, he groaned at how divine it felt to finally be doing something so intimate with a woman that clearly relished being fucked the way he liked to give it — and they hadn’t even begun to explore each other.
Even as he continued to draw out her release, pounding her hips down onto his tongue as her body quaked and swam with the aftermath of an orgasm, he could feel her doing the same, sliding her tongue over every inch of him, wiping away his sticky release.
Only when her lips slid off his dick did he lift her from his mouth, making certain to flick his tongue from top to bottom as she crawled off him. When she turned to look at him, her eyes were glazed, and her
lips were red and flush. Her body shifted so her head was near his and her core poised just over his still erect cock, tempting him like no other woman ever had.
Bolting upright in bed, he wasn’t shocked to feel his hand slide off his dick, sticky and wet with his release. Breath pounded heavily through his chest as rapidly as it had when he’d been slamming Marie onto his waiting mouth in the dream. It had been his first wet dream about someone he knew, including Stacey. Not to mention it was the first time he’d dreamed of doing that with a woman. Stacey had been adventurous, sensual and wonderful in bed, but she hadn’t been as interested in the kinkier side. Whether Marie would or wouldn’t be, he didn’t care.
All he cared about was finding out. It didn’t matter that she was likely not interested in him. Interest and sex didn’t have to go hand in hand. He needed to know if what was happening between them was lust, attraction or just the Guardian bond at work. Sean wouldn’t push her if she wasn’t ready, but he wouldn’t allow her to get off without it. He’d been written for seduction by his author, god knew how many years ago. He’d also been written to be hardheaded and a hero.
What better way to live again than to sate a desire coursing through him so savagely it made him turn away from the memory of the woman he’d thought he’d spend forever with? He couldn’t think of any. In fact, all he could focus on was that his cock was still rock hard, despite him playing with himself as he slept and dreamed of more.
Tossing back the covers, he swung his legs over the bed to get up and wash off. The notification light on the phone brought an immoral smirk to his lips. Flicking his clean hand over the screen, he saw her name but didn’t bother to read the text. Instead, he just sent another.
“Drinks tomorrow? We have something to discuss.”
