by Brianna West
Before I could say anything in return, he disappeared from the room and I was left with an unresolved feeling his absence created. There was something in Victor’s choice of words that suggested he believed I would one day agree and that it was only a matter of time. It was a baffling moment where I was left staring, rigidly frozen, at the space he had once stood inside.
Join the Guardians? Me? How would that ever be possible with my responsibility as princess?
Shaking away my desire to ponder the prospect of becoming a Guardian, I dodged another effort Bernie made to take hold of me and escaped through the front door of his childhood home.
Chapter Seventeen
~***~
“I will retrieve your brother from the angel, Simon, and meet you in the realm,” Anric proclaimed to my continued befuddlement, slamming his chest before staring at Bernie. “I leave the princess in your capable hands, Guardian Bernard.”
Oh my god, Anric gave Bernie a nickname! Well, not quite a nickname, but the closest thing to it for Anric.
Bernie’s eyes were sparkling with delight as he waggled his eyebrows at me and thumbed Anric’s direction. “Hear that, princess? He called me by my name and not ‘you Guardian!’ for the first time. I’m so happy!”
Squealing and giggling, Bernie hugged my massive teacher around the torso from the side and squeezed. His head rested snuggly onto Anric’s shoulder as the two embraced—or rather, Bernie embraced the rigid and immobile Anric beside him. My mouth nearly dropped as Anric let Bernie hold onto him, not even flinching at the way he had been grappled. If it had been any other, Anric would have delivered swift justice for overstepping one’s station. So it was even more alarming that he hadn’t with Bernie yet.
Was he momentarily too stricken to react?
I vaguely wondered if I was dreaming, because I’d never seen Anric let another person, save myself, do anything he very clearly didn’t like. At least, not for this long. After a minute, I was sure that Anric intended to let Bernie hold onto him for however long he wished, further perplexing me.
Anric had never really been the touchy-feely sort of person. It was always his belief that ‘men did not hug,’ though it was said quietly and never around Vlad. He was of the mind that men showed their gratitude in actions like assisting in midst of battle, or sharing a drink with the respective conversation to accompany it. But never by embracing. I didn’t actually know if Anric was capable of being affectionate towards another person. I’d never even seen him hug his own family. So, watching the embrace was even more flabbergasting with Anric being the one embraced.
Was he fond of Bernie to the point of reciprocating that sort of affection?
Anric’s frozen body and face suggested that he still wasn’t, but for some odd reason, he didn’t shove Bernie away. He was visibly cringing the longer Bernie cuddled into his side—the Guardian sighing wistfully with a goofy smile on his face—so my chest was starting to hurt from suppressing the laughter bubbling inside at the scene the two made.
They were so cute together!
The longer I pondered the perplexing situation, the more I wondered if Bernie might have knocked something loose in my longtime teacher’s head when he had attacked Anric before. It was the only way I could make sense of any of it. Or perhaps, Anric felt he couldn’t retaliate because he had been bested by Bernie. I was quite honestly at a loss of what to think as Bernie snuggled my clearly uncomfortable teacher.
“Leave it to me, you manly stud you. I’ll keep her plenty protected. I’ll be so attached to her that she’ll have to carry me around like a purse everywhere she goes,” Bernie said, mystifying my teacher as he peered sideways at the rambling Guardian with a look that expressed how very little he actually followed.
Well, I didn’t a lot of the time either. Sometimes Bernie said things even I had trouble comprehending. I had attributed this disconnect between us as something to do with him being raised here and I in the In-Between realm.
I stifled a giggle while Anric nodded his head, still appearing incredibly perplexed. “No need to go that far, Guardian. The princess is quite capable of protecting herself. You need only assist her if she were outnumbered and required your aid.”
My heart was moved by his words as Anric bowed and then disappeared to retrieve Vlad from where they had kept him. I was glad for the slight reprieve from containing my laughter as I pressed my hand to my mouth and panned around the area to hide my face from the Guardian who was already making his way over to me.
“Now that the stick in the mud is gone…” Bernie said before his arms wrapped around my shoulders.
I slipped out of his hold, kicking out his legs and sending the bulky Guardian to the floor with a loud thump. He coughed and groaned as he rolled onto his back, taking a minute to recover after his collision with the floor. His hat had flown all the way off and skidded over the slightly moist grass, alit in the soft glow showering down from the brilliant white moon above us. If I hadn’t been the one to hit him, I might think he were stargazing. But I knew otherwise as he rested a hand over his chest and panted through the pain he must have been feeling after the sudden attack.
My chest clenched as I peered down at him with a guilty feeling in my stomach. I hadn’t quite meant to hurt him, and now that he was clearly injured, I was suddenly feeling the weight of what I’d done. It was more reflex than anything, and I still felt slightly concerned with the close proximity between us.
I couldn’t trust myself around him. Whatever this connection was that we shared, it took hold of me almost as soon as he touched me. So, it was best that I keep the physical contact between Bernie and I at a minimum. At least until I had time to explain myself to Brother.
“I’m—”
Bernie smiled abruptly, stopping me as I started to speak out in apology for injuring him. Amber eyes glistened as his hand shot out, taking hold of my wrist, and tugged me with a force I hadn’t been expecting. I landed on his chest, breath escaping me in a whoosh as arms pinned me down and imprisoned my body against his. Pushing down on the moistened grass with my palms sliding nearly out from underneath me, I tried to dislodge his hold on my waist, but it was fruitless as his arms constricted and kept me there.
It was baffling this strength he very rarely used, but it was incredible and easily overpowered my own. I was among the strongest of my kind, so it was quite a feat to overcome me in a battle of strength. Only a select few—Anric and Big Brother among them—could do it. I was not only strong, but I was also quick and intensely calculating. If I couldn’t outdo one with strength or speed, I’d overcome them with my unparalleled strategizing. It was the very reason Brother had given me the title to rule over his army.
He had called me a ‘natural born leader’ when he bequeathed the title of Captain of the Spiritum Bellatorum.
But even more disconcerting, Bernie’s brawn was making my head fuzzy with thoughts of the night before and how the beast in him had surfaced only after I’d taken my turn with the control. Knowing that he could very easily overpower me was evidence enough of how much respect he had for me.
It was enough to send a shiver down my spine and renew the always just-below-the-surface yearning I held for him.
At any moment, Bernie could do whatever he wished—take what he wanted with or without my consent—but he never did. Often playing it off as though he was weak and not quite talented enough to outmaneuver me, Bernie never took more than he knew I was willing to give.
So why now, then? Was something giving me away? How did he know even the thoughts that were so buried I wasn’t even aware they were there until he was dragging them out of me?
Cheeks flaring, I fought to control my already wandering thoughts as my pulse throbbed forebodingly in my ears. I knew I was losing the control I was attempting to keep hold of. The craving to have his mouth against mine, his heat pairing with mine, and the very weight of him holding me down was already affecting my wayward body as I laid against him, afraid to move and fe
el the tantalizing friction again.
“You’re still the best at taking me to my knees, princess,” Bernie whispered with a sweet note to his voice. “Take a lay with me for a minute. We’re finally alone.”
Oh god, oh god, oh god. He looked so gorgeous masked in the night with only the moonlight to illuminate him.
“Bernard,” I breathed in attempts of chastising him and somehow conceal my barely-there willpower.
His beautiful eyes pulled me in, eliciting core-deep tremors that instantly drained the remainder of my strength. “It’s still Bernie, darling. Call my name in that sweet voice of yours. I’m desperate to hear it again.”
I shuddered at the deep, beseeching timbre. “Anric expects us to go to the realm,” I said, utterly vexed at my quivering voice and hoping to convince not only him but my unruly body as well.
“Come on, darling, forget what you should do and just do whatever you want to. Let this old cowboy spoil you rotten.”
Holy mother, his hard body felt so bloody good.
Bernie’s smile brightened, his hands roaming from mid-back to shoulder before trailing all the way down and taking hold of me by the rear. He dragged open my legs and forced me to straddle him, triggering that dormant urge I’d managed to bury since the last time he held me to resurface with a vengeance. I could almost hear the sound of my hard-fought willpower breaking when the firm waist pressed between my legs, hot and throbbing where I was already feeling way too much.
My hips rolled down into him, shamelessly seeking friction and causing Bernie to groan throatily in surprise. His hands moved with me, holding onto my hips as his mouth opened and exposed the sharpened incisors. It was clear by the luminous eyes and sharp fangs that he was already giving into the beast. His hand took hold of my neck and dragged me down into a hot kiss, the pleasure further awakening my desire as I instantly submitted to him and kissed back.
I didn’t stand a chance, not when my body was under his spell and reacting to his every touch. Or so I told myself as I let his tongue ravish my mouth. Then, I was recovering and finding the will to pull away from the intense mouth that made my head feel hazy and body warm.
“That’s the ticket,” Bernie rasped, grappling my hips with a satisfied grin, “Just give into it, darling. Don’t fight what’s happening here.”
The tension in the air was close to breaking, so I knew I had to act fast if I wanted to end this. Gathering myself, I shook my head and denied him bodily. I tried to stand, but his hands kept me from doing anything but straddling his waist.
“I can’t,” I argued hesitantly. “We can’t do this again.”
“Why ever not?” Bernie asked, thumb swiping over my bottom lip. “Don’t you feel it, princess? The bond? You’re mine and I’m yours. No matter what you say, that’ll never change.”
I could sense the strengthening bond, felt it in the way our bodies were magnetized to each other and only the slightest touch had us seeking out more to reignite the passion of last night—even perhaps outdoing it. Once it was started, it was hopeless to fight it. I knew that much, had even conceded to how hopeless fighting all of this was, but I fought it still. It wasn’t in my nature to submit with so much to fight for.
“Bernie,” I pleaded.
His smile was heart-stopping as he cradled my face. “Can’t you let me love you, Nyla? I promise to treat you right.”
Love me?
Quaking under the almost nonchalant proclamation, I tried to talk sense into the body that was already moving without my know-so. But no matter what I argued in my head—my duty as princess; the recent death of my brother; my betrothal; the many complications of again bedding a Guardian in a realm I didn’t live—I continued to yearn for the pleasure only Bernie could satisfy.
Giving in finally, it was hot minutes where one of his hands led me down to roll into his lower half, while the other kept me prisoner to another passionate kiss that only further intensified the urgency to join our bodies like we had the night before. My eager hips jolted and shifted in reaction to his, my moans filling the Guardian’s mouth when the sensations were almost too much. But every time I did, it only made Bernie’s body move quicker. His hands grow rougher. His mouth taste harder.
My Guardian rolled us, pinning my wrists down to the wet grass and hovering over me with his chest heaving in and out sharply. His tiger eyes fixed to my silver ones as the darkening stripes exposed the nearly complete transformation from normal Bernie to beast Bernie. His fingers slipped into my hair and then angled my head back as his lips attached to my neck and suckled the flesh. I took hold of him, moaning through the abrupt pleasure that shot straight into my lower half as his fangs nicked the flesh.
And just as I was giving into the pleasure of his mouth as it traced along the column of my neck, Bernie’s face drew away quickly and his eyes flashed open, the alarm inside them startling my errant body.
And then I felt it.
I was on my feet, Bernie standing in front of me and protecting my body with his massive size. In partial transformation already, Bernie’s presence seemed to pulsate with power. But his weapon and magic were at the ready as the sharp shift in the air around us drained the very last of the sensual moment and replaced it with the looming threat of the enemies that had already surrounded us.
The glowing eyes of our foes stared, unblinking, as their beast bodies crouched low and slowly closed in. Their powerful forms were a familiar sight, the clawed feet and limber bodies leading me to believe that we were probably facing a pack of tigers that Bernie personally knew. Their focus was on him, and him alone. Unlike last time, however, the number had nearly doubled.
Twenty-two.
I counted the excessive number of tigers as they snarled and panted with an eagerness to devour Bernie whole. Having seen for myself what Bernie and Carl were capable of, that mere discovery of so many was daunting to our two. Perhaps even impossible.
I knew the moment a singular man amongst countless beasts came striding aggressively towards us that Bernie had never gone to meet Danny like he had promised. This was an attack party. Tonight, they would not leave before we were dead.
“Breaking rules? Can’t say I’m surprised,” Danny said, peering past Bernie to where I stood with my eyes transfixed to him. “Didn’t escort the lady like promised, I see. Decided you wanted to have her first? How very like our Tiger King.”
“Danny,” Bernie greeted shortly, “How’d you find this place?”
Danny, who was the only one in human form, brushed back his hair in the soft moonlight, his glowing eyes pinned to Bernie’s form. In this vast field, the landscape little more than knee-high grass, low brush, and uneven hills along the horizon, his tall form loomed dangerously. Nothing stirred as the many beasts who accompanied him somehow blend in with the grass they stalked through.
Danny shrugged his shoulders, casually palming his hair back from his face again as the wind almost appeared to react to the threat in the air. “I knew I’d find you here. Home is where the heart is, ain’t that right, Bernie?”
Bernie’s jaw tautened. “Guess so.”
“Too bad your little girlfriend is going to be a casualty of your mistakes. But she wouldn’t be the first. Isn’t that right, old friend?”
Bernie looked my direction before he shrugged nonchalantly. “I gave up the title before I left, Danny. Not my fault what happened after that.”
Danny’s laughter was cold as the rest of the tigers snarled in a chorus of anger. “Not your fault? What the hell were we supposed to do with no leader, huh? Then werewolves? That ain’t your fault, though, right?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking ‘bout, Danny,” Bernie said coolly.
Danny’s eyes narrowed, his entire body shuddering with transformation. “Women and children died at the hand of those wolves. Everything was chaos. But whatever, that’s not why I’ve come here tonight.”
Women and children?
I quivered with the revelation, gaze strayin
g to Bernie who had become visibly rigid with the proclamation. But still, Bernie didn’t express anything but a unexpectedly cold nonchalance. It wasn’t a side of him I’d ever seen. The sharp look and obvious tension suggested he wasn’t totally unaffected, but his expression was almost…numb.
“Come for your few licks, I imagine,” Bernie said, his voice cutting through the quiet snarling. “I’m going to warn you, Danny-boy, today I have someone very important with me. If you attack us, I won’t hold back like I have in the past. I’ll finish y’all off.”
The voice coming from the Guardian I had known to be nothing if not always happy and gentle was ice-cold and threatening. The violence permeating from Bernie momentarily took me off guard. It was as if the man I knew was no longer present as Bernie’s body tensed with the threat closing in on us.
“And the title,” Danny stated in a low growl, “Our history is only a small part of this.”
Bernie appeared momentarily confused by the other man saying so, but his voice came out with not an ounce of it. “I ain’t their king anymore. There’s no use trying to fight me for it.”
“We’ll see about that,” Danny retorted, his anger becoming him.
My sword hand steadied, my mind centering on battle. All of my internal turmoil was pushed down as I focused on the fight I was about to partake in. From Danny’s previous statement, it was very likely we would be battling for our lives against these odds. However, I had faced a great deal of daunting odds and come out on top.
This wouldn’t be any different.
Calculation was key. Careful strategy always won out over brawn and numbers. As our enemy closed in, my brain was already strategizing how best to overcome the strongest before the weakest. In a group like this, to overpower the strength would overcome the weak.
My pulse calmed and my eyes darted from one beast to the next.
