Carl (Guardians In Love Book 4)

by Brianna West

  ‘Oi, Carl? Can you hear me?’

  Gripping the phone, I groaned as another hot rush scorched through every space inside of me, the desire to find Conall making my thoughts hard to catch. Unwilling to take the risk, I took the first set of cuffs and bound my free wrist to the bed. My power rushed to where it locked onto my wrist, fleeing my body into its lure. The scalding burn of its magic was drowned out by another powerful wave of agony that assaulted my form.

  I’d all but forgotten about the phone as I grunted and crawled over the top of the bed, reaching for the other set of magical cuffs. They were just out of reach as the continuous waves of painful sensation flooded my body. Each one more terrible than the last. I wasn’t able to adequately catch my breath. My spine arched through another rush of torturous sensation, and I fought the cuff already imprisoning me to the bed. Though my memories of the last withdrawal were foggy, I couldn’t remember it being this painful.

  “Carl!” someone yelled as I groaned through another wave of pain. “Bloody hell, I told you to call me when you started to feel it!”

  Panting, I grappled the bedding, unable to retort through the relentless washes of agony. Hands touched my hips as I bent over the bed. Aidan attempted to lead me onto my back, but I writhed and stiffened as another round of torture coursed through me.

  Hissing, I fought the cuff’s hold again, my thoughts consumed with the need to find Conall. I heard the man behind me curse before I was being carefully lifted and then put down gently onto the bed. My spine curved as I was plagued by unrelenting heat, its scorching fingers tearing at my insides.

  Grunting, I grasped Aidan’s arm, sharpened nails penetrating the skin. “Let me go,” I rasped, pleading with a voice that didn’t even closely resemble my own. “I have to go to him. Please, oh Lord…”

  “Shite,” Aidan growled, hand cradling the back of my neck. The piercing sound of his phone ringing made me moan with discontent as I battled another onset of agonizing sensation.

  I heard my cries as if they were someone else entirely. I couldn’t recognize my own voice, which had been tainted by anguish. The whimpering came and went alongside sharp intakes of air as I twisted on the surface of the bed.

  The bed’s leveling was disturbed as Aidan took hold of me, reaching for the remaining set of cuffs and securing my other wrist. Holding my head against his chest, the thudding of his heartbeat momentarily soothed me as he answered the call. He kept me cradled firmly into his body while mine convulsed. The pain was so terrible, I’d begun to vocalize without hesitation.

  “What the bloody hell do you want?” Aidan barked into the phone, hushing me as he tightened his hold to keep me from fleeing it.

  I heard the other person’s voice clearly, though I was unfocused, at best, due to the torment I was experiencing.

  ‘Logan had to lock up the old man,’ I heard Laura say, her voice unnaturally grave. ‘Seems like he was intent on going to Carl, so Logan’s watching over him now. Keep Carl safe. This is a strong pull even for the old man.’

  “You don’t need to tell me that,” Aidan said, voice deepening with anger. “I can’t talk right now. Just make sure that Logan keeps the old man from coming for Carl, or I don’t know what I’ll do. That bloody tosser’s done enough damage.”

  I could barely make out Aidan’s face through the pain, but I smelt his intense anger. It wafted through my nostrils as he ended the call and threw the phone across the room. I held back another whimper as I struggled to keep my suffering from leaking out of my eyes. Aidan’s hand touched my face tenderly, his body hovering over mine when I’d finally focused enough to look at him.

  “Can you hear me, Carl?”

  Nodding my head, I was only able to groan as the torture had disabled my voice from anything more than that. My body writhed as Aidan’s voice came again.

  “I’m going to bite you.” His illuminated eyes were the only thing I could focus on as another hot wash of pain made my voice startle out of me. “Just breathe. It’ll be over soon.”

  Only a moment later, the sharp feeling of his fangs puncturing my throat cut through the hot pain that had enveloped my body. Grunting deeply, I twisted beneath his weight and shuddered with relief as the pain slowly ebbed away to a dull ache.

  Something took its place as Aidan drew away, my blood coating his lips. Thoughtlessly, I reached for him, touching the red liquid on his mouth. The color was captivating against his skin. His luminous eyes widened as I rubbed the liquid blood across his bottom lip with my thumb, mesmerized.

  My stomach constricted, the lower half of my body unconsciously rolling upwards with the unexpected excitement I felt. My head was filled with a lustful haze, the sensation of transformation at the edge of my consciousness. An urge unlike the one before bloomed inside my chest as I stared at Aidan’s blood-covered mouth.

  I wanted to taste my blood on his lips.

  Aidan’s eyes closed briefly, a low rumble echoing inside his chest. “What is this smell?” he asked, his arms tautening as he held himself above me.

  Unable to comprehend what had come over me, I lifted and licked the blood from his lips. The metallic taste spread over my tongue before a shudder overtook my body. Aidan’s lips were so soft, perfectly yielding against my tongue, and I wanted more.

  Aidan didn’t move as I lapped the remaining blood from his lips, retreating slightly as heat pooled in my lower belly. Panting, I was having a hard time breathing with the strengthening desire. It felt like every nerve in my body was reacting to Aidan’s scent as it wafted into my nose and clouded my thoughts. As if my body craved his. All I could manage to think about was how much I needed him to touch me. Aidan’s nostrils flared before he was growling in a way that made my body unconsciously tighten.

  I wanted to submit to him.

  “Fuck,” he cursed before taking hold of my neck and slamming our mouths together in a hard kiss.

  His tongue plunged into my mouth the moment I groaned, body coming alive with sensation that had quickly made the previous pain a distant memory. Aidan’s tongue coiled around mine, causing my hips to instinctively buck with the pleasurable stimulus it elicited. His fangs clashed with mine before he drew away and grunted, his body already in partial transformation.

  His skin had darkened. His caramel eyes had lightened to a pale yellow and were glowing much brighter, their light fixing to mine. His already huge size had somehow become larger, the muscle forming his torso further defined and strikingly powerful. He was breathtakingly beautiful. I’d never been so captivated by a transformation, and the craving to feel him again plagued me as I slid my hungry eyes down his perfect physique.

  Aidan’s weight pinned my trembling body to the bed as he heaved labored breaths above me. “Why do you smell so bloody good?”

  His eyes closed tightly, the entire length of his body tightening as he fought himself. “Fuck, I…can’t think,” he groaned, his face distorted with pain. “You need to hit me, Carl. Knock me out. Do whatever you bloody well can!”

  Cuffed to the bed, I wasn’t going to be able to do much. But I was already too far gone to be able to do anything even if I wanted to. My body moved on its own as I lifted once more and trailed my tongue along the line of his jaw. The salty taste of his skin caused a purr to rumble inside my chest as I retraced the line before swiping my tongue across his tightly shut lips.

  Aidan’s chest stiffened before relaxing, his mouth opening so that his tongue could come out to meet mine. Groaning throatily, the other Guardian dipped his head down and devoured my mouth. After thoroughly tasting my palate and sliding his tongue over mine, he teared through the shirt I wore with his sharpened nails. Then, nipping my jaw, Aidan bent back down to where he’d bitten me before and sunk his teeth into the spot once more. My back arched into him, fusing our torsos together as the sharp clang of the cuffs echoed inside the room.

  Pressure built below as I moaned through the intense, amazing sensation of his bite. Aidan’s frustrated growl resounde
d inside my ears as he reached for the magical cuffs imprisoning me to the bed and yanked them so hard that the wooden headboard cracked all the way through with the force.

  Discarding the broken piece of the bed to the floor, Aidan snarled with agitation. His jaw clenched as he hovered over me, nostrils flaring again when he looked down. And then his mouth was on mine, our tongues colliding hotly as he forced my legs apart and thrust his hips down.

  My head flew back as pleasure ripped through me from where our hips pressed together. “Oh Lord!” I cried out, rolling my hips upwards to seek more friction in order to relieve the pressure where I’d already grown hard. I reached for him, taking hold of his sinewy arms and continued rolling my hips shamelessly into his.

  I couldn’t think straight. I needed release. Nothing mattered but reaching the inevitable end of this pleasure.

  Aidan’s head dropped onto my chest as one of his hands took hold of my wanton hips, the other hand holding his body aloft. “Wait…oh, fuck.”

  His deep groan sparked heat where I was already swollen. Our combined panting echoed around us. “Bloody hell, Carl, your smell is driving me mental.”

  The wet pad of his tongue lapped at my neck before Aidan inhaled the spot deeply. Gasping, my hold tightened as he nipped along my collarbone and across the smooth plains of my chest, before following the line of my abdomen to where my belly hollowed into my navel. Licking the skin, Aidan let his tongue dip into my belly button, then trailed further so that his nose teased the hem of my pants. My breathing hitched as the desire to have him lick lower made my already strained erection pulsate with need.

  “Aidan,” I gasped, moaning as he mouthed the hardened bump where all of my arousal had pooled. “Please, oh Lord, just touch me.”

  Aidan growled low in his throat, nibbling the tip of my throbbing arousal, then he pulled the hem of my pants down in order to expose the leaking head. “What am I supposed to do when you beg me so sweetly?”

  Aidan’s pale-yellow eyes were shining radiantly as he inhaled in great heaves above the part of me that I wanted his tongue to touch the most. I lifted slightly to see his face, the desire to have him pleasure me making my movements wild.

  “Aidan,” I urged, hips twisting until he took hold of them and imprisoned them to the bed.

  “If I do this, I’d be no better than that bloody tosser,” Aidan growled, his jaw grinding as my hands fisted into the bedding.

  Senseless with desire, I whimpered in my throat. The need for release was so strong that I couldn’t think of anything else. I was about to burst, and I didn’t care what the repercussions were to let Aidan be the one that helped make it happen.

  I needed Aidan to touch me.

  His hands gripped me forcefully as his eyes closed, inhaling deeply and tensing when I moaned from the hot exhale of his breath that teased my exposed erection. One of his hands slid away from my hip and cupped my backside instead, lifting me towards his face as he sucked the tip of my arousal into his mouth and groaned hungrily around it. The vibration pushed me close to the edge, the wet heat causing my head to fly back as I braced for climax. Aidan’s hot mouth consumed me several times before he pulled off, the sound of it nearly my undoing.

  “Fuck, you taste so good,” he said, the deep octave of his voice making my sensitized body quiver. “Why the bloody hell do you taste so good?” the large Guardian demanded as he lifted me higher by my rear and ran his tongue along the underside of my pulsating erection.

  “Aidan!” I gasped, unable to hold off.

  I came without warning and spilled it all over my upper torso. Aidan’s eyes were practically sparkling with ethereal light as he bent down and licked where my release had landed. His groan of pleasure sent hot jolts down my spine as he cleaned the skin and pressed his nose to where the fresh wound of his teeth was.

  “Fuck,” he growled. “What am I supposed to do, really?” His mouth trailed my neck as he breathed me in again, his massive erection pressed against my recently expelled one. “I want to bugger you so bad it’s actually painful, yeah?”

  I watched Aidan draw back, his eyes turned away as his jaw gritted with frustration. Taking a minute as I numbly watched him, he retrieved a wet towel and cleaned my abdomen. His hands were gentle as he avoided anywhere that might unintentionally arouse me, and then he used magic to help me into a shirt. Checking my wrists, he tenderly palmed the injuries before rubbing a soothing balm over them. Then, he rubbed the same balm into the bite mark on my neck.

  If I hadn’t been entirely out of it, my vision hazy with exhaustion in my post-orgasmic state, I would’ve laughed at the sight we made. The large, partially transformed Guardian was sporting an enormous erection while taking care of the sleepy, half-naked Guardian on the bed. Actually, I would’ve been mortified, but nothing except exhaustion nagged at my senses. There was a subtle desire still inside my chest, but it gradually ebbed away with how long Aidan spent cleaning and dressing me. After I’d been taken care of, the large Guardian excused himself into a bathroom nearby.

  Partially transformed, I could hear the low grunts and sounds of him taking care of himself. It didn’t quite register at that moment that he’d essentially halted his own release, but there was the smallest twinge inside my chest when I realized he’d fought his beast.

  Unlike me.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next time I woke, my entire body was soaked with sweat as another rush of heat burned its way through. I turned over, reaching for the magical cuffs that sat atop the bedside table.

  I hadn’t expected to undergo any more of the withdrawals, but Aidan had mentioned it would be worse. I’d just hoped that the worst had already passed, naively. This time, the heat was already coating my insides with the previous anguish. I wasn’t given an opportunity to adjust to it. It was powerful and debilitating from the moment I woke up convulsing.

  My throat was so dry that I could barely swallow. It took a great deal of effort to breathe as I locked the first cuff onto my wrist, thankful that Aidan had fixed the headboard at some point while I slept. My power had already been drained sufficiently, my body exhausted to the extent that movement was nearly impossible, but I didn’t want to take any chances. There was too much that could potentially go wrong if I was careless about how the pain would affect me—what the yearning to go to Conall would make me capable of.

  Inhaling sharply through my nose as fire scorched its way through my chest, I managed to get the other cuff locked onto the headboard. And with my chest heaving in the effort it took to move, I used my mouth to maneuver the other cuff onto my wrist.

  I’d never felt so helpless. So overpowered. So at odds with my own body.

  The cuff fell from my mouth, clanking against the wood as my entire body seized under another wave of torture. Yearning bloomed and warped my thoughts as I bent my head down, seeking the cuff once more and taking it between my teeth. The quaking in my limbs was so bad, I barely kept my torso upright. A sharp, scalding rush of pain cut through my chest, and I dropped the cuff from my mouth the moment I reactively gasped.

  “Carl?” I heard Aidan call out as the sound of his footsteps entered the room. “Bloody hell, are you okay?!”

  Shaking my head, I sunk back into the headboard as he rushed to my side. He took my chin into his hand, raising my face so that he could peer into it. Cursing, he felt my forehead and then reached for a towel nearby.

  I panted, tensing as the terrible sensation flooded my limbs and seized my chest once more. I grew increasingly worried by the second that I’d actually vomit. Aidan wiped the sweat from my brow with the wet towel he’d grabbed before doing the same to my chest. And all I managed to do was huff and pant, unable to catch my breath as the throbbing inside my head increased so terribly that I swayed with the sudden vertigo.

  The yearning was unbearable, driving me steadily towards madness. I’d never battled such an overpowering urge. Even fighting my beast nature had never felt so terrifying. The pull was so strong,
I actually worried I’d be torn all the way through if I didn’t go to him.

  Go to Conall.

  The phone that had been discarded earlier began to ring again, the sound deafening in my current state and giving me reason to recoil as my head throbbed intensely with its shrill echo. Aidan looked over, mumbling angrily under his breath as he stood and practically leapt over to where the phone’s bright glow beamed from the floor.

  “What the bloody hell is it now?” he whispered hotly into the phone, taking a seat beside me and helping secure the other cuff to my wrist.

  ‘Niko Lindberg,’ Laura said shortly, her tone severe.

  “What about that blonde tosser?!” Aidan began to yell, but softened his voice when I winced with the abrupt volume.

  He cursed as I threw my head back hard into the headboard and convulsed, pain raging through my chest like everything had been set on fire from the inside. I’d been burned by fire and magic alike, but nothing came close to the devastation this heat caused. Everything hurt beyond comprehension. I couldn’t think. Could barely move. My head felt like it might cave in at any moment.

  My body seized again, voice fleeing my throat in a low wail. Aidan was instantly dropping the phone, a growl rumbling through his chest as he took hold of me and cradled my body as best as he could into his own. The pain was too much, and I couldn’t contain my voice anymore. My fingernails cut through my palms as I fisted my hands, which were still locked to the headboard, against the steadily growing torture. The agony sliced through me as if a blade was cutting from the inside out. All I could manage to think was that I needed Aidan to end it. I needed him to bite me.

  “P-please…make it…stop,” I pleaded in a voice stricken with the worst kind of torment.

  Aidan’s body tensed against mine as he hushed me softly, holding me close. His soothing efforts had absolutely no impact; the pain making it impossible for me to focus anywhere else but the devastation it was causing inside my body. Words would never come close to expressing how close I’d come to wishing for my own death.