Carl (Guardians In Love Book 4)

by Brianna West

  “We’re a dying breed sadly,” I sassed, smiling. “Which is every reason it’s our job to educate misguided men like yourself.”

  Heaving a small laugh, Aidan stared at me before looking ahead with a defeated grunt. “Well, good on you, mate.”

  Even though I knew I’d regret it as soon as I said it, I stole a glance at Aidan before saying, “If you practiced it more, you might’ve just found someone by now.”

  “Who said I wanted someone?” Aidan countered bluntly.

  My chest squeezed and suddenly the playful mood was entirely drained out of me. I hadn’t expected that his words would hurt as much as they did. I was shocked by how much they tore through me, but I kept my face from betraying the hurt I was feeling at his offhanded response.

  “I guess it wouldn’t matter, then,” I responded numbly.

  Aidan’s eyes found mine before he was retracting his statement with an uncharacteristic stutter. “I-I mean, that was the me before…” His eyes left mine, and he gripped the wheel of the car tightly. “Anyway, we’re almost at my flat. If you’d like, we can go for some food in town.”

  His fumbling was adorable. Against my will, I’d been mesmerized by the struggle he seemed to be going through after inadvertently saying something he shouldn’t. Whether that was because of my anger over his disrespect towards Laura, or if he’d somehow understood the upset I felt over his confident response that he didn’t need anyone. Either way, I was grateful that he was trying to apologize in his own way.

  Settling back into my seat, I watched as he fidgeted at the wheel of the car, keeping his eyes somehow on the road.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” I posed, smiling when the confusion reached his forehead and he looked over at me, inquisitive. “How about I cook us a bite to eat?”

  Aidan seemed genuinely surprised by the suggestion. “You cook?”

  Lips lifting, I eyed him pointedly. “Some might say better than you.”

  Aidan grunted distastefully, flipping me off. “I knew it. You thought it was shite. So much for you being a gent.”

  Laughing, I didn’t answer and let the were-bear Guardian grumble angrily and marinate in my words for a few minutes. Silently, I apologized to him while accepting the insult he clearly felt as payment for the slights made against Laura.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was well into evening when I noticed the subtle agitation I’d felt all day was getting worse. Aidan had gone to shower and do a few things in his bedroom, while I stayed in the living room to read some of the literature he had on hand. Which he had a great selection of, surprisingly.

  At first, it was barely anything at all. My skin felt sensitive to touch, the fabric of my shirt making me somewhat uncomfortable since our shared lunch. I’d noticed the elevation in my pulse around the same time as well. I hadn’t thought much of it then, because being around Aidan made my heart naturally race but, as time went on, the thrumming of my pulse had become noticeably uncomfortable.

  I felt on edge. As though each new or increased sensation was slowly building towards something, and it was making it gradually more difficult to focus on anything that wasn’t my wayward body. I was agitated for no reason other than something felt off and my own body was beginning to betray me.

  In an effort to control whatever was happening, I went to my room and started to take off my shirt. The material had started to feel distracting on my skin. The friction of it moving over my sensitive flesh was damned near painful. I tore it from my body, the buttons scattering out in different directions as the sounds of ripping fabric disturbed the quiet inside the dark room. I let the scraps of what was once my favorite shirt flutter to the floor, unable to feel upset over the loss when it had been the very reason I was uncomfortable most of the afternoon.

  A nauseous heat had grown inside my stomach, and it was very quickly twisting up my insides and making it nearly impossible to remain standing as I stumbled over to the bed. Panting, I cupped the back of my neck, stroking away the tension I felt there while I continued to gasp in short, tight breaths. I was already moistened from head to toe in a thin sheen of perspiration. The exertion of fighting the discomfort most of the afternoon had started to visibly show in the sweat trailing from different places on my chest. Which would explain why my shirt had been unnaturally damp.

  Someone knocked on the door just as I’d managed to get onto the bed in spite of my violent heartbeat and weakened limbs. The door clicked open, Aidan’s glowing eyes drawing my gaze like a moth to the flame. His massive stature barely fit through the door frame as he took a step inside, his nostrils flaring when the dense scent of whatever was occurring inside of me hit him.

  “Fuck,” Aidan cursed loudly, “I bloody knew it.”

  Managing to sit upright with the use of my quaking arms, I kept the strength in my posture as I regarded him.

  Everything felt impossible to do. Every movement was excruciating and took all of my strength. While it was dramatically different from withdrawals that had resulted of Conall taking blood, the changes in my body were similar enough to suggest what I might be undergoing before Aidan had even uttered a word.

  Because it had happened once before.

  The other Guardian appeared to be struggling internally with how to proceed. “Two heats in a matter of weeks. Are you fucking kidding me?!”

  He growled low in his throat, large body teetering slightly with the dense scent of the heat in the air. Even I could smell it. Everything about it was alluring, and it teased the senses in a way that made it hard to make heads or tails of anything. Without realizing it, the intense scent had put me into a daze, and now I was struggling to keep myself upright and remain strong in front of Aidan, who was already visibly suffering from the pheromones in the air.

  After what had occurred between us, I finally did my research on our kind’s heat. It was true that mixed creatures very rarely underwent a heat. But of those that had, it was, more often than not, triggered by their mates. I’d refused to acknowledge that the heat I’d undergone was in relation to that because the circumstances in which it had come about were unique and probably the entire reason for it occurring. At least, that’s what I’d originally believed.

  Until now.

  Aidan took a leaded step forward, the struggle not to come closer obvious in his pained expression as he huffed in a deep, uncomfortable breath.

  “Carl,” he said, his voice expressing how hard he was fighting himself, “I need you to cuff me somewhere. Anywhere. It’s the only way I’m going to get through tonight without touching you.”

  I watched his body ripple with transformation, his size increasing in the short pulses in between. He gritted his teeth before he took another weighted step forward. I watched him struggle, and I knew the reason he had to. He didn’t want what happened last time to happen again.

  There was a painful burn in my throat when I realized that I was doing this to him again, even after I vowed I wouldn’t. I got to my feet with every ounce of strength I had left in my body, taking weak steps towards the side table before retrieving the magical cuffs from inside. I wrapped an arm around my stomach as the tight, nauseous sensation in it intensified. Aidan growled low in his throat when I finally made it over to him, his panting becoming louder as I peered up at him before taking hold of his wrist.

  I had done this to him. Yet again, Aidan would be forced to battle himself for no other reason but because I couldn’t control my beast.

  When I started to lead him towards the bed, Aidan’s other hand took hold of my face and forced my gaze to his. “Don’t make that face,” he pleaded through a clenched jaw.

  There was a lump lodged in my throat, making it difficult to speak louder than a tight whisper. “What face?” I asked, inhaling one breath at a time.

  Aidan kept a steady hold of me, the visible torment making his jaw strain as my scent strengthened between us. He inhaled sharply, grunting when he faltered forward a step. “This isn’t your fault. Same as l
ast time, this is because I’m weak.”

  “Funny, thought I was the one that gave into it last time.”

  I led his arm around my shoulders, taking the weight of him without knowing if I could. I managed not to buckle under him, but I still had to walk over to the bed. Which was looking more impossible by the second.

  Aidan groaned, his head dropping forward slightly as he heaved another shuddering breath. “Is that how you remember it? Trying to take all the…bloody…credit.”

  A yearning was twisting through me, urging me to touch him. Lick him. Do whatever necessary to feel his naked body against mine. I managed to ignore it, hoping to get Aidan to clarify what he meant. But when I finally got my body under control enough to ask, Aidan’s face was contorted with pain.

  “Aidan?”

  “Lock me to the bed and leave,” he ordered abruptly, his chest seizing. “With the heat, you’ll just be weakened and uncomfortable. I’m the real threat, yeah?”

  I watched him closely from underneath his arm, feeling my own desire rage through my veins with his scent wafting all around me. “What if Niko attacks…like he tried to last time.”

  There was a deep, powerful snarl that reverberated between us as caramel eyes locked onto mine, the intensity of his rage emulated in the blinding glow. “Fuck.”

  Swallowing, I went on, “We’ll both be vulnerable.”

  My heart hammered inside my chest, close to breaking through the breastbone with the strength of each beat. It felt like I might lose my nerve if I waited too long to suggest it, or I might not be able to give my suggestion clearly and without it appearing desperate or coerced by the effects of the heat. Though I couldn’t definitively say whether or not my suggestion wasn’t affected by desperation, at that moment, I truly wanted to satiate the heat so that he wasn’t forced to battle his body for however long it took to settle down.

  If it ever did, that is.

  From what reading I’d done on the matter, the heat usually lasted anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Each heat varied both on the connection it stemmed from and how much was done to satisfy it. It was resolved somewhat when one or both parties were satisfied. But if there was a true connection between the were-beasts, the heat would return until the complete act had taken place.

  In layman’s terms, the act of penetration.

  It wasn’t how I saw our relationship developing, but the mere fact that my heat had returned was evidence of our strong connection. My first experience with sex had been less than ideal—something done in a moment of intense lust. It was done when I was so far gone with need that there wasn’t anything I could do but accept it just to end my torment. While this wouldn’t be much different, it was with someone I held true, genuine feelings for. Though, in hindsight, that could also make it worse if all that this amounted to was a means to an end.

  The Carl that I was before would’ve never taken the risk. I’d be risking my already injured heart. But that Carl had never felt so desperate to have someone like this. That Carl had never known the pleasure of someone’s kiss, or the warmth of another person’s body. That Carl had never wanted so desperately to be with someone he cared for that the potential rewards far outweighed the potential risks. That Carl didn’t know what he was giving up by not risking his heart a little.

  But this Carl was ready to lay himself open to it. Even if it meant that the end result was another broken heart. This Carl knew that a love returned was well worth the risk of another heart broken.

  My chest was painfully tight, and my already frayed nerves had tempered my voice. “I know it’s not ideal…I’m not ideal, but if we satisfy the heat, we can get back to normal, right?”

  “Ideal? You’re bloody perfection.”

  His words, whether or not said in the moment, made my heart soar.

  Resolved, I persisted, “Then, why shouldn’t we just…”

  Aidan touched my face, causing my voice to trail off with the gentle affection that shined through his eyes despite the clear battle he was fighting, and very quickly losing. His still-blunt nails caressed the skin of my cheek, and my body quaked with the satisfaction the soft touch instilled within me.

  “But you’re not like that, Carl. I…it wouldn’t be right to let you do that just in the off chance that blonde tosser tries to attack. That’s not a bloody good enough reason for you to sacrifice yourself.”

  Steeling myself and fighting against the overwhelming sensations causing havoc on my body, I shook my head. “If it’s with you, it’s not a sacrifice.” He watched me, stare piercing as I trembled violently against a sudden wave of desire. “But if you can’t, I understand. I’ll lock you to the—”

  Aidan’s hard kiss cut off my sentence, the strength of it nearly taking out my own strength. His feverish mouth continued to tantalize mine as Aidan pushed into my body, forcing me to take stumbling, backwards steps towards the bed until I was laid out over it with his body hovering over mine.

  Breathing was an effort as Aidan drew his shirt up and over his head, then tossed it away. The marred flesh, which was a glossy glow in many areas, rippled and tensed as the Guardian yanked his belt from the loops of his pants and threw it to the floor. The loud thud of it making impact was overpowered by the pounding pulse inside my ears.

  Aidan’s vibrant, licentious eyes pinned me to the bed as he bent down and chased a wayward trail of sweat that was traveling over the curve of my ribs and down my side. The provocative heat of his tongue as it traced a path over the skin to where my stomach hallowed into my navel was enough to make my body seize and shudder with anticipation. Inhaling my scent, Aidan rid me of my pants, letting his nails score across my bare flesh as he did.

  “Fuck, you smell good,” he groaned, nipping at the area just below my navel.

  I sucked in a breath, body already warming with each touch he paid to my oversensitive skin. “Don’t say it.”

  “Say what, you smell fucking delicious? Why the bloody hell not?”

  Listening to his deep baritone made my body react just as much as feeling his touch had, and I wouldn’t be able to take much more of it. I was already impossibly hard just from hearing the deep register in his voice when he said anything at all.

  “Because it’s too much,” I bit out through shallow pants.

  The other Guardian’s eyes slid over my naked torso with overt lust. “That just makes me want to do it more, you realize.” His lips lifted. “You’re bloody gorgeous, and I can’t wait to hear your cries when I fuck you.”

  Groaning, I quaked with each rumbled word. “You’re a damn tease.”

  “The fuck I am,” Aidan grumbled hotly, “I plan to make good on every bloody word.”

  Chuckling to himself, Aidan brushed his mouth over my abdominals before he trailed his nose along the line of my chest, inhaling my scent all the way to my collar. I was panting by the time he reached my neck, the need for his bite making me beckon him with my body.

  I reached out, teasing my fingers over his shoulders and making Aidan draw away to curiously peer down at me. Lifting, I pressed my mouth to his, suckling his bottom lip and garnering a low growl from the were-bear Guardian in response. His hand cradled the back of my neck before he put strength into the hold and pulled me upright, forcing my legs to straddle his lap as Aidan’s lush lips slid over mine and his wet tongue tasted my mouth.

  The satisfying friction of his mouth and strong, forward slide of his hips helped ease the painful tension coiling tightly inside of me, and I couldn’t help but moan with appreciation when Aidan’s arm curled around my back and the bare flesh of our chests fused together.

  Aidan nibbled along the column of my neck, his heaving breaths causing our torsos to grind hotly together. “I want this to be slow,” he murmured gutturally, “For fuck’s sake, you bloody deserve slow, but my head’s a right mess, and you taste so fucking good that I can’t. I bloody can’t, Carl.”

  Chasing his mouth, I kissed him with urgency before rolling my hips into his.
“I’m not some little woman, so I can handle however fast you need it.”

  “Fuck,” Aidan growled, sucking the skin of my shoulder and teasing it with his fangs. “Do you know what the bloody hell you’re doing to me? I’m barely keeping it together, Cheeky Tiger.”

  Aidan forced me to my stomach after a long, intense minute of clashing mouths and teeth. His hands teased the hard buds of my nipples before scraping down the toned curves of my chest to where I was already leaking and near bursting. Tearing through the fabric of my boxer-briefs, Aidan stripped me of the last bit of clothing and gave way to a throaty growl when I tensed under the second of scrutiny he paid my naked backside. Bending over, Aidan took hold of my hardened erection, making me unintentionally stiffen with surprise. Stroking me with one hand, Aidan’s other hand rounded my hips and parted my legs to give him better access.

  Modesty had fled when he’d first kissed me, and now all I could do was wait in wanting for him to do what we both needed to satiate the terrible need.

  There was a short kiss to my lower back before a solid, wet heat teased and probed between my cheeks, leaving me gasping for air when the new sensation paired with the steady stroke of Aidan’s hand nearly sent me plummeting over the edge. Aidan clasped me around the base of my straining length, staving off my climax, and continued to lap and wet the area between my legs.

  I never would’ve believed it would feel so damn good to have that part of me licked, but it did. Oh Lord did it.

  Heady moans rumbled inside my chest as I struggled to keep myself upright on shaky arms. Aidan’s tongue continued to moisten and prod the place on my body I couldn’t even begin to fathom through the haze of pleasure. His groans of desire only served to edge me closer, and mine only served to make his tongue more persistent and increasingly more pleasurable.

  “Fuck, shit, fuck,” I cursed as his probed me harder, my hips unintentionally bucking into his hand.