Carl (Guardians In Love Book 4)

by Brianna West

Glaring, I breathed in an effort to control the trembling in my numb, pleasure-weakened limbs. “Whose fault do you think that is?”

  Aidan’s eyes sparkled impishly as he took a slow step towards me, licking his lips overtly. “Mine. All mine, Cheeky Tiger.”

  Skillfully maneuvering me to face the other way, Aidan helped me prostrate my hands onto the trunk of the tree and angle my hips so that I was exposed to him. One hand held my hip while the other searched through his pants. My heart hadn’t recovered from earlier, and with the new position, I was sure it wasn’t going to.

  Still exhausted after climaxing, I didn’t have the energy to ask where he’d gotten the lubrication from as a slick finger gently prodded me. And as I attempted to regain control of my wayward body, Aidan expertly slid a finger inside of me and effectively hindered my ability to think much outside of what he was doing.

  And Lord, what Aidan was doing felt so damn good.

  Aidan’s panting reached my ears as he added another finger, curling them and seeking the place where the sensation was nearly too much for me to handle. The smell of his desire was making my already foggy head so clouded that I didn’t know right from left, let alone how everything had come to this. How we’d somehow ended up in the middle of a forest, about to commit the most intimate act two people could commit. But without any reason to fight him, I was quickly surrendering to his will. Whatever he wanted, I’d give it to him, gladly.

  I wanted him so damn bad that I didn’t care that we were in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t even care that there were others waiting on us. All I cared about was reaffirming the words he and I had shared, and putting those three words into action. I wanted nothing more than to love him with my body the way I was meant to. The way I’d been desperate to when he appeared in the Underworld. The way we had when I’d finally fully, willingly given myself to him.

  “I had wanted to do this in a proper bed,” Aidan whispered huskily, voice tainted by overt lust, “But I need you right now, yeah? Fuck, I need you so bloody much.”

  Gasping as an explosion of sensation flooded my lower half, I pressed my forehead into the tree. “I want you, too. Lord…please, just get on with it already.”

  His husky laughter echoed behind me as Aidan’s fingers slammed into me harder, my low groan answering his. “Are you intentionally antagonizing me, Cheeky Tiger? How am I supposed to be gentle with you goading me like that?”

  Looking over my shoulder, I stared at him with illuminated amber eyes, body already in partial transformation as my clawed hands scored down the bark I was holding my weight on. “Then don’t be. Fuck me however you like.”

  Aidan’s face strained as his entire body grew rigid with my brazen taunt. It was clear he hadn’t expected it. Hell, I hadn’t expected it. I was so far gone with lust that I didn’t even know what the hell I was saying. But I didn’t care. I wanted him so badly that words I’d normally never say came spilling out of my mouth. I’d willingly given myself over to the beast, and I was enjoying every damn minute of it. It had never felt so good to let go. And because it was with Aidan, I knew I could.

  When Aidan’s muscle-infused body shuddered with transformation, I knew that what I’d said had done the trick. His fangs gleamed in the colored light from the sky, and his expression had swiftly gone from playful to primal. His beast had taken over, much like mine had. I was mesmerized by the pale eyes that watched me, predatory in nature. His skin had darkened, and he’d removed his fingers before his claws could inadvertently injure me.

  Aidan had discarded his clothes with magic, too impatient to strip them off the normal way. “Bloody hell,” he growled, “Don’t blame me when you can’t walk because I buggered you senseless all night.”

  Aidan shoved my legs further apart before securely taking hold of my hips. His excited breaths resounded behind me and his scent intensified, swirling around us with so much potency that I was having trouble keeping myself still. If not for the tree and Aidan’s strong hold, I would’ve collapsed a long time ago.

  I tensed when I felt the smooth head of Aidan’s erection press into me. Hands gripping tightly, Aidan thrust forward and penetrated me with his massive girth, dragging a heady moan from my throat as the familiar pressure and pain hit me, and swiftly sliced its way up my spine. The assault stole the air from my lungs, and I unintentionally clamped down on him as he tried to thrust himself in further.

  “Oh, fuck,” Aidan groaned, pushing inside in shallow rolls. “So fucking tight.”

  Rigid, I swallowed back a cry as the intense burn of his entry spread from my lower back and wreaked havoc on my normally strong body. It was so powerful that I was already violently shaking. I grunted, grinding my jaw in an effort to keep from voicing the pain. Without the scents of our heat overpowering the senses, I was left with the initial pain of penetration, and I hadn’t been prepared for it. Grappling the tree, I fought back the urge to cry out again when Aidan’s hips connected with my rear.

  Be strong. I was a man. Men could take a little pain.

  Bending over, Aidan rested his forehead against my shoulder before his fangs grazed the place where he’d bitten me many times before. He inhaled slowly, swiping the spot with his tongue before sinking his fangs into the flesh. Pleasure flooded down my body in hot washes and overpowered the pain I’d previously felt. Arcing, I groaned and pressed back into him, inadvertently tightening around Aidan’s hot, solid length and giving the other Guardian reason to moan.

  “Bloody hell!” he gasped, withdrawing slightly only to slam his hips forward, the loud slap echoing around us and quieting the chirping bugs. “Oh, fuck. You feel bloody brilliant. So fucking tight.”

  Crying out when he rolled into me with another slap, I bit down onto my lower lip and cut into the flesh with my fangs. “Aidan!”

  Stopping and breathing, Aidan didn’t move even when I urged him to with my hips. His body quivered against mine, and I could feel the hard muscles in his legs tauten while his fingers ate into the flesh of my hips with the strain it took to hold back.

  “Bloody hell,” he moaned, shuddering when I attempted to undulate my hips and encourage some kind of movement, “Just wait a tick…”

  I needed it so badly that I was very close to begging him to keep going. I pressed my forehead into the tree, inhaling deeply as the urge in my lower half grew. If he didn’t move soon, I was going to take control, but I managed to wait long enough for him to gather his wits.

  When the other Guardian was finally able to breathe enough through the pleasure he was obviously feeling, he started to thrust without relenting, the pace satisfying the terrible urge that had twisted my stomach into knots. I struggled to keep upright against the constant pleasure assaulting my lower half with each sound thrust of his hips, but I was very quickly losing the battle. I wasn’t going to last very long, and I barely managed to warn him before I was coming again, hard.

  When I’d finished riding out the pulses, Aidan deftly turned me, lifting my weight underneath the thighs with my back eating into the bark of the tree, and then he continued to penetrate me in upward slaps. His blaring eyes watched me, jaw clenched so tightly that the pressure was sure to break it.

  I was forced to encircle his shoulders to keep from tilting over with the constant up and down motion. The other Guardian’s pale eyes trailed my face to where I’d injured my lip, his deep growl thundering between us before he was sucking the injured lip into his mouth and groaning when he tasted my blood.

  “Carl,” he breathed huskily, swiping my cheek with his eager tongue.

  I huffed, pleasure terrorizing my body post-climax. Aidan’s mouth covered mine hotly as he quickened his thrusts, grunting roughly while he fought to reach his end. Then he pulled away, slamming upwards again with a hard lunge before vocalizing his appreciation.

  “Fuck, sorry,” he whispered hotly, confusing me slightly when his beseeching gaze met mine, “Can’t stop now.”

  Unable to figure out what he meant, I struggled a
gainst another hard rush of sensation before the sudden heat of the other Guardian’s climax filled my lower half the instant Aidan stiffened against me. His forehead pressed into my shoulder before he was rapidly pulling away, his magic quickly swirling around our naked forms and cleaning all evidence of what we’d done before replacing our clothing.

  In the post-haze of our lovemaking, I smelt him. Aidan had attempted to block me from view, but there wasn’t anything that could mask his scent or the shrill echo of his voice. Nor could I miss the rampant emotions plowing into my body with our discovery.

  “Oh my,” Bernie shrieked, his voice carrying loudly and silencing the wildlife around us, “My stick-in-the-mud twin brother is finally a man, Nyla!”

  The weight of what Bernie was shouting made the swift mortification take me quite literally off my feet.

  Aidan took hold of my arm, stabilizing me before I could fall. “Should’ve known the twit would come running.”

  Bernie had a hand over his eyes, the smile on his face irritating me the moment I saw it. His shirt seemed to mock me more than his smile did, however. It simply stated, ‘I’m open. Use the back door.’ Bernie was openly vulgar in his choice of shirts, but today’s selection felt a little too on point, and I’d have to smack him later for it when I’d recovered from the embarrassment of being caught in the act.

  Nyla was beside him, her sympathetic smile a small comfort in spite of knowing she’d probably seen everything. Her silver eyes trailed from me to Aidan, then with a short nod, she took Bernie by the arm and tugged him the other direction. Her strength, which I’d experienced first-hand, was something most of us couldn’t contend with. Bernie was no exception. Even with her barely being over five feet in height, she overpowered my twin with ease.

  “Pardon our intrusion,” she said politely, blonde-pink hair flying out behind her as her small body pivoted and headed the opposite direction. “Feel free to utilize the items I have brought for your overnight stay, and do not feel the need to rush back tomorrow. I will speak with Victor.”

  “Hey, darlin’, where are we going?”

  “Away,” she replied shortly, “You have seen that Carl is well, and we are clearly interrupting a very private moment. You will wait until tomorrow to speak with him.”

  “But, sweetums,” Bernie started, pouting, “He’d want to know I was okay, right? We can’t go now.”

  Nyla’s piercing stare silenced my pending remark as she leered up at the man who had somehow stolen her heart. I still wasn’t clear how because, by all accounts, Bernie shouldn’t have. Nyla was clearly out of his league, and my idiot brother definitely didn’t deserve her.

  “You are obviously just fine,” she remarked, coolly looking over her shoulder at me. Her stoicism rivaled even Aidan’s when we were out in public, and I found that I’d unintentionally straightened with her pointed look. “Do you require anything, Carl?”

  Aidan looked over, watching closely as I shook my head and somehow managed a tender smile. “I’m quite alright, thank you. Should we come along since you’re already here?”

  Nyla rejected me with a short head shake, chin lifted. “Consider it a much-needed recovery day. If there is anything pressing, I will contact you. But at this time, I have all I need from you.”

  “But—” Bernie started, his puppy-dog eyes aimed down at Nyla, their hushed voices fading into the background as the reality of what they had just seen began to sink in.

  Aidan had crossed his arms over his chest, observing the exchange with interest. “How did he manage to snag someone like her? Doesn’t make any bloody sense.”

  Bernie’s complaints fell on deaf ears as Nyla easily pulled along the man who was twice her size with very little effort. I inhaled a deep breath, watching their retreating forms, conflicted.

  “I still haven’t a clue, and I watched the entire courtship.”

  Aidan shook his head, clearly mystified. “It’s still mind-boggling to think you two are related.”

  I couldn’t decide how to feel about everything as Nyla and Bernie quickly disappeared, leaving me in the aftermath of my twin brother seeing the two of us in the throes of passion. Humiliation couldn’t even come close to how I felt with Bernie knowing that I was doing such things. But more so that I’d eagerly taken on the female role.

  Ah hell, there was no way I’d recover my pride after this.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “For the love of…Bernie, I said I’d be there in an hour. We’re just packing a few things before we make the trip,” I said into the phone, the whining voice of my brother cutting into every other word I attempted to say.

  I was silently mocked by Aidan’s salacious smirk as I glanced over to where he stood, stuffing a few more items into the black duffel bag Nyla had brought for us. We had stayed another day at Nyla’s insistence, and I’d been grossly unprepared for the tenacious nature of the other man. I hadn’t realized that he’d been practicing so much self-control in our time together. But after mutual declarations of our affection towards one another, it was as if the flood gates had opened and out poured several weeks’ worth of pent up desires.

  I should’ve known that Aidan would be a beast in every sense of the word, because his past history of taking those came and never chasing those that went spoke volumes of it. But I hadn’t been fully prepared to deal with it the minute we were given the opportunity. Aidan had barely let me sleep all night, like he’d promised the day before when we were discovered by my brother.

  When I did finally manage to get some rest, I woke up only a few hours later, desperate for some sort of tonic to relieve the pain that was throbbing throughout my backside. For one very brief moment, I silently wondered how human men recovered from it with very little to aid them. I’d reached a whole new level of respect for gay men who regularly did it, and I was very thankful that our resources were far greater than theirs.

  ‘Everyone is waiting. You’d better hurry on over. No detours through the forest to—’

  “If you finish that sentence, even Nyla won’t be able to save you from what I’m going to do to you when I get there,” I warned, octave dropping with the threat.

  Aidan’s smile grew as he zipped up the bag and walked over to where I propped myself up against the wall, phone pressed into my ear and dressed to the usual perfection—a wrinkleless dress shirt matched with a sleek, immaculately tailored pair of dress pants, which were cut to length and hovered just above name-brand Oxford shoes. I’d slicked my hair back the way I preferred it.

  Spending as many days out of sorts as I had, it was genuinely comforting to get back my signature look. I’d missed the crisp lines of my usual choice of attire, and with my favorite Glock holstered to my hip, it was as if the old Carl had merged with the new one.

  After seeing the were-bear Guardian without clothing most of the morning and a good majority of the day before, it was a slight relief to see him donned in a simple black t-shirt and fashionably tattered pair of jeans. A dagger that I had recently grown fond of was strapped to his belt, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t look right at home there. Aidan’s dark hair, which he’d styled to frame his face but lift around the forehead and eyes, caught the light when he turned casually so that his body was facing mine. It was an act I’d noticed him do a lot recently, angle his body absently towards mine, but I’d only grown curious about it over the course of the last day.

  Without probably meaning to, Aidan’s every action seemed to center around me. At first I thought it was coincidence, but after seeing how his eyes naturally found me in every room I stepped into and his every movement regarded me in some fashion, it was safe to say that Aidan had always been unconsciously aware of our connection.

  He may have never fully picked up on it, much like I hadn’t, but as I looked back over the course of our acquaintance, it had clearly been that way from the start. Perhaps the entire reason I was absently conscious of him myself. Because, over the course of our relationship, I’d also been
particularly fond of the other Guardian. It had been mere curiosity at first and a sense of relief in his presence, but it had indeed been there from the very beginning.

  Aidan’s seductive eyes held mine as he strode towards me, closing the space between us in seconds. His hand pressed on the wall next to where my head rested, his gaze narrowed with overt, licentious intent. I didn’t need to wonder what he might be up to. It was painfully clear. Aidan had given me the same sort of look every time my gaze met his since the moment we’d arrived in the safe house.

  The Guardian was insatiable. Worst still, so was I.

  Staring at the other Guardian as he bent down, his face hovering within inches of mine, I clutched the phone tighter. “We’ll be there soon.”

  Aidan took hold of the phone the second I finished my sentence, ending the call with his thumb before kissing me roughly. His hand grasped my neck, drawing me harder into his mouth with a low growl. My entire body responded to the dominant sound, yielding to him as I opened my mouth and let my tongue twine with his.

  His scent ensured that if there was ever any doubt, it was quashed the moment I inhaled the potent desire practically radiating from him. It instantly jumbled my thoughts, and it was all I could do not to throw my weight into his body and force him back over to the bed. Instead, I took hold of his shirt, anchoring myself to the other Guardian with the fabric. I expressed my desire for more with the urgency in my own actions.

  The hot few minutes was swiftly interrupted by a sudden sensation in the air, which had Aidan instantly turned around the other direction and postured protectively in front of me as the air grew dense with another man’s essence. I knew its density and familiar scent before I was able to look beyond Aidan to where the man stood, his silver-blue eyes locked with Aidan’s.

  The familiar tattoos caught the light, their wet sheen glinting as the other man pivoted uncomfortably. Niko was unarmed, as far as I could see, and there wasn’t a sensation of his magic anywhere. Either he had come with the intention not to use it, or he was waiting for an opportune moment to attack.