Awakened (Eternal Guardians Book 8) (26 page)

She’s mine…

He sprinted down the hall to the room he and Elysia had been assigned and yanked the door open. Candlelight flickered over the walls, and the scent of some kind of musky flower filled the air. Fabric rustled, followed by Elysia’s startled voice, gasping, “Damon.”

Several things registered at once: the half-empty wineglasses on the nightstand, a fire crackling in the stone hearth, the dark-haired male leaning over Elysia where she sat on the edge of the bed, and her dress—not the sweet sundress style she’d been wearing the last few times he’d seen her, but something low cut, tight, and revealing. Revealing her body not to him but to another male, one Damon recognized as a trainer.

A roar grew in Damon’s head. A roar that drowned out everything else. A roar that colored his vision red.

“Damon?” Silky brown tendrils fell over Elysia’s shoulder as she pushed to her feet—her stiletto-clad, wobbly feet. But this time when she said his name, it didn’t sound shocked. It sounded a little bit scared.

Petros, a mortal who answered to Apollo, the god of war, when he wasn’t working with the Siren recruits, rose beside her. “Dude. This isn’t your room anym—”

Damon lunged and shoved his fist into Petros’s jaw. Petros sailed back and hit the wall. Elysia yelped.

Petros stumbled to his feet and rubbed his jaw. “What the hell, Damon?”

Damon barely heard him. Grasping the male by the shirtfront, he shoved him up against the wall and growled, “She’s mine. If you touch her again, you’re fucking dead. Do you hear me?”

“Damon!” Elysia screamed.

Petros’s green eyes grew wide with their own fury. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“You’re what’s wrong with me, asshole,” Damon growled.

“Damon!” Elysia grabbed at his arm and pulled hard, jerking him back a step. “Let go of him.”

Damon released Petros’s shirt. Breathing heavily, Petros swiped at his bloody lip with the back of his hand. “Holy hell, man. She’s just a recruit. You’re losing your shit over a fucking recruit who means nothing.”

The roar sounded again. And Damon lurched toward Petros, but Elysia darted in front of him and pushed her hands against Damon’s chest, holding him back.

“Go,” she yelled at Petros. “Get out of here.”

Petros lifted his chest. “I can kick his ass.”

The roar sounded louder, and Damon’s muscles flexed.

“No.” Elysia pushed harder, keeping Damon back from the knock-down, drag-out fight he craved.

Petros glanced once at her and then at Damon. “I don’t need this shit.” Sidestepping his way to the door, he shook his head. “You’re going down for this, buddy.”

“Go,” Elysia yelled over her shoulder, her hands still pressed hard against Damon’s chest. “Get out of here.”

“Fucking lost it,” Petros muttered, exiting the room.

The door snapped closed, but the red haze lingered, only dulling at the edges as Elysia dropped her hands and stared at him with both horror and shock in her pretty chocolate eyes.

“What in Hades was that?” she snapped. “You had no reason to go after him like that.”

No reason?
No reason?

The red haze sharpened, and this time when the familiar voice he’d been hearing in his head all week whispered, “
She’s yours,
” Damon didn’t ignore it.

Fuck no reason.

He flipped the table upside down. Glass shattered. Wine splashed across the floor. Elysia gasped, but that didn’t stop him. Grasping her hand, he shoved the door open and jerked her out of the room.

“Damon.” She fumbled in her heels, trying to keep up. “What are you doing? Where are we going?”

He hit the door at the end of the hall with his shoulder. Cool night air washed around him as he yanked her outside into the dark. She yelped and stumbled. Before she could hit the ground, he swept her up in his arms and tossed her over his shoulder.

“Put me down.” Her fist landed hard against his spine as he crossed the grass and moved farther away from the buildings. “Godsdammit. Put me down right this second.”

Damon increased his pace. She wiggled against him. Hit his back again—several times—but he only tightened his hold on her legs and kept walking.

“Damon, dammit. I said put me down!”

He yanked the ridiculous heels from her feet and threw them into the shrubs. She yelped and pushed up, trying to wriggle her way out of his arms. He didn’t let go of her until he reached the middle of the meadow.
 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she yelled in the moonlight as he dropped her on her bare feet. “You can’t just waltz into a room and—”

The roar sounded again. But before it could drag him under, Damon grasped both of her hands in his and pictured the beach.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

T
he ground disappeared. Elysia’s shriek sounded in Damon’s ears, but in the burst of light as the portal opened, he couldn’t see her. Wind rustled his hair as they flashed, stilling only when sand formed beneath his feet.

“Oh my gods.” Elysia immediately jerked her hands free of his. “You flashed us
back
to Pandora. Are you mad? It’s the middle of the damn night!”

The cap on his temper finally blew sky high, but he remembered the monsters on the island and kept his voice to a harsh whisper. “You’re fucking right I’m mad. I’m gone for a couple of days and you fall into bed with the first asshole who looks your way?”

“I didn’t fall into bed with anyone,” she hissed.

“You were on the fucking bed with Petros.”

“I was
sitting
on the bed. Not fucking on the bed. And what do you care anyway? You clearly don’t. You couldn’t even be bothered to show up for our sessions. I’ve seen you in the training field during the day. I know you haven’t been out on some mission for Athena. If something had come up, you could have gotten word to me. But no, instead you made me wait in that room alone for you, night after miserable night.”

His eyes widened as he looked down at her slinky black dress. “So you decided to get dressed up like a whore and screw the first guy who came along?”

The flat of her hand connected hard with the side of his face, cracking his head to the side. “Fuck you, Damon.”

She turned on her heel and made it five steps down the beach before he grasped her upper arm and yanked her back to face him. “Fuck me? I don’t think so. You’re the one who clearly wants to get fucked.”

Her eyes narrowed to hard, sharp points. “Don’t.”

“Why not?” Something in the back of his head said not to push this, but he couldn’t stop. He dropped her hand, but instead of moving back, he stepped forward, closing the distance between them. “You did your hair and makeup. You slipped into this slutty little dress. You’re wearing those fuck-me heels. Obviously, you were hoping to get a little tonight.”

She moved back a step. “I thought you sent this outfit.”

He moved toward her again. “You obviously realized it wasn’t me when you got to that room. I saw the wine. And the fire. Did that guy turn you on,
oraios
? Did he do it for you?”

“No.” Her dark eyes glistened in the moonlight. “I wasn’t interested in him.”

“I think you’re lying.” He moved closer still. “I think that’s all you want. Just a warm body to fuck.”

She stopped moving and stared at him with hurt eyes. And the minute the words were out of his mouth, the pressure re-formed in his chest, telling him he’d gone too far.

Regret immediately swamped him, and he softened his voice. “
Emmoní…”

Tears filled her eyes. He reached for her, cursing the fact he’d let his emotions get away from him—something he’d never ever done before. Her fingertips landed on his biceps, but instead of letting him pull her in, she hooked her leg around the back of his knee and jerked. Air whooshed over his spine before he realized what was happening. His back hit the sand with a crack.

She planted her hands on her slim hips and glared down at him. “The only person I wanted to fuck was
you
, you son of a bitch. But not anymore. I don’t have any desire to be with someone who doesn’t really want me.”

She swiveled in the sand and made it one step before his brain kicked into gear.

She’s mine…

He captured her ankle and pulled. She hit the sand with a grunt. Flipping her to her back, he climbed over her, braced both knees against her hips, and pinned her hands near her head. “I do want you,
emmoní
. You’re all I want. You’re all I can think about, and it’s making me fucking crazy.”

She struggled against his grip. “You’ve got a really twisted way of showing it.”

He did. She was right. And he knew only one way to make her believe it was true.

He lowered his mouth to hers. She grunted and struggled harder against his hands. Forcing her lips apart with his tongue, he dove in and kissed her deeply.

Pain spiraled across his tongue, and he jerked back when he realized she’d bitten him.

“Don’t kiss me,” she growled.

Fire flared in her eyes. Fire and heat and passion. The same passion he’d seen the other night in Athena’s temple. But now it was fueled by anger and what she perceived as rejection.

“You like it when I kiss you.”

“No, I don’t.” She struggled again, tossing her head on the sand so her hair flew all around her. “Let me go.”

He couldn’t. At this point, he knew he could never let her go.

His hands continued to pin her wrists to the sand, but he scooted back with his knees and lowered his face to the curve of her neck, breathing hot all over her silky flesh. “You love it when I kiss you here.”

He pressed his lips against the base of her throat. She swallowed hard and pulled at his grip once more, but the fight was already fading. “I hate it when you kiss me there.”

He smiled against her skin and trailed a hot, wet line of kisses to the other side. “I bet you hate it here as well, then.”

She bit back a moan, but he felt it rumble deep in her chest. His blood warmed. His cock came to life, thickening in his pants. He shifted lower, dragging his lips down the exposed V of her dress and across the top of her cleavage.

The tip of his tongue traced the line between her succulent breasts. “And here.”

“Don’t do that,” she whispered, rocking her hips from side to side between his knees.

“Why not?” He licked at the spot again.

“Because you’re an ass.”

He lifted his head and met her gaze. Her gorgeous, mesmerizing gaze. “I am an ass. But I’m
your
ass. And you belong with me. Not with Petros. Not with anyone else. Just with me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “And you thought attacking him would prove that to me?”

He shifted her hands together, pinned them with one of his, then reached down to grasp her dress at the V. “No, I think this will.”

He yanked hard. Fabric ripped all the way to the hem, revealing her sexy black lace bra and matching low-rise panties.

Elysia gasped and lifted her head. “You prick.”

He smiled, because there was no venom in her words. Only heat. A heat he recognized was about to flare out of control.

He lowered his mouth to hers, and this time when their lips touched, she opened and drew him in, licking and tasting with the same force and fury consuming every inch of him.

He shoved the tattered sides of her dress open, flicked the clasp on her bra, and freed her gorgeous breasts. Soft flesh filled his palm. He pulled away from her mouth and lowered to her nipple, taking the pink tip between his lips and sucking until she moaned. She wiggled against the grip he still held on her wrists, but he didn’t let go. Moving to the other breast, he licked the tip, then took the whole areola into his mouth and suckled.

“Damon…” Her breaths grew shallow. Fast. “Let my hands go. Right now.”

He released his grip on her wrists but didn’t lift his head. Pressing kisses all along her toned belly, he shifted lower, trailing his tongue down to the edge of her lacy black panties.

She moaned. Dropped her head back in the sand. He grasped the lace between his teeth and pulled.

Elysia’s fingers threaded into his hair. She lifted her hips as he tugged the lace down. When he reached the top of her thighs, he let go with his teeth and yanked her panties the rest of the way with his hand.