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“Well, we’ve eliminated their
normal mode of trying to get to the VV’s, so we’ll see what they come up with
next. Which very well may be this. They were targeting that group of Sophia’s
for a reason. They must have suspected a VV would gravitate toward others of
like mind. Nothing they’d like more than to get their hands on one of you
that’s actually still a virgin. God only knows what they could do with that.”

Shaking his head, he scrubbed
his hands over his face. “The fact they came out here to get to her, though,
has me worried. Someone must have tipped them to the fact she’s different than
the others in the group. There haven’t been any more murders since they came
after her here, which means they’re waiting for another shot at her. At least,
I think they are. They might be coming for you, too, if the monsters were the
ones who bugged my hotel room. James and I should be able to handle a small
group. Anything bigger and we’re going to have to turn tail and get out of
Dodge fast.”

“I thought we were going to turn
tail and get out of here as fast as possible anyway? Okay, so you’ll have to
teach me how to kill the monsters, too.”

He put the tray of cinnamon buns
into the oven before he moved toward her. “I can teach you, but I don’t want
you ever,
ever
going up against one
of them. They’ll hurt you. They’ll break you, and then they’ll do things to you
that you don’t even want to consider. We only ever face them in groups for a
reason. They’re incredibly hard to kill, even for seasoned and trained
guardians.”

“Oh, believe me, I wouldn’t want
to go up against one of them on my own. I can promise you that one. I would,
however, really like to help you if the need arose. I would like for you to
have some backup, even if it’s me.”

“The only thing you have to know
about them is they’re fast, they’re deadly, and pretty much the only way to
kill them is to cut off their heads. Anything else only slows them down.”

“Well, that just sucks,” Viv
said with a frown. “You guys have two things to protect. Not just your heads
but also your medallions.”

He caught her hand as she went
to move and leaned in to kiss her. “We’re not going to end up dead, Vivian. So
try not to worry so much.” He smiled. Letting her go, he went to the fridge and
pulled out a carton of eggs and some bacon. He went to the oven, then heated up
a couple of pans.

“Why don’t you pour some coffee
and see if those two will wake up for caffeine? I’ll get the eggs and bacon
going. The buns will be another fifteen minutes or so, plenty of time for them
to get up, moving, and to the table. And it’ll give you a chance to corner your
sister like I know you’ve wanted to do since we got here.” Jason shot her a
knowing look, and she knew she’d been busted.

“Oh, you’re a bad, bad man.”
After winking at him, she walked out of the kitchen with coffee in hand. One for
her and one for Sophia.
James can just
drag his happy ass to the kitchen and help Jason finish breakfast to find his.

“Love you, too, darling,” Jason
called after her with a chuckle.

Chapter Eight

The flight out of Seattle was
surprisingly subdued. While several female airport workers had passed James
their numbers, he’d just smiled and continued on his way. He’d been unusually
quiet for the time they’d already been up in the air. Odd, but then so, too,
was Jason. He seemed to be brooding, though. Which, given how they’d departed
from Seattle, she didn’t blame him.

They’d never actually gotten
around to having breakfast. She hadn’t even gotten around to talking to her
sister, when the monsters after Sophia had shown up. Their timing had seriously
sucked.

James had gone into the kitchen
with a glare in her direction and a mumbled bunch of nonsense under his breath.
She’d barely passed Sophia a cup of coffee before all hell had broken loose.
The front door had smashed open, and she was face to face with pure evil. And
it had been focused entirely on Sophia. The only color on the six-foot man was
his pure red eyes. There was no white to them at all, only crimson, and the
rest of the beast was black as tar. His skin seemed to drip as if made of
melting, inky wax.

Fortunately, there had only been
two of them. Still, not something she wanted ever to repeat. Jason had come
racing into the room, James hot on his heels, and they’d quickly moved into
action, putting themselves between the monsters and the girls.

Things had gotten a bit bloody
for the guardians. Jason was nursing a split lip and a cut to his arm. James
had one hell of a shiner and had taken a blade to his shoulder that had cut
straight through to the bone. It had missed everything vital, thank whoever was
watching out for them, but it had been a gusher.

The monsters had fought hard,
taking very few licks of their own, until Jason had managed to get his blade up
and take off a head. He and James had then cornered the other one between them
and disposed of him quickly. After a few minutes, the monsters had
disintegrated into nothing more than an oily stain.

After getting a new front door
put on the house, they’d locked up and gotten out of there. Jason had left
money and a note behind for the replacement of the carpet. They’d packed up
what they could and gone straight to the airport. All in all, it had been a
very hectic morning. So, it was understandable that everyone was quiet now. The
adrenaline rush was finally subsiding and everyone was dealing with all that
had happened and all they’d seen.

After arriving at the Mountain,
Vivian was exhausted. It looked as if everyone was. She looked to her sister,
who was covered in blood, James’s blood, and saw the blank, red-rimmed eyes
staring back at her. Vivian was worried about her, but she gave a nod and
marched on, separating from James, Jason, and Vivian when Mercury came and
introduced himself, offering to take Sophia where she needed to go.

She had watched them move off,
the way that Mercury reached out to put his hand on her sister’s back and the
way Fia had sidestepped him. She shook her head and heard James telling Jason
that he was going to medical. “It’s about time he realized that maybe he should
get his shoulder looked at, right?” The women had worried about James, but the
men had acted as if it was nothing. “And you, mister, you have got to train me
to help you. At least, we need to work on seeing if you can draw on my
shielding abilities.”

“He’s fine,” Jason said. “We
can’t die from blood loss. You know that, sweetheart. The medallion keeps us
from bleeding out and keeps our hearts pumping no matter what is done to us. As
long as the medallion remains intact and our heads stay on, nothing can take us
down.”

He wrapped his arm around her,
the one without the blood-coated sleeve, and squeezed her close. “I will train
you, and we will work on seeing if I can pull on your ability. For now, though,
let’s get inside and cleaned up. I need a very long, very hot shower.”

“Me, too.” That fast, she was no
longer tired, no longer ready to curl up and cry. “Will you shower with me?”
she asked as they walked into his rooms. She stopped dead. “Jason,” she
whispered as she took in the view. The living space was comfortable, with large
furniture and a massive television. “This space totally feels like you.”

He chuckled softly and gave a
shrug as he moved deeper inside. “It should. I’ve been living in the same rooms
for a couple centuries now at least. It didn’t always look like this, I will
admit that, but then I updated it two years ago to get something more
me
for the furniture.” He tossed his
destroyed jacket toward a box near the door and fingered his shirt with a
disgusted look on his face.

Sighing, he pulled it over his
head and tossed it into the same box. “Come on, let’s go have that shower. You
can explore later. Right now, I need to get clean.” She walked to him and
slipped her hand into his. “I’m sorry I couldn’t shield you better. I was
protecting Sophia while she was trying to keep Mother Nature from invading the
house.” She didn’t know if he had noticed how the yard seemed to be overgrown,
how the trees had seemed impossibly closer. “Besides, anything to get you naked
and in a shower is good in my book.” She needed to be close to him, skin to
skin, and just let the rest of the world fall away.

Laughing, he wiggled his
eyebrows at her as he undid his belt and pulled it free from the loops of his
jeans. “All you need to do is say so, sweetheart. I have absolutely no shame,
which you should know by now, so I’m willing to strip down anywhere and any
time you want. I come from an era when we would train naked, with sharpened
blades, just for the hell of it. Nudity isn’t anything shameful, or it wasn’t,
until the prudes took over the world.”

He toed off his boots and picked
them up before heading down a hallway.

“So, you wouldn’t mind if I
walked around naked right along with you?” Vivian asked with a grin, stripping
off her clothes as she went with him. She left a trail behind her and didn’t
even care. Once they were in the bathroom, she looked up at him and licked her
lips. “I need you, Jason. I think that I will always need you,” she confessed.

“As long as we’re alone, behind
closed doors, do whatever you want, Vivian. I’d prefer if you were naked all
the time, if you want the truth of it. I love your body, and I love how you
respond to my touches. You’re a very sensual, responsive woman.” He backed her
into the shower stall, his larger body crowding hers. Reaching out, he turned
the water on, none of it reaching them while he adjusted the dials.

“If I can’t run around naked,
neither can you. Outside of our home, that is,” she teased. “But I really like
the idea of remaining nude all the time. Keeping robes near the door for in
case we get company or whatever.” She moved so that her breasts were pressed
against his chest. “God, I love you.”

He grabbed her around the
middle. Lifting her, he caught one of her legs and moved it to his waist, then
slid his cock into her waiting pussy. “Gods, you’re so wet, so hot,” he growled
out.

“Always for you.” Vivian didn’t
need any kind of workup to get herself ready for him. All he had to do was look
at her, and her pussy was creaming.

With her arms around his neck
and her back to the shower wall, she helped him find the pace that would suit
them both. “Harder,” she begged. “I’m not going to last here, Jason, please.”
She hesitated. Then, because she needed it every bit as much as he did,
“Please, Sir. Take my pussy harder. Make me scream?”

He nipped at her chin, then
licked over the spot. “Hold on to me tight,” he told her. When she’d gotten a
good grip, he thrust into her hard like she wanted. The wall at her back had no
give, so he was doing all the work as he slammed his cock into her over and
over. “As soon as you feel it, just come for me. Don’t hold back, not tonight.”

“Thank God.” She clung to his
body. This was what she loved—the way he utterly possessed her body, mind, and
soul the way that only he could. “Jason, I’m so close.” She hadn’t needed much
in order to climax, not when they had been kept from loving all day.

“Then come for me, sweetheart.
Scream for me.” He put his mouth on her shoulder and scraped his teeth to her
skin before biting down and holding her. Grabbing her hands, he pushed her arms
up over her head and thrust into her body faster, jolting her each time.

When Vivian came, she screamed
his name, and her legs tightened around him. Her whole body climaxed when he
bit her and forced her hands up and over her head against the wall. She sobbed
in her release and demanded the same from him.

He pumped a few more times
before he stilled, his body quaking as he growled out his orgasm. His hands
gentled on hers, sliding slowly down her arms until he could wrap his around
her body. “Gods,” he breathed out as he lifted his head, holding on to her
tightly as his seed splashed into her.

Viv’s legs held him securely.
She shivered while he filled her body to the brim and beyond. He was perfect in
her eyes. “No kidding,” she whispered with a grin. “Time to get clean?”

He nodded, then brushed his lips
to her cheek. “Then we should get some sleep. It’s been a very long, hectic
day. We both need the rest, you more than me, since you’re not used to all this
yet. Not that I hope you ever get used to it. I happen to like you just as you
are. Innocent of all this war and the hellish things we have to do to keep the
world safe.”

“I kind of like it that way,
too,” Vivian admitted. “Okay, you’ll have to put me on my own feet.” Even as
she said that, she tightened her legs around him. She didn’t want him to leave
her body. She didn’t want to have to be alone again.

“After we’re clean, when we’re
in bed, I’ll slide back into you,” he responded. They both froze, and he drew
his head back. “You didn’t say that out loud, did you?” he asked softly, his
eyes searching hers.

She shook her head. “No, I
didn’t, but I certainly thought it.” She swallowed. “How? How in the world
could you read my mind like that?”

“The bond tying us together,” he
said, a smile curving his lips. “About damn time that little bonus kicked in. I
was ready to bust Hector’s ass for being a liar about that. Let me try
something. See if you can hear this.” He stared at her with a look of
concentration.
You are the most amazing
woman I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.

The words drifted into her mind,
some strong and clear, others a little fuzzy.

“Thank you.” She felt as if he
were caressing her with his hands, even when she knew he couldn’t possibly be
doing that. “Oh, that feels so good.” She moaned as she
felt
his mental hands sliding over her skin.

Laughing, he hugged her to him
and squeezed. “Damn, it actually works. Holy shit, that’s amazing. We’ll
definitely work on that. And if we can do that, potentially that means I can
tap into your ability, too. But, again, that’s something we’ll have to work on
and test the range of.”

“Something that we can work on
later, though, right? I’m so tired I don’t think I could hold a shield if I
tried.”

“Much later. After a lot of
sleep.” Easing out of her body, he grinned when she internally cursed the loss.
Chuckling, he shook his head. “That’s going to take a little getting used to. I
guess I’m going to have to start watching my language, even in my head, with
you around. Though, usually when I curse it’s in Ancient Greek, so I doubt you’d
understand it anyway.” Setting her on her feet, he held on to her as she
regained her legs.

“I’ll just have to ask you what
things mean, and if you won’t tell me, I’ll get Mercury to.”

“Yeah, not happening,” he said,
making a face. “And Mercury likely won’t tell you either. Though he’ll want to
know where you heard it. Don’t be shocked if he starts laughing when you tell
him you picked it from my head.”

Hopefully,
she doesn’t ask Alex, though. Bastard would likely tell her.

“Fine, I’ll just call up Alexander
and ask him.” Yep, she had picked that up from his mind. “Care to tell me why
the two of you have such a hate on for each other?” she asked sweetly.

“We’ve never really gotten
along,” he said with a shrug. He redirected the flow of the water and turned
his face up into it. Shaking out his hair, he looked to her. “In a battle, we
have one another’s backs. It’s what we do as guardians. Any other time, I avoid
him as much as I can, and he does the same.”

“Okay.” She let it go.
Obviously, there was more to it than that, but she didn’t want to push or pry.
“Well, one person you can never avoid?” She was back to teasing him to get him
to smile. “Me. Sorry, bub, but you’re stuck with me. Such is life, right?”

“Why would I want to avoid you?”
he asked with a frown. “I love you, Vivian. You’re the last person on this
planet I’d ever want to avoid. You make me a better person by being in my life.
So don’t go getting ideas about problems that don’t exist, sweetheart. And I
happen to think that the Fates chose wisely when they figured on putting us
together. I couldn’t have been more blessed than I am to have someone as
perfect as you in my life. And, in my eyes, you are absolutely perfect,
Vivian.”

“I’m glad you think so. Because
I think you’re perfect, too. Just so you know.”