Tempting Ecstasy (The Guardians of the Realms Book 4) (8 page)

She only cared about one thing, and her plans were already in place. Cyril had been too powerful to take on, but his death had opened up opportunities and options she’d never thought to have. Taking Kane’s memories of the beloved insane sister he hid and the children he informed the Guardians about was surprising, but nothing more. She chuckled to herself.

She was free now to do as she wished, and she held the power to get exactly what she wanted most. Her cunt heated with how much she was going to enjoy freeing her beloved, but for now she would enjoy all the vengeance she deserved. Kane had given her to his males to punish even before Cyril had died. They’d taken their pleasure in giving her pain, and now she was relishing every scream and memory she reaped from their blood.

She frowned, again regretting getting too excited when she’d had Kane at her mercy. After taking his blood memories, she’d been swept away with the thrill of his punishment. Raping his mind and body had nearly made her climax. She’d even had Reve fuck her with the scent of Kane’s blood in her nose and the feel of it on her naked skin. She’d fed every inch of his flesh to the hell beasts the Tria, demon spawn in Hell, had sent for her use. Relishing every slice of the blade pushed her excitement too far, and she hadn’t even realized it until his head had fallen beside her body as she came around Reve’s pulsing cock.

She moaned at the memory and watched as another of her new warriors lowered his head as she passed. She fingered a long red curl as she assessed his big body. “Come,” she demanded and watched as he took a deep breath but said nothing as he followed her.

Her plans were underway. Cynthia, her Earth Realm contact, was retrieving what Elizabeth had instructed her to get. The Tria, the three demon spawn bastards imprisoned in Hell Realm, were providing her hell beasts and anything else she needed, assuming she’d follow through with her promises to them. With all her tasks in play, she had the freedom to enjoy her position of power to her utter satisfaction. So many at her mercy, knowing they’d never be accepted in the Immortal cities after serving Cyril. She pushed her fingers to her clit as she made it to her room. Yes, power was intoxicating.

Chapter 8

Earth Realm

Dacia kept a mental touch on her sisters, wanting to ask questions beyond whether they were okay, but needing to block their chatter while she assessed the male behind her. Giving the Immortal, Conn, her back, she waited, testing him. What would he do? Her instincts told her he wouldn’t harm her; no, the danger he posed was of a completely different sort. Even if he tried to attack, he could easily overpower her whether she fought back or not. She knew that she was outmatched. She just needed to track him, watch him, understand him. The sexual intensity was beyond her experience, her comfort. He was intoxicating her.

She didn’t doubt that he believed that she was this mate, this rare gift he spoke of. What did that really mean? That her wolf hadn’t lost it’s mind? She wanted to trust her senses again, and the rain-filled air had tamed some of the wild lust. The climax had helped, but not being consumed by his scent was even more cleansing. She enjoyed every drop of water over her face and arms and wished she were already running in wolf form.

Her instincts had always been strong. She’d always thought it was her animal seeing or feeling more around her than her sisters’ did. That same awareness had helped her avert accidents and kept them away from humans that she knew weren’t right, dangerous, or disturbed. When she wasn’t more than a small child, Isa and Gunn had investigated her impressions. It took only a few instances for them to trust that she was just more sensitive than the rest of them. If it was her animal giving her the added intuition, she wasn’t sure if she could fully trust it now. Her wolf was infatuated by the male moving up beside her on the walkway. That was a mild description of what she felt coming from her beast, but it was the best she could come up with.

Are you okay?
she asked her sisters, filtering out her brothers for the moment.

Isa, her eldest sister, spoke, sounding worried and furious at once.
Yes, are you okay?

I’m fine.
She was trying to process all that was happening to her, but more worried about whether her family was safe wherever they’d been taken.
Do you know where you are?

Isa hesitated before speaking again.
No. All I know is we are in no way a match for them. Their power is just too strong. Fighting them would be dangerous. They didn’t harm us the first time, but might if we attempt it again. Our full combined power was nothing to theirs and not worth using again. The smartest thing we can do is gain as much information as we can and watch. The dark one, Bastian, says you’re Conn’s
mate
and started explaining what that is… Did he hurt you?

No. He didn’t hurt me.
She was embarrassed at just how much her sisters would have scented in the room, without the other one, Jax, announcing it. She clenched her teeth.

Mia, are you okay?
Dacia asked.

Yes.
Mia sounded embarrassed. Dacia’s smaller sister had laid claim on Jax in the middle of the fight. Said, “Mine,” so loud they’d all been caught off guard.
Bastian said I’m not going through the same thing as you are. Don’t worry about me. How are you, really?
Mia asked.

I’m fine. My beast wants him, is going crazy for him. I don’t know what it all means, but he’s saying the same thing. He says if I touch him, it’ll start a mating, and it sounds permanent. We’ll go into a sexual frenzy, and he’ll claim me as his. Animalistic is the only word that’s close to fitting… Do you feel in danger there?
Dacia asked.

Isa answered again,
No. That’s the odd part. Be watchful and try to get as much information as you can from him. We’ll be doing the same. And, Dacia, be careful, come to us unless you can get free.

Yes,
her other sisters chimed in.

She heard her brothers’ fury and their bellowed demands, their oldest in Italy and Gunn on the other side of the country wanting answers. Dacia left them for Isa to deal with. She just couldn’t pay attention to their meltdowns. Not when the entire time she’d spoken to her sisters the majority of her mind and senses were trained on the warm male next to her. Her wolf pushing and fighting for her to get closer to him.

She relaxed marginally, knowing that her sisters didn’t feel in any danger where they were. What if her wolf was right? She’d felt like she was losing a piece of herself when she thought she couldn’t trust her instincts, her animal. She experienced a small tinge of hope and relief that warred with distrust and anxiety. She’d been so worried it was all compromised, and then where would she be?

Dacia tracked Conn’s movements; everything tuned to him without conscious thought. She knew the quiet stride of his muscled legs as well as each intoxicating exhale of breath that made his wide chest rise and fall under the two shirts. Even lost in her own thoughts she tracked that and the placement of his arms at his side, casual, walking at human pace, but with banked power licking at her side. So much heat.

“What do Guardians do?” she asked as he paced next to her on the sidewalk. It was important to learn as much as she could.

They passed more Victorians, bigger than hers, set back from the tree-lined street. Some had lights still on in upstairs rooms, but soon they would blink out and the humans would fall asleep. She remembered watching them holding hands and strolling in the opposite direction the last night she’d been there. Her fingers flexed at her sides. Was such a simple touch with a male such an enjoyable experience? She’d assumed it was more a comfort, like her sisters cuddling, not something to heighten arousal, but she couldn’t imagine anything so simple with the male beside her.

The rain was steady, just enough to blanket her overheated flesh and charge the air, as much as his scent electrified her body. She was watchful, on guard. She felt as if something big was coming, but she knew it was already there in the form of the male next to her.

His deep sexy voice took her out of her thoughts. “We make sure bad little she-wolf’s aren’t trying to take over the world.” Something in his tone made her ache, low where she was already so wet. His teasing grin tilted his firm sexy lips, and all she wanted to do was take a nip.

“You have my sisters.” She nearly growled the words, a reminder for herself as well as him that this was serious.

“I know you’re keeping tabs on them. They’re safe.”

She wanted to close her eyes to the wicked glint in his eyes; it was even more tantalizing. He was the most beautiful male she’d ever seen, and it was distracting.

The desire to touch him was strong, but manageable when she fisted her hands and felt the bite of her nails against her palms. He may look casual, but she wasn’t ignorant to his flared nostrils and the clenching of his own fists at his sides. He was fighting it as much as she was. He could have touched her at any time, yet hadn’t. She tilted her head as she studied him. Even after attacking them, he and the other males hadn’t taken retribution, though they easily could have. It could have been an excuse to do what he said he wouldn’t.

If, in fact, she was his
mate
, one that was as rare as he’d said, and that a simple brush of his skin against hers would set off a frenzy of wild sex, why refrain? Why not just take what he wanted, what he was capable of doing whether she acquiesced or not? His restraint confused her. Why was he giving her a choice? To soften her for some reason, maybe toy with her? Gain her trust? That was not something she would give easily. Or was it a game, the excitement of the chase? That could easily be it. She didn’t believe for a second that he wanted her to
demand
he put his hands on her, a male so strong wouldn’t be happy with anything less than begging. She frowned.

What didn’t match that particular theory were his actions in her room. He’d used his power to give her relief when holding out could have potentially served him better. She hated to think she would have begged any male for an orgasm, but she’d never been so completely out of control, so consumed; she might have.

That climax seemed far in the distance as the need built again. Even with the cool rain on her skin, she found it difficult not to draw closer, her body and her beast craved more. Desired more than a sample, but she wasn’t stupid enough to allow that. No matter how much her body itched to have him fill her, it wasn’t going to happen. She blew out a breath. She’d never experienced or even cared about penetration before. Her body had been more than happy with her shower nozzle, but now all she could think about was what it would feel like having him inside her. She shook it off.

“How much do you know of the other Realms?” he asked her.

She thought for a second. “That there are four.”

He studied her for a second before answering, “Heaven, Hell, Earth and Tetartos, the Realm of Immortals and beasts.” The low rumble of his voice slid over every nerve ending again. That, mixed with his earthy masculine scent, triggered more heat to roll over her body. Was this what the humans experienced, the sensations that made them stop and kiss on the sidewalk or rub all over each other in bars or in their beds? She’d spent years watching them, not truly understanding their attractions, never having felt it with another being. What she was feeling didn’t match what she’d seen.

She needed to focus. “Immortals live in Tetartos? We were told it housed beasts only.” How many Immortals were there?

Another deep breath brought more of his scent. Her needs were escalating, and images of human porn sifted through her mind. She enjoyed watching it to get her off, but she’d never had a human ever entice her to play, let them put their hands on her body. Conn did.

“In a nutshell, the Gods had done enough fucked-up things to humans and Immortals that we found a way to call the Creators back to Earth. They came and banished the Gods to sleep, saying they’d be needed someday, and exiled the Immortals to Tetartos, basically separating those with power from the more fragile humans.”

“We never knew that. My parents escaped Apollo’s training camp and years later heard the Gods and everything they held was gone. They thought it was all destroyed,” she said, thinking. So the Immortals lived in the other Realm. They weren’t truly the last. She relayed the information to her sisters.

“How many of you guard the Realms?” She wasn’t sure he’d answer.

“Trying to learn my secrets, princess?” She didn’t like that every time he used that endearment, she got a little pang. She liked it, which was completely ridiculous. Her damned beast loved it.

“Yes.” The word came out more husky than her voice had ever been. She cleared her throat.

He winked at her and answered, which surprised her. “There are twelve. Now what do you plan to do with that information, princess?” His words flowed over her. “How about you tell me how many siblings you have?” He cocked a challenging brow.

The staggering truth of what he’d said was amazing. Twelve Guardians. Her brothers’ and sisters’ abilities were nothing in the face of twelve such powerful beings. They were outnumbered and overpowered. She checked with her siblings. Her eldest brother and the others in Europe were preparing to come to the States. Gunn had just boarded his plane in Seattle, which was hours from where she was. A battle was coming if she couldn’t figure out a way around it, and she had to. Her brothers’ combined power couldn’t combat the three males she’d seen. It would be a slaughter if her brothers found them and tried to wage battle against these Immortals to get her and her sisters back. She cut her brothers out and shared with Isa, who’d already learned the same thing from Bastian and Jax. Isa and her sister felt the same as her. They had to keep their brothers away.

She barely heard the rain in the trees and on the pavement or the slight noise of their shoes on the wet cement. Her mind was whirling.