Beyond destiny fallen gu.., p.20
Beyond Destiny: Fallen Guardians, page 20
“Nate!” she cried out, grabbing the bed covers, her body bowing and mind splintering, pleasure taking her over…
Gasping like she’d run miles, Ely lay there, unable to think, consumed by the aftermath of sheer bliss.
Nate licked her hypersensitive flesh again, and she squealed, grabbing his head and tightening her thighs around his neck.
“I’m quite happy to stay here.” He brushed his lips on her clit.
“Gods, no!” She hastily parted her legs and pushed at his head, unable to take more.
“That’s not what you said a moment ago.” He lifted to his elbows, his body still wedged between her thighs, a smirk in place.
Ely snorted and reached down, grasped his shoulders but couldn’t get a grip, so she tugged his hair instead. He moved up, the fabric of his jeans abrading her legs in a rough caress, his bare sex a warm bar against her stomach. Not the place she wanted him, but then his mouth came down on hers, and he was kissing her.
She tasted herself as his tongue tangled with hers. Desire resurged with a vengeance and had her pushing him off. He laughed, landing on his back, and lay there like some gorgeous fallen deity with his sculptured features, lowered eyebrows, his zipper still undone, and his erect cock visible.
Her gaze met his warm one, and her heart thumped wildly, her feelings for him expanding, knowing he was finally hers.
He cocked an eyebrow, a wicked glint in his eyes. “Still hungry, my female?”
For you, gods, yes!
She lifted a shoulder in an airy shrug. “Maybe. However, I can survive. I did for eons.” Heck, keeping her expression cool was darn hard when she wanted to laugh at his narrowing eyes, even as the heat-edged desire simmered again.
“Did you now?” he ask, tone low. Dangerous.
Oh, yes, she’d pay for that, but she didn’t care. She’d waited a lifetime for someone like him. A male who didn’t pander to her because of who her family was, who wanted her, and who made her smile and feel like she could breathe again.
At Ely’s provocative smile, Nate bit back his own.
His gaze roved her flushed face and pleasure-brightened eyes. And the spark which lit deep within him from the moment they met burned brighter, bowling him over and knocking out what little air remained in his lungs.
She straddled him, gently pressing the edges of the dressing on his chest, miles of shimmering pale hair cascading to her hips. Ely might appear slender, but her body was honed with sinuous muscles and a forceful strength, doubtless from her training and fighting evil when out on the street. Oh, he wanted to feel that power when he claimed her, wanted her so godsdamn badly.
“You would taunt me?” he asked softly, holding her hips.
She cast him an innocent look, trailing a finger down to his navel, and his cock jerked. “Besides it being fun, why not—eeep!” She squealed as he flipped her on her back again, then gasped as his weight landed on her, and laughed, wrapping her long sexy legs around his hips, locking him in place.
While he reveled in the sensation of her trapping him, it was brutal torture for his throbbing cock pressed on her stomach. But the sound of her laughter made him smile.
The beast within stirred.
Nate tightened his mental shields, didn’t want the fucker intruding on this incredible moment.
“You were saying?” He cocked an eyebrow at her.
The grin still in place, she trailed a finger along his unshaven jaw. “Merely that we Empyreans are hot-blooded and have needs, but yeah, I did.”
Nate frowned. He hadn’t heard of her species, mostly because he hadn’t cared about the other realms or their denizens when he had his own nightmare to live through, but he was curious. “Empyrean?” he asked. “Not a Fallen?”
The smile lingered. “No, but we’re angels, too, just of a different genus.”
He stared at her, her teasing words of surviving eons without carnal pleasure, a punch to his gut. Was she truly an innocent in this seduction game? “Are you saying you’ve never been with anyone?”
Her smile faded. “A long time ago, yes…”
Her admission nailed him like a bolt to the chest.
However, at the flash of hurt in her eyes, he wanted to find the worthless fuckers and throttle them for putting the pain there.
“Nate.” She stroked his whiskered jaw. “Your irises are bleeding red. Just know they didn’t matter. I was looking for something none of them possessed. Love, acceptance. They only wanted me for what they could get.”
“What do you mean? Ely, I know you haven’t been a Guardian for long. How did that happen, by the way?”
A massive sigh escaped her. “I lived on another realm until two Earth years ago.”
“Empyrea,” he said softly. “It would account for your accent. I like it.”
That made her smile. She shifted and pulled her long hair out from under her, sweeping the mass away from her shoulders. Against his navy sheets, the pale strands appeared like glimmering rays of silver. “My parents are the rulers of Ademéras, a dominion in Empyrea. They wanted me mated to a well-connected family, and I don’t mean in Ademéras but from another dominion. First, it was to the prince of Empyrea, but that didn’t happen—”
“Why?”
“He left and mated someone else. Then my parents arranged two more betrothals, and I refused both. The fourth, they were determined I would go through with, so I left.”
He frowned. “You opened a portal and ended up here?”
“Yes. Well, actually, the mage of my world told me to seek what it was I desired. And more than anything, I wanted to find my brother. He’d been gone a long time from Ademéras. In the end, I not only got a job I find fulfilling, but I also found Reynner, too.”
“Then I’m glad. Or our paths would never have crossed. But you are mine now…” He kissed the tip of her nose. Hell, he’d accepted he would never have a consort, not for one like him, and then he saw her. “Mine, Ely, ” he whispered, kissing the corner of her mouth. “Say it.”
“Yes, I am yours, and you are mine,” she murmured with the same need he felt for her. She wrapped her legs around him again, her hot core pressing against his belly, stroking the furnace within. “Kiss me, Nate.”
His mouth returned to hers in a tender meeting of lips, and then it wasn’t enough, and he drew her tongue into his mouth with a raw, carnal need. He palmed her breast, squeezing the delectable mound—
A rush of prickles coasted over his psyche. Nate lifted his head and went motionless. A faint whiff of burning tar and acrid copper drifted to him from the open window. The same smell he’d sniffed earlier. The bastards who hurt his sire were back.
He didn’t want to leave Ely, but he couldn’t let them escape twice. He leaped off the bed. “I won’t be long.”
Ely sat up, eyes wide, as he zipped up his jeans over his painfully erect cock.
“What’s wrong? I don’t sense any danger.”
“My world problems.” Anger torqued him. The fuckers would dare taunt him? Come this close to the garage again?
“I can help.”
“No. I’ve dealt with low-lives like these before.” He pulled on his t-shirt and raked back his tangled hair. Ely watched him like a beautiful siren. Unable to resist her, he leaned down, cupped the back of her head, and kissed her again. “I won’t be long, laika. Wait for me.”
Then he flashed from the room, tracking the sewer rats.
What on earth? Ely frowned at the spot where Nate had been moments ago, his expression utterly lethal. It was her job to hunt down these sleazeballs from the Dark Realm, and if they shed blood, be it human or the peaceful Otium demons, well then, she would kill them.
Hastily, she rolled off the bed and swayed, the heat resurging, hitting her harder than before. Dammit! She dropped back to the mattress, panting as if she’d run miles across the planet. Even the much cooler air from the open window didn’t help. Ugh! She pushed up once more, dressed, tied her hair into a high ponytail with one of the rubber bands she found in the bedside drawer, then lit out of there.
Outside in the welcoming chilly air of early morning, she scanned for Nate… And in the damp night air, the smell of anise and cedar merged with woodsmoke lingered—okay, most of it was already on her. A smile snuck to her lips. Ugh, get a grip, Ely. Right. She dematerialized, following the tug of her man.
A moment later, Ely found herself somewhere on the waterfront in Queens, near massive warehouses, the sounds of growls and grunts reaching her.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find you?” Nate’s icy voice reached her as she reformed in the shadows of the building. A body flew through the air, hitting the warehouse wall with the impact of a bullet and dropping to the asphalt. A guttural snarl erupted, and the demon reared up and flashed toward Nate, who easily evaded him.
Ely watched Nate fight, his movements fast and brutal as he landed blows, then a roundhouse kick to the jaw. Bones crunched. The demon groaned. Nate grabbed him in a chokehold—
A sudden hiss sounded, and a hellish bolt sizzled out of nowhere, brightening the night, its trajectory heading straight for Nate. Lightning fast, he moved, wheeling around, holding the cur in front of him like a shield. The bolt struck. The demon yowled in agony.
Her heart lodged in her throat, eyes narrowed, Ely scanned the place, ready to demolish the unseen damn ass for fighting dirty, not that she expected fair play from these Dark Realm scumbags.
“You know better than to come after me,” Nate bit out, dragging her attention back to him.
“When the price is right, anyone would—” the demon coughed, spitting blood.
“I’m sure. But your pal isn’t coming for you if that’s what you’re waiting for. He let you take the fall. So talk.” Nate rammed him against the wall. “Or, I will tear from limb to limb. Death won’t be quick.”
“H-he wants you dead,” he grunted, clutching his chest, blood glistening on his dark shirt. “He wants the unicorn brought back.”
Unicorn? Ely frowned. Earth didn’t house any rare mystical creatures she knew of…unless it was in disguise?
“That’s never gonna happen.”
A slash of silver glinted as dawn broke, streaks of gray lightening the sky. The demon broke free and lashed out with his dagger. Her breath caught. Nate didn’t evade the strike, he merely sidestepped, then grabbed the demon’s hand and yanked it upward, slicing the fiend’s carotid with one barely seen move. Blood sprayed everywhere. He snagged the falling blade and plunged it into the cur’s chest. The demon fell to his knees and collapsed on the asphalt, disintegrating into goo before seeping back into the earth.
It wasn’t like she didn’t kill, too, but this, whatever Nate was embroiled in, it was more than someone hurting Aba. She’d never seen this side of him. So cold and deadly.
Still, Ely inhaled lungfuls of air, grateful he wasn’t harmed. “Nate,” she called out.
His head snapped her way. “Dammit, Ely! Don’t follow me. This isn’t your fight.”
“Demons on Earth, hurting humans or Otiums, and causing strife? It sure is,” she corrected. “In any case, I didn’t interfere. I stood aside.”
“I don’t want you involved in this,” he growled, crossing to her. “They already have their sights on you, and yeah, it’s fucking personal!”
“Uh-huh, I can see that.” She stifled a snort. “The unicorn, what did he mean?”
His features hardened, his gaze flickering to her head. “What do you think?”
Frowning, she touched her ponytail, wondering if something was caught in her hair. Her brow furrowed as she dropped her hand. Ugh, Nate with his darn cryptic comment—
Ohhh…shit! Her stomach heaved as his words connected, her fingers flying up to touch her ponytail. With her light hair in this style—
“Me? I’m the unicorn? Because of my hairstyle?” She shook her head, laughter breaking free. “They can try. I’m not easy to capture.”
“I don’t care! They’ve already put a price on you!” His eyes burned with anger. “I might have killed one, but they’re just minions who work for someone far more powerful.”
Deciding not to aggravate him any further, she let it go. “Okay, but you know I’m not going to hide, right? I have a job to do.”
His mouth tightened. “I know.” He glanced around the place. “Let’s go.”
“I can’t. It’s dawn already. I have to head back. There could be a meeting. I’ll come by later in the day. You’ll be at the garage, right?”
Nate stood there, a tall silhouette in the shadows, his arms folded over his chest, not looking happy at all. “Not there, the cabin. It’s safer.”
From his enemies? “Okay. I’ll text you first.”
Before she could dematerialize, he grasped her hand. “Letting you go is damn hard to do.” He drew her to him, chest still heaving from his fight, and just held her in his arms. The gods knew she didn’t want to leave him, either. His unshaven jaw slid against her skin in a raspy caress, and a bolt of desire shot through her.
“I can smell your arousal, Ely,” he groaned, grasping her ponytail and kissing her. “Go, before I finish what we started in my room, right here in this damn alley.”
Her heart thumping wildly, Ely stepped back. Smiling was hard when she wanted to run back into his arms. She dematerialized back to the castle, aware of the endless wait until she could see him again.
First, she needed a shower to ease this damn heat within, and as much as it pained her, she had to wash Nate’s scent off her, too. For now.
CHAPTER 19
Lights brightened the castle’s windows in the early hours of the morning, lending it a fairy-tale appearance as Ely reformed on the terrace near the TV lounge, where she and the girls sometimes hung out. She cut through the empty room, stepped out into the corridor, and headed for the back stairwell, needing a shower before the meeting.
Soft footsteps echoed, and Kira appeared from further down, coming from the direction of the library. The moment she spied Ely, she hurried over, eyes bright with concern, her spiral, auburn hair bouncing around her shoulders. “I’ve been waiting to see you. Are you okay? Echo mentioned you weren’t feeling yourself before she left with Aethan.”
Ely’s lips twisted in a wry smile. “As well as I can be currently.”
“Grounding didn’t help, huh?”
“No. Though I did fall asleep,” she said drily.
Kira laughed, her pretty dimples popping free. “When I heard about your problem, it made me think of mine.”
Frowning, Ely started walking again, and Kira joined her. “What do you mean?”
“Well, my father bound my powers so I’d remain undetected from his enemies.”
Yes, her sire was the all-powerful Sin of Wrath.
“Though I doubt yours is for the same reason,” she continued. “What I’m trying to say is we’re both immortals. My father blocked any ability I might have had while I was a child, until I reached twenty-five or my path crossed with my mate’s. But long story short, I went through the same rising temperature and fluctuating powers until Týr and I mated—” She gasped, her hazel-green eyes glowing with excitement. “Maybe you met your destined mate, yes?”
A sharp stab of pain splintered Ely’s chest, but somehow she managed a nonchalant tone, “Well…I’ve come across many, many males. But, alas, I kill most.”
“No.” Kira grinned. “I meant someone you met recently and who still breathes?”
Ely didn’t laugh. She couldn’t.
“Hey, what is it?” Kira stopped walking and grasped her hand, her smile fading. “If you need to talk, I’m here, you know that, right?”
“Aye. Thank you. I’m just feeling a little rundown and tired,” she evaded, rubbing her damp palms on her top, heat prickling her skin. “I need a shower. I’ll see you later.” Ely forced a smile, then hurried for the back stairwell. She couldn’t speak about this to Kira or even Shadow, who already knew about Nate. More, she didn’t want to put both her friends in any crossfire that was bound to happen once the news got out.
As she ran up the stairs, Shae came down, her gorgeous red hair pulled in a loose braid.
“Great, you’re back!” Her friend smiled. “Want to meet me in the arena this afternoon?”
Darn. Much as she would have liked that, she wanted to see Nate more. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
Shae sighed. “With Echo gone, it’s hard to get sparring partners. All right, maybe tomorrow.”
The females here worked out mostly for fun and to keep fit. But the underlying thought was that one never knew when they could be attacked while their mates were out on patrol.
“What about, oh, I don’t know, say a certain yellow-eyed warrior, who’d be awesome to duel with?” she teased.
Shae rolled her gray-gold eyes, cheeks reddening. “That doesn’t always turn out the way I like.”
“And you’re complaining because…?” The gods knew she’d give anything to have Nate with her when she wasn’t working, to be dueling with him…kissing…making love.
“Hardly complaining.” Shae grinned. “But I seriously want to put in some time with swords.” She snapped her fingers. “I know, Kira!”
Ely burst out laughing. “She’s not going to be happy. You know she hates that kind of workout.”
Shae thought about it for a second, then snorted. “She uses the gym, so how is training in the arena different?” she asked in a tone of innocence.
Grinning at her friend’s antics, Ely wiggled her fingers in goodbye, sprinted up the stairs, and stopped on the landing. Wait, she had nothing pressing going on until she left to see Nate at noon. She could train with Shae now, give Kira a break, and hopefully, this cursed temperature problem would be worked out of her body, giving her a modicum of peace.
“Shae!” she called out, pivoting.
