Hunted_The Guardians' League Book One

by Amelia Elias

  There’s more, Diego whispered in her mind, even his thoughts breathless with ecstasy. Do you want to make it better? The ultimate?

  Sian moaned against his skin at the very thought and started to pull away from his throat to ask what he meant, but his palm cupped the back of her head and kept her there. Don’t stop, mi amor. Trust me.

  He shifted her atop him until she was again straddling his hips with his erection pressing against her core. He didn’t have to urge her to slide down over him, drawing him deep inside her. Sian quivered from head to toe, feeling him with every sense she possessed, and she thought she understood what he meant by the ultimate. Surely nothing on Earth was better than this.

  That thought went flying out the window when he bit her shoulder.

  Nothing could have prepared her for the incredible ecstasy, which whipped through her mind and body. For that moment, there was no Diego and no Sian, only one being created of love and pleasure, giving and taking both and lost in it. She threaded her fingers in his hair and felt the caress against her own scalp, felt her skin beneath his hands as he grasped her hips and guided her in a rhythm that stoked the fire to a fever pitch. They reached the ultimate peak together, exploding in rapture.

  Long minutes passed before Sian was aware of anything again, still feeling Diego so strongly she wondered how she’d ever felt whole without him before now. Finally she felt him pull away from her shoulder and she reluctantly released his throat.

  “Wow,” she whispered. It wasn’t nearly adequate praise for what they’d shared, but it was all she could manage for now. Her brain hadn’t started working again yet.

  Diego chuckled and held her tight. “Wow just about covers it,” he teased. His hands slid down to her hips in a slow, sweet caress. “Can we do it again?”

  She laughed shakily and tried to find the strength to raise her head. “I don’t think I’ve got the energy,” she told him sadly. The mere thought of loving him like that again was enough to make her pulse race despite the utter satisfaction of her body. She smiled against his chest. “And to think, I was afraid I’d hurt you when I bit you.”

  She felt his grin even though she didn’t see it. “Please, feel free to hurt me like that anytime the mood strikes you,” he invited.

  Sian snuggled closer. “Is it always like this for vampires?” she asked. Mortals were missing out. She’d certainly had no idea anything could feel so incredible. Maybe being a creature of the night wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  Diego shifted at her words, rolling with her until her head rested on the pillow, and cupped her cheek in his hand. “It’s never been like this,” he told her fiercely, his eyes so deep she wanted to drown in them. “That was like nothing I’ve ever felt in the thousand years of my life, wildcat. What we have, what we just did, you’ll never find with anyone else.”

  Sian couldn’t help but smile. How could he even think she’d consider doing that with anyone else, especially right now when she was still so replete with his lovemaking, every muscle was limp and trembling?

  “Caveman,” she said affectionately, twining her fingers in his hair. “Do you honestly think I would ever bite anyone but you?”

  “You’d better not,” he growled, scowling at her in mock ferocity. She giggled and he pulled her close and held her tight. “How do you feel?”

  She pinched him for asking such an obvious question. “Like I’ve been loved to within an inch of my life,” she murmured. “Blissful, boneless, never better.”

  “Mmm, I think I like that.” He kissed her in reward, a long, slow kiss that was pure hot seduction. She moaned in protest when he pulled away. “But as delightful as your answer was, it’s not what I meant.”

  She opened her eyes and finally saw the concern in his and understood. He was worried she’d have some kind of bad reaction to his blood or something, go through the Change he and Eli had said was so painful. “Didn’t Eli say I’d already made my choice to be a vampire and that was all it took?” she asked. “I mean, I already had the fangs before I bit you, honey. How much more changing would I need to do to become like you?”

  He smiled, the tension leaving him, and pressed his hips suggestively against hers. He was already ready to go again and she blinked at him, astonished. “I think you’ll always be a bit different from me,” he teased. “But tell me if you start to feel strange. I’ve never known a dhampyr before and I don’t know what to expect any more than you do.” He bent and nuzzled her ear. “But you can call me honey again if you want. I think I like it better than caveman.”

  She laughed and wound her arms around his neck, relatively certain he’d get called both from time to time. His heart kicked against her breast and she shook her head in wonder as she sensed his desire. “How can you want me again already?” she asked, unable to keep herself from wiggling against him for the sheer pleasure of hearing his breath catch.

  He pretended to consider it. “You mean other than the fact that you’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen and I love you more than life itself?” He brushed a kiss over her lips that left her wanting much, much more. “You’re still a little weak from when I took too much blood from you,” he pointed out. “Otherwise I’m sure you’d be jumping me again right now. You’ll find vampires have incredible stamina for this sort of thing.”

  Sian rolled her eyes at him but his palm had found her breast and she was discovering she wasn’t as tired as she’d thought. “Hmm, how do you suggest I make up for the blood loss?” she asked, glancing at him from beneath her lashes. “Too bad there’s not someone around here I could bite.”

  He growled and nipped her lower lip, not breaking the skin but sending a thrill down her spine before he quite thoroughly kissed the sting away. “I wouldn’t be a very good mate if I didn’t make this sacrifice for you,” he murmured between kisses. “I guess I’ll just have to endure it for your sake.”

  Later—much, much later—Diego held Sian as she slept and basked in the sheer joy of having her in his arms. She was exhausted despite taking his blood again, but he didn’t mind. She’d get stronger with time as she continued to embrace her vampire side. For now it was enough to hold her. Diego traced her beloved face, ran his fingers through her golden hair like spun sunlight, before tracing his fingertips over the random lines of the dark band on her arm that marked her as his.

  It took a moment to notice something was different. Diego lifted her arm to get a closer look, careful not to wake her.

  The strange runes, which marked her skin, had changed. Simple, subtle changes that nonetheless altered it completely. Instead of a nonsense pattern, Diego was now able to read words written in a flowing, ancient script across her skin. They were words as familiar to him as his own name.

  Honor and Love Eternal.

  The same words had graced his family crest for generations before his birth.

  The realization of what this meant came right on the heels of that and Diego closed his eyes, shaking his head. Eli hadn’t bound them. He’d tricked them both into thinking it, but he hadn’t done it.

  And Diego should have known it the first time he’d looked at the “bondmarks” Eli had put there.

  Bondmarks were special, unique to each couple. They were always something of deep meaning and for Diego, no symbol could mean more than seeing his family’s motto on Sian’s skin. Those words had followed every Leonides for centuries and, with the love of this woman, he knew they would follow his heirs instead of dying with him. No, Eli couldn’t create a true bond, no matter how old and powerful he was.

  He and Sian had bonded all on their own and he hadn’t even known they were doing it. When she’d tasted the trace of his blood from the scratches Diego had been afraid it would Change her. He’d never expected it to start the bonding instead. How could he? As far as they’d known, the bond was already established the instant Eli had put those bogus marks on their skin.

  He’d been terrified enough after their first exchange to call Eli in panic, and Eli ha
d known. He’d known both that the bond was new and that Sian was a dhampyr, damn him, and hadn’t said a single word. Tonight, Sian had used her fangs for the first time and completed the last step, the third exchange binding them together for eternity. No, Diego was foolish to have thought anyone could force such a thing on another, but he’d believed it and acted accordingly.

  Still, with Sian lying soft and sated in his arms, Diego found it hard to summon up any anger about it. Had he known they weren’t truly bonded that first night, there was no doubt in his mind Sian would’ve been long gone from his life and he wouldn’t be lying here now feeling like he’d died and gone to heaven.

  He felt the dawn coming and pulled Sian closer. She snuggled against him with a soft sigh and he closed his eyes, wrapping himself around her and loving how very right she felt in his arms. He’d never been happier to be tricked in his entire life.

  Maybe Eli wasn’t so bad after all.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  “You did what?”

  Sian reached out and took Diego’s hand as she sat out of sight of the camera, fighting not to laugh at the shocked look on his face as he stared at Eli on the computer screen. They hadn’t been awake for more than five minutes—just enough time for Diego to give her a really nice kiss to start off the night—when James had knocked on the door to tell Diego the Council wanted him for an urgent video conference.

  It was maybe the only thing on Earth that could have gotten him to leave the bed, and he’d been in a rotten mood ever since they’d followed James downstairs and into the study. James was hardly limping at all now and Sian was immensely glad to see it. He claimed the most annoying part of his recovery was learning how to type again without his right little finger and while he’d laughed about it as they’d followed him downstairs, Sian hadn’t needed to touch Diego’s mind to feel his anger surge. The reminder of James’s ordeal at the hands of the Templars had done nothing for Diego’s mood. Eli’s pronouncement had definitely been the last straw. Sian knew it wouldn’t help matters if she laughed right now.

  But she wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to, because Eli had done with one move something she’d spent the last week trying to persuade Diego to agree to.

  She shifted on the edge of the desk and glanced at the monitor to see Eli in the corner of the screen, a rich tapestry behind him and the light flickering as though the room was lit by candles or a fireplace. Eli was smiling, an expression Sian knew far better than to trust, and she hoped Diego would hold onto his temper. The things racing through his mind right now were far better left unsaid.

  The other people on the screen she didn’t recognize but Diego had murmured their names in her mind when she’d first sneaked a glance at the screen. In the top corner by Eli’s image was an imposing looking man named Talus, a dark-eyed warrior with three deep scars twisting one cheek. Below him a man and a woman sat side by side, Quaid and Maelisa Naomhan, bondmates from Ireland now living somewhere on the East Coast. The last corner was taken by a blond man in a motorcycle jacket named Gareth Ambrocio and it looked for all the world as though he were lounging in an internet café instead of a private study.

  All of them looked not a day past thirty, and all of them with the exception of Quaid were older than Diego. Sian knew it wasn’t the entire Council since Diego had told her there were twelve Council members in addition to their Head, but the five people held in that computer screen were still quite enough to make her feel like a child playing way out of her league.

  And now Diego was one of them, if Eli was to be believed. She squeezed his hand again and touched his mind. It’s quite an honor, honey.

  He shot her a look. It’s a trick, if I know Eli, he replied without hesitation. Why in the world would he give me his place, Sian?

  “You filed the complaint,” Eli said calmly on the screen, and if Sian didn’t know better she would’ve sworn he was reading Diego’s mind long-distance. “I’ve decided I’ve been the Council’s Head for too long anyway. It’s time for me to let some younger blood in, and who better than you?”

  Diego glared at the screen. “How about any one of these other people who are trying to railroad me into this?” he shot back. “What about Talus? How about Quaid if you want young blood? He’s younger than me and he actually wants to be on the Council. He’s served on it for a hundred years. Why not offer it to him?”

  Maelisa laughed and shook her head. “No one is trying to railroad you into anything, Diego,” she said soothingly.

  “And I don’t wish to lead,” Quaid added. “We simply want you to add your knowledge and experience to the Council. You’ve reached an age few achieve and with it comes a unique perspective.”

  Sian glanced at Quaid and Maelisa’s hands entwined and felt Diego’s thumb caress the band of her mother’s now-repaired wedding rings on her left hand. She wondered if she and Diego would still be finishing each other’s thoughts and snuggling like that in a few hundred years. She found it unbearably sweet.

  Yes, they’re very cute, but let’s not lose sight of the fact they’re trying to force me into something fairly big here, querida. “Is that the same kind of unique perspective which led you all to meddle endlessly in my life?”

  Sian raised an eyebrow at him and drew her hand away to cross her arms over her chest. And what, now you wish they hadn’t meddled when I came along? she asked pointedly. Just think how much simpler everything would’ve been for you if you’d been allowed to heal me and send me on my way. Maybe you’d prefer they’d left you to pick your own mate and—

  Diego reached out and reclaimed her hand. I’d have chosen you whether they’d meddled or not and the fact that I love you should prove that simple holds no appeal for me, he told her with absolute assurance. She grinned, trying to figure out if that was a compliment or not. It’s merely an example of the kind of things they do with their power, Sian. They go too far on a regular basis.

  So why not get in there and put a stop to it? Sian asked, lacing her fingers through his again. Eli’s offering you the chance to be top dog. Why don’t you go show them who’s boss?

  Maybe because if I accept this it means you become a Slayer and put yourself in danger every night, you think? His voice dripped sarcasm even in her mind.

  She made a face at him and sent him the memory of the Templar she’d shot during the battle at the warehouse. Brilliant debater that Diego was, even he hadn’t found an adequate comeback for that yet.

  I’ve been in law enforcement in some form or another for all of my adult life, hon. Think of this as simply another branch. Besides, isn’t vampire hunting what a dhampyr is supposed to do? You know I’d be good at it—

  Please don’t start in on that again, he cut her off wearily. I don’t want you hunting Outcasts and that’s final.

  You think so, do you? She had no intention of giving in until he agreed and she was positive Diego knew it. She’d never wanted to be a housewife in her mortal life and she didn’t intend to become the vampire version of June Cleaver. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, it just wasn’t her style. Diego, I know you’ll be good at this, and you can’t keep me in bubble wrap for the rest of eternity—

  “Diego, are you still there?” Gareth asked as someone put a steaming cup in front of him. Sian couldn’t help blinking in surprise. He really was in an internet café! She couldn’t believe any vampire would conduct Council business in such an open place. Diego had even made James leave before starting the meeting. “Did he lose his connection?”

  “He speaks to his bondmate, Gareth,” Eli supplied before Diego even had a chance to reply. “He’d be wise to listen to her, too.”

  Sian gasped and Diego looked like he wanted to punch the screen. “Get out of my head, Eli,” he growled.

  Eli’s face was pure innocence. It wasn’t a look that suited him. “How could I be reading your mind, Diego? I’m nowhere near you,” he said reasonably. “All I meant is that women are intelligent creatures.”

  Die
go muttered something that was luckily unintelligible. Sian shot him a look and murmured in his mind, It’s very rude to mumble, honey, and Diego took a breath to repeat himself more clearly.

  “Your mate is with you now?” Talus asked, cutting through whatever Diego had been about to say to Eli—a good idea, in Sian’s opinion. “Put her on and let’s meet her, especially since Eli thinks she should join us.”

  Her approval of Talus’s idea suddenly evaporated in a sizzle of nerves and Sian shook her head frantically at Diego. Eli had recommended to the Council that she take the League oath and help Diego with his Slayer duties since he’d have to dedicate most of his time to leading the Council. She’d known they would want to meet her at some point, but she hadn’t anticipated it being right now. She was wearing nothing but one of Diego’s T-shirts and while he looked perfectly comfortable facing the Council in jeans and a lot of bare skin, Sian had no desire to have these people meet her for the first time while she was less than half-dressed.

  Oh, and you were all gung-ho for me to join up with them a second ago, Diego teased. Now you don’t even want to meet them?

  I want to get dressed first! she replied emphatically. He grinned and she knew that look. Oh, no, Diego, you wouldn’t dare—

  He dared. One tug and a tumble later, Sian found herself facing the camera and computer screen from Diego’s lap, her cheeks burning and his arm tight around her waist to keep her from bolting.

  I will get you for this, she threatened furiously as she smiled and tried her best to return the others’ warm greetings. She wished she hadn’t seen the amusement on their faces as she blushed hotter. Just wait, Diego Leonides. You’ll be begging for mercy by the time I’m done with you.