Binding Ecstasy (The Guardians of the Realms Book 6)

by Setta Jay

  She stretched her arms over her head, trying to ease the tightness from her shoulders, and caught the Phoenix’s eyes narrowing on her breasts.

  He showed her the next high-rise apartment and she teleported.

  When she reformed beside him on the balcony three floors from the destination, she was still trying to convince herself that Apollo couldn’t harm Brigitte. They’d found no indications that the God had any humans or Mageia helping him. Or for that matter, any Immortals. They had no idea what he was up to, but he was an arrogant bastard and that might be to their advantage. Surely he wouldn’t have lowered himself to hiring mortals? That was the only thing getting her through it all. That, and knowing that the other Guardians were searching too along with Tasha and Bastian. They were all doing everything they could until the God finally made his move.

  She didn’t sense any wards anywhere in the building.

  “Let’s go in,” he growled and was gone.

  A minute inside was enough to take his scent into her lungs and cause her to ache. There was no hint of the God and she was frustrated.

  “We’re taking a break,” Sander snarled and held the phone up for her to glimpse a picture before he was gone, forcing her to traipse after his ass, yet again. She clenched her teeth and wanted to toss something into a wall. She briefly considered an expensive vase, but ruining it wouldn’t ease her annoyance and arousal. Maybe if she bashed it over his head? She left it and ported away.

  He’d sent her to a different part of the world, this one with sunlight streaming through a forest canopy. She inhaled the fresh cool air with abandon after being cooped up with his scent surrounding her. She sighed as she looked around for the asshole. A splash directed her and she found him not far away in a pool of crystal clear water. He was just breaking the surface and she watched the water run over his head and down the hard muscle of his chest. She sucked in a breath at the sheer beauty of him.

  “You could have just given me the next location,” she snapped. This was worse than his scent. This visual would stick with her, torment her all night.

  “I could have,” he agreed. “Now ask your fucking questions.”

  Her mouth dropped open as he walked toward her, coated in water drops. He was completely nude, and the closer he got, the lower the water dipped until his hard cock came into view. She stared at his beautiful body; the dark tattoos that marked his arms and shoulders up to his neck were a distant memory now that she could see all of him. His hard-packed thighs came into view next and the bastard had to know he was torturing her. She couldn’t imagine a sexier male.

  “If you won’t ask your questions, I will. What are you?”

  Not the question she would have guessed was coming, and put that way, it sounded rude. “An Immortal.”

  “With Hera’s blood?” he bit out.

  “Yes.”

  “But not her daughter?”

  “No. Tasha and I were a different fucking experiment.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” the Phoenix asked, but she was too damned distracted by his body.

  “He wanted us to have more power. No animal DNA. Instead he used Hera’s blood with the original teleporter DNA.” The Kairos before they were enhanced with animal senses and strength.

  “Why?”

  “To make us strong enough to kill the other Gods. Hera has something in her blood that Apollo used to mask our power and create the mist. We were supposed to be his perfect little assassins.”

  Sander growled, but her phone beeped before she could respond.

  She was happy for the boost Conn had given to her signal. She hadn’t wanted to sit and wait at the club when she could be searching for the bastard. Conn was skilled enough with electronics to disable the GPS when he’d added the boost. They still had no idea what the God had learned about technology.

  Heat flared from the Phoenix’s direction a second before she caught sight of him tossing his clothes back on.

  After a second ring from the unknown number, she slid her thumb over the screen and put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Clever of you to leave a cellular number. I’m disappointed that you weren’t waiting.” Apollo tisked and it was fucking annoying. “Is this Chaos or my sweet Nemesis?”

  She clenched her jaw to stop from answering the way she wanted to. “Chaos.”

  He’s on the phone, she told her twin.

  Sander was standing directly in front of her, watching as she spoke and likely telling the Guardians what was going on.

  “I’m about to text you an image. You and Nemesis will meet me there within two minutes or your mortal friend suffers my annoyance.” Apollo’s call ended and seconds later she was getting a text.

  She mentally sent the image to her twin with the God’s instructions as Sander snatched the phone from her hand and snarled.

  “Your twin is going to feed us the images of somewhere we can port in, since this picture is fucking shit,” Sander snapped. “We’ll be right fucking behind you once she gives us a better image of where to go in so that Apollo doesn’t sense us.” The God had been smart. It was an image of a small backyard, not enough detail to identify where the hell it was or what was around it. If the Guardians followed, Apollo would know instantly. Maybe not Bastian if he was in mist, but this was too close to chance.

  She reformed and felt when her twin did the same next to her. Apollo stepped down the steps onto the path and away from the warding of the home. His smile showed just how pleased he was with himself at the ease with which he’d gotten them there.

  “What do you want, Apollo?” Nastia bit out. She didn’t want to sound too eager in asking for Brigitte. It seemed her twin was thinking the same thing as she stayed silent at Nastia’s side. Tasha’s eyes were taking it all in and probably sending information to her mate.

  She barely got the words out when something changed and she felt the air electrify around them.

  Chapter 34

  Apollo’s Lair, Earth Realm

  The second Natasha slipped into the backyard as mist, she fed Bastian an image of a big mostly open property. Only scattered trees slid down the hill to a lake below. He teleported in mist out where he could see his mate, but not so close Apollo could potentially sense him. He half listened to talk in the Guardian link as his brethren ported in further away.

  His eyes were glued to the backyard where his mate and her twin were standing, watching Apollo descending the stairs of a big wraparound porch.

  He didn’t like the way any of this felt. Not the God so close to his mate. Not the timing. Nothing.

  P had just finished telling them about Gregoire and what was going on with the baby and Alyssa, and not ten minutes later Nastia got the call. Something wasn’t right.

  Suddenly Bastian felt the air charge. The next few minutes went by in slow motion with everything happening at once, starting with a call to his brothers as he ported to Natasha’s side. He tensed as Apollo looked to the left, and it was like a hole opened up in the air about fifty feet away, and some kind of energy burst shot directly at Apollo. The God roared in fury and he went down hard as golden staffs with carved dragons heads came into view and kept firing blasts as the Deity’s body jolted with the impact.

  Warriors about the same size as the Guardians slipped through the shimmering hole in the air. They wore leather much like the Guardians though some wore theirs as kilts. Most of the big males had long hair and bright green eyes. The main difference between him and these males was the weaponry. Bastian had a blade and they were using energy blasts from the staffs they held.

  The newcomers moved with lightning-quick bursts of speed, and Bastian was thankful as shit that Natasha and Nastia were already in mist near Apollo. Bastian cut down two warriors who moved toward the Deity, who was struggling to move on the ground while bellowing in fury. Everyone was fighting and dodging fire, and two bastards slipped past in a blur of speed, tossing a web of something gold over the Deity. Apollo’s big body jerked at th
e impact of the thin see-through material. Bastian saw Apollo flicker as if to teleport, but it looked like he couldn’t. His arms went to his sides as the two males moved toward the two golden handles on either side that were in the shape of dragon heads, just like the staffs.

  Bastian was finishing off another warrior when Apollo touched the two who’d come for him. Both warriors roared and their green eyes bled red before they hit the ground, convulsing.

  His mate and Nastia sent the males’ heads rolling a split second later.

  Bastian reformed beside Apollo and tried to port the Deity away, but he couldn’t get a power hold on him. The net was stopping him from porting the damned God away, and he sent the information through the Guardian link.

  He cut down more warriors as he kept a mental eye on his mate.

  Natasha was incredible. During their mating, he’d learned just what she was capable of, but seeing it play out was intense. Dozens of warriors were attempting to rush ahead, trying to fight or slip by the Guardians. The weapons shot wildly when they couldn’t see what was attacking them. The newcomers were blind to the mist that he and his mate and her twin were using.

  His mate’s mist literally cut like a blade through bone and armor, spraying blood in arcs as the bodies fell. Her twin didn’t have the same skill but was able to partially reform, slicing the throats of her opponents easily and mostly unseen while the Phoenix fought at her side.

  The Guardians had fanned around the God, who’d stopped roaring. He’d taken so many shots from the weapons that Bastian wondered if he was still alive under whatever the hell that metal was.

  Bastian was more concerned about his mate and her twin, though Nastia had Sander at her back, and the male was fighting like a fucking hurricane of fury if any warrior got anywhere near her mist.

  Natasha deftly dodged the constant shots while cutting down the warriors who were almost too fast for his eyes to track. The coppery scent of blood filled the backyard. The body count was rising, but they just kept coming through.

  Roars and battle cries split the air around them. The newcomers spoke a language he hadn’t heard but sounded very similar to their old language, but only hearing their battle cries wasn’t making it easy to translate it. Guardians could understand any dialect, just like the Gods, so he was pissed he didn’t know what the words meant.

  Bastian snarled and turned and reformed his hands to snap another warrior’s neck and felt his mate take down one of her own as he ported out of the way of the weapon fire. Anywhere near the God was a blazing fire zone now, and the other Guardians were having a hard time getting anywhere close to twenty yards away. If felt like warriors were everywhere, but they were holding them back.

  Drake and P had fanned out to the other side of Apollo, trying to prevent the warriors from taking the God, but they couldn’t get close enough with the constant blasts.

  A roar split the air and he saw Nastia drop out of mist a few yards away. She fell to the ground in a crouch, answering his question as to whether the weapons would hit the mist. Fuck. She had a bloody gouge in her side, and it was Sander’s bellowing rage that filled the air as the Phoenix ported in front of her before Bastian or Natasha got there.

  Bastian quickly dodged more hits and wrenched the head off a warrior who aimed a weapon at Drake. Sander took a blast as he guarded Nastia and sent fire to incinerate the bastard who’d wounded her. The Phoenix’s eyes were wild. He’d always been a crazed and deadly fighter, but this was more. Nastia was up and twirling in graceful arcs with her daggers connecting to tendons and throats. She was almost as fast and deadly in hand-to-hand combat as Natasha was with her bladelike mist.

  His mate’s body count was growing around them. Her power was quiet death.

  He heard the reports from the Guardians. Jax had been hit just like Nastia. Then Conn was hit. Nothing deadly according to the reports, but the massive amounts of weapons fire was getting harder and harder to avoid. What was worse was the warriors were apparently immune to it. A few almost made it through to Apollo before getting downed by a Guardian.

  He heard Brianne’s loud battle cries behind the fight. His sister thrived on battle and Bastian knew Vane would be by her side, but they were still outnumbered.

  Then something else barreled through the hole in the air. The ground shook under hooves as the beast let out an ear-piercing screech. The animal was easily the size and shape of a bull, but with spines covering its body, and red eyes. It looked like their Hell beasts. Sacha was there with a blade in its side; she ported and got another cut between the spines at its neck before it breathed a noxious roar. Sacha was gone and then she dropped out of the air mid-teleport; she’d breathed in whatever those fumes were. Bastian couldn’t get to her as the beast galloped for the God, and Vane swept down with massive wings and sent a blade through it’s head.

  He felt Sacha’s link, but it didn’t ease anything inside him as he downed a male firing in the direction of Natasha’s mist. Only when Sirena was at his mother’s side did it feel like he could breathe again.

  The more they picked off and fought, the more that came to take their places, and still no one could get to the God from either side.

  Sander was beside Nastia, lighting the place on fire as he roared in fury. He knew the Phoenix was raging that his mate had been harmed. The cut didn’t look bad. The problem was they had no idea what the weapon was, but she seemed fine and kept fighting.

  Bastian focused on his mate and the battle, knowing Sander was guarding Nastia even as she jumped and kicked the warriors away before slicing their throats and dodging more shots. He didn’t like that she hadn’t gone back to mist.

  He whirled and killed another male aiming for P this time as he felt for his mate’s link. She had a deadly focus that eased his tension, but she was demanding to know why her sister hadn’t gone back to mist as she ported to a male behind him and sliced through a hand that was carrying a weapon.

  That was when time slowed again. His mate was yelling for her twin as Natasha cut down another male, and Bastian had time to see Nastia suddenly pale and start to go down. Sander was already there, lifting her into his arms, taking another shot to the back that didn’t seem to affect the Phoenix.

  Sander ported Nastia away, and warriors slipped through the hole in the Guardians’ defenses. Shots rained the area by Apollo in constant succession as the males slipped in and grabbed the dragon handles. In one blinding flash it was all over.

  The God, the warriors and even their dead were gone. The electricity in the air sucked up into the hole and it was as if nothing had ever been there.

  Chapter 35

  The Guardian Manor, Tetartos Realm

  “Who’s still hurt?” Drake raged in the confines of the war room less than an hour after the fight. The dragon paced while the exhaust fans worked double time to clear the air of his fury. They’d searched the property and found the God’s prepaid phone and a computer with a feed to where he had Brigitte trussed up, but that was the only good news that had come of everything.

  Bastian’s mind was buzzing from sharp silence that descended in the Guardian link once all the Guardians and their mates filled up the war room at the manor. He could almost see the tension mixing with the smoke in the air. He pulled his mate and her chair closer to his side as he waited for the reports. His jaw was clenched tight as he slung his arm over her stiff shoulders. He moved his hand back and started massaging the tight muscles at her neck. He needed to touch her after all that had happened. He was fucking worried for Sacha and Nastia and he’d just been in a damned bloody battle with his mate at his side. At the moment touch was all he could have, and when she instinctually leaned closer to him he settled some.

  He heard Sirena answer Drake’s question about those who were hurt. “I spelled Brigitte to sleep in a room next to Nastia’s. The Mageia wasn’t harmed physically, but she was exhausted.”

  Sirena ran a hand over the back of her neck. “Sacha’s still unconscious.” The healer lo
oked furious. “I need to do more tests, but she’s alive, that’s all I can say for certain. It’s like some kind of poison paralyzed her,” Sirena bit out. “No one else was affected by that. The others were shot with the energy weapon, and only Nastia is still weakened from that. It seemed to sap her strength more than anyone else, and I have no idea why. I think refueling her energies will help. She’s incredibly depleted and needs to get her stores back up.” That was why his mate’s twin was currently resting in the one of the cavern rooms below.

  He could feel Natasha’s worry for her twin, but she’d insisted on coming to the meeting for answers once she’d seen that Nastia and Brigitte were safe in their rooms. She’d only spoken briefly to Nastia because her twin had been barely conscious and needed rest and energy. Nastia’s stores were lower than he’d ever seen anyone get.

  The healer continued. “Dorian, Jax and Brianne were hit and are fine now. They couldn’t teleport right after, but the effect wore off. I’m still going to have to monitor them. Sander was the only one hit who wasn’t fazed at all. At least not as far as I can see.”

  Bastian looked at the male who sat across from him and knew he was furious. Sander may not have been effected by the weapon, but the mating frenzy was about to dig its claws in hard. It looked like it already had. The Phoenix’s eyes were dilated and his shoulders were pulled tight. He looked like he was itching to get to Nastia.

  “Uri?” Drake commanded.

  “Their minds were shielded, and I didn’t take blood because I had no idea what the fuck it would do,” Uri growled.

  “So how the fuck do we find them?” Sander snarled.

  “I’ve been on all the news outlets and there’s nothing indicating anything out of the ordinary. At least not like this.” Conn growled, his dark haired mate, Dacia, sat at his side. All of her siblings were there behind them. The Guardian fold now included the Lykos pack as well as Alex’s brother Erik, and all of the Guardian mates. The room was full with seats spanning out beyond the solid wood table. Gregoire and his pregnant mate Alyssa were at the back of the room and it looked like the big Hippeus was about to crush something. Alyssa’s tiny form was solidly tucked into his side as the male seethed with the knowledge that something dangerous was on the horizon.