by Lexi Ostrow
“Marie! Enough!”
The familiar barked command caused her eyes to snap open. Snow covered the floor and her bed. The brother’s trench coat was sliced in many places, likely from her ice shards. Small trickles of blood vanished as a white light glowed from his hands and healed them.
The other brother was gone.
Blinking, she listened without question and quelled the roaring storm inside of her. Ice shards fell uselessly to the ground and did not regenerate from her fingertips. The snow flurries stopped, and slowly, she sucked in a deep breath, pulling the cold from the room back into her body.
All the while, the brother just stared at her. She wasn’t certain if he was going to attack or see if she was all right. That was when she realized the obvious. He had been watching her.
“You were watching me.” Her tone was accusatory, emotion pouring effortlessly through her once more.
“I always watch what is mine. Those who fight on my side fall into that category. Those who are working on a mission for me do even more so. So, yes, I was watching you. Which is rather lucky for you. My brother doesn’t handle rejection well, and while I can track him, I wasn’t actively trying to when I pulled open the viewing window and saw him attacking.”
Some of her anger quelled. His logic was sound, and it didn’t escape her that he had saved her life. Probably for the second time since forcing her to meet Sean had given her back what she’d thrown away—emotion.
“What are you going to do to me now, for fighting against you?”
A cocky smirk appeared on his lips, and some of the storm left his silver eyes. “While I’m not thrilled your first reaction was to hurt or kill both my brother and me, I like knowing you are passionate enough once more to defend yourself.” Ire flashed in his expression. “I’m also thrilled that what I’d hoped for came to pass. You and Sean healed one another, you mended hearts that might have been too shattered to otherwise be repaired.”
“Which gives you hope for others in our situation?”
“Which most certainly gives me hope. All is not lost. It will seem that way, and healing will take time, but Guardians can find happiness through a partnership with each other.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and his smirk shifted into a genuine smile. “Go find Sean. My brother has likely shielded himself once again, and I do not intend to let him escape me. He has to atone for his sins.”
In a flash he was gone, leaving Marie standing in a puddle of melted ice and snow. Duke barked from outside the door, slamming into it with his front paws. Marie just stood where she was. She hadn’t even been entirely certain she was falling for Sean, yet the brother’s words seemed to assure her of it in a way she hadn’t been able to accept on her own.
Marie was falling in love with Sean. She was falling in love, and she was damn sure not going to be the one to say it first.
Finally shaking off her stupor, she crossed to the door and pulled it open, patting Duke on the head as he raced passed her, barking at the assailants who were no longer present. When he was convinced they were alone, he snorted and jumped back up onto the bed, curling into a ball.
“Try not to get sick sleeping in a wet bed, Duke. I promise I’ll figure out a way to clean everything up when I get back. I’ve got a Guardian to go see about a relationship.”
15
“Do you think about being a pawn?” Marie asked as she idly stroked Luna’s soft fur. Her eyes shifted to look over at Sean as he made them both sandwiches.
Sean couldn’t think of a time when he’d been so content to simply make a meal for someone. Her question caught him off guard, though. She had been distant since she’d arrived, but they’d easily fallen back into the companionship that had so quickly formed between them. Something that had given him a distinct amount of hope that she wasn’t quite done with him yet. He certainly wasn’t done with her and hadn’t been planning to allow her to leave without forcing her to face what was between them.
He hadn’t been prepared for her to bring up anything having to do with who and what they truly were. It had actually felt as if the topic had an invisible off limits sign taped over it. As if talking about it would remind them both they were only together because someone had damn near forced them to be.
Dropping the mayo knife into the sink, he raised a brow at her as he turned on the water. “As a military man, I’m pretty much everyone’s pawn.” Scrubbing the knife, he pulled open the dishwasher and dropped it in, closing the door and grabbing the plate to pass to Marie. “Something happen?”
He had always known he was a pawn. The moment he’d been released he’d gone looking to do someone’s bidding and hadn’t thought twice about being a Guardian, a piece in someone else’s agenda. Stacy’s death hadn’t changed that. He’d just gone off to be a player for someone else. It was who he was written to be, a trait he didn’t mind and hadn’t ever thought twice about. But something told him Marie was different.
“You don’t like that you were manipulated, do you?”
Her brow scrunched, and she grabbed the turkey sandwich in one hand, still paying attention to Luna.
She likes the cat more than me, he mused. Which is fine. If the cat is the reason she started talking to me again, I won’t rush this.
“Frankly, no. I never really thought of being a warrior as being the same thing as a pawn. Though, I can see it now that you’ve essentially drawn the parallel.” She sighed and put the sandwich down without so much as a bite. “He took everything from me.” Luna jumped off her lap as if sensing the bristling anger just beneath the surface.
Sean could feel the dangerous territory of the conversation, but he sat down at the breakfast bar next to Marie and opened his mouth, anyway. “He gave you everything. You were nothing but an idea.” He braced for a violent recoil, whether verbal or physical.
It didn’t come.
Her crystalline eyes focused on his, and he saw the red tinge of rage rising to her cheeks, and then it vanished.
“He took everything from me,” she repeated once more as she rose off the barstool. “He took away my innocence, my Word Speaker, and now, my ability to remain unfeeling. The only thing I had to cope with the loss of Zach.” Pure despair dripped from the words and a single tear slid down her cheek, turning to ice before it even reached her chin.
“You can . . . feel the loss again?” He hoped he’d worded the questions sensitively enough as he stepped away from the counter and closer to her. A woman on a hormonal overdrive was not someone to be messed with, and if she just had pain and anger released back to her, she was likely swimming in hormones.
Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears, and it affected him deeply. Marie was one of the strongest women he’d ever met. Seeing her at her weakest stung him as sharply as a knife. Here was the woman who had given him back so much, suffering because of the very thing that had awakened his desire for her.
Reaching out, he gently cupped her face in his hands, brushing at the cold remnants of tears with his fingertips as they fell. Slowly, he lowered his face to hers, his lips the barest whisper against the cold surface of hers. She groaned and leaned her body against his, though her arms did not wrap around his neck and draw him closer. Still, he took her actions as acceptance and began to deepen the kiss. Tracing the seam of her mouth with his tongue, he slipped in as she opened for him. Blood coursed through him in a heated path from his head to his dick, and for the first time since Stacey, he welcomed it.
Pressing into her supple form, he tangled his tongue with hers—swirling, suckling and drawing her to life. Sensation burst through him like a spark of electricity from the touch. Marie moaned softly before her tongue began to dance with his. The same jolt of passion he’d felt must have surged through her. Hands sunk into his hair, and her body ground small circles against his—her hips tormenting him and drawing a small amount of release to his tip. Another sound of pleasure from her caused him to stop. Last time they’d engaged in a sexual encounter she’d been furious. He wou
ldn’t risk . . . couldn’t risk . . . that her actions were controlled by anything other than desire.
Growling low, he pulled back, missing the heat of her mouth the moment he did so. Opening his eyes, he found hers still closed, not tightly squeezed as he’d feared they would be, but barely closed, showing her obvious enjoyment of the moment. For a second, he almost let it go and wrapped around her once more. Leisurely, she opened her eyes and looked at him, lust radiating from them.
“Marie.” His voice was as rough as sandpaper, and he cleared his throat before continuing. “I think I’ve made it clear that I’m interested in you. Just as you’d made it clear all you wanted from me was a good fuck. Ordinarily, well before you, I’d have been fine with that. But you awakened feelings in me. Feelings I never wanted to have for another woman after Stacey. I thought they’d feel like a betrayal.” Slowly, he traced his thumb down the side of her face, staring into the depths of her icy-colored eyes. “But it doesn’t feel unfaithful to my first love, it feels like living again.” He cupped her face in his hands, relishing in the fact she did not pull away. “Feeling things for you has brought me back to life. Loving you has made me whole.”
He watched as she sucked in a deep breath through her nose at his declaration of love. It wasn’t how he’d wanted to tell her. Fuck, he hadn’t even known he was actually in love with her until he’d started talking, but he was. He was in love with her, and she was standing mere centimeters away, staring at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“You’re so much more than a demon, Marie. You’re strong. Both in spirit and physically. You’re not afraid to stand up to anyone and kick their ass if they’re wronging someone or something you care about. Your powers are only a fraction of who you are. They only add to your beauty, not define you. Being a Guardian isn’t all you were meant to be. It doesn’t matter what we were before we were here. It doesn’t matter that someone dictated part of your existence, you’re in control of the rest. You have more passion running through your veins than you can possibly imagine and it’s sexy as hell. The way your face lights up when you speak about your animals or the anger that ignites when you are talking about anything to do with the brothers is invigorating. You think you needed to take away your emotions to heal, I believe you're wrong. I think you needed the exact same thing I needed to be able to put the past in the past. You needed to fall in love. You needed me.” The conviction in his words was impossible to ignore, and he felt as if he’d been giving a speech to a combat unit, not declaring his love for the woman before him.
Still, Marie stood silently. Her eyes closed and then flicked open, revealing a much softer glance than he’d ever seen directed at him. A smile played at her lips, and she took another deep breath.
“You’re right, Sean. I did need you. I do need you.”
The words weren’t spoken overly loud, but they damn near knocked him ass over feet, anyway. He felt his lips part slightly and forced them closed.
“Can you say that again?”
She laughed softly. “Men.” Rolling her eyes, she repeated herself, word for word. “You’re right, Sean. I did need you. I do need you.” Reaching out, she placed her hand on his cheek as he’d done to her as he’d spoken. “You changed me. All I wanted was to run away and never look back. What I felt for Zach, what I still feel, it doesn’t seem to compare to what I feel for you. It’s as if I needed to lose Zach in order to understand what I have in you. I can’t say I’m in love with you, Sean. Not yet. But whatever it is, it was resilient enough to shatter the encasement I created around my heart. You broke down the walls I wanted to hide behind, and while I want to slap you for reminding me just how much being without my Word Speaker hurts, I also want to ask you to hold me tight and thank you for helping wake me back up.”
He felt his mouth shift into a grin. Stacey had proclaimed her love for him daily. She’d stood in front of their peers and married him, and yet, nothing had felt as good as the non-proclamation Marie had just given him. Stacey was his Word Speaker, they had been drawn together as two parts of the same whole, or so they were told. Marie was the unexpected gift. The woman he’d been meant to find to continue with his life, to heal and remember to embrace his second chance and live.
“Are you certain, Marie? Because if you’re not, then we need to stop right now. I’m not interested in being a fuck buddy to help you push into your new stage of life. I’m interested in being your partner, in the war and romantically.” He couldn’t believe he was saying those words. In his head, he couldn’t have sounded like a bigger pussy if he’d tried. But he didn’t care. He was more than the shoot now and ask questions later brute he’d been written as, and if Marie didn’t already know that, she needed to.
“I meant it. I meant every word. My heart is more than a little confused. Part of it is reeling all over again from losing Zach. I can see him every time I close my eyes. Only now, when I see him, I can feel the hurt in not saying I love you to him, not kissing him and not being held in his arms as we sleep.” She placed a soft kiss to his lips. “Then you have hold of the other part. I didn’t want to accept that. I didn’t think falling in love again would solve anything. Yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
She paused and traced her hand down the side of his face. It sent a chill through him, one her rather liked.
“You were there every moment of my spare time with your charming smile and kind eyes. I’d always thought those things were ridiculously unappealing in a man, but when you look at me like that, I could melt. Without even trying, just by being the man you are, you shattered my emptiness and filled it with you. Yes, at first, I’d thought it was nothing more than sexual chemistry, likely because that’s all I’d wanted it to be. But it’s more than that, or at least, it’s growing to be. I want to spend all night talking to you until the sun rises. I want to go on silly little dates and learn more about your career. I want to put Luna and Duke together and watch them grow to be friends. I want to see where we can go now that I’m no longer hiding within myself. I want this to be whatever it is supposed to be, Sean. Whether we are only meant to repair one another, or if we’re intended to be with one another.” Wrapping her arms around his neck, she smiled up at him—a small, shy smile but a beautiful one. “I promise you, I’m fully aware of what I want, and right now, that’s you.”
Pressing her lips to his, Marie felt the sudden flood of warmth she was beginning to grow rather fond of. A heat that had nothing to do with Sean being human or her body’s desire to be possessed by him and all to do with the fact she was falling for him. It was the warmth that only came when someone felt loved and protected.
Moving her lips with his, she lost herself in the kiss. Nothing existed around them as his muscular arms encircled her, pressing her body against his and drawing a moan of satisfaction from them both as her core rubbed against his thick erection. Running her hands down his chest, she arched as he unclasped her bra through the shirt. She loved the play of muscle as her fingers trailed down to the top of his tedious work pants and flicked open the metal belt buckle. A gasp tore from her as his hand slipped between them and swiped a finger between her legs over her clothing, pressing against her clit as he did. Liquid pooled between her thighs as Sean’s finger continued to taunt and tease her through the fabric of her pants and underwear.
“You’re so wet,” Sean breathed into their kiss.
Her head was spinning with pleasure, but she managed to reply as she shoved his pants down just enough to expose him and grasped around the perfectness that was his erection as it spilled out into her hands. Stroking the tips of her fingers over his hardness, she loved the subtle bucks of his hips as she touched him in a way he liked. She felt the band of her sweatpants tugged down her body, and his finger shove beneath her underwear and dip into her center.
“Sean.” His name was a breathy cry, not a loud scream, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to come undone after only one touch.
His response was to bite down o
n her lower lip, tugging it gently as he slipped a second finger into her. She found herself nearly unable to continue to touch him, lost in the talented play of his digits within her. Delving her tongue against his, she rolled her hips, sliding his two fingers in deeper with every thrust, even as his other hand found the small of her back and forced her body close to his. Her fingers dropped free from his erection as the first release she’d had in months began to build.
“I didn’t mean to do this,” Sean gasped as he pulled away, his finger still working her as his thumb began to rub her clit. His lips were swollen, and his eyes lidded with pleasure. “I’d dreamed of something like this, but I swear to you I hadn’t meant to force this.”
Marie gave a throaty chuckle and gyrated her hips on his fingers. “Do you hear me complaining?” Reaching between them, she tugged her panties off, tangling them around Sean’s wrist momentarily before he moved, slipping his digits free of her body, and she stepped out of them. “I might have been weak emotionally, but I’m certainly not in bed.”
Sean’s bark of laughter was rough with desire, and his eyes sparked with it as he brought his mouth back to hers, devouring her in a heated kiss that rivaled anything she’d ever felt. Fire laced a path through her body, feeling as if it melted the ice that was a part of her. She could feel the liquid between her thighs and whimpered as he brushed the head of his cock against the wetness.
Tauntingly, he rubbed his tip over her folds, faster and faster with each stroke as he backed her up to the wall between the kitchen and living room, the cool wall a pleasant contrast to the heat of Sean’s touch. She heard more than sensed the slam of his hand on one side of her head. His prick slipped away as he hoisted her up the wall with one hand, her legs wrapping around his waist without hesitation.