Sebastian looked around his camp and saw the men that he trusted with his life. He had no fear that any one of them would betray them. He had known them from the time they had been children. But he would honor Lexi’s request. She would soon see that his warriors would protect all of them with their lives, and that their loyalty was true. That understanding and acceptance would only come with time.
Sebastian had already made the vow within his heart that she was his to love and protect. He would be her champion and see that she would not have to fear for her safety ever again. In turn, he knew that his life mate would be loyal and fiercely protective of him, as well. It was her nature. Her protection of her sisters and niece clearly showed the depth of her caring, and he was humbled to know that she would extend that caring to him once she accepted him as her life mate.
He pulled his thoughts together, knowing time was needed to allow her to learn to trust him and his people. For now, he would appease her concerns. He nodded and led the way to the largest tent in the center of the clearing. Torin reached forward with his free hand and pulled the flap open to allow Sebastian and the women to enter. He stood, uncertain what to do as he held the small child that was resting against him.
“You need to go with your mother now, little one,” he told her, laughing softly as she gripped his hair.
“No,” she told him stubbornly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on, surprising him into speechlessness. He turned to look at the mother of the child—the one called Bree.
“I am sorry, my lady,” he apologized. “I did nothing to warrant this.” His right hand went to the tiny arm of the child as if to pull her free.
“No.” Bree stopped him with a raised hand. “She doesn’t trust many people, and I’m not about to discourage it.” She reached up and stroked her daughter’s tiny head, ruffling the soft, blonde curls as she spoke to her daughter. “Hanna, you don’t have to worry. Torin will hold you while we speak with Sebastian.” She looked up and smiled shyly at the giant who towered over her. “Is that all right with you?” She didn’t want to let him see her worry and nervousness, but she knew she hadn’t been successful.
Torin nodded silently, unable to speak. This small woman had just bestowed upon him a priceless gift of complete trust with her child that was about to bring him to his knees. He looked down at the child in his arms as she smiled sweetly up at him.
“You are with me, Lady Hanna,” he told her finally as he followed all of them into the tent.
Lexi watched the large man as he held her niece and felt a happiness that she hadn’t dared to feel before as she saw the hesitant but trusting way her sister Bree walked beside him. It had been a long time since her sister had allowed any man even remotely close to her since she had been attacked nearly three years before.
When she turned to face Sebastian, she found him looking at her intently. He said nothing. He stepped back to allow the women to enter further into his tent and motioned for them to sit on the large rug that covered the ground. Large cushions littered the rug, and Lexi and her sisters quickly sat, with Lexi to the right of Sebastian and Torin to the left of him.
Lexi realized that Torin looked like he belonged by Sebastian’s side and knew that he was a fierce warrior who would protect Sebastian to the end of his own existence. His fierceness was somewhat diminished as her niece cuddled into his lap and leaned back to look up at him as she found her thumb and pulled at the string that hung from his vest to play with it.
Lexi smiled at the sight and turned to look at Sebastian, her eyes still sparkling with humor. Sebastian must have noticed the same thing and was looking at her with nothing short of longing in his eyes. She was momentarily stunned and confused.
“What help can we offer you, Lady Lexi?” he prompted her as he looked carefully at the eight violet-eyed warriors who sat before him.
“I’m not really sure,” Lexi told him honestly. She opened the book in her lap and turned it to the first page before twisting it so that he could see it, too. “My mother began writing in this book when she was only fifteen. She had always been blessed with visions. She wrote every one of them down. This was her first vision. She never really understood what it meant, but she knew it had something to do with her.”
Sebastian took the book from her and read the words that were written there. His eyes widened in surprise as the words settled within his heart.
The eight daughters of the night will join with the guardians to double their gifts and protect the innocents.
“Are you the daughters of the night that are referenced in this passage?” Sebastian asked her.
“My mother seemed to think we are,” Lexi told him, smiling sadly as she thought of her mother. Goodness, but they missed her so much. “Each one of us was born at night. Our mother believed it was a sign that we were the ones who were supposed to help the guardians. Do you know who they are and where we can find them?” Lexi looked at Sebastian, searching his eyes with guarded hope.
Sebastian took a breath and leaned back, suddenly relaxed. The stunning violet of Lexi’s eyes stared back at him with such open yearning. In that moment he knew that his own destiny was being fulfilled. This woman before him would bond with him. Her sisters would bond with other warriors of his world. Their matings would create a circle of protection and power that would ensure the safety of his people as well as the safety of the many worlds that they protected. He didn’t know how this would happen, but he had faith that it would. And he would be lucky enough to have found his life mate as an added gift.
“Yes, my lady,” he answered her finally, his voice calm. “The Guardian Warriors have taken on the role of protector for this world and for many others. These warriors possess powerful magic that have been passed down through the generations. The magic ensures the protection of this planet from the dark forces that threaten to capture and destroy the freedom of our home world as well as other worlds that we have pledged to protect. With each generation of Guardians, the power levels of good and evil have shifted and are now at a critical point. It is a real fear that they can no longer prevent the insurgence of evil into our world.”
Lexi looked at her sisters with wide eyes. She turned back to Sebastian and saw him watching her silently. “Can you take us to these Guardian Warriors?” Lexi asked him, her voice almost a whisper. She reached out and touched his arm lightly, somehow needing to connect with his warmth and his strength.
Sebastian looked down at her hand and smiled as he covered it with his own. “You have already found them, Lexi,” he told her quietly, looking up to face her proudly.
Lexi stared into his eyes and searched out the truth of his declaration. The deep golden color of his eyes warmed as he looked at her. She knew he was speaking from his heart and with open honesty. She turned to face Bree and raised her eyebrow in question to affirm her own feelings.
Bree nodded and looked at Sebastian with a calm that was very unlike her. She was usually the one who was guarded and mistrustful. It made sense that she should be that way. It was difficult not to be when she was able to touch the secret feelings inside of people. Knowing their true nature, and often unkind selfishness, had made her jaded over the years. It was difficult for her to remain optimistic when she was privy to such cold cruelty.
“He feels only hope and wants to protect,” she told Lexi with certainty.
Lexi nodded and turned to face the powerful warrior at her side. “Good,” she said finally, relieved that their journey in finding where they needed to be was finally at an end.
“That is not all that I feel,” Sebastian told her quietly.
He leaned toward her. His mouth brushed against her cheek as he pressed close to her ear.
“I also feel desire for you, my life mate.”
Chapter 4
Lexi sat back in stunned silence. Sebastian allowed his words to permeate her brain then smiled and looked at the other six women who were watching him carefully.
“Torin will s
how you to the tent that will be your home for the night before we journey home in the morning, my ladies,” he told them with strength in his voice that spoke of years of being in command and having no one ever question him. “A meal will be served shortly. I have a need to speak with Lexi privately before then.”
Bree looked to Lexi, waiting for her decision. She was not about to allow Lexi to stay alone with any man despite what Sebastian had just requested. Lexi turned to her and nodded slowly. Bree stood and stepped toward the entrance of the tent, aware that Torin followed with her daughter. She knew that her sisters would follow her. If Bree sensed no danger, they would leave Lexi without worrying about her safety.
It was only when they were finally alone that Lexi found her voice. She stared up at Sebastian and realized that his head was still bleeding, although minimally, from the wound she had inflicted.
“Oh, my goodness!” She jumped, reaching for the bag that contained the medical kit.
Sebastian watched her silently, confusion furrowing his brow. He allowed her to pull away from him and watched her in amusement as she pulled the small white box from the bag beside her and opened it quickly.
“I forgot about the cut on your head,” she said quickly as she opened the box, pulled out a sealed packet with an antiseptic gauze inside it, and tore it open. She scooted closer to him so that she could kneel in front of him.
Sebastian loved the view. Her full breasts were inches from his mouth as she knelt before him. He had to close his eyes to maintain control as she gently cleaned the cut.
“I am well, Lexi,” he told her quietly, trying to stop her with his hand as he spoke. He nearly laughed when she slapped it away and continued with her ministrations. Her total lack of fear of him made him enjoy her all the more. She would be a fine life mate, indeed.
“Stop!” she told him as he tried to pull her hands away once again. “Don’t be such a baby. Let me do this.”
His eyebrows flew up in surprise. Do not be such a baby? Bless the heavens, this woman made his heart sing with joy. Men quaked in fear at his strength and held themselves in check because of his powers, yet this woman had slapped his hand away with no concern and had called him a baby!
“Lexi,” he warned her, his voice growling as he tried to assert his power.
“Be quiet,” she told him quickly.
She finished cleaning the wound and placed two butterfly bandages over it, gently covering it with a sterile gauze and taping it with small white strips of tape. She sat back and put away the supplies efficiently, thankful that they kept a medical kit. None of them needed it, but you never knew when someone they might meet on their journey would—like now.
“I thank you,” Sebastian told her warmly, watching as she worked to put away the supplies. He reached out and captured her hands to hold them within his, successfully garnering her attention so that she had to turn to face him once again. “Did you hear what I said to you?”
“Yes, you said thank you ,” she said quickly, trying to pull her hands from his.
Sebastian refused to be denied. “No. What I said before,” he clarified patiently, his stern voice softening noticeably.
Lexi hesitated. She sighed and sat back on her heels before looking up to face the most incredibly handsome man she had ever met.
“I heard you,” she finally admitted. “But you’re wrong.”
Her voice was soft, barely a whisper, and held such sorrow it squeezed at his heart. Sebastian lowered her hands to rest them on his thighs, stunned. He had not expected that response from her.
“I am wrong?” he questioned her. “Why do you think this?”
Lexi pulled her hands from his gently and rubbed her face tiredly. “I don’t think this. I know this,” she told him after a moment.
She was looking at him with such incredible sadness. He wanted to pull her into his arms and show her how wrong she was.
“Why do you know this?” he prompted her, reaching out to touch her chin with the index finger of his right hand to gently tip her face so he could look into her beautiful eyes.
She reached up and took his hand within hers to gently, but firmly, push it away from her. “My responsibility is to watch over my sisters. I’ve been doing that since I was sixteen years old. I’ve only failed once in protecting them, and I will never allow myself to be distracted from that job again.”
“When did you fail them?”
“Three years ago. I had taken the night off to go out with some friends,” she told him sadly. “While I was gone, Bree went to get the supplies that I was supposed to go with her to get. She was attacked on her way home.”
“That was not your fault,” Sebastian assured her calmly.
“Yes. It was,” Lexi admitted, her eyes filling with remembered guilt. “I was supposed to go with her. If I had done what I was supposed to do, Bree would have never been hurt, and she wouldn’t be suffering now.”
Sebastian nodded in understanding. “The young one. Hanna. She is the result of that attack?” he asked her quietly.
Lexi nodded, unable to speak. She could feel the anger boiling within Sebastian. As she watched him, she saw an energy building around him, forming a golden glow around his body and emanating out toward her to envelope her within the energy. She could feel the anger he held in check. When she looked at him, his eyes spoke of fury, vengeance, and pain. But there was more there.
There was sympathy and there was caring, but there wasn’t condemnation. The energy that surrounded them both gave her a sense of warmth, protection, and peace that she couldn’t help but give herself over to.
“I am sorry that your sister had to endure such a heinous crime,” Sebastian told her, obviously making an effort to control his anger. “I would like to say that such a thing would not happen in my world, or in any of the worlds that we protect, but I cannot. There are good and bad people in every world. You cannot blame yourself for the cruelty and depravity of others. Know only that now that you, your sisters, and your niece are within my care as of this moment on, they are safe with me and the Guardian Warriors. They will be protected and loved.”
Lexi looked up at him, baring the pain that she kept from her sisters. “I can take care of us,” she told him finally, her strength returning.
“I have no doubt that you can, my gentle warrior,” he told her, smiling. “I offer my protection as well. Since you are now my life mate, your family is now my family.”
“I’m not your life mate,” she told him vehemently, pulling away from him and stepping outside the shield of energy that surrounded them.
“Yes, my lady. You are,” he insisted, never moving to halt her retreat from him.
The golden energy softened and dissipated, leaving behind a warmth that beckoned to her. She couldn’t help but be drawn to him despite her concern over his unusual power.
“How can you say that?” she demanded, her breathing coming in painful gasps, her breasts rising and falling quickly as she tried to control all the emotions that were rushing through her.
“Let me explain the ways of my people,” he told her calmly, patting the pillow to his right to indicate that she should sit beside him. Instead, she sat directly across from him, letting him know that she was not going to be told what to do. He smiled at her defiance, knowing that the victory would be sweeter when she realized that she was his.
“Explain,” she said sharply.
She crossed her arms beneath her chest, unaware that she was presenting him with a tempting feast. He looked at her with a heated gaze. She felt the rush of passion that consumed him, although she didn’t understand how she could be feeling that way.
“We are a very old people, Lexi,” he began. “We have a way of knowing who our life mates are. Seeing our future mate and being close to them puts us in direct contact with their soul. It sends an understanding and an awareness that fills us with warmth. Once the souls begin to align, life mates are physically drawn to each other, and a driving need to make that f
irst touch consumes them. I felt the draw to your soul at once.”
He reached up and touched her cheek tenderly, following the line of his caress with his eyes. She was so incredibly beautiful and kind. He was immensely grateful to have found such a good woman.
Lexi held her breath as he touched her so tenderly. She couldn’t speak. If she did, she knew she would admit to him that she felt the same draw to him when she had first gotten close to him. She couldn’t admit that. Not yet. She had to hear what else he had to say and do her best to think it through. She would not believe blindly. The protection of her life, her sisters’ lives, and her niece’s life was dependent upon her actions and decisions.
“It is not understood how this came to be, but it is acknowledged and accepted,” Sebastian continued. “When two people who are meant to be life mates touch for the first time, there is an instant warmth that connects the two. The feeling is immediate and soothing, something that causes a sense of belonging and rightness that the two recognize. A beginning bond is formed that grows stronger with each moment that passes. It cannot be explained why this happens, but it is very real. Once the first touch is made, there is a pulling for the two people to be together. Being apart causes physical pain. Only through repeated contact can this pain be eased.”
“What kind of pain?” Lexi interrupted, fearing that he would describe what she had been going through as they made their way to the warriors’ encampment. The excruciating pain in her body was not something that she was likely to forget.
“For the woman, it is a pain that centers within her womb and her breasts,” he explained quietly. “For the man the pain is the result of his constant arousal that will only be eased by the touch of his life mate.”
Sebastian was silent as he saw Lexi struggle to accept his words. Her face lost color the moment that acceptance was achieved. She looked at him frantically as her hand covered her stomach.
“I’ve been feeling pain,” she whispered. “But when you touched me, it stopped.”
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