DARK GUARDIAN CRAVED (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Series Book 12)

by I. T. Lucas

  A warm palm closed around her breast, a thumb lazily circling her nipple. “Are you ready for more?”

  She turned around and plastered herself against his warmth and his strength. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. And my tongue thanks you for giving him the opportunity to serve.” He kissed her nose.

  “It’s not only for the tongue. It’s for everything.”

  His eyes softened. “Oh, love, you’ve seen nothing yet. I have one mission in life, and it’s to make you happy.”

  “An ambitious goal. I’m not a cheerful kind of person, and neither are you.”

  “That doesn’t mean we can’t be happy. I’m happy now.”

  “Me too.”

  Surprisingly, she realized it was true. Life didn’t get much better than that. She had her daughter back, a sweet baby grandchild, a man who cared about her, a thriving business, and a fascinating hobby…

  They should make a reality show about her.

  Damn. She’d better get her head back into the sex before her thoughts wandered into dark places that didn’t belong in her bed. “Make love to me, big guy.”

  “With pleasure.”

  He entered her in one smooth thrust, his shaft sliding home with ease. A perfect fit. Kissing her deeply, he went slow and steady, his body communicating his love better than any spoken words.

  That was her Bhathian. Not a big talker, but a mighty doer.

  This time the climax came more like a wave than a tsunami, swelling gently and then cresting in an easy flow rather than cresting to shore. She turned her head, inviting his bite. Bhathian’s soft lips made contact first, then his tongue, and lastly his fangs, piercing her skin just as gently as his lovemaking.

  Eva sighed, letting the euphoria wash over her and carry her on its wings to a place of bliss where nothing negative existed. Was that what heaven was like? A place of bliss?

  Unfortunately, the effect was temporary. A reprieve that lasted somewhere between a few minutes and a few hours depending on how long ago the last time had been. Frequency diluted the effect.

  “It’s like alcohol,” she murmured.

  “What is?”

  “The venom. If you drink only once in a while, you get drunk faster and easier than if you do it every day. Same with the venom-induced euphoria. It doesn’t last as long now.”

  “What troubles you, love?”

  She smiled, cuddled closer and kissed his lips. “What makes you think I’m troubled?”

  “You would not have been bemoaning the loss of the euphoric cloud otherwise.”

  “You know me so well, it’s scary.”

  He frowned. “Why scary?”

  She kissed the crease between his bushy eyebrows. “It’s just an expression.”

  “You want to talk about it?”

  “After we shower. We still have that one bottle of Snake’s Venom, but I draw the line at drinking in bed.”

  They made love again in the shower. Twice. Fortunately, the house came with a tankless instant water heater. The old fashioned type would’ve run out of hot water a long time before they had finally gotten clean.

  Dressed in the matching bathrobes she’d bought for them on her last out of town trip, they sat on the sofa in her bedroom’s sitting area. Bhathian popped the beer open, and they took turns drinking straight from the bottle.

  Neither wanted to go downstairs for glasses.

  Eva took another sip and handed the bottle to Bhathian. “We are two lazy immortals.”

  He chuckled. “Not lazy, exhausted.”

  Exhausted wasn’t the right term. Eva wasn’t tired. It was just the general languid feeling of a sated body.

  Leaning against the plush sofa pillows, she didn’t bother crossing her legs and let the bathrobe gape. Her mother, bless her soul, would’ve been appalled at such a lewd display. Eva doubted the woman had ever let her husband see her naked. Her parents had probably made love only in the dark.

  She was so bad for letting thoughts like that go through her head. Shame on her.

  “What got you upset now?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  He looked offended.

  “Look, those were just some stupid random thoughts about things I shouldn’t be thinking about. It has nothing to do with you.” Did he expect her to share everything with him? Some things were just not worth sharing.

  “How about the thing you wanted to tell me about before?”

  Yeah. That was a much better subject for conversation. More interesting, that was for sure.

  “The night I took out that guy I told you about, I saw someone who looked a lot like the guy who had turned me.”

  Bhathian’s back went rigid. “Could it have been him?”

  “No. He had the same build, same coloring, but the eyes were different. My guy had blue smiling eyes and an easygoing disposition. The men in the club had dark brown eyes, almost black. Piercing. Scary.” Eva shivered. “There was something sinister about him. I rarely meet anyone I’m afraid of. But I wanted to get as far away as quickly as I could from that man.” She reached for the bottle and took a small sip. There wasn’t much left. “He wasn’t physically intimidating, or even angry looking. He was cordial and seemed cultured, and yet I couldn’t help thinking that this guy was the closest I’ve been to the devil.”

  Bhathian chuckled and pulled her close. “Let me warm you up. You have goosebumps on your arms.”

  “I’m not cold. It’s that guy. Creepy as hell.”

  “Where did you see him? Maybe we can snoop around.”

  Bhathian was going to freak out about her picking up her target in a sex club. “Do you remember when I asked if anyone had heard about a club called Allure?”

  “What about it?”

  “That was where I picked up my target, and where I saw that guy. It’s a fancy members-only sex club.”

  Yep. Just as she’d expected Bhathian’s eyes began glowing, and his fangs punched over his bottom lip. “You went to a sex club?”

  She patted his thigh. “Calm down, big guy. I went on a tour as a prospective member. I didn’t participate in anything other than smoking a cigar in the cigar lounge. It’s not like people are screwing everywhere. There is a big room with a bar just for mingling, and the lounge is outside on a covered patio. Very high class. The sex happens in closed-off areas.”

  Bhathian’s eyes were still glowing, but his fangs shrunk back to their normal size. “Did you go into any of those areas?”

  “I had to as part of the tour. But I only saw the most mundane stuff, nothing extreme. The furthest I went was into a room dedicated to those who get off on doing it with an audience. I told my guide I wasn’t comfortable with seeing anything more.”

  That seemed to mollify him. “Where did you find your mark?”

  “In the cigar lounge. He was a guest of a member. No doubt trying to sell him something.” She grimaced. “Or someone.”

  “And the one who creeped you out?”

  “Like me, he was taking a tour. I saw him only for a few moments. He thanked his guide and left.”

  “Maybe he bought a membership? I can go and check it out.”

  At the thought of going back to that club, a shiver ran down Eva’s back. It was a bad idea regardless of whether the scary guy was there or not. “I don’t want you there.”

  A satisfied smirk brightened Bhathian’s face. “Afraid I’ll see something I like?”

  Did he think she was jealous? Men and their egos. Eva crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not about that. You can watch the live porn for all I care.”

  “How about we go together?”

  “I can’t. You’re allowed up to two visits as a prospective member. After that, the only way in is to buy the membership or to get invited by a member.”

  “I don’t see what the problem is. You have one more free visit. We can say that you brought me along because I’m also interested in a membership. Bringing a new prospective client should be worth on
e more free visit to them. Besides, with your many disguises and identities, you can go as someone else.”

  Eva shook her head. “I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about that place. I don’t want you anywhere near it, and it has nothing to do with jealousy.”

  Chapter 13: Nathalie

  “She’s finally sleeping.” Andrew walked into their bedroom and joined Nathalie on the couch they’d brought in there. Ever since Phoenix’s birth, Andrew was back to sleeping in the master bedroom, but he didn’t trust himself to join her in bed yet. The other reason was that she often fell asleep with the baby still at her breast, and he was afraid of accidentally rolling over the tiny bundle.

  Andrew wrapped a gentle arm around her shoulders. “You should try and get some sleep. I’ll take care of her through the night.”

  “You can’t. You’re back at work. Even you need a few hours of sleep.”

  “I’ll put dark sunglasses on and catch a nap at my desk. No one will know.”

  Right. As if his loud snoring wouldn’t give him away.

  Only two weeks had passed since Phoenix came into their lives, bringing joy, love, sleepless nights, and achy nipples. Nathalie was exhausted, and her breasts felt as if someone had chewed on them. Well, someone had. The only thing that was helping were ice packs. Not to mention that her nipples were so oversensitive that she couldn’t stand anything touching them and was spending most of her days in her bedroom.

  Topless.

  A sticky note on the other side of their front door asked visitors to wait for an invitation for after momma and baby felt better.

  She sighed. “I feel like a bush woman.” And as sexy as a dishrag.

  Sleeping on the couch wasn’t really necessary. Even without any of the guys babysitting Andrew at night, he had no problem staying away from her. It should’ve made her happy that they were sharing a bedroom again, but all it did was depress her further. At least before she’d felt desirable, so much so that her man needed guards to keep him from jumping on her.

  Big belly and all.

  Bridget had said it was normal for a new mother to feel overwhelmed and even depressed, but Nathalie doubted that her problem was postpartum depression. She loved Phoenix and was overjoyed about becoming a mom. But it was hard to be positive when she was having such a hard time with a simple thing like breastfeeding. It was supposed to be magical, a wonderful time for mother and baby. Instead, she was grinding her teeth to get through it.

  “Switching to formula will make it so much easier on you,” Andrew said for the umpteenth time.

  Her resistance was starting to crack. She was a stubborn woman, determined to succeed at everything she did, but at some point she needed to admit defeat. “I know.” The tears stinging the back of her eyes came rushing down. “Nothing worked the way I hoped it would. First the cesarean and now this.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” Andrew kissed the top of her head. “Life is not neat, and things rarely work out the way we want. We adjust. I can’t watch you torturing yourself like this every day and every night. I think having a happy mommy will benefit Phoenix more than breast milk. And let’s not forget that as soon as you feel better you are going to take her to Annani’s place and she’ll turn immortal. Do you really think that feeding her formula instead of breast milk will have any long term negative impact?”

  Nathalie reached for a tissue, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose. “The hormones must be still scrambling my brain. What you say makes perfect sense logically, but getting my emotions to agree is a different story.”

  “I’ll tell you what. I’m going to get dressed and drive to the nearest twenty-four-hour pharmacy. I’m going to buy formula and bottles, and whatever else is needed so we can start tonight. You text Bridget and ask her what brand of formula she recommends, and also for something to dry out your milk. Tomorrow we start afresh.”

  Sweet, wonderful Andrew. Always putting her needs first. “Isn’t it too late to call Bridget?”

  “That’s why I suggested texting her. If she’s asleep, a text will have less chance of waking her.” Andrew kissed her lightly on the lips and went to get dressed.

  Turned out Bridget was awake. Not only that, she insisted on coming up and checking on Nathalie. Which meant that she would have to put something on. A silk night robe was the only tolerable garment, and Nathalie left it hanging loose, tying the belt only when Bridget knocked on the door.

  “Hi, Nathalie,” she whispered, so as not to wake the baby.

  Nathalie motioned for her to come in. “Thank you for coming. I’m sorry for the late hour. I would’ve waited until tomorrow, but when Andrew makes a decision, he wants to implement it right away.”

  Bridget waved a hand. “Think nothing of it. I was parking my car when I got your text.”

  Given her bombshell getup, the doctor must’ve come back from a night on the town. A tight stretchy skirt hugged her beautifully shaped hips, and her four-inch heels made her legs look a mile long. The blouse was loose over her ample breasts, but for once Nathalie didn’t envy Bridget her cleavage. Those things no longer symbolized sex appeal for her. Painful overstuffed balloons, that’s what they were.

  “Andrew went to get formula for Phoenix. Is there any brand that you recommend?”

  “They are all good. But I’ll save Andrew some time by telling him what to buy. Otherwise he’ll be stuck in that aisle for hours, reading all the labels.” Bridget pulled out her phone, her slim fingers flying over the screen as she texted Andrew a set of instructions that was obviously more than just a formula brand.

  It hadn’t escaped Nathalie’s notice that Andrew’s number was still on Bridget’s favorites list.

  Jealousy, hot and ugly, twisted Nathalie’s gut. Was that the reason behind Andrew’s supposedly subdued libido? Was he screwing his old girlfriend?

  She shook her head. Stop it.

  Andrew was with her every free minute he had. So unless he was cutting work, which she was sure he wasn’t, he didn’t have time for extramarital affairs.

  Besides, it felt wrong to even think that way. It was time she banished the jealous monster living inside her. “When can I have sex with Andrew again?” The words just tumbled out of her mouth.

  Bridget’s expression didn’t change. “My answer is the same as last time; no intercourse for six weeks. Could you open your robe? I want to examine your breasts.”

  Fernando was sleeping, so it was okay to bare herself in the middle of the living room, but it felt awkward. And the fact that Bridget had seen everything already, inside and out, didn’t make it any less embarrassing.

  Damn Andrew. Out of all the possible immortal females, he’d had to hook up with the one that was the local clan’s only medical doctor.

  To her credit, Bridget was very careful with her examination, applying as little pressure as possible. It still hurt, but it could’ve been worse.

  “The good news is that there is no infection. Your breasts are just too swollen which makes latching on properly difficult. Has Phoenix been fussy?”

  With a wince, Nathalie closed the lapels of her robe. “Not more than usual. She still wakes up every two hours. Day and night.”

  Bridget nodded. “She’s a big baby and needs a lot of food. You made a good decision switching her to formula. Easier on both of you.”

  “Can you give me something to dry out the milk?”

  “Not yet. First will see how well Phoenix tolerates the formula.”

  “Makes sense.”

  Bridget got up. “Not that I expect her to have problems, it’s just a precaution. Your torment is almost over.”

  “I have another question.”

  The doctor sat back down. “Shoot.”

  Nathalie closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her nerve. “You said no intercourse, but what about other stuff? Is it okay if Andrew bites me?”

  Bridget’s professional composure was enviable. “Health wise, I see no problem with that. In fact, the venom will speed up your
healing. But the sex will be one-sided. You can pleasure Andrew orally, but he can’t reciprocate.”

  Talk about awkward.

  “That’s fine. I miss the closeness, the connection. Besides, Andrew can’t keep going like that.”

  Bridget frowned. “Is he still getting drunk every evening?”

  “No. I know it’s stupid, but it makes me feel even worse. I’m must be so unappealing to him that he’s lost interest.” Cue the sniffle.

  Bridget reached for a tissue and handed it to Nathalie. “You’re not the only one whose life has been turned upside down. You’re taking the brunt of it, but Andrew is also tired and worried. I’m not surprised his libido has cooled down to at least a manageable level.”

  Nathalie wiped the few tears that had spilled out of her eyes despite her best efforts, and chuckled. “I’ll finally get to experience a real bite. I wonder if it’s really all that.”

  Bridget’s professional façade finally cracked and her lips twisted into a grimace. “I wouldn’t know.”

  Shit. She’d forgotten that most clan females had never gotten to experience a venom bite. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

  Bridget sighed. ”Nothing to be sorry about. It is what it is. Hopefully, Amanda and Syssi will find more Dormants, and hopefully one of them will like me, and hopefully I’ll like him back…”

  Nathalie echoed Bridget’s sigh. That didn’t sound promising at all. Her heart ached for Bridget and the others. “Yeah, hopefully…”

  Pushing up to her feet, Bridget collected her red purse and headed for the door. “One more thing,” she said as she pulled the door open. “If Andrew bites you, you will transition. And if yours is as difficult as Andrew’s, you’ll be out for a few days. You need to make arrangements for someone to help Andrew take care of Phoenix.”

  Why hadn’t she thought of that? Her brain was functioning at half capacity. Probably because she was so tired all the time. “Thanks for pointing it out.”

  The doctor cast Nathalie an indulgent smile. “It’s difficult for a new mother to adjust to her new life. Until Phoenix is old enough to take care of herself, you need to consider the impact of every move you make on her. Eventually it will become second nature.” Bridget stepped out into the hallway.