Darker Side of Worlds (Guardians Book 2) (The Guardians Series)

by Lexi Ostrow

  She sounded pissed, which most likely meant she’d spent the better part of the day alone in his Seattle condo. So he’d clearly tugged on the link if she’d shown all the way up in SeaTac.

  “You didn’t say how you got here.”

  “That’s because I don’t fucking know,” she snapped. “One minute I was moping on your couch, and the next I was here.”

  He sighed. What he’d done wasn’t fair to her. She couldn’t control what she was written to be. She likely couldn’t change it either, which meant he needed to stop feeling sorry for running away. Their eyes met in the darkness, and he couldn’t ignore the sensations that swept through him.

  He wanted to touch her, to protect her. He wanted Breena, and he wasn’t entirely certain he didn’t find her darkness seductive. “Breena, I’m sorry. I know you didn’t ask for this.”

  “No, I didn’t. But I accepted it once it was handed to me because you supposedly wanted me here. Clearly, Leather Jacket has more powers than you realize if he was able to do it when you’re not interested. Just send me on home to my forest and I’ll leave you be. He can find another character to do his dirty work. You’re not worth it.”

  The words slammed into him. Every one of them, but none of them hit harder than her last sentence. He’d never been worth it for anyone—not even the brother in the trench coat. Not until Ciara and Nessa had helped him. His body shook with anger, he didn’t want to go back to being worthless, not after all he’d done to be someone. Dale remained laying down, but he turned the knob on the table lamp and illuminated a small patch of room around them.

  He might not want Breena to be his Guardian, might know that she was utterly horrible for him in that regard, but his body wanted her. He wanted to feel her writhing in pleasure, wanted to hear her moaning in passion. Everything that typically came when he got a new Guardian, only this time, he knew that giving in could be deadly to everything he’d grown to hold dear.

  Yet, it wasn’t enough to allow him to lie to her, to let the hurt in her voice phase him, because it was killing him. A woman as powerful and dangerous as Breena shouldn’t have hurt lacing through her voice at the idea that she wasn’t wanted by him.

  “That’s not entirely true.” He looked into her eyes and realized that they were not only hazel but seemed to change color every time he looked into them. They were swirling masses of brown with flecks of green and a dark purple color. They were stunning.

  “What’s not true?”

  “He doesn’t have the power to draw a Guardian and Word Speaker bond. I wanted you here.” The confession was quiet as it slipped out into the dark room. He was confessing to both of them, and once he’d allowed himself to admit it, he didn’t think he’d be able to turn her away.

  She sat on the edge of the full-sized bed, right next to his chest, and looked down at him. “Then why are you pushing me away? I’m not all darkness. I’m not evil all the time, Dale, just when the war permitted it.”

  His cock throbbed with need as she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. He hadn’t noticed earlier that it was ombre, a dark brown with blonde tips—the author apparently liked fashion trends. She was too close to him, which had to be the only answer for why all he could focus on was the need to be with her. Regardless of what she was, he wanted her. Every moment she sat close enough for him to smell the fresh scent of the forest, he was going to lose the will to say no.

  “That’s the problem, Breena. You’re evil when the war permits. This war, the one I’m a part of, is nothing but evil. If you fight by my side, there’s no telling what will become of me. You fight dirty. You slit your victim’s throat after you screw them. You plant explosives in innocent villages. You’re not the person I need by my side right now. Not when it would be so easy for me to embrace that power.”

  She flinched as if he’d struck her, and her eyes shined with unshed tears. He felt like an ass, but he couldn’t give into her. He’d promised Ciara he would do right by her powers.

  “So what you’re telling me is you’re not the best person, not the person you’re pretending to be.”

  He sucked in a deep breath through his nose and opened his mouth to tell her the truth. “I wasn’t. When I first found out what I was, it was so easy, so seductive, to pick the villain of the story. Villains have power. They can control things, make people suffer. I wanted that after the way I was bullied growing up simply for being smarter than I should have been. Sure women flock to me now. I’m rich, and I’ve worked out to the point of looking good. But I’m still the same nerdy guy, and when they’re only there for the money, they’re worthless to me.”

  He could feel his chest growing tight with emotion. He’d only ever discussed this once before, and he didn’t enjoy the way the vulnerability he felt was swarming over his body and suffocating him. He hated appearing weak in front of a Guardian, especially one who commanded such a prowess as Breena.

  She nodded, as if she understood, and then he felt her hand slip between the slit in his boxers and cup his cock. He hissed, and his hips bucked the moment he felt her do it. Her hands were small, and he could feel they didn’t close as she wrapped a hand around his length, and the thought somehow made him longer. His whole body tremored with need as she slowly stroked his dick, her eyes latched onto his. Her hand worked his length with ease, and his balls tightened against his body, ready to come from the quickest of interactions.

  Every warning signal in his brain was flaring like a cop car chasing a perp. Yet, he was going to ignore every single fucking one of them if it meant Breena would be able to ease the lust that was riding him.

  “Breena, stop,” he growled and she gripped him tighter, stroked him faster. His hand shot up from his side and wrapped around her wrist to stop her. “I don’t want to come like this.”

  The words stopped her, and she stood up and pulled the ridiculously short green skirt down to reveal matching colored panties, which she pulled down. He swallowed hard, trying not to jump out of the bed and pin her beneath him. Her body was lithe, sculpted like a warrior, with a flat muscular stomach and toned legs that he could only imagine would feel like heaven wrapped around his body.

  She pulled the black halter-top off next, and her breasts bounced from the action. His eyes followed them, and he licked his lips as he watched her nipples pebble. They looked as if they were the perfect size for his hands to cup and squeeze. Dale barely fought off the impulse to see for himself.

  “Breena, I can’t do this.” his voice was squeaky, and it physically pained him to say the words as his cock pulsed.

  “I think you can, Dale. I think you’re afraid.” She walked two steps back to the bed and climbed up, straddling him.

  “I’m extremely fucking afraid.”

  Her hands ran over his bare chest, her nails gently scraping as she did, and his hips bucked.

  “I can’t let your darkness seduce me, Breena. I made a promise, and I’m not the man I used to be.”

  Her lips trailed up his neck, and his hands fisted in the sheets to keep from grabbing onto her shoulders and tugging her mouth to his. Her hips wriggled against his erection. All it would take was a shift to the right, and he could slip inside her folds and ease them both.

  “Then forget about who sent me. Forget about your stupid war.” She reached behind her, grabbed his erection and squeezed. “Sleep with me. Let’s get it out of the way and see if, with the lust gone, I can’t convince you to let me be your Guardian,” she purred the words and slid her body down, causing his cock to slide against her wet core.

  He knew it was what she did. She seduced enemies when needed, got them to do what she wanted. Her hand gripped the base of his cock and rubbed it over her entrance. The noise of pleasure she made rivaled his own.

  It was wrong. He couldn’t allow for her darkness to seduce him, but he didn’t think he could put it off any longer. He’d spent maybe ten minutes in her presence, and the urge to sleep with her had been the only thing on his mind. Like with
all Guardians, the urge for sex calmed down a little once it happened the first time, once they connected.

  “God damn it, Breena. Fuck.” He reached up and tugged her head to his and covered her mouth with his own.

  She tasted as good as she had the first time, fruity and sweet. He wanted to lose himself in the kiss, in her body. He was certain she wasn’t going to pull back, so he let her head go and his hands found her perfect breasts. He pinched the already hard nipples, and she jerked, the sensation rocking through his cock so hard he wanted her to stop holding him and let him slip inside.

  “Dale, Dale, I want this. I want you.” She pulled back from the kiss and stopped moving against him. “I know what I do for my father, but this isn’t for him. This isn’t for that tool that told me the rules. This is for me, for you.”

  Her words were hard to ignore. She was giving him one chance to take the way out, and he knew it. But he didn’t want it. Not at that moment. She was right, they could clear their heads after they had sex, and then he could properly set her aside and find the right Guardian. He’d been without for long enough, and she was beautiful, wet and begging.

  “Just tonight, Breena. Just so we can think clearly, and because I seriously don’t have any energy left to stop this.”

  She chuckled and it was filled with lust. The sound shot any blood left over straight into his erection. She guided him into her body, and as he sunk into her folds, he groaned. She was hot and tight around him, and when she had taken him all the way to the hilt, she began to move.

  Their thrusts were calm at first. A slow coupling of lovers who didn’t know one another’s bodies yet. She leaned forward, and her hair fell over her face like a curtain as she placed her lips over his. Just like the time prior, the kiss sent need spiraling out of control through him, even more so as their bodies slowly moved together. He didn’t want slow. He wanted to claim her, to show her how badly he wanted her even when he was telling her otherwise. The way she felt riding him, he wanted to give her everything, even though he knew it would be the end of the brother in the trench coat if he did.

  Dale growled and forced away thoughts of anything except the way Breena felt as she moved her tight body up and down his shaft. His hands gripped her hips, and as he quickened his thrusts, as his desires boiled over in an unstoppable way, she began to slam her body down onto his. Their pants and moans filled the room, and hers were so damned sexy. He broke their kiss and suckled her right nipple into his mouth. The peak was already pointed from her desire, and he flicked his tongue over it before biting down and pulling gently.

  Her cry egged him on, and his mouth pulled off with a small pop, then, he nipped at her left nipple as well. His eyes opened, and he watched as they bounced and swayed with each rushed thrust of their bodies. He felt his release coiling in his gut as he continued to alternate between her breasts until he couldn’t focus on anything except reaching his climax. He pulled his mouth off her and pressed his head back into the pillow as the sensations became too much to ignore. His mouth parted when his gaze locked onto hers and saw much the same look of unbridled passion in Breena’s eyes.

  Dale reached out and flicked his finger over her core, careful not to break their frantic kissing as he did. He hit the right spot. Dale felt Breena jerk, and he rubbed her more. His release way building like a wave, but he wanted her to be first, needed to prove to her he wasn’t the one being seduced, even though he certainly was.

  Her cry was more of a gasp, and her hands left his body, where they’d been traveling up and down his muscles. Breena leaned back, angling his cock in her body differently, and he bit into his lower lip to keep from coming right then. The action sent him even deeper inside her body, and he swore nothing had ever felt as right as being with Breena. She was beautiful as her hands ran up and down her body, fisted in her hair and finally came back onto his pecs as their thrusts grew more and more wild.

  Her cry as she came washed over him, but it was the way her body quaked and squeezed at his shaft that sent him over the edge. His balls drew up into his body, and he growled her name as his release spilled out of him. He didn’t stop his movements until her body stopped milking his cock. Over and over, he thrust, drawing out both of their orgasms until he felt her stop.

  Slowly, he stopped rubbing her clit, and she pulled off and rolled off him. They were both breathing hard. Sweat made her hair cling to her forehead, and her lips were a deep pink from kissing him. She looked stunning, even after sex, and he wondered just what he’d gotten himself into.

  She lay beside him, their bodies still touching because the bed was smaller, and put her head on his chest. Her hand drew swirls over the red dusting of hair on his chest, and he groaned.

  “You do realize you seduced me already. You do not need to keep trying.”

  Her lips barely lifted into a smile, it was a lazy one, and it was just as sexy as the rest of her. “You weren’t wrong, that was, well, amazing.”

  He didn’t realize he’d allowed himself to stroke her hair until his fingers caught in a tiny snag. The gestures they were doing were so intimate, so hard to ever let go of. Which he couldn’t allow. Having sex with her was only supposed to be a way to rid his head of the all-consuming lust, so he could convince her to leave, to break the connection on her own.

  He steeled his voice over before responding, “That would be the bond. Don’t let it fool you. It’s there each and every time a pair have sex. It means nothing.” He heard how harsh the words sounded and made no attempt to apologize.

  The only problem was it had never been that intense, that wild. He’d lied to her, he’d let himself slip one step further into embracing the darkness in an attempt to push her and her darkness away.

  Her eyes darkened, and she sat up off his chest. “Well, then I suppose I should get out of here.”

  Her words brought out a thought he hadn’t had before. That he could, if he tried hard enough, perhaps help her come out of the dark the way he had been helped.

  “Breena, wait. Let me show you something first, in the morning.”

  She paused, half sitting upright and half still on the bed. His heart beat in his chest. There was so little time, so little chance for it to work. Dale knew from personal experience, someone had to be worth changing for.

  “Fine, in the morning you can also work on fixing that statement, and in the future, I recommend not telling a woman she was just sex. I use men all the time, but I’m not dumb enough to tell them,” she huffed, lay back down as far away as she could on the small bed and closed her eyes.

  Dale felt guilty, but there was nothing he could do about it, so he closed his eyes and wrapped an arm around her, pleasantly happy when she did not roll away from him.

  Chapter Seven

  Sunlight woke her, just as it did almost every morning in her own room. The warm ray of light caressed her face and she rolled to the direction of it, slamming into the wall.

  “Oomph,” she groaned and pulled back. Panic gripped her for a moment. She had no notion as to where she was. Her eyes darted from object to object, and she rolled over and saw Dale.

  She wasn’t certain the emotion that poured through her was relief, but it was something akin to it. He looked so beautiful while he slept. His red hair hung slightly over his eyes, but it was the relaxation in his body, the peace, that made him so stunning. Every time she’d seen him, he’d been pissed off and on guard. Even during sex, his body had been tight and hard—and she’d loved it. Still asleep, he almost looked childlike, and a small slip of drool crusted to his chin only made him more endearing.

  Nonetheless, it didn’t make her less angry with him. The sex had been unlike anything her body had ever experienced, and then, he’d been callous and distant again. She knew there was so much more than she was being told about how he’d received his newfound powers, but all she cared about was that he was judging her based on who he read her to be. She might have enjoyed the kill, but there shouldn’t be anything wrong in delight
ing in doing her job, in protecting him.

  But am I anything more? How can I be if I don’t even know how I’m written?

  She frowned at her thought and sighed. She’d never even noticed she had a darkness in her. She had simply assumed Megara was too naïve and innocent to do the things that needed to be done. Not that she enjoyed doing them, but she’d had plenty of time to think once Dale had run out on her. She loved every second of her father’s work. Every man she seduced, every look of terror she put on someone’s face as she attacked and every person she took down to make her side stronger was addicting. She’d never known a monster lurked in her, but now that it had been pointed out, she couldn’t help but wonder how it made what she did wrong. How could someone that felt it was wrong, stand doing what needed to be done?

  “Good morning.”

  The muttered, grumbly phrase sounded more like “gouf mording” but she turned to look at Dale anyway and smiled.

  The sexual tension from last night seemed to have slipped away a little. The urge to sleep with him was just a fuzzy tingle slowly spreading through her body. Perhaps sleeping together, while amazing, had been the way to work around the intensity of it for the time being. Breena almost wished for the maddening desire to come back, before he remembered that he didn’t want her.

  “Good morning,” she finally said back.

  “I’m not certain if you even know how to control going back and forth to your books, but thank you for staying.”

  His words were genuine, and she felt a little more of her anger slip away. Perhaps they had gotten off to a rocky start. Perhaps he’d had a change of heart about her actions and no longer found her unsuitable. The thought blossomed hope in her chest, and she wanted to smack herself for caring what a person she just met thought—especially since she had been raised to believe humans were awful.

  Dale pulled himself upright and leaned against the wall before grabbing his glasses and looking at her. “I want to show you something. Before we go any further, before anyone makes any rash decisions, I want you to see a forest. A real forest.”