Defending Kyra (Guardians Book 1)

by Susan Hayes

  “I need you, too, sweetheart.” He lifted his head and kissed her, then moved back to the edge of the bed, using her legs to tug her along with him. He dropped to his knees and moved her closer, lifting her legs up over his shoulders so that her calves hung down his back. The soft musk of her arousal hung in the air between them and he inhaled deeply. “I need to know if you taste as good as you smell.”

  His thumbs parted her delicate folds as he swiped his tongue slowly over her already-moist flesh. Feeling her tense, he did it again, exploring her with barely restrained eagerness as she mewled and arched her hips higher, wanting more. He lifted his eyes and watched as she kneaded the coverlet like a contented cat, her fingers bunching into the fabric and her breasts heaving. His tongue swirled, tantalizing her with the barest touch to her clit before moving away again. Hearing her moan in protest, he chuckled and gave her what he knew she craved, sucking the tiny bud of nerves into his mouth and flicking it with his tongue.

  Soft cries became louder, and she arched like a bow drawn taut, her thighs quivering as he continued with relentless determination. He was on a mission to erase every memory she had of Vlad’s touch and replace it with memories of him. His hands touching her, his mouth giving her pleasure. Sensing she was teetering on the edge of orgasm, he moved his hand and slid two fingers deep inside her channel. Her inner muscles gripped him hard, and he groaned at the tight heat that surrounded him. Fingers and tongue worked in concert, stroking, sucking, and then she was shuddering hard, her breath coming in broken gasps as he felt her body contract and writhe through an orgasm that left her lying limp on the bed.

  Easing her legs off his shoulders one at a time, Gareth pressed a kiss to the inside of one thigh and stood. “Don’t move,” he told her and went in search of a condom.

  KYRA WATCHED him go through half-closed eyes, her heart still slamming against her ribs as she tried to regain control of her limbs. As Gareth’s body was silhouetted against the light from the bathroom, she marveled at the physique of the man who had just made her come harder than she thought possible.

  Deliberately ignoring his instructions to stay put, she managed to scoot higher up on the bed and roll over. All this alpha-male protector stuff was fun to a point, but she had never been very good at taking orders and she had no intentions of starting now.

  “You moved,” he commented dryly as she felt the bed dip under his weight.

  “Mmhmm.” She gave him a sated half nod and flashed him an unrepentant grin over one shoulder.

  “I see this is going to be something we’re going to need to work on.” He leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder before nipping it lightly.

  She snorted with laughter. “Good luck with that. I can introduce you to a large number of people who would happily inform you that you are wasting your time. I am not a meek, do-as-I-say sort of gal.”

  A gleam appeared in Gareth’s eyes as he looked down at her. “I’m not afraid of you,” he informed her. “Bring it on, little girl.”

  “Oh you didn’t!” she yelped and scrambled to her knees to face him. “You did not just call me that! I have killed men for less.” She felt her cheeks grow hot as she poked a finger into his muscular chest to stress each word. “I. Am. Not. Little!”

  Looking utterly amused, Gareth looked down as she railed at him. “You’re right, you’re not little. The first time I saw you, my first thoughts were that you were itty-bitty.”

  She shrieked in mock fury and hurled herself at him, seeking to knock him back onto the bed. Instead, she met a wall of solid muscle and in the blink of an eye she was flat on her back on the bed with Gareth laughing down at her from a few inches away, his body covering hers and her arms pinioned above her head by one of his hands.

  “An itty-bitty little hellcat, that’s what you are.” His lips cut off any argument with a well-timed kiss, his knees moving between hers, spreading her legs wide as he settled his hips into the cradle of her thighs.

  “Let go of my hands and I’ll show you, hellcat,” Kyra threatened when he finally ended their kiss. She glowered up at him, her lips twitching as she tried to repress a grin.

  “Promises, promises.” Gareth shifted his hips, running the latex-sheathed length of his cock along the outside of her pussy, teasing them both. Kyra drew her knees up until her feet were flat on the bed and lifted her hips, grinding herself over his shaft.

  “I’m not the one still talking instead of moving.” She shimmied herself down the bed just far enough to push the tip of his cock inside, leaving him hovering just on the edge of entry. “I’m doing all the work here.”

  Gareth responded with a strangled laugh that drew out into a groan as he buried himself inside her, stretching and filling her completely.

  “Oh god,” she moaned and tugged at her hands, still pinned over her head.

  “I thought you weren’t a churchgoing sort of girl.” She heard him tease her and wondered how he could possibly talk at a time like this. Then her hands were free and her fingers were digging into his shoulders as she leaned up and kissed him into silence, her body arching into his. He moved slowly, ignoring her as she bucked and writhed in an attempt to spur him on. Every nerve sang and she was aching with need as he moved his hips back and then slid himself home again and again.

  “You feel so good, Kyra. So good.” He groaned the words into her mouth. Then his tongue was dueling with hers, moving in the same slow, deep strokes as his cock.

  “More.” She moaned and shifted herself, her legs coming up to wrap around his waist as she clamped her inner muscles around him in a quick, sharp rhythm that she knew made it clear what she needed.

  Instead of moving faster, Gareth chuckled and shook his head. “Is that all you’ve got, hellcat?”

  “You arrogant, difficult bastard!” She snarled and raked her nails down his shoulder as she sank her teeth into his lower lip. She’d expected him to stop or at least complain, but instead a shudder passed through Gareth’s entire body and he growled, his thrusts suddenly harder, driving her down into the bed and giving her what she craved. The room filled with the sound of flesh against flesh as he pistoned his hips and kissed her until her lungs were burning.

  Tearing her mouth from his, Kyra gasped for breath and then keened with shock as Gareth’s mouth dropped to her breast and nipped her, teasing the rigid berry of her nipple with delicate bites. Her fingers slid through his close-cropped hair, holding his head to her breast as she slid her hand between them and pressed a finger to her own clit, setting off a soul-shattering orgasm that filled her vision with bursts of colour as she came on a scream. She was still lost in the aftershocks when Gareth withdrew from her and she whimpered in protest.

  “Hands and knees. Now.” She felt his hands on her hips, lifting and turning her, his breath sawing out of his lungs. She felt the bed dip, and then he was behind her, his forearm coming around her stomach as his thighs pressed against hers, the hair on his legs prickling her softer skin. His fingers brushed her still-swollen clit, and she shivered, then he was inside her again, driving himself deep with a single, steady push that sent off a fresh flood between her legs to ease his passage.

  Still barely recovered from her last orgasm, Kyra groaned as she felt her body tighten yet again as he took her deep and hard, her muscles pulsing in time to his thrusts. She heard his groans and knew he was close, a wicked thought crossing her mind and inspiring her to reach between her thighs. She made a tight ring with her fingers around his cock as he drove into her, the back of her thumb pressing hard against her clit with each arch of his hips. He growled her name and sped up, his last few thrusts so deep that she barely kept her balance as they came in unison.

  Kyra slumped forward, her forehead touching the coverlet as she slowly came back to her senses. She felt Gareth’s weight on her back, his breathing just as ragged as hers as he brushed kisses along her shoulder blades.

  “You might just be the death of me, little hellcat.” He wrapped strong arms
around her and drew her to him as he rolled them both onto their sides, their bodies still linked together. “But I can’t think of a better way to go.”

  “You shouldn’t play with fire if you don’t want to get burned.” Kyra snuggled against his chest, her hands covering his arms where they held her. “And if you ever call me itty-bitty again, I may very well be the death of you!”

  “Don’t tempt me.” Gareth chuckled softly. “You mad is about the sexiest thing I have ever seen. All riled up, hissing and spitting like the hellcat that you are.” He went quiet for a moment and then added softly, “You’re all strength and spirit, Kyra, I like that about you.”

  “I’m not that strong, I just do what I have to, to get by. I don’t go around hunting vampires for a living, and I don’t look like the love child of the bionic man and a supermodel.”

  She heard him snort with laughter. “I’ll be sure to tell Mom you said that. She’d be thrilled to be called a supermodel. She and my sister apparently have both been cursed with what she calls the ‘Harkness hips.’”

  “So your mom is a Harkness? Not your dad? How many siblings do you have?”

  “My parents never got around to actually getting married, and as you may have guessed, the dhampir thing comes from my mother’s side of the family. If you want to get her to love you forever, ask her to tell you about how my parents met. My dad hates that story.” Gareth pressed a kiss to her hair. “I have a little sister named Emily. Mom’s keeping her close to home, teaching her the ropes.”

  “Is Emily going to be a vampire hunter like you?” She felt him stiffen the moment the question was asked.

  “I don’t think so,” he answered. “Not all of us are born with the same abilities. She’s not as strong or as fast as me. If she starts hunting, there’s a good chance she’ll get hurt, and it would kill Mom to have two of us doing this. Too much worry for her. Emily is more like my dad. She’s got her own talents.”

  “But she did this, didn’t she? Your mom, I mean. She’s a hunter, like you?”

  “She was. Now she’s retired from active hunting and helps track and organize us. That’s a full-time job and one I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”

  “Are all hunters like you? Damp vamps?” She tossed in the deliberate mispronunciation with glee.

  “Damp vamp? You are so going to pay for that later!” He chuckled and eased himself out of her passage. “I’ll be right back.” He headed to the bathroom to clean up and discard the condom, his answer tossed back over his shoulder. “To answer your question, there are very few dhampirs in existence. And while we are natural-born vampire hunters, not all of us choose that life.”

  While he was gone, Kyra scooted off of her bed and into his, leaving the blankets turned down in an invitation to join her. “So most hunters are just ordinary people?”

  “Ordinary people who are extraordinarily brave and determined,” he confirmed as he climbed back in beside her and turned out the bedside lamp before wrapping her in his arms again. “Why did we change beds?”

  “Mine’s soaking wet,” she pointed out, and as she relaxed next to him, the beginning of a plan began to form in Kyra’s mind. “How do the Brotherhood find new hunters?”

  “They’re usually survivors of vampire attacks, or someone who lost—and no, don’t you even think about it. You’re not going to be a hunter. We’re going to deal with Vlad, and then you are going back to your nice, safe life.”

  “And if I do that, you and I can’t be together,” she countered. “Didn’t you say you wanted me to be with you? Blood-bonded, right?” She snuggled into his arms and continued arguing. “You’re a hunter, and I imagine that means a lot of travelling. If I am going to even consider that, then you better consider the possibility I will want to do what you do and live my life with you, not sitting around pretending vampires don’t exist and waiting for you to come home for a quick visit.”

  Gareth went very quiet, then sighed. “Suddenly I think I understand why my parents fought so much about my father going hunting. You are going to give me ulcers, I just know it.”

  His next words were whispered just by her ear. “If you decide to stay with me, Kyra Robinson, then we’ll see about training you to be a hunter. But for now, let’s just worry about keeping you away from the vampire that wants you for himself.”

  A tendril of fear wrapped itself around her heart at the mention of Vlad. “I’d die first.”

  “No, you won’t. Your job is to stay alive.” His voice was almost a command. “No matter what, Kyra, you stay alive and don’t let him make you taste his blood. If you do, he wins. If you get so much as a drop of it in your mouth, it may be enough to start the conversion.”

  “I won’t let that happen,” she vowed, her stomach turning at the very idea of drinking anyone’s blood, vampire or not.

  “Be sure you don’t. No matter what happens between us, sweetheart, I couldn’t bear the idea of you becoming like him.”

  Kyra closed her eyes and hugged him tight as she struggled to voice her greatest fear. “Promise me, if something happens and this all goes terribly wrong. Promise me you won’t let me hurt anyone else. If that means killing me, then do it. Please, Gareth, don’t let him do that to me.”

  He tensed, and she heard his breath catch, his answer a long time in coming. “I promise, Kyra. If it comes to that, I will end it for you. But I will do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered and struggled to keep the doubt and worry out of her voice. “Now we just have to make sure it never comes to that.”

  SUNRISE WAS near when Vlad rolled off of his newly made companion and fell back against the pillows, withdrawing from her body with teeth and cock at the same time. He ignored her whimpered protest at his sudden absence. Her pleasure was not his problem. If she stayed awake long enough, he had no doubt she could finish things for herself.

  He ran a finger through her red hair, painfully aware it was not the right shade of red, just as the woman it belonged to was not right for him, not the one who sang to his blood and fired his soul. She was not Kyra, but she would do, for now.

  He grinned as he recalled the horror that had radiated off of Kyra when she’d seen the woman, broken and dying, in her dream. It was her reaction that had inspired him to make the rapidly dying woman into a vampire, knowing that when next they met she would see her future in the other woman’s eyes. He frowned. What was her name again? Lisa? Debbie? Ah yes, Dawn. An amusing name for a creature that will never see the sun rise again.

  “Go to sleep, Dawn,” he commanded as she reached for him again. When she persisted, he sighed in irritation and swatted her hand away from where it was stroking up his thigh. “I’ll tell you when I want you to touch me again.”

  He’d not taken a woman to his bed in an age, another forgotten pleasure Kyra had restored to him. Since he could not have the one he wanted, he would make do with this pale imitation. When he had Kyra at his side, he would make a gift of Dawn to his new queen. A servant to see to her every need.

  As his limbs grew heavy and the darkness stole into his mind, he reviewed his plans a final time. He had spoken to his people, setting things in motion that may well deliver her to him by nightfall. A pity he couldn’t be there himself. He would miss the moment when fear and understanding came together and she realized she could never escape him. In all the centuries he had existed, he had never failed to take what he wanted.

  11

  “TIME TO WAKE UP, KYRA.” She heard a voice call to her from a distance, the familiar timbre flooding her mind with erotic images. It was another minute before she realized the images were not fantasies but memories, and she opened her eyes with a muffled gasp.

  “Good morning, gorgeous. Feel better for finally having slept properly?” Gareth was standing over her, a smile on his handsome face as he slid a hand into her hair and leaned down to kiss her.

  “Mmhmm.” Her answer was nothing more than an affirmative
hum against his lips as she kissed him back, her sleep-scrambled senses still trying to remember everything that had happened during the night. She felt his kiss deepen, the hand in her hair holding her still as his tongue swept into her mouth and a low rumble of approval rose from his throat. Her fingers wrapped themselves into his shirt, and she pulled him down on top of her, a liquid heat filling her as she felt his weight pressing her down into the mattress.

  His crotch ground against her as they lay tangled in the sheets, but then he raised his head and broke their kiss with a groan. “If I had known you were going to wake up and do that, I’d have started an hour ago.”

  Kyra didn’t bother to stifle her laughter as she grinned up at him. “If you’re the one waking me up, assume I will always wake up and do that. You’re a better way to start the day than a double espresso.”

  “Speaking of which, I have something for you.” He rolled back into a sitting position, reached behind her, and produced a mug of what most definitely smelled like coffee. She sat up and whooped with approval as she took it out of his hands, the sheet falling away to bare her breasts as she wrapped her hands around the mug. “If that’s a real espresso, you are officially my hero.”

  “What do I get to be if it’s a double Americano?” he asked, laughing at her obvious enthusiasm.

  Kyra goggled at him. “If that’s what this is, then you might just be the man of my dreams.” She inhaled the steam that rose from the mug and sighed with happiness. “It is! How did you know?”

  “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” He intoned the words with a dramatic waggle of his brows and got up off the bed, stretching his massive frame and giving Kyra a moment to enjoy the view of his well-muscled body. “Drink up, we need to be checked out and on the road in less than an hour. I ordered breakfast, too. It’ll be here shortly.”