Carl (Guardians In Love Book 4)

by Brianna West

  Aidan nipped one cheek before straightening and keeping himself upright on his knees. He magically conjured what I could only assume was something to lubricate his fingers, as the smell of the liquid managed to reach my nose through the scent of our heat when he’d opened the bottle. His low, throaty growls kept me on my hands and knees, but I gathered enough courage to peek over my shoulder to look at him as he coated his fingers with the translucent gel he’d summoned.

  Aidan grinned boldly. “Cursing suits you.” His hand slipped down past the obvious bulge in his pants to where I was positioned in front of him. “You should do it more, yeah?”

  “Oh Lord,” I moaned as he thrust one finger inside of me before adding a second.

  Aidan grunted, sweat pouring down his face and body in long, winding trails. “Yeah, just like that. Fuck, you’re so bloody hot inside.”

  I couldn’t look anymore, because the pleasure was going straight to my hips and the blood had fled my head. Thinking about anything but the spark of stimulation and the thick feeling of his fingers was impossible. There was a burst of sensation every time Aidan crooked his fingers towards my belly, and I couldn’t help the sounds fleeing my throat every time he did.

  “Carl,” Aidan whispered hoarsely, “This is as long as I can hold off. I need to be inside of you. Your scent is driving me fucking mental.”

  I should be terrified, mortified—something—but I wasn’t. If anything, I’d never felt so good about an in-the-moment decision as I did about this one. Even through the lustful fog, I was grateful that the second time I was doing this, it was with someone like Aidan. Someone I cared for. Someone I could trust myself to. Maybe even give my heart to.

  Resolved, I looked over my shoulder at him. “Go on, then. I want this just as much as you do,” I said in an uncharacteristically brazen moment, the pleasure having completely gone to my head.

  Aidan’s brightly lit eyes seemed to glow brighter with my short, panting demand. His jaw clenched down and his entire torso tautened, the strain to hold back visible in his face as his jaw worked.

  “You…” he growled as he hurriedly unzipped his pants and swiftly took hold of himself, staving off what appeared to be an overly excited moment. “Fucking hell…almost made me come in my pants with just a few little words…”

  I numbly watched him through the pleasant throb in my head. My eyes were trained to the massive length he’d taken hold of, wholly captivated by the sight.

  He was huge. I’d almost forgotten. How the hell was all of that supposed to fit inside of me? I’d be torn in two.

  His hand wrapped the massive girth harder before he let out a shuddering sigh. “For fuck’s sake,” he groaned before taking hold of my hip and positioning himself, “I’ve never been so bleeding turned on in all my life. You’re making me look like I’ve never bloody well done this before.”

  My head dropped, grappling the bed when the pleasure of our heat was nearly drowned out by the initial burn of penetration. I wasn’t entirely prepared, and it took all of my willpower to keep from crying out.

  “Fuck me,” I groaned, body constricting.

  “Oh, I plan to,” Aidan sassed, grunting as he slowly, carefully pushed the entire length of himself inside despite the evident strain in his face and chest. When his hips finally pressed into my rear, he bent down and heaved labored breaths, taking hold of my shoulder and holding fast.

  “Fuck, so…bloody tight,” he muttered, voice so deep it trembled against my back.

  I barely felt anything else aside from the sensation of his impossible size filling me, but something started to burst and shudder to life. I needed him to bite me, and when I struggled to make it known to him, Aidan grasped my hips with a low, guttural growl.

  “What the bloody hell are you moving for?!” His voice was tight as he quivered against me, mouthing the back of my neck. The scent was so strong in the air, it made it nearly impossible to breathe. “Fuck…you smell so fucking good. I can’t…fucking think.”

  I pressed back into him, seeking more friction and his bite. “Aidan,” I moaned, making the other Guardian snarl and slam his hips forward.

  Aidan trembled before his fangs penetrated the back of my neck, sinking into the flesh and satisfying the desperate yearning that had plagued me. There was a burst and clash of gold magic in the air, red and orange swiftly joining the mirrored gold. But it was lost to either of us as Aidan drew out of me before slamming back inside with a loud, resounding slap. The sound of his hips connecting with my rear reverberated through the room as he set our pace for fast and hard right from the start.

  I barely held up to the strength he put into every thrust, anchoring myself to the bed and arching back with every strong wash of pleasure. Without being touched, I hurtled over the edge of my climax and came, soiling the bed beneath me in hard, hot spurts.

  “Fuck!” Aidan grunted and slammed forward. “So bloody tight.”

  He managed a few more staggered thrusts before hot liquid coated my insides, flooding heat into my hips and upper thighs. I sucked in a breath as he pulled out and rested his head between my shoulder blades. Shaking from the intense sensation, I finally went lax onto the bed and recovered. There were subtle sounds of shuffling, Aidan’s weight disappearing from the bed before he was back with a wet towel to my backside.

  Startled, I quickly looked over my shoulder. “You don’t—”

  “I do and I will,” he interrupted with a pointed stare. “I won’t do it all, but this is the least I can do until you can get to the shower.”

  Unable to argue through the humiliation, I pressed my face into the sheets and let the aftermath of the heat settle over me. It wasn’t that I regretted it. Actually, to be honest, I couldn’t regret anything at all after how mind-blowing the sex had been. But having him take care of that in the moments afterwards was beyond mortifying. I didn’t even know how to look at him since I’d fallen unconscious with Conall and was riddled with regret when Aidan and I had last run away with our lust.

  This time, I had knowingly involved myself with him. This time, I felt nothing but incredibly satisfied at its completion.

  Oh Lord, what a damned mess I was in.

  Chapter Twenty

  Once the scent of the heat faded and we were left in the aftermath, I found the strength to get up and head off to the shower to clean myself. It was a much-needed escape, because Aidan’s eyes had followed me everywhere since he’d finished cleaning the pair of us with the wet towel he’d summoned. It was the most humiliating fifteen minutes of my entire life, and I couldn’t find the courage to look at him long enough to discern how he might be handling the reality of what we’d just done.

  Not that I wanted to have the conversation when there was still the raw feeling of it in my backside.

  When I reemerged from showering, Aidan was laid out over the bed in the room he’d designated to be mine during my stay. His arms were crossed and resting under his head, while his chest was lain bare for my eyes to partake in before I managed to control my wandering stare.

  There was something captivating about the scars that marred his torso. I wanted to ask after each one and how they had been earned, but I didn’t feel our relationship was at a stage where I could pry into such things. But every time I saw them, I found it difficult to keep my eyes from mapping out their shapes and attempting to discover whether it had been blade, magic, or other that had created them. Earlier, when I’d felt the glossy scars beneath my hands, it had been nearly impossible not to trace their shape with my fingertips.

  But, at the moment, my captivation had more to do with the memories of how they gleamed and changed shape with the Guardian’s movements when he was over me than my interest to know more about them. The image of Aidan, naked and overtly lustful, was making it difficult to look at him.

  But thankfully, he’d put on a pair of pajama bottoms. The flannel pattern was an odd distraction from the mesmerizing quality of his body, and his relaxed state of dress and ov
erall demeanor as he laid out over the bed made it clear it was his intention to rest in my room instead of his own.

  My only question was why.

  Aidan’s mouth quirked upwards when I entered with a comfortable set of night clothes, his expression softening before he was patting the side of the bed he’d left open. “Fancy a sleepover?”

  Despite the unease in my stomach, I laughed lightly. “What are we, twelve?”

  “I’d say it’s not too far off to say so,” he retorted with a wide grin, patting the bed again with an emphasized stare. “Come over here, Cheeky Tiger.”

  Dammit. I couldn’t help the way my heart beat faster any time he referred to me so intimately, or shared his rare smile with me the way he currently was. Together, it was lethal to my heart’s rhythm. It tore down the carefully constructed walls I’d built to keep others out, and there was nothing I could do but exactly what he bid me to.

  Rubbing out the remaining water from my hair, I sighed and tossed the towel into a nearby bin. “I’m only doing this because I’m too tired to argue,” I lied lamely.

  “Sure you are,” Aidan teased with a soft chuckle.

  When I reached the bed, my heart was already pounding so hard that, even without our heightened hearing, I was sure it could be easily heard. But thanks to the calming notes of Aidan’s natural musk, I was lured to his side without hesitation. His scent put my mind at ease, while my body overreacted to every word he spoke and every action he took. It was as if my mind and body were at war with one another. Neither of them wished to communicate with the other, just do whatever they wanted to do without any logic or reason.

  I sat down beside him, unable to appear to be anything but what I was, incredibly uncomfortable. I internally berated the ‘young maiden in the throes of her first passionate love’ vibe I was giving off, because I’d never pegged myself as someone who completely lost their sense of self while pining after another person. It’d never happened to me before.

  It had always been my belief that I’d assume the ‘male role’ in the relationship. Because, ultimately, I’d always viewed myself as the epitome of what a man should be. As conceited as it might sound, it was my lifetime of responsibility towards others, dutiful rule-abiding, and ability to retain the due amount of respect for those around me that made me feel that I’d lead in a relationship without any trouble—if I were ever to allow myself to have one, that is.

  But, in the case of love, a man would take charge. A man would throw caution to the wind and confidently stride right into whatever this was Aidan and I were slowly creeping towards.

  Instead, all I could manage to do was lean against the headboard and distract myself long enough not to stare at Aidan’s perfectly sculpted physique. Which was a feat to be applauded. The were-bear Guardian was perfection. Everything a strong, muscled type should dare to dream to be. His body was even enviable to a person like myself, who would never garner that sort of definition because it simply wasn’t how I was built.

  I was large, but not massive. My muscles were tight and perfectly shaped, but not beyond the imagination like Aidan’s were. To be frank, his size and perfect physique had stomped on my internal male pride a long time ago. Then, when he assumed the dominant role after biting me, my male pride had been eviscerated. It would be a lie to say it didn’t bother me, but it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. When I was together with Aidan, it was almost natural to let him lead in a way. Still, I carried a complex that couldn’t be smothered out entirely. So, I always fought a little at the start, as childish as that was.

  “Carl,” Aidan called out, making me inadvertently stiffen.

  I glanced over to him before lifting my lips awkwardly and grinding my jaw at the sight of his glowing eyes. The bed shifted, Aidan’s weight making my body to tilt towards him as the other Guardian eased in closer. I waited with bated breath for his next move, barely maintaining my calm when Aidan reached out to me and directed my eyes towards his with a gentle hand.

  “I’d tell you not to be nervous, but there’s a reason you should be,” Aidan started, grinning devilishly. “So, how’s about you and I get to the heart of it, yeah?”

  “Or we could sleep and leave it for tomorrow,” I suggested, voice tight. I wanted to pull away from his hand, but something in the way he looked at me kept me from moving away.

  Aidan’s smile wavered slightly, but he did finally let go of my face and instead lifted himself onto his hand to face me, his torso twisting towards mine. There was a moment where he looked like he might leave, but instead, he bent forward and came within inches of my face. Aidan’s hot breath intermixed with mine before his hand grasped the back of my neck and drew me forwards into a soft, unexpected kiss.

  I froze before falling victim to the pleasant sensation of his mouth against mine, chasing the pleasure and kissing him back. Mirroring his hold, I cradled the back of Aidan’s neck and hardened the kiss, teasing his closed lips with my tongue before they opened and his tongue twined with mine. It was long minutes of lips colliding, teeth clattering, and hands grasping before Aidan drew away, pale-yellow eyes brilliantly aglow once more.

  “So,” he started, the deep husk of his voice rattling my already shaken insides, “Does this mean you fancy me?”

  Lips tilted, I eyed him reproachfully. “Cheeky bear.”

  “Oi,” Aidan growled, all the while smiling from ear-to-ear, “Don’t steal someone else’s nicknames.”

  Smirking, I feigned ignorance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just calling it how I see it.”

  “I’m starting to miss that blushing tiger from earlier,” Aidan complained, leering at me defiantly when I soured. “He was bloody brilliant.” His eyes danced happily. “And so very lewd.”

  My stare narrowed, making the other Guardian bark with laughter. “Anymore of that and you’ll be a dead bear walking.”

  “Coming from you, I’d be curious to see what kind of dead bear we’re talking about.” Aidan snickered and bent forward, kissing me quickly before pulling away with an affectionate glint in his eyes.

  Somehow, my heart had continued to throb and beat as quickly as it had when he’d beckoned me over to bed, but I was completely at ease. My worries had all but disappeared. I’d traded them to live in that moment with Aidan, no matter what awaited us when the sun rose the next day. For once in my life, I could give a damn about what it all might mean, and what all could potentially go wrong when tomorrow came. What might inevitably have to happen if we continued down the path we were on.

  *

  I woke with a start, not sure where I was as the eerie feeling of someone hiding in the dark teased the edge of my senses for minutes after waking. The feeling of phantom fingers on my neck tormented me again, making me unconsciously trace where I felt their touch. But nothing was there. No one was here.

  The quiet was broken by a loud snore, startling me only for the second it took to recognize the deep, inviting musk of the person beside me. Aidan’s arm kept me weighted to the bed by my hips, his rumbling snores easing the momentary fear of whatever had come for me in my dreams. Another loud snore broke out of the slumbering Guardian, making me laugh in spite of the prickling gooseflesh that had erupted all over my body.

  Breathing out slowly, I panned the room before wiggling a bit so that the heavy arm wasn’t as uncomfortable to be under. Aidan slept like the dead, and my movement only roused another rattling snore from him. Still, being beside him calmed me in a way I never knew I could be comforted. I’d slept with others before, mostly Bernie—forcibly—but it’d never felt like this. Never had I felt so safe and completely at ease.

  However, there was still something at the edge of my senses that was warning me about what I’d woken up to. Whatever had caused the phantom sensation, it was something to be wary of. Deciding I’d speak with Victor about it in the morning, I closed my eyes and inhaled Aidan’s scent in deep, strong drags.

  *

  Aidan had gon
e downstairs to cook again, which he announced loudly and proudly before stomping off with an obvious hitch to his step. It was beyond endearing, and it was a hard-fought battle not to smile from ear-to-ear when I’d witnessed it. I did smile, but only a little. A true Carl kind of smile.

  Throwing up a privacy barrier once the other Guardian was far enough away, I dialed Victor and held the phone to my ear, as close as I could get it. I was concerned that if I told Aidan, he’d worry it was Niko, and I didn’t want to have him inviting himself into the bedroom every night as a result. Any more sleepovers and I might be in more than just a little trouble. Until I sorted out how I wanted to move forward with Aidan, it was best not to sleep beside him any more than the one night.

  ‘What a pleasant surprise,’ Victor greeted, his voice naturally smooth. ‘To what do I owe the pleasure of your call, Carl?’

  I peered around the room, still strangely worried that Aidan might catch me in the midst of a privacy barrier. “I had a question for you, sir.”

  Victor didn’t say anything, which was usually his permission to continue.

  “I’ve been experiencing dreamless night terrors and the feeling of phantom fingers on my neck, but I can’t seem to figure out why. Normally, I wouldn’t bother you over it, but there’s something…off, and I thought you might give your opinion on what it could be related to.”

  There was a short pause before Victor’s serious voice came through the receiver. ‘How many times has it occurred?’

  “Twice.”

  ‘And you say it feels as though someone has touched you?’

  Nodding as if he could see me, I fought to keep my voice even. “Yes.”

  Victor hummed lightly. ‘Have you felt anything odd lately? Unnaturally tired? Noticed any unusual or inexplainable symptoms?’

  I hesitated, unable to willfully tell the angel boss about the heat as well as the blood-taking. It was a moment of silence that the intuitive angel discerned somehow.