by Brianna West
For Niko, I was the first to volunteer. For Andrea, I’d make sure tonight was celebrated with victory, if only to play a small part in it.
Aidan whispered into my ear as the air around us grew heavier. “Smell that?”
I nodded, panning the area and noticing that both Victor and Simon had disappeared. “Showtime.”
Bernie clapped happily, taking hold of Pavel’s arm and dragging him towards the club. “Come on, sweetums!”
I huffed a small laugh before following the other two inside, touching the magically concealed Glock on my hip and smoothing over the metal with my thumb. When we’d successfully entered the club, the radiating darkness overwhelmed the senses and the distinct smell of death wafted through the air. Dark creatures were scattered all throughout the room, and their numbers heavily outnumbered ours. However, one Guardian could take down numerous Dark, so it wasn’t as daunting as it seemed to have so many here.
Several teams had come for this very event, and I could see their faces among the crowd, slowly, cautiously targeting who they’d go after first. We all took our respective places, keeping our targets in sight as we waited for Victor and Simon to secure the innocents. A burst of white light had the humans in the room dropping unconscious, and it was our signal to attack the Dark who were caught off guard by the sudden light.
Aidan’s entire body shuddered with transformation, and I mirrored it with my own. Taking hold of my weapon and calling upon my magic, I took off running towards the first few Dark I’d targeted the moment we arrived.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
After successfully defeating the high-demon, there was a sense of relief that filled me as I looked around the area. Innocents were being tended to by several Guardians and the two angels. Many of the humans were unharmed, but their memories were in need of wiping in order to erase the night’s events. The mission had gone off without a hitch, and I was glad that tonight would end the long vendetta of a good friend and fellow Guardian.
Niko.
I closed my eyes, sucking in a breath before opening them again. Aidan stood in front of me, his entire body a mess of demon and Dark blood with other remnants mixed in. There had been several vampires in the crowd, so his torso was also matted with clumps of ash. The powerful physique appeared stronger, for some strange reason, in the grime. Every contour was shaped by the dark grey mess, and I was stricken with how incredibly aroused I was looking at a man as dirty as Aidan was from head-to-toe. It was quite the sight, but he seemed rather oblivious to it as he peered down at me, curious.
“Everything alright?” the were-bear Guardian asked when I didn’t speak immediately.
Smiling, I eased his worries with a shake of my head. “Let’s get home. You need a shower.”
“Are you offering to join me?” Aidan countered mischievously, easing a few steps closer with a grin.
I peered around us, noticing that all of the Guardians, even the two idiots, were actively busy. “Who knows. We’ll see if your luck holds out.”
“Oi,” Aidan grunted, laughing, “Cheeky.”
With the permission of Victor, Aidan and I returned home. I’d managed to stay rather clean compared to Aidan, but the man fought with his entire body, while I preferred ranged attacks with my magic before delivering final blows with my weaponry. I seriously questioned whether or not Aidan could stay clean when he practically immersed himself in a crowd of Dark with outright glee, ready to plow his way through them with only the use of his enormous hammer. Our fighting styles couldn’t be any more different if we tried.
Aidan took my hand the minute we arrived at the home, where a majority of the team’s Guardians were currently staying. It was a larger estate, closed in by high cement walls and an iron gate. Rather unassuming despite the fact that it was immensely large and in the middle of nowhere. It was protected by numerous barriers so that the location was not only concealed, but also impenetrable by most Dark creatures. With the exception of a few of the more powerful ones. The grounds expanded several acres, and most of the area was blanketed by heavy forest. It offered the best kind of training for our kind because very few humans roamed these lands.
The burly Guardian hauled me up the stairwell with an urgency that would mow down anyone, leading me quickly to our room, and then to the bathroom our room harbored. His excited breaths reached my ears as he hurried me into the shower, stripping what little clothes we wore with a broad grin on his face.
“Did they pour an entire bottle of glitter on you?”
The hot spray of the shower rained down over our bodies, causing the grime caking our forms to race down and swirl at our feet. “Probably. I was too afraid to ask.”
Aidan laughed loudly, caging me into the shower wall with his arms as the water washed over his head and matted down his hair. “Can’t say I blame you. We blokes do what we can to survive, yeah?”
I was mesmerized by the way his dirty, grime-covered chest was instantly cleaned by the water that rushed over it. Reaching for the soap, I let my lathered hands trace the shape of his chest and wash away what remained.
There was a particularly rough looking scar that crossed over both pectorals and fled around Aidan’s ribs, which was always the first scar I traced any time I was given the opportunity to. It was a scar he’d received from his uncle just before the man abandoned him, and it was the one I felt the most inclination towards touching. As if I could somehow ease the pain it had caused in the past and the long-standing emotion that likely remained, even after all these years.
I let my fingers trail across the grisly scar, teasing a small shudder out of the larger Guardian. Sneaking a glance, I smiled to myself and palmed my way down the middle of his stomach to where he was already growing large with his lust. The muscles beneath my touch tensed, contorting sharply as I continued to wash away the remnants of battle from Aidan’s stomach.
Aidan took hold of my chin and raised my eyes to his, smirking. My heart was immediately racing at the devilish expression on his face, finding another reason to be mesmerized by him.
“Stare at me like that and you’re going to make me blush.”
I swallowed around the sudden explosion of desire in my belly. “You’re cute when you blush, though.”
Clearly not expecting the cheek, Aidan’s forehead drew down and his eyes strayed away. I went to my toes and pressed a tender kiss to his face as the oversized Guardian attempted to recover from the sudden compliment. The scruff of his chin roughened my lips, but I was quite fond of the sensation. I chased a stream of water, licking it from Aidan’s face without thought. The body against mine hardened with the attention, and I knew Aidan was very close to losing control.
I welcomed it.
No matter how much time had passed, I was enchanted by the were-bear mix. I couldn’t express what it felt like to be in love, but it was everything I hoped it would be. All the pain, all the heartache over the years, it had all somehow amounted to this, and I couldn’t have been happier that it had.
Being with Aidan made me optimistic about the future—about being in love. During the years I pined after Lucas, I’d only ever felt disheartened by my affection. It was a curse to be in love. I’d never felt like it was meant to be, or that I’d ever be mutually cared for. So, when Lucas had met Izzy, the blow was brutal, but it was an expected one. I’d prepared to be heartbroken from the moment I fell in love with Lucas.
Which made me wonder if the love I’d felt for Lucas was even truly love. Being in love with Aidan made me brave. Made me want to do things that I’d otherwise not do. Made me risk my heart just for the possibility of achieving happiness with him. It had exposed my previous cowardice when it came to loving someone. Perhaps for the same reason Aidan had changed, I’d changed too. Being in love made us want to be more than we were. Made us transform into our better selves.
Who knew that loving someone could be so powerful?
When Aidan’s caramel eyes finally returned, they were brightly illuminated with
every emotion he felt for me. The large Guardian bent forward, covering my lips roughly with his, and kissed me with the urgency to devour me whole. The sounds of our passionate kisses were drowned out by the loud splash of falling water.
Aidan slammed me into the tile, coiling his tongue around mine.
Our hot breaths mingled while Aidan turned the knob of the shower, making the water hotter. Steam rose from our feet, immersing our bodies in a wet fog. Aidan’s mouth and hands grew more demanding with each passing second.
Cradling the back of my neck, his fangs clashed with mine as he let out a low, guttural groan of need. I traced the shape of his incisors with my tongue, causing the large Guardian to vocalize again in his throat.
“Will I ever get bloody tired of you? I want you so fucking bad. Your scent is driving me absolutely mental.”
Panting, I let the back of my head rest against the cool tile. “Do you want to get tired of me?”
“Fuck no.” Aidan huffed a laugh, pressing his forehead into mine as he trembled, reaching around me and lifting underneath my rear. “Cheeky tiger.”
We’d only just had sex that morning. Aidan was still as insatiable as ever. But then again, so was I. Most of our sex happened in the shower because we were interrupted by the idiot any chance he got, even with Laura and Nyla’s unforgiving hand of punishment reigned down on him any time he did. Honestly, I sort of wondered if Bernie did it just to be punished. It didn’t seem so outlandish for the masochistic idiot to do something purely to get punished for it. So, when Bernie was around, we were prone to very long showers.
Aidan thrust upwards, sheathing his massive size inside without any preparation. “It’s just like coming home any time I’m inside you. It’s bloody perfection.” Aidan’s hoarse voice rumbled in my ear, tantalizing my already excessively aroused body.
“Fuck!” My breath caught and a moan fled my throat as the initial burn instantly transformed into pleasure. I grasped him around the shoulders, holding on tightly as he rolled his hips up into me, over and over. “Oh…Lord…”
Aidan chuckled beside my ear, the breathless husk of his voice tickling the skin where his mouth was. “You’re so bloody hot. Watching you fight tonight…I barely kept myself from dragging you off somewhere and buggering you senseless.”
The cool tile had warmed with the friction of my backside sliding over it, the smooth surface aiding in my upward ascent. Aidan took control, pounding into me without relenting. I didn’t manage to keep my voice in, the loud echo of it echoing within glass-encased room as if I’d been put on speakerphone. I hated the way I sounded, but I wasn’t able to do much about it when the pleasure exploded with every thrust.
Aidan grunted, sinking his fangs into my shoulder and keeping the brutal pace. I quaked with the violent rush of stimulation, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before we were both overcome by it. Instead, I urged him with the roll of my own hips, deepening his penetration and giving the other Guardian reason to groan. Aidan growled his appreciation, matching my downward rolls with his upward thrusts.
“Fuck,” Aidan ground out, his timbre guttural. “If anyone fucking interrupts, I’ll tear them from limb to limb.”
I held onto him, quivering with the devastating stimulus. “Aidan!”
“Fuck, bugger, fuck. They’re all bloody wankers,” Aidan gasped, the slap of his hips reverberating louder and faster together. “No one gets to see you like this but me, yeah? You’re mine.”
With one final thrust, Aidan buried himself to the hilt and we both came together. The hot waves of sensation numbed my shaking form and made it difficult to catch my breath. Each throb of pleasure tightened my lower half around Aidan, causing the man to grunt and quake against me.
But when we finally came down from the high, the moment was crudely cut short with a loud knock on the bedroom door, which had Aidan instantly cursing.
The distorted smell of another reached us through the haze of sex and soap in the air, alerting us of their arrival. I couldn’t make out who it was, but it didn’t matter. The mood was already gone, and there wasn’t anything left to do but find out who had come to call.
Aidan’s rough panting bathed my shoulder as he helped me to my feet. “Bloody knew it. Not one bloody minute.” He reached for me, touching my face affectionately before kissing me soundly. “What do you think, should we just get our own flat? How about it, Carl…fancy living with me?”
I stared at Aidan, unable to comprehend how the question had come about, and while I tried to formulate a response, the knocking at the door grew more insistent.
Aidan growled angrily. In a booming voice, he called out to whoever was knocking, “Piss off! Can’t a bloke have a bloody fucking minute to himself!”
He grumbled under his breath cutely, brushing back wet hair from his eyes and quickly giving me a once over. Smirking, he regarded me with laughing eyes. “You look a right mess.”
I was wholly besotted by that smile.
“And whose fault is that?”
Aidan’s smirk intensified, chuckling. “Can’t take all the credit, sadly.”
It was difficult to be angry with Aidan’s taunting when he looked downright adorable with his cocky grin. I was instantly won over by it, and I wasn’t ashamed to say so.
He quickly soaped me over with the body wash, washing away the suds with the aid of his rough hand. But we were immediately stalled as the door of the room clicked open. We’d both frozen the moment it did.
The massive Guardian snarled before turning off the shower and quickly tossing me a towel before, amusingly, he left the bathroom entirely buck-naked. I watched his bare backside with a little too much relish before towel-drying my wet body and hurriedly dressing myself with magic.
I’d grown worried when there was nothing but silence at the other side of the door, so I quickly left the bathroom. Aidan stood, a much-too-small towel loosely wrapped around his lower half and another man peering across at him with a happy, almost childish grin on his face.
The ginger hair and green eyes were enough to give him away, but his smell hit me the moment I exited the bathroom. It wasn’t hard to determine why Aidan had been startled, but I was surprised by the look on Aidan’s face as he regarded the other man.
“Old Man,” Aidan greeted, still flabbergasted.
Conall stood at the doorway in his signature jacket and pair of jeans. He was as attractive as I remembered him being, projecting the cool playfulness that I’d attributed to the Irishman from the first day I’d met him. He was clearly well-fed; the glowing radiance of his skin evidence of it. I’d been told things from Laura about his recovery, and it seemed that he’d finally adopted a bag-only diet of blood. It came at the cost of his ability, but his bloodlust was conquered with the change.
As such, Logan had reassigned him to another part of the Promiscus Guardians to assist with information collection, where it wouldn’t require him to do in-field work like he would be required to if he had remained on the team.
Ultimately, I wasn’t sure how he’d taken to the reassignment, so I was wary. I wasn’t sure if he held us accountable for it or not. The severing of our mate bond had occurred within the first few weeks, so I no longer felt anything in relation to it. Before, I’d get glimpses of his emotions, but now I was just as much in the dark as everyone else was.
Conall’s eyes found me where I stood just beyond Aidan. “You seem well enough. Sounded like you two were making the most out of a quiet house and didn’t even notice you had a guest.”
Aidan’s eyes narrowed. “What…”
Conall put his hands in the air, surrendering with a smile. “I kept to myself, promise.”
Finally able to get my thoughts together, I came forward and took a place beside Aidan. “So, they let you out, did they?”
“Seems so,” Conall agreed with a laugh, but I could see the twitch in his face as he looked from me to Aidan. “There are things I wish to say, and I felt the sooner the better.”
&nb
sp; Aidan’s face was drained of emotion, but I could discern the subtle tension in his jaw and shoulders. “Well, get on with it then, Old Man.”
Conall grinned happily, chuckling when Aidan tensed. “I’m sure you have some idea why I’ve come, but I’ll say it anyway.” He looked from Aidan to me before smiling softly.
“What I did was inexcusable. Bloodlust or not, bond or no bond, what I did doesn’t deserve your forgiveness. I won’t blame you if you turn me away right here and now.” When neither of us said anything, Conall went on, “But I hope you can. Even just a little, I hope you can forgive this silly old man and let me make it up to you.”
Aidan’s face expressed nothing of what he was feeling, but I clearly felt the confliction through our connection. “You bled him and forced him to be your mate. You did it knowing what power you held over him.”
“Aidan…” I started, unable to keep quiet.
“No,” Conall said, raising his hand at me, “He’s right. I did. I knew that you were vulnerable and I took advantage of it.”
“You knew about our connection,” Aidan added, his voice deep with anger and betrayal.
Conall’s expression darkened, solemn and ashamed, as he looked at the were-bear Guardian, his previous friend and subordinate. “I did.”
The news of Conall knowing about the connection I shared with Aidan struck me as I stood silently beyond them, completely blindsided. Aidan’s low growl thundered through the air in warning, but Conall didn’t move. His eyes never left Aidan, and it was clear that if Aidan attacked, Conall would receive it without fighting back.
Concern broke through my momentary shock, causing me to reach out and grasp Aidan around his wrist. “Aidan…”
“Why?” Aidan demanded tersely. “Why did you do it when you knew we had a bond? Why would you…bloody betray me like that, Old Man?”
Conall’s green eyes sparked before they finally dropped to the floor, and for a moment, the man looked so small. “For the same reason you fought for him, Aidan.”