Ecstasy Unbound (The Guardians of the Realms Series) Read online

  Finally done with getting the asshole’s memories, and dealing with Drake, exhaustion began setting in. He’d only hit a quick recharge after the wrist regeneration, and he was paying for all the lost energy. He needed to hit his cave again and get refueled.

  He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked down at Havoc, who was sniffing under every door they passed. Tail held high. At least the little bastard was energized. Thank the gods for small favors that Uri wouldn’t have to take the beast hunting now.

  He’d just given Drake his brief on Tank Top - looked like he’d been possessed only a day or so, and his memories weren’t much help, other than seeing what the sick human liked to do to kids. The memories of small naked bodies, bloodied and huddled in balls, nearly had Uri losing the contents of his stomach. Then the rage hit, ‘til he was nearly vibrating with it. Uri and his brothers always kept their distance when dealing with humans, unless they were fucking, because the consequences were too high in taking one out, and there were many that deserved killing. Tank Top was no exception.

  His mouth quirked as he remembered Tank Top’s screams when Uri had brought in Havoc and let the beast have at him. He had only needed to bring Havoc in to see Drake, but, they’d taken a detour to holding first. Havoc had needed to feed fully and since Uri hadn’t had time to take him hunting after the attack, he’d brought the hound in to feed off Tank Top. The agonized screams of the possessed and the demon both, though piercing, had been sweet music to Uri’s soul. Then, too soon, the possessed had died and the demon’s essence was released back to Hell.

  As wound up and energized as Havoc was after he’d fed, Uri was amazed he was able to keep a mental hold on him, when they’d gotten to Drake’s office.

  The minute Drake had bade them enter, the pup took one whiff of Drake’s dragon scent and Uri almost lost control. He owed Gregoire for the warning about Havoc remembering dragon scent. Even in Uri’s energy weakened state, he’d kept the animal from attacking Drake. Barely. If Havoc had attacked, Uri had no doubt Drake would’ve fried the animal to a crisp first, and maybe asked questions second.

  After going into battle together, added with what happened in holding, Havoc had cemented himself in Uri’s life. The animal was under his protection now. Thinking back to the conversation with Drake, he smiled.

  Drake started with, “Well, I see that you can hold him, I still can’t fucking believe you brought a hellhound into the human Realm… And you will have your ass kicking as soon as you’ve rested up. You look like shit.” Drake pinched the bridge of his nose. “And I can see from that stubborn assed look, the bastard’s not going anywhere, but he’s your responsibility. Make sure he’s not a fucking menace.” Drake blew out a breath, “Now, what’d you get from the prisoner?”

  “Pretty much nothing, at least nothing useful, it was the same old basic psychotic shit. I didn’t see anything in his memories about the syringe. He’d just joined the others about an hour before coming to find me. Eyebrow Ring seemed to know where to go, but no one told Tank Top anything. Oh, and I let Havoc feed from him… the piece of shit is dead, more than deserved. But someone will need to do clean up in holding and I’m too damn tired to deal with it.”

  “Fine, take the hound to Sirena to check out before you go.” Uri had not needed to be told twice, just hightailed them both out into the hallway.

  Uri and Havoc finally made it to Sirena’s wing, and at his knock came a cheerful, “Enter.”

  Sirena’s office housed too much monster movie memorabilia for any one space, the black furniture and shelves were covered in Slasher movie masks, like the authentic Freddie Krueger with claws showcased in glass. Her love of horror movies was everywhere within the muted green walls. There were authentic masks mixed with not so authentic figurines all over the black desk, which managed to still fit some papers and a laptop.

  “Sit, I just have to finish this.” She was frantically clicking at the keyboard and didn’t even glance up as he entered with Havoc at his heels, sniffing at the closest glass case, the one housing the mask from the first Friday the Thirteenth movie. The furnishings were completely at odds with Sirena’s appearance.

  “Hold on a sec. I just want to get the last updates on my research done while it’s fresh in my mind. The mated pairs check in and give me updates. Especially on their young.” She beamed a fond smile at him and quickly went back to work. She was a gorgeous female, long blonde hair all pulled back except for the bangs. She favored a very fifties appearance nowadays, sometimes innocent, other times not. Today she wore horn rimmed glasses, even though her sight was perfect. They suited her delicate features and bright violet eyes, which brought to mind sexy librarian thoughts, even though he saw the female more as a little sister.

  Gorgeous as all the female Guardians were, he thought of them as siblings more than available females. They had all been through too much, seen too much together in the breeding labs. Acting more like the animals they had been treated like for so long. All pride decimated. Something they’d each had to get through in their own ways through the centuries. Bonds were forged from the acts forced on them. Bonds that would never be broken, especially when they’d formed a unit. They’d had to learn to look each other in the eyes. Some scars ran deeper than others.

  After the first few times in the field, all the brothers ended up learning a healthy fear of their sister Guardians, rather than trying to protect them, as was their instinct. An instinct that had gotten them all bloodied at one time or another. Every one of them had been close to feral in those times, but that had been especially true for the females.

  Drake had been the one to keep them together, and sane, in the beginning. It was Drake, and their uncompromising allegiance to the cause the Creators had set forth. They would never allow others to be at the mercy of the more powerful again.

  Looking at Sirena, he remembered her time in the field. She was lethal and scary as shit. But, her ability to find mates, and do all the science/doctor crap, proved the most beneficial to the Immortal races as a whole. Her work gave her a stronger purpose. It was what she had seemed to lack in the beginning. It made his heart a little lighter, seeing how far she’d come from those dark, early days. She worked nearly as much as Drake, even though their leader tried to get her to take more down time. Sirena had a way of getting around Drake’s bitching. Mainly, they were all fucking suckers where she was concerned, and she knew it.

  Sirena found early in her research that certain Mageias on Earth held the markers for being an Immortal’s potential mate.

  She was born of a rare Siren mother, not many of her kind made it out of the labs. Her abilities with a body’s cells, being able to morph them, may have made her brutal in combat. But it was her incomparable ability to feel for DNA markers by touching an Elemental Mageia that made her the only Guardian capable of the job of locating mates for the races.

  Her less intimidating size of maybe five foot eight inches, in heels, Siren’s voice, and cheerful, lovable personality, easily enticed the Elementals. For centuries she’d been luring Mageias from Earth to Tetartos.

  Unfortunately, few of the Mageias with the DNA marker actually found Immortal mates. But, those few gave the rest hope, though, a hope that slowly dwindled as the decades passed. But even giving them that small chance was what made Sirena cherished within the races.

  Sadly, it was a spell meant to free the Immortals from being breeders in the labs that caused the problem. The Immortal, Charybdis, sacrificed her sanity to save the rest from lives as cattle. But her spell, making it impossible for an Immortal to produce young on any but their true mate, made life long and lonely for those that never found their other half.

  Finally, the frantic typing stopped. He slowly rotated his head on his neck. Damn, he was beat.

  “Oh. My. Look at who you brought me. Is this Havoc? Oh, what a beautiful little boy you are.” She looked over the desk, her glittering violet eyes shining. She cooed at the animal causing Uri to shake his head. She was ab
le to use that Siren’s voice to sway any being, and it looked like Hellhounds were not immune.

  Havoc wagged his bob tail along with most of his back end, his ears lowered back as he kind of wiggled toward Sirena. She came out from behind the desk, and he began rubbing his whole body against her leg. Like a cat? He’d never seen the animal act like that. It was… frankly… a little embarrassing. She kept speaking to Havoc in the same tone. It was ridiculous. Uri just about threw his hands up, or threw up. He wasn’t sure which tempted him more. She was making his Hellhound a total pussy! Not wanting to watch anymore, he turned to leave.

  He needed a recharge, and it was obvious that Havoc was all too happy to be in Sirena’s company. He sent the animal thoughts that he’d be leaving, but would be back. He looked over his shoulder, saw Havoc cock his head, then turn back to nudge Sirena’s hand so that she would pet him. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “I’ve got to recharge and hit the house for a bit, Drake said you’d want to do tests on Havoc, just telepath if you need me.”

  “We’ll be fine. I’ll lull him to sleep for some of the more invasive tests. I can’t wait! He’s amazing… and you’re right! I don’t get any evil from him. I’m so excited, I could almost pee myself.” She said, beaming with excitement. She stood in her tight, buttoned up shirt and snug, past the knee, skirt.

  Uri grinned at her exuberance, then, hauled his exhausted ass out of there. As he headed down the hall, the hair on his neck prickled, he had a feeling something was coming, Gods, he hoped he would at least get in a recharge before whatever was coming hit.

  Chapter 11

  What should they do? Alex began running scenarios in her head as she paced on the white fluffy rug in front of the fireplace. They’d been home for mere moments, but it felt like an eternity. Nothing was helping. Erik was trapped in his mind. Or, that’s what she and Vane guessed, they hadn’t been able to get through to him, and didn’t understand what was happening.

  Taking him away from Sam’s apartment hadn’t helped. Taking him to the family cavern hadn’t helped. They’d forced energies into him and he was sucking them down as quickly as he got them. Trying to communicate telepathically hadn’t gotten through. He stared straight ahead, growling and breathing heavily.

  She felt helplessness close in around her. She knew Vane felt the same. Neither knew what it was doing to Erik, physically or mentally.

  She and Vane both hit him with the minor healing energies they had, nothing changed. They hadn’t found anything physically wrong with him. But if he was using up energies that quickly, where were they going? The fact that neither of them had seen anything like it was truly freaking her out. Never again would she take her self-healing for granted. Centuries of watching the worst of your injuries heal before your eyes, as the norm, then seeing that, had her feeling way too human for her liking.

  It’d been four hours. She continued pacing, likely the rug would have a permanent wear pattern when she was through. Four freaking hours and no change.

  “We need to take him to the cave again, even though we have to force the energies, at least there we would be able to refuel as we helped him.” Vane said as he paced the other side of the couch, while she sat next to Erik again, touching his forehead. He was warm but she wasn’t sure if he was really any more warm that normal, as their Lion DNA had a tendency to make them both run on the hot side.

  “I agree, we can’t keep this up here, we should have just stayed there. I’d just hoped that being home might change something. I know I was grasping, but I’m freaking out.”

  “I’m going to have to see Conn. I’ll see what I can do from there. We need to get Erik to the Guardian’s healer.”

  She wouldn’t let him do that. The Guardians were bound to exile her brother in a heartbeat. He had a good life there, his motorcycles, the females, the feeling she’d always had that they were to do something more to help in the human Realm. She’d rather risk herself, than her brother to exile.

  “Let’s wait another few hours. We should take him back to the caves and make sure we’re both refueled first.” Alex said.

  He didn’t look sure, but said okay anyway. She knew he’d go to Conn, but with all the antics from her brothers, mainly Vane, she wasn’t sure what the Guardian would try to take as retribution. Alex didn’t understand their dynamic, and didn’t want to chance Conn exiling Vane for being such a pain in his butt.

  She might have a better chance with Uri. They’d been circling each other, playing their game for centuries now. No way was she telling Vane that, though. Oh, Gods, he’d have fits.

  “I need to take a quick shower, you take him and I’ll meet you there? I’ll be fast.” She didn’t wait for an answer, just turned toward her rooms like everything was normal.

  “Yeah, I’ll get him settled. Maybe in the hot spring. We haven’t tried water yet.” She looked back and saw Vane pacing, much like she had been. Then, he lifted Erik, and headed to the balcony where he would teleport. Thankfully, he hadn’t questioned why the hell she needed a shower. Sadly, it was the best excuse she was able to come up with and she was happy not to have to defend it.

  Was she really going to Uri? It was crazy. She had spent years of fantasizing, and watching Uri with other women. Those he mostly shared with Gregoire, a massive male no girl would overlook, including her. It had always been Uri that retained her focus, and obsession, through the centuries, but she wasn’t blind.

  She was freaking out a little. It would be her first time actually speaking to him. The thought shouldn’t make her fluttery. Her brother needed her thinking straight. If she was going to be exiled, she’d at least make sure her brother was healed first, here on Earth. The Guardian didn’t need to know that she wouldn’t be going quietly into the other Realm. She just hoped to buy time. Get his healer to take care of Erik. Then she’d do what she had to in order to keep them here. She still felt they were needed on Earth. She’d just have to wing it.

  Alex knew Uri was attracted to her, which was obvious in the way he devoured her with those mercury eyes. Practically searing off her clothes while taking those humans at the clubs. Would that keep him off balance enough for her to gain the upper hand?

  She wondered why he’d chosen human women instead of slacking his needs with Immortal females in Tetartos. Maybe he was doing that, too… somehow that thought did not settle well. The true question she should be asking was why did she enjoy watching him so much? Watching that powerful body he used to command those females into ecstasy. The screams of pleasure he evoked, over and over… Her body was overheated just thinking of that male frame, and what he was able to do with it. How would she even be able to talk to him if memories played like one long orgy inside her mind?

  The male needed to come with a warning label, he was freaking lethal in more ways than one. Alex shook her head, arriving at the door to her rooms. She only hoped that Uri would want to take her, carry her off to do dirty things to her, as payment for helping her brother. Okay, she really needed to stop the fantasies. She needed his help, not his anatomy. The idea of trading her body, no real sacrifice, for her brother’s health, was probably stretching it. A little gothic novel.

  Moving with preternatural speed, she made it to her closet. In a blink of the eye she had changed into something sexier. She needed every advantage. A moment’s hesitation in deporting her might be all she required.

  Low cut tank top in black, with a slit in the already low collar giving a peek of more shadowy cleavage. Perfect. She put on the sexiest black lace bra and thong she owned under a sleek pair of low rise, boot cut, jeans that had more stretch than most, in case she needed to fight. She topped the outfit off with four inch, black, knee high boots. Louboutin, her newest favorites.

  Her hair was staying up in the pony she put it in for investigating at Sam’s. She only took an extra second for gloss and mascara, unable to justify any more time. Practically running, she made it out to her personal patio and teleported right in front of
Uri’s Seattle home. She’d stalked him enough through the centuries to know exactly where he lived, seemed to keep a primary residence. Lucky for her.

  She rolled her neck as a pathetic thrill ran through her nerve system. He had been with countless females, while she was unable to be with a single human male for fear of killing him in a moment of passion. Her only other options for Immortals on that side were her brothers, gross, and the other Guardian males, hello, one way ticket to primitive Tetartos. And even though her toys only helped so much, she didn’t think a ticket to Tetartos and Immortal males was worth going without designer shoes and electricity. She was sure that would be the trade-off. Who was she kidding? Uri was the only male she wanted sharing her bed.

  She looked to the upstairs windows of the beautiful old home she’d stood outside more often than she should have. A huge lawn dotted with big oaks and pines kept the house hidden from the street. Her stomach fluttered. Please, let him be there. The smell of salt water cleared her head some. The fragrance of damp ground and moss soothed her. But her heart still felt like it would come out of her chest at any moment.

  She looked down at the shiny tip of a boot peeking from below her pant leg, hoping to use the confidence they usually inspired to do what she needed to do. She knew the risk, and was alternately excited, and panicked, at what she was going to attempt. Her skin felt tight and she knew blood had rushed to the surface, making her flushed.

  Straightening her already straight clothing, she took a deep breath. She quickly teleported under one of the huge trees in the backyard. Alex swore she felt him there, she looked to the dim lighting in the upstairs rooms, candlelight… it was what he always used. She wasn’t sure if there was anyone with him. She hoped not.

  Sometimes she looked in on him from a perch in the trees further back. Preternatural sight was one benefit of being a Demi-Goddess. She’d never seen a female in his home. He seemed to favor using the clubs for his needs. The only entity she had seen in his home was the beast she was pretty certain was a Hellhound. Uri brought the animal home a couple months ago. She’d seen hellhounds, only briefly, thousands of years ago, so she wasn’t positive. Maybe they were joining forces with the Guardians?