Guardian's Joy #3 (36 page)

“I serve at my Liege Lord’s command,” Grace
said solemnly, but then spoiled the effect when she giggled and
rolled onto his chest. “Big boy.”

Chapter 35

The man was a fucking idiot, a Boy Scout of
the worst sort. He still didn’t understand, wouldn’t hear what she
had to say.

She’d told him about the ceremony with the
fancy dress and all the trimmings, about the pledge she’d made all
too willingly in front of every member of the compound. Every
member, that is, except Samuel. She’d told him about how the High
Lord had punctured the skin above her left breast and taken her
blood. She’d even showed him the tiny scars that remained.

“
This is his mark that I place upon you,
the mark of the one who did not turn away from us in our hour of
need. You have been chosen to be the mother of sons, each bearing
the symbol of our loyalty to the one who is loyal to us.” He
brought his wrist to his mouth and slashed it with the same teeth
with which he’d taken her blood. When he held that wrist to her
mouth, she’d hidden her hesitation as she had learned to
do.

She touched her mouth to the vile liquid,
felt the acid burn on her tongue and swallowed. It was enough to
satisfy him, for he lifted her hand high in the air, the blood
dripping from his wrist staining the white sleeve of her gown.
There was a rousing cheer and the feast began.

And all Nardo said was, “You’re mine. Tell me
why you left? How did you escape?”

“Aren’t you listening to me? Didn’t you hear?
I’m blood bound to the bastard. I’m not yours! I’m his.”

They were sitting on the edge of Nardo’s bed;
she, wrapped in the blanket; he, still starkers. They were
touching, shoulder to shoulder, both staring straight ahead. JJ
knew she should shift over, put some space between them, but he was
so warm and she was cold, so, so cold.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you. Answer the
questions.”

They might be talking baseball he was so
calm, so reasonable. Now that he was no longer angry, she found
herself becoming so.

She stepped out of the shower, dried her
body and tried to dry her hair. It was too steamy in the room and
the High Lord would be disappointed if she wasn’t properly prepared
for their dinner. That’s what he always said.

“
I’m disappointed in you,” and then he’d
walk away and leave her to the Second. She tried very hard not to
disappoint him.

He was talking to the Second when she opened
the door to let out the steam. She paused with the door cracked to
listen.

“
Well fix it, goddammit. Surely we have
someone who can fix it.” The High Lord was angry as he usually was
when things didn’t go as planned.

“
We did, but Samuel’s dead. You ordered it
yourself when we learned he had… You ordered it yourself.”

She managed to close the door before she
buckled over with the sudden pain the Second’s words produced.
Samuel. Her Samuel. He was dead because she thought she could use
her love for him as a shield against the High Lord. The pain in her
gut turned into an icy ball of fury. It grew and grew until she
could hardly contain it. It roiled and rolled inside her. It froze
her insides, numbed her, and yet it burned, burned with an
intensity that was horrible in its power. The blue fire crackled at
her fingertips.

“
Dinner is waiting,” the High Lord called
to her from the other room. “You wouldn’t want to
disappoint.”

No, she wouldn’t want to disappoint.
“Coming, my love,” she called. Her voice was just what he would
expect.

“I attacked him, okay? I thought I killed
him, but just like those fucking demons, I blew it. I stood there
and watched him scream and writhe and then he collapsed and after a
few minutes, he stopped twitching. I didn’t feel a thing watching
him die. Not a thing except the icy ball inside.

“I turned back to the bedroom to get some
clothes. I don’t think I planned much beyond that. I heard the
apartment door open and someone shouted. The Second, I think.”

She felt a gush of wind behind her and
whirled as the hallway was lit by a brilliant white light. The High
Lord was there, risen from the dead, striking her forehead with the
palm of his hand.

“
Bitch!” he screamed, his spittle spraying
her face and an electric jolt spread through her head and
everything went black.

“He’s the one who erased those years,” Nardo
said thoughtfully. “He probably wanted to erase everything, but
either he wasn’t strong enough or you were too strong for him. I’m
putting my money on you.”

“I wasn’t strong. I was weak and my weakness
got Samuel killed.”

“No. Samuel chose to follow a psychopath and
that psychopath killed him. Did he deserve to die? Maybe not, but
it was the psychopath and his sick Second who killed him, not
you.”

“I seduced him,” she argued.

“Like I said before, he let you. He’s the one
who pursued you or have you conveniently ignored that part. I also
have a hard time believing that in such a small community, your
Samuel didn’t know about what role his High Lord intended you to
play. He took his chance and he lost.” She started to protest, but
he stopped her. “I know, I know. He was a foolish kid and no one
can blame him for the stupidity of youth, but why are you holding
yourself to a higher standard? You were a kid, too.

“I know about feeling responsible for the bad
things that happen on your watch. I do it, too, but that doesn’t
make it right. I’m lucky. I have Grace and Canaan to set me
straight. Now you’re lucky, too. You have me.”

She felt the slight body shift as he glanced
over at her and then resumed his position staring at the wall.

“One more question and the answer is more
important than anything you’ve told me.” He paused and she waited.
“Do you love me?”

JJ was stunned. He hadn’t listened to a word
she said. Of all the stupid questions… Her anger boiled over. “Get
your head out of your ass, Boy Scout. It doesn’t matter…”

He didn’t respond to her anger or insult, but
stubbornly asked the question again. “Do you love me? It’s a simple
yes or no question. Do… you… love… me?”

She exploded. “Yes dammit! I love you. I
think I loved you when you had me pinned against that wall ready to
snap my neck. I loved you when you fed me soup and cut my sandwich
into tiny bite sized pieces. How’s that for stupid? I fantasize
about sharing your bed and spending my life with you. I’m surprised
I haven’t scribbled little hearts with our initials inside. There!
Are you happy now? Because it still doesn’t make one bit of fucking
difference.”

A smile played at the corner of Nardo’s
mouth. “Yeah, I’m happy now. Your loving me makes one helluva
fucking difference.” His mouth widened into a grin. “There are a
couple of arguments I could make against the validity of your
supposed blood bond with the psycho, but you just made the most
important one.”

Nardo threw his arm around her shoulders like
they were old pals. “If you were blood bound to him, you couldn’t
love me. You wouldn’t be dreaming about me, you’d be sick with
missing him. Ask Manon what four years was like without Otto.”

“But I didn’t know about him. I didn’t
remember him.”

“You remember him now.” He slipped the
blanket from her shoulders and kissed his way to the base of her
neck. “Tell me how much you’re missing him.”

Could it be true? Could Nardo be right? JJ
automatically tilted her head to give him better access to her
neck. The High Lord spoke a lot of fancy words at their mating, but
she hadn’t felt any more connected to him afterward than she had
before. In fact, she’d felt more trapped and hopeless than ever.
She moaned softly as Nardo found the sensitive spot behind her ear
and caught her breath when his hand crept over her breast. She’d
never longed for the High Lord’s return when he left the compound.
She’d looked forward to his leaving.

He turned her face to kiss her. “You thought
I would leave you because you were mated to him. How did that make
you feel?”

“Like my world was crumbling beneath my
feet,” she admitted, kissing him back.

“Ah, baby, you do know how to stroke my ego.
It gives me strength.” He fell back on the bed and pulled her on
top of him. “It’s a good thing, too, because sometimes loving you
wears me out.”

“You love me?” Funny how coming from him the
words meant so much more.

“Of course I love you. Haven’t I told you a
hundred times you’re mine?”

“That’s not the same as saying the
words.”

“I love you. I love you. I love you and now
I’m going to make love to you.”

He kissed her again, this time long and hard
and filled with passion. She responded in kind, wanting her kiss to
convey everything she felt for him and wanted from him in
return.

She laughed at his look of surprise when he
tried to roll with her and she refused. She threw her leg over him
and straddled him instead. She worshipped every inch of him with
her hands and lips and teeth, just as she had planned. No longer a
selfish deception, but an expression of all that she felt, she
nibbled and kissed and suckled every inch of the man she
adored.

She learned which places on his body were
most sensitive to her touch and which touch he found the most
sensual. She indulged herself in every act he found erotic and his
groans of pleasure thrilled her. As his arousal grew to fever
pitch, so did her own.

At last, she settled herself over that
throbbing testament to his need and want. Slowly, ever so slowly,
she lowered her body onto his. Her body was ready and accepted his
massive erection willingly, joyfully. She threw back her head and
rode him, exhilarating in the power she had over him and reveling
in the sensations that were coursing through her body.

His hips rose to meet her, faster and faster.
It no longer mattered who was in control. Their frenzied joining
brought them higher and higher. His hand came between them. One
touch of his finger to her clit lit the fuse for the breath-taking
explosion that followed. She cried out his name. Her body tightened
around him in a paroxysm of ecstasy and he followed her, his face
contorting in an agony of bliss.

JJ collapsed onto Nardo’s chest and burrowed
her face into the crook of his neck, finding peaceful contentment
in the warmth of his body. After a while, he rubbed her back and
murmured against her hair.

“Come on, baby. Let’s get you under the
covers where you’ll be more comfortable.”

JJ smiled at that. He still didn’t get it.
She was in the most comfortable and comforting place in the world.
She could stay here forever; here in Nardo’s arms.

Yeah, he was an idiot to want her for his own
and a Boy Scout of the worst sort which translated meant a strong
and brave and honorable Guardian of the Race. And she loved him
more than any man on earth.

Chapter 36

“Are you going to be all right?”

“I’ll be fine. No problem.”

“Scared?”

“Shitless,” she laughed. She’d been doing
that a lot since waking up in Nardo’s arms; laughing. For the first
time in years, she felt free; free of fear, free of worry, free of
the haunting of those missing years.

“You want to hold my hand?”

“No.” JJ rolled her shoulders and
straightened to her full height. “One touch of your sympathetic
hand and my knees will buckle. I’ll make a blubbering fool of
myself in front of these staring spectators. Are they always like
this?”

They were walking down the middle of a wide
brick sidewalk paved in a basket weave pattern and dotted at
regular intervals with benches flanked by cement urns filled with
winter greenery and faux gaslights. The small discreet signs that
hung from wrought iron poles over the walk announced the businesses
within in someone’s stylistic idea of Ye Olde English Script.

“I don’t know. It’s my first time here, too.”
Nardo was the only guy on the street in a leather bomber jacket and
he had yet to see another ponytail, but he thought the stares were
for Joy.

His lady was looking hot in her red wool
turtleneck and skin tight, black leather slacks. Those pointy-toed,
high heeled boots made her long legs a sight to behold, but her
crowning glory had to be the ankle length, Matrix style coat Manon
had given her right before they left for Joy’s appointment at the
Sanctuary clinic. Luckily, Grace and Hope were on hand to assure
their new addition that the Frenchwoman did things like this for
all ‘her girls’ and would be hurt and insulted should Joy refuse
the gift.

With her coat unbuttoned and fanning out
behind her as she strode beside him, the woman looked like a wet
dream in leather and for Nardo, knowing she could kick ass for real
made her all that much sexier.

JJ knew this place existed, everyone did, but
it was outside the city limits and therefore the police
department’s jurisdiction. Fenced around the outside and sheltered
from prying eyes by woods and farmlands, the community was a
mystery to all. Even the county boys claimed they’d never answered
a call from within its iron gates. Nardo was required to give their
names to the uniformed guards in the gate house before they were
granted entry and everything was electronically controlled.

The whole place reeked of money and it was
evident a great deal of it was invested in the planning of this
pseudo-colonial village. The central part was built in a square
around a traditional village green, complete with walking paths,
benches and a large gazebo. Two sides were lined with shops and
businesses including several restaurants and a pub. At one end, a
stone church took center stage flanked by school buildings, if the
playground and basketball courts were any indication. JJ thought
the schools looked small until she remembered hearing about the
Race’s low birth rate.