Denying Ecstasy (The Guardians of the Realms Series) (4 page)

“You shouldn’t have invited the Hippeus, lover. His death will be on your head,” Calista said, making a ticking noise with her tongue. “Cyril promised too much for you, and the brute is a liability.” She chuckled as he tried to find a way out. He couldn’t do more than sway. “Funny that you always discount females as a threat. You think fighting in the rings is impressive; it’s galling. I’m not the only one that sees it that way.” She clucked at him. “I’ve been promised so many beautiful perks to do this, and I’ve tired of your dick anyway.” She smirked at him, and he saw the menace.

“Now, Cahal gets to die.”

He collapsed to his knees, still trying to find the mental link to his brothers. Confusion was making everything too slow, like time had stalled. Even her words seemed stretched in his mind. He watched Cahal fall face first on the bed. Somewhere in the haze of his mind he heard Calista snapping orders to the others, “Quickly, get me a blade.” He could see Cahal’s eyes; fury and helplessness filled them.

“Lover, don’t you want to fight me? Don’t you want to save his life? Aww, so pathetic. You can’t save him or even yourself now, can you? Cyril is so much stronger than you and your brothers. You really were too easy to catch.” Her taunting laughter trilled in his mind. “Too bad you hadn’t invited Conn instead. Mmm, that would have been fun.”

He tried fighting the effects, but it had hit him hard and in a way that rendered him fucking helpless. He was impotent with rage.

“What, lover, can’t do anything? Do you want me to spare him?” she said again in his mind while tracing the blade over Cahal’s throat, slicing in a way that would bleed him dry.

Dorian saw the blood from the wound leaking onto the bedding, soaking into the white fabric as Dorian searched for a way to contact his brothers. He’d never felt so much rage and hatred in his long life. He’d also never felt so weak. It sickened him.

The Kairos smirked evilly as she came forward and took some of Cahal’s blood and painted Dorian’s lips and face. Her sick laugh of pure menace seemed altogether too lyrical for her actions. He roared in outrage, but no sound came other than a pathetic grunt. The coppery scent of Cahal’s blood burned his nose, and he wanted it gone along with the slick feel of it on his skin. Hate was too mild for what he felt for the females. The Kairos smeared more of Cahal’s blood over his chest. He couldn’t fight, couldn’t even call for help. Helpless infuriated rage poured through him. Calista and the other females flashed big smiles from above him. The bitch added more of his friend’s blood to his cheeks with a twisted grin.

“Too bad I don’t have more time to play with you.” In a split second Calista lifted the blade, and in one harsh slice his friend’s head rolled to the ground right next to him. Blood sprayed everywhere, all over him and the ground. He could barely move his eyes up to look at the sick bitches. His vision blurred.

“Pity,” was all the redhead said, no emotion at all as she looked coldly at the headless male she’d just fucked. The scent of blood filled his nose as it coated the bed and ground. Inside his mind he roared for his mental link to his brethren. Something so simple, yet he still couldn’t find it.

“Cyril thought he’d be out within moments. I’m impressed. I’ll have to ask him to give me some more just for fun. I’ll take that with all the other treasures he’s promised.”

How did he not see just how sick she was?

He roared over and over inside his mind. Not sure if it was getting to his brothers. The last of his strength left in a rush, and his body toppled onto the ground to lie in the blood of his slain friend. A friend that died because of him. It could easily have been one of his brothers. What would Calista have done to Conn? His body was numb. He felt nothing, not the cold ground or the blood. Whatever she’d given him fucked with everything. How was that possible? The three females stood over him, in total control of his fate. Calista held the bloody blade loosely in one hand as triumph gleamed from all three sets of eyes. Words were impossible, everything was—everything but succumbing to the darkness. His last thoughts were about how painfully they would die for this. Females or not, they deserved whatever vengeance he dealt.

Chapter 1

Miami Beach, Earth Realm

Dorian’s dick was starting to piss him the fuck off. He was strung too damn tight. He sat in a dark bar in Miami, waiting for his brothers. He’d been avoiding them for days. Avoiding everything but patrolling while he wrapped his head around what was fucking happening to him. It was time to come clean. He needed to tell Drake too, but their leader was busy checking on the sleeping Gods. Drake had always handled that task personally, not wanting to tempt the others into killing the bastards for all the destruction they’d caused before mommy and daddy sent them to bed and forbid any harm to come to them.

“Another, hun?” a dark-haired waitress asked.

He nodded. Another beer was just what he needed. His eyes tracked the female to the bar. She was built for pleasure. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her round ass swayed in the tight black shorts that barely covered her ass. Tanned skin peeked between her low shorts and the tight black tank that was her uniform. He knew she was putting extra hip action into her movements in order to entice him. It was wasted effort. He ran his fingers through his hair. Days ago he would have already arranged to fuck her, now he knew it wouldn’t be happening. His mind and his body both rebelled at the thought.

He saw movement at the door and watched as Conn and Bastian walked in. Out of the nine male Guardians, they were his closest brothers. Uri would be there soon as well, and he hoped to hell that Uri had the answers he needed.

The waitress was already there smiling at the males before they even sat down. “What can I get you two?”

His brothers ordered while Dorian tried to get his shit together.

He needed to get things under control, needed to find a way out of his current nightmare. He’d been jacking off constantly since Gregoire’s mating ceremony. Ever since he smelled that sweet intoxicating female and known just what she was to him. He’d hated her for it, once he’d gotten over the initial shock. It had only gotten worse when she’d been abducted and he’d actually touched her skin as he carried her from the enemy compound. He hated her hair, her pouty lips and those fuckable tits. He’d dreamt of nothing but those soft lips surrounding his cock while bright aqua eyes flashed with heat, her tits shaking as she sucked him hard.

He looked around for a blonde instead, finding a few on the dance floor. He scanned the area for one that looked like her. None of them were right. Too tall… too plastic… none with the ability to fool his beast into allowing him to fuck them, to relieve some of the biting need preventing him from figuring out a way around what was happening.

His brothers eyed him. They looked out of place in the beach bar. Bastian wore a black tee shirt and cargo pants, and Conn sported the usual flannel mostly covering a dark tee shirt beneath. Some of the wolf’s tattoos were visible from under the rolled-up sleeves. Conn’s eyebrow was pierced, and his amber eyes usually shone with dark mischief. Now they held curiosity, concern…

“You gonna finally tell us what the hell is up with you?” Conn finally asked. When you’d spent centuries fighting and sometimes fucking beside someone, you tended to notice when shit wasn’t right.

“Yeah.” He saw the light from the door opening and watched Uri walk in. The crowd parted as his brother moved forward, no one wanting to cross paths with the six-feet-eight-inch-tall, dark-haired male with pitch-black sunglasses. Uri’s eyes were sensitive just like all the Aletheias, becoming a Guardian hadn’t changed that.

The tension rolling off his brothers was thick as they waited for Uri to give their waitress his order. He finally lounged into the other chair and cocked a brow. Dorian had called them all there when he knew it’d be a while before he could talk to Drake. He couldn’t keep avoiding the manor without them getting on his ass.

“I need a way out of a mating.”

They sat there for a minute; three sets of brows lifted.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Uri asked.

“I’m mated.” He clenched his jaw tight. “You know I won’t claim her. I can’t.” These were a few of his brothers that knew just how fucked up he was. He was the last one that should ever have been given a mate.

“Who?” Conn’s narrowed eyes indicated he already had the answer to the question.

“Rain.” They knew who she was, the mortal Mageia that was friends with Gregoire’s mate and currently living at the Guardian manor in Tetartos.

“Fuck, man, so you plan to try to get out of it?” Conn said, shaking his head. There was a hard glint and harsh tone to his brother’s voice. Dorian knew he wanted to say more. He gave Conn a piercing look. He was in no mood to be fucked with on this. It was his life, and no one would force him to go through a mating. The little mortal was dodging a bullet without even knowing it.

They all sat there looking at him, and he dared them with his eyes to challenge his choice.

Conn asked the question that had been constantly on his mind. “How is it that we go centuries with hardly any Immortals finding their destined mates, and then within weeks, Uri, Gregoire, and now you? Not to mention Erik, all at the same time.” Erik was Uri’s brother-in-law and the reason Uri and Alex even knew they were mated. If she hadn’t gone to Uri for help finding Erik’s kidnapped mate, they may never have known they were fated. “I mean, shit, four matings in quick succession when we’ve gone decades, sometimes multiple, between even a single Immortal finding their mate? This is weird, man. Have you at least talked to Drake?”

“Not yet, he’s checking on the Gods, and then he’ll be here.” He refused to be a pawn in whatever cosmic shit storm was rolling in. There were too many reasons he wasn’t going through with it.

“What about Sirena?” the wolf asked. Their sister Guardian, as a healer, was the logical person to go to for help, but he knew she would fight him.

They silently waited as the waitress sidled back and dropped off the drinks.

Once the female was at the next table, he answered, “There’s no way in hell I’m succumbing to it, and I’m not stupid enough to go to Sirena for help until it’s my last option. She’s obsessed with finding mates. She would likely chain my ass like a sacrifice and send Rain in to force me into it.” His skin crawled. He couldn’t fucking do it. He was never mating. His jaw nearly cracked with the force of clamping it down.

They all sat there. Conn shook his head. He knew it was killing his brother not to argue, but they all knew Dorian wasn’t one to budge, especially when his mind was so fucking set.

“It’s not going to happen.” The force of his words brought a surge of power through him. Uri cocked a brow as he looked around. Dorian tried to rein it in. He was always in control of his abilities. Water glasses shook, and he heard the rattling of the water pipes behind the walls. The humans seemed oblivious with the loud music surrounding them. He took a deep breath, trying to get his shit together.

After a moment, Dorian got it under control. “I’m not a damn idiot. I know it’s only going to get worse. We all know Erik suffered when he couldn’t claim Sam.” Uri’s brother-in-law had had it rough. His mate, Sam’s abduction had been a nightmare for them. She was freed, but not until after she’d been raped and experimented on. Erik had suffered the mating frenzy alone after saving and touching her. The poor bastard went through crazed pain while trying to stay away from her. Supposedly, Sirena had been working on a way to subdue the frenzy’s symptoms. Sam eventually went to him before Sirena could do anything. As Erik’s brother-in-law, Uri had been close during the hell the two went through.

“What did Sirena come up with for them? Were there any viable options?” He needed answers, and Uri was the only brother he could think to call. It was him or battled it out with Sirena. An option that was less than appealing, but if Uri couldn’t help, that’s what he’d do. Fully mating the little Mageia wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t fucking trust females as a rule, but even he could see the innocence in her, and mating him would destroy a female like that. She would see his nightmares, see his failure, and be fitted with a monster-sized target on her back because she was a Guardian’s mate. Then there was Cahal. He’d failed so fucking hard; he couldn’t take something his friend would never have. Not when Dorian was the reason his friend was denied the life he deserved. His skin itched at all of it.

Uri’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “No. Her idea was to drug him to make him mellow enough for Sam to do all the work. Knocking him out delayed the effects, but after putting him under twice, he was still in bad shape when he finally woke up.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He shut his eyes and thumped his head back against the wall.

He took a couple more deep breaths, trying to keep his powers in check. That was a new complication adding to the fuckfest. “Do you have any ideas?” He turned his head and looked over at Uri. He hated asking for help, but it was better than his other option.

Uri shook his head and quietly tried to push the issue, “Shit, I’m sorry, man. Sirena ran every option she could think of at the time. Vane was pissed when Sirena planned to chain Erik for Sam to take care of it, but he didn’t have any other ideas either. None of us did.” Vane was Erik’s twin, and he, Erik and Alex, Uri’s mate, were close. They’d avoided exile together, living and working as mercenaries in the human Realm for centuries.

Uri eyed him. “I know you don’t want this, but Rain is a worthy female. She’s nothing like the others…”

Dorian’s vision blurred red just thinking of Calista and her band of bitches. Her death was denied him, and that still ate at his gut a century after the fact. He was told that too much happened too quickly when his brothers stormed in and rescued him. After they’d cleared the rubble and mentally accounted for all the kills, he was left knowing the females were already dead, and not by his hand. He’d been denied vengeance for Cahal’s death, and his friend deserved more. He could still smell the male’s blood. There had been only one other kill left to him after Drake’s fury had ignited the place. Cyril had escaped. The only one left responsible and Dorian had spent the last hundred years planning the bastard’s death.