The Guardian (13 page)

And who could blame him? Noir’s cruelty would make anyone insane.

Seth swal owed at the sincerity he saw in her eyes. A part of him was desperate to trust her. If only he

could. But a lifetime of betrayal stood between them.

They’d only just met. And she was his prisoner. Like him, she would say or do anything to escape.

Even sel her soul. So what would a few wel -placed lies and some tender looks mean if it achieved her

goal? How could he ever trust someone in her position?

Only a fool would do it. And he was anything but.

She reached out and touched the edge of his book. “So is this what you do for entertainment?”

“It is.”

She bit her lip as she thought it over, then a wicked light gleamed in her topaz gaze. “Haven’t you ever

wanted to bust loose and do something wild and different?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. What’s outside this room?”

Hel . Misery. Blood-soaked wal s. Statues that would come alive and try to eat your eyes. Demons who

would attack for no reason. Not to mention two assholes known as Azura and Noir.

Maybe he should tel her that, but in the end he went with a more vague answer. “Nothing worth seeing.”

“Real y?”

“Real y. Azmodea is vast with several realms in it, but none of them are worth the danger it takes to

explore them. May your gods take mercy on you if you get caught by some of the roaming demons who do

nothing but scout victims. And even worse than that, some of the other realms are ruled by beings who

make Azura and Noir look like pacificists in comparison. If they should ever lay hands on you … it’s not

pretty.”

Lydia nodded. By his tone and the way he unconsciously rubbed at his thigh as if reliving some pain, she

could tel he had firsthand experience with that.

“So you just sit here in this room and read, then?”

“When they al ow me to, yes.”

She couldn’t imagine a more boring way to live, especial y since he only had five books to keep him

company. “No offense, that’s kind of pathetic, don’t you think?”

His eyes turned brittle as he went ramrod stiff. “I don’t care for that word.”

Given his tone and the I-want-to-rip-out-your-spine vibes he was bashing her in the head with, that was an

understatement and then some. She definitely wanted to know which word he objected to so she didn’t say

it again. “Kind?”

“Pathetic,” he spat it out with enough venom to adequately get his point across.

“Al right then. I’l take it out of my vocabulary.”

Closing the book, he set it aside. He stood up and hesitated as if he was stil struggling to get his temper

under control. When he spoke again, there was an undercurrent of residual anger. “I put some clothes for

you in the bathroom.”

“Thank you.”

That seemed to embarrass him, but at least it knocked the last remnants of anger out of him. “If you need

anything else, let me know.”

“Okay.”

She went to the bathroom, where she learned that he’d left her a whole wardrobe. Silk dresses, silk and

cotton blouses, along with jeans and shoes.

When she got to the underwear, she couldn’t suppress a laugh at his choice. Red thongs. Why didn’t that

surprise her?

Because he was a man after al . Even though he refused to touch her, this was the kind of underwear a

guy would buy a woman he wanted to see wearing it. There was no other reason for it to have even been

invented. And she was sure the original designer of it must have been a direct descendant of the Marquis

de Sade.

Gah, it’s like wearing a perpetual wedgie
.

And the bras …

They matched, but offered her no support whatsoever. Yep, the headlights would be on and shining, and

she’d jiggle like Jel -O every time she moved. Stil , she was amazed he’d thought of them. And by the looks

of it, he’d given it a lot of thought, too.

She went to the shower and turned it on, then noticed that the clothes weren’t the only additions he’d

made. There was now a variety of shampoos, conditioners, and other toiletries for her.

So her demon could be extremely thoughtful and giving. Who would have ever thought?

Shaking her head, she removed her gown and stepped inside.

* * *

He didn’t know why he wanted to see her like that, but he did. In the worst sort of way. More than that, he

ached to shower with her.

Why?

Sex was good, but the pleasure never lasted long and it was usual y tainted with biting, vicious hair-

pul ing, and clawing, sometimes even stabbing and gouging. After a quick momentary release and a

glimmer of perfect pleasure, the old pains set in, and he was told to leave.

Needless to say, he’d never real y craved it al that much—at least not when he had access to it. During

his confinement, it’d been yet another thing his mind and body had tortured him with.

But with Lydia, it was never far from his thoughts. At times it seemed to be al he could think about.

No,
she
was al he could think about. It was why he didn’t ask her many questions. He didn’t want to know

her any better. What he already knew of her would haunt him for the rest of his immortality.

He needed no more pain in his life.

Trying to distract himself, he went to the bed to straighten it up. But the moment he touched his pil ow, a

whiff of her sent a stabbing pain straight to his groin, and it made him instantly hard for her.

What he wouldn’t give to have her precious scent on his skin. To have her rub her body across his and

tease him with her dark hair.

His breathing ragged, he closed his eyes and imagined himself deep inside her, while her breath tickled

his skin.

Was she a biter like Azura, or would she claw at him like a demon? At this point, he didn’t care. He’d be

wil ing to be flayed for a week if he could only taste her.

He pressed his hand against his groin and gently rubbed it, wishing it was her he felt there. Just the mere

thought of it being Lydia was almost enough to make him come.

Stop it. Now.
The last thing he needed was to leave evidence of his desire for her to see.

It would shame him to the bitter core.

His hand trembling, he smoothed her pil ow down, then dressed himself in his armor and paint before he

returned to reading.

The moment he final y succeeded in putting her out of his thoughts was the one when she opened the

door.

He glanced up, then dropped his book straight to the floor.

Seth stared at Lydia in a state of complete and utter shock as the sight of her sent fire burning through every

part of his body. And that heat concentrated itself right in his groin.
Why did I give her that one?

Why did she have to choose it?

A low-cut, rust-colored dress, it hugged her curves in a way that should be il egal. More than that, the color

heightened the gold in her eyes, making them al the more vibrant.

As if she needed that.

His cock swel ed against the metal plates to the point it caused him pain. Vicious, biting pain. But not

even that was enough to distract him from the deep V that showed the swel of her breasts. Breasts with

nipples that were tight and jutting through the silken material. He could see every outline of them. His throat

went dry even as his mouth salivated for a taste.

He rose to his feet.

Lydia hesitated as she felt the weight of his icy stare on every part of her. The way he looked at her …

It was terrifying.

“Did I do something wrong?”

When he didn’t answer right away, she real y started to panic.

Final y, after an extremely long minute, he blinked. “No, not at al .” He picked his book up and returned it to

the desk. “I … um … I saw those on the computer last night. I wasn’t sure if they were right or not.”

“I don’t know how you did it, but they al fit perfectly.” As if they’d been tailored to her body. “Thank you.”

Stil , she hated that his makeup was back in place and his hair straightened out again with that smal

ponytail holding his bangs back out of his eyes.

She missed the kinder looking Guardian. The fearsome one was …

Wel , scary as al get out. And as hard as it was to decipher his emotions without the makeup, it was ten

times harder with those red and black lines that kept his face in a perpetual snarl.

With his mercurial mood swings, she didn’t like being without those facial clues.

Completely stoic, he stepped away from the desk so that she could see he had a tray waiting for her. One

with banana pancakes, muffins, eggs, bacon, and juice. Her stomach rumbled at the abundance.

“I hope al of this means you’re planning to join me.”

He shook his head.

Lydia sat down and reached for the empty plate. “Don’t you ever eat?”

“Sometimes.” There was a peculiar note in his voice that made her wary.

“You do consume food for nourishment, right?”

His eyes flashed angrily. “I don’t eat babies or drink blood if that’s what you’re implying.”

She held her hands up in surrender. “It didn’t even cross my mind. Why are you so defensive about

everything?”

That familiar tic started in his jaw. “I get tired of being accused of things that I’m not. Of doing things I

haven’t done.”

She could understand that. No one liked being misjudged, though it might help if he looked a little less

terrifying. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I was only curious about you. You don’t eat. You don’t sleep.

How do you live?”

When he spoke, his voice was completely flat and empty. “I don’t die.”

His answer confused her. “Huh?”

He looked away as he paced the same path she’d worn out the first night she’d been here. “It’s not that I

live so much as it is I can’t die. So it doesn’t matter if I eat or sleep. My body wil continue functioning without

either.”

“Were you born immortal?”

“Apparently. I certainly wouldn’t have chosen this existence otherwise.”

Yeah, she could believe that. Who would want to live here? Even for immortality. It wasn’t worth it.

She, too, was immortal. A gift from her father. It was something she hadn’t realized until she’d lived long

after most Were-Hunters died.

And, like the Guardian, she’d never physical y aged past her midtwenties. “When did you find out you

were immortal?”

“When I was seven.”

She poured syrup over her pancakes and savored the delectable scent. “What happened? Did you get

sick or have an accident?”

The anguish in his eyes broke her heart. “I have to attend my duties. I shal return when I can. If you need

me, just cal and I wil hear you.”

Lydia sighed as he vanished. He was such a mystery to her. And his kindness belied the cruelty she knew

he was capable of. She pul ed the laptop over to her and turned it on to see if Solin had responded.

She smiled the moment she saw his e-mail in her inbox. He’d written to her in the Greek she’d learned as

a child.

My most precious one,

I won’t leave you there. Stay strong for me and I will free you just as soon as I can. I love you more than

anything and I swear to you that I will come for you no matter what.

S.

She touched the words on the screen, grateful more than ever that she had him in her life. There was

nothing she wouldn’t do for him.

Soon she would be home again.

And the Guardian would stil be trapped here …

Alone.

* * *

prisoners Noir kept chained in the lowest pits of his golden castle. For now his master’s attention was

focused on their abuse and not his.

But how long would that last?

As if he heard the question, Noir glanced at him over his shoulder. “How goes your quest, maggot?”

“I’m close to having it, my lord. Of course it would be easier to find it if I could leave this realm, and—”

Noir ended his words with a vicious backhand. “You know better than to ask that of me.”

Seth wiped the blood away that ran down his chin as he used his tongue to see if he’d lost any teeth from

the blow. Though several were loosened, al remained.

And Lydia wanted to know why he didn’t eat … It was hard to chew when his mouth and throat were

forever damaged. Biting into anything, even something as soft and bland as a banana, hurt too much. Not to

mention the juices and spices went straight into the cuts on his lips and into the tenderest part of his sore

gums and throat—something that always set them to throbbing in the worst sort of way.

The unrelenting hunger and thirst pangs were so much easier to bear than any of that.

“Forgive me, Master.”

Noir sneered at him. “There is no forgiveness for something as pathetic and stupid as you. No wonder

your father refused to claim you. If I’d been your mother, I’d have left you to die, too.”

Seth didn’t speak as Noir continued to rail against him. It was a litany he’d heard so often that it played

perpetual y in his head even when Noir wasn’t around.

But this time, he thought of Lydia in his bed and that image drove away the pain of Noir’s words. The pain

of his next blow.