Earth Warden (7 page)

It wasn’t going to be a problem for much longer. All she needed to kick-start her latent abilities was sex. Not sex with the average garden variety human though. That wouldn’t cut it. No, she needed to screw a guy with paranormal blood.

Hawk’s cock jerked to attention at the thought, reminding him of its presence. Not as if he could forget it with the savage ache in his groin tormenting him. She needed a guy with paranormal blood. A fact his brain easily translated into she needed
him
, a plan the magic deep within him reacted to with pleasure. It was the witching, he decided. Already he could feel it gathering, could feel its interest as sexual tension filled the room. It was as though it was watching and waiting for her to notice it.

Amazement filled him for a moment as he refocused his eyes and looked directly into the witching. The Warriors weren’t a race in their own right, anyone could feel the call to fight the darkness, but almost to the last man they had some sort of paranormal blood. Hawk’s was from his Fae mother, which meant he could see the witching. A talent which could be useful at times.

And at times—like now—it was just damn unsettling.

Far more gently than he ever thought he was capable of, Hawk lowered himself over her. He parted her legs farther with his knee so he could fit his hips between them into the soft cradle of her pelvis before he rubbed the swollen head of his cock over her clit.

She bit into her lower lip again, a lip already swollen from his kisses. Shifting his hips, he fit the head of his cock against the slick entrance to her body and leaned down to claim her lips in a demanding kiss as he started to push into her.

Her moan was lost in his mouth as he moved, her tight heat enveloping him like a glove. Fire clamped down in his core, blood racing to his cock as his balls tightened fiercely. All he wanted to do was grab her hips and shove himself inside her as far as he could go. Then fuck her so hard and thoroughly she’d never forget her first time.

First time. It was her first time. He was her first lover. A sense of pride and triumph filled him at the thought, his movements slowing and becoming gentler. He didn’t do virgins normally, but surely just this once he could manage gentle and considerate? It wasn’t as if it would kill him.

He rocked his hips back and forth, sliding a little farther into her with each thrust. God, she was tight. He pressed his eyes shut until he could see stars in an attempt to ward off the release that threatened to crash over him.

Gritting his teeth, he concentrated on everything but the way her hot little body held his in a silken vice and the maddening little sounds of pleasure that went straight from his ears right down to his cock buried deep inside her, making it jump and pulse. It was amazing, the myriad sensations enough to crack a saint’s resolve. Despite the fact he was trying to be gentle, he was definitely no saint.

Then he was in her completely, sliding to the hilt with a small sigh of satisfaction. With a control he didn’t know he possessed, he stopped stock still and whispered soothing sounds against her hair as he waited for her body to adjust to him.

”It’s okay, sweetie. It’ll be okay in a moment, I promise. Then it’ll feel good.”

He’d expected a murmur of complaint, a plea for him to hold on but instead she rocked her hips.

“A-actually, that feels pretty damn good.”

Hawk groaned, her unexpected movement almost tumbling him over the edge, and clamped his hand down on her hip to hold her still. “Hey, slow down a little there.”

He pulled back to check her face. She was a virgin for heaven’s sake. She shouldn’t be comfortable with this already, surely? But all he saw was a sexy, sultry smile and her eyes filled with pleasure rather than the tension and nerves he’d expected.

He groaned as she rolled her hips again. “Slowly, or this’ll be the quickest fuck you’ll ever have.”

She grinned wickedly and nipped his earlobe. “So fuck, don’t talk. Then we can do it all over again.”

That did it. Hawk growled as he let go his control. Grabbing her wrists, he dragged them above her head again as he pulled back, until he was almost out of her. Then he surged in again, driving into her with a force that made her gasp.

He didn’t stop there, setting up a powerful rhythm that had the ancient bed squeaking. He moved over her, and within her. With each hard thrust, with each slide and slap of skin on skin as his hips met hers, he felt the tension in the room and in her body increase. Tension that coiled tighter and tighter until it was almost palpable.

She freed a hand from captivity to run it down his face, wonder in her eyes. Such a simple gesture, but low down in his body something tightened until it was almost painful. Hawk turned his head and kissed her palm.

Her back arched in response, her hips meeting his stroke for stroke as she silently demanded more. Pleasure arced through him, electrifying each and every cell in his body as she strained against him.

“Oh god, yeah babe, that’s it. Let it go. I’ll catch you.” Hawk whispered in her ear, lips brushing the sweet spot behind it and that was it.

Crying out, she came over his cock. Her body tightened, clamping down around his in rhythmic waves as unstoppable as the tides as her climax ripped through her.

It was too much for Hawk. Her cries of fulfilment, the feeling of her body around him and the magical backwash of an Earth Warden’s pleasure all wrapped around him like a silken net from which there was no escape. With another growl, he increased his pace, slamming into her brutally now. Once, twice...on the third thrust, his cock pulsed, blood rushing to his groin as his release hit him like a tidal wave.

He groaned, his muscles locking until he was as stiff as a board. His cock jerked and pulsed, spilling his hot seed into her silken depths and, with a groan, he rolled over to pull her tightly into his arms.

Chapter Eight

Lyssa awoke slowly, hovering in that comfortable place between asleep and awake for the longest while, content and happy because she’d had the most marvelous dream. An erotic dream where she’d been in bed with the sexiest guy she’d ever seen. He was all lean, hard muscle, and dramatic good looks. Looks that belonged on a catwalk rather than in bed with her.

And the things they’d done... Image after erotic image flashed over her mind’s eye. Oh god, they’d done
everything
. Lyssa’s cheeks burned as she came fully out of sleep. She’d had sexy dreams before but never one so vivid and rich. What the hell was the matter with her?

Groaning, she dragged the pillow over her head. Perhaps if she kept her eyes shut she could escape back into dreamland and re-join her phantom lover. Her gorgeous, sexy, phantom lover, the sort of lover she had no chance of attracting in this lifetime or the next. Not dull, plain little Lyssa the null.

There was movement on the bed next to her, and a hair-roughened calf slid against hers. Under the pillow, her eyes snapped open. There was someone in the bed with her.

She snatched the pillow from her face and looked around with wide eyes. Hawk lay stretched out full length beside her, his arms folded behind his head, and his chin covered with the dark stubble of morning.

Her eyes widened even farther. It hadn’t been a dream at all. They really had done all those things. Hot and cold washed over her skin, her body coming to life again at the memory.

In his light doze, Hawk felt the slight movement of the bed and the stirring of the witching around them as it, too, became aware she was awake.

A deep sense of contentment filled him. He hadn’t felt this good for a long time, not deep down good like he did now. All the aches and pains he’d accumulated over the years had disappeared overnight. Washed away as he wallowed in the frenzy she’d whipped the witching into. That was the thing about Earth Wardens. There were benefits to having sex with one. Unless the magic was channeled into some sort of ritual or ceremony, the healing energy was up for grabs, and last night his weary body had lapped it up.

He felt the weight of her interest on him and cracked an eyelid. Wide violet eyes considered him from over the edge of a pillow. Beautiful violet eyes. Eyes Hawk remembered darkened with pleasure last night. His body stirred, instantly awake as he rolled over to wrap an arm around her and drag her into his side, pillow and all. He wanted her again.

“Morning, beautiful,” he murmured, pushing the pillow aside and rubbing his nose gently against hers. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d awoken so content and pain free. It was a nice feeling.

Don’t get used to it
, he told himself firmly.
You’ll be out of here before the day’s done.
Which was true. All he had to do was get Lyssa to a safe place and he was gone. She was Warden-born, so she was sure to have some family kicking about somewhere who would take her in and look after her. Protect her from those maniac Wardens who were trying to kill her.

That was the bit that didn’t make sense to him. Why try to kill an Earth Warden? They were rare enough that for a Haven to have one was a huge status symbol. Most Havens tried to cultivate them. Yet, hers hadn’t recognized her as an Earth Warden and was trying to kill her? It was all too odd and something Hawk really didn’t want to get into.

He was a Warrior. He killed things that needed killing, protected the average Joe-human, and left the politics to other people. It was a win-win formula and one he didn’t intend to change any time soon.

She closed her eyes in response to his caress and lifted her lips in silent invitation. An invitation Hawk couldn’t, nor intended to, resist. He murmured low in his throat, a sound of pleasure, and took her lips in a long, slow kiss that fanned the embers of passion burning in his gut back into full flame.

He rolled onto his back and took her with him, his hands sliding through the silken fall of her hair so he could explore her lips at his leisure. An unhurried exploration as he pulled her closer, his free hand trailing down her soft curves as he prepared for a re-run of the night before. Although he was fully healed and well rested, it was as though he couldn’t get enough. There was something about her that affected him on a primal level. A level that needed to claim and possess her. A level that railed at the idea of letting her go later.

“Warrior, we know you’re in there. Give up the girl and we’ll let you live.”

Lyssa stilled at the harsh shout, fear cascading through her like a cold waterfall. They were here. The Wardens had found them. Hawk lifted his head, his blue eyes sharp as he listened. Wrapped in his arms and still naked beneath the sheet, she held her breath. Was he about to give her up to the Wardens outside?

She met his eyes hesitantly, aware of the fear filling them but unable to hide it. If he handed her over then, she was dead. No ifs, buts or maybes about it. She was deader than a dodo. The attack in the alley and that overheard conversation made that as plain as day.

Dimly, she wondered why they hadn’t just barged in. After all, it wasn’t as if one warrior and a null were much of a challenge for a group of magical assassins, even if they were only in training, and that door wouldn’t hold out very long against a determined physical assault.

“Warrior! We know you’re in there.”

Hawk looked down at her, and their eyes met for a long second in silence.

“You should take their offer,” she said finally, biting her lip. The backs of her eyes prickled with hot tears as she realized there was no way out of this. Not for her, anyway. But she was determined not to take him down too. They only wanted her; they’d made that clear. He could still walk away from this.

Hawk’s lip curled back, a look of disgust entering his eyes. “You expect me to just hand you over to them, knowing they’ll kill you? What sort of man do you think I am?”

“They’ll kill us both if you don’t.”

Hawk snorted. “They can fucking try.”

He smiled, a feral expression that transformed his features and proved that at least some of the blood that flowed through his veins wasn’t human.

“I’m hard to kill, and I get pissed off when people try. About time our friends out there found that out.”

Dropping a quick kiss on her lips, he rolled off the bed and scooped his pants up off the floor. Although she knew she should be moving already, she couldn’t help but watch him. He moved so gracefully, each movement of his body filled with lethal grace.

A body which was marked by violence. Scars covered his back, all old and well healed, but each spoke of the violent life Warriors led...fighting the nastier things that went bump in the night, keeping humans—and the magically useless like her—safe.

Three marks on his side caught her attention as he bent at the waist to pull the pants on then started to button them up. He went commando. If she wasn’t so distracted, she’d have commented on that. But as it was...those scars looked suspiciously like the claw marks he’d had last night. But no one could heal that quickly, could they?

She reached out and ran a hand down his side, using the pads of her fingers to trace the lines of the scars. “Are these the cuts from last night?”

Hawk twisted to look over his shoulder, and then he grunted.

“Uh, yeah, guess so. Get up,” he ordered, recovering his T-shirt from the lampshade. “We need to move. When that lot out there don’t get an answer, they’re going to come crashing through that door. We need to not be here when they do.”

Lyssa gaped at him for a moment then slid off the bed as he made irritated little shooing motions with his hands. Locating her clothes, she rapidly started to dress.

“Okay, Mr. Clever Dick, just one question,” she dragged her T-shirt over her head and flicked her hair back, hoping to god she didn’t look too much like she’d been dragged through a hedge backward. “Just how do you plan on doing that? Wave your hands, say abracadabra, and we disappear in a puff of smoke?” she asked sarcastically, trying not to ogle his body as he strapped on enough weaponry for a small army. “Do you really need all that?”

“Do women really need the crap you clutter your makeup cases with?” he shot back, sliding a small knife into a sheath on his thigh. “Yes, I really need all this. They’ve all got different wards on them for killing different critters and no, I don’t plan on any abracadabra. Unless it’s the sort which accompanies a swift exit through the bathroom window.”