Her Guardian's Heart (11 page)

“Well, thanks for healing me and all, but can you please untie me now? I won’t hurt myself.”

He pushed the sheet up from my feet and undid the fetters around my ankles. He did the same with the ones around my wrists. I sat up slowly and rubbed where he had shackled me. I turned and tried to rub my back where my wings had been, around my shoulder blades, but I couldn’t feel them. The skin was sensitive to the touch, though. Underneath the sheet I was completely naked. I hugged the fabric closer and tried to focus on my wings while my cheeks burned from being undressed before Tannin. A cool finger slid over my shoulder blade. I gasped and looked up to see his intense eyes growing smoky.

“You’re welcome. Your wings are magnificent. I didn’t think they’d be visible on this plane for a while yet. But you and your Guardian are merging quicker than I expected. I think my power might have hastened that process. I didn’t mean to cause you such pain when they burst from your back.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t your fault. I appreciate you stepping in and saving me from that bitch. I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was to take her on.”

“You’re stronger than what you know. She inflicted harsher wounds than you anticipated. Also in the middle of your merging, you are most vulnerable. The pain from your wings emerging won’t be so bad after a while. It will go away once you are complete.”

“Then I won’t need you around, right?”

He continued to touch my back, going a little lower than he had before until he stopped near the base of my spine. A quiver of anticipation wound through me. When I breathed in, it didn’t hurt. I was grateful to him. Grateful that he had restored me, but eventually he would leave me again. Tannin pushed the hair from my neck and kissed the side of it, pressing his lips to my skin and then dragging them upward. I shivered from those soft lips.

“I thought about what you said. Watching over your clan of Guardians has been the one thing that’s kept me afloat. I long ago abandoned hope of ever finding another mate. When I felt your pain today, I knew then you were mine because I felt like I was the one who was being assaulted. I swore to myself that I’d never let anyone hurt you. But I still find it difficult to believe because you’re already bonded to a werewolf. And then there’s the vampire.”

“Isn’t there room enough in a person’s heart for more than one mate? I love Landon. I’ll always love Nick.”

Tannin rested his hands on my shoulders. He was barely touching me. It seemed he was afraid that I would evaporate before him. I dared not move because I was petrified he would vanish in a flurry of wings if he changed his mind. If only he could accept that I wasn’t going anywhere. All I wanted was to be in his arms, to be in Landon’s arms and his at the same time. I couldn’t resurrect the past and form the three of us into what Nick, Landon, and I had had. I wanted to start anew.

In order to do that, Tannin had to drop his guard. He had to trust me.

“He’s dead, but he’s still here. He’ll always be part of you. I can’t take that place. I don’t know if you and I together can work.”

I turned this time and placed my hands on his cheeks. The skin was soft under my fingers. “If you question what you feel, then the answer is that it’ll never be. You have to trust your heart. The goddess would never have given you another chance if it wasn’t possible for us to be together. Do you doubt that?”

He put his hand on my face. “I’ve been on this earth for so long with no one to be with, all I’ve had is doubt. What makes up my being is a loss so deep that it grows with each century. The only thing that has kept me sane was watching over the clan. My children. Her children. The goddess only gives her Guardians one chance for having a mate. With that knowledge, how can I suspect you’re the one for me?”

I took his hand and placed it on my chest. “Feel my heartbeat. You felt my pain. I know the agony your soul suffers. The darkness that lives there is part of me. If you weren’t there, I would’ve died. Tannin, just take one more leap of faith.” I searched his face and gently claimed his lips. It took him a moment, but then he melted against me. His arms wound around my neck and he pulled me against him.

My fingers found the buttons on his shirt. I began to slip them through the holes so I could feel his muscled chest beneath the fabric. He cupped my breast through the sheet. I opened his shirt and then pushed his jacket off along with it. His pale skin contrasted against mine. I ran my fingers over his shoulder blades, where I knew his wings were. He shivered and moaned into my mouth. Tannin broke the kiss.

“Please, don’t do that.”

“Why not? Does it hurt you?”

He closed his eyes. “Not at all. Just the opposite. I don’t know if you can deal with the consequences of what will happen.”

I slid another hand along his inner thigh and cupped his erection. “I think I can handle it. Make love to me, Tannin. Prove to yourself this isn’t some dream you’re in. Because I think you haven’t figured out that you’ve woken from it yet.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and straddled him. He pulled the sheet down and exposed my bare skin to the cooler air. My nipples firmed when he flicked his thumb over one. I didn’t break his gaze when he lowered his head and drew it into his mouth. The warmth of it was amazing. The feel of his tongue on the puckered flesh made me wet with anticipation of what was to come. I ground along his cock until he trembled. I moved my hands over his shoulders again. My angel thrust his hips into me. He bit down on my nipple hard, and then I was the one to cry out. He moved his mouth from my nipple and flicked his tongue over my chest to my other breast, where he tried to take as much of it into his mouth as he could. I pressed my nails into his flesh and raked them up his spine, along the back of his neck, and then through his hair. The silky strands wound through my fingers. I kissed his cheek, tasting the hint of spice on his skin. His hands settled on my hips. I worked on the button of his pants and then slipped his zipper down to feel his hard cock through the thin fabric of his boxer briefs. I wondered if he ever went commando. Not that it mattered, but it was always great to have a little bit more adventure and easier access to let him glide his dick deep into my pussy.

He looked up when I stopped kissing him. “Am I doing this wrong?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

“It’s been a long time and I don’t want to disappoint you.”

I cupped his face, seeing the concern in his beautiful eyes. “You won’t.”

“But how do you know that?”

I placed a finger on his lips and drew his other hand down to my thigh. He trailed his fingers over the sensitive flesh of my inner thigh until he came to the down of my pussy. His fingers found my slit and then my buried clit. I was already wet with desire and the anticipation of our coupling, of what it would lead to between us.

“I know because you remember how to do that.” The pleasure of his touch washed over me, spreading through my veins with each simple caress. I cried out and lifted my hips as he fondled me faster. Tannin began to slow. I sensed he was going to stop, but I held his hand. He seemed to appreciate the feedback. A sly smile curled on his lips. He worked me quicker until my muscles were clenching and it was clear that I was going to be pushed over the edge of the orgasm.

“You enjoy this?” he asked.

“Don’t stop!” I cried out. I was almost there. A couple more strokes was all I needed to come. Instead, he slowed, bringing me down until I was out of breath. I slumped forward and rested my head on his shoulder, gulping in air. One or two more seconds and I would have been in paradise. “Now who is being a tease?”

“I guess you’re right.” He kissed me and sucked in my bottom lip. “I guess I remember how to do this after all.” He kissed me again and this time touched my nipples lightly. I pressed against him.

“I want you inside of me.” I struggled to push his pants down around his hips. I worked his boxer briefs down until I could see his cock peeking out from underneath the elastic band. I touched the soft head. The lust in his eyes ignited just a little bit more.

“Before we do that, there’s something that you have to know about being with an angel.”

“And what is that?” I ran my fingers over his face, feeling the sharpness of his cheekbones. His eyes were spaced far apart, which gave him an exotic look. His eyebrows were a shade lighter than his hair. I ran a finger over them and wondered if his wings were also golden brown. When the light hit his hair, the blond, the white, and the honey brown strands enhanced his features. My first impression of an angel was that he was perfect, but Tannin wasn’t perfect. He had flaws the way everyone did. He had a heart, and now he was finally smashing down the walls around it.

“Once the bond has been formed, it can never be broken. You take on some of my immortality, so that means you won’t be dying when your loved ones do. You’ll be harder to kill. Harder to get sick. And when we make love, you might find you’re a little out of your league.”

I raised my eyebrows. “A little out of my league? I spent seven years of my life with a vampire and a werewolf doing things I never imagined.”

“I’m not comparing myself to your other mates. Being with me is different. It’s more than just joining with the physical. I don’t want to scare you off.”

“I’m not afraid. But answer me something. Does it bother you that I’m with Landon too? Would you be willing to sleep with him?”

He chuckled. “Being with a man is very appealing to me. Because you are bonded with him, once our union is cemented, I’ll love him too. He’s attractive. But I don’t want to think about Landon right now. I just want you.”

“I want you too. I’ll be able to handle anything you throw at me.”

Tannin picked me up and deposited me back on the bed. He pulled his jeans all the way off, then his boxer briefs. I marveled at the toned perfection of the being before me. He might have been an angel, but he was all man. The stories I had heard about angels being sexless were highly exaggerated. I reached out for him, but he backed away. I eyed him.

“Trying to make me wait for you?”

He smiled. “Not exactly. Lie back and close your eyes.”

I sighed, but I saw the resolve in his eyes. It reminded me of Nick and how he looked when he stared at me when he wanted something. His mind could never be broken when he was determined to obtain something. I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes, waiting for him to make a move. The bed depressed from his weight. He parted my legs and something trailed up the inside of my thigh. It was light and soft. I surmised it was one of his feathers. I opened my eyes to investigate, but Tannin covered them with one of his hands. His lips touched the side of my neck and immediately my body was infused with light. A small pleasure earthquake shook my body, so I clenched my fists together. I tried to gather my thoughts, but they were scattered until the orgasm released me.

“What was that?” I moaned.

“Just a little taste of what is to come. Now keep your eyes closed.” Tannin removed his hand from my eyes and continued his torture of the feather. He ran the sharp end of it over my skin as if writing. When he was done writing on a section of my flesh, the space grew cold. Each time he finished an expanse, my body was electrified. He wrote from the tip of my toes to my forehead. Tannin then turned me over and wrote more on my back, smoothing out the writing with the soft part of the feather. As he ran over my shoulder blades, I jumped and then groaned from the pleasure of it all. My wings stirred underneath my skin. When I focused on my Guardian side, it seemed she was barely there, but she was there. We were more connected than we had ever been.

“Open your eyes now,” Tannin whispered. He slipped his hand underneath me and helped me to sit up. All of my muscles were relaxed. I could still feel the hum of the power hovering all over me from where he had written on my body.

I opened my eyes. What I saw on my skin was a spider webbing of intricate silver writing. My flesh glittered. I traced my fingers over some of the writing and felt the letters were almost burned into my skin.

“What is this?”

“It’s the first step in the mating process with an angel. It’s to mark the intended’s body with the language of Heaven. By marking you, it makes you aware to the ones above. The words will eventually fade and rearrange into a permanent marking that only the goddess will know. It also opens all the erogenous zones.”