My Guardian (Bewitched and Bewildered Book 6) (11 page)

Aiden nuzzled the back of her neck. "Do you need to rest?"

Meryn stopped typing and leaned back against her mate. "It won't do any good."

Aiden looked around the room. "She had a hard time sleeping last night."

Sebastian turned to them. "Do you require anything? New linens, more pillows, blankets, maybe a fan?" he suggested.

"More like a pint of Nyquil and a fifth of vodka," Meryn yawned.

Ryuu put down the tea pot and walked over to take her wrist. "You need to rest,
denka
; your body needs it, the baby as well."

Meryn nodded and pulled her wrist free. "It's not that easy you know. I can't seem to get comfortable." She looked over the top of her laptop. "Sebastian has ordered some computer equipment for me. I have a theory on how I can get Wi-Fi and cell service in the city. I'm just waiting on an okay from Queen Aleksandra to have Etain put my master plan into action. In the meantime, if you give me your email address, I'll send you a map of the city. I digitized the one Beth gave me."

Beth chuckled. "Of course you did. When did you contact Queen Aleksandra?" She dug into her bowl of pudding.

"I didn't, but I had Amelia reach out to her since she's met her."

"Makes sense."

Eva felt her head begin to swim. "You know the Queen of the Fae?" She looked around. It dawned on her that she was casually eating pudding with the Prince of the Vampires. Who were these people?

Beth turned to her. "We haven't been introduced. My name is Elizabeth Monroe; this is my mate Gavriel Ambrosios. Magnus Rioux is my uncle and leader here in Noctem Falls. The tall warrior behind me is my guard Tarak, and the large man cuddling Meryn is Aiden McKenzie. I'm assuming since you came down with Meryn you have already met Ryuu, Sebastian and Micah." Eva noticed that Beth was staring at where her hand was joined with Adriel's.

"My name is Eva Mae Miller. I'm not real important like, just a bar owner from Texas. I came in with the folks from Wolftown. While we were up on that top level, I found my mate." She smiled at Adriel.

"Oh my Gods!" Beth exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're here! He was so worried about you!"

She eyed her mate. "Y'all are close?"

He nodded briefly. "Bethy is the closest thing I have to family outside the units."

Eva thought of Stefan and panic began to set in.
 

Adriel squeezed her hand. "What? What has you so upset?"

"Did you ever find Stefan Bolivar? Are he and his parents okay?"

Adriel nodded. "I spoke with both Stefan and Demetrio. I let them know you were recovering and would be on Level One. They said they would be helping the others get settled."

"Was Adora with them?"

"I am assuming you're referring to the woman that had both of the male wolf Alphas jumping at her every command. Yes, she was there." His lips twitched in amusement.

"Gods, I love that woman. She could direct an army without blinking. She was an enormous help in calming everyone down," Beth added.

Eva had to smile. "She normally likes to sit back and let the boys handle things, but when there's an emergency, she just takes over."

Aiden kissed the top of Meryn's head. "I know someone like that."

Eva set her empty bowl on the coffee table.

Beside her Adriel stood. "If you will excuse us? I would like to show my mate our living quarters." He turned to her. "I did not want to seem presumptuous, but considering the lack of storage space available, I left word that when your belongings arrived, they should be sent to my home."

"Bow chica wow wow!" Meryn sang.

Adriel just shook his head as Eva giggled and stood. "I'd love to see where you live." She turned and winked at Meryn. "If he's lucky, I'll let him make a dishonest woman of me."

"Gods give me strength," Adriel murmured as he walked over and took her hand.

"More like stamina," Meryn murmured, still glued to her laptop.

"Meryn!" Beth chided.

*****

Adriel walked a bit behind Eva as they walked toward the transport tunnel. The poor bastard that had pissed Meryn off was now whimpering in the net below. But not even that could pull his attention away from the perfection before him.

Eva's hips swayed back and forth, hypnotizing him. Meryn had been right; there was nothing sexier than jeans and cowboy boots. Except in his case, a cowgirl held him in rapture. Not just any cowgirl: his mate.

Eva turned to him. "You're gonna hafta take it from here darlin'."

For a moment, his brain ceased to function. "Excuse me?"

She bit down on her plump lower lip, hiding a smile. "I can't fly."

"Oh." Right, of course she couldn't. Shaking his head, he walked to stand beside her. When he wrapped his arm around her waist, he thought he'd never let go. "My apologies, but I will need to hold you close to carry you up." The way her eyes danced with mischief, he could see that she knew he was lying.
 

She leaned against his body, pressing every soft curve against him. "Considering I'm planning on fucking you in the next hour or so, I don't think you need to be apologizing." Her lips seemed to caress his ear with every word spoken.

"I am ever your most humble servant," he whispered back. He felt like crowing when he saw her shiver at his words.

He easily lifted them up to the Unit Level. Not surprisingly there wasn't anyone guarding their entrance. With great reluctance, he set her down. When he went to step back, she grabbed his hand and smiled. "Lead the way."

Adriel stared at their hands for a moment. He had never really held hands with a woman before. Bethy did not really count because if you did not hold her hand, she would end up killing herself walking to the bathroom.

"I can let go if it bothers you." Eva's voice broke his train of thought.

"No! I mean it is perfectly acceptable." He began walking toward his house.

"You seemed really deep in thought. Wanna share?"

"I was just thinking you are the first woman I have ever held hands with. Bethy does not really count because you have to hold on to her wherever she goes."

Eva stopped. "What exactly is she to you? Don't think I haven't noticed the affectionate way you say her name."

Was his mate jealous? He looked her in the eye and saw hesitation. He shook his head. "I have known Bethy since she was about a year old. That was when her father moved to Noctem Falls to begin research on creating a blood substitute. We all quickly learned that Bethy has the world's worst luck. She had broken every bone in her tiny body by the time she was three. She has tripped, fallen, crashed through, set fire, got trapped in almost every inch of this city. Magnus assigned her both a vampire guard and a witch healer just to keep her alive long enough to grow up."

"Oh Gods! That poor woman. She's better now right?"

Adriel shook his head. "No, but I think everyone around her is so used to it, we manage to avoid the dangerous injuries."

Adriel pointed to the large building in front of them. "That is our meeting and dining hall. Each unit warrior has their own small house on this level. Unlike other cities, where the units live together in estates, we were given an entire level to keep us segregated from the upper classes, so we had enough room to build as much as we liked."

He guided her down the middle of the cavern that acted as their 'main street'. "Across from the dining hall, we have our training grounds and a recreational center. We have our own library, movie room, small commissary, pool, and storage center."

"Pool! Y'all have a pool! Where is it?" Eva looked around excitedly.

"Behind the mess hall. I take it from your reaction that you enjoy swimming."

"I'm a tiger shifter, of course I love swimming. When can we go?" She looked up at him as if he had promised her the sun and stars.

"I have something better, remind me to show you later."

Her eyes narrowed. "Better than a pool?"

"Better than a pool."

"Okay, I'm trusting ya on this. So how does the commissary work?" Eva walked over and peeked in the window.

"It is on an honor system. Because the city is impregnable, we do not have to do patrols the way other city's units have to, so we have more downtime. In that downtime, we have all taken up hobbies. The Kappa Unit likes to garden, so they have their own indoor hydroponics building. They keep us in fresh vegetables and fruit year round. Beau and Riordan from the Lambda Unit like to build things, so every couple months they head to Albuquerque to hunt for quality wood pieces, and they have their own workshop. Deacon and Belenos from the Theta Unit love to cook, so they run our mess hall. Grant from my unit knits; he says it calms him. Anyway, he creates the most intricate blankets I have ever seen. Everything gets put in the store along with anything extra picked up in the city. If someone needs something, they grab it, but they will always leave something in exchange or offer service hours, for example, trading tunnel escort shifts with the item's creator."

Eva laughed. "I'd rather have one of the unit warriors escort me than that asshole from earlier."

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

When she told him what was said and how the escort had shoved Meryn, he felt his blood pressure begin to skyrocket. Not only was Meryn mistreated, but was done so in full view of a unit warrior. Which translated into showing no respect for Magnus or the unit warriors; it was a treacherous mix.

"I will speak to Magnus at dinner. Since Aiden is visiting, my entire unit is invited to dinner during their stay."

"Was that Aiden's request?"

"Yes. He does not often get the chance to travel around to the different cities and meet with the other units, so he wanted to take advantage of his visit."

"So where do you live?"

Adriel lifted their joined hands and pointed down the street. "I am the very last house. It is set a bit apart from the others. As the unit leader, I did not want to make them feel like I was breathing down their necks."

"Or they could think that you were trying to act superior to them."
 

Adriel froze in his tracks. "You do not think they really viewed my actions in that manner, do you?"

Eva tilted her head and looked at him. He found her orange and amber colored eyes mesmerizing. "Probably not since you're very sincere, and your actions show you put the men first. But it could be seen that way by others."

Adriel began to go over his interactions with the men. Did they believe him to be rank conscious? Was he alienating himself from them, and if he was, was he missing things that a good leader would see because of it? He frowned until he felt soft lips on his. He stepped back, surprised. She laughed at his expression.

"Didn't mean to startle you, but you looked too serious. Your thoughts were taking you away from me, and I didn't like it."

"You can reach my lips." He blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

Her cheeks flushed as she dropped his hand to wrap her arms around his neck. "I am kinda tall."

"I like it. Truly. I do not have to bend in half for a kiss. I do not know how my commander manages with his mate being so tiny."

"She's pregnant; I'm pretty sure they figured it out."

He laughed. In the past two days, he had laughed twice. That was more than he had in years. Maybe the city had needed a crazy human and a sexy tiger to breathe new life into the ancient halls.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For this." He pointed to their path. "For walking with me and talking. I cannot remember having so lovely a time."

She gave him a wicked smile and stepped back. "Get us to your house and it will get better."

He tilted his head back and began to picture anything but his mate naked and begging. He had sworn to himself that whenever he was blessed with a mate, he would court her and take things slow; he would do it right. He looked back down, and she winked at him.

Gods above give him strength.

They started walking again and his eyes strayed to perfectly rounded ass encased in worn denim.

And stamina.

*****

When they arrived at his house, he found that he was nervous. He had been living alone for centuries, but despite the many years, he had not accumulated much. He opened the door, and she walked inside.

"There is not much..." he began. But he caught her expression. Her eyes were wide with wonder, and she took in every small detail.

Though he did not have a lot, what he did have was very special to him. He had collected small pieces here and there in his travels; in the human world, they would be considered priceless, but to him each told a story.

"Everything is so clean and perfect. I mean, I kinda figured it would be clean since your collar is starched and your uniform looks like it's made of cardboard, but I thought it would be like hospital clean. This feels homey." Her nose twitched. "Is that cinnamon?"

He nodded and led her to a small kitchen. When he was home, he kept a handful of cinnamon sticks in a small pot of water on the stove.

He pointed to the small silver pot. "My mother taught me that. Growing up, I believed that her kitchen was the most magical place in any of the four cities."

Eva turned to him her eyes sad. "You miss her very much, don't you?"

He took a deep breath and froze his features. "I do."

She walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You don't have to do that, you know. I won't tell anyone if you get upset. You're my mate, and anything that happens between us, stays between us. You can drop your mask with me."

Her words snapped the strings that held his facade in place. When his mask fell away, it felt as if a huge weight fell to the ground with it. He slumped forward and rested his cheek on her shoulder. "I love how tall you are," he murmured, breathing in her scent.

"I've always hated it, but if it helps to support you, then I won't curse Fate for my extra inches anymore."

Adriel stood up straight and looked down. "I do not understand. You are perfect, how could you hate anything about yourself?"

She sucked in her breath. "You really mean that, don't you? You really do."