“Because I know you. You’re not going back there!”
“But it’s a place rife with magic, mages, and priestesses. I could—”
“No!” He jerked upright, his eyes flashing red. “You’re not putting yourself in those guards’ sights again after escaping them!”
“And I refuse to let you suffer any longer.” She tipped her chin at him.
At their stalemate, he growled. “Ely—”
She put her fingers on his lips, understanding his fear. “I’m a Guardian, Nate, so I will return.”
He grasped her hand and kissed her knuckles. “It’ll be fine. I don’t plan to morph into this creature. Ever.”
She bit her lip, worry bleeding through her. “And what about us, Nate?”
He put his arms around her and rubbed his scruffy cheek against hers in a tender caress. “We’ll find a way, I promise.”
Gods, she hoped so. She held on to him and pressed her face into his neck. With Nate housing a demented beast and bound to an old demon, and she tied to her oath as a Guardian, the obstacles just mounted higher and higher.
His big palm stroked down her spine, trying to ease her. Emotions constricted her chest and swelled in her throat. They had to find a way out of this. Nate was coming to mean so much to her. He might not be her destined, but she wanted him, wantedallof him.
Another surge of heat swept through her—
Dammit. Ely bit back a groan, hating this anomaly consuming her, hating the thought of leaving but having no choice. She refused to put Nate through the agony of unfulfilled desire. She brushed back a loose strand of hair with jittery fingers and moved away. “I have to go.”
“Where?”
“The mountains, I need to…er, Ground. The quartz found in granite aids in easing the build-up of power,” she explained, avoiding the truth.
“What about your temperature hike?” he demanded, the tic on his jaw back, pounding furiously.
Biting back a sigh, she shrugged. Like she could actually hidethatfrom him. “I’ll be okay.”
Heck, maybe she’d just Ground naked.
Ely picked up her clothes and headed to the bathroom, hating having to leave him again.
Unlike her fellow Guardians, who could bring their females to the castle before mating, giving them a chance and the time to get to know each other, she didn’t have that luxury because of what Nate was. Nor could she hang around the garage during the day without raising questions.
How would they ever have time together, for themselves, to just be?
Stolen moments were all they had.
On her return, she found him standing near the window, staring out at the floating snowflakes, hands in his jeans pockets, his entire bearing stiff. He glanced over his shoulder, then turned.
“I’ll see you tonight?” she asked, draping her coat over her arm.
He gave a slight incline of his head.
Darn, she hated this too, so much. She crossed to him and pressed her lips to his cheeks, and the barely banked arousal stirred at just a touch of his skin. Dammit.
At his brooding stare, she bit her lip and dematerialized for the Catskills.
She was finally with Nate, a male she was deeply drawn to, but that darn beast had to ruin everything. Well, she wasn’t letting that damn creature come between them. Nate was hers! No matter her own situation, she would do whatever she had to, to aid him, come hell or high water!
CHAPTER21
Low voicesand cutlery clinked against chinaware later that evening as Týr and Blaéz discussed some match they watched on TV, which led to them raising the stakes for a game of pool the next day. Their mates groaned.
