Chapter 65
Chapter Sixty-Five
SEBASTIAN
She claimed me! Staring dumbfounded in April’s sleeping face while I cradle her to my chest, my mind is railing.
The door crashes open, swinging on the hinges and embedding the door handle into the opposite wall.
Leaping out of the water, I fling April behind my back, facing the threat with fangs bared and claws ready.
The new bond tying me to April rides me hard, pushing rational thought aside.
She squeaks but luckily stays pressed at my back, her tiny fingers curling and her nails digging in my skin.
“Sire!”
Marcus stops dead in his tracks a few feet inside the room, eyes crazed with violence.
Andrei is right on his heels with death written all over his face.
A vicious growl comes from the center of my chest, the bond pushing me to destroy the two males that dared to enter where April stands naked.
The muscles of my thighs bunch up, preparing to jump and rip them to shreds while they stand there, confusion replacing the rage on their faces.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe this!” April’s voice is like a slap, bringing me out of the edge of mindlessness.
Groaning, she thumps her forehead on my back before an angry screech sends her stomping naked towards the pile of clothing she had dumped on the floor. For a moment, all three of us stare openmouthed at all the pale flesh revealed, her ass rippling with each angry stomp and her breasts bouncing.
“I can’t have sex or even die in this place without having these two as witnesses.” Snapping angrily, she snatches the dirty clothing and shoves a leg in the pants. “This is fucking insane!” After her head pops out from her t-shirt, she glares at each of us in turn. “Get out!”
We still stare at her openmouthed, rooted to the spot until her hands clench into fists, the golden glow in her eyes flashing a warning.
The damn dog decides to become animated as well, standing up on the chair close to her and baring his teeth, growling menacingly at us.
Foam forms on his muzzle with each second we stand motionless.
“Get the hell out!” Her arm snaps up, her finger pointing at the open doorway.
Her power surges through my veins, propelling me into motion against my will.
Through me, it does the same to Marcus and Andrei, all three of us tripping over our own feet to do as she asks.
She follows behind until we are all in the hallway, then she slams the door shut in our faces.
Another angry screech sounds from behind the door and a loud crashing follows it.
Pressing a thumb and forefinger on the bridge of my nose, gripping my hipbone with the other, I squeeze my eyes shut.
What a fucking mess, I think gloomily. Instead of calming her down and bonding her to me, which I had every intention of doing, I find myself butt naked in a hallway, bound to her like a fledgling that was just turned.
“We heard the roar,” Marcus says hesitantly. “We thought there was trouble.”
“After we found the mage missing, we thought he ended up here, attacking you,” Andrei chimes in, his voice missing the easy-going quality it always has.
“What do you mean missing?” Snapping my eyes open, I glare at him. “He was missing limbs and bleeding out. How did he manage to walk out without your notice?”
Two Guardians come around the corner, walking in our direction.
When they look up and see me standing there as naked as the day I was born, their eyes widen, and turning tail, they bolt back wherever they came from.
Marcus takes off his pants, handing them over to me, leaving himself in boxer shorts, his boots dangling from his feet.
Andrei shoves his shirt at my chest, not moving his hand until I take it.
Without a word, I put the offered clothing on.
It’ll do no good if I walk around with my bare ass and my cock still erect and bobbing around.
“He couldn’t have gotten far.” Pulling the shirt over my head, my feet are already moving. “Marcus, stay with April. Andrei, you are with me.”
One glance over my shoulder shows Marcus hesitating, his fist lifted in the air to knock. A smirk pulls my lips at the picture of my second in command losing his confidence to a tiny woman. Formidable, to be sure, but small, nonetheless.
“I don’t envy him.” Andrei chuckles, his demeanor returning after snapping out of his shock.
“I wouldn’t want to be in her line of sight right now, no.” All amusement leaves me when we round the corner.
Andrei rushes to the bodies of the two Guardians that we saw a moment ago.
Wooden stakes protrude from their chests with runes carved on them on all sides.
Their bodies shrivel into husks before our eyes.
Kneeling, Andrei tries to pull the stakes out, hissing and snatching his hand back as soon as his skin makes contact with the wood.
Angry blisters cover his palm, and his eyes flash with burning rage when he looks at me.
“Unless that mage can magically grow a leg and an arm, we still have infiltrators in our midst.” Pushing the words through clenched teeth, he lifts up.
“They must’ve snuck in while we were busy fighting the mages. Collect the Guardians, only those you personally trust, and meet me back at the pool room.” Already turning away from him, I don’t need to look at Andrei to know he will do as told. “I’m not leaving April unprotected.”
Storming back, I fling the door open and walk inside to find April glaring at Marcus with her hands fisted on her hips.
The dog is curled up at her feet, covering his face with his paws like he can’t watch Marcus’s embarrassment.
It would’ve been a funny sight if I didn’t have an assassin running unchecked through the building.
She rounds on me, but whatever she sees on my face stops her from snapping at me as well.
“We have an assassin in the building.” Marcus snaps his head in my direction, looking comical standing in his boxer shorts with a glower on his face. April frowns.
“I thought we got them?” she says, more as a question than a statement.
“Obviously not.” Pacing in front of April, my hands itch to wrap around the asshole that dares to come inside my nest. That dares to kill my people. “Two Guardians are dead, stakes carved with runes stuck in their chest. It prevented Andrei from touching it.”
“I wanna see it.” Pushing past me, April bolts through the door, the dog on her heels.
Marcus and I follow behind, dread pooling like lead in my gut. I want to grab her and hide her somewhere until all this is over. I know better than to try, the bond pulsing like a living thing in my chest. What bad timing to let her have all the control. I’m not even sure she knows what she did.
Rounding the corner of the hallway, April drops on her knees, hesitantly reaching for the wooden stake closest to her.
Moving around, I kneel opposite her, ready to snatch her hand back at the slightest discomfort.
I can feel the presence of others at my back, Andrei amongst them.
Through the bond, his fear that she’ll get hurt stabs me like a hot poker.
Grinding my teeth, I poise my hand, ready to pull her back.
April’s hand stops, not touching the stake for a second.
Her eyes glow brighter, the golden glow reflecting on the wood before her fingers close around it.
My lips part in an astonished sharp intake of breath when the runes light up like fireworks in her hand.
With a firm press of her lips, she yanks the wood out of the dried-up husk, watching it with her head tilted and her eyebrows furrowed.
“I remember this…” her whispered words trail off, sending chills crawling over my body.
Before I gather my wits about me, she rips open her wrist, holding it above the dried-up parted lips of the Guardian.
A collective gasp echoes around us when what was supposed to be a final death is but child’s play for her.
In front of my eyes, the Guardian comes to life.
His back bows off the floor as he takes a sharp breath, clutching his chest. The more disturbing fact is his eyes, a golden flash shining from then right before they lock on hers.
“Mother!” The guardian gasps, a look of reverence and love I’ve never seen radiating from his face.
April smiles at him hesitantly before reaching for the second stake and repeating the process. The same thing happens with the second Guardian as well. My hand trembles unbidden when I reach to take the damn wooden stakes from her, but she pulls them out of reach.
“You can’t touch them.” Searching my face, her eyes soften slightly. “Yet. You can’t touch them, yet.”
“Irina.” The first Guardian scrambles on his knees, staring at April. “Irina is here. We didn’t hear her coming.”
“Just who I’d love to see.” My insides shrink from the smile on April’s face.