Master Unchained (Stealth Guardians Book 2) (26 page)

She shot up, making water splash over the sides of the tub. “What?”

Hamish reached for her, sliding his hand behind her nape. “Tessa, don’t you understand what I’ve been trying to explain to you? I don’t want a fling. I don’t want just sex. I love you. I know this happened fast, but that’s how it is in our race. We just know when it hits us.”

Her chin dropped. She was hallucinating. Everything began to spin around her. Maybe she’d fallen asleep in the tub. Maybe Hamish wasn’t even here.

“I know it’s a lot to lay on you, particularly after what you’ve been through,” Hamish continued. “But I wanted you to know how I feel. I don’t expect an answer from you now. I’ll wait for as long as it takes.” He pinned her with his eyes. “Just tell me that I’ve got a chance to win your heart.”

Her throat felt as dry as sandpaper. Was this reality? Had he really said that he loved her? That this immortal man wanted her?

“Oh, Hamish…”

The temptation to tell him how she felt was immense, but she had to remain realistic. Even if he loved her and even if she loved him back, how could there ever be a happy future when she would grow old and wither away, while he lived on? She closed her eyes, but couldn’t hold back the tears.

Hamish took her head in both hands. “Tessa, what did I do wrong? Please, whatever I did or said, tell me how I can make it right.”

She lifted her lids, looking at him through her tears. “No matter how we feel about each other, how can we ever be together? Have you forgotten that I’m not like you? I’m not immortal, Hamish. I don’t have eternity. Only you do.”

A sob dislodged from her chest, but it didn’t get a chance to escape, because Hamish’s lips were on her, kissing her tenderly. All too quickly he released her and pressed his forehead to hers.

“I’m an idiot, lass,” he murmured. “Forgive me. I should have explained. I thought when I told you about Olivia, you understood. And you met Leila. I thought you knew.”

She pulled her head back. “Knew what? And what does Leila have to do with this?”

He brushed a wet strand of hair from her cheek. “Leila is Aiden’s mate. She’s human.”

Her eyebrows snapped together. “But if she’s human, how… I mean, how can he be happy knowing she’ll die…”

Hamish brushed his thumb underneath her eye, wiping away a tear. “Because she won’t. By bonding with her, he’s sharing his immortality with her. It’s his gift in exchange for her love.”

This time she couldn’t stop the sob that tore from her chest. She threw her arms around him.

“Does that mean you’re giving us a chance?” he asked softly.

Unable to speak, she simply nodded.

~ ~ ~

His heart beating an excited tattoo against his chest, Hamish captured Tessa’s lips for a kiss. He was aware that she hadn’t told him that she loved him, but he couldn’t expect that much this soon. Knowing that Tessa wanted him and was thinking of the future was enough for now. Time would tell if they were truly meant for each other—he for his part knew she was the one.

Her lips tasted of the salt of her tears, and he promised himself right there and then that she would never have to cry again.

“Let me make love to you,” he whispered against her lips.

“Yes.”

He rose and lifted her out of the bathtub, setting her on the thick mat in front of it while he reached for a towel. As he dried Tessa and then himself, he didn’t take his eyes off her. She was beautiful. The last time they’d made love, he’d rushed things, because he’d been so impatient to have her, but now he feasted his eyes on her, committing each square inch of her body to memory.

He lowered himself on his knees as he dried her legs, then dropped the towel. He was eye-level with her stomach, but the scars didn’t repel him. They were part of Tessa, part of what had forced her to be strong. He pressed his lips to them and kissed her there, showing her that to him she was beautiful everywhere. She didn’t shrink back, didn’t hide from him. When he looked up, she gazed down at him, her eyes full of tenderness.

Wordlessly, he pulled her down to him and laid her on the white mat and settled into the space between her legs.

“I should have done this last time,” he said, “but when you sucked me, you obliterated my self-control.”

Her lips curved into a smile. “You felt good in my mouth.”

“Let’s see how good this feels.” He lowered his face to her pussy and inhaled her aroma. “Hmm.” When he pressed a kiss into the tiny triangle of hair at the apex of her thighs, he felt her shudder beneath him. He put his hands on her thighs and pushed them farther apart, lifting them over his shoulders to either side of his head. Pink flesh beautiful like a flower greeted him. Though he’d toweled her dry, she was wet there now, her nether lips coated with her arousal.

Greedily, he swiped his tongue over her slit, gathering her juices and tasting them, tasting her. A bolt of pure lust shot through him. She was everything he’d ever dreamed of and more. And licking Tessa would give him just as much pleasure as it gave her. Eagerly, he explored her, licked and sucked the gentle flesh she so openly offered him now. Her sighs and moans bounced off the tile walls of his bathroom, echoing in the large room.

Tessa shoved her hands into his hair now. The contact sent a shiver down his spine and into his tailbone. Automatically, his hips began to move, and he felt his fully erect cock rub against the tile floor, seeking relief. Thanks to the coolness of the tile, he didn’t explode immediately, but was able to maintain his control, because what was most important to him right now was to satisfy the woman in his arms. Make up for the horror she’d been through.

And he loved doing it. Loved licking her pussy, playing with her responsive flesh, and feeling her writhe beneath him. Because it meant she was alive. And so was he.

He moved farther up, spread her with his fingers now, revealing her clit. The tiny organ was swollen—and glowing golden. It was the last spot of her body that still showed evidence of his virta. Unable to resist, he licked over it with his tongue.

“Oh God! Hamish!” Tessa cried out. “You’ve gotta stop! It’s too… oh God, it’s too much…”

Spasms made her body twist and turn, but he held her to him and swiped his tongue over her center of pleasure once more. She was already climaxing. He cupped her clit with his mouth and allowed the waves of her orgasm to travel over his lips.

A shudder charged through him. “Fuck!” he ground out. Long seconds passed, until Tessa finally stilled and relaxed and let out a final sigh.

“Hamish,” she mumbled and caressed his scalp.

He lifted his head from her and sat up. When he looked at her face, she met his eyes.

“Do you think it greedy of me that I want you inside me now?” she asked.

He pulled her into his arms and rose, carrying her into the adjoining bedroom. “You can’t possibly be as greedy as I am.” He lowered her on the bed and rolled over her. Looking deep into her eyes, he adjusted himself at her center and thrust inside with one single move. “So greedy,” he repeated, “that I don’t even have the decency to let you rest after all you’ve been through.”

But her eyes told him that she didn’t want to rest. That she wanted him instead. That knowledge filled his heart with warmth, and his cock with even more blood.

“I’m following doctor’s orders,” she murmured.

“How so?”

“Leila said I should lie down.” Tessa patted the duvet next to her. “I’m lying down, am I not?”

“Well, if you put it that way, we should definitely continue to follow doctor’s orders.” He withdrew almost completely from her welcoming sheath, then sliced back into her.

Tessa pressed her head into the pillow, arching her back. “Yes!”

At her enthusiastic praise, he grunted, “Yeah? Like that?” He began thrusting into her with more vigor, his hips moving more rapidly now, his cock demanding he take her harder and make her his. He didn’t put up any resistance, knowing he was defenseless in Tessa’s arms. Stripped bare. Devoted to her.

Feeling her hands on him, feeling how she caressed and explored him, made his chest swell with pride. And when she locked her thighs beneath his butt to force him deeper into her, he wanted to roar like a lion who’d been freed of his cage. Because Tessa had freed him of his. The links in the chain that surrounded his heart were falling away with every caress and every kiss she granted him.

This wasn’t just sex. Maybe back at Tessa’s apartment they’d had sex, but this here, in his bed, this was lovemaking. Every time their bodies came together, their gazes met, connecting in a way even more intimate than their bodies.

When Tessa’s eyelids began to flutter, he knew she was close again.

“I’m right there with you, my love,” he murmured and captured her lips, kissing her with all the love he felt in his heart.

She responded to him with the same passion and desire, her hips rising to meet him as he delivered thrust after thrust into her wet pussy. Not able to withstand another second of this sweet torture, he let himself go and allowed his semen to shoot through his cock, exploding from the tip.

He moaned into her mouth and greedily lapped against her tongue, not wanting this to end, when he felt her interior muscles squeeze him and wring the last of his seed from him as she climaxed with him.

Only when her spasms subsided, did he allow himself to collapse. He braced himself on his elbows and looked at her face. A sheen of perspiration covered her skin and made her look even more radiant than before.

He parted his lips, wanting to say something, to tell her how he felt, but no words came over his lips. For the first time in a long time he was… happy.

38

“Hamish?”

It wasn’t Tessa’s voice that drifted to him. Hamish stirred and opened his eyes. He must have nodded off with Tessa tucked into the curve of his body. For a moment he felt groggy, but then he heard the crackling of the intercom next to his bed and reached to press the speaker button.

“Aiden?”

“Yeah. Enya just called in. She checked on Poppy.”

Tessa suddenly shot up.

“She found her sleeping peacefully. No sign of demons.”

Tessa released a sigh of relief. “Thank God!”

“Thanks, Aiden,” Hamish added.

“No problem. She’s staying out in the field and joining up with Pearce and Manus to see if she can help.”

“Sounds good. Thanks.” He let go of the speaker button and pulled Tessa back against his chest.

She turned her face to him. “I’m so glad she’s alright.”

Hamish brushed a lock of hair from her forehead and pressed a kiss to it. “See, Zoltan didn’t get her after all.”

“Zoltan… I’ve heard that name before.”

“Of course you have. I mentioned him earlier in the medical room. Don’t you remember?”

She shook her head. “I heard his name before that.”

“You mean when he attacked you, he told you who he was?” Even for Zoltan that seemed a little unorthodox, though he knew that the new leader of the demons was cunning. There was a purpose behind every move he made.

“No, he didn’t. He mentioned Zoltan.”

Hamish stared at Tessa. “Mentioned him… as in how?”

“The demon said that Zoltan was a weakling for letting me live.”

“Are you sure you heard him correctly? You were frightened.”

“I’m sure, Hamish. Please believe me. He said he was supposed to be the Great something or other.”

“The Great One?” Hamish helped.

She nodded emphatically. “Yes, the Great One. What does that mean?”

“It’s the title of the leader of the demons. But Zoltan is the new leader,” Hamish elaborated.

“The demon who attacked me said that
he
should be the leader. Not Zoltan. And that by killing me, he would prove that he was stronger than Zoltan… no,” she corrected herself, “not stronger.
Superior
to Zoltan.”

Hamish let the words sink in. “If this is true, then the demons are fighting a turf war amongst themselves. And you’re caught in the middle of it.”

“That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure yet what it means in the long run. Right now though we have to be even more vigilant. If Zoltan really only wanted to destroy your political future, but his rival wants to seize the reins by killing you, then we have to fight on two fronts.”

“Haven’t we already been doing that?”

Slowly he nodded. “Unknowingly, yes.”

“Then we’re better prepared now that we know, right?” Tessa hypothesized.

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Yes, thanks to you, my love.” He swung his legs out of bed. “Come, let’s talk to Aiden. Are you hungry?”

She tilted her head to the side, before she answered, “Actually, I’m famished.”

A few minutes later they were both dressed and walking hand-in-hand through the corridors. At the door to the kitchen, Hamish stopped and looked at Tessa. “If you’re uncomfortable about my colleagues knowing what’s happening between us, I won’t let on.” Although that ship had sailed already, given the things he’d done and said in front of his friends when Tessa had been fighting for her life. But he wasn’t ashamed of the tears he’d shed while her life had hung in the balance.

Tessa smirked. “I think they know.” She lifted herself on her tiptoes. “And it’s not making me uncomfortable.”

He kissed her, before opening the door to the kitchen. The smell of pancakes wafted to him, and he realized only now how hungry he was.

“Leila, I hope you’re making enough for all of us,” Hamish said as he walked in with Tessa by his side. But it wasn’t Leila who stood at the stove flipping pancakes. Leila was sitting at the kitchen island, Aiden next to her.

“What the fuck is the witch doing out of his cell?” Hamish ground out.

The witch spun around, a plastic spatula in his hand. “Making my famous coconut banana pancakes. Want some?” He grinned. “And again, name’s Wesley. I wish people would remember that. It’s not that hard. I’ve already memorized all of your names.”

Hamish glared at the insolent man.

“Hamish, give the guy a break,” Aiden said calmly, shoveling food into his mouth.