Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (44 page)

“I can see something in you
,
too,” he said in wonder. “I don’t think you had it in the beginning
.
I only remember noticing it that day that we first
…
you know.”

Oh, she recalled exactly what he meant. “What do you see?”

“I don’t really know how to explain what it looks like.”

“What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you see it?” she asked.

He looked a little embarrassed and dropped his head. “Don’t laugh. I know it doesn’t make any sense.”

“I won’t. Please just tell me.”

“Judgment.”

Oh.
That wasn’t what she expected.

Garrick had already moved on though, apparently feeling self-conscious. “When I was little, I was able to do things no one had ever seen. My family kept it a secret from most, but a few people knew. My granny knew it better than anyone though. She had the gift too. It was our secret though. No one else knew granny had the gift. I don’t even think my mother and father knew. Anyway,” he said with a wave of his hand, “she called me her little magician whenever I did my tricks. You saying it earlier just reminded me of it. You have a way about you, Dani. I’ve never met a woman like you and I never care to look at another woman as long as I live. You are it for me.” He took both her hands, enveloping them in his. “
I love you.”

“You wha—” Dani’s eyes widened as she started to choke on her own breath. She couldn’t have heard him right.
No way, in a million years, could this man be in love with her
.
More likely than not, she had brain damage and had just hallucinated the whole conversation.

“I love you,” he repeated. “And I will for eternity.”

“I…
.
I mean you…
.
You
love
me?” A small chuckle escaped her. She had heard him right. “
But
I love
you
.”

****

Garrick had the primal urge to pound his chest with pride; the emotion welling up inside him was too much to disregard. He needed more. He needed to claim his
woman
the only way he could. Closing what little distance separated them, he took her mouth tenderly with his. It took every
ounce of strength
in him to not take her roughly, so he reined himself in, letting his tongue gently probe her soft, full lips.

Dani moaned as his hand wound around the back of her head.
He hadn’t hurt her though, the sound of it in no way painful.
She parted her lips, allowing him entrance into her warm, sweet mouth. He licked and teased
,
urged on as she giggled against him.

“Garrick, I want…” She trailed off, making a sound in the back of her throat. “Ugh, I wish I could move!”

He
pulled back
. “You don’t need to. I’ll take care of everything.” Grabbing both of her hands, he held them tightly, making sure they were as connected as they could get.

“What are you
…
” Dani silenced as their gazes collided. Light spread from their joined hands and spread up her arms, covering her entire body as she sighed. “Yes
sss
,” she said, her sighs turning into moans of pleasure. “Garrick, yes.”

He smiled, pride swelling as he heard her labored breath. He needed to make her feel again, and pleasuring her the way he had the first time felt right.

“
Ooh
, Garrick, don’t stop,” she breathed. “Don’t stop.”

“Never,” he growled.
She
was getting close, so close. Her skin was flush
ed
,
her limbs quaking with exertion as if she was about to fly off the bed. The same sensation tingled in his pants. He took hold of both of her hands, forcing more of his essence into her. He had given her little bursts while she’d been unconscious, whenever her sleepy whimpers became too much for him to handle.

Dani’s head whipped back as her back arched off the bed. Her hands pulled out of his, winding around the back of his head as she pulled him to he
r. Just before their mouths mesh
ed together, he saw a triumphant smile on her face. She’d moved on her own, his essence having given her the strength she needed. Her casts tore apart, her wings bending and flexing as she flipped them over, her body now on top of his.

Garrick
gazed
up at her, watching as the dark coloring of the Harpies gave way to the golden beauty that was uniquely Dani. He’d never wanted to bed a Harpy before, but ever since he’d met this tempting little redhead, he could hardly think of anything else.

She bent
, her lips seeking his as she writhed on top of him. Garrick closed his eye
s in bliss, wanting to relish
this moment. Never wanting it to end. He heard a gentle whoosh and opened his eyes to see that they were no longer on the bed. Dani kissed him with abandon, her hands reaching under the waist of his pants, seeking his hardened cock. She wrapped her fingers around it before she set to stroking. His stomach muscles tightened in response, his entire body thrumming with excitement as Dani let her emotions take her over fully. He let his male instincts take over as well as he sought her warm, wet core, probing
with
his fingers. She shuttered in delight, a shaky moan forcing her lips from his.

Something primal built within
him
, something he’d never felt before. He didn’t just have the urge to take Dani. He had the urge to make her his, and to make him
self
hers.
Her
claws ripped through his pants
, sending them in shreds
to the floor. He didn’t care. In fact, it only stroked him to a fevered pitch. His female was a powerful force to be reckoned with. No longer the shy little human he had grown to adore. Now she was a woman who knew exactly what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to take it.

He smiled at the thought, letting his Fairy Instinct spring to life as he forced them to the wall. Dani’s back slammed against the sheetrock as their feet touched the floor. Her wings wound around him, cocooning the two of them in a golden halo. It took hardly any effo
rt at all to remove her
jeans
. Garrick pulled back, looking at her in all her glimmering glory.

She was spectacular. Her eyes shone with excitement, her breasts full and perky with her arousal. He
gripped
one as he angled for another kiss. Garrick
’s
free hand
cupped
her ass, lifting her up closer to his own height. Neither of them needed any coaxing at that point; she was wet, her legs spread wide in invitati
on, wrapping around his waist. H
is cock was hard and rigid, seeking the heat that was now pressed against his crown. It only took a single thrust before he was buried deep inside, both their bodies quaking with anticipation and desire.

Dani’s wings stretched and curled, responding to the rhythm of Garrick’s pounding. She was still against the wall; her legs wrapped around his waist as he pushed in and pulled out. His hands and lips were everywhere. So were hers.
There were no longer the boundaries of him and her
;
they were one being, desperate to fuse together.
She had the urge to black out from the intense pleasure, but was desperate to hang on to every movement, committing it to memory.

Her wings flexed forcefully, pushing them off the wall. Garrick let the movement happen, twisting just in time so that she fell onto the bed. It felt strange, having so much weight pinning her wings to the bed, and a small panic formed. She pushed it down though, as his lips skimmed across her neck, traveling a tickling line down the column of her throat, over her collarbone and down to her chest.

He
would never hurt her. She never had to fear as long as she was with him. In almost a decade, she’d never
felt that she belonged anywhere;
that she merely existed because someone else decided it was so. But with Garrick? She belonged.
No matter that there would be difficulties. They would make it work.

He gave her nipple a gentle nip with his teeth, and she laughed. He was still deep inside her, his ass muscles clenching and unclenching with each advance and retreat of his hips. She met him, thrust for thrust, lifting herself to him, drawing him deep inside. It went on like this for hours—or days, or minutes, or seconds, for all she knew—his urgency growing and growing, until he bore down on her with such abandon that she couldn’t help but give in to its pull.
She lost herself to him, giving herself fully and taking the same from him in return.
She raked her claws over the skin of his back, sunk them into the fleshy part of his ass, reveling as he groaned in ecstasy.

“
Oh, gods
.
”
His face turned downward
,
his eyes glowing with swirling hues that reminded her of the mian tree in Caireal. There was so much heat in that gaze that she felt herself blush. “Do it again.”

She reached down, gripping his tight, round cheeks again. She waited until he thrust in her a few more times before she dug in. Garrick’s head whipped back and he plunged hard into her, over and over. It was so powerful that stars and lights flashed before her eyes as she was pushed over the edge. She heard cries of pleasure, noting seconds later that they were coming from her. Her entire body co
ntracted around him.
An
d
then Garrick was right there with her, his own pleasure racking him as he continued to ram into her.
She felt the hot jet shoot into her, and her orgasm intensified as her body took what he offered.

He collapsed on her, too weak to hold himself up any longer. They were both slicked with sweat, breath heaving in and out of their chests as they struggled to return to normalcy. Dani didn’t want to return to normalcy. She was pleasured beyond belief, pinned under her lover,
and
relishing in
the
weight
of his body
.

Sometime
later, Garrick pushed himself up on his arms, his hands braced on either side of her, careful not to put any weight on her wings. He
gazed
down at her adoringly, almost as though the same thoughts were going through his mind as what she was thinking herself.

It was the tiredness in his features that caused her to pause. She’d seen the rims around his eyes when she’d first woken up, but it had only gotten worse since he had gifted her with more of his essence.

“What’s wrong, love?” he asked.

She closed her eyes, smiling at the endearment. She w
as fearful more now than she was
before. It was because of
her
that he was growing weak.
She’d been wrong thinking they could work out the
i
r problems. A part of her wished that they could, but g
ifting her with parts of himself was dangerous, and clearly taking a toll. She loved Garrick, and because of that she couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t put him in danger. Wouldn’t.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that his were focused intently on hers, mere inches away. He was still waiting for an answer. “I’m worried about you,” she said.

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.”

“No
,
you’re not.” She focused on the circles under his eyes, willing them
to
fill in with the warm, healthy glow that his skin normally radiated. “You shouldn’t have given me more of yourself.”

He stared confusedly at her for a few seconds as though he wasn’t sure what she’d meant. “Yes, I should have
.
I would give you every part of me if it meant you would be okay.”

She
moved to sit up, but he held her in place. “That’s the problem,” she argued. “You can’t do that. It puts you in danger, and I refuse to be a part of it.”

“Dani,” he said softly as a glint shone from his eyes. “We’re in too deep to let all that bother us now. We’re connected, bonded in ways I’ve never felt before.”

Her heart pounded at his words, though she still refused to let the emotion overtake her. She brought her hands up, running them over the firmness of his chest and shoulders. “What do you mean?”

“Do you know what it means to be Fated?”

She shook her head, though she could guess.

“
We each have
a single male or female
we
are tied to, bound to love for eternity.”

She thought about that for a minute as she ran her finge
rs through his thick, soft hair
,
t
he truth of his words sinking in. He thought them Fated? Now her heart pounded in earnest, her reservations fraying at the seams.
She would try. For him, she would do anything, even if she refused to ever take of his essence again.
Her hands fell from his hair, cupping the line of his strong jaw. “Does everyone love their Fated as much as I love you?”