Chapter 15
Uri’s Private Cavern, Earth Realm
Uri took in his surroundings. He’d claimed the cave centuries ago, enjoying the dense jungle canopy outside and the waterfall, which, along with his wards, hid his space from humans and wildlife alike. He knew that some of his brothers had modernized their caves, but he’d kept his simple. His sight was better in candlelight, his eyes were too sensitive for direct sun, and even electric light was usually too much for him, forcing him to use sunglasses.
Another reason he’d chosen the cave was the small waterfall that flowed from a crevice above the room Alexandra was currently in. The waterfall brought fresh cool water into the hot spring inside, which then flowed into an underground river that in turn went deeper through a hole in the rocks, then out of the caves again. He’d carved out seating and steps within the rock around the room. The work had been soothing in centuries past.
Now she was in there. And he was in the bedroom area. He paced the ancient rug in front of the four-poster bed he rarely used. Swords and daggers lined one wall, weapons he’d used throughout the centuries.
He paced some more. His body was strung impossibly tight. Uri desperately needed relief again. And soon. He was sure that if his balls got any tighter, there would be permanent damage, and that was the reason he’d left his female in the pool area of his cavern to refuel on her own. That and the fact that he’d felt her need to be alone to process things as much as he needed the same time.
The mating frenzy was a damned nightmare. He couldn’t touch her without wanting to drag her beneath him.
Alexandra, or Alex, as her brother called her, had been his dirty fantasy for so long. One he hadn’t dared touch in reality. Now she was his… his mate. He wasn’t even sure how that was possible. That he had every right to touch and take her made his cock throb in anticipation.
The fact that she was here with him gave him an odd and primal kind of satisfaction. There was a sense of rightness in providing the space for his mate to strengthen her hot, tight, little body.
Her mind had finally stilled. Her head had been a riot of conflicting thoughts from the moment they’d connected. He really wanted to know how such a magnificent creature didn’t know her worth. He was sure it had something to do with an attack centuries ago, the one her thoughts had gone to in the meeting. His stomach tightened imagining what might have happened. He could guess, and if it was true, he would slaughter his way through entire bloodlines to exact vengeance.
He balled his fists. He doubted her brothers had left anyone for him to kill. They were not the type of males to allow someone to live if they dared hurt their sister. He clenched his teeth, hating that there was likely no one left for him to damage.
Her mind wound over and over, reciting her inadequacies as she saw them. That Uri wouldn’t want her as a mate, or that she wouldn’t be a good mate since her powers were so uncontrollable… Like hell. Fuck, though, if he didn’t like the feel of her in his mind so much, he’d have been forced to knock her beautiful ass out so he wouldn’t go insane from the speed and outrageousness of her contemplations.
Thank the Gods, in the last few minutes her mind had either cleared to meditate while taking energies, or she’d finally found a way to block her thoughts. He hoped to hell it was the latter as he paced the confines of the bedroom for the fiftieth time, hands running through his hair, muscles flexing tight with his need to go to her. Damn it, he had to get his own shit together first.
Uri had learned so much about his little Goddess by being in her head; he was still a little shell-shocked at how innocent she was.
She was more than he could have dreamt of in a mate. That this could have happened never even occurred to him in all the years they had played their game. A mating was sacred among the races, but it also came with added power, and as a Guardian, he’d long ago resigned himself to the possibility that the fates would never gift him with a female. Guardians were already too powerful; when his and Alex’s power started to meld, they’d both become even more so. It usually happened over the span of a year, and he could honestly say he didn’t care about the power.
He was too busy reeling from the fact that he had a female whose soul called to his. Not only that, but she was a fierce little Demi-Goddess who drove his cock insane, made him laugh and could kick ass.
Shit, he was torn between feeling humbled and shocked that he was not only the first of his brethren to find his other half, but he’d found one who was fucking perfect for him. He knew he was the last to deserve to find a mate, but he was just bastard enough to do anything to keep her.
Uri couldn’t believe all the centuries he’d wasted, not knowing she was his. Now he understood the draw. His obsession.
He’d assumed she was using him for her own voyeuristic pleasure. That she’d been getting off on her own while thinking of him made him impossibly harder. He groaned as his dick begged him to find her and fuck her tight little pussy all over again. He had never felt such a heavenly, constricting fit in his entire life.
How was she so damned innocent? His primal side loved it. Loved that she hadn’t taken other lovers, which made no sense. His kind weren’t known for their possessiveness; Aletheia were the biggest pleasure seekers in all the Immortal races. Their philosophy tended to fit in to “the more the merrier” category and that went for everything. At the moment he wanted to spend a decade in this cave with only his female and no one else around for miles.
The completion of the mating bond would most likely help with some of her insecurities. Their powers would meld in the way of mates, and in the end, she would become a hell of a lot more in control of her own abilities and get a boost of his. He wasn’t sure how it would work with the Guardian powers, but he knew Sirena was thrilled with the possibilities.
Uri thought about their first joining—in a fucking holding cell. She had been so hot and wet for him; it’d been like nothing he’d ever experienced.
She’d taken him inside her blistering heat, just as much in the frenzy as he, and still tried to forgo her pleasure in fear of hurting him. Perfect. When that shield had knocked the shit out of him, he’d completely understood why she’d never taken a lover. A human couldn’t have taken that impact. It took a second for his cracked ribs to mend.
He grinned. His Alexandra had looked like pure hellfire. Beautiful and deadly. She’d taken a warrior, a Guardian, twice her size to the ground. She’d been so damned protective of her pain-in-the-ass brother. Then, seconds later, she’d regally taken a seat at the table to negotiate with Drake. She was exactly what a Goddess should be.
This would be the first such mating of its kind, a Guardian with a Demi-Goddess. Who knew what power they would hold? The Guardians were constantly battling one enemy after another in all the Realms. The added power would be a big fucking help. Especially if what he feared was true, that the Tria were getting smarter.
He was selfish enough that he just didn’t give a shit what it added to the cause. He wanted her purely as a male wanted his female.
He was forced to push back the twinge of guilt he felt at being the first Guardian to find a mate.
One that would soon learn all his secrets when they blood-bonded during their mating ceremony. She’d learn all his prominent memories, things that only his brethren knew, things no one else could know.
The biggest being the facts that surrounded the Immortal Charybdis, who’d sacrificed by using part of her soul to create the mating spell preventing Immortals from being breeders for Apollo and Hermes. The Immortals thought her dead. Uri knew the truth because it had been he and Gregoire who’d saved her.
Those times were best left forgotten, but soon Alex would have that knowledge.
Uri rolled his neck to release some of the building tension.
Only a few more minutes and he’d take her in the warm water of the springs. He’d make up for their first time being in a holding cell, on video, which had distressed her. And he would get those tapes from Conn before Jax found a way to get his hands on them. Conn had probably deleted them already anyway, knowing the Lykos.
He turned to the direction of the waterfall room.
Time was up for his little Goddess.