Two weeks after returning to The Mountain, James saw her
again. Sophia Ann Duffy.
Pausing in the corridor, he watched her walking and talking
with her sister. They were such opposites. Vivian was a bold woman, not just
with her red hair and take-charge attitude, but she had a presence about her
that said she wouldn’t take crap from anyone. She’d bonded with one of the
oldest, yet still functioning, Guardians, Jason.
When they had found Vivian, she’d been on a story that had
quickly led them to hunting down Vivian’s sister on the job. The monsters had
targeted Sophia because she was one of the thirteen rarest women alive, a
Vestal Virgin, destined to bond with a Guardian.
There was something about the dark haired beauty that called
to him. Unfortunately, if he focused on her too long, he ended up with a
headache. One the medics were stumped by, since there was absolutely no medical
evidence to support it.
The doctors might be clueless, but the other Guardians knew
something. At least that was his guess, given the looks he’d been getting from
Gaius, Hector, Jason, and Mercury. Even Alexander, who pretty much hated James’
guts, was giving him that same knowing stare. They knew something, and they
weren’t telling him, which was seriously pissing him off.
Sighing, he watched as Sophia disappeared around the corner
of a corridor intersection, and his headache let up. “What the fuck is going
on?” he muttered to himself.
Giving his head a shake, he continued on his way to the
base’s main hub. He couldn’t keep thinking about Sophia, no matter how often
his mind went to her. She didn’t seem to want to see him, so it really didn’t
matter if he wanted to talk to her. She avoided him all too well in a place he
knew better than she ever could.
“James, about time,” Mercury said.
Acknowledging their leader, James then nodded to Helen,
their tech guru, and took a chair near her. “So, what’s the news?”
“Eric updated me early this morning. He’s found our guy
again and is tracking him now. He needs backup out there,” Mercury answered.
“So, you’re shipping me back out to Miami?”
“No, Alexander’s already departed to assist him. Gaius is
having fits again, understandable of course, but still, we need to keep an eye
on him. He wants to go out there, but we all know how that would end up.”
Yeah, Gaius on a rampage to get the man responsible for
Emily, his soul mate, being hurt wouldn’t go well. Godzilla had nothing on
Gaius when he got his back up about something and went looking to kill someone.
“So, I’m here why?” James asked. He didn’t get why he’d been
summoned, especially since he’d been off training. Mercury didn’t interrupt
training for any reason.
“You and I need to talk.” Mercury moved to the door and shot
James an expectant look.
Groaning softly, James rolled his eyes and followed the man.
They went through the halls to Mercury’s office, where James took the chair he
was pointed to. “What do we need to talk about?”
“About you getting your head out of your ass and seeing
what’s right in front of you.”
“Huh?”
“It’s been two weeks since you got back, and while I agreed
at the time with the others to keep my nose out of it, enough is enough.”
“Again, I’m going to have to go with ‘huh’?”
“You and Sophia. Deal with it, sooner rather than later,”
Mercury said.
“There’s nothing to deal with, Merc. She’s a great girl and
all, but she wants nothing to do with me. Which, given how my head practically
explodes with pain any time I’m near her, it’s probably a good thing she’s
avoiding me like she is.”
Mercury shot James a look and scraped a hand through his
hair. “I can’t believe you have no clue,” he muttered. “Do you remember what I
told you about the medallion when I brought you back?”
“Yeah, don’t let anyone shatter it, as it’s as effective as
having my head removed. Which, in my case, is pretty much the same thing.”
James was obviously missing a key point, though, because Mercury was giving him
a look that called him an idiot nine ways of Sunday.
“There was more to it than that. It wasn’t that long ago,
and even with the brain damage you suffered, you should remember it.”
Frowning, James thought back. The medallion would give him life
as long as it wasn’t shattered, or he didn’t lose his head. It would help to
guide him to stay in the light, but couldn’t override his own needs and wants.
If he gave into the darkness that surrounded them then he’d become one of the
Evil Ones.
Then, it hit him. It would direct him to the one woman in
all the world that was his—his heart, his light, his soul mate. “Shit,” he
breathed out. Sophia Duffy was his soul mate.
And he’d pretty much done everything in his power to drive
her away because of the headaches. The
headaches! He let out a groan and pressed a hand to his eyes. No other
Guardian had a medallion in their head. It made sense all of a sudden. He was
getting the headaches because the medallion was trying to draw him to her.
“There we go,” Mercury said. “I knew all you’d need was a
nudge.”
“Fucking hell, Merc. Why didn’t someone point it out sooner?
She hates my guts right now. I did everything I could to push her away, and I
succeeded. She won’t get within more than thirty feet of me anymore.”
“Well, then, you have a hell of a lot of work to do. I’d
watch out for Vivian, though. She’s a very protective older sister, and Jason’s
been teaching her hand-to-hand combat tactics. While you might beat her on the
draw, I figure she’ll take you down out of sheer determination and whatever
women have that makes them stronger than we men could ever hope to be.”
Mercury got to his feet and came around the desk. “Now, get
out of my office and figure out how to win your woman back. Soon, too, or she
might just be handed off to another Guardian by whatever power lays within the
medallion.”
“Can that happen?” James asked, in sudden horror.
“Hell if I know, but it’s a power beyond anything I
understand. It might just decide you’re not worthy of her and give her to
someone that will actually treasure her for the gift she is. And that may very
well mean you’re out of luck, permanently.”
“Shit,” James whispered. Popping up to his feet, he got out
of there quickly. No way in hell am I
losing my only hope at staying in the light to another Guardian. The mere
thought of Sophia being touched by another man made his stomach turn. She was
his.
Stopping, he looked around. Now, he had one major problem
and a minor obstacle, getting Sophia to speak to him again so he could
apologize and avoiding being gutted by her sister. He’d seen the looks that
Vivian had been shooting his way, and now, he understood them.
© April
Zyon, Secret Cravings Publishing, 2015
Excerpt
R
“Touch yourself, honey. Play with your clit. Learn your own
body, and its responses.” He cupped her breast in his free hand, pinching and
rolling her nipple.
Sophia did just that. She slid her hand down her body, over
his that was working in and out of her, and rubbed her thumb over her clit.
“That’s it, Soph.” He pulled his fingers from her body,
laced them through hers, and pressed a digit from each of their hands back
inside her. “Feel how hot, how wet, you are, Sophia. You’re so slick, so ready
to accept anything and everything we do together.”
“Yes.” She was, too. “Jesus. Please, James.” She was
desperate for more. “I want you inside of me. Love me,” she begged.
“I do love you, with everything I have in me.” He drew their
fingers from her body again and grabbed her hips. Lifting her up, he poised her
over himself. “Guide me into your pussy, Sophia. Take hold of my cock and help
me slip into your sweet, little body.”
Reaching between them, Sophia closed her hand over his thick
shaft. “Holy hell,” she moaned. “You’re so hard.” She adjusted herself, her thumb
still stroking over her own clit, and sobbed while bracing her other hand on
his arm. “You feel so good.”
He let her slide down his cock slowly, one of his hands
moving up to cup her breast and pull her back to his chest. “You’re in the
position to move, to control what we do, Sophia. Move your legs so you can use
them to lift and lower yourself on me.”
She moved experimentally up then down on him and sobbed back
a sigh of pure, intense pleasure. “Holy hell,” she moaned again.
“Nice and slow, Soph. Take your time, honey. We have all the
time in the world. It’s just you and I, here in this moment, enjoying one
another.” He gave her breast a gentle squeeze, flicking her nipple as he caught
her free hand. Sliding it down her body, he pressed it to where they were
joined.
“That feels so good.” She rocked back and forth on him,
shivering in reaction to his touches. “There, that feels good.” She was moving
slowly now, taking his advice and simply loving every single part of their
union.
“It should always feel good between us, Soph. No matter what
we do, no matter how we do it, it should always be fucking amazing when we come
together.” James pressed a kiss to her neck, her shoulder, and scraped his
teeth lightly over her skin.
“Couldn’t agree more.” She was rocking faster now, her
actions just a bit rougher. “James.” She felt that feeling in the pit of her
stomach, of the butterflies threatening to burst free and take flight. “What is
this?” Her pussy tightened against his cock. “Please.”
“It’s your orgasm, Sophia. Ride it all out. Let it break
free. Just let it consume you. I’ll be right here to catch you when you fall.
I’ll always be here to catch you, honey.” He was rocking his hips, driving his
cock through her folds faster, taking her higher and higher. “Let go and scream
for me, honey.”
Sophia moved harder and faster on him. She didn’t stop. She
needed this every single bit as much from him as he needed it from her.
“There,” she sobbed, and with her head falling back, she screamed his name let
her release break free.
His arm held her tight to his body as he rubbed her clit,
drawing her climax out. Over and over, he slammed into her body until he
finally stilled deep inside of her. His teeth latched onto her shoulder as he
growled out her name and heat flooded her sheath in long splashes.
Sophia screamed out his name a second time. She liked the
way that heated moisture felt when he tightened like that. “Gods,” she
whimpered. “Was that your orgasm?” she asked, as she collapsed against him.
“Heavens, that was so very, very good. I think we need to do that a lot.”
“Was what, what?” James sounded confused. And more than a
little dazed. “Damn, woman, I think you might have killed me.” He laughed
softly, hugging her close to him as he pressed kisses along her throat and jaw.
“The heat that I feel inside of me. Was that your orgasm?”
she asked again with a smile and rubbed her cheek to his shoulder. “I like it.
If you’ve been killed, then I’m dead too.”
©
April Zyon, Secret Cravings Publishing, 2015
