Page 12 of The Guardian's True-Mate

“Not tonight,” I shook my head and his scent turned to disappointment. “Not to the Other World. Time moves strange over there, and I don’t think either of us are in our right minds to run off over there and keep track of Earthside time.”

“You’re right,” he stepped back from me.

“That doesn’t mean we have to stop kissing,” I laughed and stepped forward for another kiss.

He kissed me once, twice, three times, and then pulled away. It was my turn to feel the sting of rejection.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“It’s hard to think straight,” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It’s hard to think straight when we touch. It’s hard to think straight when we don’t. I need to call Mother to send out another guard. I about abandoned my duties to take you to an elvish bed and breakfast in the Other World.”

“Hey,” I took his hand and entwined our fingers. “Thinking straight isn’t easy when magic’s involved. It doesn’t matter how much you meditate or prepare yourself some magic is just a mind fuck. I think you’re the right guard for them, because I’m going to stick around and help with the pups. They’re safe right now. We didn’t run off, did we?”

“I would’ve if you had said ‘yes’,” he frowned.

“And I wanted to,” I nodded, “but there will be time for that later. Scott’s not going to be pregnant forever and his pups won’t be little forever.”

“We should head back,” he said, looking back toward the village.

“Okay,” I nodded and squeezed his hand.

After a few minutes of walking back in silence I had to fill the empty air.

“Do you want to know why I think the true-mate response magic affects everyone so much?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said. “Any theory would be helpful.”

“It’s magic our past selves cast on our future selves. It’s us who casted the magic upon ourselves. So, there’s no protection against it. There’s no way to shield or avoid it.”

“It’s that your witchy way of saying we’re our own worst enemies?” Cardian chuckled.

“Only sort of. In this case, we’re actually watching out for ourselves. Imagine us, standing in some ancient forest in the Other World and deciding that no matter what happens in the future we’re the ones who will spend the rest of our lifetimes together. Then, however it’s done – we cast the magic that if we found each other we wouldn’t be able to ignore it. Then with each lifetime it grows stronger – because love is fueling it and that love grows in each lifetime and ---” I stopped for a second. “Sorry. I guess I’m a bit of a helpless romantic.”

Cardian stopped and held both my hands in his.

“Your view of the world is certainly kinder than mine.”

“No, it’s not. I don’t study so much protection magic because I think the world is safe. I know the world is a grab bag of bliss and bullshit.”

“Bliss and bullshit,” Cardian laughed. “That’s one way to put it. I like how you think of the true-mate magic. It makes sense.”

“You just like it because it means there’s no outside force dragging you around, just your past selves.”

“Maybe,” he said right before his lips crashed into mine again.

I walked backward searching for a tree to lean against as his nimble tongue swept over my mouth again. The tree line was thinner near the village square, but after a few backwards stumbling steps, Cardian caught on and guided me to a tree. He leaned in close to me, pinning me between his muscular body and the tree. His heartbeat thrummed through his ribs, echoing over my skin. We kissed hard, our tongues swirling together. I grabbed a fist full of his shirt, keeping him as close to me as possible.

“You smell so fucking good,” he whispered against my lips in between kisses. “So fucking good. Good enough that I want to toss my honor into the bushes and forget my family name. I want to take you out here in the woods like we’re primal creatures with nothing to lose.”

Using his shirt as leverage, I pulled him back in for another kiss. His words echoed through my mind as his dick grew hard against my belly. My body reacted to him all at once, making me hard and slick. I ground against him until he slid his knee between my legs to give me something to rub against. I ground against him, savoring the building friction.

When Cardian pulled away I tried to pull him back against me thinking his honor had crept back into his head. There was a time for everything, but I was going to scream if he kept pulling away from me. I needed him. The magic tugged at my atoms and my heart wanting to know again what it had known many times before.

Only this time, Cardian didn’t go far. He dropped to his knees in the forest weeds and pushed my shirt up to reveal the flat plain of my lean abs. He kissed my belly and used his tongue to trace the lines of the muscles left in my skin. I groaned, swallowing down a howl of victory. We were so close to what and who we needed. My wolf rolled around his inner sanctum savoring as I did our mate’s mouth moving over our flesh.

Cardian’s fingers stopped at my fly and looked up at me. Without answering, I pushed my jeans down over my hips and dick, just low enough to give him access to all the most sensitive bits of me. He grinned up at me and I expected to see his fangs flash in the moonlight, but they were nowhere in sight.

He kissed my belly again and the v that led down to my dick before he took me in his hand. His long, nimble fingers wrapped around me, and I swallowed down a moan. His flesh was warm against mine as his fist traveled up and down my shaft. A second later, he lowered his head and pressed his warm lips against the head of my cock.

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