Page 28 of A Guard and a Gardener

Within seconds, the blade came to rest at Sir’s throat, bloodied by the strokes it had made along the man’s hands and arms to rid him of his weapon. He snarled out ineffective threats, making El raise an eyebrow before glancing over at me with concern.

“You alright, Jiron?”

“The tough bastard has served His Highness for thirteen years,” Luis drawled from my other side. “It would take more than this lot to finish him off.”

My restraints were cut and I slumped into his arms with a grateful nod. I heard myself groan as shredded skin was pulled taut and battered muscles forced to stretch, but thanks to Wyatt’s ministrations in keeping my head clear, felt none of it.

“Speaking of finishing off,” Elías said pointedly, using his sword to force Sir to a kneeling position on the floor. “This one, and the others we left alive outside, are for you, Jiron.” My friend’s voicetook on a harsh note, the only sign of the fury broiling inside him other than the darkness in his eyes.

“I don’t want them,” I rasped.

That was his permission to kill them all. To exterminate the monsters who had been hunting my prince like the animals they were. And perhaps El would have done it, but it was at that moment that Luis helped me fight my way back to my feet and I caught Elías’ wince as he took in the full extent of my injuries.

His expression went even colder.

“I do,” was all he said. He reversed the blade in his hand and smacked Sir across the temple, sending him unconscious to the ground in an ungainly heap. I didn’t envy the man and the other captives the excruciating torment they were in for when they awoke under Elías’ capable hands, but I had other priorities.

“Ren?” I heard myself ask hoarsely, my fingers slick with my own blood and slipping on Luis’ skin where we clutched at each other. “Are Ren and Mathias safe?”

The uncertain look he shot at El as if for guidance made my heart plummet.

“Don’t lie to me, Luis. Please.”

“We don’t know,” he muttered. “No one has heard from either of them.”

Panic and fear weakened my limbs and blurred my vision. No...

They’re both fine. You saw them just yesterday in the palace gardens, happy and laughing.

The thought came unbidden, unexpected because I had not been thinking any such thing at the time, but also gilded in certainty, because fuck, the boy was good. Wyatt had taken the edge off the terror I’d felt when this all happened the first time: what I’d feltwhenever I’d unwillingly relived it since – but his eager mouth was now sending me soaring through the clouds, stripping the memories of their darkness and forging them anew in pleasure and joy. Reminding me that Ren and his husband were safe. ThatIwas safe.

I’d made Luis keep me quiet at night, but I wouldn’t ask that of Wyatt. And I didn’t feel the same need to hide as I did in the palace; not here, in this cozy little home with my man at my side. He let me be vulnerable and strong all at once.

Not just the guard, he’d said. But the lover and the man beneath too.

Could I let myself be more than my job?

It likely wouldn’t be the last time I’d fall prey to whatever infected my mind and dragged me back to experience those horrible memories over and over, but Wyatt had helped lose them some of their bite. Writing over the experience like a worn piece of parchment, grounding me against what wasthenwith what wasnowand-

I cried out my boy’s name as he patiently but insistently took me over the edge, then ran my hands through his soft and now tangled hair while he eagerly lapped at my tip and milked the last few drops of cum from my satiated cock.

“Wyatt,” I murmured again, dragging him up to meet me. Our mouths met, his hot and sticky, and he eagerly rubbed himself against me, ready for more. The exuberance of youth, I thought fondly as I took him in hand.

I was worn out from all of our exertions this morning but refused to let his energy go unrewarded. It had somehow – miraculously and so damn thankfully – become my job to look after this boy, and I was going to give it as much dedication as I did my appointment as royal guard. Wyatt wouldn’t want for anything,I’d make sure of it. Money, protection, comfort. A hard cock in a firm ass. A shoulder to cry on, a daddy to fix his problems, someone to be at his side every day from this one to the end.

I’d give him it all.

*

Chapter Eighteen

I yawned, stretching, worn out but incredibly happy. I was still wearing Jiron’s shirt – it was loose enough on my smaller form that he’d been able to do what he wanted to me without needing to remove it – and amber eyes tracked me hungrily as I rolled over.

Hungry…but also sleepy, for they were half-lidded as he lazed on the bed and watched me. Perhaps in time I’d tease him about hisadvanced years, pretending to tug at non-existent grey hairs and poke dubiously at the toned stomach that didn’t hold an ounce of fat, but for now, his voiced doubts still echoed around my head. He’d thought himself too old for me? Too big? I was going to spend years proving that he was perfect in every way.

I yawned again. “I suppose I should go to work,” I said reluctantly, trailing my bare foot up his thick, powerful calf and savouring the ticklishness of his leg hair beneath my toes.

But Jiron just snorted. “You, sweet boy, have an extremely loose relationship with time.”

---