Free The Guardian by Sara Anderson

change.”
    Cassie did not see it the same way. Lucas was freed,
and he’d used that freedom to murder her friend. She wanted him gone. “He
should have been put down.”
      “Perhaps, but
remember there are punishments worse than death.” He gave her an apologetic
look. “Now we need to talk about you. The serum Doctor Trask gave you will only
last for another day.”
    “What is it doing?” Her eyes widened fearfully. Would
that awful pain come back? She was just about to tell Michael that she didn’t
think anything could be worse than death. Then she thought of that awful pain.
If his pain was anything like what she suffered than maybe she was wrong about
that assumption.
    “Let me try to find a way to explain it to you in a
way you would understand.” Michael thought for a moment. “When Lucas bit you he
gave you some of his essence, or magic. Once Ilithyia gives some of her powers to us she can’t take it back. Even fallen guardians
still have the gifts from the Goddess.”
    Cassie’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Why would he do
that? I thought he was going to kill me.”
    “He sensed the dormant essence in you and for whatever
reason he decided to change you. Only my rescue saved you from him completing
the process.”
    “It isn’t done yet?” She felt her stomach churning
sickeningly.
    “No, it’s not, and I am afraid it will be
painful.”  
    Cassie could feel her anxiety rising. “Can you knock
me out? I don’t want to feel it.”
    He shook his head. “No, I can’t. The essence will not
allow any drugs to work on you like that. The more of my essence you receive,
the quicker the process will take though.” He stopped for a moment and placed
his fist over his mouth as he cleared his throat. “There are ways I can make
this more comfortable for you.”
    Cassie was looking at Michael and felt suspicion
tingling at her spine. He looked like he was waiting for her to melt down or
something. “How exactly do you do this?”
    “There are several ways, some more pleasant than
others. I can shift into my animal form and bite you. That is the most painful
way since my fangs have to remain imbedded in your flesh. Most cannot help but
fight, which leads to further pain.”
    Cassie shuddered. She remembered all too well that
wolf biting her and not letting up. The pain was terrible. “No. I do not want
to go through that again.”   She would
rather take a bullet than go through that kind of torment again.
    “I didn’t think you would want to be changed that way.
The other is through mating.”
    Cassie was glad she didn’t have anything to choke on
in her mouth. As it was she thought she would choke on her breath. She couldn’t
breathe for a moment. “Mating? As in sex?” She looked
up at Michael with an incredulous expression. “You want to have sex, with me?”
Through her shock she got an erotic image of Michael holding her down and
pounding into her. She would cry out her pleasure, but as she writhed around he
would bite down on her and force her to stay still for him. She blinked to
clear the arousing vision she just had. Shit, where the hell did that come from? I just met the man and I am wanting the man to fuck me senseless.
      “We share a
bond already. Do you feel the pull between us? Do you share a desire for me to
take you any way I please? Mating would seal that bond between us, and while my
essence would be transferred to you, skin to skin contact also eases some of
the discomfort of the change.”
    Does he know
what I am thinking? No way.   She
brushed off the feeling that he knew what was going on in her head and
concentrated on their conversation. “Like when you were holding me in the van?
I felt better once I was up against you.”
    “Yes, that was why you felt better. The essence
churning in your body recognized mine and calmed enough that the pain eased. I
cannot ease all of the discomfort, but some.”
    “A little is better than none,” she muttered. The
shock of