My Guardian

He guided her down the middle of the cavern that acted as their 'main street'. "Across from the dining hall, we have our training grounds and a recreational center. We have our own library, movie room, small commissary, pool, and storage center."

"Pool! Y'all have a pool! Where is it?" Eva looked around excitedly.

"Behind the mess hall. I take it from your reaction that you enjoy swimming."

"I'm a tiger shifter, of course I love swimming. When can we go?" She looked up at him as if he had promised her the sun and stars.

"I have something better, remind me to show you later."

Her eyes narrowed. "Better than a pool?"

"Better than a pool."

"Okay, I'm trusting ya on this. So how does the commissary work?" Eva walked over and peeked in the window.

"It is on an honor system. Because the city is impregnable, we do not have to do patrols the way other city's units have to, so we have more downtime. In that downtime, we have all taken up hobbies. The Kappa Unit likes to garden, so they have their own indoor hydroponics building. They keep us in fresh vegetables and fruit year round. Beau and Riordan from the Lambda Unit like to build things, so every couple months they head to Albuquerque to hunt for quality wood pieces, and they have their own workshop. Deacon and Belenos from the Theta Unit love to cook, so they run our mess hall. Grant from my unit knits; he says it calms him. Anyway, he creates the most intricate blankets I have ever seen. Everything gets put in the store along with anything extra picked up in the city. If someone needs something, they grab it, but they will always leave something in exchange or offer service hours, for example, trading tunnel escort shifts with the item's creator."

Eva laughed. "I'd rather have one of the unit warriors escort me than that asshole from earlier."

"What exactly happened?" he asked.

When she told him what was said and how the escort had shoved Meryn, he felt his blood pressure begin to skyrocket. Not only was Meryn mistreated, but was done so in full view of a unit warrior. Which translated into showing no respect for Magnus or the unit warriors; it was a treacherous mix.

"I will speak to Magnus at dinner. Since Aiden is visiting, my entire unit is invited to dinner during their stay."

"Was that Aiden's request?"

"Yes. He does not often get the chance to travel around to the different cities and meet with the other units, so he wanted to take advantage of his visit."

"So where do you live?"

Adriel lifted their joined hands and pointed down the street. "I am the very last house. It is set a bit apart from the others. As the unit leader, I did not want to make them feel like I was breathing down their necks."

"Or they could think that you were trying to act superior to them."

Adriel froze in his tracks. "You do not think they really viewed my actions in that manner, do you?"

Eva tilted her head and looked at him. He found her orange and amber colored eyes mesmerizing. "Probably not since you're very sincere, and your actions show you put the men first. But it could be seen that way by others."

Adriel began to go over his interactions with the men. Did they believe him to be rank conscious? Was he alienating himself from them, and if he was, was he missing things that a good leader would see because of it? He frowned until he felt soft lips on his. He stepped back, surprised. She laughed at his expression.

"Didn't mean to startle you, but you looked too serious. Your thoughts were taking you away from me, and I didn't like it."

"You can reach my lips." He blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

Her cheeks flushed as she dropped his hand to wrap her arms around his neck. "I am kinda tall."

"I like it. Truly. I do not have to bend in half for a kiss. I do not know how my commander manages with his mate being so tiny."

"She's pregnant; I'm pretty sure they figured it out."

He laughed. In the past two days, he had laughed twice. That was more than he had in years. Maybe the city had needed a crazy human and a sexy tiger to breathe new life into the ancient halls.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For this." He pointed to their path. "For walking with me and talking. I cannot remember having so lovely a time."

She gave him a wicked smile and stepped back. "Get us to your house and it will get better."

He tilted his head back and began to picture anything but his mate naked and begging. He had sworn to himself that whenever he was blessed with a mate, he would court her and take things slow; he would do it right. He looked back down, and she winked at him.

Gods above give him strength.

They started walking again and his eyes strayed to perfectly rounded ass encased in worn denim.

And stamina.

*****

When they arrived at his house, he found that he was nervous. He had been living alone for centuries, but despite the many years, he had not accumulated much. He opened the door, and she walked inside.

"There is not much..." he began. But he caught her expression. Her eyes were wide with wonder, and she took in every small detail.

Though he did not have a lot, what he did have was very special to him. He had collected small pieces here and there in his travels; in the human world, they would be considered priceless, but to him each told a story.

"Everything is so clean and perfect. I mean, I kinda figured it would be clean since your collar is starched and your uniform looks like it's made of cardboard, but I thought it would be like hospital clean. This feels homey." Her nose twitched. "Is that cinnamon?"