His teeth snapped together in a hard bite. His sympathy was gone that fast. Her body betrayed her? "I. Do. Not. Think. So." His voice was pitched low. But it thundered through her body as it was meant to do. She winced back and bit her lip hard. Even that wasn't going to get her out of trouble.
His hand whipped out and he bunched that long hair in his fist, pulling her head back before she could hide her face from him.
"You understand something, Gabrielle. Get this straight. You betrayed me. Your body belongs to me. Not him. Your body knows what it is doing. You, however, do not, but you had better learn fast or you are going to find your life is miserable until you do. You owe me allegiance. I gave you every chance to live your life without me, but you chose. You chose. I told you there would be no going back. You cannot survive without me now, nor I you. So learn this now. You belong to me. Your body. Your heart. Your soul and that treacherous, betraying mind of yours."
Gabrielle flinched with every blow he dealt her. It felt as if he'd punched her repeatedly over and over, right in her gut. She was grateful her knees were drawn up tightly or she would have doubled over. As it was, she felt bile rise. Her body had betrayed her. At the same time he was right. He was right about her. She wasn't worth anything at all. She was disloyal to Gary. Her beloved Gary. Gary, who represented all things human. He represented kindness and security. She wasn't ready to throw that comfort away and embrace this wild, rough man who demanded not only her allegiance, but her body, soul, heart and mind. Everything. He would take everything away from her.
She was already stripped bare. He despised her. She was terrified of him and the life they would lead together. There was nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. She knew she was tied to him, and not just through their blood-bond and their soul-bond. She knew she wouldn't be able to go long without feeling his body inside of her. His mouth on her. She would burn for him. She was addicted to his taste. To his touch. To his cock.
She covered her face with her hands and wept, uncaring if he saw her or not. She was lost. So incredibly lost. Was it possible for her to meet the dawn without harming him? For a moment, that seemed the only answer.
His hands pulled hers down and he looked at her face. She knew the moment his green eyes went dark that he saw what she was thinking. He didn't enter her mind and she was grateful for that, but he looked more terrifying than ever.
"You will not even consider such a thing."
There was no trying to look innocent and she'd promised him the truth. So let him hear it. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I've never been with a man. I know nothing of lifemates . . ."
"What family would not teach their daughter about lifemates?" Skepticism was in his voice.
"I told you. I am human. Was human," she corrected. Hadn't she told him? He had been so frightening. So out of control. It was possible he hadn't heard her. She couldn't remember what had been said or not said. "I was stabbed repeatedly by members of a human society who hunt vampires and I nearly died. I guess I did die and was reborn Carpathian. I don't know why they targeted me. But Mikhail, the prince of the Carpathian people, converted me."
Aleksei looked at her, his eyes burning right through her, but she couldn't tell from his expression if he believed her. Still, she plowed on.
"I'm psychic, from a family of psychics, and in case it is news to you, psychics can be converted without fear they will go mad. My sister is lifemate to a Carpathian. I don't know what I'm doing. I can't take blood by myself. I can't sleep in the ground, and I don't know anything at all about lifemates."
She lifted her chin and glared at him defiantly. "You got yourself a real bargain. I don't know the first thing about being your lifemate. I don't know how to be Carpathian, and I've loved Gary for a very long time. So not only did I inadvertently betray you, I betrayed him and I betrayed myself. So don't think you're all alone in this mess I've made. I pretty much screwed everyone."
There. She'd told him her sad tale and hoped he believed her because she wasn't going to repeat herself again. He might as well know the worst about her.
Aleksei stared at her for so long she was afraid she might just scream. There was absolute silence inside the four walls. Not even a whisper of movement. He was that still. A predator watching her, wholly focused on her. A cold chill crept down her spine. Her heart slammed hard and began to accelerate. Her blood went cold.
"This man you say you love. He is a Daratrazanoff. He knew better."
She knew in that moment that he would hunt down Gary and kill him. It was there in his eyes. That dark green that glittered with menace and ruthless intent. Aleksei really was part savage, as untamed as any of the wildest predatory animals roaming the earth. He was going to kill Gary, and she was certain he had the knowledge and skill to do it in spite of all the knowledge Gary had acquired when they converted him.
Gabrielle shook her head. "He wasn't. He was human, too. He became friends with Gregori Daratrazanoff." She swept a hand through her hair, suddenly exhausted, so tired she could barely lift her hand. She didn't want to do this. "This isn't Gary's fault. We had feelings for each other before we were converted. I had no comprehension of being someone's lifemate or what that would entail."
"Your sister is a lifemate to someone and she was human like you." The words were a low accusation.
She was intelligent. She had known. She hadn't wanted to know, but deep down, where she was good at hiding from herself, she had known there was the possibility. She'd just convinced herself it wouldn't happen because she was too afraid. She didn't want someone to consume her. She didn't want that side of her nature she kept hidden, she repressed and pushed away, ever coming out--like he had brought out in her.
She moaned softly in despair. There was no going back. He wouldn't let her. She knew that, she knew by his implacable expression and the hardness in his green gaze. He had said she was wild. That she matched him. She didn't want that. She was afraid of who she was. What lengths would she go to? He would rule her life if she allowed it and she was very, very afraid she would if she didn't find the courage to fight him.
"You will forget this man, Gabrielle. If you do not, I will kill him. You do not know me, so you cannot know I do not make idle threats. He has no right to any part of you and I refuse to share you with him."
"I would hate you forever if you killed him," she whispered.
His hand tightened in her hair, forcing her to stare into his eyes. "If this man is in your mind and heart, there is no room for me," he said. "You gave yourself to me. All of you. Are you a woman of your word?"
She wanted to be. She moistened her lips. She knew he was telling her she had to let go of Gary, but he didn't understand it was so much more than that.
"Say it," he snapped, his fingers tightening in warning. "If you are not honest with me, I will take your mind and see to every corner of it and sweep this man away myself. I am giving you this concession. Talk to me honestly even if you know it will make me angry. If you do not, I will not ask again."
"I know I did something wrong," she said, unable to contain her rising temper. "I tried to make up for it. Punish me if that makes you feel any better. I don't know what else I can do. If I give him up completely, I've lost everything I was. Everything I am. Everything human. I'll be so lost I won't know how to get back to me." The stark truth burst out of her before she could sort through her desperate thoughts.
Again he just watched her. Forever. For what seemed an eternity. Abruptly, still holding her hair, he pulled her head back farther and leaned into her, taking her mouth. She kept her mouth closed. She was determined that he wouldn't have any more of her right then. She was too vulnerable. Too exposed. Too fragile. One more blow and she might not survive. She didn't want to know that her body was already his. She just wanted to be numb and not think about anything at all. Not ever again.
She turned her face to the side but he clamped his hand around her jaw, holding her face toward his.
"Kessake, you cannot
be afraid you will lose yourself. I can always find you. I will always find you no matter how lost you are. You put yourself into my keeping, and I may be rough and half savage, but you do not have to fear these things. I will see to your happiness. I will cherish you and protect you."
His lips brushed over hers gently, almost tenderly, and her eyes burned with tears all over again. How could he be so sweet one moment and so frightening the next? She was just so tired.
"I will teach you the things you fear. You are intelligent, Gabrielle. You know information is power. You fear what you do not know. You will grow powerful and skilled in the ways of our people. That will not lessen who you are or who you were, only enhance it."
She pressed her forehead to his. "You're making sense and that scares me a little," she admitted. She lifted her head. "How? How do I do what you ask?"
"You have no choice, kessake, because I have no choice. I cannot share you with another man. I will not. No other man touches you."
"I know that," she said. "I wouldn't betray you like that. Not even with him." And she wouldn't. She'd given her word, and truthfully, she wasn't certain any other man would ever satisfy her. Worse, she wasn't certain she could allow another man to touch her, not even Gary.
"I want all of you."
It was a demand, and it said everything about him. He was ruthless. Arrogant. He would kill. He had killed. He was hard and scary and everything that Gary was not. She let her breath out slowly and closed her eyes.
Gary. She breathed his name with regret. With sorrow. I'm so sorry. She was sorry. For everything, but mostly because she already belonged to Aleksei. Maybe not her heart, but she had chosen and she would stick with that choice, no matter how terrified she was.
She didn't know how to let Gary go, but she was going to try. Gary wouldn't feel the sorrow she did. She knew the love he had for her would barely be a memory to him if Gregori and Mikhail had managed to save him--and she was certain they had. She would have known if he was gone.
She breathed her good-bye and took another breath. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into Aleksei's brilliant green eyes. He didn't blink. He refused to release her gaze.
"Are you letting him go?"
She nodded her head slowly.
"Kiss me."
She pulled back a little, or tried to. She'd forgotten his hand in her hair. That said how gentle he'd been with her, but now she felt the bite of demand on her scalp. She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue. She wasn't ready for this. "Aleksei." She whispered his name, asking for mercy. Willing him to understand.
His hold slid from her hair to wrap around the nape of her neck. "Kessake, you need to trust your lifemate. I want you to kiss me."
She wrapped her arms tighter around her knees, holding herself together when she was afraid she would come apart.
"Lean into me. Put your hands on my shoulders and kiss me."
His voice was gentle. Patient. For some reason that turned her heart over and made her want to weep. She never knew what to expect from him and it kept her feeling off balance. She forced her body to uncurl a little, just enough to take her hands from her legs and put them on his broad shoulders. At once heat soaked into her. She hadn't even known she was cold or shivering. His skin was hot and warmed her entire body just by having her hands on him.
"That is a start, but you forgot the part where you lean into me. I want your breasts pressed against my chest and your mouth on mine."
Her eyes searched his. She didn't know what to make of his instructions, but she felt her body react at the suggestion. Her breasts suddenly were tender and sensitive, achy and in need of his touch. A throb began deep in her core. She leaned into him, letting his thick, heavily muscled chest take her weight.
His hand remained at the nape of her neck, while his other arm swept around her back and locked her to him. She had to tilt her head up so she could see his mouth. She could fixate on his mouth, especially because she knew his taste. Knew the way he kissed.
She slid her arms around his neck, pressing even closer, letting him hold her. Comfort her. Care for her. That's what it felt like. At the same time, she felt a little like his prisoner. Surrounded by him. Taken by him. Branded by him.
Ignoring everything else that came into her mind, she concentrated on his mouth. His lips were full and sensual, his teeth very white and strong. There was nothing at all feminine about him; in fact, he looked fiercely male. She found her heart accelerating. Her stomach somersaulting. Her sex pulsed.
To block out her reaction to him, she moved the scant inches and brushed a kiss over his mouth. Then a second one. Her tongue touched the seam of his mouth and he opened to her. She was shy. She didn't really know what she was doing, but she had the experience of kissing him and she followed his example. He let her take the initiative for a few mind-stopping seconds. She explored the heat of his mouth, teasing his tongue, tracing his teeth, kissing him because now she had to, not because he demanded it.
Then he took over. Completely. Sweeping her away to another dimension. His kisses did that to her. He drove out every thought. Good or bad. Every other person until there was only Aleksei. Only the man holding her to him. Kissing the breath from her body. Starting fires with just his mouth alone.
Her body moved restlessly against his. His cock was suddenly hard and hot and resting against her thigh. Without thinking, she dropped one hand down to cover him, feeling him jerk beneath her. He felt like velvet over steel. Thick. So thick. So long. How could that fit inside of her? But it did and felt so good.
"Wrap your fist around my cock, Gabrielle."
He whispered the command against her mouth and then he was kissing her again. Long. Wet. Hard. So delicious. His mouth growing rougher. She couldn't resist the temptation and she wrapped her fingers around the heavy girth. He pulsed in her palm. So hot. Velvet soft. Iron hard. She didn't stop herself from exploring. From running her palm up the shaft and sliding up and over the broad crown.
"Yours," he said softly. "All yours."
One arm went to her back, the other beneath her knees. "Dawn is creeping upon us. We will go to ground and continue this next rising. And, kessake." He licked just behind her ear and then bit gently down on the skin between her shoulder and neck, sending a thousand flames dancing over her skin. "You did not think about him once, did you? I told you to trust me. I can help you. When you need help, you ask."
His eyes stayed on hers and she nodded slowly, her breath still caught in her lungs. He opened the earth, and she closed her eyes. "I've never gone to ground unless I was already asleep," she confided.
"You will lay with me, the ground open until we have to close it, and I will tell you how to do this. I can help you. And always know, you are safe with me. If you can conquer your fear, tell me and I will help you."
"I am not cleaned up yet."
"I want you to go to ground with me inside you. When you wake next rising, I promise you will be clean."
She wasn't certain what to think about that, but she did know one thing--she knew exactly why he wanted her to kiss him. Gary was gone from her mind just as he'd been when Aleksei had taken her body the first two times. Kissing Aleksei did that and she didn't want to think too much about what that said about her.
8
Trixie Joanes was in trouble. Not a little bit of trouble, but a lot. The kind of trouble that could get one dead very fast if they didn't make smart decisions. She was fairly certain the mountains were probably hiding like a million vampires, but her vampire-hunting kit--the one she'd gotten off the Internet--was really difficult to lug around.
The entire box was large and weighed a ton. It was awkward and when hiking up in the mountains--which was tough enough--impossible to carry. So really, what good was it? A big wooden box, with all kinds of content, that when sitting at home in her living room looked really cool, but when she was trying to haul it around with her, hiking up a seriously high mountain, well, whupping vampire ass was o
ut.
She'd been hiking for hours, running when she could, which, truthfully, wasn't very often. She was going uphill. She wasn't built for speed. She was a woman with a woman's body. In shape, but still, she had curves. Real womanly curves, not some stick figure that was all the rage.
"Seriously." She muttered the word under her breath as she avoided a field full of rocks and tried to find a place that was safe to sit down and rest. She really needed to rest. She'd gone up the mountain instead of down for a variety of reasons, none of which, at that particular moment when she was sucking in air to try to give her burning lungs a break, seemed logical.
She spotted a smallish boulder back in the shadow of the mountain that rose behind it like a specter. She could just sit there for a few minutes. She didn't want to be out in the open where her traveling companions might spot her. They would have found her missing the moment they got up. She could only hope they thought she'd gone back to the village instead of up the mountain, but she was fairly certain Denny Jashari could track anything in the mountains.
Trixie had no business in a foreign country running with a pack of hyenas pretending to be good people when they clearly weren't. If any of her girls had made such poor decisions she would have boxed their ears and brought them home for a good ass whuppin.
She sank down on the rock and dropped her back to the ground, considering for the millionth time whether or not to dump her vampire-hunting kit. It wasn't that she didn't believe in vampires anymore--she'd been convinced that monsters actually existed--she knew she wasn't two steps away from the loony bin--but quite frankly, she just couldn't conjure up enough energy to care. She didn't have to worry about monsters there on the mountain, she had to worry about them maniacs.
She didn't like to travel and yet she found herself in the Carpathian Mountains, somewhere near Poland, or the Ukraine, or one of those countries where she didn't understand a word anyone said. The only reason she would leave her home and her own neighborhood was her beloved granddaughter--Teagan.
Teagan did like to travel and she was always getting herself into scrapes. Mostly, she got out of them because she was extremely smart, but this time . . . Well, she needed her grandmother whether she thought so or not. Teagan was in love. With a foreigner. Trixie knew all about the human trafficking and sex trade going on with young, beautiful, susceptible girls like Teagan. She had to stop her from making a terrible mistake. Well, now, her first priority was to save herself and if she did, it would take a lot of luck. She should have known better than to get mixed up with a bunch of fanatics.