It took every ounce of discipline she possessed to remain where she was. Aleksei! She tried to warn him, but she felt the blade sliding into his back. Ice-cold. Fiery hot. She could see Vaugn behind him, but she couldn't see what he was doing, not from where she was. She could only see Aleksei's arm being charred to the bone, the smell of burning flesh filling her lungs.
She pulled in a ragged, gasping breath, and gave up fighting her instincts. She couldn't help him with the master vampire, but she could with Vaugn. She tried to move and nothing happened. Nothing. Her feet were planted firmly, as if they'd taken root. She couldn't move at all. Her heart contracted with fear. Her stomach knotted. She might have to stand right there and watch Aleksei be slaughtered.
He whirled around, still holding the master vampire straight up in the air, his fist and forearm buried deep in the vampire's chest. Mazur shrieked horribly, the sound reverberating up and down the streets of the village, a hideous noise that hurt ears. He sounded like a wounded animal, and yet he raked and clawed at Aleksei's face. Somehow Aleksei avoided the wicked talons much of the time, although several times they scored deep furrows not only in his face, but also his shoulder. Clearly the vampire was trying to gouge out Aleksei's eyes and rip open his neck.
Aleksei swung around to face Vaugn, who was still stabbing at his back, and as he did, he threw the master vampire into the man with the knife. The blade went into the vampire, straight into his back. The force of the throw buried the knife to the hilt and sent both vampire and Vaugn tumbling together several feet away from Aleksei.
Aleksei's arm emerged from the chest wall. In his fist was the blackened heart of the vampire. Immediately he dropped it and held his burned arm toward the sky. Lightning sizzled. Forked. Streaked down to slam into the heart, incinerating it. Even as he did so, Aron Mazur was up on his feet, rushing Aleksei, slamming into him, his monstrous teeth driving into Aleksei's shoulder, ripping and tearing.
The vampire suddenly stiffened, his mouth stretched wide in another scream, although this one was silent. He crumbled to the ground and the whip of lightning struck his body, turning it to ash. Aleksei casually bathed his body in the white-hot energy and then looked toward Vaugn.
Gabrielle went to her knees and was sick, over and over again. Dry heaving, gagging, her stomach protesting what her mind couldn't deal with. She still couldn't move her feet and she was fairly certain Aleksei would be furious with her, but at that moment she didn't care. Her world crumbled around her. She had thought she could do this, live with him in his world, be what he needed her to be, what she wanted and needed herself, but she knew she couldn't. She could never, ever be a true lifemate to an ancient warrior like Aleksei--and clearly he knew that.
Vaugn stared in horror at the ashes on the ground, at the whip of lightning and Aleksei, who hadn't even changed expression. He tried to push himself up off the ground to run, but he couldn't move, somehow frozen to the spot. He watched in absolute horror as the lightning burned bright. Thunder rolled. He couldn't stop looking as the whips of white-hot energy took on renewed life, forking out, reaching with burning greed right toward him. He didn't scream. He didn't have time. His hand had gone up in protest. He opened his mouth, but the whip had already reached him. He didn't even feel the burn. He was simply gone as if he'd never been.
Immediately, Aleksei turned to Gabrielle, his eyes still burning with a kind of menacing fury. She knew the instant he released her, but she didn't move. She was still heaving. Still gagging. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the air. She watched as Aleksei went to Izaak and gently put his hands on the sides of the man's head. She saw him leave his own body, making himself completely vulnerable as he went into Izaak's mind to heal it and remove all memory of what had taken place.
Aleksei gently laid the man down on the bench and planted memories of a great night with friends at the pub in him. As soon as he was certain the man would be fine, he waved his hand to clear the air of all scent of battle as well as cleaning the ground of all evidence. Only then did he lift the barrier between the pub and the outside world he had hastily erected so no sounds of the battle could be heard inside.
He turned to Gabrielle. His lifemate. She was still down on her knees and now there were tears in her eyes and tracking down her face. He pushed down his temper, knowing his reaction came out of fear for her. Had she managed to move before he could stop her, she would have drawn the attention of the vampire and Vaugn. Denny was long since gone in the woods, hiding like the coward he was, but she could have been harmed. Still, he didn't have the heart to chastise her, not when she was looking like her heart was breaking.
"Come here to me," he said softly.
She shook her head and his heart clenched in his chest. She shook her head hard. Adamantly. He knew immediately her head was in a space that didn't bode well. He didn't bother to argue. He went to her, gathered her up and streaked across the night sky, allowing the rain to hit both of them, drenching them, washing his own blood from his body.
He felt her move, even with the tears in her eyes, reaching up to his shoulder where the ragged tears were, her tongue instinctively lapping to use the healing saliva in her mouth to close those lacerations. Then she was holding his face between her hands, doing the same thing, ignoring that they were in the air, air that grew steadily colder as he went up the mountain to his chosen lair. All the while she wept while she healed his face, and then sought out every other place on his body, examining his back for evidence of the knife wound, eventually finding even the smallest cuts to heal.
By the time he reached the safety of his cave, set the safeguards and had her on the bed, her head in his lap while he tried to comfort her, he honestly didn't know who was more upset--Gabrielle or him.
"That is enough, kislany. You are going to make yourself sick and there is no need for these tears. I am just fine. So are you. Nothing happened."
Her fingers balled into a fist and she thumped his thigh. "Something happened," she declared through her sobs. "I have to go. I have to leave you. I can't stay here with you."
He tensed. Huge knots formed in his belly. His hands tightened convulsively in the thick mass of her hair. He made himself breathe. In. Out. Waiting for the fury to pass. Waiting for his demons to quiet.
"Gabrielle, you are my lifemate. We do not leave each other. Talk to me. Tell me what is going on in that head of yours. I am being polite and allowing you your space, but if you cannot stop, I will have no choice but to take this information from you so I can stop you from making yourself sick. Talk to me."
"I can't do this. I should never have been converted." She covered her face with her hands and sobbed, great wrenching, heartbreaking sobs.
Aleksei's fingers sifted through her hair, keeping her head on his lap, breathing in and out to keep his demons at bay. His woman was hurting. Hurting. That was unacceptable to him. "My little cat, you are my lifemate. You were born my lifemate. You belong in my world with me. What makes you think you do not?"
She wrapped her arms tighter around his legs. "I didn't help you. I should have been able to help you when you needed it. Joie, my sister, would have jumped right in."
Aleksei stroked caresses through that mass of dark silk. "Kislany." He whispered the endearment softly. "You did try to jump right in. I prevented it."
"The difference . . ." She tried to sit up, to pull away from him.
Aleksei refused to allow it. He kept his hand on her head, preventing her from moving. He applied pressure until she subsided, collapsing against his thighs with another sob, as if even her inability to fight his strength was a sin.
"The difference," she repeated, "is you would have allowed my sister to help because she would know how. She wouldn't throw up. She wouldn't be a disadvantage to you, she would be an asset."
Another storm of weeping ensued. This time Aleksei pulled her up so that her face was pressed into his chest. He wrapped her up tightly. "That is enough. I allowed all those tears because you needed the rel
ease. You were shocked by the violence and afraid for me, but now you are just going to make yourself sick. Stop. I mean it, Gabrielle."
Her fingers curled into a fist and she thumped his chest. "You can't tell me to stop crying and expect me to obey."
"Yes I can, kislany. Stop right now. You obviously do not understand the concept of lifemates, and we need to be very clear on this. I need you to look at me, not hide your face. I do not want tears in your eyes when I talk to you about this. I need to be able to see that you are getting it."
She pressed her face deeper into his shirt. He felt the wetness of her tears, and he gave her time to obey him. The seconds seemed like hours before she finally took several deep, hiccupping breaths and lifted her face, drawing in the air to try to obey him. His fingers came up under that heavy fall of silk to curl around the nape of her neck. She was beautiful, even with her tear-drenched face. Her large eyes met his and he felt that impact in the pit of his stomach. His body stirred as it always did when she looked at him. When she was close to him. Anytime.
He stroked a caress down her cheek with his free hand, as if he could wipe away every tear. "This is why you are my lifemate, Gabrielle. Not your sister. Your sister would never suit me. We would not ever fit. You fit with me. When I tell you to do something, no matter how difficult, you do your best for me. Did you think I did not feel your struggle to stay still when I was in battle? You tried hard for me. Your nature, whether you know what you are doing or not, is to aid others. But you tried to do as I asked."
"Ordered," she corrected, sounding a little miffed.
He didn't smile, although he wanted to. "Ordered," he agreed. "I am a man who will order his woman and expect obedience. I will also take great care of her, always. In every way. I will see to her happiness because, kislany, by giving me that, by giving me her obedience when I need it, she is making me happy."
"I told you I'm not certain I can do obedience."
He did laugh then. Softly. Gently. So that she would know she meant everything to him and he wasn't laughing at her. "I get that, Gabrielle. But you try. That is what makes it such a gift. If it were easy for you, if it did not matter to you that I was in trouble and you stayed on the sidelines because obedience was easy, it would mean nothing. You needed to help me and yet you fought to do as I asked."
"But in the end, I disobeyed."
"I am certain you will disobey me often. It is the gift that it is difficult and you try that matters to me, not the actual doing. Although, in a battle, I will never allow you to aid me. I am not that kind of lifemate nor will I ever be. My woman stays safe where I put her. There is no discussion about that. There never will be. Your sister would never suit me, Gabrielle. Not in a million years. I would not want a woman who could battle at my side. I am too much of a . . ."
"Chauvinist?"
He laughed and brushed a kiss on her mouth. Her sweet mouth that always tempted him. "I was going to say protector, but chauvinist will do."
"I hated that. I hated knowing you could be killed, that you were being burned to the bone by the vampire's blood. That Vaugn was repeatedly stabbing that knife into your back." She shuddered, her hand moving over his face, gently touching the lacerations that were no longer open, but still raw.
There was tenderness in her touch. In her eyes. His heart shifted in his chest. She'd never looked at him with that particular expression. Soft. Loving even. He didn't want to think that word. He didn't know if he could take the disappointment of her not feeling that emotion, so he stayed out of her mind. Giving her space. Giving her time.
18
Gabrielle shifted positions, climbing onto Aleksei's lap. Straddling him. Fitting her body tightly to his. He seemed to always be hard for her. Ready for her. She leaned into him, grinding her mound against his hard bulge while she gently kissed each scratch and tear on his face. She didn't know what she was feeling, only that she felt full. Completed. Whole. And he made her feel that way.
"Do you mean it, Aleksei? You aren't disappointed that you didn't get a woman who could fight by your side?"
"It is impossible to be disappointed in you, kislany."
Aleksei slid his hands down her body, from beneath her arms to her hips, taking her clothing with it. He bent his head to capture her mouth. "We do not have a lot of time, little cat, and there are things I want to do to you. Things I need from you, so this time, you will give that to me." He murmured the command against her lips, his hands spanning her waist.
"I already gave you obedience," she pointed out, her mouth seeking his.
He lifted her easily and deposited her on the bed, following her down, his mouth on hers, his much heavier body pinning hers. I see the allure of beds for humans.
Nice. Right? She lost herself in his mouth. In all that heat and fire. She couldn't believe anyone could kiss like him. When he kissed her, if he asked her for the moon, she would have tried to find a way to give it to him.
Very nice.
Aleksei kissed his way down to her throat. Put your hands above your head, kislany, I like the way it lifts your breasts, like a wonderful offering. I intend to take my time, what time we have before we have to return to the monastery, worshiping your body. I want your eyes on me at all times. Do not look away.
Gabrielle stared into his eyes. So green. So filled with desire. Desire so intense, she felt her body instantly dampen in response. Not taking her eyes from his, she slowly complied, lifting her arms above her head.
She had no idea how much time passed or how many times her body gave him exactly what he demanded. His mouth, his teeth, his tongue and his fingers were everywhere, claiming her, pushing her up over and over, until one climax ran into another. Until she thought she might die before he actually took her. Until she was writhing on the bed, sobbing his name, pleading with him.
Tell me who your lifemate is, he demanded, dragging her down the bed, kneeling as he threw her legs over his shoulders, putting her in a vulnerable position. He guided the head of his cock to her dripping entrance. Leave your hands where I told you, Gabrielle. His voice was a whip, hard and authoritative after he had pushed her so far from her comfort zone and she'd gone there with him.
"I can't," she said, her head whipping back and forth. "I have to hold on to you."
She reached for him, or tried to. She couldn't move her wrists from the mattress. Her gaze jumped back to his face. "Aleksei." She breathed his name. Ragged. Panting. Writhing. He just held her there, suspended, his body against hers, and she tried to impale herself on him but he refused to allow it.
She fought for control, her breasts heaving, her lungs burning. "Please, Aleksei. Tell me what you want."
"I want you to tell me who your lifemate is. And know it, Gabrielle. I am entering your mind when I enter your body. You had better know who you belong to."
She licked her lips to moisten them. He was asking for more than her body. She knew that. She didn't care. She might be the most fickle person on the face of the earth, but this man had found his way inside of her. Soul to soul. She would always love Gary. She knew that and accepted it, but she would love him differently, as the man who saw her and saved her when no one else could see her.
"You're my lifemate, Aleksei," she whispered. She gave him truth. She opened her mind to him. Let him see her. Let him see how she loved Gary and how, already, her love for her lifemate was so intense, so beyond anything she could have imagined, that she knew he wouldn't be worried about her feelings for Gary.
"He is lost to you," Aleksei said softly. "Beyond any emotion now. Perhaps his memories of you will keep him safe on whatever path fate has for him. But you are mine. Fully and completely mine."
She nodded. She knew that. "Yours, Aleksei, and I'm burning up. I need you right now."
He answered her the only way Aleksei ever answered--his way. He took her hard and fast and deep. Somewhere in the middle of her body coming apart again and again, she realized he'd given her back her hands and she used them well, hol
ding on to him, digging her nails into him every time he took her over the edge and continued pounding into her until she was screaming, her cries echoing through the chamber.
She felt him stretching her more. Impossibly. Her breath caught so she couldn't cry out, but her eyes never left his. She saw it moving over him, through him. She felt it, the crushing wave of pleasure, of bliss, that swept upward from his toes and downward from his head, to come together in a crashing wave so huge, it swept both of them away.
He buried his face in her neck, letting her take his full weight, holding her there for several long minutes before lifting his head to look down at her. He framed her face with his hands, using his elbows to prop him up. His green eyes blazed down into hers.
"You are good, kislany?" he asked.
Her heart turned over at the gentleness in his voice. "How could I not be good?" Her body was still rippling. She felt sated and loved and wrapped up completely in him.
"With us. Are you good? Do you understand the concept of a lifemate? Not just anyone would suit my personality, or yours. We fit. We belong. You to me. Me to you. Most women couldn't possibly live with me."
Gabrielle shook her head. "That's not true."
"Kislany. It is. I am from ancient times when a man protected his woman and was expected to go out hunting while she waited at home, protecting the family. More, the man expected his woman to see to his needs and be happy doing it. You see to my needs and you are happy doing it."
"You make that easy for me, Aleksei."
"And when we live near others? Will it be easy for you then, when your family and your friends expect you to challenge me at every turn? When I refuse to allow your mother to throw her tantrums around you? When I will not back down and make certain not one single thing hurts or harms you in any way? Not just physically? Because, Gabrielle, that is what you can expect from me."
"I know that. I've thought a lot about you and the way you are." She had, too. She rubbed her hands up and down his arms, feeling the defined muscles there. He was a beautiful man and once she'd gotten over being worried about what everyone else might think of her relationship, she began to think about what she could live with, what would make her happy, given her nature.