Dark Promises (Dark 25)

"I am aware of that," Mikhail said, in that same calming tone. "She does not understand, and the fault does not lie with her, or with Gary, but with us." He indicated Gregori. "We are solely responsible for this mess."

Gabrielle cried out. Low. Afraid. He half turned so he could try to reassure her without putting himself at risk. She looked terrified. "Don't," she whispered. "Mikhail, don't."

"You are his true lifemate, Gabrielle. He won't harm you. He will cherish you and protect you."

Gabrielle shook her head, tears running down her face. "No. I won't accept him. I can't. You can't ask me to do that."

She really was frightened, and it was clear to Aleksei there was something he didn't understand about the situation. She was breaking his heart standing there, one pleading hand out toward Mikhail, the blood streaking her soft wrist. Imploring him.

Aleksei sought to reassure her. He spoke in the ancient language. Clearly she didn't understand, continuing to stare at him with frightened eyes. How that could be, he didn't know, but he switched to English and translated for her. "There is no reason to fear now. I am here, your true lifemate. This man will not touch you again."

She shook her head, tears spilling down her face. "No, you don't understand. I refuse. I refuse to be your lifemate. I love him. I'm his."

Fury filled him. He'd spent centuries looking for his woman. Centuries of bleak loneliness. Hope faded, and all he had left was his honor. She would not take that from him because she was afraid. Carpathian women knew their duty. They understood what could happen when a lifemate was stripped of his other half.

She dared to love another man? Choose another man? She was his. His reward. His anchor. His only hope. She had no right to refuse him. He felt the bloodlust rising in him, felt his teeth lengthen. He didn't hesitate, not when a Daratrazanoff was trying to take his woman. Not when she was too frightened to do right by him. Not when dishonor was a breath away.

"Te avio palafertiilam. Entolam kuulua, avio palafertiilam. Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed. Elidamet andam. Pesamet andam. Uskolfertiilamet andam."

"Stop! Stop it!" Gabrielle screamed the words. Frantic. "Mikhail, please. Stop him. You have to make him stop."

He heard the tears in her voice and that tore at him, but he couldn't stop. There was no way to stop. Not even to comfort her. Not even to reassure her that she would be safe with him. Rage was still there. The bloodlust hadn't subsided.

"Sivamet andam. Sielamet andam. Ainamet andam. Sivamet kuuluak kaik etta a ted. Ainaak olenszal sivambin. Te elidet ainaak pide minan. Te avio palafertiilam. Ainaak sivamet jutta oleny. Ainaak terad vigyazak."

He spoke firmly, in a deep, commanding timbre. He used his ancient language and felt every word ripped from his soul. Even as he uttered the binding words imprinted on him before he was born, he felt the ties binding them together. His soul to hers.

She cried out with each completed vow. As if he'd struck her. As if, somehow, he'd ripped out her heart and soul. Before he could step close to her to soothe her, he heard the warning growl from the Daratrazanoff on the ground. And it was a growl.

"Gabrielle." The single name was spoken softly. The raw love was so strong it hurt to hear it. The sound made the man exposed, vulnerable, and showed his loss. His despair. The knowledge that she was lost to him for all time.

Aleksei jumped back as Gary Daratrazanoff leapt from the ground. He was even more shocked when he looked at the man's face. He'd witnessed the killing thrall of a Carpathian male who had lost his lifemate on more than one occasion. Each time, he'd been the one to deliver the mercy killing to prevent them from dishonor.

"Gary!"

His woman--Gabrielle--cried out, more frightened than ever. She couldn't fail to recognize the way the man shut down completely. It was a terrifying thing to see darkness claim a good man. Aleksei moved his body squarely between Gary and his lifemate. The man was in a killing rage. The thrall was impossible to stop, but it was only brought on when a lifemate died. What was going on? Surely his woman couldn't have been Gary's lifemate as well.

He'd had enough. He'd taken all he was going to take from any of them. He whirled, snatched up his woman, tossed her over his shoulder and was inside the gate before anyone could stop him. Behind him, his brethren joined him, sealing the safeguards against all outsiders.

He cared little what the prince, Gregori and Andre would have to do to the Daratrazanoff who had tried to take his lifemate from him. Lock him down, send him to the earth to heal or simply kill him. None of that mattered now. Only his lifemate. The woman who had betrayed him with another man.

He set her down, and she flung herself back toward the gate. He caught her in an iron grip around her waist and walked her backward. Her back hit the wall of their gathering building. Instantly he caged her there, using his large frame to hold her in place. He put one hand on her belly and the other beside her head. She looked up at him with tears swimming in her eyes and a look of utter terror on her face.

His eyes blazed down at her. He refused to be swayed by her fear. "Now you will explain your unseemly conduct and know this, woman, you will suffer punishment should you not obey me."

4

Gabrielle glared defiantly up into Aleksei's face. She hated him with every cell in her body. She detested the fact that his face was purely masculine and she noticed. She hated that she felt the heat of his body, or saw that his eyes were a clear, startling green. He wasn't handsome in the accepted sense of the word; he was far too dangerous and rough-looking for that. He didn't try to hide the fact that he was a predator from anyone, least of all her. And she didn't care. Not one little bit.

"Obey you? That's what you expect? That's never going to happen." She spat the words at him, hoping to goad him into killing her.

"You took everything from me. I will never do anything you say."

His breath hissed out and his eyes went flat and cold. Hard. Terrifying. His hand wrapped around her throat and for one moment she thought he'd actually break her neck. Or strangle her. Her pulse beat into the palm of his hand. She held his stare, but it was difficult. Very, very difficult. The gaping wound in his chest was already closed, his shirt clean of all blood. How he'd managed that she didn't know, but it made her all the more angry at him.

"Do not ever say I did not give you a chance to explain."

She stuck her chin in the air. "I don't owe you an explanation. I have nothing at all to say to you. Nothing." She nearly spat the last word at him.

Her heart nearly stopped beating when he transferred his hold from her throat to her hair. He bunched the long strands in his fist, and there was nothing gentle about the way he twisted his hand so that his grip was anchored close to her scalp. He turned and walked rapidly in the opposite direction, forcing her, by her hair, to go with him.

She bit back a scream of pain and beat at his hand and arm. When that didn't slow him down--in fact he didn't even appear to notice--she tried to concentrate on activating the bracelet. Even that let her down. She fought, but the hold on her hair was relentless and every movement she made, from attempting to kick him to hitting him as hard as possible, only increased the agony in her scalp.

Aleksei thrust his lifemate inside the walls of his home. Each of the ancients had their own personal space and this was his. The bare bones of a house. Nothing on the walls. No furniture. What was the need? The ground was the floor. The soil his bed. He waved his hand and instantly there was a soft carpet covering the dirt. That was all she was going to get.