Dark Promises (Dark 25)

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.