Dark Promises (Dark 25)

"If I really had a choice, I would throw you down and bury my cock in your body. I would taste you, eat you up, drink your blood. Claim every inch of you for my own. I would not let you rest until the sun began to climb and then I would put you in the ground with me and hold you while we slept. When we awakened, I would start all over again."

He was deliberately scaring her. She didn't doubt that he meant every word. Every single word. She could barely breathe. Barely draw in a breath. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, trying to assess her own reaction. Her brain screamed at her to run, but her body melted at his words. Really melted. She actually went damp and her breasts ached.

She didn't understand how it could happen when she knew she really loved another man, but strangely, she was physically attracted to Aleksei. The chemistry was off the charts, even when he was holding her captive like he was. She wasn't wild. There wasn't anything the least bit wild about her; normally she would have run for her life, but she couldn't. Not if she was going to save Aleksei, and he deserved to be saved.

"Is that your decision, then?" She couldn't look up at him. She just couldn't. Not with her heart pounding and her body reacting and her mind screaming at her.

Her question was met with silence. She stared down at the ground, terrified to look at him. Terrified of his answer. They would either return to that horrible carpet on the ground and he would take her body, or they would sit together and burn in the sun.

"Look at me."

She swallowed hard, studiously staring at the ground. "Aleksei. This is your decision. I told you I would do whatever you wished and I will, but I'm really scared. If I look at you, you're going to see that and it might influence you one way or the other."

"When I tell you something, Gabrielle, you are to do it."

His tone was gentle for the first time. His voice soft. Compelling. But there was no give there. No concession. He meant it. She closed her eyes briefly, summoning the courage she would need. In truth, she had caused this innocent man harm. She'd nearly pushed him over the edge right into the darkness. She knew that. She was responsible. She felt the darkness rising and she should have been able to pull herself together to calm him instead of inciting him further.

She'd been too upset at losing Gary to think straight. She'd been clinging to a way out. There was no way. Not even with Gary.

Aleksei's fist bunched in her hair in a clear warning. Gabrielle swallowed the terrible burning lump in her throat and lifted her gaze to his. The moment her eyes met his, her heart thudded wildly. She felt the darkness in him, and that was bad enough, but she could see it, too. The demons driving him. His implacable strength. This was a man the complete opposite of the one she'd fallen in love with. He was hard and scary and would demand things of her she wasn't certain she was capable of giving. Still. Without her, he wouldn't survive.

"You would tie your life to mine for all eternity." There was sarcasm in his voice, and she winced as if he'd struck her. "You would give your body into my keeping."

She couldn't look away. His eyes were such a piercing green, and they seemed to look right through her. She nodded.

"That is not good enough, Gabrielle. Say it."

She swallowed hard, afraid she might get sick, not because her body didn't want his. In fact, she was growing warm. Too warm. Her breasts ached and she was damper than ever between her legs. But quite frankly, her terror was escalating with every word he said.

"Yes."

Impatience crossed his face. His fingers tightened, pulled her a breath closer. Her hands landed on his chest and she gasped at the heat pouring off him.

"Yes, what?"

She stared up into that pure green. No gold flecks. No hazel. All burning green. She took a deep breath and threw herself straight into the wolf's jaws. "I give my body into your keeping."

Her declaration was met with silence. He stared down into her eyes for what seemed forever. She was terrified he would take her up on her offer. She was just as equally terrified that he wouldn't.

His fingers went to her chin. "I am very close to the darkness. Too close. I know nothing of modern women. I will expect complete loyalty from you. Complete honesty. And obedience."

She forced her gaze to remain steady on his. She would not lie to him. "I will give my complete loyalty to you. I will give you complete honesty. I cannot promise obedience."

Something moved in his eyes. Something hot and wild. Something that sent heat curling in the pit of her stomach.

"You are afraid of me."

"Yes."

"Of giving your body to me. I will not take a woman who does not want me. To do that would be pushing myself completely into darkness. I cannot make it through another rising without completing our binding. It is best you put yourself in the ground now and stop tempting me."

She took another breath. "I do want you. That doesn't mean I'm not afraid. I am. I've never had sex. I don't know the first thing about pleasing you or what I'm supposed to do. That doesn't mean I don't want you. It means I'm embarrassed and inexperienced."

She clenched her teeth. She couldn't do this. She couldn't stand there and convince this man to take her body without love. Without care. She started to turn away from him, but his hands prevented her from moving.

"Look at me."

She knew better than to disobey him right then. His tone was back to an almost snarl. Her gaze jumped to his, and her breath caught in her throat. She couldn't read his expression, but her heart stuttered as his thumb slid very gently over her cheek. His touch was at complete odds with his tone.

He was beautiful in an entirely masculine, savage way. She found herself trembling. His touch, as light as it was, as sweet as it was, felt like a brand against her skin. There was a part of her that screamed at her that she was betraying Gary. The man she loved. The man she had planned to spend her life with. The other half of her screamed she had betrayed this man. She'd left him to complete darkness. To dishonor.

"I cannot merge my mind with yours," he said, and this time his voice was as gentle as his touch. "I cannot risk seeing him there."

"I know."

"That means you have to talk to me."

"I know." Her voice was a thread of sound. "I'm so scared, Aleksei." Her gaze clung to his. She knew she was willing him to keep her safe.

He suddenly leaned down and wrapped his arms around her back and thighs, lifting her easily into his arms, cradling her against his chest.

"There will be no going back from this. Once I mak

e you fully mine, there will be no room for anyone else."

"I know," she said again. She couldn't find air to breathe. Those two words were all that would escape through her pounding heart and burning lungs. She circled his neck with her arms, not knowing what else to do. "I'm really, really afraid," she admitted.

"He will not be with us," he continued, his green gaze blazing down into her eyes. "Not in your head. Do you understand me? When I am inside you, there is only the two of us there. Not him. You think of me. You say my name when you give me your surrender."

That was a decree. More, an ultimatum. She recognized it for what it was. She bit at her lower lip nervously. She didn't think any other man would dare to enter her mind when she was with Aleksei.

"Gabrielle." He growled her name in warning.

"No one else." She whispered her agreement.

It was just sex. Hopefully really, really good sex. She was saving him from the darkness. He needed her. He needed her to save him. She'd worked in a laboratory since her eighteenth birthday. She'd been in college at twelve. Then her masters. Her doctorate. She'd never had the chance to be with boys. To date. To experiment. To think she was in love. To know.

He turned and strode across the yard to the building they'd left earlier. His home. A shell of a building. No house. No white picket fence. No neighbors who would drop by for coffee and chat. Just four walls, a roof and a dirt floor.

His resting place was the death of her dream. Her only dream, since she'd been a child and her mother had been throwing things in the kitchen and she'd been under the bed, building a fairy tale to keep from hearing the shrill voice, her father's soft murmur and then softer laughter. She didn't understand their crazy relationship, but it was theirs, not hers.

Gabrielle buried her face between his neck and shoulder. At once she could hear the steady, rhythmic beating of his pulse. There was something solid about that beat, something rock steady, as if nothing would ever elevate it. Shock it. Stop it. That pulse would be steady through everything and it could be counted on.

Aleksei set her on her feet in the middle of the room. He framed her face with both hands, forcing her to look up at him. "You have to be certain, Gabrielle. Very certain. I will not be able to stop once I have started. I am too close to the darkness. With what has happened this rising, I am at risk, and now, so are you. There will be no going back."