We have put that subject to rest, Gabrielle.
Aleksei's voice was stern, yet soothing at the same time. She didn't know how he managed that.
You are not to be embarrassed about that anymore. Do you understand me? Let it go.
Gabrielle sighed. There it was again. His demand for her to let something go that ran through her head like a loop playing. Half the Carpathian world had to know by now. She knew Gary had been taken to the cave of warriors for healing by the prince and Gregori. Every Carpathian knew that; the news had gone out on the common path. She figured they were all talking about her betrayal on more common paths.
It isn't that easy, Aleksei. He was there.
He reached behind him and caught her free hand, pulling it down to his thigh, his hand pressing her palm into the hard muscle there. He'd done it before, and for some reason she felt that gesture so deep she had to drop her forehead against his back, drawing in a deep breath to keep the tears clogging her throat at bay. He was so sweet. Instinctively, she knew few people would ever see that side of him. He reserved that for her.
Sweet and bossy.
You like my bossy.
His tone implied all kinds of things, sexy, erotic things. Images filled her head because they were filling his head. Some of those images made her blush, so she was glad she was hiding behind his large body and Andre couldn't see her face.
Being tied down is not sexy. But it kind of was.
It will be when I do it to you.
She did a full-body shiver and decided it was prudent, due to the circumstances, to quit talking, but she realized she wasn't embarrassed anymore. She was too busy thinking about those images in Aleksei's head and wanting to try them all.
A heartbeat later, a smaller owl joined them, spiraling down to land beside Andre. Teagan was much lighter skinned than her grandmother, but both were beautiful. Gabrielle could see glimpses of Trixie in her. She had a lot of hair, tons of it, cascading down her back, and she wore the same intricate braids that Trixie did.
The moment Teagan arrived, Aleksei drew Gabrielle to his side, clamping her there with an arm around her waist. He introduced her immediately. Andre introduced Teagan. Aleksei turned on the charm and his high-voltage smile.
"Your grandmother came to Gabrielle's aid and I am indebted to her," he greeted. "She is a very wise woman."
Gabrielle's heart did another stutter. Aleksei did that for her. That was not something he would normally say, she knew that instinctively. He was being friendly toward Teagan because he intended to make amends with Trixie. For her. Because she asked him to and he knew Trixie mattered to her. She slid just a little bit more in love with him.
Teagan instantly beamed. "She is, isn't she? I can't wait for Andre to meet her, although I'm a little terrified she might try to use her vampire-hunting kit on him."
To Gabrielle's shock, Aleksei casually delivered information he hadn't even told Gabrielle. "Fane told me she used the gun on him, trying to stake him with ridiculous darts."
"Oh, dear," Teagan said.
Both women glanced up at Andre's impassive face. Andre's mouth didn't so much as twitch. Neither did Aleksei's. The two women looked at each other and then burst out laughing, and Gabrielle didn't know if they were laughing at Trixie's gutsy attack on Fane, who must have been shocked, or the two men who refused to laugh, but had to think it was funny.
"And she threw the vial of holy water at him, but she forgot to take out the stopper, not that it would have done much more than get him a little damp." Aleksei delivered that tidbit with the same expressionless face when they had sobered.
The two women dissolved into laughter again. Neither man laughed.
Gabrielle rolled her eyes at Aleksei. I guess macho, arrogant, bossy men don't laugh in front of other macho, arrogant, bossy men? Because this is funny. Although not quite as funny as you and Andre pretending it isn't.
If we laugh we would lose the status of macho, arrogant, bossy men. Aleksei caught her chin and looked into her eyes. You are giving me a hard-on right now, teasing me like that and rolling your eyes at me.
You can't get a hard-on from being teased or having your lifemate roll her eyes at you.
I can when she is you and you are teasing me and rolling your eyes, because it means something.
Gabrielle stared into his piercing green eyes. Her heart stuttered. Her belly somersaulted. And he got an answering spasm in her sex. A direct shot. With his look. With his words and the intimate delivery straight into her mind.
His words echoed through her. I can when she is you and you are teasing me and rolling your eyes, because it means something.
She knew what he meant. Teasing and eye rolling meant she was comfortable with him. That she knew him enough now that he wouldn't be upset by her antics. That he even liked them. That love was growing, and she belonged. She had accepted fully that she belonged with Aleksei.
She moved into him, sliding her arms around his waist, uncaring that Andre and Teagan knew all about Gary. Uncaring that anyone knew. Now I wish we were alone and I had your cock in my mouth. I would do my best to show you the care I intend to take of you, honey.
His eyes narrowed. Against her stomach she felt the hard evidence of his response, growing even harder.
Kislany, you know better than to say things like that around me. And if you do not, you had better learn fast. I could take you right now, hard and fast right up against the monastery walls, and shield others from seeing us. You keep that up, it will happen.
Gabrielle laughed softly in her mind, all the while holding his gaze, letting him know his warning didn't scare her in the least. If he wanted her that way, she was ready and willing to oblige him. She let it show in her eyes. In her mind. She wasn't going to be intimidated by something that promised total pleasure. If no one could see, who cared where they were?
He shook his head. She felt his slow smile. He liked it that she was all right with his threats.
We will be taking care of this business fast, my little cat, because I like that you will have me in your mouth each time we play out one of those images you saw in my head.
She bit her lip. Hard. She liked that, and suddenly taking care of business didn't seem as important as it had. They went through the gates, Aleksei's hand on her back, guiding her, making her feel safe, his soft, intimate laughter in her mind.
19
Gabrielle watched the reunion between Trixie and her granddaughter. Trixie enfolded Teagan into her arms and kissed her on each cheek. Both women had tears in their eyes. It took their men stepping up, wrapping an arm around each of them to bring out watery smiles while introductions were made. Andre was gallant, leaning down to brush a kiss on Trixie's forehead, while Fane kissed Teagan's hand. Gabrielle was happy to share that moment, even from a distance, because the ancients emerging from the ground or buildings were terrifying.
Even if Teagan can really give these men a little more time, Aleksei, I don't think it would be a good thing for them to be let loose in the modern world.
Gabrielle bit her lip hard, her fingers moving to the bracelet on her wrist. It felt warm and maybe a little comforting. She had no problem with Aleksei keeping his body between her and the seven men forming a semicircle around them--in fact she liked that he was there. Solid. Safe. She could tell Trixie had the same opinion she did. Trixie was plastered to Fane's side, her worried eyes on her granddaughter approaching the ancient called Dragomir. Andre was beside Teagan, his arm around her, his body very protective. Still, the ancients were both beautiful and terrible.
Tension was so thick one could cut it with a knife. The ancients were no longer men. They were mostly demon, so dangerous their own kind feared them--and Fane, Aleksei and Andre were powerful and dangerous in their own rights. Still, they approached the ancients carefully, without the women, persuading them to try Teagan's healing stone.
Now, with the ancients sitting tailor fashion on the ground, Gabrielle felt as if she was in a cage of ti
gers--tigers that hadn't been fed in months. Years even. The men were large, built like Aleksei, very muscular, with ropes of defined muscle. It was their faces that held a strange masculine beauty, almost as if each had been meticulously chiseled from the hardest, but most beautiful stone on earth. They all had the same tattoo covering their backs and reaching up over their shoulders and down their arms with their creed flowing in ancient letters. They each had long, flowing salt-and-pepper hair. Each had a few scars, showing the fatal battle wounds they had somehow managed to survive. That was where the similarity ended.