Dark Mate (MATE series) (6 page)

She was, wasn't she?

His body was acutely aware of
her naked heat under the covers. She was just inches away from him,
her body warm and soft in his bed.

She turned suddenly and saw
him staring at her.

“
Gabriel?”

She gasped at the look in his
eyes. He knew that his eyes were glowing a deep golden red. The air
around him swirled with her intoxicating, feminine scent, drowning
him, crushing him, pushing him right over the edge.

She began to scrabble away,
and in her frenzy, the covers slid down and he glimpsed her
beautiful, bare body. Her face was flushed, and the air was suddenly
filled with a rich, unmistakable scent.

Fear and lust, hunger and
desire.

His and hers.

With a roar, he lunged for her
and caught her writhing body in his arms.

There wasn't time to scream.

Gabriel's grip was crushing,
possessive, and it was clear he wasn't going to let her go. He held
her naked body to him and even as she twisted frantically in his
arms, Eva felt his lips on her neck.

“
No...” she
gasped.

He drew back, and she glared
up at him. She was angry, yes, crazy mad. But beneath that anger
was something else.

Something she wasn't quite
prepared to accept.

She was jealous.

When Gabriel mentioned his
fiancee, there was the sharp flash of jealousy. Eva had recognized
her own emotion, and had tried to disguise it. Shocked at her own
seething jealousy, she tried to work herself up into a rage. Better
mad then jealous.

“
Eva, stop struggling.
Stop fighting me. Stop fighting...this!”

“
What? Argh!”
She squirmed against him, her nails digging into his back. She
struggled weakly, her breath coming hard and fast.

“
Let me...”

“
No!”

“
Eva, I can scent and
feel your arousal, your need. Your need, your want...is driving both
of us insane,” he snarled. “Let me ease you, Eva.”

“
No.” She closed
her eyes.
Yes, yes please...

“
I won't take your
blood. And I won't take your body.”

“
Y-you won't?”
She blinked, and frowned at the note of disappointment in her voice.
She shook her head quickly when she saw the corners of his lips curve
up.

“
I won't enter your
body. I won't thrust my fingers, or my cock deep inside you. I
won't even push my tongue into you.”

“
Gabriel...” she
began in a tremulous whisper.

“
Lie back,” he
commanded. “You will do this—to save your life. And my
sanity,” he growled.

He put his large hand on her
stomach and pressed her down on the mattress. Eva lay absolutely
still and pressed her thighs tightly together. She squeezed her eyes
shut both in fear and mortification. He was right. Her body was
hungry and aching, and his nearness, his voice, his touch seemed to
add fuel to the fire burning in her belly.

He could read her body, scent
her desire. There was no way she could lie to him. Her lips might
lie, but her body could not.

“
I'm going to spread
your legs, Eva,” Gabriel said, his voice sounded ragged. “I
need to spread you wide, for my mouth to reach you.”

She gasped at the image his
words evoked. She suddenly imagined his mouth all over her. She
wanted to feel his tongue, his hands, all of him, pressing against
her, pushing into her...

“
Eva...”
Gabriel's voice sounded strained.

He put his hands under her
knees and spread her wide open for him. The heat of his gaze made
her clench her muscles, and she felt her moisture trickling down the
inside of her thigh.

“
You are wet, Eva,”
he breathed. “So wet.”
For me
.

She looked up at him, and saw
the burning passion and hunger in his glowing eyes. Gabriel dipped
his head, and kissed her belly button. His lips trailed lower until
he was kissing the insides of her thighs.

Eva moaned, and raised her
hips. She was going to go mad, if he didn't put his mouth on her
core, right now.

She dug her nails into the
mattress when she felt his tongue licking slowly up her thigh. When
his lips pressed against her wet, quivering pussy, her back arched
off the mattress.

“
G-Gabriel...” she
stammered. The pleasure was electrifying and shocking. She suddenly
felt betrayed by her own body. Why was she feeling so good, so
aroused and so hungry for his touch, his kiss?

A part of her brain that was
still functioning was screaming at her to push him away, claw his
eyes out and kick him where it mattered. But her body wasn't
listening to her brain. Even her heart was in cahoots with her
traitorous body.

Give him. Give yourself to
him.

Gabriel licked her again and
she lost all ability to think.

Panting hard, she raised her
head and met his piercing gaze. The raw hunger in his glowing eyes
drove all rational thought from her mind. She felt the same crazed
hunger, the want, the overpowering desire.

He's playing with my mind.

But she was too far gone to
care.

Play away.

Gabriel's jaw was tightly
clenched and his breathing was ragged. He seemed to be fighting to
control himself.

“
Eva...” he
gritted out.

His eyes look tortured, full
of lust and longing. He raised himself, his arms straight and rigid
on either side of her body.

Tentatively, Eva moved her
hands up his arms. His t-shirt was stretched tight over his broad
chest, and she let her fingers explore his hard, toned muscles under
his shirt. He actually shivered at her touch and closed his eyes.
Her name fell from his lips as she traced her nails along his
shoulders and biceps.

Eva dug her nails into his
back and felt a perverse sense of victory. She actually liked seeing
the powerful vampire like this—helpless, tormented, and
completely at her mercy. He was consumed with hunger and want, and
he was helpless to fight it.

He wants me
, she
thought deliriously.
Me!

She touched his jaw, and
pressed her palm against the hard wall of his chest. His heartbeat
was strong and powerful, and she no longer thought of him as a
vampire. All she knew was that here in her arms was a powerful,
virile male. But however powerful he was, he was powerless to resist
her.

The realization made her
irrationally, inexplicably proud and happy.

She arched her back and raised
her aching nipples to him. Eva squirmed and panted, her own need
throbbing painfully low in her belly. Gabriel closed his eyes and
let out a strangled sound as she tugged him down to her.

He was almost out of his mind
with lust for her, and Eva smiled drunkenly. She couldn't understand
what she was doing. But what she was doing felt so good, and she
didn't want to stop.

She curled her hand round his
nape and urged him down to her. Gabriel stared down at her, his lips
parting to reveal smooth, deadly fangs. Eva's eyelids lowered and
her core began to pulse. She wasn't afraid. In fact, she was
anticipating it, waiting for it.

In a flash, Gabriel's mouth
was on her breast, his lips hungrily kissing and sucking. She felt
the sharp point of his fangs press against the swell of her breast as
he suckled her hard. Eva gasped at the sharp pain and pleasure. It
felt so, so good, and she raked her fingers through his hair as her
need mounted. She cried out as he flicked his tongue against her
erect nipple, and she pressed his head against her breast, urging him
to suck and bite her harder.

“
More...” she
begged. She wanted more, needed more. Her head began to toss from
side to side as she struggled against her painful, desperate need.
“Please, Gabriel...”

At her cry, Gabriel fastened
his mouth on her clit and began to suck and lick her throbbing,
engorged clit. His tongue moved in hard, tight circles, teasing and
torturing her. He kept licking and sucking her, harder and faster
until she came completely undone. She shattered under his mouth with
a keening cry, her pleasure wrecking her body in pounding, crushing
waves.

Eva shuddered and sobbed,
letting those fierce ripples of pleasure slowly recede from her body.

When she was finally aware of
her body and her surroundings again, she sucked in a ragged breath
and blinked hard.

Gabriel was holding her
against his chest, his chin on the top of her head.

Through the rough fabric of
his cargo pants, she could feel his rigid erection against her thigh.
She turned her head a little, and realized that he was still fully
clothed. He hadn't even taken off his combat boots.

He hadn't tried to take her,
hadn't forced himself on her. Even when she was half crazed and
mindless with lust, he hadn't pushed himself into her body. He had
licked her, kissed her, suckled her, but he hadn't penetrated her at
all.

Even though she had begged
him, he had not thrust his tongue nor his fingers into her.

He had honored his word. And
by so doing, he had honored her.

Eva exhaled slowly, and
murmured, “Thank you.”

“
Hmm.”

She moved a little, and her
leg brushed against his crotch. Gabriel let out a sharp hiss and
rolled out of bed with a jerky motion.

She scooted to the corner and
tugged the sheets up around her. There was only so much a man could
bear. He had pleasured her, eased her, taken care of her need. But
he hadn't taken his own release.

Eva stared at his back as he
started towards the door.

What would he do? Where would
he go?

Would he find another female
to ease him?

She bit the inside of her
cheek. Why was the thought so repugnant to her?

“
Gabriel,” she
called out just as he reached the door.

He turned slowly to face her,
his expression unreadable.

“
I...” She
gulped. “You need blood, don't you?” Her words rushed
out in a torrent. Better to say it quickly before she lost her
nerve.

“
I...I don't want to owe
you, so...” Eva winced and tilted her neck to the side, baring
her neck for him.

“
Just don't drain me, or
turn me. P-please,” she whispered, closing her eyes.

There was a long silence. At
last, she heard him say very quietly, “You are offering me your
blood.”

She nodded without opening her
eyes.

“
Why.”

At his tone, Eva opened her
eyes and immediately shrank back. Gabriel looked...utterly mad. His
eyes blazed with fury, but beneath that anger, she glimpsed his stark
pain and hurt.

She shook her head mutely, her
face twisting.

“
This is a bargain to
you. You don't want to owe me. You just want to return the favor,
the debt, and leave. You want to make it such that if and when you
leave, I'd have no reason to come after you, to hunt you down and
call in the favor. Is this what it is to you, Eva, a favor, a debt?”
he sneered.

She watched him prowl towards
her, his look murderous and predatory.

He was going to kill her.

Silently, she slid her hand
under her pillow. Her fingers closed around the jagged shard, the
weapon she had fashioned out of that dainty china plate.

This was her plan anyway.
Tempt him, then kill him.

Always stick to the plan.
Deal with the distraction, but stick to the plan.

She had gotten distracted.
Way distracted. And the distraction had felt too damn good.

Eva felt her face heat up.

Part of the plan had been to
seduce him, to make him lose control, lose himself. But instead, he
had reduced her to a panting, writhing, boneless mess.

Vampires were highly skilled
in the dark art of seduction and deceit. Most of their victims
couldn't even remember the attack. All they remembered was the
pleasure.

Eva bit her lip hard. No, she
wasn't a victim. She was a survivor. She would forget the pleasure,
and focus on the attack.

Tightening her grip on the
shard, she waited for Gabriel to come closer to her.

Eva held her breath and waited
for the chance to strike.

Eva held on to her weapon and
kept her smile frozen on her face. Her breath caught unexpectedly as
she stared steadily at the man she was going to kill. Kill? She
might not be able to kill him outright, but she could hurt him. Hurt
him enough to slow him down. She had chosen the largest and sharpest
piece from the pile of broken china, and swept the rest of the
wreckage under the bed.