Dark Mate (MATE series) (9 page)

She laughed deliriously as his
fangs scraped against her neck.

Languidly, she spread her arms
out above her head and giggled. So this was what blood lust felt
like. She could almost understand the violent craving of new
vampires. They craved blood just as she craved sex now. The need,
the hunger was overwhelming, overpowering all your other senses.

His touch had awakened her
hunger, and sparked this crazed coupling.

The want, the desire was so
intense.

Intense, raw and undeniable.

She wanted this big, bad
vampire. And she wanted him all to herself.

All of a sudden, she felt
furious, inexplicably angry that he had asked her to find his long
lost fiancee.

As his mouth moved down her
body, Eva dug her nails deep into his broad back and scratched him
hard. She drew blood but it didn't satisfy her.

She clawed more viciously into
his back, and snarled, “I won't find her for you, Gabriel.”

He stopped kissing her breast
and blinked down at her.

She glared up at him, and
spat, “Is she your mate, Gabriel? Answer me now.”

Gabriel gazed into Eva's eyes
and saw her deep hurt and anger. She was pinned beneath him, and the
heady scent of her arousal was driving him mad.

He wanted to claim her right
now. Plunge into her again and again, and make her scream his name.

It would just be sex. Sex and
blood. Easy and emotionless.

He got blood and sex easily
enough. Human women seemed to find him irresistible. After taking
what he needed from them, he simply wiped their memories clean and
threw them back where he'd found them. Fast food, fast sex.
Convenient and clinical.

But with Eva...he was a total
wreck.

When he thought he'd lost her,
he had been terrified, lost, desperate. He would have done anything,
given up his life for her. It was time to face the truth. He
couldn't lie to himself any longer. And he would never lie to her.

“
I thought she was,”
he said, staring down at her flushed face. She looked even more
beautiful when she was angry. “All this while, I thought that
Vonetta was my true love, my true mate. I searched for her, wanting
to make it up to her. I realize now that what I felt towards
her...was guilt. I felt responsible for her suffering, her turning.
Maybe I did love her, as a human. We were betrothed to be married.
But now...” He trailed off when Eva pushed him off her and sat
up.

“
Go on,” she said,
facing him squarely. She folded her arms across her breasts and
jerked her head up.

After a long sigh, he went on,
“I think I would have married her out of a sense of duty if we
had remained human. But as a vampire, the thought of taking a mate
never crossed my mind. I never really thought of Vonetta as mine. I
just wanted to find her so I can take care of her, and try to make up
for all her suffering. I have never felt so intensely...” He
barked out a short laugh. “In fact, I've never felt for
another person all these years.”

Eva's lips parted as she
stared at him. “So what changed?” she asked softly at
last.

“
I found you,” he
said honestly.

She gasped as the full meaning
of his words hit her. “Are you saying what I think you are
saying?”

Gabriel winced slightly. She
might not be prepared to be a vampire's mate. In fact, the very idea
might scare her out of her wits.

But she had to know. Taking a
deep breath, he said, “Vampires recognize their mate by
instinct, by scent and by blood. We are instinctively drawn to our
mates. The attraction and desire is powerful and consuming. The
fact that I have not been able to find Vonetta after all this
time...is because there is no blood bond between us. But I didn't
want to acknowledge that.”

Eva lowered her head, staring
down at her hands. “She's not your mate,” she whispered
at last.

Gabriel soldiered on, “Blood
healing can only be done if there's a blood bond. My blood could
heal you because of the blood bond.”

Eva swallowed, her brow
creasing. Finally, she asked very quietly, her breath hitching a
little, “How do you know for sure...that I am your mate? How
do I know?”

“
Your blood.”

“
What?” Her eyes
rounded.

“
Blood doesn't lie. I
had your blood on my lips, and...in that instant, I knew. Yet, I
denied it. And you know, because you feel.” Gabriel stared
down her quivering body. She had pushed her hand between her thighs,
desperately trying to ease her body's painful, pounding need. There
was a silent plea in her eyes, but she bit her lip hard to stop
herself from articulating it.

Gabriel took her hand very
tenderly in his. “Your body and your blood cannot deny the
bond, Eva. The want, the hunger is overpowering and undeniable,”
he whispered, leaning towards her. “The need to mate is so
raw, primal and painful.” He closed his eyes, feeling the
blood pound painfully in his groin. It was the most exquisite,
excruciating torture. And only she could deliver him from this
torment.

But would she?

He wouldn't force her. He
would never force her.

Trembling, she wrapped her
arms around his neck and pulled him to her. She lay back on the bed
and whispered, “I need you now, Gabriel. Please...”

She wrapped her legs around
his waist, pulling him urgently to her. She panted, her head tossing
on the pillow, feverish with desire.

In a flash, he'd covered her
hot, naked body with his. He took her in his arms, and kissed her
tenderly, lovingly. When he deepened the kiss, her lips yielded
immediately to his demand, and her tongue tangled hungrily with his.
His hands moved down her body, cupping her full, lush breasts. He
could feel her hard, erect nipples stabbing into his palms, and he
groaned into her mouth.

Squeezing and rolling her rosy
nipples between his fingers, he kissed down her neck and chest, and
finally latched his mouth on her breast and suckled greedily. God,
she tasted so good. His tongue danced around her nipple, twirling
and flicking it. She was starting to pant as she speared her fingers
through his hair.

His body was cradled between
her sweet thighs, and he couldn't wait to penetrate her. But he
wanted to make sure she was ready for him. He didn't want to hurt
her.

Sliding a finger through her
wet curls, he smeared her juices over her clit and pussy lips.
Slowly, he pushed a finger into her and felt her walls ripple around
his finger. She was so wet, and so very tight.

“
Eva...” he
gritted, unable to hold off much longer.

“
Now, Gabriel,
please...I want to feel you inside me,” she begged. “I
want you, in me.”

He knelt before her, and
spread her wide for him. She was so beautiful, so perfect. Her
arousal, her fierce, unrelenting hunger was fast driving him over the
edge, but he was determined not to hurt her.

Pushing her knees up against
her chest, he pushed the tip of his throbbing cock against her hot,
wet slit and stopped. She cried out as he inched deeper into her,
and he stilled completely.

She was too tight, too small.
He pulled out a little, and she hissed. She dug her nails into his
biceps, and wrapped her legs around his hips to urge him deeper into
her.

Gabriel pushed himself inch by
inch into her, clenching his teeth at the pleasure of her slick heat.
With a final thrust, he buried himself fully inside her, and his
forehead fell forward against hers.

“
Eva...” he
breathed. “You feel so good. So perfect.”

She raised her hips to him,
and they began to move in rhythm, their bodies melding perfectly.
They fitted together so well. He began to thrust harder into her as
she arched her back, her eyes closed in ecstasy.

Eva gave a small cry and
gasped, her eyes flying open. Gazing deeply into his eyes, she began
to pant hard and he felt her walls clench hard around his shaft.

She threw her head back as her
orgasm shook her body, and Gabriel plunged his fangs deep into her
neck. Immediately, he felt her climax violently as he sucked her
blood into his mouth. He pounded hard into her as he took her blood,
and she orgasmed again and again in his arms.

Gabriel withdrew his fangs
from her neck and kissed the puncture wounds close. He thrust into
her once more, and shot his seed deep into her body. She shuddered
as she came with him, and fell back on the pillows, her hair
plastered to her face. Her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat, and
Gabriel pressed his lips to her forehead as he slid languidly in and
out of her, still savoring his beautiful mate.

“
You are mine, Eva,”
he murmured. “You are my mate.”

He laid down beside her and
pulled her to him. She curled up against him, resting her cheek on
his chest.

Unconsciously, he turned and
pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He loved her. There was no
denying it.

He heard her sigh deeply.
Frowning, he curled a finger under her chin and tilted her face up.

Her eyes look troubled and
anxious.

“
I...I may be your mate,
Gabriel but...I have a job. I need to get back,” she said at
last. “You need to let me go.”

His hand tightened around her
waist. “I will never let you go,” he growled. She
shrank back, and he saw her fists and jaw clench tightly. From the
look in her steely eyes, he knew that she was thinking of killing
him. Again.

That stubborn, rebellious
woman had tried to kill him. Not caring if she lived or died, she
had fought him tooth and nail and had managed to injure a Master
vampire with nothing more than a piece of porcelain.

If he didn't release her, she
would try something even more drastic. He was sure of it.

“
I will never let you
go, Eva. You are my mate.”

Her eyes blazed. “You...”

He silenced her with a fierce,
bruising kiss.

“
But I will not keep you
here against your will.”

Eva gaped at him, unable to
speak, still breathless from his kiss.

“
I can go back,”
she whispered, a slow smile breaking across her face. “You
won't kidnap me again...” She eyed him suspiciously.

“
I won't kidnap you.
But if you try to run from me, I
will
chase you. And when I
catch you, I will punish you,” he said, making his threat
clear. “I will punish you every night, endlessly, and I won't
stop even when you beg for mercy, Eva. Do you understand?”

He saw her shiver, but it
wasn't with fear.

She licked her lips, and the
scent of her sudden arousal made him grab her and pin her arms over
her head.

He pushed her legs apart with
his knees and thrust hard into her. She cried out in pleasure, as he
pistoned in and out of her.

This time, he took her hard
and fast. Without mercy.

“
Tonight. I will escort
you back,” he snarled.

Her eyes widened, and she
began to shake her head in objection.

“
Gabriel...you don't
have to escort...”

“
I will not lose you,
Eva,” he growled and bit down on her neck.

She screamed as her body
shuddered beneath him. Gabriel's fists tightened possessively,
savagely around her wrists as he took her hard, pushing them both to
a shattering, devastating climax.

Eva took a deep, steadying
breath as Gabriel wrapped his arms around her. She was wearing her
old jeans and one of Gabriel's huge t-shirts. She smiled up at him
as he pulled her closer and began to fade into mist without a word.

Eva braced against the sudden
dizzying plunge, feeling the ground disappear from under her feet.
The mist wrapped around her securely, and she felt a soft pressure
against her cheek. It felt like a kiss, a sweet, tender caress.

With a gasp, she opened her
eyes and saw that she was standing in the messy living room of her
apartment. The light from the street lamps flickered through the
blinds. Eva switched on the table lamp and saw stacks of books and
dirty coffee mugs on the table, her shoes and socks lying all over
the floor.

Her face split in a grin. It
felt so good to be home.

She turned to see Gabriel
standing behind her. He glanced around her apartment, his eyes wary.

“
Um, don't mind the
mess. Have a seat, if you can find something to sit on,” she
said, picking up an armful of clothes from the sofa. She found
folding laundry such a chore. She preferred to just grab her clothes
from the pile. In time, the pile would disappear, and the chore would
be done. Ta da!

“
Do you live alone?”
he asked suddenly.

“
Yes.” She raised
a brow at him. “I can afford the rent on my own. I don't need
a flat mate.”