MidnightSolace (2 page)

“Gabriel!” Her hips arched off the bed. “Stop torturing me!”

“You first,” he growled, plunging his tongue into her. Jael
slapped her palm across her mouth and arched back, a muffled scream tearing
through her throat. He smiled against her skin, one hand lingering at her
breasts to tug at her nipples, his other joining his voracious mouth to caress
her clit. “God, your taste drives me wild.”

“
Uh…
”

His tongue delved deeper inside, his fingers massaging her
nubbin as her body trembled around him. He thrust his erection against the
mattress, desperately needing friction. “So good.”

“Gabriel!”

“You taste so good. My honey in the lion.”

“Oh God.
Oh God!
”

He gave her one last lick before pulling away and crawling
back up her body, capturing her mouth with his as his cock teased her folds
before thrusting again into her depths. He swallowed her whimper and muffled
his own. His fingers massaged her clit, quicker now. She grew tighter and
wetter with each plunge. The slippery slide of his flesh from hers drove him
mad, as did the noisy slaps of their bodies dancing together. A long shudder
ran down his spine as he shoved off the immediacy of his orgasm. He used the
hand between them to push her closer to that edge. He watched as her eyes went
bright, then finally she cried out and went over, sinking her teeth into his
shoulder to stifle her scream of completion.

That was it. Her body spasmed under his, clenching the life
out of him. The feel of her biting into his skin was more erotic than he could
ever have dreamed. And he couldn’t help himself—he was lost. He thrust his hips
madly against hers as her pussy swallowed him whole, her walls tightening
around him, milking him for everything he had to give. As he came, he touched
the heavens. Within his lion, he found ecstasy, drank it full until honey
dribbled down his chin. Jael’s body opened, welcomed him, her arms clutching
him to her as she held him in his fall.

He lay cradled there until he saw they were in her room
again. Alone. The lights still out. Her chest heaving against his, her skin
damp with sweat. Her eyes wide and looking at him in awe. The air around them
was thick with the scent of their lovemaking. Her hands tunneled reverently
through his hair, her lips caressing his brow as his eyes found hers. Found
pools of reflected love shining back at him. Felt his heart expand until he
didn’t know if he could take it. The power of what they had shared. Something
manifested beyond himself. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The gorgeous
creature in his arms was really his. Jael was really his. And for the first
time, he truly understood that.

Truly believed that he could be so lucky. That she would
choose a wreck like him. Order or no Order, rule or no rule. There was no
cosmic map in the eyes of actual love. Words on an aged page knew nothing of
emotion. Knew nothing of the wealth he felt for her. Knew nothing of the power
of what they had just shared.

God, she was really his. He felt it. She loved him. Really.

Jael encouraged his head to her chest, his arms around her.
He hugged her to him as the night settled around them. Still inside her, still
clinging to that intimate connection. Listening to the gentle hum of whatever
kept them alive after death. Relishing in the power of such intimacy.

“Jael,” he whispered into her hair. Words were there that
she already knew, burning within him. Needing to find release. He would tell
her every day—every time he could. Whenever he could. For the rest of their
lives, however long. “I love you.”

Her eyes flooded with tears. “You do?”

“God, yes.” He pressed his lips to her throat, purring. “I
love you so much and I can’t take it anymore.”

“Take it?”

He raised his head, his eyes boring into hers. “I’m gonna
claim you,” he growled. “Now. Tonight. I’ve waited too long already. I should
have never let three hundred years pass before making you mine.”

Her heart soared with fear-clouded hope. She didn’t know
whether it was more appropriate to be elated or terrified. “Gabe—”

“I love you.”

She felt his fangs pressed against her skin, and a violent
shudder shook her insides. “I’ve waited too long,” he whispered. “And I’ve been
so stupid. No Order keeps me away from the woman I love.”

“But—”

Gabriel pulled away just slightly, his gaze finding hers
again. “Do you love me?”

“What?”

“Tell me.”

Was he seriously asking her this?

“Yes.” She tightened her arms around him as the wealth of
her feelings threatened to erupt completely. “I love you. I never stopped.”

“Me neither. And I’m gonna take you now.”

“But Gabe—”

“No buts. We’ll cross those bridges when we get to them,
right? Now I just need you. Please, baby.” He pressed his brow to hers. “I
can’t take it anymore. Being without you, living to see the holidays, just to
pretend that… I can’t do it. I won’t do it anymore. There’s nothing worse than
this. I’d rather be mated and die tomorrow than go on like this.”

Hot tears scalded her cheeks. “Me too.”

“You’re sure?”

She smiled. This was Gabriel. He had his answer—the answer
he wanted—and suddenly he was concerned that she was giving in simply because
he had asked it of her.

Her Gabriel. Hers now. Truly hers.

“God, yes.”

“I don’t ever want you to doubt—”

Her fangs burst through her gums, and she jerked him down to
her and sank her teeth into his throat. Gabriel moaned, his hands going to her
shoulders, holding her to him as she sucked at his blood. As she drew his
essence into her.

Jael lapped at the wound she had opened, then pulled back,
murmuring, “I claim thee as mine.”

It was a strange, wondrous sensation, and there were no more
questions. No more doubt. Nothing but this phenomenal sentiment of belonging.
Her blood rejoiced, her body hummed in pleasure and she was complete. One
little phrase brought her the whole of the cosmos. All hints of pain residing
within her body vanished. The wail of her torment cooed into a gentle purr, and
the agony she had suffered for three centuries suddenly ceased to exist.

She felt rather than heard Gabriel’s moan of surrender. His
hands were on her and she was against him. He peppered kisses across her face.
She tasted tears, but didn’t know who owned them. They were one. In that
instant, they were one.

“Yours.” He sighed the word into her hair, and the fabric of
her existence fastened together and held. She had just claimed him, and he had
accepted. Gabriel was hers. He was all around her. Pressing kisses against her
skin. She felt thoroughly enveloped in him. Felt his blood rush through her,
melding into her own.

Pleasure burst through her. His fangs were in her throat,
his arms holding her to him, and heat spread through her veins. It was unlike
anything she had ever felt, any level of ecstasy she had ever experienced. A
shrill gasp touched the air as her body exploded in rapture and his tongue
traced the bite mark he had given her, holding her to him in her fall.

All this before the words were even whispered.

“I claim thee as mine.”

“
Oh.
Yours.”

That was it. She was complete. There was only Gabriel and
the birth of this sacred union between them. She was linked to him now in a
bond that flooded her being with strength and love, filled the holes in her
heart and made the rest of her burst into exultation.

“Gabriel—”

“Mine,” he growled again. “God, Jael…”

“Yours.”

Tears stung her eyes. She had spent so much time over the
years crying. Crying for loss, crying for life, crying for death, crying for
everything that had been taken away. Crying for the existence Gabriel had
resurrected within her and taken away all over again.

She was home now. In his arms. His blood in her blood, tied
together by forces beyond imagination. Tied with words of promise, but held
with love.

One little phrase. Even when he had told her, she had never
imagined it possible.

The world outside didn’t matter now. Nothing did. She would
not fear the punishment of the Order. They could conquer nations if they
wanted.

Gabriel had not only given her new life, he had given her
all of himself.

Releasing a trembling breath, Gabriel brushed a tender kiss
across her forehead and rolled them to their sides. Still within her, cradled
in her wet warmth. As close as he could be. Needing this tonight.

Needing her as long as the world would let him keep her.

Some part of him knew he could not fall asleep in her arms.
Tonight was tonight. If they meant to keep the haven they’d stolen, if he meant
to get away with this, if he meant to steal her for the hope of tomorrow, they
had to leave now.

Now or soon. Before the effects of their union shifted
through the Order and they were taught the cruelty of expulsion. For a few
minutes though, he would cast concerns aside and simply hold her in the
silence.

All this on a glorious winter’s night. They would never
again know loneliness.

A new world.

He would risk fire and brimstone to keep this. He would risk
everything.

For this sanctuary. This bliss.

This honey in the lion.

She would give anything for this to never end. It was such
an odd moment—a rarity handed down by the universe—and she knew that once it
was over, there would be none like it. Gabriel was in her bed. He was lying on
his side, his head resting against her pillow. And even though he wasn’t
touching her, it was surprisingly the most intimate moment of her life.

And the most intensely frightening. The thrill of their
defiance was damn addictive, and while her skin hummed and her heart thundered
with the high her newfound freedom provided, the underlying sense of dread was
impossible to ignore.

“The Order will be coming,” Jael observed, turning on her
side. “They will have felt it.”

“You have a comfy bed,” Gabriel replied noncommittally,
stretching those gorgeous muscles of his and flashing a grin. “Fella could get
used to this.”

“I’ve grown rather fond of it.”

“The bed or the fella?”

“I’ll just say yes and hope that clarifies things.”

“Mmm.” He mused. “Pity. You’ll have to give it up, I’m
afraid. The bed, that is. The fella’s here to stay.” Gabriel smirked and raised
his arm, and then she was lying against his chest, his hand wrapped around her
waist. The world felt open and new then. A thousand possibilities unfolded as
soon as their feet touched the floor.

Jael wouldn’t pretend she hadn’t entertained this particular
fantasy, but she had never expected it to become reality. On occasion, she
would visit the vamp forums online, though most of the active participants were
nothing more than human Goths who didn’t know the creatures they idolized
existed outside their own strange fetishes. Every now and then, however, Jael
stumbled across a posted topic that held actual substance, but none of them
inspired confidence.

The one thing she knew for certain was they would have to
stay on the move. The Order had ways of locating those vampires who dared
dissent. How was anyone’s guess.

“What happens now?”

Gabriel met her eyes, his fingers stroking her skin. “I’m
not sure,” he said. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“No,” she replied honestly. “God no.”

“I’d understand if you did. I just… I meant what I said,
Jael. I couldn’t face an eternity of being miserable, even if it means our time
together is cut short.” He pressed his lips to her brow, trembling. “Living
like this has all but broken me.”

The notion startled her so much she nearly laughed.
Everything about the night, starting with Gabriel’s urgency at the pub to the
desperate frenzy of their lovemaking to the wonder of lying in his arms, felt
surreal, almost impossible. She’d spent three centuries living and thinking
something he’d effectively proven wasn’t true, and the effect had her bubbling
with nervous energy that kept wanting to manifest in hysterical giggles.

But Jael didn’t giggle. Instead, she smiled and dropped a
soft kiss across his lips. “I’m only living for one night as it is.”

“There hasn’t been anyone else, then?”

“No.” She swallowed. “I tried once. It was such a long time
ago, I don’t remember when. You and I had parted ways that December, and you’d
gotten angry with me—”

Gabriel’s eyes fluttered shut. “I remember this.”

“Because I spent most of the night crying.”

“It killed me watching you cry.”

“Well, that hadn’t been a very good year, if memory serves.”
She pursed her lips. “None of them were.”

Gabriel reached up and brushed a lock of hair from her face.
“I screamed at you,” he said softly, his voice distorted with shame. “You kept
crying and I didn’t know what to do… I just needed you to stop.”

She nodded. “I tried after that. To be with someone else.
The thought of facing you again, even with a year between us… I couldn’t
stomach it. But when I tried to get close to another man, my gut ached, and I
saw you and I couldn’t do it.” She released a trembling sigh and worried her
bottom lip between her teeth. “It’s always been you, Gabe. Ever since I can
remember.”

“Fuck me if I know why.”

“Like you have to ask.”

“If I’d been a little braver over the years, I mighta—”

“Claimed me sooner?”

Gabriel trembled. “I was convinced living was better than
dying, no matter the condition. As long as I could see the finish line, with
you at the end of the tunnel, I believed anything was worth it.”

Jael licked her lips. “What changed? You were different
tonight.”

“I was?”

“You usually like to…I don’t know, pretend you’re picking up
a stranger. Pretend I’m someone else.”

He looked horrified. “No, sweetling. God, no. I can’t pretend
you’re someone else. I could never.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” she replied sincerely. “I know it’s
just—”

“No, you have it wrong. You always have to be you. Always.”
Gabriel sighed raggedly. “
I’m
the one I see as someone else.”

“You?”

“Anyone else. Someone who could stay with you through the
night and kiss you when we wake up. Tonight, I couldn’t do that.” He looked
away. “I don’t know why. I just couldn’t. And when I thought about what was
supposed to happen tomorrow—”

“I understand.”

Gabriel nodded. “You were always meant to be mine. Always.
From the moment I saw you. And I couldn’t go through eternity pretending
otherwise anymore.”

“Do you think we have a chance? Do you think we really can—”

“Yes.”

Jael smiled softly, though she didn’t know whether he was
speaking truthfully or doing his best to placate her concerns. She didn’t care
either way. While dread for the morning remained, while she knew that they
would have little time to rest, the monotony of every day had split with the
words they shared. At last, after living so long, she finally felt alive.

“Where do you want to go?” Gabriel murmured.

“I don’t care so long as we’re together.”

“We’ll have to run every few days, understand.”

“I know.”

“You’ll get tired of it.”

Jael shook her head. “I’ve stood still too long.”

“Yes, but this’ll be every other day.”

“That’s fine. I don’t care.” And she really didn’t. For what
lay ahead was worth the joy of knowing her future wouldn’t be walked alone. “I
do think we should establish a few rules.”

Gabriel arched a brow. “Rules?”

“Like…not staying at the same place twice in one year.”

“Seems fair.”

“And not staying at the same place within a place. If we’re
in New Orleans, we can’t stay at the same B&B or whatever next time we
decide to go.”

He nodded.

“If we hear something fishy, we run. If we feel something’s
off, we run.”

“Even if we’re approaching a particularly crucial moment?”

Jael looked at him askance and he just smiled devilishly.

“We’ve got a lot of time to make up for, you and I,” Gabriel
continued. “I want to explore you like I never have before.”

She warmed all over. “This might’ve been a mistake. We could
realize we were all wrong for each other.”

“Somehow, I doubt it.”

He shot her a grin, his hand slipping over her thigh, a look
she knew well—one she had memorized over three hundred years ago—darkening his
eyes. At once, her nipples ached and her pussy throbbed, a fresh surge of
arousal tingling through her body.

“We, uh, better get moving now,” Jael said.

“Now?”

“Yes. As much of a head start as we can manage.”

Gabriel nodded. “So we’re enacting the rules now?”

“Yes.”

“This is really happening, isn’t it?”

A rush of ecstasy bubbled her insides. “Yes. It’s
happening.”

“Tell me again. Just once more before we leave. Tell me you
love me.”

“I love you.” The words fell effortlessly off her lips.
She’d held them in so long. She’d ached at their truth every day until now, and
though tomorrow loomed with uncertainty, she had the moment, and the moment was
what mattered.

Gabriel smiled as though she’d given him the world, and
before she could stop him, his lips were on hers. And God, she melted on the
spot. She moaned and whimpered and threw her arms around his neck. This was a
bad start. This was a very bad start. Gabriel was kissing her. She lived for
his kisses but she knew where they led, and the result would get them nowhere
near the door.

“Unh…”

Before she could blink, he’d rolled her beneath him, his
cock teasing her sopping flesh as his mouth worshipped hers.

“You’re breaking the rules,” she complained halfheartedly
once their lips parted. Gabriel showered her face with kisses, sliding his hand
between them to caress her clit. “This is breaking the rules.”