Soul Enslaved (Sons of Wrath Book 3) (43 page)

“I’m complicated.”

“
You’re
not complicated. This thing we have going on is complicated. I have to escort you into a lycan’s lair tomorrow night. I’m a little fucking stressed about that, all right?” His grip of her hair tightened. “Christ, woman, do you know what I’d do if something happened to you? I’d probably end up burning down half this fucking city!” His eyes shifted between crazed and pained. “I can’t even fucking bond with you because of yet
another
complication.”

She let out a shaky breath. “Let it also go on record that you’re not as beastly around me anymore.” The slow twisting of his face to a frown begged some explanation
.
“We’ll break this down, shall we? When Gavin thinks of sex, he turns beast. When Gavin is around Sabelle, he’s no longer a beast. Extrapolate.”

“Extrapolate?” His jaw ticced. “I’m insanely, incurably crazy about you.” His head dipped to her neck, out of view but his voice slid inside her ear like warm honey. “I can’t think.” A nick of her earlobe made her flinch. “About anything except …” His lips found her throat and cast a tickle that rattled her core. “… how fucking good it feels to be inside you.” The seductive purr of his voice had her lips parting. “I think we’ve established that you’re not like
other
women. You have power over me, unlike any
other
woman. But showing up to my office dressed like this is playing with fire.” He gripped her chin. “What did you think would happen? What did you think this would do to me?”

Eyelids heavy, she could hardly keep standing, as his words hit her like a drug and reality made a slow exit. His face came back into view, the blue of his eyes hooded with lust. She licked her lips and swallowed a gulp. “I didn’t think at all. That’s the problem when you’re attracted to someone.”

Her gaze fell to his lips, so close. She lifted her head and seized his mouth in a white hot kiss. Heat spread through her body, rendering her momentarily dizzy.

Gavin’s tongue shot into her mouth, painting the inside of her lips before dipping past her teeth. He lifted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist and carried her across the room. Her body shifted only slightly, as he fell into his chair. Frantic breaths merged, as she pulled away and tore at the buttons on his shirt. He yanked her back and ravaged her with a possessive kiss. With the last button unfastened, Sabelle pushed away his shirt, leaving him in a T-shirt. She unclasped his belt, then unzipped his pants.

He lifted her up with him, as she pushed them off his ass. “Fuck, I wanted this to be slow.” His mouth slanted over hers. “Can’t,” he said against her lips.

She sprang his cock free from the black briefs he wore. Thick and hard.

His arms stiffened—the hardness of his muscles passing beneath her fingertips, as she caressed his biceps. “Thought about you all day.”

“I almost screwed the shower head thinking about you earlier,” she rasped.

Sabelle positioned herself on his tip and impaled his cock, crying out as she stretched around him.

“Always wet.” He peeled away her bra and clamped onto her nipple.

“Only for you.” Sabelle toppled over him, gripping his hair, as his tongue flicked and sucked.

He rolled her hips and entered slowly, allowing her to adjust to the enormity of him, pain and pleasure clashing inside of her, as he switched off to the other breast, hands gripping tight to her waist like he might bruise her. “Fucking ride me.” His husky voice almost sounded like his beast had come out to play, but Gavin’s features remained … stunning as ever.

Closing her eyes, Sabelle moved up and down his shaft, taking in the easy glide that filled her each time she came down hard. She released his hair and fell into fantasies that called to her. Voices danced through her head. Incantations. Heat scorched her body, as she rocked and bounced, rocked and bounced. Rough. Needy.

“Son of a—” Gavin’s voice remained distant to the one chiming in her head.

Her walls gripped him each time she drove down on him, and she reveled in the muscle control, the feel of him inside of her. She upped the pace, letting her hands wander her body. Grasping at her breasts that she’d always considered too big, they bounced against her palm. She leaned back, imagining Gavin’s eyes feasting on them. With one hand against his thigh, she reached behind and gripped his balls beneath her.

His curses brought a smile to her face and she rocked her hips faster, massaging him as she dug her fingers into his thigh muscle.

“Fuck me, Gavin. Make me come.”

Her body jerked forward, and his arms wrapped around her, mouth clamped on her nipple. One hand gripped her nape and guided her up and down, up and down.

Her body tightened. Muscles burned with the tension. Higher. Higher. Her stomach clenched.

Pain pierced her nipple and she cried out. “Yes! Oh, gods, yes!”

Light struck the back of her head. Blinding. Pleasure burst through her core like a tidal wave, crashing around Gavin’s pulsing cock. She tipped her head back and screamed his name, as ecstasy beat against her muscles in ripples that left her too weak to sit upright. She fell forward, head dizzy. Another explosion curled through her body.

Gavin shuddered and cursed again—and again. His fingers dug into her shoulder, until, at last, she took deep, heavy breaths and rested her head into the crook of his neck.

“Holy shit,” she said between heaving breaths. “That was amazing.” If not for his grip around her, she’d have slid happily to the floor in a pile of soft bones.

“Never … in centuries … have I felt something … so fucking … good.” His chest rose and fell against her breasts, and sweat slid between their skin.

She loved the contact with him. Lips to his throat, she dragged her tongue over the salty taste of his flesh, along the beautiful black tattoo that snaked across his neck. His scent penetrated her nose, and the throb at her core had her tightening her thighs around him.

“Gavin, I’m—”

“I’m feeling it, too.” His hands brushed her breasts, as his breath kicked up from a lazy exhale to a pant. “I need more. I want more of you. I don’t know if I can stop, Sabelle. I don’t want to stop.” His face nuzzled into her neck. “Gods, I want to be buried inside of you forever.”

“I want you, Gavin.”

“Say it again.”

“I want you.”

“Promise me that you’re mine. Promise me that, tomorrow, you won’t fuck him. No matter what.”

“I promise you.”

“I will kill, Sabelle. I will annihilate any bastard who lays a hand on you.” He thrust forward, gripping her throat with one hand. “We may not be bonded, but you belong to me,” he whispered.

“I know.” A tear spilled onto her cheek. “I really do.”

***

Back at the mansion, Gavin slouched in his office chair, staring at the cube of sugar, as it dripped slowly from the elaborate silver absinthe spoon into the green liquid below. Swirls danced like silk and fell into a louche of milky opalescence at the bottom of the glass, like a light brimming to the fore.

He’d already showered with Sabelle, and had carried her to his bed before sneaking down to his office alone. He needed to think.

Things with Sabelle had grown and stretched into territory that Gavin had never ventured before. Aside from a brief affair with Ayden, he’d never really developed feelings toward a woman that would leave him contemplating a bond. His yearning to have Sabelle went beyond his own understanding of what that might mean. She had kids, which meant the moment he made her his, he’d be a father. Responsible for lives other than his own. Lives that would be at risk, if he were sent back. Or killed.

“Gavius …” Warm hands covered his, and his mother’s eyes turned earnest as much as they carried a smile. “You are the man of this house. I want you to help look out for your brother. Teach him to become the man you are. The man I’m proud to call my son.”

“I promise.”

Gavin flinched at the memory and sipped his drink. A visual of his brother, Legarrod, slipped into his thoughts. Pale-faced. Mouth agape. Eyes closed. So peaceful, as if he’d slept. And he did sleep—for eternity, because Gavin had failed him. Had failed to look after him and failed to carry out his promise.

Nothing in his life would ever have the same effect as seeing his dead brother lying in a forest alone, left as carrion for scavengers. How quickly someone could be so vibrant, so full of life and wonder, then fall into nothing more than flesh and bones to feed the wolves.

Gavin vowed never to fail again. He’d never let down those he loved again. Prized possessions were always the first to suffer the wrath of vengeance. Gavin couldn’t afford to have someone close to his heart that way again.

Did he love Sabelle?

He must’ve, because every fiber of his body craved her, even then, and if she’d been awake, he’d have taken her. He’d never bothered to scratch past the surface of a woman, down to the depths of her soul where she kept her most prized secrets. Being forced to stay with Sabelle had given him that opportunity, and call it luck of the draw, but he enjoyed it. Wanted to unravel her mysteries until she lay completely bare, naked in front of him—her darkest surprises exposed.

Exposed. Naked. If he didn’t stop musing, he’d be fucking her in her sleep.

Tingles spread from his groin. His curse was upon him. The change would begin, thanks to visuals of Sabelle and the overwhelming desire to have her again. Gavin tipped back the last of his drink and stood. He ran his hands through wet hair and stepped around his desk to get his ass down to the dungeon quickly, where Xander could chain him up for the night before he broke into a raging lunatic and attacked Sabelle.

Yeah, she had the power to tame him, but only if she saw the attack coming first—but with only one step toward the door, Gavin fell to his knees.

The room shriveled into a circle of light before going completely black. When the shade lifted, the scene had changed.

His gaze wandered a crowded room, from beside Xander, Maddox and Zayne. Familiar. He’d been there before. A cage stood in the center, surrounded by an unruly crowd that pumped fists and shouted, though he couldn’t hear their voices. They moved in slow motion, as he passed them. Silent. Wolves fought within the bars, and blood sprayed the cage interior, falling to the concrete by the drop.

To the left, two men leaned against the walls, the fact that they weren’t moving in the ruckus of the crowd making them stand out. Bulky, burly men, they stood nearly seven feet tall. To the right, two more men, as still and large as the others. Two more stood at the mouth of the tunnel, one Gavin knew led to an abandoned school. Purebloods. A glance down at his watch showed five to midnight.

Sabelle’s red hair danced behind her like flames, as she followed a male decked out in black. She cocked her head to the side when they reached the tunnel, and her gaze flickered to his before she disappeared into the darkness.

One of the wolves at the tunnel made eye contact with Gavin, and the slightest grin lifted the corner of his lip before, like dominoes, all six males burst into form. A flash of black and russet drew his gaze upward. More wolves waiting to fall from the ceiling onto the crowd. A slaughter.

Wolves closed in from all angles. Blood shot like a plume of red paint, as they tore through the crowd toward the center, where Gavin and his brothers waited.

Zayne charged from the right. Maddox pushed through toward the wolves on the left. Xander tugged his blade and hit the air, where wolves had begun to leap onto the crowd below.

Sabelle.

Gavin jogged forward, pushing panicked bodies to the side, as he barreled toward the tunnel. The wolves rose up on haunches. Bigger. Stronger than their usual foes. Tugging two blades, Gavin slashed an abdomen, stabbed a chest, kicked, punched and fought, until both beasts lay in a heap of tarry blood. He kept on down into the tunnel. Through darkness, he searched for Sabelle, kicking open closed doors that led to spaces decorated as bedrooms.

A scream hit the air, and Gavin dashed toward a room near the end of the hall, throwing back the door to find a young girl, perhaps sixteen, crouched naked over a boy her age. Blood covered her hands and tears spilled from her eyes. The boy lay unmoving. Gavin didn’t even have to confirm to know she’d killed him.

He kept on toward the last door. Inside, his gaze landed on a bed, where a beastly male appeared to be rutting. Still mostly human, he’d only begun to change, and Gavin bolted forward and yanked the male to the floor, away from the female lying beneath him.

Sabelle had been sliced, her neck still oozing blood. The dagger stuck up from her chest where it’d been lodged.

Gavin fell to his knees. A roar of pain ripped through his chest. The beast had fucked her dead body—a thought that had Gavin’s chest heaving, fingers curling into fists and his fangs poking his bottom lip. Pure, bloodthirsty rage clutched his gut and a red fog clouded his vision.

The growls of wolves vibrated outside the door, as if the entire lair had gathered there, before an agonizing burn hit the back of his neck.

Gavin reached behind, yanking a blade from the top of his spine. The tip flickered amber. His hands blackened. Demortis.

Flames consumed him.

CHAPTER 17

Sabelle’s nerves flared, as Gavin led her into his office. So many rooms filled the mansion, each carrying a very distinct décor, but his office held a tone of business, with its dark wood and leather. The seat behind the desk screamed dominance with its high back and imposing presence. Gavin slumped into the chair and gestured her toward the seat on the other side.

Very business.

He sucked in a breath and puffed his cheeks on the exhale. “Sabelle …”

“Look, if this is about last night, it won’t happen again.”

The slightest frown flickered across his face, and Gavin shook his head. “This isn’t about last night. I rather enjoyed your visit. But that isn’t why I called you in here.” He sat forward, steepling his fingers against the desktop.