Soul Enslaved (Sons of Wrath Book 3) (48 page)

“Of course you didn’t.” She nabbed Thomas and Janie’s wrists. “C’mon.”

“Wait.” Gavin’s firm voice had little effect on her determination to get as far away from him as possible. “Sabelle.”

Back through the halls and into the foyer, she tugged the two along until she reached the staircase, then quickly hoisted Janie into her arms as she tugged Thomas.

“Mommy, where are we going?”

“We’re leaving, sweetie.”

“But I don’t want to leave. I like it here. Mister Gavin and Anna is nice. I want to stay!”

“Thomas, please don’t do this.”

“I wanna stay too, Mommy,” Janie whined.

“I said, no.”

“Sabelle, please don’t take what I said to heart,” Gavin said from the bottom of the stairs.

“I don’t take anything you say to heart, Gavin. You’ve nothing to worry about.”

She kept on down the hall, until she reached the kids room where Anna was cleaning up toys scattered across the floor.

“Oh, my word! You scared me, Miss!”

“Sorry, Anna. Can you help them pack their clothes, please?”

“Are you leaving us?”

“Yes. Immediately.” Sabelle set Janie down beside the bed.

“I’m … I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Right. Do you mind helping?”

“Not at all.”

Sabelle hurried out the door, and as she reached Gavin’s room, she paused. No doubt, he’d be already inside.
Brace yourself. Stay firm. Walk away. Freedom.

Gods, she cringed at the thought of arguing over something so petty, but rousing irrational anger out of Gavin—enough to incite him to break things off—would be nearly impossible for such a rational male. Not like he gave her a slew of complaints that would justify walking away from him, either.

She had no choice. To help her family, Sabelle
needed
to walk away from him.

She pushed the door open, and, as expected, Gavin stood in the center of his room, arms crossed, brows drawn together. Pissed. “Am I to believe that exchange prompted you to want to leave?”

“Believe it.” She pushed past him and hauled her suitcase from beneath the bed to on top. “This playing pretend shit doesn’t work for me. I’m sorry.”

“What pretend shit?”

She sensed him stepping closer, and the hairs on her neck stood on end.

“You didn’t let me finish out there. If you’re not happy, I won’t force you to stay. You can walk away. But I want this. I want you.”

“Men have motives. Quit fucking with me. Tell me what yours are. What happens when I release you? And if I don’t?”

“I’d say you have a pretty big advantage in this. If I take off, my ass gets sent back. You think I’m saying these things to
keep
from going back? That you’re some ticket out of hell for me?”

“If not that, what am I?”

“You’re absolute. Beauty, charm, compassion, smarts—absolute in everything. The whole package.” He cocked a brow. “But packing up like this, over something that was misconstrued, is making me question the latter.”

“This isn’t real, Gavin. You’re here because you owed me a debt. And I have too much to risk, falling in love, only to have it swiped away.”

His lips curved into the impossibly sexy grin that made Sabelle’s breath hitch, her body shiver and her heart go ape-shit against her ribs. “Then, don’t fall in love with me.”

“I don’t have the luxury of time, being with a man for the hell of it.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I have kids. Kids who … wish for things that sometimes just can’t be. Kids who fall in love easier than I do. And I’ll tell you what, buddy …” She pointed a finger at him. “It’s one thing to break my heart. But I would kill the man who broke my kids’ hearts.”

“It’s not hard to understand why you’ve been afraid to fall in love, Sabelle. What’s hard to understand is why you’re still afraid.”

“You’ve done a lot more than most of the men in my life, I’ll admit. But the fact is, men
leave
. They make vows and break them, as if they’re nothing but brittle straws. Getting too comfy means getting fucked in the end.”

“You know what I think? I think you need to look into why your dad left. Bonds are eternal, whether you want to believe it, or not. Why the fuck do you think I’ve avoided them for so many centuries?”

“They’re
not
eternal. He walked out the door and left us. Left us with her. Her and every other man she decided to fuck.”

“Two things—I’m not him, and you’re not her.” He huffed. “I’m not going to convince you of anything with words. That doesn’t seem to have worked out for you in the past. I’m going to have to show you.” He crooked a finger and tipped his head, gesturing her. “Come here.”

Every cell in her body wanted to rebel whatever messed up baggage weighed down her brain, keeping her from doing what she craved—running into those massive arms and kissing the shit out of him. “Gods, you’ve got my head so … messed up right now!” Every image of happiness that passed through her mind—of Gavin playing with her children, of living in the demon mansion, of making love to him every night and waking up to his handsome face every morning—all of it was met with an equally disturbing image of him walking out the door.

He stepped closer, and her muscles tensed at his proximity. “I’m not asking you to bond with me, Sabelle. I’m asking you stay. At least for a while.”

“Why? What’s the point? You said last night that you’d already claimed me.”

“I know.” His lips tightened. “It wasn’t my intent to make you uneasy by confessing that. I’ve grown fond of our friendship. The banter. The laughter. Even if I can’t have you as my own, I’m not prepared to simply walk away.”

“You do it all the time with women, Gavin.”

“Yes, I did with the others. I can’t with you. Darkness is the absence of light. That being said, centuries of pain and loneliness was merely an absence of you, Sabelle. I need you here. With me.”

“Why me?” A watery shield blurred his face while her resolve crumbled with every word that spilled from his mouth like an enchantment. “What is so special about me? It doesn’t make sense.”

“You can’t choose your soulmate. You just know unequivocally when you’ve found her. An instinct, I suppose.”

Glancing away allowed her to expel the held breath.
Soulmate?
Did she even believe in them? Absolutely not. By the very definition of a bond, her parents should’ve been soulmates, and yet, her father managed to sever the two into separate halves.

“What are you thinking?”

“My head is hot and … my heart is flaming right now.” She blinked away the tears welling in her eyes. “And, goddamn it, I feel like … I need this pain. I don’t know what to do with it, though. I don’t know what I’m doing. The … possibility of being consumed by flames, only to be left in ashes.” Manically rubbing her brow didn’t seem to keep her tears in check; they only blurred her view more. “I was doing just fine until you came along, and … now there’s this gaping hole. And I know when I leave, I’m going to be so starved for you. Your touch. So show me. Show me what to do with it. Show me how people live with the possibility that everything will be gone tomorrow.” Tears spilled down her cheek. “But show me slowly, because I’m convinced that this is all just a dream and I’m going to wake up soon.”

He held her face in his hands. “Tonight. I’ll show you. If there wasn’t the chance that one of the children would walk in, I’d throw you on the bed and show you right now.”

She wanted to smile, but couldn’t. Always something needling her side, poking holes in her happiness. “I
can’t
bond with you, Gavin. Is that going to be enough for you? What happens to a male who doesn’t bond during his Savidon?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never experienced this before. But I’m willing to find out, if you are.”

She cast her gaze toward the floor, unable to look into that sea of comforting blue in his eyes. Staying at the mansion didn’t help the other problem she faced. Denya’s schooling, and the house that’d probably be foreclosed by the end of the month.

“Something else is troubling you.”

How the hell does he know these things?
“No,” she lied. “Nothing else.”

“Bullshit. What’s wrong?”

Sabelle licked her lips, feeling every bit the skank for even thinking of moaning about her money problems.

“Denya?”

Again … how the
hell
did he know?

A moment of desperation gripped her, and something deep inside pushed the words right out of her mouth before she could stop them. “She’s going to be kicked out of school if I don’t pay her semester tuition by end of month. My account was seized.”

“Seized?” Regret spurred sickness in her gut, as his eyes seemed to zero in on her with interest.

“They won’t tell me who seized it. My house is in foreclosure, so I can’t really do shit about it.” Some people jumped overpasses for admitting that kind of thing—the shame and humiliation of losing everything. Money would remain a weakness until she had the power to do something about it. Power that came from freedom. Freedom that’d slipped through her hands the night before.

“What do you need?”

“Nothing. I shouldn’t have said what I said.” She glanced away, her face still held in his palms. “Denya is coming over. Just didn’t want her asking you for it.”

“I’ll find out from Denya, then. The money will be transferred today. Your house will be brought current. Anything else?”

Tears sprang in her eyes.
Just like that?
Problems that would leave her crippled and contemplating stupid ideas—solved. Just like that. “I can’t. I can’t accept this, Gavin. It’s not right. Not right, at all.”

“Accept it. It’s just money, Sabelle. It’s not worth your worry.”

A tickle in her chest had her traipsing a breakdown. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I’m a selfish bastard.” His eyes slid shut, as he leaned in to kiss her. “It ruins my day to see you upset,” he said against her lips. “I don’t like when my day is ruined.”

She sucked in a breath of relief—relief she didn’t deserve—and her gaze fell to the card in her purse. Once Gavin left, she’d tear the bastard to a million pieces and burn it. How could she have thought of turning him over to a stranger? Even for a minute?

For money?

The thought left her wanting to fold in on herself, as remorse and guilt tumbled around in her chest, each taking a blow to her heart. Damn the confusion between her heart and her head!
Stupid, Sabelle. Stupid, selfish idiot
. She’d never consider something so stupid again. Gavin deserved better than that.

“Stop thinking.”

“I can’t. My thoughts are about you, and I don’t want to stop thinking about you.”

He lifted her chin. “Welcome to my world.”

CHAPTER 22

Dabbing the sweat from his forehead, Zayne patted Ben’s shoulder as he passed him on the way into the mansion. Twenty mile run, and he still couldn’t shake the craving to shoot up some Abyzz in his room, and get lost in fantasies of Shey. It’d been about a year since his mate had passed away. Zayne made a promise to stay away from the drug after nearly losing his brother, Zeke, when an Enforcer had captured him. He’d vowed to get back to himself and try to reconnect with his twin after months of drifting apart.

Not as easy as he thought it’d be.

He walked the halls on the way back to his bedroom, pausing mid-step at the sound of laughter. The kid laughter was a given.

The female laughter seized his attention.

Like a trill, it sounded almost melodic. He’d heard Calla and Ayden laugh. Cute. But not quite the same.

Zayne hastened his steps in search of the source and came to a stop in the billiards room, where slender, tan legs supported the female bent over the table. Her long brown hair cascaded over her shoulders, and for a split second, Zayne’s heart skipped, because those locks looked an awful lot like the ones he used to breathe in every morning.

No.

The cue snapped a ball, knocking it into the pocket, and the two little cherubs standing behind her broke into dance and giggles.

The female straightened and jumped up and down. “Yeah! I did it!”

The scene brought a smile to Zayne’s face, and head tipped, arms crossed, he watched the three of them celebrate her victory. It’d been a long time since he’d last been both riveted and amused by something at the same time.

Across her red tank top script read:
la Joie de vivre
when she spun, before shaking her hips and pumping her arms.

Like a big kid.

Zayne rubbed his jaw to conceal his grin at her antics, but all dancing came to an abrupt stop the second her gaze hit him.

Wide eyes stared back. “Oh. Hi. Wow. Uh. Big. Muscles.” She released the kid’s hands and straightened her shorts, stepping toward Zayne with an outstretched hand. “I’m Denyalis. Denya. Sabelle’s sister.”

Zayne pushed off the doorframe and reached out, glancing down at their hands touching one another.
Warm.
“Zayne.”

“He is U-U-Uncle Gavin’s brother.”

He couldn’t help but smirk at the small blond boy’s wide-eyed stare. “What’s your name, little man?”

“Thomas. And this-this Janie.”

“Hi, Janie. Aren’t you a spitting image of your mom.”

“Spitting?” Thomas reared back, frowning. “W-w-what d’you mean?”

Denya smiled and glanced downward. “It’s just an expression, TJ.” Her gaze returned to Zayne. “Sorry, we were just …” She looked over her shoulder toward the pool table. “Just playing pool. If you’re wanting to use it, we can go somewhere else.”

“How ‘bout this. I’m going to hit the shower, and when I come back, I’ll show you a couple cool trick shots.” He winked at the boy, whose eyes lit up.

“Cool!”

“Ah, trying to show me up, are ya?” Denya laughed, and, gods, like sunshine.

“Guess you’ll have to watch and learn.”

“Or you could teach me.”

Zayne shook his head. “A master never spills his secrets.” He gave a nod toward the twins. “Be right back.”

“Okay!” both sang in unison.

***

Denya’s mind refused to let loose the vision of the massive demon’s ass even a half hour after he’d exited the room. Not even the black track pants that’d been covering it lessened her imagination. “That’s uncle Gavin’s brother?”