MidnightSolace Read online

  Gabriel seized her mouth in another kiss as his shirt fell to the floor. He turned her in his arms so that her back was to the bed and walked her to it slowly, his hands massaging circles into her hips. She sat when her legs met the mattress, looking up at him as he gazed down at her, his touch moving to her hair as she lifted nervous fingers to the clasp of his trousers and slowly drew him out.

  God, he nearly melted then. Her small hand cradled his cock with veneration, stroking him to further hardness as his pants pooled at his ankles before joining his shoes on the floor.

  “Jael,” he gasped, releasing her hair. As much as he wanted to hold her in place, there was something about the gesture that struck him as wrong, wholly disrespectful, and miles apart from the place that his love for her began. He had told her lifetimes ago that he never expected anything, and it remained true. Whatever she gave him was enough. “God.”

  She dropped her other hand to his balls and squeezed him lightly. “You like?”

  Did she actually expect him to talk?

  Her tongue flicked over the head of his cock, and a murmur of approval rumbled through her throat. As though she actually enjoyed this. He never wanted her to feel she had to do this for him…though he was not such a putz that he would tell her to stop if she didn’t want to.

  “J-Jael—”

  Her tongue took to the underside of his cock, laving him in long, wet laps. She lifted her hand just slightly so she could taste his sac with her tongue, sucking gently and just barely teasing him with her teeth.

  “God!” Gabriel snarled something unintelligible and shoved her back on the bed. “Drive me outta my mind, you know that?”

  “Well, you drive me out of mine more.”

  “Don’t think so, sweetheart.” His mouth surrounded one rosy nipple, his right hand caressing her neglected breast as his other skated down the length of her. Stroking her gently through the satin of her sodden panties. “So wet.”

  “Uhh…”

  “So sweet.”

  “Gabriel, please.”

  He scraped the tip of her nipple with his teeth before pulling back to draw her panties down her legs. His gaze was transfixed on her dewy center, which glistened at him even through the darkness. “So fucking gorgeous,” he murmured reverently, skimming a hand up her leg to tease her soft curls. “You have any idea how delicious you are?”

  “You have any idea how often you’ve asked me that over the years?”

  A smirk quirked his lips. “Sassy.”

  “No.” She lifted her hips in offering, eyes wide with need. “Horny.”

  “Well, at least you’re honest.” He edged a finger into her slowly, eyes twinkling when her own went wide, her pelvis leaping into his touch. He carefully avoided her clit, even as his other fingers took to exploring her, rubbing her folds, edging into her warmth, feeling her warm juices run onto his skin. Tempting him with her taste. “Honesty’s a quality I love in a woman.”

  “Gah.”

  “You disagree?”

  “No—other women. Can we pretend there are no other women in your life?”

  Gabriel’s brow perked teasingly. He read her so well. “Well, I’m sure you’re not the only woman who exhibits honesty.”

  “Gabriel!”

  He smiled, his eyes lowering with remorse as a shudder raced through his body. “Baby, I promise you. You’re the only one I see here. You have nothing to worry about.”

  Nothing?

  He heard the question as plainly as if she’d spoken it aloud. The indecision in her eyes, the uncertainty and revulsion at the thought she couldn’t keep him from sampling other women in their time apart. Just as surely as he couldn’t keep her from seeking her pleasures elsewhere when he wasn’t there to proclaim her his. No, he wasn’t that dense. Jael was gorgeous, and he had her for only one night. The rest of the year belonged to her other lovers. He couldn’t believe or even expect her to remain celibate when they were apart, even if his love for her prevented him from doing anything but, regardless of what she thought or what he let her think. The lie was cruel but the truth was crueler, and he’d never wanted her to picture him as bitter and lonely, craving what he couldn’t have. Knowledge couldn’t change the truth of what reality had given them.

  Gabriel withdrew his fingers from her carefully, ignoring her whimper of complaint. He licked her taste off his skin, then lowered his hand to her mouth so she might have a sample herself.

  “Samson spoke of the honey in the lion,” he told her softly. “Think he had it wrong though.”

  “Oh?”

  He couldn’t tell if she was just dizzy with lust or oblivious as to the reference. By the look in her gaze, hazed with desire though clouded by confusion, he decided it was a combination of both.

  “You’re the bloody honey, honey,” he replied, prowling up her body slowly. “Thank God I’m not a Nazirite. Can I drink you all I like without fear of punishment?”

  Her eyes flickered as though inspired by some distant memory and her cheeks flushed. “Ah, Gabe.”

  The head of his cock teased her folds, slipping over her wet skin. He shivered with the promise of the haven that awaited him. He loved looking at her like this. Loved watching her pant with need, aroused beyond words at the touch of his hand. Sweat rolled down her forehead. Her warm, pliant body welcomed his. Needed his. Her nails dug into his forearms, her head lifting to steal a kiss from his lips. He grasped his cock, rubbed himself against her until the sensations were too much for both of them, and sank into her with a blissful groan.

  “Shit,” he gasped. “Feels so good.”

  Jael whimpered, her eyes falling shut. “I’ve missed this,” she said softly, her muscles clenching around him. “It’s been too long.”

  Gabriel smiled tenderly as he began to move within her, eyes on her face. Drowning in the feel of her around him. The warmth she offered scorched him alive and quenched his thirst for her in the same beat.

  “Too long,” he agreed, pebbling a nipple between his fingers, watching her hungrily as she panted and squeezed him again. “God, I’ve missed this too. Every second apart. Been starved for you.”

  “I’ve…ah…”

  His thrusts were gaining momentum. Her hands were at his shoulders, nails embedding in his skin as he moved to strike that perfect angle within her.

  “Gabriel, God, I…”

  He chuckled, dropping kisses along her throat as he edged a hand between their entangled bodies. His fingers danced over her slippery skin, fingering her teasingly before capturing her clit. He loved the way her voice melted into a pleasured, throaty gasp. Her nails dug into his skin. Hurting him sweetly. Propelling his cock deeper within her. He needed as much as she would give, gave as much as he could despite his knowledge that it would never be enough.

  “Oh God!” she screamed, her muscles clenching him so tight he was genuinely surprised when he didn’t pop. “So good.”

  “Fuck yeah.” The feel of the air was too familiar, too bittersweet. The atmosphere of the night was too restrained, too heavy with the weight of what could come crashing down around them at any moment. They had evaded fate for years now. Had captured brief moments of intimacy, stolen hours of what had once been so close to being theirs. He needed her so much. Was so entrenched in his love for her that the hint this small haven, this period of stolen hours, could be taken away from him sent his urgency to catastrophic levels. This connection, feeling her beneath him, losing himself inside her… It was all too much. Too much for just one night, when the rest were left empty.

  And Christ, he needed to send her over that edge before he found his release. His body warred as he forced himself to pull out of her, ignoring the sharp gasp of complaint that tumbled through her lips. He pressed a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth, then slid down her body, lips caressing her sweat-laced skin until his mouth was level with her sopping pussy. Her scent flooded his senses.

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

  Chapter Three

  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.”