Gabe didn’t wait for her response. There was no point, since she’d never obey him anyway, and within a nanosecond, he followed her.
Jagged discordance scraped through him, and echoes of unnatural chaos vibrated. It had been millennia since he’d last been here, but this was nothing like the tranquil realm he recalled.
Any other time he might have investigated. But Aurora was right ahead, glowing with pure energy. Reluctant awe rippled through him.
Breathtaking …
Concentrate. She was a fucking menace. And before she could do any more damage, he needed to pull her back into her physical body.
The second he grasped her, they fell from the incorporeal realm and collided on the cold, tiled, floor of the bathroom.
Panting, Aurora faced him on her hands and knees, her hair tumbling over her shoulders. She looked feral and furious and infinitely fuckable.
“You could’ve killed me doing that.”
“Unlikely.” What the fuck was her deal with the astral planes? Involuntarily, he drew in a deep breath, savoring the scent of his soap and shampoo on her, mingled with supple leather and aroused woman.
He would not be distracted. He’d discover her truth. But damn, it was hard to focus.
“What are you doing in here, anyway?”
She had the gall to speak to him in that accusing tone?
“Tell me what you were doing in the astral planes before I arrived in Cornwall.”
Confusion clouded her face. How could Meph be right about her? There had been a mistake. Had to be.
“I told you. I was in trance. I’ve always loved the spiritual realm.”
He glared into her eyes. She was holding something back, but unlike when he’d first met her, this time he wouldn’t dismiss his suspicion.
“Were you attempting to breach dimensions?”
The words thudded in the space between them, sounding even more unthinkable now he faced her. There was no way this fragile human could do such a thing. But what isn’t she telling me?
There was no hint of fear on her face. Let me be wrong.
She took a shuddering breath, and his treacherous gaze slid to her enticing breasts. Lust scorched his blood and he was so fucking hard it hurt. Godsdamnit, why did his brains scramble every time he was near her?
“Yes.”
It was a soft, breathy confession, and for an eternal second, he couldn’t even comprehend what she had just admitted.
“Yes?” The word scraped his throat. “You deliberately opened a rift?” She was mistaken. It had been accidental. Why can’t I accept her guilt?
It hit him that he was on all fours, facing her, and he reared up, fury pumping through his arteries. He kneeled before no one, but he was incapable of standing.
She followed him, a mirror image, and even though she was kneeling before him, in a sacrificial outfit— a despised human, no less—there was no hint of reverence in her manner. She faced him as though they were equals.
I should destroy her, right here, right now.
“But you don’t understand. I’m not—”
He wrapped his hand around her throat. Her pulse fluttered against his fingers, so delicate, so easily extinguished. Her lips parted and her shallow breath fanned his face in an illicit caress. She didn’t struggle or try and push him away, and he couldn’t tear his gaze from her beautiful blue eyes.
It would take no effort to end her existence. An act of mercy compared to the Guardians’ brand of justice.
“You’ve no idea what you’ve done.” And the gods alone knew how she’d managed it. “You could have unraveled the strands of the universe.”
Her eyes darkened, but it wasn’t terror tainting the charged atmosphere. Awareness sizzled along his flesh, and he plunged his fingers through her hair, his grip merciless. She reached for him then, but not to push him away.
She grasped his shirt and held on tight.
An agonized groan flayed him. Instead of squeezing the life from her, his thumb caressed the silken skin of her vulnerable throat. A shiver rippled through her, and a delicate blush suffused her cheeks as one hand slid up and cradled his jaw.
“What are you?” she whispered as the tips of her fingers stroked his face. Her touch was as light as a feather, oddly tender, and a strange burning sensation filled his chest, the way it had when she’d pushed him from the face of danger.
A danger she’d brought on herself.
Her touch should mean nothing. She was no longer merely a despised human.
She was a human who had flouted a fundamental law of the universe.
A mortal whose fate was to die for her sin.
Yet he couldn’t untangle his fingers from her hair, or release her tempting throat, and he sure as hell didn’t want to stop her gentle caress.
Why did she ask him, when Eblis had already told her the answer?
“You know what I am.” His voice was raw with need. Why could he barely recall his own name whenever she was near?
“An archangel.” Awe threaded the words. And then mystified comprehension filled her eyes. “The Archangel Gabriel?”
He bared his teeth. It was the closest he could get to a grin. “Don’t faint on me now, human.”
Her hand glided from his face to his shoulder, and even through his shirt, her touch was like fire.
Curse the fates. He’d wanted to kiss her from the second they’d met. Human or not, hunted or not, made no difference. Her lips tempted him, her body invited him, and he could drown in the innocent depths of her eyes.
She’s not innocent. She had deliberately opened a rift between dimensions.
He didn’t care. Nothing mattered but slaking this unholy desire between them.
“What happened to your wings?”
Involuntarily his grip tightened around her throat. How dare she question him on such a thing? How dare she question him at all?
She was disrespectful, disobedient, and he couldn’t dislodge her from his mind. But some lines could never be crossed.
“Don’t you ever ask me that again.”
Her nails dug into his shoulders, her eyes widening, and he relaxed his death grip. She swallowed, an erotic caress against his palm, and even now, when she’d asked the one thing that could guarantee instant death, he couldn’t let her go.
She panted, sucking air into her lungs, and fury glinted in her eyes. “Why not?”
And still she questioned him.
It was unprecedented. There was no reason why her insolence stoked the fire in his blood or incinerated his defenses, but every word she uttered was a sultry enticement.
He didn’t owe her an explanation. Yet he couldn’t ignore her. “Because you don’t need to know.”
“Bastard,” she breathed, but the curse sounded like an endearment on her tongue and his grin was feral. Finally, she’d got something right.
“To the bone,” he growled before finally claiming her lips.
She tasted wild and sweet, and he released her throat so he could wrap his arm around her. Her tongue teased him, and her fingers plunged through his hair, taking and giving with every frenzied beat of their hearts.
This shouldn’t feel so good. It’s only a kiss.
It was everything.
He ripped his mouth from hers. Her eyes were dark, her breathing ragged, and a fierce wave of possessiveness surged through him. She’s under my protection. He’d never allow anything to harm her.
Stop. He was losing his godsdamned mind. There was only one way to reclaim his sanity and conquer this lust for all time.
“Tell me you want me.” It was a harsh command, but she didn’t instantly obey. He hadn’t expected her to.
It’s why she’s so irresistible.
He cupped her ass. Was she naked beneath that minuscule skirt?
“Yes,” she breathed, her fingers tangling in his hair, her eyes glazed with passion.
“Yes, what?” He needed to hear her say it. Wanted her to admit she was as ensnared as he within the web of this blistering desire.
She pressed closer, her lips teasing his ear, and her exposed nipples tortured him through the fabric of his shirt. Why the hell were they still wearing clothes?
“I want you.” Her confession splintered the last threads of his control, and he kissed her again, but there was nothing soft or teasing about this one. He plundered her mouth, demanding her surrender, and she didn’t yield.
Her refusal to succumb was electrifying, even if part of him had expected it. Relished it.
Craved it.
His hand slid down her body, exploring her waist, hip, and naked silken thigh. The lace on her decadent scarlet garters burned his fingers, and her sigh stirred erogenous zones he hadn’t even known existed.
He didn’t want her to submit, but a crazy part of him wanted to hear her beg. To know she wanted him more than her next breath.
And not because he was an archangel.
“You want me to stop?” He growled the words against her bruised lips as his hand cupped her sex. Gods. The strip of leather was crotchless. She was hot and wet, and bucked helplessly as he stroked his fingers over her swollen clit.
“No,” she gasped frantically, clutching his shoulders as though he was her lifeline. “Don’t you dare stop.”
“Not a chance.” He slid a finger inside her and she clenched her muscles, entrapping him in a silken cocoon. Slow down. He gritted his teeth and breathed in her evocative scent. He didn’t know why he wanted to prolong this torture. Just do it and get her out of your system.
“Gabe,” she moaned, arching her back. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips full and inviting, and her hair tumbled down her back.
She was bewitching, magnificent. The need to see her beautiful eyes as she convulsed around his cock consumed him.
A sliver of reason whispered in the back of his mind. It’s only a fuck. A fundamental need. It had been so long since he’d wanted a woman. That was the only reason he was so damned obsessed with her.
Why her? Why now?
She’s a human. But even that reminder didn’t make any difference.
He screwed his eyes shut but could still see her face, anyway.
“It doesn’t mean anything.” Had he said that aloud? He didn’t know, didn’t care. Nothing else mattered but the need to make her his. “It’s just one godsdamn fuck.”
Don’t look in her eyes.
He twisted her around, and the seductive curves of her ass cradled the rigid length of his erection. Her shocked intake of breath fueled the blaze in his blood, and when she rocked her hips, increasing the friction, his unraveling control gave up the fight.
He cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples with his thumbs. She groaned, and the sound of her frustration wound him tighter than ever. With a guttural curse, he released her breasts and swept her hair back from her face, exposing her naked shoulder.
There was no reason why the delectable column of her neck should be so provocative, but logic had perished the moment they’d kissed. If he didn’t have her now, he was going to fucking die.
With degrading lack of finesse, he ripped open his pants and then gripped her hips. The perfection of her ass, framed in the tattered red leather of her skirt, was a visual feast and her pussy mesmerized.
His mouth watered.
Later.
His cock nudged her wet slit and her seductive tremor vibrated throughout his entire body. He wanted to savor and cherish the first time he possessed her, but a ferocious primal imperative to claim and conquer scorched whatever remained of his reason.
He thrust into her and an agonized groan tore from his throat as her tight sheath expanded around him. She fell forward, ass in the air, her head cradled on her arms, and her staggered gasps of shock were all he could hear.
She was hot and wet and so fucking tight around him he could hardly breathe. He pulled out, an excruciating drag of flesh against flesh, and stared, entranced, by the sight of his cock invading her irresistible heat.
She quivered, and it was too much. He pushed into her again and her embrace was silken fire, licking over and into his cock, igniting his blood and infecting his sanity. He palmed her butt cheek and his other hand glided around her waist and between her thighs.
So hot and wet. His cock stretched her delicate folds, and he teased her clit as her choked moans filled his head. She writhed beneath him, and he pushed in deeper, to the hilt, his heavy balls slamming against her tender flesh.
Her thrusts matched his, a frenzied maelstrom of mindless lust and ragged breaths. She shuddered, squeezed him tighter than should have been possible, and convulsed in waves of raw, uninhibited pleasure.
It was too much. He followed her over the edge, gripping her thigh as he pumped into it. It felt so fucking good, felt so fucking right, to fill her with his seed. To hear her erratic gasps and feel her body tremble at his onslaught.
He collapsed, bracing his weight on his hands as he covered her body, entrapping her. The evocative scent of sex and satisfaction drenched the air, and he couldn’t resist dropping a kiss on her bare shoulder.
Buried deep inside her, his cock stirred, as hard as ever. He’d come, and it had blown his fucking mind, but damn if he didn’t want her again. Right now. Why the fuck not?
An unformed warning vibrated in the dark corners of his mind. Danger …
She suddenly severed their connection by sprawling onto the floor. Shock staggered through him. We’re still in Eblis’ club. How had he forgotten that?
When was the last time he’d been so captivated by a woman that he’d literally forgotten where he was?
He shoved the unsettling notion aside and brushed the tangled hair from her face. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open, and she was sucking in oxygen as though she’d almost drowned. An unaccustomed thread of tenderness flickered through him. “Hey, are you okay?”
Her eyes opened, but she didn’t look at him.
“I’m fine.” Her voice was hoarse and didn’t help with the whole wanting her again thing. She pushed herself upright and he rolled back onto his knees. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t imagine what. Hadn’t he just given her the best fucking orgasm of her life?
She pushed back her hair from her flushed face and shot him an oddly hostile glance. What the hell was that for?
“Can you take me home, now?”
They had just had mind-blowing sex, and she wanted to go home? By rights, she should be worshipping at his feet, begging him to never leave her. But when had Aurora ever been bedazzled by his archangelic radiance?
That wasn’t even why he was almost speechless. It was because he still wanted her. Back when he fucked around, he’d rarely wanted to go a second round with the same woman. At least, not without an alcohol break.
Why hasn’t my brain cleared?
“No.” He practically snarled the word at her as he shoved his cock back into his pants. “You’re not going anywhere.” Except back to his island, where she’d have to stay for the rest of her damn life.
“Why not?” she shot back with another venomous glare. “You got what you wanted. It didn’t mean anything. It was only a goddamn fuck.”
She had the nerve to throw his own words back in his face?
But it didn’t mean anything to her? Really?
He couldn’t even figure out why her comment pissed him off so much. She was right. Except for one thing.
“Don’t give me that. You wanted this as much as I did.” And now he was defending himself? Against a human?
She exhaled a long breath and gripped her fingers together on her lap. He was reluctantly fascinated that she was clearly trying to stay calm and rational, when there was nothing remotely rational about this entire situation.
Even now, after her insult, after they’d had sex, he was as ensnared with her as ever.
It was a demeaning admission.
Danger … He crushed the thought. He was in no fucking danger from her.
“All right.” She inclined her head as though she was bestowing a great favor. “Let’s forget about that, then. It’s safe, now. You can return me home.”
If only. “It’s not safe and you can never return home.”
She licked her lips, and fear flared in her eyes. Instead of victory that he’d finally got through to her, he felt like a total bastard.
“But you gave me your protection.” She swallowed, clearly having problems with that word, but it didn’t stop her continuing. “The Guardians can’t touch me now.”
“Yeah, about that.” He leaned into her space, daring her to retreat, knowing that she wouldn’t. She didn’t even blink, and still her blue eyes threatened to deceive him with their innocence. “My protection means nothing since you breached dimensions.”