Page 28 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 1

“Anything,” he said against my lips. “Anything you want.”

I tugged him toward the bed, and he went with me willingly, pulling me into another dizzying kiss. We fell onto the blankets, and the jolt of it pressed us even closer together. The long, hard line of his cock pressed against my thigh. Very long, I realized giddily. Gabriel fumbled for his belt, his eyes never leaving mine, as though he wanted to memorize every second of this.

At some point, the belt of my robe had come undone, and it was falling down my shoulders. I was so wet I felt like I was dripping with it, and when I felt the cool press of the head of Gabriel’s cock against my entrance, I slid down in one smooth motion. We moaned in harmony, and…

I woke up.

My cunt was embarrassingly wet and clenching around nothing. Dragging my hands down my face, I let out a miserable groan. If I was going to have a sex dream about someone, why couldn’t I at least wake up after the good part?

I sighed, frustrated on a couple different levels. If I didn’t get off, I wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep for ages, so I grabbed a toy from my bedside drawer, flicked it on, and tried my best to think about anything other than cool hands and intense purple eyes.

10

GABRIEL

It had been a very long time since I’d gone camping. As the age of indoor plumbing dawned, my preference for cities had grown stronger. I enjoyed the bustle of them, the knowledge that all those lives were packed in together, bumping into each other in clumsy and incredible ways. The forest flanked Eldoria, so whenever I felt the need to get away for a while, it was easy enough to do so and still be home in time to sleep in my own bed.

Generally, that wasn’t an issue. It did, however, mean I had absolutely no camping supplies. In a panic, I went out and bought a possibly excessive amount of top-of-the-line camping equipment, most of which was imbued with some form of magic or another. I packed all of it into a hideously expensive enchanted backpack the store owner had assured me would shrink down anything I put into it to fit. The backpack seemed larger than was strictly necessary, and was also an unfortunately fecal shade of brown, but he’d insisted it was their highest-quality offering.

I set out some of my more outdoorsy clothing to wear the next day. The backpack sat next to them, its hulking, utilitarian brown shape out of place among the decadent jewel tones of the rest of my bedroom. I felt twitchy, filled with a strange nervous energy I couldn’t seem to shake off no matter how hard I tried.

Tomorrow, I would be spending more time with Evangeline than I ever had before. Just a scant few days ago, it had been nearly unthinkable to see her vulnerable, and now I would be sleeping next to her. No, I corrected myself forcefully. Not next to her, just… nearby. Thinking about sleeping next to her was a far more dangerous idea.

Still, I would see her late at night, lit by the campfire and the stars. I would see her first thing in the morning, sleepy and rumpled. I’d never looked forward to seeing someone’s bedhead so much before. It baffled me.

A distraction—that was what I needed. Some casual fun to take my mind off things. My lack of interest in Gwendoline the night before had been a fluke, I was sure, and finding someone to let off some steam with was probably exactly what I needed.

I swapped out my Mulberry jacquard shirt for something more appropriate for the evening—a burgundy damask shirt in a slimmer fit. It accentuated the lines of my shoulders nicely, and I’d been told that it did wonderful things for my eyes.

I went down the hall to my housemate Theo’s suite and rapped my knuckles on the frame of the open door. They were sprawled in an armchair, fiddling with something, but they looked up when I knocked.

“I don’t suppose you’d be interested in a night out?” I asked.

“I mean, I was doing some important work on my Animal Crossing island,” they said, setting aside the brightly colored device they’d been toying with, “But I think I could be persuaded. Where did you want to go? Ichor? The Apothecary? Ghost Light?”

“Definitely not Ghost Light,” I said. “Not until they stop doing exclusively Hamlet-themed cocktails and absinthe.”

Theo nodded. “And most of the cocktails are pretty much just absinthe, anyway.”

“I was thinking The Wellspring,” I told them, and they perked up.

“That sounds perfect,” they said. “Boys’ night? I can let Vic and Nathan know.”

“Boys’ night,” I agreed, putting as much gravitas as I could into it, since Theo found it bafflingly funny when I took things too seriously.

I was on a dark street, staring up at a window. Blustery wind swept around me, sending fallen leaves skittering across the pavement. There was a window above me, and it was incredibly important. I had to get inside. There was something in my hand—a pebble, maybe? It didn’t matter. I tossed it at the window, and it hit the glass with a faint clack. I threw another, and then another.

The window opened, and suddenly I realized why it was so important for me to be there. Evangeline leaned out. Her hair fell in waves around her face, painted gold by the streetlight. I must have woken her, because her face was soft and sleepy in a way I’d never seen on her before. My chest felt tight. She looked like a Pre-Raphaelite painting of an angel.

“Gabriel?” She spoke softly, but I could hear her as clearly as if she was right next to me.

“Evangeline,” I breathed. “I’m sorry, I know it’s late. I needed to see you.”

“Is everything okay?” she asked. She was starting to blink the sleep from her eyes, and I knew instinctively that if there was something wrong, she would throw herself into fixing it with me.

“Can I come in?” I asked. I needed to be close to her. I needed to be able to touch her, to feel the warmth of her skin against mine.

“Of course, let me—” Evangeline said, ducking out of sight, but then I was moving through the window, the cold wind at my back. Her room was small but clearly well-loved, with a large bed made up with cream sheets and a tangle of mismatched blankets. The scent of her surrounded me, almost dizzying in its intensity. All of my reason had gone, leaving behind a creature made only of desperate longing.

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