Page 32 of Soulbound Shadows: Part 2

“We can pick you up another brand,” I offered.

“Sure. Maybe.”

I didn’t frown, because frowning would’ve put him on his guard. There were a few major dots, and I was beginning to connect them.

Gabriel clutched something in his left hand, his knuckles even paler than usual. I let my eyes drop to it meaningfully, making sure he followed my gaze. He opened his hand, revealing the familiar shape of my portal stone sitting on his palm. His thumb worried over the groove. It was a motion I’d done more times than I could count. I felt a rush of affection, of relief. I hadn’t really allowed myself to be worried about Gabriel when he was held captive, not as much as I had wanted to, because I’d known it would paralyze me. Now, all the fear I’d tamped down rose to the surface. My eyes stung, which pissed me off. I shouldn’t have been the one tearing up.

“Did it help?” I asked. My voice was barely louder than a whisper.

Gabriel knelt on the floor in front of me, holding the stone out. “More than you can imagine.”

I gave him a watery smile and wrapped my hand around his, closing his fingers back over the stone. “You should keep it.”

“Are you—” he started, but I cut him off.

“I’m sure,” I said firmly. “I want you to have it.” I didn’t like the haunted look in Gabriel’s eyes. I touched his cheek gently. “Hey. You okay?”

He shook his head, but I wasn’t sure if he was brushing off the question or responding to it. I was pretty sure he meant it to be the former, but I was also certain I should interpret it as the latter.

I bent to kiss him, more to reassure him than anything else. I was very aware that there was a hot man wearing nothing but a towel at my feet, but the kiss wasn’t about me. All I wanted was to prove to him that I was real, that he was safe and could relax.

Gabriel stiffened, and I started to pull back, thinking I had made a mistake. Before I could put any space between us, though, he jolted back into motion, tangling his free hand in my hair and kissing me back urgently. It wasn’t the soft, sweet kiss I’d aimed for. He lapped at the seam of my lips, and I opened eagerly for him, letting him take control. Gabriel was almost frantic with it, and it was good. Really good. All of a sudden, I was extremely aware of how long it had been since we’d fucked. It was like a switch flipped in me. Heat zipped through me, pooling between my thighs. I moaned into his mouth, and he echoed the sound, nipping at my lower lip.

Then, suddenly, Gabriel was on the other side of the room. He flattened himself against the wall, even splaying out his hands against the mural like he was trying to merge into it, and stared at me with wide eyes. His horrified gaze was fixed on my mouth.

I licked my lips, tasting a faint, coppery tang. When I wiped the pad of my thumb across my lower lip to investigate, it came away with a small streak of blood. His fang must have nicked me just enough to break the skin. I looked back up at Gabriel. In his sprint over to the other side of the room, his towel had fallen off, and now he was not only panicking but also naked. I took a slow breath. Those dots were definitely connecting now.

“Gabriel,” I murmured. I stood and took half a step toward him.

“Don’t,” he snapped, then his voice softened into something scared and pleading. “Please. I’m not myself.” His entire body shook, so I didn’t take another step.

“I’m not gonna make you tell me what happened at the citadel,” I said cautiously. “But I saw that room. I think I can probably guess.”

Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut and panted, even though breathing was merely a force of habit for him.

“That’s why you didn’t like the synthetic stuff, isn’t it?”

He nodded almost imperceptibly. “He was… Toward the end, before you arrived, he stopped feeding me,” he whispered. “It’s monstrous, but I’m… I’m hungry, Evangeline. And the synthetic blood tasted rotten to me. You should go. I can… I can go out and find an animal to feed on. I will handle this. I can’t let myself slip.”

I took another careful step, and his eyes snapped open, tracking my every move. It wasn’t the sort of tracking of a predator, though, but more like an injured animal backed into a corner.

“I need you to level with me,” I said. “Do you think animal blood will be enough?”

“It has to be.”

“That isn’t what I asked. Will it be enough, Gabriel?”

He made a pained sound, halfway between a whimper and a sob. He shook his head.

“Okay,” I said. “Okay.” My pulse had never pounded harder, and I wondered if Gabriel could hear it. “So, you should eat.”

Gabriel looked aghast. “I can’t go out and hunt someone,” he said, sounding stricken. “I won’t do that, Evangeline.”

“What—No!” I pulled a face. “I mean you can drink from me, dumbass.”

Being called a dumbass turned out to be exactly what Gabriel needed to snap him out of his panic. He spluttered indignantly. “Absolutely not. That’s… That’s out of the question. It’s practically medieval, the vampire lord feeding on the innocent maiden. It’s… it’s gauche!”

I was a little obsessed with how dorky Gabriel got when he was startled. “Wow,” I said. “Okay, there’s a lot to unpack there. First of all, I’m definitely not innocent, and you know from personal experience that I’m not a maiden. Secondly, I just rescued you from being imprisoned in an evil castle, which I’m pretty sure means I’m the knight in shining armor, and you’re the damsel in distress, so maybe we should set aside the tropes before we both get confused. Thirdly, it’s not like you’re swooping in through my window, Gabriel. I’m literally offering this.” As I spoke, I stepped closer, and now that he was less likely to hyperventilate, he allowed it. “Also, I know for a fact that you own multiple velvet capes, so you don’t have a leg to stand on about vampire clichés.”

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