Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (5 page)

Brooke

Chapter Six

The sound of the water pouring into the deep basin echoed from the open room. I was an emotional wreck.

I
gripped the cold wooden doorframe as I tried to keep my legs from folding beneath me. My head was spinning, I felt nauseous, and I still had a small glimmer of hope that I’d wake up from all of this at any given moment.

Staring
at Gavin, I tried to comprehend that he was
not
human, and my ability to grasp that concept failed miserably.

How could a being that was the epitome of what a man should look like
, act like, and feel like…how could he
not
be human?

I s
tudied Gavin intently, trying to force myself to understand. His complexion was flawless – the most perfect olive coloring I’d ever seen – his jaw was defined and framed by long and wavy dark brown hair. His nose was perfectly shaped to fit his masculine face. Gavin’s shoulders were broad and every inch of that man’s body looked as though it had been carved from stone. Human – he looked like the most beautiful human I’d ever seen. Then my sight set onto those eyes of his framed by thick lashes. His irises were an electric, brilliant green and embedded with slivers of golden flecks.

Staring in his eyes, I
realized his soul was not the same as mine. Something in his eyes was hypnotic and sent chills across my skin. Gazing into Gavin’s eyes was like peering into eternity, into the vast endlessness of space – immortality flickered behind the human-like mask of his eyes. If eyes truly were the windows to the soul, I was staring into the window to forever – into timeless beauty and immortal deception.

“Would you prefer I left you alone
, love?” he asked.

Snapping myself back into the moment, I shook my head
. “No – no. I want to be with you.” I reached up and felt across his muscular chest. The warmth of his skin was interrupted by the delicate chain of his necklace.

Gavin leaned down and pressed his forehead to mine.
“I just don’t know if you’ve had time to adjust. I don’t want you to be afraid of me, Brooke.”

“I’m not afraid of you. I don’t think I could be if I wanted to.”

One side of Gavin’s mouth turned up, giving me a hint of that wicked smile of his as he let out a small breath of relief at my words. His hands quickly reached for my face and pulled me to him. His lips touched tenderly against mine and his hands found their way into my hair. Turning his face sideways, his tongue slipped into my mouth. His kiss was hard, his breath heavy as he caressed my mouth passionately with his. Gavin backed away from me, his hands still tangled in my hair and he pressed his forehead against mine once more. His gaze shifted back and forth to each of my eyes. Closing his eyes slowly, he inhaled and rolled his bottom lip underneath his teeth.

“You’ve no idea how much I love you
, how
desperately
I need you. I’ve lived just for this moment, just to know you. Your touch is more satisfying than the grace I’ll never again know. I’ve damned the entire world – for you.” Opening his eyes slowly, Gavin’s gaze tore into me. Looking into them more deeply than I had ever looked into anyone’s eyes, I fought to understand him.

His hands slid down my back and rested on my hips.
His fingers clenched into my flesh, the friction burning in a delicious way just before he slammed his mouth over mine. The stubble on his face scratched against my chin and he kissed me hard. The power he held over me at that very moment was unrelenting. His hands slithered up my stomach toward my breasts, pushing them up as his fingers spread across my skin. Manipulating his tongue against mine, his lips fiendishly opened wider over mine. The taste of him sent a jolt of weakness through my legs. His hands pressed up my chest, finding their way to the back of my head, and Gavin twisted his fingers in my hair, scrunching it up and tugging gently at the base of my neck. His mouth slid from mine and skirted down my neck, stopping under my ear to flick his tongue over the sensitive skin.

A low groan flowed into my ear. “You’ve not the slightest notion of what I mean when I say you
’re mine. And you are – absolutely –
all
– mine.”

I felt the rigid edge of his teeth tease the tip of my earlobe, followed by pressure as he bit down. His grip on my hair tightened, pulling my scalp and sending an undeniable need for him flying across every last inch of my body. A deep
, predatory growl trickled into my ear and his hands rubbed roughly down my back and to my ass. Rolling my head to the side, I grabbed the back of his head, and his lips moved down to the crevice of my neck. Gavin paused, panting heavily on my skin. “The way you feel,” he let out another long breath coated with a groan, “damn near drives me to the brink of insanity.”

Moving his face in front of mine, his fingers looped the button of my jeans through the hole and pushed them to the floor. His head was slightly bowed and he peered up at me, arching one brow as a sinister smile crept across his face. “The things I could do to defile you...”
Slowly, his eyes fell shut. He looked diabolic as he rubbed his lips together, like he was savoring the thoughts coursing through his mind. “I’ve restrained myself for the simple fact that if I touched you
that
way, all innocence would be ripped from you.”

His finger tapped up my thigh. When he reached the top of my leg he spread his fingers
out, pushing my legs open. Trailing a single fingertip across my cleft, his smile deepened and his eyes flickered when he whispered, “And I promise what I’m about to do to you will push
you
to the verge of madness.”

The blood ru
shing through my veins burned, almost like the liquid had been turned into molten lava. My skin tingled and each small brush of his flesh plucked want from me.

His hands gripped my shoulders and he narrowed his gaze on me. “I promise, I won’t kill you.”

The fact that he had just uttered those words in that low, controlled tone caused my jaw to drop open. H
e moved his mouth against mine, rolling my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling it out. His fingers stiffened and he forced me against the cold marble wall, my head slamming against it with a thud.

Gavin pinned me down, staring at me with a glare that could have defined sex itself. He pushed himself into me and my body immediately went limp, inching down the wall toward the floor. Pushing me back up, he drove himself into me
, his tongue traveling up my neck to my jaw. The hard, rigid movements threw his hair forward and forced traces of groans from him.

Grabbing my body like a savage, he slung me around and pushed me backward. After several unsteady steps
, I felt water beneath my feet. I glanced back and saw that the tub was overflowing, warm water spilling over the edge onto the floor.

Gavin gripped my thigh and jerked my leg up to his chest. His mouth pressed over mine and it was as though a drug had been pushed into my veins. The most indescribable pleasure washed over me, my
entire being singed with a deep-seated heat. The sound of the air rushing from my lungs seemed amplified, the noise of the water pouring onto the ground sounded like a tidal wave rumbling towards the shore, the slightest touch of him was almost unbearable.

Holding on
to my back, he lowered me to the floor and the warm water pooled under my body, the added sensation causing my muscles to tighten. Gavin slipped back into me, moving with a tearing force that caused a pleasing pain to radiate across me. Every part of my being bowed to him in that moment.

Our bodies slipped against one another, drops of water flying up with each thrust. Sweat beaded and ro
lled off Gavin’s face, his wet hair sticking to the side of his face. The only way to describe the way he was fucking me was barbaric. His hands were groping me, wringing my flesh within his palms. There was no fluidity to the way he was moving. It was purely pleasure-driven and claiming. His mouth ran over my neck, my jaw, my ears, clamping down at just the right times. Gavin shoved my knees back beside my head, pinning them down. Anytime I tried to move seemed to anger him, and he forced them back with a slight growl.

Without much warning, the tension that had pent up
was released. My muscles constricted, my back arched like an electric bolt had just been set through me, and a scream that sounded tortured bled from my throat. My fingers sank into Gavin’s sweat-soaked back, my knuckles tightening to the point of cramping. My leg pushed down and Gavin slammed it back in place. I felt like all control had been handed over to him, like I no longer owned the first cell in my body. The pulse of pleasure crashed back over me, crushing my lungs and forcing another long scream to fly from my mouth. I couldn’t catch my breath and a sharp ringing formed in my ears. A wolfish grin had pushed the corners of Gavin’s mouth up, and for a moment I feared he was about to devour me. I tried telling him to stop, but my mouth refused to form words. I closed my eyes as my hands fell from his back and smacked down into the puddle of water beneath me. His body stiffened, his hands slapping next to each side of my face as he collapsed on top of me. His chest heaved and pressed me harder into the floor with each large breath.

I’d neve
r felt the pleasure I’d just drowned in. Drugged. I felt drugged and dazed and like this creature pressing over me may have very well just taken my soul from me.

Wicked, deadly
, and unadulterated sin. My sin. My darkness. My fate. Gavin Hunter was my beautifully darkened fate.

My legs were moving so fast. Each time they pounded against the ground
, a splitting pain shot up my legs. I couldn’t see where I was going so I ran with my hands out in front of me, fearing what they may find.

“Brooke,” a raspy voice called out, the hiss of his tone echoing off whatever was hidden within the impenetrable blackness.

I froze. Trying to still my breath, I prayed that whatever this was wouldn’t be able to see me in the dark.

Laughter broke the silence. It was deep and wretched, dripping with a sense of pride at having found me. “Brooke. You thought you could hide? You thought he could keep you safe?” Another fit of laughter bounced around me and my entire body tensed up. The sound of my heart galloping inside my chest was almost deafening.

I felt cold, rough fingers scratch over my back and before I could run, a set of hands had gripped me tightly by the throat.

“
Do you believe in the devil?” the creature whispered, his decaying breath choking me as his hand strangled me. “He’s damned, you know? But you…” I felt scales brush against my cheek as he drew in a long breath and released a pleased groan. “You. You have the power to save even the devil.”

I felt a pointed nail press into m
y throat and tear into my flesh. Hot blood gushed from the wound and trickled down my neck.

L
etting out a loud gasp, I sat up in the bed. Sweat was dripping from my body, my heart was flopping in my chest, and I fought to catch my breath. I frantically searched my surroundings in an effort to reorient myself. Drawing my knees up to my chest, I leaned my head forward into my palms. My neck still felt as though the creature’s nail had pressed against it and I quickly wiped under my throat to make sure there wasn’t really blood weeping from a wound. Nothing.

Never had I experienced
a dream that’s vividness carried over into reality like that. Forcing my breath to slow, I recited the all-too-familiar phrase over and over in my head.
It was just a dream. Wasn’t real. A dream.
I stared at the thick, grey curtains across the room. Although they were drawn, the smallest amount of yellow sunlight peeped in from their sides.

I glanced over at Gavin and he lay perfectly
still, deep in sleep. One arm rested on his chest and the other stretched out toward me. His fingers extended and brushed against my leg. Even in his sleep he wouldn’t let me out of his reach.

I slipped out f
rom the thick comforter and tiptoed across the cold floor toward the window. Gathering the smooth fabric in my hand, I pulled the curtain away and stepped inside it, allowing it to envelope me. I looked out the window at the world I once knew. The white fog on the window grew from the heavy breaths blowing against it as I stood staring out across the green landscape of Hyde Park. My hand slipped down the glass, the friction creating a soft screech. I pushed gently on the slender handle to the French door leading out onto the balcony, and the door let out a soft creak. Peeping through the curtain, I watched Gavin for a moment to make certain he hadn’t stirred from sleep and then I stepped out onto the concrete patio, painfully pulling the door closed behind me in an effort to keep it from making any more noise.