Dangerous Lovers (216 page)

Stone groaned and his body pushed lightly onto mine. His lips left mine. When I tried to follow, he nudged my head back into place and moved to kiss my scars again. He touched the damaged part of my lips, and I felt his tongue touch every ridge. I shivered violently. I moved my head slightly so that I could kiss him back. He let me this time, allowing me to control the kiss, to take it at my speed. I was nervous. I touched his lips with my tongue and he opened for me with another groan. I practically sighed when the taste of him flooded in. I pulled away first, trying to get air.

“Gods, I don’t ever want to stop kissing you.” Stone’s hand drifted from my waist moving upward. I squirmed lightly, feeling uncomfortable memories surfacing. I tried to push them away to remind myself who I was with.

“Gabriel,” I whispered his real name. It stopped his hand. He looked at me. His eyes flashed a light red for only a second before flashing back to purple.

“Say it again.” He whispered, his forehead touching mine.

“Gabriel.” His eyes shut, and I was cut off from his emotions. I felt uncertain, scared. But when his other hand came to touch my hair, I felt surprisingly safe again. His other hand wandered up to touched the hem of my shirt. When I didn’t push him away or fidget, he moved it to my skin. His hand left a fiery trail behind. One hand moved closer to the scar on my ribs. I didn’t move. I waited for him to jerk away, to be as disgusted. Instead when he touched it, he sprawled his hand out so that he could feel the whole thing. My lungs expanded under the open hand. His fingers tightened slightly when I breathed in and loosened when I exhaled. Time slowly passed as he traced my scars. His eyebrows pinched together.

“Tell me why he did this.” His voice was strained like it hurt him to ask. “Please.” His voice was so desperate I wasn’t sure I could ever deny him anything. So I started to talk.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Stone

“He branded me to remind those around us that I was his daughter, his to protect. My mom died bringing me into the world. I think after losing her, he was afraid of losing me too.” She looked down as if she was ashamed to tell me this. I lifted her chin forcing her to see me, to look into my eyes and see that all I had for her was sympathy, there was no pity. A new feeling was forming, but I refused to acknowledge it. Not now. Not when things were so crazy. It was the heightened emotions, and the need to protect her.

“You did not kill your mother. If she were here, I am certain that is not how she would see it. A mother, a true mother, would give her life for her child no matter what the circumstances. You did nothing wrong. It was her time and the best you can do is accept it and live your life as she would have wanted you to.” She wasn’t looking at me when I spoke, but out across the room. When she brought her gaze toward me, there were tears in her eyes.

“How could she ever forgive me? How could I ever forgive myself?” She asked quietly.

“She wouldn’t expect you to ask for forgiveness because there is nothing to forgive. To forgive yourself is a burden only you can deal with. One day you will know it is okay to live.”

I touched her hair again and watched her eyes, waiting for her to accept what I said. She finally did and nodded her head. I wanted to push her, to have her tell me more about her past, but I knew this was the first time all night that she was really able to relax. She curled into my side and closed her eyes.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Xavier York had said. I knew that the head of the York family was someone powerful, but I hadn’t expected a Gargoyle. While they were one of the best warriors in the paranormal world, many paranormals knew about their weakness. They had a human form, which made them vulnerable enough to kill. Some gargoyles chose to live in their weakened, human state, which made them targets. That is what I didn’t understand.

How was this gargoyle holding a position as head of this family? More than that, what if what he said was true? Why would Jacobs be hiding this from us? From his team? His team of elite paranormals? Weren’t we those rare anomalies? I had too many questions and not enough time or trust. I knew the one person that probably would tell me the cold hard facts flat out, but I wasn’t ready to leave Audrey. Talking to Elijah would have to wait. For now, all I wanted to do was sleep with Audrey in my arms.

I stroked her hair for a long time before sleep started to take me. My thoughts still raced even in my sleep.

• • •

When I woke, Audrey was still curled in toward me. I had moved so both my arms wrapped around her. My leg tucked over hers as if I couldn’t handle not touching her at all. I leaned my head down in her hair. She smelled like lavender and smoke.

I closed my eyes again, finally allowing myself to think about this new emotion building in my chest. She had shared something with me last night; something painful from her past. It was killing her. Protectiveness wasn’t what I was feeling now. This new feeling wasn’t pity, I could never pity her. While I knew she struggled, she was getting better, she was trying. It was also more than simple sympathy. It was an understanding.

There were things I couldn’t say to her while she was awake, but I could tell her while she slept.

“My mother was a beautiful creature. She was only an animal shifter, but still my father fell head over heels for her. He was always a bit of an elitist. She had an affinity for tigers. I rarely ever shift to that form now, but when she was alive, I wanted to be like her. When she went off for a run, she would be a tiger and I would be her tiger cub, following after. She would turn back to her human form, laugh, and tell me that I was the cutest little cub she had ever seen. She told me I had great control over such a powerful creature. I was only six years old."

“I'll never forget the last time we went out as tigers. We weren’t living with a clan at the time. My father was away talking to the Braden clan that day trying to find the clan with the most influx of shape-shifters, really any type of shifters. My mother took me out because I kept complaining about how my skin felt itchy. When shape-shifters are young, we can’t control our bodies as well and the need to switch forms is stronger. If we don’t change forms often enough, our skin feels constricted and our muscles too tight.”

“I could have just changed my human form, but I wanted to venture with my mom. I wanted to run with her and play. I didn’t know it was a full moon that night. Werewolves tend to give up to their animal spirits during the full moon. Wolves, especially the Were, will attack if they feel threatened. We didn’t know they were out in our forest. We didn’t know that as going out as tigers, we would trigger an attack."

“My mother protected me the best that she could. They tore her to pieces, and while we can regenerate our cells and heal quicker, there were too many wolves. They attacked too swiftly. I tried to fend a smaller wolf off, but he got my right front leg. The attack caused me to start losing a lot of blood. While she was fighting, I ran. It was the first time I had ever changed while moving. I shifted into a wolf, and they left me be. When they left, I went back to my mother and howled. They didn’t return, though."

“My father found us in the morning. She had reverted back to her human form and I was curled in her arms as a baby tiger again."

“The look on his face that morning…it was as if the world had ended. I think even though he knew I was alive, he was so terrified of ever losing me, that he pushed me hard. He forced me to be better than all the others. He wanted me to be able to protect myself. He demanded that I be more. I cut off the ties to my heart the day I lost my mother, so I did as he asked. I became a killer. You unfortunately, my beautiful girl, are making me feels things I haven’t felt in over a century. That I chose not to feel.”

I sighed and pressed my face a little closer to the top of her head. I pulled her tighter not wanting to let her go. She was making me better, I understood that, but yet I was scared of everything I could lose when I would eventually have to let her go.

“You make me so much more than I am.”

I must have fallen asleep again because, when I woke up, Audrey had her chin on my chest, staring at me. I blinked a couple times making sure I was seeing right. She smiled, her lips pulled tightly across her face, her scars bunching together, her other flawless side pushed up. Her clear eyes sparkled in the light sunlight.

“Beautiful,” I whispered, my eyes searching her face closely. Her smile turned shy and she hid her face in my chest. Her body shook and I realized she was giggling.

“What? What is it?” I asked wanting to laugh along with her, feeling the heavy weight of the past rolling off my shoulders.

“Nothing.” She peeked up at me, her voice muffled as her lips were still on my chest. What I wouldn’t give to have my shirt ripped off at that moment so I could feel her lips on my bare skin. I swallowed and pushed the thought away. I moved my hand to touch her face, I couldn’t help myself anymore. I found myself touching her all the time.

We remained silent for a long time. Audrey looked as if she was almost drifting again. Seeing her now, I knew that she had always known what she was. I didn’t understand why she would keep it a secret.

“You know what you are, don’t you?” I didn’t look at her eyes; I was too focused on my hand running through her long locks, the strands slipping between my fingers. I kept combing and watching.

“I am nothing special. I never have been.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“I could never be what he wanted me to be.” Her voice was strangled. I looked at her and I saw the fine sheen of tears building in her eyes.

“You are more than I could have ever hoped for.” The words slipped out, without warning, without hesitation. She moved up my chest, her hand over my heart. I wondered if she could feel how hard it was beating. She made no indication that she did though.

Her slim, long leg nudged mine apart. My breathing grew heavy and seeing her like this, I wasn’t sure how I was controlling myself. I couldn’t control certain parts of my body. I knew that I couldn’t force beyond where she was willing to go. I wouldn’t do that to her. Her long hair created a curtain around us, in this place we were in our own world. Nothing could harm her, and nothing could harm me.

“I find you unimaginable. How can such a delicate, sweet creature as you be scarred, tortured, and still look at me like that.”
With so much trust and hints of something more,
I added silently. She leaned down, her whole body pushing on mine. I loved her weight, loved feeling her so close.

“You make me feel like I am something more,” she whispered as she pulled away. I wanted to jerk away from her touch, wondering if she had heard me this morning. I remained still, my body tensed. I hoped that she wouldn’t notice.

“I should go; I wouldn’t want your father to find me in here.” My eyes slid half way shut. I couldn’t help but think that I wanted to stay. I wanted her father to know that I spent the night with her. That she was
mine
.

• • •

The Valkyrie who we attacked in the cells knocked on my door an hour later and escorted me to the large conference room that was already filled with paranormals. My eyes immediately looked for my maroon haired beauty.

When we were at the cabin, Audrey had stopped hiding behind a curtain of her hair. Now, as my eyes settled on her, she was hiding once again. She didn’t even hide from me last night, or this morning when I woke up. Watching Audrey conceal herself once more, made my gut tighten with dread and my skin feel itchy. It didn’t escape my attention either that she was placed between her father and York who sat at the head of the table.

Nixie was a couple empty chairs away from York on the other side of Audrey. One of the cheetah-shifters from the day before was sitting next to her. Though she looked smug, I noticed a shining gleam coming from her wrist. When she jerked her hand up to wave at me, I saw she had been handcuffed to the cheetah next to her.

The cheetah gave Nixie an annoyed glance then turned pleading eyes at York. I almost laughed at her situation when I heard the light giggle of Audrey. Nixie’s coral eyes turned to her friend and they softened as she watched her. I knew that Nixie cared for Audrey like a little sister and I could now see how Nixie noticed the change in Audrey. She was reverting back to the girl we had first met.

I moved to sit next to Nixie, blocking her from York’s eyes. She visibly relaxed with me sitting between them. I looked at York from the corner of my eyes. He watched Drake, who in turn whispered something to Audrey. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her; I think I misinterpreted the look on her face earlier. While yes she was still hiding in her hair, her eyes showed a sign of defiance.

The moment was broken when Elijah entered. He wasn’t being lead, but followed by the male Zana again.

“Good, now that we are all here, I think it is time to get down to business.” York’s voice was booming in the small space and I saw Audrey flinch. Her father grabbed her hand and held on. But her eyes sought out mine. I wore a blank mask, but watching her look for me made me sit just a little taller.

“How are we supposed to believe that these paranormals are coming back?” I demanded, tearing my eyes from Audrey. I wasn’t convinced by what York was saying about these rebirthed paranormals we thought to be dead. When I looked back at Drake, I could only wonder again what kind of paranormal he was. Gargoyles were built huge, and the only other paranormal I could think that still was in existence that was built like that was a Minotaur.