Soul Enslaved (Sons of Wrath Book 3) (65 page)

Aeguza sputtered a cough, before his eyes flipped open. His wheezing calmed to long slow breaths, and though his lids fluttered shut, his breathing remained strong.

Drechler aimed a light into Aeguza’s mouth, his eyes, then checked the lord’s pulse at his wrist. Dragging a his hand down his cheek, the doc smiled, eyes softened with relief. “Lady Sabelle, I believe you’ve just coined a cure for the most deadly poison in the underworld. I shall put in a word for you with the medical community.”

“I’m not looking for credit. I just wanted to help, is all.”

“Well done, Miss.” He patted her arm, keeping his distance from the serpent. “I’ll keep an eye on him just a bit longer. Make sure there are no further effects. His organs should begin to repair themselves, assuming the venom keeps the poison at bay.”

With some of the tension eased from her shoulders, she ducked into the hallway with Filly, offering a nod and a smile to the waiting demons. “He’ll be fine.”

“Thank gods. I don’t need a dead lord on my hands.” Logan rolled his shoulders and strode down the hall in the direction of his bedroom.

Sabelle returned Filly to the children’s bedroom and gave each of them a kiss—perhaps the dozenth of the night—before creeping back down the hall to Gavin’s room.

He remained unconscious on the bed, but breathing. His wounds had mostly healed, and Sabelle rested her head on his chest to make sure his heart still beat a steady rhythm.

Slipping into bed beside him, she curled into his body, nuzzling her head against his neck. “I want you to know, I was scared tonight. I thought I’d lost you, and for a moment, I wanted to crawl beside you and die with you. No man has ever made me feel so strongly. I’ve never known that pain of losing someone I love. How it crushed me and stole my breath. Wherever you were in those moments, a part of me died with you.”

She wiped a tear before it fell against his skin. “I love you, Gavin. I will always love you.”

***

A small amount of sunlight bled in through the bedroom window, warming Sabelle’s cheeks. She stretched and rolled over to … emptiness.

Flipping her lids confirmed it—Gavin had gotten out of bed. Sucking in a breath of panic, she shot up, but exhaled an easy breath at the sound of water running in the shower.

Sabelle could only imagine his condition—those wounds, still gaping even after she’d cleaned them. She slid over the edge of the mattress and tiptoed toward the bathroom door, giving a slow twist of the knob. Gavin’s silhouette didn’t so much as sway behind the frosted glass, as Sabelle inched closer. That and his silence twisted knots in her gut, while the urge to comfort and care for him brought her standing just outside the shower.

“Gavin?” she said in a quiet voice to keep from startling him.

“I’m sorry, Sabelle.” The bleak tone of his voice echoed from the stall. “I wanted to bring her home to you.”

Gods, his words stabbed her heart. The fact that he’d endured torture, pain, survived it all, and still worried for
her
. “We’ll find her. But first you need to get well. You need to recover.”

She removed her shirt, bra, and underwear and opened the door. Her eyes scanned his slowly-healing mutilated thighs, the scars across his abdomen, and the wounds sealing at his chest and face, as he stood facing her in the spray of the water.

A step inside had him backing up.

“I don’t remember much about last night. I’ve had flashbacks of rage all night.”

She lurched toward him, stopping only when she noticed the very slight bow of his arm and hands balled into fists.
Guarded
. “You saved my life.”

“I was prepared to meet Stygius. I find it hard to believe I’m sharing a shower with you right now.”

Sabelle reached out a hand, but Gavin cringed away. She tried again, curling her fingers around his waist, and pulled herself to him.

“Please. Go.” He twisted away from her. The way he rested his head against the tiles was both breathtaking and heartbreaking all at once. “I failed you. I failed to keep my promise.”

“You didn’t fail me, Gavin. You’re incapable of failing anyone.”

With both elbows pressed against the wall of the shower, he buried his head between his arms. “I want you to know, I will not stop looking for her. I will never stop looking for her. I’ll bring her back to you.
For
you.”

“I know.” Sabelle pulled at his arm, wrapped her arms around his neck, and while he nuzzled his face against hers, he seemed reluctant to return the embrace. “That’s why I love you. You never give up on anything.”

“Stay with me. Stay here forever.” He kissed her neck and his arms circled her waist. “I love you.”

“As I recall, I own you, demon. You’re enslaved to me. I’m not releasing you anytime soon.”

“What did you say?”

She chuckled. “It was a joke. Well, sort of.” The serious expression on his face left her feeling suddenly remorseful. “Why? What’s … what did I say?”

“Sabelle, there’s something I didn’t tell you.” His downturned expression sprouted knots in her stomach. “In my curse, I was given until the end of my Savidon to find a mate. If I bonded at that time, Denya would die. If I didn’t …”

Sabelle clung to his every word, her heart galloping inside her chest. “If you didn’t?”

“My soul belongs to Jessica.”

“You’ve … have you bonded with another?”

“Absolutely not.” His gaze met hers. “My Savidon has passed as of this morning. Denya is safe from the curse.”

Her muscles sagged with relief. “Gavin, she has no claim to your soul. It belongs to me, until I set you free. That’s the price for returning a soul. It’s not just a
law
of the underworld. It’s protected by ancient magic much more powerful than what a gaszla can summon. It’s to ensure that you carry out your agreement. It’s always been that way.”

“In that case, I pray that you never set me free.” He kissed her, water trickling between their lips.

“Not a chance.”

“I need you, Sabelle. Like the moon needs sunlight to warm its darkened soul, I crave your passion and spirit. I need to own that. Make it mine for eternity.” Her hair tangled in his fist. “Gods, I thought I’d never see you smile again.”

“I felt the same when I saw you lying on that table, not moving or making a sound. I was overwhelmed with the sadness that I’d walk away with nothing more than your peaceful face haunting me for eternity.” She stroked his wet hair, careful not to press herself against his gashes. “Are you in pain?”

“I’m fine. By tonight, they should seal.”

“Drechler says you were injected with Juiseppa.”

“Yes. Reason number two that I’m surprised to be standing here.”

“Thank Filly. Apparently she’s the much-coveted cure for the poison. Aeguza was given it, as well.”

“Is he—”

“He’ll be okay.” She kissed his neck, the warmth of the water engulfing them. “I thought I’d lost you, Gavin. I was so scared. As if someone had ripped my beating heart right out of my chest, when I saw you laid out … I’ve never wanted to kill someone in my life as I did then.”

“How did you fight him off?”

“I didn’t have to. He took one look at the whistle and …
took off
.”

Gavin pulled away from her, expression quizzical. “Took off?”

“Like he was scared. Does the whistle mean something to Wraths?”

His gaze veered to the side, brows drawn, until his eyes softened to sadness. “Only one comes to mind.”

Sabelle threaded her hands through his hair. “Come back to bed with me.”

Gavin nodded then kissed her, cupping her face, before pulling away to nab a towel from outside the shower. Sabelle flipped the water off and slipped the towel from his grasp, gently patting him from his shoulders to his ankles and back up, dodging his wounds.

She placed a kiss on his mostly healed chest laceration. “I could kill him for what he did to you.”

“How did you find me?”

“We tracked down Jessica.”

He slid the towel behind her back and tugged her to his body, clutching a handful of hair. “My brave girl.”

“I’d have scoured the flaming pits of hell for you, Gavin.”

“And I’d have perished in those flames for you.”

“Are you trying to one up me?”

Gavin smirked. “Always.”

CHAPTER 38

Sabelle stared up at the new piece, where it hung beside the others on the wall of the studio Gavin had set up for her in the west wing of the mansion. The track lighting hit the blue of his eyes, so haunting and sad, just as she’d remembered from her dreams. Wisps of dark hair blew across his cherub cheeks. Even baring the child’s face, his features carried perfect symmetry, just like his father’s.

“W-w-who is he, Mommy?” Thomas’s voice rose from beside her, breaking the somber clutch over her heart.

No, she had no idea that she’d been pregnant with Gavin’s child. She had no moment to ponder the joys of the life growing inside her. Yet, in those momentary flashbacks, a connection had been there before it was torn out of her grasp.

“I don’t know, sweetie. I never got the chance to meet him.”

“Oh.” His small shoulders slumped with that cute little pensive look he sometimes wore, brows furrowed and lips tight, like what followed would be mentally stimulating food for thought. “Maybe you will someday.”

Odd how words, so innocent and simple, somehow brought the level of comfort she’d been missing. A reminder that death, itself, didn’t have to be absolute. It was okay to believe that the ones who touched our souls, even a brief moment in spirit, might very well cross our paths, whether in life or death.

Sabelle glanced down at her son and gave a light squeeze of his little hand in hers. “Maybe I will, baby.”

It’d been two weeks since her incarceration, and the poison still had her throwing up at night. She’d heard it often took months to leave the body—a constant reminder of death and loss that left Sabelle hopeful for the day she could heal entirely.

“Ready, beautiful?”

Sabelle looked over her shoulder to see Gavin approaching, the scars on his face healed, vanished into the flawlessness staring back at her. In his arms, Janie slept peacefully, her head tucked in the crook of his neck.

It warmed Sabelle’s heart to see her daughter so cozy, so at ease, in his arms. Loved the way all Gavin’s brothers seemed to accept her children, like a houseful of protective uncles. Particularly Ferno, whose eyes seemed softer, less tormented around Janie.

“Fell asleep while I was chatting with Logan,” he said.

Sabelle nabbed Thomas’s hand beside her. “They’re both exhausted.”

Gavin’s gaze caught on the painting, and a flicker of pain danced across his face. “I can’t get over the likeness, sometimes. It’s as if my brother lives through this image.”

Sabelle smiled. “The only piece I’ve placed a title on.
The Blessing of Legarrod
. It’s what I would’ve named the baby.”

Lips tightening, he gave a nod. “A fine name.”

“Any word from Zayne?”

Gavin shook his head. “You should know, though, that my brother will not stop until he has something.”

She nodded. “I know.”

***

Sabelle kissed Thomas and Janie, as Gavin pulled the blanket to cover their sleeping forms. Magnus lay at the foot of their bed, head rested on his oversized paws. Gavin didn’t often let him inside the mansion, but as of late, the dog seemed to insist on sleeping in the children’s room, which suited Sabelle just fine.

She petted him on the head, as they exited the room, closing the door to a crack, and made their way down the hall to Gavin’s room.

With a kiss on the top of her hand, Gavin closed his bedroom door behind her. “I’ll get a bath started for you.”

Sabelle clutched his wrist. “No.”

“Baby, relax tonight.”

Sabelle closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to melt into Gavin. To crawl into his arms and stay there. She opened her eyes to the soft red glow in her periphery, a half smile on her face as she watched his eyes widen.

Slipping the skinny straps of her dress over her shoulder, she allowed it to fall to the floor, until standing before him in nothing but her panties.

His eyes seemed to feast on every part of her, before he met her stare once more. “Sabelle, what are you doing?”

“I need this. I need you. Right now.”

“You don’t—”

She cut his words off with her lips. Arms closed in around her, and she thrilled at the lack of breath, as he held her tight to him, threading his fingers through her hair.

“Gods, forgive me for being a selfish fuck, but I can’t tell you no.” He kissed her violently, gripping either side of her face, a growl in his chest as he devoured her lips.

How she’d missed it. Missed him and his warm, protective embrace.

His grip tightened, breaths panting. “Trying to be gentle.”

His hands jerked away, and Gavin quickly unbuttoned his white dress shirt. In an effort to hasten the pace, she unbuckled his pants and shoved them to the floor.

Fingers snaked over her stomach, dancing precariously along that thread of control she clung to, when he found her panty line while kissing her neck. “I want to make you feel good.”

“Everything you do feels good.”

“Do you love me?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Tell me.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“I fucking love you, Gavin.”

“Every of inch you belongs to me. Mine.”

Quiet growls against her throat sent heat plummeting straight to her core—until distant words echoed inside her head.

Whore. Cunt. Dirty bitch. A sharp sting to her core seized her body at the same time panic strangled her breath
.

The prison guard who’d assaulted her. Mentally tormented her.

She clamped her eyes shut.
No, no, no.

“Sabelle?” Gavin’s voice faded into the horrific grunts of her attacker.

Gavin.

The guard laid out on the table. Limbs melted. Ferno crouched in the corner. Logan guiding her away. Gavin’s face as the door closed behind her. Screams.

Gone. Killed by Gavin.