I breezed past him and opened it to see my mentor’s stormy visage, cheeks flushed hot with anger. Quick reflexes maneuvered me from his path, otherwise he may have bowled me over when he charged inside. The smell of ozone wafted off him and overpowered the sweet maple aroma.
“Where is she? Was she harmed? What—?”
“She is unharmed, Dain,” Lia said, at our side in an instant. Her hand touched his arm. “Asleep in her room and resting, as she should be.”
“Why did no one summon me?” he demanded. “Why was I not told?”
“Dain—” Oberon began, only for the sylph to shoot him such a dark and furious glower that the king actually took a step backwards.
“You, most of all, should have realized,” Dain hissed at him. “How could you, my king—my friend? How could you not tell me Pilar had been endangered? That she Ascended?”
Oh shit.
Gabriel hadn’t moved from the table, frozen there with a fork in his hand, his brown eyes huge as he watched the spectacle unfolding.
“Dain, calm yourself.”
“I will not. A year ago when our queen returned, you were here within the hour to comfort and protect her. Am I not to be afforded the same courtesy? To be left in the dark when Pilar needed me—”
“I asked them to say nothing.” Pilar’s voice was quiet, hardly more than a whisper from the direction of the stairs. Every eye darted that way to watch her descent. She was barefoot, clothed in plain cotton pajama shorts and a matching tank. Without makeup to conceal her freckles or the youthfulness of her features, I was once again struck by how vulnerable she appeared.
Meanwhile, Dain’s crestfallen expression told me everything I needed to know about his feelings on the matter. “But why?”
We were witness to a very personal conflict between two people I loved very much. Gabriel met my gaze and jerked his head to the door. I nodded quietly. I would have crept that way, but when my attention returned to Pilar, I saw the unvoiced plea in her expression.
Please don’t leave.
And I thought I heard it, an echo, faint and soothing, yet definitely her. Seconds passed until I realized I hadn’t imagined it. Pilar had definitely projected her voice into my head.
“I was safe and you were needed elsewhere,” Pilar replied once she crossed the room to Dain. “I didn’t want to make you choose between me and your duty.”
“That should have been my choice.” Dain looked between Oberon and Pilar. “I can both see to my duties and my heart.”
“I know, but rushing here, causing a scene on campus…” Pilar’s voice trembled. “We’ve spoken of this, Dain. If someone saw—”
“Why must the opinions of others matter so much that you keep me in the dark? Am I to always be concealed in the shadows as if I am shameful?”
“I’m not ashamed of you,” Pilar said, taking his face between her palms. “I have never been ashamed of you.”
I inched toward the table and returned to my seat beside Gabriel. My eggs had gone cold. In a pass of her hand over the table, Liadan restored the warmth to our breakfasts. I shot her a grateful smile and opted to eat instead of stare. But it was hard to ignore the real-life soap opera playing out in the living room and I was silently supporting Dain in the argument. We’d always wondered why Pilar was being so secretive about things.
“You cannot hide forever,” Dain continued. “We cannot hide forever. If others feel jealousy, that is on them, not on you or me.”
“My father—”
“I am capable of using the word ‘no’ and have no qualms about declining whatever ridiculous favors he asks of me. I am wise enough to set boundaries, Pilar. Give me some credit.”
She looked down at her toes. “I don’t want him to ask any of you at all. I don’t want you to think that’s why I’m with you.”
“Should he try to use our love to benefit himself, that is a reflection of his integrity and nothing to do with you.”
Love? A piece of egg almost went down the wrong pipe. My eyes watered as I wrestled with the tiny bit of food threatening to choke me, all while trying to stay as quiet as possible.
The fae lord’s admission shocked more than me. Pilar’s expression mirrored mine, eyes practically bugging out of her head. “Dain…”
“Yes. I did not misspeak. I love you, Pilar, and no self-serving father or envious student body will deny me what is mine.”
Now my eyes were full of tears that had nothing to do with not choking to death at the table. Was this how my friends had felt, watching Gabriel propose to me at the fountain?
“Our lives may be long, but this morning has been a brutal reminder that a thousand hardships and dangers can conclude them at any time. Pilar, this past year in your company has shown me a life exists beyond my duties in Tir na Nog. I could wait a hundred more to ask this, but I know what is in my heart. Be mine. Become the Lady of the Emerald Vale.”
Throughout this, Pilar must have realized the same thing I did. She glowed brighter and brighter, the golden shimmer around her intensifying with each second until Dain spoke those magical words.
Somehow, when she rose onto her tiptoes to kiss him, I did not stand and clap. Lia made a giddy kind of squeal and clapped her hands with enough enthusiasm for all of us.
They finally turned to us as if remembering that they had an audience.
“If it helps, we figured it out last year,” I offered. “Even Ama agreed.”
“Well. I, for one, am really happy for both of y’all,” Gabriel said. “Now can we eat? Like, I’m starving, and Lia’s too busy rubbernecking your drama to keep the food supply moving.”
I flicked him with my index finger, delivering a minor static shock that fluffed his dark hair. He shot me a bewildered look, but Liadan giggled and Pilar smiled. I considered that a mission accomplished.
While Pilar and Dain chatted in quieter tones now, private voices for only one another, Lia brought out more food as Oberon adjusted the table and settings. Within seconds, there was enough for all six of us. Despite exhaustion, I managed to shovel down two giant waffles along with my eggs and bacon, all washed down with hot tea. Still, there was something missing.
“What’s wrong?” Lia asked in a soft voice.
“I guess I was just thinking how sad it is that Holly and Anji aren’t here to share this.”
“We’ll celebrate with Anji later, I’m sure. She’s been staying with Cole on the weekends.”
“And Holly?”
“Holly hasn’t been home the last two days.”
That little nugget of information shaped my mouth into a frown. “Then where is she? With Victor?”
“No. He’s come by looking for her twice. So if you see her…”
If I saw her, she’d probably see me too, then turn and go the other direction.
“If I see her, I’ll chase her down and get some answers. I promise.”
Lia smiled, her expression strained. “Thank you. Things here have been so awkward lately and I’m worried about her.”
“Me too.”
Soon enough, Lia shuffled us away from the table and urged us to find our beds. Now that my belly was full of food and my worries about Pilar had been assuaged, exhaustion came crashing down over me. Gabriel didn’t look much better, dark shadows under his eyes.
I hugged Pilar and even Dain before we left, congratulating them on their betrothal.
Once home, the shower washed away what little stamina I had left, and I passed out before my head even touched the pillow.
16
Codename: Asshole
Sometime later that evening, I stirred to the sensation of Gabriel lazily stroking my hair. At some point during sleep, I’d half sprawled against his chest and snuggled my face against his warm throat, treating me to the scent of soap and skin. I breathed him in and enjoyed the quiet moment.
I could have lain there forever, soaking him in and reading his mood, following the up and down transitions of the thoughts weighing on his m
ind.
The arm loosely wrapped around my back shifted, and his hand slid down to my ass. He squeezed. “I know you’re awake.”
“Hm? How’d you know?”
“Your breathing changed. I’ve been awake for a while waiting for you to move. Didn’t want to wake you after the night you had.”
At that, I raised my head and glanced down to see he was surfing the net on his phone with his free hand. I felt bad, wondering how long he’d been trapped beneath me.
“I don’t mind,” he said, as if he could sense the thoughts on my mind. Maybe he could. In the time since our bonding, my sense of his feelings had intensified and strengthened. Now I wondered how much of it was my empathetic fae nature and how much came from him. Shapeshifters were magical in their own unique way. They had their own pack-related, or in the case of raven shifters, flock-related gifts.
“You could have moved me. I would have drifted off again.”
“It’s cool. Caught up on a web series I follow.”
Lying there on him now like this reminded me of how little time we’d spent together. Since the start of the semester, everything had been go-go-go. I was reminded of the many discussions we’d never had.
Of the talks delayed.
Dain’s words flit through my mind, those spoken today and those in the past. His warning from the prior year tore bloody gouges in my heart.
My life might be long, but any danger could end it at any time. Standing on that train, I’d been completely helpless as my friend faced down her death. It could have been me. If Pilar hadn’t Ascended, she’d be gone, and Dain would have spent the rest of his life filled with regret for all that went unsaid between them.
“Gabriel?”
“Hm?” His gaze flicked up and focused on me.
“I love you.” I wanted children with Gabriel one day. I wanted a baby. I wanted my sentinel license and a career. I wanted so many things, but the uncertainty in our future loomed before me. I hated that wanting one of those things meant sacrificing the other. For now.
The hand on my hip slid beneath my shirt, smoothing up and down my bare spine. “Sky, you okay?”
I smothered his concern with a kiss, deepening it the moment he responded to the first flick of my tongue. When I withdrew, lungs starving, I managed to breathe out, “Two or three years.”
“Two or three years what?”
“To work as a sentinel. To start my career before we have a baby.”
He blinked up at me. “Are we having that talk now?”
It seemed like yesterday that I’d panicked and shut down all conversations related to children. Now I wanted—needed—to speak my heart. “Yes. I want a baby with you. I don’t think I’m ready now. I don’t think I’ll be ready in two years, but I know I love you and my parents weren’t much older than us when they had me. And I don’t think you can ever really be ready.”
Gabriel studied me with a quiet intensity, as if he were seeing me with new eyes for the first time. He eased into a sitting position and took my chin, gazing at me. “Sky, that’s a big decision to make. As much as shifters are driven by an urge to mate, I’m happy to wait as long as you need.”
Despite his words, I felt what was in his soul. I felt the longing and the want and when I touched his mind, though I didn’t intend to, I saw those fleeting dreams of a child bearing our best features. Gabriel’s gold eyes, my oil slick hair.
He wanted a fae child. All this time, I’d imagined the child of his dreams would be a shapeshifter.
Deliberately, I reached into his boxers and took him in my hand. Gabriel never disappointed. He stiffened at once and involuntarily pumped in my grip, moaning my name on a hot breath. I circled my thumb over the crown and stroked again.
“I know what I want.”
After straddling his hips, I dragged my panties to the side and took what I wanted from him. His head tilted back in ecstasy as I brought us together, sinking down on his dick and taking him in completely. We moved together with his hands on my hips. Pleasure built and built, winding tight inside me as my breath quickened and sensation tingled in my core. In one smooth motion, he tugged my nightshirt up and over my head. His palms slid over my bare breasts, then his mouth followed.
I picked up speed and he did the same. Wildly. Desperately. I couldn’t remember the last time we’d made love with so much frenetic energy.
As I approached climax, the world spun and Gabriel rolled me beneath him. His mouth sought mine, his tongue between my lips, his hands on my body, his cock thrusting in powerful strokes that inched me up in the bed. I shuddered beneath him as pleasure rippled and crested.
The headboard slammed against the wall each time our bodies clapped together, my nails pressed against his shoulders, and the way he made me cry out must have reached our neighbors in the adjacent apartment.
But Gabriel didn’t stop. Tireless energy flooded in him at that moment. Our next kiss sizzled, and he did the most wicked things with his fingertips between my thighs while buried so deep inside me I saw stars.
Somehow, I came again.
And again. Warmth spread throughout my body, blossoming from my core and dancing down my extremities until every fiber of my being was sweltering hot. We traded one hungry kiss after the next, our bodies joined in a sensual dance I didn’t want to end even as he stiffened and thrust deep, emptying inside me.
We said nothing for a long while after that, wrapped in each other’s arms lazily touching and stroking.
“You love the thought of getting me pregnant, don’t you?” I asked, fracturing the quiet moment.
When silence persisted from Gabriel—when I thought he wouldn’t answer me at all—he kissed the pulse point in my throat and replied with a resounding, “Fuck, yes. If your feelings haven’t changed in three years, I may have to take you up on that offer.”
“And I may just have to agree.”
* * *
By Saturday night, I began to wonder if the other sentinel teams would share their findings. I knew they weren’t obligated to provide us with information, but it still stung, because the lives of my friends had been on the line and I was there to help fend off those nosferatu. I helped take down Tricia.
I considered contacting Simon and Sebastian, but it wouldn’t be fair to our mentors to use them as go-betweens. I thought about asking Gabriel, but again—I didn’t want to abuse my mate’s official license.
Gabriel had overnight duty, picking up a spur-of-the-moment shift with a mage and her werewolf partner who needed another sentinel along for the ride. I put Ama to bed—after reading her four stories—then curled up on the couch to watch the latest horror movie written by a fae. Due to missing the theatrical showings, I’d bought the digital edition right away to be supportive. Fae never went into horror, but Parker had broken down barriers by writing the screenplay and directing the supernatural flick.
The vampire thriller scared the shit out of me, introducing a powerful nosferatu protagonist predating the days of King Konstantin and Queen Nadezka, invulnerable to sunlight and immune to garlic. I huddled under a blanket, as he stalked his unsuspecting prey into a church.
The phone rang on screen. The would-be victim’s boyfriend had a warning for her, urging her to seek the nearest Faerie Ring into Tir na Nog.
“Girl, don’t walk. Run. He’s there, he’s going to—”
My cell phone rang on the coffee table, the vibration setting causing it to jitter noisily against the wood. I fumbled my drink, spilling soda everywhere.
“Goddammit.”
“Goddammit!” Ama shouted from the fleece tent in her cage.
“Ama!”
A pause. Silence. Then finally a sullen voice replied, “You scared me.”
I tried unsuccessfully to mop up the mess with the blanket then opted to finger-snap it away with a rapid cleaning glamour, the type that my mom would have fussed at me for using because having magic didn’t excuse laziness. Dad would have high-fived me behind her back and taught
me a better way to do it.
I fetched the phone and hit the accept button after a dubious glance at the Unknown Caller tag in ID window. Though I usually let those go to voicemail right away, something in my gut said I needed to answer this call.
“Hello?”
“Skylar Corazzi?”
“That’s me.”
“Good evening. This is Matt. I figured you’d like an update on that case. Sebastian passed me your number and said you’d be thrilled to have news about the discoveries we’ve uncovered while pursuing O’Keefe’s footsteps.”
“Yes! I mean, yes, I would, thank you.”
“Great. I’m not clocking out until about 0600, so you’re welcome to drop by the office at any time. The amount of paperwork we’re entering into the system is massive. The thing they never warn you guys about during school is that fifty percent of the job is documentation. At least.”
“Yeah, so I’ve recently learned. I’ll see if they have someone who can escort me and give you a call before we leave.”
“Sounds good.”
Since Gabriel was already on duty and Stark had the night off, I couldn’t ask them to take me down to the station. I called around to all of my sentinel friends, but found only Anji and Cole available. Because they were on a date.
Shit. Maybe I’d just go tomorrow evening with Stark and—
“No, no, it’s cool,” Anji assured me. “Just be waiting outside in about ten minutes. We haven’t even left campus yet.”
“But you two have plans and shit.”
“It’s not like we have reservations anywhere, girl, so get your butt outside. Besides, I could use the extra hours.”
Finally convinced, I grabbed my things and ran out, giving Matt a call along the way to let him know I’d be there in roughly an hour or so, depending on traffic. Then I literally bowled Teresa over on my way out the building door.
“Oh crap, I’m sorry.”
“No harm, no foul,” she countered as I helped her up from the ground. She brushed bits of grass and dirt from her jeans. “You’re in a hurry. Guess that means no hanging out tonight, huh?”
The Puppet Master: The Paranormal University Files: Skylar, Year 4 Page 18