“Fine.”
Chuckling, Gabriel leaned down and brushed a kiss against my brow. Then he left me to get decent. I pinned my hair up high on my head with a simple glamour then stole a five-minute shower since I’d sweat enough to feel sticky and gross.
Afterward, I rummaged through the bag Lia packed.
There were no pajamas. I pulled out a lace camisole and matching cheeky panties that may as well have been a thong.
What the fuck?
I slipped into the panties and the shirt he’d set out for me. It was warm, freshly pulled from the dryer, and felt absolutely wonderful until I caught my reflection in the mirror. Shadows smudged the skin beneath my eyes and my skin had an ashy cast to it.
I felt better, but I looked ghastly. Ugh.
“Sky’s just fine, Mrs. Cora—sorry, sorry. Gloria. She’s fine, I swear. I have breakfast waiting for when she comes out of the shower. She must have turned her phone off at some point. I’m sorry I didn’t think to call you. I put her to bed then fell asleep myself.”
Whatever Mom’s answer, the distance between the bedroom door and Gabe’s couch muted it. I imagined her and Dad fretting by the phone, maybe even arguing over flying in.
“I’ll have her call as soon as she’s—Are you sure? Okay. I’ll let her know.” Gabe’s gaze cut to me. “Actually, Sky is right here and—But she’s—Sure. Have a great Sunday, you two. Hug Dante for me.”
“What was that about?”
Gabriel hung up and aimed a smile at me. “Your mother says to eat, rest more, then call later tonight.”
I blinked. “That’s all?”
“Yep. Well, no. She also said congratulations. I don’t know what for, but she said you’d know. Anyway, time for you to get your grub on.” He tugged me down beside him. On top of a massive amount of eggs, he’d provided a platter with enough bacon to stop a bear’s heart. The jug of orange juice had a subtle, pink tinge, and when he poured a tall glass of it, the fragrant aroma wafted toward me on the air-conditioned breeze.
My belly cramped in hunger.
“Go ahead,” Gabe urged. He pushed the glass into my hands, and I swear it was like sipping ambrosia. It tasted smooth and sweet, the perfect blend of tangy orange juice and summer fruits.
I ate until I thought I’d burst, chugged more juice, and eventually passed out with my head on his lap. When I stirred, I was still curled up alongside him on the sofa while Gabe watched a movie on the muted television, subtitles on.
“You feeling better?”
My cheek was on his thigh. I rolled over, putting the back of my head to the TV. “Mmhmm. You’re the best nurse.”
“Of course. I even wiped the drool off your face.” His grin widened.
“I don’t drool.”
“Oh, trust me. You do.”
I tried to scowl at him but my heart wasn’t in it. Feeling creaky and stiff, I twisted around and sat up. “Ugh. I should probably shower.”
“Again?” He sniffed my throat, exaggerating it with longer than necessary sniffs before dragging his nose to my collar bone. A fresh wave of prickles flashed across my skin. “Nah. You smell fantastic. Shifter approved. It’s only been three hours since the last one.”
I laughed. “Maybe I want a long soak instead.”
“Am I allowed to join you?”
Excitement danced across my skin, raising goosebumps at the idea of Gabriel joining me in the tub. “I love you,” I whispered, instead of the invitation tickling my thoughts. “So much. You’ve been great today, you know. Really great.” And I’d had boyfriends in the past who would have told me to suck it up in my own bedroom at my own place. Lia, Pilar, and Holly would have been stuck dealing with me, cleaning up my puke and tucking my pathetic ass into bed.
“You don’t need to thank me for taking care of you.”
“I do. I’m not your responsibility.” What I couldn’t say was mate or wife, or anyone he was obligated to spend a weekend nurturing back to health.
Maybe he sensed the hidden meaning, because his expression changed. The tiny smile on his lips flattened, and his eyes turned serious. “That’s where you’re wrong. I love you, Sky. And loving someone means you’re there for them in shit times and good times, because in our line of work—fuck, it doesn’t even matter the line of work, does it? Those people went to the mall to shop for chocolate and clothes and fucking electronics, and now a ton of them are gone. They don’t get to go home to their spouses. They’re just gone. And…I…” He swallowed a couple times, and pain clouded his troubled eyes.
I cupped his face between my hands. “Hey. You didn’t lose me, and I didn’t lose you.”
“I just don’t know what I’d have done if it were you, Sky. You’re like—you’re the most important person in my life. I love you, and loving someone means you take care of them when they need you.”
My heart did a weird flip-flop in my chest. I tried to respond, but my mouth was oddly heavy and dry in my mouth. “I love you, too,” felt insufficient for relaying how I felt.
Suddenly, Mom’s words made sense, and I knew why she’d congratulated us, and I knew exactly what I was supposed to do.
Denying how I felt about Gabe would only put off the inevitable. It didn’t matter that I’d only just celebrated my twenty-first birthday, that I hadn’t yet graduated from the college, or that I was still earning my license.
“You hungry?” I asked suddenly.
“Huh?”
“I asked if you’re hungry.”
“A little,” he admitted. “After you passed out, I didn’t want to risk waking you. Why?” He looked alarmed suddenly. “You don’t have to cook for me, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“It isn’t.”
I had something better.
Palms slick with sweat, I reached into the Neverspace and pulled out a gift-wrapped bundle. I placed it on Gabriel’s lap.
“What’s this?”
“It’s something I hunted for you with Sam just before we left Texas. He, um…he said if I accepted your claim, I’d want to have this.”
He unwrapped the bundle and stared down at the dead rabbit. It was still as soft and fresh as it had been the day I killed it. “You did this for me?”
“I did. I wanted…to start this right.”
He was still gazing at the creature on his lap like I’d given him the world instead of an animal carcass, the world’s least romantic gesture to a fae. Moisture swam in his eyes. “It adds a layer of permanence I’m scared to ask of you, Sky. If you change your mind—”
“Did you think I would want to leave you suddenly? If you were a fae, we’d be handfasting in Tir na Nog. But you aren’t a fae and I love you, and I know I won’t stop loving you, Gabe. We’re both so fortunate to have one another. This summer and yesterday’s outbreak taught me not to waste one day.”
“You’ve had this all this time?”
I nodded.
He set the rabbit aside on the table. At first, I thought he planned to refuse my gift, but then he was on me and my back landed on the cushions, his lips seizing mine in a series of hot, open-mouthed kisses. I moaned as his hands crept beneath my shirt. With his body, he urged my thighs to part and nestled between them easily, his weight comfortable and warm on my chest.
I could spend hours kissing this man. I loved him so much my heart could have burst. The tiny panties—why the hell had Lia packed the most insignificant, tiny scrap of undergarments in my drawer—practically split on the first pull.
Then there was nothing between my bare skin and his hand. He teased and stroked and petted until I was writhing beneath him, at the mercy of his fingers and mouth.
Testing my stamina, I reached for a little faerie dust and wove a minor glamour, widening the cushions of his sofa to eliminate the threat of tumbling off. Then I flipped us over and rolled Gabriel beneath me. I pulled my shirt off and tossed it aside.
Before today, I’d never been completely naked in front of Gabriel. The shower, where I�
�d been miserable—too ill for him to appreciate it—didn’t count. The kitchen, where I’d been feverish and half out of my mind with hunger, didn’t count.
But this did. He gazed up at me with pure adoration in his eyes. No pity, no worry. Only sizzling lust and unconcealed love. “What the hell did I do to deserve you?”
“You’re an awesome man.” I found a little spot beneath Gabriel’s ear that always made him melt whenever I kissed it. “Kind. Considerate. Loyal.” I punctuated each word with a playful nip or suck, and he moaned like the sensation had gone straight to his dick. “Because you get me and you respect me. And I…I most definitely respect you.”
“It doesn’t take much to get you, Sky. You’re a faerie badass with—fuck.”
“With what?”
“Kisses that should be classified as magic.” He shifted beneath me, grinding his hardness between my thighs. “Fuck,” he breathed. “I want…I want to take care of you and do everything you deserve after yesterday but…you’re making it really hard to give you time to rest, baby.”
“You have been a very good boyfriend and taken better care of me than anyone. Besides, I spent all day resting. I’m tired of resting.”
I was straddling him one moment; in the next, the world spun and I was planted on my back with Gabriel over me. He ran his fingers over my ribs, exploring and touching as he had over the summer. I’d already had Gabriel’s fingers inside me last year.
I’d had his mouth on me this summer. And now…
“Hurry,” I called up to him, aching for more.
“In a rush?” He lowered his lips to my breast, teasing over my nipple. The subsequent hard suck curled my toes into the couch cushion.
“Yes!” I pushed up with my hips, seeking him, but he was still wearing boxers and all I wanted was to touch him again. I dragged down the waistband then put my hand on him. He was marble-hard but smooth as satin to my fingertips, pulsing in my grip. I squeezed him and delighted in the sound he made.
“Condoms?” he asked, moaning as I pumped him in my fist. “There’s a box in my room, if you wanna spare me a second with some magic.”
I took a guess at the location, gesturing with my hand to summon the foil packets from his nightstand. They appeared in a silver sparkle on the coffee table beside us.
“Did you have big plans or something?” I picked up the box. “This is a jumbo variety pack.”
Gabriel grinned, unashamed. “Maybe.” After he kicked off his boxers, we glided together in the worst kind of tease, setting my senses ablaze with desire each time the blunt tip of him nudged my core. He took his time with the next kiss. I savored the taste of his tongue, the warm contact of skin against skin while cradling his hips with my thigh.
I really liked nothing between us.
“Didn’t know if you were on the pill or whatever else they give y’all at the med center. Better to be prepared, right?”
“I, uh, started those a while ago,” I admitted. “But better to have backup I gu-uess!” My voice rose an octave when he took my other breast in his mouth. The box of condoms fell from my hand and hit the floor.
“Your choice, Sky. If you trust me.”
“Trust you?” I loved him. Since he needed confirmation, I reached down and took him in hand again, guiding him right where I wanted.
His kiss scorched through me. There was something fervent and needy in the way he claimed my mouth, his tongue seeking entrance between my lips at the same time he drove into me with a single stroke.
Then it was done, and we were joined together, making love in a dim living room with a muted television casting its pale glow against our skin.
“Sky,” he breathed against my cheek, a few of his words lost in husky groans of pleasure. All I could pick out in the tumble of stuttered half-English was, “My Sky.”
“Yours,” I agreed, arching beneath him and meeting his next thrust. It wasn’t a bed and we had no candles or music, no wine or romantic dinner, but it was perfect. I needed nothing but him. “Don’t hold back. I want all of you.”
He framed my face with his hands and kissed me again, stroking with his tongue. “I wouldn’t give you anything less.” He thrust again, driving deeper than before. Harder. “I won’t. I can’t get enough of you.”
“I love you.”
He moved tirelessly, each deep-seated thrust stroking my inner walls. Every kiss and dip of his tongue imitated our seductive dance.
He kissed and loved me until I lost track of how much time passed, immersing myself in passion. I wished we’d done this earlier, and I didn’t, because this moment was perfection.
This was our moment, and I couldn’t ever love him more.
Strong fingers laced with mine as we coasted closer to the precipice, my body straining, muscles pulling tight, and Gabriel’s tempo turned frenzied. Desperate.
He withdrew, and I wanted to punch him, until he flipped me over onto my stomach, hauled me back by the hips, and sheathed himself in me anew. I cried out and arched into him, finding our new rhythm while his arm snaked around my middle. His other palm kneaded my breast, teasing and plucking my nipple. I clasped one hand over his and shuddered in rising ecstasy.
“I love you, Sky. Love you so much. I’ll spend the rest of my life loving you.”
My thighs trembled. I was so close, and he knew it.
Then I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder at him and I saw the unveiled emotion in his eyes, matching his words, and Gabe was so beautiful I wanted to cry. Our gazes met and held as my orgasm crashed into me with the force of a fireball.
A barely human noise came from him, rumbling like a feral growl in his chest. Then a foreign sensation, hot and overwhelming seared through me like magic, and I felt something alien and new, but so familiar pulsing at the back of my thoughts, intensifying with each clench of my core.
His. His. I was his now.
Involuntarily, the full extent of my fae nature emerged. I saw the awe in his eyes, and I felt it reverberating through a connection that hadn’t been there before, echoing over and over. Tipping his head back, he stiffened and called my name in a guttural, low groan as he climaxed.
The hand linked with Gabriel’s tightened, clutching him like a lifeline. It was the single most explosive and amazing orgasm I’d ever achieved, made all the better by our shared release.
A while passed before either of us had the energy to move, and even then, we only readjusted our position on the couch, one of my legs over his hip while he caressed up and down my spine. I still glowed, bright as a star in his arms with the warmth of my wings bathing us in colorful light.
“You’re the best thing to ever happen to me,” Gabriel whispered against my cheek.
“Mmm…maybe I should get sick more often if this is how you’re going to tend to me.”
“Brings a new meaning to sexual healing.”
8
On the Case
I got a pass on my first core classes Monday morning, which was fine with me since I needed the rest after a long night in Gabriel’s bed. I felt different, yet the same. I wasn’t even sure how I expected to feel.
Technically, I was married in the eyes of the shifter community.
I was a mated woman. ’Til death do us part and all that. Hopefully no time soon.
While I slept the morning and afternoon away, nothing was going to make me skip out on my sentinel courses. I woke alone, but found a note from Gabe telling me he’d left food in the fridge, and not to worry about Ama; she was put up already.
Thank goodness for small favors. Nothing short of magic would get her into the cage for me, and I didn’t want to shred what little trust she had in me by whisking her into the cage via spell.
Without worrying I’d be ambushed by his bright-feathered terror, I ventured to the kitchen and took a look at what he considered stocking up. Gabe must have hit a grocery store. Eggs, milk, containers of berries, two different packs of cheese, bacon, lemonade, and a bunch of other stuff filled t
he fridge. His pantry cupboard had also been replenished. I made myself a sandwich, eating it on my way back to my place.
Did I send him a text message in thanks? I wasn’t sure what the turn in our relationship required.
Torn between giving my new husband—mate?—gratitude and appearing a needy bitch, I reached for the phone and sent off a quick message that I hoped wasn’t pathetic. Thank you for the weekend. Love you.
Then I called my mother and father. Returning her call last night hadn’t been possible.
“Good morning, baby girl,” my mother answered.
“You’re not fussing.”
“Why would I fuss? We spoke with both Gabriel and Simon, so we knew you were fine and getting the best care possible.”
“Oh. Well then, I just wanted to let you know I’m feeling much better.”
“I’m glad to hear it, baby.”
“So, um…” How did I tell my mother about what happened? I considered ripping it off like a Band-Aid, just announcing that Gabriel and I were mated.
“Your father isn’t awake right now, but we both wanted to wish you and Gabriel a heartfelt congratulations. We love you both so much.”
“Wait, you know?”
“We may have taken a panicked look at your Destiny Lines when we heard you’d been hurt,” she admitted.
It wasn’t easy deciphering another fae’s destiny. My parents must have spent a lot of dust.
“So you aren’t mad?”
“Of course not. This world needs a little more love, and Gabriel is a wonderful man. We couldn’t be happier for you.”
We spoke for a while longer during the walk to the townhouse, then my little brother’s drowsy cry reached me from the adjacent room.
“I’d better go. Dante’s awake and he’s wet. Take care, sweetie, okay? I love you.”
“I will, Mom. Love you, too.”
A huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders, though in hindsight I wondered why I’d ever expected my folks to be disappointed by my choice. At least now Gabe could rightfully claim to have the coolest in-laws ever.
The Plague Doctor (The Paranormal University Files: Skylar Book 4) Page 6