Taya clutched her stomach and threw up as she saw the black shadow that unhitched itself from Gabe.
“Hiding in the essence of the Arbrin. That is low.”
“I know you! I know what you are. Let me live and I won’t tell anyone.”
The male laughed. “Die Xolon.”
A light so pure and bright began to poor over Xolon. Taya had to shade her eyes. When she was able to look up again, Xolon was gone and Gabe lay on the ground.
She rushed over to him and screamed as she threw her body on top of his crying.
“A little on the dramatic side do you not think?” Voyager was standing to the side watching her.
“Where’d you come from?”
“You would be surprised at the places I go.”
He walked over to Gabe and leaned down. “Just what I expected.”
Standing up, he wiped his hands off and turned around.
“What? What did you expect?” Her voice as frantic as she looked for any sign of life in Gabe.
He turned back to look at her. “You really do not know do you? He is not dead; all he needs is the kiss of his soul-bonded to revive him. I would caution you that soul-bonding is for life. So do not try kissing him if forever with him scares you.”
“Where are you going?” she asked as he walked off.
“To interfere with someone else’s life, of course.” He faded away as if he was never there.
Taya ran her hand over Gabe’s face tracing his lips as she looked at him. Maybe she was his soul-bonded. If she kissed him and he woke up they would be together forever. What if he didn’t wake up? What if she tried and the trials told her no? She would be alone forever without him. That would have been enough to stop her in the past, but she wasn’t the old Taya who ran from life. This Taya would take on anything that came her way including Michael and his band of thugs.
She leaned over and kissed him gently at first allowing her lips to simply caress his. Then she kissed him a little deeper, slipping her tongue into his mouth. She kissed until she realized he hadn’t moved. When she went to back away, a pair of strong arms encircled her drawing her in, wreaking havoc in her mouth. She sighed and gave in.
*~*~*~*
When she opened her eyes she was no longer in Gabe’s mind but back in her own body. She was lying in Gabe’s arms while his hand gently caressed her to wake her up.
“I was beginning to think sleeping beauty would never awaken.”
She smiled and stretched before her fingers snaked down to his thick cock and caught it in her hand.
“What are you doing?” His voice came out ragged as if he couldn’t quite push it out.
“According to Voyager, if I kiss you and you wake, then you’re my soul-bonded. That means I get to do anything I want to you and I’ve been dying to do this since almost day one.”
She pushed him back pulled his shirt over his head and unbuttoned his jeans and grinned with satisfaction as the zipper came down.
“Shouldn’t we go somewhere else? Get out of the trials?” He asked even as his cock rose to meet her.
“Uhuh,” she said, focusing on her prize. “Whatever you want.”
She flicked his belly button with the tip of a finger then she flicked the head of his cock with her tongue.
“This is good. Right here is really good.” He wrapped her black hair in his hand. He had never seen anything more beautiful than her hair being held in his hand.
Her tongue came out and circled the head of his cock. He groaned lifting his hips just a little to encourage her. When her tongue licked up the underside of his cock, they moaned together.
“I never did this of my own free will before.” Her mouth opened and she took as much as she could down her throat before she began to bob her head up and down.
He let out a series of words telling how good she was making him feel. He carefully controlled her head making sure she didn’t choke trying to take too much of him at one time.
“Taya, I’m not strong. If you keep this up I’m going to blow in your mouth. Sweetness, I’m serious. You will have Gabe all over your tongue, flowing down your mouth and seeping out your lips.”
She moaned around his cock and redoubled her efforts.
Gabe surrendered as he rubbed her silky hair between his fingers. She wants us, his Matra whispered in his head. He was as surprised as the Arbrin. To have someone want them not because of their fame or the last song they wrote or even because they were the in thing. To be wanted for himself. His heart expanded even as his cock twitched.
Her pink lips wrapped around his cock was making him crazy; he wanted to flip her over and dive between her thighs but he also wanted her to explore the power she had.
His hips punched in the air as the feel of her lips made his control slip. The grip on her hair tightened even as he tried not to surge up. A deep guttural moan left his lips. Pleasure hit from the base of his spine the pleasure of her hot, wet, willing mouth on him not only made him want to erupt but it touched his heart. The fact that she would care enough to take him into her mouth and love him touched him like no other action ever had.
“Taya,” her name came out in a prolonged sound. A plea for completeness.
She looked up letting his cock slip out her mouth. “I want it all.” She licked those sinfully pink lips. “Give it to me.”
Wrapping her lips around him once again, she worked his cock. Sucking and pulling, allowing her fingers to play with his balls. She sucked him so hard he stiffened then started pumping up against his will. One huge cry left his lips followed by his sweet nectar. It hit her tongue making her suck harder, trying to consume every drop.
His hand clutched her head even as she continued to work his cock. His moans of pleasure and the look of joy on his face made her heart beat faster. Mine was all she could think until he finally relaxed and she brought her head up using her tongue to find any drops trying to escape her greedy mouth.
It took all he had to reach up and pull her down next to him. Tucking her at his side, he nuzzled her neck.
“I need a few minutes to recover. I’ve never felt anything that good in my life then it’s your turn.”
She sighed and snuggled deep into his side, the fighting for his life catching up with her. She closed her eyes and was asleep before she knew it.
*~*~*~*
She woke to Gabe’s hand over her mouth. The look in those blue eyes told her all she needed to know. With a slight shake of her head, he let her go and silently commanded her to get up. They looked for any discarded clothes and dressed quickly as the shadows around them seemed to move.
The sunlight they fell asleep to was now gone. All she could see was deep shadows and she knew something evil was lurking in them. What she didn’t know was who it was after, her or Gabe. Not that it mattered because now that they found each other she wasn’t ready to let him go. Honestly, she would never be ready to let him go.
He motioned for her to follow him. He moved on silent feet, must be the whole alien gig he had going on. She did her best to be quiet; maybe he would give her lessons later.
The land changed as they walked, it became more of an uphill battle as if the very landscape was working against them.
She shook her head and thought how much easier this would be if she actually was the runner her doctor tried to make her into. With a swift kick to that thought, she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Speed walking was her thing and she wasn’t going to be upset that she didn’t like running or hiking up hills.
She took a quick look behind her and screamed. She knew that apparition from her dreams. It had haunted her since the night she was abused. It always seemed so real. Her fear was that one day it would kill her. Her feet took off at a run.
Gabe was right behind her picking her up at the waist. Her feet were still running but she wasn’t going anywhere.
“We have to get out of here, Gabe. I don’t know what that is but we have to get away from it.”
/>
His hand ran up and down her back trying to calm her down.
“Taya, we have to face it. No matter what this is we have to defeat it in order to have the life we both want together.”
It stood at the base of the hill, an ax in its hand. A smile was painted on its face.
“Yes Taya, come face me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
She trembled. It was one thing when she was facing Gabe’s fears or even encouraging him to face his fears. That was reasonable, something they could defeat together. Facing her fears, on the other hand, was next to impossible. Her life had been spent running away from the apparition in front of her. It was crazy and it didn’t make sense, but she knew if it killed her in her dreams, she would die. Now they were here in the trials and the one thing she knew for sure was that whatever happened here was permanent.
“Taya,” his voice was low a taunt. It was also guttural as if she didn’t deserve his best.
“Go away. I’m whole, I got over the whole thing and you have no power over me anymore.”
He laughed almost dropping the ax he laughed so hard. She shrugged, it was worth a try. Why couldn’t anything be easy?
“What do you want?” She pulled herself up to her full height and faced the monster from her dreams with dignity. She owed herself that since one of them would die this night.
“What I’ve always wanted—you.”
Yeah, maybe talking to the thing that haunted you at night and scared the living day lights out of you wasn’t the smartest thing to do. She flicked her fingers hoping she could get a spark, just enough to burn him alive. Maybe she was a bit kill happy right now, but he had every intention of killing her.
“No fire for you. You don’t get to cheat this time. Taya, you should never have left that room alive. They intended to tear you apart, use you for all you were worth and then kill you.” He smiled at her allowing his mouth to open and his black teeth to show.
“He would have cried at your funeral and told the world how smart you were and what a great girlfriend you were. They were looking forward to hugging your mother and shaking hands with your father but you cheated. Fire emerged from your hands and you burned them and escaped.”
Her trembling stopped. Fury, hot and hard hit her body. How dare he blame her because some freaks of nature singled her out to abuse and she defended herself? There should be a Taya Clark day as a national holiday where she got parades and interviews when the world acknowledged a woman’s right to defend herself. She wouldn’t apologize because she was pretty, or because she was intelligent, and she definitely wouldn’t apologize because someone couldn’t handle the length of her skirt or the length of her shirt. Her body belonged to her and no one had the right to think they could take advantage of it simply because they couldn’t control their baser urges.
“He deserved more than a small burn and a slap on the wrist to do better. He killed before me and what was there to stop him from killing after me. And that’s my secret shame. That I didn’t find a way to lock his ass up in prison so he wouldn’t ever touch another woman. For the rest of my life, I will always feel like their blood is on my hands. But you, you will die tonight because I won’t be taking the blame for that sick son of a…”
He threw the ax at her cutting off her words. Gabe tackled her, taking her down to the ground as the ax swirled over their heads. His scream of sheer frustration reached her ears making her heart light.
Pushing up, she looked down the hill where he still stood.
“Who are you? What are you?” Gabe stood and reached down for her hand pulling her to her feet.
The darkness that shrouded them didn’t feel as dark any more as if a sliver of light crept in allowing her to see a little better.
“Show yourself, take off the disguise and show your true self. I’m betting you’re Michael or some sick version of him. Am I the one who got away? The one you curse with a vengeance when you’re all alone? Did your face ever heal or do you carry the scare of my fire every day? I healed; it took me years and this trial but I healed. No longer do I carry around hatred for you. It was black and putrid and colored everything I did, slowly taking the joy out of my life leaving me to be nothing but bitter.
“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t feel sorry for you or wish you had received therapy. I don’t grieve for the person you could have been. Not even close. In the end you are dead to me. Like you never lived, your life has no relevant meaning on mine. If I saw you lying on the street I would step over you because it would take too much effort to go around, and then I’d keep walking like you weren’t there. So go ahead, Michael or whoever you are, take off the mask and face me.”
She looked down at herself and smiled. Everyone should come to the trials. She was dressed in her favorite outfit, crop shirt with cute skirt. She was wearing a pair off kick ass boots with a weapon belt hanging from her waist and a knife strapped to her thigh. This was who she always wanted to be. Taya, who handled life on her own terms and not someone else’s.
Her eyes went to meet Gabe’s to see what he thought. His eyes were dark with stormy passion. He liked what he saw and he wasn’t having any problems letting her know. Her soul-bonded, what she always wanted in her life but didn’t know until now.
When she was younger she thought she wanted a husband, someone on the rise like her. Together they would take the world by storm. Now she knew she really wanted was someone who would love her through the good and the bad times. He would stand by her side and help her hide the bodies if need be. What she wanted was Gabe.
He stood beside her and took her hand. The look of pride on his face made her chin notch just a little higher.
“Your move,” she said to the apparition.
He started advancing up the hill; another ax appeared in his hand.
“You’re going to die this time.” The darkness around him began to fall away. The illusion that covered him began to tear the closer he got to her. She held her ground not moving until he stood almost close enough to touch.
The final illusion fell away and she gasped because Michael wasn’t standing in front of her. It was his father.
“What…I…how are you here? I don’t understand.” This was the one thing she hadn’t been prepared for. Her head was reeling as she tried to catch up to what was happening.
“I understand.” Gabe stepped between the two of them. “Sometimes a child, despite all you do for them, does something you never thought they would. Other times a parent makes the monster. He knew who and what his son was and encouraged it. Egged him on in his depravity, because it was handed down from father to son. They had enough money to hide it, to never get caught. Although some suspected, what could they do?
“His son was meant to walk in his same footsteps and one day he would father a monster like himself to keep the family legacy alive.”
“But he chose you.” The father spoke, his voice bitter. “I knew you were a mistake, I told him that. He ignored me; something about you drew him in like a mouth to a flame. He had to have you. You ruined his life and you will pay for it.” Hatred twisted the features of a man who once could have been called handsome.
“I’m happy. Do you hear me? I’m happy I interrupted his life of abuse. I hope he never touches another female. Actually, I hope he went to church and found God and that the very sight of him repenting for the sins you taught him repels your evil soul!”
He swung that ax at her but Gabe was there in his Matra form. He caught the ax tearing it out of his hands. His thick claws caught him in the side lifting him up and tossing him away like useless trash.
“No!” he screamed and ran at Taya again. “You will die for your sins.”
She stepped in front of her soul-bonded drawing the knife from her thigh. When he ran at her, intent on beating her with his fists, she held that knife in two hands and brought it up at the last moment. He impaled himself on it. She twisted the knife and watched the body of Michael’s father fall to the ground before
it slowly disappeared.
“It is over?” she turned to look at Gabe, her grey eyes brimming with unshed tears.
Who would have thought such a prominent family in society harbored such a dark secret? She had been so blessed not to become part of that sickness.
“It’s over. He can’t hurt you anymore.” He drew her into his arms. She burrowed deep into his warmth never wanting to let him go.
“How could this have happened? He’s human. There’s no way he could have been a shadow in my subconscious like that, following me, terrorizing me, plotting my death.”
“Taya, the strongest force on this planet is the human soul. I don’t know what he was into. What he practiced, but I do know to never underestimate the soul when it wants something and he wanted you dead. Maybe in the end he sold his own soul for a chance at yours.”
The darkness of the night began to recede; the sun rose on the horizon. The sound of clapping drew their eyes back to the base of the hill. Voyager stood there with a smile on his face.
“Thank you for the show, it was entertaining.”
Taya tried to get away from Gabe so she could choke Voyager. Gabe held tight while Voyager laughed.
“I do not die easily. If you are interested, I can give you some names to ask. Actually no, they didn’t survive our confrontation.” He shrugged his shoulders and gave a distinctly bored look. “You can try me if you want to.”
“Thanks, but no. You’re not on my list.”
“Pity, maybe the simplicity of being human is what I need in my life.”
“Can we leave?” Gabe’s voice came out rough; he didn’t appreciate Voyager talking to his soul-bonded.
Voyager winked at her. “I do believe your soul-bonded is a little jealous as well as possessive. Seems he does not want to lose you. Smart male. You cannot leave. If the trials were through with you they would show you the way out. You must have missed something.”
He turned around and began walking away.
“Where are you going?”
He turned to look at her. “You are always asking me that.”
Gabe's Destiny (Alien Mates Book Three) Page 14