by Vivian Wood
“Yes,” Cassie moaned, throwing her head back. Her body bowed as she leaned into Gabriel’s touch, seeking more, more. “Gabriel, yes!”
“You like how I touch you, don’t you darling? I love giving my mate pleasure,” Gabriel said.
A tiny part of Cassie caught on his sudden, fervent use of the word mate, but the rest of her was too engulfed in sensation to listen or care. As Gabriel’s touch drove her higher, a new ache emerged deep within, the desire to be completely and wholly filled by him. She wanted Gabriel to possess her body, to permeate her senses. She wanted him to need her, need the bond growing between them.
Cassie wanted Gabriel to claim her. Mark her. Make her his.
Somehow, she couldn’t say any of that. Not in the heat of the moment, maybe not ever.
“Fuck me, Gabe. Please, please fuck me,” escaped her lips instead.
Gabriel gave her a little taste of what she so desperately desired, roughly pressing two thick fingers deep into her tight, wet core. His touch was not gentle, but it matched the urgency Cassie felt to her bones.
“Tell me I can have you bare, mate,” Gabriel growled, giving her ass another resounding smack.
“I’m on the pill,” Cassie managed, turning to glance at him, entranced by the intensity of his expression. Gabriel’s eyes were nearly black with unbridled lust, and his chest and shoulders gleamed with a light sheen of perspiration.
“What a good girl you are, Cass.”
He worked her channel with his fingers until she bucked against him, then withdrew. There was no tease this time, no further warning. Gabriel positioned himself at her entrance and thrust deep, gripping her hips as he stretched and filled her body, giving her everything she needed.
“Ah!” Cassie cried, but Gabriel didn’t let up for a moment. He set an insistent rhythm, bringing one of his hands around to her belly, raising her hips a fraction. Then his hand slipped to her outer thigh, pressing her legs closer together.
Suddenly he was so much deeper inside, his magnificent cock hitting every sensitive spot, making Cassie’s legs shake with the force of the newfound sensation. Her innermost muscles began to tense, and she could feel Gabriel’s appreciative response, letting out a deep growl of satisfaction as his fingers dug into her hips. He fucked her relentlessly as her body tightened impossibly, her breasts tingling and clit throbbing and… and…
Gabe shifted and pulled her upright, not missing a beat as he sunk his teeth deep into the tender joint of her neck and shoulder. The sharp pain blended with her overwhelming pleasure until it all overran some barrier deep inside her.
Cassie exploded with a shout, hips rocking into Gabriel as she peaked. His grip on her body grew almost painful as he hammered her, not slowing as Cassie rode crest after crest of pleasure.
“Fuck, Cass. Fuck!” Just as she began to slide back toward reality, Gabriel cursed and came, jerking against her as he jetted his release in long pulses.
Cassie shuddered as he withdrew, but to her surprise Gabriel didn’t collapse onto the bed as she did, practically melting into the mattress. Gabriel vanished for several long moments, but Cassie couldn’t bring herself to look for him, overcome as she was with post-coital bliss. She let her eyelids droop, and might have just gone straight to sleep if Gabriel hadn’t returned.
“Here, darling, let me take care of you.”
“Mmm?” Cassie mumbled, opening a single eye to contemplate him.
Gabriel arched a brow as he held up a hand towel.
“Mmmf,” Cassie replied, unwilling to move.
Gabriel cleaned her with the gentlest touch possible, first the bite on her neck and then between her legs. He padded off again, leaving Cassie adrift for a long string of moments. When he came back he flipped back the comforter on one side of the bed and lifted Cassie in his arms. Cassie giggled at his indulgence as he tucked her in and then crawled under the blanket beside her.
“That’s better,” Gabriel said, turning Cassie onto her side and pulling her close. He wrapped himself around her, his embrace tender and possessive and satisfying. Cassie’s exhausted brain went in circles, trying to figure out what the hell was happening and what she should be feeling.
“What now?” was all she could manage.
“For now? Just sleep,” Gabriel murmured, snaking an arm around her waist and burying his nose in her hair, just at her nape. He was all warmth and comfort, and Cassie could do nothing but fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Cassie awoke to bright sunlight streaming in through windows. She winced, touching the mating mark at her neck. It was a little sore, but so was the rest of her body. Her lips turned up at the deliciousness of the sensation, having earned her aches and pains in the best way possible. She glanced over at Gabriel, refusing to let herself think of their new status just yet. She’d only pick it apart and trip herself up, and she wanted to just relax and feel good about it for a while yet.
Stretching, she threw her legs over the side of the bed and started to get up. She yelped when a muscular arm snared her by the waist, dragging her backward.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Gabriel asked, nuzzling her neck, his lips and teeth and stubble sending fissions of pleasure down her spine.
“I was thinking of brushing my teeth,” Cassie said with a laugh.
“You have precisely six minutes before I come in there after you,” Gabriel informed her. “I promise leniency if you don’t make me get out of bed to hunt you down.”
“Is that right?” Cassie asked, pushing up on her elbows and pursing her lips.
“That’s bloody well right. You’re not leaving my bed again until you’re so well-fucked you can’t think straight,” Gabriel warned her. “I’m going to have you every way possible, as many times as possible. I’m thinking… two weeks? Three? How long do you think it’ll take for you to forget that anyone existed before me?”
Cassie gave a startled, bemused huff. As if she had eyes for anyone but Gabriel after last night!
“I— I don’t know what to say to that,” she admitted, blushing.
Gabriel let her off easy, releasing her and shooing her off the bed.
“You’ve only got five minutes now, so you’d better get a move on if your teeth truly need attending to.”
Cassie laughed and hurried to comply, certain that she’d be well rewarded on her return.
“I thought you weren’t going to leave me until I forgot that the rest of the world existed,” Cassie protested when Gabriel rose and dressed.
He arched a brow.
“I believe I said I was going to make you forget other men,” he clarified. “And if the last six days haven’t satisfied your appetites… Well, I’ll make it up to you at sunrise. I really do have to patrol tonight, though. Rhys and Aeric are tired of covering for me while I fawn over my new mate.”
Cassie stretched and climbed out of the bed, sauntering over to Gabriel’s armoire and finding a soft cotton t-shirt to pull on. They’d already established that Gabriel loved seeing Cassie in his clothes, loved his scent on her skin. Even now, he was giving her a speculative glance as he laced up a pair of black leather combat boots.
“You look hot in that outfit,” Cassie said, giving him the same look right back when he stood. He wore black pants, a tight black t-shirt, and a black tactical vest that did something very naughty to Cassie’s oversexed brain. “Maybe I should be worried about you.”
Gabriel made an exasperated sound and came over to drop a kiss on her lips, then gave her ass a light swat.
“I left a present for you in the study,” he said. “And I had the maids organize it while we were otherwise occupied. I meant what I said about you picking out some new furniture, too, unless you want your office in the guest bedroom. God knows you’re never sleeping in there again.”
Cassie scoffed at his presumptuous declaration, but Gabriel merely smirked and stalked out of the room. She shook her head and found a discarded pair of her pajama pants that she’d draped over
a chair several days ago. Pulling them on, she opened the connecting door to the library.
She almost tripped over herself when she saw the room. The bookshelves had been neatly organized and put on rolling tracks, then pushed to one side of the room. Cassie reached out and moved one, marveling at the ingenuity of the new setup, leaving half the room free to allow movement and comfort. The blackout curtains had also been pulled back from the windows, flooding the whole room with near-blinding sunlight.
“You weren’t kidding about the cleaning,” she wondered aloud. “This doesn’t even resemble the library anymore.”
Heading over to the table, she was doubly surprised to find it empty of all but a few scrolls, a stack of notepaper, a mason jar of felt-tipped pens, and a stack of books. Giddy, Cassie reached out and snatched the first book from the stack and opened it. Grabbing a pen, Cassie settled into a chair as she flipped the pages, quickly becoming absorbed in the historic journal Gabriel had left for her.
An hour slipped by before Cassie looked up again. She had a pen in one hand and a scroll spread beneath the other. She also had a list scrawled on a piece of scratch paper, a jumbled collection of notes that needed a bit of summary. Cassie sighed and pushed the scroll away. Grabbing a fresh piece of paper, she condensed and summarized her notes to her satisfaction, leaving her with:
Qualities Defining the Third Light
- Communes With Spirits or The Dead (depending on interpretation)
- Would Need A High Priest or Priestess and an Angel or Demon as Parents
- Hasn’t Come Into Their Full Power Yet, Or Hides Their True Strength
- Is Unaware Of Their True Potential For Evil or Good
- Probably Female?
Cassie scrunched up her face as she re-read her list. On one hand, the list was too broad — how could the Guardians find someone who didn’t know her own power? On the other hand, the list was very, very specific. It seemed unlikely that there were a lot of women walking around who were created by the very human lusts of a demon and a Voodoo priestess. Cassie was pretty sure that you’d know just how special that woman was the moment you laid eyes on her, or saw her aura at least.
Wouldn’t you?
Rubbing her temples, she sighed. There was one more book she hadn’t tackled yet, the largest and scariest-looking of the stack. Apocrypha del Semaforo was carved in the thick black leather cover. When Cassie traced her fingers over the letters, a chill slid down her spine.
Opening it, Cassie used the gentlest touch possible to turn the yellowed, powdery pages. The text was in a very old Italian dialect rather than the Latin she’d expected. Cassie jumped up and fetched an iPad from the library’s selection of computers. Sitting back down, she skimmed through the first handful of pages, guessing at what bits she could and translating short passages that seemed important.
The phrase La Luce Finale stuck out at her from several places on the page. Frowning, Cassie translated it.
“The Final Light?” she wondered aloud. “Is that different from the Third Light?”
With a huff, Cassie worked to translate broad swaths of text for the next few chapters, jotting notes as she went. It quickly became apparent to her that the Final Light and the Third Light were not the same thing, and that in all likelihood the Final Light wasn’t even alive yet.
…probably. Cassie’s understanding of the old Italian was incomplete, but she was fairly certain that the Apocrypha indicated that the Final Light wouldn’t be conceived until after the Third Light was discovered. Turning that over in her mind, Cassie pushed through a few more chapters of the book. When she didn’t find any more specific references to the purpose or destiny of the Final Light, she gave up and wandered off to find Cairn, hoping for a little entertainment that didn’t involve prophecies she couldn’t hope to understand.
10
Dominic “Pere Mal” Malveaux reclined in a velvet chaise in the corner of the Carousel Bar, nursing a Sazerac. He took a sip of the bittersweet whiskey cocktail, staring down at the glass and swirling the remaining ice. Things were not proceeding at all as he’d planned, and it was all the fault of those fucking Guardians. The stupid bear shifters were meddling in things they didn’t understand, and the results could be disastrous for Pere Mal.
Nothing in this world was free. If you wanted something badly enough, especially a great deal of power, certain debts would accrue. Pere Mal owed some mighty large debts, and the holders of those debts were neither patient nor kind.
He’d lost the First Light, the pretty blond who’d settled with the Scottish Guardian. Their bonding had been an unfortunate blow for Pere Mal, but he’d come to accept it… especially when the First Light’s usefulness had faded.
But the Second Light, Cassandra Chase, had been stolen from him. Taken from his very house. That would not stand. Not when the girl’s fate was so enmeshed with the Third and Final Lights. Pere Mal’s seers and sorcerers hadn’t figured out exactly how it would play out, but Miss Chase was to be a very, very important figure in Pere Mal’s future plans.
Added to the fact that she also hosted the Oracle, whose visions and prophecies he direly missed. Pere Mal set his glass on a low table and rose, determined.
Yes, Cassandra Chase must be recovered at any cost.
“Monsieur,” one of his men said, approaching with a slight bow.
“You’ve found the Oracle?” Pere Mal asked.
“I have both good and bad news,” the suited man said, looking as if he were desperately trying not to flinch under Pere Mal’s gaze.
“Bad news first, I suppose.”
“Our spies report that the Oracle and one of the Guardians are… involved. Fated mates, actually,” the man said with a wince.
Pere Mal closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, unwilling to make a scene in the glitzy bustle of the Carousel Bar. Likely his aide had waited to approach him until now for that very reason. It took him almost a full minute to gather himself before he could respond.
“Which Guardian?” he asked at last.
“The sorcerer, we believe. Sir.” The man was visibly sweating now as he stood at attention, waiting for Pere Mal to react.
“Ah. I’d rather it be none of them, but I worry most about the other one. The Viking,” Pere Mal sighed. “There is something about him that I do not like.”
Fear, more like, but Pere Mal no longer used such terms in reference to himself. It appeared weak, and he needed his men to have utter confidence in him.
“Yes, sir. You think the sorcerer is weak, then? My spies say they are trying to conceive, which could help us further. Couldn’t it?” the aide asked.
Pere Mal favored him with a smirk. The news really wasn’t bad, exactly, so much as it might require more patience.
“I think all bear shifters grow foolish around their mates and spawn,” Pere Mal said briskly. “That is what happens when one follows their heart and not their intellect and wisdom. I also think that if Miss Chase is foolish enough to begin a family with her Guardian, she will give us the ammunition we need to destroy them both. It’s so simple, really…”
Pere Mal thought it through for a moment, then nodded with a deep satisfaction. The aide just wrung his hands, looking obscenely relieved.
“I will need you to monitor them closely, tell me if their status changes in any way. Especially the family way, you understand?”
“Of course, of course.”
“Well? What’s the good news, then?” Pere Mal prompted, growing irritable.
“You requested that we scry for the Final Light. Impossible conditions of parentage, I think you mentioned? We found what you asked for.”
The aide produced a stack of glossy photos for Pere Mal to peruse, and he nearly laughed when he saw the contents.
“Shall I intercede, Monsieur?” the man asked.
“No,” Pere Mal said with a grin. “No, leave it alone. It would be far better not to draw attention to the situation. If no one is looking, there is no problem, n’est-ce
pas?”
“Yes, sir.”
“The place where the Guardians live, what is it called?”
“I know not, sir.”
“I need all the information you can get about it. Get someone inside, someone who knows magic. I need to know everything about that place, and about the Oracle’s movements.”
“Of course, Monsieur.”
“You’re dismissed. Have the waitress bring me another Sazerac,” Pere Mal said, waving the aide away.
He settled back in his seat and picked up his glass once more, draining the last sip. Things were beginning to look very good for Dominic Malveaux.
Very good indeed.
11
Gabriel lay sprawled on his back, Cassie tucked up tight against his body as she slept. She murmured and shifted in her sleep, throwing her arm across his chest and hugging him tightly. Seeking warmth and comfort, the exact things a mate should provide.
Reaching out to brush a curl of flame that tumbled from Cassie’s face, Gabriel struggled to contain the surge of protectiveness that rose inside him. It had only been two months since he’d marked her, made Cassie his mate in the shifter way.
His ring glinted on her finger, a symbol of the promises Gabriel had made Cassie. The name Thorne, given to chase away memories of her own loveless family. A summer wedding in the year to come, made doubly thrilling when Echo and Rhys had accepted Cassie’s invitation to make it a double feature. And most importantly: a family, as soon as Cassie wanted it.
Three weeks ago, Cassie had sat Gabriel down and held his hand, then told him she’d had her birth control implant removed. After puzzling over the existence of a bodily implant to prevent contraception, Gabriel soon realized that Cassie was telling him that she was ready to start a family. Or start trying, anyway.
And try they had, in every place and position conceivable, for as long as either could stay awake every night. Sometimes most of the day, too, when Gabriel wasn’t on patrol. His lust for Cassie only seemed to increase each time he had her, the flames rising higher as he discovered the secrets of her body, how to pleasure her best in order to bring them both to a roaring, violent peak…