by Hailey Storm
“Come on, I said we need to go.” Ava grabbed her duffel bag off the floor and pulled me toward the exit. Every set of eyes in the place was on us, but no one moved an inch to stop us from leaving. I could smell their fear. “If Tex could find me, that means the rest of them know where I’m at too.”
Cold air blasted against my skin, erasing the lingering remnants of my red haze and jolting me awake. Ava paused outside the exit and scanned the sidewalks, searching for any sign of the others. Flurries fell from the night sky, landing on her dark curls. She was so damn beautiful, even when she was scared out of her mind.
That was the problem. She was too much of a beautiful distraction. I should’ve known Tex was there. I should’ve smelled him. I should’ve sensed him. I fucking hated myself for not noticing him until it was too late. I didn’t even want to think about what it would have felt like to lose her for a second time.
“You know this city better than I do. Where should we go?”
I did know this city. I knew it like the back of my hand, but I couldn’t get myself to focus on crafting a plan of action.
“Snap out of it, Gabe! I need you right now. Cole or more of his wolves will be on us in a matter of minutes. Where did you park? We need to get out of here.”
“We can’t take my truck. They could be watching the parking garage. For all we know, they could’ve already seen me drive in. We’re going to have to go on foot.”
“To where?”
“Just follow me.” I grabbed her hand and started speed-walking toward a nearby alley that was part of a shortcut to my place.
I cast a quick glance over my shoulder, checking if we were being followed. It didn’t seem as though we were, but the pack could be sneaky and so could Cole. A long breath expelled from my lungs when we finally reached my apartment building without incidence. I needed time to regroup and gather myself so I could craft a real plan of action for us. It was the only way we were going to get out of this mess.
Chapter Four
Ava
Gabe’s apartment smelled like him. It was woodsy and masculine. There was something about being surrounded by his scent that had my muscles relaxing and my worries slipping away. The sensation was exactly what I’d been hoping for when I decided to seek him out.
Gabe was like a tranquilizer for life. He made everything seem less threatening then what it was.
I closed my eyes and breathed in his scent, allowing it to infuse my insides. Warmth spread through my chest. Again all I could think about was how much I loved him. My gaze traveled along his profile and down the length of his body, pausing once I reached his bloodied knuckles.
While I wasn’t surprised Tex had found me, I was pissed because I’d been so careful. I had been so sure no one had followed me when I left, and I was foolishly just as positive no one would have been able to find me. Cole would do whatever it took to find me, it was something I hadn’t thought on enough. Also, the Midnight pack were known as being the best tracking pack in the states. They wouldn’t be protecting Cole and his coven if they didn’t have value.
“I don’t think we were followed,” Gabe insisted as he secured the front door. He crossed his studio apartment and glanced out the large windows of the living room.
“Maybe.” I hoped I was right. All I wanted was to spend the last few hours of my existence wrapped in Gabe’s arms right where I’d always thought I belonged.
“That doesn’t mean they won’t track us down, though. You know as well as I do how thorough the Midnight pack can be.” Emotion shifted through his eyes. Was he beating himself up for not being able to track me all these years?
I opened my mouth to tell him he was only one wolf and that Cole’s coven had an entire pack at his disposal which made things easier, but thought better of it. It wouldn’t change the way he felt about the situation. It wouldn’t diffuse the tension emanating from him.
My gaze drifted around his apartment, wanting to soak it all in. I wanted to know who he was now, as an adult, but there wasn’t much to see. Bare walls. Minimal furniture. Empty spaces. Then again, Gabe never had been materialistic.
“How long have you lived here?” I asked.
“A year,” Gabe said as he moved to the next window.
“What made you finally decide to settle somewhere?”
“The realization I was never going to find you.”
His words were raw and filled with heartbreak. They tore at the edges of my tattered heart. “And yet, here I am…”
His hand came up to run through his hair as his silver eyes latched onto mine. “Yeah, here you are.”
My heart hurt for him. I wished I’d been able to run away from Cole sooner. I wished Gabe had been able to find me. I wished a lot of things up to this point had happened differently, but they hadn’t and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. “I missed you too, you know.”
“I didn’t just miss you, Ava,” he scoffed. “It was more than that, way more.”
The emotion in his voice nearly broke me. I hadn’t come here for this. I hadn’t sought him out to hear his pain. All I wanted was to feel his touch one last time. I wanted to end my monstrous existence on the happiest note I possibly could.
Everything I felt was all wrong, but yet so right. It was dizzying.
“Show me,” I whispered before I could stop myself.
My words ignited something within Gabe’s eyes, within his body. I sank my teeth into my bottom lip in preparation for what he might do because of it. He was across the apartment and pulling me into his arms in seconds. The warmth of his body seeped through my clothes, touching my chilled skin. He warmed me all the way to my bones. This was exactly what I’d wanted—to be held by him, to be touched by him. I lifted onto the tips of my toes and crushed my lips against his.
Gabe’s lips responded beneath mine quickly. We each fought for control of the fiery kiss as our hands roamed along one another’s body. It had been so long since I’d tasted him. He was familiar and warm with just a hint of whiskey. It made me want more from him.
I broke our kiss and trailed my lips down his throat, nibbling and licking as I went. My fingertips gripped the edge of his shirt and lifted. Gabe helped me tug himself free and then tossed the shirt to the floor. My tongue trailed along his chest, feeling the hard planes and ridges of his solid muscles. He threaded his fingers through my hair and forced my face to rise to his, then crushed his lips against mine again.
While what was happening between us might be temporary, sweet, and impossible to keep hold of, it wasn’t something I could stop. I wasn’t strong enough to deny myself him. Not after so much time had passed without him in my life.
I slid my fingers through his silky locks as I continued to brush my tongue against his. He kicked off his boots and started walking me further into the apartment without ever removing his lips from mine. I slipped off my shoes when I felt his fingertips fumble with the button on my jeans. He pushed them to my ankles at the same instant the soft fabric of his couch brushed against the backs of my thighs. I broke our kiss to free my ankles from my jeans and tossed them to the floor, then positioned myself on the couch. Gabe unbuttoned his jeans and slipped out of them before he climbed on top of me. He spread my thighs apart and pressed the length of his throbbing member against my center. The only thing that separated us was the thin fabric of my panties and his cotton boxers. It was just enough to drive me insane.
A low growl of satisfaction pushed past Gabe’s parted lips and into my mouth as I inched my hand toward his shaft. He nibbled my lower lip and dragged it through his teeth while reaching down to cup one of my breasts. His fingers pushed my lacy bra to the side, searching for my nipple. Once he found it, he rolled it between his fingers until it pebbled beneath his touch. I wrapped my legs around his hips, forgoing touching him with my hand and instead deciding to use something that would elicit more pleasure for the both of us. He broke our kiss to release a low groan at the friction I created between us. His tongue s
lipped into my mouth as I ground my sex against his throbbing manhood. A soft moan of pleasure seeped from my parted lips as I wiggled my hips so that he could rub me at just the right angle.
Gabe ground against me harder as he trailed his lips along the length of my neck and across my collarbone, pausing in his kisses only once he reached my breasts. He unhooked my bra and tossed it to the side then dipped his head down to start making love to my nipples, licking and sucking them graciously. Tingles spread through my lower region at the sensation. It had me hungering for more.
I needed to feel him inside of me one last time.
My fingers tugged at the elastic waistband of his boxers and pushed them to his knees. He worked them off and kicked them to the end of the couch, all the while never removing his warm mouth from my breast. I arched my hips up to remove my panties and Gabe inserted his hand between our bodies. A shiver slipped through me as he rubbed my sensitive clit and I fought the urge to sink my teeth into his shoulder. He sealed his mouth over mine again as his fingers plunged deep within me. All my nerve endings shot to life at the sensation.
This was what I’d been yearning for. It was what I’d wanted.
I tipped my head back and moaned. My hand reached out to grip his shaft and I began pumping, wanting him to feel the same amount of pleasure I was. The desire to see him teetering on the edge of an earth-shattering climax fueled my movements. Gabe’s head tipped back as I continued to pump the length of him. When his silver eyes latched on mine again they were hooded with a hungry sense of lust.
God, I’d forgotten how sexy he was when he was turned on.
I pressed the length of him against my silky folds to tease him a little more, but only wound up teasing myself. A low growl erupted from somewhere deep inside his chest and his eyes flamed with desire. Excitement crackled around me, because I knew what was to come next. Gabe thrust himself forward, impaling me with the length of his cock. I gasped and then wrapped my legs around his waist. My arms latched behind his neck as he thrust himself in and out of me.
He kept a steady pace, slating his decade-long need to be buried inside me again. When his fingers slipped between our bodies to rub my sensitive nub as he continued to thrust into me waves of pleasure cascaded over me. I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his sexy scent as he continued to bring me to the brink. My toes curled as he brushed against my G-spot and my teeth sank deep into his shoulder. His blood coated my tongue, filling my mouth.
Bliss washed over me.
Gabe increased his pace, pounding into me harder. While this wasn’t the lovemaking session I’d imagined, I figured once we’d sated our pent up desires for one another we could retreat to his bedroom and do it again slower and sweeter than this hard, fast, urgent lovemaking session we were currently a part of.
Gabe’s body grew tense and slick with sweat as his thrusting picked up pace yet again. I sucked greedily at his shoulder, knowing my bite was intensifying what he was feeling. All vampire bites during sex did. It was where the whole pain and pleasure thing stemmed from. Gabe cried out as his body quivered above me. I released my fangs from him and licked the puncture wounds to heal them. My hands smoothed along his back muscles as I kissed the area where I’d bitten him. He pressed his lips to my forehead before sliding himself out of me, and then wrapped his arms around my waist as he maneuvered us onto our sides. I snuggled against him and trailed my fingernails across his forearm.
For a long time, we did nothing besides touch one another as we basked in our beautiful shared moment.
“God, I missed that. I missed you,” he whispered.
His words had me filling with warmth. “I missed you, too. I love you. The only place in the world I want to be is right here. With you.”
“I love you, too.” He buried his nose into the curve of my neck and laid a series of gentle kisses there.
My heart melted. I wished we could stay like this forever, but I knew we couldn’t. Not with Cole hunting me. Not with him dispatching wolves from the Midnight pack to bring me back. This moment was impossible to keep, no matter how much I wanted to hold on to it forever.
I kissed Gabe’s shoulder and his arms tightened around me as though he didn’t ever want to let me go. When he pulled in a long breath and exhaled it slowly, I knew he was gearing up to say something that would shatter our beautiful moment. I didn’t want him to. Not yet.
“Why don’t you have a tree?” It was all I could think to ask that might hold any talk of Cole or the Midnight pack at bay for a little longer.
“A tree?”
“Yeah, a Christmas tree. It is Christmas Eve, after all.”
A chuckle rumbled from deep within his chest. “You would be the one to notice that.”
“Christmas is my favorite. Don’t you have any decorations?”
“I do.”
“You have decorations?” I’d been joking when I’d asked and found it hard to believe he had a box stashed somewhere.
“Yeah, but decorating hasn’t ever been my thing.”
“Where are they?”
“Decorating isn’t something we should be focusing on, Ava. We need to get our things together and form a plan of action. Cole and the others will find us soon.”
“I know they will, eventually.” My words were harsher than I’d intended them to be.
Gabe shifted to grab his boxers from the floor. He pulled them on as a frown formed on his face. “Then you know we don’t have time to waste.”
“They’re good, but they aren’t that good. We have time.”
“Not if we want a head start,” he growled.
“Let me see your decorations first. Please. Afterward I’ll help you get your things together and we’ll leave.”
“No you won’t,” he muttered as he tugged on his jeans. “You’ll want to decorate then.”
A smirk twisted at my lips. “You know me so well.”
“We don’t have time for this, Ava.”
“But, we do,” I insisted. “Please.” I batted my lashes at him and stuck out my bottom lip.
Running from Cole wasn’t something I wanted to do anymore. There was only a few hours until the sunrise and I didn’t want to spend them racing from the city with Gabe worried we would be caught. I wanted to spend them here, in his apartment, surrounded by his scent and few worldly possessions.
“You know I hate it when you do that.” He cracked a grin.
“Only because you can’t resist.”
He shook his head. “I’ve never been much good at resisting you.”
“I’ve always loved that about you.” I slipped off the couch and gathered my clothes, pulling them on as I followed him to a closet along the far wall.
“I’m sure.” He swung the door open and reached for a weathered cardboard box from on the top shelf. Familiar writing along the side of it had my breath catching in my throat.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Yeah,”
As we made our way back toward the couch I couldn’t keep my eyes off the box. It symbolized how deep Gabe’s feelings ran for me. When Gabe set it on the coffee table I knelt down and trailed my fingertip along the black marker labeling it as Xmas Decorations. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I remembered the girl I was when I’d written the words. I’d been human. I’d had a different future planed for myself then the one I was currently living.
I began digging through the contents of the box, eager to travel father down memory lane. Something prickly brushed against my palm. I knew instantly what it was—the dollar store tree Gabe and I had bought together the year Cole took me away and turned me. It was twelve inches in height, an unnatural shade of dark green, and incredibly scraggly.
It was beautiful.
I extended the tripod legs for its base and placed it in the center of Gabe’s coffee table. My fingers worked quickly as I spread out the branches and arranged them so most of the gaps were hidden.
“I forgot how meticulous you we
re about those damn branches,” Gabe chuckled.
I flashed him a nasty look. “And I forgot how much of a Scrooge you were.”
Gabe snorted as he dug out a box of white lights. I fanned out a few more branches, readying the tree for them. White lights were my favorite. They reminded me of snow. I loved snow. It gave a person an excuse to drink warm beverages and cuddle with one another. Cold temperatures were the best. At least that’s what I’d always thought until I became a vampire. Now I missed the warmth. I craved it.
“What’s the frown for? There isn’t anything missing. I packed it all up myself and it hasn’t been unpacked sense.”
My eyes shifted to him. He’d paused in winding the white lights around the base of the tree to stare at me.
“Wait, what?” I questioned.
“What?”
“You packed this all up the last time we had it out and haven’t unpacked it since? You haven’t had Christmas in ten years?”
His cool eyes hardened. “No, I swore to myself I wouldn’t have another Christmas until I found you.”
I was across the table in an instant, crushing my lips against his. Warmth bloomed through my chest. I loved him more now than I ever did. He’d never forgotten me. He’d never stopped loving me.
Coming back to spend my final hours with him might not have been the best idea, because he sure as hell was making it hard to remember why I’d wanted to end it all to begin with. He made me want to stay.
My fingertips slipped through his hair as I swept my tongue past lips and into his mouth, deepening our kiss and letting him breathe life into me again. There was no way to stop it, no way to turn it off. Gabe was reviving parts of me that had been dead for years.
“Damn, that was a good line,” he gushed as he broke our kiss. “I guess I should’ve used it earlier.”
“It wasn’t a line.” I pecked his lips before returning to straightening the branches on the top of the tree.