My chest feels heavier and I have to work harder to pump oxygen into my lungs. He is obviously hinting to me that I know him as well as I am going to know him. What does this mean? Why is he telling me this? Does he know how hesitant I am about completing the bond? I’m sure he at least feels it, but he hasn’t pressured me to do it yet. His lips brush my cheek as light as a butterfly as we sway side to side in an intimate embrace.
They decorated so beautifully. The dreamy setting makes me want to fall in love. They probably do this on purpose; everything has an underlying incentive with the authorities.
Gabe clears his throat. “You look so…I don’t even know the word. ‘Beautiful’ is not an adequate word for describing you tonight.”
“Oh,” I scoff. “I doubt that very much, but thank you.” I smile.
There are at least two hundred people here tonight, and at least fifty couples are on the dance floor right now swaying to the love songs. I search for Shadow’s face in the sea of creatures every spare chance I get. I am trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, not wanting Gabe to wonder who I’m looking for. A few times he has looked where I was looking curiously.
“You’re a good dancer.” I tell him.
He holds me gently and matches his flow to mine perfectly. Looking at Wraith, I can tell Gabriel isn’t as robotic and he is a lot more graceful. I hear Kaia’s grunt once in a while and Wraith’s mutters of apology for stepping on her foot.
“I can’t imagine being as graceful as you, Alexia, but I’m trying like hell.” His lips stretch into a grin showing those shifter fangs and my heart flips. Shadow.
He notices my scrunched facial expression and frowns. I think fast for an excuse.
“I guess we just complement each other like two peas in a pod.” My voice sounds dull even to my own ears.
“Yeah, I guess we’re meant to be.” He kisses my forehead and I look away. I rest my head on his shoulder, avoiding him as much as I can when I’m in his arms. Why do I feel this way? Every time he tries to get closer I want to run away. Surely it’s frustrating him as much as it is me.
He pulls me a little closer and nuzzles my cheek. He’s falling for me too fast and unfortunately that knowledge settles like a rock in my stomach.
I scan the crowd again and something snags my attention. I do a double take to find what I thought might be black spiky hair and shirtless boy. Unfortunately, it must have been my imagination because I don’t see anyone with black spiky hair. Just as I give up and start to raise my cheek from Gabe’s shoulder, I see him. Yeah, and he sees me too. He turns sideways and squeezes through the crowd on the dance floor, all the while smirking at me. I was right, he isn’t wearing a shirt and his bronzed skin makes me want to lick my lips. He has on stark white pants, and seeing such a contrast from the black he’s always wearing to this is quite a shock. I wonder what he’s thinking and what made him decide to come as an angel. His abs ripple as he dodges people, and sways with his sexy man walk. When he finally gets to the center, there is enough space for me to notice silky, elegant, white wings on either side of his body, almost dragging the floor. They are beautiful, weepy, willowy, silky and shredded. I really like them. What I don’t really like however is the person latched onto his elbow as he leads her through the dance floor and then around to face him. I’m not sure but I think I saw him grimace and give me what was maybe an apologetic smirk before he turned toward her and she wrapped her sinful hands around his neck.
“Yeah, that’s pretty messed up,” Gabe mumbles, looking where I am. “Why would two demons come dressed up as angels?”
“I have no idea,” and I blush and look down. Stupid idea because I can’t look down when there’s hardly any room in between us.
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that,” he says, and pushes me away a little to look me in the eyes. His fingers are holding my chin in place and I can’t dodge his glare. He probably thinks I’m stupid for coming as a demon. Especially if he thinks it’s messed up that they came as angels.
“It’s one thing for someone pure to come dressed up as something that’s not. It’s kind of hot actually,” he pauses to look me up and down with a hunger in his eyes that I’ve never seen before. And I find that I don’t like it.
“But for something evil and malevolent to try to dress up as something pure and innocent just twists my insides. It’s not right. They can never be pure.”
He frustrates me so much that I’m surprised I keep my shit together. I want to tell him that he doesn’t know that, he’s just stereotyping them, but I don’t say anything because the subject is closed and he’s already laughing at something Wraith said. I tug on his furry-eared hood, “I’m going to take a restroom break, I’ll be right back.”
He pauses a minute, “You want me to escort you?” Gods, no. I need to get away from you to breathe for a second. “No,” I give him a fake smile that only he would believe. I think Shadow would even question that one.
“Alright,” his voice is hesitant but I don’t care.
I make my way through the tightly packed dancing couples. It smells like sweat, cologne, and body odor. It looks like an orgy. The way some couples are groping each other I would say their hormones are going crazy in here tonight. The spaces have closed up now, but I make it a point to avoid the general area in which I saw Shadow a few minutes ago. As fate would have it, I end up walking behind Lilith almost getting smacked by her elaborate white wings that look extremely fake. I glance up to Shadow and we share a look. Our eyes lock and neither of us looks away yet. I don’t understand this connection we have or why I want him. I can’t deny it anymore. I know I want him. And because I’m not looking where I’m going I run into the front of a mermaid with long blonde hair. Oh, my, her seashells are not entirely large enough so I quickly turn my head to avoid that peep show. I groan out loud because I just want to get out of here and she’s blocking my exit.
“Ex-cuse me,” I stammer without looking at her again.
“Yeah, whatevs,” she says flippantly.
I high tail it away from her and finally make it off the dance floor. The lights are flashing to the beat and I have to lean against one of the columns that circle the dance floor to regain my composure. I scan the area, looking for a chair and a dark deserted corner. Most of the dark deserted corners are occupied by couples, but my sights set on one off to my right that is empty. I lie down in the lush blue love seat indented in the wall and reach for the pink, mosquito net curtain to give me as much privacy as I can. I lean back and release all the breath I didn’t know I was holding. The pressure in my chest eases a little and I close my eyes.
Someone clears their throat, no doubt to get my attention. I swear, if it’s another couple and they want my spot, then they had better put their fists up because I will fight for it at this point. I raise my arm over my eyes to give them the picture. My seat sinks down and I know that someone has sat down. I peek out of one eye.
“If you’re not well I can take you to the Aerie.” The familiar voice rumbles like a caress into my skin, making me all warm and tingly all over. I look at Shadows and notice how concerned he seems for me and I melt into a puddle on the floor.
I cannot believe he followed me over here! I will not get excited about this! I will not. I don’t want to hope for anything with him, because it can’t work.
“Where’s Lillith?” I hope I didn’t sound as jealous to him as I sounded to myself. Hell, I practically spit her name out.
“She’s somewhere.” His eyebrow arches. He does that a lot. I really like it. I smile very slowly.
I sit up, and boy was that a mistake. Shadow’s perfectly sculpted muscles and sun-kissed complexion makes me draw a deep breath. My eyes slowly travel from his shoulders all the way down his bare stomach. It’s a rippling eight pack. Of course, he has the sexy v going on too. Ughh. Why does he have to be so beautiful? I turn forward and lean back, sitting beside him. A few seconds later he scoots over until our legs are touching. He can’t lean al
l the way back because of the haunting wings, so I can see him all too clearly even out of my peripheral vision. Since that’s the case, I just decide to go ahead and look at him.
That was a mistake. I shouldn’t have looked at those black, endless depths. There’s so much in there, I hope he tells me more about it someday.
I’m so busy wondering about his secrets that it takes me a second to notice his thumb running across my lower lip. I bite my lip out of embarrassment and his eyes light up like lightning.
“I really like those,” he whispers. He touches my little fangs with a light tap as I try my best to understand how eyes can do that. How can they turn that fiery color? And the longer I stare at them I can see the red leak into the amber coals and they turn redder and redder until they cast a glow.
I finally find my voice. “Thanks.” Or I thought I did, but that was more of a squeak. “I really like those,” I reach past his neck and shoulders to stroke the wing, deliberately grazing his skin on the way there and back.
His facial expression changes into something much like vehemence. Crap, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.
“What?” I ask urgently.
“I don’t know.” His voice is barely audible and he sounds so anguished. My heart turns over. He sounds so broken.
“What can I do?” If I can’t help him I am going to go insane. I have to be able to help him.
“I know it’s crazy,” he says. “But…no, never mind.”
“Tell me…” I beg. “Whatever it is, it’s not crazy, I promise. I won’t think so.”
He sighs and opens those red eyes again. “I’ve missed you. I forgot how good it feels to be able to talk to someone. Holding all this in, it’s driving me insane.”
Blood rushes through my body and my pulse goes off the deep end, hammering at all my pressure points so hard I can feel it.
“I…I’ve missed you too. I know I shouldn’t, but I think about you sometimes. Wonder about you. What you’re doing…” I trail off because I start picturing him and Lilith alone and it causes a sharp pang in my chest.
“I want to tell you some things, if we could get alone somehow.” As he says it his eyes dart straight to the pulse thrumming in my neck and then he slams his eyes shut like he’s in pain. What is going on with him?
“What? Why did you do that?” I ask.
He just shakes his head. “I know my eyes are crazy right now because everything is red. I’m just trying to get them back to normal before someone notices. Especially if I’m with you and they see us. But, it’s just damn hard because you’re right here, tempting me.”
“Oh,” I whisper. My eyes are big. I understand now. If anyone sees that I affect him this way then big red flags will go off in their minds.
“Okay, well let’s try to get out of here and we can talk about things.”
“Okay, yeah. I just have to get my eyes back to normal first…and my damn fangs to disappear.”
Dang, his fangs are down too? I try to see them behind those lush, wet lips, without getting distracted. And when I do see them, it’s only barely, just the tips. Couldn’t he just curl his lips over them until we can get out of here?
“What can I do to help?”
He still has his eyes squeezed as he talks to me. “To be honest, I don’t know. I think it’s because I can hear your blood coursing through your body like an ocean and banging like a drum at your pulse points. It’s driving me crazy and I haven’t…um…”
“You haven’t…fed…have you? Not in a while?” I’m not embarrassed to say it, or of the fact that he has to drink blood to survive, I wish he knew that. I wish he didn’t try to hide himself from me like he’s ashamed of what he is, because I’m not.
“No.” It was just a mere whisper. But I know I heard him.
Why has Lilith not offered her blood to him? Has she had is? What about their bond, have they done it?
I think back to the cave when he took my blood, but he distracts me from that thought when his lips latch onto mine in a hungry frenzy. I kiss him back fiercely and we become tangled in each other’s arms within seconds. Arms, legs, hair, everything is intertwined. Simultaneously, I lean back as he pushes forward and I’m lying on the bench. He is a very pleasant weight on top of me and can’t get enough. His hands are roaming over my jaw, to my neck, where he rubs my pulse with the pad of his finger and smiles, disrupting our kiss. I’m in no mood to slow down, so I cup the back of his head and smash our lips back together. He groans and I can feel it rumble in his chest. His hand runs along my thigh and the loud music thumps in the building, echoing off the walls in our dark little cubicle. When his hand finally reaches the juncture of my thighs a loud noise erupts and everyone screams.
I jolt upright, disoriented, and Shadow jumps to his feet. He adjusts his pants and turns to wink at me with red eyes. I smile a humongous toothy grin. Inwardly I roll my eyes at myself for being so cheesy. He peeks out through the netting.
“Oh shit,” is all he says, and that’s very bad.
I trip over myself getting to him. “What? What is it?”
He glances over at me hesitantly and I sense that he doesn’t want to scare me.
‘I’m a big girl, you can tell me!” I insist.
“It’s the Hell Horde.”
I smack my hand over my mouth, terrified. I need to find Kaia, and Gabriel. Oh no. Oh gods. I hope their okay. It’s chaos out there. The roof has a huge hole in it and it looks like it was blown up. It’s still caving in and charred around the edges of the hole. The creepy black monsters are diving in through the hole, attacking.
“Come on, I have to get you out of here, then I’ll come back and fight.”
“No! Please. Please, stay with me.” I really hope he doesn’t see my trembling lip. After all, I am a big girl, I remind myself, mockingly.
He nods once. “Okay.”
And it hits me, how wonderful this boy is. Gabriel is so wrong about demons and I feel defensive of him. He is deserting Lillith, his own future mate to save me and get me out of here.
I suggest we should fly out of here, it would be the fastest retreat, but he tells me it’s a bad idea because no one knows about his wings and because the Hell Horde is faster than we are. They also already have the airspace and the advantage.
“We’ll run that way on three,” he tosses his head in the direction of the closest exit.
“Okay.” I’m nervous. My teeth are chattering and he grabs my hand.
“One,” he yells and before he can count to two, something whizzes past me and he is yanked backward, landing on the floor. A Hell Hordian straddles him, jabbing him with a short scythe.
My first thought is that I hope it’s not poisoned too, like their stupid red arrows. Wasting no time, I hastily look around to find some sort of weapon. Ah! I have to hurry. I can’t find a damn thing so I just decide to jump the little monster, but a sword severs his head before I can even bend my knees. Gabriel runs past me to retrieve his sword and then embraces me tightly.
“I have looked everywhere for you! I was so worried. Gods!” He is so torn up about it that he is trembling. I suddenly feel really guilty that I’ve worried him. And then I realize I only feel guilty that he feels this way toward me, and I don’t feel that way toward him. While he was worrying silly over my, I was here planning my escape with Shadow. I’m a horrible angel, and at this rate I would be a horrible demon too. Maybe I should have been born a Hell Hordian, because right now I feel like a monster.
He turns to leave and tugs my hand. “We have to go! Follow me!”
What? No! What about Shadow? I dig my heels in and resist. He looks back at me, exacerbated. “What are you doing?”
“We have to help him! We can’t leave him. He-h-he was attacked, by one of those things!”
Gabriel looks to the bloody demon unconscious on the floor.
“So? He’s a demon, Alexia. Leave him, let’s go.” He tugs on my hand again.
“Gabriel!” I yell at him. “I. A
m. Not. Leaving. Without. That. Demon!”
I put every ounce of threat in my voice that I could, being as shaken up as I am. He looks at me like he’s never seen me before, and then he slides his sword into its holster. “Fine.” And he practically spits that word at me.
“Who is he anyways?” He asks, and he grunts to pick up Shadow.
“I-I don’t know,” I wonder if he notices that I stutter when I lie yet?
“Well, that’s not what it looked like before that Hell Hordian attacked him. You two were holding hands, about to make a dash for it.” He glares at me. I’ve never seen him look so mad before. It intimidates me. He would be a force to be reckoned with.
“He was just helping me, Gabe.” That doesn’t even convince me.
“Well, he can help someone else. You know how I feel about demons dressed up as angels anyways. Gods, how many came dressed that way tonight anyways?” he asks earnestly.
I don’t tell him it’s the same ones he was talking about earlier.
“Where’s his mate at?” He looks at me questioningly and I just shrug my shoulders. It’s not like I know where she is. It’s not like I really care either.
A few minutes later we make it outside the building. We had to dodge a few close encounters along the way but here we are, safely. We crouch and sneak along the outside of the building, making sure not to be seen.
“Okay, look. We’re going to find the electrical closet and hide in there. I helped my dad hook up the generator so I know some places we can hide in there.”
“Closet?” I ask, bewildered. I don’t really like small spaces, and I doubt I can stay holed up in some closet with two guys I love in different ways for very long.
“Well, it’s bigger than that; it’s just what it’s called.”
Okay then. “How long until sunrise?” I ask because The Hell Horde usually attack at night and go back to wherever they came from during the day. It’s a rumor that they don’t like light, being born in darkness and all.
He checks his watch. “Just six hours. It’s one am now, the sun rises at seven.”
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