*~*Chapter 18-Wait For Me*~*
I finally got up and got dressed while Gabe took the longest shower I had ever witnessed him take. I really needed to get in there to grab my toothbrush so I could brush my teeth before I snuck out to find Shadow. But the door was locked. He never locks the door when he’s taking a shower; so of course, my dirty mind conjures up naughty pictures of him in the shower, doing things to himself that I wouldn’t do with him just now. Flames shoot up my face under my skin and travel lower until I nip that thought in the bud right there. Toothbrush. Focus.
So here I sit on the bed, waiting on him to come out so I can get my toothbrush, hoping it doesn’t ruin my escape plan since he will be out of the shower.
The door finally opens and steam rushes out and fills the bedroom, so does a very clean, soapy, smell mixed with Gabriel’s distinct scent. I sniff and sigh. It smells good, but not in comparison to Shadow. He gives me a stiff smile and walks to his closet. I finally get to go in and get my toothbrush. I brush my teeth at lights speed and hustle out of the room while he’s still sorting through the closet for something to wear with a towel around his defined waist.
Wraith is in the kitchen making something to eat and I pass him my most innocent smile, making my way past him.
“Uh, hey Alexia,” he interrupts my escape and I stop for a second.
“Yeeeaah?” I ask hesitantly.
“Is Gabe in there? I need to talk to him more about this prophecy thing.”
“Oh, yeah, he’s getting dressed; you can probably go on in.” I keep walking coming closer and closer to the door, just hoping against all hope that Kaia doesn’t pop out of now where and stop me. Or demand answers.
Finally, I reach the beloved door and it won’t open. What. The. Hell. Seriously? This is not happening to me!
“Hey Wraith, I was going to run out for just a minute but the door won’t open, the lock seems to be working but the door just seems like part of the wall. Do you know what’s wrong?”
“Yeah,” he yells back in reply, just loud enough to reach me from halfway through the condo. “They locked everyone’s door from the outside since it’s the last day to become bonded. They don’t want anyone leaving tonight either, due to the Hell Horde.”
“Oh. Okay. Thanks,” I reply. Well, there goes that plan. I walk back towards the kitchen and it’s empty now. I can hear Wraith and Gabe discussing something in our room, probably the prophecy. Still no sign of Kaia, but she is obviously in here somewhere, I’m guessing she is asleep in their room or something. I head out to the balcony to think and enjoy the view from my luxury prison. A prisoner in my own condo. I would be shocked if things were different, but I can’t say that I am.
I walk to the edge and enjoy the feel the wind on my face, caressing my hair and blowing it. It’s so pretty all the way up here. I look below and I would be able to make out someone, just barely, if they were down there. But Wraith is correct, no one is out. Everyone is locked in. A burst of anger runs through my body at the thought of Shadow locked in with Lillith and my ruined, last chance idea, to convince him to escape with me. The little burst of anger causes my back to tingle and then I realize it’s my wings. They haven’t been acting up lately with my emotions and I almost forgot about them with everything that’s been going on.
Hmm. It’s pretty hard to lock an angel in when they have a balcony. It would be risky to try it alone, but I could fly down if I were crazy enough. Or if I were good enough. Or, if I had a good enough reason to try it.
I bite my lip and think about my reason to risk it. The pros and the cons. I’m getting antsy just thinking about it. My wings haven’t been released in a while and thinking about it makes them ache and tingle and now it’s almost impossible to keep them inside me.
I shut my eyes to focus on releasing them when something locks around my ankle. I suck in big breath and open my mouth to scream right as I look down to see what has a hold of me.
I meet a pair of dark, coal-colored eyes. Familiar eyes. Shadow’s other arm is the only thing holding him on the ledge of my balcony, and I don’t miss the bulging muscles and veins, and sexy tattoos slithering from his wrist to his shoulder. In the words of Kaia, he is total eye candy.
Somehow, by some miracle, I am able to shut my mouth and cut off my scream. My heart doesn’t slow down though.
He lets go of my ankle and smirks, then he holds his finger to his yummy lips, commanding me to be quiet.
Of course, I wasn’t planning on making a sound; I definitely don’t want anyone catching us together out here.
I want to be like, “what are you doing here?” but it just doesn’t make me sound very happy to see him. So instead I whisper a pretty lame, “Hi.”
He easily lifts himself up onto the leg, swings a leg over and stands up. He gives his muscular arms a shake and I wonder how long he was hanging on the ledge.
“Hi, Bayla,” his deep voice rumbles. I have missed his soothing voice and sweet endearments. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, we do,” I agree. “I was actually on my way to see you a few minutes ago, but then I found out I was locked inside. So I ended up out here.”
He just nods. Sometimes he doesn’t talk very much.
“So, how did you get out? Weren’t you locked in too?” I ask.
“One thing about me is that I don’t let myself be locked up, ever.” He seems to cower at the thought.
“But, how do you manage that?” I ask.
He tilts his head to the side, thinking, “It’s like life or death to me, Angel. I can’t be locked up. Once, but never, ever again.”
“What happened to you, Shadow?” I whisper. I am referring to his past, about what’s tortured him; I can see it in his eyes. He knows what I’m asking about too.
He grabs my hand and leads me to the corner of the porch, pressing my back into the wall. Now he’s facing me, and we’re close. He checks around to make sure we’re as out of view as we can be. “Later. I promise I will tell you anything you want to know, later,” he says huskily. “But for now, I came all the way here to tell you something, and I want to say it before I decide not to.” He swallows nervously.
I encourage him. “What is it? You can tell me anything, Shadow.”
He glances down and grabs my hand gently, then opens his palm examining it. He is still looking down when he starts to speak. “I feel something between us. I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m crazy. Hell, I don’t know, I have never been very good at reading anyone’s emotions, especially mine.” He takes a breath, still avoiding my gaze and rubbing my palm with his fingers. “I just can’t stand the distance, I can’t stand being without you, thinking about you, I just,” he struggles for some word he doesn’t know to explain some feeling he doesn’t understand, “I just know that I feel something here,” he lifts our hands and places them over his heart and I can feel it beating strong and fast. Wow, he has a strong heart and I melt just a little feeling it, also he must be nervous because it’s beating almost as fast as mine.
“It does that when I’m with you,” he explains, referring to the speed. “And when you’re not around it throbs painfully, slowly.”
“Shadow, I don’t know what to say.” My lashes flutter a few times to keep the tears at bay.
His expression flashes to pain quickly but he covers it expertly fast. Only someone with experience hiding their pain and emotions would be able to do that. But I saw it.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he whispers. “I just wanted you to know.”
“No, I don’t know what to say because there aren’t words.” I laugh, happily. “There aren’t words I can think of to explain what I feel right now. I was coming to you to tell you the same thing, I just didn’t know how to say it or what to tell you. I even hear your voice in my head, Shadow. I think about you all the time. Hell, I even have dreams from your point of view...” I finish, thinking how crazy that last part sounds even to me.
He frowns. “You have dreams
from my point of view?”
“Yeah, crazy, I know. I can’t control it though.”
“What’s one of these dreams? Tell me about one of them,” he demands. He has turned pretty serious about these dreams for some reason.
“Okay, um. Well. In one I was drinking blood, and then trying to cut my wings off...”
His eyes widen and his mouth falls, he looks totally shocked.
My face does the same. “What?”
“Those are real. Those are me. You’re dreaming my actual life events.”
“That stuff really happened to you?” I ask, appalled.
He just nods his head. I open my mouth to ask a question but it dies on my lips when he kisses me, smashing me into the wall in the best way.
“Later baby, I’ll tell you anything you want to know later.”
“When later?” I ask between kisses.
“Come away with me.”
I don’t even have to think about it. “Okay.” Because I was going to beg him to come away with me.
“What about Lillith?”
“What about Gabriel?”
I smile. He smiles.
“Okay then,” I say.
“When? And How?” I ask.
“I haven’t had time to get anything together yet. We won’t need much but we can’t leave empty handed. We’ll need a few things for sure, especially a weapon with the Hell Horde being out there.”
“Okay...” I ask, leaving it open for interpretation.
He looks at the moon. “Let me run get some essentials and then we will meet at first light.”
“What? We aren’t leaving tonight?!”
“It’s not safe. The Hell Horde is out at night and we know they are just outside the walls. They would kill me and take you. And then you would wish you were dead.”
I gulp.
Meet me at the wall, behind the Guard’s training arena. It’s the most secluded at first light and no one will be near there.”
“Okay,” I whisper, eyes wide.
Wraith and Gabe’s voice appears to come close and closer as it grows louder. Shadow looks to the doors and the light coming under the balcony doors is disrupted by a series of shadows and we know they are headed this way.
“I better go,” he kisses me one last time.
I grab his neck and my lower lip wobbles despite my best efforts.
“What? What is it, Bayla?”
A tear runs down each of my cheeks. “Tonight, we have to complete the bond tonight. Shadow, it’s been all I can do to put him off lately. There’s no way he’s it’s not going to happen tonight!”
His eyes flash red and his nostrils flare as his lips press tightly into a line. The door heavy door creaks once as its hinges work to open it and Shadow jumps off. I struggle not to squeal and rush to the edge to check on him.
Gabe’s head peaks around the door looking to scan the balcony on all sides for me. He steps onto the balcony and squints into the shadows where I am.
“Alexia?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing out here? No one knew where you were.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry anyone. I’m just spending some alone time, thinking, and enjoying the beautiful view.”
He seems to weigh this. I don’t want him to join me and I sense that he is about to.
“I’ll be in soon, just give me a few more minutes okay?”
He nods with a tight expression. “Alright, when you come in I want to talk about our argument, okay?”
“I do too,” I reply.
With that he goes back in and shuts the door. I rush to the edge and squint into darkness looking for Shadow’s fingers on the ledge. I don’t see anything after a few minutes of panicked looking. I stand back up and turn to run the other side of the balcony and check, but I turn and he is there. Then his arms are around me again. I know his smell, and I know his feel. I know his body and the way he is so rigid and uncomfortable with affection, but I also know how he craves it.
He usually doesn’t tremble though and right now I can tell he’s all kinds of messed up about something. I lean back to look up at him.
“Wait for me.”
“What are you talking about, Shadow? Of course I’ll wait for you! I want to leave now, but you said--“
“No. I mean wait for me. Tonight. Don’t let him,” he breathes in through his nose and cringes, “...just don’t let him have you.”
“Oh.” That’s all I can say. I’m not even sure if the sound came out as much as my lips just formed an ‘o’.
“I don’t want to.” I try to reassure him. But I also don’t think I have anymore say in it. Plus, it will probably cause a big scene and a fuss if I don’t and I don’t want to draw any unwanted attention to me if I am to be leaving in the morning inconspicuously.
“Then don’t.” His eyes are red again and his emotions are barely controlled. He’s trembling and jerking and breathing hard. “Please. Wait for me. I will be your mate. You can only bond once, please don’t bond with him.”
“I know. I won’t bond with him.” I whisper it. I really hope that I can evade Gabe’s advances just one more night, but I’m already worried about it.
“What about you?” I whisper. I have to know if he’s been with Lillith. It’s killing me to always wonder what he is doing with her.
He smirks. “Jealous?” He asks.
Are you freaking kidding me? Did I play that card with him? No! He must be able to tell that I am not too happy about this because he tucks some hair behind my ear and reassures me.
“Bayla, you know I haven’t bonded to her. You’re all I think about. There’s no room for anyone else in my head, or in my bed,” he smiles at his joke. I roll my eyes.
“There’s the angel I know,” he winks and kisses me on the forehead.
“So we wait on each other, don’t forget, Angel.”
“I won’t,” I respond weakly.
He hesitates and holds my gaze for a second longer, before turning and disappearing into the darkness. A second later I find myself staring into the night wondering how he releases his wings while he’s falling. I smile to myself. My man has some serious skills.
*~*~Chapter 19-We Had a Deal*~*
I find Gabe in our room, lounging on the bed with his ankles crossed and reading the wrinkled letter that the Hell Horde left us. No doubt he is upset about whatever deal his father made with them, that he doesn’t know about. He looks up at me and smiles politely. “Hey babe.”
I smile but not genuinely, “Hello.”
“Enjoy you’re alone time?”
“Eh,” I say non-committally using a hand motion with it.
He pats the bed beside him and I try not to cringe. I crawl on the bed and prop myself back against the pillows next to him.
“Look, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for acting the way I did about the whole demon thing. I know you didn’t really do anything wrong, I guess I’m just jealous when it comes to you and I’m not used to it. I don’t really know how to deal with it. But you didn’t deserve me ignoring you and for that I’m sorry.”
I wave it away like it’s no big deal, because after all, I am guilty as charged. There is something going on with me and Shadow and I’m basically lying to Gabe’s face and he is apologizing to me. I am a sad, sad angel. Sad as in pathetic.
“Well, I apologize for hurting your feelings or making you jealous or whatever. I should be more aware of my actions.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, babe.”
He rests his hand on my thigh and rubs it. I gulp loudly.
It’s quiet for a second and neither of us knows what to say. It becomes awkward for me but he just continues rubbing my thigh. I clear my throat and study his hand. I tamper down a laugh at my crazy thoughts, but he has an attractive hand. Can a hand be sexy? For some reason I think if hands could be sexy then he has a sexy hand.
“What’s funny?” he asks with a wry grin.
I
blow it off with a hand swat motion and giggle, “Nothing really.”
“So are we cool? No hard feelings?”
“Yeah, we’re cool. I think we just blew something really small into something big and petty.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” he smiles.
I fake a yawn, because I want to just go to sleep so that I can wake up and get the hell out of here.
“Tired?”
“Yeah, I am exhausted,” I reply.
“Yeah, me too. I’m so stressed from trying to figure out this whole deal with my father and the Hell Horde that I’m wiped physically and mentally.”
Oh great. “Have you been able to talk to your father at all?”
“Not yet, since we’ve been locked in,” he growls. “I am going up to talk to him first thing in the morning though.”
Hopefully he leaves either way after me or way before me because I don’t want any close calls.
“Well I think I’m going to get some shut eye,” I say, trying to imply that I am too tired to do anything else. Hint hint.
“I think I’m going to call it a night too,” he says softly. “Plus, I want to hold you. I’ve missed you lately.”
Aw, how sweet. I hate when he’s sweet because it’s harder to push him away. I have to fight him and myself when he is sweet like this.
I can’t find words so I just smile and hope it covers my worried feelings.
He gets up and saunters over to the door to lock it and then he hits the light switch and it goes dark. My eyes adjust a second later and I can see him coming back towards me and the bed. He strips his shirt off along the way and I squint as best I can to make out as much as I can in the darkened room. I hear the clinging of metal on metal and I know he is taking his belt off. My heart thunders in my ears as I panic to find another excuse to delay the bonding. I decide that I will sleep fully clothed because I don’t dare move right now or put on anything that’s easy access.
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