Gabriel smiled briefly at the comment and said, “He doesn’t agree with all of my decisions. But we are still brothers, and he respects me. That doesn’t mean he won’t try to talk me around, of course. He and Damian both.”
Raphael tipped his head. “Damian. It’s my understanding he was the first to have his curse lifted.”
“Yes. I don’t know how much you know about him, but he’s . . .”
“I know he considers himself to be a god of war,” the vampire lord commented, when Gabriel searched for the right word.
He grinned. “He does that. We never could agree on who was the better warrior. Mostly because he would never admit that it wasn’t him.”
Everyone chuckled at that, even Juro.
“Katsaros is on his way here, you know,” Raphael said, watching him closely, those black eyes missing nothing.
Gabriel nodded. “Kato told me that, too. Nico’s been delayed a few days, but Damian will be here tomorrow. So, we’re all having dinner together before Nico arrives, including Damian and his woman. We’re meeting the night after next at Kato’s house, which he tells me is just down the road.”
“It’s Grace’s house, actually. Or her parents, so close enough,” Cyn added, eyeing him intently.
He returned her regard silently, wondering how she’d gotten that information so quickly. Then he supplied his own answer—the internet. It was something he needed to learn more of and quickly. When Cyn didn’t say anything more, he continued. “I’m looking forward to seeing my brothers together again, though it will be even better when Dragan can join us. According to Kato, Nico thinks that will happen soon.”
“The cascade theory,” Raphael said, nodding. “The idea that the lifting of Damian’s curse was the first break in the dam, that it weakened the curse as a whole, and with every subsequent release, momentum will build until all of you are finally free. Events certainly support that theory, so I would agree with Katsaros on this.”
“I think hell just froze over,” Cyn muttered.
Raphael shot her an amused glance, then returned his gaze to Gabriel and said quietly, “Gabriel, there’s no reason to rush your decision. If you’d rather wait and discuss it with your brothers, or even Katsaros, I won’t object.”
Gabriel slid to the edge of his chair, his hands clasped between his knees as he leaned forward intently. Was he nervous? Hell, yes. But not because he feared he was making the wrong decision. He knew with a certainty that was rare in his life, that swearing an oath to Raphael was the right choice for him, and for Hana. If he feared anything, it was failure. Not being good enough to serve Raphael, or to protect Hana. It was an insecurity he’d never felt before. He’d been born to battle, had taken to it with an ease that was proof of his birthright, and had excelled above all others. But he’d fought in his father’s army because he loved the blood and violence of it, and then later because after Nico had cast his spell taking away the nightmare of his vampiric existence, the ferocity of battle had been the only thing keeping him sane, the only outlet for the violence of his vampire nature.
But now he’d be fighting because this was his place. It was where he belonged. More importantly, he’d be fighting to protect the woman he loved.
He didn’t know how to say all of that to Raphael, without seeming disloyal to Nico and his brothers, or worse, sounding like a fool. Hana gripped his arm in silent support, her elegant fingers so much stronger than they looked. He glanced back at her, then turned to Raphael and said, “My lord, I’m new to this world, but I’ve had many years . . . far too many years, to decide on the course of my life. I will always love Nico and my brothers, and I regret nothing of our lives together, but this is a different time, and I am a different man. I know what I want. I am Vampire, and I would serve you, if you’ll have me.”
Raphael stood without ceremony and began shoving up the sleeve of his sweater as he walked around the desk. “Juro,” he said, and the other vampire immediately came forward to offer a small, wickedly sharp knife, which Raphael took as he leaned against the front of his desk. Glancing over, he said, “Kneel,” his gaze watchful as he waited for Gabriel’s response to a command that many men would have bucked against.
But not Gabriel. He slid to his knees with the confidence of a warrior who knew his value and saw no dishonor in the act of swearing loyalty to a leader whose honor and courage were worthy of him.
“Do you know the words?” Raphael asked quietly.
Gabriel shot a quick look at Juro, who’d explained the ceremony to him. The big vampire nodded in encouragement. “Yes, my lord,” Gabriel said.
“Very well.”
Lord Raphael made no grand gesture. He simply put the sharp blade to his forearm and cut. Hana drew a soft, shocked breath, but Gabriel’s attention was riveted on the blood, bright red and viscous, as it flowed down Raphael’s bare arm to pool in his cupped hand. His nostrils flared at the rich scent, his mouth filling with saliva as he remembered the intoxicating taste from the night before when as sick as he’d been, he’d still been aware of the gift he’d been given.
“Gabriel Halldor, do you come to me of your own free will and desire?” Raphael’s deep voice had taken on the formal cadence of ritual.
Gabriel responded in kind, taking care with the words that Juro had taught him. “I do, my lord.”
“And is this what you truly desire?”
“My lord, it is my truest desire.”
Raphael lowered his arm and opened his cupped hand. “Then drink, Gabriel, and be mine.”
Gabriel swallowed the groan of pleasure trying to force itself up his throat, as he closed his mouth over the vampire lord’s wrist and drank the offered blood. He fought to keep his traitorous body, still not as strong as it would eventually be, from swaying, overwhelmed as he was by the sheer power of Raphael’s blood. It was more intoxicating than the rarest brew he’d ever consumed, richer than the finest delicacies of the ancient world. He wanted to roll his face in it like a babe and lick it from his own cheeks. But he didn’t. He was a warrior, a man of skill and discipline, and this was his lord. He drank his fill, then licked the wound once to begin the healing and lifted his head to meet Raphael’s black gaze.
“My lord,” he said formally, acknowledging their new bond. “I am honored to serve you.”
Raphael smiled slightly. “As I am to have your oath of honor.” He accepted a white cloth from Juro and began wiping blood from his arm and hand. The deep cut was already healing, which was a testament to his enormous power.
“What would you have me do?”
The vampire lord’s smile widened. “For tonight, you should celebrate. There’s a party downstairs with the rest of my people—those not on duty in any event. And there will be other . . . guests shuttled in from our blood house down the beach.” His dark glance rested on Hana briefly. “If you have need, that is.” He held out a hand and pulled Gabriel to his feet as easily as if he weighed nothing. “Go, enjoy yourselves. There will be plenty of time tomorrow to discuss the coming battles.”
Gabriel bowed slightly. “Thank you, my lord.” He turned and took Hana’s hand, trembling with a sense of purpose, and yet feeling stronger than he ever had. Juro followed them into the hall and clapped Gabriel on the back, hard enough that he would have stumbled if he’d not been prepared for it.
“Training begins tomorrow night,” Juro said cheerfully. “Prepare yourself. Several of the others are looking forward to testing your strength.”
Gabriel laughed. This was something he understood. “Then I hope they’re ready to submit, because I’ve never been defeated.”
Juro’s gaze lit with interest. “Neither have I, except by my brother. This should be interesting.”
“You’ll be there tomorrow night?”
“I will.”
Gabriel nodded. “I look forward to
it then. Thank you,” he added sincerely.
Juro tipped his head in acknowledgment, then walked back into Raphael’s office, closing the door behind him.
Hana’s fingers tightened in Gabriel’s. “Do we have to go downstairs?” she whispered.
He shifted his gaze to look down at her. “You don’t want to join the party Cyn told you about?” he teased.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Don’t push your luck, big guy.”
Gabriel tugged her forward until they turned into the side hall out of sight of Raphael’s office. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her against the wall, lifting her off her feet until they were face to face, her body a soft, welcoming pressure against his chest. He leaned forward and kissed the satiny skin of her cheek, then whispered against her ear, “What would you like to do instead, älskling?”
Hana’s heart was beating rapidly against his chest, her breath racing as she turned her head and bit his lower lip. “I want to finish what we started,” she murmured.
Gabriel’s cock hardened in an instant, straining against the fabric of new jeans that he could only hope were as strong as they seemed. It would be unseemly for Raphael’s new warrior to have his erection hanging out while he grabbed Hana’s hand and hurried down the hall to the soft sound of her laughter.
“Does that mean ‘yes’?” she asked breathlessly.
Gabriel spun around and lifted her in his arms as he continued down the hall. “It’s been millennia since I’ve slipped between a woman’s legs. And I’ve never been between yours.”
“Oh,” she breathed, then wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. “I guess we’d better hurry then.”
Gabriel paused outside Hana’s door while she reached down and twisted the knob, then he turned and shoved the door open as he backed into the room. Kicking it shut without looking, he strode over and dropped her on the bed, then sat to take off his boots. But first, he leaned over and kissed her slowly, thoroughly, one hand twisted in her hair, the other shaping the fullness of her breast, then down past her waist to grasp her hip, leaving no doubts as to where this was going. Hana was his. Had circumstances been different, he might have dared to court her slowly, letting her become accustomed to his battle-hardened ways. But if the alternative was her finding another man—human or vampire, he didn’t care—then he was going after what he wanted. Especially when, gods be praised, she claimed to want him, too. He couldn’t quite understand that. But while he considered himself an honorable man, he wasn’t honorable enough to turn away the woman he’d fallen in love with when she wanted him just as much. He only hoped his friend, her grandfather—wherever he was—would understand.
Bending over to untie his boots, he was startled when Hana suddenly jumped from the bed and raced for the door. “What the fuck?”
She laughed without looking back at him, grabbing the desk chair on her way and shoving it under the door knob, before spinning around to walk slowly back to the bed, her hips swaying as she tugged her shirt over her head and dropped it to the floor. She reached for the front clasp of her bra, but he snagged the waist of her pants with two fingers and pulled her between his legs, where he sat on the bed. “Let me.”
It might have taken him too long to claim Hana, but he knew how to make a woman feel good. Putting his lips against the silky-smooth skin of her stomach, he twisted the bra clasp open, then licked his way up between her breasts, brushing the lace aside to take first one nipple, then the next into his mouth, lingering to suck each one, swirling his tongue around until the delicate peaks were stiff and swollen. Hana’s strong fingers scraped through his hair, her head thrown back as she gasped in pleasure.
“Gabriel,” she breathed.
He bit down on her breast, just enough to leave a mark. She hissed as he licked away the erotic pain, letting his tongue scrape over her now-highly sensitized nipple. She met his gaze when he looked up at her, but she wasn’t seeing anything. Her eyes were hazed with desire, her pupils dilated until the black nearly drowned the deep brown of her irises. Sliding his hands from her breasts, he slipped his fingers under the waistband of her stretchy pants and shoved them down her legs, taking the bit of lace that was her underwear with them.
He kissed her navel, then trailed wet kisses down to the neat patch of dark hair between her thighs, as Hana’s fingers stroked over his shoulders. Gripping her thighs, he used his thumbs to open her cleft just enough to inhale the warm scent of her sex. He groaned. He had to taste her. Leaning closer, he slid his tongue between the lips of her pussy and caught the smallest hint of her arousal. It wasn’t enough.
“On the bed,” he growled and ripped off his T-shirt. Toeing off his boots, he turned to find Hana pulling the covers back. Too slow. Grabbing them from beneath her, he shoved them down and off the bed, then turned and climbed onto the mattress to kneel between her thighs.
“You’re still wearing pants,” she complained.
He grinned. “It won’t matter for what I’m going to do to you.” Hands braced to either side of her head, he gave her a long, wet kiss that had her moaning into his mouth, then slid down to suck and kiss each of her beautiful breasts—simply because he could—before sliding all the way down to spread her thighs and gaze at her pretty pussy. Opening her wide with his thumbs, he tasted her fully, licking from the creamy opening of her sex all the way to the rosy nub at the apex of her thighs.
Her legs closed around his head, and she gasped his name when he paused long enough to suck her clit until it was rigid and swollen, throbbing with her heartbeat. He wanted to bite her there, to drink that most delicious of blood. She would climax hard if he did, but it would also cause a brief, sharp pain. So, he decided to forego it for this first time, satisfying himself with another long lick of her creamy pussy.
“Gabriel,” she said again, but it was a plea this time, her hips thrusting restlessly. “I want you inside me.”
He kissed the inside of each thigh, as if promising he’d be back, then shoved to his feet with vampiric speed, skimmed out of his pants, and was back between her legs before she’d drawn a full breath.
“Oh,” she breathed, smiling up at him as he braced himself above her. “It’s good to have a vampire lover.”
“I’m glad you feel that way,” he growled. “Because I’m the only lover you’ll be having.”
She wrapped her legs around him, crossing her ankles over his butt. “Then fuck me, vampire.”
Gabriel’s cock was already poised at her opening, which was wet and ready for him. With a slight thrust of his hips, he slid into her. Her body was hot and tight, pulsing along the length of his cock as if wanting to suck him ever deeper. But he was a big man and didn’t want to hurt her. His muscles strained with effort as he forced himself to go slowly, advancing an inch at a time, forward and back, over and over, to let her exquisite pussy adjust to his thickness and length. He swallowed a groan, wanting nothing more than to bury his full length in her welcoming heat, to drive into her until— He hissed at the sharp pain of Hana yanking his head back with two handfuls of his hair.
“I won’t break, Gabriel. Now fuck me like you mean it.”
Dropping to his forearms, he lowered his head to give her a smacking kiss. “Thank the gods,” he growled, and had to bite back a howl of pleasure as he slammed his hips forward, driving deep between her thighs, her sheath shivering as it stretched around him, growing slick with her arousal as he pounded in and out, hearing her little cries of pleasure against his neck, her nails digging into his back as if to hold him there. He smelled blood as her nails dug deeper, leaving long grooves over his skin as her cries grew more frantic. He changed his rhythm, grinding against her groin with every thrust, stroking her clitoris over and over, until the muscles of her belly grew taut and her already tight pussy clamped down even harder. She bit into him, muffling her scream against his shou
lder, her legs crushing him against her, as she writhed beneath him.
Gabriel’s gums swelled as his fangs released, the sharp points pricking his lower lip as he fought the need to pierce her smooth skin, to taste the blood he could hear rushing through the swollen vein below her ear. His eyes opened at the touch of Hana’s mouth when she kissed him, her tongue gliding over his fangs, licking the few drops of his blood from his lip.
“Oh, God,” she whispered as his blood hit her nervous system and her pussy began to pulse around his cock. “Gabriel.”
“Are you going to come for me again, älskling?”
Her eyes flashed open, still nearly black with desire as they widened at the sight of his fangs. She lifted her gaze to meet his. “Are you going to . . . ?”
“Bite you?” he murmured, his voice so deep that it vibrated between them. “I want to, but—”
“Do it. Bite me, vampire. Take my blood.”
Gabriel froze for a long moment, his cock buried deep inside her throbbing pussy, his eyes locked with hers. And then he lowered his head with a snarled oath and licked the swell of her vein until it was plump and begging to be bitten. Hana’s heart was pounding against his chest, her hips flexing and thrashing beneath him every time he drove into her. He didn’t warn her. He simply opened his mouth and sank his fangs into her, sliding through her skin and into her vein, groaning at the lush taste of her blood, the velvet smoothness as it flowed down his throat. An instant later, Hana’s arms and legs tightened, holding him fast as she gave a single hard jerk against him, and then she cried out frantically as her pussy squeezed his cock, clutching him deep inside her as a million tiny fingers stroked and caressed his length. Gabriel felt the heat of his orgasm building low in his groin, felt his cock grow impossibly harder as the heat became a rush of liquid fire, racing from his balls to his shaft. Lifting his head, he howled in fierce pleasure, Hana’s blood dripping from his fangs, while the force of his release sent her into a fresh climax as she arched helplessly beneath him.
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