by Raquel Dove
Then it finally dawned on Gabrielle. He had proposed to her. She didn’t even have any time to respond to him when it had happened. She hadn’t even been able to register the question. It had indeed caught her off guard, but the appearance of the massive Darkling had caught her even more off guard.
“Matthew,” she said, shaking her head with her eyes held open wide. She wanted to communicate a million things to him at once and she couldn’t pick out what to say first. It was incredibly fast, but somehow it didn’t feel that way to her. She somehow knew that she had loved him since that first crazy night that she had met him. She was shocked and flattered by his proposal. These were all things that she wanted to say, but instead she settled on a simple, one word response. “Yes.”
He looked up sharply at her, his eyes as wide as she had ever seen them. There was a goofy silence between them for just a moment as she grinned at him and nodded her head. His question had finally sunk in and she had time to process and answer it.
“Yes?” he asked, and she could hear the excited hopefulness in his voice. It made her even happier to say it again. He didn’t say anything else, just reached into his pocket and pulled out the beautiful necklace that he had proposed with, turning it around and putting it on her neck. She touched softly at it. It truly was one of the most beautiful pieces she had ever seen. She couldn’t hold it back anymore and she flung herself towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him tightly into her. He embraced her tightly at first, but soon he pulled back and captured her lips in a soft kiss. He was gentle at first, tentatively exploring her mouth like he had before, but he quickly turned more frantic and pulled her body back into his. She could feel the hardened contours of his body as his muscles shifted and bunched under his skin as he began to explore her body, their mouths intertwined. Suddenly he pulled back from her, breaking off their kiss.
“I should…” he was panting lightly as his forehead rested against hers. “I should get going, before I do something too forward.”
Gabrielle smiled mischievously up at him as she bit her lower lip. She had wanted him to do things that were too forward for quite some time, and now that they were officially engaged she didn’t see any reason to stop it.
“I was hoping you would stay the night with me,” she said softly. His eyes got a little bigger and a smile crept onto his face as he understood what she meant. He pulled her body back into his.
“Are you sure?” he asked as his hand caressed her cheek. She could feel the hardness in his groin poking into her hip as he held her tightly to him. It made her blush and want him even more. She nodded. They hadn’t been dating for very long, and they hadn’t done anything but kiss, but Gabrielle had known for some time that she wanted him in that way. She wanted him to be her first and only. She thought she would wait for the right time, and there seemed like no better time.
“Besides,” she said, reaching up to touch at the damage to his cheek, “I wouldn’t like myself if I didn’t try to clean up my future husband after he risked his life for me.”
Matthew didn’t need any more encouragement from her. He happily followed her into her home. He had a seat on the sofa in her small but comfortable living room. She had rummaged around her place looking for some kind of first aid supplies but when she came up short, she came back to him with only a clean towel and a bowl of warm water. She dabbed the towel into the water and used it clean off the dried blood from his face. She felt horrible that he had put himself at such risk for her.
When she had finished cleaning him up as best she could, she sat back and just looked at him. Truth was, she was feeling rather embarrassed now. She had invited him into her home to stay the night, and she knew what that meant, what the night would inevitably lead to. And while she wanted that with her whole being, she really had no clue what to say to him right then.
“Are you sure you're alright?” she asked him rather awkwardly. She wanted to shake her head at her question. It seemed so…mundane with all the tension that was hanging in the air. He was just staring back at her with his eyes burning into hers. He licked his lips, sucked in a breath of air and leaned forward to where she was kneeling on the floor between his knees. She could see him wince slightly as he did and she wanted to tell him to rest back in the sofa, but she was also feeling greedy. She knew he was leaning forward to kiss her and she didn’t want to stop him. His hand caressed her cheek softly as his face drew close to hers, his eyes still locked on her. Finally his lips met hers and his tongue insistently searched her mouth. She was a little taken aback by the hunger and urgency in him and it sent little tingles all through her. He deepened the kiss, his fingers reaching into her hair so that he could pull her closer. She happily complied and she straightened up on her knees, wrapping her hands around his neck so that she could get closer to him. It was an awkward position and she felt his arms reach around her waist and grab firmly onto her butt, pulling her up into his lip with a single movement. She could feel him wincing at the movement, but he continued to kiss her passionately. She rested against his lap and again she felt the hardness of him pressing back against her. She bucked her hips a little as they continued to kiss and he let out a little moan. Her cheeks flamed but it emboldened her, so she did it again. He pulled his lips away from hers suddenly, his breathing a little ragged and heavy.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, his words a husky whisper as his forehead rested against hers and he searched her eyes for any sign of uncertainty. She knew that he would find none and she simply nodded her head, his attentions leaving her almost breathless.
“Let’s go into the bedroom,” he said, his words spoken gently, as if saying it would scare her off.
“Okay,” she managed to muster the word out of her. She swallowed thickly as heat swam over her entire body. He stood off the couch, his hands underneath her as she tucked her legs around him. In spite of his injuries, he carried her easily into the room where he laid her down on the bed and lowered himself on top of her.
She could feel the heavy weight of his body resting on her and she looked hungrily into his eyes, waiting for him to do more to her. He kissed her, slow and passionate at first but quickly turning into a heated frenzy as his hands roamed her body. His fingers curled under the hem of her top and he pulled it up over her head. He rested his hand on her stomach as he bent back down to kiss her and the contact of his skin against her bare flesh made her burn even hotter. He pulled away from her lips, moving lower along her jaw line, unbuttoning his blood spattered white collared shirt as he did. He managed to throw it off in record time and his bare chest contacted with hers as he settled more fully onto her. He surrounded her in every way and she could do nothing but revel in the mindless ecstasy that he was arousing in her.
She gasped as he bent lower and his lips kissed at her ribs. She sucked in a few quick breaths, fighting against the tickling pleasure. He looked up at her with a half smirk, and then he turned his attentions to a higher spot on her body. He pulled the fabric of her bra down and cupped a breast with one hand as his mouth latched onto the other one. Gabrielle gasped at the contact and instinctively arched her back, pushing herself further into him. His tongue swirled around her flesh so slowly, so wonderfully, every little movement sending a hot, wet, rush of excitement through her. She had never felt anything so incredible in her life. Then his hand moved lower. For the first time since she met him, she became slightly apprehensive as his fingers looped in the waistband of her pants. He must have sensed her sudden nerves, or felt her body tense, because his hand stopped for just a moment as he looked up at her.
“Tell me to stop if it becomes uncomfortable for you,” he said. She knew he was trying to be gentle with her, but his words came out a bit harsh with his ragged breathing. She could tell he was as aroused as she was because speech suddenly became very difficult. Her apprehension immediately dissipated and all she could do was bite at her lower lip and nod her head.
His eyes stayed locked o
nto hers, searching them for her reaction as his hand continued to reach lower. He didn’t pull her pants off, instead he slowly moved his fingers lower until he reached a spot that made her gasp and arch her back. He half smirked down at her as he continued to move his fingers over that same spot sending wave after wave of electric pleasure through her.
“Does that feel good?” he asked, his voice husky. But it was more of a rhetorical question. He could tell by the way she wriggled beneath him and the gasping moans she could no longer control that she was enjoying what he was doing to her.
Suddenly he stopped, pulling his hand away and her eyes shot open, looking up at him with a pleading question in them that her mouth couldn’t form. He chuckled softly at her reaction, a smirk on his handsome lips. She wanted to reach up and catch them with her own, but she felt him shift on top of her. When she looked down at their bodies, she saw him pulling his pants off and she blushed deeply at the sight that greeted her eyes. His full manhood was on display for her, hard and insistent.
She tensed at the sight of it but not because it frightened her. It just looked so… unexpected and the way it made her cheeks burn to look at it made her shift a little.
“Have you…have you ever seen it?” he asked her, hovering above her, his voice soft as his eyes studied her with care. She shook her head, and in spite of herself she couldn’t pull her eyes away from the sight of him. It was the strangest, most incredibly erotic thing she had ever laid eyes on. Finally, his fingers tugged on her chin, pulling her face and eyes upward. He had a small grin on his face as he bent in closer to kiss her. It was soft and slow as he pulled at the edges of her pants, willing them to join his in a pile on the floor. She wiggled her legs and lifted her hips, helping him with the task. She broke off the kiss and couldn’t keep her eyes from trailing back down the contours of his body to look at him again. He gave her a moment to examine it as her foggy mind tried to comprehend what exactly it was she was seeing. His hand on hers pulled her attention back to his eyes. He slowly pulled her hand towards his groin, a soft almost imperceptible smile on his lips.
Her fingers were guided by his as he wrapped them around the length of his cock and she gasped slightly at the way it felt underneath her fingertips. It was hard and soft at the same time. Like a rock wrapped in a thick layer of silk, and it flexed and moved as she touched him. Her temperature had risen so high she didn’t know if she could stand it anymore, the way it all seemed to pool in her stomach and between her thighs. He moaned softly above her and her eyes snapped up to his, slightly afraid that she was doing something wrong, but his expression told her he was enjoying her touch just as much as she was enjoying touching him. He collapsed a little on top of her and once again his lips found hers.
“Are you ready?” he asked breathlessly as he pulled his lips away from her and shifted his body a little. She hadn’t had time to answer when she felt him suddenly entering her. She gasped at the pain and suddenness of it, her fingers digging into the skin of his muscular back as she tried to pull him closer to her. She was glad he had done it so suddenly and through the sharp pain that split into her, she reveled in the feeling of him inside of her.
He half groaned, half grunted as he had thrust into her, but he stopped after the first one. His hand rested on the side of her face as he looked carefully, almost painfully down at her as he stilled himself.
“Are you alright?” he barely managed to choke the words out, and she realized that it was a struggle for him to stay still. She nodded her head quickly and her hands pulled on his hips. She couldn’t speak, her mind was too full of him to form words, but she wanted to tell him to continue and this was the only way she could manage at the moment. He understood and she gasped loudly at the feeling of him pulling out of her and surging forward again. His hips rocked back and forth, slowly and apprehensively at first, but soon growing more rapid and frantic. It was painful, but it was oddly pleasurable for her at the same time. Just knowing that she would be so intimately connected with him filled her with so much joy that it weighed out any of the pain she felt as he pumped in and out of her.
Suddenly his whole body tensed and he let out a grunting moan before shakily collapsing over her. She held him tightly to her as they both struggled to regain their breath.
###
Kasen absently rubbed at the soft skin of Gabrielle’s shoulder as she nuzzled up next to him. The glow of their lovemaking was still settled over them and he was reluctant to speak, not ready to relinquish it yet. He’d had plenty of women, as most of the Generals in the Death Angel Society did, but he had never experienced anything quite like he had with her.
“You are so beautiful,” he said, his words barely a whisper. He hadn’t meant it for her to hear, he hadn’t even really been talking directly to her per se. He had just been thinking it and then it sort of came out. He only realized that she had heard him when her cheeks blushed red hot and she glanced up at him.
“I’m so glad that I met you,” she said as her eyes looked so innocently up at him. “I thought I was going to just be miserable here for the rest of eternity.”
Kasen couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “It couldn’t have been that bad, huh? Mr. Black has a reputation, but not quite that bad.”
“It’s not Mr. Black that’s so awful,” she said, sitting up a little and Kasen could feel her get suddenly defensive of him. He couldn’t help but feel a slight pang of jealousy but he quickly pushed it away. Gabrielle was his, and he knew that Sebastian wouldn’t attempt to take her away from him. He wasn’t that kind of man. Kasen knew that his reputation was just that. A reputation. He was a hard ass to all his subordinates, but he had a very good reason for it. His ranks were among the most respected in the whole of the Death Angel Society.
“Well what could possibly be so bad about this place?” Kasen asked, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her back to him. She nuzzled up next to him and he was thankful that she wasn’t offended. “I know it takes some getting used to but it really isn’t bad at all.”
“No,” Gabrielle said, “it’s not this place that’s so bad. I mean, it’s confusing as hell sometimes and I still don’t feel like I know much of anything. But it’s the people here that make it so awful. Well, everyone except for you, Mr. Black, and Aracella. Everyone else seems to hate me for just being me.”
Again Kasen chuckled softly. He understood that she just didn’t understand how this place worked, and he tried not to make her feel like he was being condescending by laughing at her, so he quickly explained to her.
“They don’t hate you because you’re you,” he said softly.
“Well they hate me,” she said, her voice turning sad. “It doesn’t matter why they hate me, they just do and it makes it miserable to be here.”
“They don’t hate you,” Kasen said again. “They’re just jealous of you.”
“Jealous?” she said, picking herself up on her elbows so she could look at him. Her eyebrows were pulled tightly together above her beautiful chestnut eyes. “Why in the world would they be jealous of me? They all know exactly what they’re doing, and the appropriate way to act. I’m the one that is constantly screwing up and acting like a fool.”
“They are jealous because of the favor that Mr. Black shows you,” Kasen said with a sigh. He really hadn’t wanted to have this conversation with her. He wanted to avoid the subject of Sebastian, especially now that he knew how he felt. But he also didn’t want Gabrielle to think that she was hated. “He is a very powerful and respected General, even among his colleagues. Most people in the Death Angel Society would give anything to be in his ranks, much less winning a position to work so closely with him. Most have to work for a century with an exemplary record just to get the opportunity. You got the most desired job in all the Death Angel Society the day that you arrived here, with the exception of being a General.”
“I still don’t understand why he would do such a thing,” Gabrielle said, shaking her head and looking away. He
r voice had gotten so soft that Kasen wasn’t even sure she was talking to him. Her cheeks blushed red hot for just a moment and he didn’t know why, but he suspected and worried that maybe she was thinking about Sebastian.
“Maybe he just sensed that you were meant to work under the Dark Generals and he just wanted to fill the position,” Kasen offered. He knew that wasn’t true, but after what he had seen with the Darkling in the mortal world, he was certain that she was meant to work in the Dark Ranks.
Gabrielle looked back up at him with confusion shining in her eyes.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well,” he sat up in the bed, propping his back against the headrest and letting the sheet cover just his naked lower half. He was happy to get off the subject of Sebastian. “When a person comes to the Death Angel Society, after they’ve been evaluated, and if they choose to, they go to the Academy to become a Death Angel.”
“Right,” she nodded. “I knew that.”
“Every person is earmarked upon entering the Academy as belonging to either the Dark, or the Light,” he said, explaining a bit more about the subtleties of the Death Angel Society. “The assessment determines the course of that person’s life in the Death Angel Society. It’s really a simple assessment though, and gets trumped up more than it has to. I think some new arrivals actually dread it, though there’s really no reason to.”
“What did you mean when you said I was meant to work under the Dark Generals?” she asked. She lay back down on the bed, on her back so that she could look backward up at him as he spoke.
“Dark Fighters, well…they fight,” he said with a shrug. “That’s what they spend most of their career doing. And they can get into some pretty dangerous situations, as you saw with that Darkling back there. But their bodies aren’t quite like the Light Fighters. They sustain injuries much differently than us, and they heal rather rapidly. It makes them better fighters, and us better researchers.”
