Chapter 47
Chapter Forty-Seven
With a dark expression, Skarde gave her a slow once-over from her jeans to her sweater to her breasts and then her face.
His dark lashes framed his blue eyes, making them stand out in his face.
“Only you would recruit a witch to fight a witch and then befriend her. Have you got any other unusual friends in that other place?”
“You mean Val? She’s a good friend. Has been since before I got her to fight that witch at my place.
Doing the unpredictable is my thing.” She stepped around pieces of broken glass.
“Will a broken portal cause me seven years of bad luck here, like breaking a mirror over there? If so, do you know a spell to counteract it?” The smell of his blood, even though he stood six or seven feet from her, nearly stole her sanity.
Exquisite. Tempting. Her stomach growled.
“I’ve never heard of bad luck from a broken portal.” Gaze fixed on her he said, “I’m sorry. So fucking sorry.”
The muffled sounds of a man screaming as if jumping into battle and then a blast came from inside the church.
“Which part are you sorry about? Pushing me away? Sending me somewhere that wasn’t safe? Or acting like a total asshole?” She fisted her hands; the pain of her nails biting into her palms distracting her from how much she wanted to lunge at him and bite anything she could get her teeth on.
“All of it. I was wrong.”
She crossed her arms and didn’t reply. She could barely keep up with this conversation when blood hunger rose as a red haze in her head. She pushed it away. I am not a monster. I’m starving, but I will not lose it when Skarde’s about to pour out his heart.
“I thought I had to do it to protect you. But I was protecting myself from what scared me most.”
“Which is what? Feelings?”
“I’m not good at those. It was the reality of you dying or needing to fight these evil beings.
I didn’t want you near their foulness. I didn’t think you had it in you to truly kill if you had to, but then I saw you take down that witch in your house.
I saw you tackle the creature and behead it with your miniature knife.
Then the good witch hugged you. It was magnificent. ”
“Saw that, did you, even after the portal closed? I killed a mage with your crossbow, remember? I’m fully capable of taking down scary and bad things, but …
” She stared at her sneakers and shuffled.
“I’m not a fan of killing. I had a bit of anger to get out after the portal closed.
The witch cost me you.” A glance up found him staring at her.
“The fighting didn’t end with that one witch.
Val, my witch friend, taught me a lot about magic and fighting over the past few months.
She had to. Witches came at me all the time over there. ”
His lips formed a small smile. “You’re a survivor.”
“The blood I had to drink over there was terrible. I never drank directly from a human, though. The thought still makes me want to vomit.” She screwed up her face.
“I got prepackaged blood, which they mix with anticoagulants that make it taste awful.” She cocked her head and focused on his face, not his neck. “It sounds like you missed me.”
“I missed ye.”
She nibbled on her lip.
“I was living a goddamned nightmare until you saved me,” he rasped out.
“You were the one who saved me from Bannos.”
He stepped close to her and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear. “No. It was you who saved me.”
Tears made her vision go blurry.
He said softly, “I was lost and didn’t even know it. Each month my life kept getting worse with more darkness to contend with and no light. Then you showed up and told me not to give up.”
“Oh.” It hurt her heart so much to hear his pain.
He licked his lips and gripped the back of his neck.
“I’ve never been in a relationship before.
I want one, with you, but I haven’t had any good examples of how this works.
I’m going to get it wrong. The thought of something seriously hurting you again makes me nuts.
It’s not an excuse for future or past bad behavior, but it’s a reality.
There are a lot of awful things in this world that will come after you.
I swear I’ll protect you with everything I’ve got, but I might be a total bastard to you when I do it. ”
“I need for you to try to not be a bastard.”
“Tell me when I’m a dickhead. I don’t know how to protect you without possibly hurting you. What I do know is that I don’t want to lose you over it. When you didn’t come back, I realized the thing I need most is you.” He whispered, “I need you. Desperately.”
Oh, my. A tear tumbled down his cheek and that’s when she fell apart.
He went to his knees. “You’re the person I want to come home to, the person I want to call mine. My heart. My fucking soul. I knew I wanted you, but I didn’t know you were something I needed until you were gone.” Raw pain carved into all of his features.
She stared at him through teary eyes.
Skarde closed the space between them and cupped her face. “I need you. Please, Gemma…” He choked on a deep breath. “Tell me you’ll stay with me. That you think we have a chance.”
Chest tight and heart pounding against her ribs she said, “I’m no relationship guru. I’ve never had one last beyond a few months. I think it was because I was waiting for you.”
He pulled her into him. “I planned what I’d say if ye came back, a hundred times in my head, but I still didn’t get it right. I’m shit at talking about feelings.”
“You did pretty well.” She squeezed him tighter.
“I feel more for you than… Well, more than I knew was possible for someone like me. This could be love. I’ve never experienced love. I didn’t have it when I was young. I never met a woman who made me feel like this.”
Gemma had spent her life scared of change, trying to help other people while hiding from her own anxiety. Yet, with him she felt safe. “I love you too.”
“You became a part of the prophecy. You are the prophecy, even if it turned out differently than I expected. The immortal burn is what I feel for you. You made me powerful by driving me to realize what I was and what I had.”
“I want to be your partner, not someone you keep hidden at home. You better expect I’ll be with you when you go out on jobs. I’ve been practicing my skills.” He smelled so amazing and her mind went dizzy as she swayed into him.
“Bloody hell, Gemma.” He ran his finger down her cheek, traced the shape of her lips, and leaned in to brush a kiss against them. His mouth was magic—just as he was. Dark and sensual, his lips were soft when everything else about him was hard. No one kissed like Skarde.
“So hungry,” she murmured.
“It’s about time you showed up, Gemma!” Cade boomed. The thick church door slammed shut behind him.
They pulled apart from her small kisses down his neck.
“He’s been a whiny, pathetic excuse of a vampire for months,” Cade said. “Then he dragged me to every mage, wizard, dwarf, and witch he called a friend to find someone who could make a portal to you. All of them told him no. You had to come back to him yourself.”
“That’s not exactly how it went,” Skarde grumbled.
“That’s exactly how it went. Are we going back in there and ending this, or am I going to have to do it myself? The Hunters are holding the zombies at bay, but I think they’re wearing out.”
The rain picked up. Bringing his hand up to her face, Skarde whispered, “I love you, Gemma. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
But I won’t lie. I’m…” He swallowed hard.
“Fuck. I don’t know if I want you in this fight.
That witch is pure evil. Don’t get me wrong, I want you to be with me when I do this, but let me train you and teach you. ”
She pressed a kiss to his lips. “I learned a few things while living with a witch for three months. You’re going to have to trust me. I won’t get in your way, but I think I can handle myself. We do this together.” She gripped his face. “Do you trust me?”
He tensed up but then grinned. Nodding he said, “I do. I’ve begun to wonder if the Gemma way might be better than the Skarde way.”
“What way is my way?”
“You see these guys differently than I do. You can see the good in them when I cannot.” His face dimmed. “But you’ll still listen if I think there’s no way but death, like in this case? You can’t save her.”
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight, never wanting to let go. “You know eons more than me. We’ll do this as partners.”
“Together.”
Here she was, with the vampire of her dreams, his arms around her, a future ahead of them, surrounded by a band of brothers she’d never thought she’d have.
Gemma said, “Let’s go kick some ass.”