Chapter 14 #3
Gabby’s mind was immediately transported back to this morning.
Back to the feel of his long, thick, and strangely ridged shaft nestled against her pussy, rubbing back and forth, stroking her clit again and again, sending the most delicious pleasure through her.
She wanted more of that—needed more of that.
No, she craved everything. All of him. Naked, with no barriers between them. She wanted to feel him inside her.
Ana’s exaggerated gagging sounds broke through the haze of passion that had overtaken Gabriela’s mind.
She tore her mouth from Mason’s, though he seemed reluctant to release her, keeping his arms and hands firmly in place. Cold winter air swept in to replace the warmth his lips had left upon hers. She looked at her daughter.
Ana had stood up while Mason and Gabriela were kissing, and she was looking at them now with disgust on her face. “You were sucking each other’s tongues!”
“You wanted him to be my boyfriend, right?”
“Well…yeah.”
Gabriela smirked. “Well, get used to it. This is what boyfriends and girlfriends do.”
Frowning, Ana turned away and trudged onward. “I’m staying single forever. That’s just gross.”
Gabby laughed. “Sounds fine by me!”
When she turned her attention back to Mason, she found him still staring down at her, his eyebrows low. “Boyfriend?”
“Ah, well…” Her cheeks warmed, and she ducked her head, lowering her gaze to his chest. “That’s what you are now, right? That is…if you want to be?”
He hooked a finger beneath her chin and lifted it, forcing her eyes back up to his.
He wrinkled his nose, and his lip curled.
“I am no boy, female, and we are far more than friends.” He stroked his thumb over her bottom lip, which was tender from their kiss.
“I am yours, Gabriela—your mate. And you are mine.”
“I…like the sound of that,” she said, a little breathlessly. She really, really did. Who cared if no one else she’d ever known talked like that? It was sexy as hell. It was like he was staking his claim on her, and allowing her to claim him right back.
Mason’s lips spread into that sensual smile she loved so much. “Mmm… Good.” His gaze moved to her lips, and he dipped his head.
“Hey! I found our tree!” Ana called. “It’s short and fat with a skinny stick on top. It’s perfect!”
“That’s great, baby,” Gabby replied before easing closer to Mason, lashes fluttering shut in anticipation of the coming kiss.
“M-mom?” Ana’s voice trembled with fear and uncertainty, piercing straight through Gabriela and replacing the heat she’d felt a moment before with bone-deep cold.
Gabby swung her gaze to her daughter, and her heart stopped.
Ana was standing deathly still with her back toward Gabriela, clumps of snow clinging to her clothing from head to toe. Directly ahead of Ana was the largest mountain lion Gabriela had ever seen. Its shoulders were hunched, its ears back, and its eyes were locked on her little girl.
Mason snarled something in a language Gabriela didn’t recognize and released his hold on her. Gabriela staggered in the snow, unable to take in a breath, unable to think, unable to act. There was far too little distance between her baby girl and that beast.
The mountain lion’s lips peeled back as it made a low, rolling growl.
Ana took a small, unsteady step backward.
That growl rose into a yowling roar, the sort of call that had always prompted Gabriela’s father to load his shotgun when she was a child, and the mountain lion charged across the snow.
With a scream, Ana stumbled back. Her boot caught in the snow, and she fell onto her backside.
“Ana!” Gabriela cried, trying to run forward, but the damned snow made it feel like she was moving in slow motion.
There was another growl, this one much more powerful and from much closer—from Mason. He darted forward, barreling through the snow like a charging rhino, moving faster than anyone as large as him had any right to. His long legs ate up the ground between him and Ana.
The mountain lion leapt into the air with its big paws splayed and its claws extended.
Mason bounded over Ana. But what landed in the snow in front of the little girl looked nothing like the man Gabby knew—he wasn’t even human. He looked like a demon. A red-skinned, horned demon.
The mountain lion collided with him, its front half coming down on his shoulder and its paws slamming down on his back. The animal twisted its head, opening its fanged mouth wide, and lifted its hind legs as though to claw at the demon’s stomach.
But the demon—Mason—seemed unfazed. He lifted his hands quickly, bracing them against the big cat’s midsection, and heaved it off with a mighty shove.
The mountain lion’s claws shredded his coat, but it could not keep hold.
The beast yowled and flipped head-over-tail before crashing into the snow a good fifteen feet away from Mason.
The cat scrambled onto its feet, huffing and shaking its head. Growling, agitated, and wary, it prowled to the side as though it meant to get behind Mason.
Gabriela stumbled and dropped down into the snow beside her daughter, who was staring up at the huge man standing between her and the aggressive cat. Gabby pulled Ana against her, watching the scene in wide-eyed shock.
Mason held his arms out to either side and stepped forward with one foot.
The roar he released was unlike anything Gabby had ever heard; there was a hint of his voice in it, but it was primal, gravelly, bestial, a sound that put the mountain lion’s calls to shame.
That roar echoed across the winter sky, strong enough to make loose snow fall from the nearby trees.
The mountain lion’s ears folded back, and it retreated several steps. A moment later, it turned and ran, disappearing into the woods.
Mason stared after the beast for a time with his back to Ana and Gabby. His coat was torn open along his back, but as far as Gabriela could see, there was no blood.
Finally, he turned around to face Ana and Gabriela, his broad chest heaving.
Gabriela’s breath hitched, and she clutched her daughter closer.
The eyes looking down at them glowed a vibrant purple, a sharp contrast to the black sclera surrounding them.
Mason’s features were sharp, sharper than they’d been when he looked human, and long, pointed ears stuck out of his dark hair.
Even longer black horns protruded from his hair above his temples, curving toward the back of his skull.
And his long, powerful fingers were tipped with black claws.
“Are you okay?” he asked, revealing his sharp fangs.
That was what she’d felt with her tongue when they’d kissed—not a canine, but a fang.
The air fled Gabriela’s lungs, coming out in a cloud, as she ran her eyes over him. “M-Mason?”
His expression tightened, and he glanced down at his hands, balling them into loose fists. “Ah, gur’osh brakhan.”
“Are you the devil?” Ana asked, sounding a bit out of breath but startlingly unconcerned.
“Am I—what?” Mason shook his head. “No. I’m… My real name is Broxen kor’Stygos.”
“What…are you?” Gabby asked quietly.
“The same male you’ve known, Gabriela.” His gaze roamed over her and Ana, and his frown deepened. He released a soft huff through his nostrils. “I’ll tell you everything later. When you’re both warm, safe, and indoors.”
Something flickered over his red skin; it was there only long enough for Gabby to glimpse some sort of hexagonal pattern, like a grid projected onto his flesh.
Then it vanished, and he was…Mason again.
No horns or fangs, no black-and-purple eyes, no claws, no red skin.
All of it was gone as though it had never existed.
But now that’d she’d seen the real him, she couldn’t pretend those parts didn’t exist. She couldn’t pretend he was…human.
Mason—Broxen—sank into a crouch, holding out one hand to Gabriela and the other Ana.
Ana leapt out of Gabriela’s arms and threw herself at him. He caught her with one arm, holding her close as she clung to him. He looked back at Gabby.
Gabriela hesitated. Hurt flashed in his eyes, and though they were not his true eyes, the emotion was real.
“Everything I said is still true, Gabriela,” he said, his voice low and raw. “I would never hurt you or Ana.”
“I know,” she said.
And she did know it. He’d saved her daughter—twice. What…what did it matter that he looked like a demon? He’d offered them his home, clothed them, protected them, cared for them. Nothing had changed…nothing except that they now knew the truth.
Tears flooded Gabby’s eyes, and she reached out, placing her hand in his. “I know.”
The smile that settled on his lips was subtle, but it brimmed with relief.
He closed his fingers around her hand with all the gentleness he’d always shown her and lifted her up to her feet.
She immediately stepped into the shelter of his body and wrapped her arms around him and Ana, pressing her face to his chest. Broxen banded his arm around Gabriela, clutching her against him.
“Are you hurt?” she asked.
He rested his cheek atop her hair. “No.”
Ana tilted her head back. “Can we get the tree now? Before that cat comes back?”
Broxen chuckled. “Yes, we can get the tree. But I don’t think the beast will come back.”
“Good. I probably taste bad, anyway.”
Gabriela, still feeling as though her heart was in her throat after nearly seeing her daughter attacked by a mountain lion, couldn’t help but laugh at Ana’s lightheartedness.
Gabby definitely hadn’t fully processed the fact that her new boyfriend—her new mate—wasn’t human, but she knew, somehow, that everything was going to be okay.
Better than okay.