Chapter 60
GAbrIEL
Knowing Emilia, I hadn’t expected her idea of comfort to be practical, but the sleeping chamber we were escorted to was like nothing I’d ever seen before, not in our ancient family castle, not in the luxurious private wing of La Sala… nowhere.
Candlelight caught on deep red and gold silk, the scent of jasmine sweetening the air.
And the lights…
Globes hung midair, suspended by magic, filling the room with a gentle glow that softened the exhaustion on Emberline’s face and reflected a hundred times over in her dark eyes.
“I’ve never seen anything like this.” Emberline was clearly awestruck, already halfway to the bed, trailing her fingers along the carved footboard in the shape of a coiled dragon, as if she didn’t quite trust what she was seeing. “Nothing in here even looks real.”
“Maybe it’s not.” I studied the ceiling, painted with a rendition of the stars so authentic, we could be staring up into the actual sky. “Emilia could have conjured this up just to impress us.”
The corner of her mouth curved at that, the first real smile I’d seen from her in days. Small victories.
Fragrant steam rolled from a deep, copper tub set on a pedestal, fogging up the nearby trio of windows.
Dante crossed the room in four strides, unwound the robe from around his hips, and lowered himself in with a sigh, the water hissing around him like a freshly forged sword being quenched, more steam rolling as he immersed himself from the neck down.
I stayed to the perimeter of the room, counting the exits out of habit before I paused to smell the deep red roses on a low table and to drink in the soft, deliberate comfort of every surface, as if this room was designed to make us feel protected.
Emberline sank down on the edge of the bed, head hung, salt-soaked hair hanging in dark spirals as she breathed in and out, as though she was trying to convince herself we were just that.
Safe.
I sat beside her, mirroring the same hunched position.
“You’re staring,” she said quietly, sounding so lost, my heart squeezed.
“I’m memorizing what you look like right now,” I admitted, sitting close enough that our knees touched. “Because a few hours ago, I wasn’t sure I’d get the chance.”
“No, I didn’t think so either.” She leaned into my side, and I wrapped an arm around her, careful not to crowd her. “We should sleep. You should sleep,” I urged. “I am sorry,” I ghosted my lips over her temple, tasting brine and a trace of blood.
“I’m sorry for everything.” My throat grew tight, but I swallowed down my regret so I could get this next part out.
“I’m sorry this beautiful room isn’t what you wake up to every day.
I’m sorry we do nothing but fight and run, and even that isn’t enough to keep you safe.
And most of all, I’m sorry those bastards touched you tonight, and I couldn’t stop them. ”
She pulled back, her delicate fingers dancing along my jaw, pausing on the tender spot on my temple.
“First of all, I chose to fight, just like you did. Removing my uncle and Blackwood is the right thing to do. As far as this?” She looked up, and every light in the room filled her gaze until she seemed to contain the entirety of my universe.
“The best thing about this room is you. And Dante. And once he returns… Nico.
“Don’t you understand, Gabriel,” she murmured against my lips.
“Wherever you are is my home, and there isn’t a single thing in this room I would choose over just being with you.
” She searched my face for a long moment, then she kissed me, slow and unhurried, in a room stitched together out of Emilia’s magic, and for once, I simply sank into the softness of her lips, the pure perfection of her hands on my body.
“Is the water still warm?” I asked my brother once our lips parted, staring down into Emberline’s hooded eyes as I rolled a strand of her salted curls between my fingers. “You need to get the lagoon water off you.” I paused. “And the blood.”
“Okay,” she murmured hazily, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck as I carefully lifted her and walked her across the room. Dante stepped out of the tub, no sign of that consuming heat rippling off his body as he wrapped a towel around his waist.
The two of us stripped her down, gently, reverently, kissing every scrape and bruise, anger brewing deep in my gut every time I thought of how those bastards touched her. Tried to drown her.
“Get in, and take a long soak, and then you can sleep.” I urged her over the high lip, easing her head back, then kneeling down behind her because I couldn’t stand the thought of being more than a foot away.
“Let me… can I wash your hair?” I asked, a warm glow filling my chest when she nodded, her eyes slipping closed, her head cradled in my palm.
“Unless…” I looked up at my brother, staring down at the two of us with the strangest expression. Not jealousy, as I would have expected, but something softer.
“No, you take care of her,” Dante murmured, crossing to the bed and making himself comfortable so he could watch us. “It’s you she needs right now.”
I seriously doubted that, but I took my time, drizzling shampoo into those dark locks, scrubbing her scalp gently with my fingers, then harder when her mouth fell open, the tips of her fangs barely showing.
“You need to feed,” I murmured, rinsing the frothy suds out of her hair, watching them slide down the slim column of her throat and chest, pooling between her breasts, where the water met skin.
“You’re going to feed from me, then you’ll sleep all night with my arms wrapped around you.
I won’t let you go, and I’ll keep you safe, bella. I’ll always keep you safe.”
“I know you will, Gabriel.” Her lips curved into a quiet smile. “Because that’s what you do. Protect me.”
Gods, how my soul caught fire on those words, even if they weren’t entirely true.
Every jaded piece of me breathed for this female, my calcified heart beat for her, and there was nothing that would stop me from fighting for her. Emberline was the center of my universe. Everything spun around her—my plans, my revenge, my very existence—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Because of her, for the first time in my life, I felt real purpose.
“Come on, let me dry you off and let’s get you in bed.
” I lifted her to her feet, bubbles and water streaming down her pert breasts, her flat stomach, and that ass I couldn’t get enough of, firm and muscled from years of training.
She was utter perfection. After I dried her off, I tucked the towel around her and carried her over to the bed.
“I can walk, you know,” she teased in a low voice.
“Not tonight, bella. Tonight, you get treated like a queen.” Fuck, I’d carry her everywhere if she’d let me, just to feel her body pressed against mine, just to feel her fingers dig into the back of my neck as though she couldn’t let go.
I laid her down beside Dante, then went back to the tub, stripped, and washed off the blood and sweat and dirt perfunctorily. When I stood back up, reaching for a towel, I found her hungering gaze on me, cheeks flushed, lips parted with need.
And when I stalked back to the bed, I didn’t bother with the towel at all.
All I needed were her eyes, shining like beacons, her tongue flicking out to wet her pink lips. My cock throbbed as I dropped down on the bed beside her and pulled her back into my arms, regretting I’d wrapped her in that towel, because right now, her bare skin would feel amazing against mine.
“You need to feed.” I tugged her to my throat, carefully arranging her alongside my body so every part of us touched, and her lips hovered over my vein. “Take as much as you want,” I cupped the back of her head and cradled her closer. “In fact, just take it all.”
Dante lay on his side, head braced on one hand, watching us with an intensity that told me he was using every ounce of his willpower not to pounce on his wife.
That he was giving Emberline and me this—time to heal ourselves, to bury the horrors of today under layers of kisses and pleasure and the simple joy of being together.
I’d never pictured myself as a romantic, but right now, I wished I could lay her on a bed of rose petals, drape her in diamonds, or sit her on a throne of pure gold. And still, that wouldn’t be nearly enough. Emberline deserved so much more.
Someday, when I was Don, I would lay the entire world at her feet.
Her tongue lazily traced up and down my pulsing vein, sending ripples of electric shocks through me, straight to my cock. I rolled my hips forward, trapping the fucker between me and the bed; tonight was for Emberline. Not for me.
Not that the bastard listened, throbbing like a motherfucker.
Her fangs sank in, a slow, steady invasion, and my eyes rolled back in my head at the sensations flooding my body.
Having her teeth in me was like being claimed, along with that deep, satisfied moan against my skin when she took her first swallow. Her fingers dug into the back of my neck, holding me still as she fed, hips shifting as her body moved against me, searching out friction.
“Do you need more, bella?” I slid my hand up her thigh, pausing to give her time to refuse.
She tided forward, tongue lashing across the bite, desperate little sounds vibrating against my skin.
“I’ve got you, Ember, hang on.” Slipping my hand between her legs, I found her wet core, so slippery, my fingers pushed deep into her with no resistance.
I curled them against the sensitive spot in front of her cunt and worked them in and out until she was grinding against my hand for more.
And I was going to give her everything she wanted.
“That’s it, just relax, let me make you feel good.”
Emberline felt like heaven, fangs in my neck and her cum soaking my fingers, made from pure liquid fire, too wild for me to ever fully control, too beautiful for me to ever deserve.
Yet here she was. In my arms, drinking from me, and I was going to make her climax hard enough to see fucking stars.