37. Brinley
Chapter 37
Brinley
B rinley traced a finger along Gabriel’s bare chest in random patterns then followed the tattoos across his shoulder. The final rule was officially broken. They were lying in bed together… cuddling after sex, a bath together, and more sex. She was exhausted, but she relished this moment.
“Gabriel?” She tilted her head up to see his closed eyes, though she knew he wasn’t asleep. His own hand was running up and down her arm.
“Hmm?”
“What does ‘bijou’ mean?”
His hand stilled. She was about to take back the question when the corner of his mouth curled into a smile. As he returned to his soothing motion, he said, “Jewel.”
She blinked, her brow furrowing. “You… This whole time, you’ve been calling me jewel? As in a gem?”
“Yes.”
It was such a simple response. She pushed herself into a sitting position, pulling the sheet with her, and he opened his eyes. “You started when you still hated me.”
Gabriel sighed and sat up next to her. “I never hated you. But yes, I couldn’t help but let it slip when I brought you back. I used the endearment six years ago too.” He reached up to tuck a strand of her fallen hair behind her ear. “Because you’ve always been this… precious gem to me—granted, an insufferable one most of the time.”
She elbowed him in the ribs but felt herself smiling at him. His hand trailed from her jaw to her collarbone, resting over her heart. She leaned in to brush a kiss to his lips.
Gabriel’s hand lowered to her waist beneath the blanket, tugging her closer, even though she was already curled against his side. With a soft chuckle, she raised up on her knees and moved to straddle his lap. She lowered and rested her head on his shoulder as he hugged her tightly. Skin to skin, this felt right. She couldn’t deny it.
There wasn’t anything between them, and yet, it seemed they were both content just sitting here together. Neither made a move for more. It was the most intimate position she’d ever found herself in.
“Are you happy here?” he whispered, running his fingers along her bare back.
Brinley hesitated, though she didn’t need to really consider it. The answer came to her right away. But the fact that it did so easily frightened her.
“Bijou?”
“Yes.” She nodded against him. “I’m happy here.”
His entire body seemed to relax beneath her. He pressed a kiss against her hair. “Good.”
“Gabriel, I need to help break this curse,” she said. “At least to try to heal Rose. She’s getting weaker, isn’t she?” Then, three things hit her all at once. She sat upright, her chest heaving. “Her eighteenth birthday. That’s how long we have, isn’t it?”
As he pushed himself up beneath her, he took her hand and tapped a finger against it.
“That’s why we need to hurry. It’s in…” Her stomach twisted, dread filling her. “Less than a month.”
Gabriel kissed her bare shoulder.
But she wasn’t done. She took a deep breath. “Curses are linked to those who cast them.”
“I know, but?—”
“No, Gabriel, listen.” She climbed out of bed and swiped his shirt off the floor to cover her naked body. There wasn’t any time for shyness or modesty—not that there was a single part of her he wasn’t intimately familiar with already. She began pacing as he got up and pulled on a pair of pants. “Curses are connected to the person who set it. If it’s still in effect… my grandmother has to still be alive somewhere.”
When she turned to march back across the length of the bedroom, she came face to face with Gabriel—or rather, face to chest. She tilted her head back to see him, and he looked as shocked as she felt.
“If she’s still alive, she can break the curse.” Brinley placed her hands on his chest.
He shook his head. “There weren’t any signs of survivors… You’re sure?”
“I might not have known how to reach my magic, but I’ve studied its uses and properties for years. My tutor, André…” She trailed off, her heart racing with hope for the first time in more than two months. If her grandmother made it out of the attack, there was a chance her best friend did too. She hadn’t seen his body when Gabriel carried her out of the cellar. “He was my grandmother’s apprentice before she sent him to live with me in different villages. He continued my lessons in magic as much as history and such, and he told me more than once that if someone died, any magic they left in the world would fade with them and return to the stars. It was something he made me remember.” The last word was barely more than a whisper as she realized, “He knew. He made sure I understood that because he knew .”
“So, if we kill her, we—” Gabriel choked, unable to say more, and still, she bristled from the meaning.
She took a step back, remembering he was her enemy. No . Grabbing the sides of her head, she shook it. It had been so ingrained into her that the wolves were monsters, but she knew that wasn’t true. He was her mate. He’d found her, protected her, fought for her.
“Brinley,” he whispered. “I’m sorry. I just… after all she’s done?—”
“I know.” She understood. That didn’t make it any easier though. When he pulled her into his arms again, she didn’t stop him. She wanted his warmth, his comfort. “But she’s my grandmother, the only family I have left.”
Gabriel ran a hand down the back of her head. “We’re your family too.”
She knew that, but it wasn’t the same. Not wanting to argue, she said, “She lost everything in this endless battle. It made her the woman she is today, but beneath that I know she loves me. If I could just find her and explain that you’re not the villains she assumes you are based on her past, I might be able to convince her to break the curse and help Rose. She’s so strong, Gabriel. If anyone can save your sister, it’s her.”
Soft lips brushed her temple. Brinley knew he wouldn’t want to do this. He wouldn’t want to take this chance. But for her and Rose, he might.
“All right,” he whispered. “I will send a group of scouts to search the area again, and I’ll send someone to Créll to see if she’s returned there.”
Standing on her toes, she kissed him once, twice. “Thank you.”
He tightened his hold on her and deepened the kiss. His tongue slid along hers, sending lightning down her spine. One of his hands curved around her backside. It crept beneath the hem of the shirt she’d taken of his, reminding her she wore nothing underneath. He gave her butt a squeeze before guiding her leg up around his hip.
“Is it always like this?” she asked as he kissed a trail of fire along the side of her neck and his fingers moved closer to her center. “Is it just because of the bond? Is that why I wanted you before I remembered who you were?”
His deep chuckle rumbled through her. He lowered her leg but didn’t release her altogether. “I’m sure the bond had something to do with why you were drawn to me even when you hated me, but it’s not the sole reason. It doesn’t take away your will power or make you… care about someone. Usually, it does make you protective over one another though, hence your magic emerging when my life was in danger.”
“And you didn’t feel this constant need with anyone else?” Her cheeks heated, but she needed to know.
“Did you?”
She swallowed and stepped away from him to search for one of the pairs of pants he’d brought her weeks ago. She still preferred dresses, but the pants were growing on her. “I’ve only ever been with one other boy before you, and it wasn’t exactly a good experience. It definitely wasn’t like this. I didn’t even—It doesn’t matter. That was a few years ago.”
“There hasn’t been anyone else?”
“No.” After pulling the pants on, she faced him again. “My only friend the past six years was André, my tutor, who’s nearly a decade older than me.”
He seemed to consider her words before asking, “And you two never…”
The hint of jealousy in his tone and gaze made her smile. “He prefers men.”
“Ah.” Gabriel’s shoulders visibly relaxed.
“No one else ever caught my eye. With the one boy, that was more out of curiosity and loneliness. I didn’t actually like him.” Though, it still hurt to find out he’d used her just to tell his friends he’d convinced her to spread her legs for him. Clearing her throat, she focused on the present. On her mate. “I think, deep down, subconsciously, I knew I was waiting for someone else.”
The words were so quiet, but he heard them. Gabriel dipped his head once. Then, he was in front of her, his mouth crashing into hers. She gasped into the kiss, amazed that this yearning never seemed to wane.
But she pushed him back. “Your turn.”
He visibly swallowed. “I fooled around with a girl a couple times when I was sixteen-seventeen, and then Joel and I started sleeping together before my eighteenth birthday. It began out of curiosity, but we both had fun and continued. It… was heated for a bit. But it was also when we thought I wasn’t going to make it past my birthday.”
With a sigh, he went to sit on the edge of the bed. Brinley’s heart ached for him, for all the tragedy he’d lived through. She joined him but stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue when he was ready.
“After my birthday, when I realized it was actually Rose, I was struggling for a while,” he said. “Donovan had known he wasn’t my birth father, but he and my mother had decided not to tell me. He said it didn’t make a difference to him; he loved me and I was his son… but that wasn’t enough for the…”
Brinley slipped her hand into his. “The curse specifically went toward his eldest biological child instead.”
It wasn’t a question, but his thumb tapped her skin. “Anyway, Joel and I started again, but it wasn’t like before. We’re friends, and the sex was—” He cleared his throat. “My point is, it wasn’t like this.” He squeezed her hand. “I found you a couple years later and realized the truth, but then you were taken away again, my father was killed in front of me, and my pack was?—”
“Cursed,” she whispered.
He tapped her again before releasing her to wrap his arm around her shoulders. “I wanted to search for you right away, but my pack needed me. Rose needed me. It tore me apart. After a month, I couldn’t handle it anymore and started looking. I had to go in my wolf form, and I knew she said she would make you forget, but I figured if I just found you, all would work out. I could keep an eye on you and wait for the full moon to get you.”
But he never found her. His agony rippled through her, and she hugged him tighter.
“Others caught on to what I was doing and tried to help, but it was as if you vanished,” he whispered, brushing his lips against the top of her head. “Eventually, they stopped and tried to get back to their daily lives. Fête de la lune started, and everyone tried to move on and accept their fate. I started spiraling. I began drinking heavily, and eventually I started sleeping with random people out of loneliness. Usually during the celebrations.”
Brinley remembered how he told her he attended them when feeling hopeless. Each new bit of information he shared broke her heart more and more. Standing, she moved to sit sideways on his lap. Wrapped in each other’s arms, they sat there for a long moment before he continued.
“So, no, it was never like this. Not even close,” he said. “Even when Joel and I started sleeping together again the next year, it wasn’t like this. I told him what you were to me, so he knew that I was just looking for a distraction, something to break through the numbness that had started consuming me. We were together a lot over the years. He was always there, and I honestly think he did that just to keep me from being with a bunch of random people. He always told me we’d find you one day and that I’d regret it if I had this long list of people I’d fucked.”
She made a mental note to thank the man the next time she saw him.
“He never let me give up,” Gabriel whispered.
Taking a deep breath, she asked, “And you’re really fine with not being with him anymore?”
She hated that little voice of doubt and fear in the back of her mind that needed to ask.
“I haven’t been with him since before your birthday, sweetheart.”
Her brow furrowed, and she leaned back to see his face. “What about that day we were in the study and I asked if you were going to find him?”
“You mean the day you tried to convince me you didn’t care who I slept with?” His smirk creeped into place once more, and she was grateful for the lighter mood. When she nodded, he kissed her forehead before brushing his thumb over the wrinkled skin. “I couldn’t do it. I did go to him, but I couldn’t go through with it. Not when I finally had you here. Even if you couldn’t remember me, I…”
“Gabriel,” she said as he trailed off, tears welling in her eyes. Her heart felt so full. This had scared her so much, but she couldn’t deny how right it felt. They belonged together. Brinley and Gabriel. “So, there hasn’t been anyone else since I arrived?”
“No.” His smile grew.
“What’s that look for?”
He lifted a palm to her cheek. “You don’t want me with anyone else.”
It felt as if her face was on fire. Attempting to play off the jealousy she’d let slip, she teased, “At least, not unless you include me.”
“You want me all to yourself,” he said, as if she hadn’t spoken. She rolled her eyes, but he wasn’t done. “You’re not rejecting me.”
“I told you I wasn’t.”
His thumb stroked her jaw as he leaned in to kiss her again. “I promise, as long as you want me, I’m all yours. Only yours.”