Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
The arid air felt warm and dry, cooler than what he was used to, and definitely a relief after a gory afternoon spent beating back a horde of soulless rogues.
But Ash had no time to enjoy the change of temperature and atmosphere as he exited a portal on his way to meet Gabriella.
Something was wrong. He felt a force, unseen but strong, as if he were tethered to something, pulling him in the same direction he’d been heading.
He was early, despite Aphrodite’s warning that he would seem desperate.
The fact was, Ash was desperate. Shockingly determined to see her, almost to the point of frenzied.
He ran his hands through his newly shorn locks.
Cutting his shoulder length black hair into a more modern style was another of Aphrodite’s suggestions.
“You can’t go storming after the woman looking like that, Ashmedai! She’ll run for the hills,” gasped the goddess after he’d returned from battle with a burning need to find his mate.
Only after catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror had he seen she was right.
He’d been covered in filth and gore, his campaign against the soulless a success much to Lucifer’s delight and everyone’s safety.
Typically, he’d celebrate at the bar with a round for his comrades, which was where he’d headed with his legion.
Of course, once there, he’d picked up the faint hint of Gabriella’s scent on the air and tried to head up the stairs.
That was where the Goddess of Love stepped in.
“Oh, no you don’t! Dammit, Ash, you will not ruin my reputation for matchmaking by scaring the little Wolf off before she even had time to bone you!”
Yes. She’d used the word bone. Which was the only way she’d managed to catch him off guard.
A little shocked, he’d allowed himself to be shoved into a shower stall where he dutifully cleaned himself up.
After his haircut and shave, he’d dropped by Arachne’s shop to pick up a new set of clothes, and here he was.
Dressed and at the ready, and bloody damned furious at himself for the time he’d wasted on his appearance when he noticed Gabriella’s car sitting on the sidewalk, door ajar, and his scrumptious little female nowhere in sight.
“Hot as hell today, isn’t it?” a random passerby said.
“Not really, no,” Ash replied, glaring at the suddenly pale man who rushed away.
His own damn fault for speaking before being spoken to, Ash thought rudely.
He jogged toward the car, inhaling deeply as he reached the vehicle.
She’d been there recently, only moments ago, in fact.
He could see her heat signature, read it on the air as easily as a living breathing thermo-imaging camera.
It was another of his Demonic gifts, and one he used to track his prey. Though, he’d never dreamed he’d be hunting his own mate. Another deep inhale and somewhere beneath the familiar vanilla-raspberry-lime fragrance, he discovered the problem.
“Shit. Gabriella, I’m coming,” he murmured, taking off at breakneck speeds to follow her trail all the way to the Hermosa Valley Greenbelt trail.
Shit.
This was obviously a popular hiking destination, he could tell by the joggers and dog walkers in the area. Not a good place for a Werewolf to have her first Change.
“Hold on, Gabriella. I’m coming.”
Breaking promises was no way to begin a relationship. Even a Demon knew that much. Ash was already vowing to make it right by the time he caught up to her, doubled over in agony near a tall and shady pine.
“Gabriella!” he yelled.
Her gaze flashed to him, the beautiful blue rimmed in a glowing silver color that was simply beautiful.
Like watching an ocean turn to ice or the sky swallowed by a cloud.
Riveting, breathtaking, and he could not look away. Even as he approached calmly, arms wide, palms up.
She trembled as another wave of pain washed over her, and Ash grunted, feeling it as if it were his own. Gabriella growled deep inside her chest, a sound that spoke to his own Demon who responded with his own guttural reverberation.
“Hurts,” she whimpered.
“I know, love. You’re fighting it. I can sense your fear,” he said, whipping his head back as someone approached.
Thankfully, the jogger was too busy checking his fitness watch to bother with them. Still, he thought, staying there was a recipe for disaster.
“Listen, love, I am going to lift you up. It is going to hurt because you are starting your Change. Your skin is exceedingly sensitive, but we must go somewhere more private. This place is too crowded.”
“Okay,” she nodded, and he paused.
“Are you sure—”
“Would you ever hurt me, Ash?” Gabriella asked, cutting him off.
Her eyes were glowing full on silver, and he knew he had to move her out of there and fast. But first her question, though it didn’t truly seem like one. More like she was forcing him to think about his own hesitations.
“Never! Gabriella, I know things seem crazy and fast, but I swear I would never hurt you,” Ash said, his response automatic.
“I know, Ash. I trust you.”
Her reply shocked and humbled him. He had her trust. Nothing had ever felt better to him, except maybe her love. But he could wait for that, he realized, knowing full well he was already in love with her.
Ash swore he saw playfulness in her eyes, and when he looked even deeper, he saw resolve and certitude.
If he were a praying Demon, Ash would’ve dropped to his knees in that moment.
As it were, he simply thanked all the gods for the gift of her.
Then he hauled ass, attending her needs first was his priority.
The sweet, beautiful miracle that was Gabriella Keen somehow, someway, trusted in him, in Asmodeus, Demon of Lust, Prince of Hell, to do right by her. And she wasn’t above letting him see her feelings, despite the obvious pain of her Shift.
No mind games or manipulations. Not with her. She was real and pure and honest, and fuck, he did not deserve her. No. Not in this lifetime.
But he would take her. Ash had every intention of keeping the beautiful she-Wolf as his own. The second she was willing, he planned to gather her close, claim her with his bite, and hold on tightly to her with both hands. For as long as he could, until he took his very last breath.
Forever, his Demonic side inserted.
Mine.
Forever mine.
“Ash,” she whispered his name, gorgeous silver orbs boring into his. “I know you would never hurt me. I trust you. Please, take me somewhere safe, Ash. Before I scare the crap out of these people, or worse, hurt someone.”
His heart squeezed at the sound of Gabriella’s voice.
Laced with pain and breathy with her pants, it hurt him to hear her this way.
He wanted to take away all her hurt, to make her feel good, but he understood, perhaps better than she, that sometimes you had to experience pain to get to what was really good.
Still, he’d take it all away if he could.
For now, though, he would have to content himself with doing as she bade him.
“I got you, love. It will all be over soon,” he said, lifting her into the safety of his arms.
She sighed, resting her overly warm forehead on his chin, and he felt a tremor rack his entire frame. Fuck, he loved her trust in him. Would do all he could to ensure he was worthy of that one thing that meant more than any other, starting with this.
“Hold on,” he growled, ducking back behind the tree line as a group of dogwalkers neared them.
The dogs were barking like mad, some whimpering and whining as they came closer to where they’d been a moment before.
The beasts were probably scenting her Wolf.
Thankfully, Gabriella was too focused on herself to pay them any mind.
Her unsteady breathing another sign that she was fighting too hard.
Fuck.
He had to do something. Go somewhere to make sure she was safe.
But where would a Demon take a new Wolf to Change and run for the first time?
“Ash,” she said his name through gritted as the pain gripped her harder than before.
“Hold on.”
His only thought of her, Ash used the shadows to travel like lightning to the nearest portal. The Underworld might not be what some would call a vacation spot. But it was home.
And he wanted her there, in his keep, in his house, with him more than anything.
Possessive?
Fuck yes. Unapologetically so. He was a Demon, after all. Not an exceptionally generous being. But he would give everything he had for and to Gabriella. She was it for him.
Mine.
Mine.
MINE.