Dark Promises(118)

He turned to Gabrielle. His lifemate. She was still down on her knees and now there were tears in her eyes and tracking down her face. He pushed down his temper, knowing his reaction came out of fear for her. Had she managed to move before he could stop her, she would have drawn the attention of the vampire and Vaugn. Denny was long since gone in the woods, hiding like the coward he was, but she could have been harmed. Still, he didn’t have the heart to chastise her, not when she was looking like her heart was breaking.

“Come here to me,” he said softly.

She shook her head and his heart clenched in his chest. She shook her head hard. Adamantly. He knew immediately her head was in a space that didn’t bode well. He didn’t bother to argue. He went to her, gathered her up and streaked across the night sky, allowing the rain to hit both of them, drenching them, washing his own blood from his body.

He felt her move, even with the tears in her eyes, reaching up to his shoulder where the ragged tears were, her tongue instinctively lapping to use the healing saliva in her mouth to close those lacerations. Then she was holding his face between her hands, doing the same thing, ignoring that they were in the air, air that grew steadily colder as he went up the mountain to his chosen lair. All the while she wept while she healed his face, and then sought out every other place on his body, examining his back for evidence of the knife wound, eventually finding even the smallest cuts to heal.

By the time he reached the safety of his cave, set the safeguards and had her on the bed, her head in his lap while he tried to comfort her, he honestly didn’t know who was more upset—Gabrielle or him.

“That is enough, kislány. You are going to make yourself sick and there is no need for these tears. I am just fine. So are you. Nothing happened.”

Her fingers balled into a fist and she thumped his thigh. “Something happened,” she declared through her sobs. “I have to go. I have to leave you. I can’t stay here with you.”

He tensed. Huge knots formed in his belly. His hands tightened convulsively in the thick mass of her hair. He made himself breathe. In. Out. Waiting for the fury to pass. Waiting for his demons to quiet.

“Gabrielle, you are my lifemate. We do not leave each other. Talk to me. Tell me what is going on in that head of yours. I am being polite and allowing you your space, but if you cannot stop, I will have no choice but to take this information from you so I can stop you from making yourself sick. Talk to me.”

“I can’t do this. I should never have been converted.” She covered her face with her hands and sobbed, great wrenching, heartbreaking sobs.

Aleksei’s fingers sifted through her hair, keeping her head on his lap, breathing in and out to keep his demons at bay. His woman was hurting. Hurting. That was unacceptable to him. “My little cat, you are my lifemate. You were born my lifemate. You belong in my world with me. What makes you think you do not?”

She wrapped her arms tighter around his legs. “I didn’t help you. I should have been able to help you when you needed it. Joie, my sister, would have jumped right in.”

Aleksei stroked caresses through that mass of dark silk. “Kislány.” He whispered the endearment softly. “You did try to jump right in. I prevented it.”

“The difference . . .” She tried to sit up, to pull away from him.

Aleksei refused to allow it. He kept his hand on her head, preventing her from moving. He applied pressure until she subsided, collapsing against his thighs with another sob, as if even her inability to fight his strength was a sin.

“The difference,” she repeated, “is you would have allowed my sister to help because she would know how. She wouldn’t throw up. She wouldn’t be a disadvantage to you, she would be an asset.”

Another storm of weeping ensued. This time Aleksei pulled her up so that her face was pressed into his chest. He wrapped her up tightly. “That is enough. I allowed all those tears because you needed the release. You were shocked by the violence and afraid for me, but now you are just going to make yourself sick. Stop. I mean it, Gabrielle.”

Her fingers curled into a fist and she thumped his chest. “You can’t tell me to stop crying and expect me to obey.”

“Yes I can, kislány. Stop right now. You obviously do not understand the concept of lifemates, and we need to be very clear on this. I need you to look at me, not hide your face. I do not want tears in your eyes when I talk to you about this. I need to be able to see that you are getting it.”

She pressed her face deeper into his shirt. He felt the wetness of her tears, and he gave her time to obey him. The seconds seemed like hours before she finally took several deep, hiccupping breaths and lifted her face, drawing in the air to try to obey him. His fingers came up under that heavy fall of silk to curl around the nape of her neck. She was beautiful, even with her tear-drenched face. Her large eyes met his and he felt that impact in the pit of his stomach. His body stirred as it always did when she looked at him. When she was close to him. Anytime.