Dark Promises(37)

“Not unless you do as well. I told you. Your decision is my decision.”

He glared at her. The air thickened. Vibrated with his anger. He was from a different time, she reminded herself. Women didn’t talk back to men in his time. They obeyed.

Suddenly he was on his feet. He reached down and caught her arm, yanking her up, yanking her into him. His body was hard. She couldn’t find a soft place on him. He was enormously strong and his fingers shackled her just as well as any chain would have.

“If I really had a choice, I would throw you down and bury my cock in your body. I would taste you, eat you up, drink your blood. Claim every inch of you for my own. I would not let you rest until the sun began to climb and then I would put you in the ground with me and hold you while we slept. When we awakened, I would start all over again.”

He was deliberately scaring her. She didn’t doubt that he meant every word. Every single word. She could barely breathe. Barely draw in a breath. She caught her lower lip between her teeth, trying to assess her own reaction. Her brain screamed at her to run, but her body melted at his words. Really melted. She actually went damp and her breasts ached.

She didn’t understand how it could happen when she knew she really loved another man, but strangely, she was physically attracted to Aleksei. The chemistry was off the charts, even when he was holding her captive like he was. She wasn’t wild. There wasn’t anything the least bit wild about her; normally she would have run for her life, but she couldn’t. Not if she was going to save Aleksei, and he deserved to be saved.

“Is that your decision, then?” She couldn’t look up at him. She just couldn’t. Not with her heart pounding and her body reacting and her mind screaming at her.

Her question was met with silence. She stared down at the ground, terrified to look at him. Terrified of his answer. They would either return to that horrible carpet on the ground and he would take her body, or they would sit together and burn in the sun.

“Look at me.”

She swallowed hard, studiously staring at the ground. “Aleksei. This is your decision. I told you I would do whatever you wished and I will, but I’m really scared. If I look at you, you’re going to see that and it might influence you one way or the other.”

“When I tell you something, Gabrielle, you are to do it.”

His tone was gentle for the first time. His voice soft. Compelling. But there was no give there. No concession. He meant it. She closed her eyes briefly, summoning the courage she would need. In truth, she had caused this innocent man harm. She’d nearly pushed him over the edge right into the darkness. She knew that. She was responsible. She felt the darkness rising and she should have been able to pull herself together to calm him instead of inciting him further.

She’d been too upset at losing Gary to think straight. She’d been clinging to a way out. There was no way. Not even with Gary.

Aleksei’s fist bunched in her hair in a clear warning. Gabrielle swallowed the terrible burning lump in her throat and lifted her gaze to his. The moment her eyes met his, her heart thudded wildly. She felt the darkness in him, and that was bad enough, but she could see it, too. The demons driving him. His implacable strength. This was a man the complete opposite of the one she’d fallen in love with. He was hard and scary and would demand things of her she wasn’t certain she was capable of giving. Still. Without her, he wouldn’t survive.

“You would tie your life to mine for all eternity.” There was sarcasm in his voice, and she winced as if he’d struck her. “You would give your body into my keeping.”

She couldn’t look away. His eyes were such a piercing green, and they seemed to look right through her. She nodded.

“That is not good enough, Gabrielle. Say it.”

She swallowed hard, afraid she might get sick, not because her body didn’t want his. In fact, she was growing warm. Too warm. Her breasts ached and she was damper than ever between her legs. But quite frankly, her terror was escalating with every word he said.

“Yes.”

Impatience crossed his face. His fingers tightened, pulled her a breath closer. Her hands landed on his chest and she gasped at the heat pouring off him.

“Yes, what?”

She stared up into that pure green. No gold flecks. No hazel. All burning green. She took a deep breath and threw herself straight into the wolf’s jaws. “I give my body into your keeping.”

Her declaration was met with silence. He stared down into her eyes for what seemed forever. She was terrified he would take her up on her offer. She was just as equally terrified that he wouldn’t.