“You’re very scary, Aleksei. And you have a temper.” That seemed a mild way to express the fury that could overtake him.
“That is so,” he agreed calmly. “I will definitely get angry over things, and you will learn to be all right with that. What I will not do is throw things at you or our children. If you are punished for something, I will make certain in the end, you are all right with your punishment and with me.”
She couldn’t help the shiver that went through her body. “Punishment? I’m a grown woman. Men do not punish women anymore. That went out a century or two ago.” She was a little wrong with her math, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to have this man think he could treat her like a child.
He lifted his head toward her ear. His tongue stroked and his teeth caught her earlobe and tugged. “But then I am not a modern man. My lifemate does not run wild nor does she run over me. You are my woman and you have given yourself to me. You will live in my world with me. There will be no more mistakes such as betraying me with another man.”
Gabrielle winced when he delivered the full body blow. She’d tried to make up for her mistake. She had done everything she knew how to do and even forced herself to do things she had no clue about, just to make this man realize she hadn’t betrayed him on purpose. She wasn’t that kind of person. She tried to sit up, to pull away from him, but his arms locked her to him, preventing movement.
She turned her face away from him. She had no idea what she was doing there. With him. Clearly she didn’t belong there, either. She wasn’t human. She wasn’t Carpathian. She wasn’t even fully in her own family—the one she’d been born into. She didn’t fit anywhere. The dawn was looking better and better.
He growled. His hand spanned her throat. “Do. Not. Even. Think. That. Not ever.” He bit out each word. Snarled it. His eyes held a kind of fury. “You will fight for our relationship. You gave me your word. Is your word no good? Tell me now. Tell me now and I will end this for both of us.”
She knew she should never have tried to give even a part of herself away to him. If she’d just kept it to sex, she could handle it. She loved sex with him. Not her brain, but her body. She couldn’t help it. She melted when he touched or kissed her. But this, this other, she didn’t have the strength anymore to keep losing bits and pieces of herself.
Aleksei’s fingers tightened around Gabrielle’s throat. Her pulse beat into his palm. “Look at me,” he hissed.
She would not harm herself. He didn’t care about himself, but she was his lifemate and would have his protection from everything. Everybody. Even herself. He would go into her mind if she didn’t back down. He had been careful of her wishes, giving her the time to purge the other man from her mind, but he would have to go back on his word if she continued thinking such blasphemy. They were fully bonded. She was his. Body. Mind. Soul. And heart. She just hadn’t accepted it yet. But she would.
“Gabrielle,” he hissed again.
She might have been more afraid when he used the word punishment. She might have been genuinely indignant, but at the same time, he was buried deep in her body and he felt the scorching liquid heat of her body’s reaction to his dominance. She was made for him. She needed to learn to trust him and relax in his care. He wouldn’t let anything hurt her, but she had to come to terms with being a Carpathian. Being a lifemate. Being the lifemate of an ancient who had skated too close to the edge of madness and was left with demons.
She did the most unexpected thing. She brought her hands down and framed his face. Her fingers moved, featherlight, over his rough features. She traced his eyebrows, his eyes, his bone structure, down his jaw, over his nose, and settled on his mouth.
“I won’t go back on my word, Aleksei,” she said. “But no matter how angry you get, no matter how many times you throw what I did in my face, I can’t change it. I did it. I betrayed you. I didn’t mean to do it, but I still did. I accept that. And I accept who you are. I have lived a certain way and I’m going to make more mistakes because I don’t know the rules of your world. But I won’t go back on my word.”
He hadn’t realized his belly was tied into a thousand knots until he heard her affirmation. He believed her. She was confused. Afraid. And miserable. But she wouldn’t leave him. Not by seeking the dawn.
He had hurt her. He felt her flinch when he’d brought up her betrayal. He hadn’t meant to be so petty as to fling that in her face. Not again. He’d tasted fear when he read her features. She was not adept at hiding her thoughts and clearly she contemplated meeting the dawn. He hadn’t known fear for so long he hadn’t even recognized the emotion when it first crept into his body and then took over.