Perhaps if someone had worked with her, she wouldn’t have felt so cut off, but no one thought to do so, and she couldn’t ask. Not the prince. Certainly not Gregori. She had counted on Gary. She had always counted on Gary. He would teach her what she needed to know.
Now, she used her mind to keep herself in the air. She knew everything started in one’s mind. Her feathers might be soaked, but she could shift in the air if she had to. Whatever the ancients tried, she would not be afraid. She would not back down. Gary belonged with her. No one was going to take him away from her. She’d seen in his eyes that he was close to capitulating.
The owl began to falter in the center of the mist and she forced a shift, one she’d never attempted before, but she was very familiar with molecules and the molecular structure of the human body, so she wasn’t as afraid of becoming molecules as she had been when she’d first learned how to shift into the form of an animal or bird.
The veil of mist parted again, and way down the mountain she caught a glimpse of four men and a woman hiking the mountain trail above the human village. They looked tiny, like ants. She was grateful they couldn’t possibly see her in the thick, swirling clouds of living fog miles and miles above them.
Without warning a wrenching sickness took her over, so that even in her present state, without a body, she felt as if she might tumble from the sky and be sick over and over. Fear seized her. She couldn’t tell why. It was unreasonable. She knew that, but it didn’t help to lessen the effect on her. Fortunately, the veil parted again, and this time, she actually saw the gates of the monastery. More. She saw Gary. He was with Andre. She recognized the Carpathian others referred to as “the Ghost.” With him was a woman. She was shorter than Gabrielle and had beautiful, mocha skin. Her hair was a deep ebony, and even braided it was very thick and hung to her waist.
Relief flooded through her and she dropped down fast, afraid if she didn’t get through the small hole in the mist, she would lose the location again. She saw Gary turn his head toward her, as she came out of the mist to shift only feet from him. Andre stepped in front of his lifemate.
“Gabrielle.” Gary breathed her name.
The unguarded look on his face was everything she could ask for right before a mask dropped down.
“Gary. I’ve had enough time to think about everything, and I’m willing to take the chance. We have too much for me to be afraid of reaching for what I want,” Gabrielle said hastily, moving right into him.
She ignored Andre and his lifemate, Teagan. She ignored the fact that she was nearly pressed against the huge, thick gates of the monastery. She knew better than to touch them, but she stayed firmly inserted between Gary and the gates. She knew she only had a few minutes before everything was lost. She knew because she felt the two Carpathians trailing after her. If they arrived before she managed to convince Gary they deserved their time together, she would lose everything.
“Gabrielle.” Gary said her name softly. Just that—her name.
She closed her eyes at the love in his voice. So real. So raw. So honest. How could anyone ask them to give up each other? As humans they would have married, had children and lived a happily-ever-after life. She knew that with every breath she took. She could hear the same knowledge in the sound of Gary’s voice. In her name.
She held out her hand. “Come away with me. Right now. Andre can do the prince’s bidding. We can take fifty years. Fifty. That’s all we’re asking for ourselves. We have an endless amount of time ahead of us.” She couldn’t think about that long eternity of loneliness stretching in front of her—not without Gary. “Fifty years isn’t too much to ask, Gary.”
She held her breath. Looked into his eyes. Let him see how much he meant to her. How much she loved him. They deserved to be together. They belonged. She felt it in her heart. No, in her very soul, the soul she supposedly shared with another man.
“Gabrielle.” The melting sensation in his heart told Gary he was so far gone in this woman he was going to lose the battle. He didn’t want to ever hurt her. Not again. The look on her face before she ran down the mountain, the rejection and pain so plain in her eyes had gutted him right along with her.
“We’ve given to them. We both have.” She stepped closer.
Her scent was elusive, mesmerizing, beautiful and delicate like she was, wrapping him up and surrounding him with her. Gary always got lost in her when she was so close. He couldn’t help it, he had to touch her. All that soft skin. It felt as soft as it looked. He framed her face with both hands, ignoring Andre, who had stepped close, his lifemate, Teagan, who had tears in her eyes, one step behind her man.
Gary stared into Gabrielle’s dove gray eyes and fell hard. He always did. She was right. They both had given much to the Carpathian people. Both had suffered. Nearly died. “Fifty years,” he whispered.
Her eyes searched his, hope creeping into her expression. “We’ll come back after and give the rest of our lives to them. If we find lifemates at that time, fine, if we don’t, we had our time.”
“Honey,” he said, still trying to do the right thing. “I could lose my emotions. Any time. Any day. What then?”
“You’ll know before it happens. They fade away. Over time. We have time. That’s one thing we do have.”
“My ability to see in color left when you did on our wedding night.” He would always remember the sight of her running from him, taking the vivid colors with her, leaving his world gray. “My emotions could go the same way.”
“I get that you’re saying there’s a risk. I know you would never hurt me, Gary. I know it. If you lose your emotions, we’ll deal with that. But it should be my risk. My choice. I should have that right. I work with hot viruses; do you think I wouldn’t risk everything for you? I’m fighting for us, Gary. I need to know I’m just as important to you as you are to me. I need you to fight for me.”
She laid it all out. Courageous. Right in front of Andre and Teagan. She bared her soul, leaving herself exposed and vulnerable to him. There was no resisting that. He felt the smile start somewhere deep inside of him. She was right. She was so right. Fifty years in a Carpathian’s life was nothing. For them, it would be everything they wanted.
“I love you, Gabrielle,” he stated. “I love you with every breath in my body. And honey, never, for one moment, think you aren’t worth fighting for. I’d die for you. You aren’t second to anyone. You’re my number-one priority.”
Her face lit up. Like sunshine. Like the stars over his head. Lighting his world. He might not be able to see in color, but he could see the light shining like a beacon—for him. His heart jerked in his chest.
“I think Andre and Teagan can handle this assignment without me. I was here to observe, if the ancients even wanted to try Teagan’s experiment. We can leave now. Go to the States, live out our time there.”
Gabrielle flung herself at him with a glad cry, her mouth turned up to his. He caught her in midair, wrapping his arms around her at the same time she wrapped her legs around him. His mouth found hers, tasting her. Tasting the wild in her. The wild she never let anyone see, but he always knew it was there, under the surface. His. She’d been his from the moment he laid eyes on her.
He kissed her. Hard. Wet. A kiss that promised there was a lot more to come. Her mouth was a kind of paradise, her taste addicting. Sweet. Pure honey. Her body jerked hard, nearly pulling her from his arms. He lifted his head. Saw her eyes wide with shock and fear.
“Gary,” she whispered. Scared. Terrified.