Aleksei scooped her up, cradling her against his body protectively. At least, to Gabrielle, the way he held her felt protective. Her heart fluttered in reaction. She slipped her arms around his neck while he carried her to a shallow steaming pool. When he sank down, he kept her on his lap.
“I don’t know why I did it. When I was a child growing up, I did the same thing once I stopped hiding under my bed. Mom would lose her mind over something and throw a tantrum, which meant throwing objects. I would get between her and my sister so she couldn’t hurt her. Not that she ever meant to, she didn’t. She just had these blind, very destructive temper tantrums. They were over fast and then she’d be all smiles and comfort and ‘let’s get ice cream.’ I think it’s kind of automatic for me to do that sort of thing.”
Gabrielle turned her face into his throat and licked at his skin. He always tasted so good. His hand came up to cup the back of her head, holding her close to him.
“Take what you need, kislány, your hunger beats at me. Then we will go hunting and I will teach you how to get food for yourself. I do not want you to, but you can practice in case of an emergency.”
“You don’t want me to hunt for myself?”
“The thought of you seducing a man with your voice to call him to you does not sit well with me. Still, you need the skill.”
“Why?” She clutched at his shoulder, suddenly afraid of the reason, but needing to know.
“I will hunt the vampire again, and in doing so, there is the possibility of injury. You may need to bring blood back for me.”
She took a breath and let it out slowly. She thought it would be an aversion to hunting humans that would upset her, but it was the thought of him injured. She stroked her fingertips over his pulse. So strong. So steady. Her rock.
“Why do you have to go back to hunting vampires?”
She could have bitten her tongue. It just slipped out. She felt like a child whining instead of a grown woman accepting the fact that Aleksei had been in thousands of dangerous situations and knew what he was doing. She was being selfish. Afraid for him. Afraid for herself. She knew Carpathian hunters battled vampires. They hunted killers and stopped them. They were necessary.
“Kislány.”
His voice was so gentle her heart turned over.
“You are Carpathian and you know the danger we face. Both from humans and from vampires. I have certain skills and now that I am safe from the darkness . . .”
“Don’t.” She shook her head, keeping close to him, nestling her face in his throat, letting his pulse beat beneath her ear. “I see inside you, Aleksei. I see you fighting your demons. I see the darkness there.”
“It is not the same, Gabrielle. There is no danger of me turning vampire. I will always have to watch myself around others. You are the only person on this earth who I know for absolute certain is safe. Any other . . .” He shook his head. “As for my demons, I think you are very good at handling them.” He caught her face in his hands and tipped it up toward his, forcing her gaze to meet his. “My sweet woman. So ready to give me whatever I need when I need it. You face my demons, Gabrielle, on every rising, and you never flinch.”
Gabrielle stared into his green eyes and let herself fall into them and drown there. He was a beautiful man whether he knew it or not. She knew it. She recognized the way he was far before he ever showed it to her. She had nearly destroyed this man. At first she thought she deserved to feel his demons raging, but then she realized he would never hurt her. He would push her limits of comfort, but he would also bring her so much pleasure sometimes she thought she might die of it.
“I’m afraid in your world,” she admitted. “All the time.” She knew it was why she clung to the familiar. She had chosen Gary because he shared that human world with her in such an unfamiliar and dangerous place.
His fingers sifted through her hair with infinite gentleness. “Gabrielle. This is your world, too. You are with me now. You will never have to be afraid again. I have centuries of skill in battle. Centuries. There is little the vampire or his puppets can bring to me that I have not seen. You will always be protected. You can live your life, however you want to live it. We can have the house you want, or we can go back to the mountains where the prince resides and you can continue your work. Regardless, you can do so without fear. You trust your body into my keeping, trust that I will protect you at all times.”
She searched his expression. His eyes. She had seen Aleksei in a rage, a full-blown fury that turned her blood to ice water, but this was new. This was gentle. And sweet. Tears stung. Burned. She had to blink rapidly to keep from making a fool of herself. She nodded slowly.
“Take my blood, before I decide I need you again.”
She liked the gruff in his voice. She knew he wanted her again, the evidence was tight against her buttocks where she sat on his lap, but he was determined to show her how to hunt and, although she wanted him as well, she liked the idea of getting out into the open.
She moved her face back to his neck and inhaled his masculine scent. Already his taste was on her tongue and the fierce, gnawing hunger beat at her, overcoming her inhibitions. At least, she told herself it was the hunger, but when she was being strictly honest, it was Aleksei. She wanted him, all of him. Including this. He had made the act of feeding erotic.
She licked over his pulse and felt it jump beneath her tongue. Her arms went around his neck and she settled close to him, pushing her breasts into his side while she brought his head closer to her. Deliberately she used her teeth to scrape gently back and forth, building the tension. He was a master at that with his touch. With his mouth. She was a quick study. She always had been.
She felt his body tighten. His muscles lock in place. Beneath her buttocks, his cock jerked. Hard. She kissed his pulse, just a brush, a barely there kiss. He groaned and his hand tightened in her hair.
“You are playing with fire, kislány. If you do not want to spend the entire rising flat on your back with me playing for a long, long time before I allow you release, keep this up. I do not have endless control.”
She smiled against his pulse, liking that she could make him lose control. His “punishments” weren’t very scary and in fact, they mostly made her not want to be so “good.” Still, she did want to get out a little bit. She couldn’t help herself, even while she obeyed him, she slipped into his mind as she bit down with her teeth, just to feel what that sensual bite did to him.
The taste of him burst through her—through him. She felt the intensity of his pleasure as she fed at his neck, taking what he so freely offered—more—what he’d all but ordered her to take. His essence. Rich. An ancient’s blood was different, she realized. Aleksei’s tasted and felt like him. Dangerous. Hot. Rich. Masculine. Very, very powerful. Aleksei, who could drive away nightmares, standing between her and her past. If he could do that . . . She closed her eyes and savored his taste, her fingers moving in the silk of his hair.
Aleksei held her tightly, nearly crushing her to him, his hand moving over her body, shaping her breasts, sliding his palm down her side to her hip. Over her back. He touched and held her as if she meant everything to him. Tears burned close at the beauty of it. At the beauty of being his entire focus. His only. The one.
Gabrielle swept her tongue over the pinpricks in his neck and rested her head against his shoulder. “You’re really beautiful, Aleksei,” she whispered. “So much so, sometimes you take my breath away.”