"Gabriel!" Rose held his head to her breast, gasping for breath. His mouth was hot where the rest of him remained cool. She shivered at the contrast, gasped again when he transferred his attentions to her other breast, sending sparks to ignite the heat between her legs. Her hands lifted his face to hers for a searing kiss. "Take me."
The look in his eyes, both hungry and agonized, made her thump him on the shoulder. "I'm burning for you. God, Gabriel. Put me out of my misery, for pity's sake."
"Are you sure? Rose. Are you absolutely sure?"
She kissed him fiercely. "Yes. Now. Please!"
His eyes changed, turned intent, the clear gray now molten silver as he put her under him and raised her knees up to her chest. Need roared through him and without thought for gentleness, he thrust into her, a wild joining of bodies and minds.
He reached for her mind and through their connection he knew her reaction to his hardness deep in her body, the melting and the new tension that gripped her. Knew when she felt him in her mind. Her eyes met his, wide with joy.
You are mine. Mine!
Her exultation filled him, warmed him like nothing else could as she held him close. For a few moments he didn’t move, caught in the wonder of their coming together. He’d been afraid of
this
? He couldn’t think why. He reached to her.
I am made for you.
He reveled in the tight grip of her legs, the welcoming pulsations of her body hot around him as he slowly withdrew then plunged again into her. He kissed her, ravenous, as their pace accelerated, sweat sheening their bodies.
Rose remembered to breathe. He filled her, surrounded her, and possessed her in every way possible. She’d never felt more alive as she did beneath him. Her lungs filled with his scent, her mouth with his taste as they rolled across the big bed, grappling with their furious need. Rose stroked his hard body straining against hers as they climbed to impossible heights of sensation.
She tensed, crying out as her climax rocked her. Gabriel stiffened in her arms; she wrapped herself around him as he joined her in pleasure a fraction of a second later.
Gabriel collapsed to one side of her. Her legs slid down his as she relaxed deeper into the bed. Peace surrounded them. The cooing of the doves outside added to the sense of home, and Gabriel breathed in the scent of the two of them. His heart filled with a painful joy as his body pulled him down into sleep.
“Gabriel. I love you. I do. You probably think I’m just being female or something, and that’s okay. You don’t have to say a word.” Her words were slurred with sleep.
He tensed. “You said making love wouldn’t change anything between us.”
She chuckled. “It hasn’t.” She stretched beneath him. “Hmmm. Except I feel wonderfully sleepy. Shhh. I’m going to sleep now, the best sleep ever.”
Gabriel kissed her head and tucked her against him as he rolled to his side. "Sleep, then. Morning will come soon enough."
He laid a cheek against her head and stared into the dark, wide-awake after her revelation. This couldn't be anything other than temporary. Tonight Rose slept, warm and alive in his arms. He'd wring every drop of closeness with her that he could. He was selfish enough to do that. He’d deal with tomorrow when it came.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a peculiar light glinting in the darkness. Peering closer, he saw the shimmering strands of blue and purple Fae bonds wind around him and, for the first time ever in his memory, cling to another person.
Rose.
The meaning infiltrated his sex-and-fear-hazed brain. They'd been bonded. Their lives were now intertwined beyond death.
Gabriel held her close, refusing to panic even as his world changed to an unrecognizable shape. Once bonded, it couldn't be undone. Life for one who loses his mate is close to hell on earth, they’d seen that happen to Gideon and Maria Therese. He cursed softly under his breath, doing his best not to wake Rose. A Fae mating had
not
been a part of his plans.
* * *
Justin made his way unsteadily from the Jag where Kellan had left him fast asleep to the hearth room. Maggie was there, bending over to tend to the fire. Her curvy bottom, presented to him as she bent over, had his hands itching. He stopped a couple steps from her.
"Careful, there," he said, and gestured to her hair when she turned sharply at his words. "I'd hate to see all that hair burn up."
Her look of surprise turned sardonic. "As if you care. Back off, Casanova."
Justin took a couple careful steps back and spread his hands wide. "Satisfied?" He suppressed a yawn.
“Kellan gave me an update. You doing okay?” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Ready to do the mattress mambo whenever you want.” He leaned against a wing back chair for support and leered at her, knowing she half-expected it.
“Shut it down, Reggae Boy. You’re useless after consorting with vampires.” Maggie sniffed and moved back to settle on the couch.
"Then hit me with an update. What ya got?"
“Not a whole lot. There’s nothing anywhere about the Soul twins. I did find a ton of sites about spirals, and something caught my eye but it’s a very slim similarity. Nothing that exactly matches what we’ve got going on here.” She put her chin on her hand and stared dolefully at her computer screen. “We’re kind of where we started. And before you ask, there's been nothing on Kendall, either, except the cops have cancelled the APB on him.”
Justin frowned. “I thought you were good at this research stuff.”
“I am. But there has to be something out there for me to find. I’m finding nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. If you think you could do better, you’re welcome to try.” She pushed the laptop across the coffee table to him.
“Testy.”
“Failure tends to make me that way. But I’ve come up with a theory. Sit down before you fall down."
"And?" Justin settled on the edge of the couch and did his best to focus.
"Do you remember Doc Cavanaugh talking about the Soul Chalice and the Soul Stealer? How they balance each other out, and how they often destroy each other? I think maybe that means they can't live without the other one around."
"Just what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that if we kill Satine, maybe it's a binding of some sort and Rose will also die."
Justin stood abruptly. "Your theory sucks. What are you basing this on, anyway?”
Maggie shook her head impatiently. "Put the pieces together. Maria Therese felt guilty that she didn't live long enough to care for Gabriel. Rose was her way to save him. What better vessel than a Soul Chalice to rescue a soul from a Soul Stealer? And then, once the deed was done, Soul Chalice kills Soul Stealer, or they destroy each other, thus leaving her son to live a happy life."
"If Rose dies, Gabriel will live a life of hell. He doesn't deserve that."
"You don't know that. You're just being difficult."
"I do know that. They're Fae bonded, Magdalena. They've been
bonded
. I noticed it yesterday, but I don’t think they know. I saw what happened to my Dad when Mom died before her time. I wouldn't wish that kind of agony on anyone, much less my brother." Grim satisfaction ripped through him at the surprise and remorse crossing her face.
Justin continued. "So everything you just said? It’s wrong. You are completely, totally, and utterly wrong. About everything," he said. His every word stood out, chilly and distinct. In a rush of movement he left Magdalena and the fire and went out into the night.
Justin stalked unsteadily through the trees to the far end of the property. Orange and lemon blossom perfumed the night air, soothed him with their familiar fragrance.
He couldn't accept Magdalena's theory. If Rose died, his brother may as well be dead, too. Their family couldn't handle it if it happened again, and especially if it happened to Gabriel.
Justin reached the back of the property and turned to stare at the house in the distance. Doc Cavanaugh's voice came back to him.
"But wherever there's a Soul Stealer, you'll find a Soul Chalice, doing whatever she can to rescue the stolen souls. Balance. Good and evil. Yin and yang, if you wish. Usually the two Soul Entities end up killing each other."
Maybe Magdalena was right after all. Damn it. She couldn't be. Could she?
Justin sighed and leaned against one of the old eucalyptus trees edging the property to the north. A hole in his life had been filled when Gabriel returned. Losing his brother again wasn't an option. He lifted his face to the stars, but found no answers there.
He sensed Magdalena the minute she stepped outside and turned her face to him. He didn't like her here. She muddled his thinking. But he didn't have much choice. He'd asked her for help. He couldn't just pat her on the head and thank her, sending her away. She wouldn't go, anyway. She had a stake in the outcome now. She’d befriended Rose, so she was there until the bitter end. He understood that.
He didn't have to like it. All he had to do was steer clear of her.
She came to him, her arms crossed protectively over her chest. He'd hurt her, he knew, but it wasn't his job to protect her.
Like hell it wasn't. He’d been raised to know better.
She stopped three feet away and looked straight at him, those chocolate brown eyes steady and straightforward. No tears, thank God. He should have known he wouldn't get tears from her.
"I'm sorry."
Her apology took him by surprise. "Nothing to be sorry about. You came up with a theory which is more than the rest of us have done," he said roughly.
"The theory sucks." Maggie looked down, rubbed the toe of her shoe in the dirt.
“It does, yes. But I didn’t have to blame you for it."
"Understandable. What do we do now?"
"Let's go back to the house. I need to sleep horizontal. You should go home, get some sleep." They moved together, walking in the waning moonlight.
Maggie shook her head. "I'm not driving anywhere, I'm too tired. If there's a blanket around, I'll just sleep in the living room. You know we’ll all do everything we can to fix this, to save them. We’re not going to stand by and do nothing.”
Before they walked in the front door, he stopped her, one hand on her shoulder. As tall as he was, she was tall enough to only tilt her head a little bit to see his eyes.
"What is it?"
"I still think you're wrong. About Rose having to die, I mean. But I do appreciate what you said, about all of us working together to save them."
"Rose may have to be point person on this. I'm not saying I like it. I’m not saying she will die, either. It’s just that's the way it might have to go down. I'm sorry."
"She won't, not if I can help it," he vowed.
"Stop being such a man," snapped Maggie. She jerked open the front door. "You're not always going to get your way."
"No kidding," he said, and followed her into the living room where the flames still licked at the wood in the fireplace. "But I can do everything in my power to keep her safe."
Maggie frowned as she settled into her chair again. "You can try. Gabriel will have something to say about keeping her safe. And if you haven't noticed, Rose has a mind of her own."
"Yeah. Smart, stubborn, sexy." He shook his head and sighed. "I'm beginning to think it's the curse of the Caine men."
"What is?" Maggie looked at him, suspicious.