“Please . . . please kiss me.”
His lips were still hardly touching mine. I felt him smile.
“Gabriel,” I begged.
He growled deep in his throat and crushed his lips against mine. I gasped against him, pressing my body against his as tightly as I could. My shoulder hurt, but I couldn’t care. He deepened the kiss, his tongue clashing with mine, his hands burning cold on my waist, arms, and thighs.
I bit down slightly on his bottom lip, and his hands tightened on me in warning. I needed to be more careful, or he was going to lose control.
I almost protested when his mouth left mine, but instead, my entire body arched against him as his lips made a trail of icy fire from my neck to my chest. He gripped the straps of my tank top, his tongue lightly stroking the very tops of my breasts. I was unable to catch my breath as his lips returned to my mouth.
I was lost in him. I wanted him with every fiber of my being. I pulled at his black T-shirt, trying to get it off.
He smiled against my lips. “Are you sure?” he whispered.
I almost wished he hadn’t asked.
I tilted my head away from him, breaking the kiss. “We probably shouldn’t,” I said, my voice full of regret.
Even though our blood connection was gone, he understood. “Ah, I see. Yes, it is possible to have a blood connection to more than one person. As you can imagine, it gets very confusing and overwhelming. Humans have been known to kill themselves because of it.” He traced my face with his fingers, his touch gentle and careful. “You only want to make love with me if we can blood share during it. I want the same. I could try not to take enough blood from you to form one, but with you drinking mine and us most likely getting carried away, it’s not a good idea. I also drank a little from you yesterday, so we should not risk it. Well, at least we won’t have to wait much longer.”
I bit my lip. “Um . . . about that,” I said hesitantly.
“What is it?”
“I don’t want the blood transfusion yet,” I said quickly, forcing the words out.
He stared at me like I had spoken a different language. “Come again?”
“I want to explain to Thomas and Inola as well.”
“Tell me first,” he said. I could hear he was trying to keep his voice calm, but his words had been edged with ice.
“No. They need to hear it.”
He rolled off of me and stood up, his eyes fire. My stomach clenched.
“You mean you want them to take your side of whatever it is you have cooked up in your head. Well listen to me, Kara Alyne, I know you a whole lot better than you think, and the answer is no. Your compassion will be the death of you when it comes to Elias.”
I sat up. “You didn’t even give me the chance to explain!”
“No explanation will be good enough. I am scared to death of losing you, Kara. I have almost lost you too many times. It is not going to happen.”
“Do you think I want you to keep risking your life? You can’t even kill him! And what about Inola and Thomas? Are their lives expendable to you?”
He turned away from me. “We are not discussing this further.”
I stood up, going to him and making him look at me. “Yes, we are!”
The bedroom door opened. “What is going on in here?” Inola asked, concern etched on her face.
Thomas followed behind her. “Box fans only keep out so much noise, people. Why are you two fighting again?”
I stared daggers at Thomas. Gabriel ignored him and looked to Inola. “She wants to try to reach Elias. You know, try to talk to him and see if he wants to bake some cupcakes or adopt a kitten. Things that’ll bring out his good side,” Gabriel said.
My hands trembled, going to my temples in fists. “Ugh, I did not say that! You didn’t see what I saw last night. I dreamed about one of his memories. There was a little girl who was hurt, and he saved her life.”
“One good deed after many lifetimes of cruelty does not mean he is capable of reformation,” Gabriel said.
“What I saw was a lot more promising than anything I ever got from you!” I shot.
The room grew very still. I instantly regretted my words when I saw how pale Gabriel had become.
Why had I said that? No one hated himself or his actions more than Gabriel did. There was no reason to throw salt on his wounds when I was supposed to be helping him forgive himself.
Even Thomas looked unnerved. “Red, is it possible what you saw was only just a dream? Or maybe even something he fabricated to make you think he was worthy of change? You know vampires can choose whether to dream or not. He may simply be playing on your emotions.”
I shook my head. “I know the difference between a dream and a memory because of when I was connected to Gabriel. This was real, and even if he was making himself dream this on purpose, it is very possible it’s because he wanted me to see it, or at least it’s important enough to him that he wanted to relive it again. And the girl looked very similar to Lucy. She wasn’t identical, but she looked enough like Lucy that it shocked him. Maybe if she is still alive she can help us reach him. I don’t think it was too long ago that he saved her; a lot of the cars were late nineties models.
Inola toyed with her braid. “Kara, you are talking about involving an innocent girl here, one who may very well be killed in the process. She might not even be alive. If she is alive, she might be married. She may even have children,” Inola
