Gabriel tamped down the urge to kill him on the spot. “Tony, is it? I know your type—you like to talk big, probably compensating for …” His gaze dropped down to his crotch. “Something else. But what you really are is a big bully.”
“Oh, so you know me, huh?”
Oh, he knew Tony’s type all right, and it all made sense why Temperance seemed shy and withdrawn. He wouldn’t be surprised if this Tony guy was the reason she couldn’t believe Gabriel—or anyone—could possibly love her for who she was.
“Looks to me like she’s seen the light. Let me guess, you cheated on her multiple times? Trying to make yourself seem like the big macho man, having a nice girl like her at home doing your bidding while you go out and wiggle your shrimp dick at anyone who even gave you a second glance—”
“Fuck you, freak,” Tony snapped. “She was mine first—ack!”
The human didn’t manage to finish that sentence, not with Gabriel’s hands squeezing his neck tight. “Listen here, maggot.” He slammed Tony’s body up against the car behind him. “She was yours first? Then you should have done everything in your Goddamned power—even sold your soul to the Devil himself—to keep her.” His lion urged him on, their claws extending out from his fingers just enough to prick at the other man’s skin. “That’s what I would have done. But she’s mine now, and if you even think about her or breathe the air she does, I’m going to open you up from neck to balls and eat you alive, got it?”
Tony took a gulp of air when Gabriel loosened his grip, and managed a nod.
“Christ.” The smell of urine made Gabriel want to gag, so he let go of the other man. “Get the fuck out of here.”
As he scrambled to his feet, Tony sent him a death glare. “You two freaks deserve each other,” he spat as he stomped off toward the rusted-out sedan near the front of the parking lot.
Gabriel took a few deep breaths and counted to three, watching as Tony peeled out onto the highway. Slowly, he turned around. “Baby, are you—Temperance?”
He expected her to still be plastered against the side of her car, but instead, she had rounded to the driver’s side, tugging at the handle desperately in an attempt to open the door. Her movements were manic, and her entire body shook as she let out a shriek of frustration when the door remained shut.
Patiently, he walked around to her side. “Maybe it would help if you unlocked the door first?”
She whirled around; light hazel eyes wide, cheeks flushed red.
“Where are your keys, baby?” he asked.
Her lips parted, and she sucked in a breath. “I-in my p-purse.” Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Gabriel’s chest tightened. “Baby, I’m so sorry for—”
“He’s right,” she whispered, a single hot tear streaking down her cheek. “I am a freak. You shouldn’t—”
“No, no, no.” More tears poured down her cheeks. “Oh, baby, please don’t cry. You don’t know what it does to me.”
Slowly, he approached her, arms reaching out. Though she flinched when his hands touched her shoulder, he embraced her anyway. She didn’t struggle, but instead, burrowed her face into his chest.
“You’re not a freak, baby. And that asshole doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” He tightened his arms around her. “He called me a freak, too. And you know what? I don’t give a shit what he thinks. If it means I do deserve you, then I’d gladly call myself a freak.”
She looked up at him. “You know you’re not. And that’s not what I meant.” Disentangling herself from him, she nodded down at her right arm. “You shouldn’t be with someone like me. I don’t deserve—”
“You know I don’t care about that.”
“What you can see now? It’s nothing compared to the rest of me.” She began unrolling her sleeve, exposing the frightening sight of the patches of discolored skin and webbed tissue on her arm. “It goes all the way up, to my back and neck. I’m mostly bald under here, too,” she said, shoving her fingers under her neck. “What is everyone going to say when they see us together? Oh, I know.” Her lips thinned. “They’ll always wonder what someone like you is doing with someone like me. That’s what they would always whisper when I was with Tony. And I couldn’t keep him, and I certainly won’t be able to keep you.”
“Stop saying that!” That made her jump back, and he cursed softly. “Maybe he wasn’t worth keeping.” A thought popped into his head, and it made him want to murder the other man even more than he already did. “Did he … was he the one responsible for your scars?” If she said yes, God help him, he would hunt that bastard down right now.
“What?” She double-blinked. “No, no, he wasn’t.” Her shoulders sank, and she sighed. “I was sixteen when it happened. My m-mother and stepfather, they weren’t … good people. I mean, they never hit me or anything, but all they cared about was getting their next hit. They’d been addicts since I could remember.” The light in her hazel eyes seemed to die, as if she was trapped in some nightmare in her mind and couldn’t get out. “We moved into a motel because we’d been kicked out of our last apartment again, and I had to sleep on the rollaway bed. I went to sleep early because it was exam week. The next thing I knew, I was in bed and everything was hot. I couldn’t breathe. And the burning … I passed out and woke up in the hospital. I was the only one that survived.”
Oh God. Gabriel’s chest was constricted so tight he couldn’t breathe. “Temperance … that’s horrible. I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s been a long time. I mostly got over it. Had the surgeries, therapy, learned to support myself ….” Her nostrils flared. “Then I met
