“Oh, great.” I examined the setting ahead and viewed the opening to the woods. Nestled inside was another building. The path veered off and a track took its place through the trees. “Who’s Hanora?” I tried to keep the quiver from my voice.
“What do you mean?”
“Who is she to Gabriel?”
He thought for a moment. He was slightly ahead of me so he slowed down. “She is Gabriel’s oldest companion. He freed her back in the early nineteen hundreds. She was the first one he saved. They’ve been traveling together a long time, so they’re, shall we say, close.” His eyes glanced at me sideways, checking for my reaction.
His words stung. I didn’t like the idea that Gabriel, my Gabriel, was close to any female. I felt betrayed. But how could I? It wasn’t like he belonged to me. I still didn’t know what he was to me or even what he had been to me in another lifetime. I gulped hard, but tried not to give anything away.
I rubbed my hands over my arms as the chill continued to sting me.
“You’re cold,” Jonah observed. “Here.” He whipped off his dark leather jacket and stood in front of me. Placing it around my shoulders, he pulled the collar edges together. Glancing down thoughtfully, his pupils swelled a little larger, inviting me in. I was captured momentarily by his expression, a wicked grin spreading across his face. I knew he was dangerous, and not only because he was a Vampire.
He stepped a little closer and bent down suggestively, so he was almost nose-to-nose with me, his unwavering stare meeting my own. He held my gaze as he placed his hands into the pockets of the jacket hanging on either side of my body, brushing his thumb against my bare waist as he moved under the bottom of the shirt. I didn’t falter. He moved in a little closer, his hips now touching mine. I was the first to break.
Self-consciously I jolted away, fluttering my eyelashes furiously, escaping the exchange. Bowing my face down I scratched at my head; he threw his own back and roared a little.
He snatched his hands out of the pockets and produced a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Embarrassed, I hid my blush as he stepped back. Lighting his cigarette high in the air, he blew out the smoke through his nose. “Want one?” he asked, extending the box in my direction.
I inhaled, letting the secondhand smoke pollute my lungs, but shook my head. “I’d say they’d kill you, but I guess that doesn’t exactly apply.”
It took us about ten minutes to reach the woodlands. We entered the opening and the pathway led to a pretty but rather decrepit outbuilding. I lit up and Jonah offered to show me inside. “Gabriel’s been doing some restoration work to it. It won’t fall down now but it’s a long way from finished yet.”
It was small but perfectly formed. I creaked open the old wooden door and was presented with an entranceway that featured a beautiful tile floor with a sun design. Four rooms came off it—a sitting room, a bedroom, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It had been plastered and the plumbing was in but the rest of it was a shell. I wandered into the sitting room. A sheet hung over the fireplace, and I carefully peeled it back to reveal a newly installed log fire, ready for use. It felt so homey.
“It’s incredible,” I gushed.
“You’re easily impressed.”
I shrugged off his comment as I fell in love with the building. I bounced happily from each room. They were all bare, other than a sink and toilet that had recently been installed in the bathroom; but even so, it captivated me. I felt more comfortable here than I did in the luxurious house. It was far less alien, and a palace compared to the places I’d lived.
“How’s your shoulder holding up?” Jonah asked, breaking my train of thought.
“Sorry?” We were back in the entranceway and my attention had turned to the tiled sun on the floor. It seemed to exude flashes of gold and white. I knew that was impossible, but it did.
“You know, where you were shot?” He squeezed the back of my shoulder where Gabriel had patched me up just a few nights before. I didn’t flinch.
“What are you doing!” I stepped away from him, irritated.
“Funny, most people would feel something so soon after,” he accused.
“I’m not most people.” I didn’t want to lie to him.
“Let me see it. I’ve been feeling guilty about it since it happened.”
“No.” I turned on my heel and started to make for the door. Gabriel had been quite adamant that I shouldn’t reveal my particular gift to anyone, least of all a Vampire.
I was reaching for the handle when he spun me around, pressing me up against the wall so that I was forced to face him. Jonah was tugging off his jacket and the cardigan from around me, holding me by the waist, restraining me.
“Jonah!”
SIX
“SORRY, CESSIE. I JUST NEED TO SEE IT. I won’t hurt you.”
Alarm rang through me. Reacting, I bolstered my weight into his chest, knocking him backwards a little, just as his fingers were gripped at the back of my shirt. He managed to tear the silk effortlessly, leaving it gaping open down my back. I huffed, aggravated, and he tilted his head, impressed with the strength I had exerted.
He eyed me for a moment but, within a flash, his hand was at my hip and he spun me around once more, my hands forced flat onto the cold brick wall. His body was flush with my own, his legs slightly parted, as he used all of his weight to keep me pinned, his hands clamped over the tops of mine. “You’re pretty stubborn, Cessie,” he murmured, his tone close to seductive.
I was so furious with him, yet a little chill of excitement flowed through me at the same time. He was playing me like chords on a guitar, in an attempt to change my tune.
“I just want a peek, that’s all,” he reasoned. Lowering himself down, his top lip skimmed my earlobe as he said, “No big deal.”
I couldn’t escape his grasp. I started to panic; I didn’t want to have to explain to Jonah. I didn’t even have an explanation.
He repositioned his left hand and I felt his weight shift across me. He reached for my hair and began to sweep it from my back. As it brushed my skin, I realized that I was seconds away from being revealed. He clasped my wrist. I forgot how strong he was; it felt as though he was nearly crushing my bones. I was about to scream when suddenly he let go.
I twisted to face to him, not entirely sure what had caused him to stop. I took a second to be thankful that my hair was still covering my shoulder blade. He had the strangest expression on his face: stunned.