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“What?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing, and my responses are delayed as I think it all through. If he tells them he took me without my permission, then they’ll say that he abducted me. Shit. Energy surges through me, finally waking me up from the fog of missing my mates. “No, you can’t. They’ll charge you with kidnapping!”
He grips my shoulders, staring at me with an intensity that strips away all of the masks and attempts to hide my feelings.
“But it means you’ll be free!” he insists, clearly having considered this for a while.
Laughing without humour, I shake my head, not understanding why he doesn’t seem to understand the repercussions of what will happen if he does this. Gripping his shirt, I bare my teeth in frustration. “And you’ll be locked away for even longer!”
“My freedom is nothing if I can’t be with you, Emily!” he shouts, his eyes wild and glimmering, wings flaring out behind him. Sighing, he releases my shoulders and presses a hand against my cheek. “Little one, have you not figured it out yet?”
I know what he’s asking, but I’m not ready to say it. Not yet. Instead, I focus on what I can say, even if I can’t explain why it hurts so much.
“We’ll be separated.” Pain lances through me, my voice tight and quaking.
“It would happen at some point either way, you know this.” His voice is soft and gentle but holds a truth I don’t want to admit.
I can’t hold back the feelings building inside me, the pressure growing so much, I fear it may tear me apart. He’s hurt me before, and he could hurt me again, but what he wants to do will mean I won’t get to see him for years, and I’m not sure I could survive that either. It’s no good, I can’t keep pretending it doesn’t exist or that it will just sort itself out. I finally have to acknowledge what I’ve been holding back for the last couple of weeks.
“But…” I choke off as my throat constricts. “You’re my mate.” I finally manage to say the words.
His eyes squeeze shut, and a vulnerable expression covers his face. When he opens his eyes, they glimmer. “You know.”
“I know,” I reply quietly, still struggling to contain my emotions. The vulnerability he’s allowing me to see confirms something inside me. I was starting to think that I was the only one who felt the unexplainable pull towards him and the twisted emotions the bond brought with it, but seeing him now confirms that this is not true.
He leans in until his forehead rests against mine, holding me closer. “In that case, you know I can’t allow my mate to continue to wither away before me when I can do something about it.”
I just found him, and he’s about to be taken away from me. Biting back the urge to beg him not to do this, I simply shake my head in denial. “You’ll be sacrificing yourself.”
With a gentle touch that I didn’t think he possessed, he cups my cheeks. “Anything they’ll do to me is worth it if I know you’re safe.”
If I wasn’t so devastated, I’d find his grand gesture very romantic, only this grand gesture means he’ll be shipped off to prison.
“Can I do anything to change your mind?” I ask, knowing that he’s already decided, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try.
I see the answer in his eyes before he speaks. Not wanting to hear it, I do what I’ve been wanting to do since I first saw him—I kiss him. We’re already so close, so I simply tilt my head up and our lips touch. Pressing into him, I move my lips over his. His body is firm and resistant, but I don’t stop, continuing to kiss him until he finally relents and kisses me back. All of a sudden, I’m in his arms and being pressed up against the wall, my legs wrapped around his waist.
Kissing Gabriel is like being caught up in a tornado, everything moving around me at breakneck speed. Our hands fly over each other’s bodies, needing touch as much as we need oxygen. The bond in my chest aches, demanding that we form our connection now. I let it take over, tearing at his clothes. My hand moves down to his crotch and the hard cock I feel pressing against me.
Before I can touch him, though, he grips my wrists and stops me as he pins them to the wall behind me. He hangs his head, his breathing ragged. Confused, horny, and a little frustrated, I wait for him to look up at me, not having the words to describe how I feel.
“No,” he finally grinds out, sounding as though he’s in great pain as he lifts his head. His eyes are begging me to understand, and I can see the strain he’s feeling as he tries to hold himself back. “I want to save that for when we’re free to be together. If we complete the bond now, you’ll only pine for me more.”
The way he says it makes it sound as though he’s being cocky, but I know exactly what he’s talking about. If we complete our bond, then I’ll just feel the same strain of being away from him as I currently do with Zane and Jack.
This is it then. He’s not going to change his mind, and he’s right, I am fading away in here, even if I don’t want to admit it. Squeezing my eyes shut, I take several deep breaths before I’m able to face him and what I know is coming.
“You’ll come for me when you’re free?”
He releases my hands and brushes a long, golden curl from my face. “Of course, little one. You are my reason for being.” Smiling down at me, he shakes out his wings as though brushing off the sadness that’s permeated the room. “I love you, little one. Never forget that.”
He kisses me deeply, and without another word, he turns and leaves.
Chapter Seventeen
Today is the day. I’m going home.
Clutching my meagre belongings to my chest, I walk through the unit and down the stairs of the halfway house, aware of several sets of eyes on me as I go. Honestly, I’m in a bit of a daze and have mixed feelings on everything. Half of me expects Dorine to jump out and shout, “Surprise!” and that all of this is a cruel joke, but the closer I get to the exit, to my freedom, the more excitement zips through my body, powering me forward.
When the news came, it was via a guard knocking on my door. He passed me a sealed envelope and told me I had thirty minutes to get myself ready. Inside the envelope were my release papers and a letter stating that due to new information, they realised I was innocent in the flying incident and as such, I was going to be released.
