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Gage held me up and stroked my head. “Fuck. Why didn’t you tell me any of this? This isn’t your fault. Some fuckwit punished an innocent child, which boils my blood. And Dustin was a good fighter, but he was a murderer. Taken so many lives, some deserving, others innocent. You did the world a favor by removing him from our lives.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better. It’s not my call to take someone’s life. But you need to promise me you won’t try to take on the gargoyle.”
I looked up at Gage to see the fierceness behind his dragon eyes. Dread locked tight in my stomach. I couldn’t reverse time or change the past, yet each time I remembered Dustin’s demise, my breaths grew shallower.
“Please, Gage.” I begged, and he nodded once, as if that was the end of that topic of conversation. He’d stick to his word.
“Don’t you dare shed another tear for that loser.” He kissed my brow in a way that showed me he cared for me more than just physically.
He wrapped his arms around me. All I could do was try to drive the pent-up emotions into the darkness, and being in his Gage’s presence gave me the ammunition to never stop trying. I should have trusted him earlier, should have pushed past my insecurities, should have believed he’d never judge. I inhaled his masculine scent mixed with citrus. I tried to breathe around it but couldn’t escape the intoxication. Everything about him was hypnotic.
“So that’s Dustin on your roof and comes to life? Can he turn back to human?” He rubbed a hand across his mouth.
“No idea. The book I read said nothing about whoever killed a gargoyle taking his place. But when the stone creature vanished, no person appeared in its place. I think Dustin is really dead.” I gasped and hugged myself.
“Tell me more about the curse cast on you?”
“I don’t know much about that either, and that’s why I’ve focused on getting rid of the gargoyle instead. Which failed miserably.” My breaths stuttered in my lungs before I released them.
“That’s why you asked me about the dragon-tooth dagger last night, right? I may have a lead for you.”
Breaking out of his arms, I tried to process his words. “You know where there’s such a dagger?” I rushed to the table and grabbed my book, bringing it back to Gage. “It says a dragon-tooth blade can slice through stone and finish a gargoyle.” And once I got my hands on one, I’d be doing the slaying. No risking someone else’s life this time.
Gage collected the book from my hands and turned it the right way. He flipped through the pages, landing on the gargoyle entry. “Where’s the rest?”
I shook my head.
He restudied the leather-bound book, his brow furrowed, and his jawline gritted like it did whenever he concentrated. “First, we need to track down the dagger.”
I bounced on my toes, ready to do whatever it took. “Okay, so where do we find one?”
Gage shut the book with a slap and set it down on the table. “I spoke to a friend who knows someone who insists he heard a lion shifter talk about a dragon-tooth dagger.”
My mind swam, remembering Reed in my tower and the gargoyle tossing him into the woods before attacking him. I swallowed loudly. I hadn’t found his body, so had he made it home safely? And if he’d survived, would he even welcome me?
I wouldn’t go visit him.
“I know one, and he owes me a small favor.” I let him stay in my tower briefly, so hopefully he saw that as a kind deed.
“Favor?” Gage’s eyes morphed into a honeyed-green, slitting into vertical lines for a sliver of a moment. His jealousy always revealed snippets of the dragon inside him. “Lions aren’t trustworthy, you know that, right? So he probably won’t help you.”
“Reed seemed decent enough.” Maybe I was pushing my luck in visiting him. “There’s a pride living across the forest in the open plains, so maybe we can go there and ask if they know him.” I spoke fast and my mouth hurt when I smiled due to my cut lip.
Gage moved close enough for me to feel the heat of his body through my clothes, and his hands fell on my hips. “You should have come to me earlier—should have told me everything about the gargoyle.”
I inhaled deeply, not needing to be reprimanded, but I knew his words came from a place of concern. “I didn’t want you know how I lived or be attached by the gargoyle.” I dropped my gaze. “When I leave the tower at night, I become a different person. Someone strong who can face the world, who has no shackles, who does as she pleases. That’s the person you fell for, not the prisoner who’s faked her life. I didn’t want you to think any less of me.”
“I fell for the woman who takes food to the homeless children in town, who reminds me to see the good in others, and who loves me with the passion of a dragon.”
My heart rate accelerated. There was no smile on his lips, only the intensity in his eyes that was the start of an explosive blaze of more to come. He kissed me and my worries faded away. His passion brought a raw fierceness—my breaths coming faster, my skin vibrating with the urgency of what would come next. Our tongues entwined as his hands found the skin of my back under my shirt, and I moaned from the feel of his strong hands touching on me.
I winced from the cut on my mouth, and he pulled back. We locked eyes for those moments, his love evident in his gaze. His lips grazed over my cheek and down my neck, not innocently, but passionate and demanding.
I shivered beneath him, roused and turned on. He suckled on my earlobe, and I moaned, running my hands up his chest, his neck, and I raked my fingers through his hair. In moments like these, holding back seemed impossible, and I couldn’t move even if I tried.
“Your body and scent drives me crazy. I need you,” he breathed into my ear, his electric fingertips gliding across my back. They swept around to my stomach and swept upward, cupping my breasts. I moaned, weakening at his touch. His fingers pinched my nipples, and I burned all over.
Gingernuts brushed past our legs and meowed, heading toward the window. I caught my breath and came back to reality. Was I ready to do this? Reignite our relationship again? Yet my bruises and cuts ached, reminding me I still remained a prisoner to the gargoyle. I pulled away from Gage, unsure what the right decision was. Making him believe we could be together because soon enough he’d get frustrated with the whole gargoyle situation and try to take it down. I couldn’t let that happen.
Gage looked down. “Strange cat, but are you saying that during the day you have long hair?”
I nodded, though I didn’t know if I’d keep the hair if I defeated the gargoyle. “Will that be a problem?”
He turned me around to face the window and wound his arms around me from behind. His chin rested on my shoulder. “Honey, I can think of some fun ways to use your hair to our advantage.” Mirth danced between his words, and right then, I imagined how incredible my life could be if I had a real shot at a real future with Gage.
