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“I was preparing things.”
“What things?”
He brushed back a stray hair that had blown over her face. “I needed to take care of some things before you can come live with me.”
It took Gabby a second to process what he’d just said. “Armando would never allow it.”
He chuckled, the masculine sound ensnaring her in his spell. “No, he will not. But I’m not asking for his permission.” He paused. “You want to come with me, do you not? No more stealing secret moments like this. We can be together. Always.”
Yes, more than anything. She couldn’t live another day without him. These last two weeks had been sheer torture. This yearning, this need to be with him, it was all consuming.
None of that stopped the sinking feeling in her stomach, like when she did something wrong and was about to be caught.
“You will not hurt Armando, will you?”
He traced her lips with his thumb. All she wanted was his mouth on hers. To kiss him again. To have his talented hands all over her. She’d dreamed of this moment, of him, so many times it felt surreal that he was actually before her.
“No. When everything is ready, I will come to you like tonight.” He touched his lips to hers lightly. Heat curled in her center and fire licked down her spine. Her breath hitched, and her head swam as though she had drunk too much wine. “We will go away in the middle of the night. Your brother will never know. He will never find us.”
Something seemed off, but Gabby was too distracted to care. Too distracted by the way his hard chest felt under her palms. By the way his hand was running up her bare legs. Leaning forward, she deepened their kiss, drowning in the need sweeping through her.
He was hers and she was his. The feeling of rightness was branded deep in her soul.
She would never let him go again.
Their surroundings changed. Fear swamped her.
No, no, not here.Gabby rolled in her bed, her claws unconsciously slashing at the sheets as the dream refused to let her go.
She was no longer at the beach, her body no longer gripped with unfulfilled desire. Familiar tapestries hung from the stone walls.
No!
Terror screeched through her. Her heart drummed so hard that she thought it might jump out. Tears streaked down her face, blurring her vision.
Her worst nightmare had come true.
Armando had found them.
He had stormed the seaside villa with a contingent of his best warriors. Felix’s human guards could not hold them off until nighttime, when the vampires would wake. She heard fighting, swords clanging and shouting in the distance.
“Where is he?” Armando demanded. He was dressed for battle, his sword and armor splattered with blood. She had never seen this side of her brother before.
“I do not know!” she shouted, terror making her voice sharp.
“Liar.” He hit her with the back of his hand.
Her head snapped back and hit the wall. Her vision wavered as pain exploded in her skull, overshadowing the burning on her face. Warm blood slid down her cheek. He’d broken skin.
She shrieked, in stunned shock and in pain, when he fisted her hair and dragged her along the hallway behind him. “It does not matter. He will come for you.”
“No, let me go!” The thought of Felix facing her brother brought renewed strength to her limbs.
Gabby dug her fingers into the blood-soaked rug and ignored the screaming pain from her scalp. She caught sight of the jeweled dagger on Armando’s hip and grabbed it. In the second when he was distracted, she sheared off her hair where he gripped it.
Armando whirled on her. Gabby scrambled out of his reach and stood up on unsteady legs against the wall. When he made to grab her again, she put the dagger across her throat. “Do not come near me.”
Her brother froze. His breathing heavy, he looked like someone whose heart had been torn out. “You would die for him? For a vampire?”
