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Of course, Gabriel doesn’t listen to me; he opens the bathroom door, and I glance up to see a worried look on his face. He walks over to me and gets on his haunches in front of me, then tilts my chin to face him.
“Hey, I was only playing with you–”
“You got what you wanted, Gabriel, don’t make it into something it’s not,” I grumble, moving away from his touch, and my eye flickers to that thread on his left hand. My heart constricts at the sight of it, and I lean my forehead against my knees.
But then Gabriel lifts me up into his arms and carries me into the bedroom. He places me gently on the bed, then gets in behind me and pulls me closer to him - my back to his chest.
“I’m sorry if I made you feel dirty; that wasn’t my intention at all, little lamb,” he says, kissing my shoulder.
I can’t get over how intimate this feels and how gentle he is with me, but my earlier shame rears its ugly head, and more tears fall onto his arm that’s holding me. I can feel his frantic heartbeat against my body, but I don’t dare make assumptions about what it could mean.
So I shrug off his embrace and sit on the edge of the bed with my back to him, aware of my naked body and how his gaze is burning into my skin.
“You promised me torture, and you’re keeping to your promise, that’s all. I’m the foolish one who’s making this out to be what it’s not,” I murmur, wiping my tears away.
“You don’t need to pretend like you care, Priest. Just send me off to my room and keep me locked up there until you tire of me and move on to a new obsession. I’ll be sure to keep my legs open for you whenever you need me.” I finish, then walk to his closet, where I slip on another one of his t-shirts and pretend that my heart isn’t slowly shattering.
GABRIEL
I’ve lived for close to six hundred years and I still don’t understand women.
One minute Katherine was begging me to fuck her, the next she was freaking out because my teasing went too far. Did I read too much into things and thought that she liked my teasing? Why the fuck does this bother me so much?
Growling, I lay back on the bed and sling an arm over my eyes, growing more exasperated by the second. She’s retreated into my walk-in closet and I can hear her sniffling, but I don’t dare walk in there to comfort her.
What would I say anyway? Vampires weren’t exactly made to comfort people, much less hunters, and I’m not about to fucking start now. But as much as I’m a stubborn fuck who hates to give in, a part of me loathes hearing her crying and knowing that I’ve caused it.
So much for torturing her, I guess.
I get up from the bed and stalk over to the walk-in closet to find her slumped against the wall with her legs pulled up to her chest. When she sits like this, she looks extremely weak and vulnerable - two words I would never have imagined describing her as.
She doesn’t look up when I approach, but hugs her legs closer to her body. The corner of my mouth lifts when I see her wearing one of my club’s shirts, her small body drowning in it, and I somehow find it amusing that she chose it.
“Katherine,” she visibly stiffens when she hears her name but doesn’t look up. I sigh and get down in front of her, tilting her chin so she can face me. The hurt and broken look in her eyes is like a sliver of ice to my heart, and I blanch at how much it affects me.
I sigh. “Would you feel better with some space from me?”
“Yes,” she nods, but says nothing else, so I get to my feet and hold out my hand for her.
“Very well, let me walk you back to your room,” I say, watching as her eyebrows pinched together in confusion. “Rest assured, you’ll be able to walk the mansion freely since I informed my men that you saved my life and your window has been repaired.”
Why am I trying to soothe her like this? Isn’t she supposed to be my enemy? Although, the more I think about torturing her, the worse the idea starts to sound and when she takes my hand, it pushes every bad thought away.
But there’s a tightness in my chest as guilt slowly creeps into my heart and Myrcella’s face shifts into my mind’s eye.
I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me anymore. Uncertainty gnaws at my gut whenever I think about harming her, and when she looks at me, it’s as if she can see whatever is raging inside of me. I owe it to my family to kill her, and yet I know I can’t bring myself to do it.
When I open the door to her bedroom, I immediately close it and walk away. I need to let off some steam after what happened tonight, along with what Katherine is making me feel. But when I’m about to round the corner, I hear her calling my name.
I slowly turn around and see her standing outside the doorway of her bedroom with her hands clasped tightly in front of her.
Fuck, I still can’t get over how unbelievably sexy she looks wearing my t-shirt, and my undead heart slams against my ribcage when she lifts her head to look at me.
“The poison will still be in your system. Please try not to strain yourself,” she says, then quick as a whip, she slips back into the room and closes the door. I can hear her frantic heartbeat as she retreats, but I’m still rooted on the spot.
Even after being upset and thinking I’ve degraded her, she’s still displaying concern for my well being - that in itself confuses me even more. I make a beeline for my Harley and speed the fuck out of there; I can’t be around her or my nest right now.
But a few miles out I hear another Harley behind me and notice that Church is following me. We haven’t spoken since I returned from the council last night and the issue of his Fated is still hanging over us like a guillotine.
