Deidre's Death (#2, Rhyn Eternal) (15 page)

“It’s … okay. I’m not … dead.”

Gabriel smiled. It shouldn’t be funny,
especially not when coming from her. When Deidre was close enough,
Gabriel stretched out and gripped the rope looped under her
shoulders. He hauled her out of the water easily. Deidre gasped,
gaze flying up to him.

He rested her on the ground. For a moment,
she seemed apprehensive. And then she grinned. A huge, triumphant
grin with the satisfaction of the goddess and the beautiful flush
of a human. She was drenched and shaking from cold but happy.

“I figured it out!” she told him.

“I heard.” Gabriel untied the knot from the
rope and tossed it.

“I can’t feel my hands,” she said and
displayed them, fascination on her features.

This time, Gabriel did laugh. “I think you
need to warm up.”

“Not before we seal the tears,” she told him
stubbornly. “We have to take care of the souls first, Gabriel.”

“Are you lecturing me again?” he asked,
entertained.

“I’m
helping
you. How long have the souls
been here and you didn’t know? And now I’ll help you fix
everything, since you can’t do it yourself.”

She was too happy for him to be offended.
She truly wanted to help him. Gabriel wasn’t certain why that
surprised him. Deidre had always been protective of the souls.
Suddenly, he thought that she had never looked as beautiful as she
did standing drenched and shivering beside the lake. She
glowed.

“Cora. Plug the holes,” he ordered. “You’re
going to warm up, Deidre.” He opened a portal.

“No, Gabriel, I – “

“I’ll carry you.”

Cora coughed to cover up her laugh. Deidre
stared at him as if deciding whether she wanted to be angry or
disappointed. Finally, she went. Gabriel trailed her, resisting the
urge to wrap her shivering body in his arms.

When they reached her room, he went to her
wardrobe.

“You need to change before you get sick,” he
said.

“I don’t get sick.”

“Humans do.”

She appeared surprised. Water dripped off
her into a puddle at her feet. Her attention shifted to her hands,
and he stared at her as she focused on moving them. There were
moments when he didn’t know what the human side of her was
thinking. She seemed to have dropped any form of common sense
somewhere between Hell and her world.

He shook his head and pulled out a new
sweater. Deidre glared at him.

“Different color?” he asked.

“Don’t touch my clothes.”

Irritated by her tone, he reached in and ran
his hand down the line of her sweaters.

“They’re
mine,
Gabriel,” she
retorted. “You could be nicer. I just helped you protect the
souls.”

“You did,” he said. “I’m impressed.”

“You shouldn’t be.” She crossed to him and
pushed the door to her wardrobe closed. “You don’t have to trust
me, but I really am trying to help you.”

“Because you love me.” The words were out
before he thought to stop. He wasn’t even certain why he said them.
She’d claimed as much yesterday.

Deidre didn’t respond. She locked the
wardrobe, still shivering.

“Am I right?” he asked, bracing an arm on
either side of her.

She kept her back to him. “I shouldn’t have
said it.”

“So it’s true.”

Deidre sighed.

“You said it earlier. I just want to hear it
again,” he said.

“Why? You already said we’re
dysfunctional.”

“We
were
dysfunctional. It doesn’t mean
we have to be this time around.”

This caught her attention, and she turned.
Deidre rested against the wardrobe, arms crossed as she shook from
cold but blue eyes riveted to him. He liked trying to get a rise
out of her, and he really did want to know where they stood in her
mind and whether or not he had to worry about her running off to
make more deals with Darkyn.

“How do we become not dysfunctional?” she
asked, puzzled. “Especially since I never knew we were.”

“I think it starts with us giving each other
a chance.”

Deidre studied him. He wasn’t certain what
might be going through her mind. She appeared conflicted yet
hopeful. The difference between her before her Monday night deal
with Darkyn and now almost made him reconsider. But wasn’t this
what he wanted? The woman he fell for on the beach, without the
tumor?

“How do I do that?” she asked.

“You started today with the souls. I’m
grateful for your help.”

“We can do it together, Gabriel.” She beamed
a smile. “I can help you with being Death. We can both take care of
the souls.”

It was a far cry from the woman who ran away
screaming from the soul she accidentally touched last week or the
goddess who would’ve commanded him rather than risk getting her
hands dirty. Gabriel was taken aback. He didn’t realize how great
of a transformation had really taken place within the small woman
gazing up at him. She didn’t just have the body of a human and the
knowledge of the goddess; she wanted to help him enough that she
was willing to overcome her fear.

Granted, he was Death, and she was offering
a partnership running the underworld instead of deferring to him in
his role in charge of the underworld. In the course of three days,
the goddess had almost learned to see him as an equal while her
human side no longer in denial about her destiny.

She’d done something today he didn’t expect
and uncovered something he and all his dealers had overlooked for
months. She was honest about wanting to help him and about how she
felt.

Maybe Rhyn was right and the past didn’t
matter so much.

Maybe the secret could wait until they had
built a better foundation. He’d cave to Andre’s advice and
double-check with Darkyn about whether or not his mate owed the
Dark One anything – formally or informally. Then, he’d stop
throwing up barriers and give this Deidre a chance.

“Gabriel,” she said hesitantly. “Will you
kiss me?”

His arms dropped. He wasn’t expecting the
question. Building their relationship would mean easing into
intimacy once more. He had no idea what she wanted on that front.
The goddess had used sex to control him. The human feared a
relationship with someone who wouldn’t share more than his
body.

The woman before him was completely
different than either woman. The reminder revived his uneasiness.
What if he fell for this Deidre and she changed once again?

“You sure?” he hedged.

She nodded. Her tongue darted out to wet her
lips nervously. Gabriel offered his hand. She took it.

“Gods, you’re freezing,” he said and rested
his other hand on top of hers to try to warm her.

Her eyes were on their clasped hands. She
tucked her other hand between his to try to warm it, too. Gabriel’s
gaze took her in with some concern. She really was going to get
sick from the cold and being soaked.

He cupped one of her cold cheeks in his
hand, wanting to warm her up in whatever way it took. Gabriel
dipped his head and kissed her. Her face was cold but her plump
lips were warm, soft, her lips parting for him before he prodded
them apart. She tasted slightly sweet, the heat of her mouth
contrasting with the chill of her skin, and smelled of lake water.
Deidre sank against him, and he wrapped his arms around her
trembling body. Lake water seeped through his clothing. He paid it
no heed, instead fascinated by the feel of her frame.

Desire spiked through him at the knowledge
that his mate was in his arms. She responded to him with raw
hunger, no longer timid as she had been when he kissed her the day
before. Her hands were soon roaming his body curiously, resting on
his jaw and trailing along his neck.

“You always smell good,” she murmured,
pulling away.

Her eyes traveled with intent interest over
his face and followed the trail of her fingers down his neck. She
rested her hands on his chest, but they didn’t stay, instead
running over the muscles of his chest and around to his back.

“You’re so strong, Gabriel,” she said in
awe. “Have you always been like this?”

He chuckled. Sometimes, he thought there was
none of the human left at all, just an incarnated goddess whose
fascination with her new world extended to him. He loved that she
was curious about his body. His one-night stand last week made him
appreciate what it was to have a lover who was as infatuated by his
body as he was hers. It was another part that remained of the girl
he fell for last week.

He kissed her again. Her fingers ran through
his short hair. She didn’t move away or object when he allowed his
palms to skim her curves, tracing down her sides to her hips then
around to her tight bottom. He squeezed lightly then circled his
arms around her, pulling her into his body. She yielded, fitting
against him in a way that made him more possessive of her petite
frame and fiery spirit.

Forced into hiding by the circumstances of
the past two weeks, Gabriel’s yearning for his mate emerged
stronger than ever at her passionate kisses and touch.

“Deidre,” he whispered, fluttering kisses
down the side of her neck.

She groaned.

“Are we ready for this?” He paused and
brushed wet hair from her face with one hand, scouring her
features.

Gabriel felt a thaw deep within him, one fed
by the hope that arguing over her sweaters was the worst they’d
face from here on out. The worst case scenario – that she died of a
tumor – was no longer possible. He had his mate in his arms. She
loved him, wanted to help him.

Maybe Rhyn was right. Gabriel had to let the
past go. The changes in his mate were new enough to startle him
sometimes, but she was without a doubt his mate. Even his lingering
doubt about the real cost of her deals with Darkyn didn’t extend to
the question of whether or not he was meant to be with the woman in
his arms.

“I’ve waited my entire life for this,” she
said.

His resolve lasted until she spoke, and he
saw the truth of her words and the expression on her face. The
emotion she’d admitted to yesterday – which Andre had told him as
well – shimmered in her large blue eyes. She meant it when she said
she loved him. Why, then, was he hesitating to claim the woman who
clearly wanted to be by his side?

Whatever secret she kept, it couldn’t change
this moment or what he felt.

“Are you sure?” he asked again.

“Yes, Gabriel,” she replied without
hesitation. “I want you more than anything. I always have. I always
will.”

“Then let’s get you out of those wet
clothes,” he said huskily.

If Deidre found pleasure in funnel cakes and
warm socks, she found utter ecstasy in Gabriel’s arms. She didn’t
remember his passion, the way he tasted and smelled and felt, or
the movement of his muscles beneath taut, smooth skin. His velvety
tongue was hot against her neck and her lips and as he pleasured
her in ways she never experienced before. He wanted her, and
nothing had ever made her happier in her life than when she saw the
depth of his emotion in his eyes and lived through the consuming
intensity with which he made love to her. Over and over, like it
was their first time. Or maybe, like he really had loved her
through the millennia they were together.

Their first afternoon of love was more than
she ever thought possible. He wore her – a goddess! – out with his
lovemaking and passion. Her own body burned with emotions she
couldn’t control: love, happiness, and a hunger so deep, she
thought she’d die before he sated her. Everything from the texture
of his skin to the heat of his hands branding her was heaven to one
unaccustomed to the sensuality of her world.

Deidre loved it. She reveled in every inch
of his skin. She wasn’t expecting his gentleness or the level of
his interest in exploring her body, a combination that rendered her
breathless before her clothes were off. He was certain to take her
to climax each time before seeking his own release, a practice
she’d never participated, when she was a goddess who felt
nothing.

Being with him, naked in bed, was the most
natural, right and incredible experience. It reinforced what she
had begun to doubt: This was where she belonged. Beside him, in bed
and out, working together to run the underworld.

Dozing after his insatiable passion, she
roused herself when one of Gabriel’s hands moved down her body. She
rested on top of him, listening to his heartbeat. His chest was
warm against her ear, and she drew loose shapes against his skin,
beyond intrigued by the smoothness.

It was past midnight. The room was dark,
aside from the glowing souls visible through the balcony doors.
Gabriel had stayed with her for hours without showing any sign he
was ready to leave.