The Gates (17 page)

The villagers began deliberating again, the voices sweeping the room in hushed whispers as they scattered about. Gabe, Audrey and Josh all followed me into the pantry like puppy dogs, surrounding me while I dressed the cut.

“That was …” Gabe shook his head, rubbing his hand across his forehead.

“Awesome!” Josh’s voice peaked.

Audrey poked Josh’s side. “Oh, don’t encourage her. But he’s sort of right, Cam. I can’t believe you did that.” She slipped me a discreet low five in front of Gabe, recoiling her hand when Gavin appeared behind her.

“I was going to say suicidal,” Gabe muttered, stepping aside when Gavin brushed by him.

“I second that. Camille, a word?” His brow was furrowed and he slipped his hands into his pockets, restlessly wiggling them around.

“Go easy on her, Gav,” Audrey whispered. “Her theatrics
worked
. Everyone’s a lot calmer than they were a few minutes ago.” She turned and headed toward the pantry’s entry. Taking her cue, Gabe and Josh tagged along and left Gavin and me alone.

“Gavin, I know you’re mad but I had to do something.”

“Don’t
ever
do that again.” He reached forward to see my arm, stopping himself when he got too close. His nostrils flared and his eyes were still pools of dark gray.

I stepped back a bit to give him room to breathe, realizing my close proximity was torture for him. I’d seen what the tiny bit of blood had done to him just hours ago, had seen his crazed surge of need. But that time, it was just enough to send his senses into overdrive, to intensify his emotions. Nowhere near the amount that had slathered my arm mere minutes ago and had soaked through the hastily applied bandage.

“We’re all hungry and on edge in light of the blood situation,” he said, “and you do
that?
Right in front of me? Do you have any idea how terrified I was they’d all pounce on you? There was no way I’d be able to take them all on while they ripped you to pieces in front of me! They’re reformed, but they’re hungry, and they’re still monsters, Camille.”

The pain on his face was heart wrenching and I wanted to reach up and cup his face to console him. I couldn’t. Scarlet was lurking, and anyway, there was a good chance he’d take my arm off if he got too close. “Gavin, I’m sorry. It was all I could think to do. I had to get their attention somehow.”

“I can’t lose you. I feel like I just got you back.” His jaw tightened and he swallowed hard. I watched him brush his shaking fingers across his lips while I stood there, powerless to comfort him.

“What I saw tonight hurt me too, you know.” I looked down from his gaze, recalling Scarlet’s hands and where they’d been. Risking a peek up at him, I instantly regretted my words when I saw his face flush with anguish.

“You shouldn’t have had to see that. I begged her not to do that in front of you, begged her to leave me alone.” He let his weight fall to the side of the pantry shelf, tightened his fists through his pockets. “This is excruciating. Not being able to touch you right now …” He shifted his tormented gaze to mine.

“You should go.”

“I don’t want to. I want to reach out and hold you, I want you in my arms. I wish I could erase those images from your memory and drive my dagger straight into her heart.”

“Well, I’d gladly help you when the opportunity presents itself. But you can’t, and you need to go. I won’t have you around me any longer while I’m like this.” I lifted my arm and weakly gestured toward the entryway.

He nodded. “I need to get back anyway, talk to the others and come up with a plan. Cecile gave us some supplies to feed Vivienne’s spell, but that energy won’t sustain us for long. We need blood. Now.”

“I know. Gabe told me getting blood from the castle reserve wasn’t an option anymore.”

“Unfortunately not.” He backed away, let me lead him out of the pantry. “I’m going to take off, but I need to see you. I need to see my wife,” he whispered, taking the tips of my fingers in his, lightly brushing his thumb over my ring. “Meet me in the morning before sunrise? If anyone asks, just tell them you’re going to the well. Scarlet knows I’ll be working in the village, so I’ll have an alibi.”

“I meant what I said, Gav. I’ll give you what I can.”

“Absolutely not.”

“But this is an emergency. What if you don’t find the supply?”

“Cam, even if we took every ounce from you and left you anemic, it still wouldn’t be enough. The answer’s no. We’ll find another way. Now meet me before dawn? Please?”

“Fine. I’ll be there,” I whispered back, gently pulling my fingers from his grasp. “And hey …”

“Yeah?”

“What did Scarlet say to you … earlier? You looked like you’d seen a ghost. Do you think she did this?”

“It was nothing. Don’t worry about it. The thought’s crossed my mind, but I don’t know yet. Tomorrow, right before sunrise.” He rustled his hands in his pockets again, sighing loudly before he disappeared into the gathering in the living area.

He resumed his place next to her side, and in moments Gabe and Josh joined them to begin talking to the vampires and villagers again. I couldn’t repress the sick feeling that rose in my stomach as I watched the uncertainty spread across each face in the room, seizing everyone’s peace like a merciless attacker. Joining Audrey, I grabbed a bucket with my good arm and we fled out the back door to the well, thankful that I had a brief windmill meeting to look forward to in the midst of the impending doom that seemed to hover over our little family like a heavy dust cloud.

13

TURNING TABLES

“Well? Did you find anything out?” I whispered, hiding behind the windmill door while Gavin snuck in, letting his hood down. The predawn Amaranthian sky was black, its sun just minutes from rising. I tossed my journal down to greet him, relieved to see him. I’d gotten to the windmill early and tried to distract myself from worrying by writing.

He shook his head, took a deep breath. “Well, Scarlet definitely had nothing to do with it.”

“You’re sure?”

“I questioned her, and yeah, I’m sure. She might be threatening us with Arianna, but no blood puts her in danger too, even if she finds a way to feed herself. She needs us to bring Samira down. The last thing she wants is for Samira to find out we have none. Scarlet knows that knowledge will give Samira power over us. If it’s anything she’s telling the truth about, it’s how much she loathes her.” He clutched me in his arms and his fiery gaze danced across my body. “Can we talk about it after?”

“What? Gav, we need to talk about it now. What are we going to do—? And after
what
exactly?”

“After I taste you.” He dipped his mouth down to mine, letting his tongue slip between my lips. The panic I felt passed through me and a soft moan replaced the tension. I melted in his arms and slipped my hands around his neck, pressed my body harder to his, pulling down on his cloak to peel it over his shoulders.

He spun me around and pushed me up against the door, leaning his weight against my back to pin me to it with his hips. Angling my chin to the side so he could see my mouth, his other hand clasped the side of my waist and his breath flickered hot in my hair. “You don’t know how good you taste,” he breathed, finding my elbow and gently rubbing his thumb across my thick bandage. “This feeling okay? I’ll be gentle with it, I promise.”

“
Mhhmm.
It’s better.” I welcomed his soft strokes over the crease of my elbow and swiveled my head farther back, to bring my lips closer to his.

He leaned in and looked at my lips with wonder before he kissed them hungrily again, his hands gliding down the sides of my hips to clutch my rear. “I can’t promise the same for this delicious backside, though.”

“No safety pin today,” I whispered against his jaw.

He snatched up my skirt, tore it straight down the middle and gathered it near my waist. “Won’t be needing it.”

“Gavin! What’ll I wear home?”

“Cloak.” His voice roughened and he ripped harder, tossing the material to the ground. I felt his smile when he kissed my neck, and shivers ran down my back at the sound of his low growl.

“I made that! This is the second one you’ve torn! I don’t have many of those, you know.”

“Cam,” he snaked one hand around my stomach and made his way north, slipping one hand into my corset top to grope my breast. “You won’t be thinking about it when I’m inside you.” His hips shifted off my back and he separated my legs with his knee, his breathing ragged against my shoulder. “Now forget the damn dress.”

Keeping my head pressed to the side of the door, I could see him pull at his shirt collar to loosen it, which instantly made my knees shake and my pulse thump with desire. Unsure if I’d be able to hold myself up as he had his way with me from behind, I knew the image of him there would be my undoing. There was nothing sexier than seeing this normally shy, composed man morph into a voracious creature with such insatiable, starved need in his rich, chocolate eyes. And the sleeves rolled to his elbows … that wasn’t helping.

I snuck a glance at his forearms.
Nope, not helping at all.

He ran his fingers down my back and licked his lips, the sensations of his fingertips over my spine making my head spin. Before I had time to muster my strength, I heard his zipper and felt him jerk my slip aside. He slid into me and leaned close again, his jaw slack at the side of my face. I palmed the door with my good hand and reached back to latch onto the side of his hip with the other, his name spilling from my lips as he drove into me.

“I adore you, do you know that?” he murmured against my ear, his panting feeding my fervor and sending my desire into an irrepressible frenzy. “I’m yours always, baby.”

I gripped the door harder for support and dug my nails into his hip to return the passion, closing my eyes when his cries seeped into my ear. They were too much. “Gavin, please …” He thrust harder, a desperate urgency in each sharp charge, stirring my release, coaxing it into a ferocious delirium, spinning it out of control. He lifted a hand and trailed fingers over my lips, tilting and crushing his mouth on mine to silence my whimpering.

“Not yet,” he sighed against my lips and wrenched my hair back, forcing me to arch against his chest, tightening his grip on my waist before running his other hand down my front to cup it between my thighs. “Ask me again.”

“Please,” my voice hummed, barely audible as he skimmed his nose over my neck, his fingers kneading in front while he buried himself in me.

“Please, what? Tell me.”

“Please, Gavin. Let me go.”

I felt him slow and readjust his stance, then slide in deeper and pick up speed, pushing me farther and farther into luscious oblivion from behind, his fingers continuing to torture in front. “
Mmm.
I love hearing that.”

His forehead grazed my cheek and his sweat stuck to my skin, a sweet, heady aroma that sent my knees quaking. I cried out, feeling myself quicken, his strangled moan causing my body to cave against the door as I found my release.

“Cam … damn it …” He pulled his hand from my thighs and braced the door next to my face, his palm spreading over the dark, battered wood, his fingers close enough for me to taste. My eyes fluttered and found his; their scorching glow penetrated me with crazed longing. His breath hissed and he reached his climax, hauling his fingertips through my hair and over my scalp as he stilled, my name escaping his lips one last time.

I let myself slump against his shoulder while he rested his forehead on the door, one arm drawn close around my waist to hold me upright.

“Love, making it out of this place alive is the least of my worries. If you keep making me crazy like that, you’ll be the death of me.” He snickered against my neck, his lips kissing my wet skin.

“Well,” I panted, “if you ravage me like that again, there’s a very good chance you’ll take me with you.”

Still chuckling, he lifted my left hand to his mouth and kissed my ring, then turned me around to face him before bringing me to the floor on his lap. “Does your cut hurt? I tried not to touch it.”

“What cut?” I panted still, letting my head roll onto his chest.

“Oh, you know, that throbbing thing on your left arm that almost made our little group have you for dinner last night?”

“After what you just did to me … no. It most certainly does
not
hurt. In fact, I think it’s better.”

“Well in that case, let’s speed up the healing process, shall we?” He sent me a slow, lazy smile, then kissed my forehead and worked his way down from cheek to chin.

“Gav, this very human wife of yours can’t keep up with your vampire endurance.” I giggled under my breath and ducked my head to the side, giving him better access to my neck despite my objection.

“Superhuman strength, baby. Might as well enjoy it while we can.”

I shot him an incredulous look. His amused laughter was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

“Crap.” I scrambled out of his lap and grabbed my cloak, tossing Gavin his as I worked to cover myself. He panicked and held a finger to his lips, cuing me to stay quiet.