Dancer in the waves, p.35
Dancer In The Waves, page 35
But the severed bond fought back, and a painful sting speared her through the heart. She grabbed the sheet with her hands, bit her lip, and endured it. She was done with pain controlling her.
Gabriel’s thrusts became erratic, and he leaned over her to capture her lips in his. He was so close. She lifted her hips to meet his thrusts so that he hit a more pleasurable spot. His hand traveled down her stomach and reached between her legs. Using his thumb, he drew her closer and closer to climax. She arched her back and tried to hold on to his arms for dear life. A rush of pleasure flared from between her legs again, overwhelming her until she found release.
With a loud groan, Gabriel gave several last hard thrusts, their bodies making a slapping sound. She could feel him come inside her, along with a scramble of emotions. The new bond overwhelmed the old one and settled between them.
She realized with a start it had already been there, just too weak and powerless to fight against the void.
Both elbows on the mattress to avoid collapsing over her, Gabriel gave her a puzzled look. Then, breathless, he cuddled up to her and scratched the skin above his heart. Alice sent her feelings of love for him through the bond, and understanding dawned on his face, a smile so brilliant it could compete with the sun itself. A silent conversation of pure emotion ran between them. Love, trust, and lust. So much lust.
Although they could feel each other’s emotions freely, Alice needed to verbalize something. Saying some things out loud made them truer, in a sense.
“I love you,” she told him.
He kissed her deeply in response, the link buzzing with his happiness and satisfaction.
“I love you too,” he replied with shortened breaths, taken in between kisses. “But I am far from satisfied.”
Before she could ask what he meant, he slid his body down until he reached her breasts. He pushed the gauzy fabric over them, and took a nipple into his mouth, flipping his tongue over it. Her other breast was palmed and pinched, pleasure shooting through her.
“I won’t be satisfied until I hear my name on your lips a few more times,” he smirked.
And she did call out his name again, several times during the night until the sun broke the darkness around them. Only then, exhausted and sated, did they find sleep in each other’s arms.
Gabriel
A tug on his chest woke him. Something was fighting their new bond, and it didn’t come from his side. He followed the sensation, trying to find its origin, but it dissipated as quickly as it had appeared.
In its place, a feeling of satisfaction and exhaustion filled the link between them. A smile spread over his lips. Alice was feeling the same way he was.
She was spread over him, one leg over his, her head on his chest. Naked and warmed by his body heat, she was deeply asleep. The sound of rain hitting the window was the only thing breaking the silence. There was some light sneaking in through the curtains, but he couldn’t fathom what time it was.
He looked down at Alice’s sleeping figure. Her hair was tangled down her back, and there were several marks on her neck and shoulders from biting and sucking. He expected to find quite a few on his own skin as well. Using a very light touch, so as not to wake her up, he let his hand travel down her smooth skin, and over the swell of her ass. Pleasure hummed through their bond and smug satisfaction washed over him.
She was his. Undeniably his. And he was in no rush to announce it to the world. They could wait forever, for all he cared. What mattered now was him and Alice.
He felt her awareness stirring, and her consciousness hung just an inch away from sleep. Mischievously, he let his hand follow the curve of her ass until his fingers found her folds. He searched for a little mound of flesh, finding it with his middle finger.
“Good morning to you too,” Alice told him with a very sleepy voice.
He played around her sex, feeling her arousal through their bond, and letting her pleasure mount until she was on the brink of release. Then he grabbed her ass with both hands and centered her over him. He entered her with one deliberate thrust, eliciting a moan of pleasure from both of them. He planted his feet on the mattress and adjusted his legs so he could lift his hips, and then heaved into her with methodical movements, trying to hit that spot that made her go wild.
She was so tight around him, yet they fit perfectly together. It had surprised him last night just how far she could stretch to accommodate him. And the sensation overwhelmed him. The pleasure of fucking her was far beyond anything he had experienced so far. It was as if all his previous ventures had been in a dream.
Breathless moans vibrated his chest, and her generous breasts glided up and down his muscles. Her pleasure was intensifying, so he picked up the pace, bringing her close to release. In tandem with Alice’s loud moan of pleasure, rhythmic movement enveloped his erection, pushing him over the edge. He held her in his arms, both riding orgasmic waves until they were spent. It was pure bliss.
He let his legs fall back on the mattress, and Alice let her head fall back on his chest, both satiated beyond belief.
“How are you feeling?” Gabriel asked her.
“Satisfied. Happy,” she told him, dark eyes peering at him from behind the messy curtain of her hair. “And very hungry.”
Gabriel laughed. He was famished too.
“I guess I have to feed you.” he told her, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning.
“Anything you put in my mouth is going to get bitten,” she replied, challenging his double entendre. “At least, for now.”
He wrapped her in his embrace again and laughed, rolling them on the bed. “Shower first, or straight to the kitchen?”
Sniffing the air around them, Alice made a face of disgust. “A shower sounds nice. The room could use some airing too.”
Rolling them on the bed, he got up and pulled her toward the bathroom. Much to his dismay, he found that showering together wasn’t as fun as he had thought. Alice liked her water scalding hot, and he preferred it lukewarm. But he did enjoy washing every inch of her body and untangling her hair. He wanted to memorize every curve, every freckle, every line of her skin. His want, his desire for her, was impossible to satiate. He’d expected that after making her his, he would be able to control his lust, his need to claim her, but instead it had opened a door he could no longer close. So he pushed her against the shower wall, and loved her once again. The shower hit his ass with boiling water on every thrust, but it was worth it.
After their shower, they raided the kitchen. It was almost noon, but the storm outside was dulling the light. The sound of the rain lapping at the windows and pounding the pool offered the illusion of isolation, as if there was no one else in the world but them.
Alice put food on the coffee table in front of the fireplace and Gabriel turned on the fire. Sitting on the floor in front of the flames, they both ate in comfortable silence. It was so easy to transmit to Alice through their bond. Would he ever need words again?
“So, now that you got what you wanted, do you want to tell me about the deal you had with Matts?” she asked him in between bites of bread.
Gabriel’s hand hovered over a piece of fruit.
“You knew about the deal?” he asked her, his body freezing in place. “Who told you?”
“Nobody told me anything, Gabriel, but I swear, sometimes you forget what an omega is.”
Doubts immediately jumped at him. Had she chosen him to avoid Matts’s claim? Had she given herself to him because she wanted to, or because she had to? He tried to control his emotions, as to not let his fear pass through their bond, but then he got something from her that he didn’t quite expect. A sense of bluffing passed through the bond, subtle but there. Did she know about the deal, or had she just suspected something was up?
“Tell me. Did you choose me for me, or because you felt like you had no other choice?” he asked her.
“I chose you.” Alice got on her knees and held his face with both hands. “I chose you for who you are, and because you made me fall in love with you. I needed no other reasons other than you.” Her dark eyes gazed into his with nothing to hide, and he could feel her honesty through the bond.
He sighed with relief, cupped the back of her neck, and tried to pull her down to a kiss. With one finger to his lips, Alice stopped him.
“But I want you to promise me one thing.”
“Anything,” he offered, not even caring about what she could ask of him.
“I want you to promise that you won’t hide any secrets from me, ever again. You won’t let me live my life in darkness of the decisions being made about me.”
“I promise,” he told her simply, and he meant it. He just hoped she understood why he had decided not to tell her about the real court’s decision these past three years.
Settling back down on the floor, Alice took a piece of fruit from a plate and politely waited for him to start. Taking a deep breath, Gabriel offered her the truth.
“Even after you almost fell off the roof, Jerome was still inclined to let you go to Matts. Matts, however, saw that would not be the best thing for you at that time. So he offered me a deal. You would stay with me for three years, so you could recover from Bruno’s death. During that time, he promised he would not interfere with my courting of you.”
He took another deep breath. “If after the three years, we were not bonded, his claim would return, and you would go to him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.
“Because I wanted it to be your decision. If we bonded, it should be because you wanted me, not because you had no choice.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I wanted you to want me, Alice. More than anything in this world. And if you chose me for fear of Matts, well, then, that would slowly kill us both.” He silently prayed for her understanding.
Alice turned to the fireplace and went very still, processing what he told her. Her eyes were distant, and Gabriel could see the flames dancing in them.
“So, if I hadn’t chosen you, Matts would have just taken me away to Norway at the end of the month?” she asked, eyes still on the fire.
“I doubt he would have done quite that. He would have probably invited you to spend some time with him in Norway, and then moved your life there, bit by bit.”
Alice took a piece of bread from the table but played with it in her hands instead of eating it. The emotions through the bond were confusing. There was frustration, anger, but also a sense of understanding and even satisfaction.
“So that’s why he…” she thought out loud. “That explains the gifts.”
“Have you changed your mind?” His voice was straining a little.
“No. You were right. I did choose you for you, not for fear of Matts. And definitely not because of some deadline.”
He tried to withhold the sense of relief from their bond when a nudge at his chest told him she had more to say. “But?”
“But I expect you to keep your promise from now on. No more hiding decisions being made about me. And, above all, you will be honest with how you feel.” She tapped the skin over her heart with a finger. “I can feel what you’re feeling. This is a far more profound sharing of intimacy than you ever experienced before. But if you don’t talk to me, I may think you are feeling a certain way for an entirely different reason than reality.”
“I promise. I won’t hide anything from you.”
She leaned into him and kissed him deeply, her lips sweet and salty from the food.
They ate in silence for a while, and Gabriel let all his feelings flow free through their bond. Again, he felt that strange tug, as if something else was pulling on the string that connected them, this time with a lighter touch. Alice scratched the skin above her heart.
“So, what happens now?” she asked.
“I’ll tell Jerome the good news, and I assume he will tell Matts the bad news.”
“He’s not going to take it well, is he?”
“Jerome? I’m sure he’ll be all right,” he teased.
“You know what I mean.” She gave him a droll stare.
“Yeah, I guess not. I got the feeling Matts was already counting on winning,” he acknowledged. “But you don’t need to worry about that.”
“You can’t tell me not to worry about a friend in pain.”
“I know. But I don’t think you can help him with this. He will need to figure things out on his own.”
He heard her sigh, and worry came through the bond. A small sting of jealousy stabbed his side. Alice raised one eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything. He reminded himself that she had chosen him, not Matts.
She was his. His mate, his lover, his omega. And it was time he made it official.
After he and Alice washed the dishes, he went to his office, closed the door, and clicked a button on the phone in his desk.
“How can I help you, Gabriel?” Jerome’s voice came through the loudspeaker.
“You can tell Matts that he won’t be taking Alice to Norway.”
Jerome took a second to reply. “Did you bond with Alice?” he asked politely.
“Yes,” he told him simply, not willing to go into any details.
“I see…” Jerome paused again. “In that case, I command you to relinquish your claim over Alice Lopes, and entrust her to the second claimant, Matts Hansen.”
“What?” he bellowed. “No! We had a deal, you can’t—”
Jerome’s sudden laugh made him stop.
“You do have a bond.” Jerome sounded amused at his outburst.
“Are you mental?” Gabriel was dumbfounded by the older man’s attitude.
“Gabriel.” Jerome took a deep breath, as if gathering his strength to explain something to a very slow pupil. “If you didn’t have a bond with an omega, you would be compelled to obey my command. And it would serve you right for trying to trick me. This was the fastest way of checking if you were lying to me.”
“Oh.” Gabriel felt embarrassed. He should have seen through Jerome’s deception.
“I confirm your claim, for now. I’ll tell Matts the news.”
“For now?” Gabriel disputed.
“Yes, for now. I want to talk with Alice and confirm the bond in person. I understand your concern, but after what happened in France, I’m not taking any chances.”
“Understood,” Gabriel accepted reluctantly.
“I’ll let you know as soon as it is convenient for me to go to Portugal. In the meantime, I do request that you continue to respect the rules in place for Alice’s protection. Keep her in Portugal, keep her safe. Last thing we need is another omega in the strays’ hands.”
“Understood. Hope to see you soon, then.”
Matts
The phone rang in its annoyingly high tune, breaking his concentration. He closed the file on a new prospect bookkeeper with an annoyed thump and reached out to pick up the call. The name on the caller ID screen gave him a moment’s pause.
Jerome. He wasn’t expecting a call from him for another three weeks.
“Please tell me he hasn’t done something rash.” His first instinct was to assume the worst from a cornered alpha such as Gabriel.
“Are pleasantries a thing of the past now, too?” Jerome chided him. “I still remember when people were polite on the phone, you know?”
“I do apologize. Hello, Jerome, how are you? How is the missus?” he asked politely as he reached into a drawer for a pack of cigarettes.
“We are both fine, thank you.”
“Good.” He lit a cigarette. “Now that that is out of the way, why the fu—why are you calling three weeks early?”
“Language, Matts,” Jerome admonished him. “I’m afraid it’s bad news. Alice has made her choice, and her choice is Gabriel.”
Matts leaned back in the chair, and took a big pull from the cigarette, holding the smoke inside. Violence burned underneath his skin, a desire to break every item in his office spreading from his heart to the tips of his fingers.
“Matts?” Jerome’s concerned voice broke the silence.
“I’m here.” He let out a long breath, smoke coming through his nose like a dragon. “I’m…” He wasn’t sure what to say. Disappointed? He was, for sure. Heartbroken? Against his better judgment, he had let himself fantasize about winning the claim, about Alice becoming his. He had no one to blame for that but himself. Angry? Maybe at himself and Gabriel, but not at Alice. Never at Alice…
“Do you want to leave the list? I can look into other options should something happen to Gabriel.”
“No. Don’t take me out. Even if she chose Gabriel, I will still be her second.”
“I understand.” Jerome paused.
“Whatever it is that you have to say, just spit it out, Jerome.”
“Manners,” he scolded him again. He heard Jerome take a deep breath and felt him fidget through the line. “I am to transmit an offer made by the Potentia ad Opus.”
Matts’s eyebrows raised in surprise and he switched the phone to his other hand. The Potentia ad Opus hardly ever said anything to the lower classes, much less made offers.
“If you retrieve the missing omega, Sophie Arnaud, from the strays and kill their leader, they will grant you an immediate claim over her if you wish, or—”
Matts scoffed. He wanted to recover Sophie, but not for his own claim. If they thought this would entice him in any way, they were dead wrong.
“Or.” Jerome emphasized the word, annoyed at the interruption. “They will confirm your claim to the omega Alice Lopes, over any claim or bond she may currently possess.”
“What?” Matts let the cigarette fall from his mouth and it rolled on the floor. He quickly got up and stomped on it. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve already made it well known that I disagree with their decision. But one of them, and you can probably guess which one, seems to think that recovering a missing omega is far more important than the happiness of another. And there is the possibility that Sophie was pregnant when taken, which would mean Marcel’s child could be in the hands of the strays.” Jerome groaned. “The others agreed with Marcel’s mother for now and understand that she wants to recover her grandchild. I’m doing my best to change their minds.”
