Playing With Fire - Katie MacAlister [84]
His fingers tilted my head up, forcing me to look into his obsidian eyes. What I saw there scared me to the depths of my being. ‘‘Not even your freedom?’’
I looked at him, unable to speak.
His mouth curved in a wicked, knowing smile. ‘‘If you bring me the phylactery, I will grant you a temporary rescindment of your bondage for . . . shall we say a century?’’
A century. A hundred years of freedom from Magoth and his demands. A hundred years of happiness with Gabriel, untainted by the stain of Abaddon that clung to me. A lifetime of servitude for the dragons.
I couldn’t do it. There was nothing he could offer me that would induce me to betray Gabriel and his sept, of all the septs, in that way. ‘‘No,’’ I said softly, bracing myself for a blow.
Pain lashed through me with sharp precision. I doubled over, clutching myself against it. ‘‘Sweet May. Lovely May. It would be such a shame to lose a servant as devoted as you.’’
He lifted me up, his eyes blazing as he pulled me against his body, but for once, there was no erotic intent in his expression. ‘‘Do not fail me, May, lest I be forced to recall you to Abaddon, where you will remain until the end of your days.’’
‘‘—too early to do anything. I haven’t had my breakfast yet!’’
‘‘You’re just going to have to wait, Jim. Finding May is more important than feeding you. Gabriel, are you sure she didn’t say anything before she disappeared?’’
The voices reached me even before I fell through the rip in reality that Magoth’s minion had created. I hit the floor, disoriented as I always was when shoved through a tear in the mortal plain.
‘‘Speak of the devil. Ouch. Looks like you’ve been to Abaddon and back,’’ Jim said close to my ear. I felt a faint moist sensation on my shoulder. ‘‘Oh, yeah—hellfire and brimstone. Well, back safe and sound, that’s all that matters. Now can I have my breffy?’’
I hadn’t shaken the dizziness from my head before I was yanked upward and slammed against a hard surface . . . a warm hard surface, one with arms that tightened around me, which smelled like heaven, and tasted even better. Gabriel didn’t wait to ask me what happened—his mouth took possession of mine with a need that demanded all. I let him plunder away, ignoring my guilt for a moment in order to give him everything I had.
His lips and tongue pulled away from me with violence, his eyes literally scorching me as he looked down, his face set in hard planes. ‘‘I need you,’’ he said in a low, intimate growl.
I blinked for a moment in surprise, glancing to the side where Drake stood next to Aisling. It would appear the demon had dropped me off in Drake’s kitchen. Behind the two of them, Drake’s men, and a woman I remembered being introduced as István’s girlfriend, stood watching with silent interest. Surprisingly, Cyrene wasn’t present. ‘‘Er . . . right now?’’
‘‘Yes.’’ Gabriel didn’t hesitate—he simply scooped me up in his arms, blanket and all, and headed in long strides toward what looked to be the back stairs.
Aisling glanced at her wyvern. ‘‘I know it’s none of our business, but does May look to you like she’s up to the sort of activities Gabriel is clearly planning?’’
Drake leaned down and kissed her. ‘‘She has been taken from him and returned. It is the way of dragons, kincsem.’’
The last thing I saw before Gabriel leaped up the last of the stairs was Aisling giving her husband an odd look. ‘‘Really? You never did that with me. I wonder if I could get someone to kidnap me for a bit . . .’’
‘‘Is that true?’’ I asked as Gabriel pounded up a second flight of stairs.
‘‘Yes. You are not harmed in any way?’’
‘‘No, I’m fine. Just a little . . . er . . . taken aback by your sudden passion.’’
He slid me a look that was part desire, part amusement. ‘‘I’m sorry, little bird, but you are my mate. I must possess you. It is a primal need, not one that can be controlled. A mortal man might do so, but I cannot.’’
‘‘Oh,’’ I said, not wanting to admit that I found it immensely flattering that the second I was returned, he felt the need to join again with me.
He kicked open the