Fate's Kiss Read online

  “You knew this and never said a word to Demon?”

  “Silence, Tamahaq,” the angel ordered brusquely.

  With a loud huff, she folded her arms across her chest and obeyed. Demon flashed a grin. “Would you mind sharing that little trick, archangel? It will make things so much easier between us.”

  Anne shot him a look that promised retribution. The archangel Gabriel breathed a wounded sigh. “Will you two cease while I’m here? Your bickering is rather exhausting. “

  The angel glared Anne and Demon into silence. “Where was I? It’s really troublesome to be this old. Affects the memory and all. Oh yes, I recall. I was giving you a synopsis of my namesake’s history. Mirelle was unaware her blood carried a gift Mephistopheles was determined to have. Elstone had already decided to make her his wife. He was a second son, with no expectations beyond this house. They married and returned to England.”

  “I’m aware of my parents’ history,” Demon snapped. “What does your longwinded story have to do with my present predicament?”

  The archangel rolled his eyes. “May I finish? This is for the benefit of your life mate. By the time we discovered Mephistopheles’ deception, conception had occurred and prophecy tied our hands.”

  “How did you learn about this, archangel?” Anne questioned.

  “The Fallen do love to boast, Tamahaq. Once he made certain Mirelle would give birth to an undead, he taunted us. Prophecy told of two possible destinies for Mirelle’s child. She sought my aid and I gave it. Gabriel Elstone is the only undead who has free will.”

  “Something that fills me with inordinate pride,” Demon said with a sneer. “What exactly was the aid you gave since it took my mother’s life.”

  He caught the brief look that passed between the two archangels before Gabriel answered. “Mirelle refused to accept your death. I gave you my blood. It doesn’t negate your existence as an undead, nothing but death can do that. Your abilities to translocate and temper the bloodlust . . . My aid gifted you those traits.”

  Demon stared at the angel. “Did you extend your protection to those who care for me?”

  “Of course,” Gabriel stated. “What would be the purpose of Mirelle’s sacrifice otherwise? You needed to become human.”

  Demon’s anger rode the surface of his thoughts, along with traces of guilt and shame. Mulling over the implications of the archangel’s words, Demon heard Anne’s intake of air and realized their minds were still linked. She’d witnessed the flux of emotions coiling inside him. Emotions triggered by whatever sorcery she wielded.

  With a harsh laugh, he expelled her from his thoughts. “You speak of ancient history, archangel. What I want to know is why a duke’s son must be tied for life to a mulatto?”

  A knife whizzed by his ear, close enough to nip off the tip if the thrower had chosen to do so. Startled, Demon whipped his gaze to Anne. “I take it you don’t find the situation a problem.”

  “If you want to live beyond this evening, my lord, be forewarned. While there is no shame in being what you call a mulatto, and the correct term for a woman is mulatta, it is not what I am. If you wish to call me a name other than Anne, you will call me Tamahaq.”

  “The second thing I should know about you?”

  She marched over to jerk her knife from the wall behind him. Going to where he stood, she laid the dagger flat against his stomach, the tip pointed downward. “Exactly six inches separate my blade from the base of your cock. I say this as a reminder not to let the English blood of my father mislead you.”

  Gabriel and Raphael roared with laughter before Raphael interjected. “Tamahaq, Amina threatened her life mate in a similar fashion. Let me remind you, as I reminded her, your ability to conceive a child diminishes should you carry out your threat. Fate gives you only one life mate.”

  Anne shrugged. “Perhaps Fate needs to find another vessel.”

  She stepped away from Demon and turned her troubled gaze to Raphael. “Though it galls me to agree with Demon, this mating cannot be.”

  “For the first time tonight we are in accord,” Demon said.

  “You two really don’t have a choice,” Raphael declared as the archangels vanished. “Find a way to live with each other.”

  Gabriel glanced at Anne’s face. Her amusement warred with her outrage before she expelled a huff of air. His eyes followed her hand as she restored her dagger to its hiding place. “You have the ability to know my thoughts. Do I have the same power over you?”

  “As my life mate, my mind is bound to yours,” she answered. “Once you evade the traps I’ve set for the uninvited.”

  “How?”

  “Seek inside yourself for one of our conjoined life threads and follow it.”

  Gabriel’s awareness turned inward. It was an interesting process, one he didn’t pursue very often. Most of his life he understood who he was and why he did the things he did. The level of self-searching he now engaged in was new to him. He wasn’t entirely sure he cared for it.

  “Focus, Demon.”

  Anne’s words disrupted his musing and he searched for the slender filaments she called life threads. Spying a gray-green one, he mentally touched it and suddenly found himself in Anne’s awareness. He felt her teasing laughter as he stumbled over the chaos of her thinking.

  “It will take some time for you to become accustomed to this type of sharing since your guardian didn’t think instruction was necessary.”

  Her words chilled him. What else had the archangel kept hidden from him? For the first time in his life, Gabriel questioned his path. He broke off the connection, expecting to feel disoriented and confused. Instead, he felt a sense of belonging despite the insecurities pushing to the surface like worms in rain. “What did Raphael mean we don’t have a choice?”

  “Are you always this obtuse?” Anne rubbed her forehead. “I shall have a headache because of you. Life mate is exactly what it signifies. We are mated for life, actually, for all eternity. Fuck.”

  She went to pour herself a glass of brandy. Taking a sip, she leveled her gaze on a grinning Gabriel. “Wipe that silly grin off your face. Desperate times require desperate measures.”

  Demon granted his laughter freedom. “Eternity might not be as bleak as I anticipated if I can keep you drunk.”

  “Shall we return to the reason I’m here?”

  “Your ridiculous proposal?”

  “It wasn’t ridiculous,” Anne retorted. “Five hundred pounds is a great deal of money.” She set her glass on a nearby table. “Are you aware Betsy has left Holland’s League and maybe even London?”

  “Yes, although she didn’t exactly leave London,” he replied. “She’s dead.”

  “Dead?” Anne stared at him. “You murdered her. Why? To feed your bloodlust?”

  He returned her gaze. “My bloodlust had nothing to do with killing Betsy, though her blood was extraordinary. She died because she threatened what belonged to me.”

  “What belonged to you,” Anne repeated, her tone incredulous. “What at Holland’s League could possibly belong to you, Gabriel Elstone?”

  “Apparently you,” he drawled.

  “Until I sent for you, we hadn’t met. How could you possibly think something so idiotic before we became life mates?”

  “Have you forgotten so soon, life mate? Fate intended us to be together. Apparently, some tiny part of my mind held this seed that you were mine and the seed sprouted.”

  He stared pensively at the red liquid in his glass. “When I was nine years old, Mephistopheles came to me. He said my mother’s disappearance was justified because my existence fulfilled a prophecy. He laughed when I swore an oath to avenge what he’d done to my mother. Laughed before he attempted to control my mind.”

  Gabriel’s eyes shuttered. “He became enraged when he realized he couldn’t command me as he did the other undead. From that day on I tracked and destroyed any demon or undead who crossed my path. One day it will be Mephistopheles.”

  He walke
d over to a chair and sat. “I swore never to take a wife or mistress. I refuse to hand the demon king a weapon to use against me. This bonding has become a weapon. It cannot continue.”

  Anne crossed over to where he sat and kneeled at his side. “You and I are here because Fate requires it. We are life mates, regardless of how much we dislike the bond.”

  She rose to her feet. “You must bed me. When it is done we can go our separate ways. Should you desire my bed, I will not deny you. However, I am not your possession. Marriage is not necessary and any child conceived belongs to the Tamahaq.”

  Gabriel lifted his glass and drank deeply. “What the hell is a Tamahaq? Until tonight I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  As she talked, he realized just how ignorant he was about the war he was caught up in. “You are willing to give birth to my bastards for some prophecy? What about the proud Willoughby name?”

  She laughed and the sound flowed into him like warm honey. “My twin and I were conceived outside of marriage. My mother and father did not wed until Kit and I were ten years of age. Only our sister Frances is considered legitimate. My branch of the Willoughby name can withstand another bastard or two.”

  He peered at her. There was so much to learn about this shape-changing woman who equally fascinated and infuriated him. His cock twitched, reminding him why she was in his house. “If you can accept who I am, I won’t stand in Fate’s way.”

  7

  Coitus Anticipatus

  Anne’s eyelashes dipped to conceal the rush of pleasure that slammed into her when Demon wrapped his arms around her. It was the same quick burst of lust she experienced when he first carried her into his house. His lips touched hers lightly, sending negligent tremors racing across her nerve endings. When his tongue slid out and traced the outline of her lips, she moaned softly. After a few blissful seconds, she moved her mouth just beyond his reach and stared at his beautiful face.

  Gabriel Elstone was a man who could teach you to sin, and make you love the sinning. The anger seething below that gorgeous surface, however, gave her pause. Was this the road she truly wanted to walk this night? Perhaps not.

  She eased herself from his embrace. “So much has changed between us, my lord. I think it best for me to return to Holland’s League. We need time to consider what has transpired, and to fully consent to our bond.”

  “I agree things between us have changed. However, I do not agree to your leaving me.”

  One arm locked her in his embrace as his large pale hand captured her jaw and tilted her head up. “My lord,” she stammered.

  “Do be quiet.”

  Anne didn’t know what to expect when his mouth brushed hers a second time. It certainly wasn’t gentleness. She’d seen his rage and expected the same icy hardness that lived in his eyes. Her surprise must have registered, for he murmured, “Close your eyes.”

  Her eyelids responded with quick obedience. “Open your mouth, I want to taste you.”

  She obeyed and Gabriel’s tongue swept across her bottom lip and inside her mouth. The slow, sensuous movement of his tongue across hers was like nothing she’d imagined. It was a paradox of sensations, damp heat and blazing wetness.

  Anne reached out to examine the feelings that jarred her mind into sudden wakefulness then immediately soothed it back to sleep. Her body twitched in response to each lick, each suck, each nip until desire ignited in the pit of her belly. His hips began to provocatively grind against her. Her small gasp broke the kiss when Gabriel repositioned her body so his cock rested against her stomach.

  He lifted her. “Wrap your legs about my hips. Yes, just so,” he said huskily.

  His mouth returned to its luxurious assault, demanding her submission. Her gown afforded little protection against the delicious friction of his slow thrusts. The slow-burning fire continued to sweep across her and Anne realized she was an innocent in the game he played. Not one of Aretino’s lessons had prepared her for Gabriel Elstone. Every nerve, each cell reacted to his kiss and caresses and, like a finely tuned violin, they vibrated in a harmonious rhythm that stripped her ability to pull away. To end the dangerous kiss and flee.

  It was Gabriel who broke their embrace. “This room has never been a favorite of mine for sex,” he said, lowering her feet to the floor.

  The uncoupling of their bodies was nearly painful and she trembled despite his hand on the small of her back. Even through the silk fabric, his touch maintained its sensual burn. With the slightest of pressure he guided her unsteady limbs toward the door, unlocked it, and steered her into the hallway.

  The tiny section of her mind unaffected by his touch warned it was time to run, to break the spell. Self-preservation, it whispered. Her mind wanted to heed the voice, wanted to regain the self-control that kept her alive for years. Her body had other plans and none that involved denying the incendiary craving set into motion by the promise of Gabriel’s mouth. She wanted to gift him the passion he had unlocked inside her. No matter how dangerous he might be to her peace of mind, she admitted to herself she wanted this one night unfettered by guilt and responsibility.

  He is my life mate, she whispered to the resisting voice in her head.

  Anne made no protest as he led her into a darkened chamber. When light suddenly flooded the space, she blinked rapidly. Questions tumbled through her mind and she turned to stare at Gabriel. He chuckled and closed the door behind them.

  “You have questions and I have the answers.” A glass of brandy magically appeared in his hand. “Would you like one?”

  She stammered “no thank you” then sucked in a deep breath. As the air flowed from her, she voiced a single question. “What abilities do you actually possess?”

  He sipped from his glass before he said, “Besides draining your life’s blood?”

  The glass disappeared from his hand and with it Gabriel. Anne felt foolish when she screamed. Supernaturals had always been part of her life so Gabriel’s vanishing shouldn’t have startled her.

  Her eyes searched the room. There was no trace of him. “Demon?”

  “Come, let’s continue this conversation in a state of undress,” he said.

  Her gaze whipped to the bed where he lay naked as the day he’d been born. The air around her suddenly cooled and for a second time she screamed. She was naked, her body moving toward the bed independent of her will. He was doing it.

  She attempted to counter his power. When her limbs refused to obey her will, she tried to shape change and failed. She felt the weight of an equal and opposite force pressing on her. Her eyes went to Gabriel’s face. He flashed her a wicked smile before he released her.

  Anne’s legs shook and she grabbed the bed to steady herself. Control of her body was again hers yet she never felt more vulnerable or frightened. Her fears must have shown because Gabriel said, “You shape change, I rearrange particles and put them wherever I want.”

  He laced his fingers and placed them behind his head. “I found I had this ability to influence and transform the properties of things at a young age. My first success was to reclaim a gift from my wicked stepmother. It was an ordinary astrolabe, but it held sentimental value.”

  “The Duchess is many things but wicked isn’t one of them, Demon,” Anne chided.

  “Remember, this is from a child’s point of view. When she took the gift to punish me, I saw her action as wicked.” He flicked the air with his fingers. “Neither here nor there. Once I perfected the art of translocation nothing born of nature is beyond my ability to alter its location. Shall I undress you, life mate?”

  His voice was deeply sensual, rumbling slowly through her. She wanted to say yes. Instead, she lowered her eyelashes, not wanting him to see her willingness. She needed to hide her struggle to resist the pull of desire and emotions she hadn’t expected. When her eyelashes lifted, none of her turmoil was evident. “I will undress myself, my lord. It will help to keep balance between us.”

  “There’s no need for balance between us since my onl
y interest is to fuck you.”

  Exasperation threatened to choke her. Demon really was an ass. Her awareness reached and swept the faint vibrations emanating from him. He was amused by her reactions to his verbal attacks. He expected her to lash out, to turn tail and run.

  Oh, you truly underestimate me, Demon Gabriel. The Tamahaq is no coward.

  She smiled and caught the momentary confusion in his arresting blue eyes. Her gaze slowly traced the beautifully sculpted, and quite naked, male body on the bed. She studied him with a healer’s eye. His pale skin was flawless, with no imperfections or blemishes and very little hair. Well-muscled limbs and torso belied the indolent image he presented to the world.

  Her gaze drifted back to his face. But for his acerbic tongue and icy manner, he was as beautiful a man as she’d seen. Even the obstinate jawline was carved perfection. The masculine power of Gabriel Elstone, however, was in the striking color of his eyes. As he boldly returned her gaze, the blue in his pupils lightened until they resembled the color of the Aegean sea. Entranced, she grasped how easily one might lose their soul to this supernatural creature. She was definitely swimming in turbulent waters with him as her life mate.

  He is nothing more than the fulfillment of prophecy. Guard your heart. He is undead. The words became a silent litany she repeated several times to stem the rush of emotions he triggered. She flicked her gaze to his bare chest. “Restore your clothes, my lord.”

  “To what end?”

  She lifted her eyes to his. “Our mating must be consensual. I prefer to undress you.”

  Anne couldn’t stop the tiny shiver that went through her when he re-clothed himself. Each time Gabriel wielded his power a sliver of trepidation settled inside her. Perhaps because it was still new to her, and the limits of his abilities an unknown. Time to shift the balance of power between them.

  A whore will discover a veritable treasure in her hands and between her thighs.

  She swallowed a reactive giggle. Thank you, Aretino and Eleanor.

  Moving to the side of the bed, she reached out and stroked a silk-covered thigh. “Please sit up, Demon.”