Gabriel Read Free Page B

exterior. “I’m light and dark; I know it to be true now. And I don’t even really know what that means for me yet. But Azrael said I could exist and keep my form in any of the three dimensions. So the Arch Angels will come from the first dimension, and the Purebloods will come from the third to find me. They will all seek me out, here in the second.”
    He stopped dead in his tracks; at last something I’d said had caused a reaction.
    â€œYes,” he said, “they will. If they find out you are alive, they will hunt you down, and they won’t stop until they have you. So, we cut all ties and we leave together. We’ll hide. You have been through enough. It ends here.” Gabriel’s jaw locked and his eyes widened with conviction.
    No longer softening the blow for my benefit, he seemed to have hardened. Either that or he was taking my choices away from me, perhaps for my own good. I wasn’t sure.
    *   *   *
    W E HADN’T WALKED FOR long when a château fort came into view. It stood alone, with a brewing fog clouding its base.
    I looked at Gabriel with raised eyebrows. “ This is where you’ve been staying?”
    Gabriel seemed to have more money than sense, and I made a mental note to ask him where his wealth came from.
    â€œIt’s very small. I couldn’t take you back to the barn. Han—” He stopped.
    Hanora. The very suggestion of her name made my toes curl instantly. Sadly, I hadn’t forgotten her. In fact, there were a few things concerning that particular Vampire that I would have gladly left behind.
    â€œIt wasn’t safe,” he finished.
    Standing now only meters away from the entrance, I rocked back on the heels of my feet dubiously. Gabriel halted and reached for my hand. As he slipped his fingers between mine, I knew he could sense my unease.
    I didn’t know how long I had been trapped between life and death, but he hadn’t seemed to change. His broad shoulders and strong arms made me feel safe. He was an unbreakable wall, protecting me, and I knew he’d meet his end long before he’d let anyone pry me from him again. And God, he was gorgeous.
    â€œI love you, Lailah.”
    Those words surprised me.
    â€œI. Love. You,” he repeated firmly. “I should have said it sooner,” he continued. “I didn’t think I had to, because I felt it. I have always felt it, and so I thought you knew it. Every day we have been together, I should have said it.”
    Right now, I had no inclination to debate the specifics of the love he was proclaiming for someone whose eyes he had struggled to meet only minutes ago or to question what that meant for us now. Instead, I smiled, though I was sure that the sadness at the edge of my lips was obvious enough for him to read. Having faced the end—the real end—and come through the other side, I was suddenly so tired. I was done with the complications of Pureblood Vampires, Arch Angels, and being a pawn in a battle between the two. I wanted it all to stop. I wanted my life back.
    I had loved Gabriel in my first life, and though I had wandered this world for nearly two centuries without him, he had always been with me, buried in my memories and in my heart. I loved him still.
    I tightened my grip around his hand and said, “And I, you. I’ll do what you say; I will go wherever you want to take me, for as long as you will have me.”
    It was true. I’d woken from my cocoon a Hedylidae, not a Morpho butterfly like him. But if he felt for me even a fraction of what I felt for him, I would flap my confused wings as hard as I could and follow him to the ends of any and every world, without question.
    I immediately felt a sense of angst swelling within him. As he tilted his head, his blond curls fell slightly into his vision, stopping me from being able to read the message his eyes were writing.
    Finally he said,