Gabriel stared at Abby’s profile and the stubborn set of her jaw, identifying with her deep-rooted prejudice better than she might imagine. She’d given him a reason to scrutinize his own long-standing perceptions. Now it was his turn to convince her to look closely at her own. “If I’m to be judged by the same criteria of all men, would you not give me a chance to redeem myself in your eyes, Abby?”

  Hooking his finger on her chin, he turned her face toward his. “Would you not let me see for you in the darkness?”

  Chapter Nine

  Gabriel’s desire to allay her fears shot right to Abby’s heart, burrowing deep. The morning sun warmed her bare shoulders and was probably melting the ice outside, but the cold darkness from the recurring nightmare she’d had since childhood still gripped her psyche with its relentless claws. The loneliness she experienced during this dream felt even more pronounced than it had in the past; like her fear knew she wanted to leave it behind, so it had upped the ante in her subconscious, refusing to be shrugged off or forgotten.

  Abby stared into Gabriel’s beautiful blue eyes, so full of sincerity and intense conviction, and her closely guarded heart softened. This man was trying to get close. He was worth letting in. New tears rimmed her eyes. “How are you going to help me see in the darkness?”

  Gabriel cupped her jaw. “Because I will see for you.”

  Abby laughed and tears spilled down her cheeks. “You’re one of a kind, I’ll admit, but total darkness will always hold its nasty grip on me. No one can change that.”

  Gabriel’s expression was resolute. “I can. I’m not like other men you’ve encountered, Abby.”

  He spoke so calmly, Abby sobered. “What are you saying? That you can see in the total absence of light?”

  He nodded, his face solemn as he brushed a tear from her jaw. “You know those books you were looking at downstairs in the office?”

  Abby heart rate kicked up a notch. “The books on wolves and werewolf lore?”

  Gabriel slid off the bed and stood, stunning in his nakedness. “You know vampires exist. Why not werewolves?” He glanced toward the chaise lounge with smoldering eyes, before he turned and walked toward the doorway, calling over his shoulder, “Meet me in the bathroom.”

  Abby let out a half-hysterical laugh as she watched his broad back and nicely muscled butt disappear into the hall. He was talking crazy, saying he could see in the dark and that werewolves were real. Yet he seemed to truly care for her and they’d had the best sex she’d ever experienced—she glanced toward the chaise lounge and her heart jerked. Something had ripped the fabric in four perfect slits. Something like…claws.

  Her mind began to race, along with her pulse rate. She hadn’t registered what she’d seen in the dim light last night before he’d walked away and gone downstairs to find a candle, but now…in context, she realized she’d seen the flash of long teeth, four canines, before he’d turned away.

  Kaitlyn knows the truth, Gabriel’s voice whispered in her mind, making her gasp in surprise. She was really losing it if she’d just imagined that he’d walked right inside her head, speaking in that deep, steady voice of his. Abby began to tremble all over. Could it be true? Was that Gabriel in the woods last night when she was looking for the key? She gulped. He was enormous!

  Abby scrambled across the bed and grabbed the phone off the nightstand. Her hands shook as she dialed Kaitlyn’s cell.

  “Hullo—” a sleepy female voice mumbled.

  “Kaitlyn!” Abby whispered into the phone, her heart pounding. “All those books in your office about wolves and werewolf lore? Are they true? About werewolves, I mean.”

  “Abby?” Kaitlyn suddenly sounded very alert. “Is everything okay?”

  Abby noted the wariness in Kaitlyn’s voice and that her friend didn’t immediately ask: “Have you been drinking, Ab?”

  “Gabriel told me werewolves exist and that you know. Is it true?”

  Kaitlyn didn’t say anything for a second, making Abby even more tense. She held her breath and pressed the handset tighter to her ear. “Is it true, Kaitlyn?”

  “Yes.”

  Abby’s breath rushed out and she tried to remain calm, even though her insides were a quivering mass of disbelief and shock.

  “Abby, are you there? Let’s meet for dinner and talk.”

  Abby swallowed the lump in her throat.

  “Ab-”

  “I just want to know one thing. Good guys or bad guys?”

  “Huh?” Kaitlyn asked.

  Abby huffed her frustration. “You know, vampires are bad. And werewolves are…”

  “Ah, I see. Good. Very good. But not all vampires are—”

  “I want to hear every detail later, Kaitlyn,” Abby said quickly.

  “But—”

  “Later.” Abby hung up the phone and stared at the empty doorway. The strange markings she’d noticed on the front door, she realized they matched perfectly with a hand…his hand around her neck, slamming her into the wood. Ha! That explained his freakish speed when they’d fought, too. And yet, with all that power vibrating inside him, oddly she wasn’t afraid. Heedless of her nakedness, she hopped out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

  Gabriel stood in the shadows of the room, his powerful body leaning casually against the counter, arms crossed. “Did you get the answers you wanted?”

  “Not all of them.” Abby took a deep breath, stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. The room was now pitch-black and her anxiety grew by the second. Straightening her shoulders, she forced herself to breathe evenly. She wasn’t alone. She could deal with the utter blackness for a few minutes. Holding up three fingers, she said, “How many fingers am I holding up?”

  “Three.”

  Her heart tripped, then she opened her hand completely. “Now how many?”

  “Five,” came his assured reply.

  Abby narrowed her gaze. Maybe he was just lucky. She held up four fingers and crossed her eyes. “And now?”

  “Four. Isn’t there an old wives tale that if you do that too long your eyes will get stuck?”

  A cold chill rushed over her body, raising the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. He really could see in the dark, which meant…he saw everything last night. He saw her look of terror, saw her struggling to scream but not being able to. He watched her shaking uncontrollably and trying not to fall completely apart. He’d witnessed it all. Ashamed heat shot across her cheeks, quickly followed by annoyance. She felt like Gabriel had taken a peak inside her mind without her permission. Until that very moment, she never realized how much she’d come to depend on the very dark she feared to also hide her weakness from others.

  Abby stuck her middle finger straight up and cocked an eyebrow. “What about now?”

  “You have no idea how much I want to, sweetness.” Gabriel’s husky voice was right in front of her, making her picture that sexy barbell elevated high and a cocky smile on his face. Before she could react, he grabbed hold of her wrist and yanked her against his hard, naked chest. Arms of steel encircled her waist and he whispered against her ear, “As long as you’re with me, you’ll never have to fear the darkness again.”

  The wall around Abby’s heart began to crumble when Gabriel ran his lips along her throat. “As far as werewolves are concerned…” He kissed her jaw with such tenderness, her stomach bottomed out and her breath hitched. “Not all wolves are lucky enough to find our perfect mates.”

  Perfect mate? “Are you a wolf or a werewolf?” With her mind reeling, she tried to focus on the facts and not let her heart hope for more.

  “I can be both, though we call our werewolf shape our Musk form,” Gabriel’s sexy voice made her skin prickle as he gripped her hips and pressed his erection boldly against her. “When we do find our mates, Lupreda mate for life.” His warm lips brushed across hers, seducing her senses.

  You won’t find a man more committed than that.

  Abby gasped and cupped his face, enjoying the sexy stubble brushing her palms. “Did you just speak in my mind?”

  Male satisfaction carried in Gabriel’s chuckle. There’s so much I have to share with you, he said in her mind right before he slanted his lips across hers in an aggressive kiss.

  Abby wrapped her arms around his neck and twined her tongue with his. He tasted of outdoors and musk and male determination.

  Gabriel slid his warm hands lower and palmed her butt. Lifting her against his muscular frame, he stepped forward and set her back against the wall. His erection teased her sex, sliding slightly inside and making her crazy. She wrapped her legs around his hips and her heart raced, while her body throbbed with the need to feel him filling her completely.

  “Yes.” She begged with that one word, digging her nails into his shoulders.

  When he thrust deep inside her channel, Abby cried out in blissful satisfaction. But instead of moving inside her, Gabriel held her there, pressed against the wall, suspended in the air. He filled her up and stole her ability to breathe, let alone think.

  His warm breath slid down her throat and his fingers flexed on her ass, squeezing her muscles in a possessive hold. Do you trust me, sweetness? Will you give your heart to a wolf, who will cherish you for the rest of your life?

  Abby had never been so profoundly caught up in another person. She slid her fingers into his thick hair and tugged, answering honestly. “I’ve never allowed myself the freedom of trusting another.”

  Gabriel growled low in his throat and thrust deeper, pushing her slightly higher along the wall. “It took one human female to turn my distrust of humans upside down. Finding my mate has only appeased my restless wolf. He wants this mating, but I won’t do this without your trust.” His voice sounded hoarse, his emotions on a raw edge.

  Trust started with a leap of faith. Gabriel had set aside his wariness of humans because of her, and now he fought his primal instincts, waiting for her answer. From the protective concern he’d shown for her well-being, to his dogged desire to not let her hide her past, to his vow to assuage her fears, he’d proven he was worth the risk to her heart. She had to laugh that she’d spent all her life avoiding emotional attachments and long-term relationships, only to find the one relationship she wanted more than anything with an intensely perceptive man whom she shared an instant emotional connection from the first moment they touched.

  Abby locked her legs tight around him, kissed his cheek and whispered, “You’ve given me more reasons to share my trust than I thought possible. If there’s such a thing as commitment, I want it to be with the one person who wouldn’t let me lock him out and who cared to dig deep enough to see the real me. It doesn’t matter if you happen to be a wolf.”

  “I love every part of you, Abby Brooks.” Gabriel withdrew from her and as he slowly slid back inside, his words washed over her, full of intemperate sincerity. Your strong right hook and stubborn pride impress me while your compassion continues to intrigue me, but your sexy, pouty lips hold the power to undo me. In every respect, you are my perfect mate.”

  While her body coiled and tensed, ready to climax, Abby’s heart felt like it was expanding inside her chest. She wrapped her arms tight around his broad shoulders and whispered against his neck “Make me yours, because I never want to let you go.”

  Gabriel withdrew and thrust forcefully back inside her. As her body clenched in response, he let out a seductive, guttural growl right before he clamped his teeth down on the soft spot between her throat and her shoulder.

  Abby screamed from the pleasure and the pain. The tight feel of his teeth digging into her skin sent her headlong into the most explosive orgasm she’d ever experienced. She held him close as each tremor slammed through her and rocked against him, as tiny whimpers of ecstasy tumbled from her lips.

  He kissed her shoulder, then ran his warm tongue over the spot where he’d bitten her before he began to move inside her with steadily harder thrusts. Abby gripped him tight and bit his shoulder, spiking his primitive urges, encouraging his forceful taking.

  A tremor racked his body and he stopped moving, buried deep inside her. She flexed her muscles around his erection and sighed her contentment, only to gasp in surprise when heat suffused her body, centering where their bodies connected.

  “You’re so hot,” she murmured as a fine sheen of sweat raced across her skin. When her core stretched even more to accommodate his sudden increase in size, she moaned at the gratifying sensation that shimmied through her.

  He buried his nose in her neck and his skin burned even hotter, as if he were raging with fever. Inhaling deeply, he shuddered, holding his hard frame tight as a bowstring against her. Then his sexy voice, full of want and desire, shot through her mind. My wolf is mating with you.

  As a searing liquid heat filled her, Abby couldn’t kiss him hard enough, her emotions were so overwhelming and raw. Gabriel yanked her thighs tighter and rocked his hips, pressing himself even further into her body. His actions were primal and possessively erotic…as if he meant to imprint his very essence on her.

  The decadent feel of his hard body locked against her, mixed with Gabriel’s provocative intensity and arousing musky smell, sent her spiraling into another orgasm. Abby cried out, meeting each of his powerful thrusts with her own as she accepted this amazing man with an open heart and mind.

  When Gabriel’s movements slowed until their hearts thudded against each other, he leaned over and opened the door.

  “Where are we going?” Abby asked as he carried her down the hall.

  “Back to bed.” He entered the bedroom and laid her on the soft mattress, covering her body with his.

  Leaning close, he gave a low, seductive growl vibrated against her neck. The vibration along her skin made her insides curl in excitement at the idea of spending all day in bed with Gabriel. But the reality that they weren’t in her own space or even in her own bed had her reaching for the phone. She wanted to create a special place just for them. “I need to get a jump on apartment hunting.”

  Gabriel pulled the phone from her hand. The ringer chimed as he dropped it on the carpet. “We’ll go apartment hunting later.”

  Heart racing, she raised an eyebrow. “We’llgo apartment hunting? I thought you said you didn’t want to live in the city.”

  His steady stare held hers. “Because of my nature, I’ll always have to spend some time in the mountains, but as far as the city goes, I said I never felt the need to live here.” His gaze dropped to the spot he’d bitten. “Until now.”

  Abby was afraid to look. She didn’t feel any pain, but he’d bitten her fairly hard. If nothing else, she’d have a helluva bruise. Taking a breath, she had to twist her neck hard in order to see the four distinct red marks. There was no bruising whatsoever.

  She glanced at him, her eyes wide. “Amazing.”

  A feral smile tilted his lips. “It’s my mark. It’ll never fade and will always carry my scent, letting other Lupreda know you’re taken.”

  Abby’s heart rate kicked up and she smiled. “How positively primeval. I love it!” She knew they still had a great deal to learn about each other, but no doubts entered her mind when she looked into his eyes—just fierce, inexplicable certainty.

  Lacing his fingers with hers, Gabriel pulled her hands above her head. “Apartment hunting should be third on our list of things to do today.”

  “Really? And what’s second?”

  “Furniture shopping, specifically for a bed.”

  Desire swirled in her stomach. Shopping for a bed with a man who could speak in her thoughts would be a new adventure. “And first?”

  Gabriel’s gaze swept over her breasts and down her stomach. When his eyes snapped to hers, a breathtaking blend of bright green and sky-blue reflected in their depths and a sinful smile canted his lips, displaying four fully extended canines. As Abby gasped her excitement, his sexy, bone-melting voice slipped into her mind in an intimate and arousing caress.

  You’ll always be first on my list, sweetness.

  ISBN: 978-1-4089-2786-1

  Scions: Perception

  © Patrice Michelle 2008

  First Published in Great Britain in 2008

  Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

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  All characters in this work have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.