Gabriel's Mate by Folsom, Tina (read this if .txt) 📕

the things he’d said and done since had started overriding his outside appearance. When she looked at him now, there was no ugliness, only a man who was trying to protect her.

And how did she want to repay him for his kindness? By biting him.

She couldn’t allow herself to do that. She had to get out of this place. Without a word, she turned on her heels and rushed out of the kitchen.

“Where’re you going?” she heard Gabriel’s voice behind her.

“Maya!”

But she didn’t want to listen to him.

In the corridor, she turned toward the stairs. She needed her handbag with her keys so she could go home. Before she could set even one foot on the first step, Gabriel was already behind her and turned her around to face him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his face a mask of concern and confusion.

She tried to find the right words, but nothing came out. How could she tell him what she really wanted? To sink her fangs into his neck while she explored his naked body with her hands, when all he wanted was to protect her.

“I promise they won’t hurt you anymore. They fear me too much.

I’m their boss. Nobody will touch you or force you to do anything you don’t want to do,” he promised.

Maya shook her head. She believed him, but it wasn’t enough. “I don’t belong here. I’m going home.”

Gabriel’s mouth dropped open. “You can’t go home. That rogue is still out there. It’s too dangerous.”

“I need to go home. I can’t stay here with you. This is not my life.

This is not me.” Tears started welling up in her eyes again, but she pushed them back. “I have a job, a life. My parents – what will I tell my parents? And my friends? Paulette and Barbara will be so worried if I don’t tell them where I am.”

“We’ll help you figure things out. I will help you,” Gabriel insisted.

“And what, make up lies to hide what I am? Or will I be dead to everybody else?”

His hand stroked over her arm in a gesture so comforting, she wanted to lean into him.

“We all have to make up new lives for ourselves. We stay young while everyone around us ages and dies. I’ll help you figure out what to do about your parents and your friends. But for now, you can’t tell anybody, not while we’re trying to take out the rogue.”

“And then what? What will I do with my life? I can’t be a doctor anymore. That’s all I know how to do – and now, I’m a freak, don’t you understand? I’m not normal. And I won’t drink human blood. I just won’t.”

“You’ll die if you don’t,” a voice came from the entrance door before it slammed shut.

Maya’s gaze snapped to the man who now stood in the foyer. Tall and skinny, he looked at her.

“That’s Dr. Drake, and as much as I’d like to disagree with him, he’s right,” Gabriel added.

“Looks like I came just in time.” Drake stepped further into the house and stretched out his hand toward Maya. “We’ve met before, but I’m afraid at our last encounter you were unconscious.” Then he turned to Gabriel and looked him up and down. “I see your visit wasn’t welcome.”

Maya had no idea what the doctor was referring to, but apparently Gabriel did, because his next word sounded more like a warning than a greeting. “Doc.”

With a smile Drake perused her. “The turning completed well thanks to Gabriel.”

Maya looked at the doctor. What did Gabriel have to do with her turning? They’d told her a rogue had attacked her and turned her. When she gave Gabriel a questioning look, he dropped his lids slightly as if he wanted to hide from her scrutiny.

“What do you mean?” she asked the doctor, staring right into his blue eyes.

“Well, surely, they told you what happened.”

Maya’s hackles went up. They were keeping something from her.

They hadn’t told her the truth. “No. Why don’t you?”

Drake looked from her to Gabriel and then back. He appeared flustered.

“You were in pretty bad shape when they found you. The turning had started, but it didn’t take. We only had two choices: let you die or turn you fully.”

Memories of the previous night flashed in Maya’s mind. “You didn’t let me die.” She remembered the pain and the cold. And the strange dream she’d had.

“No, Gabriel turned you fully. He gave you enough of his blood for the turning to take. For all intents and purposes, he’s your sire.”

Maya’s mouth gaped open as she looked back at Gabriel who stood a mere three feet away from her. Now it all made sense. Her dream hadn’t been a dream at all. That night she’d fed from Gabriel’s wrist, she’d felt his body warm her, comfort her. Now it was no surprise that he was so protective of her. To him, she must feel like his daughter. No wonder he’d been so reluctant to kiss her and had looked so ashamed and guilt-ridden when the kiss had ended.

Was it regret she saw in his eyes now?

“There was no time to waste. I had to act,” Gabriel said, and it sounded like an apology.

Had he acted rash and made a decision he now regretted? She didn’t want to know, couldn’t ask him, but his eyes said it all: so much regret, so much pain. He’d taken on a responsibility she wasn’t sure he wanted.

That’s what she was to him: somebody he had to take care of because he’d turned her. He’d made her into what she was.

“You owe me nothing. You saved my life, and I thank you for it,”

she pressed out, trying not to cry. But she wouldn’t take anything else from him. Not even his offer of protection which clearly came from a misplaced sense of responsibility of knowing that it was his blood that had eventually turned her into a vampire. His blood that ran through her veins. Was that why she lusted