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

drop. He was right. She had no idea what she was going to tell her mother. She’d just dialed without thinking what to say. Her gaze trailed to the photo of her parents on the sideboard. There was her father, his arm draped over his wife’s shoulders, the two of them laughing at each other. She remembered when she’d taken the picture of them. It had been on the day of her graduation from medical school. Mom had put her golden hair up in an attractive bun, and Dad’s light brown short hair was wet, as were his clothes.

“He told me he would jump into the pool with all his clothes on if I passed with a four point O,” she said to nobody in particular. “I couldn’t pass up the chance.” When she looked up and away from the photo, she caught Gabriel looking at her, a soft smile around his lips.

“Call your parents. Tell them you’re fine, but you’re working extra shifts because a doctor is sick and you have to cover for him,” he advised. “We’ll figure out a more detailed and believable story later.”

She nodded and swallowed back her tears. “It’s too late in the night now. They’ll be asleep. I’ll call her tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Gabriel agreed. And then, as if he knew what she was thinking, he added, “You will see your parents again. I promise you. I’ll arrange it for you.”

She gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

“And now, can you look around and let us know if anything is missing or if there’s anything that’s not yours and might belong to him?”

Maya shuddered at the thought that the person who’d attacked her had been in her apartment. How close had she been to him? Had she kissed him, let him touch her? Or even slept with him? It wouldn’t surprise her – unfortunately. She’d always had a varied sex life and most of her relationships hadn’t lasted long.

She’d never been satisfied, not emotionally and never sexually. No man had ever been able to give her what she needed. Maybe it would have been easier if she’d been able to tell a man what she actually wanted and needed. But she’d never been able to voice her desires. All she knew was that they were dark, too dark for her own mind to put words to them. Whenever she’d had sex with somebody, she’d always wanted to feel more. Yet she didn’t know what this more entailed.

Maya pushed the thoughts aside and went through her belongings, painstakingly going through drawer after drawer, shelf after shelf.

Nothing seemed to be missing.

“Are you picking up anything?” she heard Yvette ask Gabriel.

“Nothing. He was careful.” Gabriel’s voice was even.

“Yes, odd. Do you think he knew we’d come here?”

“Definitely. It looks like he’s been here to clean up after himself.”

Maya stared out the window into the dark and shivered. She didn’t want to stay here. The knowledge that he could enter whenever it pleased him, made her feel unsafe. “I’ll pack a few of my things,” she announced.

“Yvette, help her,” Gabriel ordered. “We’re done here.”

In the bedroom, Maya threw a few clothes into a bag, then went into the bathroom. She opened the medicine cabinet over the sink and reached for her contraceptive pills.

“You won’t need those,” Yvette said behind her.

She hadn’t noticed that Yvette had followed her, and the mirror didn’t reflect either of them.

“How would you know? I’m not giving up sex just because I’m a vampire.”

“Nobody is expecting you to. But you won’t need those pills.

Vampire females are sterile.”

Sterile. The word hung in the air.

Maya gripped the sink for support. All these years she’d taken precautions against getting pregnant, all these years she’d been afraid of her contraceptives failing, a condom breaking, or any other stupid accident. And now, when she was told she no longer had to worry about that, she had to realize that she wanted to be a mother one day? How cruel could life be?

She felt Yvette’s warm hand on her back and turned into it. “I’m sorry. I thought you knew. Only vampire males are fertile, and only when they are breeding with a blood-bonded mate. I know, it sucks.”

Maya didn’t understand what Yvette was trying to explain to her.

“Breed?”

“Yes, in the end vampire males are just like their human counterparts. All they want is a woman who’ll bear them a child. Only a blood-bonded human woman can take a vampire’s seed. All we vampire females are good for is sex. So you’d do well not to lose your heart to a vampire. It’ll only end with disappointment. I’ve seen it before.”

Maya stared at Yvette in disbelief. This couldn’t be true. Not only would she not have any children, children she hadn’t known until now that she wanted, but no vampire male would want her as a long-term partner because she was sterile? Was this payback for how she’d treated so many men? For the fact that she’d broken if off as soon as she’d realized that the man couldn’t satisfy her needs? For barely giving anyone a chance?

A sob tore from her throat.

A second later, Gabriel burst into the room. “What did you do to her?” he yelled at Yvette and squeezed between the two women, pulling Maya to his chest. She instinctively allowed herself to be cradled by him.

“I didn’t do a thing to her!” Yvette shouted back and stormed out of the tiny bathroom.

Maya let out another sob. It didn’t matter to her what Yvette’s motivation for the blunt revelation was. In fact, she was glad for it, glad that she’d found out now.

Maya’s sob went right through Gabriel’s bones. He’d failed again.

p. He’d promised himself earlier that she wouldn’t have to cry anymore, and here she was, tears running down her face. He shouldn’t have asked her to come to her apartment with them. She was still too fragile, still too sensitive to everything.

She pushed against him and pulled free. Did she not want his concern?