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

out, their faces serious. His stomach sank. How bad could the news be?

“We both agree.” Drake glanced at Maya.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked and ran his hand through his hair.

“She’s in heat.”

Gabriel didn’t understand. “Heat? What do you mean?”

“Sexual heat,” Drake explained. “Like a feline.”

“But that’s impossible,” Gabriel protested. Heat was a sign of fertility. “She’s a vampire. Vampire females don’t go into heat – they are sterile.”

“I know that. Don’t you think I know that? But she isn’t fully vampire – whatever else she is, it’s making her go into heat.”

“So, it’s going to go away again?” If it really was sexual heat, surely it was only temporary.

“It would, but -“

“But what?”

“She’s burning up. It’s too much for her body. She could die. And there’s only one way to stop the heat.”

Gabriel had stopped listening. “Die? No. We can’t allow that. We can’t let her die. Doc? There must be something we can do.”

“Not we,” Drake said. “You.”

Gabriel snapped his gaze to Drake and the witch. “Me?”

The witch took a step toward him. “The only way to stop sexual heat is to satisfy her.”

Her words echoed in his head. Satisfy her.

“How?”

Drake had the audacity to chuckle. “I’ll leave that entirely up to you, Gabriel. I trust you do know how to make a woman come.”

Finally it sunk in. They wanted her to make love to Maya. Stepping closer to the doctor, he hissed low under his breath, “But, I can’t. You know I can’t.”

Behind him, Thomas cleared his throat. “If you want me to do it, I will. After all, it’ll be like touching my sister. It won’t mean anything.”

Gabriel swiveled. “No!” Despite the fact that Thomas was gay and had no interest in Maya, he would never allow any man to touch her.

Thomas gave a crooked smile and Gabriel instantly realized that he’d only made the offer to get a reaction out of him. Well, he’d gotten one, and if he wasn’t careful he’d get the taste of his fists in addition to it.

“I’m not saying you should fuck her,” Drake added, “God, even I wouldn’t suggest doing such a thing to an unconscious woman, but there are other ways. Use your hands and your mouth on her. She needs to orgasm. It’s the only way the heat will break.”

Fifteen

The room was eerily quiet except for Maya’s heavy breathing and the rustling of the sheets as she tossed and turned. They had all left: the doctor, the witch, and even Thomas, to give them privacy. Gabriel knew that Thomas was still somewhere in the house, but had retreated far enough so his sensitive hearing wouldn’t pick up what Gabriel and Maya were doing. It was embarrassing enough that they all knew what was about to happen. Yet it didn’t dampen his arousal.

This certainly wasn’t what he’d planned. For starters, when he made love to her, he’d wanted her conscious and fully aware of him – fully accepting him – and not in this feverish state where she drifted in and out of consciousness. But he wanted to touch her and make love to her, even knowing what state she was in, and he cursed himself for it. She was vulnerable and he was going to exploit her for his own pleasure.

Disgusted, he turned away from the bed. Would she hate him for it when she came to her senses and realized what he’d done, hate him for touching her without her permission? Would he lose her and any chance he might have ever had of obtaining her affections? But he had no choice, because he couldn’t let her die.

Even in her delirious state, she’d sought to be close to him. She’d writhed against him just the way she’d done it when she’d fed from him before. And the way she’d sucked his thumb, wasn’t that proof enough that she wanted him?

Her heavy thrashing made him turn back to her. She needed him and no matter what happened later, he couldn’t ignore that need. Stripping off his shoes in midstride, he climbed onto the bed and gathered her in his arms.

“I’m here, baby, I’m here.”

She seemed to breathe easier as he pressed her heated body to his.

She appeared hotter than when he’d held her only minutes earlier. The doctor was right, if he didn’t satisfy her, she would burn up.

He wouldn’t undress her in order to leave her as much dignity as possibly under the circumstances. And he wouldn’t take any of his clothes off either so he could maintain a semblance of distance. Only his hand would touch her under cover of her nightgown. He wouldn’t look at her naked body, only touch her. That way she would understand that he’d had no choice and that he’d tried everything not to take advantage of her.

Gabriel tipped her chin up with his hand and brought his lips to hers for a feather light kiss. They tasted of salt and woman, fertile and willing. He knew he shouldn’t kiss her, but when he inhaled her scent, his body shut down his brain and all he could do was react to the age-old knowledge of the mating call.

How he knew she was his, he couldn’t explain, but his instinct told him that the woman in his arms was perfect for him. He’d never felt the same way for anybody else, not even for Jane, the wife who’d left him after their wedding night. He’d never felt the connection he felt to Maya, like their lifelines were interlinked, one only complete with the other.

The more he inhaled her scent the deeper he felt the connection to her life force. When her lips parted under his, he invaded her and captured her tongue with his, stroking and licking, dancing and withdrawing. His saliva mingled with hers and the taste of their combined fluids drugged him. He knew then that something was happening between them that couldn’t be explained by mere lust and attraction. He would talk to the doctor about it, but