Prince of Shadows (15 page)

“That's right, keep it steady,” Gabby said, pushing lightly on the new recruit's shield to test its strength. Not bad, but far from perfect, and therefore not good enough.

“Easy for you to say,” the woman grumbled, her brow beading with sweat. “I don't see how anyone could do this while in a fight.”

“It's all about control. And stamina, of course.” And okay, she shouldn't use those two words so closely together when one elicited thoughts of her lack thereof and the other thoughts of
him
.

Damn Valin, he just had to go and ruin everything. It had been bad enough when she'd gotten herself off thinking about him and all his fineness, but now? Masturbation was never going to be the same—and seeing how that was the only way she was going to orgasm again, that just plain sucked.

“Like this?” a voice rose from the other side of the gym.

She turned and walked across the scuffed floor, passing her ten other students to reach the other end of the line. Towering over her at a crane-her-neck six-five, Ryan had the type of lean musculature that made him always seem a bit…awkward, to put it kindly. The impression was made even worse today by the stark contrast of the tight-fitting black microfiber mock turtleneck he wore. Fashion plate he was not, nor was the young soldier particularly outgoing, both of which probably festered his inherent tendency to stay in the background. It was because of this that Gabby didn't know him that well, other than he was actually one of Jacob's first recruits. Normally he wouldn't even be in this sort of primer class, but the soldier didn't have a lot of power. Which meant he tended to throw all he had into a given task and peter out quickly; i.e., no stamina—
Ugh!
Now, however, Ryan's shields were pulsing softly with power, the protective mesh over his mind flexible but unbreakable. It was an excellent strategy, one that required more control than energy and would be effective against all but the most skilled of enemies.

“Very good.” She gave him a sharp nod. “Those are the best shields I've ever seen you form.”

“Thanks,” he replied with a grin, his face pale against his sweat-drenched shirt.

Forcing her mouth into some semblance of a return smile, she moved on to the next recruit, correcting where needed and praising when correction wasn't necessary. Okay, maybe she didn't praise all that much. Today her students were going to have to be content with not being singled out. She was in a pisser of a mood
and
tired. Neither of which got better when a moment later she felt the tickle at the back of her mind announcing that Valin was waking.

She tried to ignore him, but her supposed proficiency at shielding aside, she couldn't fully block the emotions that fed across the blood bond she'd forged so thoroughly last night, which, ironically, was another thing she could blame on a certain unnamed individual. Goddamn egotistical, pushy bastard. He was such a
male
, not content until he had everything he wanted. And holy crap, did she have to be exposed to this now, too? Like every other typical male out there, the jerk had awoken with an overenthusiastic hard-on and, dog that he was, was indulging in a bit of morning pleasure.

<>
she cried, trying desperately to block the erotic little tingles that lapped at her through the blood bond. The fact that she'd rather be there, watching, was not relevant, because there was no way she could allow anything like last night to happen again.

<>
he purred, eliciting an unwelcome shiver of delight at the touch of his mind on hers. She straightened, stiffening her spine—Lucifer knew she needed a steel one to deal with this man.

<>

<>
He paused, the sexual contentedness shifting easily over to annoyance.
<>

<>
she snapped back.

<>
he stated, probably basing the assumption on the bell-tone quality of her last projection. Still, she didn't need to respond. No way was she going to give him any help hunting her down, which is what he seemed determined to do. She sensed that he was up by the glimpses she caught of his thoughts as he rifled around the room looking for his jeans. And then his gaze must have fallen on the bed because the next thought had her gasping.

<>
she shrieked, viciously trying to scrub away the image of herself lying in bed, her legs wantonly parted while she vigorously stimulated her clit as he looked on.

<how hungry I am for you. I crave your taste, your body…
your screams. I can't wait to make you come again.>>

She made a noise—half-growl, half-scream—even as she clenched her thighs together; her body was one duplicitous bitch.

“Uh, Gabriella?”

Heat flooded her cheeks as she spun around to meet the head-on gaze of a dozen astonished faces. Crap, she must look like an idiot, squirming and gasping like a sexed-up nymphomaniac. Which, sadly, is exactly what she was.

“You've all perfected your shields then?” she snapped at them. Eleven sets of eyes diverted their focus, all but one student. She frowned as Ryan continued to stare at her. For a painfully shy young man, he'd been making eye contact with her a lot today.

She started to take a step toward him when the gym's double doors banged open, slamming hard into the cement wall. She sucked in a breath, a delicious shiver running across her skin as a bare-chested Valin stopped just inside the entry, quickly scanning the room until his gaze honed in and locked on hers. The memory of how he'd looked at her just like that as he'd rocked her to orgasm had her body clenching—and her fangs throbbing—with need. A need she had no right ever feeding again.
Goddamn
Valin.

She was so busy drooling she forgot about her admirer until Valin's gaze flicked over her shoulder. She turned, her confidence in the young soldier's self-preservation instinct reassured when he had the good sense to look away this time.

She turned back to Valin. “Can I help you?”

“Why yes, you can. But do you want to help me here, or…” he smiled, his thumb hooking deceptively casually in his jeans, “somewhere else?”

“We're in the middle of a class.” She was proud of how even and businesslike that came out, considering that she was panting like a bitch in heat. Damn her mother. If she could dig her up and wring her skeletal corpse for cursing her with these crappy genes, she would.

“Class just ended,” he informed her, making a beeline for her.

She started to take a step back, then stopped herself, firmly planting her feet on the wooden floor. “I'm only going to ask you once to leave.”

“Good, then I only have to say no once.”

She narrowed her eyes, planting her hands on her hips. “Do I have to spell this out for you? Leave. Me. Alone. Valin.”

“In your dreams, cookie.”

And that was the problem. He'd already invaded those. And now, with his blood singing in her veins like a stubborn drug, no matter where she tried to hide he promised to be there too.

“Dismiss your class, Gabby,” he said, his voice but a seductive rumble as he invaded her space, stopping just short of touching her.

She lifted her chin higher, making sure to clearly enunciate her response for the thickheaded bastard. “No.”

His lids lowered to half-moon slits. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he projected across the gym, “I'm afraid I need to steal your teacher. You'll have to resume class later.”

She twisted to look over her shoulder, eyeing each and every one of her students. “Not one of you dare move.”

The grin that split Valin's face when she looked back had her tensing. Jerk was up to something.

“What?” she asked sharply.

“I never figured you for an exhibitionist, but hey, I'm game.”

“You're insane,” she hissed in contrast to his still way-too-fucking-loud voice.

“Doesn't float your fancy?” He shrugged. “All right then.” He stepped to the side, performing some sort of stupid little bow thingy to her students. “If you'll excuse us.”

She swiveled on her heels toward him. “If you think I'm going to—”

He spun around, ducking even lower. She grunted as his shoulder hit her stomach, lifting her right off her feet. Next thing she knew she was balanced precariously on his shoulder, her head and feet dangling toward the ground on either side of him, and one of his hands clamped tightly across the backside of her upper thighs.

“Hey!” She hit him in the back, but all he did was grunt and keep on walking. “Valin,” she squirmed, kicking out with her feet to try and knock him off balance, “you ass…”

“I like yours better.” And then the jerk patted it.

She glared at her students, mortified that they were witnessing this. Only not a single one seemed to care; in fact, most had already started filing out of the room; only Ryan lingered, his lips pursed thoughtfully as he watched Valin go all caveman on her.

Fucking goddamn
males
.

She started thrashing, then hissed when her feet hit something solid—like the fricken wall, maybe? A moment later another door swung open and he squeezed them into the equipment room that also double-dutied as a makeshift office.

“Put me—”

The world tilted, the narrow window that was the room's only light source spinning by over her head as she landed with an unceremonious plop on a pile of rubber mats. She vaulted up, fists raised as she went for the bastard who'd manhandled her. He caught her wrists, his eyes dancing with mirth as his mouth pulled up into a smug grin.

“Conceited assho—”

He stopped her insult by crushing his mouth down on hers. Her body instantly responded, her nipples drawing tight and warmth pooling between her thighs. He tasted so good, like dark cocoa peppered with salt, copper, and just the slightest hint of
her
.

He released her wrists, freeing his hands to slide around the back of her neck to cup her head. Her own hands slid up his arms, circling the sculpted curves of his heavily muscled biceps.

“Jerk. I hate you,” she panted as his mouth moved from hers and began a path of destruction across her jaw in a definite underhanded attempt to outmaneuver the last of her willpower.

“No you don't,” he murmured, sucking on her earlobe. Her knees quaked, threatening to buckle, and she clutched his biceps tighter.

“You're an asshole,” she gasped when she could catch her breath.

“So you've said,” he growled, then brutally crushed his mouth to hers once more. She made a noise, one that she'd meant to sound like refusal but in reality sounded pitifully like surrender. And okay, so maybe she was protesting too much. She certainly could have stopped him from carrying her in here if she'd really wanted to. But she hadn't, which meant on some deep level—okay, not all that deep—she wanted this.

He's going to break your heart, Gabby… Or you'll break his.

A Paladin and a vampire-succubus, a true match made in hell.

Someone knocked on the door. They both stiffened. Before Gabby could decide if she was glad or pissed at the eruption—or make the effort to extract herself from the compromising position—the door tentatively cracked open, Annie's voice penetrating the dim interior. “Gabby? You in here? Valin's looking for you, he seems really…”

She trailed off as her gaze honed in on them. “Oh, ah…” Her eyes had begun to twinkle. “I see he's found you.”

Gabby shot Annie a don't-you-fucking-say-a-thing glare, though what she really wanted to do was smack that oh-my-my grin off the girl's face.

“I'll just be going,” Annie said, still smiling.

“Good idea,” Valin said, never taking his eyes off Gabby as she watched the door click close. “That girl doesn't have a lick of timing, does she?”

Gabby shook her head. In general it was true, though this time the interruption was actually kind of opportune.
Now's your chance. Take it.

She took a deep breath, her hands falling from Valin's arms. She expected him to object, so it was a surprise when he let her go and stepped away. Trying to process the rather foolish wave of disappointment caused by his capitulation, she watched him stride to the door—and flip the lock. Her heart started to race, her palms dampening as she fought with the inner imp in her that was dancing up and down yelling hurray and the Gabriella who'd survived more than her fair share of shit to get to this moment.

Nothing good could come from having sex with Valin again. Nothing other than falling for him. And yeah, falling in love with this man shouldn't have even been a factor (he was a conceited bastard and a real asshole most of the time), but then there were those other moments. Moments like that one in the cave when he'd laid his hand on her shoulder in comfort, or the way he'd stroked the tear off her cheek last night.

The heart hidden beneath the dark-humored shell. No wonder she was more than halfway lost to him.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Undress for me, Gabby. I love to watch you uncover that delicious little body.”

She trembled at his words knowing full well what that would lead to, even though she also knew she had to end this. Now. But when she went to take that step forward that would take her past him toward the door, she found she couldn't.

One
time. What will one more time hurt? Consider it a good-bye.

Knowing that was the stupidest of excuses didn't stop her from doing what she did next. Keeping her gaze locked on his, she traced a finger across the neckline of her top, pulling at it teasingly so that it dipped enticingly across her breasts, while the other hand stretched the bottom hem upward. The fact that it was a serviceable tank rather than some frilly, pink negligee didn't seem to matter to Valin; he groaned, his own fingers fumbling at the buttons of his jeans. She held her breath as his erection sprang free, all long and hard and thick. As she watched, he took himself in hand, pumping once, then twice, again until a bead of moisture collected at the tip. Her eyes fixed on the evidence of his desire and she licked her lips.