runs in the family. Your ass is mine, Light.”
Gabriel’s eyes snapped open. “And to think, when your magic killed my parents, I asked for lenience. I should have pushed for imprisonment.”
Ryder went red. “I was a child—”
“You were seventeen.” Gabriel stalked toward him, jabbing an accusing finger. “You knew better.”
“Fuck, I don’t have to take this,” Ryder snarled. “As a rightful Council Enforcer currently in this demesne, I accuse thee of indecent intermagical cavorting and hereby arrest thee. Effective immediately.” He flipped out a bracelet-like talisman and spun it at Gabriel.
Gabriel made himself stand still as the thing frisbeed for his ankle, hitting like iron and snapping shut with a manacle’s clang.
The instant the shackle closed he felt his energies mute. A magical limiter. Even when his power regenerated fully, the limiter would cut off his access to all but the most basic magic.
Ryder continued, “I imprison thee for a period of not more than ninety days, until thy crimes can be tried before a proper court of thy peers.”
He tossed a second talisman into the air beside Gabriel. Air irised open like a dilating pupil perpendicular to the fireplace, revealing a second parlor.
Looked inviting, but that was a prison door.
Gabriel ground his molars. What did he do now? He and Sophia had only one other family member who might fight for them, their Aunt Linda. She’ll rescue us, right? Hopefully. Auntie tended to be a bit scatterbrained.
“You’ll get the headsman’s axe for this,” Ryder chortled. “I’ll make sure of it.” He reached out a hand—
“No!” Emma charged around Gabriel, brown eyes fired on the Enforcer.
“Ha. Exactly the person I wanted. Strength assist. ” Ryder grabbed Emma by the wrist and flung her stumbling through the iris.
The moment she was through, the opening started to collapse.
Acid terror splashed through Gabriel. He didn’t think, he simply acted.
He dived in after her.
Chapter Ten
Magically thrown harder than even her shifter-nature could counter, Emma couldn’t stop herself from stumbling through the aperture.
She found herself in a room exactly like the bed and breakfast’s parlor, down to the white piano and red-flocked wallpaper.
While she stood gaping, Gabriel plowed into her from behind, throwing her flying onto the carpet. He landed on top of her with so much force she was smashed flat.
For a second, it was the most wonderful feeling in the world, his heavy body finally on top of hers, pressing her into the carpet pile.
Then reality came crashing back, and she twisted out from under him. She winced that he scrambled off her almost as frantically—until his scent, tangy with male desire, surged again into her nostrils and she remembered.
“You lied to me.” She leaped to her feet and shouted at him, putting all her months of pent up sexual and personal frustration into it. Yeah, weird iris and clone room. They paled to nothing next to the fact that he’d misled her—or maybe this was her way of coping. “I thought you didn’t want me. I thought I was putting out signals, and you weren’t interested. I thought I was a fool. ”
“Never a fool.” With a sigh, he sat where he was on the floor. “And I didn’t lie.” Resting his elbows on his knees, he dug hands through his hair. “I masked the truth, exactly because of this possibility.” He peeked up at her through his hands. “Because I feared the Council would imprison you. ”
Reasonable, kind even—the exact thing she couldn’t take at this moment, not from him, the man she’d wanted, yearned for, for so long. She lashed out. “They wouldn’t have imprisoned anyone if you hadn’t let it go so long you smelled like a teenage boy’s jack-off towel.”
He winced. “I’m sorry.”
Instantly sympathy washed through her, made worse by the subtle desperation of his hands in his hair. It brought her back from the brink of throwing things.
Gabriel’s eyes snapped open. “And to think, when your magic killed my parents, I asked for lenience. I should have pushed for imprisonment.”
Ryder went red. “I was a child—”
“You were seventeen.” Gabriel stalked toward him, jabbing an accusing finger. “You knew better.”
“Fuck, I don’t have to take this,” Ryder snarled. “As a rightful Council Enforcer currently in this demesne, I accuse thee of indecent intermagical cavorting and hereby arrest thee. Effective immediately.” He flipped out a bracelet-like talisman and spun it at Gabriel.
Gabriel made himself stand still as the thing frisbeed for his ankle, hitting like iron and snapping shut with a manacle’s clang.
The instant the shackle closed he felt his energies mute. A magical limiter. Even when his power regenerated fully, the limiter would cut off his access to all but the most basic magic.
Ryder continued, “I imprison thee for a period of not more than ninety days, until thy crimes can be tried before a proper court of thy peers.”
He tossed a second talisman into the air beside Gabriel. Air irised open like a dilating pupil perpendicular to the fireplace, revealing a second parlor.
Looked inviting, but that was a prison door.
Gabriel ground his molars. What did he do now? He and Sophia had only one other family member who might fight for them, their Aunt Linda. She’ll rescue us, right? Hopefully. Auntie tended to be a bit scatterbrained.
“You’ll get the headsman’s axe for this,” Ryder chortled. “I’ll make sure of it.” He reached out a hand—
“No!” Emma charged around Gabriel, brown eyes fired on the Enforcer.
“Ha. Exactly the person I wanted. Strength assist. ” Ryder grabbed Emma by the wrist and flung her stumbling through the iris.
The moment she was through, the opening started to collapse.
Acid terror splashed through Gabriel. He didn’t think, he simply acted.
He dived in after her.
Chapter Ten
Magically thrown harder than even her shifter-nature could counter, Emma couldn’t stop herself from stumbling through the aperture.
She found herself in a room exactly like the bed and breakfast’s parlor, down to the white piano and red-flocked wallpaper.
While she stood gaping, Gabriel plowed into her from behind, throwing her flying onto the carpet. He landed on top of her with so much force she was smashed flat.
For a second, it was the most wonderful feeling in the world, his heavy body finally on top of hers, pressing her into the carpet pile.
Then reality came crashing back, and she twisted out from under him. She winced that he scrambled off her almost as frantically—until his scent, tangy with male desire, surged again into her nostrils and she remembered.
“You lied to me.” She leaped to her feet and shouted at him, putting all her months of pent up sexual and personal frustration into it. Yeah, weird iris and clone room. They paled to nothing next to the fact that he’d misled her—or maybe this was her way of coping. “I thought you didn’t want me. I thought I was putting out signals, and you weren’t interested. I thought I was a fool. ”
“Never a fool.” With a sigh, he sat where he was on the floor. “And I didn’t lie.” Resting his elbows on his knees, he dug hands through his hair. “I masked the truth, exactly because of this possibility.” He peeked up at her through his hands. “Because I feared the Council would imprison you. ”
Reasonable, kind even—the exact thing she couldn’t take at this moment, not from him, the man she’d wanted, yearned for, for so long. She lashed out. “They wouldn’t have imprisoned anyone if you hadn’t let it go so long you smelled like a teenage boy’s jack-off towel.”
He winced. “I’m sorry.”
Instantly sympathy washed through her, made worse by the subtle desperation of his hands in his hair. It brought her back from the brink of throwing things.
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