Chapter 13
Gabriel pov
She’s beautiful, defiant and foolish, but she’s marvellous. I want her so bad my blood boils with need, I want to drink from her, kiss her until she can’t breathe. But she’s not ready for that. She’s not ready for my affection, or my kindness.
She has to earn it, and so far, all she has done is piss me off. I hate how strong she is, but I also admire it. No one has spoken to me the way that she does in over a thousand years. It’s breathtaking the way she stands her ground even though she’s afraid.
I walk her out of the room, the first time she’s left it in weeks, we are having dinner in the middle of the glass extension on the back of the mansion, it’s a beautiful place to watch the snow fall. I hope she likes it as much as I do.
I hold her hand a little tighter, keeping her close as we pass the front door, but she doesn’t react. She doesn’t try to run. I’m surprised, but perhaps she is waiting for a better opportunity.
She has already tried running from me once, I won’t let her do it again.
We walk into the glass room and she gasps, looking around with wide eyes. I ordered flowers from the nearby town, red roses and variations of other plants. It makes the room come alive with colour.
If I knew earlier that she liked the colour yellow I would have only ordered yellow flowers. I want to make her happy here, and I know it’s a long shot, but I want her to appreciate me the way that I appreciate her.
I’ve hurt her, and I regret it with every breath that I take, but she makes me so angry. I don’t like it when people defy me. If surges a rage through me that I can barely control, but I will try and control it around her.
“Do you like it?” I ask her, holding her hand as I guide her towards the table.
She’s still weak, I need to be careful not to push her too far, but the walk is good for her. It’ll build her strength.
Perhaps she was right, perhaps I took too much blood from her in a small amount of time, but she drove me to it. She is so infuriatingly adorable, even when she wants to rip my head off.
“I do.” She nods, looking around as I help her to sit down. “It’s beautiful.”
So are you. I want to say it, I want to give her the first compliment I’ve ever spoken to a woman such as her. But I don’t. I snap my mouth shut and take my seat across from her.
But she is beautiful, more beautiful than any woman I have ever laid eyes on, and I have seen my fair share of beauty. Rhea is special. I’ve known it since the moment she was born. Her soul called to me, screamed out in the endless darkness, and I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind since.
But I never allowed myself to be near her, only once a year when I visited the pack lands, but never close enough to actually become attached.
A lot of female wolves die when they are young, perhaps it is because of the treaty, perhaps the parents can’t handle to thought of giving her away and so they dispose of her. It happens.
I didn’t want that to be the case with Rhea, that is why I kept a close eye on her.
“I hope you like pasta.” I say, slowly sinking into my chair. “I’ve had the chef prepare a hearty white sauce dish.”
She looks at me, her eyes flashing with her wolf, I’m surprised, she comes at the most strange times. But she shouldn’t be able to do that yet. Not until the full moon.
If her wolf can come to the surface, that means that Rhea has already shifted and is lying about the full moon.
Maybe she intends to run on the full moon, I wouldn’t put it past her. Perhaps I should make her shift in front of me. I have the power to do it.
“I like pasta.” She says, distracted. “Especially with white sauce, but why make me come with you? Why not bring it to my room? You can’t eat Human food.”
I frown, tapping my fingers against the table, “who says I can’t eat it?”
“Well, I just assumed that-”
“Don’t assume anything about me, Rhea.” I warn, my voice colder than I intended. “I can eat it; it doesn’t give me any pain and it cannot sustain me, but I still enjoy it.”
She nods slowly, “I guess there is a lot I don’t know about You, or what you are.”
“You will learn.” I tell her, attempting a smile. “Until take time, Rome wasn’t built overnight.”
“Do you think this will work out for us?” She asks, her eyes on the flowers. “Do you Truthfully believe that we can learn to love Each other?”
I won’t ask her about her wolf, not yet, first, I need to gain her trust. And right now, she doesn’t trust me, just as I don’t trust her.
This will take time; I just need to keep reminding myself of that.
“I think it’s possible.” I say, trying to be honest. “But we both have to work at it.”
She opens her mouth to speak, but the chef comes into the room with a tray of our food, and in that moment I wanted to hit him. I want to know what she was about to say, but she’s gone quiet.
How can she be so brave one moment and then teddies the next?
“He’s human.” I tell her once he has placed the food down and left. “And no, the food will not harm you.”
She looks between me and the food, cautiously, but she clearly decides that it’s safe because she takes a big bite, moaning at the taste.
Ok, I can’t fire the chef, not if he makes her react like that.
Why is my dick twitching?
I haven’t been interested in sec in a long time, but that’s sound coming from her, it’s got me worked up.
Maybe even excited for the future.
I want to make her moan like that.
“Eat as much as you can.” I tell her with a smile, “but leave room for dessert.”
She smiles at me, the first real time she has smiled, “if dessert is as good as this, I wont be able to leave it.”
She laughs and I pause, watching her smile and giggle.
She is fucking stunning.
I think I love her.
This dinner is the first of many, I hope.
I want to spend all my time with her.