Dark Promises (Dark #29) by Christine Feehan Page A

dropped down fast, afraid if she didn’t get through the small hole in the mist, she would lose the location again. She saw Gary turn his head toward her, as she came out of the mist to shift only feet from him. Andre stepped in front of his lifemate.
    â€œGabrielle.” Gary breathed her name.
    The unguarded look on his face was everything she could ask for right before a mask dropped down.
    â€œGary. I’ve had enough time to think about everything, and I’m willingto take the chance. We have too much for me to be afraid of reaching for what I want,” Gabrielle said hastily, moving right into him.
    She ignored Andre and his lifemate, Teagan. She ignored the fact that she was nearly pressed against the huge, thick gates of the monastery. She knew better than to touch them, but she stayed firmly inserted between Gary and the gates. She knew she only had a few minutes before everything was lost. She knew because she felt the two Carpathians trailing after her. If they arrived before she managed to convince Gary they deserved their time together, she would lose everything.
    â€œGabrielle.” Gary said her name softly. Just that—her name.
    She closed her eyes at the love in his voice. So real. So raw. So honest. How could anyone ask them to give up each other? As humans they would have married, had children and lived a happily-ever-after life. She knew that with every breath she took. She could hear the same knowledge in the sound of Gary’s voice. In her name.
    She held out her hand. “Come away with me. Right now. Andre can do the prince’s bidding. We can take fifty years. Fifty. That’s all we’re asking for ourselves. We have an endless amount of time ahead of us.” She couldn’t think about that long eternity of loneliness stretching in front of her—not without Gary. “Fifty years isn’t too much to ask, Gary.”
    She held her breath. Looked into his eyes. Let him see how much he meant to her. How much she loved him. They deserved to be together. They belonged. She felt it in her heart. No, in her very soul, the soul she supposedly shared with another man.
    â€œGabrielle.” The melting sensation in his heart told Gary he was so far gone in this woman he was going to lose the battle. He didn’t want to ever hurt her. Not again. The look on her face before she ran down the mountain, the rejection and pain so plain in her eyes had gutted him right along with her.
    â€œWe’ve given to them. We both have.” She stepped closer.
    Her scent was elusive, mesmerizing, beautiful and delicate like she was, wrapping him up and surrounding him with
her
. Gary always got lost in her when she was so close. He couldn’t help it, he had to touch her. All that soft skin. It felt as soft as it looked. He framed her face with both hands, ignoring Andre, who had stepped close, his lifemate, Teagan, who had tears in her eyes, one step behind her man.
    Gary stared into Gabrielle’s dove gray eyes and fell hard. He always did. She was right. They both had given much to the Carpathian people. Both had suffered. Nearly died. “Fifty years,” he whispered.
    Her eyes searched his, hope creeping into her expression. “We’ll come back after and give the rest of our lives to them. If we find lifemates at that time, fine, if we don’t, we had our time.”
    â€œHoney,” he said, still trying to do the right thing. “I could lose my emotions. Any time. Any day. What then?”
    â€œYou’ll know before it happens. They fade away. Over time. We have time. That’s one thing we do have.”
    â€œMy ability to see in color left when you did on our wedding night.” He would always remember the sight of her running from him, taking the vivid colors with her, leaving his world gray. “My emotions could go the same way.”
    â€œI get that you’re saying there’s a risk. I know you would never hurt