Chapter 3

“I’ve got the egg—” I stopped short, paused at the threshold of our tiny apartment as the acrid scent of gunpowder overwhelmed me.

I blinked once and then twice….and then a third time as I tried to process the carnage before me. There was …Blood. So much blood. Splattered on the walls, splattered on the floor, on my kitchen counter that I had wiped clean this morning. It almost felt as if I was in a movie, and someone would yell ‘cut’ any minute. Or maybe a sick prank. But the unmistakable metallic tang of blood proved otherwise. This was no movie.

Finally, my eyes went to what I’d missed earlier. The carton of eggs in my hand crashed to the floor, breaking with a resounding ‘crunch’. Fucking eggs. I never liked eggs anyway.

I screamed at the sight of Robert, laying facedown in a pool of crimson, his mangled lifeless form riddled with bullet wounds. My instinct was to move towards him, but I had to think quick. His killer might still be here. In two strides, I’d reached the knife drawer, pulling out the one Robert’s mother gave me for cutting Turkey on thanksgiving. I turned, poised to defend myself.

As if on cue, a man I’d never expected to set eyes on again walked out of the bedroom Robert and I shared. My hold on the carving knife went slack as shock surged through me. He stood before me, a towering figure at 6’5”, his massive frame filling the tiny apartment with an imposing presence. With each swipe of his hand, he wiped away the blood on the mouth of his silver gun as casually as if he were cleaning up an inconsequential spill. The contrast between his formidable size and the task at hand only served to accentuate the chilling indifference in his demeanor. My eyes rested on his hands, noting he was cleaning his gun with my pink floral kitchen towel, blood saturating the tiny decorative item. Chingado. 

My eyes closed in revulsion. Did I even want to know where that gun had been to have become coated so thoroughly in Robert’s blood?

“Hello….mate,” Gabriel Rossi greeted me, eyes taking in my form.

I didn’t miss how they roved over my body in a predatory fashion, moving over my face and neck before dipping lower to take in the rest of me. The first time I met my mate, Gabriel Rossi, he had looked at me with the intent to kill. The second time I’d met him, it had been with lazy curiosity. Now…I gulped. Now, his gaze bore into me with predatory intensity, as if he harbored an insatiable hunger to consume, devour, and obliterate me.

Just like he’d obliterated Robert. My eyes went again to the man dead on the floor. Don’t forget the eggs on your way home. Those were the last words he’d ever said to me. And now he was gone.

“How’d you find me?” I finally croaked out, realizing that Robert was dead because of me.

I tightened my hand on the handle of the knife.

Gabriel noticed the movement, but it didn’t seem to bother him. Instead, he seemed…amused. That only infuriated me further. He’d killed my future husband, and he found this amusing?

“I’ve always had eyes on you…Bella,” Gabriel said mockingly, his gaze slicing to me with lethal precision. “I just didn’t know you were stupid enough to forget who you really belonged to.”

A sob escaped my lips. I really did ruin everything. My mother had been trapped in a marriage with my abusive biological father because she’d gotten pregnant with me in high school. She tried to leave him when I was three, but I begged her to stay. Resultantly, we found ourselves completely trapped in the vicious cycle of abuse for another three years. She’d cry alone every night, thinking I couldn’t hear her. I could. And I carried the guilt of it being my fault even today. Everything bad was my fault!

Pain lanced through me again. Robert…my friend…my fiancé’…my rock. Dead.

“YOU KILLED HIM!” I yelled and charged, knife lifted over my head.

Without a care for myself, I ran to him, wanting nothing more than to plunge this stupid Thanksgiving gift into the heart of this man before me or die trying. My fingers ached to let my magic loose, but the bangle on my arm prevented me from using it. It was a talisman that was supposed to keep me safe and untraceable. It didn’t help keep Robert safe.

In one swift move, Gabriel grabbed my wrist, twisting it so that the knife fell from my hand with a loud clatter. I bit my lip to keep from crying out in pain. He spun me roughly so that now my back pressed against his chest. One arm went around my shoulders, pinning my back against his hard chest as he gently applied pressure to my throat in warning. I swallowed, fear skittering up my spine. He was going to strangle me to death. The other arm clamped roughly around my waist, the cool metal of his gun biting into the bare flesh as my shirt rode up slightly. I stilled, wondering if he was going to shoot me in the stomach. Had he held Robert exactly like this before killing him? His chest pressed firmly against my back, a solid and heated wall of muscle. I tried to ignore the fact that the arm across my waist had my hips pushed intimately against him. Goddess, I hoped that was another gun digging into my left butt cheek.

“I killed him,” Gabriel hissed against the shell of my ear, similar to the way he’d spoken when he promised to kill me 7 years ago. “Make no mistake, Evelina,” my name rolled off his tongue smoother than honeyed whiskey. The pungent scent of blood overpowered my senses as he held me close, his strong chest pressing insistently against me. “Any man who touches what’s mine will die. I-don’t-share.” He emphasized each word, the butt of his gun digging deeper into my skin with each syllable.

My knees buckled at his words, but he held me firmly against his body like I was a weightless rag doll. The hand, warm against my throat, slid down to grip my shoulder, and then he turned me to face him, maintaining his hold on me.

“I belong to no one,” I spat, my voice laced with venom as I stared at him defiantly, ignoring the way cool metal still rested warningly at my hip.

This man could kill me within the blink of an eye. I knew he would have. If I hadn’t been his mate.

The gun skittered across my hips, over the swell of my ass, before resting between my legs.

“Your body is mine…every inch of it,” Gabriel hissed, eyes sparking in anger. “Anyone that knows what it feels like to be inside this-” the butt of his gun pushed deeper against the fabric of my jeans, right over my womanhood. My eyes couldn’t help but note that it was still stained with the blood of my fiancé’. “-will not live to tell the tale.”

My head snapped up to meet his dark eyes, devoid of light and life. Pools of darkness that seemed to swallow all they beheld gleamed with malevolent energy, staring at me with sinister intent.

My own gaze filled with revulsion. This man was disgusting!

“You can’t kill every man I’ve slept with!” I raged, hands fisting at my sides as my magic itched to be let out.

The hand that had been gripping my shoulder curled over the nape of my neck. I swallowed, and his thumb ran over the tiny hollow of my throat, tracing lazy circles. As if he hadn’t come here to kill me too.

He cocked his head to the side, something primitive sparking in his gaze.

“Watch me…Muneca (doll).”

His words made something hot erupt in the pit of my stomach. Something that had been lightly sizzling, ever since he’d started speaking, was now overflowing inside me like hot molten lava. Heat unfurled in my belly and I channeled it all into the rage churning inside my mind.

M****a.

There really was something wrong with me. I shouldn’t be standing mere centimeters from my fiancé’s killer, letting him rub his gun against my cunt as if this was some type of six twisted foreplay! Well…maybe for him it was. No. I would avenge Robert.

Decision made, I reached for the bangle around my arm and ripped it off with a scream of outrage. Magic crackled at my fingertips in anticipation. This pendejo had no idea who he was dealing with. But he was about to find out.