"Trust me," he replied with a humorless smile, "he wouldn't have forgotten. I'm just adding insult to injury at this point."

Rowan narrowed her eyes at him as an unpleasant thought occurred to her. She hadn't yet discovered what had occurred between these shifters and the dragons, but it seemed it had been bad, whatever it was.

"Is that it? You're so determined to keep me here just to flaunt me before the Andrakkar?" She began to straggle again in her anger. "This isn't about Bastian and me at all, is it? I see now!"

"I'm beginning to think you can't even see past your damned nose. Don't push me, woman," Gabriel snarled, and she saw that he was furious with her. Furious, and right on the edge of doing something drastic. She wanted to hate him for giving a damn about what happened to her, because for whatever reason, Gabriel did. It certainly wasn't a stretch to stay mad al him. But the part of Gabriel that was Drakkyn pulled at her, refusing to let go. All of the previous night came rushing back to her with perfect clarity, the taste of him, the noises he'd made deep in his throat as they'd moved together. And though she was still so, so angry, the desire raged through her like a tempest, obscuring everything else.

Unable to help herself, she gave him what she knew would be the final push. Slowly, deliberately, Rowan arched up, took his lower lip between her teeth.

And bit.

She saw the heat in his eyes ignite into an inferno in the split second before he crushed his mouth to hers. Rowan gasped as he claimed her in a bruising kiss that left her gasping for air. For more. Something deep inside her ignited, so hot it felt as though the thin clothes that were the only barrier between them should have simply melted away. Something seemed to have snapped inside Gabriel as well. He plundered her mouth ruthlessly with his own, nipping, sucking as he moved against her with a passion so intense it was almost violent. Rowan shuddered with raw pleasure, her wrists chafing against his hands where he still held her to the floor. Unable to do anything else, she pressed up into him, letting her body speak for her.

For once she was completely beyond words. All she had were breathless moans. He must know what he was doing to her. But she found there was no way she could stop.

"Stupid, thoughtless little idiot," Gabriel murmured. He traced his tongue over her full bottom lip, teasing her with his delicacy before again crushing his mouth against hers. Rowan moaned deep in her throat as they tasted each other, rubbing her tongue slowly against his in slow, erotic rhythm. Her mind clouded, the way it always seemed to be where he was concerned, struggled to process the words. He'd just insulted her, hadn't he? She should respond, fight back. But, the Goddess save her, he felt so amazingly good.

"Nosy, overbearing ... big idiot," was all she managed to get out. She couldn't be sure, but she might have caught a flash of something that was almost a smile before Gabriel shifted so that his hardness was pressed snug against the very core of her. In an instant she was all liquid, throbbing heat. Rowan arched into him, lifting her hips from the floor to grind against him in tight circles. Gabriel closed his eyes, and his low groan brought her right to the edge of climax. She heard his ragged intake of breath, felt him release her wrists to move those big, rough hands to her backside and squeeze.

"Slow," he said roughly. "God, Rowan, slow down or I'm not going to last."

"Fast," she retorted, just to be obstinate, but he managed to hold her back enough to control the pace. His erection, hard and thick, slid against the thin cotton of her shorts in long, deliberate strokes, creating friction that had her nearly sobbing with pleasure. If she'd still been capable of thought, it might have shamed her. She had never truly lost control.

Until now.

Gabriel buried his head against her throat, nipping at the sensitive skin with newly sharp teeth as he rocked against her. She pressed her breasts against him, wishing desperately to be free of the clothing that separated them. With the thought, the simple garments vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but the delicious connection of skin against skin.

She heard Gabriel's sharp intake of breath as he felt the change, and he rose up to stare down at her. Rowan could only look back, lost in a sexual haze. He was a beautiful man, she thought dazedly. His dark hair hung roguishly in his eyes, which were fathomless in the dim light. Skin like dusted bronze shimmered with a faint sheen of sweat, and his breath came in short, sexy pants. He was hers for the taking, she realized. All hers. As long as she was willing to be taken in return.

Perhaps just this once she could allow it. Something inside of her had been winding tighter and tighter since she had come to Earth, coiling until everything threatened to simply snap and break. She needed a release.

She needed Gabriel.

"If you want me to stop," he said raggedly, "it has to be now. I can't stop again, Rowan. Not when it feels like this."

She could send him away, and he would go. Rowan sensed it, and that he would do that for her touched her unexpectedly. And she suddenly knew, in that instant, that Gabriel would never force himself on her, no matter how much he wanted her. It meant that much more because she sensed the strength in him, which was greater than he was probably even aware of. No matter how difficult it might be, he would walk away with a single word.

It might be better if he did, she knew. Breaking such an intense connection would probably drive him away tor good. But even though that would probably be best, that letting this happen would only complicate everything a thousandfold, Rowan found she couldn't let him go. Not now. Not tonight. Tomorrow would bring a world of new problems, she was sure. But she was so weary of having to always think one step ahead of everything, of denying herself and pretending and hiding.

So just for tonight she would be the Rowan she had been in the deep green forests of her home. Tonight she would be who she might have been for Gabriel, in a different time, in another place.

She would deal with tomorrow when it came.

How he had gone from near-destruction to making love, Gabriel had no idea. But with Rowan beneath him, red hair spread around her like a glorious crown and eyes full of desire, he would be the last man on Earth to complain. Still, he had to ask, had to be sure. Because if Rowan told him to stop once he was inside her, it might very well kill him.

He sincerely hoped that wasn't part of her plan.

"Should I stop?" he asked again, aching with the need to be in her, his cock slick with moisture from rubbing against her. Her body was ready for him, he knew. It was the rest of her he wasn't sure about. Rowan was like a living, breathing volcano. Her eruptions were completely unpredictable, and if he was being honest with himself, endlessly fascinating. Even when she was trying very hard to maim him.

Rowan tipped her head to the side, watching him intently with her bright green gaze. What she was thinking about he couldn't begin to guess. But when she reached up, almost tentatively, to slide her long fingers through his hair and bring his mouth back to hers, he wanted to shout with joy. A breath away from her, he heard her whisper.

"My clothes just burned off. No more stupid questions. Just kiss me."

Her smile, a rare and beautiful ray of light across features that were too often troubled, provoked one of his own. He had a feeling that "stupid" was going to be one of Rowan's endearments. If it was always accompanied by that smile, it was one he would gladly live with.

"As you wish, your highness," he laughed softly, nuzzling lips that were full and sinfully soft. He teased her a moment, flicking his tongue against the tip of her own when she opened impatiently for him. Then, in one quick movement, he plunged, claiming her mouth with his own and swiveling his hips so that he was inside her with one hard thrust.

God in heaven.

Gabriel stilled, closing his eyes in shock as pleasure like he'd never known rocked him to his very core. Rowan was so wet, so unbelievably tight. She fit him as though they'd been made for each other, a slick, hot sheath only for him. Rowan arched back, exposing her long, pale column of a throat.

"Oh," she sighed, a simple word she managed to imbue with everything she was feeling. He knew, because he felt it, too. All of his muscles tensed as he withdrew slightly, then pushed tentatively forward. Sensation rocketed through him so hard that for a moment he feared he was going to do what he hadn't done since he was a green youth and come immediately. She throbbed around him, pushing back against him insistently, asking without words for more.

Gabriel drew in a shaky breath. This wasn't just another of his endless carousel of women. This was Rowan. And this mattered.

"Gabriel," she pleaded, sliding her hands to his hips to press him into her, nails digging into him with sharp little pricks of pleasure. "Now," she moaned. "Please, now."

"Now," he rasped, giving in to his need. He barely heard Rowan's cry of pleasure as he began to move within her again, thrusting with excruciating slowness as she writhed beneath him. His hands cruised up her long waist to cup her breasts and squeezed lightly, rhythmically as he rocked against her. Rowan arched into his touch as she slid her legs up to lock around his waist, urging him into her deeper, harder. Still he kept the pace slow. He rubbed his thumbs roughly over her nipples, playing with them until they were hard little pearls beneath his fingers.

Rowan gasped her approval, raking her nails up his back to grip his shoulders and licking at his lips until he opened for a searing kiss. He could feel the scrape of her fangs against his lips, and the slight pain mixed in with such intense pleasure was taking him places he'd never dreamed possible. She fit him so exquisitely, every curve and hollow melded perfectly against him. There had never been a woman who had come close to this, never been one who had burned into him until it seemed she was an extension of himself. He traced kisses over her stubborn jaw line, nibbled at her earlobe until she was growling in frustration. Gabriel knew what she wanted. It wasn't hard to see that this was a woman who didn't care to be dominated. And as much as he loved covering her body with his own, setting a pace he knew was driving her mad with desire, he understood.