‘‘-too early to do anything. I haven’t had my breakfast yet!’’

‘‘You’re just going to have to wait, Jim. Finding May is more important than feeding you. Gabriel, are you sure she didn’t say anything before she disappeared?’’

The voices reached me even before I fell through the rip in reality that Magoth’s minion had created. I hit the floor, disoriented as I always was when shoved through a tear in the mortal plain.

‘‘Speak of the devil. Ouch. Looks like you’ve been to Abaddon and back,’’ Jim said close to my ear. I felt a faint moist sensation on my shoulder. ‘‘Oh, yeah-hellfire and brimstone. Well, back safe and sound, that’s all that matters. Now can I have my breffy?’’

I hadn’t shaken the dizziness from my head before I was yanked upward and slammed against a hard surface… a warm hard surface, one with arms that tightened around me, which smelled like heaven, and tasted even better. Gabriel didn’t wait to ask me what happened-his mouth took possession of mine with a need that demanded all. I let him plunder away, ignoring my guilt for a moment in order to give him everything I had.

His lips and tongue pulled away from me with violence, his eyes literally scorching me as he looked down, his face set in hard planes. ‘‘I need you,’’ he said in a low, intimate growl.

I blinked for a moment in surprise, glancing to the side where Drake stood next to Aisling. It would appear the demon had dropped me off in Drake’s kitchen. Behind the two of them, Drake’s men, and a woman I remembered being introduced as István’s girlfriend, stood watching with silent interest. Surprisingly, Cyrene wasn’t present. ‘‘Er… right now?’’

‘‘Yes.’’ Gabriel didn’t hesitate-he simply scooped me up in his arms, blanket and all, and headed in long strides toward what looked to be the back stairs.

Aisling glanced at her wyvern. ‘‘I know it’s none of our business, but does May look to you like she’s up to the sort of activities Gabriel is clearly planning?’’

Drake leaned down and kissed her. ‘‘She has been taken from him and returned. It is the way of dragons, kincsem.’’

The last thing I saw before Gabriel leaped up the last of the stairs was Aisling giving her husband an odd look. ‘‘Really? You never did that with me. I wonder if I could get someone to kidnap me for a bit…’’

‘‘Is that true?’’ I asked as Gabriel pounded up a second flight of stairs.

‘‘Yes. You are not harmed in any way?’’

‘‘No, I’m fine. Just a little… er… taken aback by your sudden passion.’’

He slid me a look that was part desire, part amusement. ‘‘I’m sorry, little bird, but you are my mate. I must possess you. It is a primal need, not one that can be controlled. A mortal man might do so, but I cannot.’’

‘‘Oh,’’ I said, not wanting to admit that I found it immensely flattering that the second I was returned, he felt the need to join again with me.

He kicked open the door to our room, setting me down on the bed before locking the door. I was trying to get up so I could untangle myself from the blanket, but before I could, he was on me, unrolling me deftly, his hands trailing little paths of fire as he caressed my thighs, my belly, my breasts.

I don’t know how he got his own clothes off so quickly, but I wasn’t about to ask. His eyes were molten, brilliant with desire. ‘‘Mayling-’’

‘‘I know,’’ I said, pushing him onto his back. ‘‘No foreplay.’’

‘‘I swear to you, we will do this slowly the next time,’’ he answered, pulling me over him. ‘‘But I must have you now.’’

‘‘It’s not like I’ve had a lot of foreplay before,’’ I pointed out as I leaned down to nibble the nipple I’d wanted to molest earlier. ‘‘So I’m not bound to miss- agathos daimon!’’

He took me at my word, not waiting to even find out if I was ready for him, just lunged upward as he pulled my hips down. The sudden shock of his intrusion caused a burst of pleasure that left me bucking against him. He was right, this was a possession, pure and simple, but it was a possession that went both ways. I leaned down to nibble on his neck, savoring the feel and scent and taste of him. I didn’t have to ask for his fire; he gave it to me as I rode him, our mouths finding each other despite the wild dance.

I closed my eyes as he pulled me down onto his chest, the warm, damp skin beneath me burning me outside even as the fires within flared to new heights. I tilted my head to nuzzle the sweet spot behind his ear, making him groan when I bit down gently, a groan that changed to a roar that bathed me in fire as he found his pleasure. The sensation as he slammed himself into me was enough to send me over the edge, too. I let go of my guilt, of the worry about what would become of us, let go of everything but the joy of joining myself to the man who had somehow become a part of me, giving myself up to the spiral of flame that spun up and around us.

There had to be some way to stop Magoth. There just had to be.

Chapter Eighteen

The urgency of Gabriel’s needs-and my immediate and overwhelming response to them-had driven from my mind the discussion I’d had with Magoth.

‘‘The phylactery!’’ I yelled suddenly, pushing myself off Gabriel’s warm, limp form.

‘‘What about it?’’ he asked sleepily, his face relaxed and bearing a sated expression that gave me no little amount of feminine pride.

‘‘I know where it is.’’

‘‘What?’’ He sat up so fast I slid off him and onto the floor. ‘‘Mayling!’’

‘‘It’s all right, I’m fine,’’ I said, laughing. ‘‘I should have known better than to startle a dragon.’’

He knelt beside me, his eyes grave. ‘‘Where is the phylactery?’’

‘‘Paris. In the L’au-delà vault.’’

His eyes widened at the same time his pupils narrowed. ‘‘The amulet you stole from Kostya?’’

‘‘Yes.’’

‘‘Why did you not tell me this when we were there?’’

‘‘I didn’t know that’s what it was,’’ I answered, getting to my feet. The memory of Magoth chilled my flesh, causing little goose bumps to rise along my arms. I pulled out some clothing from the bag István had brought, holding it to me as I faced Gabriel. He wouldn’t harm me-I knew that. But I still dreaded telling him what had happened between the demon lord and myself. ‘‘Gabriel, I… Magoth knows.’’

‘‘He knows what?’’

‘‘He knows about the phylactery.’’ I lifted my chin to look him dead in the eye. ‘‘I had no idea that the amulet was the phylactery. It was in the unlocked chest, after all. What sane person would keep something so valuable in a place like that? And I swear to you that Porter never gave a hint as to what it really was. I wonder now if he knew.’’

Gabriel looked confused for a moment. He gently pushed me into the chair and knelt at my feet, his hands on my knees. ‘‘Explain it again. Slowly. And do not leave anything out.’’

I went over again my phone call with Porter, the visit to Kostya’s lair, the conversation with Porter in Paris, and the pertinent parts of my conversation with Magoth. I was sick with the knowledge that my ignorance had set Magoth onto the trail of the phylactery, but Gabriel brushed aside my pathetic apology.

‘‘The blackmailer poses no problem. We can deal with him so that he will offer no threat to Cyrene or you.’’ He rose and began pacing the room. ‘‘As for the demon lord… I would have preferred to keep knowledge of the phylactery’s whereabouts confined only to us, but as we cannot undo what has been done, we will simply have to make the best of the situation. Our first and foremost priority must be to get the phylactery before Magoth can order you to retrieve it for him.’’ He paused to give me a long look. ‘‘Or has he already done that?’’

Bile rose, burning the back of my throat. I wanted to admit the truth to Gabriel, to cling to him and sob out my sorrows, avoiding all the unpleasantness that was woven into my life, but I couldn’t do that to him, not while there was the slightest shred of hope that I could avoid Magoth’s command.