Free Web NovelChapter 158: Not Her
[Music recommendation: Mos Elian - Piece of Hope]
.
.
The moment the door opened, Diana smirked, her entire body trembling with an intoxicating rush of anticipation. She was finally about to bring this godlike man within her reach, a victory she hadn’t even dared to dream was possible before tonight.
She heard his footsteps echo softly through the silent room, but she didn’t turn around immediately to look at him. She didn’t want to appear too eager and risk letting her mask slip after coming this far.
The undeniable hunger and tenderness she had seen in his eyes earlier were things she had never witnessed directed toward anyone before. She wanted to savour that memory, dwell on it for a little longer, convincing herself that once the potion took effect, those feelings would only deepen.
And the deeper they became, the harder he would burn for her. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
Picking up the two glasses she had meticulously prepared, carefully noting which was hers and which held the tainted wine, she let her soft voice ring out into the room. "You are finally here. I was wondering just how long you were going to keep me waiting."
She felt his immense presence loom dangerously behind her. Instantly, her deepest demonic instincts screamed at her to drop to her knees before him just as she always had in the past.
Yet, tonight, she forced herself to stand tall. She knew she could look him straight in the eye, but only because of the fearless woman whose flesh she wore.
When the heavy silence stretched too long without a single word of response, she finally decided to turn.
And just as she did, she wished with all her soul that she hadn’t.
Her eyes widened, her pulse spiked, and her tongue grew heavy in her mouth at the sight of the severe expression across his gorgeous face.
He wasn’t wearing a frown, nor was he actively displaying any outward sign of displeasure, but the suffocating, dark aura radiating from his frame was enough to freeze the blood in her veins.
Worse still were his icy blue eyes.
They looked so lethal, so devoid of humanity, that a sickening wave of dread crept up her chest.
Swallowing hard under the crushing weight of his overwhelming presence, Diana forced herself to suppress her mounting terror and put on her best display of concern, "Gavriel? Are you alright?"
Gavriel simply tilted his head slightly, his movements predatory as he finally spoke in a low, chilling voice. "Why?"
Diana’s lips trembled despite her efforts to remain composed. "Y-you look a little u-upset." freewebnøvel.com
When he remained dead silent as if staring through her soul, she forced herself to push further. "D-did I do something to u-upset you?"
"Did you?" he whispered. The sound was like a freezing caress as he took a slow, deliberate step closer to her.
His gaze travelled slowly from her face down her body, where the provocative black lace lingerie was on full display. The outfit perfectly accented Aliana’s beautiful, curvy silhouette, with the silk robe hanging loosely over her shoulders while she held up two glasses filled with the exact wine he and Aliana both enjoyed.
It was the same face, the same body, and the same fucking scent designed to drive him insane and strip him of his restraint.
Yet, instead of feeling his usual sense of peace, he found his blood boiling hotter and hotter with every passing second.
There was a question that had been lingering at the back of his mind ever since she had disappeared from his sight for those few minutes at the gala.
And ever since he had found her and remained glued to her side, the question he had been trying to avoid kept crawling back into his mind, growing more aggressive with each passing moment.
Why wasn’t his darkness settling within him?
Gavriel hadn’t fully realised until tonight how Aliana’s mere presence possessed the unique power to soothe his volatile dark side, a feat no one could ever achieve.
Yet, as the hours ticked by, her proximity brought no peace.
Instead, an insatiable violence and bloodlust began to gnaw violently at his core.
Diana misread the way his eyes tracked down her body, taking his intense scrutiny as a silent sign of arousal.
Encouraged, she took a daring step closer to him, her voice dropping into a sultry whisper. "Mmh, maybe I have been a little naughty." Her eyelids grew heavy, fluttering her eyelashes at him with seduction.
Her red lips curled into a provocative smile as she stepped fully into his space. "Maybe I’ll let you punish me, but only after you finish this drink with me."
She held out a glass to him, and Gavriel kept his gaze locked on the woman before finally taking it from her hand.
She smiled sweetly at him before clinking her glass against his before bringing it to her lips.
As she watched him through the crystal edge of her glass, Gavriel, who had kept his inner darkness on a brutally tight leash until now, finally loosened his grip.
Closing his eyes, he directed his thoughts inward, speaking directly to his beast within his soul, something he never did willingly.
’Speak to me.... Bellarios?’
As if Gavriel’s question only angered the beast further... that for the first time in centuries, Gavriel felt a visceral reaction from deep within his core as Bellarios finally unleashed a deafening snarl: ’Not her!’
That single declaration set everything in motion.
Diana, who had been watching him with calculating eyes, saw how he remained perfectly still with his eyes closed.
One second, it was only his overwhelming presence filling the room. The next...
The temperature in the master suite plummeted at an alarming degree, sucking every trace of warmth from the air and sending a freezing shiver straight down her spine.
The atmosphere grew so still it felt as though nature itself had stopped supplying oxygen out of pure malice.
Then the darkness she had seen leaking from Gavriel when they had met outside the washroom, the same darkness that had made her move away before he could touch her, began pouring off him tenfold.
Before she could even register the danger, the wine glasses shattered into a million pieces, spraying the crimson liquid across the floor.
In the exact same breath, a crushing force gripped her neck in a lethal chokehold, lifting her off her feet and slamming her body against the wall so hard that the concrete dented deeply behind her from the impact.
A storm began to rage outside, thunder crashing and lightning splitting the night sky apart. The wind howled with increasing ferocity, and one by one, the glass windows across the room shattered beneath its relentless assault.
Diana dangled helplessly with her feet suspended above the ground under his crushing grip. Her trembling hand wrapped around his wrist as she desperately tried to loosen it, a strangled gasp escaping her lips as she choked out, "G-Gav...riel!"
It was then that Gavriel finally opened his eyes, and Diana froze in absolute, paralysing terror.
His eyes were pitch-black, swallowing all the white, the irises glowing a sinister red while his pupils had narrowed into vertical slits, leaving no doubt that the beast lurking within him had fully awakened.
At the same time, the ground beneath them began to tremble violently, the entire structure groaning as though it might collapse under the sheer weight of his presence.
The darkness pouring from him thickened, swallowing every corner of the room as the air itself seemed to recoil in fear.
His canines elongated against his lips as he demanded in a low, guttural growl that vibrated directly through her bones, "Where is she?"
