I could hardly breathe in the silence my words had left. Gabriel loomed over me, jaw stiff, clenched fists hanging at his sides as if he were forcing himself not to touch me. His golden eyes flickered with an unvoiced ecstasy — a heavy thing.
It’s too late for that.
The words hung there, like a wall neither of us knew how to climb.
He said nothing for a moment. He just stared at me.
Then, at last, he breathed out, his voice hoarse. “You don’t mean that.”
I chuckled, but that was no laughing matter. “You don’t get to define what I mean, Gabriel.”
His eyes darkened. “Then tell me you’re not feeling it.”
My throat tightened. “Feel what?”
“This,” he motioned back and forth between us. “The pull. The bond. It’s still there, Angel. If you say otherwise, you’re lying.”
I wanted to deny i
