“Dark!” Gemma shouted.Dark hair. Dark eyes. Dunkel means “dark” in German. Dark demeanor.
Dr. Dunkel started, looking at Gemma carefully. “Move along, dear. There’s nothing that concerns you here.”
But there is! Ian concerns me, and his brother, and whatever they’re trying to accomplish. But I can’t tell you that because I can’t even string three words together in a way that makes sense!
“I…” Gemma tried her hardest to get out something, anything, to distract the woman. “I…”
The doctor let out a sigh and then turned back to the door. “Sorry, sweetheart. I can’t help you.”
Fuck. Giving up on distracting the doctor, Gemma decided to try and warn James of his impending doom. “Dark!” she shouted. “Dark!”
The doctor narrowed her eyes but strangely didn’t do anything else. She turned the doorknob, opened the door, and walked in, shutting the door behind her.
The lock clicked and Gemma leaned her head against the wall. She’d failed again. Sliding down to the floor, she stared at the lines there, losing herself to her thoughts again. Until another familiar pair of shoes appeared.
Luckily, she was able to pull herself out of her thoughts long enough to react. She wanted to cry out, to attract his attention, but she was unable to speak to him because of whatever power he’d used on her. That didn’t stop her from rising and rushing after him.
Gemma caught him before he turned the corner on the red ward. She grabbed his sleeve and he turned, his face becoming guarded when he recognized her. “Ah, I thought that was you back there, but your face was buried behind your hair.”
He politely pulled his sleeve out of her grip and continued down the hall. Gemma grabbed his arm again, tugging him back in the direction from which they’d came. “Okay, Gemmaline. As I told you before, you’ve got to stop this behavior. I need to speak to my brother.”
Gemma’s frustration grew. She was trying to show him where his brother was. Instead, he looked at her as if she were an annoying insect. It hurt, that look, but she refused to let her emotions overcome her. She had a job to do.
She put all her weight into it and succeeded in moving him not one inch. Gemma wished she could speak, could tell him about his brother, about her suspicions of the staff. Instead, she was forced to mime her distress. She released his arm with one of her hands and started pointing down the hallway.
She could see the frustration in his face, but there was something else, something beneath his annoyance, that sparked hope in her chest. Gemma lifted her hand above her head, trying to indicate James’s height. Then she pointed to Ian’s face, then his eyes. Pointing back down the hall, she tried to point him forward again.
His expression softened. “Okay, little one, you clearly have something important to tell me. Rather than play guessing games all night, how about I give you your voice back?”
Gemma smiled and nodded frantically. Ian looked up and down the hall, then pulled her into an empty patient room. He closed the door behind them and took hold of her shoulders. She was surprised to see his pupils turn red when he looked deeply into her eyes.
Then suddenly, darkness.
The lights vanished. She felt him squeeze her shoulders, then release them. Gemma managed to grab an arm as she heard the door open. “The lights are out everywhere,” he said. “Strange. A place like this has to have some kind of auxiliary power source. A generator or something. The safety lights are off too.”
The darkness was all encompassing. She couldn’t even see him a few paces away. Rather than being afraid, Gemma saw the blackout as an opportunity she couldn’t afford to miss. Pulling him back into the room, she heard the door close once again.
Without the lights, she had to use her hands to figure out his positioning. She managed to bury her fingers in his hair and to pull his head closer to her own face.
“Gemmaline,” he murmured. “I know this might be upsetting, but you don’t need to be afraid. I won’t—”
Whatever he’d been about to say was cut off by her kiss. Gemma pressed her lips against his and felt an explosion of pleasure. He was caught off guard but soon succumbed, returning the kiss and pulling her closer to his warm body.
When she broke the kiss for air, she could feel his breath on her cheek. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” he whispered, but he didn’t pull away. Instead, his mouth found hers again and started to kiss her with such heartbreaking sweetness that she couldn’t help the shiver that climbed up her body.
She licked his lips and was rewarded with a deep groan. Wanting to be closer, she climbed his rugged body, looping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He clutched her closer, his hands finding her bottom.
His tongue lunged into her mouth to wrestle with her own. Gemma reveled in the sensation of his mouth against hers, of the closeness of their bodies. At first, she might have been focused on his ability to heal her, but that knowledge took a backseat now. All she could think about was her craving for him, her desire to feel him beside her, inside her.
Gemma mewled, rubbing herself against him, wishing she could get closer somehow. When she nibbled his bottom lip, he let out a moan. “Godsdammit, girl,” he said, his hoarse voice sending tingles across her skin. “You sure know how to get me hard.”
She could feel it then, his erection. It was throbbing beneath his pants, larger than she would have expected. Experimentally, she began to rock her hips into him.
“Fuck,” he growled. “Oh gods, do that again.”
She did and was rewarded with another groan. Then he cautiously began to move. “You’re making my knees weak, Gemmaline,” he whispered into her ear. Finding his way to the bed, he turned and sat down on it, settling her on his lap so that her legs were still looped around his waist.
Gently cupping her head, he began to kiss her face all over, from her cheeks to her eyelids. Then he moved to her ear. Kissing the lobe gently, he ran his tongue around the whorl, then nibbled her earlobe. She trembled under the intensity of his touch.
