Redeemed In Shadows by Tigris Eden Page A

by his hands and tongue. He wanted to taste every inch of her exposed flesh. Even her pierced belly button that dangled a turtle with a diamond for a shell tempted him. Her very tan, very exotic skin tone only served to drive him further into lust. She was everything he didn’t want in a woman. She was brash and hard around the edges. It didn’t matter that when he held her in his arms she’d melted against him in all the right places. There was something about her that tied him up in knots, sparked his curiosity making him want to forego business for pleasure. The incident in the H.I.V.E was not entirely his fault. A large reason he hadn’t remembered she couldn’t see in the dark was because he was still trying to sort through the tormenting outfit she wore. Her pink silky hair that was up in a bun gradually loosened as they worked now cascaded down past her shoulders and rested in the middle of her back. Her hair was long. He just hadn’t realized it the other day, because he was being so damn critical of her appearance. He was becoming a slave to his desires and that was something he wasn’t used to.
    “She’s smart, she’ll fit in just fine here once she’s all settled.” He finally answered.
    Jes eyed him longer than necessary before taking another bite of her pasta.
    “What?”
    Draven’s mate shrugged her shoulders.
    “I didn’t say anything.”
    There was laughter coming from the hall and he knew Faith and her friend Reese were on their way.
    “Gabe! Gabe!”
    Faith bounded towards him with a smile, wearing her signature pink tutu and princess shirt.
    “Hey there, beautiful girl.”
    Faith took the chair next to him with Reese on his other side.
    “Hi Gabe.”
    “Hey Reece.”
    The little girl sighed and put her hands under her chin, staring at him with starry eyes. She was a cute kid and he knew both her and Faith enjoyed hanging out with him. He didn’t mind, being around the girls reminded him of all that was right in the world.
    “Gabe, mom says you’re leaving soon, why?” Faith asked curiosity evident in her green gaze.
    “It’s time for me to go home.”
    “This is your home,” she made it sound so obvious, like he was the one missing the big picture. Maybe he was, but it couldn’t be helped. There were days he wanted to stay on Earth and then there were days logic won out and he knew he belonged back in the Black Veil. He may have wanted to stay, but he needed to go. His brothers were good at their jobs, but having him back would balance out the scales. Gabe pulled on Faith’s ponytail while trying to explain.
    “This was only my temporary home. Kind of like when you visited your nana. It wasn’t for forever, just for a little while.”
    Faith’s bottom lip quivered and her eyes misted over with unshed tears.
    “Well what about the bad man? You’re not supposed to go Gabe.”
    His heart broke for Faith. She was right, there was a bad man, and there was nothing he could do in that aspect. What he could do was help locate the Sahidic before his time was up.
    “Don’t worry baby, we’ll have the bad man sorted before I leave.”
    He couldn’t really promise her that, but he would do his best to try.
    His little beauty rubbed her eyes and sniffed.
    “Well, okay then.” She hopped from her chair to run over to Jes and began talking to her mother’s belly. Jes giggled and hugged Faith and watched the girl and her friend take off towards the elevators. Clearing his throat, he worked on finishing his food.
    “Back to our conversation.”
    He raised his eyes staring at Jes.
    “What conversation?”
    “I’ve seen how hot Xee is, she’s so cute in an alternative chic way. I like her style.”
    “Well I doubt she’ll care. She seems to have a thing for Belinda.”
    Jesminda’s eyes widened.
    “Really?”
    “Yeah, she doesn’t do men, but woman are on the menu.”
    “Wow, I wonder how that would even work, you know.”
    Gabe stared unblinking at Jes. Was she