Evie swallowed.

"I never even saw her shadow, nor had I planned to meet up with her within the last three days, Evielyn." Came his firm voice and Evie could only bit her lower lip. She suddenly knew that she was wrong in judging just according to his expressions and reactions alone.

"I… I… that…"

As she stammered, Gavriel stretched his hands suddenly – too suddenly – and slammed them on either side of her, against the wall that was somehow behind her. She stumbled backwards in surprise, finally realizing that she had stepped back from him for so long she had already reached the wall.

When she looked up at him, their faces almost collided and she pulled her head back as far as she could without slamming her own head into the wall. However, when she saw the creases between his brows and the intensity of his glittering eyes that held hers, Evie found herself unable to either pull her gaze away or make a sound.

However, she realised very quickly that her reactions were not out of fear. But it was because she recognised that in his eyes, there was still a soft liquid glitter as he looked at her, despite the quiet anger that radiated from his body and the bruised expression on his face he could no longer conceal.

The room went painfully quiet for a while before Evie's heart began to thud almost audibly. The next moment, she felt his warm breath touching her ear as his body tensed. "The talk about marriage with Thea had no chance of even happening because I left them to look for you that twilight just at the moment the general was ready to start talking about it. When I carried you back into the castle, I had already sent them away without even seeing them off and that was the last time I saw that pair of father and daughter, Evielyn." He explained slowly, his struggle to keep his voice soft was apparent and she could tell his breathing wasn't quite even. "Now you're telling me Thea is the woman I want and need?" his voice hardened at that last statement before he pulled away to look down at her.

His quicksilver eyes were so intense she felt like her brain was going to malfunction and suffer a meltdown.

"You… damned… woman…" she heard him curse her for the very first time and it seemed he said those words with so much struggle. And then his breath snagged. "How could you be so clueless?" the hardness of his voice softened but his whisper this time was hoarse and deep as if they came from the darkest chamber of her mind.

"Listen Evie," he breathed against her lips and the waft of hellfire sent shivers through her and goosebumps crawling along her skin.

'No! This cannot be happening!' she screamed within the confines of her mind because Evie could feel her carefully constructed walls that she spent so long building around her heart and mind began to crumble and she was becoming more and more helpless to her husband's 'attacks' on her fortress.

It seemed she could not hold her ground any longer. In the past three days, when her anger towards herself had begun to subside, her mind similarly started to gain clarity. She remembered how he came to rescue her, even held her so gently at that moment and took care of her to no end like he was so worried about her. She realized he had never raised his voice at her nor scolded her. Her traitorous mind also brought up the memory on how he had tried his best to speak to her, asking her many times if she was alright and even coaxed her many times that he will never let something like that happen to her ever again. And all she did was sent him away coldly, despite knowing that she could be dead by then if he didn't come to her rescue right at the moment that he did.

The emotions she went through those past three days without him were too much that if she honestly admitted to herself, she almost felt like breaking down. She hadn't let anyone console her after that period of horror she had just gone through. She never did open up to her maids nor to Elias either, just so she would not fall into the temptation of asking about him and his whereabouts. She had sent her maids away almost immediately after their job was done and she knew the maids and the butler were starting to worry and even probably thought badly of her ungrateful attitude – not that she would blame them. She truly was horrid in her behaviour! However, she could hardly consider the feelings and thoughts of the maids and the butler at that time as she was too engrossed in her own stubbornness, thickening and strengthening her defences and fighting against everything that had been haunting her.

And it was… maddening for her. Because he had haunted her endlessly and mercilessly even when he was not there. Though she did not admit it earlier, but she knew deep in her heart that her walls weren't strong enough to repel a man like him so she had tried her very best, giving all sorts of excuses to herself, until… she could no longer…

"There is no woman in this universe I ever needed and wanted more than you!" he growled passionately, those silvery eyes shining intensely at her and all her walls evaporated faster than the mist in the face of the noonday sun. "If I have had the luxury to spend three days with Thea… I would rather spend every waking minute of that time with you. Do you want to know what I'd have done with you…to you in those three days? Evie? I would spend every minute and every second to please you, to show you how much I wanted you, how much I long to finally be allowed to touch and enjoy my own wife. I would do everything to make you feel safe with me and then worked as hard as I could to gain your trust until you will finally trust me enough to… to let me hold you, to permit me to touch you. And when that time comes…" his voice turned into a ragged whisper.

"When that day comes, I would do my best and would be as gentle or as wild as you want me to be. First and foremost, I would hold you close to me and feel your warmth against mine, make you comfortable in my arms. I'd brush your hair gently, worship every inch of your skin, hold your waist against mine and then… I'd kiss you. I'd kiss you passionately and then when you open up for me, I'd slide my tongue inside your mouth. I would invade your mouth … lick every corner of it until you moan for me. I'd tangle my tongue against yours and then suck and lick yours until we're both breathless and hot and aroused. I'd kiss you again and again until your lip swells from my loving and then… my tongue will travel downwards. First along your jaws… I'd lick them like they were the most delicious thing…" his hot breath followed his words, blowing against her jaws and then downwards as he continued.

"I'd lick and kiss and suck the hollow of your neck and below your ears while my hands roams around your body. I'd suck your skin and leave a mark as I take off your dress, and then… I'd put my hands beneath your breast…" Evie let out an embarrassing gasp, her head feeling faint from all that intimate description. Her face flushed red as she looked at him with wide-eyes, unable to speak.

His eyes flashed a fierce glint as he groaned low, pleased by her reactions and continued with an even more alluring voice. "I'd ravish your mouth again while I knead your breasts until you wriggle beneath me in heat. And … when you're ready, I'd lift your breast to my mouth…I would kiss them, Evie, suck them gently, nibble them until they are wet and so hard…" another gasp sounded, accompanied by a needy moan echoed in their ears and Evie's hand flew to her mouth in shock.