Gideon Quotes

“Now Bella, you know Jacob adores you. He naturally wants to protect you. He literally worships the ground you walk on."

"Ha ha," Bella said dryly. "Earth demon. Worship the ground. Cute. Really cute.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“I am going to devour you, Magdelegna,” he promised her, the darkness of his cravings coming to bear on her fully at last. “You wanted to know my passions? Allow me to introduce them to you.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“u dare to threaten me?”she retaliated, gaining her feet as she faced off with the Enforcer in what had to be the most unwise action in Council history since the decision to go to war with the Druids.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Okay, okay . . . where do you hear it coming from?”
“Around here somewhere.”
“Always in this spot?”
“No. Not always. You are going to think I am even more insane, but I swear it is following me around.”
“Maybe it is my new powers. The power to drive you mad.” She wriggled her fingers at him theatrically as if she were casting a curse on him.
“You already drive me mad,” he teased, dragging her up against him and nibbling her neck with a playful growling. “Ah hell,” he broke off. “I really am going mad. I cannot believe you cannot hear that. It is like a metronome set to some ridiculously fast speed.”
He turned and walked into the living room, looking around at every shelf.
“The last person to own this place probably had a thing for music and left it running. Listen. Can you hear that?”
“No,” she said thoughtfully, “but I can hear you hearing it if I concentrate on your thoughts. What in the world . . . ?”
Gideon turned, then turned again, concentrating on the rapid sound, following it until it led him right up to his wife.
“It is you!” he said. “No wonder it is following me around. Are you wearing a watch?” He grabbed her wrist and she rolled her eyes.
“A Demon wearing a watch? Now I have heard everything.”
Suddenly Gideon went very, very still, the cold wash of chills that flooded through him so strong that she shivered with the overflow of sensation. He abruptly dropped to his knees and framed her hips with his hands.
“Oh, Legna,” he whispered, “I am such an idiot. It is a baby. It is our baby. I am hearing it’s heartbeat!”
“What?” she asked, her shock so powerful she could barely speak. “I am with child?”
“Yes. Yes, sweet, you most certainly are. A little over a month. Legna, you conceived, probably the first time we made love. My beautiful, fertile, gorgeous wife.”
Gideon kissed her belly through her dress, stood up, and caught her up against him until she squeaked with the force of his hug. Legna went past shock and entered unbelievable joy. She laughed, not caring how tight he held her, feeling his joy on a thousand different levels.
“I never thought I would know this feeling,” he said hoarsely. “Even when we were getting married, I never thought . . . It did not even enter my mind!” Gideon set her down on her feet, putting her at arm’s length as he scanned her thoroughly from head to toe. “I cannot understand why I did not become aware of this sooner. The chemical changes, the hormone levels alone . . .”
“Never mind. We know now,” she said, throwing herself back up against him and hugging him tightly. “Come, we have to tell Noah . . . and Hannah! Oh, and Bella! And Jacob, of course. And Elijah. And we should inform Siena—”
She was still rattling off names as she teleported them to the King’s castle.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Shall I stop in to check on Bella before I go?”
“Not dressed like that. You would give her palpitations if she knew you were going into danger for her benefit.”
“Luckily, I am mostly immune to Bella’s powers and could cure such palpitations with a thought,” Gideon mused.
Jacob raised a brow, taking the medic’s measure. He could not recall the last time he had heard the Ancient crack wise about anything. It was not a wholly unpleasant experience, and it amused the Enforcer.
“I . . . am aware of what is occurring between you and Legna, as you know,” Jacob mentioned with casual quiet. “I am only recently Imprinted myself, but should you require—” He broke off, suddenly uncomfortable. “Of course, you probably know far more about Imprinting than I ever will.”
He is reaching out to you.
Legna’s soft encouragement made Gideon suddenly aware of that fact. It was one of those nuances he would have missed completely, rusty as he was with matters of friendship and how to relate better to others.
“I am glad for the offer of any help you can provide,” Gideon said quickly. “In fact, I had wanted to ask you . . . something . . .”
What did I want to ask him? he asked Legna urgently.
I do not know! I did not tell you to engage him, just to graciously accept his offer.
Oh. My apologies. Still, you are clever enough to think of something, are you not?
Legna knew he was baiting her, so she laughed.
Ask him why it is you seem to constantly irritate me.
I will ask him no such thing, Magdelegna.
Well then, you had better come up with an alternative, because that is the only suggestion I have.
“Yes?” Jacob was encouraging neutrally, trying to be patient as the medic seemed to gather his thoughts.
“Do you find that your mate tends to lecture you incessantly?” he asked finally.
Jacob laughed out loud.
“You know something, I can actually advise you about that, Gideon.”
“Can you?” The medic actually sounded hopeful.
“Give up. Now. While you still have your sanity. Arguing with her will get you nowhere. And, also, never ever ask questions that refer to the whys and wherefores of women, females, or any other feminine-based criticism. Otherwise you will only earn an argument at a higher decibel level. Oh, and one other thing.”
Gideon cocked a brow in question.
“All the rules I just gave you, as well as all the ones she lays down during the course of your relationship, can and will change at whim. So, as I see it, you can consider yourself just as lost as every other man on the planet. Good luck with it.”
“That is not a very heartening thought,” Gideon said wryly, ignoring Legna’s giggle in his background thoughts.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“I find it odd that you would voice such an unnecessary question,” Gideon remarked serenely, sipping his beverage and rolling the bouquet of it over his tongue for a moment.
"at times I find comfort in voicing a concern just to hear the verbal assurance.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Tradition now dictated that anyone could try and pull the couple apart. Whoever succeeded in separating them at their ribbons would be able to sit beside the couple as they feasted in celebration. The field became a tumble of laughing mates and contestants as males tried to remove males and females tried to remove females.
Jacob grabbed his newly healed bride and floated out of the reach of the would-be renders, a cry of protest rising from below them. Gideon and Legna were left unmolested, Gideon’s imposing reputation having a quelling effect on the nerves of any who might have approached.
He was kissing his bride when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw Damien arching a challenging brow at him. Legna laughed, delighted as Gideon gave the Prince a dirty look. Her humor lasted about two seconds. That was when Damien’s partner in crime tapped Legna’s shoulder.
Siena gave the bride a feline grin.
“Oh, you bitch,” Legna choked out, laughing in her shock at the excellent maneuver on the Queen’s part.
“Uh-uh,” the Queen scolded, her collar winking in the firelight. “That’s not very diplomatic of you, Ambassador.”
“You realize this means war,” Legna said archly.
“As if I would settle for anything less,” Siena returned.
Legna and Gideon sighed, looking at each other and rolling their eyes. Husband grabbed hold of wife by their joined arms and then they braced their feet. Legna felt slim, strong arms around her waist and shoulders, and Gideon was seized in a similar hold by the determined Damien.
“Darling?” Legna said.
“Yes, love.”
“Yes?”
“Definitely yes.”
The Vampire and Lycanthrope pulled, and immediately found themselves holding nothing but air.
They both fell over hard into the dirt, dazedly watching a pair of ribbons floating down to the ground.
“Oh look, they won,” Legna remarked from her and Gideon’s new position a few feet away.
“How about that,” Gideon mused. “See you both at dinner. Congratulations on your victory.”
The couple popped off to who knows where, leaving indignant but dubiously victorious royalty behind.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Gideon, you old dog, you have taken a mate,” the Prince accused with humor sparkling from those fathomless eyes. “And I believe she finds me quite attractive.”
Gideon heard Legna gasp in shock and tried to repress a feral smile as he became aware of the burning blush she sprouted.
“I would not cross that particular line even as a joke, Damien,” Gideon warned him smoothly.
“My apologies. I could not resist.” Damien looked steadily into Gideon’s eyes for a moment. “She must be young, not to realize I would be able to read her presence within your mind.”
“She is young, but I would not underestimate her if I were you.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Jacob, is something wrong? Is Isabella okay?”
“Probably. She is not well today. It could be a normal thing for a human female, but since she is usually as resistant to common ailments now as we are, she is nervous. I figured Gideon could ease her mind.”
Noah missed the wince that crossed his friend’s face that would have given away the indignant argument flying through the Enforcer’s thoughts. Jacob’s female counterpart huffily took umbrage to his claims of exactly who it was that was nervous and who had insisted on seeking Gideon, because it certainly had not been her.
“Tell her I hope she feels better,” Noah said, his fondness for Bella quite clear in his tone. “Bear with her, old friend. She’s breaking new ground. It can be pretty frightening to play Eve for an entire race.”
“Do not worry. When it comes to my Bella, I would do anything to see to her happiness. That includes making others do anything to see to her happiness,” Jacob said. He meant the words, of course, but he was hoping they’d help sooth someone’s bristling pride.
“I’m sure Gideon is going to love that,” Noah laughed.
Jacob grinned, altering gravity so that he began to float up from the floor.
“If you see Gideon before I do, will you tell him to come to Bella?”
“Of course. Tell her I said to start behaving like a real Druid or I—” Noah was cut off by a sharp hand motion and a warning expression from the Enforcer. It came a little too late, however, if Jacob’s pained expression was anything to judge by.
“There goes your invitation for our wedding,” Jacob muttered. “And I think I am close behind you.”
“I would believe that if I were not the one who is supposed to perform it and if you were not the father of her otherwise illegitimate child,” Noah countered loudly, clearly talking to the person beyond his immediate perception.
“Ow! Damn it, Noah!” Jacob grumbled, rubbing his temples as Bella’s scream of frustration echoed through him. “Do you remember I am the one who has to go home to her, would you?”
“Sorry, my friend,” Noah chuckled, not looking at all repentant. “Now get out of here, Enforcer. Find Gideon and tend to your beautiful and charming mate. Be sure to mention to her that I said she looks ravishing and that her pregnancy has made her shine like a precious jewel.”
“Noah, if you were not my King, I would kill you for this.”
“Yes, well, as your King I would have you arrested for treason just for saying that. Luckily for you, Jacob, you are the man who would arrest you, and the woman who also has the power to do so is sure to punish you far better than I can when you get home.”
“You are all heart, my liege,” Jacob said wryly.
“Thank you. Now leave, before I begin to expound on the disrespect that this mouthy little female of yours seems to have engendered my formerly loyal subjects.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Neliss, why is this rug wet?”
Legna peeked around the corner to glance at the rug in question, looking as if she had never seen it before.
“We have a rug there?”
“Did you or did you not promise me you were not going to practice extending how long you can hold your invisible bowls of water in the house? And what on earth is that noise?”
“Okay, I confess to the water thing, which was an honest mistake, I swear it. But as for a noise, I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“You cannot hear that? It has been driving me crazy for days now. It just repeats over and over again, a sort of clicking sound.”
“Well, it took a millennium, but you have finally gone completely senile. Listen, this is a house built by Lycanthropes. It is more a cave than a house, to be honest. I have yet to decorate to my satisfaction. There is probably some gizmo of some kind lying around, and I will come across it eventually or it will quit working the longer it is exposed to our influence. Even though I do not hear anything, I will start looking for it. Is this satisfactory?”
“I swear, Magdelegna, I am never letting you visit that Druid ever again.”
“Oh, stop it. You do not intimidate me, as much as you would love to think you do. Now, I will come over there if you promise not to yell at me anymore. You have been quite moody lately.”
“I would be a hell of a lot less moody if I could figure out what that damn noise is.”
Legna came around the corner, moving into his embrace with her hands behind her back. He immediately tried to see what she had in them.
“What is that?”
“Remember when you asked me why I cut my hair?”
“Ah yes, the surprise. Took you long enough to get to it.”
“If you do not stop, I am not going to give it to you.”
“Okay. I am stopping. What is it?”
She held out the box tied with a ribbon to him and he accepted it with a lopsided smile.
“I do not think I even remember the last time I received a gift,” he said, leaning to kiss her cheek warmly. He changed his mind, though, and opted to go for her mouth next. She smiled beneath the cling of their lips and pushed away.
“Open it.”
He reached for the ribbon and soon was pulling the top off the box.
“What is this?”
“Gideon, what does it look like?”
He picked up the woven circlet with a finger and inspected it closely. It was an intricately and meticulously fashioned necklace, clearly made strand by strand from the coffee-colored locks of his mate’s hair. In the center of the choker was a silver oval with the smallest writing he had ever seen filling it from top to bottom.
“What does it say?”
“It is the medics’ code of ethics,” she said softly, taking it from him and slipping behind him to link the piece around his neck beneath his hair. “And it fits perfectly.” She came around to look at it, smiling. “I knew it would look handsome on you.”
“I do not usually wear jewelry or ornamentation, but . . . it feels nice. How on earth did they make this?”
“Well, it took forever, if you want to know why it took so long for me to make good on the surprise. But I wanted you to have something that was a little bit of me and a little bit of you.”
“I already have something like that. It is you. And . . . and me, I guess,” he laughed. “We are a little bit of each other for the rest of our lives.”
“See, that makes this a perfect symbol of our love,” she said smartly, reaching up on her toes to kiss him.
“Well, thank you, sweet. It is a great present and an excellent surprise. Now, if you really want to surprise me, help me find out what that noise is.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Love?
Yes.
Gideon chuckled.
Why did you say yes like that?
Oh, I thought you were asking me a question.
I see.
Then he truly did see what she meant, and his heart flipped over in his chest.
Darling?
Gideon smiled at the warmth the endearment flooded him with.
Yes, Neliss?
Oh, nothing. Just fulfilling my end of the deal.
The deal?
Yes. You made me a deal.
You lost me, he sighed.
Legna lifted her head, propped an elbow up against the pillow of his chest, and settled her chin in her palm so she could look down at him.
“You said that I would get something very special if I called you that.”
“Did I?” he asked, his eyes brightening with speculation as he thought back on it. “Actually, I think you have that confused with the deal about saying my name.”
“I like your name,” she said with a smile. “I always thought mine was awful snobbish. But yours has me beat hands down.”
“My name is one of the finest and oldest names in all of our history.”
“That’s only because you have lived to be such an older tosser.”
“Tosser?”
“British vernacular, luv.”
“What are you, my dialect coach all of a sudden? Is this your idea of postcoital pillow talk?”
Legna giggled, apologizing with a clinging kiss on his lips. It clearly calmed him, making him smile in a very cat-versus-canary way.
“Is there something you would prefer I say?” she asked compliantly.
“That yes a few sentences back was great. Short, sweet, to the point.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“Yes?” he asked, arching a brow.
“Oh, yes,” she assured him, her own brows doing a little lecherous dance.
“Mmm, yes,” he murmured as her mouth lowered to his.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Legna?
Yes?
Do not talk with your mouth full.
No?
No.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“How do you remain an individual when you are also part of so powerfully driven a pair?”
“Irrational or justified, it is what it is.” Gideon was realizing the logic of that for himself even as he spoke the words. “Perhaps, in time, it will be less acute. I have no desire to rob you of your individuality, nor do I wish to lose my own. It is difficult for me as well . . . I have been so solitary throughout my lifetime, and now, to be suddenly given such riveting company . . . I fear I cannot do you the justice you deserve. And for you it will be worse; with the influx of power you are beginning to experience it will be taxing, to say the least.”
“I know.” Legna reached up and splayed her palms over the dark silk covering his chest. “I suppose at some point, if I start to go crazy, you are going to have to knock me out or tie me up or something.”
“Hmm. The latter has possibilities,” he mused with a growling smile that erased the tension in his face.
Legna laughed, giving him a shove.
“Gideon, you are nothing but an ancient pervert,” she teased him.
“And this is an issue because . . . ?”
“You are horrible!” She pushed away from him, gaining her feet.
He reached to take her hand, pulling her closer once more and continuing to do so until she had nowhere else to go but his lap. She took the seat, her voluminous skirts spreading over them both.
“I will forgive you, this time,” she conceded.
“Thank you,” he said with honest graciousness. “Now, my beauty, tell me what you would like to do to get to know me better. I find myself looking forward to your discoveries.”
“Well, I did not think of anything specific. I imagined time would fill itself.”
“That is dangerously liberal, sweet. If you leave it up to the natural course of things, I can tell you exactly what we will end up doing.”
Legna giggled, blushing because she realized he was right. Even just sitting in his lap and talking as she was, she could feel the mutual awareness that sparked between them, constantly simmering and waiting for just a little more heat to bring them up to the boiling point.
“Very well, I am open to suggestions,” she invited.
“Again, too liberal,” he teased, his eyes twinkling with mischievous starlight.
“You are incorrigible. I never realized you were a sex fiend, Gideon.”
“I am now,” he amended, drawing a finger down the slope of her nose.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“If you are going to start psychoanalyzing me, Legna, just stop it right now,” Noah warned her.
“You have had my undivided love and attention practically since the day I was born, Noah. Has it never occurred to you that you are simply unwilling to share me with anyone else? You joke about it, but there are reasons why you are not interested in finding a companion of your own. Why should you? You have a perfectly kept home, a beautiful hostess to manage your social affairs, and she is pretty much emotionally maintenance free. I give you completely unconditional love, respect, and admiration. I keep you company when there are so many around, but none are really close enough to your heart to safely be a King’s confidant. There is only one thing I cannot do for you, and I already know you have your ways of obtaining that.”
“Legna,” he protested, his face flushing. “That is not true.”
“Which part?” she countered, raising a single brow.
“I . . .” He hesitated, looking away from her penetrating gaze, realizing that she saw so much more than he had ever given her credit for. “Well, for one, the rafters of my ‘perfectly kept home’ are full of cobwebs,” he said sheepishly.
Legna suddenly, gratefully, found herself laughing. It was a short burst of amusement that instantly defused the painful tension between them.
“As if it would kill you to spare a thought to giving them a two-second toasting and getting rid of them yourself?”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“At least, that had been what he had thought until the night he had lost himself to Legna’s wicked eyes. He had blamed it on the moon, reaffirming the weakness to himself later on when he found himself stalking the halls of Noah’s home far oftener than could be explained away, always watching as Legna floated from one room to another, seemingly oblivious to him, never remaining in his sight for more than a minute at a time.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“You say respect my elders, but what you mean is respecting my betters, is that not right? Are you so full of your own arrogance that you need me to bow and kowtow to you like some throwback fledgling? Or perhaps we should reinstate the role of concubines in our society. Then you may have the pleasure of claiming me and forcing me to fall to my knees, bowing low in respect of your masculine eminence!”
Gideon watched as she did just that, her gown billowing around her as she gracefully kneeled before him, so close to him that her knees touched the tips of his boots. She swept her hands to her sides, bowing her head until her forehead brushed the leather, her hair spilling like reams of heavy silk around his ankles.
The Ancient found himself unusually speechless, the strangest sensation creeping through him as he looked down at the exposed nape of her neck, the elegant line of her back. Unable to curb the impulse, Gideon lowered himself into a crouch, reaching beneath the cloak of coffee-colored hair to touch her flushed cheek. The heat of her anger radiated against his touch and he recognized it long before she turned her face up to him.
“Does this satisfy you, my lord Gideon?” she whispered fiercely, her eyes flashing like flinted steel and hard jade.
Gideon found himself searching her face intently, his eyes roaming over the high, aristocratic curves of her cheekbones, the amazingly full sculpture of her lips, the wide, accusing eyes that lay behind extraordinarily thick lashes. He cupped her chin between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, his fingertips fanning softly over her angrily flushed cheek.
“You do enjoy mocking me,” he murmured softly to her, the breath of his words close enough to skim across her face.
“No more than you seem to enjoy condescending to me,” she replied, her clipped words coming out on quick, heated breaths.
Gideon absorbed this latest venom with a blink of lengthy lashes. They kept their gazes locked, each seemingly waiting for the other to look away.
“You have never forgiven me,” he said suddenly, softly.
“Forgiven you?” She laughed bitterly. “Gideon, you are not important enough to earn my forgiveness.”
“Is your ego so fragile, Legna, that a small slight to it is irreparable?”
“Stop talking to me as if I were a temperamental child!” Legna hissed, moving to jerk her head back but finding his grip quite secure. “There was nothing slight about the way you treated me. I will never forget it, and I most certainly will never forget it!”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“You have not slept for many days together, Legna. Why do you assume you might have success today?”
Legna turned around sharply, driving her gaze and attention out the window, trying to use the sprawling lawn as a slate with which to fill her mind. Mind Demon he was not, but she knew he was capable of seeing far enough into her emotional state by just monitoring her physiological reactions to his observations. Legna bit her lip hard, furious that she should feel like the child he always referred to her as in their conversations. Young one, indeed. How would he like it if she referred to him as a decrepit old buzzard?”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Gideon,” she said evenly, inclining her head in sparse respect. “What brings you to my chambers so close to dawn?”
The riveting male before her remained silent, his silver eyes flicking over her slowly. Her heart nearly stopped with her sudden fear, and immediately she threw up every mental and physical barrier she could to prevent an unwelcome scan and analysis of her health.
“I would not scan you without your permission, Magdelegna. Body Demons who become healers have codes of ethics the same as any others.”
“Funny,” she remarked, “I would have thought you to believe yourself above such a trivial matter as permission.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“I’ll tell you this, if he gives me one more order with that W word again, I’m going to divorce him before we can even finish the wedding.”
“The W . . . Okay, Bella, as usual you have lost me. W word?”
“Yeah. W, . . . as in Wife. Ugh! He’s always saying or thinking things in this high and mighty way and tacking the word ‘wife’ onto the end like it’s some kind of password that lets him order me around.” Bella noted her friend’s still perplexed expression, so she screwed up her face, attitude, and voice into an uncanny approximation of Jacob. “‘I do not want you hunting in your condition, wife. It is too dangerous for you and the babe to accompany me, wife. I have told Elijah that there are to be no more training lessons until after the birth, and do not argue with me about this, wife, because my mind is set.” Isabella sagged back with a frustrated sigh. “Oy! It’s just so obnoxious and so . . . high-handed! You know the honeymoon is over when you go from ‘my love,’ ‘my little flower,’ and ‘my heart’ and become simply ‘wife.’”
Legna smothered the urge to chuckle. Her little friend’s famous sarcasm always tickled her, and it was meant to tickle. Bella had a way of hiding behind her wit and humor. She was stating things that clearly disturbed her, but she mocked them in such a way that anyone who did not know her would treat it as little more than a comedy routine.
Legna knew better.
“Now, Bella, you know Jacob adores you. He naturally wants to protect you. He literally worships the ground you walk on.”
“Ha ha,” Bella said dryly. “Earth Demon. Worship the ground. Cute. Really cute.”
“Well, come on now. Seriously. As a Demon of the Earth, Jacob has an affinity with nature.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“For now, though, as long as he insists on giving in to mischievous impulses, such as hiding under the Great Council table during session, he must take his punishment.”
“Oh, Daniel, you didn’t.” Legna tsked at the child, making his chubby cheeks turn a brilliant scarlet color.
“I didn’t mean to. I was just playing hide and seek with Uncle Noah.”
“Yes, well, next time perhaps you ought to begin the game by actually informing your uncle he is part of it instead of having him find out the hard way, eh?”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“What bedrooms did you give to our guests?”
“The ones all the way . . . way . . . way on the other side of the manse.”
He laughed at that, hugging her tightly for giving him that ability to indulge in humor once more.
“Then I’d say the bedroom with the old armoire you like should suffice.”
“Yes, master,” she teased, flicking her hand and sending them there. “Oops, one sec.” She winked at him and snapped her fingers, the bottle of lotion suddenly in her hand.
“Show-off. You know, you are going to have to tell me how you do that.”
“Well, first you pump this little thing on top, then the lotion—”
Legna yelped when he slapped his hand hard on her bottom, the blanket doing little to shield her from the sting of it.
“Gideon! Do not ever do that again!” she scolded.
“Not even if you beg me to?” he countered lecherously.
Legna laughed, unable to help herself.
“I hate you!”
“No, you do not,” he insisted. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“It is very likely an anxiety dream, brought on by your move out of your childhood home and the comfort of the reach of your family’s love and protection.” Gideon reached to stroke her hair soothingly. “I am only surprised it has not happened sooner.”
“Are you sure?” Her nervousness was clear, but she was truly relaxing already.
“Yes. And so are you. You know everything there is to know about psychology, you tell me what you think.”
“But you thought it was this . . . new level of ability.”
“And for the first time in a millennium my diagnosis is wrong. I do despise it when such bothersome things occur. Now I shall have to start the ‘No Mistakes’ clock all over again.”
Legna giggled at him, which was of course his intention. She swung her arms around his neck, hugging him warmly.
“You smell so good,” he murmured against her ear a long minute later.
“I smell like sex,” she argued.
He nodded, making a loud noise of appreciation as he sniffed and nibbled her neck.
“You smell like very good sex,” he amended with a voracious growl and an eager mouth moving over her bare skin with bold appetite.
“Gideon!” She squealed as he went straight for her waist, knowing she was ticklish there. The playful flicker of his tongue and the scrape of his teeth drove her mad, and she twisted as she screamed for him to stop.
When he tickled her she absolutely could not use her classic escape method. She could barely catch her breath, never mind her concentration.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“If you like, I can leave and let you figure this—”
Legna grabbed his arm at the bicep when he made a strong movement to get up off the bed, jerking him back down definitively.
“Absolutely not! You did this to me; therefore, you get to enjoy the fallout.”
“You make it sound like a punishment,” he remarked, his eyes dancing with silver humor. “There is nowhere I would rather be than in my bed with my beautiful mate.”
He leaned forward to engage her mouth in a tender kiss, their lips clinging together as if reluctant to release. Finally, he sat back, leaving her warm and happily flushed.
“Charmer,” she accused him without malice.
“Siren,” he countered, pulling them back together. And into a deep kiss that left them both longing for breath.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Next week is Beltane,” she reminded him. “Do you suppose we will make it through the wedding this time?”
“Not if Gideon says you cannot get out of this bed,” he countered sternly.
“Absolutely not!” she burst out, making him wince and cover the ear she’d been too close to. She immediately regretted her thoughtlessness, making a sad sound before reaching to kiss the ear she had offended with quiet gentleness.
Jacob extricated himself from her hold enough to allow himself to turn and face her.
“Okay, explain what you meant,” he said gently.
“I refuse to wait another six months. We are getting married on Beltane, come hell or . . . necromancers . . . or . . . the creature from the Black Lagoon. There is no way Corrine is going to be allowed to get married without me getting married, too. I refuse to listen to her calling me the family hussy for the rest of the year.”
“What does it matter what she says?” Jacob sighed as he reached to touch the soft contours of her face. “You and I are bonded in a way that transcends marriage already. Is that not what is important?”
“No. What’s important is the fact that I am going to murder the sister I love if she doesn’t quit. And she will not quit until I shut her up either with a marriage or a murder weapon. Understand?”
Clearly, by his expression, Jacob did not understand.
“Thank Destiny all I have is a brother,” he said dryly. “I have been inundated with people tied into knots over one sister or another for the past weeks.”
“You mean Legna. Listen, it’s not her fault if everyone has their shorts in a twist because of who her Imprinted mate is! Frankly, I think she and Gideon make a fabulous couple. Granted, a little too gorgeously ‘King and Queen of the Prom’ perfect for human eyes to bear looking at for long, but fabulous just the same.”
Jacob blinked in confusion as he tried to decipher his fiancée’s statement. Even after all these months, she still came out with unique phraseologies that totally escaped his more classic comprehension of the English language. But he had gotten used to just shrugging his confusion off, blaming it on the fact that English wasn’t his first, second, or third language, so it was to be expected.
“Anyway,” she went on, “Noah and Hannah need to chill. You saw Legna when she came to visit yesterday. If a woman could glow, she was as good as radioactive.” She smiled sweetly at him. “That means,” she explained, “that she looks as brilliantly happy as you make me feel.”
“I see,” he chuckled. “Thank you for the translation.”
He reached his arms around her, drawing her body up to his as close as he could considering the small matter of a fetal obstacle. He kissed her inviting mouth until she was breathless and glowing herself.
“I thought I would be kind to you,” she explained with a laugh against his mouth.
“You, my love, are all heart.”
“And you are all pervert. Jacob!” She laughed as she swatted one of his hands away from intimate places, only to be shanghaied by another. “What would Gideon say?”
“He better not say anything, because if he did that would mean he was in here while you are naked. And that, little flower, would probably cost him his vocal chords in any event.”
“Oh. Well . . . when you put it that way . . .”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“It was safe to say, standing as close to him as she was, that she was very aware of the rise of his aroused sensuality. Even if his hand had not been burning across her skin, the unapologetic hardness of his body pressing with erotic familiarity against hers would have told her how very much lost in his need for her he was. Gideon had to be the most sexual creature she had ever encountered. And yet, only a few short days ago, if she had been asked her opinion on that particular subject, she would have made suppositions that were quite the opposite. Was he telling her the truth when he said it was because of her?
“I never lie, my beauty,” he murmured, reminding her of her own understandings about that. His lips against her hair, just beneath the back of her ear, were warm and smiling even as he kissed the thrillingly sensitive spot. “And even if I were just a dirty old man, Neliss,” he whispered like the warmth of sunshine in her ear, “it would never account for the tenderness you see in me even now.” He tightened his hold on her, drawing her so close that he burned hotly against her. “And you would have been in my bed, beneath the press of my body, open and inviting me in by now.”
The raw observation and the aggressive heat of his body made her grasp, a mix between shocked sensibilities and excited delight. Legna looked up into his famished eyes, licking her lips with a hunger all her own.
“If we do not find something to do, we will end up in bed together,” she reminded him with her heart pounding so obviously against his chest.
“Yes. Perhaps without the intention of rousing until Jacob and Bella’s Beltane wedding,” he mused, the pleasure of the speculation quite evident in his expression.
It was an attractive thought to Legna as well, especially as his mouth dipped beneath her hair to continue to tease the sensitive skin of her neck. But just the same, she took matters into her own hand, so to speak, and teleported out of his grasp, reappearing all the way on the other side of the room. Finding his arms so abruptly vacated, Gideon gave her an eloquent look. She was going to pay for her little trick one day, and his eyes promised it to her as thoroughly as a worded threat.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“I never suspected you had a sense of humor,” she mused aloud, studying his face as if he were a fascinating puzzle to be figured out. “See? Hardly ten minutes into the night and I am already learning fabulous things about you.”
“Imagine what will happen in an hour,” he said.
“That sounded suspiciously liberal to me,” she rejoined slyly, reaching to wind her arms around his neck. “Did I mention that you look like you just stepped off a pirate ship? This outfit is very . . . roguish.”
“Roguish?”
“‘Roguish’ is a word from the English language,” she lectured. “It means . . . to be like a rogue. In your case, to be in the style of a rogue. Roguish.”
“I know what it means, Neliss. I do not believe I have ever heard myself described in such a way before. I shall have to take your word on that.” He reached up to push back some of the heavy fall of her hair. “You always wear dresses like this, and almost never bind your hair. Do not take this as a complaint, but I was wondering why that is.”
“I like dresses. I never quite took to the idea of skirts above the ankle. I guess I am an old-fashioned eighteenth-century girl.”
“I see. And just when, exactly, should I begin to look for those pigs that will be flying by?”
“You know, you sit there and accuse me of having a smart mouth?”
“Well, you were wondering what part of you was going to show up in me,” he rejoined.
“Oh. Ha ha. Your stellar wit has charmed me straight to my toes,” was her dry reply.
“In any event,” he continued, ignoring her sarcasm, “your style suits you quite well. It suits me as well.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“You will never bore me, Nelissuna. I can see that fact straight to my soul.”
“But I can clearly see you being easily capable of boring me to tears,” she countered archly, trying to free her trapped hand with a determined tug. He was even stronger than he looked, she thought.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, noticing her struggle and insults about the same way he would notice a passing speck of dust.
“Why can you not tell me? You are the medic, are you not?” She exhaled sharply. “Will you please let go of me?”
“No.”
Legna growled in frustration at him.
“You are so obnoxious!” she accused. “I hate it when you do that!”
“Do what? Answer a question? If it disturbs you, I will ignore your questions from now on.”
“You know exactly what I mean. I hate it when you lay down the word no as if it were the last letter of the law. And do not think I do not know that you are doing it on purpose just to irritate me, because I do!”
“Then you should cease giving me the opportunity to say it,” he told her, his tone so matter-of-fact that she almost screamed at him. “And you should be careful of those little growls you insist on making, Neliss. They are . . . very stimulating.”
Suddenly Legna forgot all about trading barbs with him and became very aware of his warmth above and below her trapped hand, the solid strength she leaned up against so cozily, and the very clear hunger that was brewing under the humor he had been using to hide it.
Now that he had her full attention rather than her acerbic defensives, he slipped his hand out from under his head and reached to touch her soft, warm cheek with fingertips as light as the ones she had explored him with.
“You are so very lovely, Legna. I have always thought so. Even as a child, you were quite stunning.”
“It took you long enough to tell me so,” she said, but there was no true energy to the would-be sarcastic remark.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“It is a good thing she is on our side, is it not?”
Noah started, turning to confront the Demon who had appeared at his back with flawless silence and concealment.
“Jacob! You just took ten years off my life,” Noah hissed.
“Only ten? I must be losing my touch.” Jacob looked from Noah to the last place Legna had been standing. He nodded his head in her former direction. “What was that all about?”
“I have no idea, but I am beginning to feel like I am the only one who does not know what the hell is happening in his own damn house.”
“Sorry state of affairs, seeing as how you are King and all,” Jacob said, his lips twitching with amusement as Noah glared at him. “That is only my opinion, though. Perhaps I will ask my troublemaking wife for hers.”
Noah had the grace to openly wince.
“You heard that, hmm?”
“And therefore . . .” Jacob prompted.
“She heard it, too,” Noah concluded with comical pain. “Forgive me, Bella. I think I am just in a foul mood.”
“She says she will forgive you as soon as she needs a babysitter.”
“You know, I think you better go out there and enforce some of my laws before I begin to think of how many ways I can set your ass on fire,” the King said meanly, the glare of his gaze all business.
“I would, but I am in need of Gideon. Where is he?”
“How should I know?” Noah asked grumpily, moving to the fire and sinking down into the only thing in the room that wasn’t giving him grief: his favorite chair.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“She blushed softly as she viewed herself in the mirror, suddenly aware that he was once more behind her eyes, seeing her just as she did.
“You could at least warn me,” she said aloud, cocking a scolding brow at her reflection.
And deprive myself of this side of you? I would not dream of it.
Legna smiled, moving closer to her looking glass.
She gasped when she got a closer look at herself, her hand coming up to her cheek in shock as she looked into her eyes.
“My eyes!” she exclaimed.
My eyes, he said.
He couldn’t have spoken a clearer truth. It was his mercury-colored irises that had become part of her reflection, the multicolored gray and green gone from their familiar place. She sighed with resignation, supposing to herself that since it wasn’t likely she could do anything about it, she would have to get used to it.
“I do not suppose you will show up here suddenly sprouting coffee-colored hair?” she asked hopefully.
No, sweet, that is not likely.
“Well, this is a highly unfair situation!” she cried with exaggerated petulance. “An exchange historically indicates one thing being swapped for another. So far I only see you in me, but none of me in you. It feels terribly high-handed. How typical of you.”
He did not respond, only a soft impression of laughter flitting through her mind. Odd, but she realized then that she had hardly ever heard him laugh before. She was surprised by how comfortable it sounded on him. He had always been so serious, so . . .
Self-possessed.
“If you do not mind, do refrain from editing my personal thoughts,” she scolded, her arching tone taunting and haughty.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“He opened his eyes then, white fire flaring hotly within them.
“Send me home, Legna,” he commanded her, his voice hoarse with suppressed emotion.
She moved her head in affirmation even as she leaned toward him to catch his mouth once more in a brief, territorial kiss, her teeth scoring his bottom lip as she broke away. It was an incidental wound, one he could heal in the blink of an eye. But he wouldn’t erase her mark on him, and they both knew it.
Finally, she stepped back, closed her eyes, and concentrated on picturing his home in her thoughts. She had been in his parlor dozens of times as a guest, always accompanied by Noah. His library, his kitchen, even the grounds of the isolated estate were well known to her. She could have sent him to any of those locations.
But as she began to focus, her mind’s eye was filled with the image of a dark, elegant room she had never seen before. Hand-carved ebony-paneled walls soared up into a vast ceiling, enormous windows of intricate stained glass spilled colored light over the entire room as if a multitude of rainbows had taken up residence. It all centered around an enormous bed, the coverlet’s color indistinguishable under the blanket of colorful dawn sunlight that streamed into the room. She could feel the sun’s warmth, ready and waiting to cocoon any weary occupant who thrived on sleeping in the heat of the muted daylight sun. It was a beautiful room, and she knew without a doubt that it was Gideon’s bedroom and that he had shared the image of it with her. If she sent him there, it would be the first time she had ever teleported someone to a place she had not first seen for herself. The ability to take images of places from others’ minds for teleporting purposes was an advanced Elder ability.
“You can do it,” he encouraged her softly, all of his thoughts and his will completely full of his belief in that statement.
Legna kept his gaze for one last long moment, and with a flick of a wrist sent him from the room with a soft pop of moving air. She exhaled in wonder, everything inside of her knowing without a doubt that he had appeared in his bedroom, safe and sound, that very next second. Legna turned to look at her own bed and wondered how she would ever be able to sleep.
Nelissuna . . . go to bed. I will help you sleep.
Gideon’s voice washed through her, warming her, comforting her in a way she hadn’t thought possible. This was the connection that Jacob and Isabella shared. For the rest of the time both of them lived, each would be privy to the other’s innermost thoughts. She realized that because he was the more powerful, it was quite possible he would be able to master parts of himself, probably even hide things from her awareness and keep them private—at least, until she learned how to work her new ability with better skill. After all, she was a Demon of the Mind. It was part of her innate state of being to figure the workings of their complex minds.
She removed her slippers and pushed the sleeves of her dress from her shoulders so that it sheeted off her in one smooth whisper of fabric. She closed her eyes, avoiding looking in the mirror or at herself, very aware of Gideon’s eyes behind her own.
His masculine laughter vibrated through her, setting her skin to tingle.
So, you are both shy and bold . . . he said with amusement as she quickly slid beneath her covers. You are a source of contradictions and surprises, Legna. My world has begun anew.
As if living for over a millennium is not long enough? she asked him.
On the contrary. Without you, it was far, far too long. Go to sleep, Nelissuna.
And a moment after she received the thought, her eyes slid closed with a weight she could not have contradicted even if she had wanted to.
Her last thought, as she drifted off, was that she had to make a point of telling Isabella that she might have been wrong about what it meant to have another to share one’s mind with.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon

“Say my name,” he countered, his hand wrapping around the irresistible length of her neck. This time it was he who whispered in her ear. “Say it.”
“I do not know what it is,” she said, her breath rushing out of her in an astounding rhythm.
“Yes, you do. I feel it. You only have to search for it inside of us.” “Us” was the appropriate term. It was almost impossible in that moment for them to discern whose thoughts belonged to whom.
Gideon was the oldest of them all. There was no one older, so no one who had once known his power name could possibly be alive. His parents were dead. His Siddah were dead. If Legna discovered his name, the ramifications were inconceivably serious. He would be putting his very existence into her hands. He would be placing all of his power at her fingertips, gifting her with the potential for his absolute submission. Legna tried to step back from him, the shock of what he was offering her too much to bear. But he had made sure to have his hands on her and now kept her tight and close within them.
“I cannot,” she whispered, her body beginning to shake. “No one should know that. No one. I am not strong enough to keep it, Gideon. Any male Mind Demon could take it from me!”
“You are stronger than you think, Neliss.”
“Not strong enough. Please, do not ask this of me.” She pushed at him, jerked herself backward, using the weight of her body to try and break free. He held her for a moment longer, looking deeply into her panic-stricken expression.
“One day,” he said softly.”
― Jacquelyn Frank, Gideon