Mark of Fate

by May, W. J.

  He threw up his hands in genuine innocence. “Rae, for once, I swear I’m not doing—”

  But then her face crumbled and she collapsed into tears once more.

  He registered the change with a look of horror and gathered her immediately up in his arms. “I’m sorry again. Rae, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear. You’re actually just really, really pretty. I didn’t mean to—”

  No matter what he said it wouldn’t have made a difference. The second he’d thrown up his arms, Rae had seen the fading remains of a horrific abrasion he’d suffered at the hands of Cromfield. An abrasion he’d suffered…because of her.

  “Victor Mallins came to see me this morning,” she sobbed, burying her face in his chest.

  Every muscle stiffened in rage. “Victor Mallins?”

  “He made me eat a bunny.”

  At this point Gabriel froze, tilting his head down to look at her in sheer bewilderment. “Okay, I know I don’t have your boyfriend’s tatù, so I couldn’t have heard that right. He made you eat a—”

  “And then he told me I’m responsible for every bad thing that’s ever happened to anyone who’s ever been around me!”

  “But, Rae,” he tilted her chin up and tried to coax a smile, “that’s crazy—”

  “No, it isn’t!” she cried. “It’s true!” Her whole body seemed to collapse against him as she lost herself to her tears.

  His hands, tentative at first, soon grew bolder, wrapping tightly around her body; one on her lower back, one on her head. He soothed and calmed, squeezing her tightly and whispering comfortingly into her hair. But still she cried.

  When she was finally able to catch her breath, she tried again. “It’s absolutely t-true! I have this g-giant target on my b-back. Whoever I g-get close to, they get it t-too!”

  “Rae, please,” he put both hands on the side of her face, “just calm down a second.”

  “No, Gabriel. C-Can’t you see?! When Cromfield beat you—that was me. And Molly. And Jules. And Devon. My m-mom. All of you! The only reason a-any of these bad things happen is because you’re close to m-me!”

  He stared down steadily into her eyes. “I don’t believe that for a second. And I don’t think you really do either. If you weren’t around, if you were never even born into the picture, Cromfield would still be after hybrids. He’d still eventually come to Guilder. He’d still infiltrate the Council.”

  “I know that, I just—” She pushed her hair back and stared up tearfully into his eyes. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt, you know? Not because of me.”

  His face softened. “They won’t. If anything, you being here has diverted his attention from people who might not be able to stand up under the pressure.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh sarcastically, still collapsed against him as he supported nearly all of her weight. “Yeah, because I’m so clearly able to stand up under it myself.”

  He smiled fondly. “Maybe not tonight. But tonight you don’t have to be. Tonight you have m—” he caught himself quickly, “all of us.”

  All of us.

  Rae considered the words as she caught her breath and tried to pull herself together. “You know,” her voice was low and scratchy from crying, “I was actually surprised you were able to come with us. That Carter let you. I don’t know what you said to him, but—”

  “I didn’t say anything.” Gabriel pulled in a rather shaky breath of his own. “I let him use his tatù on me.”

  Rae’s mouth fell open. “You did?”

  She couldn’t imagine how hard that must have been—for the both of them. Carter saw firsthand every lie, every betrayal. Then again, he also saw all the steps that led to Gabriel’s eventual transformation. The moment he turned his back on Cromfield and chose to side with Guilder. But for Gabriel there was no greater invasion than Carter’s tatù. It was something that Rae had both used and had used against her, so she knew perfectly well the amount of trust it must have required for Gabriel to have willingly volunteered himself. Just to clear his name.

  She remembered when Devon had done the same thing just a few months ago. He’d offered to let Carter peer into his very soul, all to justify his feelings for Rae.

  It was a complete surrender that could never be taken lightly. Could never be done without one’s consent. And even then could only be done with the utmost care.

  It was also Rae’s greatest secret.

  That she had done it to Gabriel in his sleep.

  There was no malice behind it at all. She’d simply had to understand. Had to understand how he could have completely betrayed her trust and then turned right around and saved her life.

  He didn’t know she’d done it, and she’d never told him. Never told him that she’d seen his entire life story in a single instant. Never told him that she knew he loved her.

  “Which as you know is a big deal, right, Rae?”

  His eyes flashed up to hers and her heart stopped cold in her chest. What exactly was he saying? This wasn’t the first time he’d done something like this. Except…he couldn’t know, could he? After a second she realized she wasn’t even breathing.

  But he held her gaze for only a moment before his face melted into an easy smile. “After all, he did it to you, right?”

  She exhaled in a shaky sigh. “Yeah. He…that was… I can’t believe you did that, Gabriel.”

  “Well it was the only way to clear my name,” he said with a tight smile. “Even if it wasn’t the most desirable one.”

  She shook her head sympathetically, still trying to wrap her mind around it. “Why was it even so important to you what Carter—”

  Then his lips were on hers.

  She couldn’t think. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

  His lips were soft, but strong. Practiced, but playful. They eased hers open before she even knew it, and the kiss deepened.

  And what a kiss. Damn, he was good!

  He kissed so differently than Devon.

  Devon was strong as well, but sweet. Thoughtful. Every movement, every gesture—it was always done with her in mind.

  Gabriel was a bit of a wild card.

  The next second he threw her up against the wall, tangling his fingers roughly through her damp hair and tilting her head up to his. How he was doing all of this considering he still had broken ribs, Rae would never know. But he did it, and he did it well.

  It was only then that she realized she was kissing him back.

  “Wh—?!”

  There was a burst of lightening and he went flying backwards across the hall, landing with a painful gasp somewhere in Molly’s room. Before he could even get up she had flown across the apartment and was towering over him in a rage.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing!” She clutched her towel firmly to her chest, relieved beyond measure that his had managed to stay on as well.

  He panted as he caught his breath, pulling himself cautiously up to his feet while watching her with a roguish grin. “Again—exceptionally unobservant, Kerrigan. I was kissing you.”

  Rae’s skin flushed simultaneously hot and cold. “And why the hell would you go and do something like that?! When I’m with someone!”

  He only grinned wider. “I think the real question is, if you’re with someone,” he leaned in so they were just inches away, “why the hell did you kiss me back?”

  Blue fire exploded from her hands and he jumped a step away. “Oh, you little—”

  But just then the door opened and slammed shut as the sound of other shouting voices suddenly filled the apartment.

  “Oh shit,” Rae breathed, freezing in place, “that’s Molly and Luke.”

  Gabriel grimaced. “Take it their breakfast date didn’t go well.”

  Her eyes flickered down to both of them, still half naked, and she grabbed his arm with a hiss. “What are we supposed to do?!”

  “Well…we could always put on a little show.”

  “I’m going to actually kill yo
u.”

  “Yeah?” He laughed silently. “Then you’ll have to explain why you dragged a naked corpse into your best friend’s room, instead of just a naked man.”

  Rae hands balled into fists. “You have no idea how utterly infuriating you—”

  The raging voices headed their way, and instead of finishing her sentence Rae yanked Gabriel down on the other side of the bed. They cowered there together, one beside the other as Molly and Luke stormed into the room and slammed the door.

  “—just don’t understand how you’re somehow okay with it!” Luke was saying. Yelling was more like it. Rae had never heard him so upset.

  Molly was just as enraged. “I’m okay with it because it’s over now! Yeah, I didn’t expect to get suddenly trapped in a long-distance relationship for a month either, but what was I supposed to do? Let her go by herself?!”

  Rae turned to Gabriel with a wince, slipping into her telepathy. See? My fault.

  He grinned and spoke so softly that only Rae with her tatù could hear him. “Yeah, I’d have to agree with you on that one.”

  She elbowed him sharply in the ribs and he fell silent.

  “No, I’m not saying you let her go by herself; I’m just saying when are you and I going to become the priority?” Luke was pacing back and forth now, a look of sheer frustration darkening his handsome face. “I’d wait an eternity for you, Skye, you know that. But I have to know that things are at least moving in a more normal direction.”

  “More normal?” Molly shrieked. “More normal is the only thing I’ve been trying so hard to do here! You should have seen me this morning! I basically punched Julian in the face when he tried to use his powers. Why the hell do you think I got this apartment in the first place?”

  Luke glanced around at the crown moldings. “Because you’re vain?”

  Gabriel grinned again and whispered, “I like him.”

  Molly tossed back her flaming hair. “That and because I want to have a ‘normal life’ more than anything I’ve ever wanted in the whole world. Normal, with a healthy dose of super-spy. I don’t think it’s too much to ask.”

  “It isn’t too much to ask,” he paced forward, gripping her hands, “but I’ve no idea what, if any part of that, includes me! You take off for a month and a half with no word—”

  “I told you, Devon smashed my phone!”

  “And Rae couldn’t have conjured you a new one?”

  It was a fair point. But with one little hitch…

  “So that the call could have been traced back and Cromfield and his minions could have come after you?” Molly shot back. “I don’t think so!”

  Rae nodded resoundingly. You go girl!

  Gabriel, meanwhile, was shaking his head. And it seemed Luke shared his sentiments.

  “How am I supposed to protect you when you disappear in the middle of the night and don’t even leave a note letting me know where you are?”

  “Luke,” she sighed, “I can protect myself—”

  “I know! You with your lightning hands! All your friends and your damn powers! That’s not what I’m talking about, Molly, and you know it! I’m talking about you. How am I supposed to be there for you, when—”

  “You can be there for me now! I’m back! We have no plans to go anywhere else anytime soon! I have this apartment, we’re together! Everything is finally okay—”

  “Everything is not finally okay because I LOVE YOU!”

  The room went dead quiet.

  Rae clapped her hands over her mouth.

  Gabriel nodded appreciatively and mouthed the word ‘smooth.’

  “You…” For the first time since Rae had met her, Molly was stunned. “You what?”

  There was the sound of ruffling clothes as Luke brought them both together. “I love you, dummy.” He grinned. “What, you have to make me say it twice?”

  Grabbing Gabriel’s hand and turning them both invisible, Rae peeked over the side of the bed with a huge, trespassing smile.

  Molly was smiling just as brightly. “I’m going to make you say it all the time.”

  He scooped her up and kissed her on the tip of the nose. “Is that right?”

  “Oh yes,” she giggled. “In the morning, in the afternoon. In a Scottish accent…”

  “I love you, Molly Skye,” Luke did his best impersonation.

  Rae and Gabriel shook their heads at the same time, while Molly snorted with laughter.

  “Okay—never again in an accent.”

  Luke grinned, pressing his face up against hers as he kissed her again and again. “Yeah, but I can keep saying it, right? You think you might say it back to me anytime soon?”

  Molly erupted in another fit of giggles as he lowered her down onto the bed. “I love you too, Luke. Accent or no. I love you.”

  Rae clapped her hand over her heart and Gabriel rolled his eyes.

  “You know,” Luke stretched up and pulled his shirt over his head, before lowering himself back down on top of her. “I could get used to hearing that. I love to see you naked also.”

  Rae realized in horror where this was all leading. She glanced in panic at the closed door. While they could certainly make it there unseen, they couldn’t open it without both people knowing. And from the way things were heating up on the bed she and Gabriel needed to get out of there—quick!

  She couldn’t remove her invisible cloak to use the telepathy, so she merely tugged on Gabriel’s arm to get his attention and pointed to the floor. Hopefully he got the hint.

  “Hey…Molls?” she called tentatively.

  There was a bright blue explosion as Molly screamed, and electricity shot to all four corners of the room.

  “WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON?”

  Rae switched back to living color, lifting one hand in surrender over her head while the other clutched fearfully at her towel. “Heeeeeey, bestie. So, anyway, that was a lovely chat you guys had. Luke, you did a great job and now we’re just going to go so that you two can—”

  “Rae Kerrigan! You get back here this instant!” Molly screamed, holding up Luke’s jacket in front of her chest as Rae and Gabriel went tearing from the room.

  “Have fun!”

  “Use protection!” Gabriel added as a vase burst over his head.

  They raced across the apartment to the front door, flinching as occasional bursts of electricity fired their way.

  “Are things always this dramatic in your life?” Gabriel gasped with a breathless smile, pulling on his pants with one hand and groping for the door with another.

  “Oh no,” Rae lied, grinning from ear to ear as she yanked a hastily-conjured dress over her head and dropped the towel. “Normally things are super quiet!”

  Then she yanked open the door and her jaw fell straight to the floor.

  “Super quiet, huh?” Angel grinned and struck a pose. “That’s not what I’ve heard…”

  Chapter 12

  “Angie?”

  For a split second it didn’t matter that Gabriel was standing in nothing but a pair of gorgeous jeans that hugged his hips in all the right places. It didn’t matter that he looked like some kind of sex god on the run from the lightning storm still shooting from Molly’s room. All at once he was a five-year-old kid again. Five years old, and staring at his long-lost sister.

  There was a blur of white and blond, and then they were in each other’s arms.

  Rae watched a bit awkwardly from the door frame, feeling as though she was intruding upon some kind of family moment. When Luke and Molly came tearing from the room they, too, stopped abruptly short and gawked at the pair before swiftly averting their eyes.

  “Gabriel, I…” Angel leaned back in shock, hands on both of his cheeks as she frantically searched his eyes. “I didn’t think there was any way in hell I’d ever see you in this place. What are you…?” For a split second she looked abruptly afraid. “What exactly are you doing here?”

  “Relax; it’s okay,” Gabriel murmured, unwilling to let her go. “It seems
I had the same little existential revelation that you apparently had in San Francisco.” This time it was he who leaned back, fixing her in an accusatory stare. “You know, when you faked your own death.”

  He was a serious as Rae had ever seen him. As serious, and as thoughtful, and as caring, and as concerned. There was nothing but pure emotion as he looked down at Angel. No walls, no jokes, no games. It was something deeper than that—something pure.

  Although Rae knew there was nothing but a fierce familial bond between them, that they were nothing more than orphaned siblings, an irrational part of her couldn’t help but feel the faintest tug of jealousy.

  First you kiss him back, and now you’re jealous? What the hell’s wrong with you Kerrigan?

  The faintest hint of a blush appeared in Angel’s pale, porcelain skin as she saw the hurt on her brother’s face. “But how could I tell you?” she asked, her blue eyes as wide as saucers. “I knew how you felt about them. How you felt about…” Her voice trailed off as she seemed to notice Rae for the first time. There was a rather ironic pause, and Rae was suddenly sure Angel had been about to say her name. But as soon as Angel saw her she gave her a curious once-over, before returning to Gabriel—eyes sparkling with sudden mischief as she simultaneously realized that he was not wearing a shirt.

  “It seems I have a bit to catch up on.”

  “Yeah! We all need to sit down and have a long talk,” Molly interrupted, breaking the touching family moment. She shot Rae a vicious glare as she and Luke wandered over, before giving Angel the obligatory welcoming nod. “It’s, um, weird to see you again, Angel.”

  “Likewise.” Angel grinned, finally peeling herself off of Gabriel as her eyes swept the rest of the room. “Is Julian here?”

  “No, I’m afraid not. But he’s not far, though. He bought a house about four minutes down the street,” Rae explained, wondering for the first time what Julian’s reaction might be, or whether or not he even knew Angel was coming. Although he never talked about it openly, Rae knew he missed her to an almost painful degree. That being said, he had told her to keep her distance for a good reason—it wasn’t safe for her here.

  Molly’s eyes flashed electric fire. “That’s right. He bought a house with Devon.”