by Bonnie Vanak
“It’s not necessary for you to know.”
“And what if something happens and we’re stuck or you can’t help us?”
A low growl rumbled from his throat. “Are you saying I can’t do my job?”
“No, I’m saying I need to know what I’m getting into. This is a little scary for me, running into the unknown. What’s going on?”
Gabriel tilted the hat down. “I have no proof, but something’s gone bad, I can sense it. The Friend who was to escort you from Naples to Orlando never showed up and his cell goes unanswered. No one answers at the Orlando house, either. So I’m taking you to Martin’s. Last resort to keep you and the girls protected, while I find out what the hell is going on.”
A heavy weight settled on her chest. She’d thought they’d be okay before the gas station fiasco. Now she knew they’d been endangered all along. Gabriel took enormous risks to protect them.
“Why didn’t you say so before?”
“Natural caution. Compromising my own safety is one thing. But I’ll be damned if I risk anyone under my care.”
“Thank you,” she said, touched by his loyalty. “Why are you doing this for Shadows?”
Pain flashed in his dark eyes. “I used to do it because it was risky. For the kicks, the thrills and adventure. No one should be discriminated against just because they’re different. My Paw Paw taught me that.”
“Now why do you do it?”
For a minute, she thought he would not answer. “Because of what happened to Amelia.”
He looked away.
“She must have been so special to you. I can’t imagine your pain. But I can let you know I’m here for you, if you need me.”
The thought flickered like a neon light struggling to stay lit.
I can’t have need of you, or anyone. You wouldn’t understand how it is.
“If you let me try, I could,” she told him.
Using their unique telepathic connection, she touched her mind to his. Searching for clues, like groping for a light switch in a dark room: a laughing girl with blond hair, riding on Gabriel’s shoulders at a Mardi Gras parade. Gabriel polishing the chrome on a sleek new Harley. A beautiful woman reaching out to him in affection…then backing away in horror…
A steel shutter slammed down. Megan winced and rubbed the spike of pain in her head.
“Sorry. But stay out of my mind. You wouldn’t like seeing what’s inside of me,” he said darkly.
If she pushed her right as his destined mate, he’d shut her out even more. “I didn’t mean to pry,” she began.
At his level look, she admitted. “Okay, I did. What can I say? It’s a female thing.”
A low chuckle rumbled from his deep chest. Encouraged, she took a chance. “We’re mates, Gabriel, and I want to know you better. I’ve been on my own so long, surviving on instinct, moving from place to place to stay alive. My life has been a minefield, and each step could blow up in my face. This is hard for me, putting our lives in your hands.”
“I told you, I won’t hurt you or the twins. You need to learn to trust me on this.”
“I will, if you learn to trust me, as well.”
Tension tightened his chiseled jaw. Gabriel scowled at the road. “Hang on.”
He glanced at the side mirror, then did a sudden U-turn. The abrupt move woke the girls and they cried out. While she reassured them, Gabriel made another series of turns that would confuse anyone following them. Finally he guided the car down a dirt road.
It ended before a white cottage with green shutters. Palm trees and sun-dappled oaks ringed the property. The house was remote, but she heard a dog barking in the distance.
“Stay here,” he ordered, swinging his long legs out as he opened the door.
Megan watched as he scanned the property. When he told them to follow him, caution returned. Nothing was normal in her crazy world, but something about this place seemed off.
The cottage’s concrete steps led to a small, algae-covered porch. A hedge looked sadly lopsided and overgrown, and the grass was brown and patchy.
Gabriel rapped hard five times on the door jamb. A plump, middle-aged woman in a floral dress opened the door.
This was Martin?
“I’ve come to inquire about the tractor you have for sale. Is it running smoothly?” Gabriel asked.
A sudden gleam sparked the woman’s eyes. “It runs as smooth as it must.”
She opened the front door wide. “Welcome. All who seek refuge are safe here.”
The refuge doesn’t look too welcoming, Megan thought as she escorted the girls inside. They sat on a battered leather couch. When the woman went into the kitchen to fetch them something cool to drink, Megan leaned over and whispered to Gabriel.
“Martin is a woman?”
“The code name is Martin. Martin can be any of the retired Friends who no longer help Shadows full-time. They take turns being Martin.”
“Who is this then?”
“Angie. I’ve known her for years. It’s okay, chère. She’s cool.”
Megan studied the cheap prints on the yellowed walls, the stained carpet and the thick dust layering the coffee table. Angie wasn’t much of a housekeeper. That didn’t bother her, but the putrid smell underlying the house did.
“This is all wrong,” she said in a low voice as the twins looked around curiously.
Gabriel frowned. “I sense it, as well. But it’s part of the cover to keep away intruders. Tell me. You have a gift for using your instinct.”
His confidence warmed her. “It’s as if you purposely drabbed down the house to make it inconspicuous. But the algae out front, the hedges and this furniture, there’s an odor that doesn’t belong. New, fresh. It smells like…blood.”
Gabriel’s nostrils flared. He looked around. “Angie might have scented the house to ward off strangers. I need to check things out.”
“Let me. I’ll be less conspicuous. I can turn into Shadow.”
Doubt flared on his face. Gabriel rubbed a hand over the dark bristles shadowing his angular jaw. “It’s risky.”
“I’ll be careful.”
They fell silent as Angie returned bearing a wooden tray and four tall glasses of iced tea. She sat as they helped themselves.
“I hope y’all are hungry. I just prepared rare meat for you, one of the chickens I keep out back,” Angie told them.
It would explain the scent of blood, but she didn’t trust the woman’s look. Neither did Gabriel, his cowboy hat tilted back as if to better view their hostess.
Gabriel was good, Megan admitted. He engaged Angie in small talk, saying nothing using a lot of words. Angie seemed restless, but responded politely to Gabriel’s questions about the weather.
Now. Pretend you’re sleepy.
The direct command inside her mind startled her a moment. Megan covered her mouth as she yawned widely. Gabriel glanced at her. “Angie, mind if she takes a short nap? It’s been a long drive.”
Angie showed her to a back bedroom. The same musty smell pervaded here. Megan thanked her, and Angie scurried back to the living room.
“Where did y’all start out your journey?” she heard Angie ask.
“South,” Gabriel said.
She slipped into Shadow and stepped into the hallway.
The small kitchen was neat and tidy. No scent of fresh blood. Angie lied about killing a chicken. Still invisible, she quietly opened the back door and went outside.
As she reached the forest, the stench of spilled blood thickened the air.
She stubbed her toe on something and looked down. Protruding from the undergrowth was the tip of something round and blue. She touched it.
A woman’s leather shoe.
Her heart pounded as she swept aside dead leaves and pine needles. The body had been hastily buried. Swallowing revulsion, she scraped at earth and leaves until her fingers struck flesh.
The round, plump face of a middle-aged woman stared sightlessly, her mouth frozen in horrified shoc
k. She’d been strangled.
Megan sat back on her haunches, her body shaking. Cold dread pitted in her stomach. This was the real Angie.
That thing back in the living room, alone now with Gabriel and the twins, what was it?
I found a body out back. It’s the real Angie. Get the girls out now.
Racing toward the house, her breath violent sobs, she sent the message over and over, hoping it wasn’t too late.
Slamming down his anger and worry, Gabriel opened all his Draicon senses. The cold stench of rotting garbage leaked through this Angie’s scent. Flatness showed in her hard gaze.
He glanced at the girls, wondering how the hell to get them out without endangering them. If he used his powers…
Jennifer stared at the woman. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”
Gabriel suppressed a groan. The guilelessness of the young.
Angie gave a motherly smile. Then she showed all her teeth.
Her yellowed, pointed teeth.
The face shifted to a shade of mottled gray. “I’ve been waiting for you,” grated the cold, dead voice.
Jillian and Jennifer screamed. Megan spoke into his mind. Get the girls out now.
Bounding off the sofa, Gabriel scooped up a twin in each arm. “Dammit,” he exploded. “It’s a setup. Get out!”
As he dumped them outside the porch, the twins ran for the van, their hands fumbling at the door handle.
Who was the plant? Who had betrayed him?
His heart dropped to his stomach as he heard the familiar click of a weapon cocked back. He raised his hands to call forth his powers and destroy the entity who was on the front porch.
Megan rounded the corner.
Stay there, I’m coming for you. Don’t move, he ordered.
Shadow replaced Megan’s form. Tracking her scent, he sensed her dancing from tree to tree. Gabriel thrust all his powers into the Morph, but the creature resisted his efforts. The Morph raised the gun. Bullets popped and splintered the ground. Gabriel cursed and ran towards Megan as she stepped behind a tree, her form flickering. He pushed her aside and dove forward in the line of fire. The smell of cordite filled the air. A bullet tore through his lower torso. Two more hit his side.
He put a hand to his belly, agony exploding through his side, warmth spreading through his parted fingers. A groan rumbled deep in his chest. He’d survive.
He saw the fake Angie point the weapon toward him. Suddenly, it jerked out of her hands. She gave a loud shriek as it danced in the air.
Jennifer.
Pain and rage roared, bringing out the beast. Gabriel held his stomach, fighting down the instinct to shift and fight. He had to look after Megan and the twins.
Instead he hurled all his magick at the fake Angie, barreling into her head with the force of a tractor trailer. You have a brain aneurysm rupturing. Your head is exploding in pain. You will die.
A shrill scream came from near the house. He dragged him self to the van, knowing what would happen. In minutes, the fake Angie would be dead from the power of suggestion.
He crawled into the van as Megan scrambled into the driver’s side. She cranked the ignition and hit the gas pedal.
A white-hot razor sliced through his belly. Gabriel bit back a rich curse as he peeled off his shirt. He glanced downward at the blood pumping through his splayed fingers.
Mixed in with the crimson of his life’s blood was a sluggish silver liquid.
Megan looked in horror at his wound. “Silver bullets?”
“Worse.” He struggled to speak through the pain. “Hollow bullets…liquid silver.”
The surest and most painful way to kill him. He slumped on the seat, his guts on fire.
“How bad is it?” Megan gunned the engine.
“Bad enough.” He lifted his wet hand. Blood gushed from the wound.
“We have to get you to a hospital.” She shot through a stop sign.
“Too dangerous. Be okay. Can’t let them get to you.”
Then he quieted, because it hurt too much to talk, and he needed to reserve the last of his precious energy. Because he’d be damned if he’d die now that the last safe place had been compromised, leaving Megan and the twins on their own.
Chapter 10
Gabriel was losing a lot of blood. If she didn’t do something, he’d bleed out.
Megan glanced in the rearview mirror at her frightened nieces. “Jennifer,” she said, knowing the older twin was more able to cope with the emergency, “can you scoot up here by me and help? Take Gabriel’s shirt, fold it and press it against his tummy. I need you to stop the bleeding.”
Paling gooseflesh springing over her thin arms, Jennifer did as she was asked. His eyes closed, Gabriel tossed his head, groaning. Her cousin was on the verge of crying, but bravely bit her lip to hold back the tears as she pressed against his wound. The blood flow slowed.
Dusk began to drape the blue sky. Megan studied the GPS to figure out where they were going. “Jillian, do you sense anything?”
At her cousin’s head shake, she made a decision. As they approached a small, narrow road bordering a field, she studied the abandoned barn sitting by the fence.
“Hang on.”
She pumped the brakes to not leave a rubber trail, and made an abrupt left turn onto the dirt road.
Some distance away from the main road, she parked the van beneath a copse of trees. Hidden from view by thick scrub, it would suffice.
She lifted an unconscious Gabriel, using her wolf strength to carry him as gently as possible.
Ever self-sufficient, Jennifer and Jillian gathered leaves and branches to form a makeshift lean-to shelter. Her heart ached as she remembered when they’d done the same on Shadow Island, after being evicted because a Draicon liked her grandmother’s beachfront house.
Beneath the sprawling branches of a live oak, she laid Gabriel down. Megan put a pillow she’d found in the minivan beneath his head. She fetched a blanket and tucked it around him, checking on his wound.
Overhead against the leaden skies, a red hawk circled as if sensing wounded prey below. She glanced upward, splaying her arms protectively over her mate. Megan stroked his brow, knowing how much pain he suffered. He woke up, writhing and moaning.
“Quiet,” she soothed. “You have to stay still, let Jenny get the bullet out.”
Gabriel stilled. Megan opened the first aid kit he’d packed and fished out a small box from her backpack. Contained inside were herbs she used for emergencies and a few steel instruments.
Sweat poured down Gabriel’s face as he grit his teeth. Alarmed at the paleness of his tanned skin, which indicated shock, she turned him on his side. Two bullets had exited. The third in his stomach was lodged there.
She sterilized the probe and sank it into the wound as Gabriel breathed through his clenched teeth. Finally, she set down the probe and turned to Jenny.
“It’s in two pieces. Remember how Gram taught you, Jenny? See the pieces in your mind and call them to you.”
Using her telekinetic powers, Jennifer began extracting the bullet pieces. Gabriel’s dark eyes flashed amber, then red.
Jennifer pulled out a bullet fragment, but his fingers dug into the ground and he growled. Backing away, Jennifer’s eyes grew wide. “I can’t do it, Megan. I’m scared.”
“I’m scared, too, honey, and so is Gabriel.”
But she wasn’t a dangerous wolf. His wolf might take over and instinctively lash out at anyone, even an innocent girl trying to help him.
“Keep working, Jenny, and let me try something.”
Her mouth trembling, her cousin resumed.
Megan dabbed at the flowing wound and began to softly sing. The lines of strain on his brow evened out.
When Jenny finished, small pieces of metal lay on the ground, coated with Gabriel’s flesh and blood.
“Now the hard part, honey. You have to get the liquid silver out.”
“I can’t, Megan, I just can’t do it!”
“T
hink of it like a game, Jenny. You play it by finding every little bit of silver, calling it out and you win when each drop is removed.”
Jennifer did as Megan instructed. She gave a triumphant smile when the last droplet was removed and flew into the cup Jillian held out.
Megan wiped Gabriel’s body with soft gauze. She applied the liniment, watching the wounds close as she did. The worst was over but for the pain. It would take a while for his body to mitigate the effects of the silver that had been in his system. The next eight hours would be dicey and painful for him.
She used the last cold bottle of water to wet a cloth. Megan stroked his brow, crooning to him as his big body tensed. His jaw ground violently. Suddenly his eyes snapped open. Amber eyes flashing red. In his pain his wolf emerged.
“Hold on, Gabriel, I’m here. I’m not leaving you. I’m here. Can you feel my hand? You can get through this. Just concentrate on me.”
Singing might keep the wolf at bay. Megan began a song in the Old Language she’d learned from her grandmother, about where the Draicon first lived, a land of lush green fields and forests, where the sky was blue and the sea waters green.
When his jagged breaths eased and his chest moved evenly up and down, she knew he finally slept. She gently pulled her hand away and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
The twins looked anxiously at her as darkness fell. In the night, they could see well, but it didn’t prohibit childish fears.
The van was equipped with emergency supplies, including a small gas lantern and matches. She enlisted their help to set up camp with the lantern, and broke out the remaining room temperature water and the sandwiches Gabriel had purchased at the gas station. After they ate, Megan tucked the girls into a makeshift bed. She covered them with clothes from their suitcases. They turned to wrap their arms around each other as if still in the womb.
Clasping her arms around her bent knees, she watched over her little group, waiting for dawn to break. When Gabriel woke up again, she sang to calm him.
She remained at his side through the night.
When he opened his eyes, streaks of pink and purple stroked over the dawning sky. Gabriel struggled to sit up. The pain was gone, but damn, he was weak as a pup.