by Amelia Jade
She slumped into her seat. “Well, that didn’t go according to plan. Like, at all.”
Not that she’d really had a plan. She’d simply picked up on the fact that Gabriel was hiding something, something that he didn’t want to talk about. It was in regard to being bloodthirsty, having bloodlust, killing, something along those lines. She had no idea the specifics of it, because he’d left before she could draw any more of them out of him. But she’d seen the dangerous light flicker in his eyes when the topic had switched to violence. The little light that was doused as soon as it was lit, but never quite went away. She wondered just what it was he was hiding from her, and likely from everyone else as well.
But she needed that information. Needed to know what was going on, what he was dealing with. It was that kind of thing that would make or break her story here. And if she wanted a permanent desk and a spot on the official Channel 22 News Team, then she needed a gripping story. Something that would be newsworthy, not just another fluff piece, like Andy had said.
Which meant she needed to get more out of Gabriel.
Angrily she tore off a huge hunk of her sandwich and began to chew. At the same time she cleaned off their table, and then ran out the store and took off down the block after him. It was easy to tail him, because the crowd on the sidewalk was still parted in his wake. She dashed along the street and then turned the corner, following until she saw him up ahead, walking aimlessly through the street, unaware of the pedestrians who moved to either side of his massive form.
“That was rather rude, Captain Korver,” she said, catching up with him at last.
“I’m sorry,” he said, but he kept on walking, for all intents and purposes having ignored her except for the two words he’d just spoken.
“What?” she snapped, her temper getting the best of her. “What the hell did I do wrong, hmm? Come on. Tell me!”
He stopped and glared at her. “You ask too many questions.”
Then he started walking again. Faster than before, making no effort to hide the fact that he was trying to get rid of her, making her run to keep up with him.
“Fine, you don’t want to answer questions? Then why don’t you ask them!”
His head pivoted slightly.
“Come on. Interview me, then.”
Gabriel stopped and gave her a piercing stare. One that oddly enough wasn’t full of anger like she’d expected it to be.
“Why would I want to do that?” he asked, his voice softer.
“Because,” she said, suddenly thrown off by his mood change.
“Not good enough.” He started walking.
“Because maybe you want to get to know me,” she said quickly.
Gabriel paused, then turned back to face her. “Your name is Stephanie Holmes. You’re a reporter from Morgantown. You lied to me—you aren’t the best your boss has. Which means you’re probably on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Taking all the shit assignments the hotshots think they’re too good for. Or maybe not taking them, maybe you’re forced to do them. I’m not sure on that yet.”
“Oh,” she squeaked out.
“You’re in your mid-to late-twenties. Twenty-seven?”
“Eight,” she confirmed.
“You have no husband, and no boyfriend either. Probably a pet. A cat?”
“Two.” Her face was heating up.
“You haven’t experienced any major heartbreak or sorrow in your life, other than perhaps breaking up with someone you cared for. So you’re still full of naivety, assuming that the world can be fixed, that everyone can understand everyone else if they just try harder. You’re smart, you work hard, and you don’t let the fact that you’re short be an excuse for anything you do.”
“Is that all?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
“You’re beautiful, but you don’t believe anyone who says it. You’re persistent, stubborn almost to a fault most likely. You’re obsessed with your job, because you have no social life. You have no social life because you’re obsessed with your job. You’re slowly starting to realize that, but by the time you accept it, it might be too late and you’ll have no friends.”
“Okay,” she said, the last few points hitting uncomfortably close to home, even as she realized he’d called her beautiful. “Tell me what you really think.”
“Yeah?” he asked, stepping closer to her. “You want to know what I think? What I was thinking about back there? Do you really?”
Stephanie was breathing heavily as his presence seemed to reach out and take hold of her, a definable force, though there was nothing visible. He hadn’t touched her, and yet she was held firm, rooted to the spot with her back to the building, Gabriel in front of her. She inhaled, smelling leather and fresh-cut wood, tinged with just a hint of musk that seemed to flow into her nose, infusing her body with his scent.
“Yes,” she breathed in answer to his question, barely aware of it.
And suddenly he was there. His hands around her waist, his hot breath washing over her. Stephanie bit off a cry of surprise as her shoulders were pressed back into the cool brick of the building as Gabriel lifted her from the ground with contemptuous ease, his one hand around her waist keeping her pinned to the brick.
Without being told, her legs wrapped themselves as far around his thick, powerful torso as they could reach, and her hands automatically found themselves wrapping around his neck. She’d expected him to open his mouth, but she’d expected words to come out when he did. Instead, as they slowly explored each other, his lips parted hers, and they tasted each other for the first time. It was tentative at first, but they were quickly overwhelmed with a searing hunger that she was positive caught him as off guard as it did her.
Words were thrown to the wayside as they embraced, letting the kiss deepen, though it became no less passionate and steamy. She could feel the heat under his skin as her hands explored his neck, parts of his back, and his arms as he casually held her off the ground. The strength in his limbs necessary to do that scared her a little, as Stephanie knew she was helpless if he tried anything.
“I would never,” he said, pulling back the barest breath of an inch from her.
“How?” she asked. Could he read minds too?
“I felt you tense,” he whispered, his eyes locked on hers.
“Oh,” she said, and then pulled him close once more.
For another long moment words were useless and she simply allowed herself to be sucked into the moment, to the unexpected desire she felt for a man that minutes earlier she’d thought was nothing but a stubborn fool.
At last they pulled apart, foreheads touching as he leaned against her and the wall. Both of them were panting slightly, having forsaken air for more kissing. They were breathing hard, lungs working overtime to supply oxygen-depleted brains.
“I was wondering how that would feel, if you must know,” he said, giving her one last kiss on the cheek as he spoke softly into her ear.
For the first time Stephanie became aware of the residents of Cloud Lake, many of whom were looking at them. With a shifter around nobody seemed to want to stop and gawk, but she felt the looks as people passed. Lots of looks.
She pushed gently at his hands and he set her down on the sidewalk, the moment over.
“You have my sincere apologies,” he said, biting his lip unhappily. “I didn’t mean to cause a scene. I was just…I mean, I wanted to…”
“Yeah, I know. I think,” she said, her brain abruptly returning to full function as she put some distance between them.
What was she thinking?! Getting involved with one of the shifters? How was she supposed to stay unbiased now? Andy would kill her if he found out about this. He would fire her, especially if she didn’t get a good story out of it. Damn.
Damn. Damn. Damn!
“I need to go,” she said awkwardly, backing away from him, looking over her shoulder.
“What?” he asked, seemingly lost. “I thought it was...”
; “It was,” she said, with a weak smile and nod. “I mean that, but I just…I have to go, Gabriel. I have to go,” she repeated, then turned and took off down the street, leaving the massive, powerful, and seemingly invincible shifter standing on the sidewalk like a teenage boy in a movie, completely unprepared for the emotions of a woman.
Which to be fair, is exactly what had happened. Stephanie had let her emotions get the better of her. She recognized that the moment she turned the corner onto the first available side street and slowed her frantic pace.
This was a bad idea. A bad move. She shouldn’t have done it. Kissing the story? No! This was the story. The one that was going to catapult her into a full-time job.
As long as she didn’t fuck it up by sleeping with the story first.
That’s not fair. Gabriel is a person. Maybe not a human, but he’s an intelligent person, with feelings and emotions. He’s more than just the story.
Could she afford to think that way though? To treat him as more than just a part of her story?
“Oh, that kiss complicated everything!” she hissed aloud.
“They usually do,” an elderly woman making her way down the street said.
Stephanie stumbled in surprise, not having realized the woman was there.
“Are you okay?” the lady asked, shuffling forward quickly in her pale pink long skirt and jacket, a definite remnant of a time gone by.
“Oh yes,” she muttered. “I’m fine. Just annoyed at myself.”
“Hormones got the best of you?”
She stared at the woman in horror.
“Don’t look at me like that,” the unknown woman said with a laugh. “We’re all women, we’ve all done it.”
Despite her initial reaction, Stephanie found herself smiling. “I suppose. I just wish I hadn’t crossed work and, well, I can’t say pleasure, because I didn’t even realize that I liked him until he kissed me.” She frowned. “Do I even like him?”
“Did you stop him from kissing you?”
“No,” she said. “I like him, don’t I?”
The old lady nodded.
“But he’s so…stubborn, and primitive. And cocky sometimes too. And…and…” her voice trailed off. “And gentle and caring. Invested in the well-being of others. A good leader.” She glanced over at the other woman, whom she had exactly zero clue as to who she was. “You should see the respect his men have for him.”
“His men? He’s one of those delicious Green Bearets is he?” the lady in pink said with a knowing wink.
“Yes. He’s the one in command here,” she said dully. “What have I gotten myself into?”
“One of the captains? Oh, they are such nice folk! Wouldn’t be the first girl to fall for one of them,” the lady said, giving her a knowing wink. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out though. Just don’t lie to yourself.”
She gave Stephanie a light squeeze on the arm, and then began shuffling her way down the street again. But she barely noticed, her mind still focused on something else the old woman had said.
What did she mean that Stephanie wouldn’t be the first girl to fall for one of the shifters?
Chapter Ten
Gabriel
He stood next to the building, his hand gripping the exposed brick corner of it as he tried to calm himself.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
With each repetition he focused on relaxing one of his muscles. He started in his feet, and slowly worked his way up to his head. One muscle with one breath, slowly feeling each one unknot as he went.
It wasn’t as effective as when he was lying down, because some of his muscles had to engage to keep him standing, but it helped. Somewhat.
His bear was going berserk inside of him, and the mental tethers he’d established long ago were fraying, like straps holding down a load on a truck bed that weren’t rated for the job. Much more of this, and they would snap.
Eyes closed, he focused on the prison within his head, trying to force his bear back into it, strengthening it, making it solid once more. At last the animal seemed to understand that fighting was useless, and it began to retreat. Gabriel breathed an audible sigh of relief, his hand unclenching from the brick corner slightly.
The brick exploded in his hand as his bear chose that moment to attack, revealing that its retreat had been a ruse all along. Gabriel groaned under the mental effort of keeping it contained within him. His fingers dug into the wall, shattering more brick as he fell to one knee, his eyes screwed tightly shut.
“No,” he ground out, a deep, thrumming sound embedded in the single word as some of his bear’s power leaked from him, coloring his vision a shade of red.
Not now. He needed to keep it under control! He was in public, among the residents of Cloud Lake. He was fairly positive his bear wouldn’t hurt any of them, but he couldn’t take that risk. Even just running around in his bear shape while he had it under control was illegal. If Gabriel, the commander of the Green Bearet detachment in town, were to lose control of himself and rampage through the town, it would be an ugly, ugly situation indeed.
Keep it together!
His breathing was short, labored gasps as he fought his bear tooth and nail, refusing to give any ground. Muscles flexed, veins rising to the surface as his blood concentrated within them. He felt the fur of his bear begin to push through, coloring his skin a dark, charcoal gray, the same as his bear.
Gabriel was beginning to win, the sheer strength of his human mind aiding his beleaguered efforts. He had to beat his animal. For the residents. For his men.
For Stephanie.
Shit.
That was a mistake. The moment an image of her shapely figure sauntered across his mind, his bear renewed its assault. Now it didn’t want to kill. That urge was sidetracked as the Stephanie in his brain stood rooted to the spot, her hips swaying seductively back and forth. Even as he tried to stop it, his brain began to peel clothing from her.
I have no idea what she looks like naked. This will not stand.
With a short, focused burst of mental energy, he wiped the short, red-headed, pig-tailed, thick-legged, glasses-wearing, blue-eyed beauty from his brain. There was a searing burst of static white, eliminating all trace of her.
If you don’t behave, we’re never going to know what she looks like naked. Do you hear me?
His bear didn’t care. Forced to realize that it wasn’t going to be able to fuck, his bear turned back to its initial focus.
Fight. Kill. Rend asunder. Destroy. Bleed Out. Hurt.
“No,” he ground out.
His bear charged the human avatar of Gabriel in his mind. It had given up trying to escape, and now wanted to fight.
A smile played across his face. Big mistake.
Out of nowhere a massive boulder dropped onto the bear’s head. The massive beast squealed in pain, but shook the impact off and kept coming. A fist covered in a boxing glove appeared out of the milky white mists of his mind and walloped the bear in the side of the head. A solid concrete wall suddenly sprang into existence in its path, and the bear collided with that at full speed. The wall exploded, but the bear stumbled, just in time to be hit from the other side by a second fist.
They were fighting in Gabriel’s mind now. He could conjure whatever he wanted into existence. A set of huge jaws closed shut around his bear, teeth made of thick steel, thick enough to resist even its immense strength. More teeth appeared, forming a perfect circle.
“I tried to give you a cage of rock and stone, of earthen reality, so that you could feel at home,” he snarled.
Because it was his mind, his one step closer resulted in him suddenly being outside the cage of his bear. The beast roared and charged at him, but the metal teeth held firm as it collided with its new cage.
“So now, because you cannot seem to behave yourself, this is where you’re going to stay!” he yelled at his other half, waving a
hand to take in the metal cage.
He stepped back, and with a gesture, the earth under the cage rose up a hundred feet in the air. Then another gesture, and all the earth in a fifty-foot-wide circle around the earthen pillar supporting the beast sank a hundred feet into the ground. He focused his mind for a moment, and the walls all became as smooth as glass, and impenetrable to the claws of his bear.
If it somehow managed to escape the prison and survive the drop, it would never get up the walls.
“Once you can learn to relax, and to accept that we don’t have to kill everything, then I’ll think about returning you to your old home!” he called.
The animal just roared its anger at him.
Gabriel opened his eyes, the bright sunlight a welcome change from the white, yet somehow dark, mists of his mind.
“That was too close,” he muttered, shaking his head and standing up. Brick and other construction material fell away from his right hand as he pulled it free from the wall.
“Send me a bill,” he said as someone came outside to see what all the commotion was. “To the old motel. We’ll pay for this to be fixed.”
The owner nodded jerkily, stepping out of Gabriel’s path as he headed off down the street.
The walk back to the motel passed in a blur. The effort of keeping his bear in check had drained Gabriel of most of his energy reserves. He needed food, and lots of it. Then sleep. Otherwise he would be at risk of not having enough strength to defeat his bear.
He nodded roughly to the sentries outside the motel as he approached and made his way to the conference room that had been appropriated as a mess hall. He snatched a tray, thankful that it was open and full of food at that hour. Potatoes, steak, chicken, and some pasta all made their way onto his tray, and then he practically collapsed into one of the welded metal chairs that had been brought specifically to stand up to the abuse shifters inflicted.
Glancing around the mostly empty room, he began to shovel food into his mouth. Taking a break to chew, he sat back in the chair, feeling the energy already returning to him as he stuffed his face.