Devil Takes His Innocent

by Emma Anderson

  “I’m glad you could join us, Devil,” Viper said once he had reached the table. “Ladies, let me introduce you to my brother Devil. Devil, this is—”

  That was where Devil switched off. Unlike Viper, he had no interest in names of the woman he was planning on bedding. It was a piece of information that didn’t need to take up residence in his brain. To him they were all “babe.” It saved complications. It was yet another mistake he had made with Gabriella. He had asked her name, which was something he never did.

  Standing, Devil forced his mind back to the woman in front of him. She was tall, brunette, and scrawny. The total opposite of what he was usually attracted to. Completely different from Gabriella. This girl’s makeup was pasted on thick and heavy, and she smelled like she had already had a fair bit to drink. She was already rubbing herself against him like a cat. It made his skin crawl. This wasn’t a woman he was going to take up to his hotel room. His cock wouldn’t allow it. If anything she had made him shrink impossibly further.

  He couldn’t hold back the sigh of relief when the women heard a song they wanted to dance to. He had no idea how long they had all sat together at the table, but it felt like a lifetime to him. His only joyous moments were when he was thinking about Gabriella. Then his mind would return to the nightclub, and his discomfort would begin all over again.

  “I’m out of here,” he said, standing from the table. “That girl does nothing for me.”

  “Still thinking about her, aren’t you?” Viper asked, knowing Devil too well.

  Devil was already walking away, but he hadn’t missed the comment. He had no need to acknowledge his brother’s question, because Viper would have known the truth. His thoughts were still with Gabriella, and for the life of him, he couldn’t understand why.

  “Hello, my friend,” Chaos said, falling into step beside him as Devil stepped from the lift. Chaos was still in his chef’s uniform, suggesting he had just clocked off from the kitchen. “You going home alone? That’s not like you.”

  “Nothing of interest for me in there tonight,” Devil replied, clapping the giant man on his shoulder.

  “That’s never stopped you before. What’s going on?” Devil shouldn’t have been surprised by Chaos’ question. The warlock never missed a thing.

  “I don’t know. I just can’t seem to get my mind off of Gabriella.”

  “Might I suggest something without you getting mad?”

  “I’m open to anything right now that would give me a reason for my newfound obsession. As long as you don’t say guilt,” he warned. It was an emotion that Devil had no time for. He made decisions, acted upon them, and accepted the outcome. Guilt made a man weak, and that was something Devil refused to be. “Yes, I feel for the woman, but after considering it further I know that it would have happened whether she came to me as a call girl or someone I picked up.”

  “That’s what I thought, and I might be able to explain why,” came Chaos’ cryptic reply.

  “Spill it, Chaos!” Devil demanded.

  “Okay, but first can you answer some questions?” Devil nodded as he pressed the button on the private lift. “Do you find your mind constantly wandering to her?”

  “Yes.”

  “When you were with her, where were your thoughts?”

  “On her, until I remembered what she supposedly did for a living. I then just assumed that she was excellent at her job,” Devil responded after considering the question. It was true; he had thought about nothing but pleasing her, rather than work, which was the opposite of what usually happened. In the past the women he had been with failed to hold his interest, so his thoughts often diverted back to work.

  “Did you do anything out of the norm with her?”

  “I asked her name, then punished her for lying to me about it. I didn’t like the fact that she refused to share her real name with me,” Devil conceded.

  “How do you react when you think of her with another man?” This question Devil responded to with a low growl. “Just what I thought. Devil, my friend, I suspect you have found your mate in Gabriella Winters. Now all you have to do is find her and claim her.”

  Chapter Four

  Gabby had spent several days trying to avoid all thoughts of Devil by watching the man who Bobby thought to be his father. He seemed like a decent man, well respected within the community, and from all appearances he adored his young family. After three days of watching, she finally gained enough courage to approach the man, only for him to beat her to it.

  “You really seem to like it in here. Now I have two theories,” the pharmacist she knew to be Bobby’s father, Jason, said. “Either you’re a druggie casing the joint, which if that’s the case, don’t bother trying, you’ll walk away from here with nothing. Or you have a thing for medical supplies.”

  Gabby would have laughed at his error, had she not been nervous over what she was about to do. Holding her head high, she looked him in the eyes and suggested, “I have another theory for you. But maybe here’s not the best place to discuss it.”

  “Look, you’re a beautiful woman and all, but I’m a happily married man,” Jason said, crossing his arms over his expansive chest.

  “I know. It’s nothing like that, trust me,” Gabby said, laughing. She had had enough of men to last her a lifetime. Pointedly looking around the busy pharmacy, she added, “I’m here on behalf of a young boy named Bobby. Nothing more or less. So is there a private place we can talk?”

  “What’s this boy got to do with me?”

  “Again, not the best place to discuss this,” she replied. She had no idea who knew that this man in front of her was a shape shifter.

  “Fine, I’m off in twenty. Meet me outside, and we can walk while we talk.”

  She had just gained herself twenty minutes of reprieve, or was it torture? She had prepared herself to face this man, and now after building herself up, she had to wait. The closer it got to Jason’s finishing time, the more nervous she became. She didn’t even know how that was possible. The anxiety she was feeling far exceeded anything she had felt before. Maybe it was because it wasn’t her life that was about to be affected by what she had to say, but Bobby’s. She needed to do this perfectly for him.

  “Okay, so you now have my full attention,” Jason said, coming up behind her. “Who’s this Bobby and what does he have to do with me?”

  Gabby went on to share what Bobby had told her, including who his mother was. She could see the recognition in Jason’s eyes as soon as she mentioned the mother’s name. Then she saw something that she would have feared had it been directed at her. It was pure fury.

  “That fucking bitch,” Jason shouted. He then stopped and looked down at her. “Sorry for my language. I just can’t believe that she would keep him from me all this time, and then to dump him like that, defenseless. Did Bobby say why she left him? And how did he end up with you?”

  “It was after his first change,” she all but whispered, looking around. “If you know what I mean?”

  “Yes, but how do you?”

  “Bobby told me, then when he was asleep, his body began to change slightly.”

  “You understand that this can’t get out,” Jason warned, stopping and standing over her. “You seem to care for my son, so for his sake tell no one.”

  “I would never!” she said in disgust.

  Jason took in a deep breath. “Good. Now how about you explain to me how you got involved in all of this in the first place.”

  “I found him alone and starved in my cabin. I hate to think what he would have done for food had I not arrived,” she said, shivering at the thought. “Anyway, from what I could pick up from Bobby, he came onto my land because it smelled different from everywhere else. He said he couldn’t smell others like him there. He decided that it was safe for him.”

  Instead of reacting the way she had expected, Jason grabbed both of her upper arms, stared down at her with hate in his eyes and demanded, “Who are you to old man Winters?”


  “His granddaughter,” she said, trying to extricate her arms from his grip.

  “What have you done with my son?”

  “Nothing. Haven’t you been listening to me? Now let me go!” she screamed, hoping to gain the attention of the passersby.

  She succeeded. “What’s going on, Jason?” another man asked.

  “Please, sir, help me. Just hold him here, so I can safely get away. He needs to learn to keep his hands to himself,” Gabby said as soon as Jason dropped her arms.

  She all but ran toward her car, too scared to look back over her shoulder. As soon as she had the engine started, she raced away from Bobby’s only hope of having a happy family life. She couldn’t allow him to go to a home where a man like Jason lived. The man couldn’t seem to control his temper, and if he believed that it was acceptable to grab and hurt a woman, she didn’t want to think what he would do to a defenseless child. The question was, how was she going to explain it to Bobby?

  ****

  Her answer came when she arrived home. Immediately, Bobby knew something was wrong. She had no way of hiding the already developing bruises on her arms, though she had tried. It was the fear she still felt that he noticed first. According to Bobby, it was a similar smell to the one his mother had whenever he transformed. Damn his heightened senses. She had to wonder whether it was a shape shifter thing.

  As she stirred the stew they had started cooking earlier in the day, she told Bobby what had happened between her and his father. She didn’t want to paint the man in too bad of a light, but she also had no intentions of lying to the boy, either. He’d had enough of that throughout his life.

  She had just put the potatoes on to boil when she heard the first of two cars coming toward the cabin. Bobby must have heard them before her because he was already looking out the window.

  “I think it’s my dad, and there’s some woman. Some other guy just got out of the second car,” Bobby said, looking over his shoulder at her. “Don’t let them take me away, Gabby. Please.”

  “It’s going to be all right. This is still private property and they’re trespassing,” she reassured. If only she believed that would stop these men, but still she continued. “We can just send them on their way and then leave to the city tonight. How does that sound?”

  “Okay.”

  Together, showing a united front, they both went to answer the door. There stood two extremely large men, and one petite woman. Jason and the woman both swept their gazes over Bobby, while the other man, the one she recognized from earlier, had his attention fixed firmly on her. He seemed to rival Devil in power. Damn it, where did that thought come from? Why the hell was that man polluting her thoughts during such an intense confrontation?

  “Son, come here!” Jason said, gently ordering Bobby.

  “Don’t call me that!” Bobby spat, edging closer to Gabby. “The only person who has ever cared for me, and you hurt her!”

  “I swear to you, Bobby, I never hurt your mother,” Jason said, now down on his knees.

  “I wasn’t talking about her. She hurt me all the time!” Bobby replied. “You hurt Gabby.”

  “You’re in danger with her, Bobby. Her grandfather hated our kind. That’s why we never come onto this land. Those who have, never returned.”

  Before she could defend her position, Bobby once again spoke up, showing a maturity beyond his years. “So you think ’cos her grandfather was like that, then she will be too! You don’t know nothing. Gabby’s the best person I know, and I’m staying with her,” Bobby declared, looking up to Gabby. “Is that okay?”

  “More than okay, Bobby,” she replied, pulling the boy close to her body. “I’m not letting this man take you. You’ve been through enough at the hands of one parent. I won’t risk him hurting you too.”

  Jason stood. “I would never hurt my son.”

  “So you don’t hurt kids, just women. That’s comforting!” Gabby retorted.

  “I don’t hurt women,” Jason said, pulling his wife into his arms. “Tell her, Judge, please?”

  “Gabby, is it all right that I call you that?” She nodded her reply to the man named Judge. “Okay, Gabby, you have to understand that our kind is very protective of our children. When Jason discovered that you were old man Winters’ granddaughter, he thought that his son was in danger. Jason is a good man who has three other children. All of them adore their dad.”

  “Words, that’s all I’m hearing,” Gabby responded.

  “Gabby, I’m Maryanne, Jason’s mate and wife. Would you believe it if the words came from me?” she asked, looking over Gabby’s shoulder. “It sounds like something is boiling over on the stove. Why don’t we go and check on it, and I’ll answer any questions you have.”

  Gabby’s inquisitive mind demanded she say “yes.” It would also give Bobby a chance to find out some answers as well, because she knew he had many questions that she had no way of answering. A quick look down at Bobby told her that she had assumed correctly. He wanted to discover more about what he was. With a slight nod of her head, she and Bobby reentered the cabin, only this time three other people joined them.

  “Something smells delicious,” Maryanne said cheerily.

  Bobby stood tall and proud, puffing out his chest and said, “Me and Gabby made it. It’s beef stew.”

  “Yum, maybe you could teach me how to make it one day,” Maryanne said, smiling kindly at the boy. “Do you like cooking, Bobby?”

  “Yes. Gabby’s been teaching me how.”

  “Your mum never let you cook with her?” Maryanne asked.

  “Nah, she never cooked. I just got sandwiches for dinner when she remembered. When she didn’t, I used to sneak out of bed once she was asleep, and make myself one,” came the heartbreaking reply.

  While both Gabby and Maryanne had tears in their eyes, the two men chose that moment to remind Gabby of their presence. The hissing she heard had her jumping in front of Bobby, ready to protect him. Maryanne went over to both men. She placed her hand on Jason’s chest and whispered softly. The men’s gazes both landed on Gabby. They seemed to take in her stance, and both took a deep breath in, then let it out slowly as if they were trying to force themselves to calm down.

  “I’m sorry, Gabby,” Judge apologized while Maryanne cuddled up to her husband. “Feeding our women and children is a high priority to our kind, and the idea that that woman failed to provide for Bobby has our animals displeased, to say the least.”

  “What do you know of our kind?” Jason asked, now visibly calmer.

  “Only what Bobby has told me from his experiences. Before I met him, I had no idea that your kind existed,” Gabby replied before looking over her shoulder at the stove where the potatoes were boiling over.

  “Don’t worry about that, Gabby. I’ll watch your dinner while the guys answer both your and Bobby’s questions,” Maryanne said, accurately reading Gabby’s worry. “Do you want the potatoes mashed?”

  “Yes, but I can do it later.”

  “Nonsense, you and Bobby need to eat it while it’s hot. We have rudely come at dinner time. We won’t stand in your way of eating once it’s ready,” Maryanne called over her shoulder as she headed toward the kitchen.

  “So are there others like us?” Bobby asked before they had all sat down.

  “Yes,” Jason replied, seemingly proud of his son’s question. “We belong to a pride of just over two hundred. We have an Alpha, who’s our leader.”

  Bobby looked at Judge, and asked, “That’s you, right?”

  “Yes, cub, your instincts serve you well,” Judge responded. “I have to make the rules and ensure everyone is following them. Without our rules, our kind could be exposed to the humans. Can you understand how dangerous that could be?”

  “No.”

  “Humans often fear difference in people. If our secret got out, the humans might try to catch us or kill us,” Judge explained. “That’s why it’s against the rules to show them what we are.”

  Bobby moved in c
loser to Gabby. “Am I in trouble for telling Gabby? You won’t hurt her, will you?”

  “No, cub,” Judge reassured, reaching over and ruffling Bobby’s hair. “I’m proud of you for finding a way to survive until you could find your dad. We do trust some humans with our secret. From what I have seen, Gabby would protect our secret with her life, if only for your sake. She protects you like your mother should have. It would seem that she is deserving of your trust, and I’m going to give her mine as well.”

  That seemed to cajole Bobby, because he was on to his next question before Gabby had a chance to say her piece. “So what else exists? Werewolves? Vampires?”

  “Yes to both, but let me warn you, Son,” Jason said. “Werewolves prefer the term wolf shifters, just as we are mountain lion shifters. Do you understand?”

  Bobby muttered his affirmative reply. It worried Gabby, because he had lost some of his enthusiasm. Was it in response to Jason? She wasn’t sure, but the man seemed slightly hurt by his lackluster response. She looked down at the boy sitting beside her. She raised an eyebrow in question. He leaned over to whisper in her ear, quickly explaining his sudden mood change.

  “I need to go to the toilet, but I don’t want to leave you if you’re scared,” he whispered.

  Her earlier tears resurfaced. She pulled him into a quick hug and whispered back, “I’ll be fine, honey. Go do what you need to do and wash up for dinner. You’re probably starved by now.”

  Bobby stood and nodded. He was just about out of the room when he paused and turned back to her. “Can they stay for dinner? We made heaps and that way I can get to know my dad a bit better before they have to leave.”

  “Of course, honey. If they wish,” she replied, turning her attention back toward their company.

  “As long as you’re sure there’s enough,” Judge replied.

  “Yep, heaps, and Gabby’s a great cook too!” Bobby stated before running from the room.

  It would seem that like Gabby, Jason had lost his words at the moment, the extra shine in his eyes showing his true feelings. Gabby couldn’t blame him for his display of emotion. She had never been prouder of someone than she was in that moment of Bobby. He was giving Jason a chance despite both of their previous misgivings. Though she couldn’t help but smile at his comment highlighting that they would be leaving without him tonight, and she wasn’t the only one to have noticed.