Her mother’s hand turned in hers, palm up and fingers clasping hers. Gabi dared to look back up at her. Tears were running unheeded down her mother’s cheeks.
Five minutes later the rest of the diners had resumed their own conversations, her mother had returned from repairing her make-up in the bathroom, and their main course had arrived. After her impassioned speech, Gabi felt drained but hopeful. Her mother hadn’t said much, but Gabi sensed it would take time for her to rearrange her thoughts. Gabi was learning to give people time and space when they needed it. This was their chance to restart their relationship on a good footing; Gabi prayed to the Lord and Lady that her mother would come around. She had so many other seemingly unsolvable problems to deal with that resolving this one would feel like a victory. And right now she needed a victory, no matter how small.
She tucked into her delectable seared fillet of salmon while her mother cut into her parmesan chicken. They ate in pleasant silence for several minutes. Gabi was just beginning to think that she’d been wrong about her mini victory when her mother put her knife and fork down and pushed her plate away.
“You’re right, Gabrielle. I’ve been stubborn and I haven’t been listening to you. I’ve walked around with blinkers on for years, hoping that what you did was simply a misguided attempt to make your father proud. I was wrong, and I’m the one who should be apologising. I’m very proud of you, and I know I haven’t told you that enough. Truth be told, you scared me a little when you were younger. Your dad was always better at coping with your…eccentricities.” She smiled sadly. “I’ll try harder to accept your decisions in life, sweetheart, I promise.” This time she reached across the table for Gabi’s hand, and Gabi took it. “But please be patient with me, old habits die hard. And, sweetheart, as long as you are young and healthy, I’ll never give up hope of one day having that grandbaby.”
Gabi didn’t have the heart to tell her the truth that would be the final nail in the coffin of her mother’s hope. She’d stopped having periods by the time she was eighteen, and several years later Ian had confirmed that she wasn’t ovulating. She’d suspected from the grim set of his mouth that he wasn’t telling her everything either, but she’d been too much of a coward to press him for the whole, unvarnished truth. But the fact remained the same, even if she’d wanted to, she would never bear a child of her own.
CHAPTER 2
Relieved to have lunch over as well as to have established some kind of truce with her mother, Gabi eased the McLaren into the early afternoon traffic and headed out of the central city. Ross and Rory were a few cars behind her. Ross’s hair was still slick with sweat from standing guard in the summer heat, and Rory boasted a self-satisfied grin. She pondered stopping at the nearest Macca’s to buy Ross an ice cream. When she stopped at a red light, she took the opportunity to slip Julius’s ring back onto her finger. The central stone, tanzanite almost the exact shade of Julius’s eyes, caught and reflected the sunlight while the black diamonds surrounding it glinted with a more subdued beauty. It felt right to have it back in place.
She knew the route she was travelling with her eyes closed, and the trip brought out wildly opposing emotions inside her. She was heading to her house; no, not her house anymore, she reminded herself once again. Her cosy bungalow on the outskirts of the City, incorporating several acres of rugged land and bordering a wildlife reserve, was no longer hers. At least not for now. She had finally taken the long overdue step of moving into the manor house at Julius’s Estate. Their properties were over half an hour’s drive from one another, but she’d stubbornly clung to her much-loved private retreat for the past several months, despite being Julius’s official Consort. A position that held much respect and demanded much loyalty from a Master’s Clan. It had taken Fergus, Julius’s outspoken Scottish bodyguard, someone Gabi considered a trusted friend, to explain that she was severely undermining his authority by clinging to her independence, and that Julius simply couldn’t bring himself to force her to give up something she loved.
Despite discovering that she actually was ready to move in with Julius, she couldn’t bring herself to sell her property, so instead she’d donated it to her best friends, Kyle and Trish, to use as a Haven for their ever-growing Werewolf pack. It was the perfect solution: they could use it as long as they needed to, and it wouldn’t be standing empty and abandoned. And it was only a few minutes’ drive from CenOps, the Werewolf Alliance’s security headquarters that Kyle and Trish were largely in charge of. They had become the front line of supernatural peacekeeping in the City. And they were doing a brilliant job, Gabi thought with a smile. Not that she’d ever doubted them, but they’d stepped way above anyone’s expectations. And to think that six Werewolf packs in one city could not only work together, but actually maintain the peace. A year ago she would’ve laughed in the face of someone who’d suggested the possibility.
She eased the car onto the narrow rural road, checking that the dark SUV was still behind her. For a brief, unpleasant moment she had a flashback to a few months ago when she’d been driving this road with Trish’s brother, Derek, in the passenger seat. A sniper had fired at them, sending the car careening down the steep embankment on the left. Only the remarkable bulletproof coating on her car had saved Gabi from an extra hole in the head. They’d never found out who the shooter was, why they’d shot at her, or who had employed him. Kyle had found footprints and a scent trail on the ridge half a mile to the east, so they knew the shooter was alone and male and had travelled by van, but that was as much as they knew. For some reason the memory gave Gabi a tight, uncomfortable feeling in her chest. She pressed one hand into her sternum as she brought the McLaren to a stop outside the electric security gate at her house.
No, not her house, Silver Ridge Pack’s Haven, she reminded herself yet again. She was thrilled that Kyle and Trish had finally named their pack, and honoured that they’d chosen to name it for the ridge that ran across the back of her property, the one lined with silver birch trees.
The gate began to slide open before she could open her window and hit the call button on the console. She eased the car up the winding drive, musing that Razor would be pissed she hadn’t brought him along for the visit. As much as her hugely overgrown cat hated Werewolves, he loved to come back to the house. Occasionally she even brought Rocky along for the trip, but the tiny squirrel was almost an adult now, and since their move to the Estate, dotted with oak trees and enjoying its own population of red squirrels, little Rocky was spending more and more time with her own kind and less with her adoptive feline and human family. Gabi was pleased that the squirrel was happy and doing what came naturally, but she sensed that it left Razor a little lonely. She took him with her as often as she could, but there were still many places you simply couldn’t get away with taking a cat, especially one the size of Razor. It helped to have a Master Vampire with you who could make humans forget what they’d seen, but that trick was limited to night-time excursions only.
“Gabi!” Trish squealed from the front door as Gabi climbed from the car and checked that Ross and Rory had made it through the gate in time. The SUV pulled to a stop with its nose under an overgrown apple blossom. Trish enveloped Gabi in a crushing hug, though she had at least learned to stop short of breaking Gabi’s ribs. Gabi returned the hug just as firmly; it was good to see her friend. Her last trip away had taken longer than anticipated, and she’d missed Trish’s company. The woman’s strength, optimism and cheeriness never failed to raise Gabi’s spirits. If she could just bottle her friend’s essence…
“Let Gabi breathe, babe.” Kyle’s laughing voice came from somewhere inside the house. A second later his boyishly handsome face appeared at the door. “Lordy, Hellcat, aren’t you boiling in that?”
Gabi stepped around Trish to punch her long-time friend in the ribs before he subdued her with a rough bear hug of his own. The two Werewolves were dressed sensibly in shorts and T-shirts, and Trish’s chocolate brown mane was pinned on top of her head.
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br /> “Yes, I am, as a matter of fact,” she told him, wishing she’d thought to bring a change of clothing along. “Take me to your air conditioning.”
“There are lots of cold things to drink in the fridge,” he told her, elbowing her in the ribs as he passed her to greet the two Werewolves emerging from the SUV.
Gabi allowed herself to be dragged off to the kitchen by Trish, leaving the male Werewolves to do their male Werewolf thing. There was protocol to be followed when bringing non-Pack wolves into a Haven, but Gabi trusted Kyle and the guards to accomplish it without offense or violence. Trish swung open the new fridge, far larger than the one Gabi had used, and reached in for two bottles of water and a bottle of full-caffeine, full-sugar cola. No diet, low-sugar stuff in a Werewolf home. Trish threw a bottle of water to Gabi, placed the cola on the counter in front of her, and opened the second bottle of water for herself. Gabi downed the water in a few long swallows and then moved onto the cola. She’d have loved coffee right now, but it was way too hot, so caffeinated cola would have to do.
Kyle, Ross and Rory ambled inside, protocol satisfied, and Trish directed the guards out the back door to the large Pack common room, where they could relax and cool off. They’d run the plans by Gabi to turn the garage into a comfortable, air-conditioned space for Pack members to hang out together and to sleep off full-moon runs. The neighbouring reserve was a real bonus for the Pack, as it was rarely traversed by hikers and certainly not at night.
Gabi was halfway done with her cola when a ball of black, cream and russet fur galloped into the kitchen and hurtled straight into her waiting arms.
“Slinky boy,” Gabi crowed, lifting him and allowing the ferret’s whiskery face to nuzzle her own excitedly.
“Aw, I think he’s been pining for you a bit the last few days,” Trish said, her affection for the little animal clear in her tone.
Gabi stroked him, sending a tiny thread of reassurance to him while assessing his emotions. Her ability to fully communicate with all animals was yet another of her inexplicable gifts and one that she thoroughly enjoyed using. Slinky was profoundly happy to see her, but she couldn’t sense any unhappiness or depression in his background emotions. That set her mind at ease. It had been her most difficult decision: to leave him here with Trish and Kyle. Kyle had always had a soft spot for the critter, and Gabi knew there would almost always be someone around to keep him company, as opposed to being at the Estate, where there would be no one to spend time with him when Gabi was away. And she was away more often than not lately. Slinky didn’t adapt as quickly to new people and environments as Razor and Rocky did, so she’d figured this option would be the least stressful on the ferret, though it made her heart ache a little each time she left him.
Roman, the delightful Rottweiler she’d adopted from Trish, had been an easier decision. Dogs didn’t do well around Werewolves, so it wasn’t an option to leave him here or take him to the Estate, where Werewolves did most duties during the day. But Byron, her very dear friend and substitute father, loved dogs and recently lost his large mixed breed, who had been alpha of his small pack of adopted mutts, to old age and cancer. Using her unique form of animal whispering and her long-standing relationship with the horde of seven dogs, it had been easy to introduce Roman and help him step into the alpha role, keeping the status quo as undisturbed as possible. It was a win all around.
“I missed you too, you little rascal,” Gabi told him with a kiss on the nose. “Have you been keeping Wolf in line? Do you make him share his breakfast?”
“Yes, and yes,” Kyle scowled, but it wasn’t a serious scowl.
Gabi set the excited ferret on the kitchen counter, and he scampered for his food bowl as she divested herself of her jacket and snagged a hairband of Trish’s out of a basket to tie her hair up off her neck.
“Oh,” she said, remembering the main reason for her visit. She pulled a wad of folded papers from an inner pocket of her jacket. “Here are the papers you needed me to sign.” She handed them over to Trish, whose face lit up with a childlike excitement.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she squealed, rounding the counter to give Gabi another hug. Gabi shooed off the fussing, but there was a happy bubble in her chest.
“When will you start building?” Gabi asked Kyle. The papers were building consents; the Haven needed to expand. Her little two-bedroom, one-office cottage didn’t house very many Werewolves. They had been waiting three weeks for her to get back so she could sign what she needed to. She really had to get them in a room with her lawyers so they could make arrangements for Kyle and Trish to have more authority over the place.
“As soon as City Council approves the plans, Julius’s team is ready to go,” Kyle told her. She smiled wryly; Julius’s building team was staffed by Vampires and Werewolves, who only did construction work when it was required, but they were damn good at it. Fastest damn builders Gabi had ever seen.
“Is Byron ‘helping’ the approval along?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Of course he is.” Trish chuckled. “You know him. He might have announced his retirement, but he is anything but retired.” She shook her head in mock exasperation.
“Well, he was never going to sit at home with a rug over his knees, so you may as well take advantage of his boredom.” Byron would never be happy without something to fuss over. His first grandchild was due in a few months, which would give him something else to fill his hours with, but until then he could keep himself amused helping out with CenOps.
“He’s also putting in time over at the Youth Centre,” Trish said. “I think he’s secretly tickled pink that they named it in his honour.”
Gabi shook her head with a grin, allowing Slinky to clamber up her chest and wind himself around her neck into his habitual sleeping spot. The little animal was hot, but she didn’t have the heart to refuse him. Kyle reached for a console on the wall and turned the air-con up before she could ask.
“So they did name it the Reeves Youth Centre, then?” Gabi asked. Trish’s brother, Derek, also a Werewolf, had recently become engaged to Kimberley, a Shape-Shifting Doppelganger, and the two of them had set about turning the old SMV HQ building into a Youth Centre for teens and young adults of the supernatural community. Derek had been in lust with Gabi since his human days as a stuntman when Gabi was the preferred animal trainer on many local movie sets. Their friendship had been strained for many months after Derek was infected with Lycanthropy and found out she was in love with Julius, but then he’d found his soulmate and everything was falling into place for him. The only person happier about the situation than Gabi was Julius.
“The official opening was last week, with a party and a ribbon cutting and everything,” Trish gushed. “I’ve got some photos on my phone. You won’t believe what they’ve managed to do with the place; it looks amazing.” Trish leaned over the counter, holding out her phone so Gabi could see. The photos showed dozens of smiling faces: Derek hugging Kimberley to him, pride and excitement on both their faces; Byron cutting a thick red ribbon, dapper as always; his son, Ian, and his heavily pregnant daughter, Lara, watching on and clapping.
“They’ve had more than two dozen sign up already,” Trish continued. “Mostly Shifters, a few of the younger Werewolves and even a couple of Magi, those who have contacts or family involved in the Community.” Trish flicked through a few pictures and stopped again before showing Gabi another batch of photos.
“Wow,” Gabi said, genuinely impressed. HQ had indeed been transformed; conference rooms had become a state-of-the-art music studio, a fully equipped art studio, a library and even a mini movie theatre. A group of smaller offices had been knocked together into a large communal lounge area with TVs, beanbags, foosball tables, pool tables, computers and arcade games.
“The training run is still there,” Kyle told her with a grin. “Derek uses it as part of his physical training programme, though he’s toned it down a bit from the days we used it.” Nostalgia swept over Gab
i. She missed that training run. It had been a demanding, ever-changing obstacle course, and she’d loved to challenge herself on it.
“He’s also running a self-defence class for women and has opened it up to human-only classes as well,” Trish explained, “though the human women don’t know that, of course.”
“How are they getting around keeping the bulk of it supernaturals only?” Gabi asked, intrigued. When they first floated the idea, Gabi had assumed they’d keep it a low-key affair, but they had taken it to an unexpected level.
“It’s been labelled as a volunteer group for gifted teens.” Trish made air quotes. “There’s a complicated admission process and long waiting list. In due course humans will just be told that they don’t fit the requirements. I’m sure there will be a few issues along the way, but with Byron’s help they’ll get through without too much fuss.”
“What has the response been from the Community?” Gabi asked. This was a project that could easily be sunk if the elders of the Community didn’t get on board, and Gabi wasn’t sure Derek’s psyche was up to another blow.
“Oh, you won’t believe it,” Trish said, “they’ve got behind it one hundred percent.” She must have noticed Gabi’s scepticism. “I swear, ask Kyle. They had so many offers of help they’ve had to turn many of them down.”
“It’s true,” Kyle confirmed. “Even if the kids aren’t keen, the adults will drag them there by their ears. It seems this has been a missing element in our society—somewhere for those with supernatural abilities as well as those coming to terms with parents, siblings or friends with those abilities to hang out together and trade ideas on how to interact with the human world as well as let loose and just be themselves in groups of their peers. It’s actually pretty cool.”
There'll be Hell to Pay (Hellcat Series Book 6) Page 3