by Leela Ash
The thought of Molly made Gabe’s chest tighten, and he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d been seriously attracted to that girl across the street, but she was just a kid. Not only was it wrong, but it was ridiculous. His heart would never belong to anyone but Molly, no matter what the insidious wolf within him wanted to say about it.
4.
“Well, holy shit, look who we found here!”
Val cringed at the familiar sound of Ren’s voice, and the predictable cackle of the group of boys who had a tendency to accompany the shifter’s unwanted invitations for sex. Not only were they obnoxious but they pissed her off. Especially now that they had caught her crossing the road as she left the record store. If they knew where she worked, she knew she would never hear the end of the harassment.
“I’m late,” Val said, trying to push past them. But it was as useless now as it always had been before, and she sighed in frustration when Ren stepped in front of her. She gritted her teeth as Ren’s friends made a tight wall that was impossible for her to push through.
“What, you think you’re too good to say, ‘excuse me’ to us when you try to pass by?” Ren asked. Another round of cackles brought an agitated frown to her face, which only seemed to make them laugh harder.
“She’s pissed,” someone gasped between their obnoxious laughter.
“Not yet, but I will be if I lose this job because of you assholes!” Val snapped, trying again to push past the boys.
“You know what they say, don’t you?” Ren said, again blocking her from leaving. “All work and no play makes you a frigid bitch!”
“I don’t think that’s quite how the saying goes,” Val mumbled. “Now please, you guys, excuse me. I have to get to work.”
“I don’t think you do,” Ren said, grabbing her shoulder and whipping Val around as she tried to walk away. “I think I have a better idea.”
“Don’t touch me!” Val shouted. They had never gone this far on school grounds before, but now that they were out on the street, it seemed like they felt like they could get away with more. They couldn’t get kicked out of school for something they did out in public, right?
“What the hell is going on here?”
Everybody froze at the sound of the deep, booming voice reverberating around them, followed by the slamming of the door of Shifter Fit and the sound of the bell ringing violently from the force of Gabe’s temper.
“Don’t worry about it, man,” Ren said, laughing lightly. “It isn’t any of your business.”
“I don’t know who in the hell you think you are,” Gabe growled. “Or what language it is you dumb assholes speak, but I believe I heard the lady telling you to leave her the hell alone. Didn’t I?”
Val was stunned by the ferocity etched in ever line of Gabe’s handsome face, and she hesitated before nodding. There was no point in denying it. Everybody already knew that’s exactly what she had been saying. It was their own fault for not letting her through…
“Fuck off, old man,” Ren said, eliciting another round of cackles from the boys around him. “You don’t have any right to tell me what to do with her. She’s mine whether you like it or not.”
“That’s funny, because it doesn’t seem like you have any kind of claim over her, now, do you?”
“You’re really stuck in the past, you know,” Ren said, laughing and grabbing Val by the shoulders. He threw her between himself and Gabe, as if using her as a shield for his own protection, and then spoke to Gabe from over her shoulder. “This is the new century, bro. Things don’t work the way they used to back in the Stone Age.”
Val flinched away when Gabe’s dark, mysterious eyes widened in fury, and she was almost convinced she was about to see a man shapeshift right in front of her for the first time. But Gabe was in his mid-forties. He had been around long enough to know better than to lose his temper over something like this. And yet, there was something wild about the look in his eyes. Something that made her wish she had stayed on the other side of the street when she was walking to the bus stop so she could have avoided the whole mess altogether.
“If you don’t let her go right now, you’re going to regret it,” Gabe warned. “All of you.”
His voice rumbled deeply enough that she could nearly feel its vibration right in her chest, and Val cried out involuntarily when Ren shoved her forward, nearly pushing her into Gabe’s chest.
“I told you man, she’s ours. You don’t have the right.”
“Then I claim her!” Gabe growled, his face dark with fury. “Now get your hands the hell off of her or prepare to die!”
The crowd of boys took in a collective breath of disbelief, and Val furrowed her brow. What the hell was going on?
“You can’t be serious,” Ren said, dropping his hands off Val and backing away. “You’re so old! Don’t you have a wife or something?”
Gabe’s intense glare didn’t waver as he stared Ren down, and he reached his hand out and laid it steadily on Val’s shoulder. He brought her close to him, sheltering her from any further harm the group of boys might think to do to her, and finally spoke, his voice a menacing whisper.
“I claim this girl. None of you are to so much as look at her, let alone speak to her, again. Is that understood?”
“Man, this guy is crazy,” Ren mumbled, turning his back on Gabe and Val. “He’s claiming this dumb bitch! Let’s get out of here.”
The group mumbled in agreement and they took off down the sidewalk. Gabe held his hand on Val’s shoulder protectively until the boys were out of sight, and then he sighed deeply.
“That might have been really dumb of me,” he confided, dropping his hand from her shoulder. “But we’re going to deal with it.”
“What did you do?” Val asked, dumbfounded by the whole altercation. Everything had happened so fast. “What do you mean you claim me?”
Gabe hesitated, his handsome face softening as he looked up to the sky, hoping to find some way to explain it to her so she wouldn’t get mad.
“These guys have been giving me trouble for a while now,” Gabe said with a heavy sigh. “They’re real assholes. Entitled kids with parents who let them get away with murder. I let my temper get the best of me, and now you’re mine to protect for the rest of our lives.”
Val furrowed her brow, opening her mouth to respond, but Gabe shook his head and held his hand up.
“I know. There’s nothing for you to worry about. I won’t get in your way. But…” he glanced at his watch, furrowing his handsome brow. “You’re going to be late to work. Come on, I’ll give you a ride.”
5.
Gabe gripped the steering wheel tightly as he rolled to a stop in front of the gas station. He and Val hadn’t spoken a word since he had explained his claim on her, but now she turned to him, her agitation turning into a small smile.
“I thought I was going to be late, but since I didn’t have to take the bus, I’m early.”
Gabe nodded, afraid to open his mouth to speak. He was feeling angry and volatile, more at himself than at her, but it wouldn’t do either of them any good for him to take his frustration out on her. Val seemed to understand the tension between them and took a deep breath.
“Thanks for the ride… and everything,” she said quietly, looking down at her hands. “I’ll pay you back somehow.”
Gabe scoffed, turning his head away from her and staring out the window, and Val climbed out of the truck and went inside.
What in the hell would Molly have to say about all this? He knew she would be furious if she were still alive, but now that she was gone, what would she think? Would she be happy that he had someone else to take care of now? Or would she think he was a horrible pervert, inserting himself into the life of the first young girl he felt a twinge of attraction toward? He wouldn’t blame her either way, but the fury he felt for himself was mounting. How could he have let himself lose control to such a huge extent?
He would never forgive himself. And now, according to the laws and customs of the pack, he was ob
ligated to serve her, to protect her, to give her all the comforts and pleasures that life had to offer. He might as well have married her right then and there. It was a totally insane thing to do right in the heat of the moment. What the hell had he been thinking?
The problem was, he hadn’t been thinking at all. Not even a little bit. Everything he had been stressing out about had resulted in this small explosion; this ridiculous, self-destructive act that gave the wolf the satisfaction of taking control of the situation in its own rash and impulsive way, no matter what the hell the consequences of that might be. He had brought this all on himself.
And now that he had staked his claim, he was going to have to go and register it with the Council. Gabe growled, punching his steering wheel hard. A sharp honk echoed in the parking lot of the gas station and he gritted his teeth, ignoring the confused and offended looks of the bystanders.
Gabe tore out of the gas station and headed toward the Council’s building in the center of town, where all the most important events were always held. His stomach sank when he parked his truck, remembering how happy he had been the first time he had staked his claim on a mate; the deep pleasure on Molly’s face when, hand in hand, they had walked into the council’s building and told them they were going to make their relationship official. He had told everyone there that he was going to protect her for all time.
A lot of good that had done for her. Gabe hadn’t been with her the morning she was driving to work and some dumb kid, still drunk from the night before, slammed into her car out of nowhere. He hadn’t been there when she breathed in the last sustaining breath of life, and let it out for the last time. And he certainly hadn’t been there when the doctors declared there was nothing more they could do, and left her lying cold on the gurney in the emergency room.
Nothing he had done that day had helped her. He had been in the office, working on his checkbook. He hadn’t kept his promise, and in return, he had lost his wife and would never have her back.
Gabe got out of his truck, unable to prevent his legs from shaking as he moved slowly forward through the parking lot and toward the huge, heavy oak doors. He didn’t have a hand to hold this time; a woman who thought the world of him smiling beside him as they prepared themselves to make their joyous announcement. No. All he had was regret.
“Gabriel Black, what are you doing here today?”
Gabe pursed his lips and swallowed hard, barely able to believe what he was about to say.
“I made a claim today.”
“You’re kidding!”
Leon had been one of the men that Molly went out of her way to help; she had been just as beloved in the Council as she had been everywhere else. Leon’s elderly father had needed care, and Molly had gone out of her way every day to check on him after she got off work. She would make him dinner and then come home to do the same for Gabe.
Nausea crept through Gabe’s stomach and he looked down at the ground, more ashamed of himself than he had ever been in his life.
“I wish I was kidding… but the wolf…”
“I understand,” Leon said, holding his hand up to silence Gabe. “Sometimes, these things happen without our own permission. That just means that it is somehow meant to be, whether we know the reason or not.”
Gabe had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping at Leon, but the fastest way to dishonor within the pack was to fight with an Elder when they were supporting you through the unpredictable twists and turns of life. There wasn’t much you could do to come back from something like that.
“Well, all right then,” Leon said, sighing heavily. His pen scratched across a sheet of paper and then he held his hand out for Gabe to shake. Gabe took it reluctantly, refusing to meet Leon’s eyes as his claim was officially registered with the council.
Gabe returned to his truck, unsure of how to feel. Just since he had woken up that morning, he had suddenly become saddled with a new responsibility he was going to have to deal with for the rest of his life. A responsibility that he wasn’t going to be able to escape from. No matter what he did, no matter where he was, he was accountable for the human’s safety. What the hell had he been thinking?
6.
The next day, Val could hardly focus on her schoolwork. All morning long, she had been bracing herself for the eventual confrontation with Ren and his lackeys, but surprisingly enough, they avoided her as if she were plagued.
It was strange, and although she did get a lot of attention from male students, she always found them easier to ignore than Ren and his gang. In a way, it was a little bit lonely to be completely ignored by the group of boys that had been giving her a hard time from the first day she had entered SU. On the other hand, she had never been more relieved.
When the end of the day finally rolled around, Val’s stomach dropped. The class had run late again thanks to a horribly timed question by one of the most obnoxious students in the class, and so she ran with all her might out the door and down the steep staircase leading to the student parking lot.
She rounded the corner, knowing she was probably going to miss the bus. Still, she was determined to try her best anyway. But just as she made it past the corner and toward the bus shelter, Val’s heart sank. The bus was speeding past and heading out toward the road.
“Shit!” Val exclaimed, kicking at the air. That was it for her job at the record store. Now what the hell was she going to do?
“You need a ride?”
Val froze at the sound of Gabe’s voice. He didn’t look particularly happy, but he was parked just outside the bus shelter all the same, his handsome features dark, pensive, and serious.
“I… you don’t have to.”
Gabe sighed heavily and threw the truck door open. “We’re going to the same place, kid. Just get in.”
Val felt a twinge of nervousness; how did she know she could trust him? But when she looked at him again, her reservations melted. He wasn’t going to hurt her. She had been looking up the ancient shifter laws all night after he had claimed her, and she knew he was doing this out of a profound sense ofduty. Gabe seemed to believe it was his job to take care of her from that moment on. She didn’t want to feel like some guy’s drab obligation. The idea, quite honestly, was kind of obnoxious.
“You don’t have to keep showing up to save me all the time, you know,” she said quietly, climbing into the truck. “It isn’t your job, even if your pack makes you feel like it is.”
“You know nothing about my pack or my job,” Gabe said, refusing to meet her eye. Val felt self-conscious suddenly and looked down at her hands.
“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I just don’t like the idea that you think you owe me something. You did something nice to help me out when I needed it, but it doesn’t have to be anything more than that.”
“Actually, kid, it does,” Gabe sighed. “I already stopped by the Council to let them know about what happened.”
“Why would you do that?” Val asked, panic curdling in her chest. “You don’t even care about me! And you’re talking to the Council like we’re married or something?”
“There were witnesses, Valerie,” Gabe said, his voice frighteningly even. “It would have gotten around to them one way or another. And telling the Council doesn’t change anything. It just means I have to do everything I can to honor my word. I’m not married anymore. I’m going to honor my word. That’s all a man has.”
“I don’t know why you got yourself into this,” Val grumbled. “You’re just going to end up resenting me because you think you have to take care of me when you don’t want to.”
It was just what her parents had been like with her before they’d given her up to the foster care system. The idea made her sick.
“Well, maybe I needed someone to take care of,” Gabe said with half a shrug. “I don’t have anything else going for me right now, that’s for damn sure. Who knows why the wolf did what he did. It’s not like we have to do anything together. I’ll just hang around and keep you out of
trouble.”
Val grew quiet and considered this. It was a relief to know she wasn’t sexually obligated to him, even if she couldn’t take her eyes off the guy. And it was true, she was attracted to him. Almost enough that it scared her when she was near him. But he was like twice her age. He had probably just always wanted to have a daughter, and now that they were stuck together, he had a reason to feel like he was some kind of amazing father doing things like taking her to work and picking her up from school.
It was sweet, in a way, but it would be sweeter if there weren’t all kinds of ancient laws obligating them to each other. That was a lot of pressure for such a new relationship. And just what kind of relationship were they supposed to have, anyway? Was he like her husband now? Or were they able to simply act the way they were acting now, with him being paternal and caring and protective, with no questions asked; no weirdness or sexual tension whatsoever? Either way, it made her uncomfortable. She had never had a father before and she certainly didn’t need one now.
But when she caught Gabe’s eye from across the truck, the anguish roiling behind his brown eyes was enough to make her second-guess whether or not she was going to have to sidestep that unfortunate sexual tension. He was a ridiculously handsome man, and that meant there were things about him she was just going to have to try to ignore if things were going to be able to remain even semi normal between them.
Thankfully, they reached the record store before her mind could consider anything more about it, and Gabe parked right outside.
“Let me know if you need anything,” he said, finally holding her gaze. “I mean it.”
Val was lost in his gaze and nodded despite herself. There was an unspoken bond between them now, something she had to honor, whether she liked it or not. It was up to him to care for her, and it was up to her to tell him when she needed care. Whether she liked it or not, Valerie had been claimed.
7.