Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Flood [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Charlotte Rose

  Sophie was torn between pity for her friend and the sense in her gut that told her something wasn’t quite right with Georgina’s story. “I’m so sorry,” Sophie said, taking her friend’s hand. “I had no idea. That must have been terrible for you. How long ago was this?”

  “Only about two months ago. The wounds are still so raw. That’s why I freaked out when I saw Virgil and Gabriel with you at the bar, and why I faked ignorance when you called me after the show last week. I’m so sorry. It’s just so much to deal with. I didn’t think I’d ever see any of them again, and when I did, it really threw me off.”

  “It’s okay.” Sophie stood up and circled the table to give Georgina a hug. Deep down, she wasn’t sure it was okay, but she also didn’t feel comfortable accusing Georgina of lying, especially when she didn’t know Virgil and Gabriel’s side of the story. “I wish I’d known.”

  “Don’t worry about it. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to go home now. It’s been a hell of a day.”

  “Of course.”

  “Just promise me you’ll stay away from them. Don’t agree to be their mate. These are not good people you’re dealing with.”

  Sophie wasn’t sure if she could promise Georgina that. For one thing, she had a feeling she wasn’t getting the full picture. For another thing, she had promised to visit the congregation and hear Virgil and Gabriel’s explanation, and she didn’t want to decide anything until she was certain she had the truth. Still, Georgina looked so distraught that Sophie couldn’t bring herself to hurt her.

  “I really appreciate you looking out for me. Thank you for filling me in.”

  “What are friends for?” Georgina asked as she stood up from the table and walked toward the door.

  Sophie didn’t respond. She simply followed her friend out into the warm New Orleans night.

  * * * *

  The boathouses were mostly dark by the time Virgil and Gabriel pulled up. They knew nobody was waiting up for them. They weren’t expected to have returned until daylight. Virgil did note that the kitchen light was on, though, and wondered if Serafine was waiting to interrogate them about how the evening had gone.

  Instead, he and Gabriel found Adele sitting at the counter, poring over notes.

  “What you workin’ on?” Virgil asked. “Finishin’ up some research?”

  Adele shook her head. “I’m just trying to figure out why the coastline is disappearing so quickly. I mean, erosion has been a problem for years, and it’s only getting worse, but it shouldn’t be falling apart this rapidly, you know?”

  “Oh, we know,” Virgil said. “I swear, it looked like it had receded a foot today alone.”

  “Well, even that seems over the top,” Adele said. “But I know what you mean. It’s way more noticeable than it should be.”

  “So what do you think it is?” Gabriel asked, sitting down and handing everyone a beer.

  “My best guess is that it’s a confluence of factors. I mean, there’s the existing erosion problem, for starters. I have a feeling that Pomet’s recent overfishing played a role in the situation we’re in now as well.”

  “So soon afterwards?” Virgil asked.

  Adele took a sip of her beer. “With the amount he took? Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, overfishing isn’t even a primary reason for erosion, but when compounded with an existing problem, there’s definitely reason to believe that it could be part of the reason the wetlands are in this situation.”

  “But not the primary reason.”

  “I just don’t know. I still have a lot of work to do to figure all of this stuff out.”

  “Who do you think’s causin’ it?” Gabriel asked.

  Adele shrugged. “It’s not necessarily a matter of who, or even what. More than likely it’s not just one thing. It’s probably a whole confluence of factors acting together to throw off the entire ecosystem.”

  “Think Villemont is involved?” Virgil asked. “I mean, look how he tried to help Pomet destroy the entire fishin’ supply out here. Ain’t like he has the bayou’s best interests in mind.”

  Adele shrugged. “Look, we’ve had run-ins with him in the recent past, but it’s not as though he’s going to be responsible for all of our troubles, you know? The erosion problem is bigger than him.” She pushed her papers back and rubbed her eyes. “Anyway, I’m not getting anywhere. You two are back early. Want to talk about it or shuffle off to your quarters and pretend I didn’t see a thing?”

  Gabriel sighed. “It’s a long story.”

  Adele smiled. “You can’t exactly expect her to just decide to mate with you because you went to see her show. Do you have an idea how hard Xavier and Oscar had to work to convince me that the three of us belonged together?”

  “Oh, it ain’t the matin’ that’s our concern right now,” Virgil said. “We were actually makin’ some pretty good progress with her. She let us kiss her. In public, no less.”

  “But then a friend of hers walked in on us,” Gabriel added. “And things went downhill from there.”

  “Why? Was she weirded out by seeing Sophie kissing two guys at the same time?”

  “No.” Virgil took a deep breath. He wished he didn’t have to utter the words, but he knew he couldn’t keep this information a secret from the rest of the congregation. Even if Georgina didn’t mean them any ill will, which he doubted, they still needed to know who their mate’s best friend was.

  Finally, he continued. “Her friend is Georgina Fucher. Georgina walked into the bar, saw us kissing her, and then ran out in tears. Sophie pulled away from us and chased after her.”

  Adele went pale. “I didn’t—I didn’t exactly think we’d encounter her again. I mean, she didn’t die or anything, but—”

  Virgil nodded. “Believe me, we know what you mean.”

  “So did Georgina say anything to you?”

  “Not much,” Gabriel said. He snorted. “Just that she didn’t have anythin’ to say to us. Then she turned and ran off.”

  “Well, presumably Sophie doesn’t know Georgina’s past, or she might have had a different reaction the first time the two of you shifted in front of her. We wouldn’t have had to explain the whole thing.”

  “Ain’t like it’s a very good story, anyway,” Virgil said. “Not the kind of thing you wanna confess to a friend.”

  Adele rubbed her temples. “And Sophie didn’t give you a chance to explain?”

  “I don’t think she even realized Georgina knew us. They both just took off runnin’.”

  “I can only imagine what Georgina is telling Sophie now, though. What if she fills her head full of lies? What if Sophie believes Georgina instead of us? She’s ain’t gonna trust us anymore.”

  Virgil sucked in his breath. “God, I hope it doesn’t come down to that. She’s special.”

  Gabriel nodded. “Well, she did promise to come pay us a visit tomorrow.”

  “You really think she will after whatever lies Georgina tells her?”

  “I do, man. I really do. She ain’t the kind of woman to break a promise. Besides, if she thinks we’re the ones who’ve been stringin’ her along all this time, she’s gonna wanna come out here to demand some answers.”

  Virgil couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re right. Guess I should stop worryin’. We can figure this all out when she gets here tomorrow, right?”

  “Right.”

  Adele smiled. “And on that note, I think I’m really to quit for the night and go to bed. I’ve been up way too late for my own good. I’ll probably be worthless tomorrow.”

  “I hope not,” Virgil said. “We need your brain to be runnin’ to solve this problem.”

  “I’ll do my best, then. Good night.”

  Virgil and Gabriel sat in silence for a few minutes, finishing off their beers. Finally, Virgil stood up.

  “Adele’s right. It is way late. And we’re gettin’ an early start tomorrow mornin’. I’m gonna go get some shut-eye.”

  “Night,” Gabriel said, giving him a small wav
e.

  “Night.”

  Virgil left the main houseboat and made his way over to the smaller houseboat where his family lived. He stopped for a moment on the main deck and looked up at the brilliant stars illuminating the bayou sky. He’d loved them all his life, but he realized they weren’t as beautiful to him now. Nothing was as beautiful as the moment when he’d first kissed Sophie’s soft mouth. He only hoped he’d have another chance.

  Chapter Five

  Sophie spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to decide whether she should even go see Virgil and Gabriel after all.

  Maybe I shouldn’t bother. Maybe it’s just going to be a waste of time. Maybe Georgina is right.

  Georgina also completely lied to me when I called her after the disaster at the club. Georgina also let me believe she thought we hallucinated because of mold. Was that really necessary?

  After several hours of fitful rest, Sophie got up and practiced her guitar for a bit, trying to clear her head. At the end of her session, she finally decided to go to the bayou, if for no other reason than to get Virgil and Gabriel’s side of the story. She at least owed them that much. Heading out to the river, she rented a boat, plugged the coordinates Virgil had given her into the GPS, and headed out toward Alligator Bend.

  The first forty-five minutes of the trip were easy. The sky was clear, and the water was smooth. As she sailed down the river, Sophie’s mind began to clear. She stopped being confused about Georgina, stopped trying to wrap her head around the idea of being mated. Sophie simply relaxed and allowed herself to enjoy the beauty of the bayou. Then her phone let out the unwelcome beep that signified a low battery.

  “Shit,” Sophie muttered. “This is what I get for staying up all night. I forget all the important things.”

  She stopped the boat and dug through her bag, but there was no charger in sight. She hoped the phone could power through until she arrived at the congregation, but she knew her distance from a reliable signal would put extra strain on the battery. She started the boat back up and started traveling faster, hoping she would get there on time. She knew she wasn’t very far away, and she tried to reassure herself that her phone could last and guide her the rest of the way.

  She’d only traveled three more miles when things got worse. Glancing at her phone to check the rest of the instructions, she realized she’d completely lost her signal. The screen was frozen on the last step and couldn’t load the next portion of the directions. The low-battery signal was coming more frequently, and Sophie realized she was in deep trouble. She was careening through the bayou with a limited sense of direction.

  Looking at the radio on board, she cursed, wishing she’d thought to get call numbers for one of the houseboats in case of emergency. Still, she knew it was her only possibility of rescue. She powered it up.

  “Pan-pan, pan-pan, pan-pan,” she said into the microphone. “All stations, all stations, all stations. I am in a Catamaran dinghy. I am unsure of my exact location. I am somewhere near Alligator Bend, Louisiana. As I said, my GPS has gone out, and I am unsure of my exact location. I am in need of assistance to guide me back to New Orleans.”

  But Sophie was only greeted with silence.

  No need to panic. No need to panic at all. Just because nobody is in range now doesn’t mean I’m going to be stranded forever. Someone will come along soon. I’ll try again in a little while.

  Fanning herself in a futile attempt to keep the heat at bay, Sophie leaned back and tried to relax. To kill time, she did some guitar exercises that had been trained so deeply into her muscles that she didn’t even need an instrument to work on them. Finally, though, the anxiety started creeping back, and she picked up the radio and put out her distress signal.

  Again, she was greeted by silence. Sophie felt her stomach knot.

  Shit. Okay. I still don’t need panic. Someone has to come along eventually.

  A crackle came through on the radio. “Sophie? That you I just heard over the radio?”

  “Yes! It is! Gabriel? Is that you?”

  “You know it, baby. And I have Virgil here with me. We were out workin’ on some of the boats when the radio went off. Don’t worry, baby. We’re gonna come find you. Just relax and sit tight. We’ll be there soon.”

  “Okay. Over and out.”

  Sophie settled down in the boat and tried to relax. Gabriel and Virgil would find her. They had been born and raised in these swamps. It would be simple for them to find her, even though they didn’t have her exact coordinates.

  Still, she couldn’t deny that the bayou had taken on a savage appearance in the previous five minutes. Half an hour ago, she had been reveling in the beauty of nature, but suddenly, the whole place seemed vicious. In an instant, she realized just how dangerous her beloved wetlands could be. The sun beat down, and though Sophie didn’t burn, she became aware of the fact that she could roast and dehydrate under its rays. The depths of the water concealed dangerous snakes, and even—Sophie hesitated to think it—alligators. The kind that wouldn’t transform into men and protect their mates. It was something she had always known, but she found it easy to forget on beautiful, calm days. Now, she was acutely aware of all of the horrible things that could happen while she was waiting. When she heard the roar of the motorboat, she wanted to jump for joy, if she wouldn’t have run the risk of tipping the boat. Instead, she held still, a smile on her face as her rescuers emerged on the water.

  * * * *

  Virgil steered Sophie’s boat, piloting it alongside Gabriel’s as they headed back toward the congregation.

  “You sure you’re okay?” he asked. She looked awfully pale.

  “I’m fine, really. I just had a bad scare out there. I really thought I was lost.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Gabriel and I won’t let anything happen to you. We will always protect you.”

  Pulling up to the congregation houseboats, they secured their vessels and hopped onto the main boat, heading immediately for the kitchen. Lunch had ended a while ago, but there was still food warm on the stove for anyone who had been busy with work or chores during the normal lunch hours. Gabriel got Sophie settled at the table, and Virgil hurried to prepare her some food.

  “So,” Virgil said, placing a bowl of dirty rice in front of her. “You know Georgina Fucher?”

  Sophie nodded and swallowed a spoonful. “Wow, this is amazing,” she said. “Anyway, yes, I know her. We’ve been friends for a couple of months now. She happened to be in the audience at one of my shows, and we struck up a conversation at the bar afterwards. We really clicked, and we got very close very fast. She started accompanying me to my shows and chilling out with me beforehand. I get horrible stage fright, and Georgina is good at calming me down.”

  Gabriel sighed. “Well, that’s about as bad as I expected. Did you get the chance to talk to her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What did she tell you?”

  “That she never felt like she belonged with the congregation and never wanted to be part of the fishing business. She said that she always had other dreams and that when she got the opportunity of a lifetime, the congregation banished her.”

  Virgil sucked in his breath. “It’s true that we banished her. I ain’t gonna lie about that one. But we don’t banish people unless they do somethin’ to seriously harm the congregation. We got rules.”

  Sophie raised an eyebrow. “Rules?”

  “Yeah. We’re not gonna throw family away. They have to do somethin’ horrible for us to cast ’em out. Like the two brothers who knowingly claimed a woman who wasn’t their mate.”

  “Georgina—no, Georgina would never kill anyone. Never.” Sophie was beginning to regret her decision to come out to the bayou, thinking that Georgina must have been right all along. There was no way her friend could do something so awful to deserve banishment.

  “You’re right, she wouldn’t,” Virgil said. “And we ain’t sayin’ she killed someone.”
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  “But she did betray us.”

  “Tell me how, then. I need to know the truth.”

  “It’s kind of a long story,” Virgil said. “Armand, the guy you met when we rode in? Well, at one point, he and his mother, Rosaline, got captured when they were in gator form and put in the Aquarium of the Americas.”

  Gabriel jumped in. “Rosaline and Armand are albino gators, so they were a pretty famous display. ’Course, nobody knew they were shifters, and they weren’t about to just take human form. Keepin’ a low profile is in our best interest. We’d been tryin’ to get them back, but we were stuck. And then Ferdinand Villemont decided he wanted to buy ’em from the Aquarium for his private zoo.”

  “Well, that’s illegal, right?” Sophie asked. “You don’t get to keep dangerous predators as pets.”

  “People who have as much money as Villemont generally get to do whatever they want,” Virgil said, taking her hand. “He faced resistance, but he was doin’ his best. Our first big attempt to free ’em, Villemont just so happened to be at the Aquarium, and it fucked up the whole plan.”

  “Turns out he was in cahoots with Georgina the whole time,” Gabriel said, rubbing his eyes, as though the memory gave him a headache. “She’d let him know about our plans. He even pretended to capture her, made us worried sick, thinkin’ she was gonna die bein’ apart from us. But she was plannin’ with him the entire time.”

  Sophie gasped. “I just—she’s such a great friend. Well, I guess she hasn’t been so good to you. But she’s been so good to me since I’ve known her. It’s so difficult to imagine her doing something so conniving, you know?”

  Virgil nodded and squeezed her hand, hoping to comfort her. “I’m sorry to have to break it to you, baby. It’s tough learnin’ that someone you trusted ain’t the person you thought they were.”