14. Gabriel
Chapter 14
Gabriel
G abriel’s eyes fluttered as the pain continued to recede. He looked around, realizing he really was somehow back in Zareia. More than that, he was on the ground, with Paxton on one side of him and Brinley on the other. There were more people in the distance, but his attention was on the woman currently using all of her strength to heal him.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, and he wondered for a moment why she was upset. Then, he saw her hands shaking, her jaw clenching. This was hurting her. She wasn’t trained, so she wasn’t accustomed to using such magic.
Her nose started bleeding, and he knew he needed to stop her. But he couldn’t do it fast enough. He felt the moment she had nothing left to give. Her magic ceased flowing into him, and she closed her eyes.
“Brinley,” he said, about to thank her, but she toppled to the side. He reached out, grabbing her before her head could hit the cobblestones, groaning as his arm pulled at the almost-healed injury.
“You’re all right?” Pax said as Gabriel sat up, shifting to lay her down gently. “She did it…”
“She did.” He searched the crowd and saw Joel at the head of it. The man nodded with a small smile, then he went and gathered the pile of clothes from near the gate.
Joel handed both of them their items and knelt. “I, um… had her use your shirt to try to stop the bleeding before she started healing you.”
Gabriel let out a soft chuckle as he pulled on his pants. Lowering his voice, he whispered, “Any excuse to keep me shirtless.”
Though even as the teasing words left his lips, an old, familiar pang of guilt rang through him, and he glanced down at the witch who’d saved him—the wolf she hated. He returned his gaze to Joel. With a wink, his friend straightened and held out a hand to pull him up. Gabriel took the help and patted him on the shoulder, reassuring him that he was all right now. He was sore and covered in blood, but the slashes across his chest were shallow. They would heal by tomorrow on their own.
Looking down at the witch, he sighed. His blood was all over her too. At least, he hoped it was mostly his blood.
The sight of her surrounded by rogue wolves earlier flashed through his mind. Her dress was tattered and torn, the cloak she’d taken long gone. She had put up a fight, that much was clear, but she hadn’t stood a chance against five shifted DeLoup. When he found them—found her —he’d snapped. There wasn’t any controlling his temper after that. Not until he was certain she was safe.
Paxton knelt, as if to pick her up, and a low growl reverberated from the back of Gabriel’s throat. Squatting, he began gathering her into his arms instead.
“Gabe, let me get her.” Amusement tinged Paxton’s voice. “You nearly died; you should take it easy.”
He had almost died. If that rogue’s claws had gone just a little deeper, Gabriel’s heart would have been shredded. But this girl— his supposed enemy—had saved him. That gave him hope unlike anything he’d experienced in the last six years.
“No, I’ve got her.” He trusted Pax to carry her, but right now, he needed to hold her close. It wasn’t enough to just assume she was unharmed; he needed to feel her alive and breathing.
Pax shook his head but didn’t argue. Joel’s smile only grew, knowing exactly what Gabriel was thinking. There was a chance she might actually break the curse. Joel patted him on the shoulder and walked beside him on the way toward the house while Paxton reassured the rest of the people everything was fine.
Those in the Crimson Pack knew who Brinley was, even if they didn’t know what she looked like or that she was who he now carried home. They knew her name and history because of her father. Only Joel knew exactly who she was to Gabriel. That was why Gabriel didn’t doubt the man was genuinely happy for him. Even with their past, Joel was rooting for this to work, knowing that if she was the one… she would be the one . The only way to break the curse was for a sorcière to love and accept the DeLoup, but Gabriel knew it was more than that. She would need to love him .
“You’re all right with this?” he asked quietly when they reached the next street. “If this works, if I get her to remember, you know that means no more us, right?”
“I know,” Joel said. “We had our fun, but I’ve always known it wouldn’t last. You deserve to be with someone you actually love, Gabe. You deserve that happiness, especially after everything you’ve gone through. Both of you.”
Gabriel couldn’t help but scoff. He looked down to make sure she was still out of it where she rested against his chest. “Somehow, I don’t think life with Brinley Evnar would be rainbows and butterflies. I don’t think it’d be happiness. Maybe before, but not now.”
Joel shook his head. “You would be miserable with someone sweet and quiet. She challenges you, and I think that’s exactly what you need.”
“But what if it’s not? What if we can’t get past the centuries of hate between our people? What if she never remembers?”
They reached the front steps of his home before he could answer. Joel led the way, knocking on the locked door. When Daciana opened it, her eyes widened.
“She’s not hurt, just passed out. The blood is mine.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” she hissed as he pushed past her into the house.
Walking up the stairs, knowing his friends would follow, he said, “She was attacked by rogues. I stopped them, but one got in a solid swipe. I was unconscious and bleeding…”
He trailed off. The last thing he remembered was being in the forest, trying to make sure she hadn’t been injured before everything went dark. How had he made it to the village? At the top of the landing, he glanced down at her again. Had she somehow brought him back before healing him? No wonder her magic was drained.
Daci opened the door to his study and then the bedroom. Gabriel gently laid Brinley on the bed. Her eyes blinked open.
“You’re alive,” she whispered.
Nodding, he brushed a lock of hair from her face before he realized what he was doing. He pulled his hand away. “How did you get me to the village?”
But her eyes were already fluttering shut again.
“She was doing this strange floating trick.” Joel moved next to the end of the bed. “With her magic, she had you lifted above the ground, and then Pax dragged you along.”
Gabriel put a hand to the back of his neck. That explained the ache there at least. He stared at the young witch. She could have taken off again, but she stayed to help him. More than that, she helped him return and healed him.
“I need to talk to Pax,” he said.
“I’m sure he’ll be here soon.” Joel leaned against the end of the bedframe with his arms crossed, a clear indication he wasn’t going anywhere yet.
Clearing her throat, Daci said, “I’m going to go tell Rosalyn and Brighid you’re back.”
“Thank you.” Before she could leave, Gabriel added, “Don’t tell Rose about all this.” He indicated the blood. “But please ask Brighid to come check on Brinley when she has a moment.”
She nodded and walked out. When it was just him, Joel, and Brinley alone, Gabriel sighed. He headed to the adjoining bathing chamber and started filling the tub with water, adding a bit of the liquid soap Brighid and Rose had created. The two were always looking for new ways to use the plant life from the solarium.
Without a word, Joel grabbed a cloth, got it wet, and handed it over. “To answer your earlier question,” he whispered, leaning against the sink, “if she doesn’t remember, then you start over. Get to know her now. And if it still doesn’t work, if the two of you don’t love one another, you know I’ll be here, so will Paxton, Daci, and Darren. You’re not alone in this.”
The absence of Rose’s name in that list stood out. Gabriel rubbed a hand over his aching chest, cautious not to touch the faint traces of the cuts.
“But you two have always been drawn together, Gabe,” Joel went on, not letting him dwell on all of the doom facing him. “Get her to remember that or show her the truth. Stop pushing her away because you’re scared.”
Gabriel wiped more of his blood off, wincing when the washcloth grazed the edge of a cut. “I don’t know what lies they filled her mind with. I might never be able to break through that wall of hate, and I can’t…”
He lowered his gaze, unable to voice the pain of seeing her despise them. The thought of her never remembering her past, their friendship, tore at his heart. On top of that was fear and more heartache at the possibility that his sister’s life might depend on those lost memories.
“What do I do?” he whispered?
“Keep fighting.” Joel took the dirtied cloth and rinsed it off in the sink before returning it to Gabriel. “Show her we’re not the villains she thinks we are and that you didn’t kidnap her. Let her see the village, her people, and maybe she’ll remember something.”
Gabriel shook his head in wonder. Joel was one of the best men he knew. Tossing his rag into the sink, he said, “And you’re really fine with all this?”
Joel smiled. “Yes. I was never under any sort of impression that you loved me or that one day you might. I knew what this was when we started.”
That seemed like another lifetime ago. It was before Gabe’s father died and he was named the next alpha. They’d been stupid adolescents, sneaking alcohol out of a celebration to drink in the shadows of the backyard—Gabriel, Joel, Paxton, and Daciana. Inseparable even back then. At some point in the middle of the night, Paxton left to walk Daciana home. Though, if asked about it, she would say it was the other way around, that she wanted to make sure Pax got home safe and sound. Darren had already snuck away earlier in the evening with one of the other females in the pack.
Gabriel and Joel had stayed out there longer, watching the stars and talking about the future. They’d been curious and drunk, and they discovered how much fun they could have with one another in the shadows.
That was before the curse, before so much was taken from him.
Before he realized exactly who Brinley was. The two stopped for a while after that discovery, but when the frustration and loneliness grew too overwhelming, he started turning to Joel once more.
“Thinking about that first night?” Joel crossed his arms with a smirk.
“It was such a good night.” He couldn’t help but chuckle as he turned to shut off the water in the tub.
Joel nodded then pushed off the sink. “I’ll head out so you can get cleaned up. If you need me, you know where to find me.”
Gabriel didn’t correct him about the bath not being for him. He followed Joel into the bedroom just as a knock sounded on the door. While Joel went to open it, Gabriel headed to Brinley. Her breathing was steady, but he could sense she was no longer asleep.
“How much of that did you hear?” He put a hand on her arm.
Her eyes opened. “Enough.”
A throat cleared behind him, and Gabriel turned to find the healer. “Brighid, could you please bring her something to help with a headache? Maybe something to eat too?”
The older woman hesitated a moment, looking between them, but she nodded and scurried off. She was the bravest of them all under normal circumstances, but he knew how terrified she was of Brinley. With good reason.
Brinley tried to sit and winced.
He started to help but stopped himself. Today had been a lot of back and forth, emotions were high, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything had changed between them. Pointing toward the bathroom, he said, “I ran a bath for you.”
She raised a brow. When he glanced down at her bloody body, she looked too and sighed. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she began to stand and stumbled. Gabriel caught her around the waist. Ignoring her protests, he scooped her up and brought her to the other room. Why was he always carrying her around?
He lowered her to her feet, holding on until she was steady. She had one hand on the wall, her eyes closed in clear pain.
“I’m going to help you.” He slowly reached for the back of her dress, waiting to see if she’d fight him.
Instead, she let out another sigh before whispering, “Thank you.”