22. Gabriel
Chapter 22
Gabriel
18 years earlier…
A ll Gabriel could see every way he looked was blood. So much blood. His stomach twisted and turned, but he told himself to keep walking. Wailing pierced through the thick soleil air. There weren’t any more sounds of fighting though. The battle had ended.
And he was terrified of what he would find in the square.
Too many bodies littered the streets—that of both DeLoup and sorcières. It made him sick. Bile worked its way up his throat, but he continued to move. He needed to find his father.
Reaching the main square, he spotted two groups of people divided by hatred. His father stood with Keir, Malal, and Brinley, among some of his friends’ parents. They’d survived. He ran toward his father, not hearing what the old woman opposite them was saying.
As soon as Gabriel reached them, his father’s eyes widened. He held out an arm and pushed Gabriel behind him as he hissed, “I told you to stay inside with your mother.”
Gabriel knew that as the eldest son of their alpha, he needed to be brave and strong, even at eight years old. But he held on to his father’s arm, fighting back tears. “I had to… m-make sure you…”
His father’s features softened, and he ran a hand over Gabriel’s head. “Stay behind me.”
Beside them, three-year-old Brinley cried in her mother’s arms. Gabriel scooted closer and lifted a hand toward her. Her head rested on her mother’s shoulder, but she finally saw him and reached out her own little fingers to hold his. As her tears slowed, he gave her a smile. He wanted to make her laugh like he did a few weeks ago in the meadow by the lake house, but he knew they needed to stay quiet.
Her mother and father were arguing with the other woman.
“I don’t care if he’s her father,” the old witch said. “She’s an abomination, and you two are coming with me.”
“Don’t you dare talk about her like that.” Malal brushed a hand through Brinley’s curly brown hair.
Were they talking about thelittle girl? Gabriel stepped closer to them as a surge of protectiveness rushed through him, releasing his father. He didn’t want the witches to take her. They were cruel killers.
Keir must have felt the same because he moved in front of them, extending his claws. “You will not touch my wife or my daughter.”
That seemed to anger the lady. The sky grew darker as the wind picked up. A handful of witches stood behind her, no doubt ready to continue fighting. At least twenty DeLoup were around Gabriel. But with their magic, strong sorcières could take on multiple wolves at a time without much trouble at all.
Gabriel tightened his hand on Brinley’s, running his thumb across her soft skin as she hiccupped.
“Your wife?” the mean witch screeched. “She’s my daughter, whom you stole! She was barely more than a child when you ruined her.”
“I was eighteen when I got pregnant, not a child.” Malal used her free arm to push aside her husband. “And I married Keir because we fell in love. Do not act as if this wasn’t my choice.”
The witch sneered at them. “He has tricked you. Filled your head with lies. I will not lose another child to you monsters.”
Gabriel looked from her to his silent father, wondering why he wasn’t stepping in to stop this. He was the alpha; he was in charge here.
“What happened to Tyrus?—”
“Do not mention your brother’s name to me,” the woman said cutting off Malal.
“I love Malal.” Keir retracted his claws to hold her hand. “Why can’t you accept that? We are married and happy. Our daughter?—”
“Is a hybrid monster,” the witch finished. “And if you think I’m going to let you use her to unite our people, you are sorely mistaken. That will never happen, not so long as I’m the queen.”
Gabriel’s jaw dropped. That was why his father wasn’t taking control. He might have been in charge within Zareia, but if this was truly Queen Mildred, she held all the power. She wasn’t just the queen. She was the High Sorceress.
“Then, maybe it’s time that was no longer true,” Keir said in a low voice that sent a shiver down Gabriel’s spine. Gabriel’s godfather was one of the kindest people he knew, but the beta was strong and fierce when he needed to be. And Gabriel knew he would do whatever it took to protect his family.
Which was why he was in such shock when Keir suddenly dropped to his knees. Keir pawed at his own throat, and Malal screamed, frightening the little girl in her arms. Before Gabriel could fully register what was happening, he was reaching for Brinley. Malal didn’t fight him, instead trusting him with the girl and then raising her hands to fight whatever invisible force was strangling Keir.
Gabriel held the back of Brinley’s head as she cried, making sure she couldn’t see her mother and grandmother fighting. Her father dying. His own eyes stung with tears, and he wished there was something he could do to help.
His father’s claws extended, but he hit a clear shield as he tried to step forward. He cursed and hit a fist against the solid air. “Stop this!”
Keir’s red face started turning purple. Some of the other witches had moved, hands raised to stop any of the DeLoup from stepping in. Malal was held in place, forced to watch her husband’s life fade. When he collapsed to the ground, gasping, Malal let out a wail that broke Gabriel’s heart. He closed his eyes and turned his face into Brinley’s hair as he hugged her close. Her little arms were tight around his neck, her tears soaking his shirt.
“Shh,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to her head. “It’s all right. I’ve got you.”
The words were for him as much as the toddler. Malal’s cries changed into something more gut wrenching, and he knew without looking that Keir was dead.
“Give me the girl,” Queen Mildred said over her daughter’s sobs.
At that, Gabriel’s eyes snapped open. He tightened his hold on Brinley and tried to turn, but he couldn’t move. It was as if his feet were nailed to the ground. His heart pounded as he tried to come up with a way to stop this from happening.
“No.” He shook his head, not even caring that he was crying in front of his whole pack. “Please. Just leave her.”
The queen sighed, as if exhausted by this argument. “I will not repeat myself, boy.”
“Please,” he begged, but it didn’t make a difference. One of the witches neared him and took Brinley from his arms. He tried to reach for her. “No!”
He fought the hold that the queen’s magic had on him, managing to take one infinitesimal step. His father shouted his name in warning. Gabriel kept pushing, even as the witch carried the screaming little girl to her grandmother. Gabriel looked down at Malal, who was still crying over her husband, and he didn’t understand why she wasn’t fighting for her daughter.
He inched closer, and the queen narrowed her eyes on him before turning her attention to his father. Someone pulled Malal to her feet, dragging her away as the High Sorceress spoke. “Your people stole my children.”
“No—”
She waved a hand, interrupting him. “Now, you will know that pain.”
“Don’t touch him,” Gabriel’s father growled. “He had no part of this.”
Gabriel glanced back and forth between them. Fear tightened his lungs, and he swallowed past the lump in his throat.
“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t lay a hand on your boy.” The witch’s lips curved in a malicious grin. Her voice changed into something deep and luring. “But on the eve of adulthood, your eldest child, the person you love most, shall be lost from this world.”
Present day…
Gabriel combed his fingers through his sister’s pale hair over and over, watching her sleep. For so long, he’d lived his life in fear, knowing his time was coming to an end, that he wouldn’t make it past his eighteenth birthday. Then, Rose started getting tired. Her body grew weaker with each passing year, but it wasn’t until she turned ten that they really noticed a difference. They thought maybe it was some sort of illness plaguing her.
Until he turned eighteen and nothing happened to him.
Until his father told him the truth.
Until Gabriel learned that Donovan, their great alpha, was not, in fact, his birth father. The man who’d sired Gabriel had been killed before he was born, and Donovan had been his mother’s friend since childhood. He’d taken her in after she had Gabriel, and they fell in love. They married before Gabriel reached his first birthday.
He never knew any different.
When he reached his eighteenth birthday and they all realized he wasn’t the cursed one, his father explained that he had assumed it would be him because blood or not, Gabriel was his son. He hadn’t thought the witch would curse his daughter who hadn’t yet been born.
“She still hasn’t woken up?” Paxton’s voice cut into his thoughts of the past.
Gabriel shook his head, not looking away from Rose. It took him a moment, but he realized that Paxton was calm. He hadn’t rushed in, asking what happened. Which meant someone had told him before he came upstairs. “Did she run away?”
Paxton moved closer, sitting on the other side of the bed. “No. She’s in your study. She… ran outside in panic, but not to leave.” A moment passed before he added, “Gabe, she’s scared.”
He finally lifted his eyes to his friend. “For Rose?”
“For Rose… of you. She thinks you’re going to kill her because you won’t believe she didn’t do this.”
Something in his heart cracked a little. He took in his sister then glanced in the direction of the door.
“Go,” Pax said. “Now is the time. She’s sympathetic and concerned. If you’re ever going to convince her to help?—”
“She tried.”
“What?”
Gabriel explained how she’d reached for Rose without hesitation and attempted to heal her. “She wanted to; I could see it. They’ve truly become friends.”
The last statement nearly stole his breath away. Brinley had been taken from them shortly after her third birthday; Rose hadn’t even been born yet. They hadn’t met until a few years later when Malal and Brinley returned, but the girls had become fast friends then too. He’d been so angry at his sister for taking Brinley’s attention when he wanted it all to himself. Even as children he’d been drawn to her. He remembered how badly he wanted to hide her away and protect her, to keep her from ever being taken again.
But her mother had taken her again. They’d only visited for a couple days, and he didn’t understand at the time why they hadn’t just stayed. She did this for years, coming for a day or two a couple times a year. It wasn’t until later that he learned that it was out of fear that she always returned to Chateau des Reines. She wanted Brinley to know her father’s people, but she was scared of what the queen would do if she found out.
“Sit with Rose?” He pushed to his feet, needing to find Brinley.
“Of course.”
Gabriel leaned down to press a kiss to her brow before walking away. He made it down to his study, but it was empty. “Brinley?”
As he reached for the bedroom door, something banged against it followed by a click. The knob wouldn’t turn. She’d locked him out.
“Let me in, bijou.”
“No,” she said in a quiet voice through the wood.
He smacked a hand on it and heard her gasp. “Please don’t make me break down my own damn door.”
A beat of silence passed.
“I know you didn’t do anything to Rose,” he said, trying a different angle. “This isn’t the first time it’s happened to her. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to…” make sure you’re all right , “explain.”
When the lock clicked once more, and she pulled the door open, he let out a relieved breath. It took everything he had not to wrap her in his arms. She had her hair braided back today, giving him a clear view of her beautiful face. The brown dress she wore was in a little bit better shape than the others he’d brought her, but it was obviously old and secondhand.
“Is she all right?” Brinley pushed past him into the study and went to sit on the window bench.
“I… don’t know.” That was the truth. Because it depended on if the curse was broken. He knew what was behind her body shutting down, but he didn’t know what was actually wrong. Nothing the healers tried helped. And without being able to go to other villages and communicate with outsiders whenever they wanted, it was impossible to seek out a way to break the curse or cure her. The best they could do was alleviate some of the pain and keep her comfortable.
Gabriel moved closer and sat beside Brinley.
“This has happened before?”
“Yes.” He angled toward her but looked out the window. “The first time was about six months ago, but she’d been growing weaker before that.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her nod to herself. Then, she asked the one thing he needed her to. “She’s part of the curse? That’s why you want my help so much.”
He met her gaze and slowly reached out to take her hand, tapping his thumb on the back of her palm.