Chapter 20 #2
Violation? All thoughts of sexy-time tales evaporated as Selene cast an uneasy look at Fenris, but he was focused on his men.
“You finished the trace.”
“We just got a call from Bannock,” Gabriel said.
“They’re on their way downtown,” Kipp added.
Fen was already on his feet. “Very well. You can fill me in when they arrive. I’ll meet you in front of the restaurant in a minute.”
The two men nodded. Gabriel turned and walked away without another word. Kipp smiled at Selene once more.
“Great to meet you, Selene,” he quipped. “Hope you have a fine evening.”
He made a gesture as though tipping a hat to her, pivoted on his heel, and followed Gabriel out of the café.
Fen pulled out his wallet and dropped several bills on the table along with his car keys.
“Selene, I’m sorry to leave you like this. Take my car back to your house. I’ll have one of my men drop me off to pick it up at another time.”
“Is everything okay?” She was startled by his abrupt change in demeanor.
“I’ll explain when I’m able,” he said, leaning down. “Right now, I have an urgent matter to attend to.”
He brushed his lips against hers. She imagined he’d meant it to be a brief, chaste kiss.
But the moment his mouth met hers, her arms flew around his neck.
Before she knew what was happening, she’d locked her fingers together and dragged him down into the booth.
Along with a werewolf appetite, she’d gained some extra strength.
She kissed him hungrily, crushing herself against him.
His hands caressed the tops of her thighs, and her heart pummeled her rib cage, her body screaming for him to be closer still.
“This has to wait.” His voice was hoarse as he pulled back and gently, but firmly, disengaged himself from her grasp.
She blushed and forced herself to scoot back, despite her body’s protests. “Oh god. I’m sorry. I don’t know what that was.”
He laughed and reached out to run his fingertips along her jawline. “Yes, you do.”
When he straightened, he kept his gaze on her. “May I come to you tonight?”
Her mind flashed back to her bedroom and then the shower. She knew any sound she made would be a croak, squeak, or whimper, so she nodded.
A smile broke through his otherwise serious demeanor, and Selene grabbed the edge of the table so she wouldn’t lunge at him again.
“It may be late,” he said with a slight furrow of his brow.
She wordlessly pulled her spare house key from her purse and put it in his hand.
“Just try not to wake Allie,” she managed in a husky whisper.
“Until tonight then.”
She watched as Fen left the restaurant.
“Oh.” Tom appeared with another plate of breakfast meats. “Did he want to cancel this order?”
Selene looked at the heap of bacon and sausage and licked her lips.
“Can I get that to go?”
Gabriel was accustomed to waiting for orders, but tonight impatience set his teeth on edge. Especially when he had to watch his packmate dance on the sidewalk in the meantime.
“So what do you think?” Kipp grinned and continued to hop on and off the curb in time with some song only he could hear.
Gabriel cast a weary glance at him. “It’s not our place to have an opinion.”
“Drop the poker face, Gabe.” Kipp jabbed at his side, forcing him to whirl away to avoid the sharp strike.
“Knock it off,” Gabriel growled. “We’re working. And I told you not to call me that.”
Kipp’s teasing was nothing new. It was always irritating, but Gabriel rarely wanted to punch him. At that moment Gabriel would have liked to flatten Kipp just to take the edge off his own foul temper.
“We can’t do anything until Fen gives the order, and your man-of-stone act is creeping me out.” Kipp laughed. “I’ve known you for five hundred years. Your blood runs as hot as any wolf’s. You notice the way he is with her. We all notice. She’s a good one. Fen’s lucky.”
“That’s Fen’s call.” Gabriel’s lips thinned. Kipp had no idea how hot Gabriel’s blood was currently running. No one knew, and Gabriel intended to keep it that way. “And if he’s right, luck had nothing to do with it.”
Kipp rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. Do you think she’ll go for it?”
“That remains to be seen.” Gabriel didn’t like speculating about their pack leader’s judgment.
It felt too close to questioning Fen’s authority—to betrayal.
Then again, a new pack member affected all Avondale’s wolves and was something Fenris would seek counsel about from his closest advisers.
Gabriel had been so distracted by his own concerns that he hadn’t given much thought to whether Selene Jones should be turned.
He probably should so that when Fenris did ask his opinion, he had something reasonable to say.
And that might be the right time to finally tell his pack leader .
. . no. Gabriel wouldn’t think about that right now.
There couldn’t be a less appropriate time.
To distract himself, he said to Kipp, “I don’t remember the last time we brought a human over. ”
“Sure you do,” Kipp countered and did an impromptu handstand on the curb. “It was Josh.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” Gabriel mused, then frowned at his upside-down packmate. “Still into the breakdancing thing, huh?”
Kipp’s antics were annoying, but the dancing was a definite improvement over his mime phase in the eighteenth century.
“It keeps me from getting bored while we’re waiting for orders. And I get nervous if I’m too still right before a fight. I don’t have your patience.” Kipp flipped back onto his feet. “And yeah, the last one was Josh.”
“No wonder it seems so long.” Gabriel shook his head. He raised a brow as Kipp continued his frenetic dance on the sidewalk. “Forcing one’s body to stillness in the face of battle is a form of meditation.”
Gabriel believed his words, but he hoped there would be no fighting tonight.
“You meditate?”
Gabriel’s only response was a slight shrug. Explaining the value of meditation to Kipp would be like extolling the virtues of vegetarianism to a vampire.
“Weird.”
“Not as weird as dancing on the sidewalk.” Normally Gabriel would have let it go, but sniping at Kipp made him feel a little better. “Especially when you have no music.”
“What I’m doing is not weird, it’s a distraction—and the music is in my head.”
“I think you just proved my point for me.”
A silver Mercedes pulled up alongside them and parked. The tinted window whirred down.
“Are you going on tour, Kipp?” Bannock leaned out and grinned before opening the passenger side door and stepping onto the sidewalk.
“Just waiting for my agent to call,” Kipp returned. Ewan exited the driver’s side and approached them.
The four men, Fenris Hall’s guard, were like brothers, but Gabriel found it interesting that they were so markedly different from one another.
Kipp, with his sun-kissed hair and golden skin, liked to play the fool, but he was as quick thinking and deadly in a fight as any of them.
Bannock mirrored Kipp’s playful nature to a degree, but he wielded humor like a knife, with sharp, cutting observations.
He was largest of the guard, dark haired, dark eyed, and quick tempered.
Bannock’s opposite was Ewan, lean and lithe, with moss-green eyes that often shone with compassion.
Ewan chose mercy when he could afford to.
He was the kindest of them, the one who held the secrets of their hearts.
But not even Ewan knew the heaviness that currently weighed on Gabriel’s heart.
Gabriel was aware that his fellow guard considered him brooding and surly, often reticent.
He preferred to think of himself as thoughtful, unwilling to speak without carefully considering any matter at hand.
Usually that wasn’t a problem. Gabriel had long been comfortable with himself and his way of living.
But in an unprecedented crisis where he was caught between duty and desire, the ability to deliberate and use reason had been stolen from him. And he had no idea what to do.
“Where’s Fen?” Ewan asked, pulling Gabriel back into the moment.
“Right here.” Fen appeared around the corner, face drawn, gray eyes storming.
Kipp started at the pack leader’s sudden arrival and barely managed to keep himself upright as he slipped off the curb. Gabriel remained perfectly still, but he threw a mocking half smile at Kipp.
“Here’s the report.” Ewan handed a stack of papers to Fen, who began to frown immediately as his eyes scanned the pages.
Bannock’s grin vanished. “Sorry, Fen. It’s much worse than we thought.”
Gabriel winced inwardly. He hadn’t read the full report, but Ewan had given him a summary of its contents. When Gabriel realized what would follow, it felt like barbed wire wrapped around his heart with a slow, inexorable squeeze that would ultimately kill him.
“I see that.” Fen turned another page and walked to the front passenger door of the car. “Get in.”
Bannock, Gabriel, and Kipp slid into the back seat. Fen was still reading when he closed the passenger door. Ewan returned to the driver’s seat.
“Someone explain to me how this has been going on without our knowledge?” Fen’s question barely concealed his snarl.
“She’s a very clever little witch,” Kipp offered, and Gabriel slugged him in the shoulder. Hard. “Fuck it, Gabriel! That hurt.”
It was meant to. Gabriel bared his teeth at Kipp, who stared at Gabriel with confusion as he rubbed his shoulder.
Of course Kipp was confused. It wasn’t like Gabriel to hit his packmates without good reason.
But Kipp had no idea what Gabriel was going through.
Gabriel was having a difficult time facing the truth of it.
“Not the answer I was looking for.” Fen’s voice was dangerous.
Gabriel glowered at Kipp as if to say, I told you.
Kipp rolled his eyes. It wasn’t the real reason Gabriel had punched him, but at the moment it served as explanation.
“She’s covered her bases well,” Bannock told Fenris as they drove through town. “Doesn’t use the same suppliers for more than a few orders, doesn’t move bulk. Single items only. It’s a different kind of trafficking than what you usually see.”
Fen nodded.
“She’s been a friend to Selene, Fenris,” Ewan said, meeting Fen’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “And she’s well liked in Avondale.”
Fen didn’t speak, but his jaw tensed. Gabriel’s hands fisted in his lap.
“Josh seemed to think Selene and her niece will take it poorly,” Bannock added and glanced at the pack leader.
Tension built in the car as they waited for Fen’s orders. When silence stretched out, Gabriel dared to hope and couldn’t stop himself from speaking.
“Does that change our response?” Gabriel asked, voice taut. “Perhaps—”
“No,” Fen cut him off. “The response will be as the law requires. No exceptions.”
There was no arguing when Fenris took that tone. Gabriel tried to pretend the words didn’t slice into his gut.
Why should he make an exception? Gabriel chastised himself. The law is the law. She knew the law. We all know it.
A few glances were exchanged among the men, but no one objected. The five of them had been together for so long, fought and bled for each other, relied upon one another for centuries. Fenris had yet to lead them astray. Gabriel had to trust in that. In Fen.
“Right then,” Kipp said. “Let’s get naked.”
He began to peel off his clothes.
Ewan snorted, unbuttoning his shirt. Gabriel glared at Kipp.
“Do you always have to say that?” Gabriel growled as he shrugged his leather coat off.
“What?” Kipp laughed. “Just keeping it real. I don’t want to lose a shirt every time we do this. Do you?”
“Let’s hope you aren’t called to this task again for some time,” Fen said grimly.
The car pulled up to the curb outside the storefront. It was still illuminated from within, though the sign on the door announced the shop was closed for the day.
“Stay with the car.” Fen glanced at Ewan as he climbed from the passenger seat. “We should be back in a few minutes.”
Ewan nodded and kept the engine idling.
Fen opened the back door, and three massive wolves emerged.
“I don’t think she’ll resist,” Fen said as the wolves watched him with gleaming eyes. “Do not injure her unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Gabriel flicked his gaze toward his pack leader, his muscles tensing at the order.
He despised the fact that he’d been about to snarl at Fenris, and he could barely keep himself from whining with distress.
But any inner turmoil he struggled with paled in comparison to all he owed Fen: his loyalty, his life.
No matter what was asked of him tonight, he couldn’t forget that.
Natalie couldn’t ignore the unwelcome feeling any longer.
It had been there all day, like the constant scratching of a mouse in the walls or a shadow that flickers on the edge of one’s vision.
Natalie rolled her shoulders back, wanting to shake the uneasiness, the looming sense of danger that wouldn’t leave her.
She’d considered scrying a couple of times earlier in the day, but that felt like giving in to paranoia—or worse, like an invitation for trouble.
She headed into her small sanctuary, lit candles, and blended incense.
Cedar for power, deer’s tongue and sage for intuition.
Smoke curled in the air and wove around her.
She took long, slow breaths as she shuffled the cards and let the heady scents draw her to stillness and center her mind. She cut the deck and turned a card.
Ten of swords. Damn.
Natalie closed her eyes and wondered if there was still time to run.
She heard shattering glass as whatever was coming for her broke through the shop’s front windows.
She jumped to her feet and bolted for the back door.
She’d only made it a few steps when a heavy push from behind knocked her to the floor. Air rushed out from her lungs.
She managed to roll over and stared up at the snarling wolf. Its front paws came down on her chest, pinning her to the floor. Two more wolves stalked up and flanked the first. Natalie didn’t scream. She knew it wasn’t worth it.
Fenris Hall walked into the back room. He moved slowly, almost casually, and paused when he stood over her.
“I’m sorry, Natalie,” he said as he looked down at her. The cold burn of his eyes was more terrifying than the snarling wolf that held her against the ground. “You’ve left me no choice.”