A Cat's Chance in Hell (29 page)

“
Hmm.” Kyle chewed at his lip. “She texted me earlier to say she’s working on a movie set today. She definitely hasn’t had enough recovery time today. If we can get things wrapped up early enough, she won’t even know we’ve been out until it’s too late.” He said the words confidently enough to Alexander, but he knew she was going to be seriously pissed once she found out that they’d left her out of the mission. Well, he would deal with that later.

“
Fine,” Alexander agreed, “If you’re coming with us, be at the Estate before sunset.”

*************************

After some discussion with Russell and Donovan, Gabi decided to use Tynan for the close up shots of the panther tracking and then springing off a ledge because he was bigger and looked more dangerous, and Ciara for the shots of the tussle between the panther and the hero, because she was the less dominant and more playful of the two, and because Gabi didn’t want Derek and Tynan to have a male dominance standoff. She’d have to keep the two males as far apart as she could, and would still probably have to use subtle mind control to keep Tynan in check. Thank the Lord and Lady they hadn’t tried this without her and Russell, she would have to have a word with Tynan’s owners and get them to pull him from movie work until he got over his teenage nonsense and settled into responsible adulthood. Gabi let Russell do all the rehearsal shots with Ciara to make sure cameras and lighting were perfectly placed and everyone knew what to do and where to go. Derek practised his tussle with Ciara, and spent some extra time petting her and making friends, while Gabi occupied Tynan, making him practice his leap and trying out a selection of lures to find the one he liked best. They would use this to initiate his hunting behaviour for the ‘stalking panther’ shots.

It was well past lunch time before Donovan called a break, having got all the shots they needed from Tynan and most of the ones with Derek and Ciara. He would now go over what they’d shot, and they could fill in any gaps with Ciara after lunch. Tynan had begun to get belligerent and annoyed and Gabi was struggling to keep him calm, while Ciara took everything in her stride, an utter pro, Gabi decided, and a pleasure to work with. She’d found herself getting annoyed with Tynan towards the end of the shoot, which wasn’t like her at all, normally the animals calmed and centred her even if they were being difficult. She was having to work hard at keeping a cool head today.

At lunch she headed for the canteen, immersing herself in a group of technicians and crew that she’d worked with before, they were all clamouring to know how she’d injured herself this time. She embellished her story a little, blaming it on a problematic thoroughbred stallion who had thrown a fit about getting on a plane. She had just about finished the concocted story when she detected the subtle, spicy, masculine scent of Derek moving up behind her. She stopped herself spinning to meet him and tried to carry on the conversation as though he wasn’t there. It might have worked if the rest of the crowd hadn’t taken the hint in his stormy grey eyes and suddenly remembered things they had to do elsewhere. Gabi turned around in resignation.

“
A panicked horse, huh?” he asked sceptically.

“
More stubborn and obnoxious than panicked actually,” she correctly mildly. “You know the type.”

Derek raised one eyebrow and without looking away from her eyes reached to grab her right hand.

“
This doesn’t look much like a rope or nylon burn to me,” he said as he turned her hand over and brought it up to the light where they could both see the healing skin on the tips of her fingers. “And you don’t normally wear so much make-up, what are you hiding on your cheek?”

Damn, she cursed silently, he was one of the most observant full humans she’d ever met. She shouldn’t have pulled off her gloves to have lunch. Not that anyone else on set would know the difference between rope burn and acid burn. Only Derek. He was still holding onto her hand waiting for an answer.

“
Kitchen accident,” she lied smoothly, “hot oil burns like Hades.”

His looked turned even more sceptical. “Kitchen accident?” he asked incredulously. “Since when do you cook?”

“
And now you know why I don’t cook,” she retorted sharply. He was just going to have to be happy with that, she couldn’t exactly tell him the truth, though she always got the impression that he knew there was something else up with her. He was always suspicious of her injuries. He seemed to know she was always lying about them. Odd, but irrelevant. If she ever told him the truth he would probably have her committed to the nearest asylum.

His face turned pensive, as though trying to make up his mind about something. Gabi was searching desperately for Russell to help extricate her from this conversation.

“
It’s not a boyfriend who helped the “kitchen accident” along, is it?” he asked with his jaw set in a tight line. “If it is, you need to tell me now and stop protecting him.”

Gabi was completely thrown by the question for a few seconds, before his meaning dawned on her. She almost laughed, only the restrained anger burning in his eyes stopped her. He was worried that she had an abusive boyfriend. She had to appreciate his concern, and if she looked at the overall picture with an outsider’s eyes, she would have to admit that her constant litany of injuries could well be taken as proof of exactly that, but honestly, did Derek not know her at all? The concept of a boyfriend lifting his hand to her was beyond ridiculous; Kyle would fall on the floor laughing at the thought. But Derek meant well, and was simply worried about her, so she couldn’t be rude. She gently extricated her hand from his and laid it on his forearm.

“
I don’t have an abusive boyfriend, Derek, I promise,” she assured him. “I don’t have a boyfriend full stop.” Ok, so maybe she shouldn’t have told him that, but she needed to get some truth between them or he would never let the subject go.

“
You’ve met Razor,” she reminded him. He had come to her house once to drop off some equipment she’d lent him, and Razor had kept him from entering the house until Gabi locked him in her room. “Do you really think he would let anyone hurt me?”

“
What about that Kyle guy?” he asked, refusing to be pacified that easily. “I don’t want to be rude about your friends, but there’s something off about that guy.”

Gabi sighed, tired of the subject now, her annoyance rising again. “Kyle is one of my oldest and most trusted friends, he’s like a brother to me.” She couldn’t say that he would ‘never raise his hand to her’ because that would be lying again; they regularly hit each other during training sessions, so she had to try another angle. “And besides, do I really strike you as the type of woman who would take abuse from a man? Considering what you know about the martial arts I’ve studied, does it seem likely?”

Derek stared at her for a moment, looking deep into her eyes, and then he suddenly relented, nodding in agreement. “You’re right. Tiny as you are, I can’t see too many men getting the best of you physically. I just worry, you know?” His voice went a little quiet and distant. “I didn’t see the signs early enough with my sister, only when the bastard put her in hospital.” His eyes had turned sad.

“
I’m sorry about your sister,” Gabi said quietly. “Is she ok now?”

“
Yeah, she’s ok. Not much better than ok, but alive and healing. When that bastard gets out of prison in a few years he and I are going to have a long meeting in an isolated wood.”

Gabi got an evil twinkle in her eye at his comment. “Let me know if you need any help getting him to that meeting,” she said innocently. “I have friends in low places who would be more than happy to help.”

The easy smile was back in place on Derek’s face, the tension almost gone. “You bet,” he agreed. “Might even be more fun to watch a woman kick his ass, than to do it myself.”

“
Now you’re talking my language,” she grinned evilly. “I might even leave a piece of him for you.”

Their conversation ended with the call for them to return to set. Derek seemed far more at ease now that they had cleared the air about her injuries, and the shooting went smoothly.

***********************

After checking in at HQ and clearing his involvement in Julius’s mission with Byron, Kyle drove back to his apartment. He made some lunch, put his phone on silent and crashed on his couch to catch a few hours sleep before the sun set. He had a feeling it was going to be another long night. As he was drifting off, he remembered he hadn’t checked in with Gabi since that morning, she’d probably be wondering what he was up to. He made a mental note to text her when he woke up. What he hadn’t remembered was to set an alarm. When he woke hours later and realised it was only a few minutes to sunset, he grabbed the van’s keys and dashed out of the apartment, completely forgetting his mobile phone.

***********************

The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur, and Gabi was surprised to note at five o’clock that she hadn’t had any contact from Kyle or Byron or Julius. She had checked her phone regularly, but only a few clients had left voicemails or texts during the course of the day. She excused herself quickly from the set after wrapping up with the cats, kissing Donovan affectionately, and threatening to take him up on his offer of dinner very soon. Russell helped her drag all the gear back to the cars, and she thanked him profusely for the help, promising to keep in touch. She wearily climbed into the driver’s seat and brought the Mustang roaring to life. Then she activated her hands-free kit and dialled Kyle’s number.

Half an hour and half a dozen phone calls later, she had ascertained that neither Kyle nor Julius were answering their phones, and that Kyle had asked off Hunter duty tonight for business with Julius. Strange how no one had bothered to let her know what was going on. She felt tendrils of anger blossom inside her as she pulled the Mustang into her driveway. She checked her answering machine and e-mail quickly to make sure Kyle hadn’t left her a message, then fed Razor and Slinky and made herself a cup of coffee and a sandwich. She ate her snack quickly, trying to contain her irrational fury.

After an hour of waiting and wondering what the hell was going on, she decided she couldn’t stay in the house another second. She went to change out of her professional work clothes, pulling on jeans, boots and a black halter neck top. She was just strapping on Nex’s sheath when she caught her reflection in the hall mirror and noticed how the top showed off the spectacular bruising on her collarbone. She grimaced and added a lightweight leather jacket to her ensemble, grabbed her car keys and phone, and left the house.

Chapter 15

As Kyle and the group of Vampires poured out of the vehicle at the Estate, an air of easy camaraderie emanated from them. Kyle and the warriors who made up Julius’s elite guard were good-naturedly taunting each other. Julius was a few steps ahead of the guffawing group when a faint, unusual noise froze him, his hand still raised to touch the door handle. The rest fell instantly silent as they picked up on his tension. A loud crash resounded from one of the upstairs floors, followed by a vicious growl and then a howl of anger. More crashing and the sound of broken glass followed, then a slight pause and a splintering crack. The group flowed into action as naturally as water flowing down river, weapons out and ready for anything. Julius waited for Alexander’s nod before slamming the door open and surging through into the large, open downstairs hallway. The guard followed; flowing out around him in a defensive formation.

A small group of Vampires stood at the bottom of the large staircase, their eyes large and worried. They whirled around like a single entity at the sound of Julius and the fighters entering the room, battle-ready. Claudia and Gregory were amongst the group, and Claudia appeared to be wringing her hands in concern, while Gregory was biting his lip and looking equally as worried, but not in quite the way Julius was expecting.

“
What the hell is going on?” Julius demanded tightly, quickly scanning the building for foreign mind patterns or scents, but finding nothing unfamiliar.

Claudia and Gregory’s expressions instantly turned to relief, even though the sounds of destruction from upstairs had not diminished in the slightest. The other Vampires quickly moved away, melting into the shadows and away from Julius’s angry questions. It was Gregory who moved forward to explain, while Claudia stayed near the stairs, wincing at another loud smashing of something glass or crystal.

“
Uh, Sire,” his steward started uncertainly, “I’m glad to see you are all back unharmed. You can relax your weapons, we, uh, are not under attack.”

“
Gregory,” Julius growled impatiently, “just spit it out. What is going on upstairs?”

“
Sire. Angeli M.. urh, Miss Gabrielle. She arrived at the estate about twenty minutes ago,’ he said, as if that explained everything.

“
What do you mean about Gabrielle?” Julius demanded, confused. “Has someone dared to pick a fight with her against my orders?”

“
No Sire, of course not, no one would dare.” “Then what’s going on?” Kyle demanded, patting his pockets, looking for something.

“
She was very angry when she arrived. She wanted me to tell her where you had gone,” the steward hurriedly explained. “I told her you would be back soon and that she could wait at the bar, I extended her every courtesy,” his voice took on an edge of indignation. “She refused to calm down and ran upstairs to your office. Then the crashing started, but because of your orders no one wanted to go and confront her. We just didn’t know what to do, Sire.” Another crash punctuated the end of his sentence.