Dark Refuge (8 page)

“Well, that’s certainly good to know. It’s about time.” She felt his chest vibrate under her arm as he chuckled.

“I agree. Ain’t gonna happen. I’m a true convert to the new and improved adult Emeline Isobelle Cheval.” He rolled over and kissed her again. She kissed him back but then she got the giggles. “Three times before breakfast, Gabe? You’ll keel over from exhaustion and starvation.”

“But don’t you want to test what we just did? Make sure it holds for a while?”

Before she could answer him, Em heard Gabe’s mobile phone chirping in the other room. “Hold that thought,” he said, heading for the kitchen.

And didn’t that man have a truly fine ass. Grinning, Em rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t at all what she’d expected when she realized it was Gabriel getting off the plane. Not at all.

Chapter 5

Gabe recognized Alex’s ringtone, so he grabbed the mobile phone and flipped it to face view. “Hey, man. Why are you calling at the crack of dawn?”

“Crack of dawn? It’s after seven. Annie and I want to know what’s going on. Is Em awake?”

“She is now.” Gabe laughed and thought of carrying the phone with its camera into the bedroom, but figured that might not go over all that well. “Why don’t you guys come on over. We’ll figure out something for breakfast.”

“Sounds good. Twenty minutes?”

“Works.” He saw Annie peeking over Alex’s shoulder. “Hey, Annie. You still hanging out with this loser?”

“It’s a tough job, Gabe. A struggle, but I manage. See you in a bit.”

“She’s got your number, Alex. You’re a beaten man.”

Alex glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “Yeah. Isn’t it great?”

Laughing, Gabe ended the connection. Twenty minutes. He wondered if he and Em might just . . . she stepped into the kitchen, still all tousled and sexy, and wasn’t this how their morning began a little over an hour ago? “Hey, Em. Alex and Annie will be over in about twenty minutes. Do you think we . . .”

She burst out laughing. “No. Why did I know you were going to ask me that. I’m going to get a shower. Make some more coffee, okay? And check the GPS.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Grinning broadly, he saluted, but he watched her leave the kitchen, admiring the curve of her perfect butt and the way her hair swung against her naked back with each step. Only after she’d moved out of view did he follow her into the bedroom and grab his sweats. He pulled them on and went back to the kitchen to check the GPS. Sissy was still in the same location. By the time Em was out of the shower and drying her hair over the floor heater, Gabe had bacon frying, the griddle heating, and pancake batter mixed. Alex and Annie arrived a few minutes later.

Even though Alex was a couple years older than Gabe and Jace, they’d all hung out together when they were kids. They’d been like any regular pack of boys, except all had the ability to become predators. All kinds of predators. Gabe often wondered how their parents had handled such a precocious group, but from a kid’s viewpoint, it had been a charmed childhood. Aaron Cheval, Em’s brother, had been one of their pack, along with Mac, Gabe’s twin, Jack Temple and Connor Trent. All great friends and good, solid adults.

Of all of them, Connor had been the first to take a mate when he’d fallen hard and fast for Jack’s little sister, Andrea Temple. They’d both still been in college, but Connor said that one day he looked at Andrea and knew she was the one. Alex and Annie had rediscovered one another this past summer around the same time Gabe’s sister Lily had met Sebastian. Lily and Seb had married shortly after mating, but Lily’d never been one to mess around when there was something she wanted.

She’d obviously wanted Sebastian, but that had turned out to be an amazing match. Just like Jace Wolf and Romy Sarika. The whole group was beginning to pair off, though Alex and Annie were still holding back on the wedding. Annie’s dad made no bones about the fact he wanted to walk his baby girl down the aisle, which seemed to be the only reason Annie’d refused to set a date. One more way, Gabe figured, for Annie to wrest control from her often overbearing but much-loved father. Alex didn’t seem to care one way or the other. He and Annie were bonded mates and he obviously adored her.

Gabe finished making pancakes while Em filled Alex and Annie in on Sissy’s story. “So that’s it, for now,” she said. “Sissy is still in the same place, and once we have breakfast we’re going to see if we can get close enough to mindspeak with her. She’s got the nutrients and it shouldn’t be too much longer before she can shift. That might come in handy when we’re ready to stage a rescue.”

“So today, we’re only verifying where they’re being kept?” Annie clutched Alex’s hand. She’d been held captive by Sebastian Xenakis’s father for a brief time, slated to be a blood sacrifice until Alex and Sebastian led a rescue and saved her life. “I hate thinking of her being held against her will. Of any of those women being held.”

Alex raised their linked hands and kissed Annie’s knuckles. “We’ll get them out, sweetheart. But Em’s right. We don’t want to rush it and risk any of them getting hurt.”

“I know.” She sighed. “I know you’re right. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.” This time, Alex kissed her temple.

Gabe’s heart sort of did a little flip, and he wondered how it would be to have Em depend on him the way Annie obviously needed and trusted Alex. He glanced at her and caught Em staring at him. The moment he caught her gaze, she blushed and looked away. Grinning, he took a sip of his coffee, but he was smiling at himself as much as he was at Emeline.

The concept of finding a mate hadn’t even been on his radar until this summer, when he’d watched Jace and Romy fall in love. In the beginning, from his point of view as an outsider looking in, it had been fascinating, but removed from anything remotely connected to his life. Then, as the two had grown closer, he’d seen the changes in Jace, a friend he had always admired—a man he admired even more, now.

Gabe had wondered how he would feel if there was a woman in his life. Not anyone in particular, just some nebulous female of his imagination, but still a woman who might love him as much as Romy loved Jace.

One he might love and want to protect the way Jace was with Romy, or Alex with Annie. The change in his thinking this morning was huge, and it was going to take some adjustment, but suddenly his nebulous, imaginary female had a face. She had a personality, and a beautiful smile, and a body that raised his temperature to boiling.

Best of all, she had a name, and it was Emeline.

• • •

Alex and Annie cleaned up the kitchen, and Em got the beds made while Gabe took a quick shower, but it wasn’t easy, keeping her mind off naked Gabe, especially while she was making his bed and fighting her inner wolf’s feral desire to roll in the sheets he’d slept in. It was even worse when she made her own bed, ripe with the scent of their lovemaking.

In fact, it was a relief to load everyone in her little SUV, even if it meant listening to the guys complain about the tight fit while she drove across town to the financial district and CGI headquarters. After Em parked in the company lot, the four of them headed toward the apartment complex near the Embarcadero where the GPS signal had remained fairly constant.

They found benches in a small park beneath the apartment window. They’d agreed that Gabe would make contact, but all of them were linked with him when he called out to Sissy.

Gabe? I hear you. Where are you?

In the park, hopefully below your window. Can you look out and show me? There are four of us—Em and me, and our friends Alex and Annie. We’re sitting on a couple of benches. Are all of the women there?

No. Russo took Janine, one of the girls, out early this morning. I don’t know where. Gabe, I took the pill last night, but I think I’m allergic to it. My arms are itching like crazy today.

That was fast—and it’s not an allergy. It means you’re very close to shifting. You must have been close when you were captured. Just not close enough.

Oh. I had no idea. What do you want me to do?

Open your curtains, do something to show us where you are. The locator is not as precise as we’d like, but it got us this far.

“There.” Em pointed to a window south of where they were sitting. Sissy had stepped outside onto a balcony, but she didn’t do anything to show that she recognized them. She glanced their way, then quickly went back inside.

I hear someone coming. Don’t let them see you, Gabe. If it’s Russo, he’ll recognize you.

We’re going. Be strong, Sissy. Before we leave, I want you to meet Alex and Annie. They don’t live far from here, possibly close enough to hear you should you call on them.

Hi, Sissy. I’m Alex Aragat, Annie is my mate.

Hi, Sissy. I’m Annie. Can you hear us clearly?

I can. How do I contact you?

Gabe answered.
Think our names and if we’re within range, we’ll hear you. Right now you’re not blocking, and that’s a good thing. Once we have you safe, we’ll teach you how to conceal your private thoughts, but for now we need to be able to hear you should you need us. Don’t worry, though. We won’t snoop.

He’s here. I’m pretending to sleep.

Okay. If all of you are together at any time today, no matter how many of the men are there, let us know. And if you can, picture the inside of the apartment and where all of you are. We can see those images in your mind.

Okay. But not now. I can’t talk to you and act normal with them. I’m sorry.

Don’t be sorry. You’re doing amazingly well. Be safe.

They headed back toward CGI with Em and Annie leading. The guys walked behind them, almost as if they kept guard. It was a new feeling for Em. A safe feeling. She glanced once more at the balcony where Sissy’d been standing moments ago. “She is so brave,” she said. “She’s been their captive for over five years, forced into prostitution, treated as nothing more than a commodity. I really admire her. I don’t think I could ever be that brave.”

Annie frowned, stopped walking and took both of Em’s hands in hers. “Em? How can you say that? You are brave. What you did when we were kids? That took amazing courage.”

“What I did? What are you talking about?” Em shuddered, but she didn’t know why. She remembered her mom saying that when you shivered for no reason, there really was a reason. Someone was walking over your grave. But that was stupid, because if you were alive, you didn’t have a grave. At least not yet.

Annie shot a quick glance at Alex, who merely shrugged, and then frowned at Gabe, who shook his head. “Don’t any of you remember?” She stared at Em. “It happened when you were fourteen, the year that man snatched you from the mall in Kalispell. He held you for two days, I think. He was a serial rapist and everyone knew he’d taken you because they had the video from the mall security cameras.”

“What? What in the hell are you talking about?” She didn’t mean to sound so confrontational, but for whatever reason, Annie’s stupid story scared the crap out of her. Shaking her head, denying it with everything she had, Em said, “Impossible, Annie. That never happened. Believe me, if something like that had happened to me, I’d remember, don’t you think?” She pulled her hands free of Annie’s as she laughed it off and started to walk away, but Gabe’s hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“Annie, what do you remember about it?”

He guided them over to another couple of benches at the far end of the park. They’d almost walked out of the green space, but now Em was glad to have a place to sit. Somehow, what Annie was saying felt so wrong, almost as if it fed that darkness in her mind.

Annie glanced at the guys before she said anything, which struck Em as weird. The whole idea of telling a story that had to be a lie was weird, but she figured she’d have to listen, since Gabe and Alex definitely intended to.

Annie stared off in the distance. Gathering her thoughts for certain, but was it to make up a story or remember something that actually happened? Again, that unexpected shiver raced over Em’s arms, down her spine.

Annie glanced at Em and shrugged. “For what it’s worth,” she said, “it feels very strange to be telling this story to you, Em. I find it so hard to believe you don’t remember this. Anyway, four of us had gone to the mall. It was twelve years ago, in late winter. February, I think, and it was cold and snowy and we were all bored because it was too cold even for our wolves, so none of us had been out to run. It was you and me and Phoenix Wolf and Gabe’s little sister Lucia. I was older, nineteen then, so I was the token grown-up. My job was to keep an eye on the three of you. Your dad dropped us off. He had some errands to run, so he said he’d be back in a couple of hours. I was hungry and went to the food court, but you and Phoenix wanted to look at a couple of stores. They were in the same mall and you had your phones, and we were all perfectly capable of mindspeaking for a lot farther than the length of the mall, so I didn’t think anything of letting the two of you go shop together. Neither one of you ever got into trouble. Ever. Anyway, Luci and I went to get lunch and you and Phoenix took off to check out some clothing shops.”

Em shook her head. It felt like Annie was talking about a complete stranger. She didn’t remember any of this. Not a bit. She shot a quick look at Gabe, but he merely shrugged and hugged her close against his side.

“Anyway, about two hours later, Phoenix caught up with Luci and me, and she was so pissed off at you. Said some hot guy had been talking to the two of you, and the next thing she knew, you’d taken off with him. She said she’d hung out, waiting for you to get back, but you never showed up, and that’s when she came looking for Luci and me because it was almost time for your dad to pick us up.”

“Annie, I don’t remember any of this.” Em realized she’d grabbed Annie’s hands, and she had to force herself to let go, but she was having trouble catching her breath. It was like hearing a story about a person she didn’t even know, but it terrified her. “What happened?”