Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 (22 page)

He knew right then as they made love that his new life was just starting. He could forget whatever or whoever he had been before. He was a new man, one in love with an amazing woman he was never going to let go of, ever.

Noelle smiled at Gabe. “I told you to just let them settle things.”

Gabe rolled his eyes. “I still don’t like it when things aren’t in my hands.”

She shook her head and took his hand in hers. “You worry too much.”

Gabe stood and paced the floor. He had been so relaxed and laidback when they’d first met, but lately she had seen another side of him. He wasn’t all confidence, which she loved. But she did worry about him. Gabe had been working on this plan for so long that she worried about his reaction if something didn’t go the way he wanted.

Gabe shook his head. “There’s just so much going on right now.”

“What did you do before me?” she asked.

He stopped and looked at her. “I feel like this is a trick question.”

“I mean, all this,” she said, motioning with her hands. “Did you freak out in private? That doesn’t sound healthy.”

He sat back down next to her and pulled out the amulet he had shown her earlier. His connection to Faye. “Not alone but in private.”

Noelle looked away. When he had told her about Faye, she wasn’t sure what to say to him. The fact that he spent time with his dead wife was more than a little unnerving. Although the temptation to meet Faye was pretty strong, it was hard not to be jealous of the woman. Faye had been the first woman in more than eight hundred years to get Gabe to settle down. As much as they were
together, Noelle wasn’t sure she could get him to settle down again. “Do you want to try now?” she asked quietly.

Gabe ran his thumb over the large red gem in the center of the amulet. “Do you really want to?”

She took a deep breath. “Yes, if it’s OK with you.”

He looked at her. “I think so.”

“Well, that isn’t so positive.”

“No, I’m positive. Let’s do this.” He held out the amulet. “Put your hand on the amulet and close your eyes.”

Noelle took some deep breaths and did as told. Nothing felt different for a moment, but then a rush came over her. She took another deep breath and was overcome by the smell of water. It smelled like a lake or river. She loved that smell, so fresh and clean. She slowly opened her eyes and looked across the blue water in front of her. It was beautiful. The sun was high, casting a shimmering light over the water that gently rippled toward the beach she stood on.

“I always knew you liked blondes.”

Noelle’s smile dropped at the female voice from behind her. She didn’t want to turn around, but this was why she had come here. Faye wasn’t what she had expected. She looked young, maybe around Syney’s age, or she could have been older but not by much. Her face held a young innocence. Her hair was black and long, which made her light skin stand out even more. But her most identifiable features were her amazing scarlet eyes. They weren’t frightening, as some people had described the Blocadrian family trait, but gorgeous, like the red gems that were in the amulet itself.

Gabe sat next to Faye on the sand, almost leaning into her. It was an intimate stance, one that made her a little uncomfortable.

“She really is stunning,” Faye said, glancing at Gabe.

“I told you as much,” he said, his voice finally reverting back to its laidback tone.

“Come sit,” Faye said, gesturing with her hands.

Noelle slowly sat down across from them and gave a nervous smile. This was beyond awkward, and she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. “It’s nice to meet you,” she settled on.

Faye smiled, one that lit up her whole face. “You too. I want to thank you for looking after my Gabriel. He likes to think he’s invincible and doesn’t need anyone else, but he really does need someone to help him stay sane. And only a really strong woman can do that.”

Noelle laughed. “That sounds like something my mother would say.”

“And I want to thank you for being such good friends with Syney. She needs people she can trust right now,” Faye said.

Noelle nodded. “Absolutely.”

The two women stared at each other for a moment before Faye looked at Gabe. “Could you give us some time to talk?”

Gabe laughed. “No.”

“Gabe!” Noelle yelled.

“I’m not leaving my wife alone with my girlfriend,” Gabe said, shaking his head.

Noelle looked at Faye, who looked back at her with sad eyes. Gabe seemed to be the only oblivious one on the lakebed.

Faye looked back at Gabe and stared at him silently. He stared back at her for a while before finally standing up and walking a few steps away. He looked at Faye once more before shaking his head and disappearing.

“That’s a trick that took me a while to discover. If you stare at him long enough, he’ll cave in to anything,” Faye told Noelle.

“Good to know.”

They were silent for a while before Faye took a deep breath and sat up a little straighter. “I need you to do me some favors.”

“Oh, OK.”

“I really am happy that he’s found you. I need you to know that,” Faye said with a smile. “But there’s no way the two of you are going to last if I’m still here.”

Noelle took some deep breaths. She’d thought the same thing. She just wasn’t sure how Faye wanted to handle this. “I agree.”

“When I did this, it was just so I could tell Gabriel what had happened. It was Magic Users who came into the Vampire palace. But I knew they never would have blamed the right people, which they didn’t. But then, after a while, I guess I got selfish,” Faye said, looking down at her hands

“What woman wouldn’t want to see the man she loved, even after she’s gone?” Noelle asked kindly.

“I thought that if I just encouraged him to move on, that would be all he needed. And he did find you. But now I’m holding him back—I know it. I need you to do some things for me.”

“Such as…?”

“First I need you to take care of Gabe. He’s stubborn and difficult. You might not see it now, but he really is hard to live with.”

Noelle gave a nervous laugh. “Um, OK.”

“He just has a mind of his own. But deep down he’ll always be the man you fell in love it, and you’ll have to remember that when he has bad days.”

“Now you’re scaring me,” Noelle said.

“Oh, that wasn’t my intention. I’m sorry. I just…When I tell you what else I need you to do, I’m sure you’ll understand,” Faye said. She took a deep breath. “I need you to destroy the amulet.”

She was right. It made sense. She wanted to make sure Noelle wouldn’t leave Gabe, especially after his direct route to his wife was gone.

“Are you sure you want me to do that? I mean, it’s the Blocadrian head-of-house amulet, not just some necklace,” Noelle said.

“Trust me, there won’t be any more Blocadrians,” she said sadly. “This is the best thing for everyone. And he will understand. Maybe not right away, but he will.”

That was an understatement, Noelle knew. Gabe likely would hate her for doing it. But there was no way they could make a go of things if she didn’t.

“Will you do it?” Faye asked, her eyes looking so sad.

Noelle sighed and nodded. “Of course.”

Faye smiled, one that didn’t reach her eyes. “Thank you. And just…take care of him and Syney.”

“I will.”

Faye nodded. “This is harder than I thought,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “You probably should do it sooner rather than later. I have a feeling things are going to get worse for all of you very soon.”

Noelle didn’t like the sound of that. “That sounds ominous.”

Faye sighed. “I guess I’ve just started to expect the worst. Probably not the best thing in the world, but…”She shrugged.

Noelle hesitated for a moment before reaching out and laying her hand on top of Faye’s. “It takes a lot to ask for this. I want you to know I really admire you for it.”

Faye squeezed her hand. “Thank you. Now you’d better go before he wears a hole through the floor.”

Noelle nodded. “OK. So how do I do that?”

“Just close your eyes and think of the last place you were.”

Noelle sighed. “Good-bye, and thank you, Faye,” she said, as she closed her eyes. She pictured the small pink bedroom at Becca’s house. When she opened her eyes, she looked at Gabe, who was pacing the floor in front of the bed. He was wringing his hands and grimacing. She’d never seen him this upset before. “Hey, there.”

Gabe stopped and stared at her. “What did she want?”

Noelle smiled and walked over to him. She kissed him lightly on the lips. “Nothing big. Come on. We should get some sleep.” She headed to the bed and opened the bag she had packed. She looked back at him when she realized he wasn’t moving. “What?”

Gabe stared at her. He finally shook his head and pulled off his jacket. He kicked off his shoes and lay on the bed. For the rest of the night, he didn’t say anything else. Noelle tossed and turned for a while. At one point she looked at
Gabe, who was wide-awake, unmoving, and staring at the ceiling. She sighed and rolled away from him. She looked at the window seat and saw the discarded amulet sitting there. She knew she had promised Faye, but the thought of taking something like that away from Gabe, without telling him, seemed wrong. But then again she was a little scared of his reaction if she did tell him. It would be the ultimate test of his love for her. She just wasn’t sure she wanted to test it.

Syney woke up and stretched her hand across the bed, brushing Adam’s chest. She bit her lip and looked at him as he slept next to her. He even looked perfect asleep, his lips slightly open and his blond hair tousled. She wondered, not for the first time, how she got so lucky to have him. Then she remembered that it was all Gabe’s doing. She rolled her eyes. She could thank Gabe, but she really didn’t want to. He had become such a pain in her ass, trying to control every little thing. Sometimes she just wanted to tell him to chill out, but that probably would be lost on him. She glanced at the clock next to the bed. It was early, but a delightful smell of food wafted into the room, making Syney’s stomach grumble. She took a deep breath. Smelled like pancakes. She smiled and planted a kiss on Adam’s mouth.

His eyes slowly opened, and he smiled at her. “Five more minutes,” he said, rolling over.

Syney laughed. “What?”

He held up his hand with all five figures up before settling back onto his pillow.

“Lazy ass!” Syney said, running her hand around his waist and laying her chin on his shoulder.

Adam laughed and rolled over again, going straight for her ticklish spots. She immediately regretted telling him about them as she laughed uncontrollably
while trying to wiggle out of his reach. Finally Adam pinned her down, rolling on top of her and holding her arms over her head. “How dare you wake me up!” he said, smiling down at her.

“So sorry. I just figured you’d want some of that amazingly good-smelling food,” she said.

Adam glanced at the door and took a deep breath. “It does smell good.”

Syney nodded. “It can wait another five minutes, though.”

Adam looked back at her. “Five minutes?”

“Ten minutes?”

He frowned, thinking. “I could go for ten minutes,” he said, as he leaned down and kissed her.

“Fifteen?” Syney asked with a smile.

“That’s pushing it,” Adam told her, working his way down her neck.

A half hour later, Syney pulled him down the stairs, stealing a kiss at the bottom. Adam pulled her into the sitting room.

“What? I’m really hungry now,” Syney said, grabbing his hands.

“I was just thinking that maybe we shouldn’t be so…touchy-feely in front of Hadrian,” Adam said slowly.

Syney cocked her head to the side. “Why?”

“Well, he is your father, and I just did some bad things to his daughter. I don’t want to have him staring me down over pancakes.”

She laughed at him and put her arms around his waist. “He doesn’t have a say in what I do.”

“You said you’d keep an open mind.”

“And I will. But he doesn’t get to be ‘crazy dad’ to my boyfriend.” She kissed him before pulling him into the kitchen.

Only Becca and Noelle were at the table, both talking with coffee mugs in their hands. Syney saw Gabe and Hadrian through the glass door that led to the deck. Both were yelling about something.