Frey (6 page)

“
I’m not sure, to be
honest with you. I’ve been feeling out of sorts for a while, and
today’s really bad. I’ve tried meditating, but my brain is so
foggy, I just can’t sit there. One minute, I feel like I’m going to
lose my lunch, and the next…” Mason shook his head.

Frey finished for him, “And the next you
feel like you want to annihilate the world?” Frey was pretty sure
what was wrong with his cousin. He felt the exact same way, only he
had felt that way for the last couple of hours, not days.

“
How did you know?” Mason
sat up, focused.

“
Let me ask you something.
Where have you been going, besides the gym?”

“
Sometimes I hang out at
the lab with Julian. Other than there and home, I go to Rafael’s
office. When he’s out of town, or going to be late, I make sure
Willow gets in safely. I know the building’s secure, I still have
to make sure she’s ok, you know?”

Frey did know. It was in their Gargoyle
nature to take care of the humans, especially the weaker ones. So,
Willow was Mason’s mate. Frey couldn’t believe how many of the Clan
were finding their mates so quickly. The fates must have flipped a
switch all of a sudden. Rafael really needed to speak to the other
Clan leaders and fill them in on the mating possibilities. “My
brother, I do believe you’ve found your mate.”

Mason opened his mouth to speak then closed
it. Mason had the appearance of a man, but in truth he was still a
boy. Gargoyle lives were so different than humans. When Mason was
old enough, he came to live with Rafael to be trained. Several
years had passed, and he was growing into a fine young Goyle. His
training included fighting and patrolling, not how to handle women.
Hell, Frey was almost six hundred years old and still didn’t know
much about the fairer sex. With Gargoyle females becoming extinct,
the males had pretty much given up hope in finding mates.

“
I don’t know anything
about females,” Mason said as he stood and paced the
room.

Frey stood and got in his space, placing his
large hands on his cousin’s shoulders. “Welcome to the club,
Brother. I am pretty sure I found mine this morning as well, and
let’s just say that’s one fucked up mess.”

Mason glanced up at Frey’s face, grinning.
“Yeah?”

“
Yeah. Don’t look so happy
about it either. If I’m miserable that means you’re gonna be
miserable, because I’m going to need a sparring
partner.”

“
Oh, shit.”

Frey laughed, remembering the last time
they’d been in the ring together. Mason was strong since he had
shifter blood, but he was no match for the older, experienced
martial arts expert. “Let’s get you out front. I have to head over
to the armory and meet Uri.” Frey was looking forward to sparring
of a different sort.

By the time Frey and Uri reached Dante’s
estate, the rest of the Clan who were scheduled to train had
arrived. Most of the Gargoyles owned large pieces of property in
and around New Atlanta. Dante’s was the most open, therefore, the
most conducive to a training field. Every member of the Clan had
access to each other’s property in case of emergencies. The gates
were secure with voice activated entrance.

It had been almost two centuries since the
Stone Society had felt the need to train with swords. There were a
few poisons in the world that could take down a full grown
Gargoyle, but if you wanted to be certain one was dead, you needed
to decapitate him. The females were susceptible to some of the more
severe human diseases.

Rafael’s father, the previous King, had been
slain two hundred years earlier. The cheating bastard of a Gargoyle
who took his head thought if he killed Edmondo Di Pietro, he would
automatically step into the role of King. He was wrong. The throne
would have gone to Rafael, even if he hadn’t beheaded the one who’d
slain his father. That had been the last time any of the Stone
Society had needed a sword. Until now.

With the exception of the Unholy causing
chaos, the Clan’s lives had been fairly calm. With Gordon Flanagan
missing, the Unholy were growing more chaotic every day. Frey was
responsible for Flanagan being missing. He shot his helicopter out
of the sky when the bastard was gunning for Tessa. His body hadn’t
been found. Yet.

Uri passed out the practice swords the Clan
kept secure at the armory. He learned the art of swordsmithing from
his father, who learned it from his. Over the years, the alloys
used in the swords changed as each male learned of a better
combination for lighter, more lethal weapons. The swords they were
using for practice were different than the ones Uri forged
personally for each Gargoyle. Julian had found a way to boil high
concentrations of hellebore root so that Urijah could add it to the
liquid metal. Striking another Gargoyle with their swords would
slow their opponent down, giving them an added advantage.

The Goyles paired up. Like riding a bicycle,
it didn’t take long until the weight and movements of the swords
became second nature. Urijah and Frey were sparring with each
other. The loud clanging of many swords eventually eased to the
sparking of only two. Fairly evenly matched, Frey and Uri entranced
the others with their artistic footwork and choreographed
movements. When they finally stopped, a loud ovation broke out from
the other Clan members. Frey grinned, feeling alive.

Instead of taking the swords back to the
armory, they stored them in Dante’s garage. Frey got in his Jeep
and headed back to the gym. The last few hours had taken his mind
off Abbi. She had signed the consent form, so hopefully Matthew
would show back up to begin his training soon. When he pulled in
the lot, he parked in his reserved spot. It was late afternoon,
which meant Matthew could arrive at any moment. The women’s
self-defense class was underway. Mason was an excellent teacher,
even if his good looks often distracted the women. Frey would love
to convince Abbi to join one of the classes.

Every time the door opened, Frey anticipated
Matthew walking in. He really needed to get his head on straight
where the boy was concerned. Even if he was the brother of Frey’s
mate, he didn’t need to show partiality. He definitely couldn’t go
easy on him. At fifteen minutes after nine, the bell over the door
chimed, and this time it was the kid. His face was flushed as if
he’d been running.

“
Am I too late?” he asked,
as he attempted to catch his breath.

“
Depends on the reason,”
Frey told him honestly. If the kid had a legitimate excuse for
being so late, he would still start his training
tonight.

“
I couldn’t get away from
work. One of the other busboys called in sick, so that left only
me. If I can’t train, maybe I could hit the weights or something
since I’m already here.” Matt was shaking his hands out and dancing
on the balls of his feet.

An idea popped into Frey’s
mind, and his mouth spit it out before he could stop himself. “Why
don’t you come work here?”
Dammit, you’re
already getting involved.

“
Really? Like, uh, what
kind of work?” Matthew raised his eyebrows and stopped
bouncing.

“
I need help cleaning the
showers, washing the towels, things like that. I will pay you
whatever you’re making now, and that will cut out the drive time
between your job and here.” Frey didn’t need someone doing those
chores, but it meant Matthew would have more time to
train.

“
I don’t know what to say.
Why would you do that?” The kid was skeptical, and Frey really
couldn’t blame him. They’d met once.

“
Say yes or no; it’s up to
you. The why is because I like you and want you to succeed. No
hidden agendas.”
And because hopefully one
day, you and I will be family.

“
Yes. Okay, yes! Thank
you. I will need to give notice, but after that I’m all yours.” The
kid was back to bouncing.

Frey laughed at his eagerness. “Then come
on. I’ll show you to the locker room and you can change. We won’t
train this late, but we can hit the bags.” Frey showed him where to
get changed and to stow his backpack. Frey taped their hands before
going through a series of stretches. Taking Matt to the speed bag,
he showed him the proper technique. It usually took newbies a while
to get the hang of the small bag, but Matthew caught on quickly.
The teen was a little taller than average but fairly skinny. He
would need to change his eating habits, adding in quite a few more
calories if he planned on putting on any muscle.

Next, Frey handed Matt a jump rope as he
took one for himself. They had only been jumping for a few minutes
when he heard his cell phone ring. It was Rafael’s ringtone. “Keep
jumping, I’ll be right back,” he told the kid and retrieved his
phone. “Yo, Rafe, what’s up?”

“
I hope I didn’t catch you
at a bad time. I wanted to find out how training went.”

“
I’m working out a new
client right now, but I have a few minutes. Training went well.
Everyone found their groove fairly quickly. Uri was magnificent, as
always.”

“
Well, he should be. For
someone as talented as he in making the swords, he should be able
to wield one better than the rest of us.” Rafael’s admiration for
their cousin was evident in his voice.

“
Truth, Brother. How is
Maria? Any word from Dante or Gregor?” Frey hated being out of the
loop where his family was concerned.

“
We came close to losing
Maria. She flatlined, but the nurses brought her back. I had a
meeting with Jonas, and let’s just say he’s on board with whatever
we need from him. There’s a long story regarding him and Maria, but
the short of it is Maria is an old family friend. She’s aware of
the Gargoyles, and she knows exactly who Jonas is. He is pulling
strings and taking over her care. As soon as she’s able to be
moved, he’s bringing her to New Atlanta.

“
Jonas has also reached
out to Athena for assistance. Since Isabelle was taken to Poros, we
believe Alistair is behind the kidnapping. Nobody knows his
holdings better than my mother. She has promised to help as much as
she can. As for Dante, I spoke to him earlier. They know where
Isabelle is, so they plan on rescuing her first. It seems he and
Isabelle’s son have some sort of mental connection. Hopefully that
will allow them to find him quickly and bring everyone home
soon.”

“
Let’s hope so. Listen, I
still need to talk to Kaya, but that can wait until tomorrow. I’ll
stop by the station to see her. Hang on a second.” Frey covered the
phone and told Matthew, “Take a break.” He returned to Rafe, “I
need to go. Don’t want to have my client pass out on the first day.
I’ll talk to you soon. Be well, my King.”

“
And you,
Cousin.”

Matthew was sipping water. “Sorry about
that, family stuff,” Frey said. Even though Matthew was a teen, he
didn’t want him to feel as if he weren’t important.

“
Believe me. I understand
about family stuff,” Matthew muttered as he tossed the paper cup in
the trash.

That, Frey absolutely did believe. Now, he
needed to gain the teen’s trust and learn all he could about
Abbi.

Chapter Six

Abbi was slow getting out of bed. She’d long
given up in convincing Troy it wasn’t how many times you had sex
but when that determined getting pregnant. She was on bus duty
again this morning, so she couldn’t be late. However, after school
she was going to the pharmacy to buy an ovulation kit. Somehow, she
was going to avoid having sex during that time. If that didn’t
work, she would find a way to go back to her doctor and get one of
the shots that lasted six months. Even if Troy found out, there
wouldn’t be anything he could do to her at that point. Nothing
worse than he already did.

“
Where are my black
socks?” Troy had already showered and was getting ready for
work.

“
They should be in your
drawer.” Abbi thought about the laundry she had been folding the
night before when Troy grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her
into the living room. Being pushed over the back of the sofa and
screwed was so much more exciting in the romance novels. Having
someone like Troy do it was anything but exciting. It was usually
downright painful. “Now that I think about it, they are still in
the laundry room. I was folding clothes last night when you decided
you wanted to have sex.”

“
Well, fucking go get
them. I don’t have all day,” Troy demanded. Instead of him getting
a pair as he headed to the kitchen, he would wait for her to go get
them and bring them back. A long time ago, Abbi had tried growing a
backbone. It only took one instance of telling him to do something
himself for her to learn it was easier and less painful to do what
he said. As quickly as her sore body would move, she retrieved his
socks as well as the other clothes she had already folded. When she
handed them to him, he grabbed her hand, hauling her harshly to his
body. The basket of clothing slipped out of her arm, landing in a
messy pile on the floor. “Now look what you did. Can’t you do
anything right?”

As soon as he let go, Abbi picked up the
clothes and shoved them in the basket. She was too tired to refold
them and put them away. She would do that when she got home.
Luckily, Troy didn’t try anything else. He didn’t bother saying
goodbye, just walked out the door, leaving her to her thoughts.
That was dangerous, because her thoughts automatically latched on
to the gorgeous man at the gym. Abbi knew it wasn’t healthy to
dream about someone she couldn’t have, but damn if he hadn’t gotten
under her skin.