Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (13 page)

“You still hit like a
mule, lass, and I do believe that you’ve gotten stronger. Now stop
all of this nonsense and come give this old man a hug.” He
chuckled.

His bleeding lip was
slowly healing.

“Let her go Gabriel.” He
said in his deadly Alpha tone.

The tone I had learned as
a child, usually the hard way, that meant obey or else.

It finally registered to
me, he hadn’t fought back. I knew Angus. I had fought with him for
many years, and one thing was for certain, he always struck back,
even me.

I felt Gabriel stiffen,
for just a second, at the command and then let me go. I slowly
moved towards him, wary of the pain I saw in his eyes. I thought I
was going to cry when I grabbed him in a tight hug. For ten years,
I thought, no believed that he was dead, and now I held him in my
arms. When we finally separated, he was fully healed. I touched his
lips and heard a low-warning growl from behind me,
whatever.

“I thought it was all a
dream, Angus. When I woke up and saw you were sitting there by the
bed. I knew I was either dreaming or dead,” I whispered to him.
“You should have healed faster than this, Angus. What is wrong with
you? Have you come back to me, just to leave me again?” I asked him
softly, peering deeply into those earthy green eyes.

In all the years, we had
been together, traveling throughout Europe, and then here in the
states. I never could read anything in his eyes, and now I read
pride and love. I held my breath, waiting for him to confirm my
worst fears.

“No, lass you still need
me,” He said and placed a kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and
breathed again. “Go back to your mate McKenna, before he tries to
kill me.” Angus said gently nudging me back towards
Gabriel.

When Gabriel’s arm slipped
around my waist, I could feel his body vibrating in anger. I knew
there would be a heavy price for this fight.

“Gabriel, meet my mentor
and stepfather, Angus McGregor,” I said loudly.

So everyone watching could
hear.

All the whispering stopped
and Gabriel went very still.

“He’s your stepfather?”
Gabriel asked, looking at me and then at Angus. “You attacked your
stepfather?” He asked me again.

“Yup,” I answered him.
“Angus and I have always talked out our disagreements.”

“Shows over people, let’s
eat.” He said aloud to circle around us.

As we walked towards the
tables, he said to me softly, “Later you and I are going to have a
nice long talk about pack etiquette.”

We looked at each other,
and I shrugged, whatever.

“Good luck Alpha, her
mother had a hard time with her also. McKenna will always do what
she wants and when she wants to do it.” Angus told him and then
laughed out aloud.

It was such a pleasant
sound to hear.

After we had eaten, the
three of us sat around a small fire pit. I sat next to Gabriel on a
blanket with Angus across from us. Under the beautiful, clear night
sky, the moon shone brightly down on us. The fall night was just
chilly enough for the fire. It reminded me of other nights with
Angus, and my mother, and I missed her. Angus told stories of our
adventures together, and we relived memories of my mother. I was
enjoying being back together with him. I had missed him
terribly.

I waited until Angus had
finished drinking, before I asked him again, “Why, Angus? Why did
you leave me? Even a wounded hydra is nothing to play with. After I
killed it, I spent hours looking for your body.”

I was staring into the
fire, thinking back on the horrible experience. Gabriel’s hand
stopped moving on my back.

“A hydra, you fought a
hydra?” He asked, “And you killed it by yourself?”

“Yup, it had stopped
eating the livestock and started eating people. Once it crossed
that line we were sent in to kill it.” I asked him.

Angus looked away
uncomfortably.

“I was summoned lassie.
You know, we can’t ignore the call when it happens and besides it
was your time. I knew you were ready lassie, never had any doubts
that you wouldn’t kill the beastie. I just wanted to see you do
it.” The pride in his voice brought tears to my eyes. “I went back
to the camp site, but you had already left. It almost killed me,
lassie, not knowing what happened to you. It took me years to find
you again, and by that time you seemed to be doing fine. So I
thought it best to leave you be.”

I started to say
something, but Angus held up his hand.

“I’ve been getting
visions, lass. You have pissed off one very old and very strong
vampire and she wants you dead or undead rather." His voice held a
charm in it as he spoke. "After I found you again, I started
following you and meeting with the different Alphas in the areas
that you settled in trying to find the one.”

“Then I met Gabriel here.
I recognized him from my visions. Knew he was the one I had been
looking for, the one for you lass. So I approached him and told him
about my visions. As you can imagine, he didn’t believe me at
first,” he laughed. “But then the fight in the forest happened, and
he finally saw you. He asked me what he needed to do. I told him
how to contact the Sōkjan in the area, and what to do after he got
you.” He said.

“Did you have to tell him
about the marks?” I asked him.

I rested my chin on my
knees watching the flames dance in the pit. Trying to understand
why he felt the need to change my life the way he did.

“Why, Angus? Why didn’t
you just come to me and tell me what you’d seen? Why did you have
to tell him to how invoke the Sōkjans bond? The damn mate bond
wasn’t strong enough?” Apparently my anger and pain were still
fresh, power flared.

The flames in the pit
flared up. I usually had better control of my anger and power, this
loss of control was extremely disturbing.

“McKenna,” Gabriel warned
from behind me.

I rolled my head to look
back at him.

“I have a right to know,
Gabriel, and so do you. I want to know why he felt it so important
to link our lives together. There’s more going on here than just an
old ass vampire. With Angus, there is always something else. He
told you about the marks and how to activate them. I want to
understand why.” We stared at each other, Alpha staring time, oh
boy.

“Your Alpha stare doesn’t
work on me, Gabriel. I’m not one of your wolves. Do you think that
all I am is just a weretiger?” I asked him.

“No, you can also do some
magic.” He replied.

“You have no idea what I
can really do,” I said it so softly if he hadn’t been so close to
me, he would have missed it.

“She’s right, Gabriel. You
must understand that the Sōkjan is not just a title. Your mate can
and will be called to service at any time, and she’ll have to go.”
Angus said. “The threat of that old ass vampire is very real, lass.
If she gets you, she could turn you into a creature this world has
never seen.” He paused for a minute thinking about what he was
going to say. "I am too old to go hunting with you anymore,
McKenna. Luna has released me from the Sōkjan duties. The summons
at the pit was my last one. I had to find someone I could trust to
go with you when you go hunting. Someone who can protect you from
yourself and Gabriel can do that and more. I was trying to protect
your future the only way I knew how.” I turned back to look at
Angus as he spoke.

When I fully understood
his intentions, my mouth fell open. Oh Luna, save me from
overprotective, stupid men.

“Angus, you did all this
because you felt you needed to protect me? I almost killed that
damn vampire nine years ago, and I think I can take her this time.
I’m stronger and more skilled this time around. She isn’t going to
have an easy time of it,” I told him heatedly. “Something about you
has changed, Angus. The Angus I knew would have come to me, and
together we would have worked this out. We would have worked out a
plan that didn’t involve activating any stupid bonds. What is
really going on here?” I demanded.

We stared at each other.
He wasn’t going to tell me, and that was so like my Angus. I would
have to wait until Angus was ready to fill in all the blanks. I
sighed.

“Where did you get the
rings, Angus?” I changed the subject.

I had been watching the
fire light play on the metal off and on all night.

“You don’t recognize
them?” He asked, “Your mother and I wore them. The last thing your
mother asked of me was to give them to you when you were old
enough.”

I was shocked, I didn’t
remember them ever wearing rings.

Our little reunion broke
up when I started yawning. Gabriel and I said goodnight and headed
towards the main house. I headed for the SUV, but Gabriel
redirected me back towards the main house and being true to his
word. Informed me how I was expected to act within the guide lines
of pack etiquette.

I stopped him somewhere in
the middle of his lecture, long enough to ask one question, “You do
remember that I am a cat right?”

To which he informed me
that he was exceedingly well aware of whom and what I was. After
that, I stopped listening and started thinking about what Angus had
said and a lot on what he hadn't said. Gabriel guided me down the
maze of hallways and stairs. I wasn’t paying much attention to
where we were headed. Tomorrow would be soon enough to figure out
this new environment. So when we stopped, and he opened a door I
gave him a puzzled look.

“These are my personal
rooms.” He told me and nudged me inside.

This room felt more like
him. His scent was stronger here. The living room was large with a
plasma TV hanging above the fireplace on one wall. With the chairs
and a sofa arranged so the TV could be easily viewed. Gabriel
opened a door in the far right wall.

“The kitchen is in here.”
He said. “Bathroom, and this one leads up to the roof, and this is
the bedroom.” He gave me a wicked smile, and I grinned
back.

“Look Gabriel, I’m sorry I
lost it this evening. I didn’t realize how emotional I was, and the
surprise of finding Angus alive, I just reacted.” I nervously told
him.

He hugged me to
him.

“I imagine that your
feelings are still a little raw. Anyone listening to what you said
can surely understand how you feel about Angus.” He told me and
nudged my chin up with his finger. “You’re tired, let’s get some
sleep.”

I let him lead me to the
bedroom and tug me down on to the bed.

Chapter 9

The morning started out
well enough. Gabriel set me up in his office to go over all the
files they on the missing girls. He, with Angus’s help, went over
the areas they had already searched. I watched them in between
reading the files. They worked well together, and finished each
other’s thoughts, and agreed with the other’s assessment of the
situations.

I was thoroughly
amused.

I studied the pictures of
the bodies each file contained. The condition of the body told the
whole story, and it was a story of rage. From what skin was left on
the bodies, both girls were severely beaten, but the real torture
didn’t begin until the killer began to cut on them.

With a cold indifference,
I studied the photos. From the pictures, I couldn't tell if the
killer had cut a pattern into the bodies or not. I needed to view
the bodies, but I did notice that neither girl was killed at the
scene. Something was off at the second scene and it caught my eye.
Was it a color maybe or a vague form?

I moved the image closer.
Damn it, I couldn’t see it clearly. I put the picture down and sat
back rubbing my eyes. I crossed my arms over my chest and stared
out the window. I did know one thing for sure none of these murders
felt like Willow. She didn’t cut or beat up her victims. She just
bled them dry and carved a W into their chest. This killer was new
and was just getting started on his highway of blood. I truly
wanted a Milky Way and a cup of coffee.

I heard a noise coming
from outside the window. Getting up I walked over to the window,
and peered down to see what was going on. I smiled at the sight of
my young wolves from the forest. They were practicing hand to hand
fighting styles.

The teacher was a short,
stocky woman with a bad attitude. She didn’t like working with the
children, and it showed. I tensed as I watched her hit my little
shewolf in the face, for a making a mistake. She screamed and
yelled at her, before turning to yell at the boys.

I didn’t need to hear what
she was saying to them in her fit of anger, I didn’t care.
Whenever, I’d made Angus furious. He walked away to cool down and
then we would talk about what I had done. I had seen enough. I
headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”
Gabriel asked before I could escape the room unnoticed.

“I just need a little
fresh air to clear my head, and something to drink maybe….” I
trailed off nodding towards the pictures. “I won’t be gone long.” I
gave him my best “I’ll be good” smile.