Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (21 page)

“Oh, gymnastics style sex
of course.” I blinked at her stunned face. Gabriel and her husband
laughed.

I wiggled my eyebrows at
her husband. “Ya’ll should really give it a try.”

At dinner, we sat with
another couple, Mr. and Mrs. Littleton. I tried my chicken dinner,
dry. I looked over at Gabriel’s plate, rare steak. Hmmm, now why
didn’t I get that?

“How’s your meal honey?”
Mrs. Littleton asked me.

“Good and yours?” See I
can do the small-talk thing.

One of the waiters
whispered, he had a phone call, in Gabriel’s ear, I
overheard.

“I’ll be right back.” He
said and kissed my cheek.

I waited a beat and
swapped our plates. Gabriel hadn’t eaten much, and it would be a
shame to let it go the waste. At Mrs. Littleton’s look, I told her
that Gabriel liked chicken better. When the tables were cleaned of
all the dirty dinner dishes, the dessert tray came around. I
studied it extremely carefully. I chose a chocolate cake for
Gabriel and for me, a double chocolate cake. I promised Mrs.
Littleton
,
I
would make sure that we stopped somewhere on the way home, since
she was so concerned about Gabriel missing dinner.

I sat at the table all by
myself for the first time all evening. I closed my eyes and sipped
my coffee enjoying the quiet moment. The Littleton’s had left for
the evening after telling me goodnight. I liked them. So Gabriel
had been right after all I did meet someone I liked at the party.
Not that I would tell him that.

I opened my eyes and
prepared to eat my cake. Just as I made the first cut into the rich
dark brown confection. When someone’s hand touched my hand, I
glanced over at the body attached to the hand. His was fiftyish and
attractive. His hair wasn’t brown or blond; it was a mixture of the
two. His hazel colored eyes were twinkling with humor. He was in
decent shape.

“Mrs. Garrison,” he said
again.

I didn’t know who the hell
she was, but if he didn’t move his hand real soon, he’d lose it. I
arched an eyebrow at him giving him a questioning look.

“I am sorry, my mother
told me once, never come between a woman and her chocolate.” He
laughed.

I smiled at him and moved
my hand away
.

“Smart woman, you should
listen to her better.” I commented.

“Mrs.
Garrison
,
I have
been trying to get your attention. I just wanted to know. If your
unusual tattoo was real?” he asked.

Really? I was apparently
Mrs. Garrison. How did anyone keep up with all the human titles? I
sat back with my coffee putting what distance I could between me
and the stranger
.

“Sorry. I forgot, that in
the human world, I would be expected to use Gabriel's last name.” I
replied.

I took a sip of coffee
eyeing him from over the rim of the cup. There was just something
about him, which bothered me.

“And now you know that my
tattoo is real.” I told him and looked at the offensive hand that
had touched me.

“So it appears. What kind
of tattoo is it? Does it have a special meaning?” He looked at his
fingers as he rubbed then together.

He moved an empty chair
close to me.

What was he fishing
for?

“It means nothing to
anyone, but me.” I replied.

“Is it a full body
tattoo?” he asked.

I narrowed my eyes at
him.

“I noticed you have the
same design on your leg.” He supplied quickly.

I looked under the table.
Sure enough the slit showed off my leg. I had tucked the pieces
together when I had first sat down. Somehow it had come
undone
.
I looked
back at the man.

“What is your name?” I
asked him.

I moved the coffee cup
back up to my mouth and took a deep breath.

He smelled earthy, moldy,
and of blood.

“Andrew Robinson.” He
supplied and then stiffened.

He also felt the power
moving towards us. Now wasn’t that interesting. I knew Gabriel was
back and wasn’t happy to find this strange man sitting here with me
alone. I didn’t take my eyes off of him when I felt Gabriel’s hand
on my neck. With Gabriel’s power still surrounding us, I leaked a
little of my own out and it licked up against Andrew’s, and I
tasted it. It was earthy, old, bloody, and not entirely his
own.

“Who’s your new friend?”
He was angry.

I reached out and touched
him when he sat down
.

“Be calm, my dearest one,
be calm.” I whispered to him.

He never took his eyes
from Andrew, but I did feel him calm slightly.

“I am Andrew Robinson.” He
offered his hand to Gabriel. “I was just asking your wife about her
unusual tattoo.” They shook hands.

I narrowed my eyes at
Andrew and drank more coffee. A movement caught my attention.
Gabriel had eaten a bite of my cake, of my double chocolate cake!
The one I hadn’t even had a bite of!

Oh, no he didn’t!
Bastard!

He made a, hmm, sound in
the back of his throat. He then drank from the coffee cup I was
holding. I was in complete shock.

“Why are you interested in
my wife’s tattoo?” He asked after he swallowed.

My gaze moved to his lips
and watched him smugly smile at me
.

Yes, that’s right. Smile
while you still can, you big oversized jerk. This means
war.

“Did you enjoy my cake and
coffee?” I asked him, totally forgetting about Andrew sitting with
us at the table.

“My mother always said
never come between a woman and her chocolate.” Andrew repeated to
Gabriel. “I have been studying tribal tattoos for a paper I’m
writing, and I have never come across anything like Mrs. Garrison’s
tattoos. I just wanted to know where she found them.”

I pulled all my power back
to me, wrapping it around me like a coat. I began plotting
Gabriel’s demise. As I half-ass listened to the conversation at
hand. I took a sip of coffee and studied my mate.

“Tell us dear wife, where
did you find your unusual tattoo.” Gabriel said and cut another
piece of my cake.

“No. It was a very private
decision, and I don’t know you Andrew.” I said turning my head
slightly so could watch both men at the same time.

“Well
,
I tried.” Andrew sighed. He laid
his card down on the table. “If you want to talk about it another
time, please give me a call.” He stood up and nodded to us, “Mr.
and Mrs. Garrison.”

I watched him
leave.

Leaning closer to Gabriel
I whispered in almost a giggle. “He called me Mrs.
Garrison.”

Was Jennifer rubbing off
on me?

He fed me a piece of cake.
Oh, it was so delicious! I closed my eyes and purred in
pleasure.

“I will have to make sure
we always have chocolate cake at the house from now on.” Gabriel
said against my mouth.

I never opened my eyes as
I shared my chocolate cake with him. We ate both pieces of cake
before we left for the night. I left Mr. Andrew Robinson’s card on
the table.

“You are Mrs. Garrison,
McKenna. Why do you find that so amusing?” He asked me while we
were sitting in the Taco Bell drive-thru
.

“No, I am not. I don’t
have a last name.” I said leaning across him to get a better look
at the menu.

He ran his fingers down my
bare back, and I shivered at his touch. I accidentally popped him
in the chest with my elbow when I settled back down into my
seat.

“I want four soft tacos,
coke, and a cup of those potatoes and cheese things.” I told
him.

He placed our
orders.

“What last name did your
parents use?” He asked.

“Richardson and then
McGregor, after mom mated with Angus, but I always use Richardson.”
I explained to him.

“McKenna Richardson?” He
laughed.

I gave him a pained
looked.

“No, McKenna is my middle
name. My official human first name was Haley.” We fell quiet as he
paid for the food.

“Haley McKenna Richardson.
I like it.” He told me.

I sneered at
him.

It wasn’t my favorite
name. I had many others I liked better, but if I had to deal with
the human world in an official manner. I had to use Haley McKenna
Richardson. Yuck.

Jennifer was asleep when
we finally got home. I kissed her forehead, the way my parents use
to do, before they went to bed. When Gabriel and I finally fell
asleep, I was only wearing the diamond necklace and
bracelet
.

Chapter 14

I was in the pit again. I
sniffed the air, it smelled moldy and old. I listened carefully. No
munching, crunching sounds this time. I heard water dripping from
the long dark hall off to my left. I moved quietly towards the
sound. I sniffed the air again, I smelled blood this time. Good old
yummy blood and I moved a little faster.

“McKenna” I heard someone
whisper my name.

I stopped.

“McKenna, come to me.” The
whisper was coming from all around me.

I looked around. No one
was there. I pushed a little power out around me. Nothing, I took a
few more steps.

“MCKENNA! What the hell
are you doing?” I turned slightly to face this new voice in my
dream.

Eyes white with power,
claws ready to defend myself, I faced Gabriel. Gabriel? It took me
a second to refocus. Why was he kneeling beside me? I looked around
again. I was outside on the balcony, crouched as if I were getting
ready to jump.

“What the fuck?” I said
standing up.

Hmmm. Somebody was going
to pay for this little game.

“I was dreaming.” I told
Gabriel. “I was in a pit. I could hear water dripping and smelled
blood.”

I looked out over the
grounds. Pushing my power out over the dark, cold dying grass, I
felt nothing. HMMM.

“Where you dreaming the
other night at the village?” he asked, he also searched the grounds
with his power
.

“Yes.” I never had this
problem at my house. “I need to shield your house.” I said it more
to myself than to Gabriel.

If it was Willow she had
changed her style. If she had, we were playing a new, much more
dangerous game. I needed to wrap up the missing girls case fast. I
would need to focus all my attention on just her.

Sleep would not come. My
sleep was interrupted over and over again. Dreams with no meanings,
faces of people I didn’t know. Strange people calling out my name,
commanding me to come to them, I finally gave up on sleep, after
dawn.

After I had showered, and
dressed, I went downstairs. Only to find a house full of people,
Gabriel had called the pack in. I spoke to no one when I entered
the kitchen and headed directly to the coffee pot. Coffee was my
only concern. I poured my first cup and added milk to cool off the
dark, bitter brew. I drank it fast. After pouring my second cup, I
studied Gabriel. He looked tired, he had not slept well either. My
dreadful temper was remarkably close to the surface and looking at
him brought it even closer.

“What time would you say
we fell asleep this morning?” I asked him.

He was sitting at the
table with a group of men going over some papers
.

“Close to three I guess.”
He answered.

A clang from outside
caught my attention. I looked out the window at Angus and Jennifer
training with swords in the backyard.

“How did Jennifer sleep
last night?” I asked him.

“Like the babe she is.” He
rose, “I’ll meet you back at the office.” He told the
men.

Papers shuffled, and
chairs scrapped against the hard wood floor as the men left the
kitchen.

“We’ll figure this out
together, McKenna.” He told me quietly.

I felt his warm breath
against my neck, and his arms wrapped around my waist pulling me
back against his chest.

I tilted my head to one
side to give him better access to my neck. He planted a kiss on
it
.

I asked, “Did you know
that some of the party goers last night were witches?”

His strong arms tightened
against my waist.

“No. How did you find
out?” He inquired.

“I played a game I used to
play as a child. My mother showed me how to send out little pulses
of power and bring it back to me. That is how she taught me how to
focus my power. How to control not only the amount but also the
strength of the power I sent out.”

“How old were you?” He
asked and relaxed his hold a little.

“Four.” I answered resting
my head on his shoulder.