Mercy (8 page)

The air was still muggy in the courtyard but was cooling quickly. Enrique, with his tobacco-blackened teeth and leathery skin, stood with his arms crossed, glaring at a group of children who had just trampled his flowers. He’d claimed the courtyard years ago and Gabriel had been the object of that glare when he was a child and the vines were barely knee-high. Now they climbed halfway up the far wall on a handmade trellis that Enrique extended every few years. Their scent filled the courtyard, masking the sour smell of the city beyond the walls. The vines were in full flower now. Later in the season, they would bear fruit.

Paper lanterns were hung on ropes crisscrossing the patio. A small band was setting up their instruments in one corner. Soft music echoed off the crumbling brick walls. Friends he had known all his life, the people he counted as family, came forward as he entered with hugs and smiles, warmth and laughter. Grinning, Gabriel stepped forward and let that warmth envelop him. He was home.

***

Iada watched Gabriel greet the people gathered here. Mostly they were other mutants like her husband. One or two were fully human like Lucas and mated to one of the mutants. She stood in the doorway, stunned by the happy surge of the crowd as Gabriel entered. She watched as he was swallowed up, hugged again and again, congratulated and fussed over like a favorite child. She started to follow him but was cut off by a dark-haired woman carrying a platter of sliced meats. One man at the rear of the crowd gave her a cold stare and then turned his back, effectively cutting off any clear path to Gabriel’s side.

She held herself immobile, uncertain but unwilling to reveal it. There were tables and chairs on one side of the courtyard. One large table was quickly filling with food as people carted out bowls and platters and pitchers of drink. The chairs were empty. She could not hide there. It would only display the vulnerability of her isolation.

To her right was a garden of sorts, parts of it surrounded by wire fencing beneath a wall of cascading granadilla blooms. She sighed. She would feign interest in plant life, then. Casting one last glance at Gabriel, she walked slowly in the direction of the back wall.

***

“Abandoning your husband so soon?” A stooped old man approached her slowly. He sighed as he sank down onto the wrought-iron bench and gestured for her to join him.

“You have it backward old one,” she said bitterly even as she obeyed and sat beside him. She regarded him curiously. “You are Yaguara.”

“Fully, yes.”

“Why do you live here?” She didn’t bother to honey her words. This one would understand.

“Anna lives here,” he pointed out, easing his shoulders back and looking up at the stars.

“Anna was exiled.”

“My wife was human. When she died, I remained here. This is my home.” He glanced her way and grinned. “And I don’t trust them to care for my flowers.” He held up one age-spotted hand and pointed. “He looks for you.”

She snorted but watched Gabriel’s head twist this way and that, a frown slowly forming on his face. Good. He dipped his head toward Anna. She looked up and shook her head.

Iada shifted forward, intending to go to him, but the old one placed his gnarled hand on her wrist and pulled her back.

He chuckled at her fierce expression. “As prickly as my Mari. Stay. Let him find you. The hunt is half the pleasure, is it not?”

Iada settled back but kept her eyes on Gabriel. Even as he laughed at something a teenage boy said, his eyes were restless, seeking. She could feel his need tugging at her heart. Frowning, she resisted the pull of it.

“My name is Enrique. I’ve known Gabriel since he was a boy. Are you not at all curious about this man you’ve taken as husband?”

Her eyes snapped his way. “I had little enough choice in the matter.”

“Always a choice. Surely your family would have preferred for you to choose death before allowing yourself to be so defiled.”

She looked away. “Not Anna.”

Enrique looked across the patio at Anna and smiled. “No. Not Anna, but she is extraordinary among our kind. All the bloodlust of a butterfly.”

Enrique leaned to the side, one razor-edged claw slipping out to slice a white-and-purple bloom from the vine. The claw disappeared just as smoothly and Iada marveled at his control. As good as her own. This was the man Gabriel had spoken of, the one who had trained him and told him of her weakness. He tucked the flower deftly behind her ear. “Her sister, I think, is just as extraordinary.”

“But already claimed, Enrique,” Gabriel said from only a few feet away. Iada suppressed the reflexive jerk of her muscles. He’d managed to sneak up on her again.

“You’ve done well, boy,” Enrique said, and Iada watched Gabriel’s eyes glitter a little too brightly. He valued this old man’s opinion, Iada realized with faint surprise. A weakness, that. Her dear husband was riddled with them.

Gabriel reached down and pulled her to her feet. She’d learned long ago not to care what anyone thought. It was likely that very attitude that had landed her in this predicament. But Gabriel cared deeply for the opinion of his people, for their happiness and security. Her family believed that Gabriel had challenged for the throne moved only by raw aggression and a thirst for power, motivations that Vin and Arturo could thoroughly comprehend. Deep down, Iada had believed the same. She’d thought that she would come to Gabriel’s home and he would be revealed as a fraud—all his claims about mercy and justice and loyalty proven false. The truth was more disturbing. Gabriel was everything he appeared to be—strong, brave and selfless. She’d enjoyed being with him when she thought that he was an illusion. Knowing that he was genuine, she could lose her heart. She’d never felt so vulnerable.

They walked in silence back to the heart of the party. Iada looked around her with the unsettling revelation that Gabriel had risked everything for these outcasts. Such weakness. She shivered and Gabriel pulled her in tight against him. These people were in great danger if her uncles ever became aware of the strength of his attachment.

***

Gabriel pulled her toward the area of the patio cleared for dancing. He would ease her into meeting the rest of his people. He’d noted the hostility in the eyes of several people here and felt a surge of protectiveness that was nearly overwhelming. He’d underestimated the capacity of his people for hatred.

He brushed his lips across Iada’s forehead as he considered the best way to proceed. It was important to him that they accept her. Equally important that she come to accept them. At least accept their right to exist. He had little hope that she could care for them in any meaningful way. Her uncles, surely, had ruined her for that.

Pulling her lithe little body tight against his in a close turn, he wedged his thigh between her legs and brushed high into the cradle of her hips. He smiled when she gasped at the grind there and he curved his arm up her back, lightly gripping the back of her neck and pulling back just enough to drop a quick kiss onto her parted lips. She actually blushed and he almost stopped dancing just to admire the flood of color across her skin.

“We need to return to the compound as soon as possible. This was a mistake,” she said when her eyes refocused.

Her words hit like a blow to his chest. She was rejecting his people without giving them a chance. “Is it so difficult to mingle with your inferiors?” His fingers pinched the tender skin of her neck. He wanted her to look at him when she said it. He needed to see the contempt in her eyes so that he could accept it.

“We endanger them by our presence here,” she said. For all of her stillness, he had the impression that she was distressed by something.

“You’re concerned for their safety?” His brows lifted in disbelief and he relaxed his grip. The idea evidently did not sit well with her either. She looked like she’d been expecting to sink her teeth into a fresh kill but instead got rancid meat and a mouthful of maggots. Gabriel’s lips twitched but he managed not to smile.

“Your human half makes you overly sentimental,” she snapped.

He pulled her close and rested his cheek on the top of her head. He did smile then but took mercy on her by diverting the conversation. “We need to gather a band of fighters loyal to us, able to guard our backs until we can pacify your uncles. I’ve sent word out and it shouldn’t take long. Many will be eager to provide that particular service. We only need to pick out the best skilled and we’ll be on our way.”

Her gaze darted around the patio and she shivered though it was not cold. He drew her back close against his body, letting his warmth and the music soothe her. Wonder of wonders, Iada had a heart buried somewhere beneath that marvelous chest of hers. He grinned with the knowledge of how revolted she would be by that observation. Not able to resist, he took her lips tenderly, moving his mouth softly over hers. She barely tensed at all this time before relaxing, all her soft curves fitting themselves perfectly against his body. Again, he was home.

“Don’t worry about them, Iada. They’re used to living under the threat of violence. They’re ready to flee at a moment’s notice. They would die to protect each other.” He tipped her chin up with his hand. “Including you.”

“That would be an idiotic thing for them to do,” she said bluntly. “It’s clear they don’t approve of me.”

He grimaced but nodded in acknowledgment. He wouldn’t lie to her. “They’ll accept you long before your people accept me.”

Her brow creased and then she actually tried to reassure him. Amazing. Touching his jaw with her fingertips, her black eyes wide and earnest, she said, “The Yaguara will accept you. They honor strength. You’ve proven that you possess the strength to claim the throne but not that you have the strength to hold it. Deal with Vin and Arturo and you will have their loyalty.”

Gabriel tilted his head to indicate the gathered people. “These people would die to protect each other. That’s loyalty.”

She shook her head. A light misting rain fell softly, wetting the lanterns and catching in her hair. “That is love.”

He chuckled softly. He couldn’t help it. He’d never thought to be schooled by a Silveira on love. Iada’s delicate brows had drawn downward in a frown and he ran his thumb along the right one to smooth away the expression. He asked her gently, “What do you know about love, beauty?”

“I know you won’t get it from anyone at the compound.”

He couldn’t resist the challenge in her eyes. “Not even from you?”

He’d expected instant denial but she only held his gaze. He could see the soft tremor at the corner of her lips. Her eyes held such raw need that he shook with the urge to carry her up to that narrow mattress and fill her with his body until the shadow of it was gone forever. He wanted to kill Vin and Arturo, to crack their skulls with his own jaws and feel their blood spurting hot in his mouth. He wanted to protect her from them. She looked scared. His fingers swept lightly across her cheekbone and he hoped that she didn’t notice how unsteady his hand was.

“I’ll take care of you, Iada,” he promised. An impulsive vow. Foolish, he thought, even as he realized he would die to keep it.

Her eyes hardened, that soft look gone in an instant. “I take care of me, Gabriel.”

The music ended and they were drawn apart, Gabriel to be toasted and Iada on some small errand for Anna. Gabriel watched her walk away with a troubled heart.

***

Between Gabriel, Anna and Enrique, someone was always by Iada’s side, buffering her from the barely veiled hostility of the others. Even Lucas took her hand and led her to the dance floor when Anna left to tend Michael. It was when the dance had ended that one man finally was brave enough or drunk enough to confront her directly. Lucas saw him first and shifted to block the man’s path. Iada snorted. As if she were not capable of defending herself. The man was middle-aged with salt-and-pepper hair, a narrow frame, wide mouth and thick brows drawn together in a scowl.

“Steven,” Lucas said in a low voice, but the approaching man ignored the warning in his tone.

It seemed best to let Lucas handle his friend. Gabriel would be displeased if she drew blood here, she thought. Steven ignored Lucas, eyes fixed on Iada. Lucas took a step forward until they stood chest to chest, forcing the man back with his larger body. Steven craned his neck around Lucas’s broad shoulder.

“The Silveira champion,” he sneered. “Cowering behind a human.”

Iada regarded him calmly and pointedly looked away. Unfortunately that brought her attention to the wall of hostile eyes surrounding them.

Barred from his prey, Steven addressed the crowd. “Her family killed my Bella.”

Reluctantly Iada looked back at the man. He was pointing at her, finger quivering. His eyes were too bright, his lips pulled taut with anger. And then Gabriel was behind her. She could feel his presence, solid and reassuring at her back.

“My wife did not kill your daughter, Steven.” Gabriel’s voice was smooth and low.

Steven would not be soothed. “She is one of them.”

“Bella might have died during the pregnancy even if the father had stayed. You know that’s always a risk.” Gabriel stepped around her, placing himself to her side.

Steven turned slightly to follow him, slashing out with one arm and nearly catching his closest neighbor across the face. “Bella would still be alive if that monster hadn’t put his child in her belly. And what of the boy? He had as much responsibility to his son as to my daughter.”

Gabriel sighed. “Yes.”

Steven’s lip curled back from his teeth. “Now you will make peace with these animals. You will not change what they are.”

Iada heard murmurs of agreement from the crowd. The place between her shoulder blades began to itch. Steven swung around abruptly and spit on her. It splattered on her bare calf. She wanted to cringe, run for a towel to wipe it off but she held her ground and met his glare dead-on.

Gabriel moved forward, fisting his hand in Stephen’s shirt and dragging him away, face grim. And Iada was left standing alone surrounded by all those hateful eyes, blaming her for the punishment Steven would surely receive at her husband’s hands. She was tired of taking the blame for other people’s actions. She met each glare until one by one they dropped their eyes and turned away.