The Gathering (11 page)

When he left the room, pulling the door shut
behind him, Rayna jumped from the bed and searched for a phone.
There wasn’t one in the room, naturally. She sighed before looking
at the door. Could she find one without him noticing?

Light from the windows streamed into the room
and she turned to the beam of sunshine filtering in. She smiled.
Vampires slept during the day, didn’t they? “Shower first, snoop
later.”

* * * *

Garrett was boarding up the broken window in
his room when he saw Jacob. He was standing near the tree line. He
was alone, staring up at the house.

Laying the hammer down, Garrett watched him
for long minutes before turning and making his way outside. The
moment he stepped out the back door, Jacob turned back toward the
forest.

Garrett gave chase the instant the boy ran.
The sun was bright, dew sparkled on the grass and the air was
filled with the scent of evergreen. The dash across the field took
the soreness from his limbs. Sleeping on the floor hadn’t been fun.
He couldn’t make himself leave the room, trashed as it was. It
still held Rayna’s scent and he was loathed to give it up.

By the time he made it to the trees, Jacob
was nowhere to be seen. He stopped, raised his head, and tried to
pick up his scent. He smiled when he found it and was running again
before he remembered to tell Bryce where he was going.

The chase led him over half the mountain and
when Garrett finally caught up with Jacob, the boy was sitting with
his back to a tree, arms propped up on his elbows. He was breathing
heavily which told him he’d tried his best to outrun him.

Smiling as he approached, Garrett sat down
facing him. “So… fancy meeting you here.”

Jacob grinned before picking up a small twig
and pulling the leaves off of it. “If I don’t get back soon, she’ll
skin me alive.”

“Not if you’re with me, she won’t.” Jacob’s
eyebrows shot up in surprise. “What are you doing with her,
Jacob?”

He sighed and tossed the twig away. “I didn’t
have much choice. After Caleb and his goons shot me with that Tranq
gun, I woke up in the mine. It wasn’t like I could just walk out.
Once Carmen showed up and got everyone moving, I couldn’t get
away.”

“And what does she want you for?” Jacobs
cheeks turned blistering red then and Garrett didn’t even have to
ask why. He knew Carmen too well. She used sex as a weapon and had
a way of getting whatever information she wanted by the same means.
Apparently Jacob had been on the receiving end of her interrogation
tactics. “What did she want to know?”

Jacob shrugged and averted his gaze. “Mostly
about you. What your relationship with Rayna was like.” He laughed
and picked up another twig. “The woman is seriously twisted. She
doesn’t even know Rayna but hates her enough to plot her murder on
a daily basis.”

“She’s dead the minute she tries.” Garrett’s
wolf slinked closer to the surface just thinking about Carmen
hurting Rayna. He reined it in and focused on Jacob. “What
else?”

“Your plans as far as Malcolm were concerned.
If you were going to challenge him to take the pack.”

“And?”

“And I told her you didn’t want it. That you
just wanted to get Rayna and go back to the city.”

“But I didn’t do that.”

“No. She wondered why you’d stayed and got
her answer when she sent Erik to the house.”

“They were curious about Rayna?”

Jacob nodded his head. “Yeah. Once Erik
confirmed her to be infected, Carmen set out to challenge Rayna.
She wants this pack bad, Garrett.”

“Why?”

“No clue. It’s all she talks about though.
What she’s going to do once she’s back inside the house. How
everyone will bow down to her.” He rolled his eyes before
chuckling. “You should hear her. She’s crazy, man.”

“I know.” Garrett looked around the forest
and wondered if allowing Carmen to roam free was such a smart move.
The woman was dangerous. She always had been. With a group of
shifters at her beck-and-call, it was hard to tell what havoc the
woman could pull off. “What’s the story with the new pack she
has?”

Jacob tossed his stick away and frowned.
“Those are the wolves Caleb made. Most of them are just as twisted
as he was but a few of them just do as they’re told and sit quietly
in the background.”

“Like you?”

Jacob grinned. “Like me.”

Garrett was quiet for several minutes,
staring at Jacob and wondering what to do now. Getting Jacob back
had been a priority the day before but now he wondered if leaving
him with Carmen wasn’t the smartest move. “What do you want to do,
Jacob? Do you want to come to the house?”

Jacob lowered his eyes and nodded. “I’d love
to.” He stared at his hands before looking up. “Staying with her
gets harder by the day.”

Standing and stretching out his legs, Garrett
stared at him and wondered if having him at the house would be best
for everyone. He leaned his head to the side, watching him. “You’re
welcome anytime, you know that… but I think you’re better off where
you are.” Jacob’s expression grew somber, his eyes downcast. “I
need to know what she’s up to, Jacob, and you’re the only one in
the position to find out.”

Jacob lifted his head and the look on his
face was again filled with surprise. His smile was slow to form but
once it was there, it grew to near blinding. He stood and dusted
the seat of his pants off. “I can do that.”

Garrett returned the smile. “I know you can.
Let me know the minute something happens you think I should know
about. If it gets to much to handle, come home.” He turned and
started to walk away but Jacob saying his name stopped him.

“Something went down last night. I’m not sure
what, exactly, but Carmen and Erik were gone for a while. When they
came back, Carmen was sporting a couple of new wounds on her
neck.”

Garrett puzzled over the new information.
“Did anyone say where they’d gone or how she was injured?”

“No, but she was highly pissed about
something.”

Garrett stared at him and wondered what
Carmen and Erik could have been up to. He was sure whatever it was
would land on his doorstep soon enough. Where Carmen was concerned,
it always came back to him.

* * * *

Rayna had just stepped out of her panties
when she heard Sabriel say her name. She snatched up her towel,
wrapping it around her body, and turned to the door. Why the hell
hadn’t she shut it?

He appeared a moment later. He took in her
appearance and when he looked back at her face, heat smoldered in
his eyes. “I’ve brought you something to sleep in.” He ignored her
state of undress and laid something white on the cabinet before
backing out of the bathroom. “The kitchen is stocked. Help yourself
to whatever you’d like.” He watched her, his gaze once again
lingering over her. “I’ll be across the hall if you need anything.”
He walked away before she could thank him for the clothes.

Shutting the bathroom door, and locking it,
Rayna ignored the entire encounter and showered quickly, dried off,
and picked up the clothing Sabriel had left for her. It was a man’s
long sleeve button-up shirt. Not that she was expecting fancy
lingerie, or even a respectable nightgown, but for some reason, the
shirt bothered her.

She lifted it and inhaled the scent that
lingered on it. Washing powder, mostly, but she knew this shirt
belonged to Sabriel. She could smell him on it. He didn’t wear
cologne or she didn’t think he did. She hadn’t ever noticed the
presence of any but his scent was refreshing for a man. He smelled
of bed linens and oddly enough, like the spring air. As if his
clothes were dried in the sunlight.

Shaking her head, she slipped the shirt on.
Thankfully it fell to mid-thigh. She wasn’t too keen on running
around his house with her ass showing, especially seeing how her
only pair of panties was laying in a pile of dirty clothes at her
feet.

Winding her hair into a towel, she entered
the bedroom and crossed to the door. A peek into the hall revealed
nothing. There wasn’t a sound in the house and creeping out of her
room, Rayna made her way back the way Sabriel had brought her when
entering.

She found the kitchen but by-passed it. A
search of every room caused a frustrated sigh to escape before she
scowled. “Does this man not own a damn phone?”

Walking back to the kitchen, she checked the
refrigerator. It was stocked, just as he’d said. She had to wonder
about that. She didn’t know vampires ate real food. Did they?

Staring at the contents, she grabbed a bottle
of water before finding a plate of cheese and sliced lunchmeats.
She carried them to the table and ate in silence while wondering
what to do.

She was sure this wasn’t their last stop.
Sabriel had said he was taking her to the Breed Leaders. Maybe they
were coming here, she thought, before looking around the house
again. She hoped not. She needed to let someone know where she was
and with no phone, that was impossible.

Her thoughts went to Garrett then and her
mood, and appetite, plummeted. This was the first day in three
months she hadn’t been right by his side. She felt the loss
constrict her chest before her eyes grew damp. How did she ever
think she would be able to just… walk away from him? He was a part
of her now. Her wolf was created by him. By the infection he
accidentally gave her the night he’d killed Malcolm. Being
separated from him felt like a limb had been cut off.

She pushed the plate away and wiped at her
eyes. “You’re so stupid, Rayna. For once you should have listened
to Garrett instead of being so pig-headed. You wouldn’t be in this
mess now.”

Walking back to her room, she locked the door
behind her and crawled into bed. The emptiness she felt only grew
when she realized she might not ever see Garrett again. He didn’t
know where she was and the chances of him finding her were growing
slimmer by the minute.

Once the Collective had her, her days would
be numbered.

There were clothes on the end of the bed when
Rayna woke, including under-things. She raised an eyebrow as she
picked up the panties and bra. Black lace and see through.
Surprisingly, they were her size and not so skimpy they would be
uncomfortable to wear. Jeans, a royal blue shirt, and socks were
also there. Beside the clothes was a bag that held toiletries and a
perfume that smelled faintly of flowers.

She didn’t want to even think about who
picked out the clothes, especially the black lacy things, and
dressed quickly, brushed her hair and teeth, slipped on her shoes
and walked out of her room. She glanced at the door as she pulled
it shut behind her. She was sure she’d locked it before she’d lain
down. How did someone get in to deliver the clothing? She shrugged
her shoulders before heading down the hall.

The smell of food drew her to the kitchen and
the man who had driven the SUV the day before was by the stove,
cooking. He turned to look at her and motioned to the table with a
nod of his head.

Sabriel was there, reading a newspaper and
sipping something from a cup. He was dressed casually again and the
scene looked so domestic she almost laughed. Seeing a vampire doing
things that seemed so normal wasn’t what she expected.

He must have sensed her presence for he
turned and smiled at her. “Good morning… well, evening, I should
say. Please, have a seat. Luther will have your breakfast ready in
a few more minutes.”

Rayna looked at the table, noticing then
there was another place setting beside her own and it wasn’t
sitting in front of Sabriel. “Are you expecting company?”

“We are.” He sat his newspaper aside and
stood, pulling out the chair next to him and waited for her.

She sighed and debated on not cooperating.
Her stomach didn’t give her much choice, though. It growled,
loudly, and her cheeks heated before she walked to the table and
sat down. “Thanks,” she said, quietly, as Sabriel slid the chair
under her.

A soft, “you’re welcome,” followed before he
once again took his own seat. “Did you sleep well?”

“As well as could be expected after being
kidnapped and taken to only god knows where.”

“New York.”

Rayna cut him a quick look when he replied.
New York? Her pulse raced all of a sudden. They were close to
Bluff’s Point. Well, depending on where in New York they were, but
she was still close. If she could make her way home, she’d at least
be among people she knew and could get back to Wolf’s Creek and
back to Garrett. She hoped her face didn’t reflect what she was
thinking. “What are we doing here?”

Sabriel smiled and picked up his cup.
“Waiting.”

“For?”

“Instructions, mostly.”

“So you’re not running the show, then?”

He looked at her, his eyes full of amusement.
“No, Ms. Ford. I’m just one of many.”

“You’re a member of this Collective?”

He nodded his head. “Yes. Most of the Breed
leaders are.”

So Sabriel was a Breed Leader. She wanted to
question him what exactly Breed leaders did, and what gave them the
distinction, but finding out who these people were seemed more
important. “And how many Breed leaders are there in the Collective?
Are they just wolves and vamps or can any creature play along?”

Sabriel stared at her for a few moments
before he chuckled. “I had forgotten you were a reporter. Do you
interrogate everyone, Ms. Ford?”

“Most of the time, especially when I need to
know things I’m not privy to.”

“Well, let me make this easy for you then.”
He took a sip from his cup, sitting it back down before looking
over her shoulder.

A plate was sat down in front of her filled
with bacon, eggs and toast. It smelled wonderful and she hated
talking when she was so hungry. She had a tendency to not listen
closely when she was concentrating on her food. She was sure her
new appetite had something to do with the wolf. She ate like a cow
now but thankfully her figure hadn’t suffered for it.