The Pearls (14 page)

Gabe learned how to fight early. It is the one sport Mary let him indulge in. She hired trainers to drive the
three hours to their house in the middle of nowhere. They would train him and were impressed by his stealth and ferocity. Gabe was told over and over by the trainers that he should compete, but Gabe always turned them down. He knew the risk in putting his name out there in the world.

Once he had the
half-blood taken care of he quickly jumped in his car and followed the pull of Justine. Gabe knew as long as he stayed far enough away she wouldn’t feel the pull as strong as she did today. Once he noticed they were headed back to the house he went to his cabin to nurse his hands. He was very thankful that so far the men were just half-bloods, for if they were full, one touch of theirs to his skin could be deadly.

His cabin was on a hill with a view of the house they were staying in. Once inside the cabin Gabe went to the bathroom to get the first aid kit and cleaned then wrapped his hands. He then went to the kitchen and grabbed two bags of frozen peas and sat in the chair that faced the house. He set one bag on his left hand and then with his mouth placed the other on his right and then he stared at the house.
Gabe saw that they were all still in the car, he found that odd, but then again they did notice something strange this morning and turned every faucet and electronic they had in the house on and on full blast blocking him from hearing their conversation.

He
knew they were about to make a run for it, they must have found something and figured out that the killings are not random that they are all being hunted. Gabe knew that once he found Justine and they made love for the first time he would have to be careful. Once the Dragon in them was set free here in America they would have to be very careful that first flight and any flight they took.

After watching for about
ten minutes Gabe noticed a van pull up to the house, it was a moving company. He knew right then they were leaving. He would have to make his move soon or follow them until he knew it was safe to reveal himself to Justine. Gabe wanted her so bad, but he did not want to risk her life by him coming into it.

Kaiden, Zoe and Justine were all silent while they sat in the car waiting for the movers to
get there. Justine couldn’t shake the feeling that the man she was waiting for was near, but that something was keeping him away from her. This feeling both confused her and pissed her off.

Zoe was worried about the movers and losing her parents things so soon. Kaiden was being very watchful of everything; from what Justine had described to him her soul mate must be close.

The moving van pulled up alongside Kaiden’s car and an older plump man stepped out. Kaiden and Zoe got stepped out of the car to meet the man. The man was on the shorter side. He had a plump middle and was wearing overalls. He had no flecks in his eyes, and seemed a very cheerful man.

“I presume you are Mr. Michaels?” The man looked at Kaiden

“Yes sir, this here is Zoe, this is her house and her things inside.” Kaiden nodded towards Zoe as he spoke

“Hello sir, how are you today?”
Zoe asked

“The name is Winston and I am well how about you?”

“I am well also thank you for asking. Are you by yourself?

“Well I am here to do an estimate first, seeing what you have and take an inventory. Also the inventory will help me guess about how many men I will need to pack you up and what size truck and all.”

“Sounds good, I am not used to this I have always done my moving myself.” Zoe told him

Zoe went to unlock the door and they all went inside. Winston went room to room and was jotting down stuff on his clipboard. Winston came back out to the living room once he was done and took a seat on the couch.

“Well looks like it won’t take us but a day to pack up this house. Do you have any special instructions that you want put in here before I call some men to get started? I think we can get it all done today.” Winston said

“Just please take care of everything.” Zoe looked to Winston with panic lacing her eyes

“Miss we will take care of it as if it was our own and we provide insurance on it all.”

“I will pay whatever the cost, but I want everything double wrapped and the fames and breakables wrapped in bubble wrap too. Also I don’t have a location for you so it will need to be held in storage until I have one. What I do know is it is all going overseas, if you want to ship it there and then storage it that is fine.”
Kaiden told Winston

“Anything we can do to make this experience as
trouble-free as possible we will do.”

“Thank you Winston.”

Winston made his phone calls and about twenty minutes later another van pulled up and four men hopped out. They were all dressed in a company uniform and were unloading boxes, tape, and other packing supplies. Justine was out of the car and looking all the men down. From what she could see none of them had flecks in their eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief but stayed outside to watch the area around the house.

Zoe chose two of the men to follow around and watch what they were doing, Kaiden chose the other two. Within three hours all the shelves were bare and closets were emptied. They had the living room stacked with boxes. Zoe was impressed these guys worked fast. Kaiden ordered some pizzas and they were all clustered on the floor waiting for the delivery guy to get there.

Justine was still outside hyper alert for anything. A car had pulled up and she instantly felt the pull. A tall man stepped out of the car. He had the most gorgeous dark green eyes with black fleck in them. Justine just stood there staring at him, she couldn’t move. He stared at her too, but he had pizzas in his hand, about six of them. His hair was covered under a hat that had the pizza logo on it. His lips were set in a firm line, but she could tell they were full lips. He walked right up to Justine and whispered “Not yet my love, but soon, right now you are being watched and I am trying to keep you safe.”

Justine didn’t know what to say she just watched him move away from her and go to the door.

Kaiden answered the door and stood in shock. Zoe came up behind him and also stared in shock. They had felt the pull of a full-blood. Kaiden opened the door before he could even knock.

“Now is not the time to stare, you are in danger here and need to leave soon.” He told them

“We know, we are not staying here tonight, the movers are taking everything and then we are leaving, but we will be close for a couple days.” Kaiden told him

“I know who you are and I know everything, I have been watching her
.” He nodded behind him. “I will be close but I cannot be with her just yet. I have taken care of two men that have been watching you and they were close. I have not seen what I assume is their father yet, but he will be here soon after what I did”

“Understood, I am Kaiden this is Zoe” Kaiden nodded to Zoe “and I assume you know who Justine is?”

“I do, nice to meet you Kaiden and Zoe. Here are your pizzas. The man who was delivering them was a half-blood. They know who you are and where you are.”

Kaiden took the pizzas from him and
handed them to Zoe. “When will you come to her? As soon as we have what we need, we are leaving the state, so how will you find us?”

The man turned to Justine and moved in front of her.

“My name is Gabriel, but you my love, can call me Gabe. I am not leaving you, I will be watching, and I will come to you once you are safe and no one is watching.” Gabe reached for her hand and gently laid a kiss on it.

“Gabe” Justine whispered out
. She didn’t know if she wanted to faint or throw her arms at him. She knew she did not want him to leave. She fell in love the moment his eyes met hers and he kissed her hand.

Gabe strode away got in his car and drove off.

Justine just stood there and watched the car drive away. She wanted to run after it but could not move. That was him that was her soul mate and the way he touched her she was instantly in love. Justine would be patient, he said they were being watched and she knew she could not act out of the ordinary, she had to wait.

Zoe came out of the house with a box of pizza and she walked over to Justine grabbed her hand and led her to a small picnic table that was outside.

“You ok?” Zoe asked

“Zoe that was him
! Is this how you feel? He kissed my hand, he walked away, and he said we are in danger. There are men watching us. How do you breathe around Kaiden? How do stand that pull? How do you function throughout the day without smothering him? How have you not kissed him yet? All I wanted to do was grab that man and hold on to him, to bring those lips to mine and never let go.” Justine looked wild her voice reaching a level Zoe had never heard.

“I am scared Justine
. But yes I feel all of that and Kaiden is around me all the time, and well, at least I have held him in sleep for the last two nights.” Zoe was embarrassed.

“Sorry I am babbling
but damn that was my soul mate.” Justine just zoned out and stared into space.

Zoe sat there and ate her pizza. Justine grabbed a piece but said nothing. They both just sat there lost in their thoughts when Kaiden came out a while later and sat next to Zoe.

“So that was interesting. I am going to take this very seriously and as soon as the truck is here and they are loaded we are out of here.” Kaiden stated

“We fully understand the danger now
. It has been laid out for us by Gabe. Gabe, he has a name and a face now” Justine said longingly

“Well I will tell you
, I am glad that he knows what we are, and it seems he knows who the enemy is too. He might be able to help us shed some light on all of this and honestly, I can’t wait to get to know him more.” Kaiden told them

“That is a bonus and since we think he knows so much maybe he knows where others are.” Zoe said

The moving truck came a short while later and the men were busy loading it all up. Zoe and Justine quietly watched them load the furniture and boxes. Justine could not get Gabe of her mine and when anyone asked her anything she would just mumble an answer. Zoe knew they were not going to get through to her today. Kaiden was just hanging up from talking to Mr. Steinman.

The truck was pulling away while they were getting in the car. Zoe wanted to walk through the empty house one last time and see if they missed anything, she doubted they had. Zoe did not want to leave the house
, but she knew she had to. There was no choice in the matter, but at least she got to keep all their things. When she was done walking through the house she got in the car and they drove off.

Justine stared out the window as they drove. She wondered where he came from and what he was like. She knew
, since he knew what they were, that he must have had his parents, like Kaiden did, and that made her nervous. Gabe called her “my love” though so she knows he accepts her already. Knowing that he was protecting her and watching over her made her feel all that much safer. She glanced behind her then and spotted a car, it was the same grey color as the one that Gabe drove up to the house in, but the sun was creating a glare so she couldn’t see the driver.

Kaiden drove north into Oregon and then he drove towards the coast. He was trying to put as much distance as possible between them and the house. Once he spotted some cabins for rent in
a secluded area, he pulled into the office area, went inside and rented one. They were about an hour away from Coos Bay in a remote area. The rental office stated that there was a very small harbor town about ten miles south of the cabin he rented and they had some restaurants there.

Kaiden drove them to the cabin and they got all their bags out of the trunk and then headed to get some food. The restaurant they agreed on was small but had shrimp on special. While they were eating Justine felt a gentle pull and glanced out the window.
She could just make out a figure on the cliff. She smiled and he gently waved. She knew then that it was him that was behind them in the car and he had followed them here.

Justine didn’t say anything to the others; she just ate her dinner in silence and kept looking out the window.

Once they were back at the cabin they all took seats in the living room area. The cabin had two bedrooms, a small kitchenette, and a small living room with a fireplace. There were no televisions, as this was meant to be a retreat cabin, but there were small radios in the bedrooms. Kaiden made a fire for something to-do, he was used to having television to watch to pass the time. Zoe got up and grabbed her guitar while Kaiden was placing wood in the fireplace.

Once Kaiden was back on the couch Zoe shifted to face him and placed her guitar in her lap. She placed her hands at the neck and at the strings. She felt the urge to play once Kaiden looked into her eyes.
She had made up her mind tonight that she was going to make a move and tell him how she felt. She knew after seeing Justine open to the love of a man she just laid eyes on, that she herself was being silly in denying and holding back her feelings.