Chapter 13
Gabriel stretched out on the bed, frustrated at this whole situation. There’d been too many of Judoc’s packmates in the library. He might be able to bend shadows to his will, but in a fully lighted room like that with so many people? And not knowing which computer Carson had used—if he’d even used one at all—meant it had been pointless for him to be there.
So now he was back in his designated bedroom. He’d heard the shower turn off about ten minutes ago and was bracing himself to see Vega. As always.
At the jingle of the doorknob, he thought he was ready. But he nearly jolted upright as Vega stepped into the bedroom, wearing little boy-short panties and a sports bra.
And nothing else.
What the hell was she doing? Her long, dark hair was draped over one shoulder in a damp braid and the look she gave him as she approached the bed was unreadable. “You find anything in the library?”
They’d agreed that they would share a room partially for appearances and partially because they were teammates. Even though they’d been given separate rooms, they’d be stationed in his for the duration of this op. They needed to have each other’s backs. And the truth was, he wasn’t leaving her alone, even for a moment. But he hadn’t signed up for this. The woman was clearly determined to push all his boundaries.
“Too many people inside.” So apparently not all the wolves were at the party. “Is this what you sleep in?” he growled as she flopped down on the bed next to him.
The grin she gave him was wicked as she stretched out. “Normally I sleep naked. You like this?”
He growled low in his throat. He could get up and leave but couldn’t force himself to do that. Not with her so close. “Don’t push me.”
“Oh, I haven’t even begun to push.” Now her voice had taken on a low note, her violet eyes going electric.
He growled. “I’ve told you why we can never—”
Growling herself, she rolled her eyes. “No, you told me that you saw me dying in a stupid vision and I had your mark. We both know that you have to actually bite me during sex for us to be mated.” And the intent had to be there for the mating to be possible. “We could still have sex with no actual biting.” She said it so matter-of-factly, all the muscles in his body pulled taut. “And I’m open to exploring something between us.”
Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuck.
Sex between them would never be simple. He would never be satisfied with simple sex. He wanted everything from her. But that wasn’t to be. She was young and he wondered if that’s why she wasn’t taking the vision seriously enough.
Instead of responding he got out of the bed and stormed into the bathroom. He didn’t give in to the childish impulse to slam the door. Instead he shut it and turned on the shower to steaming hot. He’d already had one, but he had to get the hell away from her before he did something he regretted. Like bury his face between her thighs. Her scent alone was driving him insane. And to have her in bed next to him nearly naked—clearly pushing him into getting physical—no, he couldn’t take that.
Hard as stone, he stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower. Immediately he gripped his cock and started stroking himself. She no doubt knew exactly what he was doing in here but he didn’t care. He couldn’t go back to the bed like this. Unfortunately he had a feeling that as soon as he stepped into that room again and saw her, he’d have the same damn reaction again.
For a moment he froze at the sound of the door opening. “Vega?”
“I’m going to need you to tell me everything about the vision you had,” she snapped.
Even though he didn’t look past the opaque, frosted glass door, he could practically envision her with her hands on her hips, staring at him defiantly. “Now?”
“You should have told me back at the hotel. I want to know now. And if you don’t tell me, I’m stripping and getting in there with you.”
A very dark part of him wanted to simply not tell her so she would do just that. “What do you want to know? I already told you what I saw.”
“I want to know what led up to you meeting with a seer. Why she forced the vision on you. Everything around that time.”
Okay, that was fair enough. He simply hated thinking about the vision, what he’d seen, all the emotions that had ripped through him. “One of my former packmates—who is now living with another pack in Utah—was dating the female. She’s human. Or was.”
“Was?”
“She died.”
“How?”
“Brain aneurysm less than a year after she forced the vision on me… She was dating my packmate.” Though dating was a bit of a stretch for what the couple had been doing. It had been mostly about sex. “He’d wanted me to meet her for a reason I only found out later…” Gabriel felt strange telling Vega this, but continued. “She wanted a threesome and for some reason Ethan thought I’d be up for it with the two of them.” That pup had been so clueless and reckless, he thought, a little fondly, of the now-mated male.
Gabriel froze when he heard Vega’s claws release, a low growl in her throat.
For some reason, he liked that she got jealous. Call him a caveman, he didn’t care. “I wasn’t interested, and the human was…petty.” Beautiful but broken. “She grabbed my head and forced me to see my future.” He could have pulled away immediately, but once she’d started, he hadn’t wanted to. He’d been too damn curious. Then he wished he’d never let the vision continue.
“Did you ever think she forced you to see something wrong?” she finally asked.
“Yes. I spoke to a couple other seers. Apparently that isn’t possible. At least not that they were aware of. What she did was wrong, ethically, but what she showed me would have been the truth. Seers can only see what might happen and a select few can show others.” It was supposed to be voluntary, however. And he’d spoken to more than just a couple seers. He’d been obsessed after the vision until he’d finally had to accept the truth.
“Are there any other details you remember?”
He remembered everything, the vision seared into his brain. “It happened here, on Judoc’s land. I don’t know how I knew it was here, but I did. Bone deep. I was part of that vision in a visceral way and I knew I was on my cousin’s land. And it happened under a blood moon.”
“Those only happen like…twice a year.”
“The next one is in two weeks.” Gabriel should know. He tracked them religiously.
“How was I killed?” Her voice was calm as she asked.
He felt anything but calm, and forced himself to answer. “I’m not sure. There was fire and blood. And I felt the loss of your death.”
“I’m sorry you had to experience that, even in a dream.”
He leaned his head back against the tile, closing his eyes as the water pounded down around him. “Not a dream. A vision. Don’t forget that.”
Heard a slight shuffling and guessed that she’d jumped up on the counter to sit. “You know that nothing is written in stone.” She reiterated what she said at the hotel.
Yeah, he knew. He also felt like he’d run straight into a destiny he’d been terrified of.
“Can I tell you something…” She continued before he could answer. “I’ve never been with a male. Never had sex. Not technically.”
His throat tightened as he digested her words. Why the hell was she telling him that?
“Making me feel kinda awkward here,” she muttered.
Erection now gone after talking about her foreseen death, he turned the shower off and reached out to grab a towel. Wrapping it around his waist, he stepped out into the steamed-up bathroom so he could face her. Sure enough she was sitting on the counter, her long, bare legs crossed. “Why are you telling me this?”
Her cheeks were pink as she shrugged. “If you’re so convinced I’m going to die soon—”
“I didn’t say soon! And you’ve only got a week here. After that I’ll tie you up and haul you back to Biloxi myself.” He wouldn’t risk her being in this vicinity after another week. He hoped everything was settled with Carson long before then anyway. As in tomorrow. His patience was a razor-thin wire right now.
She snorted softly. “I’m just saying…I don’t want to die. And I definitely don’t want to die a virgin. You’ve got enough details about this so-called vision that…we can avoid it coming to fruition if we’re never here during a blood moon.”
He tightened his jaw once then stalked past her into the bedroom. He was dripping water everywhere and couldn’t find it in him to care. After grabbing a pair of boxers and a T-shirt from his duffel bag, he tossed the towel on the back of a chair. He wasn’t sure if she was watching him and he didn’t care. His goal was to get in bed, get sleep and figure shit out in a few hours.
“I always assumed you slept naked,” Vega murmured, dimming the tableside lamp as she slid into bed.
He did, but didn’t tell her that. Instead, he got into the huge California king-size bed on the opposite side. They should have enough space to do gymnastics, but the thing might as well have been a twin.
She was silent but he swore her projected thoughts were louder than a full-scale jazz band. He could practically hear the wheels in her head turning. But she didn’t say anything, simply turned on her side and gave him her back.
Sighing, he turned away and closed his eyes even though he knew sleep wouldn’t come. Especially since she’d told him she was a virgin. He didn’t want to care about something like that, but the thought of being her first? Her only. Hell. He needed rest. Now.
Instead he remembered one of the last days he’d spent with her in New Orleans years ago.
“How was class?” Gabriel asked, sliding up next to Vega as she stepped out onto the sidewalk.
“You’ve got to stop doing that,” she said, laughing lightly. “You nearly gave my friend Mia a heart attack the other day. She thought you’d dropped out of the trees or something.”
He simply shrugged, scanning the upcoming courtyard. It was close to four in the afternoon and in the middle of spring so people were everywhere even if they didn’t have class. Vega had started wearing dresses, showing off miles of leg and toned, tanned skin.
Something he didn’t need to be noticing. But things had shifted lately. He couldn’t figure out when it had happened either. He’d always been protective of her. But…things were different now and it felt as if the change had happened overnight. He knew it meant he had to get distance from her, to request that he be sent off on an assignment somewhere else, or at least moved back to Biloxi.
He didn’t want to trust her safety to anyone else, but being around her day in and day out was pushing things now. Tempting fate, something he couldn’t afford. Neither of them could. “So?”
“So what…oh, class. Eh. There’s not a lot that can make statistics fun or interesting.” She shrugged. “But it’s part of my course load. I’m just glad it’s Friday. Want to head to the Quarter tonight? Pretend to be tourists on Bourbon Street?” She giggled lightly.
Laughing, he shook his head. He had the most insane urge to take her hand in his, to pull her close. His wolf on the surface, wanting to take her out on a real date to—
“Vega, hey.” A male shifter he recognized from around campus nodded once at Gabriel. A jaguar.
Fucking cats. Gabriel wanted to snarl at him on principle but kept his civilized mask in place. Because the truth was, the only reason he didn’t like the guy was because it was clear he was interested in Vega.
“Hey, Jacob. I didn’t see you in econ yesterday,” she said, only slowing down marginally.
“Yeah, missed my alarm. What are you up to tonight? I wanted to see if you wanted to head up to The Boot later with a group of us.” He looked at Gabriel and gave a polite smile. “You too.” The male was clearly curious about Gabriel and his relationship with Vega because he’d overheard Jacob ask her if that was her boyfriend before and she’d told Jacob no. But she hadn’t given any more details than that.
“I’ve got plans tonight, but thanks anyway. I’ll see you around later,” Vega said, in the politest dismissal Gabriel had ever heard. She was so different from the teenager who’d come to live with the pack. He’d never forget the way she’d freaked out on her father years ago because Finn had tried to forbid her to go on a date with a human male. It had been interesting watching Finn navigate being a parent.
Once they were out of earshot, Gabriel said, “You could have gone out with him.” He felt as if he was chewing on glass as he forced the words out.
She snorted as they reached the end of the sidewalk. “Let’s take the long way home. I want to walk. I need to stretch my legs.”
She lived off campus in a pack-owned house near college. He lived in the carriage house behind it, but spent most of his time in the main house. He told himself it was because she was his responsibility, that since she was pack princess he had to look out for her all the time. But the truth was he just liked being around her.
“Jacob’s nice,” Vega said after a few minutes of walking in silence along the uneven sidewalk. Beads hung from giant oak trees above them, the sight common all over New Orleans. But especially where they were. “But he’s definitely into me. He’s asked me out a few times and I’ve shut him down as gently as I could. I figure he’ll get the hint eventually.”
Gabriel simply nodded. He might not like Jacob on principle but the jaguar shifter seemed okay. Just young, and it wasn’t as if Gabriel could blame the guy for being into Vega. The male wasn’t pushy and he didn’t set off any of Gabriel’s protective instincts—mainly because the male was still a pup, in his opinion.
“So, want to go out tonight or what?” she asked.
“As long as it’s not Bourbon Street.” The scents could be overwhelming sometimes.
“Ha, I know, I was messing with you. There’s a Mediterranean place I want to check out over in the Lower Garden District. A couple packmates are supposed to be arriving tonight anyway. Figured they’d all want to go out.”
“Who?”
“Ah…Taylor, Liberty and Chloe for sure.”
Gabriel snorted softly. “If Liberty’s coming, then Rory is too.”
“Of course… Oh, Cynara is coming too.”
The half-vampire, half-demon had shockingly purple hair—not dyed—and loved New Orleans. She was over here often and though the female didn’t drink often, she could party as much as wolves. “I heard she was dating someone new.”
“Me too…we’ll see if it lasts. That female is so damn picky.”
“And you’re not?”
She laughed under her breath. “Fair enough… Someone asked me out for Saturday.” There was a note in her voice he couldn’t define.
“From class?”
“Ah…no. A shifter from the Moana clan. He goes to school here too.”
Gabriel barely kept his claws in check. “Does he know who you are?” Meaning who her parents were.
“Yeah. Now, anyway. I don’t think he did at first.”
“How old is he? And—”
She sighed. “Look. I’m not answering a billion questions. I just wanted to let you know.”
Vega wasn’t a typical college student and never would be. He knew sometimes it bothered her, but because of her unique bloodline and who her powerful parents were she could potentially be targeted by any number of assholes. So he knew why she was telling him. She hadn’t said if she was going, either, and for now he wasn’t going to push. Because he didn’t want to know the damn answer.
Just because he’d had that vision, knew what their future might hold… He rolled his shoulders once. It was definitely time to get out of New Orleans. Get on with his life. Let Vega live hers.
And made sure she stayed alive.