Chapter 7
Gabriel stepped outside the warehouse right as Finn answered the phone. A bite of icy wind rippled over him but he barely felt it.
“Have you found her?” Finn asked. “And more importantly, is she okay?”
Gabriel waited a beat before answering. “Yes, I’ve found her. She’s near my cousin Judoc’s territory.” Finn was one of the only wolves of the Stavros pack who knew where Gabriel came from.
He’d left his old pack behind and ruthlessly cut out all mentions of his past to his packmates. He’d done it long before he’d met Vega. Because he’d seen her death and it had been in Judoc’s territory. Something he was going to tell her tonight. But first he’d needed to call Finn. Because if Finn got a call from another Alpha first, that Vega was in his territory, it would be bad.
That was the kind of shit that started wars. “I’m going to tell you something and I need you to listen to the end. Right now we’re both in Judoc’s territory. And it’s going to appear as if I am chasing Vega—as if we’re lovers. As if I hope to mate with her.” He’d seen the future and she supposedly became his mate.
But he would never let that come to pass. Because if they never mated, she would never die.
“Are you?” A neutral-enough question but Finn’s tone was hard.
“Am I what?”
“Are you lovers?” A sharp, brutal question.
“No!”
“Then why will you be pretending as if you are?”
“I can’t say.”
There was a long moment of silence on the other end of the line. “Does this have anything to do with why you joined my pack all those years ago?”
That was a complicated question. “Maybe.”
Finn let out a harsh-sounding laugh with no humor in it. “You’re not giving me much to go on. What’s she up to?”
Gabriel stared off into the distance at a neighboring abandoned warehouse. August had picked this location well. Still on the outskirts of another Alpha’s territory. And Gabriel couldn’t even hear the others inside, which told him it had serious insulation. “I can’t tell you.”
“Is Vega in danger?”
“Potentially.”
“Fuck. You’re not making me feel better about any of this.”
“There’s only so much I can tell you. Will she be in danger? Yes. Will I be here to protect her? Yes. But I cannot betray what she is doing right now. So don’t ask it of me.” Because the truth was, if he had to choose loyalty between Finn and Vega…she’d win.
Something he hadn’t even been totally sure about until this very moment. As Guardian his loyalty to Finn ran deep. His job was literally to protect his Alpha at all cost, to lay down his life for him. But Vega…she owned him.
Finn was silent for so long that Gabriel looked at his phone screen. His Alpha hadn’t hung up. Finally the other male spoke. “I’m putting all of my trust in you. I know you won’t betray me.”
A weight Gabriel hadn’t even realized had been sitting on his chest lifted at his Alpha’s words.
Finn’s next words could have knocked him over. “Vega is a grown woman. Something I need to face. If you two do end up mated, she’d be lucky to have you.”
Gabriel made a strangled sound because he had no idea how to respond to that. No idea at all. Instead he said, “I’m going to go dark for a while. I’ll have my phone on me, but it’ll be off. I don’t want anyone to potentially track my device.”
“Yeah, you’re really not making me feel good about this,” Finn growled.
“I do have another option. I could tie her up and haul her home. Keep her safe.” And ensure Vega’s hatred of him forever.
“No. Without knowing any of the details, absolutely not. I can’t clip her wings before she’s even learned to fly. But you better watch out for my daughter.”
“I will. I’ll be in touch.”
After turning off his phone and taking out the battery, Gabriel shoved the pieces into his pocket.
Well if that hadn’t been the most awkward conversation ever, he wasn’t sure what was. What the heck had Finn been thinking by saying it would be okay if they mated? That was beyond insane. Okay, maybe not quite so insane, but it wasn’t happening. He’d kept his distance for a reason. And not just because she was too young. Though she was. It didn’t matter if she was grown up now. He’d seen that vision of her dying in his arms, in his cousin’s territory. She’d had his mating mark. He had to tell her what he’d seen, had to make sure she understood what might happen to her. As long as they never mated, that future threat should never come to pass. But he still had to give her all of this information.
There was no way around it.
Fuck. He wanted to slam his head into a brick wall right about now. Because that sounded a lot more fun than the conversation he was soon going to have with her.
When he strode back inside the warehouse he knew immediately that Vega was gone.
“She’s on her way to the hotel,” August said, leaning against the lone table in the warehouse. “Also, nice work on bypassing my security here.”
Gabriel glanced around, not seeing or scenting the other two as he stalked toward August. “Did you recruit her because of who her parents are?”
“No. That was actually a strike against her.”
“Why did you recruit her?”
August watched Gabriel for a long moment. “Tell me who you used to work for first.”
“Dinah.” No need to give a last name. August would know who the woman was. Scary, competent, and loyal to her team.
August simply lifted an eyebrow, but answered Gabriel’s earlier question. “I was looking at someone else. Another shifter in one of her classes. Then I got a peek at some of her test scores—and when I met her in person I could feel the power rolling off her. It’s untapped. Raw. I couldn’t walk away then.”
His words sounded true enough and Gabriel couldn’t scent a lie. But for a man like August, he would have learned to cover his lies by now. The man was in covert intelligence and black ops, after all. He was right about one thing though. Vega had a lot of untapped power. And Gabriel was pretty sure even she didn’t realize the extent of it. He was over a hundred and still growing into his.
“What did your Alpha say?” August asked before Gabriel could respond.
“He trusts me. And he knows I would never put his daughter in danger.” And that was all Gabriel was going to say to August.
Apparently it was enough because the other male nodded. “I guess you don’t need files on Carson or your cousin.”
“I’ll take a look at what you’ve got.” Because it had been many years since he’d seen either one of them.
August pushed up from the table and nodded down at a couple of the files. “Burn them when you’re through. She’s waiting for you at the hotel.”
“What exactly do you want from Carson?”
“I want his head on a fucking pike, but since that’s not practical for my purposes, I’d settle for getting him off Judoc’s land. I need him in neutral territory where he’s not protected.”
“You said he’s got information he wants to sell. How do you know he hasn’t already?”
August snorted. “I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere. He’s put out a few feelers regarding putting the information up on the auction block, but he hasn’t lined up anything solid yet. He won’t, either. He’ll take his time because he thinks he’s safe where he is. He would never expect me or anyone to try and infiltrate Judoc’s territory.”
Gabriel nodded once because it was true. His cousin was a powerful Alpha, older than even Finn. Not that age always played a part in one’s strength. But in Judoc’s case, the male would simply get more powerful with age.
“What’s your relationship with your cousin?”
“Friendly. I left on good terms.” He was surprised August didn’t know that. “Don’t you have a file on me?”
August simply gave Gabriel a look that said “come on.” Of course he did.
Without another word, Gabriel flipped open the first file and began reading.
“Here’s the info for where Vega is staying. Make the relationship look real. Judoc won’t buy anything else otherwise. And that shit Carson wants to sell…it’ll get a lot of good people killed. People who have given their life for the betterment of supernaturals. People who are trying to make sure that when the time comes where we’re either outed or come out on our own to the world—that we’re prepared.” There was a hell of a lot of heat in the other male’s words.
Gabriel could respect that. This shit was personal for August. And it mattered. Gabriel was loyal to his pack but he wasn’t naive enough to think that they’d be living in the shadows forever. And being able to help out the people on the front lines, risking their lives for his ass? Yeah. He was all over this. “It’ll look real.” Not that he’d have a problem with that. His attraction to her was far too intense. “And if it comes down to it, I’ll kill Carson myself.”
“Try not to. If he’s got that info set up so it blasts out to various sources if he doesn’t check in at certain times…” August didn’t finish. He didn’t need to.
“I’ll proceed with caution, then.” But one day…he’d end up killing Carson. Something in his gut told him that.
A simple nod and the other man, surprising Gabriel, sat across from him and started working on his laptop.
All right, then.
Time to read so he could get the hell out of here and track down Vega. They needed to talk. Before he’d even finished the first file, however, August glanced at an incoming text on his phone and frowned.
“Judoc is on his way to the hotel Vega is at. Better get there now.”
Gabriel was up and opening the exit door before August had finished.