Chapter 9
The sky was gray, everything overcast, mirroring Vega’s mood.
“You’re quiet this morning,” Gabriel said, not taking his eyes off the road as he steered them down the highway toward Judoc’s place.
She lifted a shoulder. She had a lot on her mind. “I know what the files say, but give me your take on Carson. Something that I wouldn’t have read about.” She’d wanted to ask Gabriel more last night, but he’d more than shocked her with what he’d said about them being future mates. Or in his case, apparently he’d decided to just give up on what might be.
Because of a stupid vision.
She wanted to punch him right in the face. And she was pretty sure she wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping her annoyance locked down. Yes, in a sense it was noble, what he’d tried to do. Beyond, even. But it was her future too and she got a say in it. And now that she knew exactly why he’d been keeping his distance from her—not because he was frustrated or annoyed with her, but because he was attracted to her as well—it was like he’d lit the pilot light on the desire she’d been keeping locked down for far too long, and she couldn’t turn it off.
“Carson is an asshole at his core—and he’ll definitely hit on you. He’s charming, attractive, if you go for that pretty boy look,” Gabriel muttered. “Never had a problem bedding the females of the pack. And to give him credit, he never left anyone angry at him. But I never trusted him. And I don’t know that I could even articulate why. My wolf rejected him on a primal level. And Judoc never understood the animosity between me and Carson either. I think it’s because Carson’s parents died when he was young and Judoc always felt responsible for him.”
“It wasn’t in the file that you were related to Judoc, so I never even realized. Do you know why August left that out?”
Gabriel shrugged but paused. “I don’t know. Maybe because it wasn’t important or maybe because he didn’t want you distracted by the knowledge. I haven’t had contact with Judoc in almost a decade.”
She needed to ask August why it had been left out, but that would have to wait. “Carson is related to Judoc on his mother’s side. How are you?”
“I’m related to Judoc on his father’s side.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“Died in the same skirmish with vampires that Carson’s parents did. We were all pups at the time. It was a long time ago. Over a century.”
“So why did Judoc favor him and not you?”
Gabriel laughed lightly. “I never said that he didn’t favor me. Judoc and I were always tight. When I left, I know that I hurt him—but there’s no animosity between us.”
“Would you have left if you hadn’t had the vision?”
He paused for a moment, then nodded. His profile was hard, and while he wasn’t classically handsome, he was incredibly sexy. Not to mention his pale green eyes were captivating. “I don’t know. I think I would have. My wolf always respected him and his power. But…it’s hard to give full allegiance to someone you sparred with, and bested in fights as a pup, as an adolescent, and even as an adult. I don’t know if we would have ever butted heads and crossed the line. I don’t have Alpha traits like him. I wouldn’t want to be in charge of an entire pack. Either way, I’m glad I never had to find out.”
“You’re close in strength to my dad.”
Gabriel shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. My wolf recognizes him as Alpha. When I met him, it was as if something clicked into place. My wolf knows his place in the pack.”
“So what else do I need to know about you? Did you leave any broken hearts behind?” Okay, she wanted to know for more than just one reason but technically she did need to know if there were any she-wolves he left behind who might like to claw her eyes out. Kinda unlikely but…yeah, she wanted to know. It made her jealous to even think of him with someone else. Which was stupid, but there it was.
He glanced at her, his expression wry. “Do you care?”
“Hey, I’m playing a role right now. I need to know about your past if it’s going to be believable that we’re lovers. And okay, I do care.” Screw it—she was really curious and she wouldn’t deny it. Right now she was deciding how she wanted to play things with him; if she wanted to pursue what might be simply because he’d seen them mated in the future.
“I didn’t leave any broken hearts behind.”
Okay then, that appeared to be all he was going to say about that. She wouldn’t push either.
“So did you leave anyone back in New Orleans?” There was a bite to his words.
She sniffed once. “How does that pertain to this operation?”
“It doesn’t. I want to know.” There was a wealth of possessiveness in that statement.
And damn it, she really liked it. She wanted him to care. She thought about lying, about wording it so he thought she had, but that was petty games. And she wasn’t playing games. Her wolf wanted him. And now that she knew there was only one barrier between them—Gabriel’s stubbornness—she was going to do this right. “No.”
“No? That’s it?”
She lifted a shoulder, not sure what else he could want to know. “Yep.”
“We’re officially in his territory now,” Gabriel said a few moments later as he nodded at a turnoff. “I know you have all this information from the file, but we’re likely being watched right now. Or at least on some type of radar. Just like Finn, Judoc has cameras set up on his territory. Some you’ll see, some you won’t.”
She nodded and glanced out at the landscape. It was all forest and woods as far as she could see. According to August, the Alpha owned a spread of land out in the middle of nowhere so that his pack had hundreds of acres to run free. Hell, thousands.
Soon enough she and Gabriel would be in the heart of the territory. And they had to be very careful about what they did and said. Their very lives could depend on it.