GABE
He groaned as he shook his wet hair. The cold shower wasn’t helpful at all. He looked at his brother, who seemed to be having the exact same problem.
“Brenton is going to want us back in the den once Andrew gets back, you know that right?”
Troy growled and nodded.
“If Andrew comes back, that is. She was horny as hell thanks to Zachary.” Gabe swallowed and heard the garage door open. “Well, there he is. Thank God. Let’s get to the den.”
He was riled up and needing to exert some energy but forced himself to sit on the couch where he had just watched Zachary grind on the woman they all wanted. Troy sat quietly as well.
“You okay, man?” He looked to his brother, concerned for the snow leopard.
“Yeah… just worked up. I hated asking her if she wanted to go home but I had a feeling she needed her space tonight. We kind of dumped that on her because Zachary couldn’t keep it in his pants.” Troy ran a hand through his silvery gray hair, falling back deep in to the cushions. “Fuck, the room still smells like her.”
Gabe couldn’t disagree with that. They hadn’t planned any of this past the shift really. Zachary just outed them all for wanting to fuck her, at least. Shit, Gabe was thankful Zachary did keep it in his pants or Gabe wasn’t sure he could handle it. He wasn’t jealous but he was so turned on it hurt and he was destined to use his hand to deal with it until she came to him. He really wanted her to come to him.
Brenton and Andrew walked in at the same time. Zachary was the last to show up, shameless.
“What the hell, Zachary?” Brenton finally groaned to him. Gabe was going to let their Alpha deal with this. He couldn’t bring himself to talk.
“She was there and rubbing up against me and I couldn’t…” He collapsed into the left couch, away from where he just was with her. Gabe noted that no one was sitting on the middle couch. Andrew crammed in with them on the right couch and Brenton was on the left with Zachary. “I couldn’t honestly stop myself. Fuck, you heard her! I would have taken her to my room if she gave me the option. She asked if I liked her.”
“Too bad she’s been convincing herself that we’re pride and family. We’re going to need to keep pride separate from this,” Andrew shook his head. “I asked her on a date though. Going to take her to Denver for a nice dinner. Don’t have a day planned for it yet. Need to work on that tomorrow.”
They all looked at him, impressed and a little pissed off. Andrew, of all people, asked her first. That sneaky son-of-a-bitch.
“Is that how we’re going to play this?” Troy was incredulous. “Date her? Pass her around like we all get her on a scheduled day? Wait a week before we get another try?”
“We don’t have to do that specifically,” Brenton shook his head. “Just ask her and we’ll schedule around it. If Andrew is smart, he’ll get a couple dates in before the rest of us figure out what to even do.”
They all chuckled and Andrew was smiling at them, damn near proud of himself for doing it first.
“We needed to ease her into this though, that’s where we actually fucked up,” Gabe sighed. “Zachary, you nearly fucked her in front of all of us. Did you really think she was down for that? Or that we were ready for it?”
“I think I just got really worked and stopped thinking entirely,” Zachary nailed Gabe with a stare that nearly became a glare. “After the run, finding out she wasn’t wearing any fucking panties... I was like ‘well shit, fuck my self control’ and let things just happen. It wasn’t like she was trying to stop me until you said anything, Troy.”
“Yeah, that was a thing, wasn’t it,” Brenton coughed, and Gabe knew he was remember how she told him and then walked off. “She was worked up from the shift and run. She was worked up from what happened outside. It was a perfect storm.”
“So that’s our plan?” Troy laughed. “Just date at our own pace until she get through us eventually? Or just whatever she wants?”
“Why not?” Brenton glared at Troy now. “She needs to be in charge of this. She has to be or it won’t work. She’s got to find out if she likes more then just our bodies and if we like more then just her’s. It’s not like we’re all aiming to marry her right now. Maybe… maybe we could all just settle into something… together. I like the idea of it… We’ve been close for years and maybe she could be the final piece of this pride. The final thing we need.”
Silence at that. Gabe leaned back in thought. He didn’t ever think about the future. He was happy with his life. Looking through her file all the time, he figured she probably wasn’t looking to get married any time soon either. He hoped at least.
He felt something for her though, he knew that. Since the first search he did on her and learning was he did, he felt his heart ache for her. Troy knew better then the rest of the pride how he felt about her. She deserved them to be their best for her. Too many guys in her life had fucked her over and walked out on her.
Brenton was right, maybe she was the final piece to the pride, the thing they really needed to be something truly great. They’d been coasting for years, wrapped up in the nightmare of feline politics. Now, here she was, lighting them with her fire. Fire, that was a way to describe her. She could be warm and giving or fiery and dangerous. He could see it in her amber eyes, those bright red-orange soul destroying eyes.
They were all chatting quietly when Gabe’s phone chimed with a text message. He hissed at the sender. He had been waiting on this test for nearly two weeks.
Hayden: I know who your Lily Isabella Stern is. She was originally Isabella Amelia Gordon. I don’t know how you found out her new identity but I recommend you forget it. People are still looking for her.
Gabe dropped his phone like it was on fire. Everyone stopped and looked at him.
“I know who Riley’s mother was.” He whispered. “The serval, Isabella Gordon. Lily Stern was a fake identity.”
Brenton went pale and Gabe knew this could be bad.
Isabella Gordon was deep in feline politics up until she disappeared twenty five years ago. She changed her identity and went off the grid. Now they knew where she ended up. She became Lily Stern and got married and had a daughter. Riley. She had Riley. But before Lily Stern existed, Isabella Gordon was the lover to Geoffrey Kingson, Brenton’s father. She wasn’t his mother, thank fuck. No, she was a world class thief that Geoffrey was stupid enough to keep close. When they finally broke it off, after Brenton’s mother died, she stole all the jewelry Geoffrey ever got his actual wife and everything else that was personal to her. It was considered one of the greatest betrayals of feline shifter history. Brenton had nothing really left of his mother thanks to Isabella.
There were also rumors, whispers, and shadows that Isabella was also so much more then just a thief as well. None of that had been proven but the rumors were there.
“She can’t possible know, Brenton,” Zachary whispered to their Alpha. “She can’t.”
Brenton slowly nodded and stood.
“I know, but I need some space. It’s not Riley’s fault. I just…” He trailed off and stormed out of the room.
“Do we tell her?” Troy hissed.
“She has no idea we know as much as we do! And read the text guys. People are still trying to hunt Isabella down. Did Lily Stern actually die or did she fake it again and abandon her daughter?” Gabe growled, throwing his phone at his brother. They passed it around, reading it.
They heard his phone vibrate again. Zachary check the text and read it out loud.
Hayden: Fuck, right after texting you, a ton of people blew up my phone for information. I don’t know what you’re in right now but get out of it.
“Take the damn phone to Brenton, now.” Gabe growled. “He needs to read it then I need to destroy it.”
Zachary took off and Gabe ran for his laptop. They fell accidentally into some bad shit. This was not good. Gabe immediately began deleting everything he had on Lily Stern and Riley from his systems. He would only keep the hard copy, locked in the office. Apparently Isabella’s name was being tracked and now Lily Stern would be tracked.
He moved fast and it only took one minute to get it done. Brenton came running back in with Zachary.
“You can wipe it,” he growled. Gabe did him one better. He threw the phone at the wall at full strength and watched it shatter. It dented the wall fairly well too. He scooped up the pieces and headed to the back porch. Zachary was already lighting their small cheap grill used for burning random shit. Once it was going, Gabe tossed all the pieces in the fire. They didn’t take chances with this kind of stuff.
Hayden would now how to contact him in other ways and Gabe would need a new phone number in case anyone got his.
“Isabella pissed a lot of people off back in the day,” Andrew whispered as they all now watched the fire. “Not just your dad, Brenton but even a few wolf packs and a bear family. Like, lots of people. Even the Shifter Special Task Force.”
“Yeah,” Brenton whispered looking into the fire. “And now they know about Lily Stern.”
“Which means it will take them less then a day to know about Riley Stern,” Troy growled.
Gabe nodded. It took him less then a day to put those together. He and Hayden had put together everything needed to find out who Lily Stern really was. This was his fault.
“We are going to keep her out this,” Brenton snarled to them all. “This doesn’t touch her, is that clear? I don’t care who comes to us asking about her. She is a member of this pride and if they try to touch her, they hear from us. Make sure everyone knows if they start asking around for her. We won’t tolerate them here looking for her.”
They all nodded. The day had started so much differently. This was a game changer though. Gabe felt the guilt in his heart over it. This was his fault. He just had to know who she was. Riley didn’t even know who her mother really was and now it was going to come down on her head if they didn’t protect her.
They spent all night trying to find out exactly who all of Isabella’s enemies were and who could come after Riley. It was a long list.