Dark Mate (MATE series) (12 page)

“
You took her, and you
tortured her!” Levi roared as he reared up to attack Gabriel.
“You made her fight a monster! I will kill you, for what you
did to Rebecca...”

Sitting in his chair, Gabriel
managed to block all but one of Levi's enraged blows. As Scott
lunged forward to grab Levi and haul him away, Gabriel scowled and
dabbed the blood from the corner of his mouth where Levi had cut him.

“
Stop, Levi! Hey, hey,
easy now. Get a hold of yourself. Calm down, just calm the heck
down, will you?” Scott shouted.

Gabriel flexed his fingers and
glared down at his cuffs. If he didn't have these cuffs on him, he
would have ripped out Levi's throat even before that crazy bear
shifter was halfway across the room. Those big, lumbering werebears
wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Gabriel spat out the blood
from his mouth, keeping his eyes locked on the two Enforcers.

Scott still had his arms
around Levi's heaving chest, and Levi still had that murderous look
in his blue eyes. What did Levi have against him?

“
You mentioned Rebecca.
Who is Rebecca?” Gabriel asked, looking amused. “Friend
of yours? I don't recall shagging any female by the name of
Rebecca.” He shrugged “But I never remember any of
their names, so...”

Levi roared and lurched
towards him, but Scott held him back.

“
Rebecca is my mate!”
Levi bellowed. “How dare you...!”

“
Your mate? I would
never take anyone's mate.” Gabriel shook his head, frowning.
“If she's your mate, I would have seen your mark on her, and I
wouldn't touch her.” He held up both his hands. “I
swear, I have never touched anyone's mate.” It was the truth.
If he saw or scented a mate mark on a women, he left her well alone.
It was just too much trouble. Why bother taking someone's mate when
there was plenty of fish in the sea, hundreds of horny females in the
city? Food was food, and sex was sex. Simple and hassle-free.
There was absolutely no need to complicate things.

But Levi wasn't appeased.
“You hurt her! You misted her away to her shitty ex-husband,
and you locked her up and let him hurt her...”

“
Her ex-husband?”

“
Yes! Phin Lester,”
Levi spat out the name.

“
Phin.” Gabriel
nodded slowly. “I remember him. I discovered he had this
strange ability to see through the eyes of a PAC Enforcer. So I used
him. As a reward for his services, I agreed to deliver his ex-wife
to him.”

Gabriel looked up and met the
furious stares of the two Enforcers. With a slow smile, he nodded.
“It was you, wasn't it?” he said, staring straight at
Levi. “Phin Lester saw through your eyes.”

Gabriel laughed, and put his
feet up on the table. “I have to say, your mate put up a good
fight. She held her own against Phin. Honestly, I didn't think
she'd make it.”

Thick golden fur was rippling
up Levi's arms and neck, and his claws were elongating. His wrath
was pushing his bear to the fore, and it looked like he was fast
losing control over his beast.

Gabriel stood up to face him.

Scott tried to wrestle Levi to
the ground, but the bear was too powerful. With a terrible roar,
Levi's enraged bear emerged, and charged towards Gabriel.

The bear was going to kill
Gabriel for having hurt its mate.

Gabriel's deadly fangs
extended as he faced the raging bear squarely, even though his wrists
were shackled. He knew he was greatly weakened by the silver cuffs,
and there was no way he could take down that ferocious bear, but he
was still strong enough to defend himself.

Gabriel leaped cleanly out of
the way as Levi barreled towards him. The great bear smashed
headlong into the wall behind him. The impact did nothing to slow
the beast down as Levi whipped round to charge again. Levi's blue
eyes were shining with maniacal fury and resolve. Gabriel saw the
murderous intent in those brilliant blue eyes, and he braced himself.
It was clear that Levi wouldn't stop until he had finished him off
and avenged his mate.

Scott gave a shout as the door
burst open suddenly, and a slim, petite female Enforcer with midnight
blue hair stood in the doorway. She slammed the door shut behind
her, and the lock engaged automatically. The pint-sized female moved
with lightning speed. In a flash, she was standing in the middle of
the room, putting herself between Gabriel and Levi.

She turned to address the
maddened bear, who was staring past her shoulder at Gabriel.

“
Levi! Don't do this,”
she said quietly but firmly. “Rebecca is safe now. She's
safe, happy and well. She wouldn't want you to get in trouble now.
He's not worth it.” She threw Gabriel a scornful look over her
shoulder.

Gabriel raised his brow a
little. He could sense that this female Enforcer was a vampire, and
a pretty young one at that. But she stood unflinchingly, almost
authoritatively in front of a snarling bear twice her size who could
take off her pretty head with one swipe of its claws.

“
What are you doing
here, Bryn?” Scott asked her, putting a hand on the bear's
heaving shoulder. “This is not...”

“
I'm taking over from
Levi,” she answered pointedly. “I'm your new partner.”

Gabriel watched the young
vampire in front of him with interest. Quietly, he observed the
stripes and badges on their jackets. The silver stripes on Scott's
black uniform indicated that the bear shifter outranked the vampire.
Levi's Enforcer uniform had shredded from him when his bear emerged,
but Gabriel knew that these two brawny werebears were Senior
Enforcers. On the other hand, this little vampire was just a rookie
Enforcer, and she reminded him a lot of another rookie law enforcer.
A young, gutsy, resourceful human woman.

Gabriel's breath caught as a
sharp pain stabbed into his heart. He had to see her. Just before
the Enforcers brought him down with another round of silver bullets,
he saw Vonetta teleport away with Eva. A couple of vampire Enforcers
had given chase, misting after them. They would have found Eva. If
only they would let him see her one last time...

Gabriel flicked his eyes up as
Scott huffed loudly. Bryn was walking towards Levi, her hand
outstretched. In a low voice, she told Levi, “Jett wants to
see you right now. Come on, you don't want to keep Jett waiting.”
She put a hand gingerly on the side of Levi's massive leg and guided
him towards the door. Unlocking the door, she cocked her head and
urged, “Go on. Scott and I will finish up here. Go.”

The bear growled and glowered
at Gabriel as it exited the room. Bryn locked the door swiftly and
strolled back to stand beside Scott.

“
So what have we here?”
She folded her arms. “A rogue vampire, that's what,”
she said disdainfully. “You may be a Master vampire, Gabriel
King, but you're not a good Master.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. He
was much older and much more powerful than her. But this youngster
wasn't afraid of him at all. And even though he towered over her,
she still managed to look down her nose at him. She didn't bother
hiding the scorn and disgust in her dark, flashing eyes.

“
You are a very young
vampire,” Gabriel said, sizing her up. “Definitely not a
Master vampire.”

“
A Master vampire?”
she scoffed. “I have no desire to become a Master vampire. To
become a Master vampire, I will have to destroy my Master, the
vampire who turned me. I have no intention of destroying my Master.
In fact, I will gladly fight for him and those he loves. I owe him
my life, and I will lay down my life for him. He is a good man, a
great Master vampire. But I guess you don't know what that means.”
She shrugged. “You don't know what it takes to be a good
Master vampire.”

Gabriel frowned at her. His
Master had controlled his vampires using terror and torture. He had
been abused, humiliated and tormented at his Master's cruel hands.
The only way he could escape his hellish existence was to destroy
either his Master or himself. To survive, you couldn't show any
mercy, any weakness, any love. His Master had seen his weakness, and
had tortured Vonetta, to torture him. He'd felt justified in
destroying his Master. It felt right, even though he'd felt empty
and numb.

How could any sane vampire be
willing to die for her Master? Shouldn't she be plotting to destroy
her old Master, and be free and powerful?

This young vampire spoke of
her Master with pride, respect and love. And from the way she
handled herself and those two senior bear Enforcers, she
was
free and powerful. Gabriel shook his head. Was she for real?

“
Who is your Master?”
he demanded.

She rolled her eyes and stuck
out her tongue. “Why should I tell you? You are not fit to
utter his name.”

Beside her, Scott spluttered
out a cough and rubbed a huge hand over his mouth to hide his
chortle.

“
Anyway,” she went
on. “You are not here to ask questions. We—” She
gestured at Scott and herself. “—will ask the questions,
and
you
will answer them. Sit.”

Gabriel went back to the table
and pulled out the chair. He sat down and watched as the two
Enforcers exchanged a look.
So obedient? Something must be up.

With an almost imperceptible
nod, Scott moved to stand guard behind him while Bryn took the chair
and sat down opposite Gabriel.

This was interesting. The
Senior Enforcer was letting the little rookie lead the interrogation.

Gabriel smiled as Bryn
narrowed her eyes at him. This female vamp was a little spitfire,
fiery and feisty, just like his Eva.

He started. “Where is
she?”

Bryn's eyes darted up to
Scott. “Who?”

His temper rose.
They're
playing dumb.

“
Eva. Eva Stone...”
My Eva
. “The NMPD officer,” he growled.

Bryn glanced over his shoulder
at Scott again, then exhaled sharply. “You answer our
questions, and I will answer your question. Just one. All right?”

Gabriel's eyes blazed but he
nodded. “Yes,” he said tightly.

Bryn leaned forward and began
to fire off her questions. “How many vampires do you have in
your coven?”

“
I don't have a coven.”

“
You are a Master
vampire,” she snorted. “Are you telling me that you've
not turned some unsuspecting humans into vampires and have them do
your bidding? Come on, how many have you turned? Just a handful, or
an army?”

“
I have turned a
handful, just a handful. Four to be exact. Three of them have been
hunted down and destroyed by the PAC Enforcers. One escaped, but I
don't know where she is. I can't sense her and I can't Call her as
her Master. I'm being blocked. I suspect that she has been collared
by the PAC.” Gabriel smiled wryly.

Bryn kept her face straight,
giving nothing away. “What is her name?” she pressed on.
“Your one surviving vampire.”

“
Amelia Jones.”

Bryn leaned back and gave a
slight nod. From her reaction, he knew that he was right. Amelia
had been caught and collared by the PAC. The collar allowed the PAC
to monitor her movements, and prevented her from misting. It also
blocked his link to her, so he couldn't Call her to him and control
her. She was as good as lost to him.

“
Amelia Jones has
identified you as the vampire who turned her,” Bryn confirmed.

After a pause, she said, “We
work closely with the NMPD. A few nights ago, Jett received a call
from the NMPD. One of their officers had disappeared without a trace
on her way home from work. No trace,” she emphasized the last
two words. “Police officers and Enforcers combed the area and
the Enforcers picked up her scent. Apparently, she entered an empty
house at the corner of the street, and poof! She was no more,”
Bryn gestured dramatically.

“
No scent, no trace.
Only a Master vampire could do that.” She leaned her elbows on
the table, eyeing him closely. “You're a wanted vamp, Gabriel
King. A smart rogue like you would remain in hiding, biding your
time, plotting more violence and mayhem. So why did you take that
nice police officer?”

Gabriel scrubbed one hand
across his face. What could he say?

Finally, he said, “She's
my mate.”

“
Your mate?”

“
Yes,” he answered
gruffly.

Bryn's expression softened a
little.

Gabriel clenched his fists and
leaned forward. “I've answered your questions. Now answer
mine. Where is Eva?”

“
Eva Stone...”
Bryn swallowed and glanced at Scott nervously. At a nod, she sucked
in a breath and said, “She's missing. We were watching Eva's
apartment, waiting for you to show up. When we stormed the premises,
Vonetta Imotez teleported Eva away. Our Enforcers lost her trace.”
Bryn shook her head angrily. “Vonetta Imotez is not a Master
vampire. I don't understand how we could have lost her. I misted
after her myself.” Her fist landed on the table. “Why...”