Soul Enslaved (Sons of Wrath Book 3) (25 page)

“An urge to commit homicide?”

She smiled again. “My, you are full of it today, aren’t you?”

“Whatever you did last night …” Gavin shook his head. “Best sleep I’ve had in weeks.”

“I didn’t do much.” She shrugged. “I might have to … find something stronger, though. And I’m not sure it’s a good idea to have me so close.”

His eyes silently quizzed her.

“You know … I’m not sure I’m the best person for you as you’re … going through this, Gavin. You’re going through your Savidon. I’m about to turn Fertile Myrtle with the full moon. You see where this is going. I’ve given some thought and … maybe we should end this here.”

“Wanna unchain me?”

“I don’t know.”

“Fair enough.”

He adjusted himself on the bed, and Sabelle felt a compelling urge to unchain him, except that she feared he might try to kiss her and all the resolve she’d talked herself into could easily vanish. Ending the contract would mean he’d go back to Obsidius, and who the hell knew what he thought about that. Maybe he’d be crazy enough to chain
her
to the bed.

“What will you do if I go back?” he asked.

“I’ll still go through with it. It’s dangerous, but I have few choices, and a mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do to survive.”

“Understandable.” He flexed his fingers. “But unacceptable. How would you envision this mission going down by yourself?”

“According to Cash, women arrive in the back. They occasionally bring some up to the top floor. That’s where they have all their private little rooms. Lachlan keeps the chip on him at all times, so I’ll seduce him, allow him to take me to his quarters, suck his soul and slip out in the night with the chip.”

“Lachlan is the alpha.”

“Yes.”

Gavin shook his head. “No way they’re going to ignore their alpha all night. Particularly around a succubus. And if they do find out you killed the alpha? You’re as good as dead. Assuming they don’t offer their form of paybacks.”

“What form?”

“Lycans are notorious for gang rapes.” His shoulders rolled back. “Look, it’s not a matter of me not wanting to go back to Obsidius, in case you might’ve thought that. It’s a matter of doing the right fucking thing.”

She cleared her throat. “I’m not afraid.”

“I’m not afraid, either. But that doesn’t mean shit where statistics are concerned, and a lair’s worth of lycans to one female is pretty shitty odds, if you ask me.”

“I didn’t ask you.” She huffed, hating that he was right. “I’m not an idiot, though. So I’ll keep the contract. For now.”

With a nod, Gavin busted free of the chains binding him, splinters of metal landing on the bed in front of Sabelle. “By the way, we’re gonna need a stronger chain tonight.”

***

Gavin peered into the elaborate terrarium that sat on the console table in Sabelle’s foyer. Silvery scales, along the body of what looked like a snake, passed by the glass. “Is that a Fideluz serpent?”

“Yes.” Sabelle rolled her eyes. “Filly is her name. A gift from Griffin … biker guy you met yesterday. I’d never allow that thing near my children, but they’re said to be—”

“Loyal to the hand that feeds it. Protective, even.”

“Yes. So all three of us have taken turns feeding her.” Sabelle stroked her face as she talked, drawing his eyes to the silkiness of her skin. “She’s actually quite loving to the children.”

“They eat, the cats of the underworld, right?”

“Yes, and I told Griffin I had no intentions of feeding this thing cats.”

“So, what do you feed it?”

“It can live off a dozen eggs a day.”

Gavin double-blinked. “That’s almost a hundred eggs a week.”

“Griffin pays for it—otherwise, this wouldn’t work out.” She gave a nod toward it. “It’s scared away a couple of trespassers, though, so definitely earning its keep.”

“Yes, they used to guard princes in the underworld. Their venom is tricky. I understand they bite, and if you’re proven to be weak and untrue of character, you’ll die instantly. Those with a true heart can co-exist with the venom. In fact, it protects against certain diseases and poisons.”

“I never knew that. Griffin’s been bitten before. Swelled up really bad.” She brushed her finger against the glass, and the serpent’s split tongue shot out, like the greeting of an eager puppy. “Survived, though.”

“If you trained it, it’d be the fiercest guard dog in the neighborhood.”

“Yeah, we don’t let it out much. I was kind of scared shitless of her at first, but she’s grown on me.” Sabelle crossed her arms and leaned into the wall but pushed off again. “Hey, speaking of Griffin … I have to make a run to the garage. Haven’t heard from him, yet. That’s not usual. And …”

Gavin’s brows winged up. “And?”

“Nothing. I’m just worried when I don’t hear from him.”

“Maybe he took your advice. Found himself a woman.”

“Right. A—Griffin never takes my advice. And B—if the man didn’t have pictures of naked women plastered everywhere, I’d swear he was gay, the way he avoids them.”

“I’d venture to say there’s a reason he avoids them.” Gavin nabbed his keys off the console beside the terrarium. “But let’s go check it out.”

***

Sabelle peeked through the window of Griff’s Garage, straining to see through the blackness. “He never ignores my calls. Even when he can’t get back to me right away, he calls within the hour. Something isn’t right.”

“He’d be at the garage this late?”

“Griffin’s here all the time.” She glanced back at the parking lot a second time, where only Griffin’s Harley sat parked in its usual spot. “Darrow and Clyde are gone for the night.”

“Break in.” Gavin jerked his head to the glass beside him.

“Gavin, I can’t just—”

The glass shattered around Gavin’s hand, as he punched a hole through the front door and smiled. “There are times when breaking shit is called for.”

“You’re so going to pay for that,” she muttered, reaching past sharp tines to unlock the door.

Stepping just inside, she flipped on the light and gasped. Supplies had been torn down from the shelves. Glass busted out of vehicles. Tools lay scattered across the floor.

Her heart caught in her throat, as Sabelle rounded the corner to Griffin’s office and found the window had been smashed. Not wanting to think that he might be inside, she opened the door to another room that’d been pillaged.

A trail of blood led to a pool of red beneath the large body sprawled out on the floor.

“Oh, fuck!” She fell to her knees beside Griffin, sloshing blood.

He lay unmoving, eyes closed. His face had swelled so much she hardly recognized him, if not for his colors and the signature black hair that’d matted to his face in blood. His eyes had sealed shut, lip split open and mangled. An ear had been cut off, oozing blood, and his throat bore the slices and small holes where bits of flesh had been carved out of him.

Trembles rippled through her body as she stared down at the blood, so much of it, spreading out from his head.

Carefully slipping fingers beneath his head, she brushed over a large wet bump that made her cringe. “Griffin?” Tears formed in her eyes as she watched for any indication that he might still be alive. She placed her head on his chest, listening for a heartbeat, but all she could hear was the incessant rush of blood pumping through her own ears. “Wake up, Griff. Please be okay.” Her voice broke, and she double-blinked the tears away.

His sleeping face, bathed in a sort of childlike innocence, brought forth a memory from her childhood of lying drenched in sweat, burning with fever, calmed by the soft stroke of Griffin’s calloused fingers at her brow, as he sat beside her bed.

“C’mon, kiddo. Show that virus who’s boss.” A warm smile lit his weary eyes. He’d sat beside her for hours while her mother was out getting high and wasted. “Old man Griff could use a dose of sunshine right now.”

Sunshine. A nickname he’d always called her.

The sharp edges of his mangled face blurred through the moisture in her eyes and she dragged a finger over his brow. “I could use some sunshine, old man. Wake up.”

Gavin knelt beside her and pressed his fingers against the biker’s wrist and at his throat. The tilt of his head told Sabelle he listened, just as she did, for breathing, before he palpated Griff’s ribs and lifted his eyelid. “He’s still alive. Feels like broken ribs. We need to get him to a hospital. Just a guess, but he may have been given something.”

“Like what?” Sabelle cleared her throat, stemming the urge to break down in front of Gavin.

“Like Noxerum. A potent drug, similar to chloroform. The vessels in his eyes are black.” Slipping his arm beneath the large body, Gavin moved slow and methodically. He hefted him into his arms as if the male weighed nothing.

Sabelle kicked supplies out of the way, creating a path through the garage that Gavin followed to outside. As Gavin set Griffin in the backseat of the SUV, the biker let out a quiet moan that both tightened Sabelle’s gut and set her mind at ease that he’d stirred.

He’s alive
.

She planted herself on the floor beside Griffin, while Gavin hopped in the driver’s seat and tore out of the parking lot.

“Who would—” The stress unleashed hell inside of her, and her head dropped to Griffin’s bruised arm as a torrent of tears erupted.

“Looks like they cleaned out his cash box,” Gavin said from the front.

Through a sheen of tears, she gently stroked Griffin’s face. “For money? Fucking … money? He’d have given them all the money he had, if they’d asked. That’s how he is.”

“It’s possible that was a deliberate means to throw off whoever stumbled upon him. Noxerum is used by underworld surgeons. It’s a regulated drug. Illegal.” Gavin glanced back from the driver’s seat. “Did he have any enemies you know of?”

“He rode with a gang, but … Griffin was a pretty straight shooter. It’s hard to explain. Nobody fucked with him. And he spent more time at the garage than anywhere. I just can’t believe anyone would do this.”

“What about your pimp? Any jealousy, or reason he’d come after him?”

“Griffin certainly never liked Jeven, and vice versa, but they’ve known about each other for years. Griffin has nothing Jeven wants.” She pushed a stiff, bloodied strand of hair from his forehead. “He’s just an old biker who drinks shitty beer and tinkers with cars. A regular guy.” Sabelle planted a kiss on his forehead. “If he dies … I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Resting her cheek against his chest summoned the faint beat of his heart and she curled her fingers around his jacket, praying to gods he’d wake and tell her to quit making a fuss over him, quietly weeping at the thought of losing him.

A flicker of lights caught Sabelle’s eye, and the distant rumble of bikes, lots of bikes, perked her ears. She pushed up from the floor to see a parade of riders hammering toward them.

Two elaborate motorcycles drew alongside them, resembling nothing she’d ever seen before. Black and chrome twisted into mesmerizing curves that’d make Griffin shit his pants, if he didn’t happen to be passed out. As they paced the SUV, Sabelle caught sight of their patches—the skull with angel wings, just like she’d seen under the bathroom sink.

“Stay down. I get the feeling they’re not legit.” Gavin glanced back again. “If that’s the case, they’re worse than a pack of outlaw human bikers.”

“What’re you doing?”

“Pulling over.”

What the fu—?

“Why? If you don’t think they’re legit, keep driving.”

“Because I’ve had a feeling about Griffin from the moment I met him, and if my suspicions are correct, he’s better off.”

“Better off what?”

Her question was met by the slamming of the driver’s side door as Gavin exited the vehicle. She rose up onto her knees, watching him lift his palms and approach a tall, stocky male she guessed to be in his early thirties. Short black hair matched a goatee, as he strode toward Gavin decked out in leather, and wearing shades despite the late hour. The two exchanged conversation, her curiosity batting around inside her head every time Gavin glanced back at the vehicle. The whole scene had her nerves flaring like live wires. He nodded, and both males walked toward the SUV.

Gavin flung her door open. “It’s okay. They’re going to get him fixed up.”

“What?”

A second biker, blond, bulky and about the same age as the dark-haired dude, grabbed hold of Griffin’s boots like he planned to slide him out of the backseat.

She batted their tattooed hands away. “How … how do I know? How did
they
know? I’m not okay with this, Gavin.” She clutched Griffin’s leather vest, as the two strangers tugged his body across the backseat. “Let go of him!”

A hand clasped hers, and looking upward to Gavin put her stomach in knots again. His furrowed brows and earnest eyes silently commanded her to release her hold of Griffin.

“Sabelle, what exactly do you know about Griffin?”

Her eyes shifted between Gavin and the two men carrying her friend away. “Exactly what I’ve told you. Why?”

Gavin sat beside her on the stoop of the passenger door. “He’s a Guardian. And I’m guessing whoever, or whatever, did this to him was no hood-rat.”

“What’s a Guardian?”

“Next to Sentinels, they’re one of the fiercest angels in the heavens. They protect humans, specifically, whereas Sentinels hunt those that seek to corrupt humans.” He rubbed his jaw. “The dark-haired one was Rhys, the MC Pres. He told me Griffin was hired to watch you.”

Sabelle reared back, disbelief washing through her in waves. “Hired? Griffin?”
No. No way
. “Who the hell would’ve hired an angel to watch over me?” She wanted to laugh at how ridiculous it sounded.

“Apparently, your father.”

Sucking in a breath brought Sabelle forward, choking on air.

“It seems he befriended this angel a while back. Odd—not often humans and angels mix. But I suppose it’s been known to happen. Your father was also a biker?”

Nodding, Sabelle finally caught her breath and stared down at the pebbles that littered the road’s shoulder. “I can’t believe I never knew. How would I have known? Griffin just … he seemed like … nothing out of the ordinary. Aside from being Griff.”