Spell Bound (Darkly Enchanted) (26 page)

And Shea? What the hell was he going to do with her?

He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to take her to bed.

Wanted to strip her naked and lay her out on a bed, wrap one hand in that dark hair and let the other roam that beautiful body she had no problem showing off.

He’d start at her lips, let himself drown in her taste before he worked his way down, let his mouth taste those dark nipples while his hand stroked along her stomach and between her thighs. To the short, dark curls he’d seen there. When he’d sucked her nipples until she could barely breathe then he’d drift down to her ribs, dip his tongue into her belly button then—

“Hey, Gabe. I’m starving over here.”

Shit. His attention snapped back to what he should be thinking about. And away from what he couldn’t have.

The steaks. Quinn liked his bloody, and so did he. “What about you, kid? How do you like your steak?”

“Oh, he’s doesn’t eat—” Shea started.

“Like yours.” Leo cut off his sister’s reply and Gabriel turned to see surprise on Shea’s face as she quickly closed her mouth.

“Shea?”

“A little longer for mine, please.”

When the food was finished, Quinn grabbed the kid off the counter and set him in a chair. Leo immediately dug in.

Gabriel slid a plate in front of Shea as he sat down next to her.

He let her eat in peace for a few minutes before he said, “I want to start Leo’s training.”

In his peripheral vision, he saw the kid’s head pop up but his gaze remained on Shea. He watched as her brow furrowed and her suspicious gaze landed on his. Yeah, he’d known she wasn’t going to like this but it couldn’t be helped.

“What training?” she asked.

“The kid has power, Shea. A lot of it. He needs to know what to do with it.”

Her mouth firmed as she shook her head. But she didn’t say anything.

“Shea, you’ve got to consider—”

She stood, making Quinn and Leo transfer their attention to her. “Leo, I’ll get you some milk. Quinn, you want anything?”

Quinn’s sharp gaze darted between her and Gabriel. “Ah, no thanks. I’m good.”

She nodded and limped to the refrigerator. Gabriel got up and followed her to the other side of the room, where she was slapping open doors to find glasses.

“Shea.” He kept his voice low. “He’s got to know how to handle it, how to use it.”

Finding the glasses, she grabbed one and nearly shattered it when she slammed it on the counter. “He’s six years old. You will not drag him into this.”

“I was three, Shea. Your dad had probably already started with him. He’s powerful and he needs to learn how to control it and what to do with it. Ultimately, this isn’t your decision to make.”

Now her splintered eyes turned hard, that fascinating mix of colors hypnotizing in her fury. “Yes, it is. He’s my brother, my responsibility. I will not drag him into this because I couldn’t— Because I wasn’t…”

She turned away to face the cabinet doors.

He wanted to put his arms around her, pull her back against him but didn’t think she’d let him. “You weren’t what?”

She shook her head, as if she could shake the thoughts out of it. “Nothing. Shit.” He heard something crack and realized it was the glass in her hand. Hairline cracks filled the surface. “Damn it, he didn’t ask for this.”

“No one asked for any of this, Shea.”

She took a few deep breaths and her gaze slipped to the kid, eyes wide, listening to Quinn, who wisely kept Leo engaged with some story.

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her gaze to his. “Can we just finish lunch? Please. I need… I need to think a little.”

Because she looked liked she’d hit the end of her rope, he agreed.

But he knew it was only delaying the inevitable. Leo had to be trained. Not only would he be able to better protect himself, but he’d learn how to use his power without hurting anyone.

Himself included.

* * *

As the men proceeded to devour everything on the table and Leo clung to their every word, Shea knew Gabriel was right.

Leo needed something she couldn’t give him. Something Gabriel could. It bugged the hell out of her, ate at her all through the meal, picking away at her brain.

One more failure to add to the list alongside her inability to work spells and her failure to make it into ballet school.

Leo looked more excited than he had the whole time he’d been with her. And who could blame him? The men were fascinating. Gabriel and Quinn so in tune, they finished each other’s sentences as they talked about mutual friends. She’d never had that closeness, that sense of belonging, of understanding.

She and her mom had never been close. Celeste hadn’t been one for kisses and hugs. That affection had come from her dad, who she’d worshiped. When she’d discovered the outside world her parents had hidden from her, she hadn’t blamed her dad. Only her mom. It had driven the wedge deeper.

Later, working in strip clubs, she hadn’t really socialized with the other women or met many nice guys. There’d been a couple of decent men who’d asked her out, employees at the
lucani
clubs she’d worked.

None of them made her burn the way Gabriel did. None of them could make her blood boil with a look or her thighs quiver with a touch.

None of them made her want more.

Of course, none of them had wanted to train her baby brother to be a killer, either.

Damn it, she knew that wasn’t fair. She knew her father probably had started Leo’s training. Leo had never mentioned it, but then maybe she hadn’t asked the right questions. It had taken months for the shock of their parents’ deaths to wear off, months where Leo woke screaming from a restless sleep and hadn’t strung more than two words together at a time. She’d felt useless then.

And the feeling wasn’t going away.

 “Shea.” Gabriel voice set her every nerve ending on alert. Her gaze met his head-on. “Are you finished?”

Dear Goddess, what she wouldn’t give to be finished with all of this.

Anger began to bubble in her chest. She’d never asked to be born a Priestess of Menrva, had never wanted to give her life to the service of a Goddess who had deserted her people. She didn’t want to be the answer to a five-hundred-year-old curse no one knew how to break. She didn’t want to hear voices in her head. And she certainly didn’t want her brother to be pursued by a madman or have Gifts he couldn’t control.

How good would it feel to let that anger consume her? To give in to it? To have a meltdown, kicking and screaming until she couldn’t scream anymore?

Then she looked at Leo, still listening to Quinn with wide eyes. So young. And she shoved all that anger back down into the little hole in her chest where she kept it buried.

She looked back up at Gabriel, his gaze knowing and compassionate, and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, I’m finished.” She turned to Leo with a smile. “Hey, bud, I saw a Wii in the TV room off the atrium. You want to vege out for a while?”

Not even hanging out with Quinn and Gabriel could compare to the joys of the Wii, which he’d discovered at one of the strip clubs and had played every night for hours. Nodding eagerly, he headed down the hall. Out of hearing.

Both men stared at her.

No one said anything.

Chapter Eleven

“I want us to split up,” Gabriel said.

“What?” Quinn barked.

“No way.” Shea slashed a hand through the air for emphasis. “No. That’s out of the question.”

Gabriel leaned forward to look into Shea’s eyes. “Hear me out before you dismiss this. I want to send Leo to the compound. And leave him there with Quinn.”

Quinn shook his head, his expression horrified. “Oh, shit, Gabe—”

Gabriel held up one finger before Shea could break in as well. “We’ll go together, but then I want to leave Quinn and Leo with Serena. You and I,” he looked at Shea, “need to see someone who might be able to help you find out more about your…role in all of this. And I don’t plan to leave Leo and Serena alone with Quinn.”

Shea shook her head. “I don’t care who you plan to call to protect Leo. There’s no way I’ll leave him behind.”

Shea’s fierce expression made Gabriel’s chest tighten. She’d fight him tooth and nail over this and he knew exactly how she felt. But it didn’t change the fact that they needed to do it.

“Who are you thinking of?” Quinn asked.

“I want to bring in Matt.”

Quinn’s eyes widened before he started to grin. “Oh, baby, you’re not screwing around, are you?”

He didn’t answer Quinn but looked straight into Shea’s angry eyes. “No, I’m not. And I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think it was necessary.”

It had nothing to do with the fact that he was getting too close to the kid and he was scared he’d fail. Fail both of them.

After a deep breath, Shea asked, “Who’s Matt?”

“He’s the best
grigorio
there is.”

“And he’s a fucking lunatic.” Quinn laughed, but the sound was hollow. “Dario’s men think he’s the anti-Christ. I’m still not sure they’re not right.”

“I want him to take over Leo’s training.”

Shea shook her head. “No—”

“Hell, Gabe. Do you think you’ll even be able to get him out of that pit in Vegas?”

Gabriel nodded. “I think he’ll come. For Kyle’s sake.”

“Shit.” Quinn scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I didn’t think of that. You’re right.”