The Shadow Wolf (12 page)

Minutes later, a burgundy SUV pulled up beside the Chevy. Gabriel slid out, dangling keys from his lean fingers.

“GMC Grand Terrain, only 3,000 miles on it, full tank of gas, just purchased for $50,000. The money will be wired to the man's account.”

“You mind pushed him.”

“More than fair deal. Besides, he's not eager to get home from his sales trip. His wife is mad at him for buying the new SUV when they needed the money to repair their roof.” Gabriel handed over her backpack as they carried the bags to the vehicle. “I chose him because I figured you'd feel empathy for his wife, roof leak and all.”

She held out her hands for the keys. “Let me drive.”

He cocked his head, but handed over the keys.

It wasn't until they were heading north on the Turnpike that Megan finally relaxed a little. Gabriel smiled at the pale-faced Jenny. “You did great, sweetheart. You're a real Robichaux, just like your daddy. Rise to the occasion and come through when you're needed. We'll stop at the next rest stop and get you some food to replenish your energy.”

Glowing under his praise, Jenny beamed.

“What about me?” Jillian demanded.

“You did fine, too. Jenny needed her sister for support. That's what family's all about. Sometimes one of you does what's necessary and the other is there to encourage.”

Megan gave him a long, thoughtful look as he turned around. “You're really good with children. I know you'll make a great father.”

Gabriel leaned back, slid the cowboy hat down on his face. “Children are out of the question, Megan.”

His words caused a crushing hurt in her chest. “Because of me, because of my Shadow powers? You don't want a child who might inherit them, just like your brother didn't?”

“Leave my brother out of this.”

“It's me, then. My powers.”

“It's not you and I'm not talking about this anymore. Let's just get the hell to New Orleans.”

At his curt attitude, she stopped talking. Megan flipped on a satellite radio station. Alternative rock filled the vehicle.

Gabriel shot her a questioning look. She ignored him, but couldn't do the same with the tightness in her chest. He kept shutting her out, time and again. She was mated to him. They'd consummated their bond, yet he was no closer to her than when they'd first met.

A cell phone chirped. Gabriel fished his out of his front pocket. He frowned at the number. It kept ringing.

The way he kept glancing at the screen didn't give her confidence. He flipped the phone open. “Robichaux,” he bit out.

Blood drained from his face. He gripped the phone tighter. Megan's heart raced at the stark fury on his expression.

“Feet pue tan,”
he snapped.

The meaning flashed loud inside her mind.
You goddamn son of a bitch.

The phone cracked in his hands. Gabriel tossed the pieces aside. White lined his knuckles as his mouth narrowed to a thin slash.

“Was it him?”

A low growl rumbled from his chest. Her stomach tightened into knots. The flash of anger across his face made him look edgy and dangerous. Gabriel took in a deep breath.

“Who's he after? The girls? Or is he a mercenary who wants to take me back the colony? What does he want, Gabriel?”

Dark silence fell in the vehicle for a minute. Then Gabriel pushed back his hat. She could see the haunted look in his chocolate eyes.

“He's not after you or the twins. It's me he wants, Megan. Me.”

“G
abriel, Jenny's not feeling well.”

The small voice coming from the backseat understated the problem. Jennifer was pale, her energy depleted to alarming levels.

He spotted a sign for a rest stop a few miles ahead and told Megan. Her rounded chin had that stubborn set he'd begun to recognize as sheer will.

“He's not going to get you, Gabriel. We can stop him.”

His heart turned over at her obvious loyalty. “I won't risk you or the twins. This is my business and I'm responsible.”

“They can't take you away for protecting Shadows. If you hadn't helped us…”

“That's not why he's after me.” An ache settled deep in his bones. “His name is Logan Hartwell. I've never met him, but knew his son, Deke.”

“Friends?”

“Hardly.”

He could be the most powerful Draicon walking the planet and it didn't matter. Gabriel rubbed his chest.
Merde,
it was hard to breathe, hard to think….

Hard to live with the twin boulders of guilt always weighing him down. One on his shoulder named Amelia. One named Simone.

Daring to glance sideways, he saw compassion on Megan's face.

“Tell me,” she said.

Seeing the exit for the service plaza, she pulled into the left lane. People streamed back and forth in the busy plaza. After she parked the SUV, she turned off the engine.

A small white van with pictures of creamy treats was parked nearby. Jenny brightened. Gabriel fished out dollar bills from his wallet. “Jenny, Jilly,
alors,
here's a few dollars. Go get ice cream,
mes petites.
Stay where I can keep an eye on you.”

He watched the girls scramble out and walk hand in hand toward the truck.

“Who are you, Gabriel?”

The question laced with bite like Tabasco. Megan waited.

“Sometimes, I don't even know” was his honest answer.

Gabriel took a deep breath. Oh damn, this hurt so bad. “Like I'd said before, I was a cocky, arrogant
feet pue tan…
”

He halted, removed his hat, jammed a hand through his thick hair. Couldn't tell her, not like this, not ever. The haunting image of Simone's dead eyes, Amelia's frozen scream of terror.

Then he felt Megan's gentle caress on his forearm.

“I was an Enforcer, who formed the network with Alex. I helped Shadows personally, escorted them to safe houses. I myself recruited the Friends who'd help Shadows find refuge. One day, I made a critical mistake. I trusted someone.”

“Deke?”

“He came to me as an escaped Shadow, asking for refuge. Remy didn't trust him. Sensed something a little off. Should have listened to him. I thought Papa's dislike for Shadows overtook all else. Deke was desperate. I invited him into Alex's home to spend the night while I made arrangements to find a safe house. Alex agreed.”

His jaw clenched so hard his teeth hurt. “That night, Deke had dinner with all of us at Alex's house so Simone could convince my parents Shadows were worth saving. Simone had forgotten dessert, so she asked my parents to get ice cream from
the local store. It was a ploy. She'd asked me for a favor, to use my powers and coax my brothers into leaving with my parents.”

Shame etched his face. Gabriel dragged in a deep breath. “Rafe is immune to my powers, but he went because he sensed we needed to talk freely. We were alone, Simone, Amelia, Alex, Deke and myself. Amelia was bursting with curiosity. Deke was the first Shadow she'd seen other than her mother. She was so honest, told Deke how her mommy was a Shadow and was teaching her how to use her talents. She was so excited to meet another Shadow.”

“He wasn't?” Megan's face drained of color.

“No.” Gabriel's chest felt tight. “Found out later he was an Enforcer.”

Her mouth trembled. “Oh God.”

“Deke asked Amelia and Simone to step outside and talk, Shadow to Shadow. Alex had gone upstairs. I was on my laptop writing emails. My instincts were warning me. I shut off the computer but by then I could hear…”

The screams.

The crescents of his clipped nails dug into his palms. Must keep going, because if he stopped, the tide of emotions would engulf him.

Or scream himself, and never stop. He took a cleansing breath, craned his neck to see the girls still standing in line for ice cream.

“The rest of the family had returned and ran outside. Simone and Amelia were dying. Rafe tried to save them, he's the immortal Kallan and had the gift to restore life to one dying person. He asked Alex to choose which to save, the mother or the child. Alex couldn't choose.” Gabriel stared at the radio, unwilling to meet her gaze. “We buried them two days later. Alex…has never been the same.”

Neither have I.

Simone and Amelia prone on the ground, gasping for breath.

A bloodstained Deke grinning as he held the knife he'd grabbed from their kitchen. The slow, viscous river of crimson pooling at Gabriel's boots.

“What did you do, Gabriel?”

Her gentle, melodic voice a stroke of silk against raw nerves. Gabriel stared at his hands.

“I grabbed the knife from him, dragged Deke away while Alex held Simone and Amelia in his arms, rocking back and forth.”

“Deke?” The word was a horrified whisper.

“Made sure he was dead.”

Deke, backing away in terror. Gabriel lunging forward, shape-shifting as he ran. “What happened?”

For a long moment the only sounds were the slamming of car doors, the insouciant chatter of travelers and the grumble of passing tractor trailers.

“I went Feral.”

The image surfaced like a bloated body slowly floating upward from a dark, deep lake. Megan slipped into his mind. He tried to shut her out, but the door had cracked open.

He'd torn the bastard's throat raw. And more. Blood on the trees, the grass. The horrified looks of his family when he'd emerged from the woods. Blood splattered over his naked body. Unable to control his magick to even clothe himself. Their fear. He could never forgive himself for the look in their eyes. His own family.

Silence, then the thunder of a pounding heartbeat. A small, choked sound beside him. A fist of guilt and regret slammed into his chest. He wouldn't look at her, see her revulsion.

“Rafe and Etienne buried what was left of him, circulated a story about Deke torn to pieces by a wolf.” He gave a short, bitter laugh. His brothers had told the truth.

“No mercy, Gabriel.”

He dared to glance up. Blue fire raged in her eyes.

“Deke deserved no mercy,” she repeated.

The sharp pain in his chest eased a bit. “Logan didn't believe the planted story. He's discovered the truth. All of it. He wants my hide. And you and the girls are a bonus. I'll be damned if he touches you.”

The hand he ran over his cheek scrubbed lengthening bristles. Fingernails began elongating into claws. Gabriel fisted his hands. “Go see to the girls, Megan. I'll be out in a minute.”

He fought the change, his wolf snarling to escape. Fur rippled along his arms, covered the backs of his hands. The tight, itching feeling burst out of his chest.

Minutes passed. He gave a short, bitter laugh at the people rushing in and out of the service plaza. If they knew a werewolf was in the car, ready to spring out and release all the savagery inside him, would they be so cavalier?

Logan's cold voice echoed in his mind. “I'll be waiting for you in New Orleans, Robichaux. When I'm finished with you, I'll drag your sorry carcass to the council, along with the Shadows, and get the reward for killing the disgusting animal you are. If I were you, I wouldn't stop to rest before you reach the city.”

Cold panic raced through him. Stop to rest…

He whipped his head toward the ice cream truck.

It was gone.

“Megan!” The name came out in a snarl.

Couldn't leave the car like this, too many people and he needed to reserve his power. Gabriel glanced at his arms and whispered, “Stop it.” Thoughts of home and family didn't hold the wolf at bay.

Megan's sweet smile flashed before him. Gabriel slowly unclenched his fists.

Fur had vanished from his hands and arms. He bolted out of
the car, raced across the parking lot toward the plaza. Gabriel hooked a left around the plaza's building and ground to a halt.

On the southbound side of the plaza, the parking lot had emptied and no traffic zipped past on the Turnpike. Complete quiet.

Except for the merry tinkling of an ice cream truck. It ground on his sensitive eardrums like broken glass as it rolled toward him.

Fifty yards away, he saw the driver's yellow eyes flash pure black. Soulless. Morph.

Gray, mottled skin like a corpse's. Wisps of hair tufted from its sunken scalp. The creature stopped the truck, slid out and faced Gabriel with an obscene giggle. It dragged itself closer. A stench of rotting flesh drifted on the air.

“Where are they?” he demanded.

“Safe, oh so safe. The master wants them for dessert. But you, you're the entrée. My entrée.”

The creature's razor thin voice lowered to a raw whisper. “I'll rip out your heart and suck out your energy, Draicon. You'll die with your entrails in my mouth. And I'll make them…watch.”

Testosterone levels shot up. His body hardened to a steel blade, ready to cut and dice and chop. His beast growled in approval.

Then he glanced at the service window of the truck, where children had handed over dollar bills in exchange for treats. Frozen in terror, Jennifer and Jillian stared out at him. Squares of silver duct tape sealed their mouths shut.

The Morph raised a hand and flicked a talon at them.

“Such simple, sweet children. So easy to cork their magick. Just one swipe of their cousin's cheek and a small lick of her blood and they screamed for me to stop. They begged.”

Megan's face appeared in the window, her wild gaze boring
into his. Dry lips moved past the dirty gag shoved into her mouth.

Gabriel hesitated.

A gnashing, whirling sound drew closer. The Morph had shifted and cloned itself into a pack of wolves. Not ordinary wolves. White foam dribbled from their sharp teeth. Rabid wolves.

The frantic beat of a terrified heart as he'd dismembered, slowly, oh so slowly, Deke as the Draicon screamed. White splinters of bone, coated with blood as Gabriel had bitten off his left femur and tossed it aside like a dog discarded an unwanted toy….

The thought of her seeing his wolf emerge and go Feral made his stomach churn. He called forth his magick, drew on the Morph blackness, siphoned it inside him.

Gabriel flung out his hands at the snarling horde, but the pack parted. The energy bolt slammed into the ice cream truck, obliterating the front grill and shattering the windshield. Screams erupted inside.

Merde,
he would kill them. Couldn't transmute the energy. Gabriel backed off the magick, sent it hurling toward a lamppost. It exploded in a shower of steel sparks.

Two dozen wolves with bared teeth faced him. Reckless courage filled him. Standing straight and proud, he extended both middle fingers at the wolf pack.

“Embrasse moi tchew,”
he told them.
Kiss my ass.

The Morphs fell on him.

Mustering all his strength, he charged forward again, ignoring the demanding howl of his beast to be freed.

 

Gabriel was going to die out there.

Megan struggled to loosen the ropes binding her. Her first concern after awakening from the vicious blow had been soothing the girls' terrors. Now, seeing her mate bloodied as the pack of snarling wolves tore into him, anger swelled inside her.

The ropes burst apart with brute strength. Megan tore the gag from her mouth, leaned toward the girls and ripped off the duct tape. She found the key, unlocked the silver handcuffs that inhibited their magick.

“Stay here,” she ordered the twins. “If anything happens to Gabriel or me, use your magick. Find a ride, use glamour and get to New Orleans.”

She kissed their tear-dampened cheeks and burst outside. Spreading her fingers, Megan let the magick gather inside her.

Halfling Shadows had a little secret few knew about. As if to make up for their deficit, the goddess had endowed her with a special ability. She rarely used it.

She used it now. Megan sent energy hurling outward.

Dozens of snarling wolves popped out of thin air. Wolves the size of Lincoln Continentals with teeth long as carving knives. The Morphs halted their attack on Gabriel and turned around. They howled as her pack of wolves raced forward.

Megan smiled. Aggression had its uses.

The Morphs snarled in fear, backing away from this new threat. Their retreat gave Gabriel a needed advantage. He crouched into a fighting stance as a Morph attacked one of her wolves.

As Morph talons touched the wolf's fur, the lupine vanished. She could swear the Morph looked confused. As the other Morph clones engaged her Shadow clones, Gabriel attacked from the rear. A scream of raw fury tearing from her throat, Megan charged forward. The scream turned into a growl.

She leaped on the closest Morph with fangs and teeth and claws. Acid blood spurted, but she ignored the splash as it sank into her thick fur. When the Morph lay dead at her feet, it vanished into a pile of gray ash.

The rest of the Morphs were dead by Gabriel's hand. Megan glanced out of her wolf eyes at her mate. Covered in blood,
Gabriel had several raw wounds where the Morphs had gouged out skin. He sank to his knees, bending over and wheezing.

He was hurt, badly. Why hadn't he released his wolf?

Concern filled her. Suddenly she found herself standing on two legs. Megan waved a hand and clothed herself. She raced forward, dropped to the ground beside Gabriel.

Blood streamed from a deep gash in his forehead. Tenderly, she wiped back a hank of dark hair hanging over his brow. Gabriel looked up through half-lowered lids.