Dark Refuge (15 page)

Em was never so glad to see anyone in her life as when Gabe and Alex walked through the door into the bedroom a few minutes later.

Chapter 9

Gabe pulled Mary into his arms for a warm, welcoming hug. “Thought you were going to pull one over on us, didn’t you?” When Mary blushed and hung her head, he stepped back and gently said, “Welcome to the pack, Mary.”

“My turn, buddy.” Alex hugged Mary and planted a big kiss on her cheek. She blushed even deeper and scrambled back onto the bed with Annie and Em.

Gabe shot Em a grin and elbowed Alex. “Watch it, Aragat. Mary, I had no idea you could shift. I don’t think you have any idea how exciting this is for the pack. Finding new members is always time for a celebration.”

Gabe remained next to the bed where the three women sprawled, each with a celebratory glass of wine. He was so proud of Em he felt as if he might burst. Was there anything she couldn’t handle? Still smiling at Mary, thinking of what he’d like to be doing right now with Em, he said, “What color is your wolf?”

Wide-eyed, Mary turned and stared at Em. “I have no idea. I was so terrified when I shifted that I never even thought to look in a mirror.”

Em and Annie burst out laughing. “It’s okay. You can shift again and look, but to answer Gabe’s question, you’re an absolutely gorgeous tan and black wolf. You’re marked sort of like a German shepherd, but the dark saddle on your back isn’t as pronounced. Definitely striking.”

This time, Mary was smiling. It changed everything about her appearance. Gabe had thought of her as pretty before, but the smile changed everything. She was absolutely stunning.

“Gabe, we were talking about your idea, about bringing Mary’s family out for a visit. What do you think? It might be even more important, now that we know she’s Chanku.”

He focused on Mary. “Do you think they’d come?”

“I don’t know. I can ask.”

Her phone rang. “Dad” showed on the screen. Gabe picked it up off the nightstand and held it so Mary could see it. “Or I can invite them,” he said. “What do you say?”

Mary nodded. “I can’t talk to him. Not yet. Tell him I’m busy. In the shower or something.”

Gabe answered the phone. “Mr. Ryder?”

“Who’s this?”

“I’m Gabriel Cheval. One of the people who rescued Mary. I think she’s in the shower right now. Can I take a message?”

“Is my daughter okay? She hung up on me and wouldn’t answer the phone when I called back. She said you people are shapeshifters. Have you done something to Mary? I don’t trust you.”

“Just a moment. Let me turn the video feed on so you can see me. I’ve nothing to hide.” He pressed an icon, and Mary’s father’s face came into view. He was a good-looking man who appeared to be in his early fifties, dark hair, some gray at the temples. And he looked really irritated.

Gabe smiled into the camera, but he toned it down enough that he didn’t show too many teeth. Not a good idea with someone who hated shapeshifters, no matter how much his mother loved his smile. “Okay. There—got it. For what it’s worth, Mr. Ryder, she was kidnapped by human males and rescued by Chanku, but that’s beside the point.” Though he did give him a couple of beats to let that sink in. “There’s something I wanted to suggest to you, something I discussed with Mary tonight. I told her I’d like to invite you and your family out to visit for a few days. You can see your daughter, see how well she’s doing, and get to know us.”

Gabe glanced at Mary and smiled before adding, “We’re good people, Mr. Ryder. We’re not evil, and we have nothing to do with the devil. We rescued your daughter and five other young women because they were prisoners of some criminals. We weren’t rescuing Chanku, we were rescuing young people in trouble. I will have airline tickets delivered to you by courier within the hour if you would consent to a visit. If you like, you and your family can stay here at our apartment complex in San Francisco where Mary is staying, or I will make reservations for you downtown at the Mark West. We’ll cover all your expenses. Take your time to discuss this with your wife if you wish, and I’ll have Mary call you back as soon as she’s able.”

There was a long pause. Finally Mary’s father said, “I don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing for now, Mr. Ryder. You should discuss our offer with your family, including Mary. She can let me know what you decide, though I do hope you choose to make the trip out here. I think you’ll be surprised by what you discover.”

Gabe ended the call, glanced at Mary and shrugged.

She had her hand over her mouth, but as soon as Gabe showed her the phone was off, she exploded in laughter. It took her a while before she could talk. “Oh, Gabe. How could you?”

“What?” It wasn’t easy to look innocent, not when he was feeling pretty impressed with himself. He glanced to his left, where Alex was doubled over, laughing hysterically, and focused again on Mary. “What’d I say?”

“‘You’ll be surprised by what you discover’? I can’t believe you said that! Should I meet him at the airport as a wolf?” And she went off again in peals of laughter.

Em and Annie were holding on to each other, giggling uncontrollably.

The door opened, and Janine led Mbali, Sissy, Nina and Lindy into the room. “What’s going on?” She looked from one to the other. “We could hear you guys all the way in the kitchen, even with the TV on in there!”

“Mary shifted.” Alex shared a quick look with Gabe. “And then her father called.”

“God, Mary.” Mbali grabbed Mary’s hands. “What’s he gonna say when he finds out you’re a shapeshifter?”

Mary used the bedspread to wipe her streaming eyes. “I don’t know, but Gabe invited him and the rest of the family to come visit, so he could get to know that shapeshifters weren’t evil. He didn’t tell him I was Chanku.” She glanced at Gabe and started laughing again.

The five girls stared at one another as if they were all nuts. “What’s so funny about that?”

Gabe shrugged. “I merely mentioned that he might be surprised by what he discovered. That’s all.”

“Oh, Gabe. You didn’t?” Mbali glanced from Gabe to Mary. “He did, didn’t he?”

“He did.” Mary slid off the edge of the bed and stripped off her robe, standing unclothed in front of all of them without any sense of embarrassment. She glanced over her shoulder at Em. “I want to show them, and I figure I’d better get used to being naked on occasion.”

Em grinned at her. “Go for it.” She grabbed Mary’s phone. Mary shifted and Em snapped her picture. “So you can see what you look like with your human eyes. Our color vision isn’t as precise as wolves, so mirrors only give us part of what the world sees when we shift.”

Mbali got a funny look on her face, stripped off her clothes, and immediately another wolf stood beside Mary. She was dark gray with reddish tips to her fur, black tips on her ears and tail and a dark mask across her face.

“What the hell . . .” Sissy grinned at the two wolves, slipped her robe off and shifted. Then she, Mbali and Mary went through the entire routine of sniffing each other from nose to butt.

Laughing, Em took more pictures. Janine glanced at Em and looked ready to cry. “I can sense it, like I’m ready to change, but whatever I need to know to do it isn’t clear yet.”

Nina and Lindy stood off to one side. “Not me,” Nina said. She poked Lindy in the side with her elbow. “What about you?”

“Nope. What you see is what you get.”

Alex wrapped his arms around Janine and hugged her tight. “Tomorrow. Don’t be surprised if you wake up as a wolf. I can sense it in you, so you must be close.”

“How do you sense it? Do I smell bad?”

He leaned over and took a deep, dramatic breath, then coughed and made gagging noises. Janine took a swing at him and he ducked, but at least she was laughing.

“Actually,” Gabe said, “there is a scent, but it’s a good smell, not a bad one. And you have it. You didn’t yesterday, so in spite of the fact that Alex is a jerk, he’s right. It means you’re close. I’m surprised we didn’t notice it in Mary, but I didn’t know she was taking the nutrients, so I wasn’t looking for it, either.”

Mbali, Sissy, and Mary shifted and got dressed, and once again the room was filled with young women. Chattering, laughing, happier than Gabe had seen any of them since the rescue, they headed back to the kitchen. Em and Annie stared at each other a moment and then started laughing again.

Gabe looked at Alex and shrugged. Alex shook his head. “Haven’t got a clue,” he said.

Em caught Gabe’s eye. “Annie and I were talking about this earlier, showing up in Montana with four new Chanku.”

“It’s going to be like taking a litter of puppies home and dropping them off. Hey, Mom. Look what I found! Can I keep ’em?” Annie hugged her knees. “I’m hoping it’ll take Dad’s mind off me. He might have enough to do he won’t try and micromanage my life. At least for a couple of weeks.”

“Dream on.” Alex flopped on the bed next to Annie. “Your father will always be like that, but he does it because he loves you. I imagine I’ll be every bit as bad once we have pups. There’s going to be a wedding at the winter solstice. The last I heard, everyone who mated over the past few months is going to marry. Romy and Jace, Ig and Star, Sunny and Fen. What about us, Annie? Will you marry me? I’ve asked you before because I love you, and I’m going to keep asking you until you say yes.”

He raised his head a moment and whispered, “Goddess, I sure hope she loves me.” Then he took hold of both her hands. “By not getting married, you’re letting your dad control our relationship simply because you know that’s what he wants. But I want it, too, Annie. You are my mate, for now and for all time, but I want you as my wife, too. I like the sound of that. Mrs. Annie Aragat.”

Annie was staring at Alex with stars in her eyes, so much love flowing between them that it made Gabe’s heart ache. He glanced at Em, she stared at him, reached out and took his hand, tugged to give herself leverage and slipped off the bed. Annie and Alex were so caught up in each other, he didn’t think they even noticed when he and Em slipped out the door.

He sort of hoped she’d head toward the kitchen, where the girls were talking and laughing. He’d gotten in from work and hadn’t had dinner, but she didn’t go that way. Instead, she led him to her room, the one they shared. And once they were inside, she carefully locked the door behind him.

“Make love to me, Gabe. Please?”

He didn’t say a word, but he carefully unbuttoned his shirt and kicked off his shoes. Unsnapped his jeans and slipped the zipper down, shoved his pants over his butt, down his thighs until they pooled on the floor and he stepped out of them. And the entire time, his gaze never left Em’s dark eyes. Her mind was closed to him, her thoughts a blank wall, but he knew that watching Alex and Annie together had affected her deeply.

Just as it had affected him. He hadn’t imagined, on that flight from Montana to San Francisco a week ago, that he would be meeting his destiny here. Hadn’t realized that little Emeline Isobelle would have grown up into the perfect woman for him. It hadn’t hit him hard and fast, the way it had hit Alex, hadn’t knocked him off his feet the way Romy had affected Jace. No, Em had been more subtle, almost as if he had to see through the layers of his memories of that little girl, peel them away and discard them in order to see the woman she had become.

She stood there, hands clasped at her waist, slim body wrapped in a pale blue sarong, the kind of garment that so many of the women preferred around the house, her caramel skin and long black hair a perfect counterpoint to the shimmering ice-blue silk. He stepped closer and untied the knot where she’d gathered the fabric between her breasts, slowly unwrapped the fabric and let it fall.

He stepped back so he could see her, all of her, as she stood with her eyes downcast, her long hair tumbling over her shoulders, curling in soft waves all the way to her hips. Her beauty took his breath, aroused him and terrified him, that she might not love him the way he loved her.

“You are so beautiful, Em. So perfect.” He cupped her face in his palms, aware of the subtle swish of blood coursing through her veins, her thundering heart, the scent that told him she was aroused and waiting, that she wanted him, that she wondered as much as she wanted.

She obviously wondered what he was thinking, but it was only fair. Just as she had closed her thoughts to him, Gabe had hidden his away from Emeline. He kissed her. A light meeting of lips, the soft, slick slide of his tongue across her mouth. Then he pulled back far enough to focus on her face, on her dark amber eyes. On the slick surface of her lips.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me?”

She tilted her head, still watching him. Still wondering. He sensed her curiosity and her arousal. His was evident—there was no hiding the erection curving up from his groin so hot and heavy and ready for her—but Em’s feelings were a mystery. He couldn’t read her. That was okay, for now. There should be questions. Only a few, since his desire for her was blatantly evident.

Finally, she frowned. “No,” she said. “I have no idea.”

“You should.” He kissed her again, then pulled away before she could return the brief touch of his mouth to hers, but he cupped her bare shoulders in both hands. Anchoring her, or was he anchoring himself?

“I love you, Em. I’m not even sure exactly when it happened, but it’s lodged in my heart—you’re lodged in my heart. For what it’s worth . . .” He grinned at her, and then winked. “I like the feeling. A lot.”

She tilted her head and stared at him, holding the pose for much too long as her eyes filled with tears, as the tears spilled out and down her cheeks. Had this been a mistake? He couldn’t have misinterpreted her feelings that much. Or had he? “Em?”

She stepped into his embrace, wrapped her arms around his bare waist, pressed her face to his chest and sobbed. He hugged her close, rocking her gently side to side while she cried. He tried seeing her thoughts, but her barriers kept him out. He hoped they were happy tears, feared they weren’t, but he had no idea what made her cry.

Or why she kept him barred from her thoughts. He opened to her, let her see his love for her, the way her tears terrified him, but she merely held him tighter and cried harder.