Dark Refuge (3 page)

She watched as the company jet with the bold CGI logo and its proud pack of wolves racing across the fuselage touched down, circled back on the runway and rolled smoothly across the tarmac. Too bad she didn’t rank a corporate jet for her trips to Asia. No lost luggage that way.

She wondered who was on it, what packmate her father had found to help her. She was sorry it wasn’t Aaron. She actually missed her big brother, but her dad had only said he’d make certain someone was here by midnight. She hoped so. She was still haunted by that poor woman’s unspoken plea for help.

She’d not heard from her since. It had been Thursday evening when Em gave her the business card. She’d waited all day Friday, but no word. She hadn’t planned to call her dad, but until she got this settled, Em didn’t think she’d be able to quit worrying. The woman, Sissy was her name, had to be Chanku. Em had gotten a glimpse of dark amber eyes, a dead giveaway when combined with the strong telepathic voice.

Mindspeaking was not broadly known as a Chanku trait, but as far as Emeline knew, no other sentient species had the ability. Sissy had contacted her as clearly as if they’d been speaking aloud, face-to-face.

The door on the side of the small jet opened and a staircase lowered. Em stepped out of the shadows as a large figure filled the doorway, so it definitely wasn’t Aaron, and not one of the women, either.

She heard male laughter and then a man swung into view and came quickly down the steps. Her heart stuttered in her chest and shivers raced along her spine. It couldn’t be.

She glanced behind her and fought the compulsion to run back inside, into the shadows where he wouldn’t see her. How could her father do this? Didn’t the man have any compassion at all?

“Hey, Em. Goddess, girl, it’s good to see you.”

And he was there, dropping his bags, wrapping his arms around her in a big brotherly hug, swinging her around as he’d done when she was three. When she was five, when she was fifteen. Even now, when she was twenty-six years old, a fully grown woman in charge of an entire division of the same company he worked for.

“Put me down, you oaf.” She hated the fact she was laughing, but she shoved against his chest, and as always it was like pushing against a brick wall. At least he hadn’t called her by that horrible nickname he and Aaron had tagged her with.

He set her lightly on the ground. “EmyIzzy, you never change, except to get more beautiful. How come you haven’t found a man?”

She brushed her hair out of her eyes. Then she carefully smoothed her skirt over her hips and glared at him. “Please don’t call me that. I’ve hated that name ever since you and Aaron cooked it up.” Before he could answer, she spun about and headed back to her car. “It’s late, but I’m hoping we can go look for her.”

“Her who?” Gabe slung his pack over his shoulder and followed her. “Emeline,” he said, and she couldn’t help but notice his emphasis on her name, “I have no idea why I’m here. Oliver said that you were involved in a situation, but not what the situation is.”

Em opened the trunk on the little SUV and Gabe tossed his bag in the back. She got behind the wheel, and once he was settled, she turned and glanced his way. “A woman contacted me telepathically. She’s a prostitute, working in Chinatown, and she’s terrified. I gave her my card, told her to call me, but she said her pimp was close by, and I could tell she’s afraid of him. Then her client showed up and she got in his car and left. I haven’t seen her since, but I’m sure she’s still out there.” She backed out and headed for the freeway. “If she’s still alive. That was Thursday evening, and she was very afraid.”

Gabe sat silently beside her. Finally he turned, and she felt his heavy gaze. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. I certainly didn’t expect anything like this. But you’re right. We need to find her. Whatever I can do, Emeline.”

She noticed that he said her name in a much kinder tone this time. Without the snark. Then he softly added, “You know you can count on me.”

• • •

Em drove back to her apartment in the Sunset District so unnaturally
aware
of Gabe, who was sitting so close beside her in the small vehicle that it felt as if he took up all the air. They didn’t talk, beyond a few questions from him about her latest travels, and she was so relieved. She still wasn’t sure how to act around Gabe, almost as if she didn’t know how to be an adult around him.

Their entire relationship had been more of a big brother–little sister sort of thing, and that wasn’t at all how she wanted him to think of her. She’d quit thinking of Gabe as her big brother by the time she was into her early teens. The fact he still treated her like a kid had made her crazy, but then he went away to college, and that was so much better, because she didn’t have to think about him at all.

Except she did.

Goddess help her, she hadn’t been able to put him out of her mind. She’d gone away to college herself and then straight into work at CGI, the same place where Gabe worked, except it was a huge company and she traveled a lot. They hadn’t run into each other since she’d started her job at CGI as an intern almost six years ago.

She had been so certain she’d find peace when her job took her out of the country.

So much for that idea, though maybe it was a good thing he was here. Maybe it was a chance to see if there ever could be anything between them, though she’d noticed his interest when she’d described the woman. She’d had him at tall and blonde, exactly what she wasn’t, but he was never going to notice her, not while he still saw her as “cute little EmyIzzy.”

She turned off the 280 for Highway 1 and headed west to the Sunset District and the old refurbished mansion where she lived. It was the same building where the first members of Pack Dynamics had stayed before they moved headquarters to Montana. The building had been converted to separate apartments, and now it provided temporary housing for Chanku who worked for CGI or its subsidiaries here in San Francisco.

Gabe stared with open curiosity at the three-story building as Em pulled into the underground garage. She shot him a quick glance after she parked. “Haven’t you ever been here before?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ve heard about it. It was being renovated when I was looking for a place to stay, but that was years ago. I ended up sharing an apartment with Alex Aragat over in North Beach, but we gave that up last summer. He was hardly ever in the city after Anton put him to work as pack liaison with the Flathead County sheriff’s department, and I knew I’d be gone all summer with Jace Wolf on our annual survey of the wild wolf populations. Since we got back, I’ve been handling some of Alex’s work with the sheriff’s department and telecommuting. It’s good to get back to San Francisco, though. I’ve actually considered moving in here. Now that Alex and Annie are here and he’s taken over Lily’s work at Cheval International, they’re living in Lily’s house on Marina. Annie’s still programming for CGI, and Lily’s moved in with Sebastian in his house in Montana.”

Em grinned at him. “That’s a lot to keep track of.” Then she laughed, finally beginning to feel a bit more comfortable with this overwhelmingly adult version of Gabe Cheval. He’d always been such a cutup, it was sort of nice to carry on an adult conversation with him. “I can’t believe all the matings that have taken place in the past few months. The party crowd is growing up.”

Gabe smiled at her. “Happens to the best of ’em. Annie’s dad, Tinker, said they had some wild parties here before they all settled down.”

“I can believe it.” But it wasn’t home and it wasn’t pack. She glanced at Gabe as she checked to make sure everything was turned off. He looked pensive. She wondered what he was thinking.

What he thought of her.

She scrubbed that thought out of her mind immediately. He still thought she was just a little kid. She was the same age as his little sister, Lucia, and he still talked about Luci like she was a baby. Damn. That was never going to change, no matter what she wanted or what she did. Scowling, Emeline grabbed her purse. Gabe got his bag out of the trunk and then followed her up the steps to the first floor.

“This is nice.” He paused in the foyer and gazed at the beautiful entry, all polished walnut and old brass. “How many of you guys live here?”

“I’m it for now.” She set her bag on an antique hall tree. “Most of the younger employees live closer to the financial district. There’s a lot more going on there, more nightlife. I travel so much with my job that I like the quiet when I’m home.”

“You think of this as home?” He had a disconcerting way of looking at her, as if he saw inside, knew what she was thinking. She reinforced her shields when he said, “What about Montana?”

She shrugged. “In Montana, I’m Daddy’s little girl, obviously one without a mind of her own. Mom babies me, questions everything I do, every move I make. It’s suffocating. I miss the pack, but I need my freedom more.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

The honest sympathy in his voice stopped her. She turned and gazed at him, really seeing him for the first time. Not as the guy who loved to tease and joke around, but as a serious and thoughtful adult. It wasn’t nearly the stretch she’d expected.

“I always wondered why you stayed away,” he said, “but that makes sense. Luci has the same complaint. I heard her arguing with Dad last week. She wants to move down here instead of telecommuting. He’s not real pleased with the idea, especially since Lily’s not in the city anymore.”

“I’d love it if she moved here. Luci’s so much fun. And Lily came to San Francisco by herself.” Em headed toward the stairs.

“Yeah, but Lily’s best friend is a goddess, and Dad had Eve’s promise to keep an eye on her.”

Em tried not to laugh. Really. “Well, there is that. I didn’t ask. I hardly ever went home after I went away to college. I think I was nineteen the last time. What’s weird is that my parents have never insisted I come back. They always seem uncomfortable around me. And no, I have no idea why, and I don’t get it. C’mon. Let me show you your room. You can get settled and I’m going to change clothes. I’m thinking jeans and a warm sweater. The last thing I want to do is attract any attention, but I’m hoping we can track her down. I know her name is Sissy, and that she’s tall and beautiful, with long blonde hair and dark amber eyes. And she can mindspeak as well as anyone in the pack.”

• • •

Tall and beautiful with long blonde hair? This trip to San Francisco was looking better all the time, and once he got over the shock of seeing EmyIzzy again . . . Crap. Emeline . . . He actually sighed. Sighed! What the hell was that all about? Em always had been just one more little sister, attached at the hip to his baby sister Lucia, and Gabe had figured she’d still be much the same—sort of like Luci. Cute and silly and someone he could tease and relax with. He hadn’t seen her in . . . Goddess. He hadn’t seen her in at least six or seven years.

It appeared a lot could happen to a woman in six or seven years, and looking at Emeline now wasn’t the least bit relaxing. She’d been short and cute, and a little on the pudgy side, but somehow that baby fat had managed to rearrange itself in absolutely stunning fashion. She’d seemed shocked to see him, though, and that was weird. Why hadn’t Oliver told her he was the one coming to help? No matter. It was after midnight, and they still needed to go look for the missing woman.

Gabe tossed his bag on the bed and went in to use the bathroom and brush his teeth. He’d had more beer than he should have this evening, including a couple on the plane down from Montana, and sleep sounded way too inviting. This had all the makings of a very long night, and he’d already been on a long run, helped catch some bad guys, topped Aaron and gone through the complete dissection of the evening’s activities with Anton and the rest of the pack who’d been hanging out in Anton’s den.

Splashing water on his face helped perk him up. His mobile phone chimed as he rinsed his toothbrush and stuck it back in his overnight kit. He answered the call, and Alex Aragat’s face filled the small screen. “Hey, Alex. What’s up?”

“Dad said you were in town for a couple of days. Wanted to make sure you saved time for Annie and me.”

“Will do. Can’t talk now, though. Emeline Cheval thinks she’s got a lead on a Chanku woman, a prostitute she met a couple of nights ago. We’re headed out to look for her. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Didn’t know Em was back. She’s gone most of the time.”

“Yeah. I’m finding that out. I’ll give you a call tomorrow. I imagine it’ll be a late night.”

He signed off and left his apartment. Em waited in the entry by the door to the garage. She was tinier than a lot of the young women in the pack, with her father’s slight build, but she had all her mom’s sex appeal.

Except he didn’t want to see Em that way. It wasn’t easy, though, ignoring the subtle, sexy sway of her hips as he followed her down the steps to the garage. She’d put on tight black jeans with high black leather boots that almost reached her knees, and a dark blue sweater that showed off more of Emeline Cheval than Gabe ever imagined she’d have to show.

It was a struggle, reminding himself she was EmyIzzy, for Goddess’s sake. Not a fuck buddy. Besides, he’d just had excellent after-run sex with Aaron. There was no way he was going to screw with Em after what he’d been doing with her brother a few hours ago. Nope. Wasn’t going there.

“I thought we’d park at CGI. Last time I saw her, it was only a couple of blocks from the office.”

“Okay.” He buckled himself into his seat and willed his fascination with the shape of her lips into the darker compartments of his mind. “You’re in charge.” He flashed her a grin, expecting a snarky response, or at least hoping for one, but she didn’t look his way. Sighing, he settled back in his seat. At least her response—or lack of one—cooled his libido.

After a couple of minutes when Em hadn’t said a word, the quiet was beginning to make him twitch. “Alex called while I was cleaning up,” he said. “He’s hoping we can get together while I’m in town.”

She shot him a quick glance. “That would be nice for you to see each other. How long’s it been?”