Destiny's Path (2 page)

Her face flamed a little, but the cool water helped.
Jeez, what is it about this guy?
The last time she blushed like this she was sixteen, when one of the Johnson boys flashed her. She needed to get her wits back, fast.

“Riiight.” Besides, this guy was way out of her league. And she knew it. Still, it made her feel good, despite her wariness. Guys like this did not ask her to dance. Hell, guys like this never even looked at her. Why did this guy notice her? Even her “no nookie” speech didn’t run him off. In fact, he seemed more laid back now that everything was out in the open. Curious, indeed.

He chuckled again and nodded at her, conceding defeat.

“So, Sasha, what topics shall we discuss now that you’ve shot down my chances at anything more?” His eyes were steady on hers as he took a sip from his bottle.

Ah, here we go.
She knew that tone. His precious ego had gotten bruised, and he was trying to hide behind nonchalance and amusement. No way would she fall for that. Her ex, Nathan, had been an expert at it. She was so not in the mood for this. She came here to have a good time, not baby some young stud and his hurt pride.

Sasha set her bottle on the table and got up. “Thanks for the dance and the water.” She turned and headed for the women’s bathroom.

A familiar hand on her arm stopped her before she could make it.

“Wait, please.” His tone contrite.

Looking at him, she could see that
please
had rarely been used in his vocabulary. Confident, gorgeous young men like him probably didn’t have to say please. Most women would throw themselves at him at the first opportunity. She wasn’t most women, so she stood there silently, an eyebrow raised in question.

“I’m sorry about that, but you kind of caught me off guard. I…um…I’m not, uh…”

“Don’t get turned down much, do you?” she supplied for him.

“You’re the first,” he admitted, those full lips turned down in a deep frown.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t worry about it, sweetie. The night’s still young, and there are plenty of other women here.” She touched his arm in consolation and then turned to leave again.

“Wait!” He laid his hand over hers and stopped her again. “Let’s start over?”

She eyed him with suspicion.

He gave her a little half smile. “Please?”

“I’m not sure. Games are not my thing, and I hate playing them. That’s why I was up front with you before.”

“Okay, I respect that. No games, promise.” His hand raised in a solemn oath.

She looked at him, weighing her options, then thought,
Why not?
Most men wouldn’t have even stopped her after she got up to leave, yet he had. It might be nice to sit down and have a decent, honest conversation with a guy.

“All right.”

That earned her a bright smile as Gabriel steered her back to their table, waiting until she sat down before he took his seat.

She reached for her water and took a sip, wondering what he wanted to say. She didn’t have to wait long.

“You’re not like most of the women I meet.” He looked at her with clear speculation, his blue eyes also showing curiosity.

“Jeez, I hope not.” She laughed.

“Why is that?”

He seemed genuinely perplexed that she wasn’t falling head over feet to get in his bed. “You honestly want me to answer that?”

“Of course. If I’m lacking somehow, I need to remedy it and fast.” He grinned.

“Okay. I… How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t. I’m twenty-four.”

Shaking her head, she couldn’t help but think that his admission almost made her feel like a cradle robber. Almost.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re older. I won’t believe it.”

She snorted. “Honey, please. I’m eleven years your senior, and the lights in here aren’t that dim.”

Blue eyes blinked at her, Gabriel obviously doing the math. “Believe me when I say I have excellent vision, dim lights or not, and no way do you look eleven years older than me.”

Bless him for not saying my age out loud
. That gave him points in his favor.

“You’re sweet, but I know what I look like in the mirror. Anyway, to answer your question.” She moved on, not wanting to discuss her age. He let the subject drop. Smart and hot, what were the odds?

“I’ve been on the dating scene awhile now and hate it, honestly. When I was in my early twenties, I played the game with the best of ‘em. But after a few years of playing and getting burned, it got old. So did I. Then I realized I wanted more—more than some guy hitting on me and buttering me up just to get me in the sack. I deserve better. So, that’s when I decided it was better to let the guy know right off that I wasn’t some easy lay trolling for one-nighters. It’s probably why I’m still single, but it’s better than the alternative.”

“And what’s that?”

“A trail of boyfriends and a bruised heart, a lousy outlook on love and tattered self-esteem. I refuse to do that to myself. Seen it too many times to end up that way.” She took another sip of her water.

Gabriel nodded, clearly seeing the logic and maybe understanding her point of view.

“Hmm, hearing it put that way, I can see why you would rather go with the direct approach. Saves time and gives the guy an easy out. But what about you? Surely there have been a few men in your life.”

That conversation set the tone for the rest of the night as they talked and laughed and hit on subjects old and new. She told him about her ex; he told her about a few of the young women it was his misfortune to date. They talked about their jobs—he was in security and computers. His boss had bought a house in the mountains and wanted to make sure the place had everything installed and on-line before he moved in. They talked until her friends decided to leave, and then talked more. When the house lights came on, they both knew it was time to go.

“I guess that’s our cue.” He rose from his seat and offered her a hand.

She took it with a smile. “I guess so.”

“Come, I’ll walk you to your car.”

“All right.”

“I actually had a good time tonight.” He followed her out the entrance.

“You sound shocked.” She pulled her car keys out her clutch bag as they walked through the parking lot to her car. Hers was one of only a few left in the lot.

“Yes and no. It’s…well…I don’t usually have these kinds of lengthy discussions with women. I liked it.”

“Glad I could oblige.” She smiled, about to put her key in the lock. One of these days she’d replace her lost remote.

“I would like-” He stiffened at her side, his eyes darting around the parking lot.

“What? What is it?” She felt a chill skitter down her spine as he continued to cast furtive looks into the darkness, tension radiating from him.

“Slowly get in your car and lock the doors. Now.” His tone was soft, but with steel, his eyes trained on a spot directly in front of them.

Sasha looked in the same direction, seeing nothing at first, but then a big black shape slunk out of the shadows. “That’s just a dog, Gabriel, nothing to be scared of. Just raise your voice, and he’ll run off.”

He turned and grabbed her shoulders. “Just do what I said, Sasha! Now, dammit!”

She blinked in shock, then stammered, “Oh, okay.”

She never got the chance to unlock the door, much less open it, before something heavy slammed her against the car, stunning her. She hit the pavement hard, seeing stars, the breath knocked out of her. Where Gabriel was, she didn’t know. She was too busy trying to get air back into her lungs when a feeling like razor blades cut into her right shoulder. She screamed at the pain, raising her left arm to get whatever it was off her. The right arm was useless.

“Let her go!” Gabriel bellowed with rage.

Fist raised, Sasha continued to pummel her attacker with fear-born strength as she felt herself being dragged across the pebble strewn lot, twisting her body and kicking her legs to get free. Feeling blood running down her right arm and back, she struggled harder, though she knew in a corner of her pain-filled brain that if she lost too much blood, getting free would be moot. Then a sudden jarring sent pain radiating through her whole body, making her cry out again. Whatever had been dragging her had let go. She was free, but not out of the woods yet.

“James, what are you doing here?” she heard Gabriel ask, though why he was asking an animal, she couldn’t quite figure out.

“They told me where to go.”

Wait. Who else is here?

The mysterious voice was rough and low, with a gravel quality to it, like the worst smoker’s voice Sasha had ever heard. “They said she was the one that I needed to take her, bring her over.”

“You’re not making any sense, James.” Gabriel’s voice turned soft, placating. “You need to leave, all right? You shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous for you.”

“No! She’s the one. She must be taken! They said so. They said so!”

The sounds of a scuffle and low, angry growling echoed on the night breeze, but from where Sasha was lying, sight was useless. Moving seemed the wrong thing to do, but she wanted to see her attacker and make sure Gabriel was all right. After several tries, she turned slowly and painfully toward the sound of Gabriel’s voice. Her gut clenched at the sight that greeted her. Gabriel and a huge dog circled each other, the dog snarling and snapping, saliva dripping off huge, sharp teeth. His owner was out of sight, but he must have been the one that Gabriel was talking to.

“Don’t do this, James, please.” Gabriel stepped back quickly when the dog snapped at his hand. “I don’t want to have to kill you.”

“No! She has to be brought over!” the dog snarled. “They told me she was the one that I have to take her. I have to make her one of us. You can’t interfere. You can’t!”

Dogs don’t talk.
The blood loss was making her hallucinate.

“You know it’s automatic death to attack a human, James. Roan will make sure you’re put down. Do you want to die like that?”

The dog stopped, his green eyes glowing at Gabriel. That massive head then cocked to the side, like he understood exactly what was being said, as if he had a moment of clarity amid the insanity. Then, in a flash, it was gone, and the dog leaped. Gabriel caught the dog by its muzzle and snapped its neck with a savage twist.

Sasha must have made a sound, because Gabriel looked at her like he forgot she was there.

“Oh, God! Sasha!” He rushed to her side. “Just lie back. I’m going to call for help.”

Gabriel pulled his shirt off and placed it over her wound to stanch the blood flow. Then he reached into his pocket, pulling out a cell phone, and started dialing for help. If she hadn’t felt so bad, Sasha would have admired his glorious chest, but at this point, all she wanted was to stop the pain. Her whole body shook with it.

Once Gabriel finished his call, he turned back to her.

“Is he…?” Her teeth were chattering, thwarting her efforts to speak. She was so cold.

“Yes, he’s dead.” Gabriel tied the shirt more securely around her shoulder, causing her to hiss in pain. “I’m so sorry, Sasha. This never should have happened.”

Sasha wasn’t sure what happened next. She only remembered a vague flurry of activity, then screaming and nearly blacking out when she was moved. Even the voices around her sounded distant—a long way off. She was unable to pinpoint any one sound or voice.

“Will she make it?”

“I don’t know, Gabe. She’s in shock and lost a lot of blood.”

“Just don’t let her die, Flynn.”

“Granddad wasn’t your fault. What with the visions and voices steadily getting worse even with the new meds, we all knew he was becoming increasingly unstable. But we never thought-”

“I know. We were all hoping he would get better with the new meds, especially Roan.”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do for him now except take him home.” There was a pause from the voice called Flynn. “You do know that if she survives, and that’s a big if, seeing as no one has ever survived one of these attacks, her life will change in more ways than one?”

Another lengthy pause.

“Makes it hard to wish one way or the other, doesn’t it?” Flynn’s voice sounded sad.

After that, Sasha gave up trying to stay lucid. Everything hurt, and she knew the pain wouldn’t follow her into sleep. Besides, she had no idea what they were talking about, and she felt too bad to try to figure it out. She let the blackness take her.

Time meant little as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She had a couple of lucid moments, just flashes really, but in those flashes, she saw a face. Not Gabriel, though she sensed him nearby. No, it was a face she associated with the deep voice she had heard. The one predicting that she wouldn’t make it.

She’d never been a quitter, and she didn’t want to die. To be perfectly honest, she wanted to see if the man she had seen briefly really was as fine as she thought he was. Plus, she wanted to prove him wrong by making a speedy recovery. Too bad her body had other ideas. Between the chills racking her torn frame and the raging fever threatening to burn her to a crisp, she was surprised she’d made it at all.