Gabe's Destiny (Alien Mates Book Three) (12 page)

She walked until she came to the center of a town. There were two and three story buildings around her. One caught her attention. It was dark purple but it shone like a spot light was on it.

The plaque on it said the future or the past which one will you choose.

A beautiful long haired black female stepped out. She gave Taya a smile that was enchanting.

“You, child. I can see you need my help.” She disappeared into the building leaving Taya to follow or not.

Walk away. It was the only smart thing to do, except she had been doing the smart thing all her life. She dropped out of college because her name was dragged through the mud although it wasn’t her fault. She walked away from a law suit because her parents didn’t have the money to fight it and she refused to bring them pain while Michael’s lawyer painted him as an angel. She had done the right things, the things that saved her family embarrassment even though they were never embarrassed by her, they simply hurt for her.

Her feet moved without a thought as she crossed the street. When she placed her hand on that purple door, she felt it throb beneath her palm. The desire to flee was closing in on her; still she pushed the door open and walked inside. She wasn’t sure what she expected but it wasn’t this.

The walls were actually painted pink and white, but it didn’t make her feel like she was ten. It calmed her down. After that vibrant purple on the outside, this actually felt normal. The furniture felt like something you might see in an old Victorian house. It was white with little flowers on it. The couch was old fashion and rimmed in highly polished wood. The place wasn’t bad and she took her first deep calming breath.

“Come in.”

She looked up to the woman gesturing towards her. Taya tried to get a good look at her but she seemed to change faster than she could see. An impression of age, ancient. Older than she thought Selma to be. This woman, female carried power with her. The kind she never encountered in her life before.

“I’m Taya, you are?”

She smiled at her turning a beautiful face into a stunning face.

“You don’t need my name, you need my help.”

“Why are you helping me?” She didn’t meet beings like her every day and they definitely didn’t offer to help her. She’d seen power and influence at work and knew just how deadly it could be.

The woman stopped and looked at her as if judging her. Then she shook her head like she made a judgement about her.

“I’m helping you because he brought you here. Without me you won’t reach your full potential.”

“You’re helping me because of Gabe. How do you know him?” A small spark of jealousy ignited in her heart. Maybe this was the one who was supposed to be Gabe’s soul-bonded. She could ask why he would want this woman, but in the end she wondered what was wrong with her. Why couldn’t he want her?

The woman was shaking her head.

“You’re not helping me because of Gabe? Then who?”

“The other one.”

Voyager? She was helping her because a snotty nosed rich boy threw her into the trials? Maybe the woman wasn’t as ancient as she first thought, or maybe she was simply foolish. Taya’s heart went out to the woman. She wanted to warn her but knew the warning would fall on deaf ears so she left it alone. For a moment she pictured Voyagers eyes. Those didn’t belong to a kid no matter how rich his daddy was.

“Normally I would ask you to pick the past or the future; however, in your case, you’ll need both.”

Taya felt her body rise from the chair, she screamed. A vortex formed around her and then her body shot through it and she was gone.

*~*~*~*

“Where is she?” Gabe screamed. Working with Voyager was trying every nerve he had. The male was unhelpful. Every question he asked was answered with a riddle. At this point he wanted Taya and a door out of this place.

Voyager’s eyes darkened before they became normal again.

“She’s not here. Looks like I might have misplaced her.” He frowned. “That is not like me. Another force has interfered and it’s powerful.”

“Get her back.”

“No. I don’t sense any malevolent intentions. As long as she is not our issue then we can focus on you.”

“Are you crazy?” He was tired of playing around pulling punches. He let the darkness of his soul come out. The air around him changed, deepening almost groaning as the weight of his mood sat on it.

“This is not a game and Taya will not be harmed.”

“You are right,” Voyager smiled and Gabe shook. “It is not a game.”

He stuck his hand out and Gabe flew into the whirlwind that was howling behind him.

How had a simple trip to the trials turned into this? Gabe picked himself up and dusted off. Where was he?

He was in the room he grew up in alone. That was the story of his life. He’d been alone since the day Ry was taken. There were two beds in this room but only he slept here. His body jerked as he cried out. It was the first time he felt the whip but not the last time. His connection to his twin was so strong, he felt everything Ry felt.

He hated himself when he was a kid because there was a time he waited for the connection to mute. For some sort of relief to be given to him but that never happened. Not even with Ry trying to tear the connection apart at its root. It simply dug deeper into Gabe. He felt everything until the day his back had been a mess of flesh when the beating finally finished. He knew death was just a step away.

Colun walked into the room that day when he was crawling across the floor trying desperately to reach a bathroom. He picked him up like he was still ten even though he was almost a man at that point and carried him to the bathroom, took care of his back before announcing that he was finally mature enough. They could now find Ry.

It had taken another six months where he felt Ry’s beating intimately; he was raped along with his brother and drained of his strength on a daily basis. They each prayed the other twin would find relief but that never happened. They shared hell together.

Why was he here? This was in the past now he simply needed to break a connection.

He walked out of the room to see the shadows of the past haunting him. He stood aside as he saw a younger version of himself helping Ry up the stairs. They finally found him, setting him free. Ry had taken out the Sudir that held him captive but he was so weak. The only person he would let touch him was Gabe.

He had been weak also but he found the reserves he needed to help his brother to their room. The way he felt when he saw his brother lying in his bed brought tears to Gabe’s eyes. His brother looked over and said in a whisper, ‘I want to cry too. I’ve dreamed of this moment forever.’ Gabe crawled into his bed and they closed their eyes and slept. Colun said they slept for four days straight.

Shaking aside memories of the past, he walked down the steps and out the door. The place looked the same but different at the same time. The wards that protected home weren’t as strong as they are now. They grew, learned, and matured.

What could the past teach him that he didn’t already know? He watched as Victor and Selma walked down the path. How could he forget that they were already grown when he was still a child? Victor was the oldest of them all by more than several centuries. Only the old ones were older than both him and Selma. Selma was soul-bonded to Victor for so long that Gabe could barely remember a time they weren’t together.

He walked up to them wanting to see if they recognized him. No, this was a shadow. What was done here was set in stone, unable to be changed unless someone with greater power than theirs tampered with the fabric of time.

They walked to the porch and he followed them taking a seat on the banister as he listened to them talk. He was being given an insight to a time he tried to forget.

“Do you think he’ll be all right?” Selma placed her hand on Victor’s arm and squeezed before laying her head on his lap.

“Which one?”

“Surprise me.”

Victor’s hand went through her hair. It was shorter than she was wearing it now. Back then she thought she should look her age. Ry had teased her once that looking dead wasn’t a good look for anyone.

“I worry about Gabe.” Gabe tensed and focused back in on the conversation. Why were they worried about him? Rylan was the one with issues; he should know, he spent years watching over his brother.

“Why do you say that?”

He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “I could be wrong, but Rylan suffered incredible physical abuse. His body is beginning to heal. I called in Dante. Fortunately, he seems to like us. He took a look at him, and then had both his brother, Damon, as well as his half-brother, Nicolas, take a look at him. They all said the same thing, Rylan’s body would heal. His mental state was more difficult but Dante believed one day that would heal also. He just needs a reason to live. Then I had them look at Gabe.”

They looked at him? When had this happened, when he was sleeping? When Ry first came home? Victor never mentioned he had them looked at medically. Yet he wasn’t surprised, that’s part of what Victor did, what he always did. He protected them because they were his people.

“What did he say about Gabe?”

His eyes darkened with real sadness. “Of the two of them, they were more concerned about Gabe. He suffered more mental abuse than his brother did. Yes, he spent six months feeling the actual feel of the whip breaking his skin and being raped, but for him it was more. While Gabe struggled for years to heal his body, keeping his mind somewhat sane, all Gabe felt was mental anguish. There was nothing to distract from it. There is a chance Gabe won’t make it.”

This was it, he should have known. When he cut Taya lose he would die.

He stood up. It was time to start saying his goodbyes. He entered the house and took the steps. He loved this house and its ability to change. He’d only seen the whole structure change once, but Colun told him the house grew as they grew. It changed to accommodate them.

He walked into the room he shared with Ry all those years ago. He wanted to say bye to the boys they used to be. His brother would be safe now; he spent his life watching over him, making sure no harm ever came to him again. Now he was soul-bonded and had a daughter. Every dream Gabe ever had for him came true. He could say goodbye and leave him in peace.

He knelt over the shadow of his brother. Ry’s eyes opened and his hand shot up and caught his.

Gabe fell backwards and landed on his behind. This couldn’t happen.

“You will not die. You will do everything in your power to live. Don’t leave me alone.”

Gabe stood up in an empty room. There were no shadows of the past but Ry’s voice burned its way through his brain.

Taya was sitting in an interrogation room. They said she burned them. There were whispers around her by cops who felt sympathy for her. They believed the boys got what they deserved but they all knew she would be the one to pay for their crimes.

The door opened and a man in a suit walked in with her parents. He was the lawyer they went away to hire. The public defender told her from the beginning she was going to jail; it was just how much time she would spend in there that was the unknown.

Her dad walked up to him and whispered in his ear. The man blanched, grabbed his brief case, and ran out the room. Now her parents were back with another lawyer.

“Hi, I’m Marcus Gramby, the lawyer your parents have hired for your case.”

“Hi,” she gave him a weak smile. “So how much time do you think I’ll have to do in jail?”

“None. The question is not about time behind bars but how far you want to take this case.”

She gave him a slow blink. They should be in jail for what they did to her. If she was correct, she wasn’t the first girl this happened to.

“What do you mean?”

“Taya, I need to be honest with you. Michael Harwith II has the backing of his father’s money. As long as he has that, he can fight this case and if he loses he can appeal. You have the backing of a strong father, he’s the reason I am here, but he doesn’t have the same access to the resources the Harwiths have.”

How could she have been so clueless? When she met him she was excited that someone with so much prestige saw that she was up and coming. He never saw that. To him she was a wanna be to be taken down a few pegs and shown her rightful place in life.

“So you have a choice. You can go to court and explain to the world and believe me this will make the news. They will ask you how the boys were burned although I don’t believe you did it, that doesn’t matter; you will be seen as vindictive. Some will say you deserved to get your payback; others will look at you differently. No matter what, your life will always be shadowed by what happened and the trial that followed it. Your other option would be not to press charges as long as charges are not pressed against you. This, of course, would be in writing and if either party violated the terms of agreement there would be a trial as well as prosecution for breach of contract.”

Taya raised her eyes and looked at her parents. Her mom with her straight black hair that Taya inherited from her and her sky blue eyes looked close to tears. Her mom, she’d fight until she died for her daughter, but in the end it was the look on her dad’s face that allowed her to come to a decision.

He was quietly calculating how he would take that family down. Her mom might fight for her but her dad would kill for her. If this went to court, she knew her dad would murder both father and son and then start in on the other boys. She couldn’t let that happen. So much had been lost, but the one thing that mattered most was her family and she couldn’t lose them.

“If you think they will agree to the terms you are stating then I will agree also. No one goes to trial and no one goes to jail.”

“Taya!” her father stood up and rounded the table.

“Daddy,” she threw herself into his arms. “Listen to me. This is more than a trial. It’s our lives and I won’t have us dragged through the mud so Michael and his crew can be slapped on the wrist, given community service, and told to be better boys. I just can’t live with that. You have to agree, dad. Promise me you won’t go after them. Please promise me.” She laid her head on his chest as she relaxed into him, she wanted to rant, rave and cry, instead she never made a sound while she waited for his decision.