Gabe's Destiny (Alien Mates Book Three) (8 page)

“You went shopping without us?” Selma looked at her bags before casting an accusing glance. If it weren’t for the laughter in her eyes she would have felt guilty.

“Sorry, Gabe mentioned that I should have told you after we got to town.”

“Don’t worry, we will be going again. Whatever you have in those bags doesn’t look big enough to fill out your wardrobe.”

Taya flushed and looked down at her bags. She might fool the males but the women knew enough to know it wasn’t cut off shorts and shirts in her bags.

“I think I’m sick. The more she blushes, the more I want to see just how nice the things are in her bag.” Paige gave a rueful laugh making everyone laugh with her.

“Come, have a seat,” Aviana patted the couch next to her. “I knew where you were. I even told them but they liked the mystery more.”

“How did you know?” She looked Aviana over wondering if she was watching from the window when they left.

“I’m soul-bonded to Rylan. If you think Gabe leaves this house without his brother knowing, think again. When I first met them, Gabe was the brother keeping tabs on Rylan. Now things have changed and it’s the other way around.”

She took a seat on the sofa noting how comfortable it was. The room seemed to fit all of them well. Although she was sure when she looked in earlier Victor and Selma were sitting in here and the room seemed so small, intimate and cozy. It didn’t make sense.

“Is there a problem with Gabe?”

She turned to study Aviana. She loved her dark skin; it almost made her look like royalty with those brown eyes that lit up with an inner fire. It was like she could see everything. She noted that she was just a little bigger than she was. Which actually gave her hope that Gabe really did like her curves and wasn’t just desperate for a wife.

“I think you need to ask Gabe.”

“He’s not going to tell me. Please if there’s something I should know, tell me.”

Maybe he was a killer? Okay, now she was thinking stupid thoughts. That male wasn’t a killer but maybe he was in trouble. Maybe the alien police were coming after him? What if it had something to do with Melissa? So yeah, her brain was going to come up with a thousand things until she knew what was going on.

“Rylan is worried about him. He thinks that until Gabe gets soul-bonded he may slip into a form of insanity that would cause him to have to terminate Gabe’s life.”

Taya sat there, she didn’t move, or open her mouth. She simply waited to wake up from the nightmare she was currently in. Was it possible she was still lying on the table in Zuhun’s attic?

“Taya, are you all right?” Aviana’s frantic voice reached her but she ignored it.

Any minute now the nightmare would end. She knew it was a nightmare because there was no way, nice, sweet, Aviana had mentioned death and Gabe in the same sentence. Wake up, she whispered to herself.

“It’s not a nightmare,” Selma’s voice penetrated her brain. There was an ancient feeling to Selma. When she spoke Taya had to listen.

“It has to be a nightmare because no one in their right mind thinks I’m going to let them hurt Gabe.”

“That’s nice to hear but it’s going to take more than that.”

Taya finally moved, turning to face Selma. “Then why don’t you explain what it will take.”

“Paige,” Selma said her name but nothing else.

“My story starts when I walked down an alley in LA.” She went on to explain how she came to know Cal, how she had to make a decision about taking a test, and would she even pass it in order to become soul-bonded.

When she was done, Aviana picked up the story describing her first meeting with Rylan and then Gabe. The test was so different for her. There was no way to tell what Taya would go through if she decided to soul-bond with Gabe. On this one thing they were all clear. This was forever. She owed it to herself to do what was right for Taya and let Gabe take care of himself.

When they were done, she picked up her bags, said a polite thank you, and walked out the room and up the stairs until she reached her room. With care she locked the door behind her, put up her purchases that she knew she would no longer need, and went to lie on the bed. She pulled the covers over her head and sank into a deep sleep.

There was a knock at the door telling her it was dinner time. She politely declined and went back to sleep. When the next day came she did the same thing. She wasn’t hungry and she wasn’t leaving the room.

Seven days she holed up in her room. Soon she would have to get some food but she was still thinking. Huh, she bet her doctor would be praising her on how she ignored her stomach and stayed in bed ignoring the world.

There was another knock at the door, one she ignored.

“Taya, it’s been seven days and I haven’t said a word. So I’m saying it now. It’s over. You have sixty minutes to get up, clean up, and meet me downstairs for breakfast or I will take the door off the hinges and bring breakfast to you. Believe me; you won’t like what happens after that.”

She listened to Gabe walked away. A quick check of her watch showed she was down to fifty-eight minutes. Jumping up, she headed to the bathroom. Why? Because she believed him.

It didn’t take her an hour to get ready, but it did take her an hour to get the courage to place her hand on the door knob and turn. She watched the minute’s tick down on the phone as she slowly descended the stairs entering the kitchen just as the hour struck. The trek had been silent. There wasn’t one person in sight; it was like they all cleared out so they couldn’t be considered material witnesses in case Gabe needed to take her door down.

Gabe was at the stove cooking with his back to her. The smell of the food made her stomach rumble. Maybe not eating for a week wasn’t the smartest especially given the fact that she had been exhausted from her vacation at Zuhun land.

“Sit before you fall.” His back was still to her, how did he know?

She made her way over to the island. Wait…there wasn’t an island anymore; in fact the kitchen was totally different. Should she complain? Bring it to their attention that the house seems possessed or simply be grateful she didn’t have to climb up on those high stools? Gratitude for now; she could always use the possessed house as part of her defense later.

“In most cases having rested would have helped you, but you got very little sleep. In fact, I would say that except for the first day you barely got any sleep at all, and the lack of food has made you weaker than when you faced Melissa.”

“How do you know?” Her voice came out snarky. How dare he act like he had her best interest at heart.

He turned around, his eyes looked red and tired. Several days’ growth of beard was on his chin. Hmm, she liked him clean shaven but the look on his face was scaring her. What was wrong with him?

“What’s wrong with you?” She got up swaying slightly on her feet before she steadied herself on the table and walked to him.

“What’s wrong with you!” This time she screamed it. One of them needed to be okay and she wasn’t okay right now.

He wrapped her in his arms and just held her close.

“I’m connected to you, Taya. I don’t know how it happened but it happened. I felt your pain and all I wanted to do was kick the door in and come to you, but I waited until I couldn’t wait anymore. Turns out, if you don’t sleep neither do I.” He led her back to her seat and went to the stove to finish cooking.

He placed breakfast in front of her. Thick pieces of French toast layered with strawberries and whipped cream.

“You really are connected to me. I’ve been thinking about this exact meal for days now.”

“I know.” He grabbed a couple of glasses and filled them with milk before getting a plate for himself and sitting next to her.

She cut into her food keeping her eyes lowered, scared of what she might actually see if she looked into his eyes. The silence stretched out between them as they ate. When they were done, they cleaned the kitchen together before moving out to the front porch.

Staying in her room hadn’t helped; she was still at a cross road with Gabe and she honestly didn’t know what to do. She could still hear the voice of her mother telling her she would make the right decision. Well, hiding under the covers wasn’t it. Walking away didn’t feel like it either, but was getting married the right thing to do? That was a non-refundable action and just seemed silly.

“Who’s that?” There was an older male walking up to the bed and breakfast who she had never seen before and although her danger meter wasn’t ringing, after Melissa her trust meter was rather low. He stood tall with his back straight and his shoulders squared. She got the impression of age from him but couldn’t tell with the way he was built. His hair was long with some silver shot through it. He had it tied at the nape of his neck with a leather tie. He might be too old for her but that wouldn’t stop her from looking if Gabe didn’t already have her full attention. His well-worn jeans and button down flannel made him look desirable.

Gabe looked up and gasped at the male. “Colun?”

“Something wrong with your eyes? I can see you well, boy.”

“Not a boy,” he muttered, showing the male in front of him respect. Colun was one of the males who raised him. He had taken special interest in Gabe and treated him like a son. Colun was the reason he was still standing. When Rylan went missing, Colun kept Gabe from doing stupid things to punish himself. Deadly things.

Gabe should stand his ground, let his mentor see the male he was today. Instead he found himself leaving the porch walking up to him. The next thing he knew he was wrapped in thick solid arms. He was a boy again, crying against the shoulder that was strong enough to bear the agony of the brother who wasn’t taken but felt the pain anyway.

“I’ve missed you, boy.” Colun’s hand hit against his back several times bringing a smile to Gabe’s lips. He was still as heavy handed as ever.

“What are you doing here? No wait, I’m glad you’re here but what brought you back? You’ve been gone so long we didn’t think we would ever see you again.”

Translation—he and the others had looked for the old timers and couldn’t find them. They were certain they must have lost hope and ended their lives.

“Avoiding you children isn’t that hard. You forget we know more than you’ve learned so far. We’re around, as to what brought me here, I’m looking at him.”

“I’m fine.” His voice was gruff because there was no way he was going to acknowledge that at his age everything wasn’t working out.

“Uh huh. I think you and your lady need some help.”

Gabe turned to look at Taya before turning back to look at Colun.

“Well introduce me to her.”

They moved across the area coming back to the porch in perfect synch. Taya was going through her list of women she knew to see if maybe one of them might like him. She could see the smile on his face, but something about him reached out and said he’s been alone too long. It touched her because it was the same feeling she picked up from Gabe.

“Taya, this is Colun. I guess you could say he was the dad I never had.”

“Nice to meet you, Taya.” He held out his hand to shake hers then pulled her into a tight hug. “Welcome to the family,” he whispered for her ears alone.

She pulled back with a bemused smile on her face. “It’s nice to meet you also, Colun.”

“I better go in and greet the others. After that I was hoping the three of us could talk.” His eyes were on Taya as if she was the unknown piece in this puzzle.

She nodded her head. Maybe talking was what she needed.

He walked in and they followed behind him. The once empty foyer was now filled with Arbrins and their mates. Handshakes and hugs disguised as pats on the back were given. Then real hugs for the mates as he was introduced one by one.

“Your rooms are ready.” Selma told him with a smile.

“So you knew I was coming back?”

She shook her head and gave him a rueful smile. “Not I. The house knew and reacted accordingly.”

“I never could keep a secret from this old place.”

“Let me go settle down and then I’ll be back.” He walked up the stairs. “Gabe, I think you owe it to Taya to show her your Matra so she has all the facts before she decides.”

Every eye turned to look at Gabe including Taya.

“What does he mean show me your Matra?” Her eyes were big and the smile hovering on her lips was a little shaky making him want to hold her close.

He turned to look at his family; they all found an emergency they needed to attend to. Everyone except Rylan. He stood there meeting Gabe’s gaze head on and daring him to try and make him leave.

“Ry, you can be a pain.” His brother laughed.

“I still remember you staked outside of my door. They call it payback, bro.”

Gabe rolled his eyes because he’d been taking lessons from Aviana and Kayla. Then he shook his head because his brother was standing with his arms across his chest. The male wasn’t going anywhere.

He didn’t want to explain all of this in the foyer. It was a little too much to handle.

“Taya, do you remember when I told you I had a dual heritage? I was both Arbrin and Matra?”

She nodded her head looking at Rylan before giving him her full attention.

“You asked me if the Matra wanted to hurt you. I told you no, he wanted to protect you as much as the Arbrin did.”

Again she nodded her head.

“I’d like you to meet the Matra.”

She backed up several stops before making herself stop. Meet the other side of him. The Matra wasn’t human, she remembered that conversation vividly. So far anyone she met that wasn’t human had been out to get her. Maybe this wasn’t the best idea.

“You don’t have to meet him if you don’t want to.” His voice came out low and defeated. It sounded like he was giving up the fight.

The sound of his voice ripped at Taya’s heart. She never wanted to be the reason Gabe sounded like that. Actually she wanted to be the one who held him when life got him down. For a minute she saw herself as his personal superhero making things right. Darn it, she always was a dreamer.

No, no Taya. Love is not real. It’s something others get but not you. How many disappointments do you need to know it’s not for you? But it was for Gabe. She could look at him and know he was worthy of love. He wanted her to meet his other side, his Matra. She would have to just woman up because she refused to hurt him by denying him.