Gabriel's Light (Doms of Chicago) (7 page)

As if sensing her mother’s agitation, Sophia started to squirm,
then whimper. “Shhh,
mikró
pontíki
,
Momma’s
here.” Rubbing circles over her daughter’s back, she tried to soothe her, but
obviously from her position against her shoulder, Sophia could not only see the
two strange men in her environment, but could also feel her mother’s tension.
Her face crumpled up as the whimpers turned into a scream.

“Wow.”
Caelan’s
voice was rueful as he
leaned back. “Has quite the temper doesn’t she?”

Feeling a bit frazzled, Zhenya nodded. “A bit. She comes by it
naturally. Her father was not a quiet man. Shhh, Sophia, it’s fine. These men
are our friends. Master
Caelan
and Gabriel would
never hurt us…” She kept up the nonsensical words even as Sophia continued to
fuss. Zhenya’s face flushed as she began to pace. “I’m sorry she never does
this. Maybe it was because I took her out today…”

“Here give her to me while you talk to
Caelan
.”
Gabriel pushed away from the counter. “I know a thing or two about babies.” He
gave her a sad smile. “I’ve been an uncle a time or two.”

Zhenya nibbled on her lower lip, even as she handed the loudly
crying baby to Gabriel. “Are you sure? I don’t expect you to take care of her…”

He sighed. “If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have offered, Ms.
Addi
.” Cradling Sophia against his chest, he hummed softly
to her before resuming the pacing Zhenya had been doing. “Now there, it isn’t
all that bad, is it? You sound just like the little mouse your momma calls
you.” He lightly rubbed her back. “I promise nothing bad will come to you,
mikró
pontíki
.”
Unlike with her mother, Sophia slowly quieted until finally she whimpered once,
then twice, and laid her head down on Gabriel’s shoulder. The sight of her
daughter being cradled by the dark-haired man had Zhenya’s nose burning and her
eyes stinging as she tried not to cry. This was what her daughter was going to
miss out on - a strong father to protect her. Despite all
Ossie’s
flaws, she’d like to think he’d have been a good father.

“It seems our friend has the magic touch with babies.”
Caelan
smiled encouragingly. “So why don’t you come sit
down with me, and we’ll discuss this situation with your former father-in-law?”

Shooting one last glance at Gabriel and her daughter as he
walked down the hall towards the bedrooms, she finally nodded. Sinking onto the
cushion next to
Caelan
, she met his concerned eyes.
“All right, what do you want to know?”

“Well first of all, did you run away from your husband? Is there
going to be an irate spouse showing up on my doorstep? I know you said he died
and I didn’t want to pry, but if this could possibly affect
Nisey
or me, I need to know so I can make arrangements.”

“I didn’t lie to you about that,
Caelan
.
My husband did die just before I came over to the States, and I have no family
left that I claim. I was an only child and my mother and father passed away
several years ago in an auto accident.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “And your husband’s parents?”

She sighed. “Still alive and well from my understanding—or at
least they were when I left Greece six months ago. What
Nisey
probably told you is true. They kicked me out right after
Ossie’s
death. To say we had a strained relationship would be putting it mildly.”
Tucking her legs under her, she tried to keep her composure. “I suppose if I
was still in Greece they might try to take Sophia from me, as they wouldn’t
want their friends to know that some
american
pórni
̱
had their grandchild…”

“You’re not a whore…” Gabriel paused next to the futon, his
voice soft in deference to little Sophia who was sleeping on his shoulder, her
pink rosebud lips parted, drool glistening in the corner of her mouth. “I don’t
want to ever hear you call yourself that again. Am I clear?” The steel in his
tone assured her that she’d best agree.

“Yes,” she squeaked, her fingers twisting the afghan under her
fingers.

“Good.” He nodded, moving back down the hall.

Caelan
squeezed the bridge of his nose. “All right, even though you don’t think
they’ll come over here once this woman calls them, I’m still going to contact
my security company. Jude and Jackson will both probably want to upgrade the
security around here. I’ll let you know once they give me a time, so we can
work with your schedule. And I don’t want to hear any protests.” He smiled down
at her reassuringly. “You and Sophia are important to us. We won’t let them
take Sophia from you, Zhenya. She’s your daughter, and here in America that
means something.”

Chapter
Seven

“So what do you think of this mess?”
Caelan
asked Gabriel as they headed back downstairs to his part of the house. Looking
over at his friend, Gabriel wanted to protest. He didn’t want to get involved
but his heart went out to Zhenya and Sophia.

“I don’t know. From what I’ve heard, all she wants is to start
over and raise her daughter.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he followed
Caelan
into the living room. “And that should be her
right.”

Caelan
nodded as he toed off his shoes. “Exactly. Which is why we’re going to call
Jude’s office in the morning and arrange for him to come out here and beef up
my security.”

“It sounds like a good plan.” Gabriel grasped the wet hem of his
t-shirt and jerked it off. “You said
Nisey
could dry
this for me?”

“Dry what?”
Nisey
appeared behind
them, wearing nothing but a pair of panties and
Caelan’s
collar. He didn’t even flinch, because it was normal. It was a common sight and
he’d known he’d see it when he’d accepted the man’s offer to stay.

“My shirt. I gave little Sophia a bath while Cael here talked to
your guest.” He smiled ruefully. “I forgot how much babies like to splash in
water.”

Nisey
smiled as her eyes lit up with mirth. “That she does. I keep teasing Zhenya her
daughter is half fish.” She took the shirt from him, before acknowledging
Caelan
. “I’ve fixed a light snack as you asked,
Máister
.
It’s on the table whenever you’re
ready.”

“Thank you,
grá
.”

Caelan
followed
Nisey
out of the room but instead of heading
down to the laundry room in the basement, they adjourned to the dining room. As
promised there was a tray of cold cuts, cheese and chips waiting for them on
the table. And
Nisey’s
famous chocolate chip cookies,
Gabriel noticed as he grabbed one off the tray.

Once they both filled their plates,
Caelan
motioned him out onto the enclosed sun porch. In deference to the cool weather
and
Nisey’s
penchant for sitting in the evening to
watch the sun go down, a small space heater was on. Settling into the
comfortable wicker chairs, Gabriel had just bit into his roast beef sandwich
when
Caelan
picked up their previous conversation.

“So what time works good for you? I’d like to call Jude in the
morning and let him know.”

Gabriel choked on his sandwich. His eyes watered as he coughed a
few time “Excuse me?” he finally wheezed. “But I thought I just heard you ask…”

“To come with me to discuss the upgrades of my security…”
Caelan
said around a mouthful of chips. “…yep, you did.”
Swallowing,
Caelan
reached for his drink. “It’ll do
you good to help take care of Zhenya and Sophia. Think of it as a way to dip
your feet in the water without strings.”

Gabriel set his plate aside, suddenly nauseous at the thought of
taking responsibility for the girls above his head. “I can’t.”

Caelan
smirked. “Of course you can. You just have to give yourself permission. Besides
if it’d been a year or eighteen months ago, you would’ve come with me in a
heartbeat.”

Anger sizzled pushing aside his fear. “How many times do I have
to tell you? I’m not the same man I was then.”

Caelan
eyed him shrewdly. “But you want to be, right? Just look at this as a first
step forward back to normalcy. I’m not asking you to move in here with us, or
even to have you take Zhenya and Sophia home with you, just to go with me and
discuss what’s the best way to protect them.”

“You could look at it as if you’re helping out a friend.”
Nisey
joined them, curling up on
Caelan’s
lap, her head pillowed on his shoulder.

Despite his anger, he could see how worn out she looked.
Caelan
was definitely correct in something going awry with
her. Her animation from earlier was gone, and if he wasn’t mistaken her breasts
were indeed more swollen than the last time he’d seen her and
Caelan
at the club. Envy replaced his anger as
Caelan
wrapped one arm around her and used the other one to
continue eating. He suddenly was tired. He was beginning to feel like a
goddamned yo-yo and
Caelan
was at fault here.

“She does have a point, Gabe. You’re my friend, and I have my
hands full with this…” He squeezed
Nisey’s
hip.
“…little minx. I’m only one man and these women are starting to outnumber me. I
swear every time I turn around there’s another one coming into my house. First
it was my sister, then this one, and now it’s Zhenya. I need a revolving door on
the apartment upstairs.” He nuzzled
Nisey’s
head, but
his eyes met Gabriel’s across the room. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to
read the plea in them. If
Nisey
was indeed pregnant,
there was no way
Caelan
would be able to handle one
sub with a baby and another who had one on the way by himself, especially as
headstrong as both of the women were.

“Well until you do as I suggested and turn it into a man cave, I
guess I’ll have to take pity on you.” He gave an overdramatic sigh. “But I’m
only going to save your poor ass from the women this time. The things a man has
to do for his buddies.” He said it good naturedly, but even as he did, all he
wanted was to run as far away as possible. He just had to remind himself
Caelan
would be there to help shoulder the responsibility.
He was just going to a meeting, that’s all. He wasn’t the one protecting Zhenya
and sweet little Sophia.
Yeah, right and
I own ocean front property in Arizona.

* * * *

Later that night, Gabriel was jerked out of his fitful sleep by
a noise. Leaning up on one arm, he squinted at the alarm clock on the bedside
stand. Without his contacts, he could barely make out the red numbers on it.
Two thirty-eight? His fuzzy mind begged with him to go back to sleep. Growling
in frustration, he dropped back down to the bed and jerked up the sheets that
had fallen to his waist. He was about to succumb to slumber once more when the
muffled snap of a screen door had him shooting up straight in bed. Glancing out
the window, he couldn’t see anything but fuzzy shapes. What the hell was going
on here?

A light tap on his door had his head swinging around. It creaked
open and a rumpled
Nisey
stood in the opening. “Can
you do me a favor?” She nibbled on her lower lip.

A sinking feeling in his stomach warned him he wasn’t going to
like what came out of her mouth. If it had something to do with her being
pregnant or Zhenya, he was so screwed. There was no way he’d keep a secret from
Caelan
if
Nisey
confided in
him.
Please Lord don’t let it be that.
She should be talking to
Caelan
or one of the girls
not me…surely you’re not that cruel…
Reaching for light, he
snicked
it on to buy time.

“What is it?”

“It’s Zhenya.” She rang a hand through her tousled hair and
looked over her shoulder nervously.

Leaning back against the headboard, he crossed his arms over his
chest as relief it was the latter that caused
Nisey
to seek him out. Zhenya he could handle…hopefully. “What about her?”

“She’s out in the gazebo and
Máister
said if he caught her out
there again in the middle of the night there’d be consequences.” She looked
over her shoulder once more as if she expected
Caelan
to show up.

“Where’s Cael, Nis?” He didn’t think she’d done anything
notorious to her Master, but if the other man woke up and found her missing,
Nisey
had just earned her own punishment.

“Sleeping.” She confirmed his suspicion. “I haven’t been
sleeping good as of late, so I was up reading when I heard her come down the
back steps.”

Gabriel studied her. It made sense. The stairs leading up to the
outside staircase were right above the Master Suite. “And what do you want me
to do?”

“Can you please bring her back inside before she gets into
trouble?”

“You mean like you are?” a grumpy male voice said from behind
Nisey
. Her shoulders slumped and Gabriel could see the
vague outline of
Caelan
behind her. Dressed in what
were obviously pajama bottoms, his chest was bare.

Turning around,
Nisey
sank to her
knees. “I’m sorry,
Máister
. I just didn’t want Zhenya
to get into trouble again. Not with everything going on. I was just asking
Master Gabriel to go escort her back upstairs.”

Caelan
sighed. “And what makes you think he’s going to go any easier on her than I
would?”

“You spanked her the last time she disregarded your rules!” As
the words flew out of her mouth, her hands flew up.

“Of course I did. What did you expect? I take not only your
safety seriously but hers as well.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You
snuck out of bed in order to protect your friend from being taken to task about
disregarding her own safety? Is that what I’m too assume this is to mean?”

Gabriel couldn’t hear what
Nisey
replied, but the nod she gave told its own story. “Master Gabriel, would you
mind dealing with Zhenya for me while I take my own sub to task about her
behavior?”

“Of course.”

 
“Thank you. You’ll find
the key to the back door on a hook next to the alarm pad. I’ll deactivate it
before I go downstairs while you get dressed.”
Caelan’s
tone turned grim. “To the playroom,
Nisey
.”

“But…I didn’t do anything…” She protested but rose from her
knees and trailed after him, pleading her case.

Swinging his legs off the bed, Gabriel groaned. The last thing
he wanted to do was get dressed to go out in the cold to fetch a stubborn
woman, but he would because he certainly didn’t want to overhear
Nisey’s
punishment. He knew the tone well enough.
Caelan
was going to get to the bottom of his sub’s behavior
or heaven help her,
Nisey
would be walking around
with a sore bum.

After dressing and shoving his contacts back into his gritty eyes,
Gabriel slipped into his coat. From the hallway he could hear
Caelan
and
Nisey’s
voices, but
was thankful he couldn’t understand the words being said. From the tones
however he could only assume
Nisey
was pleading with
Caelan
to forgo her punishment. Gabriel himself had ‘been
there, done that’ more than a few times with Sara. Sometimes submissive women
chaffed against the rules their Masters placed on them, especially the ones
having to do with their safety. Grabbing the key off its hook, he was just letting
himself out when the first cry echoed up the stairs.

Shutting the door firmly behind him, he made sure it locked
before making his way down the steps. Carefully crossing the stone path to the
gazebo, he shivered against the cold wind. Spring was rumored to be around the
corner but with the harsh winds coming off Lake Michigan, it felt like they
were still in the grips of winter. Jerking open the screen door to the gazebo,
he stepped inside.

With a startled squeak from across the way, Zhenya looked up at
him like a scared little mouse, her nose peeking out from the heavy winter
parka
, stocking hat and scarf. “Master Gabriel? Shouldn’t
you be sleeping?”

“Shouldn’t you be?”

She shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought a bit of fresh air
would help.”

Fury washed over him. “What about Sophia? What about
Caelan’s
rules? The ones that are supposed to protect you,
and at this very moment have
Nisey
in hot water?”

“Crap. She heard me come out, didn’t she?” Her hand went to her
mouth and she chewed on one of her fingernails. “Dammit, how many times do I
have to tell her not to get herself in trouble on my account? And my daughter…”
She tugged a baby monitor out of her pocket. “…is sleeping like a baby. “

“Well at least you weren’t being totally foolish.” He moved
closer, his breath crystallizing in the air. “As far as your friend…well you
could tell her a thousand times and she’d still do it, Zhenya. But you
shouldn’t be worried about
Nisey
at this moment. Her
Dom will deal with her impulsive need to protect you…I think you should be more
concerned about…”

“What? What does the grieving Dom think I should be worried
about, that I’m not? I have a brand new baby my louse of a former father-in-law
may or may not try to steal from me, I’m a single mom no man would want, let
alone a Dom…” She ticked off each reason on her fingers. “…and to top it all
off, I haven’t been touched by a man since before my husband died.” A bitter
laugh escaped her. “So pardon me if I’m fresh out of worry. My plate is full as
it is.”