Gregor (Stone Society Book 2) (2 page)

 Tessa
had been in Isabelle’s house several times but had never taken the opportunity
to really look around. It was more than likely smaller than most doctors’ homes,
but Isabelle had never been pretentious or extravagant. She was a beautiful
woman who never played to her looks. She dressed modestly and kept her home
just as humble. She drove a gas-saving hybrid and had a recycle bin in the
garage. Yep, her cousin was a do-gooder.

The
one thing that stood out the most to Tessa was the lack of personal items,
namely photos. There were no pictures anywhere in Isabelle’s home. None on the
walls, on the mantle over the fireplace, or in her bedroom. Not even a wedding
photo. Even though the marriage to Alexi ended in tragedy, she should still
have at least one picture of their life together. Maybe it was too painful to
remember the happier times. Tessa’s own home was filled with photos, but most
of those were of places, not faces. She had the pleasure of traveling all over
the world, checking in on her cousins. She did take photos of them, but from
afar. Those photos were on a thumb drive she kept secure in a hidden safe.

Tessa
was just starting her position as watcher for the family when Isabelle moved to
Greece. Since Isabelle was so young, the family had Tessa watching the older
siblings. Tessa still checked in on her cousin when she could.  Jonas and
Caroline had taken great pains in hiding the truth from Isabelle. When she was
little, they lived a life of solitude, keeping Isabelle away from the public
eye. If she wasn’t around anyone, she couldn’t spill the secret that Jonas was
alive. As a precaution, he continued to wear disguises daily around his
daughter. She was allowed to go visit Tessa and Elizabeth every so often. When
Isabelle got old enough to notice her mother and Elizabeth were not aging,
Caroline left. Jonas placed Isabelle with a couple in Tennessee, explaining
that his health was fading. Rico and Maria Sanchez cared for Isabelle until she
graduated high school. Caroline watched over her daughter from across the
street.

 
Jonas had taken Tessa under his wing when she was a teenager. Even though they
spent a great deal of time together when she was a little girl, she didn’t
truly begin learning from him until she was older. He confided in her, telling
her she was special to him since he successfully cloned her. She and her
brother, Tamian, were his greatest accomplishment. Tessa felt bad for Isabelle.
She should be the one sitting by Jonas, learning about the shifters and the
cloning process. When she asked her uncle about it, he told her Isabelle had
her own place in the world. She needed to learn independence, something Tessa
had in spades.

Both
Tessa and Tamian were sworn to secrecy regarding Jonas being alive, and Tessa’s
contact with her cousin waned with time and distance. Jonas hadn’t felt Isabelle
was mature enough to handle the knowledge of the shifters nor the
responsibility that came with being a watcher. Tessa was an old soul, and even
though she acted immature at times, she was mature in the ways that mattered.
It helped having Jonas in her life. He raised Tamian until he was a teenager when
he and Tessa swapped places. Even though Tam went to live with Elizabeth, he
still visited Jonas often so they could spend time together. Once Tessa was old
enough to travel, she left her family behind and started her own journey.

Tamian.
Her brother was sitting in the Pen for some bogus rap, and she needed to figure
out why. She had watched the news report when he was arrested at Lion Hart Dojo;
some bullshit about him going berserk and attacking not only the owner,
Geoffrey Hartley, but two others as well. Why had they called him Timothy? An
alias, she presumed. Tamian St. Claire was the most calm, rational person on
this planet. Jonas and Elizabeth felt it would be safest if she and Tamian kept
their distance from each other, but with their bond being so deep, they usually
ended up in the same area. They weren’t twins, but the connection she felt with
him had to be just as intense, if not more so. He was created from her DNA
after all. He just happened to get the goodness gene from their mother.

When
she went with Belle to the Pen, she had seen her brother. He told her he
belonged in there. Something about that wasn’t right, and she was going to get
to the bottom of it. Belle taking the job was going to make her quest a little
bit easier. She would only tell Isabelle about Tamian as a last ditch effort.
Until then, she would just have to make herself a frequent visitor at the
facility. She needed to observe and figure out Stone’s schedule. There was no sense
in bumping into him if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. Once had been enough.

Tamian’s
identity had remained constant for the most part. He wasn’t being stalked by
Gordon Flanagan. Tessa, however, changed her identity often. It was amazing how
easily you could become another person with a few strokes of the computer keys.
She had different names for every city she visited. The man who thought of
himself as her father was a monster and was hell bent on finding her. It was
his life’s mission to tear the world apart until he found his child. He had
never come close, until recently.

Flanagan
was convinced his twin brother, Magnus, had been instrumental in Elizabeth’s
disappearance with Tessa. When Flanagan got too close to finding either her or
Elizabeth, the family would send in a decoy, trying to lure the man out. Taking
Gordon Flanagan down was proving to be next to impossible. Over the years he
created his own army of monsters who were dubbed the Unholy. These inhuman
creatures were the worst of the worst, and they kept him sheltered and
protected at all times, at all costs. When The World Council Delegation had
recently been held in New Atlanta, a decoy, Conrad, had gone in, trying to flush
Gordon out of hiding. Unfortunately it backfired.

Flanagan
managed to kidnap twelve Delegates, one of those being “Magnus”, and the end
result was a horrendous death for the man. Had her cousin been a full shifter,
he could have protected himself. Since he hadn’t gone through his transition,
he was merely a human. Tessa felt responsible even though she shouldn’t.
Normally, only the cousins who had already gone through their transitions knew
of the family.  Somehow Conrad had found out and insisted on volunteering. Everyone
in the family knew the risk of being undercover, as well as the possibility of
coming face to face with Gordon. Tessa argued if Flanagan somehow found out his
brother was dead, he would stop coming after him. They countered that if he
thought Magnus was dead, he would turn up his efforts in finding Elizabeth. Wasn’t
that his ultimate goal anyway?

Tessa
was supposed to be flying to Louisiana in a few days to check on one of the
cousins who had yet to change. Normally she would be looking forward to such a
trip. Instead, she had a bad feeling in her gut about leaving. Whether it was
Isabelle, Tamian, or someone else, she wasn’t sure. She just knew she was
needed here.

She
locked the back door behind her and straddled her bike. She still had a couple
of days before she left, and she was going to make the most of them. Just
before she cranked the engine, Tessa’s phone vibrated in her back pocket. She
pulled it out and looked at the caller ID: Belle. Surely she had butt dialed
her, because her cousin only called when she needed something. She’d made it
perfectly clear she didn’t need Tessa anymore.

“Belle?”
She answered just in case.

“You’re
not going to believe what I found. My god, Tessa. The man experimented on the
inmates.”

“Who,
the doctor?”

“Yes,
and he knew about us and the Gargoyles. It’s all here in his notes. He was
secretly extracting blood from Unholy and injecting it in the inmates to see
what effects it would have. Where would he get Unholy blood?”

“Isabelle,
don’t mention this to anyone, especially Gregor. I’m on my way.”  She
disconnected her phone and buckled her helmet in place while letting her bike
warm up.
Sonofabitch.
Tessa had overheard about Dr. Henshaw being killed
in a riot. The guards should be careful who they gossiped around. What if the
doctor had been in the middle of the riot on purpose? The man was either really
brave or really stupid. Tessa voted on the latter. Wasting no time, she headed
to the Pen, praying the whole way Gregor would not be hanging around Belle’s
office.

Dane
walked into the precinct for the first time since his transition had taken
place. It was almost sensory overload. Several people welcomed him back and
asked if he was feeling better, but for the most part, it was business as usual.
He walked by the dispatcher’s desk and said good morning. Kim replied, “Good morning,
Dane. There’s a guy named Jasper waiting for you.”  She pointed to a tall
redheaded man sitting in a visitor’s chair, drinking a cup of coffee.

 “Thanks,
Kim.”

“Jasper?”
Dane held out his hand as the guy stood. As they shook, something passed between
them. Some sort of recognition on a molecular level. Dane searched Jasper’s
face to see if he felt it.

Jasper
was laughing and pointing. “Dude, fangs.” He grinned and took another sip of
his coffee.

Dane
touched his hand to his mouth only to cut his finger on a sharp canine. “Fuck.”
Maybe he should have taken more time off. He thought he had all this phasing
shit under control.

“You
okay? Seriously, phasing in public? Tsk tsk.”  Jasper obviously thought it was
funny. Dane did not. Wait, why was this Jasper not freaking, and how did he
know the terminology?

“Why
don’t we go to the back?” Dane concentrated, and his fangs retracted. He headed
to the back of the precinct where they could speak privately. When Jasper
followed him into a conference room, he shut the door. “How do you know about
phasing?”

Jasper,
grinning, answered truthfully. “Because I’m one of you. But seriously, why are
you showing fang in public?”

Dane
was confused. Was this guy one of his brothers Caroline had mentioned? “Because
I am still getting the hang of this shit. I thought I had it under control, but
then when we shook hands…  I don’t know, something happened.”

“You
look older than most newbies. I transitioned when I was about sixteen.”

“That’s
uh, interesting. I’m Dane Abbott, but I guess you already know that. Chief Kane
is taking a few days off. For now, I’m in charge, and we need to have our early
morning brief.”

“Yeah,
I’ve met Kaya. She’s pretty cool.”

“You’ve
met her? When?” Dane didn’t like the fact that Jasper was already familiar with
Kaya.

“When
she was abducted. That was some bad shit that went down. I’m just glad Rafael
got to her in time.”

“She
told me a little about him.” Actually, she was pretty vague about the guy.

“Yeah,
he’s a great leader,” Jasper said with admiration in his voice.

Now
Dane was really confused. Jasper was another shifter,
and
he knew Stone.
Did that mean…
Shit.
He had a department to get going. He would have to
worry about Rafael Stone later.

Gregor
was already thinking about going out for a beer. Most days he didn’t mind being
behind his desk or patrolling the halls at the Pen. Ever since his initial
meeting with the new doctor, he had been feeling out of sorts. Now that Rafael
had found his mate, Gregor couldn’t think of anything else. Until a few weeks
ago, he and his brothers lived their lives without any expectation of finding
the one person they were meant to bond with for life. The few female Gargoyles who
were still living were already mated.

The
King had found his mate in the police chief, a human. Why the fates had now
decided to let them bond with humans was a mystery, like the fates themselves.
All the Clan could figure was because their own females were nearly extinct. If
the Goyles could mate with humans, there was hope for them all. Hope was one of
those feelings Gregor hadn’t felt in a long time. He spent his days watching
over the prison, making sure the evil they captured stayed put. He spent his
nights patrolling New Atlanta, helping his brothers in taking down the Unholy. The
Stone Society ruled the shifter community with his older brother as King. They
rarely interfered in the human matters. Kaya Kane, Rafael’s mate, was an
excellent leader of the human law enforcement.

When
the recent murders fell in the Society’s lap, they had no choice but to get
involved. Vincent Alexander was arrested for targeting Rafe and the family.
They were still trying to find out why he had attempted to take Kaya out in the
process. It was possible she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Both
Rafael and their cousin Julian had shielded her from a sniper rifle. The second
time Rafael had phased fully, wrapping her in his wings. He was left with no
choice but to confide in her with the knowledge of what he and his family were:
primordial shapeshifters.

Gregor’s
desk phone rang. “Stone.”

“Sir,
this is Whitley at the guard shack. There’s a Tessa Blackmore here to see the
doctor. I thought the doctor was deceased.”

Ah,
the elusive redhead. Nikolas had the pleasure of meeting Isabelle’s cousin when
he inquired into Jonas Montague’s journals. He said she was a real firecracker.
Tessa had accompanied Isabelle for her interview, but Gregor hadn’t seen her
anywhere. “We have hired Dr. Henshaw’s replacement. Dr. Isabelle Sarantos
started earlier today, before you came on duty. Tessa is Isabelle’s cousin. Please
add her name to the list of approved visitors.”

“Yes
sir.”

Gregor
hung up the phone then dialed Isabelle’s extension.

“Dr.
Sarantos.”

“Isabelle,
it’s Gregor. You have a visitor.”

“I
apologize. I will not allow my personal life to interfere with my job, but I
need to speak with Tessa regarding my clinic.”

“No
need to apologize. You are welcome to have visitors any time Isabelle, as long
as it doesn’t interfere with the inmates.”

“Thank
you. I will meet her at the back door.”  They disconnected. Gregor had to play
nice. The main reason for hiring the doctor was to get close to her and find
out if she knew anything about her father’s missing journals, or even better,
human bonding. Nikolas was of the opinion this Tessa knew just as much as her
cousin did. Not only did they know about the journals, but they both knew Jonas
Montague was a shifter and that he was indeed alive and well, hiding out
somewhere.

Gregor
stayed in his office, out of the way. He wanted to observe the women together,
and his Goyle hearing would allow him to eavesdrop. He rolled his chair over so
he could see out his door, through the outer waiting area. Isabelle passed by. The
rumble of a motorcycle echoed outside. A few minutes later the sound of female
voices passed by his door headed toward Isabelle’s office. A wave of
lightheadedness hit him.
What the fuck?
He rose from his desk and waited
until the sound of their shoes was farther down the hallway.

He
silently headed in their direction. Luckily, the supply closet was next to
Isabelle’s office. He could hide in there and listen. He was just about there
when his cellphone rang.
Shit.
He reversed directions so they wouldn’t
hear his conversation. He slid the phone open but didn’t speak until he was
once again in the privacy of his office. “Stone.”

“Something
amiss?” His brother Dante, the city’s medical examiner, had some type of ESP. He
could gauge moods by just the tone of voice.

“I
was just about to eavesdrop on the doctor and her cousin. What’s up?”

“I
happened to run into several Unholy this afternoon. Why they were out in the
daytime is beyond me, but luckily for me, they were. I got to have a little fun,
and now I am bringing them to you. I wanted to make sure you were still there.”

“Yeah,
I’m here. How far out are you?” Knowing his brother, not far.

“I’m
pulling up to the gate now. I will see you in a few,” Dante informed him.

 Gregor
headed toward the Basement. Isabelle and Tessa would have to wait. If it
weren’t for the special restraints Julian created, it would be a battle to
apprehend and detain the Unholy. Instead, the restraints did their job, and
less than an hour later, the Unholy were in their cages. Dante followed Gregor
to his office. They quietly passed by Isabelle’s office in case Tessa was still
there. Gregor turned when Dante’s footsteps slowed down then stopped. His
brother had one hand on the wall, head hanging down.

Dante
shook his head then continued on. When they arrived at Gregor’s office, he
asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,
fine. I’m sorry I interrupted. The Unholy could wait; the women, maybe not. That
would have been the perfect opportunity to listen in.” Dante was back to his
usual frowning self.

“I
probably should have, but honestly, I’m not so sure I’m ready for that.”

“What
do you mean?”  Dante took the empty chair opposite Gregor’s desk and leaned
back on two legs.

“That’s
the second time I’ve been disoriented, and both times were when this Tessa was
around. At first I thought it was Isabelle, but I’ve been around her enough now
that I am either immune to her or she isn’t the one.”

“The
one, as in your mate?”  Dante sat his chair down and leaned his forearms on his
legs.

“Yes.
No. I don’t know, I mean I haven’t been around her long enough to really tell.”

“Well,
it’s too late tonight. What do you say we hit The Tavern? We haven’t been out
in a long time. It isn’t either of our nights to patrol. Who knows, maybe
you’ll see a nice young blonde to take your mind off the redhead.”

Gregor
considered it. “Why not? Let me run home and shower, and I’ll meet you there.”

“Sounds
good. I need to take the van back to the morgue anyway. I’ll see you in a
couple of hours. By the way, what is that smell?”

“What
smell?”

 Dante
shook his head, “Never mind.” They both stood and walked out the door. Dante
turned right, headed back toward the entrance to the Basement. Gregor went
left, headed to his Hummer.

Tessa
couldn’t believe Dr. Henshaw had been secretly trying to create more Unholy. It
was a good thing for her the idiot had been caught in the mayhem. If he were
still alive, Belle wouldn’t be working at the prison, and she wouldn’t have
access to her brother. She read over the files with her cousin, making notes
and giving suggestions. She knew more about the cloning process than most
scientists, having learned from the best. While Henshaw wouldn’t truly have
been creating clones, he could have succeeded in turning normal, if somewhat
psychotic, men into monsters. The same way Gordon had created his army.

After
about an hour, Tessa told Belle she had to go. She wanted to read Dr. Henshaw’s
notes, but right now she wanted to look for her brother more. She left
Isabelle’s office and headed down the hallway. She thought with it being so
late there would be fewer guards for her to run into.
Tamian?
She
reached out with her mind. Her extra-sharp hearing allowed her to gauge when
guards were in the vicinity. She would stop and listen then continue when the
coast was clear.

Tamian?
Either her brother was on a
different level or he was asleep. Loud footsteps halted her progress. When the
noise lessened, she peered around the corner just in time to see the retreating
back of a tall, fit guard. She admired his backside as he stopped at an
unmarked door. He slid a keycard in the slot, waited for the light to turn
green, and then went through.
Shit. I need to get my hands on one of those.
She tried Tamian one more time, to no avail.

Retracing
her steps, she quietly walked past Belle’s door toward the exit. Voices coming
from Gregor’s office piqued her curiosity, so she paused and listened in on the
conversation. “Why not? Let me run home and shower and I’ll meet you there.”

Oh
crap. She had to get out of there. Now. She took a chance and rushed past the
open doorway, not stopping until she got outside. There were only a couple of vehicles
in the parking lot. One of those surely belonged to Gregor. If she cranked her
bike now, he would hear it and know she was just leaving. She toed the gear
shift up into neutral and pushed her bike as fast as she could, which was
pretty fast considering her shifter strength and speed. When she was out of
sight from the back of the building, she hopped on, cranked the engine, and
threw her helmet on. She eased on the throttle, making as little noise as
possible on the tricked out bike.

She
didn’t breathe until she got past the guard shack. The sentry lifted the
security barrier before she got there, so she just rolled on through. She gave
him a two finger salute and grinned. Tessa wanted to forget about wardens,
clones, and her brother being locked up, and she knew just the place. Even
though she was going to a biker bar, she decided to go home and clean up a
little first. Maybe add a little silver to her mostly black attire. It was
still early, and anyone she knew would get there later as well.

Tessa
didn’t normally fuss too much with her looks. Her long, red hair was naturally
wavy. Her shifter skin required no makeup. Not wanting to look too plain, she
did swipe on a little mascara and some lip gloss. She swapped her plain black
belt for one with a blingy Harley buckle and added silver hoops to her ears. The
woman in the mirror was as close to dolled up as Tessa ever got. If she
couldn’t go somewhere dressed in jeans, she would rather not go. Tessa once
again straddled her bike. She hit the back roads and headed in the direction of
her favorite hangout in New Atlanta. It was a local biker joint where she could
toss back a few beers and shoot some pool. It was just the place to forget her
worries for a few hours.