Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (25 page)

I told her the whole story
while I showered and then answered all her questions while I
dressed. Together we walked down to the kitchen. I needed some
coffee.

“I talked to the guys this
morning.” She said sitting on the counter while I fixed coffee in
the downstairs kitchen. “I miss them. McKenna, when are we going
back home?” She asked.

“This is your home now,
shewolf. You have to believe that, or the shielding won’t work for
you.” I told her seriously, “Why don’t we talk to the boy’s parents
and see if they can come over for a few days?”

I covered my ears in
defense, when she screamed in delight.

“This will be so awesome!”
She jumped off the counter.” I can’t wait to tell them about my
dream.”

She pulled the milk out of
the refrigerator and poured herself a glass
.

“What dream?” I asked and
poured a cup of coffee.

“About that Celtic
warrior, we talked about everything last night. You, Gabriel, and
my parents, I thought it was weird at first, but he said he really
wanted to know everything about us. I felt so much better this
morning. Better than I have since the accident. He was very nice, I
wish he was real.” She smiled at me.

I lost my heart entirely
with that one look. Even if, Gabriel and I had children together,
none would be dearer as to me than she was.

A cold chill filtered
through the room and the Celt stood behind her. He looked down at
her with a strange expression on his face. I smiled behind my
coffee cup at the sight. The legendary Celt, who had ruled a
thousand of years ago and from the stories I had been told or red
about him. He’d been a real bastard. He had forced all the wolf
clans to unite under one ruler, and he had ruled his wolf nation
with an iron fist, and Jennifer had just called him, nice. I wanted
to laugh out loud.

“I think he might have
been a relative of yours. He has the same tattoo that you have.”
She continued.

I choked on my
coffee.

“I don’t think that he was
ever a relative of mine, and the tattoo is very old. I’m sure that
other people have had the same tattoo, or something like it.” I
shrugged.

“I am definitely not a
relative of yours. Fate wouldn’t be that cruel to us, little
Raven.” The look that he gave me sent shivers of desire down my
spine.

“Fate, the big bitch,
doesn’t seem to mind fucking up my life at all. Matter of fact, she
seems to take great pleasure in it, all the time.” I
muttered.

“Why do you say that?”
They both asked me at the same time.

I shook my head at both of
them. They wouldn’t understand my undisguised hatred for the
entity.

“Jennifer, why don’t we
start calling your friends and see when they can come over?” I
suggested
.

I didn’t want to think
about what he meant about fate and us right now. I needed to do
something, and anything would do at the moment
.

“Okay.” She agreed and
headed out of the kitchen.

I started to follow her
and stopped at the door.

“Thank you for helping
her. It was, nice.” I grinned at him.

“Little Raven,” He grinned
back with a nod.

I called Gabriel’s cell
phone, after I finished reading through the papers he had left for
me to sign.

“Hey what are you doing?”
I asked when he answered the phone.

“Tigress, what an
unexpected surprise,” he returned.

I grinned, I could see his
smile.

“You do like surprises
don’t you, Dark Angel?” I purred into the phone.

I reached over and picked
up the tape dispenser. Carefully I measured out a small amount of
tape.

“Every day with you is a
surprise, Tigress. I didn’t know that you had my cell number.” He
said with a chuckle.

I picked the receiver of
his desk phone and taped the button down.

“You can’t imagine my
surprise when I dialed your number and found that someone had
thoughtfully added it to my phone book complete with picture.” I
told him.

The ID picture was the one
I liked from Adam’s personal file on him.

I replaced the receiver
and then picked it up again, no dial tone. Nice.

“I can imagine. Tigress,
I’m almost finished here, and I will be home soon. Was there
something that you needed?” He asked me.

I replaced the receiver
again.

“Yes, I want Jennifer’s
pack to come, and stay here with us for a little while. I thought I
would give you a vote, before I called their parents and invited
them over.” I moved to the next desk and performed the task again
on that phone.

“I don’t think right now
is a good time for a visit. Is she alright?” I could hear the
concern in his voice, it made me smile.

“Jennifer is fine, but I
would like you to think about this. A busy Jennifer is a happy
Jennifer, and at the moment, she doesn’t have that much to do. If
her pack is here, she’ll have lots to do.” I moved to the phone on
the wall and taped the button down.

I listened to the silence
for a second. “Now if you would rather keep her bored and restless.
I’m sure that she will want to entertain herself, by involving
herself in whatever we’re doing. Which simply means that she’ll
want to help us with the investigation, do you really want her to
help us, Gabriel?” I asked him and smiled when I heard him
sigh.

“I’ll call the boy’s
parents when I get back to the house, but there will be rules,
McKenna. I won’t have them sneaking out to run around the woods
alone at night, and she is not to be left completely alone with any
of the boys.” I covered my mouth to hide my laughter.

Did he seriously think
that she would ever be left alone again? Not while the Celt was
floating around here.

“Careful Da, you don’t
want to scare off any potential mates. Jennifer already gave me all
the numbers. So I’ll call them and make all the arrangements.” I
couldn’t hide the amusement in my voice. He growled. “What is all
this paper work stuff you want me to sign? Why do I need a human
marriage certificate, social security card, and a new driver’s
license?” I changed the subject.

I had thrown all the
papers aside unsigned.

“You have to update all
your paper work with your new last name. We must have all the
correct legal information if we want to adopt Jennifer, ma.” He
told me.

Okay that threw
me.

“What?” I didn’t know what
else to say.

Adopt Jennifer? His rich
laughter filled my ears.

“We’ll talk more about
this tonight, Tigress.” He chuckled into the phone.

Bet your sweet-ass, we
would.

After talking on the phone
for nearly two hours with the boy’s parents, I finally had
everything arranged. They would be staying with us for the next
week. I laid my head down on the desk and dreamed about a Milky
Way, while Jennifer was upstairs getting ready to leave. I hoped
that Gabriel would arrive soon, because I didn’t think that I could
handle all those kids by myself. If I had to suffer so did Gabriel.
It was part of the mate blah, blah, he was always going on about
and if it wasn’t, it would be now.

The room took on a
chill.

“Tired, little Raven?”
Scotland filled my ears and my pulse sped up.

“You have no idea, and we
still have to go get the boys, and feed them. If I’m lucky, I’ll
get some sleep tomorrow.” I murmured though the desk.

“Why did you tape all the
phones down?” he asked.

I looked up from the desk.
He was standing next to the desk looking around the
office.

“Because, I wanted too.
Did you need something?” I sat back in the chair and crossed my
arms over my chest.

“Ah, you’re playing a joke
on them.” He gave a quick nod. “You always did that to get back at
anyone who made you mad.” He grinned looking down at me. “Good to
know that you haven’t changed that much, little Raven.”

“What does that mean? Are
you telling me that we knew each other in another life?” I
asked.

“Yes. I know you
recognized me during the ritual.” We stared at each other. It would
explain my response to him during the ritual.

I did believe that we
surrounded ourselves with the same people life after life. After a
lifetime of dealing with spirits it had taught me. That our loved
ones never actually leave us, they just changed forms.

“I’ve been searching for
you for a long time.” The possessive tone and look on his face
robbed me of thought.

The room filled with
silence, I honestly didn’t know what to say to that
comment.

“When are we ever leaving
to get the guys?” Jennifer’s voice broke the silence, before she
even entered the room.

“When Gabriel gets here.
He wants to reassure their parents that everything will be fine and
thank them for letting them come over.” I answered her question.
“What do you want to eat for dinner?”

“Whatever, I am sure that
the guys will want pizza. What were you staring at?” She leaned
against the doorframe near the Celt.

He was staring down at her
with such a loving expression. I wished he was staring at me
instead of her.

“She reminds me of our
fourth child. She looks and acts just like she did. Every time I
looked at our daughter, she always made me think of you.” He
reached out and ran a hand down her hair.

Jennifer shivered as she
turned around to look behind her.

“Why is it so cold in
here?” She complained moving into the room rubbing her arms. “What?
McKenna you have the strangest look on your face. Did something
happen?”

I shook my head and looked
away. This was getting way too weird. What the hell had the
formidable laughing colossal bitch, fate, done to me now? One of
these days I was going to find her and when I
did
.
I had a few
questions for her, before I killed her. I had been working on it
for years, but so far I had nothing, maybe I should ask Adam to
help me search for her, hmmm.

“No. I am just tired, and
we still have a lot to do tonight, before I get any sleep.” I got
up and hugged her tightly. “Why don’t you call Gabriel and see how
much longer he’ll be?” I handed her my cell phone. “Go ahead. I'll
be along in a minute.”

When she
left
,
I looked up
at the Celt.

“I don’t remember you or
anything that you have made reference to. When I get a chance we
will talk about this, but I can’t do it right now. So lay off until
then, okay?” He moved closer to me.

My hands ached to hold
him, and I rubbed my sweating palms on my jeans. I had this vague
memory of how his skin would feel against mine.

“Do you love Gabriel?” He
asked in an unusually soft voice.

I started to say yes, but
I couldn’t.

“I don’t know. I do care
about him, but love him? It’s only been a week. How long did we
know each other, before we fell in love?” I challenged
him.

If he lied to me I would
recognize it.

The heat coming off of him
was burning my skin.

“From our very first look,
I knew that I would never want or love another woman. I did
everything I possibly could to make you mine. Branwen, you will
remember me, and I will have you again, no matter what the cost
maybe.” He promised me.

He was telling the truth.
I couldn’t think, what could I say to all that?

“McKenna! Gabriel’s here.”
Jennifer called.

Thank Luna!

“I have to go.” I told the
spirit.

“Go ahead, little Raven,
I’m not leaving ever again.” He promised.

Chapter 17

Insects created an eerie
nighttime song and the shadows from the dense forest set the tone
for the hunt. Spirits floated in and out of the bushes and drifted
around the trees. Their whispered movements caused leaves to fall
to the ground like flakes in a snow storm. The cold, crisp fall air
only added to the mood. We sat in the darkness listening to the
music of the forest. We were less than a mile from the house. Just
far enough to find prey but close enough if anything happened the
kids could get back to the house safely.

After we had gathered up
the boys and reassured the parents. We ate dinner at a pizza
restaurant, and Gabriel laid out his rules. The poor things didn’t
know what had hit them by the time he was finished. The only rule
that I heard and agreed with was the no sneaking out at night
alone.

I woke the kids up just
after midnight for our little hunt. We had already searched the
perimeter of the property and now we were steadily expanding our
search. So far I hadn’t found anything that hinted at someone or
something being in the area. Tonight’s exercise was to see how well
the kids worked together and how well they took directions. I
gauged the time by the sky, time to go. I herded the kids to the
back of the house. So we could go through the kitchen back door. I
shifted up to open the door and paused, Gabriel sat at the spacious
kitchen table reading the newspaper. Moving aside I let the little
wolves in.