Luna's Sokjan (Book one) (27 page)

I walked towards them
slowly. Feeling the power coming off them, I blended my power with
Gabriel’s. Giving him an added boost and with a satisfied smile I
watched the lesser cat clan members kneel. Running, a hand up
Gabriel’s back I smiled winningly at Daniel. He was barely standing
as he fought for control. If, I shot just a little more power at
him he would lose the battle, and drop like a stone. I wanted so
badly to do it, just to watch the jerk fall.

“My Dark Angel, the little
cat Alpha doesn’t seem happy to see us. I wonder why that is
Daniel?” I purred at Daniel’s scowling face. He wasn’t going to
answer my question, how rude. “Do you have anything else you want
to do here?” I asked Gabriel, never looking away from
Daniel.

“I will call Tiberius and
discuss this matter with him.” Gabriel told Daniel.

Daniel hit him with a
burst of power in his chest. I had to catch myself from laughing
out loud. Did he actually think that he could take on Gabriel, and
with me standing right next to him?

“Kneel.” Gabriel commanded
in his alpha voice and slammed Daniel with our blended
power.

Daniel hit the ground. I
loved it.

“Daniel you are not ready
to play with the big boys. You would be wise to remember that in
the future.” Wrapping a big arm around my waist, Gabriel nudged me
forward
.

“Is that urine I smell?” I
asked.

Daniel as I pasted by him
to wade through his of company men
.

“McKenna, don’t tease
Tiberius’s whelp.” Gabriel growled at me with a big
smile.

“Can we stop for lunch?
Did you call the house and check on the kids?” I fired questions at
him when we were settled in the car.

“What all did we learn
here today, Tigress?” he asked me.

“That Daniel is a bully
and a dumb ass?” I responded. “What do you want for
lunch?”

“We’ll find some place to
eat at on the way to the house. What did you find?” He
repeated.

“Not much. The killer
whipped the body as part of his torture routine
,
or there are two killers now
involved. The whip was laced with a poison. I need to look this up,
but I think it was a blend of cyanide and possibly belladonna. The
body didn’t give off any magic nor was there any at the site.
Possibly the killer could have been shielding the body until its
magic died down.” I told him. “The Fire Spirit was an interesting
find, and he should prove to be very useful.”

“What will the Fire Spirit
do for us?” He asked me as he placed his hand in mine as he
drove.

“He will find the Wind
Spirit and together they will bring us the master’s name and taste.
Hopefully, I can gauge the strength of his power and what type of
creature he is from the blood.” I played with his fingers. “Have
you noticed that all of the bodies have been dropped in that narrow
gap between your territory and the cats? Also, all the girls we
have found so far have been from the cat clan? Why is that, I
wonder?”

“Yes, I had picked up on
that. I have been wondering the same thing.” He told me tensing up
slightly
.

“What would someone gain
by starting a war between you and Tiberius?” I asked.

I had a few ideas on the
missing wolves, but until I could get away long enough to check out
some of the vampire hang outs. I wasn’t going to say a
word.

“Nothing that I can think
of and I have given this matter some thought.” He told
me.

We drove in silence for a
while, both of us thinking about what we had learned
today
.

Chapter 18

We brought in barb-cue for
a late lunch. The kids all but attacked me for details about the
murder. So
,
I
herded them outside. I told them everything that we found at the
scene and what I thought it meant. All of us brainstormed over the
endless possibilities about what the master could want from me and
Gabriel. We ended up making teams and having a fighting game in the
backyard. I made Angus and Sam join us, since Gabriel was too busy
to play with us. I did make sure to be near Gabriel’s office when
he had to answer the phone later that evening.

Leaning back against the
bedroom door, I wiped the tears from my eyes. It had been worth
every word of Gabriel’s angry tongue lashing. When he discovered
that he couldn’t answer any of his office phones. I had watched
from the doorway of the office as he answered the phone. When the
phone didn't stop ringing he put the receiver back down and tried
to answer the phone again. He exploded when he found the small
piece of tape on the button.

I laughed so
hard
.
I cried. It
was the look on his face had made the joke worth it. Gabriel had
yelled at me for a solid ten minutes and then just walked away. I
decided I would wait until he cooled down to apologize to him. He
had eaten my Milky Way, and then there was the unsettled chocolate
cake incident.

“You have no control
Branwen.” The Celt’s voice dripped with anger.

With a smile, I looked
around the dark room. The Celt was standing in front of the balcony
doors.

“That depends on which
side of the door you’re standing on.” I said reading his body
language. He was extremely angry.

“You go too far woman. You
have no respect for the man you are mated to. You never acted like
this when we were together.” He told me and crossed his arms over
his chest.

“Well I am glad that we
are not mated. Life with you sounds very boring.” I lifted my chin
a little. “You really should learn how to loosen up old
man.”

“Gabriel should beat that
smart mouth out of you. That’s what I would do.” He growled at
me.

His anger was rolling all
around the room.

“And I would dance in your
blood.” I snarled back at him and pushed away from the
door.

If, this bastard thought
for one minute, he was going to intimated me he was majorly
wrong.

The blow was a complete
surprise. It hit me across the face and my head jerk to one side.
Causing me to hit my face against the door and knocked me to the
ground. Moving quickly to a crouching position, I touched my cheek.
My hair curtained me from his view. So he didn’t see me snap my
wrist and the dagger appear
.
With the back of my hand I wiped the blood from
the corner of my mouth. I pulled power to me. Spitting blood out on
the floor, I fixed my narrowed white eyes on the Celt.

“Spirit!” I growled at
him. The dagger flared for just a second. “You really should give
more thought to what you’re doing.”

I stood up and threw the
dagger in one fluid motion. The spirit moved quickly to one side
dodging the dagger. If he had been just a little slower. The dagger
would have embedded itself in his face. Instead, the dagger only
cut his cheek before burying itself in the wall behind
him.

“I don’t care who or what
you are. I can kill you.” I told him and touched my
cheek.

The dagger had cut a three
inch mark across his cheek. He touched his cheek and felt the void.
Turning, quickly he looked at the empty hole in the
wall.

“How did you do that?” he
growled at me.

“That’s how the spell is
keyed, old man. I’d keep that in mind the next time you think about
hitting me.” I growled back at him and flipped the dagger over
ready to throw it again, if I needed too.

We stared at each other.
He moved so fast that I didn’t have time to react. His power
pressed me against the door and I stared unflinchingly up into his
ghostly face. His shadowy eyes roamed my face.

“What a pair we will make
Branwen. I can barely wait for us to be back together again.” He
said softy.

Even though we weren’t
physically touching I could feel the heat coming off of him, and I
wanted him so badly.

“Let me go Celt. I don’t
have time to solve your riddles right now. I have a killer to
find.” My voice was breathy.

All of my good humor gone,
it had been replaced with a hungry desire. I needed to get away
from him fast. He backed away from me when someone knocked on the
door. It broke the tension in the room.

“What?” I called
out.

“Gabriel’s been shot.”
Jack’s voice said through the door.

Throwing the door open, I
faced him.

“What is his condition?
Where is he?” I asked quickly.

Guilt cut through me like
a knife.

We ran from the bedroom
down the hall.

“He was walking back up to
the house when the bastard shot him in the back. Angus and Sam are
with him now, it looks bad.” We were running down the hallway to
the kitchen. “We moved him to the kitchen, before they sent me to
get you.”

Oh, Luna, blood was
everywhere. They had Gabriel laying on the kitchen table while they
worked on him. Blood was pouring out the wounds in his chest. His
face was pale, and he wasn’t moving. I crossed the room quickly. He
had to be alive, he just had to be.

“Angus
,
how bad is it?” I asked and
touched Gabriel’s hair.

Angus was trying to dig
out the bullet, and Sam was holding him down.

“He was shot three times
in the back with silver bullets. I have already pulled two out, but
this one may have gotten his heart.” He told me and never stopped
what he was doing.

I sucked in breath. If,
the bullet had hit the heart, Gabriel could die. Emotions surged
through me I didn’t want Gabriel to die. If, Gabriel died it would
be entirely my fault.

“Angus, he can’t die too
many people need him. Tell me what I can do to help.” My voice
cracked.

“Nothing here, lassie I am
doing all I can. Go see if you can find the bastard that did this.”
He ordered me.

“Angus, save him at any
cost.” I said to him. “Any cost. I’ll pay any price just don’t let
him die. Do you hear me?” I all but yelled at him.

Angus never looked up, he
just nodded his head. “Any price got it. Go McKenna.”

Placing a quick kiss on
Gabriel’s sweating brow, I was gone. Once out of the house I threw
my power out before me and started searching. Picking up a trace of
magic in the trees across the street, I shifted to tiger form and
went hunting.

After hours of searching
the only thing I found were three shell casings and a faint smell.
I wasn’t sure if I could pick out the scent again, if I had too.
Angrily and hurting inside, I turned and headed back to the
house
.

Sam met me at the front
door. He had reinforced the security, so the house was full of
wolves. I remained in tiger form.

“Alpha’s mate, we moved
him upstairs. He is doing very well. Angus was able to get out all
the bullets and saved his life.” He told me as I padded beside him
up the stairs. “Angus is with him now, waiting for you to return.”
Sam told me.

Sam opened the bedroom
door for me before he left.

I shifted to my human
form, as I walked through the bedroom door. I couldn’t take my eyes
off of bed. Gabriel’s large unmoving body lying in the big bed and
Angus sat next to him whispering the healing chants.

“He is going to
live
,
McKenna
lass.” He said when he saw me.

Standing up he walked over
to me. I spit out the shell casings into my hand and held them out
to him.

“I found these shell
casings and a faint smell of cat. I don’t know if I could pick out
that scent again if I had to
,
Angus.” I told him. I looked back to Gabriel.
“When will he wake up
,
Angus?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t
stirred since I dug out the last bullet.” He said and put the shell
casings in his pocket. “We need to talk McKenna, but not in here.
What I’m going to tell you is long overdue and I am sorry I waited
until now to tell you.”

“Alright Angus, just let
me touch him first. I need to,” I broke off, “Just give me a
second, okay?”

“I’ll wait for you out
here.” He told me and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before he
left.

I walked over to the bed.
I stood there watching Gabriel breathe for a moment. Sitting down
beside him, I touched his face. I had been so positive that the
Sōkjan’s curse had taken him away from me. Just like it had taken
everybody else, but he was alive. Thank you, Luna.

“Somebody told me today
that I don’t respect you.” I whispered to him, as tears slid down
my cheeks. “That’s not true, I do respect you. I am so sorry this
happened, Gabriel. I never meant for you to get hurt. I know it’s
my fault. I will do whatever you want to make it up to
you.”

I kissed his still lips
and rested my forehead against his and cried silent tears. After a
moment I used the blanket, to wipe off his face and then my own. I
dressed quickly. It was time to have that talk with Angus. I headed
for the door.