Skin Walkers: Gauge (9 page)

Chapter
14

Two weeks had passed with Ella in the infirmary, and while she wasn’t delighted that she couldn’t take care of Alysa, she was extremely grateful to Gauge for stepping in
and doing the job for her.  She toyed with the sling that held her arm clamped to her chest as Gauge beamed down at her.

He’d been to see her every day and each visit ended the same way.  He said, “See you soon, gorgeous.”  Then bent and brus
hed his lips across her forehead before leaving.

Dr. Jenny Arkinson eyed the couple
from the corner of the room, smiling to herself.

Once Gauge exited, Ella turned to eye Jenny suspiciously.  “You alright, doc?”

Jenny knew the truth of Ella and Gauge.  Hell, she’d been dabbling in the genetic pre-disposition of mated pairs since she’d arrived at StoneCrow, and while the secret was still well-hidden, Stoney was the only other Walker aware of Jenny’s actions. 

Stoney had
contacted Jenny weeks earlier to ask a favor.  She wanted Jenny to find a Walker that was compatible with the sample Stoney had provided.  It’d been Ella’s blood, and Jenny hadn’t just found a compatible male, she’d found Ella mate.

Jenny blurted out,
“He has the ability to change ya’ know.”  She trusted Ella and if King and Monroe’s experiences were anything to go by then Gauge was well and truly on his way to claiming is angel.

“We
all
have the ability to change, Jen.” 

Something in Ella’s tone had Jenny smiling.  She knew the two were about to come to Jesus
, so to speak.  “It’s not
that
kind of change.”

Ella dipped her eyes sheepishly and whispered, “I know.”

“You know?”  Jenny straightened her shoulders and took a step closer.  “
What
do you know?”

“I know about Skin Walkers,” Ella clarified
.  She too was confident she could trust Jenny.  “I know about shifters and I know what this place really is.”

The tell-tale flush on Jenny’s cheeks told Ella that she may have just revealed too much
. 

“Look,” Ella rushed on, “I’ve known about Walkers for years.  I haven’t told an
yone and I never intend to.  I have a personal stake here too.”

“Personal?”
Jenny’s lips quirked, “How personal?”  The Surgeon eyed Ella with a renewed interest.

“Well not
that
personal.”  Ella shrunk under the scrutiny.  “I’m not a Walker if that’s what you mean.”

“
Obviously.  But you’re dating one?  Is that what you mean?”

Ella’s cheeks flamed at the
insinuation. 
I wish I were dating a Walker…one in particular.
  “No.  I just meant that I am friends with a Walker.  She’s like my sister and I’d do anything for her, including taking the secret of her genetic make-up with me to the grave.”

Jenny’s shoulders relaxed.
  “What about Gauge?”

“What about him?” Ella was surprised at the flare of jealousy that suddenly erupted.   Her eyes shot to the Doctor’s hand, but found no wedding ring.  Her eyes darted up and she spotted a halo similar to
the ones Gauge and Stoney wore, but it was thicker like two halos twined together.

“I’m not interested,” Jenny huffed, lifting a hand to her halo.  “I’m already taken.”

“Why does your halo look so different?”

A Skin Walker’s halo was generated over time much like the antlers of a deer.  Only the Walker could remove his halo and it was only taken off to gift to his angel
, his mate.  Only that Walker’s hand could remove it and it would never break, never be removed otherwise. 

The halo branded the Walker’s throat upon removal, marking him to show he was claimed, and a
Walker’s angel experienced a transformation with the acceptance of the halo.  Like their Walker mate, angels would become immune to illness and would be able to communicate with their Walker mate through the mist. 

“Mine is a double-helix,” Jenny offered.  “It’s what happens when two Walkers mate. 
I had my own halo and Bishop’s combined with mine once he gifted me his.”

“Stoney said a Walker will be affected by his angel when he finds her.  Is that true?”

“Stoney, huh?”

Ella blanched. 
Shit!
  The last thing she wanted was to get her friend in trouble.  “Wait!  I uh…I meant,”

“It’s alright,” Jenny smiled.  “Stoney is good people, and if she trusts you then I trust you.”

Ella relaxed back into her bed.  “Thank God!  I-I don’t want to get her in trouble.  She really is like a sister to me.”

“So,” Jenny pulled up a chair and sat facing Ella.  “She’s the source of your information?  How much has she told you?”

Slightly nervous, Ella stared at Jenny attempting to gauge just how much to give away.  “We’ve been friends for a very long time.  The information she’s given me was told to me years before StoneCrow was ever built.  We were roommates in college.  She was having a hard time figuring out what she was and trying to deal with it while getting a degree at the same time.  She needed someone to count on to keep her secret.”  Ella shrugged with a rueful smile, “I’m her person.”

Smiling, Jenny nodded.  “Thank you for that.”  Silence reigned a moment before Jenny offered, “
Afflicted.
”

“Excuse me?”

“Stoney didn’t say a Walker would be
affected
, she said
afflicted
.  The Walker affliction is what we refer to when a male Walker finds his mate.  He is physically affected.  The men are extremely volatile during this period.  I can only best compare it to how a rutting bull elk is urged by his desire to ensure that his seed is passed on.  Bull elk will fight for a harem and then fight to keep it.  This ensures that only the seed of the strongest and most virile species is passed on.  It truly is survival of the fittest and we Walkers are no different. 

Like the rutting bull elk,
Walker males will forego eating, drinking, and sleeping, too pre-occupied with protecting and claiming his mate.”

“So if there’s no instantaneous reaction, a Walker and a female aren’t mates?”

“Well, not exactly.”  Jenny liked Ella and didn’t want her to think that just because Gauge hadn’t yet been afflicted by her that they weren’t meant for each other, but she also couldn’t tell Ella that the reason the affliction was delayed was because Jenny had been injecting all male Walkers with a serum she’d concocted to delay the affliction.  “Sometimes it happens later.”  She stood and smoothed her hands down her thighs, “Look at Monroe and Eden.  He wasn’t afflicted by her until after she’d come to stay at StoneCrow.  They’d had numerous interactions prior to that.”

“Oh,” Ella nodded, no longer wanting to continue the line of conversation lest Jenny s
ee where she was heading.

“Well, now you know Gauge’s secret.” She planted hands on her hips and pursed her lips.  “You gonna tell him yours?”

Ella’s belly dropped. “What?”  Had Stoney told Jenny the truth about Alysa?

“He deserves to know who did this to you, Ella, and you deserve some revenge.”

Oh, that!
  Ella relaxed.

“The truth will come out eventually, Ella.  It’d be best if you’re the one who supplied it.”

I know!

When Ella didn’t respond, Jenny huffed an exasperated breath and exited the infirmary, stopping out in the hall just long enough to pass on one message to Gauge Alexander. 
“Gauge, it’s Jenny.  Just thought you’d like to know that I’ve just had a nice little visit with Ella.  Your assistant knows all about Skin Walkers, and has since she started working here.  You can thank Stoney Lydon for the breach in protocol, but between you and I…  I think Ella can be trusted with the Intel.” 
 

C
hapter 15

Gauge continued to
visit the infirmary.  Most days Ella slept, and when she wasn’t sleeping she was demanding to see her daughter.  Gauge, like Jenny, tried to convince Ella that it would be best if Alysa didn’t see her mother in her current condition.  He hated using the excuse, but he knew it was the only argument that kept Ella from ripping out the IV’s connected to her arm and hunting down her child. 

Today,
he was looking forward to his visit.  Something about the revelation that Ella knew all about his kind had him feeling light hearted and--much to his displeasure--
giddy! 
 

Stepping into her room,
he was annoyed to find Monroe seated next to Ella.  As Gauge entered, the scent of her tears hit him first and he couldn’t control the growl that vibrated his chest as his eyes darted from Ella’s soft features, contorted in anger, to Monroe as he sat with his back to Gauge.

“I’ve told you a hundred times
, Mr. StoneCrow.  I fell!”

Monroe turned
cautiously to eye Gauge as he stood glaring down at the CEO.

“Get out!” Gauge bit out between clenched teeth.

Monroe stood and straightened his suit coat before looking up to meet Gauge’s angry glare.  “We need answers, Gauge.”

Behind Monroe
, Ella sniffed quietly and exhaled a shaky breath.  She was exhausted, apparently having been fending off Monroe’s inquires for some time.

Gauge’s eyes slid from Monroe to Ella then back before he took a step closer in warning, his hands balling into tight fists at his side.  “G
et the fuck out, Monroe!”

M
onroe smirked then strode past Gauge.  “You know I’ll get my answers one way or the other.  I suggest you save me the trouble.”

With Monroe gone Gauge claimed his seat and
reached for Ella’s hand when he felt something hit his knee.  Looking down, his anger swelled as he saw the light gray cord with a red button on the end as it dangled from the side of the bed.  It was for Ella to self-medicate when she felt the need for pain medication.  The device was on a timer to prevent overdose, and he knew she’d used it often over the past few weeks. 

He reached down and grabbed the device before looking up and locking eyes with
her.  He pressed the button and heard the machine moan as it administered the pre-measured painkiller into her IV.  His eyes dulled and his teeth creaked under the pressure of his clamped jaw.  “He was keeping this from you for answers!”  It wasn’t a question. 

Ella shook her head, “N-n-no. 
He wouldn’t do that.”

He scented the lie
, and was on his feet and out of the room before Ella could protest.

In the hall
, Gauge raced down the narrow corridor that led out of the infirmary, slamming open the doors at the end of the hall before picking up speed and racing through the lobby to the doors that led outside.  He kicked the outer door open and shifted before his foot was even back on the ground.  Three rapid strokes of his large gray wings and he was soaring up.  Peregrine Falcon was the preferred form of the stage four Walkers when speed was a necessity over a short distance.

Gauge pumped his wings harder, with deeper strokes, his anger lending power to his flight.  The beady
eyes of the falcon were a matte black, concealing the man within, as he scanned the earth below searching for the sleek black sedan that typically ushered Monroe across the Estate.  He raced to the main gates but was unsuccessful in locating Monroe’s vehicle.  Circling back to the compound, he spotted the vehicle parked next to the manor.  Monroe hadn’t left the Estate at all.  He should have!

Gauge tucked his wings ti
ghtly to his sides and dove, letting gravity suck his weight back toward the earth.  The free fall had adrenaline coursing through him, which didn’t bode well for Monroe.  Gauge judged the fall perfectly, shooting out his wings and arching his body to ride the stream of air that leveled him out and shot him across the grounds of the Estate. 

Several
teenagers lounging on the grassy knoll just outside the front doors of the manor eyed Gauge’s flight with pointed interest.  They knew only stage four and indigenous Walkers could take the form.

Gauge ignored them as he shifted mid-air and dropped to the
soft earth just feet from the students, his designer shoes sliding on the lush surface before he slowed and righted himself to stride angrily towards the main Estate house.  The short flight had done little to diminish his anger, if anything he’d had longer to think of the suffering Ella had endured for the sake of Monroe’s damned answers. 

He kicked
open the front doors of StoneCrow manor.  The doors crashed back on their hinges as Gauge heard the teenagers behind him gasp before he shifted again, this time to a sleek king cheetah.  He could’ve taken the stairs just as quickly in the form of a wolf, but Gauge rarely shifted to an animal form that others could take.  He was a stage four shifter after all, why not revel in it, and show off when he could?

He brushed past two students who were huddled together on the stairs sharing a pair of ear buds that were
connected to an I-pod.  Both students jerked the ear buds out and stood to watch as Gauge raced past. 

“Whoa…cool!”

His long thick claws dug into the plush carpet that covered the wide stairs, and he used his muscles to both push and pull his weight as quickly as he could up the stairs.  He smiled to himself as he heard the material ripping.  Monroe liked expensive things and the furnishings for StoneCrow Manor were no exception.  The cost to replace the damage Gauge was causing would be astronomical, but Monroe should have known better than to anger him.

On the
third floor, Gauge shifted back to human form and strode angrily down the hall.  He cleared the reception area just outside Monroe’s office quickly, ignoring Lilly’s, “Mr. Alexander, Mr. Stone Crow is not taking visitors.”

The door to Monroe’s office swung open before Gauge had the chance to kick it in. 

Inside the office, Monroe stared at him impassively from behind his large desk.  King and RedKnife were planted on either side of the CEO and Lilly scurried from the doorway behind him with a squeak.

Gauge’
s eyes slid from one Sentry to the other, before turning on Monroe.  “Do you honestly think they can keep me from killing you?”  He had stopped just inside the door.  His lithe frame was taught with barely controlled rage as his body shook, his breath sawing back and forth raggedly.

Neither King nor RedKnife spoke, but Gauge knew Monroe had summoned these two Walkers specifically.  King was the Chief of Security for StoneCrow
and a close friend.  While RedKnife was the only Indigenous Walker on the Estate and possessed abilities that many, including himself, couldn’t even begin to fathom.  If any two Walkers at StoneCrow could be a match for Gauge, it was King and RedKnife. 

Monroe gave an exasperated sigh before lacing his fingers together over the paperwork in front of him.  “Have you got my answers?”

Gauge took an angry step closer, “Fuck your answers!”

Simultaneously, both King and RedKnife inched around the desk to stand in front of it
.

King tried to reason with his Walker Sentry, “She’s not yours
, Gauge.”

“
And she’s not
yours!
” Gauge countered through clenched teeth.

Monroe steepled his fingers
, his eyes narrowing.  “I have never claimed she was, but she’s got answers she’s unwilling to freely give.  If she won’t give me what I want Gauge, then I’ll get those answers by any means available to me.”

King flinched as he flashed Monroe an angry look of his own.  He and his
angel had experienced their own problems with Monroe at the onset of their claiming.  He knew the CEO would go to any lengths to get what he wanted and getting what he wanted from an unclaimed, non-Walker woman would be child’s play. 

“You’ll stay the fuck away from her Monroe
!  I am not playing your fucking games with you and neither is she.  When she’s ready to tell
me
what happened, she will.  In the meantime, if I catch you near her, if I even scent that you’ve been to the infirmary, I’ll come back here and you and I will resolve our problems once and for all.”

“She’s your secretary, not your
angel,” Monroe pointed out, the hint of a smile tugging at his lips.  “And, I’m the one that signs her paycheck.  Therefore, as long as she’s working for me on my property, she’ll give me what I want or I’ll fire her ass and have her escorted from the Estate.”

King turne
d to the CEO.  “But her attacker is still out there.”

Monroe looked from King to Gauge before he picked up a pen and began signing
the papers that sat in front of him.  “Not my concern.”  He spoke as he wrote.  “What is my concern, are the Walkers here at StoneCrow.  Up to this point we know one thing. Her attacker has focused solely on her.  Perhaps this isn’t an attack on our kind, but rather a personal vendetta.  If that’s the case, she’s bringing trouble here that we can’t afford.”

“You’re a fucking coward
!”

Monroe calmly set
his pen aside to frown up at Gauge.  “I am not being cowardly, Gauge, I’m playing offense, being smart.  I have the entire Walker population of StoneCrow relying on me to keep them safe.  In that endeavor I’m often called upon to make judgments that many don’t agree with.  Regardless, I make the hard decisions to keep us safe.  At the end of the day Ms. Garret is an excellent secretary and a lovely person, but she is
not
someone I’m willing to risk our safety over.  She’s not one of us, and she’s not an angel to a Walker; therefore, she’s an outsider and her problems, however significant they may be, are just that…
her
problems.”

“I’ll take care of her problems,
” Gauge ground out.  “You just stay the fuck away from her, Monroe.”  He dropped his head to sneer at the CEO.  “If you come near her again, hurt her again, and I will kill you.”

Monroe simply stared at Gauge for several tense moments before picking up his pen and dropping his head back to his work.  “I need answers
, Gauge.”  He lifted his head.  “Get them, or get her off my estate.  You’ve got one week before I banish her.”

Gauge clenched his teeth
, “I’ll get your fucking answers when she’s ready to give them.  Until then, back off!”  He turned his scowl on King then RedKnife before he turned and stalked out of the office.

With Gauge gone, King turned to frown at the CEO, “Crow?”

Monroe smiled coldly.  “Is Stoney back yet?”

“No,” King shook his head.  “She’s still back home with her family.”

“Send Haka out to bring her back.  I’m done waiting for answers.”

“You sure she’s got ‘em.”

Monroe’s lack of answer was answer enough. 

“If you knew you could get your information from Stoney, why bother with Ella?  All you’ve done is make an enemy of Gauge.”

Monroe took up his pen and began writing, “As I once nearly made an enemy of you?”

King growled and turned to plant his hands on Monroe’s desk
angrily.  “Is that what this is about?  You forcing another claiming?  Another mated pair, more Walker children?”

“That is all any of this is about
,” Monroe supplied coolly without looking up.

Crossing thick arms over his chest, King smirked, “And is Eden aware of your actions?”

It got the CEO’s attention.  Monroe slowly placed his pen on the desk and looked up at King with steely blue eyes that glinted with warning.  “Upset the Domina while she’s swollen with my seed and, friend or not, you’ll pay the price!” 

As much as he wanted to defy Monroe, King knew he couldn’t.  Monroe’s angel, Eden, was
having a difficult pregnancy, and it was common knowledge that upsetting the Domina at such a delicate time wouldn’t be tolerated.  Honestly, he was surprised Monroe took the threat as well as he had.