Gabriel swallowed. His stomach turned over. The implications of this were tremendous. What exactly had they done to him? Why not just kill him right off? How do you know all this?
I have been trapped in this place with these monsters while you did gods know what out there in the world without me. I’ve had a good opportunity to observe them. Trust me, brother, this is bad news.
All right. Let’s get out of here. He tugged at his restraints. Certainly someone has to know how to make the purple haze go away. I hadn’t planned to go back to Westervelt, but…
Wait. What? His wolf growled. You have made a mess of things. I thought you would. Hoped you wouldn’t, but in my heart I knew you’d cross over some kind of threshold without Carrie and me. Something you wouldn’t be able to undo.
Gabriel twisted on the table but didn’t get anywhere in his struggle. I’ve done the best I could in horrible circumstances. Everywhere I looked I had to betray someone, even in just my thoughts or pieces of information I didn’t supply. I watched nearly everyone I knew die. So, you’ll have to excuse me if I really don’t give a shit about any kind of lecture you want to give me right now.
His wolf rolled his eyes. Language, Gabriel. Have you become some kind of dockworker?
We’re going to need to shift. You’ll get out of these restraints. I can’t. The purple haze swirled above him. He tried to blow it away but nothing happened. I think this is only in our mind. I think if Carrie were to come in here right now there would be nothing for her to see.
Carrie! That might be the key. He’d contact her telepathically. Getting his wolf back should have returned his ability to do that again. Every year without his wolf had taken away more and more of his magic, but now he had to have it back.
No. His wolf shook his head. That purple haze is sucking any magic I could have given you. Do you feel any more mated than you did a while ago?
Gabriel dug into his soul, really wrenching down into the frozen place where he never let himself venture anymore. Once, Carrie’s colors had filled him there, giving him warmth, showing him his true place on earth was always with her.
He saw nothing but the dark pit he’d come to hate so fiercely that trying to avoid thinking about it took up a large portion of his day. Too much time with nothing left for anyone else.
No. He shook his head. Carrie hadn’t reappeared when his wolf had come back. He still felt as cut off from her as he ever had. But I love her. Not mating, but love. She’s the only good thing left in the crazy world.
You really made a mess of things.
Gabriel pulled against his restraints even while knowing it was a fruitless endeavor. The pain gave him something to do besides lie on the table and die. Or whatever the purple haze would do to him.
Yeah? Well, it must have been nice to sit around here and twiddle your paws while I struggled every day to keep the pack, my father, and Carrie from destroying each other.
His wolf growled. How dare you speak to me like that?
How dare I? What are you going to do? Leave again? You’re good at that. Rage boiled under his skin. He wanted to peel the membrane from his body inch by inch until his insides stopped burning.
I’ve been trapped in here this whole time knowing you would destroy yourself because you’ve never been able to cope on your own.
Whose fault is that? Who showed up in my head, in my body when I turned twelve? Who told me I’d never be alone again? You did. You liar. No spell should have taken you from me. You said you were mine, that we were one. If you’d been stronger it wouldn’t have happened. If I’m weak then so are you, fur ball.
The door flung open with a bang. His father’s slut strode into the room, brushing her hair over her shoulder. Kendrick trailed behind her like a puppy on a leash. Gabriel rolled his eyes. The man who’d sired him had turned out not only to be a lunatic but an unfaithful mate. Gabriel had never even heard of such a thing.
A few seconds later Carrie rushed into the room. “He’d better be alive like you promised.”
“Oh, he is.” The witch smirked. “How is that rage feeling? Has it taken over yet?”
“What?” He tried to make sense of what she said even as the haze pushed down further onto him.
Oh. His wolf harrumphed. This is just wonderful.
Carrie whirled on Kendrick. “Tell me what she did to him.”
“In less than an hour, my second born, the strongest wolf I’ve ever known, the one born with battle skills that can’t be taught, is going to be fully under my control.”
“Like hell I will.” Gabriel pushed off the table only to be thrown back down by his restraints. “You’ll never control me.”
“In one hour, you’ll be so consumed with anger you won’t be able to control yourself at all. The only thing you’ll hear, the only thing you and your wolf will understand is the sound of my voice. And to get some relief, you will do just what I say. You won’t have any choice.”
The witch laughed. “It’s a rather insidious spell, isn’t it?”
“Why would you do that?” Carrie grabbed his hand. Even the comforting boon of her soft skin did nothing to make the heat cease. “What purpose could it serve?”
“Gabriel is going to lead my wolves … my man-made wolves against Tristan and his pack. At long last, I’ll have Westervelt Island back and all that goes with it. None of you have understood its power like I have.”
Carrie snarled, her wolf appearing in her eyes. “If you were meant to have it, then you would have won forty years ago. You wouldn’t be trying to get it back. It would have already been yours.”
“I misjudged my sons.” He shrugged. “No more. I have what I need in Gabriel. His hand will end Tristan. Brother against brother. Kin to kin. That’s more poetic justice than I could ever have dished out.”
“No. He never will.” Carrie sounded so sure of him that her voice almost made him forget about the pressure on his chest.
“Carrie.” He swallowed as his wolf growled, pacing around inside him. “You need to kill me. Please. End me now.”
He’d seen what a curse could do. Husbands killing wives. Women fleeing in the night. And then finally Tristan trying to kill Ashlee. He wouldn’t be another tool of destruction for Westervelt. Not when his last act should have been saving it. If Carrie would comply, it still could be.
“Please, Carrie. Don’t let me live. End it now.”
*
Kill him? Not in this lifetime or any other. She would rescue him and together they’d figure out what to do. Gabriel always thought himself stupid, but he had a shrewd mind even if he’d been beaten down too many times to believe her when she told him so.
She called the shift on herself.
No! Her wolf called out and Carrie jumped. In her ninety years on the earth she’d never heard her wolf call off a shift before. If anything, her lupine half had been itching to kill Kendrick—death curse or no death curse—for four decades.
What? Kendrick and Drea were laughing with each other as if she didn’t exist in the room. That suited her just fine. Let them forget her; they wouldn’t see the attack coming that way. Why stop the fight?
Because we won’t win and in this case, as much as we should tear them apart, I want to save Gabriel. Control yourself.
She couldn’t believe her wolf had more self-restraint than she did. Then what do you suggest?
Gabe groaned on the table. He didn’t look good. In fact, he seemed even paler than he had moments earlier when she’d first come in the room.
Carrie swallowed her fear. Is he going to die? Her wolf would know. Her lupine half always understood these things before she did.
No. It’s going to be much worse. Her wolf stood up. Carrie, you need to do something you’ve never done before.
What? She’d do anything for Gabriel, anything to undo this day, to make their reunion the one she’d always dreamed about. The one where they rushed into each other’s arms and made up for lost time.
I want you to ru
n.
She must have heard her wolf wrong. Carrie’s temper flared. She didn’t run away. It had been bad enough when Gabriel had convinced her to stay put with Kendrick so he could try to save Westervelt. That had felt too much like hiding. Now her wolf, usually so ready to fight that Carrie had gotten into trouble more times than she could remember as a child, told her to flee?
Did I hear you correctly?
Stop arguing and move. We need our Alpha and we need him now. Her wolf growled.
Carrie backed up a few steps. Leaving Gabriel alone on that table to face his lunatic father and the witch? How could she do it? How could she possibly run away and leave him looking dead on the table?
“Gabe.” She called out to him telepathically. He hadn’t answered her that way since he’d entered the house. At first it had seemed odd, but now it alarmed her. Why didn’t he answer?
He can’t. Whatever is doing this to him has blocked him from us. Maybe in many ways.
What? She didn’t understand. Everything had happened so quickly.
Her wolf shook her head. Never mind. I’ll explain it later. Come on. Get out or I’ll shift and get out of here for us.
Carrie rolled her eyes. You’re not strong enough to shift without my consent.
She’d had this argument before and now didn’t seem the time to continue it. Narrowing her gaze, she took a deep breath. If Gabriel couldn’t hear her telepathically, she’d have to resort to the old-fashioned way of communication.
“I’m going to help you.” She yelled toward the table. “Do you hear me? I’m not abandoning you.”
Drea laughed, turning around. “Isn’t that sweet? Sorry, honey, he can’t hear you. We own him now.”
“Some day”—Carrie let the growl come out full force in her voice. This was not the time to hold anything back—“I’m going to claw your eyes out, bitch.”
“You sound more like a cat, Carrie, than a wolf. But then again you’ve always been so tame. Maybe you can’t tell the difference.”
We will tear her to shreds.
Drea couldn’t hear her inner wolf and that suited Carrie fine. The witch could be surprised when she dropped dead. Kendrick hadn’t turned around to acknowledge her at all. He had Gabriel now and it looked like he had all his ducks in order to destroy Westervelt. In his mind, she’d never counted for much. Once upon a time that would have bothered her. However, at that moment, it made her disappearance easier.
Without another word, she turned and ran.
Maybe Tristan would turn out to be the Alpha his father hadn’t been. Maybe he wouldn’t kill her as a traitor and abandon his brother to Kendrick’s evil ways.
Maybe she could still save her love, bring him back to her as she remembered him and not the broken shell that had arrived at his father’s house with no coherent plan and a very evident death wish.
Maybe she could do it.
Or maybe she’d end up alone in the dark without Gabriel’s light to shine her way home.
Carrie stopped in her tracks to stare at the house she’d just fled. She would not let Gabriel die in there. If Westervelt wouldn’t help her, then she’d find another way. She’d done as he asked for forty years, but enough was enough. No way would she leave Gabriel alone in the dark.
Chapter 9
“How are you feeling, son?”
Gabriel blinked, sitting up. The purple haze still surrounded him, pressing down on his head, but it didn’t bother him. If anything, it felt kind of nice to have its presence, like a warm old blanket draped over his shoulders.
“Better.” He stretched his hands over his shoulder. His shoulder cracked, which made it loosen up. “Much more like myself, thank you, Father.”
His supreme Alpha smiled at the woman next to him, who laughed, wringing her hands together. Gabriel couldn’t place this woman in his memory, but it made him thrilled that she made his father so happy.
“I told you I could do it, my love.”
His father stroked the woman’s hair. “I had no doubt. I can’t tell you how nice it is to have him back. He was always supposed to be with me, you know. I never expected they’d hold out this long.”
“Kanes are remarkably stubborn. I should know.”
“Have I been somewhere, Father?”
Kendrick looked at the woman again. “His mind seems gone. Will he even be able to remember all his training?”
“All of it. The only details gone are the ones I wanted removed.”
“Great.” Kendrick tapped the bed. “Stand up, Gabriel.”
Always happy to oblige, he stood. His muscles felt tight but then they unkinked. As if he’d been carrying around the world’s problems on his shoulders. But then again he had no idea why he ever would have felt that way.
Do you know?
His wolf yawned. Not a clue.
Kendrick sat back on a countertop. “We have a problem.”
“Any problem that you have, my Alpha, is my problem.” No one would harm his father while he took breath into his body.
“Your brothers have formed a revolution against me and I need someone to lead my army. I want that someone to be you.”
Something stirred inside him. A thought. He couldn’t grasp it and it floated away into the purple haze. “Yes, my Alpha. As you wish.”
“Good.” Kendrick moved forward. “Let’s go see if you can still do what I need you to do.”
His wolf wagged his tail. They were going to go do some sort of fighting. There was nothing either of them enjoyed more than violence, particularly if they got to wield it on Kendrick’s behalf.
With an ease to his step, he followed his father. Wherever they were—and really Gabe had no idea where they were located—it smelled funny. He sniffed the air again. “Where are the woods, Father?”
Kendrick turned around, an eyebrow raised. “The woods?”
“Westervelt. I can’t smell it anywhere.” And he should. He knew that much. Westervelt meant home and home meant … who? An image of a red-haired woman with the biggest brown eyes briefly surfaced in his mind before it poofed out of existence.
“We’re taking back Westervelt. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” It just seemed hard to keep ideas in his head. Oh well. He shrugged. Really, what did it matter?
I don’t seem to care. His wolf hiccupped and a big puff of purple haze escaped through his mouth.
You look funny.
His wolf scratched his side. You do too.
They walked toward the backyard of the house. His father opened the door and after Gabriel walked through it closed behind him with a loud bang.
“Drea.” His father called out behind him and the woman who’d been with them earlier appeared out of thin air. One second she hadn’t been present, and the next she stood in front of him.
“How did you do that?” Was that something he should know?
“I’m a witch. That’s what we do.” She patted him on the shoulder before turning to his father. “Don’t worry. The pressing point here is that he’ll know how to kill a witch when the time is right. And he’ll need to. My sources tell me Rex’s mate Elizabeth Willow is officially living on Westervelt. The haughty bitch will be a problem. But Gabriel will have the tools to end her.”
“Let’s see some of these tools.” Kendrick whistled. For a second nothing happened but moments later, a loud bang sounded and green doors, which he had previously not noticed—because, really, why bother paying attention to things that don’t matter?—opened from the ground. A group of twelve very pungent-smelling male wolves traipsed out of the entrance.
They must have been below ground. That seemed like a funny place to put them. Why would someone hide the foul-smelling beasts down there? They could stay above ground if only they’d bathe.
“Gabriel.” Kendrick’s voice caught his attention. “These are the wolves I have created to help you take back Westervelt. Soon you will use them, but for now I need to see you kill them. It’s important that you demonstrate to
me just how strong you still can be.”
Gabriel nodded even as an ache formed at the back of his neck. Are you causing that pain?
His wolf shook his head. No, I’m not sure what that is.
With a shove he pushed the discomfort to the back of his mind. If his Alpha needed him, he’d ignore more agony than a little throbbing caused.
Kendrick whistled again. “Boys, attack Gabriel.”
The men began to groan, a horrid, aching sound that sent chills up Gabriel’s spine. For just a moment the purple haze began to float away. His shoulders felt lighter and he stretched. His mind churned while a million fleeting images flickered before his eyes.
The purple haze plummeted downward and the weird images disappeared. He blinked and it seemed like they’d never been there at all.
“You wish for me to kill the creatures, Father?” His palms itched to begin the attack.
“If you can.”
Gabriel laughed, a long, hard sound that vibrated over the screeching of the pathetic wolves who couldn’t even manage to get their shifts right. “If? Give me just a moment.”
He shifted, calling the white light onto himself and in seconds his body had taken on his wolf shape.
Feels good to be back in my form. His wolf showed his teeth.
It does, Gabriel agreed. He’d always been able to cause destruction like this. No one had ever been able to really beat him. Not even Kendrick. The thought jolted him and he stopped his forward momentum. What? Had he just remembered something he needed to know?
The purple haze swarmed his body.
It doesn’t really matter, his wolf reminded him. All that we need to care about is killing these monsters. That’s what the Alpha wants.
Gabriel leaned back on his hind legs waiting to move forward. He liked a good fight. But if the creatures didn’t move forward he wasn’t going to have one. By default he’d be left slaughtering them, and not much else.
He waited a bit. The wolf in front of him growled, but didn’t move. Gabe rolled his eyes. His father wanted him to prove himself like this? Fine.
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