“And if we are home this evening?”
“Then … sure. I’ll see you for dinner.”
He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles, one by one. “It will be my privilege to offer you a picnic basket brimming with sincerity.”
“I can’t wait to see that.”
Chapter 31
Back again inside the courtly Abyssinian with its cat statues and marble floor, Kage flopped on a leather chair in the lobby, gazing out the window, and Jason joined him in another.
“I need coffee,” I told Andrew. “We can watch from two sides anyway and decide what to do.”
By the time I’d waited in the café, got the latte, and was pulling out a chair to sit at a tiny table where we could see the door, however, Andrew was restless. Not watching the door at all, he’d kept his eye on the front desk. Now, he seemed almost to be tapping his toe.
“What?” I asked, hesitating with my hand on the back of the metal chair.
“Don’t you want to find Gabriel?” He dragged his gaze around to me. “Isn’t that why we’re here?”
“Of course. Sit down and we’ll—”
“Instead of brainstorming let’s just talk to him.” Andrew walked off.
“What?” I hurried after, slipping past tables. “You saw him?”
“Not yet.” Andrew marched to the front desk.
The pretty blonde there smiled at him as we approached.
“Afternoon,” Andrew said. “I’d say something about being one proper lucky bloke to be trapped between the likes of you two ladies, but it would be entirely workplace inappropriate.” Glancing from her to me over his shoulder and back while she tittered. “Is Gabriel here by chance? Would it be possible to see him?”
“Sure,” she said. “But I don’t think we’ve been introduced.” Grinning at him. “May I ask who’s looking for him?”
“James Russell. It’s been years. Hope he even remembers me. Just mention the ‘fishing boat incident’ and he’ll know.” Andrew laughed as he used air quotes. “Has he ever told you about that one?”
“Gabriel on a fishing boat?” She laughed as well, incredulous. “No, he hasn’t. But now I’m dying to know.”
“I’ll tell you about it sometime.” Andrew winked. “Between you and me, I bet Gabe takes it to his grave.”
She was still giggling. “I’ll get him for you.” She lifted a phone on the desk.
From the corner of his mouth, Andrew murmured, “Lips, darling.”
I shut my mouth.
“Gabriel? It’s Talia. A gentleman at the front desk to see you. If you’re available? James Russell? He says it’s been a while.” A long pause. “No problem. I’ll tell him. Thank you.” She hung up and addressed herself to Andrew. “He says he’ll be down in five minutes if you’d like to wait.”
“Great,” Andrew said. “Thanks so much. Good of you to ring for us.”
“Of course. Just let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”
“Believe me, I will.”
Since she’d said he would be “down” we moved aside to the wide passage leading to the elevators—or lifts—and stairway. Beside the closed golden lift doors, I faced Andrew.
“What the hell—?” Breathless. “He works here. And you knew?”
Andrew shrugged. “The question is, why didn’t the younger grim brothers know? All it takes is an educated guess. I’m in a pretty posh, waterfront hotel every day in Brighton. Does that mean I could afford to be a guest there? I told you, I looked this place up. It’s practically The Ritz, just an off-brand. Show me a wolf who can afford something like this. There’s no bloody way. I thought perhaps he was front desk, but who knows if you never spotted him yesterday. He could be cleaning rooms, room service, kitchen, anything.”
He glanced back toward the lobby and eased even closer to me, both of us keeping our voices down. “Another thing. What were the odds Jason would just happen to cross his path when he was here for a long weekend? Of all the Moons, all the years? But if he worked here? If he was in and out daily?”
I felt overwhelmed not only by the blindingly obvious reasoning and deduction here, but by the weight settling on my shoulders for not having figured this out on my own. None of us had even mentioned the idea that he could work in the place.
After a minute, I said, “Good job.”
Andrew stepped back to give me a bow. “Elementary, my dear witch.”
“Sometimes your human cultural references weird me out. But … thank you for being…”
“A bloody genius?”
“Yes. Thank you. So who do you think is killing off your pack? Or how about an answer to finding the kindred?”
“One wish per day. All you get.”
“I think you’re confusing ‘genius’ and ‘genie’ there, genius. Speaking of which, what are we supposed to say to him? Should I get Kage and Jason?”
Andrew shook his head. “Let’s not overwhelm the wolf. He doesn’t want to chat or he’d have rung home a few years back to let his mum know he was alive. I’ll do the talking. You be ready to put a paralyzing spell on him in case he makes a break for it.”
“A break for it? You think that’s likely?”
Andrew shrugged.
“Anyway, I can’t do anything like that.”
“You can’t?” His eyebrows went up.
“Of course not. I can’t control a living being like that. All I can do is … energy … stuff. And far-seeing.”
“Have you ever tried?”
“Tried to petrify someone?”
The fire door opened and we looked around.
Instead of stepping off a lift, a tall figure in a suit and tie came through the door. There was indeed a resemblance between the brothers.
He was strongly built but not as imposing as Jed. His complexion was overall dark and his hair black, short, and gelled neatly back so it only looked wavy. Silver hairs starting at his temples and the closely trimmed circle beard made him look considerably older than I knew him to be. He wore a pinstripe suit cut for a close fit in the European style and obviously tailored. The shirt was a yellow so soft it was almost off-white, paired with a deep orange-gold tie.
He nearly walked past us. But he spared a quick smile to what he must have thought were guests waiting for the lifts as he was moving toward the lobby, and Andrew stepped into his path.
He stopped as if walking into a glass wall, smile vanishing, a look of horror replacing it.
“Andrew.” He gasped the word like someone punched it out of him.
We’d made a mistake. I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I knew we shouldn’t be a part of it. We shouldn’t have tracked him down, shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be doing this.
I wanted to tell him to go. Turn around. We’d pretend we’d never seen him and he could go back to this life—whatever it was, that he didn’t want his family involved in.
“Afternoon, Gabriel,” Andrew said quietly, meeting his eyes with his own narrowed, unblinking. “A little wolf told me you’d found your hunting grounds in London.”
Gabriel took a step back. A dozen options for answering or flight or anything else must have been dashing through his mind.
“What do you want?” he said in that same breathless voice.
“I want to take a message to your family. Your brothers are looking for you.”
Gabriel’s gaze darted again toward the lobby.
“Oh, they’re not here,” Andrew said. “You just missed them. But I’ve got to take a message back for them. Anything you’d like to say, Gabriel? Anything you want them to know? How much you miss them, maybe? How much you’ve been meaning to write, but time gets away from you? Hmm?”
“How did you find me?”
“Wondering where you can go next to make a better job of disappearing?” Andrew smiled sardonically. “We’ve been searching London for vampires and other shifters because of all the deaths in the pack lately.”
“Deaths?
” If possible, Gabriel looked even more shocked, eyes widening. His breaths were as shallow and fast as someone looking into the wrong end of a rifle’s sight.
“Haven’t you heard? About all the murders? About your family being in danger? Being picked off one by one? Well…” Andrew chuckled. “Then again, how could you? I can tell you’ve been … busy.” Looking him up and down.
Gabriel backed away, gaze flicking to me. “I don’t … that’s not my life, Andrew. That’s … that was a different time.”
“Yet you didn’t even bother to change your name. Didn’t you want finding? Eventually?”
“Leave me alone.” Voice stronger then, a command, if still breathless. “Get out of here.” He turned sharply for the fire door.
“So what do you want us to tell them?” Andrew raised his voice. “What, Gabe? That you’re here? You’re great? You’re flourishing in the worm world? And you never want to see them again and don’t have a hello? Do I have this right?”
Gabriel grabbed the door handle and pushed.
Andrew walked forward, speaking calmly and clearly. “Neä uhrtoa trimus. Neä uhrtoa voimbus. Unnetum vaptis amaus Lunae et luposilauma.”
Though I’d never heard most of the words before, I knew exactly what he was saying. I had them written on the leather bracelet Zar had given me.
Once more, Gabriel stopped as if something had hit him. He stood motionless, leaning into the open door, except for the quick rising and falling of his shoulders. Even with his back to us, he looked tense as ice. His face was downturned.
After a long time: “I can’t, Andrew.” Little more than a whisper, his eyes too bright. “I’m not a wolf anymore.”
Then he pushed on through the door and it banged shut behind him.
Chapter 32
This time, Andrew was the one who looked shocked. Those last words left him rigid as the marble he stood on, staring at the fire door.
My heart pounded as well, mind spinning over every detail of him, from the suit to fear in his face to the tone of his voice, finally to the words themselves. Then to Zar and Jed. To what would happen after this. We couldn’t lie to them. Yet … telling the truth…
Vivid picture of the morning before: Zar shouting, Peter and Zacharias fighting them. And my pack looking to me, blessing me with their loyalty. Their guide, their silver. Who wasn’t going to lie to them. And wasn’t going to take back this message.
I shoved my latte into Andrew’s hands, ran to the door, grabbed the handle, and half turned back. “Do not follow me.” I pushed through and dashed up the stairs after Gabriel.
His steps sounded above, but stopped as I climbed two at a time. He must have been going just as fast because, when he looked down the stairwell at me over the rail, he was three flights above.
“Gabriel?” I slowed to a walk, along the railing so I could look up to him. “My name is Cassia. Cassia Allyn. I’m not a wolf either. I’m human.” I rounded a landing and got him back into view as I went. “I’m sorry we startled you. You don’t owe me anything. But I wondered if you would consider talking with me. Your family is desperate to find you.” Another turn. “There’s trouble not only in the Sable Pack, but the whole South Coast Cooperative. There’s a serial murderer, apparently a group, killing wolves.” Turn. He was still watching me climb. “It’s been going on for months. We’re doing all we can to track down suspects but … we’re not doing well. That’s neither here nor there. I just wanted you to know because I’m scared about your brothers or your mom doing something reckless, going off alone, looking for you.” Turn. “If we could talk, maybe we could help each other. I’m not trying to bring you back to the pack or make life hard on you in any way.” Turn. “But I care about your family. And I don’t want to make life any harder on them right now either.”
I climbed to the landing below him and could finally look right at Gabriel on the next flight of stairs.
I swallowed. “I’m sure you’re busy. I’m sure this is hard for you. But if we could talk I’d be very grateful.”
He still held the rail, facing me, almost as tense as downstairs. “What do you have to do with them? Who are you?”
“I’m a witch. A scry. I’ve been trying to help the Sable Pack find these killers. Like I said, though, it’s not going well. That’s why I’m still here. I should have been back in the States by now. Jed and Zar are two of the pack who have been helping with the investigation. It was because of this investigation, us being in the city at night with a wolf in fur, that we got your scent at the door into the hotel and found you. We thought you were a guest. We waited downstairs yesterday, hoping to see you in or out. Zar, Jed, and myself. Obviously … you’re not a guest here.”
Gabriel shook his head, slow and deliberate, as if his neck hurt. “I’m general manager of The Abyssinian.” He paused while I waited, glancing up the steps, back to me, then nodded. “Come upstairs. We can … sit down.”
After a long climb, right to the top of the hotel—though it was a historic building, only seven or eight floors—Gabriel led me down a hallway to a room door that he opened with a brass key rather than a keycard.
He stepped back, holding the door wide for me with one arm out.
The room wasn’t a hotel room at all. It was an opulent apartment, or flat, with a glorious view of the park and London looking southwest toward Buckingham Palace.
I’d already caught a glimpse of this flat in my scrying, though hadn’t known what it was.
The furnishings matched the sort of modern and historical fusion evoked by the whole place: carved, rich woods, gold, white, and green fabrics in upholstery and window drapes, crown moulding straight out of the Victorian era. The foyer opened into a sitting room ahead, a wide archway into a spacious living room with a TV on the wall and an empty fireplace, and another archway to kitchen and dining room. The hallway beyond the living room must lead to bedroom and bathroom, possibly plural.
“Please, have a seat,” Gabriel said, distracted, looking around like he didn’t know what to do with himself. “Here … this has the best view.” Leading me to a high-backed loveseat or sofa that looked like a replica piece.
The thing was stiff, as if unused to doing its job, with a throw pillow to each side placed just so.
“May I offer you tea? Coffee? Or … lunch? I have a menu here somewhere…”
“Coffee would be lovely, if you have it?”
“Of course.” Gabriel had hardly moved into the kitchen when he was back with a matte-finish room service menu. He handed this to me at arm’s length. “Please. I was about to take lunch myself and, if we’re sitting down anyway… It wouldn’t be a minute for the cold dishes.”
“You don’t need to get me lunch. I shouldn’t impose on you any more than we are already.”
“No, it’s all the same for me. My lodging and some board are part of my compensation package.”
“You live here?”
“Yes.” With a vague hand gesture around.
Perhaps this should have been obvious. But I’d more had the feeling he was letting us into the executive suite that happened to be empty, just for a place to sit. The flat certainly did not feel lived in. As Gabriel returned to the kitchen and I looked around, I did notice a few telling details—a couple of extra pairs of shoes by the door, a tea mug and some paper on the kitchen island. Otherwise, it might have been ready for hotel guests. There were vacuum lines on the carpets. A vase with a single white rose in it perched on the coffee table before me. All ready for a picture.
Gabriel started a compact expresso machine on the counter. “Please excuse me. I must make a couple of calls.”
“No problem.”
He stood in the kitchen, not leaning on the counter or pacing, but stiff and upright, holding his iPhone to his ear.
I looked over room service lunch offerings. Several cold sandwiches, salads, soups. He was right, it wouldn’t take long. If he was prepared to sit and eat lunch with me, it meant he really would talk. I’d
intended to eat in the café anyway, although in different company.
While Gabriel was on the phone, leaving a message, then talking to someone briefly about meeting him to do something later in the afternoon instead of now, I texted Andrew.
He’s agreed to talk with me so I hope this takes a while. We’re just upstairs. Please keep them and yourself out of trouble.
Gabriel brought my coffee mug after my assurance that black was good, then looked inquiringly to my menu.
“May I?” he asked. “And I’ll join you in lunch.”
“Thank you. The spinach salad, please.”
“Soup? A sandwich? No?” he called in the order, then joined me in an armchair sideways to me.
Gabriel sat back, oriented to me in his seat, his ankles crossed, but not looking at me. He stroked down the thin edges of his mustache joining the goatee—forming the circle beard—as he gazed out the windows.
“I beg your pardon,” he said softly. “I still don’t understand why you’re here. Did my brothers ask you to come?”
“Sort of.” I held the coffee in both hands, watching him. “And I volunteered. Zar and Jed are friends of mine. I had the time to come here today while we’re stalled on the investigation anyway. They didn’t. They’re working all weekend to make up for recent time missed. They wanted to keep looking, be back here themselves, of course.”
While I spoke, he sat up straighter, and lowered his hand from his face—as if remembering he was at a job interview or in church.
“What is happening to them?” he asked. “They’re being attacked?”
I told him about the murders, eleven dead in the Cooperative, six from the Sable Pack, all in the past ten months.
“The killers do so with a specific pattern, then cover their trails with petrol and red pepper, or similar, to slip away and leave the bodies behind, close to the pack to be found. Now, though, it’s spreading. Two wolves in the South of France were just killed the same way.”
Gabriel blinked and looked at the rose on the coffee table. “What do the police say? Any leads? Any suspects?”
Moonlight Heart: A Reverse Harem Shifter Romance (The Witch and the Wolf Pack Book 4) Page 20
