Mark of Fate

by May, W. J.

  “I’m not going rogue,” Rae fired back, painfully aware of the fact that her mother’s eyes were upon her and they had yet to discuss this in person. “I’m…taking a step back. Re-evaluating my options.”

  “Retribution for being arrested,” Molly added helpfully.

  “Molls.”

  Again, Kraigan looked at Rae with genuine interest. “They arrested you? This just keeps getting better. Why?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Devon interjected quickly, stopping the conversation before it could take a dangerous turn.

  Kraigan didn’t know anything about Cromfield, and as far as they knew Cromfield didn’t know anything about Kraigan. It was in everyone’s best interests to keep it that way. There was no telling how Kraigan might feel about the ‘work’ Cromfield had dedicated his life to, but either way it was best to keep two such volatile people at a great distance and well off each other’s radar.

  Kraigan glanced at Devon as if he’d just stolen his favorite toy. “Fine. You don’t trust me. I get it. And while I think that reaction might be a little harsh—”

  “You pointed a gun at my head,” Molly spat.

  “And tried to kill me,” Devon growled.

  “And me,” Rae concluded, adding for good measure, “several times.”

  “Well, you say potato, I say—”

  Julian gritted his teeth. “Maybe it’s best you don’t say anything, Kraigan.”

  “My only point is,” he bristled, “for once you were right, big sister. Our interests are, however temporarily, aligned. I’m not going to do anything to hurt you and your little band of outlaws. Not while the woman who killed my mother is still at large.”

  There was a brief pause.

  “And once we’ve taken care of her?” Rae asked carefully.

  He folded his hands behind his head with a casual shrug. “Who knows? We can take it one day at a time.”

  “That’s it,” Devon muttered under his breath, “I can’t take any more of this.” He put his hand on Rae’s shoulder. “We know Jennifer’s in Scotland. We can find her. We don’t need…him.”

  Kraigan grinned. “Oh, but I’m afraid you do. You see, even with my not inconsiderable resources, it still took me months to find her, and as it turned out, that entire time she was right there in London. If you think you can do what I couldn’t and narrow down her location in an entire country, please, be my guest. But I’m guessing it won’t end well.”

  Devon’s eyes narrowed. “And you expect us to believe you showed up here just out of the goodness of your blackened heart? You might be able to find her, but you need us to help you take her down. It’s not something you can do on your own, and we all know it.”

  A muscle twitched in Kraigan’s jaw, but he gave away nothing. “Believe what you like. Either way, I’m here now and I’m promising to be good… At least until the mission is over and Jones is cold and in the ground.”

  Rae shuddered to hear him talk about death so easily, even if it was about someone who deserved it. Unlike her brother, she had never hunted down a person to kill them in cold blood. Aside from Cromfield, that is. Even then, when she thought about the act, the actual moment when the two of them would inevitably face off…it disturbed her greatly. As much as she hated to admit it, Kraigan was right. She had asked him to help for a reason. Jennifer was a ticking time bomb, and to take her out they needed each other. There was no way around it.

  “So we good?” he asked cheerfully. He met their looks of sour resignation with a grin. “See? One big happy family. And in a show of good faith, I’m even going to tell you that there’s what looks like the remains of an Englishman bleeding out on your front porch.”

  For a second, no one moved. Then everyone looked slowly at the door.

  “The remains of…” Rae trailed off in utter confusion.

  Kraigan shrugged indifferently. “Probably one of those tragic singing telegrams.”

  Julian’s eyes flashed momentarily white and he came back looking pale. “Oh shit, Gabriel!”

  Gabriel?!

  Rae was up on her feet and yanking open the door in the same breath. Sure enough there he was, his hand still half-raised to knock… bleeding a little puddle onto the front stoop.

  Her arms were around him before she even realized what she was doing, pressing her body against his and squeezing him in a tight embrace. It wasn’t until he gasped softly and winced that she pulled back, terrified she’d hurt him even more.

  “I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed, stepping back even farther to survey the damage. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Devon watching, and the tops of her cheeks flushed pink.

  “Don’t apologize,” Gabriel panted with a grin. One hand was clutching discreetly at the door frame, but other than that he was standing up on his own. “That’s a proper welcome. I should stop by here more often.” He was freshly showered and wearing clean clothes, his blond hair spilling into his face like it always did, and the intoxicating smell of citrus goodness drifting off of his skin. But no matter how much he fixed himself up, he still looked like he’d been put through the wringer.

  There was a mess of cuts and bruises littering his handsome face, and his normally bronze skin was colored a ghostly white. Even his lips were broken, Rae noted, her eyes lingering on them a second too long as they twisted up into a weak grin.

  “I got your call…” he smiled bravely, “so here I am.”

  After their showdown at Guilder, they had left Gabriel with a doctor Julian knew in the city—one who wasn’t strictly tied to the Privy Council and wouldn’t ask questions. They didn’t want to leave him there alone, but in case the PC decided to go after them after all they didn’t want to lead them back to Gabriel. Not to mention the fact that Rae had yet to explain to her mother what was going on, and he was in no way up for a trip to Scotland in his present state.

  At least Rae hadn’t thought he was. She blanched, still struck by the sickly pallor of his face, and then slowly connected what he was saying. “Wait—call? Who called you?”

  “I did,” Julian, Devon, and Molly all answered at once.

  They looked at each other in surprise and Gabriel laughed.

  “Yeah, I got three different texts from the lot of you, every one telling me to come and meet you here at your mum’s.” He nodded politely to Beth, who smiled warmly and rushed forward to help him inside. “I’ve never been so popular.”

  “Gracious!” she exclaimed when she got closer and saw his face. “What on earth happened to you? It’s usually Devon we have to get cleaned up…”

  Kraigan snickered while Devon flushed at the floor.

  “It’s nothing, Mrs. K,” Gabriel dismissed casually, making a visible effort to act a lot better than he obviously felt. “Just a little karmic comeuppance, that’s all.”

  Beth stared at him blankly.

  His gaze slowly drifted over to the rest of them. “You…you guys didn’t tell her yet?”

  “Uh…no,” Rae stepped in quickly, her eyes flashing to Kraigan, “we got a little interrupted.”

  There was an almost comical moment as Kraigan and Gabriel surveyed each other for the first time. Rae could almost feel Devon seething as he glanced between the two of them, but she and Molly shared a secret grin. The two cockiest turncoats they knew, in the same room together.

  Whatever happened next would be…interesting, to say the least.

  Chapter 2

  “Who’re you?” Gabriel asked.

  At the same time Kraigan stood and stated, “You another of Rae’s strays?”

  Both guys eyed each other up and down.

  Kraigan nodded at Rae. “Fix the poor bugger. He looks like hell.”

  “I can’t,” Rae replied simply. “What about you? Why don’t you use whatever tatù you’ve stolen and fix him?”

  Gabriel glanced back and forth between the two of them. He started laughed as he turned to Devon, “You have got to be jokin’! Another Kerrigan?”

  Beth
turned to grab a towel to press against Gabriel’s wound. “He’s not mine. He’s Simon’s.”

  Kraigan’s eyes betrayed him for just a split second. Rae saw and she stepped forward. Her mother hadn’t meant the words to sounds harsh; she had just been stating a fact. “Kraigan, this is Gabriel. He used to be on the wrong side. Gabriel, this is my half-brother, Kraigan. He’s still trying to figure out which side he’s on.”

  Gabriel grinned. “I like him already.”

  Devon harrumphed and Kraigan’s eyes shot back and forth between Devon and Gabriel. “You two don’t get along?” Kraigan asked.

  “He’s the one with the problem.” Gabriel nodded toward Devon.

  Kraigan held out his hand. “I’m with you there, mate.”

  As Gabriel reached out to shake Kraigan’s hand, Devon slapped it away.

  “Hey!” Gabriel said and shook his sore wrist. “What the—”

  “Kraigan’s father is Simon Kerrigan. Think about it. Simon’s tatù, Rae’s tatù… and Kraigan.”

  “I’d have given it back,” Kraigan muttered.

  “What? You steal people’s tatùs?” Gabriel shook his head.

  “I borrow them.”

  “—and don’t give them back until you borrow someone else’s,” Molly snapped.

  “If Simon’s your dad…” Gabriel noticed Beth’s tight-lipped mouth. “Oh! I see. Oh, dear.” He tutted. “Your tatù’s like Rae’s, but different? Just like Simon’s alone, or…”

  “My mother was inked as well.” Kraigan glared at Beth, like it was her fault. Then he sighed.

  “A hybrid?”

  Kraigan clapped his hands. “Give the guy a medal.”

  Gabriel stepped forward, his face pale both from his injuries and what his mind was processing. “Did your father know you existed?”

  “What the hell? Of course he did!”

  Gabriel’s head tilted to the side. “Simon knew about you?”

  Rae suddenly realized where he was going with this. She glanced at Devon and Julian, seeing that they both were realizing it at the same time. Panic filled her. If Gabriel didn’t know about Kraigan, neither did Cromfield. If Kraigan didn’t know about Cromfield…

  “Crom—”

  “Gabriel!” Rae cut him off. “You must be exhausted. And famished! Mom, could you make him a sandwich or something? Devon, maybe you could help Gabriel upstairs to your room. Molly, what about some fresh bandages? We can’t let this guy bleed out over the floor here.” She forced a fake yawn. “Maybe Kraigan could go out and grab some firewood? I think—”

  “It’s time we all called it a night,” Beth interrupted and moved to the fridge. “I’ll make some butties and you guys can all go up to your rooms and settle in. I’d like a few moments to talk to my daughter alone, if that isn’t too much to ask. I’ve missed her.”

  Nobody argued. Beth looked ready to cry because she’d missed her daughter. They all understood the worry and fear she had probably been going through since they’d left.

  Beth cleared her throat when nobody moved. “Needless to say, this little meeting had gone a little off the rails even before Gabriel showed up bleeding on the front stoop. Gabriel looks ready to pass out, and Kraigan, I don’t know you very well; if my daughter has issues with you, there’s a reason. You can head up to the attic and spend the night on a twin cot up there. The rest of you can tactfully make yourselves scarce so Rae can talk with her mom. NOW!”

  Each of them stepped forward to help Gabriel up the stairs and into a bed. Except Kraigan, who stood with his hands crossed over his chest, chuckling. When Beth shot him a look, he hurried up the stairs as well.

  Rae stayed in the kitchen and watched her friends and brother retire for the night. The time in London had changed Molly, Julian, and Devon. From the second Gabriel had shown up at their door, half beaten to death by Cromfield, all past sins were forgotten and he was accepted as one of their own. It said a lot that each one of them had independently thought to invite him to Scotland. Only Devon still harbored a well-earned resentment, but even that had been graciously—if temporarily—set aside and reduced to sarcastic teasing and provoked defenses. In a war where the stakes were so high, it was simply unfeasible to leave anyone useful out in the cold, much less someone as useful and sincerely reformed as Gabriel.

  Thankfully, her mom seemed to understand this too.

  “But he didn’t let you fall?” she asked again, verifying it for herself. She and Rae had perched on the sofa in front of a dying fire. In the time it had taken Rae to tell her the story the entire house had fallen asleep, leaving them in peaceful silence.

  Rae’s eyes drifted thoughtfully to the crackling fireplace as she thought back to her recent Guilder break-in. Little did she know it, but at the time Gabriel had been planning to kill her and take the missing piece of the brainwashing device back to Cromfield. He blamed her for his tragic childhood, raised by Cromfield, and hated her accordingly. There had been a moment when he could have done it. A perfect moment when she was dangling over a thirty-foot drop and had just handed him the piece he so wanted. She remembered his minute hesitation as he had glanced between her and the piece. The infinite pause as his life had changed course forever.

  He’d decided to save her.

  “No,” she said quietly, answering her mother’s question, “he didn’t let me fall.”

  Of course there were multiple reasons for this. Secret, intimate reasons she had seen when she used Carter’s tatù to wade into his sleeping mind and probe his thoughts.

  To say he had feelings for her…would be putting it lightly.

  They had completely transformed him—changed him at a fundamental level, altered the very fabric of who he was. This was a man who had never known love, who had never known kindness or what it meant to value something above oneself. When he met Rae his eyes had been opened. A wall he never knew existed had crumbled, allowing him to feel all these things for the first time.

  The only trouble was, now, he had these feelings for her. And no one—not him, not Rae, and certainly not Rae’s boyfriend, was supposed to know.

  “Then he made his choice,” Beth said simply. Rae looked up in surprise, pleased and incredibly grateful for her mother’s evolved take on the situation. Beth saw her looking and shook her head with a sigh. “I can’t pretend I’m not furious, but look at the facts: Taken as a child, effectively brainwashed, warped and manipulated every day to do Cromfield’s bidding? A part of me can’t really blame him.” Her voice grew suddenly soft as she, too, stared towards the fire. “A part of me can’t really blame Jennifer.”

  Rae’s throat seized up and she curled farther back into the couch. Crazy as it sounded, she knew exactly what her mother meant. Jennifer Jones had wronged them as much as a single person could. She’d accidently killed Rae’s father, but more importantly she’d taken away Rae’s entire childhood. She’d taken away her mother. Taken away her mother’s memories of even having a child. Thanks to Jennifer Jones, it was still a complete novelty—to be sitting on a couch with her mother like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  And then of course, there was what she did to Kraigan…

  Rae’s eyes flicked automatically up to the ceiling, almost as if she could see her brother lying on his cot in the attic. Not sleeping, surely. But plotting. Scheming. Fantasizing his revenge.

  He may have walked in with his usual sarcastic jokes and swagger, but he couldn’t fool her. She was there the day he found out how his mother had really died. She was the one who’d told him. She remembered the look on his face. Pale. Lost. Inconsolable. Like he was four years old again and suddenly found himself an orphan. Left to fend for himself in a dangerous world.

  It was unforgivable. Unpardonable. And, most importantly, it was never going to stop.

  According to Kraigan, Jennifer had set up shop in a little town on the opposite coast. Far enough away that he begrudgingly accepted Rae’s demand that they set out in the morning, but close enough to rev
eal a simple truth.

  Jennifer would never stop hunting them. And for that she had to be destroyed.

  “I know, Mom. But it’s not as simple as all that…”

  She dropped her head on her mother’s shoulder and Beth sighed again.

  “No…” she stroked back Rae’s hair, “it isn’t.”

  Both of them stared into the flickering flames, thinking about the past and the future. About times lost and times to come. Thinking about what the next day would bring. The good and the inevitably bad.

  Chapter 3

  “Wake up, Rae! Wake up and see what fresh hell is waiting for us.”

  Rae opened her eyes and shrieked as Molly’s murderous face loomed over her. “What the—!”

  The little fashionista was perched on the edge of the mattress, wearing nothing but a towel, a pair of fluffy shower slippers, and a homicidal scowl.

  “Molls? What is it?!” Her first thought was the brainwashing device! Her second thought was all my gut reactions have gotten very strange...

  “All the hot water is gone.”

  Rae had no idea how so much hatred could be channeled into so few syllables. She opened her mouth to either laugh or scold her best friend for waking her with such a fright, but after a second look at Molly’s face she thought better of it. “Well, that’s…uh…a serious problem.” She sat up carefully and pushed her messy curls from her eyes. The sounds and smells of breakfast were starting downstairs; already she could hear the hum of low voices and one high one she recognized as her mother’s. Molly, however, was rooted in place.

  “It is a serious problem,” she hissed, waving what looked to be a loofah in the air. “Rae Kerrigan, how the hell am I supposed to prepare myself for a showdown with Jennifer Jones when I’m still sporting yesterday’s leave-in conditioner?”

  In moments like these, Rae never knew if she was kidding… Best not to risk it, though. Molly had developed a reputation for being rather…difficult in the mornings. “You’re not,” she said calmly, as she got out of bed and conjured herself a robe. She was getting quite good at it, she noted with absentminded pride. By the time her arms were in the air, the silk kimono was already sliding down over her.