“Well,” Abel said, his fingers flinching in hers. “I broke his arm.”
“You what?”
“After what Gabe did to Esther, I… I picked a fight with him and kicked his ass. He’s the one with the pure bloodline, so I’m still not sure how I did it. But yeah, the X-ray showed his arm was broken in two places. That’s why Hutchinson really hates me—not so much because I broke his arm, but because I broke his pride.”
“That’s quite a story,” Carly said. “I’m surprised I’ve never heard it before.”
“Well, I’m not exactly proud of it. I’d be a lot happier if we didn’t have the past we do, but I can’t go changing things now. I suppose he can’t either.”
Abel was right—none of them could change the past. As far as the present was concerned, Carly figured it best to play nice and try to get along with everyone in the group. That was, as long as everyone in the group stayed oblivious to the whereabouts of the amethyst skull.
* * *
Even rushing, it was more than twenty minutes before Carly and Abel made it to their usual swimming spot up the coast. Carly jumped out of the PT Cruiser, quickly stripping down to her suit when she saw that everyone else had already gathered in the water. She made out the intoxicated look on Gabe’s face as she headed for the waves and realized that Katia was enough of a distraction for him.
Well, good, that meant Gabe… That meant Gabe had let Carly go and he was moving on. Just like she’d asked him to.
“Are you up for another race?” Abel proposed, falling in line beside Carly in the water. “I still can’t believe you beat me the last time. It had to be a fluke.”
“There’s no fluke about it,” she said with a wink, and dove under the surface. I’m just faster than you, Abel.
We’ll just see about that, he replied, following after her.
The Great Lake floor was clear below as Carly swam close to rocky soil. She slid through the water with ease, her gaze sweeping over the disturbed circle of earth between two giant rocks just up ahead. The debris had finally settled from her treasure hunt, and perhaps had she not been the one who’d dug up the skull, she wouldn’t even know it was missing.
The last of Carly’s breath bubbled from her mouth, and she paddled against the current as she propelled herself up, up, up to the surface. She sputtered water as she swam in a circle to gather her bearings. She’d swum past her group of friends, but caught sight of Abel gliding toward her through the water.
Carly swam over to meet him, studying his disappointment as he treaded beside her. “Did I win?”
“Win?” Abel choked. “Carly, what were you doing down there?”
“What do you mean?”
Abel threw his head back, shaking water from his hair. “You were down there for more than twenty minutes. Almost long enough to challenge the world record. I had no idea you could hold your breath that long.”
“I couldn’t have been down there twenty minutes,” Carly argued, cutting through the waves to swim back toward their friends. “That’s impossible.”
“Well, you were. Ask anyone.”
“Are you okay, Carly?” Kyle called out. “If you’re trying to make the rest of us look like idiots, mission accomplished.”
“Was I really down there that long?” she wondered.
“Yes,” Abel confirmed, swimming up was beside her. “You were really down there that long. Way to put the rest of us in our place, Carly.”
“Are you really that surprised?” Katia spoke up. “As a full blood, Carly should be miles ahead of the rest of you.” She turned to Gabe and wrapped her arms around his neck, sparks shimmering all around them. “You, on the other hand, should be able to give her a run for her money.”
Carly was dumbfounded by the electricity humming between Gabe and Katia. It was one thing to watch Gabe flirt, but quite another to witness him this smitten over someone else. Had he acted this dopey pathetic with Carly? Because it was nauseating.
Gabe grinned at the beautiful blonde hanging all over him. “I’ve already tried that, but Carly and I didn’t work out.”
“Wait,” Katia giggled, clinging to Gabe as she looked to Carly. “You two used to go out?”
“Used to,” Gabe emphasized, pulling Katia closer as he captured her attention once more. He brushed his lips across her cheek, leaving a trail of sparks along the way. “But that was before I knew I had the potential to fall in love with a real equal.”
Katia buried her face in Gabe’s neck, but Carly could still make out her satisfied smirk—and the definite sparks between the two shapeshifters. What was happening here? How was Gabe already throwing around the L-word with someone else?
Even Carly hadn’t fallen all the way out of love.
Carly realized she was gaping at the couple, and tore herself away from them. She had absolutely no say in Gabe’s life anymore, but it was still hard to watch him turn into… Well, she didn’t know what he was turning into, but it wasn’t the Gabe Hutchinson who’d won her heart. No, that guy surely would’ve beaten the crap out of anyone who dared refer to her as a whore.
If this is what being seventeen is like, I want to go back, she thought. It was only then, when her feet hit dry sand and she automatically shifted into her primary, that she noted she was running at all.
Gabe could do whatever he wanted, could fall in love with anyone he wanted, as long as Carly didn’t have to stand back and watch.
She made a beeline for the cover of trees and sprinted for Grant Manor.
“Damn, you’re fast,” Abel spoke as Carly shifted into her human form on her back porch.
“You followed me,” she replied, and stepped through the door into the kitchen. She left the door open for Abel, let him decide whether or not he wanted to stay.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Abel said, closing the door behind them. “And I agree with you—Hutchinson’s not himself.”
Carly met Abel’s gaze, surprised he’d noticed, too.
“Are you really that surprised?” Abel questioned. “I’ve known the guy his entire life… Something’s off, and it seems an odd coincidence that it’s happening now, with visiting shapeshifters in town. It’s the first time in my life I ever remember us really having visitors. Paul’s made a few trips to Romania, but other than that, we don’t have contact with outside shifters. And now that we finally do, Gabe’s acting like he’s had a personality overhaul. Something about it just… doesn’t add up.”
Carly considered telling Abel about the skull then, but the same thing stopped her that always seemed to stop her—she couldn’t risk him getting hurt.
“I didn’t expect this to be uncomplicated,” Abel spoke as he filled in the gap between them. He reached for Carly’s hand, and a steady stream of electricity hummed through their fingers. “As long as this happens when we’re close, I’m not worried about you still maybe having feelings for him. I like you, Carly, and I like knowing you like me.”
She managed a half-smile. “I do like you, even if I’m really bad at showing it.”
“Well,” Abel said hopefully, “as it happens, there is one pretty clear way to let me know how much you like me.”
“Yeah?” she teased, breaking into a full smile now.
He shrugged. “Or you could not kiss me. I’ll leave it up to you.”
“I like when you leave it up to me,” Carly confessed, and indulged him in a kiss.
Abel ran a finger over the hematite pendant around Carly’s neck. “I’ve got to admit, I really like that you’re wearing this.”
“And I really like you.”
“And I really like you,” he repeated, sneaking in another kiss.
Carly’s life was no picnic right now, but Abel definitely made it better. Much, much better. “So, I was thinking, since it’s still early on Christmas, maybe we can have a horror movie marathon in my room.”
Abel chuckled. “I’d question your motives for a horror movie marathon on Christmas, but you had me at ‘in my room
.’”
“Come on,” Carly said, ignoring both her blush and the electricity between them as she tugged on Abel’s hand. “It’s time you got an education concerning the Christmas horror genre.”
sixteen
Putting Gabe out of her mind was simple enough when he wasn’t around, but when he showed up on Carly’s doorstep the morning of New Year’s Eve out of the blue, there was no avoiding him. Carly hadn’t thought anything of answering the door in pajamas until Gabe gazed back at her. She’d resigned to be civil for the sake of the group, but that didn’t mean she’d had enough caffeine yet to deal with him.
“What are you doing here?” Carly asked, slinking back from the door.
Gabe’s fingers tapped out rhythms on his thighs as he looked past her into the house. “Can I come in?”
No, the word protectively echoed in her thoughts. She wasn’t sure where the warning had come from, but Gabe’s odd behavior was enough to trust it. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?” he challenged, his gaze darting back to her.
Carly stepped onto the porch to join him, closing the front door behind her. She noted then that Gabe’s hair was dripping around his shoulders. “Last I knew, we weren’t really talking. I think we should probably keep it that way, so no, you can’t come into my house.”
“Carly, I… I know I’ve been acting like a jerk lately, and I’m sorry for that. But please, I need to talk to you. Please.”
“Gabe—”
“My life could depend on it,” he growled.
Carly smirked. “I hope you realize your attitude isn’t really selling your apology.”
“This is about the amethyst skull, so, are you going to let me in or not?”
A chill rushed down Carly’s spine. So far, the skull had remained safely hidden in her room. So far, Gabe hadn’t noticed it was missing. But by the look on his face, he’d recently become enlightened of the fact.
“Someone took it,” Gabe blurted out. “The skull, I mean. At least, I assume someone took it, because it’s gone. Look, I know you hate me right now and we’re not really talking, but… But it’s gone, and all I could think was, I have to tell Carly because Carly will know what to do.”
Carly didn’t know what to do, other than gape at him. The only way Gabe could possibly know the skull was gone was if he’d tried to—
“You agreed to leave it buried by our beach,” Gabe interrupted her thought. “You agreed to that, knowing what a temptation it is for me. Would I have come straight to you if I was doing anything other than making sure it’s safe?”
She let out a sigh. “Gabe—”
“See for yourself,” Gabe challenged, grabbing for her hand. Sparks shimmered between them, but they were soon forgotten as the walls of Gabe’s mind fell down.
Carly’s breath caught as the entirety of Gabriel’s thoughts spilled into hers. He’d never revealed so much of himself, and certainly not all at once. Several things became obvious all in a matter of seconds, the number one being the truth behind Gabe’s intention with the skull.
Gabe held a particular preoccupation with the skull much like the preoccupation he had with Carly. Resisting the talisman’s lure took up most of his thoughts, and it had actually taken him a great deal of willpower to leave the skull alone for as long as he had. Gabe only wanted what was best for the group, which was why he’d come to Carly right away.
Just as he’d claimed.
“I told you,” Gabe grunted, squeezing down on her fingers. “I just want to keep everyone safe, Carly. Especially you.”
She flinched. Even though Gabe had meant it, Carly had also seen what he was feeling for Katia. And it was definitely serious enough to give Carly pause.
“So, you’re the only one who gets to have feelings for someone else?” Gabe asked. “You dumped me, remember?”
“Only because I didn’t think I could trust you. I certainly don’t trust her.”
“Of course you don’t, because she’s hotter than you.”
Carly refused to let his comment affect her, and pulled her fingers back.
But Gabe wouldn’t let go of her hand. “I understand why you’re jealous of Katia, because she is a lot like you in a lot of ways.”
Carly tried again to tug her hand away, and again, Gabe stopped her. But this time, something in him changed. The mind that he’d just opened to her was now blank, black, dark, and any part of him that had once loved her was long gone.
“Gabe,” Carly spoke calmly. “I need you to—”
“Katia can see things other shifters can’t,” Gabe said, squeezing down on Carly’s hand until she let out a yelp of pain. “For instance, she saw that you’ve touched the skull.”
Carly told herself not to panic. Gabe could very possibly overpower her, but she didn’t want it to come to that. He wasn’t himself right now, so that’s how she had to approach him—like anyone other than the boy who’d been her best friend. “I don’t know anything about the skull.”
“Liar!” The word terrified her—not because Gabe had screamed it, but because it had come out of his mouth in the voice of Damon Phillips.
She searched Gabe’s pale blue eyes, but they were hollow. He was hollow. It horrified her that the transition had happened in a matter of seconds, in the blink of an eye. It horrified her that Gabe still had hold of her hand and he wasn’t letting go.
“Gabe—” she tried, but he clamped down even harder.
“You’re a strong shifter,” Gabe spoke in his own voice this time. Which made Carly wonder if she’d heard Damon at all. “You can hide a lot, Carly, but you can’t hide everything. If you know where the skull is, I need you to tell me.”
“I don’t know where—”
“Tell me where the skull is!”
Carly wasn’t sure how she managed it, but she finally twisted her fingers out from Gabe’s, her hand throbbing as she sprang back from him. It was instinct to shift into her primary, and more than instinct to run as far away from him as possible.
Gabe couldn’t be trusted—that was apparent. But it was also apparent that Carly could no longer carry the burden of the skull alone. It was time to tell Abel. All Carly could hope was that he’d forgive her for her secret and have some advice on what to do next.
* * *
Carly landed in Abel’s backyard before she shifted human. She walked on bare feet up to the back door, didn’t see a bell, and knocked. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t been followed, and knocked again.
If Gabe knew the location of the skull, he wouldn’t have bothered Carly. Which meant the skull was safe for now and should be long enough for her to determine a more appropriate location. She’d have one soon enough, once she talked to Abel.
“Carly?” Esther asked as she opened the back door. She looked Carly up and down with disapproval. “Are you in your pajamas?”
Carly slipped past her into the kitchen. “I really need to talk to Abel. Is he home?”
“Yeah, he’s up in his room. Did you run here?”
“Something like that,” Carly muttered in response. “Is it okay if I go up there?”
Esther shrugged. “Mom and Dad aren’t home, so do whatever you want. Just make sure you lock the door.”
Carly wasn’t sure how to respond, but there was no time for that anyway. She walked into the hallway, right into Abel, a bolt of white snapping between them as he reached out to steady her shoulders.
“How did you know I was just dreaming about you?” Abel asked, yawning as his arms folded in around her. “I don’t know what you’re doing here, but good morning.”
I’m here because of Gabe, Carly was quick to explain. She felt Abel tense; perhaps she should have phrased that differently. “Because he showed up at my door and scared the hell out of me.”
“Who showed up at your door and scared the hell out of you?” Esther questioned.
Crap.
“Gabe,” Abel answered before Carly could st
op him.
Crap, crap, crap.
“What’d he do now?” Esther asked. “He’s been acting like a total psycho since he and Katia started hanging out all the time.”
“He has?” Carly wondered, pulling away from Abel to face Esther. “How?”
Esther snickered as she poured herself a cup of coffee. “Drinking all the time, picking fights. It makes me wonder what I ever saw in him.”
“I… thought the same thing when I talked to him this morning.”
Legends: Bloodline Book 2 Page 16
