by Amelia Jade
“There,” he said, tossing the towel away and sliding his firm body next to hers. “Much better.”
She smiled happily and leaned over to kiss him. He pulled her tight, so that she was pressed right against him, their bodies almost molded together as they lay entwined on the bed for an unknown amount of time.
Eventually Gabriel pulled away, but that was only because he was ready to go again, and needed some space with which to touch her and bring her back to a state of readiness.
Not that Stephanie had had any plans to say otherwise…
Chapter Fifteen
Gabriel
He’d spent too long with her.
In multiple ways, he knew he shouldn’t have sequestered himself in her room for the entire rest of the day. They had left only once, and that was to get food. The rest of the day had seen themselves lay naked together, either resting, or mating. It hadn’t been his plan, and he doubted it had been hers.
Hell, I didn’t even have any intentions of sleeping with her. It just sort of…happened.
Not for the first time Gabriel wondered at what point his irritation with the journalist had turned into infatuation. He wasn’t dumb enough to deny that it had—the evidence of that had been in front of him for over twelve hours the day before. Not that he considered physical attraction a sign of emotional bonding, but the way with which they had lain with each other had been all the sign he needed.
He understood her, and she him, in such a basic, primal way that he wasn’t sure he could find words to describe it. She just knew what he wanted. When he wanted it. How he wanted it. And apparently whatever he did to her was the same. Gabriel didn’t feel as if he knew what she wanted. He just tried to please her, and based on a couple of the conversations they’d had, whatever he did always seemed to be exactly what she was looking for.
It pleased him—and if he were honest—it also slightly terrified him at the speed with which everything had happened. One day he was trying to figure out a way to get rid of her as fast as possible, and now she was staying in a room just down a hallway from him, and they were spending every available moment in each other’s arms, clothes or no clothes.
That was why he was out and about that morning.
“Morning, Captain!”
He shook himself out of his reverie and returned the salute of the corporal walking by him.
“Jax!” he replied to Corporal Miter’s greeting. “Good to see you up and about.”
The Green Bearet shrugged. “I wasn’t wounded that badly, sir,” he said politely, reminding Gabriel that it had been several days since his patrol returned.
“Still, good to see you,” Gabriel reiterated. “On patrol or out and about enjoying the weather?” he asked, indicating the bright blue sky overhead.
“Patrol, sir. Needed to get back in the groove.”
“Very good. Carry on,” he said, and the corporal saluted once more and walked off, continuing his patrol of the inner streets of Cloud Lake.
Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief. The appearance of Jax, the corporal who had led the patrol that was attacked the night Stephanie showed up, was a good sign. It meant he wasn’t letting the ambush and loss of his men eat him up.
And on a personal note, it had helped distract him from his bear for a few seconds, giving Gabriel a breather.
But that didn’t last much longer. Even as he acknowledged it, his bear renewed its attack. It was too worked up. The sexual activities of the day before hadn’t been enough to sate it. Its attention was too much on blood, on fighting. It wanted to hunt.
Without meaning to, Gabriel found his footsteps carrying him out of the downtown core and toward the edge of town as fast as he could. It was still a long walk, and one that he spent most of the trip fighting his bear within his head. To an outsider it probably looked like he was having some sort of mental attack. Maybe a schizophrenic or something, he didn’t know. Gabriel didn’t have time to ponder such things just then. He didn’t have much time for anything.
His bear was winning. There was still a ways to go.
Even as he picked up the pace, Gabriel ran through the breathing exercises, something he’d learned long ago. Normally they would help, but today it seemed that they were just another exercise in futility.
“No,” he ground out. “This is not happening. I am not going to lose control like this. I’m a Green Bearet dammit, and I will not be fucking outdone by my goddamned bear!”
His voice was filled with rage, which proved to be a mistake. His anger at himself was harnessed by his animal, and the beast within him grew in strength.
Gabriel’s defenses began to fail as it worked its way closer and closer to the surface. The edges of his vision were hazed in red, and it was creeping closer and closer.
He broke out into a run, desperate to reach the city limits, to the protection of the forest he knew was there. If he could make it there, maybe he could change, he could let his bear out, but stay in control. He had to. He had to…
The ground began to incline slightly. He was close! If things could just hold off for another few minutes as he climbed the hill to the forest, he could change and not have to worry about being caught doing so within the city, something that was strictly illegal. The last thing the Green Bearets needed was their commanding officer breaking one of the most important rules.
Nearly everything he saw was covered by a redness, the ever-growing anger of his bear as it wormed its way through his mind, overwhelming it bit by bit.
I should never have gone so long without shifting. It’s going to destroy me. I should have listened to the others. I should have taken leave. That would have been temporary. If I lose control of my bear, it could be permanent. Fuck, why am I so dumb!
But even as the realization that his stubbornness to hand over control to someone else had put him in serious danger, his bear broke through the last of his defenses.
Gabriel bellowed, an angry triumphant sound as his bear announced its victory. He kept running, accelerating past what a human could manage. He could smell the trees… he was so close!
Fur began to burst through his skin, absorbing his clothes into his body even as he began to change. Thick charcoal-gray hair sprouted everywhere. There was an itch in his nose as his face started to readjust itself, sprouting a muzzle from the relative flatness of his human skull. Limbs began to thicken, and claws sprang from his fingers, even as his hands doubled in size, pads becoming evident on the underside.
So close. Come on!
He was resisting the change with every remaining ounce of energy he had left. His movement on two feet began to slow, so he let himself fall to the ground onto all fours, even as his joints reversed themselves. The change was almost complete, and Gabriel was running out of time.
With one last intense burst of focus and willpower, he shot his bear up over the top of the hill and into the nearest thicket of trees. The sunlight was eclipsed by the thick canopy above, and underneath wet leaves and twigs crunched and made all sorts of noises from his passing.
His goal achieved, Gabriel’s mental presence sank back into the deeper crevasses of his mind to recover. Holding on any longer would just do more harm than good. He needed to recover now. Besides, with his bear unleashed, it would be draining itself while he recharged. Soon he’d be able to reassert control.
The time between now and then was going to be interesting. His bear, relishing in the freedom of being unleashed after far too long spent cooped up in his mind, was simply blazing its way through the forest. Brush, bushes, twigs, branches, and even small trees were left wasted behind him as it simply barreled forward.
At one point he hit a tree that refused to give and bounced off, pain lancing through his body at the abrupt stoppage of his movement. But the beast that was in control was consumed in so wild a frenzy that it didn’t care. It simply leapt to its feet and took off once more, driving deeper and deeper into the forest as it spent its anger.
It was so consumed wi
th its rampage that neither his wild beast nor his human side detected the danger before it was too late.
Something flashed out of the bushes to his left and pain exploded down his side as a massive figure plowed into him, one paw opening four-inch-deep wounds in his flank. His left side a blazing ball of agony, Gabriel rolled and tumbled through the bushes, until he finally came to a stop on his side.
Bouncing to his feet, he watched as his bear spun in a circle, searching for his antagonist. The creature had vanished it seemed.
What the hell is going on? Who would attack me?
Gabriel forced a sliver of his human conscience back into control, letting the scents of the forest come to his nose. He went rigid as he smelled the sickly sweet sap of pine. There were only pine trees in one place near Cloud Lake.
To the north.
In his rage, he’d headed north of the town, into the forest where his men patrolled vigorously against the incursions of the Fenrisian Remnants. Which meant that if he’d just been attacked, it wasn’t by a random Green Bearet who hadn’t realized he was a friendly.
No, Gabriel had just stumbled into a trap. That awoke his human mind completely. Re-energized and knowing he was in mortal danger, he swatted the entity of his bear aside with contemptuous ease, reasserting control as if he’d never left. Immediately he heard noises in the forest, smells came to him, and he knew where his enemy was.
Rolling to the left he swatted with his front paws at the space his shoulder had just occupied. A huge black shape suddenly filled that area and his claws returned the favor of the surprise attack. Gabriel continued his roll, coming back up onto all fours and charging his opponent as they stood there, slightly stunned by the attack.
But he didn’t make it.
A second shape barreled out of his peripheral vision, and too late Gabriel realized the bear he’d just attacked hadn’t been the one who’d hit him initially. There was more than one.
He rolled and came to his feet, rage filling him once more as he realized he had walked right into an ambush. A small but fast brown bear darted in at him from behind, a third attacker revealing itself. Gabriel was in no mood to play games, however, and he feinted a retreat, drawing the young, overconfident shifter in close. Then he reversed motion and a powerful hind leg struck out, claws tearing the other animal’s face open even as the impact of his foot sent the younger shifter flying backward.
The black bear came at him again and he met the charge head-on, tapping into the rage and bloodlust of his bestial side. The pair rose up on their hind legs and let loose with a flurry of slapping blows, that if it weren’t for the bloodstained ruin of their fur that was left behind, could almost be called playful.
Neither side gained an advantage and eventually they broke apart, just as the dark brown shape of the initial attacker came at him. He snarled in anger and used a human move on the shifter. Just a moment before it slammed into him he pushed back off the ground, turned one paw upside down and caught the charging bear with a brutal uppercut to the bottom of its jaw.
His claws hooked in tight and Gabriel threw himself backward and into a roll. This allowed him to bend his forepaw and then yank it with him. His claws tore through the sensitive skin under the other shifter’s jaw, and then with a sickening rip, the force of his rotation actually separated the bottom section of jaw from his attacker.
One down, he thought as the bear fell to the ground, blood pouring out around it as it bleated its death throws weakly.
The black bear was nowhere to be seen, while the young light brown bear was just regaining its feet. Gabriel charged over to it, sinking his teeth into its neck and shaking violently until he heard bone snap. It pained him to kill such a youngling, but the bear was still big enough to cause him harm.
Without warning claws sliced down his back. Gabriel roared in pain and turned to find the black bear tearing wildly at his back and then flank, ripping him open in a dozen places in the span of a few seconds.
Despite the wounds, Gabriel struck back. As he spun away he slapped his trailing paw against the black bear’s foreleg, and nearly ripped the fur away from the bone. The move left him open to another type of attack, and razor-sharp teeth dug into his shoulder, ripping fur and muscle from him.
Rage flashed up through him and his bear reasserted control before he could stop it. Instead of retreating, his animal drove itself forward until it got under the other bear’s head, exposing the tender skin of its stomach. The bear tore a chunk from it, and then another. Attacks from the other bear struck home, but his beast ignored them, ripping more and more flesh from his opponent, even as the black bear ripped his back and shoulders to shreds.
But his animal was fully engorged with bloodlust, and it kept attacking. Blood flowed through his mouth and Gabriel could taste the metallic iron tang of it. But his bear kept going. And going. It was practically eating its way inside the other animal.
And then it was over. The black bear suddenly went limp and died as his jaws closed around something vital and ripped it and several ribs free of the body in one powerful wrenching motion.
Gabriel used the sudden end to the fight to reassert control.
In the distance he could hear more animals coming. He looked up at the sky, quickly using the sun to reorient him as best he could under the treed canopy, and then took off back in the direction of Cloud Lake.
He had been badly hurt and was in no shape to fight any more of the Fenrisians. Especially the wolves he could hear howling as they chased after him. The fuckers were fast, and if he was unlucky, they might actually catch him.
Pouring on the speed as best he could, trying his hardest to ignore the blood lost from his multitude of wounds, especially his mangled shoulder, Gabriel ran for home. His bear’s mind was exhausted now, so keeping it in check was far easier than it had been.
The wolves were close now, and he knew they were likely to catch him before he reached the city limits. He kept on eye on his right flank, from where he could hear them approaching.
A blast of sound from his front left swung Gabriel’s attention around in a panic as he realized that somehow they’d gotten in front of him.
But then there were bears flowing around him. Bears he recognized.
They were his men! A patrol had managed to stumble on him—or perhaps they’d heard the fight, or the wolves, and had come looking. It didn’t matter; he was saved. They ignored him and charged behind him into the forest.
A minute later squeals echoed through the trees as the wolves’ pursuit was ambushed by an entire squad of Green Bearets.
Still, Gabriel didn’t slow. He didn’t feel like talking to any of them, or revealing why it was he’d been so far into the woods. So he ran and he ran, heading back to the motel as fast as he could.
Chapter Sixteen
Stephanie
She had just thrown open the curtains on her window when he ran by.
“Gabriel?” Although she was alone and the window was closed, her surprise caused her to speak aloud.
The blood-covered apparition had looked extremely like him. He’d left her alone that morning to interview two of his men, saying he needed to go out and walk the streets for a bit. Given that she’d been granted near free rein of the motel and unlimited access to two lieutenants—officers who might know something, not low-level privates like she’d expected—Stephanie hadn’t objected.
But after talking to one she’d gotten hungry, grabbed some food, and then come back to her room to freshen up. The room had been dark and she knew it was sunny out, so she’d walked across the floor and flung the curtains aside.
What she’d not expected was her eyes to be drawn to the bloodstained figure dashing across the rear courtyard of the motel and inside.
“What the hell?” she muttered, and, making a snap decision, turned and headed for the door.
She got to the top of them just as she heard a door slam downstairs. A moment later she saw Luther come in the front door and head back. T
rying to act as if she belonged, she marched down the stairs and followed him.
He entered Gabriel’s office and closed the door behind him. Something clicked and she realized that the shifter had locked it behind him. Whatever was about to happen, they didn’t want anyone walking in on it.
Curious as to what had happened, and if Gabriel was okay, she sneaked up to the door. Leaning against the frame as if bored and waiting, she listened to what was going on inside.
“What the fuck was that?” That was Luther. His voice was pitched low, but loud enough that she could still hear it.
“Leave me the fuck alone.”
Gabriel.
“You’re in charge here, Captain Korver. You need to keep your shit together.”
“I’m fine. I promise. Things are better now. I just need to heal.”
“Things are better, Gabriel? Are you fucking serious? You can’t keep it together anymore. You’re losing it.”
She heard a crunching sound. Something was breaking
“What happened out there?” Luther’s voice had softened as he asked.
“I made a mistake yesterday.”
“With the girl from the news?”
“Yes.”
She stiffened at Gabriel’s words, missing what he said next as she realized what he was talking about. A mistake. Yesterday.
He’d spent the day yesterday with her. Did he consider all that they’d done a mistake? A waste of time?
Tears sprang to her eyes. Stephanie hated that. Any time she got extremely angry she started to cry, whether she wanted to or not. It was just the way her system was wired. Doing so made her even more angry, which contributed to more tears. It was a vicious cycle.
How could he think that we were a mistake? Why? She couldn’t help shake the feeling that it was something she’d done. Or maybe it was something she hadn’t done? Had he faked being satisfied with her, perhaps? Did she actually suck? Had her lack of experience in the bedroom somehow made him regret what he’d done?
Stephanie was crushed.
