Curse of Tempest Gate

by Nutt, Karen Michelle

  The white walls of the Laundromat made the place look large and clean. Dryers lined against two walls and the washers were down the middle of the room, eight in all, four in a row lined back to back.

  One quick sweep, told him only two humans were in there. His gaze landed first on a boy who was about nine or ten years old. He was a human male with light hair, a towhead as human’s would call the shade that looked like moonlight. Then his gaze focused on the female standing beside him, perhaps the boy’s mother. The female’s locks were a warm color kissed by the sun, making the strands a light reddish blonde. She wore it back away from her face with one of those clippy things he’d seen so many females wear when the weather turned warm, but the majority of the length cascaded down her back in waves of sunshine. The jeans and T-shirt were nothing special, but she might as well have been clothed in fine threads befitting royalty. The cloth flowed over her skin as if they’d been tailored to the way she moved, flattering all her curves. “It’s her.” His voice came out in a hoarse whisper even he didn’t recognize. The scent wafted off of the female and he must know why it drew him. Why she’d chosen to wear it like a calling card.

  Gideon had caught up to him and stood beside him now. His heavy gaze locked onto him. No doubt wondering what held him captive. No longer one of the Watchers, he didn’t need to explain his motives. The Watchers left him on his own. They wanted him to interact with humans, learn to respect them. What a better way to do so by introducing himself to this female. Then he’d find out where she bought the perfume she’d doused herself with and be done with her. His hand gripped the handle of the door, but Gideon’s words halted him.

  “What are you doing?” Gideon followed his line of vision. “Do you know her?”

  He didn’t, but he planned on rectifying it. He pushed open the door and entered. He closed his eyes as the intoxicating fragrance poured over him in waves of ecstasy, making him dizzy with lust. “Dear Lord.” His eyelids popped open and his gaze riveted to the human female. He wanted her, needed her. The thought consumed him, taking over every other thought.

  The female stared back at him. Her eyes, the lovely shade of green wavered over him, assessing the situation. He could see the warrior response in the depths of her eyes. Should she flee or fight? Her back stiffened and her chin rose in defiance. He noticed her hand moving to the back of her shirt. Dagger? No, this was the twenty-first century. She most likely packed a gun. It didn’t matter. He had to reach her, touch her to prove she was no illusion.

  He moved with purpose, ignoring Gideon who had entered behind him, ordering him to stand down.

  What an odd demand. They weren’t on a battlefield.

  Reaching the woman, he leaned near and inhaled the featherlike remnants of pine. “Rosemary.” Soothing cool… mint hit his senses next before a sweeter smoother fragrance teased him. The combination of all three at once proved his undoing. His gaze swept over her. He wanted to kiss her… every inch of her. His eyes narrowed with suspicion, wondering if the woman enchanted him. “What are you?” His voice was raw with emotion.

  Her lovely arched brows drew together. He could sense her uneasiness and she jerked away, but didn’t run. “Did you just sniff my hair?” she asked.

  Even her smooth and musical voice enticed him. “What enchantment have you cast? The scent, the perfume you wear, what is it?”

  Her frown deepened and her gaze wavered over his shoulder. Probably looking at Gideon for an explanation, but when none came, her gaze met his again. “I’m not wearing any perfume.”

  “You lie,” he spat, not believing her.

  Gideon placed a firm hand on his shoulder, gripping it tight in warning. “You’ll have to excuse my friend. His medication has him—”

  “I’m not on medication,” he snapped. He caught sight of the young boy starring up at him with wide eyes. The child moved closer to the female, wrapping his small arms around hers and leaning against her side. The action was not so much as if the boy feared Lucca, but to show him, he would protect the woman.

  Brave lad.

  “He’s not himself,” Gideon insisted and squeezed his shoulder again, a warning he couldn’t fathom. “He means no harm. Do you, Lucca?”

  Harm? Lucca was taken aback. Of course he didn’t mean any harm. He just wanted to… ravish her. The disturbing fact unsettled him. His pulse quickened at the prospect, the blood flowing to the part of his anatomy that was more than willing to make it a reality. He had no control over the feeling coursing through his body as if some entity had possessed him. He cursed under his breath and backed away. Turning in a whirl, he strode out the Laundromat before he did something he regretted. The thought of picking up the woman and throwing her over his shoulder crossed his mind.

  Once outside, he leaned against the side of the building and closed his eyes, trying to clear his thoughts. When Gideon opened the door to join him, he pushed away from the wall and took off at a brisk walk.

  Gideon kept pace, refusing to keep his mouth shut. “Well thank you Gideon for saving my arse.” Gideon’s sarcastic edge didn’t help his mood.

  “No one asked you to step in.” Who was the woman? Where did she come from and why in the hell did he want to take her? As his mind cleared, he recalled the woman’s T-shirt. The decal, advertised Shakespeare in the Park, a theatrical group that performed the plays at the Garden Grove Amphitheatre. Did she belong to the group? To his annoyance, Gideon still trailed him.

  “No?” Gideon wasn’t going to let his actions slide. “You don’t think I should have interfered. If I hadn’t the woman would have called 9-1-1 and we’d be having this conversation in the back of a squad car. So do you mind telling me what that was all about? You scared the woman and her boy with your wolf-like gaze as if you were on the hunt and the woman was the prey.”

  Lucca ran his fingers through his hair, pulling the long strands away from his face. Wolf-like gaze? Prey? His behavior proved startling enough, but to have Gideon recap it for him only made it worse. The woman and the boy were frightened. Yeah, he was a little shaken himself. Gideon wanted to know why he went all predator back there. Well, he didn’t have an answer. It was like some button had been pushed, activating the human side of his emotions making him irrational as they were. Even now he had to fight the urge to go back to the woman and drag her out of the Laundromat and make her his. “The female…”

  “Yes? The female what?”

  Lucca glanced at Gideon. “Her scent was like an aphrodisiac. You picked up her scent, didn’t you?” Hell if he had, Lucca knew without a doubt he would have fought Gideon to keep him away from her.

  Gideon frowned obviously thinking he’d lost his mind. Hell, he thought he’d lost his mind.

  “You were attracted to her,” he asked carefully.

  “Attracted?” He almost laughed. His lustful thoughts went beyond the causal attraction. Obsessed, fit better.

  “Yeah, attracted like you have the hots for her,” Gideon went on.

  Lucca glanced at him, wondering if the Watcher mocked him, but the guy looked serious. “Hots for her. Is this a human term you’ve picked up?”

  Gideon’s chuckle grated on his nerves. “You need to keep up with times man, this is the twenty-first century. Learn the lingo. The hots means you find her pretty. You want to—”

  “I get the jest of it,” he interrupted him not wanting to continue this conversation, but Gideon never knew when to shut up.

  “So, do you?”

  Lucca’s brows furrowed. “She has a comely way about her, but…”

  “You hesitate. Why?”

  “It was her scent that drew me.” He looked at Gideon now, weighing his statement and wondering if he understood. Gideon liked the human realm and lived among them easily enough. Maybe this was a common happening. Gideon tugged on his arm, halting their steps. At this rate, he’d never arrive home.

  “You were drawn in by her scent?” Gideon moved closer and lowered his voice as if he feared someone would o
verhear the conversation. “That’s why you went all stalker-like back there?”

  A quick glance around them, told Lucca whispering wasn’t necessary. A woman and her two children walked toward their car with ice cream cones in their hands. Two men dressed in polo shirts and nice slacks headed in the opposite direction. Their attire and their slick back hair told him they were looking to get lucky. Most likely their destination would lead them to World’s End. Not a preternatural being in sight and he didn’t sense one lurking in the shadows, but he didn’t begrudge Gideon his I-gotta-secret-to-tell covert operation. Finally the overdone production played out and Gideon revealed what he knew.

  “It’s rumored that Eli found his mate by her scent.”

  Lucca snorted and took a step back. He wasn’t sniffing for a soul mate. There had to be another… more logical explanation. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Gideon lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “The elders are looking into it. They’re recording any information Eli can provide. Ryden, Eli’s mate—”

  “I know who she is.”

  Gideon ignored the interruption. “Ryden has agreed to be tested. See if being mated to Eli has changed her in any way.”

  Lucca rubbed the tense muscles in the back of his neck. “What do you mean changed her?”

  “The elders are interested to know if we take human mates if the mate’s lifespan will increase. You know like other shifters and their mates. The bonding ritual tends to make the human mate live longer, almost as long as the shifter they’re bonded to.”

  “I know the biological makings of a bonded were-creatures. What does that have to do with the Fallen?”

  “In a sense, we function like a shifter.”

  He harrumphed with obvious annoyance. “You compare us to werewolves and such? We do not have the capability to shift to a lower being.”

  Gideon chuckled then covered his amusement with a cough.

  Most likely his lethal glare did the trick of shutting his trap. “You find this humorous?”

  “Yeah. Haven’t you always said humans were inferior beings? My friend, we shift from angelic beings to the so-called inferior human. We’re shifters.”

  Gideon’s smug look boiled his blood to the point that he found his hands balled into fists. One more word and he would punch the arrogant slant of Gideon’s mouth right off his face. “Shifters,” he spat and hissed, baring his fangs.

  “I do prove my point or do you believe exposing your fangs makes you civilized.” He grinned even more, letting his fangs lengthen, too.

  Through history, humans had mistaken the Fallen as vampires who could fly. Looking at Gideon’s fanged mug, made him realize why they came up with such a ludicrous idea.

  He drew in a deep breath, letting the anger go as Gideon’s words truly sunk in. Eli found his mate by her scent. If it were true, that would mean… His gaze wavered down the block where he could still make out the light illuminating inside the Laundromat and spilling out onto the sidewalk. He shook his head. “No.” He refused to believe he’d fallen so low as to lust after a human.” She’s your mate. His pesky subconscious mocked him. “No she’s not.”

  “What did you say?” Gideon’s brows furrowed.

  “Nothing.” He turned away. “Will you piss off, Gideon. I’m off for home.” He cringed at the word home. He never believed he would think of a place on the human realm as home, but there it was: life as a human. It sounded like a bad sitcom.

  “Fine, I’ll call on you tomorrow.”

  Lucca waved his hand over his head in farewell, but then remembered something important. “Gideon?” The Watcher turned to look at him in question. “When you happened upon me at World’s End, did you see anyone else with Kordon?”

  Gideon’s ruddy eyebrows drew together over the bridge of his nose. “Do you mean besides his goons?”

  Lucca nodded.

  “No. Why?” Gideon looked at him with concern. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need me to heal you?” He took a step forward and Lucca immediately stepped back, holding up his hands.

  “I’m fine. I don’t need your hands on me.”

  Gideon shook his head. “You know, you’re a stubborn sod. Heal like a human then. Maybe it’ll do you some good.” The glamour clogged the air and Gideon went off to do whatever the Watcher did on the human realm.

  Heal like a human, he says. His fingers gingerly touched his scalp where a lump had already formed. This beating was nothing compared to others he’d endured.

  He shoved his hands in his pockets as he strode toward his apartment. What did Gideon do on this realm besides pester him? He’d make a conscious choice to find out. Gideon may be his only friend and only contact with what transpired in the Otherworldly realm. He could prove useful in finding out the elders’ progress with soul mates.