Blood Debts (The Blood Book 3)

by Donnelly, Alianne

  The growl he emitted sounded like an avalanche somewhere above ground and she stopped. When he fell silent again Amelia squeezed her eyes shut, accepting her fate.

  *

  His prey was wounded. The beast thrilled at this. He tracked her by her blood through the maze of tunnels, taking his time. There was no need to hurry. His prey would be easier to take down now. She would tire soon and then he’d have her.

  Unease.

  Why? He did not understand. The female was a menace. She made him kill for sport. He remembered the names and they hurt him inside his head. He shook it out, aggravated and hastened through the tunnel. But his step slowed with hesitation again. Something wasn’t right. His senses pricked up, sorting through every little detail.

  He could scent blood and fear, his prey was close by, slowing. The panther lowered closer to the ground, ears twitching. There was the soft trickle of water from back where she’d started bleeding. There was the low howl of air rushing through the maze from somewhere unknown. There was his prey’s heartbeat. That made him snarl.

  He took a whiff of the blood in front of him. His nose wrinkled and his heart beat a little faster. Excitement? No. Apprehension. Concern.

  He snarled again and shook himself out as though wet. No reason for that!

  Still, he trotted forward, ears flat, eyes sharp for any movement. He rounded the corner where her scent became stronger and slowed. Two paths before him, but only one carried her scent. He eased to the opening of the dark tunnel, his tail tapping the wall, accidentally loosening rock.

  He saw her a little way off, his vision perfect, when she was all but blind. She didn’t see him, her eyes darting left and right frantically. The unease returned. Her face was different. Blond hair, white dress, but her eyes were wrong. She smelled wrong. Good, but wrong.

  The panther lowered to the ground to watch. His tail swished along smooth rock, sending another pebble across it right to her. Another wave of her fear hit his nose. She spoke. Human words that somehow made sense. Had he heard them before? His head tilted to the side.

  The woman eased a step away from him and he came to his paws again, growling. She was two steps away from the edge of a precipice. He could scent a lot of old air from that place. The hole went down far. When she stopped again, he felt relief.

  The panther huffed in agitation. It was the other one. The human him was frantic, holding him back. He supposed that meant this was the wrong prey. She did look a lot like the interesting one from before. But he couldn’t be sure … hadn’t been himself then.

  “Gabriel?” she spoke again.

  Get her safe! The other one demanded. He would take over if the panther refused.

  Huffing, grumbling, he trotted around the frightened female and nudged her away from the precipice. She squealed which made him growl, but she did move. Sloooowly. When they emerged into the lighted tunnel, she sighed with relief. So did the other him.

  The panther huffed and trotted off back to the cave.

  “Wait!” the female called and he growled again for her to hurry up. Bad enough that he had to argue with the other him about what to do with her, he was in no mood to be waiting around until she caught up. He had things to do while he was out here. Caves to explore. The other him knew where the traps were and he wanted to see them for himself.

  At the next corner, the female caught his tail and he stopped dead.

  Inconceivable! With the other him laughing in his head, he rounded on her and roared.

  She jumped, but didn’t release him. “Slow. Down,” she ordered. Ordered.

  Baffled, the panther stared at her.

  The other him rose to the fore and he growled, shaking his head to get him loose. But the human was strong and fighting him was not easy. He pawed at his head, roared inside it, did everything he could to intimidate the human, but he would not back down. The more he struggled, the less ground he had until … until…

  Until there was no more panther and the other one.

  Gabriel opened his eyes, feeling the panther inside him, all around him, but they weren’t separate anymore.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Amelia said, concern in her voice. He still had the scent of her blood in his nose. He turned to her and she flinched. Moving slowly, cautiously, he brought his nose to her feet and sniffed. Fresh wounds. Her foot had to be cut up pretty bad. No wonder she’d been lagging behind.

  Gabriel nosed her ankle, then rasped his tongue over it, savoring the taste of her skin. All of his senses were a hundred times better in this shape; he’d have to explore them thoroughly. Later. Right now he had to lead Amelia out of here, back to safety. How she’d managed not to trip any traps was beyond him. But he was grateful.

  Now he picked his way carefully, going slow so she could keep up. Every once in a while she hissed in pain and he cursed himself for having been the cause of it yet again. This was the second time his nightmares had hurt her.

  Gabriel could keep her safe from the Romans when he was with her. He could get Soren’s men off her back and keep Honoria in her place. He could even show her the nicer, gentler sides of Rome. But how in the hell was he supposed to protect her from himself?

  The tunnel opened into his cave lair again and Amelia sighed next to him. She hobbled to the couch. He felt like shit with each step she took. Bloody footprints marked her trail. As soon as she sat she raised her foot to examine it. “Crap,” she muttered. “I don’t suppose you have a first aid kit in here?”

  He did. But against common sense that said to shift back to his human shape and get it for her, instinct told him something else. Instinct won out. Gabriel rounded the couch, nudging her hands away with his nose.

  “Gabriel?”

  She was nervous. Having a carnivore sniffing around a bloody limb couldn’t be the most comfortable feeling to have. But she was handling herself masterfully. She kept still, though her heart was racing again. Though she looked at him warily, she didn’t fight him or try to get away. Meeting her gaze to reassure her, he gently licked her wounded foot. He was relieved to find that though the taste of blood was interesting he didn’t feel any uncontrollable urge to take a bite out of her foot. Always good to know.

  “Ever heard of sepsis?” Amelia asked.

  He grunted in answer since he couldn’t exactly voice his opinion. And even if he could there was no way to explain why he needed to do this when he himself didn’t know. It felt right. He licked the wound again, cleaning off the blood and dirt to gauge the severity of the cut. The ball of her foot had an arching groove ripped into the skin by a jagged edge.

  “Yeah, okay,” she said, pushing at his head. “That’s enough. I could really use some antiseptic and your whiskers tickle.”

  Gabriel shook off her hands and put a paw on her leg when she would have moved it away. His claws barely touched her skin but she went still as a statue. He wasn’t exactly doing a jig either. A baffled sound was all he could manage as he stared at Amelia’s foot. Was it his imagination or was it healing?

  He distinctly remembered the wound being bigger and bleeding. Now the very edges looked like they were … closing? Gabriel looked up at Amelia for confirmation. She met his gaze but seemed to have trouble forming words.

  Curious, he lowered his head to her skin again and swept his tongue over her foot in a long, slow lap.

  The ravaged skin pulled together and mended before his very eyes.

  His paw slipped back down to the floor and he sat, at a loss. Was this some sort of side effect of the change? He already knew his body healed quickly to compensate for the damage done by shifting shape. Amelia had never mentioned the ability could be passed on to someone else.

  Amelia touched her foot to the ground, testing it. “That’s a new one,” she said.

  Gabriel’s mouth pulled to the sides in an awkward snarl-smile. He didn’t know why Amelia was looking so serious. This was great! He couldn’t wait to test all the applications. Would it work when he was human too? What exactly coul
d he fix?

  There was one thing he knew he could do.

  He got up, startling Amelia backwards. Using her momentum he hooked a paw beneath her other leg and nudged it up. She got the hint and proffered her other foot. This one wasn’t as bad as the other. It wasn’t bleeding, just scratched up a bit, but that didn’t stop him from showing it the same meticulous attention. When he was finished he sat again, head high, feeling like a rock star. He tried to wiggle his eyebrows but it felt weird.

  Probably looked it, too, given the face Amelia made.

  “Uh, thanks,” she said.

  Gabriel rolled his eyes. He knew those wheels of hers were already turning, calculating all the facts and possibilities. Him? He was over the moon to be alive—and a panther! With healing saliva. Ha! He wanted to run. He wanted to jump into the pool of crystalline water and romp around. How high could he jump? Could he scale those rocks?

  “It had to be the regenerative serum,” Amelia said, brows drawn in concentration. “I amped up the dosage hoping it would lessen the pain of transformation. I never imagined…”

  Gabriel hopped up on the couch next to her, his tail flaring out to balance him. Cool. Face to face with her he savored the sight of her eyes going wide, staring into his. He could distinguish every shade, every speck of color in them.

  Amelia raised a timid hand, touched his face, his ear twitched when she brushed it and she grinned. “How do you—”

  He licked her face.

  “—feel.”

  In answer he laid on his back and put his head in her lap.

  “You’re enjoying this way too much.”

  Gabriel barked a strange sounding laugh. Hell yeah he was! Now that he’d worked out the double personality issues this was the most amazing thing he’d ever done. He was strong, he was fast, he could scent things above ground, and see in the dark—and not just animalistic, catching what little light there was and interpreting it. No. He could see. In pitch black darkness. Whatever Amelia had done in the past, this had to be her greatest achievement yet. She hadn’t just combined human and animal DNA; she’d joined the strengths of both to make something that surpassed them. Gabriel felt invincible.

  Amelia smiled her eyes sad. “It worked.”

  And that was bad news?

  “You don’t need me anymore.”

  The muscles in his core contracted. He turned over as his body began to roil again, shifting out of its animal shape. It wasn’t pleasant but neither was it the bone breaking, gut twisting agony he’d gone through to get to this point. When it was over Gabriel was left gasping, sore and bruised, but whole. He cupped Amelia’s cheek with a shaky hand. “I’ll always need you,” he grated. His jaw felt stiff; he couldn’t open his mouth enough to speak normally and his voice was a scratchy growl.

  She took his hand in hers, pulled it away from her cheek. “We had a deal. It didn’t include emotional attachment.”

  “Yeah, well it didn’t include you getting kidnapped to Rome either. I guess we’ll have to renegotiate.”

  “You got what you wanted. What’s left to negotiate?”

  A week ago he wouldn’t have seen it. He’d have taken her nonchalance at face value, accepted defeat and walked out of her life. It’d have killed him but he’d have done it. But too much has happened. He knew her too well and the heightened senses didn’t hurt either. He could see the raw vulnerability in her eyes she strove so hard to conceal. He wasn’t in this by himself. Amelia was right there with him, just as deep. There was no way out of the hole they’d dug for themselves and he thanked all the gods above for that. Even the son of a bitch Trickster who got them into this mess to begin with.

  Gabriel could feel Amelia’s pulse on the soft inside of her wrist. The rhythm matched his own. Their hearts beat not in unison but in harmony, complimenting each other. On some level she had to feel it too.

  Now he had to get her to admit it.

  Chapter 24

  A low beep pulled on Amelia’s consciousness, dragging her out of a warm, pleasant haze of dreamless sleep. It was dark, not a sliver of light penetrated her eyelids. As the noise faded, so did she, drifting back to sleep.

  But the beep returned, an irritating gnat in her ear. Amelia didn’t want to move ever again. She was cuddled against her lover, cocooned in his warmth and strength, puffs of his breath caressing her neck. He’d held her all through the night, as if he couldn’t sleep unless he felt her with him. She was warm, sated, and so relaxed nothing could bother her.

  Except that damn beep.

  Amelia forced one eye open, squinting in the darkness, unable to make out even the tip of her nose. She groaned in displeasure to be so rudely awakened in the middle of the night. Behind her, Gabriel rumbled an answering growl, pulled her closer and buried his face in her shoulder.

  She would have been content to snuggle in and sleep but the beep returned yet again and she got that annoying tingly, startled feeling in her belly, sharply shedding a layer of sleep. Irritated, she ground her teeth, waiting for it to stop. Beeps always stopped after a while.

  This one didn’t.

  Gabriel purred, actually purred from deep in his chest where she could feel it against her back. “Did you set another alarm?” he mumbled.

  Amelia couldn’t think of why she would have. She didn’t have any appointments, and there was nothing pressing in her schedule that would demand her attention. Her mind was slow to kick in. She was almost asleep again when she remembered where they were. She tensed and felt Gabriel do the same. “That’s not my alarm.”

  Beep.

  “I’m on it,” Gabriel said and shot out of bed.

  Except it wasn’t a bed and there was barely enough room for the two of them on it. Jarred from her position, Amelia tipped forward and with a squeal toppled to the hard, cold ground as the lights came on.

  She got up and wrapped last night’s dress around herself for cover if not warmth. She found her glasses neatly perched on a pillow next to the couch. Amelia felt a bloom of warmth in her belly. Had Gabriel put them there, out of harm’s way?

  Gabriel swore, dispelling most of the enchantment but not all.

  “What is it?”

  “A seeker signal.”

  “I’m guessing that’s exactly what it sounds like?” She padded over to him, taking care with her still sore feet.

  “It’s like a fishing net tossed over a wide area. Most systems are designed to automatically respond with a ping if they’re capable of communication.”

  “Honoria?” Did she suspect Gabriel had a com somewhere?

  “I don’t think so,” he said with a frown. “I’m tracing the signal back to its origin. It’s coming from off world.”

  Amelia read the results on screen. The computer was still on the signal’s path and a small map in one corner displayed the trace, a mad flight across the galaxy far from Rome. “That’s…” not possible. The direction it was heading… No, it couldn’t be. But the possibility made her heart beat a little faster.

  Gabriel noticed. “You know something I don’t?”

  Amelia didn’t respond. She held her breath watching the map zero in on a solar system and then a planet.

  “Torrey,” they said in unison. Amelia grinned, almost giddy with hope. They had a plan B!

  “Torrey where your sister recorded that thing with the virus?”

  Amelia shook her head. “Torrey where Tristan lives.” She couldn’t quell her enthusiasm. By some miracle Tristan was calling here! All the nastiness of last night’s machinations by the Caesar disappeared for one shining moment of utter joy. She was going to get out of here. Tristan would find them and come rescue them, and she was going to go home!

  Then she looked at Gabriel and her mood plummeted. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  He said nothing.

  Amelia shook off the strange feeling she’d disappointed him somehow and turned her attention back to the computer while she put the dress on properly. “Did you ping back yet?�
��

  “No,” he said.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?”

  “A good reason.”

  Amelia blinked at him. “That’s our ticket out of here. What more reason do you need?”

  He pointed at the blinking red light on the console. “That little shield is all that stands between this place and the outside world. I have to deactivate it to send the ping and the second I do, Honoria will know. How sure are you that your knight in shining armor will be so eager to help you?”

  Amelia flushed, unable to answer him. She had no reason to think that Tristan would help her; no reason to think it was him at all. And if it was, and if he decided to intervene, there was no way he could get to them before Honoria. If Gabriel exposed this place, Caesar would destroy it without hesitation, and who knew what other retribution she would take? It was a huge risk to both of them.

  Beep.

  A lifetime of logic shut down. Her gut told her she needed to make that call, get some sort of signal out, no matter what. It could be their only chance at getting out of here alive. “What choice do we have?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “We’re not getting out of here on our own.”

  Gabriel swore. “I could—”

  “What? Fight your way past the legion of trained soldiers?”

  “I can get you out of here safely,” he growled. “You don’t need that guy.”

  “And what about you? Oh, wait, I forgot. You never planned on leaving once you got here.”

  “Amelia…”

  Beep.

  “We’re too far. Your knight won’t be much help from across the galaxy.”

  That set her teeth on edge. “Ping him,” she said. “That’s all I’m asking. Let them at least get our coordinates so someone outside this God forsaken world knows where’re here.”