by Leah Kent
"As you share The Bond, I assume he is trying to impregnate you," Finneus said. He didn't wait for an answer before he continued; Victoria knew he heard them through the floorboards. "There is a reason, a biological reason, that no mortal has ever shared The Bond with a shifter before. The child Gabriel is working so hard to gift you with will very likely kill you before it is ever born. The blood of the beast runs in our veins, and as children we are wild and savage. If the child does not kill you in vitro, it will likely kill you by its own claws once it is born into the world. Gabriel does not have the time to be a full-time father as well as continue his military career and tend to matters of the pride as King. Child rearing will fall to you, and it will be your death sentence."
Gabriel had never mentioned the risks, and Victoria had never thought to ask. As both of them presented as human, she had assumed any life created between the two of them would be just as human. The vicious nature of any fetus they created together was news to her and left her feeling unsettled. Every day that week they'd had unprotected sex, not because they were trying to necessarily get pregnant, but not because they didn’t want it happen, either. Victoria sank back against the couch and breathed in deeply, trying to come to terms with just how much danger she was. Around her faces she may or may not recognize were plotting her death, and inside of her swam the seeds of her own demise.
"I'm sorry," Finneus said, and meant it. "You deserve to know, and you deserve to keep yourself safe. If you want to stay with Gabriel then you can, but know what you are risking by doing so."
Tears had begun to collect in the corners of Victoria's eyes as the bitterness stung at her. Gabriel, the strong, passionate man she adored had neglected to tell her the facts so he could stay happy. Her safety didn't matter to him at all. Why hadn't he told her any of this?
"Thank you for telling me," Victoria whispered. If she spoke any louder she knew she would start bawling. "There's a lot for me to think about. Do you think I could have some time alone?"
Gabriel would be at the military base on duty for another few hours, giving her uninterrupted time to digest the information and plan the action she would take.
"Of course. If you need anything, I'm just upstairs."
Finneus rose from the couch and ascended the stairs, entering the door at the top landing that led into the house proper. When the latch clicked back into place, Victoria sank down across the seats of the couch and let her tears fall in full. After Peter's abuse, Gabriel had seemed like an angel, but the reality was that he was just as bad. At least Peter, for all the harm he had done her psychologically, had never put her life in danger. Now it seemed there was no escape.
"I should leave him" Victoria murmured to herself, as if the words would help give her the strength to do it. Was a relationship with a man who lied worth her life? The weak willed woman Peter had shaped her into said yes, but the fierce Queen Gabriel had awoken in her said no. No man was worth her life. No relationship was worth danger and pain. This wasn't the first time Gabriel had lied to her, and she knew that if she let him, he would keep lying.
She had to leave.
A week had been just enough time to incorporate her things throughout the basement apartment, and one by one Victoria collected and stored her belongings back in the suitcases they'd been packed in back at the apartment she shared with Peter. Emptiness settled in her heart. This was a place she'd wanted so badly to call home. It had been foolish of her to believe that a whirlwind relationship like the one she had with Gabriel would be forever. Lion shifter or not, a man was a man, and no matter what they said she knew they were interested in sex, not commitment. He'd used her; it was as simple as that.
There were three suitcases in total, and one by one Victoria carried them up the stairs to set them by the door. As she descended to collect the last one she called for a cab and gave Finneus' address as a pickup point. She'd be heading out to the suburbs to stay with her parents until she was back on her feet and had an action plan. The more she thought about it, the more Victoria felt she'd have to leave the city; there were too many dangers for her here.
Victoria would never see this place again. She lingered by her last suitcase, casting a final glance over the living room. This was a life she wasn't destined to have, and although it hurt to leave, she knew it was for the best.
Before she brought the bag up the stairs, Victoria laid a letter upon the coffee table for Gabriel to find when he returned home. Once she was on the road she'd pull the SIM card from her phone and get a new number. This couldn't be messy, and hearing Gabriel's voice would make her doubt her decision, she was sure.
As the sun sank against the horizon and evening approached, Victoria carried her bags from the back door to the curb and waited. Any minute now Gabriel was due to come home and she knew that if she saw him it would be that much more difficult to leave. The cabby helped her load her bags into his trunk and then she settled into the back seat, giving him her parent's address. As they took off Victoria cast an eye to the mansion Finneus called home one last time. In the upstairs window she saw him, a flash of blonde hair, before the curtain fluttered closed. For a day she'd been his Queen. What a joke.
The ride was spent in silence, and when they arrived the cabby unloaded her bags and then took off. With her belongings on her parent's front yard, Victoria approached the front door and rang the bell. She hadn't found the strength to call them, and so she was dropping in unannounced. For as much as her mother nagged her about coming back to stay, she was sure she'd be welcomed.
But no one answered the door. Both cars were in the driveway. Victoria sighed and turned the knob, letting herself in.
"Mom, dad," she called, leaving the small mudroom to enter the living room. "I'm not a door to door salesman. It's your daughter. Victoria. I came home to stay for a while."
The lights were on. Two mugs of coffee sat on the coffee table by the couch. The old DVD player they had was on, and a movie was playing. Victoria crossed the living room to stick her head into the kitchen when the floorboards just behind her creaked.
"Mom?" Victoria asked, turning. But as she did, a sharp crack broke through the room and pain shot in fiery tendrils across the back of her head. As the room blurred before her eyes, Victoria caught sight of Peter's face and the wooden baseball bat they kept near the door to the mudroom in his hand.
Then there was darkness, merciful and senseless.
Chapter Eight
The sun had set and darkness had descended by the time Gabriel arrived back at the dwelling he shared with Victoria. As he rounded the corner from the front of the house to reach the back door, he noticed that the basement lights were not on. The small windows that let marginal sunlight stream in were darkened, as though Victoria were not home. Maybe she'd had a hard day and was sleeping. A cocky grin spread his lips as he thought back on the activities of the night before — maybe she needed a nap after all of that. His little firecracker.
Gabriel turned the key in the lock and let himself in, careful not to make much noise as he descended the stairs leading into their living room. After kicking off his boots near the door he crossed the room and opened the bedroom door, peeking inside. The bed was empty.
"V?" Gabriel called, uncertainty creeping in. Where could she be? He pulled his cellphone from his pocket and checked for messages. There were none.
"Hey, V, you here?" He entered the bedroom and checked the bathroom, finding it equally as empty. The cosmetics Victoria kept across the counter and the hairdryer she'd hung near the mirror were missing. Gabriel's easy expression darkened, lips drawing downwards. A quick look through the bedroom concluded that her clothes were gone. When he'd kicked off his boots near the stairs, he hadn't tripped over her absurd collection of shoes.
"What the..."
Gabriel doubled around to the living room and cast a look across the room. The only object out of place was a sheet of paper left upon the coffee table. Gabriel flipped on the light switch and approached, finding
that the paper was a note written in Victoria's hand.
Gabriel --
Finneus told me what you didn't have the balls to tell me. I can't believe you would put me in danger and not alert me to the risks I faced. I thought you were a good man, an honest man, but I guess I was mistaken.
Don't call me. Don't try to find me. I'm moving on with my life, and you need to do the same. I won't listen to your lies or trust you anymore.
I hope you find a Queen worthy and able of ruling your kingdom with the future of the pride in her heart, because as it stands it seems the only person you care about is yourself.
Goodbye.
Victoria
Finneus. Finneus. White rage consumed him, the onset sudden and immediate. The paper crumpled in Gabriel's hand, the lion inside of him rising dangerously close to the surface. Together they stormed across the living room and up the stairs, bursting through the door that let out into Finneus' kitchen. The lion's senses were stronger in him now than ever, and Gabriel could smell Finneus several rooms away.
This would be no sneak attack. From where he stood in the door well, Gabriel snarled. The sound echoed through the kitchen and reverberated down the halls. Finneus would know exactly who was coming and what his intentions were.
"Gabriel," Finneus called out, unsurprised by the anger. Gabriel had already begun to stalk towards the room from which he smelled his cousin, the lion ready to tear him to pieces. "You have to listen to me."
"I know that Victoria listened to you," Gabriel growled as he approached, eyes set on the upcoming door to Finneus' living room. "She listened to you, and now she's gone. What did you say, Finneus? What the fuck did you tell her?"
He entered the living room and found Finneus sitting nude upon the couch. The man was already prepared to transform and fight, and it made Gabriel angrier. He threw Victoria's note in Finneus' direction and Finn caught it between his slender fingers and read the message.
"Very passive aggressive," he commented. "Very dramatic. I can see why you're angry. I would have thought that the Queen of the Liston pride would have more tact and grace than this."
"WHAT DID YOU TELL HER?!" The words burst from him as a roar might, instilled with the same bestial energy. Finneus did not flinch. He set the letter aside and looked Gabriel in the eyes, his own still placid and composed.
"I told her the truth, Gabriel. I told her that she is in danger, both from lions in our pride and from the lions in the Leroux pride, and I told her that she is in danger from the child you are trying to fill her with."
"You no good traitor," Gabriel hissed, slinking forward to approach the couch. Before he could get close, Finneus raised a hand, open palmed, towards him.
"If you come any closer I will have to transform. Keep your distance until it is clear if we will talk or if we will fight."
What a mockery. What an insult. Both of Gabriel's fists were clenched so tightly that his arms shook from the tension. Who did Finneus think he was?
"As long as I am here, she is safe!"
"And what about when you're not here?" Finneus asked. He dropped his hand and remained seated, one leg crossed over the other. Even naked his confidence was outstanding. It were as though he sat before Gabriel in a fitted suit for how unaffected he was. "What about when you are at work? What about if you are deployed again, and she is left to rule for months at a time in your stead? What about when diplomatic meetings with foreign prides force you to take leave of the city? Victoria will find herself alone amongst the lions, and one wrong move will see her ripped apart like the lamb she is amongst the beasts we are. This is no place for a human, Gabriel. We had to make her aware of the dangers that she faced."
"And the lie about our child?" Gabriel hissed, temper rising again. "There is no danger for her if she bears my child than if she bears a human’s son. Everyone knows it."
"There is always the chance that the pregnancy will kill a mortal. Did you forget when, five years ago, William's human mate succumbed to the child growing inside of her and both were lost?"
"And then three years ago, when Andrea — our lioness, Andrea — barely made out with her life because of the same thing? Human or lion shifter, there is always minimal chance. Minimal. They are the exceptions, not the rule, and if I know you, you made it seem like the end of the world!"
Finn's expression did not change. Gabriel's rage did not subside.
"You were supposed to be my best friend," he said. "My cousin. Family doesn't do this to family. Victoria is my mate, the one I share The Bond with, and you have pushed her away!"
"You don't understand," Finneus replied. "Gabriel, I did this because I am your best friend. Victoria isn't good for you. If she loved you, she never would have left. She would have tried to work things out. I didn’t want to tell you, but now that you are incensed anyway, I know for a fact that she is cheating on you. I orchestrated all of this to show you how undevout she truly is."
Undevout. Cheating. Whatever web Finn had woven, it had spun out of control. There was no way Victoria would cheat on him.
"Liar," Gabriel hissed.
"I saw footage of it," Finneus insisted. "She's not worth the love of a King. She's been seeing a man named Peter."
Peter. Had Finn not presented that detail, Gabriel never would have believed him. The name shot cold fear through him as the reality sunk in. Finneus knew nothing of Victoria's past, but Gabriel did. Her ex, Peter, had been a topic they'd returned to again and again as he fought to bolster her self-esteem. That she would crawl back to him after all they'd been through made him feel sick.
Shaking, Gabriel took a step backward. Sensing that the risk of battle was over, Finneus reached over the arm of the couch and pulled up a pair of pants, which he slipped into without hesitation.
"I wanted the break to be clean. I thought she wouldn't name me, but I suppose I read her character wrong yet again. I'd thought you'd take it better if she left you than if you found out she had betrayed you. It seemed softer that way."
There was no doubt that Finneus spoke, but the words that left his mouth were little more than sounds. Gabriel's mind was reeling, emotions almost impossible to pin down. Not long ago at all Finneus had warned him that Leroux would try to hurt him in any way he could — never had Gabriel expected that the sharpest blows would be dealt to him by none other than Finneus and Victoria.
"I have to talk to her," Gabriel insisted. He took another step back, distancing himself from Finn. As he did so the anger he felt towards him simmered down from a boil and became manageable. Finneus was not his problem. Not right now. "I have to set things straight. I need to know she doesn't love me."
"Gabriel, you—"
But before Finn could speak, Gabriel had already run from the room. Mind racing, heart throbbing, the lion lurking just behind his eyes, he knew he needed resolution. There would be no closure were he just to let things drop. On the run down the hall he dialed Victoria's phone only to find it went straight to voicemail. Her voice, the sweet honey he'd so adored, scorned him now through the recording.
Even if she never picked up, Gabriel was determined to find her. It didn't matter how long it took, or how hard he had to look. The Bond between them would see him through and guide him to her, of this he was sure. Two souls could not be split by a letter and infidelity. Until Victoria told him to his face that she was happier in Peter's arms, Gabriel would not give up on her.
Up until she had stumbled into his life by chance that night at the Ambrogio, Gabriel had little to live for. Victoria had given him hope, inspiration, and laughter. She'd given him love. Perhaps it was rash and foolish, but Gabriel wasn't willing to give up on her just yet. For all she’d given him, he had to give her a second chance. It seemed the least he could do.
Chapter Nine
"Are you sure this is a wise thing to do?" Peter asked, glancing again at what was visible of the basement door. They'd reinforced it with a bookshelf and then after that with a couch. There was no way anyone was getti
ng out. "I don't mind giving her what she deserves, but if we get caught doing this, won't it be more trouble than it's worth? I don't want to go to jail, Jessica."
Jessica sat upon the dryer, swinging her feet as they bided their time. The laundry room let down into the basement, and they’d been camped there since they’d thrown Victoria down the stairs and sealed off the basement door. Lewis was on his way.
"You won't go to jail because we won't get caught. My brother and I have a way of disposing of bodies that will leave no trace of foul play. You know how they say that you can feed a human corpse to hungry pigs, and they'll eat it bones and all?"
"... Yeah," Peter mumbled uncertainly.
"Well, let's just say that pigs aren't the only hungry animals Lewis and I have access to."
Jessica smiled sweetly at him, leaning forward so that her long black hair fell over her shoulders.
