Jason grinned. "Just an Outsider now. The kind of medicine I'm performing, you know actually looking inside of a body with my own eyes as opposed to using machines, it would probably be frowned upon in most medical institutions." Jason put a cool hand on her forehead. "Would you like to sit up?"
She must have nodded. Although she still felt pretty woozy, she wasn't sure she actually had or if she'd just done it in her own mind. Still, the two men bent over and helped her get into an upright position.
She looked at Gabriel. "How did we get here?"
"You, I moved through space. Me, I took an airplane."
Jason narrowed his eyes and she felt a strange fluttering sensation in her head. What was he doing to her?
"Are you in my brain?"
Jason adjusted his gaze from her head to her eyes. "Just using some of my energy to repair the damage in your head. Your body would eventually heal itself, faster than a regular human's would, but still I can help to make the whole thing go away at an even quicker rate."
Loraine turned to regard the man who'd sent her here. Gabriel looked worn out. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair disheveled and his clothes wrinkled. All in all, his appearance screamed 'I haven't slept in a while'.
"How long have I been here?"
"Almost twenty-four hours." Jason stood. "Gabriel dropped you down in the middle of the living room without phoning first. We weren't even sure who you were until the phone started ringing. Then we all got really worried. Our concern, however, was nothing compared to the frantic mess he has been since he arrived three hours ago."
She didn't know why Gabriel would be so worked up. Clearly, he had saved her life. She needed to thank him for that. Tears pooled in her eyes as she remembered the scene and how she had been helpless, how she had been unable to move to defend herself or even to run. If Futon hadn't…
Gasping, she reached out and grabbed Gabriel's arm. "Did you figure out what happened to my dog?"
Jason raised an eyebrow and looked at Gabriel. "Her dog?"
Gabriel narrowed his eyes and stared at Jason. "He's a very special dog. He talks better than most animals. He told her to come and get me. Clearly he's magic." Gabriel cleared his throat. "He attacked a fucking demon to protect her."
Jason raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Down, boy-o. I'm not judging her for asking about the dog. I figured there must be a story involved there somewhere, and Leonardo is being close-mouthed about what he knows."
Gabriel looked at Jason. "Do you think you could give us a minute?"
Nodding, the doctor walked out of the room, his hair swishing behind him like a horse's tail.
Biting down on her lip, she regarded Gabriel. It was important to remind herself that he was just a friend. A good friend. One who had travelled to Maine to check on her, but just a friend—not a potential lover. Not her soul mate.
Keep it light, she reminded herself. "Do all the Outsider men wear their hair like you guys? Is it like a 'thing'? Should I expect everyone to resemble the cover models from romance novels written in the 1980s?"
Gabriel look confused as he shook his head. "Cover models from the 1980s?"
Sighing, she couldn't help but grin even though her tears still threatened to fall at Futon's disappearance. She still had a slight headache but the feeling of utter confusion was gone. "Never mind."
"Do you mean the long hair?"
Wow, she'd meant it to be a joke and now it was going to turn out to be a whole conversation. "Seriously, never mind."
He scooted up next to her on the bed, his head leaning back against the headboard so they were stretched out parallel to each other. Her heart pounded hard. This was incredibly inappropriate considering he was with someone else.
"I've let my hair get much too long. I may shave it off, and Jason's got unruly when he was in a coma in the mental institution. I'm surprised he hasn't cut it." He shrugged. "Maybe Charma likes it."
"Does Alexa like your hair?"
He turned to look at her. They were so close on the bed that she could feel his breath on her cheek. If she just turned slightly they'd be mouth-to-mouth. She forced herself to stay facing front. She was not the kind of woman who made moves on another woman's man. Not that she'd ever had the chance to do such a thing nor had she wanted to. In another two seconds, she was going to call Gabriel out for his rude behavior.
If he hadn't heroically saved her life, she would have already told him what she thought about how he acted. Soul mates shouldn't do that to each other.
And if they did maybe Loraine was going to have to alter her definition of soul mate.
"I've never asked Alexa if she likes my hair." He paused. "Do you?"
That was it? The way he said, 'do you?', with his voice getting low and sexy made her insides melt, which she hated. No, it was completely inappropriate.
She turned to look at him and they almost bumped noses. Embarrassed, she jerked backwards, almost falling off the bed. His strong hand grabbed her and held her steady.
"Look." She forced herself to continue. Pushing away the heat between them, she knew just because it was there didn't mean she had to act on it. "You're involved in, I assume, a committed relationship with your soul mate. I don't think she would like it that you are sitting so close to me. I know that I don't appreciate it, even though I am deeply thankful that you saved my life."
Gabriel reached out and brushed a piece of her hair off her face. God, she hated her hair. Why was he doing that? Why wasn't he listening?
"Beautiful Loraine, I think you've gotten the wrong idea."
She pushed his hand away, and he had the audacity to grin at her. "I haven't gotten the wrong idea. What you are doing is sexual in nature, whether you mean it to be or not, and I rather suspect that you do, in fact, mean it to be."
"No, I think you got the wrong impression of my relationship with Alexa. She's not my soul mate."
Barely able to speak over the lump that formed in her throat, she whispered, "She's not?"
He shook his head. "Alexa is my best friend. I took care of her growing up, kept her alive and, for the most part, unharmed. We still managed to get taken in by the demon, and I blame myself for that. I'm immensely loyal to Alexa, like you might be if you had a sibling. These days, however, in addition to still sort of being my friend, she's also my burden, or if you prefer, my obligation to save."
Loraine could hardly breathe. "Then who is your soul mate?"
"You tell me, lovely Loraine," he caressed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Who is my soul mate?"
His lips met hers.
Chapter Six
Sebastian stared at Alexa from across the room. With her back to him, she was clearly lost in thought. He could see that her posture was stiff as she stared out the window. Was she waiting for Gabriel or had the Outsider power gotten so considerable that he now had to worry if it was calling to her on a subconscious level?
"Something you want to talk about?"
He was rewarded when she jumped. She clearly hadn't heard him come in. That was good news. An Alexa in full control of her powers would have sensed him blocks away. Since he'd gone undetected in her thoughts she was still under his control, still weak and unsure of her abilities. That was how he intended her to stay.
When he'd made up his plans he'd thought to take Alexa sexually before he killed her, which would be at the end of the Outsider destruction. Until then he needed her alive to use her against the others. She could locate Outsiders. She could find them by feeling for their power. In the beginning it had only been for short distances. For example, she could find Gabriel several city blocks away. Then, when Sebastian let down his guard, she could feel him. That's how he'd convinced her that he was the same as she and Gabriel.
Any basic instruction from someone who knew how to control the power and she'd not just be able to sense that his energy was different from Gabe's, she'd be able to literally taste it in her mouth.
So… he couldn't let that happen.<
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"Bastian, you scared me."
He sauntered to the window and leaned down. He knew he was good looking. Women loved his brown eyes, muscular build, and long, lean face. It was time to remind Alexa that they weren't related before she started to pay attention to the questions Gabriel had been raising about him.
"Tell me what you're thinking about." He reached out to brush a strand of her long black hair off her shoulder. She looked down at his hand as he did. That's right, little human, notice me.
"I was thinking that Gabriel came to see me today at the shelter, and he had a girl with him."
"Jealous?"
As a true Outsider she shouldn't be. Gabriel wasn't her soul mate. Still, it seemed the kind of thing a guy who didn't know what she really was, which was what he pretended to be, would ask.
"No, just surprised, I guess. Even though I suppose I shouldn't be."
She smiled at him, and he could see uncertainty in the way she narrowed her eyes.
"Did you think Gabe was gay?"
She shook her head and laughed lightly. "No, I just never thought much about Gabriel and women at all."
He nodded like he didn't already know what she was going to say. Alexa was less predictable than most of the people he encountered. Still, he could play her like a piano.
"Did you wish he had been interested in you?"
"No." She shook her head. "Why are you asking me all these questions?"
"I'm trying to get a sense from you what your feelings for Gabe are before I confess how I feel about you."
There he'd said it. If she took the bait, then she'd be his. If she didn't take it, he'd have to keep working. He was clearly a patient demon. He'd put up with this nonsense for thirty years. He could take a few more weeks.
She sucked in her breath. "How you're feeling about me? How are you feeling, Bastian?"
"I've always been in love with you, Alexa. You must know that."
Well truthfully he wanted to fuck her hard, and then eat her soul but that was neither here nor there at the moment.
He continued. "Are you in love with Gabe, Alexa?"
"No." Her eyes were huge as she took two steps away from him, her arms crossed protectively in front of her. "You're both my family."
"We're never going to be all together as a family again, Lexie. Those days are over. Gabriel has crossed too far into the direction of evil. He cannot return to us."
She put her hands on her hips. "How do you know that? You can't know that."
"I can know. Can't you feel it when you're around him? Doesn't he feel different to you? Changed?"
Alexa would have had to feel it when Gabriel accepted his Outsider heritage. Sebastian knew he had. The acknowledgement of his heritage had ramped up his power level by at least ten degrees.
Sighing, she ran her hands through her hair. Sebastian had to restrain himself from eating her soul right then and there.
"He's not coming back to us, Alexa." He paused for dramatic effect. "Can you at least think about what I said?"
Meeting his gaze for the first time since he'd made his fake declaration of love, she looked so sincere he wanted to puke.
"Listen, Sebastian, I think there is something seriously wrong with me."
He hadn't expected that response. "What do you mean?"
"I think the things that happened to me before I came to live with your family damaged me in some way."
He leaned against the window. Really, he wasn't in the mood for this kind of declaration. However, if he was going to pretend to be in love, he supposed he had to act like he cared. "Damaged you physically?"
"No, emotionally."
She crossed away from him to the other side of the room. Sitting down at the bench adjacent to the grand piano, she pushed gently on the keys making nonsense sounds that didn't amount to music. Sebastian knew she'd never learned to play.
Finally, she continued speaking. "I just can't seem to have those sorts of feelings for anyone. I can't remember ever being molested. I can't really explain it. But I've never wanted anyone to kiss me, touch me, or hold me. It's not that I find it repulsive. I just find the idea completely uninteresting. I feel the same way about men and women. I simply feel nothing at all."
If he were not a demon, he might feel inclined to explain to Alexa that the reason she felt that way was that some idiot who designed destinies had paired her before she was born with another Outsider in such a way that she would never love another person except her 'quote' soul mate 'unquote'.
But he was a demon and it was too much fun to use this to his advantage.
He stepped forward until he was right behind her. Using his strong hands, he started a deep message on her shoulders. "I think the problem is that you never let yourself trust anyone. Why should you? All the people who should have loved and protected you betrayed you. Starting with your parents, who abandoned you to foster care, and most recently by Gabriel, who has gone somewhere you cannot, in good faith, follow him."
Letting go of her neck, he sat down next to her on the bench. "But I promise never to betray you. I promise to love you forever. I always have." He leaned in until his mouth was close to hers. "And I always will. You can trust me."
Moving forward, he kissed her soundly on the lips.
* * * *
Christophe walked briskly through the halls following the badly displayed numbers on the doors of the professor's offices. He might be in one of the most prestigious schools in the United States, if not the world, but he'd never get used to the odd, sometimes completely undecipherable way the university chose to label the rooms.
Just when he thought he was where he was supposed to be, the hallway suddenly bore a new name and the numbers started again. If he believed in such things, he might think that Fate conspired against him. Of course, maybe he should believe considering he could be one place one moment and then appear elsewhere the next.
"Ah-ha." He looked up to see the room he'd searched for with the words 'Dean of History Department' poorly stenciled on the door. The problem, he decided, with Americans was that they didn't take the time to appreciate the aesthetics of day-to-day living.
He never would have gotten lost in his university back home. Other than that, he'd really enjoyed his time in New York. The whole five hours he'd spent in the city before he'd arrived at Leonardo's university and gotten lost. It was funny, he'd never met the man but already he felt like he knew him. Like somehow they were kin, which was odd considering Christophe could trace his lineage to some of the oldest residents of France and before that to the Holy Roman Empire.
Knocking on the door, he was told to enter, which he did. He closed the door behind him after he'd stepped into the office. It was a cramped little space, surprising for a Dean, but then again Christophe didn't know what the American standard was for these things.
"Dean Goodman, my name is Dr. Christophe Roux. We spoke on the phone a few weeks ago."
The stubby little man who wore glasses thicker than some of the glassware he had at home, looked up at him from behind a desk with papers stacked everywhere. Clearly, he didn't need to envy the man his paperwork.
Raising a hand, Dean Edward Goodman regarded him silently. "Did you fly all the way here from Paris after I told you that I didn't know where Dr. Gregan is?"
"Oui, yes, I did."
Confident he wasn't going to be immediately dismissed from the room he stepped forward and sat down in the chair opposite the dean.
"It seems crazy, I know. But I am determined to find the location of this man."
Goodman leaned back in his chair. "I didn't lie to you, sir. I don't know where Leonardo is. He applied for emergency leave. The man had never so much as taken a sick day, so when he said he needed it, we granted it to him. That was the last I saw of him, and it was six months ago. I haven't gotten so much as an e-mail since." Goodman sighed and ran a hand over his face to finally scratch his chin. "But, then again, I told you that on the phone, yet you are still here."
>
"I am." He nodded. "Did you know Dr. Gregan at all? I mean personally."
"Leonardo Gregan is one of the most private people I've ever met. To be honest, I'm shocked that he even got his position here. I've never known anyone who could play the political games of academia less well than Gregan did."
Goodman laughed, a wheezy, sad sound. Christophe knew immediately that in addition to having thirty pounds on him that he shouldn't have he was also a smoker. He hoped the man sought out medical help soon. There was something about his energy that made Christophe uncomfortable. It was as if he knew the man would be travelling soon and not from one place on earth to another. No, he'd be leaving the earth all together if he didn't seek attention for his breathing problem.
Christophe opened his mouth to speak and closed it again. No one thanked you for saying odd things like that, even if you were correct. And, God forbid, you were right. Then they started seeking you out like you were some kind of prophet.
"All right, can you tell me anything?" Christophe tapped his hand on the desk. "I will not be leaving this country until I locate Leonardo Gregan." Which was, he had to admit, becoming more and more unlikely.
"Does he owe you money or something?"
"No, nothing like that. It is a personal matter."
Goodman raised his eyebrow. "Screw with your sister?"
"What does that phrase mean, 'screw with'?" He spoke almost perfect English. Every once in a while, however, he did run into something he didn't know. This was one of those times.
"Did he hurt your sister?"
"Ah… no. I have no sister."
Goodman smiled a mirthless grin. "You're going to be deliberately evasive about this."
"I realize it makes little sense." Christophe shifted in his seat. "I am here asking you for a favor, and yet I want to tell you nothing. I apologize for that, of course."
That didn't, however, mean that he was going to tell the man anything.
Goodman sighed. "Okay, all I know is that Leonardo grew up with several cousins, kind of like a big family compound somewhere north of here. He occasionally got phone calls from them and used to joke about weak New York City winters being nothing compared to anything that took place six hours north of here."
Love Beyond Loyalty Page 6
