Love Beyond Loyalty

  He knew he'd needed to take proper care of Alexa. Never sure exactly why he felt the way he did, he knew that he was responsible for her. In his soul, although no one as far as he could remember had ever uttered words to tell him thusly, he was sure that a man took care of the women around them. Warriors never falter. They never fail.

  Shaking his head, he recalled how he had gripped Alexa's hand tighter in his. "I heard there was a good place to sleep, Lexie. I heard that they take children in and they don't call the authorities. The man who I met told me that the grownups who work there wouldn't let anyone give us a hard time."

  Gabriel shook his head, clearing the memory. Warriors never falter. They never fail. The credo had to be an Outsider thing. Something his father or mother said to him before he was old enough to really remember, or maybe it was just imprinted on the brains of all Outsider men. Alexa wasn't his soul mate, but she'd been his in the sense that she was also an Outsider. They were kindred that way.

  He looked at Loraine who hung slightly behind him and to the left as they walked into the building. He bet she'd never had to spend the night in one of these places. That thought made him happier than anything else he'd contemplated all day.

  "So, if I went to Maine, I could find the others?"

  He nodded. "The rest of us, yes."

  Meeting Loraine had solved one problem for him. He was sure now that he'd be making the trip to Maine. Leonardo was right, there was safety in numbers. While he hadn't cared one bit about his own security, now that he had Loraine he was going to get her away from New Orleans and Sebastian's clutches.

  It was, he decided, a tribute to just how despondent things were that the shelter was completely full of people and nobody had said one thing about the fact that he was wrapped only in a blanket. Loraine's eyes were huge. Her violet gaze troubled. He wondered how deeply the poverty she saw around her affected her.

  Wishing he could say something to ease her mind, but not sure how to do that considering he didn't control the world and he'd long ago discovered there wasn't much to be done to settle other people's problems, he continued his silent composure. Hell, it wasn't so long ago he'd been where they were.

  He wanted to take her hand and squeeze it. Do something to let her know she would be safe. "Fuck, Loraine, look…"

  "Gabe? Is that you? What the hell happened to you?" Alexa's horrified voice cut into what he wanted to say. Reluctantly, he turned his attention from Loraine.

  Alexa dropped the clothes she'd been folding and rushed to him.

  "I nearly drowned in the canal after Sebastian sent a tidal wave to kill me. He didn't, obviously, but he did manage to destroy my house."

  Alexa closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. She bit down on her lower lip. He hated that affectation on her. She used to be completely open and readable. These days she seemed nothing but a posed picture. One that Sebastian had designed.

  "Gabe, how long are you going to keep this up?" She moved closer to him and placed a hand on his arm. "I can help you get better. We can turn you around from the evil path you've decided to walk down."

  He patted his chest. "I am not evil."

  "Hi." Loraine inserted herself into the conversation. He was glad for the reprieve. "Whoever sent the wave, and I assure you I was there to see it, nearly drowned Gabriel. I'm Loraine Peacock."

  Alexa arched a dark eyebrow. "Loraine Peacock?"

  "That's my name." Loraine smiled, but to Gabe it looked forced. "So I've brought him to you. Now I'll be on my way. I'm sure we'll all meet again."

  She turned on her heel, and Gabriel's heart sped up. He walked forward and grabbed her arm, which was tricky to do because he needed to hold up his blanket to prevent from being arrested for public indecency.

  "You're leaving?" God, he wanted to shout, 'don't leave.'

  Nodding, she gave him that forced smile again, and he wanted to wipe it off her face. "I am. I brought you to Alexa. It's time for me to go on my way. You've told me a lot of stuff I have to digest. Good luck." She looked at Alexa and he wished that one of his powers was mind reading because he had no clue what was going on inside of hers. "To both of you. It was nice meeting you."

  Pulling her arm free of his grip, he thought for a second he felt her shake. Was she okay?

  "Loraine, wait a second…"

  He wouldn't have believed she could move that fast. One second she was there and the next she sprinted out of the building.

  "Loraine," he yelled but she didn't turn around and soon the crowd in the room blocked his view.

  Why was she leaving? Like a light turning on, realization struck him. She had used the phrase your Alexa. What did she think his relationship with his oldest friend was?

  Ah… fuck.

  He turned to Alexa. "Look, we need to talk, but right now I have to clear something up with Loraine. I need clothes."

  Alexa pointed absently to several boxes lined up against the wall. "Those are clean."

  "Great." He walked over and rummaged through to finally grab a pair of raggedy blue jeans and a black tee shirt. Considering that all his clothes were now washing down the canal outside his house, he couldn't be picky.

  Still barefoot, he rushed through the crowd.

  Alexa's voice called after him. "Gabriel, is she your girlfriend?"

  "She's so much more than that," he called over his shoulder even as he tried to figure out how on earth he was going to find Loraine. "We'll talk later, Alexa."

  And they would. He was going to make sure of that.

  Running out the door of the building, the New Orleans' heat hit him hard but that wasn't what sent him to his knees. His hands hit the concrete ground hard, scraping his palms.

  Demon.

  He could feel Sebastian in the area, and as a million pinpricks hit his skin, he knew that Sebastian had Loraine. If Sebastian harmed her in any way, Gabriel would make him pay tenfold. For the first time ever, Gabriel knew he could add murder as one of his sins, and he wouldn't even feel badly about it.

  Chapter Five

  Loraine knew she'd acted cowardly. Gabriel called out to her several times, and she hadn't turned around. But, really, how much pain did she have to take when it came to him? Earlier in the car, and for just a split second, she'd allowed herself to imagine she could have some kind of life with him. Then she'd learned of Alexa, and all hope for that washed away.

  Meeting the actual woman had been even worse.

  Futon spoke as she approached the car and got into her seat. "Where is Gabriel?"

  "Inside with his Alexa."

  With tears in her eyes, she put the car in drive not caring one bit where she went. God, what a screwed up life she had.

  "We should not leave him."

  "Trust me; he doesn't want to come with us."

  Even if they were all part of this Outsider group, which made more and more sense to her because normal people just couldn't do what she did, that didn't mean she had to sit around and feel pain because she couldn't be with Gabriel.

  She sniffed as she willed away the tears that still threatened to spill. Alexa hadn't been that bad. Other than the weird remark about Loraine's name, and Lord knew she gotten that enough to be used to it, she hadn't done anything wrong except not immediately believe Gabriel that the wave had come from Sebastian.

  No, the woman's real fault had been that she just looked so—to steal a choice word from Gabriel—fucking perfect. Thin and statuesque, with perfectly coifed, straight black hair, and thin pixie brown eyes, she looked more like a model on a runway than a woman working in a homeless shelter.

  And God, all those people who needed help. Loraine shook her head at the lingering memory. They had real troubles and clearly Loraine was a spoiled, selfish brat if all she could think about after coming out of a place like that was how much she wanted Alexa's boyfriend.

  No, she reminded herself, she had too much to do to obsess over this. She had to go to Maine.

  Caught up in her thoughts,
Loraine didn't see the man standing in the street until it was almost too late. Slamming on her breaks, she screamed at the top of her lungs as her car screeched to a stop.

  Heart pounding so hard she could feel her pulse in her teeth, she opened the door and jumped out.

  "No, don't…"

  Futon's words went unheeded. She needed to make sure the poor soul who she almost decimated was okay.

  She rushed forward. The man standing in front of her was tall with brown hair that was trimmed short. He had an aristocratic face, with a long nose and dark brown eyes. His gaze caught hers, and she staggered backwards.

  Evil, whoever this person was, he was clearly filled with badness. She gasped and placed her hand over her mouth to stop from screaming. He put his hand out and grabbed her arm.

  "Hello, Loraine, I've been looking for you for some time now."

  "Demon."

  Futon jumped out of the car window that she had left open after storming out of the shelter in such a hurry.

  "Run, Loraine."

  She could hear Futon's voice but she couldn't move. His eyes, she realized, they pulsed with fire and, oh, God, they burned her. She could feel the heat from his gaze on her skin.

  "I can't run, Futon. I can't move." Her voice sounded far away.

  The man holding her arm looked down at her beloved dog. "You aren't supposed to be interfering. That's against the rules."

  "You didn't make up the rules, and you don't get to dictate what they are."

  The evil eyed man shook his head and it took Loraine a moment to realize that Futon and the man were communicating directly. Whoever this man, this demon, was, he could hear Futon as well as she could.

  "You can't stop me, not while you are living in that puny, fur covered body."

  "I don't have to stop you. She'll stop you once she knows she can."

  The demon raised a brown eyebrow. "Then I guess I'll just have to kill her before she realizes what she can do. How convenient that you brought her straight into my clutches so completely unprotected."

  Loraine screamed as the man squeezed her arm tighter. Heat, that felt like it had come from the sun itself, travelled up her arm from where he grasped her. Tears fell from her eyes as she shrieked. Much as she tried she was unable to pull herself away from him.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Futon leap in the air. Growling, he bit down on the demon's arm, tearing into the creature's human skin. Loraine felt herself released from its grip, and she fell backwards onto the pavement. Opening her eyes, she saw Futon flung from the demon.

  "The rules say that you're not to interfere." The demon advanced on her dog. Loraine, still not able to move her arm, leaped to her feet. "Now, I'm going to have to send you back with your mission not completed. I wonder how the guys upstairs are going to like that?"

  Loraine rushed forward only to be thrown backwards as a red light filled the air around them. As if she'd rushed into an invisible bubble, she was pushed onto her back and hit the concrete. Her eyes swam and a loud ringing resounded in her ears. She turned her head, the movement enough to make her cry out in pain.

  The truth was she'd never really considered death. She was thirty years old. Up until a few minutes ago when she'd found out her life was a lie, she'd thought her Grandmother who had been ninety when she died had been actually related to her. She'd thought her parents perished in a flood, which was the story she'd been told when she was growing up. So, she'd basically felt that if she could avoid natural disasters, hence living in the desert, then she'd be fine.

  Oh, God—I'm going to die right now.

  She closed her eyes and didn't care if that made her a coward. Everything inside of her told her she wasn't supposed to be facing the demon. It wasn't her job. Yes, they were at war but not everyone was supposed to fight. At the very least, she was ill prepared for this.

  Not that it mattered because I'm dead.

  "Sebastian."

  Her eyes flew open when Gabriel shouted. Sebastian's head whirled around to face him as he stood in the street. She blinked twice as Sebastian moved toward the man she'd been fantasizing about. How had he found her? She tried to sit up but dizziness overwhelmed her, and she had no choice but to stay flat on her back.

  Where were all the cars? Why was no one coming down the street?

  Gabriel stuck his arms out in front of him and using his hands to imitate the motions of a wave, he swung them out in front of the demon he'd called Sebastian. Sebastian disappeared in a blur of color. Loraine blinked, not sure she could believe her eyes.

  What just happened?

  "Where?"

  Gabriel knelt down beside her placing his hand gently under her neck. "Can you sit up?"

  "I'm dizzy." And, God, was she. The world just kept spinning…

  He hissed in his breath. "You're probably concussed."

  "Can we get concussed?"

  He paused for a second, and she wondered if she wasn't making any sense. "We meaning the Outsiders?" he asked.

  That's what she meant. Just her luck to meet a guy who understood her when she wasn't making sense but was deeply in love with someone else.

  His voice brought her back from her thoughts. "Still with me, Loraine?"

  "Yes, sorry, I zoned out there for a second."

  "To answer your question, yes, the Outsiders can get concussed, I think. I've never had so much as a cold but we can get hurt."

  She cleared her throat. "Come to think of it, I've never had a cold either."

  As a child, she'd been absolutely convinced that her Grandmother's chicken soup kept her well. Little had she known…

  Sucking in a breath, she realized just how out of it she really must be if she didn't ask this first. "Futon? Where is he?"

  "I don't see him, sweetheart." Gabriel looked around. "There was a bright red light. Sebastian must have done something to him. Maybe sent him somewhere."

  "Oh, God." She closed her eyes and not from the dizziness or the pain. Futon was her dog, an odd creature—yes, but hers. The only one who had cared about her when her Grandmother had died and now he was dead or missing. A sob clouded her voice as she fought through the dizziness to find control. "I was responsible for him. He's my dog."

  He rubbed her hair that had fallen on her forehead. "I'm sorry, Loraine. I truly am." His eyes glowed with an emotion she couldn't decipher. She saw sadness in there but also something else and she wasn't sure what that was.

  "Here," he continued. "Let's sit you up. We need to get you some help."

  She closed her eyes as he lifted her neck gently until she was half sitting, half leaning against him. Finally, when she thought she might not vomit, she opened her eyes. "I really don't want to go to the hospital."

  He seemed to be considering this as he rubbed his head like it pained him. Truthfully, all she wanted to do was go home to the dry heat of Tucson and away from all this talk of demons and soul mates. She wanted her dog back. For once in her life, she wished she'd not listened to Futon when he told her to do something.

  "We're not going to the hospital."

  She placed her hand on his arm. "Where are we going?"

  "To the Outsiders."

  All right, maybe she'd shattered all her brain cells but that didn't seem like a logical response. "Didn't you tell me they were in Maine?"

  "Yes, I did." He stroked her hair. She wished she could press against him and just go to sleep right there in his arms. Shaking her head, she reminded herself about her potentially dead dog, and the fact that Gabriel had Alexa.

  "I'm sorry but I don't have time to explain all of this now. The point is that I'm going to send you to them."

  "Like in a package?"

  He shook his head. "I'm hoping you don't have permanent brain damage. Now, I'm going to move you through space. It's one of the things I can do."

  He patted her on her cheek. Had she fallen asleep? Why was he touching her so much? Alexa couldn't possibly like it.

  He continued speaking. "I w
ish I could come with you. I can move other people, other things, just not myself."

  "Wait… what?"

  He patted her on her knee. Damn it, he was touching her again. "I'll get there as fast as I can."

  Her head spun. "Gabriel, what?"

  "We don't have time. Sebastian is going to be back any second."

  With a wave of his hands, like he had done in front of the demon earlier, Loraine shot upwards. Things looked blurry right before she lost consciousness.

  What the hell had Gabriel done?

  * * * *

  Loraine could hear voices floating above her. That was, she realized sort of distantly, kind of a funny thing to think. Voices didn't float. Only these seemed to be doing just that.

  "Her concussion is already healing. The Outsider physiology is an amazing thing."

  She didn't recognize the man who spoke, but he had a gentle tone. And he certainly sounded like he knew what he talked about.

  "Then why the fuck isn't she awake?"

  Now that voice she knew, it was Gabriel. Ah… Gabriel. Even quasi-unconscious she was so pathetic when it came to him.

  "Because I'm keeping her asleep. It helped to speed up the healing process."

  She heard footsteps and wondered if Gabriel paced. "Wake her up, dammit."

  "All right, calm down before you give yourself an aneurysm. You look like hell."

  "Jason, when I want your opinion…"

  Loraine opened her eyes and stared at the scene laid out in front of her. Gabriel, with his arms crossed over his chest, tapped his foot and stared down at her. Next to her, a tall man with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail holder regarded her with one eyebrow raised.

  Gabriel exhaled and she watched his shoulders sag. "You're awake."

  The blond man looked at Gabriel. "I told you I kept her asleep. You doubt my word?"

  "No." Gabriel shook his head. "I was worried." He looked back at her. "Loraine, this is Dr. Jason Randall. He's a cardiologist as well as an Outsider."