Fated for Forever [Kindred of Arkadia 3] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (22 page)

Gabriel, I need you!
Ashby thought desperately and began to shake in the cold. He shifted to fox in the

effort to stay warm.

* * * *

“Find Ashby! He is panicked and scared, search the club!” Gabriel shouted to the coven members and

they scattered.

“Excuse me. Prince Gabriel. This guy here and his buddy nearly knocked me over trying to chase after a

baby fox.” An extremely large shifter held up the unconscious form of a vampire.

“I don’t think they anticipated running into a mastodon, did you asshole.” The man shook the body by

the back of the neck like a doll.

“The fox?” Gabriel demanded.

“He ran down the hallway toward the back, this guy’s friend was behind him. I thought you would want

this one though.”

“Baptista, can you escort this gentleman and our sleeping friend downstairs,” Gabriel said, as he and

Mikhail moved past the shifter in a blur heading toward the back of the club.

They slowed down as each warrior started edging close to the opened storage-room door. Mikhail held

up his hand, indicating to Gabriel he would go first. Gabriel nodded. Mikhail turned and darted into the

large storage room. Gabriel quickly followed. Slowly they made their way along the left side of the room

next to the open shelves. Gabriel felt his patience running out. He had to find Ashby. He had to see him with

his own eyes and hold him in his arms to know that he was safe, this was taking too long. He tapped

Mikhail on the shoulder as the only warning before he walked blatantly out into the open under the single

light in the room.

“Ashby, are you in here?” he asked, hoping he sounded pitiful. Mikhail was going to throttle him for

deliberately putting his life in danger. They didn’t have a long wait. A single shot was heard before Gabriel

felt the slug graze his arm as he turned his body to avoid the fatal heart shot. He heard growls behind him,

then the distinct sound of bones breaking and a man’s scream. Mikhail dragged a struggling form into the

circle of light where Gabriel stood waiting.

“Why have you come after my mate?” Gabriel demanded, pulling the vampire’s chin up to face him.

“You should have backed off, we warned what would happen if you kept investigating.” The man

hissed.

“The first note was from them, the second one on vellum was from the stalker. Only you could be

wrapped up in this much shit at once.” Mikhail shook his head.

“I will not be intimidated and I will not back down. I will find every one of you and destroy this drug

ring, if it’s the last thing I do. You cemented your fate the second you came after my mate.” Gabriel felt his

teeth grind together as he stared down at the defiant attacker. He then looked up at Mikhail and smiled

frostily.

“And you say I never give you anything nice,” he said, before turning his back and walking out of the

room. He was down the hallway when he heard scream after scream, the last one ending in a gurgling

sound. Mikhail caught up to him by the time he reached the empty dance floor.

“Sir, the feral is downstairs in the dungeon,” Baptista said.

“Good. Is everyone searching?” Gabriel asked. Baptista nodded.

“I’m about to join Kurt and Lauri, we’re searching the surrounding property in case there were more

than two,” Baptista said and headed out the front.

Gabriel headed up the stairs two at a time to his office. Mikhail moved next to him at the wall of

monitors scanning each screen.

“We’ll find him. We’ll find Ashby then have fun with the feral.” Mikhail met Gabriel’s eyes and they

shared a moment of perfect understanding.

They both turned to watch the monitors. Gabriel prayed he would see his mate walk across the club

floor. When this was over he was moving everyone to Arkadia as soon as possible.

“You may want to tell David or Daniel this one is broken, it keeps blinking,” Mikhail said, pointing to

one of the monitor screens.

“I’ll let them know,” Gabriel said, distracted.

“Though why they put a camera in the freezer is beyond me.” Mikhail shrugged and Gabriel froze.

“What did you say?” he demanded, spinning Mikhail around.

“The camera in the freezer is on the fritz. It keeps blinking in and out,” Mikhail said, confused, pointing

to the monitor. Gabriel spun around to the video feed from the freezer flashing on, then off.

“The camera isn’t on the fritz. Someone is turning the light on and off.” He broke out into a wide smile

and ran for the door. He passed several coven members.

“I know where he is!” he shouted and headed toward the kitchen.

When he got to the freezer he flung the door open. He looked around and didn’t see Ashby. He heard a

yip and looked down. There in his shifted fox form, his mate stood tiny, perfect and very alive. He scooped

him up and gasped as Ashby burrowed himself under his shirt, his tiny paw pads ice cold. His poor mate

was shivering. Smiling, he made his way to the dance floor and the stairs that lead to his apartments.

“Sir! Where is he? Is he OK?” David asked. Most of the coven looked on concerned.

“Come out, Ashby, everyone is worried,” Gabriel said and Ashby poked his head out of the top of

Gabriel’s shirt before climbing out to sit on his mate’s forearm. The entire coven collectively sucked in their

breaths. Gabriel hid a smile at the way his jaded, cynical group of world weary vampires melted on the

spot.

“I’ll be upstairs warming him up,” Gabriel said and headed up the stairs. When he reached the top

Ashby shifted. He suddenly had his arms filled with naked man.

“In our new house I want a hot tub. And a sauna. And hot chocolate on tap and my own collection of

fuzzy blankies!” Ashby demanded, looking around as they entered their apartment.

“Where is the baby penguin blankie you got me?” he asked. Gabriel ignored him and headed for the

bathroom. He walked right into the stone shower and turned on the jets, keeping his back to the water while

it heated so that Ashby wouldn’t get any colder.

“Are they gone?” Ashby asked in a small voice. Gabriel nodded.

“With the move to Arkadia you will be beyond their reach,” Gabriel said, rubbing his chin over Ashby’s

head.

He set Ashby down when the water warmed and stripped off his sodden clothes. Ashby returned to his

arms but instead of facing his lover Ashby pushed his back against Gabriel’s chest and reached behind him

to pull Gabriel’s arms around his waist. Gabriel could feel his dick begin to harden as he felt his mate’s soft

skin against his body.

“I want you too,” Ashby said, shaking his ass from side to side and causing friction between their

bodies.

Gabriel reached around Ashby’s body to stroke his mate’s cock. Ashby began to whimper and thrust up

into his hand. Gabriel stepped forward, pumped some waterproof lube into his hand from the shower

dispenser and slipped his fingers between the crease of his lover’s ass, fingering his hole. Gently he eased

in one finger but quickly added a second then a third.

“Yes! I like the burn sometimes.” Ashby hissed, thrusting forward into Gabriel’s fist and then backward

onto his fingers.

“Fuck yourself, my angel,” Gabriel said and pushed deeper into Ashby’s body until he grazed that small

walnut-sized gland he was looking for.

Ashby cried out and came, shooting his load onto the shower walls. Gabriel pulled his fingers free and

Ashby moaned. He swept up his mate, the both of them dripping water, and placed his angel on the bed

before climbing up behind him. He grabbed his cock and pushed into Ashby’s stretched entrance. He

watched as his mate’s greedy hole pulled him in. He snapped his hips forward and drove deep into his fox.

“Never. No one is ever taking you from me.” He growled out and let his fangs drop. He leaned forward

until his larger frame completely covered Ashby’s smaller one and pounded into him mercilessly.

“I’ll be with you, always,” Ashby said, too tired to do more than accept the thorough fucking his mate

was giving him.

“Always.” Gabriel grunted and buried his fangs into Ashby’s neck. They both cried out as they came

together. Ashby collapsed under him, pulling his dick free, they both groaned.

Gabriel dropped to one side and pulled Ashby into his arms.

“We need to change the sheets,” Ashby said tiredly before yawning.

“Later. We can do it later,
mon ange
,” Gabriel whispered as they both fell asleep.

* * * *

Gabriel and Mikhail looked down at the struggling man they had strapped to the table. Mikhail grinned

down at him evilly.

“Let’s make sure that you understand the situation. I am going to remove your legs, followed by your

arms. Escape will be impossible. I will then lock you in that coffin over there for several weeks before

coming back here to ask you a few questions about who you work for. We will repeat this several times

until I am sure you have told me everything you know. The only thing that is a variable is how I will kill

you. If you cooperate and give me as much information as you can I will kill you quickly and send your

severed head to your associates. If you don’t cooperate, well, let’s just say at that point things will
start
to

get very unpleasant for you. Then I’ll kill you and send your severed head to your associates. Any

questions?” Mikhail asked. The man on the table began to froth at the mouth and scream from around the

wide leather strap in his mouth.

“Oh good, you’re going to make this fun.” Mikhail turned to Gabriel.

“I’ll send you updates on anything I uncover,” Mikhail said. Gabriel nodded.

He almost felt sorry for the prisoner before he remembered that the man on the table had killed to lose

his soul and wanted to take his angel away from him. By the time he walked away he felt nothing for the

nameless man or what he would endure.

Chapter 19

“No, no, no! The piano goes into the front sitting room. You there! Muscle head with the perfect ass in

the tight jeans, don’t you dare set that metal TV stand on my freshly redone wooden floors. You! What’s

your name? Nevermind. That is obviously a grill, walk that shit around the house to the back, do not carry

it
through
the house!” Ashby watched in fascination as his friend ran from room to room supervising the

move of the decade. Rian nearly cried tears of joy when Ashby approached him about restoring the

plantation house to its former glory. For weeks Rian had spent every waking second making sure that the

house was ready to receive its princes. He was now reveling in his moment of glory.

“Do you think he’d calm down if I faked labor pains?” Rebecca asked as she, Ashby, Kate, and Nic

watched Rian yell at yet another shifter.

Ashby was about to answer her when a loud crash was heard from the kitchen. Rian ran to the back of

the house, his friends close on his heels.

“We got it! Our bad! Everything is cool. Accidently bumped into the highchair,” David yelled and

righted the highchair that had fallen over. He then took Landon from Daniel, who was holding both twins,

and deposited him in the chair. Daniel put Lucas in the highchair next to his brother. Behind them shaking

and looking like a nervous wreck, Roman looked on.

“Careful with the floors, boys. It was hard enough getting the tiles through customs much less here to

Arkadia.” Rian huffed. Roman looked up at the group standing in the doorway.

“Alpha Kate, wonderful, you’re here. Maybe you could stay and feed the boys their lunch?” Roman

asked, his voice timorous and quaking.

“Nonsense, David and Daniel have this covered, don’t you?” Kate asked. David’s and Daniel’s heads

popped up and nodded.

“We totally got this covered,” David said and Daniel gave a thumbs-up sign. Smiling, Kate nodded to

her head and the small group walked back to the front of the house.

“Is Roman always that tweaky?” Rebecca asked. Ashby shook his head, looking at Kate who was trying

not to laugh.

“What did you do, Kate?” Ashby asked curiously.

“I told him he was responsible for Landon and Lucas.” She snort laughed, holding onto the banister to

stay upright. Ashby gasped. He turned back to stare at the hallway heading back to the kitchen, then

shrugged.

“We’ll bail him out later.” Ashby watched as his friends turned out to help his coven move in. He never

realized how much people truly cared.

“Oh my, it’s getting hot outside, do you think the men would like to cool off in the pool?” Rebecca

asked innocently.

“We can always ask,” Kate said, smirking at her friend. Low growls filled the air as Aleks, Caleb, and

Bran stood, arms crossed over their chests, in the foyer. Rebecca looked up whistling and tapping her foot.

“First of all it’s only fifty five degrees outside. Second of all the pool is still closed. Lastly you will

never be over here when men are in that damn pool!” Aleks fumed.

“Of course she can come over here to enjoy the pool Aleksander. She will be in the middle of her