Gabe's Destiny (Alien Mates Book Three) (21 page)

Mckayla and Vick came over to her, pulling at her hands, they wanted to play. Taya followed them down the steps throwing a ball to them in the yard. It rolled out of the boundary and she went chasing after it, bringing her right to the edge of the property.

“Perfect life.” She stood still; she couldn’t see the speaker but she could hear him. “You destroyed so many lives that night. Yet here you are playing ball, smiling with your dad, kissing all over some man. Does he know you’re a whore? I bet he won’t want you when I tell him.

“I’ll tell him how you led Michael on and how you begged to be with more than one guy. Then I’ll let him know what you really want is to be abused all over again.”

She wanted to lash out at the voice. Find him and slam a knife in his heart over and over again but he had her mom. There was nothing she could do but stand silently and listen. Although she could acknowledge the words that once would have driven her to her knees no longer affected her.

Taya knew who she was. Something the man holding her mom would soon find out.

“I have your mom, but the trade has changed. If you want her back, I want both you and your play toy. Seems someone else is interested in him.”

“Where’s my mom?”

“Safe, if you want her to stay that way then I suggest you come here.” A dagger came through the trees and planted itself at her feet. There was a sheet of white paper attached to it.

She bent down and picked up the paper while Gabe slid out of the darkness. She read it, her hands trembling the more she read. Gabe reached out and took it from her lifeless fingers.

Gathering her close they walked back to the porch.

“He took the bait,” Gabe announced holding the sheet of paper up in the air.

“Where’s the meet?” Bob asked, his eyes glued to the paper.

“They want to meet a mile away from Zuhun’s house.”

“What does he want with my mother?” Taya asked, wondering how the Sudir became involved.

Colun stood up and moved to the bottom of the steps to look at the note.

“Zuhun doesn’t want your mother. He doesn’t even know about this little meet and greet that’s being organized. Someone besides the initial kidnapper is in on this.”

“He said the terms had been changed. Now he wants both Gabe and me.”

Gabe turned and examined the landscape, taking deep breaths looking for a scent that may be pursuing him.

“Melissa, it’s the only thing that makes sense. She tried to get rid of Taya earlier and she has been coming after me for a while now and I don’t think it’s my irresistible charm that is pulling her my way.”

Rylan nodded and looked around. Aviana was standing by his side, her hand in his giving him comfort. Victor was sitting on the porch with Selma in his lap. Cal and Paige were on the porch swing. Joaquin was merging with the shadows. Every person had a determined look in their eyes; they would be ending this tonight.

“Gabe, are we doing this?”

It took everything Gabe had not to laugh aloud. Ry had already sent him graphic pictures of both the kidnapper and Melissa as headless corpses. He knew they were doing it.

“Tonight, brother.” They just looked at each other, evil smiles gracing their faces.

Taya turned to look at Aviana and they both shook their heads. This was their lives and neither of them was asking for a do over.

“Does anyone beside me feel weird that we’re fighting something other than the Sudir?” Paige asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

“They’ll be back.” Cal wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Maybe someone decided to make our life easy this time.”

“I died on the end of a sword and found that Xolon’s spirit was using me as a takeout meal. I’m not understanding the easy life part of your statement.”

“Agreed. There is nothing easy about this.” Cal reversed his earlier position. “Which makes it even more amazing that you survived.”

“That’s because he is amazing. Dad, I think you should stay here.”

“No.” His face looked like flint when he said it.”

“Dad,” she pleaded.

“That mad man has your mother, but he has my wife. The woman I’ve been with since I was twenty-one. If you think I’m going to sit on this porch and wonder if she is okay, think again. I’m going to be there and I’ll be making sure she comes out in one piece. I’m going to get ready.”

With his head held high, he walked into the bed and breakfast.

“Gabe,” she turned to try and get him to talk some sense into her father.

“Do you think I would wait at home if you were in danger? Sweetness, he drove here on almost no sleep to keep that mad man from hurting his wife. What makes you think that you, I, or anyone else could leave him behind?”

She dropped her head to his chest. “You’re right. I just want to protect him.”

“I know but sometimes all you can do is be there for them.”

She could hear her dad saying those same words. She’d been so busy fighting her demons that she never realized she’d grown up. Now she would take care of her parents just like they were still trying to take care of her.

They walked into the bed and breakfast on silent feet before they went to their suite.

She changed her clothes to a pair of black pants that had several pockets where she could hide things like the wire Gabe gave her and the brass knuckles. Her shirt was black also. He said with her black hair she would blend in with the night. She had a knife tied around her thigh again and a gun at her hip.

Her parents had made sure she knew how to use one after all that happened. She always told them she didn’t have the heart to use it. She no longer felt that way.

Gabe had a long knife strapped to his leg but he was planning on using his Matra if violence was needed.

They walked outside to find several jeeps and a truck pulled around to the front of the house.

“Where are Vick and Mckayla?” Everyone was outside and they weren’t around.

“They went to Mckayla’s grandparents’ house. It’s not too far from here. I called them and they practically ran up here to pick them up,” Aviana answered her.

Gabe out right laughed as he tried to imagine the king and queen of Urom running.

“I’ll have to introduce you to them after this is over, you’ll love them.”

“The first SUV is for Gabe and Taya,” Victor said. “The second one will hold Selma and me, Rylan and Aviana as well as Cal and Paige. The truck will hold Bob, Joaquin, and Colun. They are our secret weapons. That is why they will be driving a vehicle not thought to be ours. The three of them will be getting Taya’s mom away while the rest of us are mounting a defense to free the two of you.”

She looked around; everyone was dressed in black blending with the night. Selma was pulling power directly from the moon, while Aviana channeled the water in the air. Her eyes went to Paige.

“Don’t worry, I overdosed on sun earlier, I can handle anything that comes my way without touching my reserves.”

Taya didn’t know where her power came from although the others explained to her she had a power source. Maybe it was the earth? They had been so busy fighting the monsters from the past that the ones in the future needed to stand in line for their turn. Now they would fight against this next foe. Soon she would turn her mind toward learning about the abilities she’d been born with.

“Ready?” Every head nodded and they climbed into their assigned vehicles.

Gabe turned the engine over and pulled out. He knew Victor would wait before following them.

“Everything seemed to happen so fast.” Taya spoke; her fear was in her voice but her body was calm like they were taking a late night ride for ice cream.

“It does seem fast when you think of all the years we were both being held prisoner in hell. Do you regret it?”

“Yeah, at times I do. I wonder why I couldn’t have been braver or gotten over my trauma quicker. I compare myself to others and come up lacking every time. Then I remember I’m not them. I heal at my own rate, faster than some and slower than others. As long as I heal it will be okay. It’s the getting stuck part that I hated. The living it over and over again like your worst nightmare. Seeing it unfold in front of your eyes as you walk out the door or wait for the light to turn green.”

She fell into silence but Gabe thought about what she said. Abuse wasn’t limited to a sex, he understood what it was like to have the memories take over and feel helpless to fight them.

“I’ve been thinking. Taya, would you be willing to sing for me?”

“You’re funny. I don’t sing.”

“Yes you do, remember I get to hear your voice in the shower. I wrote a song about recovering from abuse. It’s not much but it could be the life line someone uses to get help and your voice is perfect for it.”

He couldn’t be serious. One look at him told her he was. All her life she had wanted to do something, anything for victims of abuse. That’s one of the reason she became a hospital administrator; she was able to put together programs to identify and help abuse victims.

“I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

She moved her hand over until it was resting against his thigh.

“Yeah, I’ll do it and maybe we can start raising funds to help those struggling on their own.”

“I like that idea.”

She looked out the window to find they were on a long stretch of road. It was dark, only the head lights giving off any illumination. The road was winding and seemed to be isolated.

“Are we almost there?”

“We’re here.” He stopped the SUV and looked for any other vehicles. “Because of the way this road curves, they could be just up ahead and we wouldn’t see them. It also means that if your dad comes down the road, he could be in front of them and they won’t see him.”

She was going to take every small blessing she could get. Opening the door, she jumped down and waited for Gabe to come around.

“You came alone. Guess I’ll have to let your mom go free after all and I was so looking forward to killing her.”

“Show yourself and where is my mom?”

“She’s around and very much alive at the moment. You should be more concerned about yourself.”

Taya caught a movement off the side of the road where Gabe was already looking.

The wicked end of a shotgun came into view before the owner was visible.

“Taya, I only want you but the female wanted him. Step closer.”

“Not until I know my mom’s okay and you set her free.”

“I promise you I will kill her if you don’t do what I say.”

She moved away from Gabe’s comforting heat and stepped further out in the road. She could now see him.

“Do you know who I am?”

She shook her head no and he screamed with rage.

He looked like a monster, the thing that went bump in the night.

“Taya, focus sweetness.”

Gabe’s voice calmed her down, stopping the nightmares that were trying to take her over. She focused on him again.

He was tall but not as tall as her dad. She put him around five ten. If he had been there that night, he had aged considerably. Instead of focusing on the body she looked into the eyes. Going through each boy who had been there and their eye color.

“I know him. It’s his eyes that gave him away. When I first met him, I remember being captivated by his eyes. They are such a light blue that they are almost pale. His name is Troy.”

“Troy.” She was feeding Gabe all the information she remembered about him.

“So you do remember me.”

“It’s the eye color that gave it away. Why Troy? Why couldn’t you just leave me alone?”

“Michael promised me the world; all I had to do was help him. I sold my soul, gave up everything I knew to be right to have a chance to raise my family out of the dirt. It was working. The doors to polite society were beginning to open for me. I could see the future spread out in front of me. Then he met you.

“I told him to leave you alone but he wouldn’t listen. He said you’d be the jewel in his crown. You’d either be the best thing that happened to him or the worst, but I knew. You would be his destruction, but he wouldn’t listen to me. I think the fool thought he was in love with you. He talked about having children with you.”

“You’re lying; he saw me as nothing but a whore to defile.” Her voice was steady when she repeated the knowledge that she learned to accept as truth.

“Wrong,” he laughed, spit coming from his mouth. “I saw you as nothing but a whore to defile. He didn’t know we would be in the room that night. I arranged it, all of it. He was trapped at that point. He couldn’t back down from all that he had promised us. We swore allegiance to him, he owed us, and we were going to collect. The price of being willing to follow him to hell was your life. You should have died that night but you didn’t.

“You found a way to stop him. I thought he was the devil but you proved that it was you all along. Here’s the thing, he still has to pay for his sins and your life is still the price.” The gleam of insanity brightened his eyes.

“Troy, you’re sick. You need to see a doctor; they can help you. I know a few.”

He raised his shot gun and pulled the trigger. Gabe roared.

“I know what you are. Not human,” his voice emerged as if he were softly singing a song. “You move one muscle and I’ll finish what I started. I may be dead but so will she.

“Now Troy, darling, we agreed that this one will belong to me.” Melissa stepped out of the shadows.

“Now that your whore is close to death, you’ll be left with no one. Do you have time for that meal now?”

“What do you want, Melissa?” He couldn’t be bothered to lift his eyes away from Taya as he watched the shallow rise and fall of her chest.

“I want some of that lovely power. You were strong when Xolon was feeding off of you; now that he’s gone you’re incredibly strong.”

“You’re a shapeshifter. You don’t live off of energy.”

“Don’t I?”

His eyes reluctantly rose to see the purple gaze take over her eyes. She was half shape shifter half energy vampire.

“Amazing right? I bet your wondering how I even came about. My mom was draining my dad when she got horny and decided she should ride him to death. Seems he left behind a parting gift—me. I’d have her tell you all about it but I drained her dry one day. I was tired of having to fight her for food.”