Rose, Charlotte - Bayou Flood [The Shifters of Alligator Bend 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (16 page)

Sophie reached out and held both of their hands. As they went inside, she realized she’d never felt more complete. She smiled as she passed a mirror in the hallway and saw her new eyes.

* * * *

Inside their new quarters, they toweled off and then climbed into the warm bed. Gabriel rubbed Sophie’s hands to help warm her up, and Virgil rubbed her back and hips. She smiled and snuggled between them, occasionally uttering contented sighs.

Gabriel loved that their mating happened during a thunderstorm. He couldn’t have imagined a more powerful experience than being doused by rain as thunder and lightning crashed around them. The water had grown choppy as the wind had picked up, but it didn’t bother him. He leaned back in the bed and enjoyed the rocking of the boat and the sound of the rain hitting the roof and deck. Completely content, he began to doze off.

He woke up in about an hour, feeling both horny and hungry. He looked down at Sophie’s calm expression as she slept and tried to decide if he wanted to have her or dinner first. Glancing up at Virgil, he could tell his friend was wondering the same thing. Gabriel’s cock began to stir, and he had a feeling he’d have to put his stomach’s demands on hold to satisfy the lust that was already cloying at his body.

A knock at the door interrupted their comfort. Virgil raised an eyebrow. They weren’t supposed to be disturbed until morning.

“Who is it?” Gabriel called.

“Open the door!” Serafine yelled. “We got a problem. It’s an emergency.”

“What’s going on?” Sophie asked, her eyes still closed, her words slurred with sleep.

Virgil smoothed her hair. “Just stay in bed, baby. We’ll be right back.”

Gabriel and Virgil hurried out of bed, throwing on robes. Gabriel opened the door to find Serafine and their parents standing outside.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’re getting’ reports on the radio that the city is floodin’.”

“What?” Gabriel tried to keep his voice low so as not to wake Sophie, but it was a struggle to conceal his shock.

“Yeah, what do you mean, floodin’?” Virgil asked. “We spent all that time creatin’ extra barriers around the city specifically so this wouldn’t happen. What gives?”

“They didn’t hold.” Serafine shrugged.

“That don’t make no sense. There ain’t no way we could have done shoddy work.”

“Maybe I screwed up,” Sophie said. “It’s not like I’m a master carpenter or anything. Maybe I screwed up somewhere and—”

“C’mon, baby, you know that ain’t true.” Virgil pulled her close.

“There has to be somethin’ else goin’ on,” Gabriel said. “There just has to. Someone tried to sabotage us.”

“We don’t have proof, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Shit,” Gabriel said. “We gotta get out there and help. Give us two minutes, and we’ll be ready.” He closed the door, and he and Virgil hurried to get dressed.

“What’s going on?” Sophie asked, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes.

“Don’t you worry, baby. You just sleep.”

“I will not just sleep. Something is very, very wrong. Serafine wouldn’t have interrupted our mating night if it wasn’t a total emergency. I want to know what’s going on.”

“New Orleans is flooding,” Gabriel said, pulling on his jeans and lacing up his boots. “Our extra reinforcements didn’t hold.”

Sophie gasped. “What happened?”

“Don’t know,” Virgil said. “But that ain’t important now. All we need to focus on is gettin’ out there and savin’ the city.”

“I’m going with you,” Sophie said, throwing the covers back.

“No, you stay. It’s too dangerous.”

“You cannot expect me to stay here all alone. New Orleans is my home. I’ve grown up here. This place is my whole world, and I will be damned if I stay here all night and let anything bad happen to it.”

“We’re just worried ’bout your safety,” Virgil said.

“And I’m worried about my city’s safety. Besides, I’m a gator now. I can swim through the high waters better than I ever could have as a human. I heal quickly. I’m bulletproof in shifted form. I’m just as protected as the two of you.”

“But you don’t know how to shift yet, baby.”

“I just did.”

“And you didn’t have any control over it, now, did you? You gotta get some trainin’, work with Serafine so you can master the change.”

“Fine. I won’t shift.”

“It could happen unexpectedly. That sometimes happens if you’re stressed out or scared.”

“Then that’s a risk I’m just going to have to take. New Orleans is my home. I was born and raised here. And if you leave me behind, I will swim all the way back to the city to help, if that’s what it takes.”

Gabriel sighed. They were wasting time arguing with her, and he had to admit that she had a point. It wasn’t fair to make her stay behind while her city drowned. Besides, she was already half dressed before he’d even managed to come up with a retort.

“Okay, just be careful, baby. We don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“And I don’t want anything to happen to the two of you. Got it?”

Gabriel nodded and smiled at her. “I promise, nothin’ will happen. Now let’s go rescue our city.”

Wrapping raincoats and ponchos around their bodies, they joined the group standing outside their bedroom and hurried outside. They threw the protective covers off the boats, climbed in, and sped off toward New Orleans.

Chapter Ten

Virgil struggled to keep his hand steady as he piloted the boat toward New Orleans. He had no idea what condition the city would be in when he arrived, and part of him was afraid to find out. He looked over at Gabriel, whose expression appeared just as apprehensive. He could tell by the look in her eyes that Sophie was terrified, but he admired how well she was doing at keeping an otherwise-stoic expression. He was worried that she might get hurt as they worked to help the city, but he was glad she insisted on coming along with them.

His stomach sank as they came upon the city. The barricades weren’t completely submerged, but most of them had crashed down. Water was pouring in from every gap, crack, and hole, and there were more holes than standing structures. There wasn’t even anywhere for them to dock the boat. They had no choice but to keep sailing.

“How did this happen?” he asked. “We worked so hard.”

“I know we did,” Gabriel said. “This has to have been sabotage.”

Manuel’s voice came on over the radio. “People are drownin’.”

“Copy that,” Virgil said. “How many?”

“Not sure. There were a lot of people out and about when the storm hit. Not many people were takin’ the warnin’ seriously.”

“Gotten through to anyone yet?”

“Most everyone is doin’ okay. The ones with kids need some extra help, but they’re all stickin’ together. We got a good team in place.”

“Any chance in gettin’ the barriers back up?” Virgil asked.

“We’re tryin’ to make contact to find out, but I ain’t optimistic. Look how much damage has been done. Look at all that water comin’ in.”

“You’re suggestin’ we might need Serafine’s skills for this one?”

“If it comes to that. Think about how much it’ll take out of her.”

Virgil nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I think we need to keep people from drownin’.”

“Gabriel and I are on it. Over and out.” He turned to Sophie. “You ain’t gonna like this, but you’re gonna need to stay on the boat.”

“I want to help you save people.”

“Honey, just because you won’t be out there in the water don’t mean you ain’t gonna be helpin’. Look, this is gonna require us to shift, and you’re not in control of that yet. Plus, we need someone to keep the boat safe and monitor the radio for updates. We need you to stay here and keep watch on things. Keep lookin’ around for a place to dock, okay?”

Sophie nodded. “Okay.”

“We’ll be safe, we promise. See you soon, baby.”

He and Gabriel stripped out of their clothes and closed their eyes. Virgil suddenly felt his teeth and claws come in, felt his skin toughen up. When he opened his eyes, he was staring up at his beloved. He gave her one last look before slipping out into the water and swimming into the city.

We’re gonna scare people. You realize that, right?
Gabriel asked over their ESP connection.

We can’t dock in the city, and it’s gonna get too shallow for the boats eventually. This is the most efficient way. Keep a lookout for dry land. And people.

It wasn’t long before they heard screams from people in boats.

“Gator alert! Gator alert!”

Virgil and Gabriel ignored them and kept swimming. Soon, they found a lone body struggling in the water. Virgil surfaced and swam toward a young woman. She started to thrash and struggle harder when she saw Virgil approach but seemed too tired to really escape. Virgil slipped below the surface and swam until she straddled his back. Then, he took off.

The young woman struggled for a moment but seemed to realize that Virgil wasn’t going to hurt her. He tuned his ESP back to Gabriel.

You find dry land yet?

No, but I rescued a kid. Didn’t seem that afraid. Shock, maybe.

We’ll swim back toward that cluster of boats we saw. They’ll take ’em in.

They doubled back around, moving as quickly as they could. They soon came upon the people whom they had previously frightened, and sped toward what appeared to be the leading boat. Virgil eased himself up parallel and looked up at the pilot, who stared down, dumbfounded.

“Lady, are you crazy?” he asked the woman on top of Virgil’s back.

“I don’t know! It just came up and carried me off. He—he saved my life. I think I’m hallucinating.”

“In that case, we both are. Here, take my hand. We’ll get you to safety.”

As soon as the woman was in the boat, Virgil took off toward the flood, with Gabriel close behind. They found two more children struggling in the water, both of whom were instantly terrified but neither of which were strong enough to fight the current. Virgil took both and headed back toward the boats they’d passed, while Gabriel kept swimming in search of people in need of rescue.

When he reached the boaters again, a woman instantly started shrieking. “My babies! That gator has my babies!”

Virgil kept calm. He reminded himself that these people had no reason to trust him and that he probably looked just like any other alligator—they might not realize he was the same one who had brought the woman back. Keeping calm, he swam up to the side of the boat and allowed the woman to rescue her children. She seemed shocked to find them unharmed, and she stared at Virgil with an unsettled expression but didn’t speak.

He and Gabriel worked for another hour, finding survivors and taking them back to the strangers before swimming away. Suddenly, they saw Manuel, still in gator form, swimming toward them.

Ain’t nothin’ to be done to repair the barricades, not with that much damage and this much rain. That means we got a ritual to do. Swim a quarter-mile east.

Sophie okay?
Virgil asked.

Holdin’ up like she was born to do this. Come on, let’s go.

Virgil and Gabriel began to follow Manuel, but as they neared the destination, he saw another swimmer struggling in the water.

Gotta go take care of one more
, he said to them.
Won’t be long.

But as he approached, he saw that the thrashing figure in the water was none other than Georgina Fucher. He looked her square in the eye. He couldn’t communicate with her when she was in human form, but she would know who he was.

She continued to thrash and gasp in the water, and he knew that no matter what she’d done to harm the congregation, he had to rescue her. So he swam up and settled her on top of him.

“Thank you,” she said. “I was—I was just trying to help. I didn’t realize the water would get so deep so fast. But I felt so guilty after what I’d done. I just couldn’t let it go on.”