Destiny of Blood (Love of a Shifter Book 4) Read online

  “That’s awesome, Lilly,” Gabriel whispered. “You mean they have a menu just for pancakes?”

  “Of course we do. We’re high-class here, kid.” Lilly winked at him.

  “You rock, Lilly,” Gabriel informed her, smiling.

  “Yeah kid, I do, but don’t spread it around too much. We don’t want anyone getting jealous.” Lilly snorted. “I crack myself up sometimes.”

  ****

  Sindrid wanted to laugh even after he looked over at Joseph, who had a smile on his face, too. This woman made him smile, and she continued to make Gabriel laugh at everything. He already knew Gabriel thought she walked on water, but now that he was getting to know her quirky personality, he honestly loved it. She was confident, except when it came to her true feelings. Lilly kept those deep inside of her, to avoid allowing anybody to hurt her again. Sindrid knew he would have to work on that soon.

  Everything he found out about his mate, he loved. She was the most outgoing and loving soul he’d ever met. But most of all she was a sincere person who loved with all her heart.

  She would complement him in every way. He could be harsh and even cruel, if he needed to be to help those that didn’t want to accept it. Some of his own people could be terrible, and sometimes even needed to be killed—for instance, when he killed Regis Yulson. He had made Regis many years ago, but he became cruel and dangerous to every paranormal. But Lilly would calm his troubled soul and bring light into his heart, when he hadn’t thought there would ever be any.

  When Gabriel got up to go to the bathroom, Sindrid decided to ask Lilly some questions. “You didn’t want me to go with you two today, did you?”

  “To be honest, no. Nothing personal; it was just something I wanted to do for him. But when I saw his face light up, I knew that you had to come, too. I think it’s good for him to see us doing normal things with him. He’s had too many terrible things in his life, and I plan to make sure he has some stability with us.”

  “You’re very blunt,” Sindrid commented with a smile.

  “Oh, and you’re not? You’re just used to everyone falling at your feet and doing exactly what you want. However, as you can tell, I’m not that kind of wolf. So you might want to rethink this whole mate thing, with someone like me.”

  “No, you’re stuck with me forever.” Sindrid had expected this. He’d have to show her that he wasn’t going anywhere, and that she could trust him.

  Lilly shrugged. “Suit yourself.” Gabriel came back and they ate in silence, all enjoying pancakes with fresh blueberries, until Nash walked up to the table.

  “Hey, Lilly. I got a message that you wanted to see me? What’s up?”

  “Hey Nash. Have a seat.” Nash sat down across from Lilly. He nodded at Sindrid and Joseph. “You remember Sindrid, and this is Joseph, my new shadow. And this young man here is Gabriel; he’s going to be my new assistant.”

  Nash looked at her and blinked a couple of times, then glanced over at Gabriel. He leaned over and whispered to the boy, “Hey, kid, you do realize what you’re getting yourself into, right? We don’t call her Ballbuster for no reason.”

  Sindrid turned his head so he wouldn’t start laughing at the nickname Lilly’s staff had for her. Even Joseph grinned as they listened to Nash tease Lilly. Sindrid didn’t feel threatened by Nash; he seemed to be a good guy. Plus he was her cousin, so no threat there.

  “Nash, leave the little ones alone before you corrupt them with your evil ways. Can you get an ID badge made for him and let everyone know he’ll be working for me?”

  “Sure thing.” Nash held his hand out. “Welcome aboard the zoo crew, kid.” Gabriel shook his hand, smiling.

  “Thanks, Nash.”

  “No problem, kid. I hear you’re heading up the mountain for some snowboarding.”

  “I’m so ready. Are you coming too?” Gabriel asked, excited.

  “Not today, but maybe this weekend we can hit it again.”

  Nash looked over at Sindrid. “I got all the information you requested and sent it to you in an e-mail. All your IDs have been given to your guards, and Joseph, yours has been left with Bet,” he informed them as he stood up.

  “Thank you Nash. You’re very quick at your job.” Sindrid shook Nash’s hand, then sat back down. He liked Nash; he was very intelligent and didn’t have to be told to do something over and over again. He was efficient, too.

  “Thanks. Alright, enjoy your fun day at the slopes—and Gabriel,” Nash leaned down beside his ear, “Remember to watch out for Ballbuster. Make sure she doesn’t work you too hard.”

  Lilly threw a biscuit at Nash’s head, but he caught it and stuck it in his mouth, then walked off, chewing.

  “Is everyone ready?” Lilly asked, looking at Sindrid and Joseph, who put another biscuit in his mouth before nodding. “Then let’s hit it.”

  Sindrid got up and waited for Lilly, then walked behind her with Joseph and Gabriel to the front door.

  Chapter 6

  Lilly watched as Gabriel slid down the hill with his hands up in the air. “Way to go, Gabriel!” she cheered. Sindrid was standing at the bottom with Joseph, both cheering him on when he finally made it to the bottom without falling.

  She moved forward and snowboarded down the hill. Lilly loved snowboarding and was pretty good at it, but so was the king. No pictures this time of him falling. She looked at her watch when she got to the bottom and saw that it was almost lunchtime. They had a Unit meeting in a few minutes about Gabriel’s situation and the people who were hunting him.

  Lunch would have to wait until the meeting was over. Although, knowing her brother and Jonas as she did, she suspected lunch would be brought into the meeting. “You ready to go to the meeting?” Lilly asked Gabriel, whose smile turned into a frown. She could see the happiness drain from his body as he nodded.

  “Yeah. I forgot for a minute that we had that meeting,” Gabriel answered. She felt bad for the kid, who wanted to help bring his parents’ killers to justice, but was also just a kid who was having fun. Now he had to go and talk about his parents’ murder, dredging up all those terrible memories. It wasn’t fair for the kid to have to relive this, but they had to get the situation under control before someone else was killed, particularly Gabriel.

  This was what the Unit had been formed for. They had a huge problem, what with these people kidnapping shifters and vampires and experimenting on them. Nobody deserved that, and finding out that it wasn’t just humans running the show, but shifters and vampires along with them, was just as bad news. She picked up her board and carried it with her.

  “It’s okay. We’ll come back to the slopes this week,” Lilly said, putting her arm around Gabriel, who smiled like she’d given him his first kiss. She noticed that any time she touched him he got shy, but he loved every minute of it, she was sure of that.

  They quickly took off their ski clothes and put them in her office before getting on the elevator down to the meeting room. She watched as Gabriel’s shoulders slumped further the closer they walked to the meeting room. She wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him before they got to the door. “Hey, just tell them like you told us. We’re your friends, and everything is going to be just fine. I promise you can trust everyone here.” Gabriel nodded, then released the shaky breath he’d been holding.

  “Gabriel,” Sindrid said his name and waited for the boy to turn around before putting his hands on Gabriel’s shoulders. “Look at me, son.”

  Lilly’s heart broke as she watched the kid shudder, then look up at Sindrid. “I let your parents down. I promise I won’t make the same mistake twice. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there, but I swear that I will not let you down. I’ll protect you with my life.” A single tear dropped from Gabriel’s eye before he nodded.

  Sindrid pulled him in tightly, hugging him. “Now, do you need some time before we go inside, or are you ready to do this?”

  Gabriel pulled back and wiped his eyes, then muttered, “I’m ready.” Sindrid kept his ar
m around the boy as they walked in. Lilly watched as everyone in the room stood when Sindrid walked in. He was a king, and they respected him and showed that respect by standing and bowing to him.

  She waited, anticipating the reaction of an egotistical man who expected this to happen when he entered a room. Instead, she watched as Sindrid scanned the room and then bowed back to them. His simple action said everything that needed to be said. Her family smiled and took their seats.

  Gabriel sat down beside her. She didn’t want to embarrass him, so she took his hand and held it underneath the table, hoping that it would give him strength.

  In one day, this kid had wrapped himself around her heart. She couldn’t love him any more if he was her own child. She couldn’t explain it, but the love was there.

  Jonas walked over to the table and stuck his hand out to Gabriel. “Hello. I’m Jonas Glenn. I’m in charge of the Unit, and I promise you that you have nothing to fear from anyone in this room.” Then he leaned forward and whispered, “So I hear you hit the slopes today. Did you get a good look at Mirsa, who works at the lift? She’s hot.”

  Lilly watched as Gabriel blushed; then his eyes widened, and he turned his head so he could see if Jonas’ mate had heard what he said. Fortunately, she was busy talking to another woman. He glanced back at Jonas and smiled.

  “Good boy. Not that I noticed or anything, because that would be wrong, but she’s a sweet girl.” Jonas continued to smile as he walked back up to the board.

  Lilly glanced over at Sindrid, who was also chuckling. It seemed to work, because Gabriel looked more relaxed.

  “Hey everyone, this is Gabriel, and he’s going to tell us what he knows. Unfortunately, he’s suffered a terrible loss, and it’s our job to bring justice to this young man and to all the others his father and mother sacrificed their lives for. So if everyone is ready, let’s get this meeting started. Food will be delivered in a few minutes.”

  Jonas turned back toward Gabriel. “Gabriel, again son, we’re sorry for your loss. Can you start from the beginning, from when you found out about your dad’s job, and what happened afterward? Pelton Miller here used to work for the FBI, but now he works for me, and he’s going to write some notes on the board. River is going to type it out for us, too. So if you can’t remember something now, but remember it later, that’s okay. You can find me, or call me and let me know. If you’re ready, then go ahead and tell us what happened.”

  Gabriel swallowed hard, then nodded. Lilly squeezed his hand and winked at him. He started out by telling the Unit about Sentrix Labs. She watched the group closely, seeing the anger in their eyes as Gabriel explained.

  “He said that they had a lab somewhere where they had vampires and shifters held as prisoners, and they were doing some type of testing on them.

  “One night he came home and told us we had to leave all of our stuff, get in the car, and get away now. He said they were after him, and that we had to find Sindrid Abner because he would know what to do. We ran, but someone was always following us. My dad told me about a cave nearby, and said that he was going to slow down the next time we went around a curve, so I could jump out into the ditch and lay down flat. He said that they’d come back for me when they lost them, but after I jumped I followed them in the woods until a roadblock stopped them. They were waiting for my parents down the road, and started shooting them until they were dead. They killed my parents.”

  Lilly squeezed Gabriel’s hand as a tear escaped from his eye. He quickly swiped it away. “I overheard them say that my father didn’t have the thumb drive on him, that mostly likely his kid had it, and I ran as fast as I could. Alpha Marcus found me and took me in, and then when I got here I gave the thumb drive to the king like my father told me to.”

  “I have the thumb drive, and I made a copy and gave it to Jonas,” Sindrid added.

  “Thank you. I did have a chance to look at it. It’s unbelievable—I have no words for what they’re doing to their own kind. Basically, it’s like the Nazis’ experiments all over again,” Jonas told them, shaking his head.

  Jonas turned on the overhead projector so the team could get an idea of what they were looking at. Jacob Ryan had gotten some valuable information by copying some videos from inside the lab. “Gabriel’s dad did a great job of explaining what was going on, and provided video feed from the facility where they were holding our people. I will say that what you’re about to see is cruel, but if you’re going to be a part of this meeting then you need to see this. Our first priority is to find this place and then the people who are doing this.” Jonas motioned for Pelton to start the video.

  Lilly couldn’t believe what she was seeing. They had shifters chained down, and were sticking needles in them and drawing their blood out. Some of the shifters were pregnant, and you could hear the women screaming as they cut into their stomachs, taking the babies out. The pain one of the women was in was evident in her screams. Lilly didn’t see any pain medicine being administered, just pure agony.

  Then they watched as the women healed—they were torturing her just to see how fast she’d heal. The workers had on lab coats and took notes, laughing at her as she cried out for help. Her body couldn’t regenerate fast enough to fully heal before they cut into her again. They already had the baby out, but they continued to cut, just to watch her body try to knit itself together. The damage eventually became too much, and the woman died on the table. Two other men came into the room and pushed her off the table onto the floor, where they had plastic laid down. Then, like she was nothing but a piece of trash, they just wrapped her up and took her out of the room.

  It was unreal. Tears fell freely from her eyes as the experiments continued. The screen flashed to Gabriel’s father, Ryan. “If you’re watching this, then that means I’m dead. Sindrid, I hope you have this and have my son. These people are well-connected—I don’t know how far this treachery goes, but they will stop at nothing to continue. It’s all about money, and it can’t continue. I’ve provided every single document I could find to help you find out who is behind this, but please be careful; I think a lot of the people involved are high up in the government. This includes vampires, shifters, and some from the Twisters’ Council. I don’t know who you can trust, but I ask…” Sindrid sat up straight as he watched his best friend struggle to talk. “…Please take care of my son, Sindrid. I didn’t mean what I said to you; I regret every cruel word of it. I tried to find you after you left, but I couldn’t. And Gabriel, I want you to know, son, that you’re the best thing I ever did in my life. You’re everything to us. Your mother and I love you with all our hearts. Please don’t stop those smiles or being kind to others. It’s who you are. You were the light to our cloudy days. Even though we’re not there in person, we’re with you in your heart. We love you.” The screen cut off with Ryan smiling for his son. The whole room was crying, including Sindrid, who had tears streaming down his face.

  Lilly noticed that Gabriel said nothing—not a single tear fell from his face—but she could tell that he was in tremendous pain. She knew it was just a matter of time before he exploded. She got up and grabbed his hand, then walked with him to the door. “We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Gabriel’s head was still down when she pulled him into the workout room. He stopped and looked up when she placed him right in front of the punching bag, watching as she picked up the boxing gloves.

  “Stick your hands out.” Gabriel narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you hear me? Stick your hands out.” Gabriel reluctantly stuck his hands out and she placed the gloves on them. Then she turned around and put gloves on herself. “Now, you listen to me, Gabriel. I’m pissed at these people who killed your parents and I’m pissed for all those shifters and vampires who are being tortured. All I want to do is hurt someone, but I can’t, because the people here aren’t the ones I want to hurt. So this is the next best thing. I’m going to hit this bag here and picture those people in my head and then knock them out.” Lilly punched the bag so ha
rd it jolted outward.

  Gabriel watched her for a few minutes as she punched the bag, before she turned on him. “What, are you not mad yet? Hit the damn bag, Gabriel. Hit the bag.” Lilly punched him in the arm, not hard enough to hurt him, but with enough force to get his attention.

  She turned her attention back to the bag and started hitting it again, but this time she was cussing as well. “You fucking assholes. When I find you I’m going to make you face all the family members of those people you tortured. They didn’t deserve it.”

  Tears fell from her eyes as she watched Gabriel start hitting the bag. It didn’t move much; they’d been made to withstand the punishing punches of full-grown shifters and vampires. But before she knew it, Gabriel was hitting the bag so hard it was swaying. He didn’t say a word, but she could feel his emotions as he punched and kicked. She backed up, giving him enough room to get it out of his system. When she turned around, Sindrid and Joseph were standing at the door, watching silently.

  Gabriel continued hitting the bag until he was sobbing and screaming at it. Finally he ran out of energy, and Lilly rushed up and pulled him to her so he could cry it out. She lowered him to the floor and just held him. Pushing his hair out of his eyes, Lilly rocked until he started to calm down. He’d stopped crying, but she could still see the pain engraved on his face. She remembered the song that her mom used to sing to her when she got mad or upset, and started to sing it softly. As she sang, she hugged Gabriel until he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

  Sindrid walked over and kneeled down in front of her. “You have the touch of an angel.”

  Lilly looked back down at Gabriel and pushed the hair out of his eyes. “I could feel his pain. He needed to hit something before he exploded.” She cleared her throat before she continued. “I remember once this boy named James wanted me to be his girlfriend, and when I wouldn’t, he killed my dog. James was a cruel boy and I could see it, but I tried to be kind and tell him that I was with someone else. So he got his friends together and they did whatever they could to punish me for not wanting him. They waited for me one day by the pond. I had my dog with me, and they called Max over to them. Then they grabbed him up, put him in a plastic bag, and tied it so he couldn’t get out when they threw him into the pond. I couldn’t swim at the time and James knew it.