Devil Takes His Innocent (4 page)

“
Nothing of interest for me in
there tonight,” Devil replied, clapping the giant man on his shoulder.

“
That’s never stopped you before.
What’s going on?” Devil shouldn’t have been surprised by Chaos’ question. The
warlock never missed a thing.

“
I don’t know. I just can’t seem
to get my mind off of Gabriella.”

“
Might I suggest something without
you getting mad?”

“
I’m open to anything right now
that would give me a reason for my newfound obsession. As long as you don’t say
guilt,” he warned. It was an emotion that Devil had no time for. He made
decisions, acted upon them, and accepted the outcome. Guilt made a man weak,
and that was something Devil refused to be. “Yes, I feel for the woman, but
after considering it further I know that it would have happened whether she
came to me as a call girl or someone I picked up.”

“
That’s what I thought, and I
might be able to explain why,”
came
Chaos’ cryptic
reply.

“
Spill it, Chaos!” Devil demanded.

“
Okay, but first can you answer
some questions?” Devil nodded as he pressed the button on the private lift. “Do
you find your mind constantly wandering to her?”

“
Yes.”

“
When you were with her, where
were your thoughts?”

“
On her, until I remembered what
she supposedly did for a living. I then just assumed that she was excellent at
her job,” Devil responded after considering the question. It was true; he had
thought about nothing but pleasing her, rather than work, which was the
opposite of what usually happened. In the past the women he had been with
failed to hold his interest, so his thoughts often diverted back to work.

“
Did you do anything out of the
norm with her?”

“
I asked her name,
then
punished her for lying to me about it. I didn’t like
the fact that she refused to share her real name with me,” Devil conceded.

“
How do you react when you think
of her with another man?” This question Devil responded to with a low growl.
“Just what I thought.
Devil, my friend, I suspect you have
found your mate in Gabriella Winters. Now all you have to do is find her and
claim her.”

Chapter
Four

Gabby had spent several days
trying to avoid all thoughts of Devil by watching the man who Bobby thought to
be his father. He seemed like a decent man, well respected within the
community, and from all appearances he adored his young family. After three
days of watching, she finally gained enough courage to approach the man, only
for him to beat her to it.

“
You really seem to like it in
here. Now I have two theories,” the pharmacist she knew to be Bobby’s father,
Jason, said. “Either you’re a druggie casing the joint, which if that’s the
case, don’t bother
trying,
you’ll walk away from here
with nothing. Or you have a thing for medical supplies.”

Gabby would have laughed at his
error, had she not been nervous over what she was about to do. Holding her head
high, she looked him in the eyes and suggested, “I have another theory for you.
But maybe here’s not the best place to discuss it.”

“
Look, you’re a beautiful woman
and all, but I’m a happily married man,” Jason said, crossing his arms over his
expansive chest.

“
I know. It’s nothing like that,
trust me,” Gabby said, laughing. She had had enough of men to last her a
lifetime. Pointedly looking around the busy pharmacy, she added, “I’m here on
behalf of a young boy named Bobby.
Nothing more or less.
So is there a private place we can talk?”

“
What’s this boy got to do with
me?”

“
Again, not the best place to
discuss this,” she replied. She had no idea who knew that this man in front of
her was a shape shifter.

“
Fine, I’m off in twenty. Meet me
outside, and we can walk while we talk.”

She had just gained herself
twenty minutes of reprieve, or was it torture? She had prepared herself to face
this man, and now after building herself up, she had to wait. The closer it got
to Jason’s finishing time, the more nervous she became. She didn’t even know
how that was possible. The anxiety she was feeling far exceeded anything she
had felt before. Maybe it was because it wasn’t her life that was about to be
affected by what she had to say, but Bobby’s. She needed to do this perfectly
for him.

“
Okay, so you now have my full
attention,” Jason said, coming up behind her. “Who’s this Bobby and what does
he have to do with me?”

Gabby went on to share what Bobby
had told her, including who his mother was. She could see the recognition in
Jason’s eyes as soon as she mentioned the mother’s name. Then she saw something
that she would have feared had it been directed at her. It was pure fury.

“
That fucking bitch,” Jason
shouted. He then stopped and looked down at her. “Sorry for my language. I just
can’t believe that she would keep him from me all this time, and then to dump
him like that, defenseless. Did Bobby say why she left him? And how did he end
up with you?”

“
It was after his first change,”
she all but whispered, looking around. “If you know what I mean?”

“
Yes, but how do you?”

“
Bobby told me, then when he was
asleep,
his body began to change slightly.”

“
You understand that this can’t
get out,” Jason warned, stopping and standing over her. “You seem to care for
my son, so for his sake tell no one.”

“
I would never!” she said in
disgust.

Jason took in a deep breath.
“Good. Now how about you explain to me how you got involved in all of this in
the first place.”

“
I found him alone and starved in
my cabin. I hate to think what he would have done for food had I not arrived,”
she said, shivering at the thought. “Anyway, from what I could pick up from
Bobby, he came onto my land because it smelled different from everywhere else.
He said he couldn’t smell others like him there. He decided that it was safe
for him.”

Instead of reacting the way she
had expected, Jason grabbed both of her upper arms, stared down at her with
hate in his eyes and demanded, “Who are you to old man
Winters
?”

“
His granddaughter,” she said,
trying to extricate her arms from his grip.

“
What have you done with my son?”

“
Nothing.
Haven’t you been listening to
me? Now let me go!” she screamed, hoping to gain the attention of the
passersby.

She succeeded. “What’s going on,
Jason?” another man asked.

“
Please, sir, help me. Just hold
him here, so I can safely get away. He needs to learn to keep his hands to
himself,” Gabby said as soon as Jason dropped her arms.

She all but ran toward her car,
too scared to look back over her shoulder. As soon as she had the engine
started, she raced away from Bobby’s only hope of having a happy family life.
She couldn’t allow him to go to a home where a man like Jason lived. The man
couldn’t seem to control his temper, and if he believed that it was acceptable
to grab and hurt a woman, she didn’t want to think what he would do to a
defenseless child. The question was
,
how was she going
to explain it to Bobby?

****

Her answer came when she arrived
home. Immediately, Bobby knew something was wrong. She had no way of hiding the
already developing bruises on her arms, though she had tried. It was the fear
she still felt that he noticed first. According to Bobby, it was a similar
smell to the one his mother had whenever he transformed. Damn his heightened
senses. She had to wonder whether it was a shape shifter thing.

As she stirred the stew they had
started cooking earlier in the day, she told Bobby what had happened between
her and his father. She didn’t want to paint the man in too bad of a light, but
she also had no intentions of lying to the boy, either. He’d had enough of that
throughout his life.

She had just put the potatoes on
to boil when she heard the first of two cars coming toward the cabin. Bobby
must have heard them before her because he was already looking out the window.

“
I think it’s my dad, and there’s
some woman. Some other guy just got out of the second car,” Bobby said, looking
over his shoulder at her. “Don’t let them take me away, Gabby. Please.”

“
It’s going to be all right. This
is still private property and they’re trespassing,” she reassured. If only she
believed that would stop these men, but still she continued. “We can just send
them on their way and then leave to the city tonight. How does that sound?”

“
Okay.”

Together, showing a united front,
they both went to answer the door. There stood two extremely large men, and one
petite woman. Jason and the woman both swept their gazes over Bobby, while the
other man, the one she recognized from earlier, had his attention fixed firmly
on her. He seemed to rival Devil in power. Damn it, where did that thought come
from? Why the hell was that man polluting her thoughts during such an intense
confrontation?

“
Son, come here!” Jason said,
gently ordering Bobby.

“
Don’t call me that!” Bobby spat,
edging closer to Gabby. “The only person who has ever cared for
me,
and you hurt her!”

“
I swear to you, Bobby, I never
hurt your mother,” Jason said, now down on his knees.

“
I wasn’t talking about her. She
hurt me all the time!” Bobby replied. “You hurt Gabby.”

“
You’re in danger with her, Bobby.
Her grandfather hated our kind. That’s why we never come onto this land.
Those who have, never returned.”

Before she could defend her
position, Bobby once again spoke up, showing a maturity beyond his years. “So
you think ’cos her grandfather was like that, then she will be too! You don’t
know
nothing
. Gabby’s the best person I know, and I’m
staying with her,” Bobby declared, looking up to Gabby. “Is that okay?”

“
More than okay, Bobby,” she
replied, pulling the boy close to her body. “I’m not letting this man take you.
You’ve been through enough at the hands of one parent. I won’t risk him hurting
you too.”

Jason
stood. “
I would
never
hurt my son.”

“
So you don’t hurt kids, just
women. That’s comforting!” Gabby retorted.

“
I don’t hurt women,” Jason said,
pulling his wife into his arms. “Tell her, Judge, please?”

“
Gabby, is it all right that I
call you that?” She nodded her reply to the man named Judge. “Okay, Gabby, you
have to understand that our kind is very protective of our children. When Jason
discovered that you were old man
Winters
’
granddaughter, he thought that his son was in danger. Jason is a good man who
has three other children. All of them adore their dad.”

“
Words, that’s all I’m hearing,”
Gabby responded.

“
Gabby, I’m Maryanne, Jason’s mate
and wife. Would you believe it if the words came from me?” she asked, looking
over Gabby’s shoulder. “It sounds like something is boiling over on the stove.
Why don’t we go and check on it, and I’ll answer any questions you have.”

Gabby’s inquisitive mind demanded
she say “yes.” It would also give Bobby a chance to find out some answers as well,
because she knew he had many questions that she had no way of answering. A
quick look down at Bobby told her that she had assumed correctly. He wanted to
discover more about what he was. With a slight nod of her head, she and Bobby
reentered the cabin, only this time three other people joined them.

“
Something smells delicious,”
Maryanne said cheerily.

Bobby stood tall and proud,
puffing out his chest and said, “
Me
and Gabby made it.
It’s
beef stew.”

“
Yum, maybe you could teach me how
to make it one day,” Maryanne said, smiling kindly at the boy. “Do you like
cooking, Bobby?”

“
Yes. Gabby’s been teaching me
how.”

“
Your mum never let you cook with
her?” Maryanne asked.

“
Nah, she never cooked. I just got
sandwiches for dinner when she remembered. When she didn’t, I used to sneak out
of bed once she was asleep, and make myself one,”
came
the heartbreaking reply.

While both Gabby and Maryanne had
tears in their eyes, the two men chose that moment to remind Gabby of their
presence. The hissing she heard had her jumping in front of Bobby, ready to
protect him. Maryanne went over to both men. She placed her hand on Jason’s
chest and whispered softly. The men’s gazes both landed on Gabby. They seemed
to take in her stance, and both took a deep breath in,
then
let it out slowly as if they were trying to force themselves to calm down.

“
I’m sorry, Gabby,” Judge
apologized while Maryanne cuddled up to her husband. “Feeding our women and
children is a high priority to our kind, and the idea that that woman failed to
provide for Bobby has our animals displeased, to say the least.”

“
What do you know of our kind?”
Jason asked, now visibly calmer.

“
Only what Bobby has told me from
his experiences. Before I met him, I had no idea that your kind existed,” Gabby
replied before looking over her shoulder at the stove where the potatoes were
boiling over.

“
Don’t worry about that, Gabby.
I’ll watch your dinner while the guys answer both your and Bobby’s questions,”
Maryanne said, accurately reading Gabby’s worry. “Do you want the potatoes
mashed?”

“
Yes, but I can do it later.”

“
Nonsense, you and Bobby need to
eat it while it’s hot. We have rudely come at dinner time. We won’t stand in
your way of eating once it’s ready,” Maryanne called over her shoulder as she
headed toward the kitchen.

“
So are there others like us?”
Bobby asked before they had all sat down.

“
Yes,” Jason replied, seemingly
proud of his son’s question. “We belong to a pride of just over two hundred. We
have an Alpha, who’s our leader.”

Bobby looked at Judge, and asked,
“That’s you, right?”

“
Yes, cub, your instincts serve
you well,” Judge responded. “I have to make the rules and ensure everyone is
following them. Without our rules, our kind could be exposed to the humans. Can
you understand how dangerous that could be?”

“
No.”

“
Humans often fear difference in
people. If our secret got out, the humans might try to catch us or kill us,”
Judge explained. “That’s why it’s against the rules to show them what we are.”