A Wolf's Heart (Harlequin Nocturne) (21 page)

Chapter 34

G
abriel stormed out of building twelve and looked at the other buildings surrounding him. Rory had moved the set, but he couldn’t have gone far. It was here, somewhere. And if it was in this maze of warehouses, then Elise was in one of them. He was sure of it.

Rory was obsessed with Elise. And Gabriel found out that they had met on that set ten years before.

He believed that Rory had glamoured Elise into being his client.

Gabriel had to find out about these buildings and he needed help to search them. He got into his car and roared back to the gate to talk to the guard.

Chuck came out of the little guard office as Gabriel brought the car to a screeching stop, almost hitting the fence, and jumped out of the car. “Something wrong, Inspector?”

“Are any of the buildings empty? Or unused most of the time?”

Chuck’s brow furrowed. “Let me check, sir.” He went back into the office. Gabriel followed him in. He typed some commands on his computer keyboard. A map of the whole studio came up, listing all the buildings and their purpose.

He pointed to five different buildings. “These two are partially empty, only half of the space is being used, and these three are mostly old storage areas.”

“Can you print that map off?”

He nodded.

“Do it. Print two.”

Chuck pressed print and two copies came off the printer. While the maps printed, Gabriel made a quick call for backup, but they wouldn’t make it here for another fifteen minutes. That was too long. So, Gabriel grabbed a printout and he handed one to Chuck. “I’m deputizing you, Chuck. I need you to help me search these buildings for Elise Leroy. She’s being held captive by Rory Langford, her agent, the vampire I was asking about earlier.”

Chuck gaped at him. “Oh, my God, are you serious?”

“Deadly serious.”

“I’ll do whatever you ask me to do, sir.”

“Are you armed?”

Chuck nodded, and patted his hip. He had a Taser gun strapped to his belt. It would have to be enough. He couldn’t legally give Chuck one of his weapons. A Taser would technically work on any species.

“I’ll take these three buildings.” He pointed to the two partially empty ones, and the adjacent one that was used for storage. “You take these two.” He pointed to the other storage ones.

“Got it.” Chuck reached under the counter and grabbed two wireless radios, handing one to Gabriel. “Turn it to channel two.”

Gabriel did and tucked it into his belt. “If you hear or see anything, radio me. Do not engage on your own. Do you get me?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay, let’s go.” He went back to his car, and Chuck got into the passenger seat. He turned it around and raced back to where he’d parked before. The buildings they were searching were behind the parking lot.

He parked; they both got out, and separated. Gabriel went to the left and Chuck to the right. Gabriel slid alongside the wall of the first building. He put his ear to the wall as he moved along to the door.

When he reached the door, he didn’t bother to check if it was unlocked or not. Waste of time. He pulled open the door and went in.

It was a huge cavernous building. It was completely empty. No offices, shelves, no props, no nothing. Just empty space. He didn’t even need to bother going all the way in. He could see straight across the floor to the other door. Spinning on his heel, he exited that building and moved on to the next.

As he approached that building, the hair on his body stirred to attention again. Something shifted the air. Something ominous. He could feel a sense of dread all the way down to his bones.

When he came to the wall of the next building, he paused and pressed his ear to the cement. He waited a few seconds, sensing something amiss. He inhaled the air and caught a scent. And not just any scent.

Elise was here. He could smell her. And she was deathly afraid.

Chapter 35

E
lise kicked at Rory as he came near, his eyes as gray and languid as quicksilver. Why hadn’t she noticed their strangeness until now? They were both alluring and repulsive at the same time. One moment she wanted to surrender to them, and in the next she wanted to claw them out. Had he been glamouring her for ten years?

“Stop fighting me, bitch.” He grasped her one ankle with his hand.

She kicked him hard in the head with her other foot, but it didn’t faze him. He kept at her, making grabs for her other leg. She turned over onto her stomach and tried to crawl away, enough so she could gain her feet again. But he literally pounced on her when she did that and covered her body with his.

He pressed her down to the floor, his hands snaking around her body, his legs forcing hers apart. She bucked and writhed, anything to get him off her, but that seemed to just spur him on. She could feel his body growing hard and it made her stomach roil in revulsion. She had to swallow down the bile rising in her throat.

His hands moved up her body and cupped her breasts. “I’ve had dreams like this. You’re exactly how I imagined you’d feel. Hard and soft all at the same time.”

Elise reached up to his face and raked her nails down his cheeks. She knew she drew blood because she could smell it the second she opened his skin.

Grunting, he pulled his head back, but he didn’t release his hold on her. “I’m stronger than you are, Elise. You can’t beat me.”

“I’ll never stop trying, you bastard.” With that, she rocked and bucked her body, and kicked back with her legs and pushed out with her arms. She mustered every ounce of strength inside her to get out from underneath him.

For a moment she thought it was working, because she could feel less pressure on her back. That was when she pushed up with all her might. But it was all for naught.

Rory lifted up and flipped her over onto her back faster than she could think. He covered her again with his own body, grabbing her wrists and holding them down to the floor. Her legs were trapped underneath his.

He smiled down at her, his eyes wide and intently focusing on hers. “Stop struggling. It’ll be easier on you if you do.”

Gathering all the saliva in her mouth, she spit at him in the face. “Damn you.”

Grinning like a maniac, Rory narrowed his eyes and focused on her. She wanted to look away but found it difficult. His gaze was intense and mesmerizing. She felt dizzy and light-headed but still couldn’t avert her gaze.

“I told you it would be easier if you didn’t struggle. Now I’m going to have to remove some of your thoughts to make room for new ones.”

“You can’t.”

“I can and I will.” He grinned again. “I think clearing all your memories of Inspector Gabriel Bellmonte will do the trick.”

Tears welled in her eyes. And even though she was disgusted and furious at what Rory intended to do, she still couldn’t look away from him. He had captured her mind and she was powerless to stop him.

“Please, don’t, Rory. I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t take that from me.” The tears ran down her temples to drip on the floor beneath her head.

If she thought her tears and her plea would soften his resolve, she couldn’t have been more mistaken. It seemed to infuriate him further. She could see the muscles along his jawline twitch as if he was grinding his teeth.

“It’s too late to beg me, Elise. You are not the star of this show. I am. I am in control. I have the power,” he snarled. “And when I’m done altering your mind, I’m going to kill your precious inspector. And it will be your fault.” Then he laughed. “And the funny thing is you won’t even care because you won’t remember who he is. But I will and I can glory in that for the rest of my long life.”

The tears just kept coming. She couldn’t stop them now that they were falling. It was all she could do to defy him. She didn’t have the strength or the will do anything else.

She’d lost Gabriel fifteen years ago, and she was about to lose him again. But this time it would be forever and not something she could undo or even regret.

She’d wasted all those years with anger and remorse, thinking she had more time. Every day that went by without Gabriel seemed like another day was next, that the possibility of seeing him sparked and then faded. But she didn’t even have another day. These next few minutes would be her last, the last ones she’d ever regret not being at Gabriel’s side.

“This will only take a moment, and then you’ll feel fine. You won’t even remember this.” He leaned down into her face to catch her gaze.

She stared up into his eyes and wondered if it would be physically painful to have all those memories torn from her. They’d been with her for so long; Elise imagined they must’ve taken root fairly deeply in her mind. She wondered if it would be like weeding a garden, one weed at a time, like she did in her garden at the cottage.

Rory leaned even closer to her face. She could smell the stench of the alcohol he’d consumed on his breath and the sweat on his brow. And the blood streaks on his face from when she’d broken his nose.

It was the blood. The blood that finally wheedled its way through the mist in her mind.

Taking a deep breath, she screamed, “Gabriel!”

And when Rory flinched, breaking the contact of her gaze, Elise raised her head and sank her tiny fangs into his mouth.

Chapter 36

T
he scream pierced the silence around him, and Gabriel nearly dropped to his knees.

“Elise,” he murmured. She was in pain but even more important—he knew where she was.

He ran full out to the next building, and as he did he forced the shift through his body. By the time he reached the main door he was all wolf. Grabbing the door handle in his powerful jaws, he tore it off its hinges and charged into the building.

The expansive warehouse was separated into various rooms. Gabriel raced down one corridor to the very back of the building. He didn’t even hesitate before he was crashing through a closed wooden door. Splinters of wood pierced his paws and forelegs, but he didn’t feel it as he bounded into the room, savage fury turning his vision red.

She was there in the room, his woman. She was on the floor and the vampire was on top of her, clawing at her head. Blood soaked them both, but he couldn’t be absolutely sure whom it belonged to.

Without another thought he sprang into action. He leaped over the sofa and hooked Rory around the midsection. He brought the vampire down to the floor, his claws sunk deep into his stomach.

The vampire stared up at him, wide-eyed, surprised obviously by his arrival. His face was a bloody mess, and it was then Gabriel noticed that his lips had been torn open. Movement stirred in his peripheral vision and Gabriel turned his head.

Elise was there at his side, on her hands and knees, blood staining her mouth and hands. Tears streaked her cheeks as she crawled over to where he had Rory pinned to the floor. The vampire wasn’t moving much. He couldn’t, not with Gabriel’s vicious claws dug into his flesh. If he moved, he’d be gutted in seconds. Not even the most powerful of vampires could survive that type of injury for long.

“Gabriel,” she breathed. “Oh, Gabriel.”

He whined at her to let her know that he understood, that he was here. That he loved her with everything he was or ever would be.

She ran a hand over his body, tangling her fingers into his fur. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

He snuffled her cheek once, and then when Rory moved beneath him, he growled and lowered his muzzle to the vampire’s throat. He stopped moving.

Gabriel wanted to rip his throat out. Already he could taste the tang of blood on his tongue. This kill would be the most satisfying he’d ever had.

Elise gripped his fur. “Don’t kill him.”

Gabriel growled again and opened his jaw, scraping the tips of his razor-sharp teeth along the vampire’s neck. Rory closed his eyes and whimpered like a coward.

“Don’t,” she murmured. “I want him to be alive to know that he will never have me. That I am and always have been yours.”

Gabriel pulled his head back and closed his jaw. Turning toward her, he nuzzled her cheek again. He inhaled her scent. It relaxed him, and he was able to retract his claws from Rory’s gut. He stepped off the vampire and moved to one side, his gaze still alert in case Rory decided to do something stupid—like move.

Elise wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his fur. She was sobbing now, and in between sobs he heard her words. “I was so scared. I didn’t think you’d find me.”

He wanted to console her, to wrap his arms around her and rock her in his lap until the tears stopped. But he couldn’t, not in his wolf form. Closing his eyes, he focused on shifting back. He desperately needed to hold her close.

At the first shift of his bones, Gabriel felt movement next to him. He opened his eyes to see Rory rolling over to gain his feet. He was fast, this vampire, but the fact that he had to hold his guts in slowed him down. Enough, that Gabriel was able to bound after him. The pain was immense but he pushed past it. He couldn’t let Rory get away, not after all he’d done. Especially with what he’d done to Elise.

Rory was almost at the broken door. Gabriel pushed off with his twisted back legs, half in and half out of his wolf form. He reached for the vampire. Reached and managed to snag a piece of him. Right across the face.

Howling, Rory slapped his hands over his eyes but still was gaining momentum out the door. But he ran right into two hundred and fifty pounds of lycan security guard. Chuck had his Taser out and he let it rip at Rory.

The electrical jolt dropped the vampire to the ground. He twitched on the floor as the current zipped through him like lightning.

Gabriel collapsed to the ground beside the vampire and finished his shift. It took him a little longer than usual but eventually he was back in his human form. He struggled to his feet. Elise was there helping him up, and she wrapped her arms around him. He could feel her tear-soaked cheek on his shoulder.

He hugged her close, stroking a hand over her hair, reveling in her, in her smell, in the feel of her body pressed close to his. Squeezing his eyes shut against the tears he wanted to shed, Gabriel breathed her in, heart and soul.

Words couldn’t express the emotions hammering through him. So he remained silent and just held her, soothing her, consoling himself that he’d gotten to her in time. That he hadn’t failed her. That he hadn’t lost her. She was here, in his arms, safe.

Finally, movement behind him caused him to stir, and he turned to see Chuck and Sophie and an EMT milling about in the room. Rory was strapped to a gurney and was about to be wheeled out. Gabriel glanced at him one last time, and then he pushed the vampire out of his mind.

Sophie smiled at him and handed him his coat. “Here you go, boss.”

He took one arm from around Elise long enough to slip the coat on. “When did you get here?”

“Five minutes ago.” She nodded toward Chuck, who was busy putting his Taser gun back into his belt. “He called to let us know what the hell was going on.”

“Thank you, Chuck,” Gabriel said.

The big lycan shrugged. “I was just following your orders, sir.”

“Ever thought of a job in law enforcement or crime-scene investigation?”

Chuck went wide-eyed.

“I think you’d be a good addition to the team.”

“Thank you, sir.” He puffed out his chest.

Gabriel squeezed Elise into his side. She hadn’t yet let go of him. “Elise, this is Chuck. He’s a big fan of yours.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chuck.”

The big lycan blushed. “The pleasure’s all mine, Ms. Leroy.”

His arm around her, Gabriel moved toward the exit. “I’m taking Elise home.”

Sophie nodded. “Okay, boss. I’ll take care of things here.”

Together they walked through the door and neither one of them looked back.