Alpha's Moon

Chapter 34

"Why should I?"

Gabriel looked at the stubborn set of Alex's jaw and felt like shaking her. He took a calming breath, reminding himself that she had been through a hellish day.

"I'm trying to understand you, Alex," he spoke gently. "Tell me, so I can understand."

There was uncertainty in the green eyes that stared into his, then he felt her back relax ever so slightly. "Alright."

Gabriel waited patiently for her to keep going. Those who knew him would have been surprised at how long he managed to sit in silence as she bit her lip, trying to order her thoughts. They would have been surprised, because they wouldn't have realised how grateful he was that Alex was willing to speak to him at all.

Half-turned. He still couldn't quite imagine it. He remembered the first time he turned at a full moon. Like most of his race, it happened after his body matured when he was almost seventeen. His senses had sharpened to an unbearable degree, nausea had doubled him over and his bones felt like they were coming apart. He had been taught not to resist the wolf that rose within him, had been taught to breath through the pain and that it would only happen once and never again. Despite that, only when he allowed his wolf to surface and transformed, did that hellish state ebb away.

How had she survived this long with no relief? Anger at what she had been made to endure warred with pride in the strength of his mate, as he watched her finger the bracelet on her wrist.

"Ten years ago, my parents and I were driving to go hiking just outside of Hong Kong." She didn't look at him as she spoke, choosing instead to stare out the window. "We hit something big, or maybe it hit us, I don't know. The car flipped. Dad called for me. Mom was unconscious. Then a wolf appeared." She swallowed hard. "It bit dad, then came for me. I was in the back, the seats were crushed, so he couldn't reach me."

Gabriel reached out for Alex, wanting to protect her from the memory, wanting to kill the bastard who did this to her. She looked down at his hand on her knee, then up at him. "It was a werewolf, wasn't it?"

He could only nod in shame, "I'm sorry, Alex."

Alex shifted, straightening her back. His heart sank when she pushed his hand away, but he didn't comment. Then she went on: "The wolf disappeared. No, he just changed his form. He came as a man then. He reached into the front seats and broke...he broke my parents necks."

Gabriel's jaw clamped in fury and for the third time that night his wolf was beginning to be let out to wreak havoc. That bastard! That fucking bastard! He had run into a family, caused an accident then instead of using a mind-wipe, he chose to leave no survivors.

Alex let out a slow breath, "After that, I don't remember."

Gabriel pushed down the rage boiling inside him. This was not the moment to let his anger loose. He needed to help her heal. He needed to punish the murderous swine. "We will find him."

Alex looked at him, surprise reflected in her green eyes.

"Harming humans is not tolerated by our laws. We will find him," Gabriel repeated. "And when we do, he will pay with his life for what he did to you."

He saw her shiver and wanted more than anything to hold her. What she suffered tonight...what she had been suffering for ten years. Gabriel couldn't stand the thought of her hurting anymore. He needed to make her pain end. Softening his voice, he continued: "Once justice is done, I will turn you and you will finally be free of the pain."

"No."

"No?" The firmness in her reply was as surprising as it was frustrating. Gabriel understood that she hated the wolf who killed her parents, she had every reason to, but why would she continue living in pain when there was an alternative?

"No," she repeated with a nod of her head.

Gabriel kept his frustration under control, trying to make sense of her attitude. Was there was something he didn't know? Come to think of it, what had brought her to Boston in the first place?

"Why did you come here?" He asked suddenly.

Alex looked confused by his change in track, so he rephrased his question, "Why did you accept this job? Why did you ask for my personal time? Wasn't it because you wanted something from me?"

She looked away, her slim fingers curling into her palms as she admitted: "I wanted to learn how you were blocking your pain from me."

Blocking? Gabriel tried to understand what she could mean, then realised that the wall he raised to stop werewolves from using their talents on him must have blocked her ability as well. "So you came here to learn how to stop drawing pain. It's easily done, I can teach you."

"You can?" Her eyes lit up with sudden excitement, "That's all I want. Just teach me that and I will leave. I won't complicate things for any of you, I'll head back to Hong Kong, I won't say a word about you or your kind, I swear."

Gabriel's smile faltered, his wolf balking at the thought of their mate leaving them. He wanted to grab her, to hold her tight so she could not go anywhere, but he pushed his feelings aside. Right now, he had to focus on Alex. She had to understand. "You need to complete the Turning for me to be able to teach you."

The hopeful gleam slipped away from her expression and Alex stood."I will not become one of you." His jacket fell from her shoulders, landing in a pool around her feet."I would rather be in pain for the rest of my life."

Her words that were full of a loathing for his kind might have angered him, but Gabriel's eyes were drawn to the red stains across her white jumpsuit reminding him of all that Alex had been through. A werewolf had killed her family and left her to suffer immeasurable pain, then another had attacked her tonight. Was it any wonder she thought them all vile? Gabriel would just have to show her otherwise.

But first, first he had to get the traces of those thugs off of her. Unable to bare the sight of their dirty blood on his mate for a moment longer, Gabriel covered the distance between them and lifted her into his arms.

"What are you doing? Gabriel, put me down!" Alex struggled in his arms, but he held her easily and carried her across the living room.