The sobbing didn’t stop. She was fairly certain whoever was inside hadn’t heard. She dropped her hand to the carved handle and pushed the door open easily. Just as Fane’s house was only four walls and a roof, with a dirt floor, so was this one. In the middle of the floor was a young woman lying curled up on a thick carpet. A blanket lay over her, but it was clear she was naked underneath it.
Moving closer to the crying woman, Trixie could see marks on her skin. Bruises. Love bites. Smudges that looked like fingerprints. Her heart turned over. What if this had been Teagan or one of her other girls? She couldn’t leave her like this. In fact, she needed to come up with another weapon or two and help this child escape.
Trixie crouched down beside the girl and laid a gentle hand on her forehead. “Honey-child, you’re going to make yourself sick.”
The woman lifted her tear-soaked lashes, now long and spiky, her gaze startled, her dove gray eyes swimming with tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Did I disturb you? You could hear me?” She sounded frightened, and she sat up, pulling the blanket around her.
At least the woman had a carpet to sit on, much better than Trixie’s sleeping bag. Trixie sat on the edge, close to the woman without waiting for an invitation. “I’m Trixie. Trixie Joanes.”
“Gabrielle Sanders,” the woman introduced herself. “You must be related to Teagan.”
“I’m her grandmother.” Trixie smiled her encouragement. “Do you know her?”
Gabrielle shook her head. “I know her lifemate, Andre.”
There was that word again. Lifemate. Clearly it meant something and no one took it lightly. Still, she’d come back to that. She touched Gabrielle’s shoulder gently. “Did someone hurt you?”
Fresh tears flooded Gabrielle’s eyes. She shook her head and pushed back her hair. “Not like you’re thinking. No one hit me. I’m just a . . . a mess. It’s me. Not him. I screwed up so badly there’s no fixing it.”
“Honey-child, there is always a way to fix something. I raised five girls. I’ve seen and heard it all. Just talking to someone else helps sometimes.”
Gabrielle pressed her lips together. “How are you inside the monastery? No one is supposed to be here.”
Trixie waved her hand airily. “Fane is my lifemate.” She had absolutely no idea what that meant, but Fane had said it and she was going to put this child at ease by using that as an excuse for her presence.
Gabrielle’s eyes widened. “That’s amazing. And good. No, great. I’m Aleksei’s lifemate.” She burst into a fresh storm of tears.
Trixie gathered her into her arms, blanket and all, holding her like she had her daughter and granddaughters when life had been cruel—and she was fairly certain life had been cruel to this woman. She looked young, very young, to be all alone, lying on a carpet naked, covered in bruises and up in the mountains inside a hut with four walls, a roof and dirt floor.
“Talk to me, Gabrielle. I’ve seen a lot of life.” And tasted bitterness and cruelty. She knew those things. She knew about giving up dreams. She knew about loss.
Gabrielle looked up into Trixie’s face. The woman was beautiful. She had exquisite skin and incredible hair. Gabrielle wasn’t certain how old she was; she seemed elegant and timeless, even in her cargo pants and bare feet. Still, she’d been attacked by a man who wanted to kill vampires, and she couldn’t allow herself to be deceived.
She chewed on her lower lip. She had never pushed her way into another’s mind. Not once. Not for any reason. She could talk telepathically to her sister and brother. She could use the common path of the Carpathians, but actually invading someone else’s mind, or having them in hers, seemed far too intimate. She had planned to give that to Gary. At the thought tears welled up again.
Trixie put her hand over Gabrielle’s. “I raised five girls, and I can’t have you lying in this empty shell of a house crying your heart out. Talk to me. Let me help. If nothing else, use me for a sounding board.”
Gabrielle looked into Trixie’s eyes. More than anything else, it was the kindness in her eyes that allowed a very private and distrusting Gabrielle to blurt out her sins to Trixie.
She confessed everything to this total stranger, but Trixie actually seemed to care. She actually seemed sympathetic. Gabrielle needed someone she wasn’t afraid of to talk to. How could she just stop loving Gary? It wasn’t possible. She couldn’t let Aleksei into her mind, but she knew sooner or later he would just stop giving her that and take it. He would know how she felt about Gary. She had sworn her allegiance to Aleksei, and she craved him. He did fill her mind and her thoughts. He owned her body. But the betrayal was there now on either side. She betrayed Gary with Aleksei and Aleksei with her feelings for Gary.