“Catch you around,” Moe said and walked out. Ashby smiled. It felt good knowing that he had helped
someone.
He looked at the clock. It was well after five, then as if by willing it to happen his cell phone rang. He
jumped up and ran to pick it up.
“Hello?” he asked breathing hard.
“Why do you sound so out of breath, mon ange?” the melodic voice asked. Ashby felt his insides
quiver.
“I ran to my cell phone to answer it. You’re late today,” he said smiling. He heard a chuckle and knew
he was right to tease him.
“My apologies mon ange, how can I make it up to you?” Gabriel asked smoothly. Ashby thought about
it for a second. The episode with Marcus and hearing about Peyton had really made him want to celebrate
how far he’d come.
“Is your offer still open for me to visit?” Ashby blurted out. There was silence on the phone. He felt
sick. He knew that Gabriel would change his mind. “I mean it’s OK, if it’s not…” That was as far as Ashby
got.
“Do you need an escort? Do you have transportation? I can send my car. Will you be hungry? I can
arrange for dinner?” Gabriel asked. Ashby could hear him barking orders in the background between
questions to prepare his personal VIP room. Ashby smiled. His normally calm and cool prince sounded
frantic.
“No I don’t need an escort and no I don’t need transportation, I have my own car. I’ll be stopping at the
diner for dinner, so don’t put anyone out. And you don’t need to prepare a VIP room, it’s just me,” Ashby
said softly.
“I will prepare the VIP room, because it is you,” Gabriel said, his deep voice soothing.
“What time should I expect you?” Gabriel asked.
“I’ll be swinging by the diner after I close then coming back to my place to get ready. So is ten o’clock
OK?” Ashby asked.
“Ten o’clock is perfect, mon ange. I will be waiting anxiously for you to get here,” Gabriel purred.
“See you then,” Ashby said and hung up the phone. He took a deep breath. He had done it. He had
agreed to meet his vampire prince at last. He grinned, that’s how he referred to Gabriel in his head, as his
vampire prince. Shaking his head he decided to close the shop early to give himself extra time to get ready.
He made sure everything was closed and put away for the night and flipped the sign to “Closed.” He had
just enough time to eat, shower and then agonize over what to wear.
Chapter 2
“There he is! You’re in early today,” Rebecca said. When he first met Rebecca Arkadion she had been
Rebecca Morgan, a human in a shifter-only town destined to be mated to Aleksander Arkadion, the eldest
Arkadion son. When Aleks’s parents fully retired, Aleks and Rebecca would take over in leading Arkadia
and the other Arkadian sister cities. Aleks and Rebecca had already started stepping into their roles and
making decisions for the town.
When they first met, Rebecca had looked at him with wide eyes and said, “It’s like your beauty is
wasted on my eyeballs.” Though he had known he was gay from the time he was eleven, he fell a little bit
in love with her. She was the only one who ever looked at him as though he were something special, as if
she could see into his very soul.
He had been kidnapped with Rebecca from Purgatory, Gabriel’s nightclub, months ago. She had
bounced back from her ordeal and was now experiencing her first pregnancy and due to the bond they
shared he was experiencing it right along with her, especially the morning sickness. There were days when
the very smell of waffle cones sent him running to hurl in the bathroom, though he never admitted as much
to his best friend.
“Marcus Evans dropped by again,” Ashby said, sliding into the chair between Rebecca and his other
friend, Kate Edwards.
“That guy needs to eat out of a feeding tube for a while,” Nic said, taking a French fry from what
looked to be the communal fry plate on the table. Rebecca frowned and swung her head back to Ashby.
“Did he hurt you, Ashers?” she said, making sure she made eye contact. He looked away and shrugged.
She grabbed the hem of his shirt and manhandled it up over his head. It got stuck around his ears, but she
had somehow managed to get his bruised arm free.
“Kate! Look at this. That asshole Marcus Evans has hurt Ashby, we need to arrest him!” she said,
waving Ashby’s arm around. Ashby got his arm free and managed to pull his shirt down from where it had
been lodged around his head and put his arms through the sleeves.
“It’s OK, Moe ran him off. Even Marcus isn’t stupid enough to mess around with Moe,” Ashby said