Fated for Forever(38)

eyes narrowed as he regarded his friend.

“You must not want to eat any of Rebecca’s cakes, like ever again. Wait until I tell her you said she was

worse than a plague.” Ashby made tsking sounds.

“Wait! I didn’t say that.” Connor sat up in the chair.

“And that she was as disgusting as pox-ridden bodies and a menace to society. Poor Connor.” Ashby

sighed and looked up at him with large sad eyes.

“OK, OK, Ashby, you win. She is not contagious. If anything her awesomeness is what is spreading to

everyone in town like sunshine. You are awesome too, so awesome in fact I’ll help you unload your next

delivery of ice cream and I’ll only need two sundaes to keep me going,” Connor said quickly.

“Oh, in that case I’ll let her know how much you helped and that you pined away for your little sister,”

Ashby said with a sweet innocent smile.

“You do know she wouldn’t have believed him right,” Emmett said amused. Connor nodded and

winked at Ashby who winked back.

“I really need to meet this Rebecca,” Roman said, sounding impressed.

“He missed me, that’s all,” Connor replied then turned to Roman.

“She is pretty amazing.”

“I miss every one. I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone now that Gabriel and I have mated,” Ashby

said as the sunshine drained from him and his eyes filled with sadness.

“Hey, it’s going to be OK, Ashby. Aleks was talking to Ma and she said that the older a vampire gets the

stronger he gets, and Gabriel is as old as they come. He’ll get through this,” Emmett said, scooting his chair

forward.

“Anything you need little buddy. Anything at all, we’re here for you,” Connor said with a kind smile.

“The one thing I need right now is the one thing no one can tell me. What exactly happened to my

mate?” Ashby couldn’t keep the frustration out of his voice.

“Maybe that’s where I can help.” A deep voice rumbled from the door. Ashby looked up to see the most

lethal-looking man he had ever laid eyes on. The air around him seemed to race out in front, whispering

warnings to stay away.

“Mikhail, thank God!” Roman exclaimed.

“Where is he?” Mikhail looked right at Ashby.

“He’s downstairs in the dungeon. They had to chain him down,” Ashby said, standing and rubbing his

chest. He couldn’t shake that bruised feeling.

“You chained my prince to a wall in a dungeon?” Mikhail demanded, his voice barely containing his

sense of outrage.

“Yes, as his mate I allowed this, not only to keep Gabriel safe, but to keep the entire coven safe, which

is what Gabriel would have wanted,” Ashby said firmly, never breaking eye contact.

Mikhail simply turned around and walked out leaving everyone scrambling behind him trying to keep

up. The group made their way through the club and down to the dungeon where Gabriel was locked behind

a heavy metal door. Lauri and Kurt straightened quickly, nearly snapping to attention.

Ashby anxiously stood beside Mikhail at the door.

“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” Ashby asked, chewing on is thumb nail. Connor pulled the

thumb down from his mouth. Ashby scowled at him.

“What exactly happened?” Mikhail asked darkly, staring through the viewer.

“We were in a meeting with the regional coven leaders when Gabriel started rubbing his chest. He got a

panicked look on his face, yelled for me to check on Ashby, and then he started screaming. His claws and

fangs elongated to lengths I’ve never seen on a vampire before. Then he started trashing the VIP conference

room, it took four tranquilizers to put him down,” Roman said, moving to stand on the other side of

Mikhail.

“If he were a shifter I would say that he is reacting as if his mate were killed. That’s the only time one of

our people goes bat-shit crazy for no reason,” Emmett said. Ashby winced at the tactless way Emmett

divulged that information.

“Actually that may not be too far from the truth,” Mikhail said. Stepping back and closing the viewer, he

turned to Ashby.

“Why do you keep rubbing your chest?” he asked, his gray eyes cold and hard as the metal door before

them. Ashby’s hand froze midmotion on his chest.

“It’s been aching,” Ashby replied quietly.

“Before or after Gabriel’s episode?” Mikhail continued to watch Ashby.

“After, right before we heard the screams. Why? What does it mean?”

“It means that something has fragmented your bond with Gabriel, causing him to think you’ve been

taken from him. You need to re-establish the bond, then the bloodlust and killing haze will lift.” Mikhail