“We’re going home!” Aleks said as he stood, and he swung his mate up in his arms.
“When we get home we’re going over gun safety, again. And this time the lesson will stick. You hear
me?” Aleks demanded. Rebecca got a dreamy look on her face.
“Yes, sir,” she said as Aleks carried her out of the diner.
“Oh my God did you see the look on his face?” Connor said, doubling over laughing. That set off the
entire diner. Kate wiped her eyes laughing.
“And to think he hesitated in mating her because he was scared at how delicate she was,” Kate said and
that brought a fresh round of laughter. Ashby smiled. Rebecca and then Kate had found true happiness with
their mates. He knew better than to ask for something like that, he only hoped his date with Gabriel would
go smoothly and that he wouldn’t embarrass himself.
Chapter 3
Four hours later Ashby stood shivering in line outside the club. He was wishing he had gone practical
over sexy. The line hadn’t moved at all since he had gotten there nearly an hour ago. He could feel the bass
of the music from inside the club reverberating through his body. He had chosen a simple light-blue tank
that matched his eyes and a pair of black jeans that, according to Nic, showed off his “bubble butt” to
perfection. Looking around he felt decidedly underdressed. The paranormals around him were dressed to
the nines. There was mesh and glitter and liberal amounts of latex, and if that didn’t have him nearly
heading to the car, the conversations around him did. As a fennec fox, his sense of hearing was so good he
could hear prey moving around underground. As a human he could hear nearly every conversation within a
few hundred feet. Normally he was able to phase it out and make it background noise, but one name kept
popping up, grabbing his attention.
“I wonder if Prince Gabriel will be in tonight.”
“Did you see Prince Gabriel’s outfit last week? I thought I was going to come in my pants the way it
showed off his body.”
“Prince Gabriel looked at me last week, I just know we could hook up tonight. We are destined to be
together.”
Prince Gabriel. What had he been thinking? How could a prince be serious about him? In his fantasies
he was confident and suave. In real life he felt awkward and small. He stared down at his cell phone
debating on texting Gabriel that he couldn’t make it. He sighed.
He probably wouldn’t even me miss anyway, Ashby thought.
He sniffled and sighed again. Now that his nose was running, his picture as a pathetic loser was
complete. At least he didn’t have to smell the cologne of the raccoon in front of him anymore.
* * * *
“Where in the hell is he?” Gabriel paced his office checking the monitors constantly hoping to catch a
glimpse of the man whose blood caught his attention months ago. When the vans he had loaned the
Arkadions came back from the rescue operation, he had caught a faint whiff of blood from the one that had
held Rebecca and her missing friend Ashby Fairfax. He knew that it wasn’t Rebecca’s blood that had
affected him. That only left Ashby. And the man was late.
“What time did he say he would be here?” a calm voice asked and Gabriel swung his head around to
look at his acting second-in-command. He would have just called the man his second-in-command, but
Roman rejected the title outright saying that title belonged to Mikhail and Mikhail alone. Roman didn’t want
to be second-in-command to anything.
“An hour ago,” Gabriel grumbled, staring at the monitors again.
“Did you check outside in the line to get in?” Roman asked. Gabriel snorted.
“Why would he be in line? He knew he was expected as my guest,” he said, his eyes moving from one
monitor to the next. Roman rolled his eyes heavenward and sighed.
“From everything you have told me about him, in detail, repeatedly, whether I wanted to hear it or not.
He sounds like the type of man who wouldn’t assume he was entitled to anything. I bet he is freezing his ass
off outside,” Roman said, watching his words start to penetrate his Prince’s thinking.
“Damn. You may be right. Could you…no. Never mind, I’ll go look for him myself,” Gabriel said,
ignoring Roman’s astonished expression. He made his way downstairs. He passed the dance floor and
walked to the front doors. The two vampires he trusted to monitor admittance practically snapped to
attention. Around him people hushed their conversations, trying to hear what would bring Prince Gabriel to
the front door. Bryn stepped forward, his blond hair pulled back from his face.
“Sir? Was there something we could do for you?” he began. Radek stepped up beside Bryn.