"I'm not sure," he said, the last word trailing off abruptly as her delicate fingers swept up the inside of his leg, carefully tracing an outline in his jeans.
"He must be a somebody," she pressed. "How else would he be able to prevent Ferro from talking simply by being there? Could he be another dragon shifter?"
Gabriel was having a hard time focusing on the subject at hand as her hand continued to swirl around between his legs, but there was something to what she was saying.
"I think we're in over our heads," he stated. "This, all the odd goings on, and us."
"And us?" Her hand paused in its motion, much to his disappointment.
"Whatever's going on between us is more serious than simple sexual attraction," he stated flatly, no longer bothering to conceal it. "I care for you. A lot."
She blushed. It was hard for him to see in the dark, but she ducked her head and her cheeks darkened slightly. "I feel strongly for you," she admitted quietly.
"I'm not comfortable with you staying involved in this," he said bluntly, then rushed on as she prepared to protest. "Can you honestly expect me to be?"
Her jaw snapped shut. "That's not fair," she complained.
"I never said it was. I'm not that dumb. I know you, and I know you're strong. But this is Genesis Valley. There's no police force to protect you. It takes one hard swipe from a shifter to break your neck. They don't even have to be in their animal form either. Life doesn't matter to them as much as it does to you. And your life matters a lot more to me than your pride at being strong in a situation like this. We're outclassed, Caia, admit it."
She looked unhappy, but she nodded.
"I'm not asking you to get out of the Valley until this whole thing is dragged into the open and dealt with. Just promise me that you won't do anything rash or stupid that might get you killed. Promise me that you will always think things through from the perspective of the shifters involved before you do something."
"I promise, Gabriel. That I can promise."
"Good. Because I love you, and I don't want to lose you," he said, meeting her eyes as he uttered the words that had occupied so many of his thoughts lately.
"Oh Gabriel," she whispered. "I love you too. I wasn't sure until just now, but I do. I love you so much."
He leaned across the center console and snaked his hand behind her head, pulling her in close to him. Their kiss was tender and gentle, a thing built from their emotions, not their desires. It lingered on, neither of them willing to part as they realized that whatever was going on in Genesis Valley was far larger than either of them were prepared to handle, even together.
"What do we do?" she whispered. He could sense the fear in her. It didn't bother him. He was glad to know she was afraid, because he could also tell that she wasn't letting it rule her. Her fear was there, but she had harnessed it, and was using it to make her stronger. There was a word for that, he thought to himself.
Courage.
And his mate had it in spades. He smiled fiercely, knowing she would never completely understand why.
"We need to find more people on our side to bring them in and get their perspectives. Who knows how far this extends, and how many people are in its web? So we need more people we can trust."
"The Kedyns are out," she said bluntly. "The more I think about it, the more I think Marcus directed me to Ferro the way he did because there's something that has sway over him as well, something that he can't speak openly about. I think Ferro knows it too."
"There are very few things that would hold sway over those two," Gabriel said solemnly.
"Dragons."
He nodded, not wanting to say more.
"Shit."
He snorted at the understatement.
"Who do we talk to then?" she asked.
"We start with Ajax," he responded instantly.
"Why him?"
"We can't go to Michael or Marcel. They're too far removed from everything. They and their crews don't give a damn, and they would probably go and report us to Marcus anyway, which wouldn't exactly help. Ajax is a strong Alpha, and he hides an extremely intelligent mind as well. If anyone can be trusted, I think he's the one."
"Where do we find him?"
Gabriel gunned the truck up the incline toward the main road.
"Silverlake Resort. It's their territory. A campground on a lake. Beautiful place really."
"Okay. Who else can we bring in? What about Garrett?"
"I don't know," he responded.
"Why not? He seems like a good person."
"He is. But he's close to the issue at hand. Evan is his second. And Garrett can't remember his life leading up to a few months ago. Maybe that's related to everything going on."
Caia pursed her lips thoughtfully as he laid out his train of thought.
"It could be related, but I think we may have to give him the benefit of the doubt."
"Why?"
"I'm not sure," she said slowly. "It just seems like the right thing. We can ask Ajax what he thinks."
"Agreed."
They sat back in silence as the truck flew down the road, headed as fast as he dared toward Emerald Crew territory.
"Why are you stopping?" Caia asked as they rolled up to a sign that read Silverlake Resort, Home of the Silvertips. The dual-naming convention for the crews had screwed her up at first, but after a few days of jumping back and forth between the terminologies, it no longer bothered her. She knew that the Emerald Crew was formally known as the Silvertips, so the sign told her they weren't lost, but in fact exactly where they should be.
"This is Silvertip territory. It's not polite for another bear to go charging into a crew's territory without permission when in human form."
"And in animal form?" she asked slowly as his words sunk in.
"A shifter can be ended for that," he said bluntly, not reacting to the surprise that was evident on her face. "I told you, life isn't valued the same here in the Valley as it is elsewhere. You need to really let that sink in, Caia. We look like humans, but the biggest lesson you can learn is to remember that we aren't."
"I don't think you're all that bad."
He stared at her while the truck idled, waiting for someone to greet them. "I ended a man in the mountains the other day and would have ended another, but Michael got to him first."
"What?!" her voice exploded inside the cabin.
"He attacked me with a pickaxe."
"So you killed him?"
"He ended himself," Gabriel said, using the shifter terminology. "He chose to attack me. I didn't force him to."
"But what about a trial and imprisonment?"
He shrugged. "Not our thing. If you come to the Valley, you're already in prison, effectively. If you fuck up again, there's no more room for you here."
Caia looked horrified, but he could see her brain working behind it all. "Why are you telling me this? I know you aren't bragging. That's not you."
"No, I'm not bragging," he confirmed. "But I am telling you that, because I want you to understand just how casually life can be extinguished here. So that it really sinks home with you and that you take the proper measures to ensure that you stay alive. Because I couldn't bear to lose you."
He swallowed at the last statement, trying hard to maintain his composure as he thought about life without the vibrant, energetic woman by his side. It wasn't a pretty picture.
"But if that's the case, how come you had no problem charging into the Sapphire apartments, not once, but twice?" she asked.
"City property doesn't count. Those buildings don't belong to them. This," he waved his hand around, "belongs to the Silvertips. Those apartments are really the only place I can pull that stunt, which is why I have such fun doing it," he said, giving her a big smile.
A bear appeared in front of them, shuffling out of the woods on the driver's side, twenty or thirty feet in front of them. It evaluated them for a moment before shifting back into human form.
"What do you want?" he called out, not approaching any closer.
"It's Gabriel. I need to speak with Ajax."
The shifter seemed to consider it a moment, then waved him on in.
"He's in his office, you know which one that is?"
Gabriel nodded and they drove on in.
The forest was dotted with little cottages that became denser as they got closer to the lake. Gabriel pulled up in front of the biggest one.
"This is beautiful," Caia said as they exited the truck. She pulled her jacket tighter against the cool breeze that blew in over the lake.
"They definitely lucked out with this spot," he said, throwing an arm around her and bringing her close as they walked up to the wood cottage that served as Ajax's office.
"Come in," came the reply to his quick, firm raps on the door.
Turning the handle, he opened the door and ushered Caia in ahead of him to get her out of the cold.