Gabriel's Mate Read online

  “Of course you can. You just told me—”

  “What I meant to say is I won’t do it. Memories are private. I won’t access a person’s memories without their permission.” And he was sure the person whose memories the doctor wanted revealed to him wasn’t going to give their consent.

  “A man with high ethics. What a pity.”

  Gabriel glanced around the room. “With the money I’m willing to pay you, you could redecorate quite lavishly.” And get rid of the coffin couch.

  “I like the way my practice looks. Don’t you?” Drake gave the offensive couch a pointed look.

  Gabriel knew then that the negotiations were at an end. The doctor wouldn’t budge, and neither would he.

  Two

  The moment Gabriel arrived at Samson’s Victorian home in Nob Hill, he took a deep breath. He needed to leave for New York now, the sooner the better. Maybe if he was back in his usual environment, he would be more content and not hope for the impossible. Why he’d suddenly started feeling like he could do something about his problem here in San Francisco, when he’d given up on it years ago he didn’t know.

  Having to clear his departure with his boss, Samson, he was glad that he’d been called to the house the moment he’d stepped out of Drake’s office.

  With a determined gait, Gabriel entered the foyer, leaving the mist and fog behind him. The house was brightly lit despite the late hour, just like the house of a fellow vampire would be. It came alive at sunset and would quiet down once the sun rose. Gabriel let his eyes wander around the entry hall with its dark wood paneling, its elegant rugs, and antique ornaments. He liked Samson’s home—it had retained all the charm of the Victorian era it was built in while shucking the claustrophobic feeling of its small rooms. Samson had opened up the space to give it an airy feeling. Yet the charm remained.

  Gabriel lifted his head toward the ceiling. There was a commotion upstairs. Footsteps belonging to several men came from the upstairs corridor. A moment later, Samson made his way downstairs.

  First Samson’s long legs came into sight as he dashed down the pristine mahogany stairs. Then his entire body came into view. His raven black hair was in stark contrast to his hazel eyes. Being well over six feet tall and well built, he was an impressive figure. His sharp intelligence and strength had earned him admiration and respect from both his colleagues and his friends. His decisiveness and determination set him apart: Samson was the boss. And Gabriel was proud to be his second-in-command.

  As Samson noticed Gabriel, he raised his hand in greeting. “Thanks for coming so quickly.”

  Behind him, two men came down the stairs. Gabriel recognized one of them as Eddie, Amaury’s now brother-in-law who worked as a bodyguard for Samson’s security company, Scanguards. But there would be no reason for him to be at Samson’s private residence unless there was a social event planned.

  Samson turned to the two men. “You have your orders, and not a word to anybody for now.”

  The two grunted their agreement and, with a nod of their heads to Gabriel, strode out the door.

  “What are they—?” Gabriel started.

  “We have a situation.” The look on Samson’s face was serious. “Come, we need to talk.”

  Samson waved him into the living room with its authentic Victorian-era furniture. Gabriel followed, a strange sense of foreboding settling in his gut. His boss and friend of many years always had a calm demeanor, but tonight he was different. His black hair was ruffled, his eyes worried, and the lines on his face spoke volumes.

  Samson stopped in front of the fireplace and turned back to Gabriel. Even in June the fireplace was lit to provide warmth against the foggy night. “I know you’re anxious to return to New York—”

  “I was planning on taking the jet to—” Gabriel interrupted.

  “I’m sorry, Gabriel, but I’ll have to pull rank on you. I need you here. You can’t leave.” Samson’s announcement came as an utter surprise.

  “What?”

  “I know you want to go home, but I need you to run point on this for me. Ricky is useless right now. Ever since Holly broke up with him last month, he’s just not the same.” Samson ran his hand through his hair. Ricky was Gabriel’s counterpart in San Francisco—the Operations Director. Gabriel didn’t say a word. Something was wrong, seriously wrong if Samson found it more important for him to stay in San Francisco rather than get back to work in New York.

  “This is too important. Believe me, I would have Amaury take care of it, but he and Nina need some time together. He’s practically on his honeymoon holed up at his place. I can’t do that to him right now.”

  Gabriel nodded. “What’s going on?”

  “Sit down.”

  Gabriel sat and waited until Samson did the same. “I’ve never seen you like this.”

  Samson gave a mirthless laugh. “I guess my responsibilities as a husband and expectant father don’t go well with having a newly turned vampire in the house.”

  “A newly turned vampire?” This was indeed a shock. A newly turned vampire was a danger, unable to control his urges, liable to attack anybody. That Samson was uneasy made perfect sense. His wife Delilah was human and pregnant with their first child. She would be a prime target for any new vampire.

  “She was attacked tonight.”

  “Delilah? Delilah was attacked?” Gabriel felt adrenaline shoot through his veins.

  “No, no. Thank God. Delilah is fine. No. This woman—a human—she was attacked and turned. The two bodyguards who just left—Eddie and James—scared off her attacker and went to help her. Her eyes had already turned black, so they knew the process had started.”

  A human’s eyes turning entirely black with not a spec of white remaining was a sure sign of the turning. Only once the turning was complete would the eyes turn back to normal.

  “They brought her here about half an hour ago,” Samson continued. “She must have been attacked on her way home. We have to find her attacker and take him out.”

  Gabriel understood. “A rogue. As long as he’s out there, he’s a danger to everybody and particularly to her if he realizes we’re sheltering her.”

  Gabriel and his colleagues despised vampires turning unsuspecting humans against their will. It was a major infraction in their society—a crime in fact—punishable by death. A vampire’s life wasn’t easy—Gabriel of all people knew this for a fact. He therefore believed in protecting a human’s right to choose and wouldn’t force this life on anyone. He’d punish anyone who violated this right.

  “Yes. That’s why I need you. I need somebody I can rely on.”

  “What do we have?” Gabriel was all business now. This was his job. This was what he did best. A case to sink his teeth into and turn his thoughts away from his personal problem was what he needed. “Do we know who the woman is?”

  “She’s a doctor. She works at UCSF Medical Center. We found her ID. Her name is Maya Johnson, age thirty-two, lives in Noe Valley. We haven’t been able to ask her anything yet. When Eddie and James brought her in, she was unconscious. I hope she can give us a description of the vampire who attacked her when she wakes. In the meantime, I’m keeping radio silence on this. It could be anybody. Until we know who might be behind this, I don’t want anybody to know she’s here.”

  “That’s smart,” Gabriel agreed. Until they could talk to her, they had to play it safe. Of course, that was assuming she could tell them anything. “You’ll know she’ll be in a panic when she comes to.” Not only would she be traumatized by the attack, but once she realized what she had turned into, she would truly panic.

  Samson closed his eyes and nodded. “I can only imagine too well.”

  “Should we bring somebody else in to help her through this?” Gabriel knew he wasn’t the right person to guide a woman through a life-altering transition like turning into a vampire. He wasn’t good with women.

  “I’ve already sent for Drake. He’ll know what to do. Maybe he’ll be able to calm her down w
hen she starts to grow hysterical.”

  Considering his own interactions with Drake, Gabriel doubted the man would do any better than he. But he wasn’t going to contradict Samson, who clearly held the doctor in high regard.

  “Yeah, let’s hope he can. Should we have a woman here when she wakes up? Having a bunch of six-foot-something vampires gawking at her when she comes ‘round might be a little intimidating.” Gabriel glanced into Samson’s eyes. He sure had no interest in being the one to tell her the bad news. He also wasn’t shy to delegate things he had no business doing. It was better if a woman, someone with a little more sensitivity, did the job.

  “Not Delilah. I want her nowhere near the woman. You know as well as I do what a newly turned vampire is capable of. She won’t be able to control her strength even if she doesn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

  Gabriel held up his hand. “I wasn’t thinking of Delilah. Yvette hasn’t left for New York yet. I gave her a couple of days off to do some sightseeing.” Yvette was a good bodyguard and, despite the fact that she could act a little prissy, she was solid and had a strong sense of right and wrong. He was sure the two women would bond instantly.

  Samson let out a breath. “Sure. Yvette. That’s a good idea.”

  Heavy steps sounded on the stairs. A moment later Carl, Samson’s trusted butler, rushed into the room. He was a stout man, heavy around the midsection and somewhere in his fifties. As always, he wore a formal dark suit. In fact, Gabriel had never seen him in anything else, and he was sure the man didn’t own a single pair of jeans.

  “Mr. Woodford, the woman is doing worse.”

  “Dr. Drake is already on his way. There’s nothing I can do until he gets here. You shouldn’t leave her alone,” Samson said.

  “Miss Delilah is with her,” Carl responded.

  Samson and Gabriel jumped up.

  Panic struck Samson’s face as he bolted up the stairs. Gabriel ran after him and stormed into the guest room.

  “Delilah!” Samson’s voice was full of alarm.

  Samson’s petite wife sat on the edge of the bed and wiped the woman’s face with a wet cloth. “Samson, please, I’m trying everything to make her comfortable. You storming in here screaming doesn’t help.” Delilah’s scold was soft. Her long dark hair fell into her face as she bent over the woman. Despite the fact that she was pregnant, her body showed no bump yet. According to Samson, she was only three months along—which meant she’d gotten pregnant almost instantly after the couple had blood-bonded right after Chinese New Year.

  “You shouldn’t be here at all. We don’t know how she’ll react. It’s too dangerous for you.” Samson put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her up and away from the bed. “Please, sweetness, you’re taking decades off my life by doing this.” He looked over his shoulder at Gabriel and gestured toward the bed. “Gabriel, would you?”

  Samson wanted him to play nurse? That was not part of the deal. He would investigate who’d done this to her, even protect her if she was still in danger, but under no circumstances would he sit by the woman’s bed and play nurse.

  It was best to tell his boss right now. Babysitting a newly turned vampire female was not what he needed right now, especially not when he was expected to actually interact with her on such an intimate level. A few interrogations, sure, he would be more than willing to do that, but not this, not sitting by her bed, taking care of her.

  Hell, he would have no idea what to do. His knowledge of a woman’s body was limited to some hurried sexual interactions and many not-so-hurried porn movies. Surely nobody could expect him to take care of a vampire female? Where the hell was Drake? Shouldn’t he be here by now?

  Gabriel turned toward Samson, who was leading Delilah out the door, ready to decline the job expected of him. But a low moan from the woman in the bed made him glance in her direction.

  His breath caught in his chest as he saw her for the first time.

  Gabriel heard the door close and knew he was alone with her.

  The woman lay on top of the blankets, her clothes bloodstained. She wore pants and a t-shirt, a loose, white doctor’s coat over it. In red letters her name was stitched over her breast pocket: Maya Johnson MD, Urology.

  Maya’s face was pale, and it looked even paler framed by her shoulder length dark hair. It wasn’t perfectly straight, but had large waves which seemed to caress her face. Her eyes were closed, thick dark lashes standing guard. He wondered what color her eyes would be once they returned to their normal state. Her skin had an olive tint to it, hinting at Latin, Mediterranean, or even Middle Eastern ancestry.

  She had bruises and cuts on her face, mostly around her lips which were full and perfectly curved. She had fought her attacker, he knew instantly. Within hours her injuries would be gone, her vampire body healing itself while it slept.

  He could only imagine the pain she’d gone through and the horror when she’d realized what was happening to her. She had died tonight at the hands of a rogue, and then he’d brought her back from the brink. She’d had to experience death to gain a new life. How painful had her death been?

  Gabriel knew that every vampire’s transformation was different. Many had horrifying memories of the event, things nobody spoke of. And this woman’s memories would be terrifying—being turned against one’s will would have been traumatic. Her wounds attested to it.

  Gabriel looked past the injuries and the ugliness of the bite wound on her neck. It was clear the rogue had been interrupted since he hadn’t had a chance to close the wound with his saliva. It would take longer to heal without it. Had he licked the bite wound, it wouldn’t even be visible anymore.

  Gabriel only saw the woman underneath the injuries: the sensual curve of her nose, the strong lines of her cheekbones, and the gracefulness of her neck. Her slender figure might as well have been bare, for he could almost imagine what her nude form looked like.

  Elegant long fingers extended from slim hands, hands whose caress he wanted to feel on his own skin. Long legs, which he wanted her to wrap around his waist as he made love to her. Full breasts he could suckle from as he kissed every inch of her body. Red lips he would taste with his.

  There was something so enthralling about her scent, something so foreign, yet so familiar at the same time. No other scent compared to hers. Rich and dark, it engulfed him, cocooned him in an aura of warmth and softness. Every cell in his body responded to her call.

  She was perfect.

  Three

  All Gabriel could do was look at Maya. Of their own volition, his legs carried him to her side where he sat down on the edge of the bed.

  He bent over her and listened for her heartbeat. It was slow—too slow. A vampire’s heartbeat was almost double the rate of a human’s, yet this woman’s heart barely managed to reach a normal human’s heartbeat. Concern spread within him as he noticed the shallowness of her breaths. He didn’t need to be a doctor to know something was wrong.

  Gabriel touched his palm to her forehead and felt the clammy coldness of her skin. He sucked in a quick breath. Her symptoms reminded him of his own turning and how he’d almost died a second time. His sire had been baffled by the events, but had never been able to explain it. It had been as if his body had rejected the notion of becoming a vampire. Just like hers was doing. Seeking death instead.

  He wouldn’t allow it.

  “No,” Gabriel whispered to her. “I won’t let you die. Do you hear me? You will live.”

  He stroked her cold face with the back of his hand. There was no response from her. He reached for her hand and clasped the delicate fingers in his large palm. They were like ice. No blood was circulating in her extremities.

  Shocked, Gabriel realized that her body had already started shutting down. Frantically, he rubbed her fingers between his hands, trying to generate heat.

  “Carl!” he called out. Heavy footsteps came up the stairs. A moment later, the door opened, and Carl stepped in.

  “You called, Gabriel?”


  “Where’s that damn doctor?” Gabriel didn’t take his eyes off Maya.

  “On his way.”

  “Help me. Take her feet and rub them.”

  “Uh—”

  Gabriel shot Carl an annoyed look. “Now!”

  Carl jumped into action. While he went to work on her feet, Gabriel continued massaging her hands, rubbing her long, elegant fingers between his large palms.

  “What are we doing?” Carl asked.

  “Trying to get her blood flowing.”

  “The turning isn’t taking, is it?”

  The butler had articulated what Gabriel didn’t want to acknowledge. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed all negative thoughts out of his mind. “It will. It has to.” He touched her face again, but it was still as cold as it had been minutes earlier. “We have to help her body do the work.”

  Gabriel shifted and looked at Carl and the clumsy way he rubbed her feet. If there was anybody even more inept with women than himself, it had to be Carl. He was barely touching her toes. “Let me do that. Take her hands instead.”

  He shoved Carl aside and took Maya’s feet into his hands. He needed to get her blood circulating so it could reach every cell in her body and complete the transformation. The turning was a complicated chemical process, but normally the body knew what to do. It appeared Maya’s cells either didn’t understand the instructions they were receiving, or refused to comply.

  The skin of her feet was soft and smooth, her toenails beautifully shaped and manicured. Ruby-red nail polish adorned them. Gabriel noticed how his own skin color virtually matched hers, though the texture couldn’t be more different. His callused hands bore no resemblance to her softness. Gabriel had never seen more kissable feet. No, he couldn’t let a woman as perfect as her die.

  With renewed determination, he massaged her feet with his hands, rubbing up and down her soles, kneading them, then stroking up her ankles, then back down again. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been doing it before he finally heard voices from below.