Alpha's Moon

Chapter 33

Alex dug her fingers into her palms, trying to stay calm as she sat in the passenger seat of Gabriel's sports car. The events of the evening kept threatening to overwhelm her, so she refused to think about anything except his last statement: You will not be in pain anymore.

She cast a sideways glance in his direction. It was the first time she had seen him driving. Above the white shirt and cashmere tie, the muscle in his jaw was tight and his mind was on she had no idea what.

Before they left Lupus Corp, he said he would explain everything to her, but they had been sitting in silence for fifteen endless minutes. Biting back her frustration, she took a deep breath. It was a mistake. His scent that clung to the jacket he had given her to wear filled her head, sparking an anger she couldn't explain.

"You said you would explain," Alex spoke, breaking the heavy silence.

"I will." Gabriel looked her way, his fingers flexing on the steering wheel. "I will, I just don't know where to start."

"How about, Hi my name is Gabriel and I'm a bloody werewolf?" The sarcastic comment that rolled off her tongue tasted bitter.

"Sure, you're right," He laughed watching the road. "I should do that and then sit back and wait for the government to try to kill me and all my kind. Or wait, maybe we'll get lucky and get locked up in an underground bunker somewhere instead."

Alex got what he was saying; hadn't she been hiding her own abilities in fear of the same thing? This was Gabriel's way of explaining why he had kept her in the dark, but it didn't make anything better. "Is that your excuse for having me injected earlier?"

A look of regret passed over his handsome features, then his blue gaze touched hers, "We live by strict laws, Alex. It is for the protection of all."

Alex looked out of the window, hating that she understood and hating even more that her anger was quickly slipping away. "None of this matters. Just tell me how there will be no pain anymore."

Gabriel was silent for a long moment, manoeuvring the sleek vehicle around cars that were going too slow for his taste. "Werewolves are born from werewolf parents. But there are a few, a rare few, who start off Human."

Her brows drew together, a small kernel of anxiety pushing at the back of her mind .

"It's not easy to turn a Human. Only Alphas and other particularly powerful royals can do it. For a Turning, a werewolf has to bite the Human, then share his blood-"

"What are you getting at?" Alex cut him off, afraid, even as she asked the question, that she knew.

"That bite on your calf is from a royal," Gabriel said, keeping his eyes on the road. "The reason why you're pulling pain and why your sense of smell is keener than any Human's is because you're half-way through the Turning." He looked her way, "Your senses, the pain, you'll be able to control it all, the minute we complete the transformation."

"Transformation," Alex said the word woodenly as her mind tried to process what he was saying. She looked out over the Charles River, but saw nothing. "You want to turn me into a werewolf."

"It has to be done," Gabriel spoke gently now, as if he was afraid of scaring her. "It's the only way to stop the pain."

"Hah!" A humourless laugh pushed past her numb lips. The werewolf that had haunted her nightmares for years rushed across her vision. Shoving its head through the back seat to try to kill her. Clamping down on her leg. Breaking her parents necks. To become like the beast who murdered her parents?

"No."

Gabriel's jaw clenched, then he spoke slowly, "I know this is a lot to take in, but you can't stay this way."

"I said, no."

"Damn it, woman, don't you'll keep suffering if I don't turn you?" he shoved his hand through his hair, his eyes glittering with frustration.

Alex shrugged nonchalantly, "So what if it doesn't? I'll just live the way I've lived for the past ten years."

"Bloody hell," Gabriel pulled the car to the side just as they were turning into the entrance of The Moncrief Hotel. Then taking a calming breath, he turned to her and lay his hand gently on hers, "I know this is a lot to process, and it doesn't have to be tonight. Let's take a few days. I can tell you everything you want to know about our kind, you can ask as many questions as you like. We will make the transition easy and once you've turned, I'll show you how to stop drawing pain. Your life will be so much better Alex, you'll be free."

His kind voice, the tender look in his eye; it was the absolute last straw. She threw his hand off and reached for her seatbelt buckle. "I know more than enough about your kind. It was one of your kind that crashed into our car. It was one of your kind that killed my parents and left me to die. Do you think I'm insane? Do you really think I'm going to let anyone turn me into a monster like that?"

"Murdered your parents...what?" Gabriel was incredulous, but Alex wasn't listening.

Her head felt like it was going to explode as she pushed her door open and stepped out into the cold air. It took only a few moments to reach the hotel door. Jumbled thoughts rode on waves of confused anger and anguish as she crossed the near-empty lobby. What was she going to do now? She was going to leave. Of course, she was going to pack and leave for Hong Kong, what else could she do?

"Chef Turner, are you alright?" One of the girls from reception rushed towards her, her eyes on Alex's bloodied clothes. She smelled of bergamot; not a cult member, a werewolf.

Alex pulled her jacket closed and walked faster. She was almost at the open elevator when a security guard, alerted by the receptionists calls, approached hastily. "Chef Turner, is something wrong?"

"Step back!" Gabriel was behind her, his command stilling the guard in his tracks. Alex didn't slow her step. She was almost inside the elevator when Gabriel grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"What the hell are you doing?" She hissed as he dragged her past the Security Guard who was looking anywhere but at them. Gabriel didn't answer, he just kept going until they were inside the penthouse elevator around the corner. It was then that he bothered to speak:

"We are going to talk."

"I don't want to talk!" Alex yanked her wrist out of his grip. There was a tense silence, then the elevator doors opened and he was pulling at her again.

"Damn it, Moncrief, stop dragging me!"

"I told you, we are going to talk!" The suite door slammed behind them, but her abductor didn't stop walking until he had pushed her down onto the couch facing the Boston night view. After checking to make sure she wasn't trying to get up, Gabriel went over the kitchen.

Listening to him pour himself a drink, Alex felt the fight rush out of her. Being back in this room, on this couch...she raised her hands to her head, trying to make sense of her thoughts. Why couldn't she hate him? He was a bloody werewolf! Why did being here, in his room, feel comforting?

Gabriel saved her from Marianne. He saved her from the thugs. Was that why? But he was a werewolf! And yet she wasn't scared of him. She wasn't even mad at him, not really. Keeping his identity from her, even trying to erase her memory, how could she fault him for wanting to protect his own? She didn't. So what did she hate him for?

She didn't hate Gabriel. She just hated what he wanted from her.

She would not turn.

Ever.

"Drink this," he came back to her side and held out what looked like a glass of whisky. She took it, noticing the blood on his shirt cuffs for the first time. Bloodstains he got while fighting to protect her. The dark liquid burned down her throat making her cough.

Gabriel took the glass back, set it aside, then sat on the low sofa table facing her. He had gotten rid of his tie and his hair was a mess, but he still looked like he could pose for Millionaire-CEO-of-the-Year.

Or Millionaire-Werewolf-of-the-Year.

"Now, tell me," he said, leaning forward. "From the start, tell me what happened."