Scions: Perception Read online

  Scions: Perception

  Patrice Michelle

  www.millsandboon.co.uk

  Chapter One

  “I can see the headlines now: Martial arts expert taken out by bald tires,” Abby mumbled, sighing in relief once her Jeep finally slid to a stop on the icy asphalt less than an inch from her friend Kaitlyn McKinney’s garage door. Cutting the engine, she rolled her head from one shoulder to the other. Her nerves were frazzled from trying to keep her car on the sleet-covered roads between Manhattan and the suburbs. The weather had become steadily worse the farther she traveled from the city. Still, even the “worst ice storm of the decade” wouldn’t make her go back to her apartment. Thanks to the fact that her roommate had hooked up with Abby’s ex-boyfriend, she’d never been more thankful for Kaitlyn’s offer of a place to stay while she looked for another apartment.

  Abby wished Kaitlyn was home now, but appreciated her wanting to spend as much time as she could with her new partner. Kaitlyn had told her wear to find the spare key and let her neighbor, Mrs. Donohue, know she’d be coming so the older woman wouldn’t be concerned when she saw a strange car parked in the driveway overnight.

  Pulling her red jacket’s hood over her head and zipping the jersey material closed, Abby climbed out of the car. Frozen leaves and pine needles crunched under her shoes in the dense woods beside the house. Other than the sound of sleet pinging on the icy ground, the woods were eerily quiet as she made her way toward the circular seating area. Abby started to lift the knee-high garden gnome when something large blurred through the woods ahead of her. She gasped and let the statue fall back into place. Pushing her hood back, she tried to track the shadow that had now disappeared. Had she seen black fur?

  “Who’s there?” she whispered into the woods. A cold shiver trickled down her spine as visions of grisly bears formed in her mind’s eye. Nothing but darkness greeted her from the thick forest. Bears? In the suburbs?

  Get a grip, Ab! You’re going on four hours of sleep. Your imagination is taking over. Shaking off the sensation she was being watched, Abby focused on her task and lifted the gnome again. Only, the space where the key should’ve been was empty. Damn it! Setting the statue back down, she considered calling Kaitlyn to ask if she’d changed the key’s hiding place. But it was after eleven, and she was freezing her ass off, getting wetter by the minute in her thin jacket. Plus, she did have another way to get into the house.

  After spending a good ten minutes searching her car, her hand finally landed on the lock-picking kit tucked under her driver’s seat. Palming the kit, she grabbed her overnight bag and locked the car.

  Thankful for the front porch’s overhang that keep the heavy sleet at bay, Abby slid the tools into the door’s lock and went to work. A few seconds later, she smiled when she felt the tumblers slip into place, unlocking the door. “Like riding a bike,” she murmured and quickly put the tools and the case away in her overnight bag.

  But her confidence was short-lived. For the moment she entered the dark house, someone grabbed her arm and yanked her inside. Shutting the front door, the person cupped her throat and shoved her against the wood. “What the hell are you doing?” The man’s deadly snarl made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

  Heart thudding, Abby dropped her bag and instinctively grabbed the man’s wrist. Her attacker’s wide-shouldered silhouette towered over her, and for a split second, she thought she saw a bright green glow where his eyes should have been. She blinked to clear her vision. Nothing glowed in the darkness shrouding his face, but she sure as hell felt his dangerous vise hold around her neck. He wasn’t choking her, but he definitely had her pinned in place with a steel lock.

  His speed briefly stunned her, but this burglar had picked the wrong chick to try to intimidate. “I really don’t want to deal with this tonight.” Abby spoke calmly, despite her racing pulse.

  “Huh—” the guy started to say, when she twisted his wrist and yanked his fingers from her throat. His other hand came up in a blur so fast she would’ve missed it if she’d been watching for it, but Abby acted on instinct, blocking his grab for her shoulder. At the same time, she kicked him hard in the groin. He bent forward, grunting in pain, and she swept her leg around, hammering the back of his thigh and then his calf with her foot as she swept his legs out from under him.

  When he landed on his back on the wood floor, she gripped his hand in a painful lock and growled her answer to his question. “I was invited! If you move even one inch while I call the police, I’ll finish what I started and you won’t walk straight for a week. Got it?”

  Abby didn’t expect an answer. He had to have lost his breath when he landed on his back. A low chuckle rumbled up from the floor a split second before the man pulled from her hold, grabbing her wrist. The room suddenly spun and she found herself flat on her back on the hall rug, lying in the pool of dim light coming from somewhere upstairs.

  His well-muscled chest rested on top of hers, smelling of soap and covered with water droplets, as if the man had just come from a shower. Jean-covered hips and hard legs locked hers in place underneath him, while he pulled her arms above her head. He peered at her, the hall’s darkness shrouding his face. “Considering the fact I used a key and you picked the lock, I think you’ll understand my doubts that you were invited.”

  “A key that you stole from its hiding spot!” she shot back, right before she jerked a hand free and brought her fist down toward the side of his neck. Anticipating that he’d shift his weight to avoid her hit, Abby jerked her hips free the moment he moved and then kneed him hard in his side.

  The man grunted from the impact, and she thought she heard a rib crack, but she wasn’t giving up her advantage. This time she aimed for his jaw. His big hand encircled her fist in a crushing hold, and she cried out in pain when he slammed their hands to the floor and rolled back over her.

  “Damn, you’re a scrapper. Hold still, little thief.”

  Indignant heat crept across her cheeks. No one had so effectively beat her like this in years. “I’m not the thief here—” Her words died off when his face came into view. Most of his hair was pulled back, but several ink-black pieces had fallen loose to brush against his angular jaw. A stainless-steel barbell boldly pierced through the inch-long scar along the outer edge of his dark eyebrow, adding a rebellious edge to his mid-thirties appearance, intentionally drawing attention to the imperfection as if to say, “Hell yeah, I’ve got a scar. What of it?”

  “She protests too much.” His eyebrows slashed downward and crystal-blue eyes skimmed her body.

  Everywhere he looked, she burned. Why did his skin feel so much warmer than hers? Apparently her excursion in the woods had left her colder than she realized. “How did you know where to find the key?”

  “I was told, but even if I hadn’t been, I could’ve found it easily enough.” For a brief second, he closed his eyes and inhaled, before his penetrating gaze zeroed in on her face and narrowed slightly. “Oh, you are a thief, sweetness. Every last inch of you.”

  The man had the sexiest drawl. It wasn’t Southern per se, but he spoke in a laid-back speech pattern very different from most New Yorkers’ hyperspeak. Yet beyond the calm, still-water-runs-deep persona he exuded, something else had set her libido into a tailspin. When he spoke, the dim light caught on another glint of metal. He had a tongue piercing, and she had a feeling the intense man holding her down knew exactly how to use it.

  But who would’ve told him about the key? Obviously, someone trusted him. Abby had never been more captivated by a person.

  Chapter Two

  “Release me and I’ll show you just how sweet I can be.”

  Her vixen’s smile was both assured and deadly. Gabriel stared at t
he woman, completely fascinated. Sheer determination radiated off her like a vibrant neon sign. The human packed a helluva punch. His jaw smarted like a son of a bitch, and though his cracked rib might already be mending itself, he’d be sore for at least a half hour. Good thing his werewolf body healed quickly. He had her pinned for now, but he was pretty damned sure she was only resting up. The thought of going another round with her wound him up so tight, his gut knotted in anticipation. He’d never run across anyone with her gumption and strength of will.

  A human worthy of his respect? Damn, that shocked him. Humans were tolerated and kept at a distance: a creed he’d lived by for two and a half decades.

  Chin-length, wavy black hair framed the woman’s round face, but he couldn’t stop staring at her plump, full lips. He wanted to suck on the pouty bottom one, to nip at the round fullness and discover what those luscious lips felt like against his. Black eyebrows were currently elevated over vivid green eyes and a slight I-can’t-wait-’til-you-let-me up-from-here smirk tilted her lips. Oh, yeah…she wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.

  In those heated few seconds, while her arousing scent, full of adrenaline and seductive feminine notes, wrecked havoc on his wolf senses, two things slammed through his mind in rapid succession: He didn’t care if she did turn out to be a burglar. And he wanted her. The wanting didn’t surprise him. He’d always followed his primal instincts with the women in his Lupreda wolf pack. If the woman were willing he’d have a go in the sack, on the floor, in the woods. Wherever. He was always game. Sex was one way to relieve his natural aggression.

  But this wanting wasn’t based on scratching a lustful itch. The need tearing him up inside was relentless and powerful. This “must have her now” sensation—clawing at his chest and pushing the air from his lungs—felt deeper, harder and more intense than he’d ever experienced for another woman. It wasn’t just sexual. It was essential.

  Maybe his mind was playing tricks. It wasn’t freakin’ possible! A human? He inhaled her scent once more, but the unyielding fierceness scrabbling inside his chest grew painfully stronger. Then his canines began to tingle, pressing against his gums, preparing to descend. Ready to mark.

  Gabriel couldn’t believe it. This surprising human had just stolen his confirmed bachelorhood. The woman lying under him could soothe the restlessness that had him leaving his pack and coming to the city more and more often, seeking as much work as he could handle. Ever since the Lupreda wolf pack’s alpha, Landon, had mated, Gabriel had felt out of sorts and more aggressive than usual. In the past, he never would’ve shifted to his werewolf form—his musk form—outside of the Shawangunks, but he couldn’t hold back tonight. Seeing Abby in the woods, in the middle of the ice storm, had surprised him. And now he was staring at his Lupreda mate and he didn’t even know her name.

  But a human? “What’s your name?” he asked, a low growl rumbling along the edge of his words.

  She raised her chin and narrowed her gaze. “You first.”

  He managed a half smile through the emotional shock battering his body. There had to be some other explanation why a human would affect him this way. “Gabriel Hawthorne. Home security installer at your service.”

  “Installer?” Confusion filtered across her expression. “Why didn’t Kaitlyn tell me you would be here?”

  “Landon sent me. And you are?” He asked, rubbing his thumbs across the pulse points along her wrists. Her skin was so soft. The thrum of her blood racing faster under his touch only ramped his desire. Would this human woman accept him as her mate? Even though his mind still wrestled with the idea of a human as his other half, the possibility she might reject him because of what he was sent a jolt of disconcerted alarm straight to his stomach. Gabriel didn’t like the alien sensation. He pressed harder on her pulse and her breath hitched. He smiled and his wolf basked in the sound of her heart thumping harder with each slow circle he made.

  “I’m—I’m Abby Brooks.”

  You’re such a tomcatter, Gabriel. I should introduce you to my friend Abby. That’s one girl you won’t have lapping at your feet. You two would get along famously, Kaitlyn, Landon’s mate, had said with a laugh a month ago when Gabriel had come in after an all-nighter—satisfying two Lupreda women. So this was the infamous Abby. A kindred spirit of the flesh. That, he understood. Gabriel’s smile tilted higher and he leaned close. “It’s nice to meet you, Abby. Kaitlyn says you and I have a lot in common.”

  She gave a low, sexy laugh and whispered in his ear, “Now what would Kaitlyn think you and I could possibly have in common?”

  The feel of her full breasts pressing against his chest, combined with her sweet scent wrapping around him and her warm breath filling his ear, set Gabriel’s inner wolf off, snarling for him to claim her. He mentally worked to slow himself down. Abby might seem strong, yet he knew humans were much weaker and might not be able to handle a wolf’s rougher sexual appetites.

  Not that he’d ever entertained having sex with a human woman, despite the numerous blatant offers from his female clients in the city. But this woman made that proposition seem incredibly appealing…No, necessary. Abby’s cheek was so soft against his skin, Gabriel gave into his wolf’s desire to share a moment of intimacy with her.

  When he pressed his lips against her jaw, she shuddered and a powerful tremor rolled through him. Their connection stunned him. Suppressing the howl of satisfaction that threatened to erupt, he moved to kiss her throat, but Abby shoved at his chest. He landed flat on his back. The woman kneeled over him with a scowl and poked his chest. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

  Gabriel rolled to a seated position as she retrieved her bag. Propping his elbows on his knees, he asked. “What do you do when you’re not breaking into friends’ houses?”

  “I teach martial arts.” Abby cut her gaze his way as she passed him, bag in hand. “And I wouldn’t have had to pick the lock if you hadn’t taken the spare key.”

  Gabriel swiftly stood and followed her into the kitchen. “I’m intrigued that you knew how to pick a lock, let alone that you did so in less than thirty seconds. Who taught you how to do that?”

  Abby flipped on the light and set her overnight bag on the kitchen table. Opening one of the cabinets, she gazed at him briefly as if measuring his sincerity, before she shrugged and retrieved a glass. “My best friend taught me. He was fourteen and I was eleven.”

  Gabriel leaned against the counter next to the sink, thoroughly fascinated and a bit jealous of the boy who knew Abby before she grew into the willful woman in her early twenties who stood in front of him tonight. He glanced at her full breasts pushing against the zip-up jacket and wondered if she went through the scrawny teenage stage most humans did, or if she’d skipped all that and developed those womanly curves early on, attracting every hormonal boy in sight. Another stab of jealousy hit him, making his chest burn. “Did your first boyfriend teach you those self-defense moves, too?”

  Abby tried to shoo him out of the way so she could get some water from the sink, but he kept his feet planted. Gabriel didn’t care if she was forced to lean against him to run the water into her glass. He’d take any physical contact he could get…along with any other tidbits she’d share about herself. He wanted to know every intimate detail.

  She snorted as she stuck the glass under the tap. “If Marcus had known how to defend himself, maybe he wouldn’t have gotten himself stabbed before he turned sixteen.”

  Gabriel heard the pain and anger in her voice and saw her hand shake slightly when she backed away and lifted the half-filled glass to her lips. Sudden protective instincts swept through him, tensing his shoulders. “Was your childhood that rough?”

  Setting the glass down, she met his steady gaze. “I take it you know Kaitlyn fairly well, since you’re staying at her house.”

  He noted how deftly she’d changed the subject. Rubbing his jaw, he answered honestly. “Landon and I grew up together and now that Kaitlyn is part of the ‘family’ she has earned
my respect and friendship. Landon knew my installation jobs had picked up in town, so he suggested I stay here while I worked to complete them. As a thank you, I’m installing a system in Kaitlyn’s house.”

  Abby blinked in surprise. “You work in town, but you live in the Shawangunks?”

  He shrugged. “I like the open space the mountains offer.” When Abby moved to set the glass in the sink, Gabriel turned and placed his hands on the counter on either side of her smaller frame, locking her in place. “Staying too long in the city makes me feel caged in…trapped.” Leaning his chest against her back, he inhaled along her neck. “What about you, Abby? Care to share your deep dark secrets?”

  She stiffened. “Not particularly.”

  His chuckle sounded sandpaper-rough to his own ears. Abby’s heat level had just spiked and her aroused smell was making him dizzy. “What are you afraid of?”

  “I’m not afraid of anything.” She shoved past his arm and started to walk away.

  “Prove it.”

  She halted and turned, her green eyes narrowed. “What’d you say?”

  He studied her tense stance and the fact she seemed to be holding her breath. “Show me you’re not afraid of me.” Even though you should be. I have every intention of seducing you before the night is out, my little human.

  Abby crossed her arms over her breasts. “I’m not. Want to go another round?”

  “I wasn’t referring to your ability to defend yourself.” He raised an eyebrow and leaned back casually, his hands cupped on the counter behind him.

  When his meaning dawned, she stiffened and her face flushed. “Of all the arrogant—”

  “I’m not being arrogant. Just perceptive.” Her agitation intrigued him. The way she carried herself, he had a feeling she didn’t allow people to fluster her often. Gabriel liked the fact he’d gotten under skin. He sure as hell wanted to explore every emotion with this woman. He gave her a feral smile and laid down a challenge. “Prove me wrong.”