Page 19

Annabelle turned away from Gabriel, more to hide her own expression rather than to stop him from listening in. His shifter senses were too good. He’d hear her even if she whispered.

“What exactly did the shifters say, Aunt Marjory?”

“Honestly?” Aunt Marjory sighed. “Not much. What they did say was we could trust them. That allying with them would benefit us a great deal. And if one of them were to mate one of our own, it would change the power dynamics in our coven forever. In our favor. ”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“They wouldn’t say. You’ll have to ask Gabriel.”

Aunt Marjory signed off after reiterating to be careful around the Kings, and Annabelle shoved her phone back in her bag. A warm body pressed against her from behind and arms reached around her.

Gabriel’s mouth brushed against her ear, sending shivers down her spine. “We’re meant to be together, you and me. You can’t resist fate, Annabelle.”

She wrested herself from his embrace. “As if you haven’t spent the last three years trying.”

The little bell over the door tinkled, and her boss and owner of Rarity entered the store.

He stopped in the doorway. “Annabelle? Isn’t it your day off?” He adjusted his spectacles on his nose and checked his watch. “And isn’t it a bit early?”

“Morning, Brian. Yes, you’re right. It is my day off.

I just wanted to finish that catalog I was working on.

” She slipped her arms into her coat, wrapped her scarf around her neck and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder.

“It’s all done, and now that you’re here, you can help this gentleman.

” She gestured to Gabriel. “He’s in the market for a book.

He mentioned a grimoire.” She slung a smirk at Gabriel. “I’ll see you Monday, Brian.”

With a triumphant bounce to her step, Annabelle slipped from the store and out into the street, laughing to herself at the look of consternation on Gabriel’s face.

She hoofed it down the sidewalk. She didn’t have long.

Gabriel would waste no time coming after her, and she had to get to the next block where she’d parked her car.

She made it, and still no sign of the shifter. Good . Unlocking her door, she swung it open, only to have it slammed shut by an olive-skinned hand.

“You can’t get away from me that easily, Annabelle.”

Damn it . She should’ve walked faster. She should’ve run.

“We need to talk.” He took her keys, guided her around to the passenger side, and opened the door. “Get in.”

She thrust her chin out, prepared to fight him on this, but one look at the set of his jaw and the determination in his eyes, she decided against it and slid into the passenger seat.

He probably would have picked her up and thrown her in if she’d refused.

He skirted the car, slipped into the driver’s seat and keyed the engine.

“And where might Stefanie be now? Searching my apartment, perhaps?”

Gabriel buckled himself in, not looking at her. “She’s with Isobella.”

Alarm ratcheted up her spine. “With Isobella? Why?” She spun to face him.

“What do you want with my sister?” She hadn’t forgotten his fascination with Isobella at dinner last night.

Nothing about his behavior since then suggested he had a thing for her, so what was it?

Was it some darker purpose? Had the local shifters given Aunt Marjory that spiel under threat?

He threw the car into gear. “Put your seatbelt on, Annabelle. We’ll go somewhere and talk.”

“I don’t think so.” She glared at him across the center console. “We’re not going anywhere until you level with me. Why are you really here? And what has any of this got to do with Isobella?”

“Annabelle,” he ground out, irritation flashing in his eyes.

“I don’t want to have this conversation with you sitting in a parked car on the street.

Buckle up. We’ll go somewhere—your flat, my hotel suite—I don’t care where, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.

Everything you want to know. I promise.”

“Tell me what this has to do with my sister, or I swear I’m getting out of this damn car right now .”

She locked gazes with him, her hand fumbling with the door handle.

“You are one stubborn witch.” Gabriel reached over her, grabbed the seatbelt and snapped it in place across her body. He gunned the engine and pulled out into traffic.

“Damn it, Gabriel.”

He focused on the road, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “You’re not going on this mission into the past, Annabelle. Isobella is.”

“ Excuse me?”

He glanced at her, dark eyes serious, before turning his attention back to the road and driving. “It’s the way it’s going to be. It’s the way it has to be.”

“Says who?”

His hands clenched around the steering wheel. “Me. I do.”

She threw up her arms. “Who died and put you in charge of things? This is our mission.” She stabbed herself in the chest with her index finger.

“The High Priestess has set me this task, not Dutton, not anyone else, and certainly not Isobella. Oh, I see what this is about.” She turned to stare out of the car window at the buildings as they drove past, but not really seeing anything.

Typical bloody shifters. Dominant and bossy.

He was almost as bad as Dutton. Telling her what she could and couldn’t do.

Believing she wasn’t up to this task. This was a side to Gabriel she’d never witnessed in Paris.

God, she was so sick of people thinking she wasn’t strong enough. The coven, the Kings, Aunt Marjory and now Gabriel. He obviously hadn’t meant a single word he’d said to her last night.

Stupid, stupid Annabelle. She’d confided in him her secret fears, and he’d said all the right words, but now he was using it against her.

“You think you can come over here and tell me what to do? After leaving me in Paris? After three years and not a word, a text, a phone call, you think you have some say in my life?”

To hell with that.

“Stop the damn car, Gabriel.” She flung off her seatbelt. “ Right now.”

“ Putain, Annabelle.” Gabriel wrenched the wheel, cars honking behind them as he pulled the car out of traffic and against the curb.

He grabbed hold of her arm. “Are you crazy? What were you going to do? Throw yourself out of a moving car?” He punched the steering wheel. “ Merde. I will explain everything. I promise. Just let us get somewhere priv—”

A screech of tires in the traffic drowned out his words.

It didn’t matter. She was getting out of the car right now.

The smart thing to do would be to hear him out, but Annabelle was too keyed up to do the smart thing right now.

She needed some space to think, to sort through the mess of emotions and thoughts in her head.

To put things into perspective. To calm the hell down.

That wasn’t going to happen sitting so damn close to Gabriel.

“Yeah, maybe I am crazy.” She shook off his grip, a loud roaring in her ears. “I don’t—”

Behind Gabriel, coming straight for them, was an enormous grill. A truck. She screamed.

“Annabelle!” Gabriel roared.

Then it hit them with a screech of metal and breaking glass. The impact threw Annabelle against the door, the shattered windscreen raining down on her. Agony flared through her shoulder, her side, her head. She was still screaming when her door flew open, and hands grabbed for her.

“ Gabriel! ”

She couldn’t see him, her vision fuzzy.

“ Gabriel!”

The hands holding her were dragging her from the car, carrying her and tossing her into another vehicle. She cried out, pain radiating through her shoulder. The door slammed, someone gunned the engine, the tires squealed and they were moving.

Where was Gabriel? Was he okay? Alive? Was she going to be okay? Those were the last thoughts she had before she succumbed to the fuzziness, and everything faded to black.